Brian Street introduced this week’s guest speaker, Dave Dickson. Dave joined the Vancouver Police Department in 1980 where he served until 2008; all of it in the downtown east side. He worked extensively with First Nations people and men, women and youth suffering from addiction and mental health issues. During his career, Dave was the recipient of 9 different awards including the Queen’s Jubilee medal and the Minister of Justice Community Policing Award.

 

A few brief notes about Dave’s background: he was raised in Burnaby, left school at 15 to start working. He loves working. When he was 29 he attended a family event where a couple of relatives arrived in uniform as auxiliary policemen. After talking to them about it Dave decided to go to the recruiting office. He was thinking since he didn’t finish high school there wasn’t much chance of them hiring him. Rather than discouraging him, the recruiter did the opposite, letting him know that once he got his grade 12 equivalency to come back for consideration. This was possible. So that’s what Dave did. He got his grade 12 equivalency and returned to apply to the force.

 

He joined in 1980, being one of the oldest in his class. His life experience gave him a unique perspective right from the get-go. During his training he was stationed in Vancouver’s east side; this is where he stayed for the duration of his career with the VPD and remains there now as a private citizen after leaving the police in 2008.

 

Even from the beginning, during his training, he found that there were police officers who treated street people terribly. Something he couldn’t understand, nor abide by, and it led him to becoming an advocate. He spent lots of time walking, talking, and listening to everyone he met on the street. He would regularly visit the kids and families who frequented the Strathcona and Ray-cam Community Centres. As time went on he built a rapport with the people living in the east side; the strength of which he was unaware of at the time.

 

It became apparent when he refused his Inspector’s request to go into the reserves to gather info about the First Nations gangs. His reasoning was that he had spent years building trust, infiltrating and essentially spying on these same people would destroy that. He couldn’t do it. As a result, he was to be transferred to another area. The community got wind of the transfer and protested in a very vocal way. The result was that Dave was permitted to continue working in the area, but a lot of bridges in the VPD had been burned. He was fine with it – he was doing what he loved to do.

 

Dave asks that no one judge anyone who is living on the east side until you know their backstory. They are, for the most part, not there by choice. Their stories are, at times, horrific. Just one example: two sisters moved there when they were 15 & 17 years old respectively from a small northern reserve. They had a brother. When they were 7 & 9, their brother was 3, their parents locked them in a barn while they went out drinking. The girls were rescued but their brother had already frozen to death. How do they recover from that life?

 

Vancouver Mayor, Philip Owen, in 2001, proposed a Four Pillar Approach to battle the problem of addiction. It included (1) prevention, (2) treatment, (3) enforcement, and (4) harm reduction. Unfortunately, the Provincial and Federal Governments were not forthcoming with their critical support to implement the approach. The only pillar implemented by the Vancouver council was (4) prevention – safe injection sites and methadone programs. The latter has been subject to a number of sketchy pharmacists who are more interested in making money, than the well-being of their clients.

 

Treatment of addictions takes years, not months or weeks. Good treatment centres are very expensive and not covered by medical plans, thereby not available to those most suffering. (ref San Patrignano Valley Treatment Centre in Italy with a minimum 3-year program, CLICK HERE) With regards to youth struggling with serious drug and/or alcohol abuse or sexual exploitation, BC does not, like Alberta and some other provinces, have a secure care act whereby a youth can forcibly be placed into treatment. It was tabled in BC in 2001 but there was not the political will to see it move forward at the time. (ref McGill Journal of Law and Health, “Youth Secure Care: The Politics of Forced Treatment, CLICK HERE)

 

In closing, it is frustrating that we are not making headway towards improving the lot of those living on Vancouver’s east side. The battle continues. Do what you can to help; treat people, all people, with respect. You do not know what went before.