Homeless Will Not Be Hidden

As I'm sure you already know, the Chinese government went to great lengths to beautify and gentrify Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. They had public campaigns that educated the people on how to interact with the foreign visitors, for example. While the 2010 Olympic organizers are working on a few projects to make our city a little more accommodating, we will not be hiding all of our problems.

Vancouver has quite an issue with homelessness. That's clear. While it may have been possible to move the drug addicts, mentally ill, and homeless people to temporary shelters during the games, Premier Gordon Campbell and VANOC head honcho John Furlong said that they would not be doing this. They would not be making an active effort to shield international eyes from our homeless and poor.

Mr. Campbell and Mr. Furlong both shot down suggestions the neighbourhood will be temporarily emptied of street people during the Games. "No, people have neighbourhoods, too," Mr. Campbell said. "We will try to make the neighbourhood healthier. It's a very inclusive approach."

Mr. Campbell said Canada's poorest postal code will be "significantly improved" by 2010 by expanding government programs to house the homeless, get addicts into treatment and create more services for the mentally ill.

Source: National Post

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