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A HOMELESS man who has been arrested several times for
praying and protesting in public places is seeking a seat on Victoria City
Council, in the November 15 civic election.
Tavis Dodds, 34, is running as a Work Less Party
candidate. Monday Magazine describes him as a “local anti-poverty activist and
liberation theologist.” His campaign is based on “advocating
for prayer and for the Bible.”
Another candidate, Gregory Hartnell of Concerned
Citizens’ Coalition, has endorsed his rival, saying: “Tavis
Dodds would make an excellent . . . advocate for the poorest of the poor,
the homeless, the outsiders and all the addicts . . . desirous of
recovery.”
Dodds considers himself more of a writer than a
politician, and has authored articles for several publications, including The Christian Radical –
which, curiously, has as its motto this quote from St. John Chrysostom:
“The desire to rule is the mother of all heresy.”
His campaign materials say Dodds “has been
homeless with his wife and children, ages one and three, since their
apartment was sold in May . . . [He is] trying to get out a message about
the deceptive current policies that seek to support the poor by controlling
them, institutionalizing them and oppressing them even further.”
When an October 17 B.C. Supreme Court decision
recognized the charter rights of the homeless to live in Victoria parks,
Dodds commented: “The date of this judgment . . . falls within the
holiday season which is celebrated by the Jewish faith as including Sukkot,
a festival . . . where God commands that seven days be spent living in
tents.”
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Dodds demands an apology from city hall “for
putting forth an ideology that considers some to be second class citizens,
somehow less than human, simply because they have no place to live.”
He adds: “The birds have nests and the beasts have burrows, but
we have nowhere to lay our head.”
For more information about his campaign, call
250.478.9440.
– Lloyd Mackey
November 2008
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