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Letter: This is an emergency, not a time for biz as usual

The Editor, There are several older indigent men who frequent the McDonald’s where I typically have coffee with the adults I support.
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The Editor,

There are several older indigent men who frequent the McDonald’s where I typically have coffee with the adults I support. These guys have all their worldly possessions in tarp-covered grocery carts and they spend their days collecting bottles and getting a coffee at McDonald’s.

In the year and a half since I was transferred to North Vancouver, I have done my best to get to know these men and “see” them. I’m not a wealthy man and, on my own, I can’t correct the circumstances that got them into their present situation but I can “see” them and treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.

As the weather has become colder and wetter, I find myself wondering how they are and if they are able to stay warm and dry. Recently, one of them, Colin, shared a success story with me, telling me he had secured a trailer to move into. I was very happy for him.

Recently, when I checked in with Colin, he informed me he was back on the streets as his trailer had been towed away, and he was looking for a place to set up a tent.

Because that day was payday, I purchased a $25 McDonald’s gift card and gave it to Colin. I also shared with Colin some of the cold weather camping tricks I had learned from 14 years as a Scout leader.

I wish my financial situation was such that I could do more. I wish that every person who does not see Colin and his fellow citizens could, even if for just one day, and perform an act of kindness.

I don’t know all of Colin’s circumstances, and don’t know why his trailer was towed, but I have to question a city policy that takes away a person’s home in this weather and housing crisis. If you’re going to take away a person’s only source of shelter or heat, you’d better be able to provide an alternative.

Rules and bylaws are for typical times. We are not in typical times right now. If anything, we are in a state of emergency.

Now is the time for extraordinary action, not business as usual. Tiny homes, tent cities on civic land, soup kitchens, modular homes, more cold/wet weather shelters until everyone is housed. Something needs to be done now, not two years from now, when the funding kicks in. Now.

If you feel the way I do, do something. Let your elected officials know that business as usual is not working. It costs you nothing to see someone, and at a minimum, share a kind word or a conversation.

Rob Bottos, Coquitlam