The bishop of the Anglican Diocese of B.C. has written to 45 member parishes asking for their blessing for his three-pronged plan to delay eviction of tent-city campers while seeking solutions for homelessness.
Rev. Logan McMenamie asked parishes on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands to support the leadership he sees among tent city residents living across from the church, and ask the province “not to act too quickly on removing [the tent city] from its present location.”
On Friday, the province sent campers a letter encouraging those not tenting inside My Place, the temporary shelter at 1240 Yates St., to “make arrangements for alternate shelter” by working with outreach workers at the tent city.
Tenters responded by burning a copy of the letter.
McMenamie is asking diocese staff to work on finding land for micro-houses for homeless people as the beginning of a long-term solution.
He is also calling for an emergency meeting of Justice Matters, his social-justice advisory group, to develop a strategy for the diocese to work on social housing.
Homeless campers started pitching their tents behind the courthouse at Burdett Avenue and Quadra Street months ago. The land is owned by the province and city bylaws that require tents in parks to come down during the day do not apply.
McMenamie said in his letter that the diocese and other groups need time to provide solutions that will be “transformational for those caught in the cycle of poverty and for the community as a whole.”
The bishop could not be reached for further comment.
Church leadership outside Victoria may believe the tent city is something that the cathedral and city residents can handle, but the overarching issue is that homelessness, poverty and other social issues affect everyone, McMenamie wrote.
“Martin Luther King Jr. said: ‘Injustice for one is injustice for all.’ I would add that when one is homeless we are all homeless.”
It took years for poverty and homelessness to reach current proportions, he wrote, and facing the complexities of the problem requires “calm heads and courage: Courage to take time, courage to sacrifice, courage to look at solutions which will positively affect us all.
“We need folk in the circle who are willing ask the question: ‘What gave rise to these problems?’ and be willing to search for transformational solutions,” he said.
“I am inviting us as a diocese to join this circle and search for these solutions.”
