Pastor Barry Morris doesn’t want the fiery deaths of three of his flock to be in vain.
On Tuesday, Morris — of the Longhouse Council of Native Ministry — joined NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton in calling for a review of the city’s apparently sluggish response to bylaw infractions and safety issues in the 2800-block Pandora Street, an illegally packed flophouse that burned down in a fatal blaze Dec. 22.
According to the city, the home was packed with nine individual dwellers — above the five allowed under bylaws — when a faulty electrical cord connected to an old set of Christmas lights started a fire.
Officials have not released the names of the three deceased and one man injured in the blaze, but Morris says the three who died — Steven Yellowquill, Garland McKay and Dwayne Rasmussen — were panhandlers and regulars in his nearby church.
The three were “humorous” men well known for being respectful to East Hastings-area residents when they asked for change, Morris said.
Morris said he knew Yellowquill best of the three, and although Yellowquill struggled with addiction, he was a well-educated man who loved to discuss the philosophy of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.
Yellowquill’s mother had moved to Surrey from Manitoba to try to nurse him back to health, and had recently dropped off clothing for her son, Morris said.
“She was heartbroken,” Morris said. “She believes there is injustice here, with the landlord not making repairs.”
Last summer, the city ordered the owner — listed in property records as Choi H. Leong– to make repairs and cease illegal rentals. An inspection showed repairs were not adequate, the city says, so city staff were preparing to seek an injunction to vacate the home at the time of the fire.
Deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston says inspections turned up no imminent safety issues, and the city was acting as fast as possible under current bylaws.
Morris and Anton said they can’t accept the city’s position on faith.
“It’s important to dig into the root causes and contributing factors of this tragedy,” Morris said. “Why were there delays [dealing with the home]? Was this political, legal or economic pressure?”
“This was a house known to the city for many years and yet this tragedy happened,” Anton said.
“I can’t accept that enough was done. I don’t think the families of the victims will accept it and I don’t think the neighbourhood will. The neighbours have been asking for help with this home for years.”
Anton said an independent reviewer would judge whether bylaws can deal more expeditiously with nuisance homes, and make recommendations.
NPA council candidate Jesse Johl was more pointed in his criticism of city hall, accusing the council of Mayor Gregor Robertson of failing to enforce current bylaws for fear of putting more homeless on the streets, which wouldn’t mesh with Robertson’s homelessness reduction promises.
“Here we have a case where a slum lord has been allowed to continually flout bylaws,” Johl said. “Keeping hundreds of flophouses open across Vancouver to keep homelessness down is not viable.”
Deputy Mayor Andrea Reimer said the issue is concerning, but noted the overcrowding did not cause the fire.
“There’s a lot of different departments that have been working on this issue over a number of months,” she said.
Many city staff members are off until next week, and all the information needed to make a decision on an inquiry won’t be available until then, said Reimer.
“The fire department has nearly conclusively ruled that [the cause of the fire was] a faulty electrical cord,” she said.
“The tragedy of that is that virtually any of us, no matter how many people we have living in our houses, could have a faulty electrical cord that could start a fire,” said Reimer.
A memorial for the three men is still being planned, Morris said. scooper@theprovince.com