RSS Feed for british columbiaCategory: british columbia

Surrey, B.C. public housing infested with bed bugs »

Canada’s CTV reports that a BC Housing complex is infested with bed bugs. The article mentions Kuehn Tower, but the BC Housing site lists Ted Kuhn Tower I and II in Surrey, so this appears to be a typo. (Incidentally, I wonder if they found a new manager yet?)
Bill McLeod’s body is covered […]

Itchy the Bed Bug: an Olympic Mascot for Vancouver »

Vancouver | Homes Not Games
Originally uploaded by ardenstreet
Graffiti from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Remember VANDU? They’re the grassroots community group in Vancouver that got a grant and implemented a plan to help fight bed bugs in Vancouver’s beleaguered Downtown Eastside.
Well, they’re back at it, this time as one of the sponsors of this weekend’s […]

Still more on New York’s response to bed bugs »

The press release for the New York HPD bed bug seminars is here. It includes dates and times, addresses, and a phone number for more information. Seminars will be in English and Spanish. Please do call the number listed below to reserve a spot.
The first seminar is scheduled to take place on […]

In Vancouver? Interested in a bed bug documentary? »

This came to me from an anonymous reader with username DocMaker:
A documentary film is searching for subjects in Vancouver, Canada who are battling the bedbug epidemic as we speak!
If all works out, we may be able to get you a free extermination!
If you are interested in sharing your tales, send me an email:
docmaker@email.com

More on Canada’s laws re: bed bugs and tenants: province by province »

Our FAQ on who pays for tenants’ bed bug treatment just got a little more complete. Since this is a really helpful resource, I am blogging it too.
Courtesy of the CBC’s links from its fine story on bed bugs (which remains the best television clip on bed bugs to date, hands down, in my […]

And another ray of hope from Vancouver’s VANDU »

Vancouver’s Radio CKNW (AM980) reports on their website Saturday:
Advocacy group fights bed bug outbreak
VANCOUVER - Community advocacy group the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users VANDU is trying to fight a massive outbreak of bedbugs in that city’s Downtown Eastside by gutting infested rooms.
The group’s Anne Livingston says residents have had six weeks notice to […]

Vancouver Downtown Eastside Residents ask politicians to swap homes with them »

Chantal Eustace of the Vancouver Sun reported Friday that
VANCOUVER - City councillors aren’t jumping at a chance to swap their homes with a group of women living in poverty in the squalid Downtown Eastside.
Eight of 10 city councillors who reflected on an eight-week housing challenge put forth by the Power of Women Group in […]

Vancouver official blames hanky-panky for bed bugs in nice areas »

Here’s a new spin on the spread:
Vancouver’s health officer thinks people are getting bed bugs in Vancouver because they go to the Downtown Eastside and do “naughty things,” Canada’s CBC news reported yesterday.
Bedbugs are spreading across Vancouver. And the city’s chief medical health officer is blaming promiscuity for the itchy problem.

“People occasionally go to […]

Vancouver public education forum on bed bugs is a start, but probably not enough »

And now, some good news: According to “In Brief” in the Globe and Mail,

The British Columbia government wants to put the bed-bug problem to sleep in Vancouver.
As ridiculous as it sounds, that’s the first time I have ever heard any member of any government saying they wanted to end bed bugs in their region. […]

Update from Vancouver journalist with bed bugs »

Remember Barry Link, the Vancouver Courier journalist who wrote about his bed bugs?
This week he published a follow-up, which focuses largely on the many ideas people suggest (besides PCOs) for fighting the bugs. Hmm, Barbra Streisand albums. Now there’s an idea we hadn’t heard before. Cats? Barry’s right–not only do they […]

Snapshot: a few hours of Bedbugger.com visitors tells us something about the spread »

You can click here to see a map of the last 90 or so visitors to the site. It will look different from what I describe below, because I am writing about what I saw there about 4-5 hours ago. Now it’s almost midnight in New York, and the Aussies are starting to […]

80% of Single Room Occupancy units in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are infested with bed bugs; also Rensselaer Polytechnic’s dorms »

Two bed bug newsbites:
From Vancouver 24 Hours:

The majority of low- income single-occupant rooms in the Downtown Eastside are infested with bed bugs, according to a report from the City of Vancouver. Environmental health officers inspected 3,100 DTES hotel rooms and found 80 per cent had bed bugs. The city hopes to expand a small […]