All Vancouver mayoral candidates were invited to spend a night in the Crab Park tent encampment, but only one candidate accepted that invitation: Mark Marissen.
The Vancouver Civic Election is just days away, and frontrunners are still jockeying for position in the hearts and minds of voters who will hopefully take to the polls on Saturday.
Marissen, the mayoral candidate running with Progress Vancouver, spoke to Daily Hive Urbanized about his experience in Crab Park, one he shared with a Trans activist named Melody Haskell. Marissen says the experience was a “big eye-opener.”
I accepted the invitation to sleep in a tent at Crab Park Saturday night.
I spent the night witnessing both trauma and resilience first hand, and a community in shock from the events the night before.
Thank you, @haskehun for sharing what happened.#vanpoli #ChooseProgress https://t.co/Pia1k9KdDT pic.twitter.com/bjUTeF9j1N
— Mark Marissen (@marissenmark) October 10, 2022
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Marissen has been trying to pay attention to the situation in encampments that have popped up across Vancouver in recent years. He told Daily Hive Urbanized that he spent over half a day at the Strathcona Park tent encampment before it was dismantled, talking to some community members.
When Marissen and Haskell arrived at Crab Park, they started their journey in a public warming tent.
During his overnight stay in Crab Park, Marissen was provided one of the abandoned tents still at the park; he suggested there were many like this.
Marissen stayed at the Crab Park tent encampment one night after multiple stabbings took place in the area. A suspect was arrested, and there were three victims in total. Marissen told Daily Hive Urbanized that one of those victims was at the encampment the night he spent there after being released from the hospital.
Haskell wrote that they spoke with that victim. Apparently, the blade just narrowly missed his heart.
“He was stable but in deep pain. Alive, but still nowhere else to go.”
While he is advocating for building more housing, Marissen also echoes the sentiments that he says some experts have shared: that there needs to be an area where there’s land designated for people to safely put up their tents, with services like washrooms, showers, and security available.
“People were feeling quite traumatized from the night before, and you could really feel a sense of community in the camp,” said Marissen.
That’s something that Haskell echoed.
“All night, the residents of Crab Park offered us open-armed warmth. They didn’t know us. Didn’t care who we were.”
For the latest in the lead-up to this weekend’s election, be sure to visit Daily Hive’s election hub.
- You might also like:
- Here’s how top Vancouver mayoral candidates would address crime in the city
- How your Vancouver mayoral candidates plan to help the Downtown Eastside (VIDEOS)
- Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is a "problem of Canada": Gabor Maté (VIDEO)
- BC voters head to the polls on October 15. Here’s your hub for all things election.
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