DRUG USE ABSENT FROM DISCUSSION ON VANCOUVER'S DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

Even though drug trafficking and addiction are two of the biggest
problems facing Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, those issues were
purposefully ignored at a panel discussion about Canada's worst slum.

Housing and homelessness took centre stage at the event, entitled
"The Fix" and held on a Vancouver university campus, because
organizers failed to book a drug expert.

Bruce Haden, a prominent Vancouver architect who has lived in the
DTES for the past seven years, said he was astonished that none of
the panelists mentioned drugs during the opening presentation, held
in Vancouver's west end.

The Downtown Eastside is considered the poorest area code in Canada.
The area has an extremely high rate of homelessness and an estimated
5,000 injection drug users concentrated within a ten-block radius.
The area is also home to North America's only safe-injection facility, Insite.

Vancouver and Downtown Eastside residents who attended the discussion
made it clear they believe drugs are the most immediate problem in their area.

Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason suggested diffusing the
population so that addiction and homeless communities wouldn't be
concentrated in a single, small area. Responding to this suggestion,
Gregory Henriquez, a panelist and Vancouver architect, asked Mason to
imagine a different situation, where the question was why so many
rich people live in Shaughnessy, Vancouver's most affluent neighbourhood.

"Imagine a forum here all about Shaughnessy," Henriquez said. "And
all the experts here are from the Downtown Eastside, and they are all
talking about how to fix Shaughnessy. It's all crazy when you think
about in those terms."

The number of homeless in Vancouver more than doubled between 2002
and 2005, according a city survey.

One question that arose was whether subsidized housing and shelters
should be built exclusively in the Downtown Eastside.

Henriquez is currently working on a project called Woodwards, a
complex that combines retail space with market and subsidized
housing. University of British Columbia professor of urban slums
Aprodicio Laquian said he believes the solution to the Downtown
Eastside is deciding how it fits within the city of Vancouver,
instead of treating it as its own entity. He said there shouldn't be
such a dramatic separation between rich and poor residents, and
projects that combine market housing with subsidized housing may help
break down the barrier.

"The Fix" came with less than a year until the 2010 Vancouver Olympic
Games, which have been a source of contention. Though some Vancouver
residents fear the Downtown Eastside will be a blight on the Games,
and the city's reputation, others have said that is the wrong
attitude. Katrina Pacey of Barrister and Solicitor Pivot Legal, a
non-profit legal advocacy organization in the Downtown Eastside, said
the people living in the area should always be taken into
consideration. "We want to make sure that the health and wellbeing of
the community is protected," she said. "As opposed to just covered up
when the event comes to Vancouver."

Other residents have expressed resentment about the money being spent
to host the Games, saying the budget should instead be spent trying
to clean up the slum.

Over the past 10 years, $1.5 billion of both public and private funds
have been spent in the Downtown Eastside, but there have been few
tangible results.

At the end of the panel, Haden said he was happy people were talking
about the drug issue, but the panel's disregard of the major issues
tainted his opinion of the event. "It was OK," he said.