Tuesday, March 2, 2010

  Longest Banner Wrap - world record set by the Red Tent Campaign

 VANCOUVER, Canada -- Housing activists, supporters of the Red Tent Campaign gathered in downtown Vancouver to wrap 1,700 feet of red banners around the block surrounding the Canada Pavilion on West Georgia and Beatty , setting the world record for the Longest Banner Wrap .

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 The world's Longest Banner Wrap featured slogans calling on Stephen Harper, the government and the Canadian public to support the Red Tent Campaign, a national movement initiated by Pivot Legal Society which seeks to end homelessness.

   The protesters hope to increase support for Bill C-304, which will be reviewed by Parliament in the spring. The bill would establish a constitutional right to housing in Canada, while providing the foundation for a national housing strategy with funding commitments and timelines.

   "[The Bill] would be the beginning of the end of homelessness," said John Richardson, the Executive Director of the Pivot Legal Society , who explained that actions taken during the Olympics simply constitute the beginning of the actions that the Red Tent Campaign has planned.

   The world's Longest Banner Wrap featured a quote from Miloon Kothari, a Special Rapporteur to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, who said that Canada should "commit to a comprehensive national housing strategy with stable and long-term funding."

   Am Johal, a Media Coordinator for the Red Tent Campaign, hopes that peaceful events like this one will help increase public support. He believes the campaign "taps into Canadians' general sense of patriotism and support for a longstanding social issue."

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