DOWNTOWN EASTSIDERS KNOW ABOUT ALIENATION

Despair Need Not Breed Apathy; It Can Spark 'Heated Debate'

Health problems forced 57-year-old Simon Mawhood to move to Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside two years ago. A cultured, articulate man who retains an
echo of his native British accent, he says he's seen a lot of life in
Canada's poorest neighbourhood and a lot of despair.

But, he says, if you think living with that kind of despair means people in
the Downtown Eastside don't care enough to vote, you'd be wrong.

"People talk about it [the election] a lot here," Mawhood says, drinking
tea with milk in a sturdy wooden booth inside the immaculately preserved
Ovaltine Cafe, just a stone's throw from Main and Hastings. The cafe, circa
the 1940s, isn't so much retro as it is real life.

"You can hear a lot of heated arguments about it," Mawhood continues. "Some
people say, 'To hell with it,' but others say, 'No, you gotta vote.' "

How they'll vote is a matter of debate, too, he says. He suspects the NDP
will pick up a lot of votes in the area -- he believes a lot of residents
are pleased with the job New Democrat Libby Davies has done -- as will the
new Conservatives, but not so much for their positions as for a protest
against Gordon Campbell's Liberals.

Asked if residents are worried that Stephen Harper would do away with the
area's controversial safe-injection site for drug addicts -- the Tories are
on record as being opposed to it -- Mawhood says no. "Or let me just say
that if they try, they'll hear a lot about it," he explains.

As for Mawhood, prudence demands "going with the devil you know, as opposed
to the devil you don't," meaning he'll vote for Paul Martin.

Not voting never crossed his mind, however. "You're not Canadian if you
don't vote," he says, his voice rising. "It's what people died for 60 years
ago."

But while he laments the declining number of people who bother to exercise
that right -- and particularly young people -- he understands
disenfranchisement.

The Downtown Eastside isn't just a long way from Ottawa, he says, it's a
long way from city hall, too. People in the Downtown Eastside know all
about alienation, Mawhood says, probably more than anyone else.

Still, he and they care about what people in Point Grey and Richmond and
Coquitlam care about: Health care, an economic system that is squeezing out
the middle class, the degradation of Employment Insurance, crime and the
lack of social housing.

Speaking of crime, outside the cafe there are no fewer than six police
officers patrolling the street. Mawhood thinks it's great. "You can
actually walk along Main and Hastings during the day and feel safe now," he
says.

Then he adds: "Never mind that I've been robbed three times in the last
little while."