Jason Congdon

Council calls for Queensborough Bus Commitment.

We all agree, a school bus for Queensborough is a good idea, and the funding for it should not be pulled from already-stretched education resources. #NewWest www.communityfirstnw.ca/queensboroug...

This is the way.

"Stop Drug-use Shelter" sign outside a #NewWest elementary school. Individuals handing out fliers respectfully cropped out.

Flier advertising an "Oppose NW Drug Site" WhatsApp group being handed out beside a #NewWest elementary school.

A group called "Oppose NW Drug Site" has begun leafletting outside #NewWest schools against the #TinyHome residence - in this case, my child's elementary. "Stop Drug-use Shelter," spins their sign. These stigmatizing messages aren't helpful. Nor is the misinfo & spin that encourages such propaganda.

Wrote a piece for @thetyee.ca about this, including a short Q&A with Tla'amin Hegus John Hackett.

thetyee.ca/News/2026/03...

Racists and other bigots really do not like being described, do they? Keep on Truthing @rachelgilmore.bsky.social & @thetyee.ca. Thank you for your courageous and necessary work!

Aaron Gunn: If the federal government truly believes in the private property rights of Canadians, they should probably stop opening every public meeting by proclaiming the gathering on the “unceded territory” of this or that First Nation. Doing so reinforces the radical and dangerous legal concept that most Canadians live on “stolen land”. This is Canada. One country. For all Canadians.

𝗠𝗣 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝙇𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝘼𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙣 𝙂𝙪𝙣𝙣: “𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙭, 𝙗𝙪𝙙.” March 11, 2026 Chiefs from four First Nations communities are urging the public to please approach Aaron Gunn with no caution whatsoever. He is completely harmless, though momentarily unsettled by the alarming possibility that someone might acknowledge the land before a meeting. Yesterday on social media, the MP appeared to crash out and demand to speak to the manager of land acknowledgements, a position that observers confirm does not exist. Chiefs whose territories make up the riding had two words for the MP - Chillax, Bud. Land acknowledgements have never seized private property, cancelled a mortgage, repossessed a pickup truck, or altered a single title deed anywhere in Canada. They are simply people recognizing the history of the place where they are standing. No one is going anywhere. Canada will survive the brief moment of honesty. Until then, Chiefs across the region continue to reassure the public that land acknowledgements have not, to date, resulted in any land back. Hegus John Hackett, Tla’amin Nation Chief Darren Blaney, Homalco Nation Chief Nicole Rempel, K'ómoks Nation Chief Kevin Peacey, Klahoose Nation

Conservative MP for Powell River–North Island, Aaron Gunn, is, uh, well he’s being trolled a bit for his condemnation of land acknowledgements yesterday. Message from K’omoks, Klahoose, Homalco & Tla’amin Nations: “Chillax, bud.” #bcpoli

If anybody in #NewWest is interested in supporting this project that would provide supervised and structured housing for our unhoused neighbours, the WhatsApp group listed below just posted this. Show up to help counter their negativity!

"I really stepped in it" – Ken Sim, "Lean Six Sigma Black Belt" and, somehow, Mayor of Vancouver.

Good job, @seanorr.bsky.social, and good luck.

#LYINGisDISQUALIFYING: Whether #KenSim & #ABC in #Vancouver, or #NWP in #NewWest, I think maybe I'll just decorate & redecorate the upcoming municipal election season as honestly & garishly as possibly every time someone calls for it. #BCPoli www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Dear my delightful tweeps, some news! So after 30 years of City Hall and urban-issues stories that you all know, I'm doing something completely different — I’ve decided to run for a City Council nomination with @onecityvan.bsky.social and hopefully run on their slate this October.

Last week, Canadian journalist Rachel Gilmore was approached by 2 men (one a SELF-DESCRIBED NAZI) who attempted to intimidate her over a story she wrote about their white nationalist gym club.

We stand in solidarity with Rachel & call on all news organizations to denounce this! ✊

I like @avilewis.ca, too, but I'm even swoonier for his graphic designer. This anonymous hero deserves to be celebrated.

COOL. Go @fabulavancouver.bsky.social!

So it looks like some ppl are big mad and resorting to attacking me personally for sharing my 🧵on Facebook about how disinformation is spread about supportive housing in our city #newwest. Whelp! They can stay mad.

Happy International Women's Day! A day founded by socialist women and labour unions.

Here's another article, from @timescolonist.bsky.social, reporting on a tour of Victoria's iteration of #TinyTown. Digging through reportage on the Victoria shelter reveals a lot of positive discourse around the project. I think the positives outweigh the negatives here, despite #NWP & #NIMBY lies.

But enough with negatives! No shelter will ever be perfect & #NewWest should be able to have an open, honest, informed conversation about how to help BC Housing & the operator achieve best outcomes for their clients. That said, there's lots of evidence that this is a potentially excellent project.

An image of the part of #NewWest City Council Code of Conduct bylaws that precludes council members from misrepresenting the work of Council.

Again, this malfeasance is a huge disservice to #NewWest and it's residents. Not only is it a breach of Daniel and Paul's fiduciary responsiblity to the city and their duty of care to its residents—to the extent that they represent this, they are in also in violation of their Code of Conduct.

Daniel Fontaine also speaks of wanting more “boots on the ground” and more “people who are actually delivering public services” – this project is exactly that at a moment when #NewWest and it's unhoused residents need it most. #NWP are ignoring those values here just to try to score campaign points.

This #NWP post is also hypocritical. Daniel Fontaine says “City Hall needs to know what lane it's in and it needs to stay in it”. Here, City Hall doing just that by getting out of the way so BC housing can provide something that New West desperately needs. NWP's post flouts Fontaine's values. Why?

Image of some of the language from BC Housing's FAQ sheet, describing BC Housing's approach to harm reduction at the Tiny Town site.

“NO to restrictions on illicit drug use,” say #NWP, but again this is simply not the City's jurisdiction. These policies will be up to #BC Housing and the site operator. AND we don't even know what drug use restrictions will or won't be part of the shelter's approach to #HarmReduction.

Image of motion, passed at the February 23 City Council meeting, which specified the actual tools in place for the Tiny Town project that serve the purposes of a Good Neighbour Agreement, albeit under different names.

Screenshot from minutes of the Feb 23 City Council meeting, describing just a few of the "Good Neighbour" practices that BC Housing will be putting in place for Tiny Town.

“NO to a Good Neighbour Agreement” (GNA) is BS because the project already includes stronger standards. Council merely named these measures accurately before approving, as #NWP knows. Griping about what they're named is misleading. Here's some evidence of that from Feb 23 #NewWest Council minutes.

Image of a screenshot from the Feb 23, 2026 #NewWest City Council agenda outlining some of BC Housing's Community Engagement steps regarding the Tiny Town project.

Because the #TinyHome shelter is a BC Housing initiative, #NewWest City Council isn't in a position to say "yes or no" to most of these things. #BCHousing IS providing notice, consultation, & transparency—e.g. see below—but even if that's been imperfect, it's not part of the City's jurisdiction.

Image of a New West Progressives' Facebook post that promoted an anonymous letter that misinformed West End residents about the nature of a BC Housing meeting about Tiny Town, leading many to show up to a meeting they were not permitted to attend.

The @ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social video says "dozens" of #NewWest "residents turned out ... but were turned away" – but #NWP fails to note that this was partly due to a misinformative anonymous letter, which NWP promoted on Facebook. NWP haven't taken responsibility for platforming this deception.

Screenshot of a New West Progressives Facebook post misrepresenting the City's involvement in BC Housing's Tiny Town shelter project.

The FB post below, which tries to blame #NWP's political opponents for things that not only never occurred but are mostly impossible for the City to have done, contains a litany of omissions and misprepresentations. Let's dig in and unpack them:

I agree, @willryan.ca: NWP's dishonesty about the #NewWest #TinyTown shelter is reprehensible per se but also breaches their elected officials' fiduciary responsiblity to the city and their duty of care to its residents. Let's break this down re their recent FB post on the topic. [thread]

The Tyee is proud to have published this important investigation by @rachelgilmore.bsky.social. We condemn this egregious harassment of a journalist for doing her job, and have offered support as she deals with this disturbing situation.

I also just posted a longer detailed breakdown on Facebook, where the misinformation and disinformation is being spread the most. www.facebook.com/share/p/18Vu...

Thank you, @ayasinvan.bsky.social, this is a very helpful post. #NewWest needs good, reliable information & responsible conversation about this. At its core its a health & safety matter. #NWP's crass politicization of this is dishonest & simply irresponsible when people's well-being is at stake.

A social media collage of posts illustrating the events described in the post

This is a tale of THREE events, actually. Which is worse: comparing crowd sizes between #NWP's highly publicized campaign event and the mayor's unpublicized appearance elsewhere, or Councillor Fontaine skipping his #NewWest Heritage Commission meeting in favor of NWP's campaign event. #priorities!

Wow. Having lived 20+ years in both countries: despite the trust disparity, I still find Americans "friendlier" than Canadians. That may be an assertiveness thing. I was lonely in Canada until I realized I just needed to stop being shy. Strangers don't "sweetheart" each other here like Americans do.