Patrick J. Schnerch

BC Housing is still working on initiatives to provide housing to our most vulnerable in British Columbia. The native, senoir and family focus is the priority now. These groups are some of the most hardest hit.

It was said that Victoria should not expect any more financial support for housing for at least the next two years. There is hopre though. The three Sandman Hotels went into recievership and the City of Victoria has put in a bid for these properities for the purposing of housing and supporting our most vulnerable. This is excellent news and is supported by everyone.

Al the normal opposition groups are supporting the city’s bid with high hopes that they are successful in their bid. This is the best news we have had in a long time. Congratulations to Mayor Dean Fortin and Council on your efforts, we wish you our gratuity and hope that you are successfull.

This is not some third world country ravished by corruption and run by drug dealers. Thiis is Canada in preperation for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. The security units have been poking around peaceful opposition organizations sniffing for terrorists or something of that nature.

The Prime minister did abolish parliment until well after the games are over. A secondary plan if things go ‘poof’, is that the United States will act on RCMP standards and inforce peace in this country. This is basically, martial law. We will not have the freedoms that we enjoy now.

The games will leave us penniless, scared and vulnerable. The social systems collapse is only a heartbeat away and yet we are still smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. Thios is not so much about the mentally ill, addicted and homeless anymore, it is the so-called civilized world that cannot see past the blinders. Of course our most vulnerable will suffer the most from our stupidity and there is no doubt that there will be fatalities on our city streets.

Many of us will soon find ourselves on the streets too. We don’t see that. Again we allow ignorance to be our guide. There are more that 4 billion reasons why Vancouver should not host the Gmes. Selfishness, greed and power drive the hearts of those ignorant of the welfare of a human being. If it is a hockey player that dies, the whole world will mourn. If 14 people a day die on Canadian streets; there isn’t even a whisper, never mind a tear.

I have been recieving some very civil , but opposing comments on my blog. I do welcome this as well for it helps keep me grounded. I also have had dozres of positive feedback as well. All your comments are appreciated and welcomed. I do not pretend to be an authority on the subject, but I do have over 30 years of similar experiences myself.

As a survivor, I am still feeling the repurcussions of my past. I may have, but not always have a couple of dollars in my pocket. There isn’t enough money to pay for groceries for my wife an I in a month. Bills maybe a couple day late, but are always paid.

I still battle with mental illness and addiction as well. My wife and I are only a stone throw away from living on the streets ourselves. How many thousands more are like us. Divorce, loss of job, or heavy taxes will throw all of us into the gutter.

Are the Olympics really worth that much to you?

THe 2010 winter Olympics are welcomed by many, opposed by some and as a perfect target for others. Although I am a peaceful activist behind a computer, there are some who use more drastic measures of opposition. The levels very from person to person.

I prefer my gentle protest where I do not intend to hurt people. I might tick them off, but is easily forgotton as a personal opinion. Many people are opposed to the games in Vancouver. There is more than double the security in Canada than there was in Beijing. Actually close to four times as much.

Since parliment was abolished, martial law can be imposed and conducted by Amereican officers to act under RCMP laws. It is not just me being an alarmist, the country is also nervous. Anything can happen and it usually does.

The homefront has not made many friends here either. We are not are very popular country right now. To host the Games are nervously optomistic and opposed by advocates for BC’s most vulnerable.

I also oppose it, but for many reasons that can be delivered through literature. I believe in the power of the pen. My words will be read well after I have passed on. I have a dream that our children do not have to experience what we did. Many are not aware of the challenges we see.

Most people believe that Victoria, BC is the most beautiful city in the world. For many years, it actually was. The scenery is absoslutley manificant with the mountains, ocean and trees.

Poor politics, policies and regulations turned the city up side down. I am concerned about this city and province and I don’t like seeing what I see. This is a beautiful place to visit, but living here does have some concerns that need to be fixed.

I had a gentleman ask if I had some sort of opposition to my book series for he felt that these topics definitely hit bone. He was seriously concerned about my personal safety. Mental illness, addiction and homeless is still not talked about after all these years. People are afraid of the unknown. The fact is that no one wants to know or learn about the facts. It is easier to turn your nose up in the air than to address these conditions in a constuctive way.

We had a National Day for Honouring Our Homeless Dead this month. 99% of the population never knew that it existed. The 22nd of December is a day of reflection, honour and respect to those who perished on our streets alone. The general public do not want to hear that. This not destiny, it is ignorance.

The actions of a few paint the canvass in a single brush stroke. People don’t realize that the other 1,543 homeless people are hiding in brushes, under bridges and abandoned buildings. Many are sick, there are those who are addicted and the damaged spirits. We don’t see them, so we believe that what we do see is the way they all are.

There are families living in cars, couch surfing from relative to relative or friends. A lot of the shelters should not be allowed to opperate and it is a fact that in some cases that it is safer to sleep in front of a business doorway than use the provided facilities.

The mentally ill are unable to care for themselves never mind trying to protect themselves from danger. Some of these illness affect the person’s ability to be in crowed areas where the anxiety eats them alive.

Some will never leave their friends like their faithful companion the dog and rightfully so. The shelter will not accomodate anyone under the inflruence of drugs or alcohol. That policy basically eliminates over 700 people from seeking shelter. The policies and rules to gain entrance is time consuming and not guaranteed. Families refuse to split up even for the night and they shouldn’t be forced to do so.

With these sad realities, I would also pitch a tent to protect myself or family in a park. This is survival. The general public don’t care, they are still busting at the gut from the Christmas Dinner Turkey. Try doing without for one year and see how you feel. It almost feels like being violated and left to die.

Live on the street with little food, clothing or shelter and then you will really know what being violated is all about. You will have to deal on a daily basis of rejection, stigma, discrimination and ignorance from the public.

How can anyone in that situation not have their mind, hearts and souls damaged beyond repair? We don’t care, we just don’t want to see them. Out of sight, out of mind. We are selfish, greedy and hateful towards other human beings. What makes us so special that we think that we are any better than a homeless person? The only difference between us is what is in your wallet. Money does not make a person.

Try a heavy reccession, loss of two incomes, divorce, addiction or illness, the money in your wallet will quickly run out and you will be standing in line at the shelter. The government does not see the effects of these conditions while eating a fat ham with a six figure income. The general public can at least save a few hundred dollars a month and many are hundreds of dollars behind on their bills. We can either be homeless or dead, which one would you choose. I am ticked right off! Hooray for the Winter Olympic Games!!!

I decided to change the name of the third book because many people associated it with women’s underwear. ‘City of Gardens: Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret’ is now, ‘City of Gardens: The Lost Sheep’. The new title is especially fitting for society tends to follow behind like lost sheep.

With the lack of true leadership, the blind follow the blind. Wave a toonie in front of a politcian and he will follow. The city, province and country are not so far behind. We are spending money we don’t have on the lottery in hopes of winning the big one. The 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver is a gamble that we cannot afford to lose.

Politicians and govermnents are gambling with our money and future. The lost sheep will follow blindly into the wolf’s den. It is there that the developers and commisions will have their big feast. One burp and it’s all gone.

We put all our eggs in one basket and there is nothing else to cushion our fall. If we fall, we will never get up. These decisions were not made with logic but greed, selfishness and ignorance. No one uses their head anymore to think with.

A beer, television and a chesterfield during those ten days of supposed glory is more important than the country’s most precious treasure of all and this a human being. Unless you have several thousand dollars to attend the games in person, you are nothing more than an expendable pawn.

The mentally ill, addicted and homeless have been neglected once again and left to defend themselves. The new book will go into great detail into this subject and see how it has affected BC’s population and its poorest citizens. Time will tell.

During the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, I will be taking a national survey of how many homeless Canadians have died during those ten days of supposed glory. Drug overdose, exposure or sickness is not a concern to the general public. Everyone is jumping on the Olympic Fever Train, while I am counting crosses.

Send obitituary or news paper article validating and confirming that loss as a fact to:
West Coast Literary Productions
Box 44169 Tillicum Road
Victoria, BC, V9A 7K1
Canada.

This information will then be used in the 3rd edition of “The City of Gardens Collection” book series. I want to put faces to the names of those who perished for the sake of world sporting events.

“City of Gardens: Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret” will reveal to what extent we will go to when we will jeopardize a human life. A hockey puck has more importance than the life of my friends on the street. I will take those numbers and shove them in the dark places of goverment and many who have stone cold hearts of society. Even just one life is not worth the sacrifice of these people on the streets for sake of a winning bobsled timing.

You will watch the games intensely while people are sitting defenceless in the rain or snow, hungry and cold. To get a hold of me by e-mail, check the main menu of this site. If we work together, we in most likelyhood can take these facts and figures straight to the Hill. Someone will have to answer for these deaths.

“The City of Gardens Collection” is a ten year case study of Victoria, BC, Canada. It takes Victoria’s social workings and displays them as an example. Although a small city, this series will capture ten years of successes and challenges it faced trying to contain homelessness and its contributing factors such as mental illness and addiction.

Even though it is a small city, it still has big city problems. Geographically, the problems are worse than other cities like Toronto or Vancouver. There is a higher concentration of injection drug users, more people are infected with hepititis C, and has one of the lowest affordable housing rates in Canada. Victoria has been hit very hard which qualifies it for a more intense study than anywhere in this country.

This may be the most thorough study that has ever been done on this city. It goes as far as penetrating the street population itself. You get the real grasp of the results of decisons and policies made by those who don’t understand the impact of their actions on the street.

How can a politician decide what is good for the street community without going into the streets themselves and seeing it with their own eyes? Behind the premier or mayor’s office walls, reality is withheld from entering that space.

Their own people are dying on their streets and there is still no sense of urgency. I see more during my work and studies that would it prompt more people to action than what is done within the governments themselves. They don’t house the poor, treat the mentally ill or save the life of the addicted. It is us who do that.

The intensity of the conditions are steadily increasing thus crippling this city. The problem is that no one in office has the street sense to make things work. There are many ways to stimulate housing and build the ecconomy thus funding essential services.

Promoting essential street services until permanent solutions are in place is a step in the right direction. Things will not happen over night, but we have to take care of the now. Tight regulations and policies freeze people from obtaining shelter, food and clothing. There are simple solutions that can temporarily provide safe and stable santuraries until a permanent solutions is feasible.

Guidelines can be enforced to ensure a safe and compassionate cooperation between mainstream society and the street community. Most laws that are in place are because of it tipping into the money jar of the city. Common sense would lossen their grips on society and make things work more effectively than our present situation. Even if these regulations are losened temporarily, it would certainly provide stability and safety to all of those involved.

The solutions are obtainable, but it is the iron handed political tactics for power that jeopardize the lives of our street community. We do not give credit that they are human beings too. We treat them like animals and let them sleep outside under the cold elements of our winters.

This is what this case study reveals. If there is a will, there is always a ways. If you really want to help your neighbour, you can.

The third book of the ten year case study is now underway. After seeing a few doctors in the last week, it is unsure if if will be able to complete the ten book series. Anyway, that is tribual. It is my friends on the street that I owe my respect to. This new book starts off with an eccomomic report card. It not only affects the general populatio, but is especially hard on the most vulnerable.

Charities, churches and other organizations dedicated to help the mentally ill, addicted and homeless are just surviving and some will have to close their doors. Donations are next to nothing and financial support from government and funding institutions are either cut back or abolished.

This affects soup kitchens, emergency shelters, medical and dental as well social assistance. Cut backs in the mental health field will see more patients forced to the streets. Drug and alcohol abuse will continue to rise and again more people will take to the streets. Without obtainable treatment, the chances of ever recovering or returning back into mainstream society is next to zero. There is not doubt that the homeless count will sharply increase because of these reasons and many traditional families are also at high risk. Loss of job, family break-ups, addictions, and poverty puts these people over the edge.

Ultimately, the death rate on the street will also significantly increase. The book will then question various authorities of why they believe that this has happened and if they accept any responsibility to the people and what they plan to do to get us out of the rut.

The final quarter of the book will go to the streets for interviews, testimomials and photos to reveal the truth behing social imcompetence. This is the true gage of what is really happening. Finally, the book will review and grade the situation. It will combine the evidence and come up with a forecast of the next year as well as analize the successes and failures of 2010 - 2011 in Victoria, BC, Canada

Genre: Special Interest

Title: City of Gardens: The Other Side of the Fence

Author: Patrick J. Schnerch

Society cannot give up on people for what they did in the past; it is what they do today that counts.

The statistics are staggering. It is a societal disease that many choose to ignore until a face-to-face encounter with the sad reality. The numbers have no face, no personality; the numbers are just that, numbers. There is Ray, who was raised by a single mom and tried to ease her despair by earning money through crime. He is not homeless; but his life of crime and his dependence on alcohol forces him to change addresses frequently. Then there is Doug, who was kicked out of his family home at a young age and quickly became a juvenile delinquent. At 63, his dependence on alcohol has forced him to a life primarily on the streets. There is also Renée, who is a product of a social system gone sour. As a First Nations child in a Catholic foster home, she was regularly sexually abused by a family whose so-called Christian values had promised to protect and nurture her. Now, she dulls the pain of her past memories through drugs and alcohol. These are just some of the faces of the over 1500 homeless and unstably housed people in the tourist haven known as the City of Gardens. And the numbers continue to climb at a phenomenal rate of 30%!

Victoria’s problem is monumental. Its warm weather makes life on the streets more endurable than in many other cities across the country. The city prides itself in its beautiful scenery, picturesque gardens, unique gift shops and cozy little tearooms. Its pristine, ‘more English than the English’, stiff upper lip prefers to look the other way at the sight that now dominates the city core. The other side of the fence is not so rosy. The preference of the majority of Victoria’s population is to ignore the problem of the rising number of street people in the hopes that it might just disappear. It is the same across the country; it is like genocide of our society. What one refuses to see and accept as fact can, and is, just as easily ignored! But we cannot ignore this problem forever.

Patrick J. Schnerch’s ‘City of Gardens: The Other Side of the Fence’ is a blunt statement of society’s forgotten soul. It is a thorough sociological study of the twenty-first century’s most ignored problem. An active member of the Victoria Human Exchange Society, Schnerch is an advocate for society’s forgotten and neglected population. The author can speak honestly on this subject, as many of the people in his studies are facing the same battles of mental illness that has haunted his own life. Schnerch has written many articles on these troubling topics. His first book, The Peaceful Warrior: Memoirs of a Damaged Mind and Soul, is a revealing look into the life of a troubled mind. Schnerch is also the author of the crime novel, Adrian.

‘City of Gardens: The Other Side of the Fence’ is a thorough and insightful study of a serious problem that plagues every major city in North America. ‘City of Gardens: The Other Side of the Fence’ is highly recommended by: Emily-Jane Hills Orford, Allbooks Reviews.

This is the third book in ‘The City of Gardens Collection’. This book will be released in March 2012. This particular book will monitor and doccument Victoria’s dirty secrets that have been hidden from the world theatre. The aftermath of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver will have a profound affect on this city. It will be impossibe to hide the social rot from our visitors.

The premiere edition of the series has generated more interest than any other book I have written before. In less than a year, it has surpassed my other work by a large margin. The series is similar to some of the greatest writers in Canada or the world like Kim Goldberg. She is a world known poet, journalist, and photographer who is soon to release, ‘Red Zone’. She has lived in Nanaimo, BC, Canada for over thirty years.

With the official count of 300 homeless people in that city, Kim has visited dark alleys, parks, and cubby holes around the city to gather material and sixty pictures. This brave woman speaks for those who have been silenced for so long. Her voice is of her brothers and sisters on the streets. She is a true Maveric.

My 3rd book will be again different that the others. These topics are so diverse that I believe that my ten year case study will only scrape the top of what is really happening. There is many variants to mental illness, addiction and homelessness that any study conducted will never do the street community any justice.