The provincial government would be hard-pressed to appear more heartless if they tried.
This week, Sea to Sky and Lower Mainland advocates for victims of domestic and sexual abuse announced the province has told them they're on their own in dealing with the anticipated spike in violence during the Olympic Games.
B.C. officials chose to reject Lower Mainland advocates' evidence in favour of a study from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games indicating the increase in the beating and sexual abuse of children and women was "negligible" in other words, unimportant enough that it may safely be disregarded.
Instead of telling the world that abuse and violence on its own citizenry will not be tolerated, the province is giving carte blanche to those who would use the Games to indulge the worst side of humanity as seen in Athens when there was a doubling of sex trafficking of women and children during the Olympics.
The response from our representative at the Legislature is the same old routine. MLA Joan McIntyre, who is also chair of B.C.'s Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth, is not saying "Gosh! The most vulnerable people in my constituency are in danger!" She's not even saying "I'll look into it."
McIntyre is defending her own past support of a local women's shelter, and she's defending the poor, beleaguered Solicitor General of B.C.
Can you say "out of touch"?
In the wake of last week's Public Eye report obtained only via a freedom of information request that B.C. is spending $650,000 of your money on five-star suites and gold-adorned food, the Liberals might as well come out and proclaim to all of us "We don't care about you."
This choice to fund an outrageous indulgence while declining to support the raped and battered makes the case that the province is purposely sticking its heads in the sand when it comes to the darker side of the Olympics.
If only ignoring the problem actually helped save victims. The fact is it does just the opposite.
There is no question that organizations supporting victims of violence will experience an increased load of cases based simply on the sheer increase in population.
Then there's the anecdotal evidence gathered from two years of discussions with former host cities. One highly publicized case includes the rash of sex-related attacks during the Sydney Games in 2000. Were those victims negligible?
We will see an increase in violence against the area's most vulnerable, and it's the province's duty to protect the public. Only absolute intolerance of this politically-motivated and heartless decision can reverse the government's stand. Tell your MLA that ignoring the ugly truth will not be tolerated email Joan McIntyre at [email protected].
