I went to school in the dtes for about 5 years. I’m an SFU grad with my BFA in Visual Arts, and the visual arts studio is on Princess and Alexander street. Every year we had the same discussion; new students would come to the campus with their heads filled with the dehuminizing rhetoric of drug addicts, prostitutes and horror stories. Then we get a visit from the Vancouver police to talk about safety at our campus. Those students who want practical solutions are quickly disappointed as the police always focus on the fact that the people living in this community are people, some with homes and families, and all participating in a lively community where people know each other’s names and where neighbours are friends. The police then tell us their own “horror” story, where a white, middle class male finds himself in the dtes, walking behind someone he believes to be a prostitute and her male companion. He believes the dtes is dirty, a black mark against the beautiful facade of Vancouver and that these people are to blame for that and their own circumstances. The man begins to yell derrogatory remarks at the woman, calling her a “whore” and names much worse. Her male companion tries to pull the woman to the other side of the street to avoid confrontation. The middle class man and the woman end up fighting, and the police attend. It turns out the “prostitute” is the sister of her companion and they were walking after dinner. Neither were currently drug addicts, neither had drugs in their possession and neither were in the sex trade. This man, and his stigma, harassed a perfectly nice pair enjoying some family time.

We need to help the people in the dtes that need it, and help to preserve the lively community that exists there.