HOMELESS AND PANHANDLERS REFERRED TO AS 'SCUM OF THE EARTH', HEARING
TOLD

An ambassador with the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement
Association referred to the homeless and drug-addicted as "scum of the
earth," an artist who posed as an ambassador claims.

Jamie Hilder, who was training with the ambassador, said other
ambassadors would routinely pressure the homeless to move along the
city streets.

Hilder was the first witness in an expected 15-day B.C. Human Rights
hearing, brought by Pivot Legal Society, United Native Nations and the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users against the association and the
City of Vancouver for discriminating against drug addicts, the
homeless and aboriginal people.

Hilder said when he first visited the office of the Vancouver
ambassadors program in May 2008, he heard references made by other
ambassadors to a homeless man named Gordon, who had died the previous
night from a suspected suicide by drug overdose.

"The response was 'oh my God that would be awesome if it's true. I
know that makes me sound like a bad person but he makes our life
hell,' " Hilder quoted an unnamed ambassador as saying.

Hilder said that same day he went out with one of the "exemplary
ambassadors," a 19-year-old named Nadia who referred to panhandlers
and street people as "the scum of the earth who barely deserved her
respect."

He said another ambassador he followed that day, named Randy, spoke to
a frail man, who appeared either homeless or suffering from mental
health issues. The man was smoking near a business, so Randy told him
that wasn't allowed. Hilder said Randy then went inside the business
and asked the cook if he wanted the man removed from the patio chair.

"[The man] told him he was just waiting for the bus. Randy pulled out
the cellphone and said he would call police."

Hilder said the man struggled to get up and then left.

On his second day on the job, Hilder said he was paired with an
ambassador named Tom who seemed reluctant to act on one of the job
requirements: asking people to leave the area. Still, Hilder testified
he saw Tom kick a makeshift sleeping area set up by a homeless man
behind a hair salon on Robson Street, telling him to move along.
Hilder said when he asked Tom what would happen to the man, Tom said
he would return once they left the area.

Another time with Tom, they saw four or five well dressed young men
smoking marijuana from a bong in a back alley downtown.

"Tom kept walking and I said only certain types of drug users [are
asked to move along] and he said those guys aren't bothering anyone.
So if you are dressed well and you didn't look like you were homeless
then that was okay," said Hilder.

Hilder said he was told in training there were two ways to convince
someone to move along: either talk to them or place yourself in the
nearby vicinity until the person leaves.

If the person wouldn't leave, they would call police. Primarily, they
targeted drug addicts, and panhandlers.

Other job functions included giving directions to tourists, handing
out pamphlets and providing information.

Outside the hearing, Charles Gauthier, executive director of the
Downtown Vancouver Business Association, said other witnesses will
talk about how compassionate ambassadors are. He said there have been
no issues in the past with the 10-year-old program.