P.O.W.E.R. DISPATCH #5

Bimonthly update on community-based reporting at P.O.W.E.R.

Click for previous P.O.W.E.R. bi-monthly dispatches

Dispatch #5 Themes

1. Aggressive policing, street sweeps & displacement
   Multiple police officers have been witnessed acting aggressively during the city of Vancouver’s ‘roving’ street sweeps. One officer was reportedly overheard speaking to a city worker near Dunlevy and Hastings, expressing it was ‘time to lay the hammer down’ on outdoor residents. In June, some P.O.W.E.R. members witnessed park rangers seeming to threaten increased restrictions on people sheltering overnight in parks.

2. Surveillance
   The Vancouver Police Department have installed two sets of permanent cameras in the downtown eastside – one set at Main St. and Hastings St., and another at Carrall St. and Hastings. The VPD have also been deploying their mobile closed circuit TV cameras in different areas of the neighbourhood.

   

   Permanent VPD cameras set up at Carrall St & Hastings St (left); VPD’s mobile CCTV set up at Carrall St & Pender St. (right). June 30 2025

Newsletter highlights

Melody Wise and Jenn McDermid brought attention and analysis to Atira’s decision to sue two of their tenants for the Winters Hotel fire — three years after the fire occurred.

P.O.W.E.R. released a video of Jeremy Omand, the Gastown Residents Association Vice-President, physically bringing a person to the ground in an act described as ‘vigilantism.’ Omand is on the board of the new Gastown community policing centre that is set to open in the Woodward’s building.

P.O.W.E.R. in the news

• CBC: Community groups say VPD officers are loitering outside supervised drug consumption sites

• The Tyee: Critics Want Less Police Presence Near Harm Reduction Sites

• The Peak: Police presence outside Downtown Eastside harm reduction sites sparks concerns

• The Mainlander: Nowhere to seek safety as gender-based violence worsens under drug supply & displacement crises

Community Activity

P.O.W.E.R. ran ‘hydration tables’ at the Downtown Eastside income assistance offices during June cheque day. The neighbourhood continues to face extreme heat and shade inequality. (Check out the Devils Club Street Medics’ printable heat response resource here).

P.O.W.E.R is working alongside Stop the Stack on the 250k Relief Fund Campaign in support of activists Taylor McNallie and Adora Nwofor, who have been targets of racist charge stacking, a tactic employed by the Calgary Police Service. You can donate directly to the campaign here, and there is a public call out for allied groups to host fundraisers to support the Relief Fund. (Follow Stop the Stack YYC on their socials for updates.)

In late May, with generous support from a number of community members, P.O.W.E.R. co-facilitated a femme and sex worker-oriented distribution of clothing and hygiene products in the downtown eastside.

New research feat. P.O.W.E.R. members

Harm Reduction Journal: “The people who depended on us became expendable”: Experiences of frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Drug Science, Law and Policy: Probing trends of opioid seizures under a nascent “decriminalization” framework in Vancouver, Canada