[van-announce] Tenant Action Group in Vancouver - this week

[Big Garlic Bobcat]

Tenant Action Group Member Coming to Vancouver
Niki Storms – TAG organizer and citizen of the Mohawk Nation
www.ocap.ca/tag
tenantactiongroup at hotmail.com

1. TAG at Palestine Community Centre – 1874 Kingsway
Tuesday, February 24th, 8:30PM

2. TAG on Co-op Radio – 102.7FM
Thursday, February 26th, 1PM

The Tenant Action Group of Belleville Ontario was formed early in 2001 to
stop the alarmingly high rate of local evictions.  The Tenant Protection
Act accomplished the exact opposite of what its name claimed to be, it
left tenants vulnerable to all sorts of rent hikes.  The rent of an
occupied unit could be raised by as much as 3% a year while un-occupied
buildings could receive limitless hikes.  Over 2,000 people a month were
evicted in Toronto.  A similar bill has just come into effect in BC called
the Residential Tenancy Act.

As a group of anarcho-radicals in a city of 45,000 TAG had many obstacles
to overcome, political work of their kind had never been done before in
Belleville.  The original organizers went to Quebec City for the FTAA
demonstrations and got a taste of the battlefield.  On October 12th 2001
TAG led a student walkout against Mike Harris marking the towns first
protest in ten years that wasn’t anti-Indian or anti-choice.  On October
16 TAG filled a busload up and took them to the Economic Disruptions of
Toronto’s financial district, that morning Premier Mike Harris announced
that he would resign.

TAG took part in numerous actions affiliated with the Ontario Common Front
in the Defeat Harris campaign.  A monumental adventure for TAG was the G20
Summit in Ottawa (November 16-18 2001) while they also took part in the 7
Year Squat/Take the Capital protests against the G8.  In February of 2002
TAG hosted the first Ontario Common Front convention in Belleville and a
militant anti-poverty network was solidified.  By that summer TAG had
begun to do direct action casework against the deregulated Hydro Utility
in Belleville, Veridian Connections.  In April 2003 TAG organized to stop
over 1000 people’s hydro from being cutoff in Hastings County.

TAG has found their way into many squats and many battles but none have
been as inspiring as their tenant advocacy and casework in the Housing
Tribunal.  TAG has stopped so many evictions in Belleville that the
landlords are organizing to sue them for lost profits.  Now they routinely
offer assistance in other cities like Sudbury and Kingston.  What started
as 4 people with a dream in a small town has become a large and powerful
organization that has inspired people across Ontario and beyond.