Pubdate: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Adam J. Leamy and Jamie Lamb, Special to the Sun Note: Adam J. Leamy and Jamie Lamb are partners in Northwest Public Affairs, a B.C.-based consulting firm. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Downtown+Eastside Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Gordon+Campbell GORDON CAMPBELL, MEET THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE It's Time for an End to Political Me-Too-Ism on the Tough Files Is it just us or does it seem British Columbians are being asked to accept "me-too" leadership from the provincial government instead of the real deal? Don't get us wrong, the B.C. premier's webpage tells us some things are getting done. B.C. is acting on climate change, with the premier going to such lengths as to declare war on it. While this puts him out in front of the provincial pack, it was Al Gore's message and Arnold Schwarzenegger's lead that paved the way for the likes of B.C. to follow. Aboriginal treaties, too, are a definite accomplishment, but are relevant really within our own borders as they come long after other provinces dealt with the matter and only after the courts required that B.C. act to secure resolution. Good things, both. Worthy of acknowledgement and recognition. Yet both are "me-too" campaigns, prompted by the actions of others. We make this observation at a time when recent Vancouver Sun stories about Victoria's failure remind us that even when it comes to flops, we're still travelling the path blazed by others: A crass child car-safety-seat seat program working to save lives in government constituencies but not Opposition ones. All these years after Matthew Vaudreuil, and accusations that children's lives are, unbelievably, still at risk. "Following Others and Failing, Too" is hardly the stuff of catchy licence-plate slogans, nor is it the legacy British Columbia deserves. But that's the trouble with me-tooism: That in taking action -- no matter how well deserved -- on an issue defined by others, you might not have enough left over to tackle the issue in your own back yard, the one that is known -- or about to be better known -- around the world as your signature issue, your signature failure, and the one issue that no one but you can take on. Welcome to the Downtown Eastside. We know what sort of place it is. A heartbreaking place. A shattering place. An unsafe place. To some, it is home. For others, a place to ignore. People -- good people, dedicated people, remarkable people -- spend difficult hours every day, every month, every year working to address its health problems, its economic problems, its social problems. These efforts have and continue to consume mammoth amounts of money, hope and spirit. The result? The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver has become a provincial, national and international symbol of those who have lost hope, health, direction and dignity. The United Nations calls it one of "North America's most blighted and drug-infested neighbourhoods . . . home to a Hepatitis C rate of just below 70 per cent and an HIV prevalence rate of an estimated 30 per cent -- the same as Botswana's." Whether you take your information from the United Nations, or the local Pivot Legal Society, which tells us that "an estimated 5,000 injection users live in the Downtown Eastside . . . where overdose and suicide are the leading causes of death . . . in Canada's poorest postal code," the truth is that the neighbourhood literally sheds blood and lives for want of a way out, for want of leadership. Just so we're clear, that leadership won't be coming from Al Gore. Or the governor of California. Nor should it. Because what begins on Main Street in B.C. communities winds up at Main and Hastings. The Downtown Eastside is ours, and ours to resolve. Put simply, someone needs to declare war on the problems of the Downtown Eastside. Won't be easy, of course. Mike Harcourt had the background -- storefront lawyer, Vancouver mayor, B.C. premier -- to make it happen, but he was unable to dent the problem. Gordon Campbell, who followed Harcourt as mayor, has spent six years as premier, and seems to be on his way to a third term, yet, the problems of Downtown Eastside persist, exacting their devastating toll. And it's still news. Campbell may well be on stage at the opening of the Winter Games in 2010. We know from the experience of other Olympic cities that the pageantry and pleasantry of the Olympics will easily and quickly be contrasted by the world's media with the brutal realities offered by the Downtown Eastside. That's how those things work. But amid that comparison, surely some journalists will ask, how could such a situation exist, such devastation consume so many, on the watch of a former three-term Vancouver mayor, by then a three-term B.C. premier? It's a question that can be answered one of three ways. One is that it takes a three-term mayor and premier to know that the Downtown Eastside problems are so big, so intractable, so insoluble, the situation simply so hopeless, that it can't be dealt with. The second is that amid all that electoral victory, and all those years in the power seat, political me-tooism trumped original leadership, and with no Gores or Schwarzeneggers stepping forward to take on the Downtown Eastside, the call to action was never raised. The third is that someone with the premier's experience of this province would know that a decline of the U.S. economy, a softening of commodity prices, or something equally beyond our control would exact a harsh toll on B.C., removing the means to act. Does it have to be this way? Several years ago, on this page for B.C. Day, we wrote about the remarkable achievements of British Columbians that were hailed as world firsts that improved life and the human condition in B.C., across Canada and around the globe. We know British Columbians do amazing, wonderful, life-changing things. We say this, because the two of us do not pretend to know the prescription for Downtown Eastside success. But we have to believe that with more than 20 years in elected office, 13 of them in the top elected jobs the province has to offer, the premier will have a better idea than most of us on what it would take to halt and reverse the global-scale devastation of the Downtown Eastside. He occupies the position of power -- and surely he still has the will -- to make it happen. But if it's a push he needs, then this: Premier, there is a neighbourhood a mere stone's throw from your office, not that far from your home -- or from any of our homes, really -- that has been under siege for decades by a force that has consumed generations of dignity, health, hope, peace and life. Want a war? Declare war on this enemy. In your arsenal, pull together the people you know and who are known by others for their expertise and build the strategy to win the war in the Downtown Eastside. Put them in a room and give them 100 days to build upon your knowledge and years of experience in the top government jobs in B.C. and produce the strategy that will win back the Downtown Eastside to the side of health, safety, stability and, above all, hope. Take a page out of your recently created Climate Action Team, an initiative that brings together the best minds in B.C. to fight the war you declared on climate change. Only this time, don't wait for others to validate the legitimacy of the issue before you venture into it. No more leadership carpooling. No more coattail followship. Step up. Then, premier, implement this strategy, and make all of us your troops. Tell us what we must do to play our role for our neighbourhoods and for the Downtown Eastside -- for we are all connected -- and encourage us to use our voices to drive all levels of government to take the action required. Win this war. Provide the original, made-in-B.C. leadership that allows you to write the book on how cities in our time can reclaim what's been lost, on how neighbourhoods and their residents can be released from the forces that oppress them. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake