Carnegie Community Centre Association issues statement on anti-gentrification protests

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      Gena Thompson, president of the Carnegie Community Centre Association, issued the following statement today (April 11):

      Carnegie Community Centre Association (CCCA) is a grassroots organization that supports programs at the Carnegie Community Centre and works to give voice to low-income Downtown Eastside (DTES) residents. Our board of directors is elected democratically and represents some 5000 members of the Carnegie Centre.

      There has been considerable confusion in the media and in the public eye about our project, the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP), and its role in the various anti-gentrification actions currently underway in the DTES. We formed CCAP 17 years ago to be a research and advocacy organization whose goal is to track the real effects of poverty and gentrification on low-income DTES people, and to seek to protect and expand the assets and tenure of the low-income community in the neighbourhood. At the core of this work at present is CCAP's 2010 document, “Assets to Action: Community Vision for Change in the Downtown Eastside” and the 12 key actions the report identified after collecting the stories and views of over 1200 DTES residents.

      CCAP, its few employees, and numerous volunteers, occasionally plan and execute protest actions in support of the 12 key actions. These actions come from the grassroots, street level, straight from the minds of low-income people living in the Downtown Eastside, and have the complete support of the CCCA. Recently, some neighbourhood protests have been attributed to CCAP which they have not organized. CCCA endorses Homeless Dave's hunger strike, along with numerous community organizations including the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, but had no role in organizing it. Other actions, which have included smashing windows and stealing private property, are completely outside of CCCA's mandate from the community and go against our non-violent values, yet have been wrongly linked in the media with CCAP and its organizers.

      CCCA supports the democratic right to protest.

      Sincerely,

      Gena Thompson
      President
      Carnegie Community Centre Association

      Comments

      5 Comments

      Dianne

      Apr 11, 2013 at 11:07am

      Thanks for the explanation. The facts are important as is the right of all of us to speak our minds and advocate peacefully for what we believe for our communities.

      Tami Starlight

      Apr 11, 2013 at 5:49pm

      Perhaps now the corrupt liars will get mad and attempt to spin this?

      VanCity
      City of Vancouver
      Mainstream Media
      Developers
      Corrupted &^*#@ who live in Vancouver and even the downtown eastside - sell outs.

      See ya in the streets!

      Tami Starlight

      Apr 11, 2013 at 5:50pm

      ps.....thank you Gena, CCCA and CCAP for all their hard work in resisting the oppression, corruption and violence.

      cuz

      Apr 12, 2013 at 11:05am

      Let's see - an organization that depends on handouts for it's existence leads protests against an organization that supplies work and community service to it's neighbors. Seems the CCAP is the real enemy of the neighborhood. But hey, they don't really have to work within a budget or even justify where their money is spent. Talk about being out of touch with reality.

      Page Turner

      Apr 14, 2013 at 5:39pm

      Supplies Work? Community service to it's neighbours? What kind of "stuff" on YOU on?! :/ Propacracka it seems.