Shayne Ramsay Cannot Man Up
Shayne Ramsay cannot man up and accept his recommended ‘retirement’ from historical mismanagement and conflict of interest without lashing out at the latest in a long line of critics.
Even David Eby, who "lacks the stomach or character" of Joy McPhail, had to cut him loose weeks after the Ernst and Young report was released.
For a taste of Shayne Ramsay's legacy, listen to what Speaker 241 on July 25, 2022 had to say about David Eby and BC Housing.
I wonder how helpful Forward Together candidate Dulcy Anderson, former constituency office secretary of David Eby, was for this Speaker during her time of crisis.
Note that only Councillor Hardwick, out of a Council dominated by women, asks the Speaker questions.
Notice that Councillor Boyle cannot be bothered to pay attention to something not fitting her agenda.
On July 26, 2022 Shayne Ramsey thought appropriate to repeat the PR script created in February 2021 before any dialogue and/ or consultation took place. His speech ignored the five long days of public hearing that had just taken place.
In the same speech, Ramsey chose to disparage a whole neighbourhood that happened to disagree with his policies by calling them the defamatory 'NIMBY'. He had to be cautioned by the Mayor for the unacceptable language. When confronted outside of Council chamber, Shayne Ramsey chose to claim that he was a 'victim.'
Exactly a week after his speech in front of City of Vancouver Council, Shayne Ramsey announced his early retirement. It is very telling that after 26 years with BC Housing, the retiring CEO mentioned no accomplishments whatsoever. Instead, his parting remarks contained loose associations between tragic and unfortunate, but unrelated events.
The transcript below shows what a real victim of BC Housing has gone through:
Speaker 241 during the public hearing in City of Vancouver Council on Item 3, CD-1 Rezoning: 2086-2098 West 7th Avenue, and 2091 West 8th Avenue, reconvening July 25, 2022 at 1:26:57
[Speaker 241]:
So, I'm speaking against this.
And I'm here to let you know today, that the people who have their concerns about this project, their concerns are not misplaced.
I would like to be honest and formally ask David Eby to resign in both positions as Attorney General and BC Housing Minister.
In the June 22nd interview with CTV News, Eby alleged that he wanted to assure people that if issues did come up, he would be quick to respond to them.
This is not true.
David Eby, I'm sorry if this becomes a Point of Order, is a liar.
He knows...
[Kennedy Stewart]:
...starts to interrupt...
[Speaker 241]:
Sorry, I'm just going to finish this...
[Kennedy Stewart]:
Speaker, no no no. I'm going to caution you right there.
[Speaker 241]:
Yup.
[Kennedy Stewart]:
This is exactly what we mean by, you know, defamatory statements. And so, I really caution you. That was a really strong statement and I'd like you to stay..
[Speaker 241]:
And what I have to say is very STRONG.
He knows the issues that came up and did nothing to help.
The policies, by denying justice to those that need, puts the most vulnerable citizens at risk.
In May of 2019, I went to his constituency office to get help in relation to damage deposit from a BC Housing-run site where I was raped.
And I was left as homeless. And the facility housed disabled people where I was one. It also housed mentally ill, drug addicts, and in the case of the man who raped me, an illegal alien, who was not even supposed to be there, because he was not...supposed to be in a place required to by a church sanctuary.
The...David Eby was completely derelict of his duties as a MLA.
He downplayed my situation when I went to ask him for help.
I asked him to get my deposit back, because I wasn't comfortable talking to the...to that place and he did not even have the DECENCY to follow up.
In fact, he didn't even treat me as much of a human being.
He does not have the stomach or the character, in my opinion, to hold these positions.
As the direct result of David Eby's inaction, I lost my housing that I had worked hard for over 10 years.
And I want you to look at this screen, and right here you're going to see my...health situation. You will see that every single thing is flagged (LifeLabs listing of 20 lab orders with red flagged results).
And if you go to the next screen, you will see that this is my white blood count (LifeLabs graph for test results).
This is what I have to deal with, because the person...there was never proper medical care.
There is not proper medical care in this city for rape victims.
And in later follow up, I will give you what actually needs to be done.
Now this situation, this man did not take trying seriously and people do not understand the long term complications and expenses it causes for victims.
I have to be on antibiotics twice a week.
I have to have anti-fungals all the time.
I'm a Type 1 diabetic. You have no idea what that does to my health.
And I've had two surgeries on my bladder to fix this problem.
There was a paper written by Dr Fenster, who was a urologist that had written in 1975 that specifies the effect of rape on women and the long term urinary care and problems that they have.
I suffered internal injuries, and developed hernias because of the struggle that I had with that man.
And it is absolutely, it is absolutely HORRIBLE.
Next slide.
This slide, because I happen to have a small non-profit, and in this slide, the NDP government denies CARE, denies MEDICATION for rape on a Special Authority written by a doctor (Special Authority application form for a topical anti-fungal agent).
I want you to understand that these policies do not work and something much, MUCH different needs to occur.
This system is failing women. It's failing people who have disabilities on every front. On the medical front. On the police front. On the housing safety front.
And in terms of really creating supports.
Women shouldn't have to run from shelter to shelter.
We should be developing a system in which women like ME can get a mortgage and live a normal life again.
[Kennedy Stewart]:
Speaker, sorry to interrupt, you are at your 5 minute limit. I'm very, very sorry about your experiences that caused you extreme difficulty...ugh...I...If you need additional help or support, we can supply that information to you. But again, I'm very sorry about...
[Speaker 241]:
I will be taking you to court. You will not, you will not be treating me anymore like some sort of person who has to BEG, because that's not the way that it needs to work anymore...
[Kennedy Stewart]:
You do have ...
[Speaker 241]:
Real changes and because my civil rights on every level were destroyed.
[Kennedy Stewart]:
Thank you. You do have questions from Councillor Hardwick.
[Colleen Hardwick]:
I am very sorry to hear about your experiences. What does this directly pertain to, this particular location, this particular configuration? What drew you here to speak to this particular item?
[Speaker 241]:
What drew me here was that I specifically moved to Kitsilano. I'm a graduate of McGill. When I ended up within this system, there are a lot of people that get swept up into these systems that shouldn't be in them.
And there is a lot of misconceptions that people just get dumped into these problems, into the system that cause these problems without...and I've seen, you would not believe the things I've seen, being on the side of life that I would have never expected myself to be in.
And, what drew me to this was the fact that there are...it doesn't address the drug issues, it doesn't address the fact that there are no...in any BC Housing space that did have 50 people and did have supposed supports, the problem isn't just the supports, it's the quality of the people that are hired. It's ensuring that people are really well-trained in these profession and a lot of people are not.
And that was one of the major problems within the BC Housing structure.
And the fact that when somebody says that they would take care of something, and what they did to me was they put me on the street, after I had been raped.
There is something very wrong with the way that BC Housing does things, and there are other people like me who are probably too afraid to speak, because what this system does is bullies people when it makes mistakes.
[Colleen Hardwick]:
Today, though, we're talking about this location. Is there anything specific you would say about this location?
[Speaker 241]:
Yes, I would say having a situation where unvetted individuals and you have a situation where, let's be honest, you may start off really well, but after a few years, people get lazy. And they start, 'Oh well, let's put this person here, that person there.'
I believe in supportive housing. I believe in supportive housing for people of all walks of life.
But I do not think that people who have committed crimes or people that have a type, and not all mental illnesses are the same, people that have a violent streak, a proven violent streak, that people have the right to know what their safety level is.
When I was assaulted, I had gone through a stroke. There was no way that I would have been able to defend myself against a person.
And the thing about people when they're in that vulnerable state, they may not be even aware of time in the same way. They may not...there's a lot of issues, the fact that you have a women's shelter nearby is very disturbing to me.
The guy that raped me had a very significant interest in children.
And some of the things that he had said, you know, were extremely disturbing.
And I think we really strongly need to take into account that when people say that there may be problems, and it looks like an ACME situation from a Far Side cartoon, maybe we need to think about that, because that is what exactly what it is.
[Colleen Hardwick]:
Thank you very much for speaking to us today.
Thanks again for capturing what is so wrong for so many