28043 replies to this topic

[Tony]

Warming Centre (Daytime)

• Purpose: Immediate, short-term relief from extreme cold.
• Hours: Typically daytime hours.
• Sleeping: Usually restricted to sitting in chairs; rarely allowed to lie down.
• Facilities: Heated space, washrooms, sometimes hot beverages or snacks.
• Access: Open to the public. 

 

Overnight Cold Centre (Emergency Shelter)

• Purpose: Preventing hypothermia and death for people sleeping outside activated during extreme weather events.
• Hours: Usually open from evening (e.g., 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.) to morning (e.g., 7 a.m. or 8 a.m.).
• Sleeping: Designed for sleeping with mats, cots, or beds.
• Facilities: Washrooms, often food/snacks, and sometimes showers.
• Activation: Activated based on specific temperature thresholds, such as -4°C or colder (or with wind chill). 

 

 Both are considered crucial, life-saving measures during winter. 

Edited by Tony, 23 January 2026 - 09:06 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

But specifically, the Sidney centre does not have mats, cots or beds, that your clip says an overnight centre should have.

 

AI:

 

Yes, forcing someone to sleep in a chair (specifically a restraining or stress position chair) is a recognized form of torture and inhuman treatment. This technique is often used to inflict pain and psychological terror, and to induce confessions. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I suspect they are not allowing "sleeping" but rather refer to it as "nappping in chairs" due to some stupid regulatory thing.  In practice, they will likely let people sleep on the floor.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 January 2026 - 09:14 PM.

[Beacon]

 

Residents in Victoria’s Burnside Gorge neighbourhood say they support compassionate and effective solutions to homelessness, but feel blindsided by plans for a new shelter in their community.

The City of Victoria has announced a 34-unit shelter at the 2900 block of Bridge Street. The facility, known as Bridge Street Pathways, will be a 6,000-square-foot, referral-only shelter focused on recovery and directed supports.

[...]

Community representatives point to the neighbourhood’s history of hosting shelter services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, five hotels across Victoria were used as emergency shelter for unhoused people. Four of them located in Burnside Gorge.

Watch the story below:

The association also references a 2018 memorandum of understanding with BC Housing, which states that “BC Housing has committed to no additional supportive housing projects in the Burnside Gorge area.”

 

https://cheknews.ca/...helter-1301458/

 

 

Where was the agreement in 2020 and 2021 when all the hotels and makeshift supportive housing was opened there in Burnside Gorge before?  

 

Or as we likely all know, BC Housing just does what it wants and the Mayor didn't consult with the neighbourhood, because they would have said no....

[Victoria Watcher]

She already said they didn’t consult with the neighbours about the SOLID premises on Dowler because people would be opposed.

Meanwhile she had a contract to represent them or lobby for them in the past.

And the leader was previously a convicted drug dealer.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 January 2026 - 10:27 AM.