Headlines for 24 February 2010

Anti-Olympics blockade of Golden Ears Bridge

On Saturday, February 13, members of the Katzie First Nation and supporters took part in blocking the Golden Ears Bridge spanning the Frazer River between Pitt Meadows and Langley, British Columbia.

Construction of the bridge desecrated a 3000 year old burial ground. It’s massive pilings in the river disrupt currents, and the ability of local Katzie fishers to fish.

One participant in the blockade stated: "That bridge has destroyed the natural path for the salmon to continue up the river for indigenous people to eat to survive. Dredging gravel out of the river to build bridges and highways for the Olympics is destroying the delicate ecosystem and putting declining fish stocks at further risk.”

Olympic tent village enters second week

In Vancouver, an Olympic tent village set up in the Downtown Eastside to reclaim public space and bring world attention to the escalation of homelessness in the city centre has entered its second week. Since February 15, a tent village set up by Downtown East Side residents, homeless people, and supporters has been set up at 58 West Hastings, an empty lot owned by condo developer Concord Pacific.  The lot is currently being leased by the Vancouver Olympic Committee as a parking lot for the Olympics. According to the organizers of the tent village, the 2010 winter Olympics have escalated the homelessness crisis in Vancouver’s DTES, with homelessness nearly tripling since the Olympic bid and with real estate and condominium development outpacing social housing by a rate of nearly 3 to 1.  The demands of the tent village organizers include an end to condo development and displacement in the Downtown East Side, and an end to discriminatory ticketing and police harassment of homeless and poor people.  Hundreds of people have been participating as residents and supporters of the tent village.

Radical queer convergence in Guelph this June

A radical queer convergence is being organized in Guelph, Ontario this June. Called
"Queeriot", the convergence will bring together radical queers from across North America from June 10 to 13 and will include workshops, dance parties, and a queercore show.

David Eby of the BCCLA pied in the face

David Eby of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association was pied in the face last Wednesday, February 17th at a panel discussion about tactics used during the anti-Olympics convergence in Vancouver last weekend.

Eby had publicly denounced the actions of a street demonstration on February 13th during which property damage was carried out. The march was called Heart Attack, and was described as a street march to "clog the arteries of capitalism".

Dany Villaneuva faces deportation

Dany Villanueva, the older brother of Fredy Villanueva, who was killed by the Montreal Police in August 2008, has learned that the Canada Border Services Agency will begin the process of trying to deport him from Canada, by attempting to remove his permanent residency status.

Dany is scheduled to testify as a key witness at the coroner’s inquest into the circumstances of his brother’s death.  Dany has been a permanent resident of Canada since 1998, and has lived here since he was twelve years old.

No One Is Illegal Montreal comments: "The removal proceedings against Dany are highly suspect. They amount to interference by the CBSA of the coroner’s inquest into Fredy’s death."