While it was a refreshing change to finally have heard our City government recognize that Abbotsford has a homeless quandary, they now appear to regret this admission. With the serving of notice, the eviction of the homeless camping in “Compassion Park” and subsequent public statements, there is a dishearteningly familiar sound of the old song and dance performed by the City regarding homelessness, poverty and other social issues. Given that they are moving forward with forming a council advisory committee responsible for addressing social concerns and matters such as the homeless, I expect them to fall back upon that old refrain “we cannot act until we get a committee report – no matter that the situation and need is such that procrastination puts lives at risk. This brings two pictures to mind, first the image of a camel – a horse designed by a committee and secondly, the image of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

Fiddling around twiddling ones thumbs accomplished nothing, except to allow the situation to worsen and grow. There has been more than enough banal lip service and prevarication on these pressing social issues. Provide some leadership or at least be responsible enough to stop stalling, admit to a lack of any notion of how to proceed, listen to ideas and adopt a policy of not raising barriers but to help efforts by others in the community to address and meet portions of the need.

What is really needed here is Leadership. Take note that Leadership does not involve sitting around ignoring reality, hoping for some kind of miracle or waiting to see which way the people want to head then running to get to the front and an appearance of leadership. Leadership involves having a vision, working to build co-operation and consensus regarding what we want to achieve, A willingness to focus on what we can do, on solutions rather than what we cannot do or how large and complex the problem is. Instead of whining about the responsibility of the Federal and Provincial governments or others, you tell them what you are going to do and what you need them to do. Providing direction to get the citizens of Abbotsford involved in generating ideas, plans and actions, then participating in addressing the needs of their less fortunate fellow citizens. Leading a wide open, far ranging discussion in order to give rise to a compelling vision of how and what we want our community to be. Co-operating and working to contribute to the creation of a community wide movement for change. It is time to accept the challenge, to take action and make our City a vibrant community.

To quote Mr. Guthrie: “I think the real story is that this ended successfully and many of these people have been successful in finding accommodation. They are working with various agencies and hopefully we can get them back into a regular lifestyle.” And later “ …getting them into the system.”

“ … getting them into the system.” The question I have about this is, what good does getting anyone into a system with the serious flaws the current welfare system has do them? Anyone with recent experience with the current system can tell you that the system itself is a major barrier to finding work and getting back onto your feet. Abandoning people to “the system” is something you reserve for your worst enemies – and even then only if you are particularly vengeful. If the city chooses to abandon people to “the system” it owes those people its best efforts to reform and/or advocate for the needed reform/changes to “the system”. This in order that the system become about lending a helping hand to those in need, as opposed to the current practice of only paying lip service to the concept of helping. But then all levels of government seem much better at paying lip service to this problem and in applying Band-Aids, than in providing the leadership and vision to begin to address the needs and long-term commitment required to make a successful start in addressing homelessness and poverty in our society.

“…many of these people have been successful in finding accommodation.” Technically yes, but I do not consider that a temporary bed at the Salvation Army as being a true success in finding accommodation. “… these people”? I have serious reservations about just what this means about the city’s attitude towards, the way in which it thinks about the homeless and the prejudicial mindset the term suggests.

I had intended to revile Mr. Guthrie about his use of the word successful in the city’s actions vis-à-vis Compassion Park. However, in looking into the definition of successful (some of us like to keep in touch with the reality of a situation) I found I could not do that. Successful: Having a favorable outcome; having obtained something desired or intended: was successful in avoiding responsibility and bad press. So I must concede that from the city’s viewpoint this was undoubtedly a successful outcome. They got to use some very nice sounding sound bites such as “ended successfully”, shift responsibility for taking any real or positive actions onto “various agencies” while avoiding accepting any responsibility to take action themselves, obscuring actual outcomes behind platitudes and fancy verbal footwork and above all avoid the need to show any initiative, vision or real leadership on this pressing social issue.

I can only conclude by admitting that I was a little surprised and disappointed when I looked up the definition of successful. Even the definition of success, the achievement of something, is somewhat of a disappointment. I always thought of being successful or of achieving success as having a more positive and beneficial outcome. “I think that the real story is that” unfortunately the City does not seem to share this positive action oriented, providing leadership and vision view of what constitutes success.