Paul Manly - Nanaimo City Councillor

Janice Perrino's account has been hacked and the hackers are running scam posts. If you are a facebook friend of Janice, please report these to Facebook and then unfriend this account.

I'm taking part in the Coldest Night of the Year walk to raise funds for Island Crisis Care on February 24th. If you would like to sponsor me please click the link below to make a contribution.

It’s cold out there! The Coldest Night of the Year is a winterrific family-friendly walk to raise money for local charities serving people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness. Team up, fundraise, walk, and look closer... because it’s cold out there.

All too often the argument against doing something to lower our carbon emissions and mitigate climate change is that it's too expensive. Well it's clear that the climate is changing and it is costing us a lot.

Canada is getting hotter and drier and that trend will continue until the middle of the century. This spring there are already hundreds of out of control wildfires burning in 7 provinces and 2 territories, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, hundreds of buildings have burned, property damage and economic loses are in the hundreds of millions if not billions and fire season has only just begun. This summer is expected to be the worst 'fire season' on record... interesting how summer has become fire season...

If you're not directly affected by the fires and smoke you will be affected by increases in insurance rates and the tax dollars spent for fighting the fires and disaster relief. I think that spending funds proactively to mitigate this damage is better than spending money reactively to deal with the destruction. It's going to take a huge mind-set change and human mobilization to prevent the worst of what could be coming with a changing climate.

Federal data forecasts grim wildfire season this summer | CBC News As hundreds of fires continue to burn across the country, officials with the federal government said this morning they're forecasting higher-than-normal fire activity across most of Canada through to August at least.

I'm at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference and there have been some excellent resolutions and discussions about the connection between affordable housing, homelessness, mental health and the impact on municipalities and our health care system. It's a big part of the plenary discussion on A New Fiscal Framework for Municipalities.

Dr. Andrew Boozary just talked about challenging politicians to hand over their wallets and spend a week in a homeless shelter to see how it affects their mental health.

It's pretty much unanimous that the current fiscal structure is flawed and that municipalities need more funding and tools to address the crisis in our communities.

How is it that someone living with a disability is unhoused in our community and has to camp or rely on shelters? J.C. has lived in Nanaimo her whole life but has been struggling with finding a stable place to live since 2015. “Landlords discriminate against me because I am on disability.”

She would like her own place to live, with her own room, her own bathroom and her own cooking space. Somewhere where she won’t get discriminated against and doesn’t get picked on. She wants the same things everyone wants, respect and dignity.

Who is unhoused in Nanaimo?

J.C has lived in Nanaimo since 1983… her whole life. She is on provincial PWD (Person With Disability). She has been struggling with finding a place to live since 2015. “Landlords discriminate against me because I am on disability.” It’s hard to find an affordable place to live on the income she gets from PWD.

She had an affordable place to live on Bowen Rd. but was being bullied because she didn’t drink alcohol, smoke or do drugs, so she moved. She camped in Northfield Park for a year, has camped out along the parkway and in other parts of the community. All she has been able to afford are room rentals in houses but has run into problems with landlords and moved. She has bounced back and forth from room rentals, to camping to shelters. She has been to the NUS multiple times over the years. When she has been camping around the community she has been stalked by bears and a mountain lion.

“It’s stressful not having a place to live and it’s mentally exhausting.” She goes to the warming centres, the library, VIU, Woodgrove and rides the buses to stay warm and pass the time. She is polite to other homeless people who are involved with drugs but she tries not to get involved with them.

She would like her own place to live, with her own room, her own bathroom and her own cooking space. Somewhere where she won’t get discriminated against and doesn’t get picked on. She wants the same things everyone wants, respect and dignity.

Welcome to all the Junior All Native Tournament players! We'll see you at the opening ceremonies today.

HERE WE GO!! Welcome to JANT 2023!

Please note, there are no tickets and no charge for any JANT event, including the Opening Ceremony. Availability is on a first come, first served basis.

⭐ Opening Ceremony: You're invited to join the JANT 2023 Opening Ceremony on March 19th at 6:00pm at the Frank Crane Arena in the Beban Park Complex. Please dress warmly.

🏀 Tournament Games
Monday March 20th – Friday March 24th. At 6 gymnasiums across Nanaimo:

- John Barsby Secondary
- Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS)
- Wellington Secondar
- Cedar Secondary
- Snuneymuxw Youth Centre’s Gym
- Dover Bay Secondary

🏆 U17 Championship Games & Award Ceremony
U17 & U13, Friday, March 24th | 4pm-ish
John Barsby Secondary

🛍️ JANT Marketplace
Monday March 20th – Friday March 24th | 9am - 7pm
John Barsby Secondary

ℹ️ For the latest news check out www.JANT2023.COM + follow us on IG www.instagram.com/jant2023

🧡🖤 Thank you to all of our supporters who are working to make this an amazing tournament! City of Nanaimo Local Government, Seaspan Ferries, First Nations Health Authority, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools District, Indigenous Services Canada, Tourism Nanaimo, Nanaimo Hospitality Association, MNP, Hazelwood Construction, Kw'umut Lelum, Shop Talk Media, Mandell Pinder LLC, Greengrass productions inc, Nanaimo Clippers Jr. A Hockey Club, Petroglyph Development Group and Nanaimo Airport - YCD

Who is unhoused in Nanaimo? As a city councillor I get a lot of emails from people who are fed up with the addiction, mental health and homelessness crisis in our community. But most people in this community would not recognize the the majority of unhoused people in Nanaimo because they aren't pushing around shopping carts.

There are an estimated 600 - 700 unhoused people in Nanaimo. Only a small minority are street entrenched and have substance use and serious mental health challenges. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't have their mental health affected if they had to live on our streets... but many of the unhoused people don't fit the profile that is painted of homeless people. There are a lot of people who lost their homes as a result of the real estate boom in Nanaimo - someone moved to town bought the house or apartment they were in and evicted them so they could move in or renovate. Rents have skyrocketed and people on fixed incomes can't find a place they can afford.

The last Point in Time count of homeless/unhoused people in Nanaimo showed that 70% of them had lived in Nanaimo more than five years. This used to be an affordable working class community... please read this profile of E.B. this is a story that is repeated over and over again in Nanaimo. Who is unhoused in Nanaimo?

Who is unhoused in Nanaimo?

E.B. has been staying at the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter for almost 3 months. He’s 71 years old, and doesn’t drink alcohol or do any drugs. He came to BC from Ontario when he was 15 to escape an abusive situation at home. He worked all his life as a miner, working in camps in northern BC. In the 1980s E.B. was making as much as $150,000 a year working in the mines. He’s been married three times, each of his marriages lasted around 8-10 years. Working in remote camps was hard on his relationships. He has bought three different houses over the years but gave them up in each of his divorces. He doesn’t complain about it. It’s just the way things worked out.

E.B. had several workplace injuries and in 1999, he broke his neck in an accident at the North Air goldmine. After 6 months in bed and 18 months of rehabilitation, he couldn’t go back to work as a miner because of liability issues so he retired on a pension of $1900/ month.

He rented a place in Youbou for 17 years at $550 per month until the landlord turned it into Airbnb and started renting it for $750 a weekend. He moved back to Nanaimo and lived in an apartment on the lower level of a house on Kennedy St. paying $850 per month until the landlord evicted him in October to do a renovation which didn’t really amount to any major changes in the apartment. The same space now rents for $1650 per month. Both of his former landlords gave him letters saying what a great tenant he was… but that doesn’t help if you can’t afford the rent that landlords are charging now.

E.B. then bought an RV and a friend of his who owned 20 acres in Mill Bay let him live there as a caretaker. The local By-Law officer knew he was there but didn’t act until a neighbour complained and once again E.B. had to move. That’s when he ended up at the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter.

“I never in a million years thought that this is where I would be living in my retirement years. I’m not complaining at all. I had a great life actually, except the last couple of years have been tough. It’s just the way it is. I’m grateful to have a place to stay, the people at the Unitarian Shelter have been good to me. It’s just not how I thought things would be.”

*** Addendum to this post - in response to questions raised.
The staff at the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter work hard to find permanent housing and supports for shelter guests. They conduct Vulnerability Assessments with shelter guests that volunteer to taking part in that process. Shelter guests are placed on the waiting lists for the various types of housing and support services that they need including affordable housing, subsidized housing (geared to income), supportive housing (for people with higher needs), assisted living (for people with complex care needs) and detox, treatment and rehabilitation services (for people with substance abuse challenges). The problem is that the waiting lists are long and there just aren’t enough spaces to refer shelter guests to.

Our goal is to help people stabilize their lives, as such, shelter guest who return to the shelter before 8 pm are guaranteed a bed. Every night we have a waiting list and unfortunately we have to turn people away.

Thank you to everyone who came out to help the community clean-up yesterday. It's important to note that the mess we cleaned up was created by a very small minority of the people in our community who are experiencing homelessness and dealing with mental health and addiction challenges. There are an estimated 800 people who are unhoused in our community and another 6000 at risk of losing their homes.

Yesterday I worked alongside a number of guests of the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter include a man in his 70's who has been at the shelter for 3 months. He doesn’t drink, use drugs or have any mental health challenges (aside from the depression he must feel from being unhoused). This senior lived in the same house for 12 years with the same landlord. His rent was $850/month. His landlord said he was an excellent tenant but evicted him to renovate the house which now rents for $2600/month. That amount of rent put this senior, who lives on a fixed pension of $2000/month out on the street… there are lots of long-term Nanaimo residents with similar stories. Who are the unhoused in Nanaimo? They are people that you might not recognize as homeless.

It was an honour to take part in the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society Newcomers to Nanaimo Welcome Event yesterday at the conference centre. This is an event to introduce newcomers to the politicians at various levels who represent them. I talked to a number of newcomers who have some much needed skills and abilities to add to our community. I also heard some heart breaking stories about people escaping war and persecution and having to leave their loved ones behind. Welcome to Canada and welcome to Nanaimo!

Every person experiencing homelessness has a unique story and background. Many of those stories end tragically. "Christy was a community researcher who spent her final months advocating for herself and others who have experienced homelessness. At 60, she took her own life after receiving another eviction notice in a system that wasn’t designed for her. "

"After becoming homeless at age 60, she spent the final months of her life working on a University of Victoria research project with Audrey Tung and Kendall Fraser, both UVic graduate students in geography and social dimensions of health, respectively. Christy worked with Tung and Fraser on a community-based research project about older women’s experiences of homelessness, and she brought her personal experiences to the work." Audrey and Kendall wrote this article.

For Christy, Who Lived Fiercely and Died Precariously | The Tyee At 60, she took her own life after receiving an eviction notice in a system that wasn’t designed for her.

'Patron of the City' This is a well deserved honour for Craig Evans bestowed upon him by the City of Nanaimo.

Craig has a had a very positive impact on the city. He started Nanaimo's first recycling service and depot in 1978 and ran it until 1985. He was instrumental in stopping a proposed ferrochromium plant at Jack Point and the Brini garbage incinerator at the RDN landfill.

In 1987, he founded Nanaimo Community Gardens. In 1997, he was a founding member and driving force behind Nanaimo Foodshare, sitting on their board of directors from 1997 to 2022. He helped to establish the Good Food Box program run by the Nanaimo Recycling Exchange and now run by Foodshare.

Craig was a founding member of the Farmship Growers Co-operative. He started the VIU Farmers Market with the WEST program for people with diverse abilities. He was a board member for the Downtown Nanaimo Farmers Market for years and sat on many other local boards. He founded Growing Opportunities Farm Community Co-op with his life partner Jen Cody in 2009. Growing Opportunities works with people of all skills and abilities to grow food for the community, build community resilience and mitigate climate change.

Craig has always supported the inclusion of people who face barriers and challenges and ensured that the most marginalized members of our community have access to nutritious food and meaningful community involvement. For decades his career goal on his resume was to "Create a more just and equitable society." This is the dream we will remember Craig for.

The Nanaimo Association for Community Living has set up the Craig Evans Growing Opportunities/NACL Inclusion Legacy Fund to help keep the dream alive. You can make a charitable donation at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/19445?v1=true&fbclid=IwAR2D2-GKZliwG--xuFcJWEpTrxRaJ2nuh-BTAa1YZnuxiZ1UrwRdXuno0HQ - pick the 3rd option on the pull down menu.

Another amazing article about Growing Opportunities' amazing co-founder Craig Evans. “If you live a life of compassion and feel compassion in your heart and live a life of hope and dreams, in your brain, those neurons connected to that, they’re getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “That’s my belief, and in my case, it’s worked out.” https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/news/nanaimo-has-been-a-field-of-dreams-for-farmer-and-patron-of-the-city/

We must do a lot more than give a moment of silence today on National Day of Remembrance and Action on .

Learn more about how violence against women and gender-diverse people is one of the leading causes of homelessness on the Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network. website: https://loom.ly/k1T33c8

Intimate partner and family violence force too many women, girls and gender-diverse people into homelessness. The risk of homelessness also forces too many people to stay in violent situations, due to insufficient housing options.

Today, we remember every person impacted by violence and recommit ourselves to action against gender-based violence.

Learn more about how violence against women and gender-diverse people is one of the leading causes of homelessness on the Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network website: https://loom.ly/k1T33c8

Here's a write up by Councillor Hilary Eastmure about the tour we took with Councillor Janice Perrino of Samaritan Place, the new building at 702 Nicole St. operated by Island Crisis Care. We need more supportive housing buildings like this in Nanaimo.

Thank you Nanaimo for your vote of confidence! I'm looking forward to working hard and serving the community as a city councillor. Congratulations to Mayor Krog and the elected councillors.

There are 12 voting locations throughout the city. You can find a list of them right here --> https://www.nanaimo.ca/your-government/elections/voting-locations

Polls are open from 8am to 8pm, except for Protection Island where polls will be open from 10am to 6pm. Unlike provincial and federal elections, you may vote at whichever location is convenient for you. Bring your government-issued ID.

Thank you for your endorsement Dave, and thank you for your many contributions to our community!

Thank you for your endorsement Kix, and for all of the work you do for our community!

Thank you for your endorsement Patrick. I'm grateful for all that I've learned from you about evidence-based solutions to the housing affordability crisis.

Thanks for your support Kerri! And thank you for advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable members of our community.

Thank you for your endorsement Tanis! And thank you for working to make our community a healthier place for all.

Thank you for your endorsement Tracy! And thank you for the compassionate care and creative energy you bring to our community.

I'm proud to be endorsed by Climate Vote Nanaimo. You can view their entire list of endorsed candidates at https://www.climatevotenanaimo.com/

Thank you for your endorsement George, and thank you for being a champion for local business and local food.

Thank you for your endorsement Pamela! I am grateful for your support and your leadership on environmental issues.

I'm grateful for your endorsement Graham and look forward to continuing to work together to ensure our community is an affordable and liveable place for people of all abilities.