• the Downtown Eastide is the poorest neighbourhood in Canada
• 70% of Vancouver's First Nations people live in the Downtown Eastside
• 33% of homeless people are mentally ill
• an estimated 5000 injection users live in the Downtown Eastside
• Downtown Eastside was declared a public health emergency in 1998
• HIV/Aids among women is 40% higher than men
• on-the-job fatalities for sex trade workers are 6 times higher than police
• strategic law reform is a ‘trickle-up’ solution

the importance of understanding our urban history
The neighbourhood is one of the oldest in Vancouver and is a major transportation artery for the city. Once a concentrated population of maritime labourers, the Downtown Eastside has always been at the centre of human rights activism.

The many single rooming houses were built to accommodate steamship tourists and later a primarily male workforce who built up the port industries. Before the Japanese were forcibly removed, they settled near the fish processing plants along Powell Street. In 1958 street car service was discontinued, and the interurban station was closed taking thousands of people away from the neighbourhood. This cycle of closures peaked when Woodward’s shut its doors in 1992.