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Dispute sparks hunger strike

Activist says he will chain himself to door and stop eating to protest eviction

A New Westminster activist is preparing to spend 10 days outside without food to protest what he says is an unfair eviction and government abandonment of a valuable non-profit society.

Paul Mulangu, founder of the Centre of Integration for African Immigrants, came to its 811 Carnarvon St. location on Sept. 22 and found the locks changed and a notice of termination of his lease in the window.

"I'm going to chain myself to the door and start a hunger strike," Mulangu said Tuesday, the eve before his protest, adding that he is not concerned for his personal safety. "I'm not worried. I'm already dead. I can't worry about that. Life needs to change. If I don't say anything, life will be like that, and the injustice is going to continue."

The centre had been operating in New Westminster since 2006 when Mulangu moved it from Vancouver. The centre offers a number of services including language training and employment assistance.

Mulangu learned without warning in January this year that the provincial ministry of social development had cut off funding for the non-profit. But Mulangu was already making long-term plans for the centre, including applying for and receiving a federal grant of $275,000 from the federal economic action plan to help fund construction of a gym, meeting hall, kitchen, showers and change rooms for the centre.

The rest of the project's funding came as a loan taken out by the centre. Now, with the improvements complete and the lease terminated, Mulangu said the landlord, Reliance Holdings, is taking advantage of the work and kicking him out.

"We went to Vancity and borrowed $280,000 in matching funds," he said. "For a non-profit to lose half-a-million dollars and another person to come in take over, that is wrong. That is very wrong," Mulangu said.

Mulangu said this hunger strike is a last resort after months of trying to get government help keep the centre open.

"I want the government to come and see because there is a lot of great things in this non-profit, and business coming from this," he said.

Losing out the most in this, he said, is the Lower Mainland's African immigrant community, who often arrive without training and skills that are easily transferable to Canada.

Steve Horovitz, leasing manager for Reliance Holdings, said Mulangu's case is a sad one, but terminating the lease was inevitable after months of working with Mulangu to help resolve the arrears.

"He owes $39,340.18 in rent. That was on Sept. 22, and there was no indication he would be able to pay arrears in rent and no indication of how October would be paid," Horovitz said.

"It's a very, very, very unfortunate situation. It's not something that we did without thought. It's something that we did with a lot of thought. It's a heart-wrenching thing to see any venture fail."

Asked whether the improvements the centre had arranged and paid for would mitigate the back-rent, Horowtiz said the improvements will likely mean more of an expense for Reliance.

"They decreased the value," Horovitz said. "They're good for the current tenant, but they're almost certainly not going to work for the next one. So the next tenant is probably going to want to have everything removed."

Going forward, Horovitz said, Reliance will find a new tenant, and the contents of the building that belong to the tenants will be available to pick up through a bailiff.

For his work as founder and executive director of the centre, Mulangu was given the 2010 provincial Nesika Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements in multiculturalism, and the 2010 multiculturalism and race relations award from the City of New Westminster.

Mulangu immigrated to Canada after fleeing civil war in his native Democratic Republic of Congo in 1990 and spending six years in a Zambian refugee camp. He started out in B.C. cleaning washrooms at Vancouver International Airport but later went on to study English, computer science and employment counselling at BCIT before founding the centre.

brichter@royalcityrecord.com