The work moves with us
The Union of the Dispossessed Foundation is moving the Saturday bottle-drive meeting point. Beginning with the next drive, meet behind A&W on Puntledge Road. The hours remain 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. People may drop in, stay active, and contribute for as much of the day as they are able.
Gloves and garbage bags may be available from Connect, AVI operations, or Wachiay. Bring water or a refillable bottle if you can; a tap is available. Follow the organizer’s directions around traffic, sorting, lifting, sharp objects, and unsafe material.
The working share remains one share for each hour contributed, with 80 percent of proceeds going to participants and 20 percent supporting the Union’s work. Confirm the day’s arrangements with the organizer before relying on a shift or payout.
A foundation we can show
The public Union website is live, the governing documents are available, and blank incident reports and interviews can be completed online or printed. Completed records and personal information remain restricted. Transparency should expose how power and money are handled without exposing vulnerable people.
A question that can slow hate
When anger or hateful language begins pulling a conversation off course, try a question before a speech: “I feel you are saying that ______. Have I understood you correctly?” The point is not to agree or tolerate abuse. It is to slow the exchange, make the claim clear, and give the person a chance to hear what they are putting into the room. If safety is at risk, step away and get help.
Local information worth acting on
Courtenay resident survey begins November 5. Courtenay’s annual resident survey runs from November 5 to 30. Randomly selected residents aged 18 and older will be invited by telephone to comment on priorities, services, gaps, and opportunities. If you are contacted, this is a chance to describe what daily life looks like from outside the usual decision-making rooms. The results are expected to go to council in early 2027.
Braidwood construction starts November 2. Infrastructure work on Braidwood Road is scheduled to begin November 2 and continue into late spring. Expect single-lane alternating traffic, temporary parking restrictions, open trenches, heavy equipment, and noise as work moves from the Island Highway cul-de-sac toward Back Road. People walking, cycling, sleeping outdoors, or travelling through the area should use extra caution and follow traffic-control directions.
The City says parking on the south side of Braidwood Road will close permanently after construction. That long-term change matters in an area where shelter and supportive-housing construction is also underway.
Two City jobs remain open. The City of Courtenay lists a full-time Community Development Coordinator position closing November 16 and a six-month temporary Finance Clerk position closing November 8. Read the full qualifications before applying; a posting is an opportunity, not a promise that every reader will meet the requirements.
Stage 3 water restrictions continue. Stage 3 restrictions remain the latest published direction for the Comox Valley Water System. Lawn watering, driveway or boulevard pressure washing, filling pools or hot tubs, and washing vehicles outside commercial facilities are prohibited. Trees, vegetables, shrubs, and flowers may still be watered using permitted hand-held or drip methods.
Who now holds local power
Courtenay elected a new mayor and six councillors on October 17. This first snapshot uses public campaign statements and prior records to ask one practical question: how might each person affect the Union’s goals? These are assessments, not endorsements or predictions. The fair test begins when the new council starts making decisions.
Mayor Manno Theos — Public record: Theos emphasized tax restraint, faster development approvals, public safety, provincial psychiatric and detox capacity, and a recovery-oriented response to homelessness. He has criticized making street living too easy and advocated changing Braidwood toward a dry model.
Likely Union impact: Mixed. His emphasis on work, visible results, small business, and fiscal discipline could create openings for the bottle drive, First Steps, Groundworks, and carefully costed peer projects. His approach to homelessness and substance use may conflict with low-barrier, harm-reduction principles or lead to stronger enforcement. Best engagement: bring short proposals with costs, safeguards, measurable outcomes, and a clear explanation that basic care is unconditional while paid work remains voluntary.
Councillor Wendy Morin — Public record: Morin supports below-market housing through the regional Housing Authority, streamlined development, gentle infill within existing boundaries, and having growth pay infrastructure costs through development charges.
Likely Union impact: Generally constructive for affordable housing and nonprofit partnerships. Her attention to infrastructure and regional coordination may suit practical projects with partners, land needs, or public accountability. Best engagement: connect Union proposals to the Housing Authority, regional planning, measurable community benefit, and protection of public resources.
Councillor Evan Jolicoeur — Public record: Jolicoeur has supported City land, funding, and partnerships for below-market housing, inclusionary zoning, density incentives, and Courtenay’s supportive-housing and shelter investments. His nursing background and public comments show attention to mental health, addiction, and service capacity.
Likely Union impact: Potentially strong alignment on supportive housing, peer participation, and partnerships, with questions likely about operations, safety, and effects on neighbouring businesses. Best engagement: seek an early meeting about the incident-record project, peer employment, Food ’n’ Forethought, and what evidence council would need before supporting a pilot.
Councillor Kelly Matthews — Public record: Matthews has advocated gentle density, simpler homeowner permits, affordable units in new developments, public or nonprofit partnerships, and long-term housing responses that also reduce pressure on downtown businesses. He has spoken about being raised by a single mother in supportive housing.
Likely Union impact: Promising alignment with dignified, practical responses grounded in lived experience. He may be receptive to storage, food, housing, and peer-work pilots that reduce pressure rather than merely move people along. Best engagement: present one small, testable pilot and ask him to identify the municipal barrier that should be addressed first.
The new council continued
Councillor Dick Clancy — Public record: The clearest documented housing position located for Clancy is a proposed 90-day turnaround for development approvals. The available record says less about homelessness, harm reduction, nonprofit partnerships, or peer work.
Likely Union impact: Uncertain. Faster approvals could help housing and facility projects, but speed alone does not establish affordability, accessibility, or support for people without housing. Best engagement: ask direct, written questions before assuming alignment—especially about shelter, bylaw practice, community meals, storage, and small nonprofit pilots.
Councillor Thomas McDevitt — Public record: McDevitt supports reducing permit delays and restraining property-tax increases. He called Braidwood a good start but insufficient for the number of people needing help, and advocated second-stage housing after treatment.
Likely Union impact: Mixed but potentially workable. Recognition that existing capacity is insufficient supports expansion, while a treatment-and-recovery emphasis may narrow support for low-barrier services. Best engagement: emphasize the Union’s graduated model—immediate dignity and harm reduction, voluntary work and responsibility, then pathways toward greater stability—while asking how he would serve people not yet ready or able to enter treatment.
Councillor Rosanna Chamberlin — Public record: Chamberlin supports more affordable and diverse housing, limiting sprawl onto farmland, and making growth and infrastructure decisions consistent with water supply.
Likely Union impact: Likely alignment with Groundworks, reuse, local resilience, and housing approaches that protect land and water. Her published record is less specific on homelessness operations and peer employment. Best engagement: lead with targeted watershed cleanup, material reuse, environmental measurement, and the connection between ecological repair and paid entry-level work.
Provincial result still preliminary
Will Cole-Hamilton leads the preliminary Courtenay–Comox count, but Elections BC’s final count is scheduled for November 6 to 10. He should not yet be described as the confirmed MLA.
Public record: Cole-Hamilton points to nearly 200 supportive homes, creation of the Comox Valley Housing Authority, and the Braidwood project. He supports affordable and supportive housing, harm reduction, voluntary treatment and involuntary care when he considers it necessary, and provincial watershed investment with K’ómoks First Nation as a partner.
Likely Union impact if confirmed: Strong potential alignment on housing, nonprofit partnership, peer-informed services, health access, and Groundworks. Possible tension remains around involuntary care and how provincial systems balance consent, safety, enforcement, and harm reduction. Best engagement: request a meeting after final count with three specific provincial asks—one for housing or storage, one for peer work and food security, and one for watershed cleanup—and ask what evidence would move each request forward.
How to read this snapshot
Alignment does not mean trust without verification, and disagreement does not make cooperation impossible. The Union’s strongest position is to bring accurate records, small testable proposals, clear costs, and results that can be checked. This section should be updated after officials vote, fund, oppose, amend, or implement measures affecting the community.
Useful this week
Low-cost Halloween activity. The LINC Youth Centre’s Haunted House runs October 30 from 6 to 9 p.m. and October 31 from 5 to 7 p.m. The October 31 session is a gentler “Half the Fright” version. Admission is $2.50 per person or $5 per family at 300 Old Island Highway. Check the page before leaving in case hours change.
Free yard debris drop off continues. Comox Valley residents may drop off accepted yard debris free at 1301 Knight Road in Comox through November 15, daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weather permitting. Leaves, grass clippings, plants, and branches up to three inches in diameter are accepted. Commercial operators are not eligible.
Food and forethought
Thank you again to Butcher’s Block for supporting the first Food ’n’ Forethought-style brunch at the Cage. The larger pilot is still being developed. The current intention is dependable food with paid peer roles, but a regular date and location will be announced only when they are confirmed.
What we are not reporting yet
Not every event should be printed while people are still working out what happened. The paper will hold back sensitive accounts until the facts can be checked, the people involved understand what may become public, and the Union can distinguish firsthand observations from assumptions. Waiting for a reliable account is not silence; it is part of becoming credible.
Help shape Issue 3
Send corrections, short local notices, verified bargains, artwork, photographs, and practical information. Include the source, price or date, and expiry when possible. We will not publish a person’s story or identifying details without clear permission. Receiving food, work, or support from the Union never depends on telling a story publicly.
Contact: TUOTD@proton.me