Braun said “…he would have liked to get things off the ground sooner, but was worried the act would seem insincere if it was announced while the BC Supreme Court was still deciding the case of homeless activists challenging Abbotsford’s bylaws banning camping in public parks.’

So, Abbotsford’s Mayor Braun and council think the homeless will find the City’s suddenly announced decision, less than a month after the BC Supreme Court ruled that the homeless have the right to camp in public parks when there is no other housing alternative available to them, to throw some used construction trailers onto a piece of City property, take a couple of weeks to slap them together and call the result a ‘shelter’ honest and true?

I haven’t heard a single homeless person express the thought that this decision reflects the mayor and council’s concern for their well being.

The homeless community considers the announcement to be business as usual for Abbotsford vis-à-vis the homeless – a cynical attempt to do an end run around the decision by the BC Supreme Court so that Abbotsford can throw the homeless out of public parks and not be found in Contempt of the Court.

Contempt of the Homeless reflected in “Gladys will have to come down he [Braun] said.”

Although on the question of sincerity the homeless do believe that this action is based on what Abbotsford’s mayor and council really feel and believe.

As Abbotsford’s homeless community – or as the City labels them ‘homeless activists’ – were consulting with Pivot Legal about the mayor’s shelter announcement, legal ramifications and the possibility of a return to the BC Supreme Court an interesting point was raised in regard to Mayor Braun’s statement that ”the shelter has been the works for years.”

As part of the discovery process in the court action taken against the City of Abbotsford by Abbotsford’s homeless all city documentation with regards to the homeless were reviewed. Although the City tried to avoid this review by placing a big price tag on the copies of the documents.

In all those years of documentation there was no evidence the City had plans for another shelter. So …….??????

Perhaps there was no documentation because the discussions about opening another shelter were ……. done by telepathy?

Or perhaps, after the BC Supreme Court decision in 2008 on the suit against the City of Victoria about camping in public parks slapping together something and calling it a shelter was – Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge – considered the way Abbotsford could do an end run around any court decision striking down bylaws banning camping in public parks.

Suffice it to say that while Mayor Braun may hope this shelter “…..will be the start of a new era” and Mr. Williams sees “It signals to the most vulnerable people that this community cares and they want to make a change” the homeless community sees ‘business as usual’ with the City acting in the City’s interest without regard, input or comment from the homeless about priorities and the course of action that serves the best interests of the homeless and the permanent reduction of the homeless population