What was supposed to be a news conference quickly escalated into a sit-in inside the mayor’s office Thursday morning.
At 10 a.m., about 11 protesters with the Stop Demovictions campaign met media outside city hall to demand residents of two soon-to-be-demolished Silver Avenue buildings be properly compensated.
In 2015, city council adopted a Tenant Assistance Policy. Developers looking to bulldoze multi-family buildings must provide tenants three months’ notice and three months’ rent. Under the Residential Tenancy Act, landlords must provide only two months’ notice and one month’s rent.
Developers must also submit a tenant assistance plan to the city, giving the names of those affected by the redevelopment.
In the case of Belford Properties, which plans to replace two low-rise rental apartments on Silver Avenue with highrise condo towers, its tenant assistance plan was submitted June 2015, the same time its rezoning application went to public hearing. Anyone who moved in after that date, after the developer submits its tenant assistance plan, is not covered by the policy, Lou Pelletier, the city’s director of planning and building told the NOW.
Organizers with the Stop Demovictions campaign gave the City of Burnaby one week to change its policy so that all demovicted tenants are covered, regardless of the date they moved in. They claim many residents were not told about the building’s fate or the true length of their tenancy agreement.
Thursday, protesters marched into Mayor Derek Corrigan’s office to present their case and speak with him. After being greeted by his assistant, Elaine Wong, they were told he was out of the country for a few weeks and no councillors were at city hall.
The group then barged into Corrigan’s office, where activist Ivan Drury sat down in the mayor’s chair.
“This is about people’s lives; 200 units being demolished. This is about people going homeless,” protester Sara Sagaii told Wong after she asked them to leave.
“We’ll stay here until you get anyone from council or an official person who can make a decision,” Drury chimed in.
Wong repeatedly asked everyone to move into council chambers, but they refused.
Dave Critchley, the city’s director of public safety, then came into the room, asking the group to leave because there were confidential papers around. Critchley informed the protesters the cops had been called and they were on their way.
About an hour later, a handful of Burnaby RCMP officers showed up. Police told the group they were trespassing and they could be arrested if they didn’t leave.
After much back and forth, Coun. Colleen Jordan agreed to come down and meet with the protesters at 1 p.m. outside the mayor’s office.
With about 45 minutes to kill at that point, it became a waiting game. Some protesters left the mayor’s office, with police not allowing re-entry, while four others remained inside. At one point, police closed the office door, at which point Drury asked it be open again. When it was, he planted himself in the doorway so he could “see his friends.”
No one was harmed, no force was used and no one was arrested during the three-hour-long sit-in.
When the councillor arrived, the protesters read out their letter.
One of the first issues housing advocates brought up was the cut-off date (before a rezoning application passes second reading) for tenant compensation.
“It’s a reasonable request to ask council to re-examine that. We can do that, and it was done that way for a reason,” Jordan said.
Jordan added anyone who was misled about the redevelopment should contact city hall.
“We’ll investigate it,” she said, noting one tenant has come forward and staff has “dealt with it.”
Jordan was put on the spot when asked why no one from the city responded to a letter sent six weeks ago to the mayor and council on behalf of the Silver Avenue residents.
The protesters agreed to collect testimonials and have demovicted tenants present their stories at a committee meeting later this month.
“We hope Colleen Jordan follows through with her investigations. She will find these tenants were treated unfairly. I hope she follows through and takes action. If she doesn’t, then we will just keep fighting,” said protester Zoe Luba.
