Celebrity tour of the downtown eastside

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is coming to resemble Hollywood Central as yet another film crew brings international ­attention to this blight on the city’s claims to sustainability.
In an episode of the 4Real series to air on MTV June 9, the show’s host and local hip-hop artist Sol Guy and Hollywood starlet Eva Mendes are led through a meet-and-greet with the city’s homeless, addicted and mentally ill. Acting as tour guide is Liz Evans, executive director of the Portland Hotel Society.

As one of eight episodes in the 4Real series, Vancouver is placed alongside such international hot spots as a favela in Rio de Janeiro, a refugee camp in Kenya and areas of poverty and strife in Haiti, Peru and Liberia. Each show offers an upbeat message, pairing an entertainment celebrity with a local hero who is making a difference.

Sol Guy and Eva Mendes on MTV
Dan Rather: Safely shooting up

“The nicest thing about it for me, other than that Eva Mendes is a sweet person, is that she
really didn’t have a clue about any of the issues and was completely uninformed around most of these things,” reports Evans. “So she was saying these really obvious things, and we’d get a chance to say, well, this is why, and now you can talk to this person who’s sitting in her bed here at the Stanley Hotel about her life, and you figure out how to deal with it.”
Evans has fielded some heat for her co-operation, with some critics labelling the episode “voyeuristic” and “sensational.” However, she stands by her decision. “We did it because we felt it was a very sincere attempt to allow people to tell their own stories with respect,” Evans maintains. “I think it actually succeeded in humanizing the individuals we work with.”

4Real Vancouver follows on the heels of a CNN news segment on Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection site, that aired last November, and a Dan Rather documentary on the Downtown Eastside that was broadcast in February this year. 4Real Vancouver aired on CTV in a preview of the 4Real series in March this year, and debuts on MTV on June 9. It will be available on the MTV website after that date: www.mtv.ca. The

Has the show made a difference to poverty and homelessness in Vancouver?

One immediate outcome, Evans reports, was a call from a donor offering $85,000 toward a food program highlighted in the show.

But more broadly, Evans is encouraged by all the recent media attention. “I think the attention on the Downtown Eastside right now is positive because there are some more thoughtful responses being considered,” she explains. “Both [BC] Housing and [the Ministry of] Health are working rapidly to try to come up with some more creative sustainable solutions. I don’t think anything can work unless it’s done in conjunction with community. And that’s one of the mistakes governments make often, but hopefully they won’t this time.”

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