Housing minister targets liberty of most vulnerable

Olympic-sized street-cleaning in the works
Mark Hasiuk, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, January 09, 2009

"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts."--Edmund Burke

Last week, Rich Coleman, B.C.'s minister of housing and social development, said he wants to change the Mental Health Act so mental health workers and police have more power to apprehend homeless people for "their own good."

Coleman's announcement follows the well-publicized death of a homeless woman known as Tracy, who died Dec. 19 at Hornby and Davie after her makeshift encampment caught fire. Police repeatedly tried in vain to persuade Tracy to go to a shelter.

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