Classy: the "scum of the earth"

Stay classy, ambassadors of the Vancouver Business Improvement Association. From the Vancouver Sun:

An ambassador with the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association referred to the homeless and drug-addicted as "scum of the earth," an artist who posed as an ambassador claims.

Jamie Hilder, who was training with the ambassador, said other ambassadors would routinely pressure the homeless to move along the city streets.

Hilder was the first witness in an expected 15-day B.C. Human Rights hearing, brought by Pivot Legal Society, United Native Nations and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users against the association and the City of Vancouver for discriminating against drug addicts, the homeless and aboriginal people.

Hilder said when he first visited the office of the Vancouver ambassadors program in May 2008, he heard references made by other ambassadors to a homeless man named Gordon, who had died the previous night from a suspected suicide by drug overdose.

"The response was 'oh my God that would be awesome if it's true. I know that makes me sound like a bad person but he makes our life hell,' " Hilder quoted an unnamed ambassador as saying.

Hilder said that same day he went out with one of the "exemplary ambassadors," a 19-year-old named Nadia who referred to panhandlers and street people as "the scum of the earth who barely deserved her respect."

He said another ambassador he followed that day, named Randy, spoke to a frail man, who appeared either homeless or suffering from mental health issues. The man was smoking near a business, so Randy told him that wasn't allowed. Hilder said Randy then went inside the business and asked the cook if he wanted the man removed from the patio chair.

"[The man] told him he was just waiting for the bus. Randy pulled out the cellphone and said he would call police."

Hilder said the man struggled to get up and then left.

On his second day on the job, Hilder said he was paired with an ambassador named Tom who seemed reluctant to act on one of the job requirements: asking people to leave the area. Still, Hilder testified he saw Tom kick a makeshift sleeping area set up by a homeless man behind a hair salon on Robson Street, telling him to move along. Hilder said when he asked Tom what would happen to the man, Tom said he would return once they left the area.

Another time with Tom, they saw four or five well dressed young men smoking marijuana from a bong in a back alley downtown.

"Tom kept walking and I said only certain types of drug users [are asked to move along] and he said those guys aren't bothering anyone. So if you are dressed well and you didn't look like you were homeless then that was okay," said Hilder.

Hilder said he was told in training there were two ways to convince someone to move along: either talk to them or place yourself in the nearby vicinity until the person leaves.

If the person wouldn't leave, they would call police. Primarily, they targeted drug addicts, and panhandlers.

Other job functions included giving directions to tourists, handing out pamphlets and providing information.

Outside the hearing, Charles Gauthier, executive director of the Downtown Vancouver Business Association, said other witnesses will talk about how compassionate ambassadors are. He said there have been no issues in the past with the 10-year-old program.