An advocacy group for Downtown Eastside residents is aiming a protest at Canada Post after they suspended service to a small section of the area due to “health and safety concerns.”
The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) tweeted that the Our Homes Can’t Wait Coalition (OHCW) has announced a protest in response to Canada Post’s decision.
“Welfare rights are human rights,” reads the tweet from VANDU.
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The poster for the protest suggests that the claims made by Canada Post translate to “anti-poor discrimination.”
“We will not back down and let them take our rights away!”
The OHCW sent the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) a letter stating that it’s standing in solidarity with the union and is inviting union members to join the coalition to discuss the matter at hand.
“With only a week to ‘cheque day,’ the health and safety of our community is critically at stake.”
The letter references a period in March 2020 when Canada Post similarly suspended service to a section of the Downtown Eastside, when CUPW members “courageously fought management to resume delivery to the neighbourhood.”
The Our Homes Can’t Wait Coalition announces protest against @canadapostcorp‘s discriminatory decision to suspend mail delivery to Downtown Eastside residents.
Join OHCW on Tuesday April 26, 2:30pm, at Carrall and Hastings for a demo and mail-in.
WELFARE RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS pic.twitter.com/Aa0r31sdWH
— VANDU (@VANDUpeople) April 21, 2022
The letter also suggests that Canada Post hasn’t sufficiently elaborated on the safety concerns, “offering only vague innuendo regarding concerns over ‘verbal assaults and drug use,’ [which] knowingly exploits a dangerous discourse of dehumanization all too familiar to Downtown Eastside residents.”
When the suspension of service was announced, Daily Hive touched base with Johanna Li, the manager of Eastside Works, which is located in the affected neighbourhood. Li said she’s always felt comfortable in the area.
“Not having mail delivered to us is very inconvenient, not to mention the fact that the pick-up site is very far away,” said Li.
“Although there are always safety concerns in the neighbourhood, and in many other neighbourhoods in Vancouver, I go in and out of the office many times in a day and have never felt unsafe.”
The protest is planned for April 26 at Carrall and Hastings.