August 1, 2006, carnegie newsletter

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SLETTER ·

AUGUST 1, 2006 I

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eller of

ales o ·

rue to himself

... and us all .

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carnnews@vcn.bc.ca www.carnnews.org

A teller of tales Call it feedback, call it recognition, or just plain praise, Sandy Cameron knows the importance of staying in touch. Of all the people I know, he is the most likely to phone and tell me when I've done a good job on something. And not just me. He spreads it around a lot, giving people recognition for their efforts.

His writings have a lot of that, too. He's always · quoting someone to make a point. Say a group of residents go to City Hall: he will record and report their comments, giving each a measure of personal recognition.

It's the little things that most of us overlook, the small developments that add up to progress. He notices these things.

Sandy knows that the words that people speak tell the stories of our community. To quote them is to mirror our community. To give them feedback is to build our community. I'm trying to learn from Sandy's example.

Bob Sarti

OPl.OfrATION

SUCKS~

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~and~the~a~erof~() " WE say NO" is the title of a book by Eduardo Galeano wherein he eloquently states that by saying No to systems of greed and oppression and exploitation we are saying Yes to universal values which concern those committed to embracing justice and working for social justice.

When we speak of Sandy amongst my friends he is referred to as "that darling man" (Claire Perry, long time peace activist in Vancouver), or "That clear prophetic voice" (Marg Green, long time activist both in the DTES and in fighting social injustice in Canada). Marg's comments were to me when we joined Sandy in his silent vigil and week long fast In front of the ART Gallery as a protest against the CHST Act [and simultaneous cancellation of the Canada Assistance Plan] in the early 90s - which has brought about exactly the dire consequences Sandy

was predicting and bearing witness to at that week long "Fast For Fairness" in front of the Art Gallery.

I must confess that I had not the courage or stamina for a week long fast and barely made it to the Art Gallery during my lunch hour. I was inspired and amazed at Sandy's endurance for the long haul.

I have since learnt that Sandy is committed to the idea of quiet public witness and always gently asks the right questions at the right time.

What a beacon of light this man has been. He takes seriously the admonition of Martin Luther King that "There is a time when silence is betrayal". Sandy is always "there" wherever the "THERE" is when it comes to speaking or simply standing against injustice Over the years I have had the honour of spending more time with Sandy and Jean, his Wonderful lifepartner and my life has been made all the richer for that privilege.

Sandy's written works have been very important.

His booklet on "Fighti11g For Community" was requested from far outside Vancouver as a rare work on commwtity cohesion. His work on Drug Education & Poverty was adopted by BCTF for teaching purposes. His poetry has moved us all. His modesty refers to "Sparks" but we all feel a "Blaze'' from his powerful words.

What a teacher Sandy has been for so many of us, as he encouraged, listened and gently led us on to feel confident in our work and ourselves Mary Ann Cantillon

Sand~ Cameron -True to himself and us all.

There are many readers of this piece who won't recognize the man whose photo is reproduced here; Sandy Cameron is a humble guy and has rarely (to his everlasting thanks it seems) been the subject of public congratulations or even allowed himself to be the centre of attention.

What is hoped for, with the material and the very annotated biographical excerpts in the following few pages, is .to pay tribute to him in a way that is definitely not an obituary or on a 'when he still had it' theme, but recognition by and from the Downtown Eastside community and the lives of the many who \

were more or less blessed to have interacted with him in social activism over the past 20 years or so.

Everyone was born somewhere, sometime, into some family or situation, so let's skip whatever categorization that would entail and go to Sandy's first shared recollection: He was trusted to take the loggers' money to town to buy 25 cases of beer for the next night because he was the only guy working there who woudn 't even consider drinking it all up.

Another recollection has Sandy, when he was a (un-armed) prospector, coming onto a mountain plateau and being about 20 yards from an adult male grizzly bear. He reasoned with it, being to being, apologized for disturbing the bear' s meditations, and slowly backed away until he was out of sight. No harm, no foul.

Sandy has been involved in a few "marginal" programs (to the local gov't establishments anyway) in Native Education, working with Native elders and women to enhance preservation of traditional teachings and true Native/white histories. The latter got local self-proclaimed protectors of the status quo very upset, but it seems that that was an inevitable result of any project dealing with historical facts rather than the fictions in most school textbooks.

Sandy's poem Christmas at Muskrat Lake is a good representation of life on the bright side.

The Downtown Eastside became turf starting in the mid-' 80s. Sandy met Jean Swanson about a year after Solidarity was broken by some union bigwig's sellout to Bennett's government and Jean had started the anti-poverty coalition called End Legislated Poverty. He'd run into Mel Lehan at some rally and after about a minute Mel asked Sandy to be his organisation's rep to ELP. Sandy said Yes and, as they say, the rest is history (Jean and Sandy are partners.)

During the life of the Carnegie Newsletter, Sandy contributed work on a regular basis. At the same time he published several books, starting with Fighting For Community, the story of-Bruce Eriksen, Libby Davies and Jean - all at the core of the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association (DERA)- and the founding of the Carnegie Community Centre .

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Sandy tutored in the Learning Centre with several./ newcomers to Canada to improve their English and get often humourous clues to our odd sayings, behaviour and 'customs'(?!) .. Sandy was so welcomed into these immigrants' lives that he shared meals with their whole families and was one of the frrst people one I._,atin American man called for spiritual aid when his son died during a school soccer game.

Sandy' s writing is always accompanied by specific references - some going back 10 years - that give a

silent testament to his integrity. I recently asked him how he keeps such meticulous records, and Sandy said he has about 8 boxes of files on a myriad of social issues, and every time his (voracious) reading brought something specific or eventful to light he'd make a note or cut the actual article out and put in an appropriate file. He's found this much more reliable than a computer, where you have to get said article or reference into it before it could be stored.

In 1998 Sandy began a spate of collections of his work, culled from years of publication in the Carnegie Newsletter. The first was Downtown Eastside Poems, followed in chronological order by a collection of essays published through the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives called Taking Another Look At Class. A 2nd anthology of poetry came next entitled Sparks from the Fire, then a booklet for the British Columbia Teachers' Federation, Towards Effective Drug Education. This was and is especialty poignant given the stereotypical thinking and constructs behind the Prevention material practic~d or disseminated by police and government. The latest collection is Being True to Ourselves: Downtown Eastside Poems ofResistance, out in 2004.

Sandy' s penchant for sharing our writings as far and wide as possible contributed to Jean's completion of Poor-Bashing: The Politics ofExclusion, which is in its fourth printing and part of several university curriculums. He was also the inspiration to compiling my book The Heart ofthe Community: The Best ofthe Carnegie Newsletter, published by New Star Books in mid-2003, containing some of

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the best writing, poetry and art from the first 15 years of the paper.

Sandy is now quietly retired but, as Jean related, was so outraged by the recent publicity over the Guide to Eating for the homeless and dumpster divers that he was beside himself in condemning the

current government and its seeming acceptance of the necessity for people having to find food in other's garbage cans.

Sandy, you turned 75 in May, but the 2nd halfcentury is supposed to be smoother than the frrst. Go well, my friend.

ByPAULR TAYLOR

[The following two poems are the last two in Being True to Ourselves: Downtown Eastside Poems of Resistance bv Sandy Cameron, Vancouver 2004.}

One Hundred Years of Struggle "We need to educate the people about their rights and how to fight for them."

--Bruce Eriksen ( 1) The history of the Downtown Eastside first General Strike is a history took place in Vancouver of the struggle to protest the murder for human rights. of Ginger Goodwin, First Nations people a labour organizer have fought for a just from Cumberland, B.C. land claims settlement In 1919, there was for over one hundred years, another General Strike and we take inspiration in sympathy with from their example, the Winnipeg General Strike. especially in these dark days During the Great Depression 路 of the 1930s, when we feel we are losing control unemployed men of our lives in the Downtown Eastside to global economic wars, fought for the right or mega-projects to food, shelter, tltat overwhelm our neighbourhoods. work and wages.

In the Downtown EastsideIn April, 1935, working men and women.

Mayor McGeer read fought for the eight hour day the Riot Act and the right at Victory Square to form trade unions. to two thousand The Vancouver and District labour Council, un~~ployed men. one of the oldest labour Councils in Canada Wdhs Shaparla was there, ' ?,Dd he commented, started in 1889.

In 1903, Frank Rogers When h~gry Canadians was picketing for were asking for food, . " the striking United Brotherhood McGeer read us the Ri?t Act of Railway Engineers Soon after th~ occupation when he was shot and killed of the Carnegie museum by a C.P.R. hired guard by three ~undred unemployed workers m May, 1935, the men of the at the foot of Gore Avenue.

Relief Camp Workers' Union In 1918, Canada's

began the On-To-Ottawa Trek.

Then in June of that year one thousand longshoremen were attacked by. police near Ballantyne Pier as a result of a lockout and strike.

Longshoremen had been fighting for their own union since the 1890s, and by 1944 they had a strong union that protected their rights.

On May 20, 1938, unemployed men looking for relief occupied the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Georgia Hotel and the Post Office at Granville and Hastings.

Gradually, the occupation shifted to only the Post Office which the police attacked on June 19th.

Over one hundred men were hurt in the ensuing struggle.

That night ten thousand people attended a rally at the Powell Street Grounds, now called Oppenheimer Park, in support of the homeless, hungry men.

In September, 1939, the Government of Canada would ask these unemployed men to fight for their country.

They did fight, and many of them had the dream

of a better Canada after the War was over.

In 1995, federal public .servants occupied this old Post Office, now the Sinclair Centre, to protest a federal budget ·---. that planned to t111ow fifty thousand of these workers into the anguish of Wlemployment.

Chinatown and Japantown, called Powell Street by citizens of Japanese backgrolllld, were also part of the Downtown Eastside.

At first people lived in these communities because they weren't allowed to live anywhere else, but as the years went by, Chinatown and Japantown became centres of resistance against injustice, and they shaped their history with courage and endurance.

From 1881 to 1885 Chinese labourers helped build the Pacific Section of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

At least six hWldred Chinese workers died building that track.

In 1887, three hundred white men beat up a camp of sleeping Chinese workers at Coal Harbour.

In 1907, another race riot broke out, and a violent mob rampaged through Chinatown and Japantown.

During the Great Depression one hundred and seventy-five Chinese people died of starvation in Chinatown. (2) After the attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, the federal government uprooted the entire population of Canadian citizens of Japanese origin,

and moved innocent people ..to internment camps ·. W,ith no regard : for human rights or family ties.

True, the war was going badly in 1941.

Before the end of the year nearly two thousand Canadians were killed or captured when Japanese troops entered Hong Kong.

Panic, and fear of a race riot, may explain the action of the Canadian government, but they do not excuse it.

Not one Canadian of Japanese origin was found guilty of any offence against the security of Cana~ . · throughout the war. : After a long fight for human rights, Japanese Canadians won redress ' and on September 22, 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney fonnally apologized ort behalf of the Government of Canada for wrongfully interning and seizing the property of Canadians of Japanese background.

Although Japantown never regained its prewar size, the Powell Street Festival has become an annual celebration of the Japanese Canadian community, and Chinatown has become a busy social, commercial and tourist centre with a highly respected international reputation.

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In 1968, the Stratltcona t...

Property Owners and Tenants ~ Association (SPOTA), was formed to stop the disastrous urban renewal plans of City Collllcil.

SPOTA stopped the bulldozers and saved Strathcona. ~ Bessie Lee of SPOTA remarked, "We have to remind the City that when they decide to change things in a community, they must always consider the total planning or mal commuruty, and tlte concerns of the people who live in it" (3) Tite· Downtown Eastside Residents' Association (DERA) would agree witlt that statement.

Since the early 1970s DERA has fought to establish the rights of the community, to change its image from skid road to tlte Downtown Eastside ' and to win much needed services for tlte members of Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood.

"The people who live here, they call it the Downtown Eastside," Bruce Eriksen said, and in.l983 Mayor Harcourt of Vancouver presented a civic award to DERA which declared that this citizens' organization had helped to change the perception of part ofVanc<,mver, fonnerly known as skid road, to the Downtown Eastside. .

In the 1980s, DERA~ with Jim Green as organizer, ' addressed the right to housing in the Downtown Eastside .by building low income housing.

The DERA Housing Co-op was completed in 1985, •

and the Four Sisters Co-op was finished in 1987.

This play expressed the energy and the caring of our beloved community.

In the 1970s, citizens of the Downtown Eastside Now the Downtown Eastside is under siege fought for seven years to win the Carnegie Community Centre from the gentrification for the neighbourhood. tllat has destroyed many inner city neighbourhoods.

Later, they won Crab Park, TI1e fight for survival and in 1985, they started is a desperate one as developers, the Strathcona Community Gardens in their haste for profit, which empowered the community dehumanize the people who live here. through tlte creative act A discussion paper of planting seeds. prepared for tlle Downtown Eastside poets, Gastown Improvement Society in 1992, such as Tora and Bud Osborn, referred to Downtown Eastside residents and the Carnegie Newsletter, "those social service clients edited by Paul Taylor, who frequent the area:' (4) gave a powerful voice A Simon Fraser University instructor, to the community, when talking of the human beings as did the books of Sheila Ba.xter. who call the Downtown Eastside This writing showed their home, said, that hwnan beings "They get moved along~ could forcefully reject tl1ey get kicked out. the negative image Those poor buggers ascribed to them, are used to it. and replace it TI1ey always get disenfranchised." (5) with a community of caring that speaks from the heart.

When men of great power In. 1995, the Downtown Eastside, deny the humanity of human beings in co-operation with friends and the history of a community, all over Vancouver, they tend to think defeated a casino mega-project that they can destroy that would have done great harm both the people to both tlle commwuty and the place and the City of Vancouver, without moral qualms. and in recent years The Downtown Eastside has tha Vancouver Area Network a long history, however, of Drug Users (VANDU), and a rugged identity. the occupiers of Woodward's It is not expendable, in the Woodsquat campaign, and it is not just skid road. homeless people in tent villages, We are strong and Latinos in Action, when we stand in solidarity have fought courageously with those who have fought for respect, dignity, for human rights and tlle opportunity for over one hundred years. to lead a meaningful life.

Memory is the mother of community.

Remember also the glorious Downtown Eastside Community Play that was P¥f of the celebrations for tl1e Carnegie Library's 1OOth birtltday in1he year 2003. .

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· (I ) Quoted in Hasson, . Shlomo, and David Ley : Neighbourhood Organizations and the We([are State, pub. By the University of Toronto Press, 1994 - chapter 6, "The Downtown Eastside: 'One Hundred Years of Struggle,'" page 178.

(2) VancouJ.~er 's Chinatown Racial Discourse in Canada, 1875-1980, by Kay J. Anderson, page 143.

(3) An interview with Bessie Lee in the book Opening Doors - Vancouver's East End, by Daphne Marlett.

• (4) Carnegie Action Project• \I Newsletter, September 15, ; 1996.

(5) "Gastown ideal for single; women," by Fiona Hughes, The Vancouve1• Courier,. · ~ January 21 , 1996. ;

What Are We Waiting For? Sitting in my room late at night the ink bottle

begins to move

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CRACKERS

. across the table.

Earthquake, I think.

Is this what we're waiting for?

Or the Martians?

Where are they when we need them?

Or that ambiguous friend who knocks on our door in the night?

Or Godot?

Is it Godot we're waiting for in Oppenheimer Park?

It's quiet here, waiting like salmon for a change in the tide.

Looking when there is nothing to see.

Listening when there is nothing to hear.

CARNEGIE SOUP THATS ALL I CAN AFFORD. WELL MAYBE A CUP OF GREEN TEA THEY GAVE IT TO ME AND A SMILE FOR FREE AND THEY ALWAYS GAVE ME CRACKERS SHI'ITY HALL KNOWS BUT JUST DON7 CARE THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE HOSTS DRUGS AND CRIME I MAY NOT HAVE A DOLLAR I MAY NOT HAVE A DIME BUT I'LL GET BY AS LONG AS I HAVE MY CRACKERS .

SOME FOLKS HAVE MONEY BIG SHINEY CARS BULLET PROOF WINDOWS COMFY BUCKET SEATS I ONLY HAVE A CAT THAT LOVES TO EAT AND THAT'S OK I'LL BE HAPPY JUST THE SAME AS LONG AS I HAVE MY CRACKERS TWO TWENTY FIVE TO RIDE THE CITY BUS SEA BUS AND SKY TRAIN I DO NOT HAVE THE TRANSIT FARE SO I WALK OUT IN THE RAIN THE SEAGULLS SEEM TO LAUGH AT ME AS I WALK HATLESS AGAIN A RAVEN CACKLES BACK TO THEM AT LEAST HE'S GOT HIS CRACKERS SO WHEN THE WORLD HANDS YOU A TURD REMEMBER WHAT I SAY YESTERDAY IS GONE TODAY IS HERE TOMORROW'S FARAWAY TIME WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF SO JUST LEAVE TIME ALONE AND PLEASE REMEMBER DON'T FORGET TO ALWAYS SHARE YOUR CRACKERS

There's a rumour going around of a secret embarkation, women and men preparing for a journey to unknown lands where no one is excluded.

Underneath the clamour of globalization another voice is growing, another expectation.

We've heard it in Vancouver Seattle Washington, D.C. . ..

Geneva Barcelona Prilgue Quebec City Genoa throughout the world.

Listen.

mr. mcbinner

..路路 ---J..\ Gena Thompson's poems on the bus soon From this fall onwards, look out for an extract from Gena Thompson's poem, Springtime on a bus or skytrain near you. Gena' s poem, which appears in The Return ofthe Downtown Eastside Poets& was selected from hundreds of entries for the 1ot year of Poetry in Transit. Congratulations, Gena! Here' s the extract from the poem:

Your silence will not save you Or your children From these streets Most of which are probably Totally impractical, .

But the appeal of the gutter Is that for one month of the year It's full of cherry blossoms.

{Letter-to-the-editor- The Economis~

Sir:

July 16, 2006

The column about development in Vancouver B. C. and issues of homelessness and addictions is timely.

While these problems are by no means unique to Vancouver nor to the inner city they manifest themselves in very public, overwhelming ways in the Downtown Eastside. As a person who has worked and volunteered in the community perhaps this visibility and coverage like yours will prompt constructive action.

Vancouver' s bid book for the 2010 Winter Olympics made a commitment to inclusivity and sustainability with particular attention to the Downtown Eastside. Now, though there is plenty of information about progress on Olympic venues and transportation arrangements, there is as yet no coordinated information about work on this commitment- no base line information, no regular reporting, no identified resource which the community can approach regarding impacts or plans.

Despite its very real problems, the Downtown Eastside is a community characterized by a rich network of citizen organizations, and a record of considerable accomplishments against daunting odds. I very much hope this local experience and expertise will be called on by Olympic organizers. Time is short and real estate pressures are immense.

[they create poverty, then they criminalize it. that darned elusive 'they,' who just don't get it] .

Las Vegas makes it illegal to feed ... the homeless

LAS VEGAS - In an effort to curb charity that is having unintended consequences, Las Vegas city council has made it illegal to give food to homeless people in city parks.

Residents complained that the large numbers of homeless gathering in the parks make it impossible for others to use them. Said city spokesman David Riggleman,. "We're trying to empathize with both camps," he said. "We're hoping we can improve their lives and improve the lives of people living around the park, some of whom have people urinating and defecating in front of their door."

The law, which went into effect Thursday, targets so-called "mobile soup kitchens." It carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 (U.S.) fine and six months in jail.

Mr. Riggleman said that by shutting down such soup kitchens, homeless people will be encouraged to go to a centre or charity that offers services such as mental health evaluations or job placement. Gail Michael Clague, Vancouver Sacco, who operates a mobile soup kitchen seven days a week, said the city doesn't have adequate homeless services and that she is undeterred.

"There's no way for people to get out to those services in triple-digit weather," she said. "My plan is to do anything I feel is needed to keep these people alive."

The law defines a homeless person as an indigent "whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive assistance."

American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada lawyer Allen Lichtenstein said the language makes the law unenforceable.

"The ordinance is clearly unconstitutional and nonsensical," he said. "How are you going to know ~~~~~ without a financial statement who's poor and who's ,~~~~~~~~~ not poor? It means they can discriminate based on ~~ ~~the way people look."

Art Against Brutality Last year, for the first time, an event was held in Oppenheimer Park to bring together folks from all comers of our Downtown Eastside community to focus on the issues of the various brutalities to which we are routinely subjected.

No one knew quite what to expect from an event that seemed so openended. At the end of the day, the consensus was, we must do this again.

Therefore, we gladly announce this year's Art Against Brutality, to celebrate the resilience of our community spirit and the healing power of art.

This year, the monster responsible for much subtle brutalization of our beleaguered community is the galloping gentrification threatening to tear up our neighbourhood to please a different population than us. In addition

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also welcome donations cash and prizes. We have already an amazing lineup of musicians and speakers, and are now accepting works of art and ideas for displays. Use your imagination to creatively express your piece in a freestanding display or place your piece in the appropriate road in the labyrinth.

Call (604) 682-3269, ext.

7400 for information.

to the standard kinds of brutality, systemic and personal, there is this issue that so many are fighting, and that calls for a new road in the labyrinth.

We are calling out for artists, activists and visionaries to participate in this venture. We especially need folks to help with the construction of the labyrinth and the food prep for the feast. We 4

a community celebration of the resilience of the spirit and the healing power of art

â&#x20AC;˘

Saturday

September 16 2006 oppenheimer park noon-~usk

l\ tor submissio,.,. c,1Jmusicoodance

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sculpture co\\age oo carvlng . \ o\e . memorta p -.r-~71 $$prizes$$ , / --~ .

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for more info and to register

call: (604)682-3269 extent ion 7400 â&#x20AC;˘

â&#x20AC;˘

check it out at

artagai nstbrutal ity. blogs pot .com/

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Attitude There was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she ~~d and had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "Hmm" she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw that she had only one hair on her head. "Today I' m going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. " Yeah!" she exclaimed. " I don't have to fix my hair at all today!"

Submitted

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Dear all, 'Community Dreams' was a great event, everybody enjoyed the evening and we raised $430 for Co-op Radio.

I'd like to thank you all again for supporting the idea and for all your effort and input. As a community we managed to create this together. Thanks to all the writers, who shared their thoughts and visions with us, to all Co-op Volunteers and staff members who help to create "Community Dreams".

• I hope everybody will keep participating in spoken word events to keep poetry alive!! Auf Wiedersehen •

Anne Riediger, CFRO 102.7 FM

wait'n for daddy to get a fix from the dr 1 wait'n for daddy to get a fix from the Ceo wait'n for daddy to get a fix from the preacher wait'n for daddy to make someone he's on the make for, wait'n for daddy to get home from a Big business trip or extended holiday in some beautiful sunset ravaged community somewhere down south in penny wage land is no different at all -.....t no worse than wait'n for daddy on the sidewalk to get a fix at main 'n' hastings wait'n for mom to put on her next mask wait'n for rna to pour out hollow controlling love by the next and next. and next ladle wait'n for dad to skillfully prepare and apply and buy ego armour for his skull wait'n as he works his ass off uses up his time my time, to sell his ass and soul to dump a mercedes in his empty hull empty hole is no different no worse than wait'n for rna

ta score on hastings sparrow

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)

Newsletter st 1, 2006

Community action saves Powell Rooms The bad news is: Nine days after city and Vancouver Agreement officials assured the Carnegie Community Action Project that residents would not be abruptly evicted from hotels, 12 residents of the Powell Rooms at 556 Powell were given 7 days to get out by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

The good news is: Community volunteers from an array of groups, including Save Low Income Housing Coalition (SLIHC), worked hard on political action, media work, and actually cleaning up and fixing the building, and stopped the evictions for the time being.

On July 19th Vancouver Coastal Health' s Medical Health Officer, Dr. John Blatherwi.ck, issued a notice to tenants of the rooming house giving them 7 days to get out. His reasons for the evictions included: no hot water; bedbugs, roaches and mice; broken fixtures in washrooms; and garbage at the rear of the premises.

According to Pivot Legal Society, one of their lawyers, David Eby, "learned of the order on Monday and visited the lodging house on Tuesday with a team of volunteer trades-people and community â&#x20AC;˘

members. The repairs to the hot water tank were completed within minutes, and all the toilets were found to be in working order. A removal service [was] contracted to remove garbage from the back lane. No evidence was found of mice, cockroaches or bedbugs, although a pest control service [was also] engaged to conduct a full inspection."

"It's fairly shocking that the Coastal Health Authority, responsible for ensuring the health and well-being of the community, would rather force people onto the street than ensure some very basic repairs are done," said Eby in a Pivot news release. "It would have been a simple matter for Dr. Blatherwick to order the steps we've taken today to be done, and any health hazards be cleaned up."

Pivot also says there have been no City Standards of Maintenance Orders for the lodging house since November of 2001 .

"It boils down to community volunteers doing the job of Coastal Health and the City because, for some reason, they would rather close hotels than ensure that they are livable," said Eby. (Continued on the next page) 1

Powell Rooms safe for time being ...

(Continued from previous page) "This is unacceptable," said Bob Sarti, who had been at the CCAP meeting with Isobel Donovan of the Vancouver Agreement and Barb Windsor of the city on July lOth. "We were assured that the city didn't want to close hotels. Either the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing or someone is playing games ·with people's lives and homes," Sarti said; On the day before the eviction was to take place, SLIHC demanded a meeting with Blatherwick. At the meeting they asked for a re-inspection and for the eviction notices to be rescinded.

Members of the Anti-Poverty Committee said they would call the media and occupy the building if necessary to keep it open. They got a re-inspection.

1 By 10 am on July 26 h, volunteer workers were going in and out of the building with tools and mattresses. As well several TV cameras and reporters were going into the building and interviewing people. The health . inspectors did their inspection.

At noon on the 26th, Barb Windsor, the city's deputy chief license inspector, told CCAP that the tenants could stay in their homes for the time being. She said she had met the new owner, hot water had been restored, garbage removed, washrooms were sufficient, new ...

mattresses were being supplied, and there was a contract with a pest control firm.

CCAP had been assures by Isobel Donovan of the Vancouver Agreement and Barb Windsor of the city that in the future all parties involved would sit down and discuss problem hotels and provide assistance to tenants before people were evicted. The community is asking lots of questions: Why was the eviction order issued in the first place when conditions were not that bad? Is Coastal Health (run by the province) talking to city staff responsible for conditions in hotels and rooming houses? Does Coastal Health know about the process the Vancouver Agreement has set up for dealing with problem hotels (see story on page 4)? Or is there really a plot to empty rooming houses for owners who want to convert to condos or hotels as part of gentrification or for the Olympics? At least we now know that a united Downtown Eastside community can and will stop hotel evictions. Groups that are members of SLIHC include DERA, Neighbourhood Helpers, Vancouver Status of Women, Pivot, the Anti-Poverty Committee and others. Other community groups were also involved.

-Jean Swanson

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What's happening with the inspections of 54 hotels?

On July 1Oth the Carnegie Community Action Project committee met with Isobel Donovan of the Vancouver Agreement and Barb Windsor of the city's Property Use Department to talk about the recent inspections of 54 hotels by the Neighbourhood Integrated Services Team (NIST). At that meeting CCAP was assured that the swift evictions that happened at the Burns Block would not happen again. "What happened at the Burns Block shouldn't have happened," Windsor said. Next time the city faces maintenance and safety violations similar to the ones at the Burns Block, the whole team will meet, discuss, meet with tenants' assistance and try to resolve the problem, she said.

Apparently that policy didn't include the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (See article on page 1).

Donovan said idea of inspecting the 54 hotels arose when a team of police, fire, city, environmental health, the Ministry. ofEmployment and Income Assistance, and ambulance representatives decided to do a survey of what makes hotels wellrun and what makes them poorly-run.

The hotels to be inspected were chosen based on the number of calls to ambulance and police services.

The inspections of the 54 hotels have now been completed, said Donovan, and the next step is the analysis. "What are the systemic issues," she asked, "Why can't people with low incomes have the same quality of life as others?" Donovan said their group is working on making a "business case" for change, and for increased federal and provincial money for housing.

Data on each hotel will be put into binders and brought to a community steering group in the fall, said Donovan.

Tom Laviolette of the CCAP committee told Donovan that the information about the hotels needs to be put in the context of rising property values, older buildings, higher operating costs, and welfare cuts.

The city should enforce the Standards of Maintenance bylaw by having the city do the work when landlords refuse, and investigate liens, property taxes and what legislative changes are needed, he said.

Donovan said there are studies that show it's cheaper to build housing than . provide services to homeless people.

- Jean Swanson

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Making Sense of the Vancouver Agreement

By Bart Reid

Vancouver Agreement "'oh'~ Promises ·l"' ' . f;.. flitifl OR i!EJUM~ tl ~\) · Vancouver Agreement, signed by the three levels of government in April, 2001 .

The three goals in the Agreement' s mission statement were to increase economic development in the Downtown Eastside without displacing residents, to improve the health of area residents, and to increase public safety.

Four Strategies were adopted to realize these goals: • increase economic development and employment; • dismantle the area's open drug scene; • deal with health and safety as as well as preservation and replacement of SROs; • improve community safety.

After agreeing on these four strategies, over the next three years the Vancouver Agreement created a Strategic Plan to (Continued on the next page)

Six years after its creation, many people still seem to be puzzled and confused about what the Vancouver Agreement is, and what it actually does. An outside observer might find The Vancouver Agreement to be a kind of governmentgenerated mirage. It seems to appear, then disappear, becoming visible when a major announcement about the Downtown Eastside is made, only to disappear until the next announcement is made. To make sense of The Vancouver Agreement, it might be helpful to view it as a brand created by the three levels of government, something like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

In the mid 1990s a health crisis triggered by drug use and the rapid spread of mv' concerns about social disorder arising from the drug economy, and the rapid demise of retailing along Hastings Street were the issues that led to the formation of The 5 • •

Making Sense of the Vancouver Agreement... particularly when it is not responsible for the implementation of the plan or the delivery of services?

The claim can be made because The Vancouver Agreement really isn't an organization. Nor is it a department, or even a program. It is a committee. To be more specific, it's a coordinating committee made up of bureaucrats from the three levels of government. It works behind the scenes, networking between departments, attempting to incubate partnerships and alliances. Its actions are therefore neither bottom up, or top down, but somewhere in between. It assists organizations and may help to create new organizations.

The Vancouver Agreement received no new funds initially. It doesn't have an executive director or a new bureaucracy.

Its highest ranking official is the executive coordinator.

Indeed, until the Province and Federal Governments each contributed $10 million to The Vancouver Agreement in 2003, there were no funds fonnally under the control of The Vancouver Agreement. Even with this allocation, lead agencies, such as the Department of Western Diversification, still make the final decision on the allocation of funds.

When The Vancouver Agreement makes an announcement or takes credit for something, an outsider can reasonably

(Continued from previous page)

implement them.

In 2003 the Vancouver Agreement released a plan which tied a wide variety of actions to each strategy. Eleven actions, including redeveloping Woodwards, were part of the economic development strategy.

To deal with the open drug market and community safety, the Vancouver Agreement wanted to coordinate actions between the police, building inspectors, the justice system, and health authorities to implement elements of The Four Pillars Drug Strategy. Six actions were developed to deal with SROs. These included stabilizing the worst hotels through purchase, leasing and enforcement of standards, creating incentives to improve the living conditions in SROs, improving management, and establishing supportive housing.

This is an ambitious agenda. And the Vancouver Agreement has taken credit for many actions relating to the strategic plan.

But The Vancouver Agreement only has one full time staff person and two others working on contract, with a total annual budget of around $450,000. How can an entity with such a modest budget and only one full time staff person be involved in so many actions and lay claim to so many accomplishments, â&#x20AC;˘

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(Continued on the next page) 6

Vancouver Agreement ...

(Continuedfrom previous page)

assume that the three levels of government know _and approve of it, and that it has something to do with what they think will improve the economy of the Downtown Eastside, or make the Downtown Eastside a safer and healthier place.

For this reason, when it comes to assigning credit or blame for outcomes met or unmet, a clear distinction needs to be made between prime movers, and the major and minor players that have been involved in key interventions in the Downtown Eastside over the past six years, and the background role of facilitation and coordination which The Vancouver Agreement focuses on.

For example, The Vancouver Agreement has facilitated the implementation of the Four Pillars Program. It has also been involved in the inclusivity arrangement made with the Olympic Committtee. And it has been involved with the Woodwards redevelopment. But it is important to remember that it did not create the momentum for these projects and arrangements. These key interventions, whether we agree with them or not, would never have come about without strong political mobilization by the community at the local level.

--Bart Reid is a researcher and sits on the Board ofEMBERS, a Downtown Eastside community economic development corporation. He has a PhD in City Planning and Urban Studies.

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Raise the Rates campaign working to build pressure on province The provincial government hasn't budged on welfare rates and barriers yet, but the Raise the Rates campaign is on a roll. A trusty band of groups and volunteers, including the Carnegie Community Action Project, have produced hundreds of posters and thousands of leaflets designed to help people who aren't poor know what welfare is really like.

Our theory, based on polling by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is that if people know how awful welfare is, they'll support an increase in rates and an end to the barriers that keep people in need from getting on welfare.

Raise the Rates has 4 demands: · • Raise welfare rates at least 50o/o; • End the barriers to getting on welfare that are causing homelessness; • Let everyone on welfare keep the first $500 they earn; and • Raise minimum wage to at least $10 an hour, up form $8 and end the $6 training wage.

Here are a few of the things that Raise the Rates has done recently: • We set up info tables with petitions and letter-writing at various events including a Commercial Drive festival, the Alexander St. Block • •

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Party, and the Peace Walk, with more to come in August and September; • Volunteers at the Carnegie Community Action Project developed and performed a skit, "The Price is Wrong" to show how ridiculously low welfare rates are; • We sent out hundreds of posters and leaflets all over the province; • We're meeting with other groups like Oxfam, Make Poverty History, lots of churches, the Vancouver and District Labour Council, and getting them involved in Raise the Rates!

• We' re getting lots of petitions and form letters signed; • We got Maple Ridge, Victoria and Vancouver city councils to pass motions on welfare.

If you would like to help out or get some leaflets or any of our 4 fabulous posters, call Jean at 729-2380 or come into the CCAP office most mornings (except the week of Aug. 7th). Or, check out our new website, built by our summer student, Trish Garner. It' s at raisetherates.org.

Our plan is to increase the number of people in BC who understand how awful welfare is, and get them pressure the provincial government for major improvements.

--Jean Swanson

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Update on In site _

Insite, North America's first legal supervised inâ&#x20AC;˘

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jection site, opened in Vancouver in September of 2003. It was conceived as part of Vancouver's Four Pillar Approach to drug addiction: harm reduction, prevention, treatment, and enforcement. lnsite is part of the harm reduction approach. It provides a place for addicts to safely inject whatever drugs they are addicted to.

Since its inception, Insite has had many successes: - it is leading to increased uptake into detoxification programs and addiction treatment.

- it has not led to an increase in drug-related crime.

-it has reduced the number of people injecting in public and the amount of injection-related litter in the downtown eastside. it is attracting the highest-risk users - those more likely to be vulnerable to HIV infection and overdose, and who were contributing to problems of public drug use and unsafe syringe disposal.

- it has reduced overall rates of needle sharing in the community, and among those who used the supervised site for some, most or all of their injections, 70% were less likely to report syringe sharing.

- it is not increasing rates of relapse among former drug users, nor is it a negative influence on those seeking to stop drug use.

Research indicates, among other facts, that: - 7,278 unique individuals registered at Insite - 453 overdoses resulted in no fatalities -4,084 referrals were made with 40 per cent of them made to addiction counselling (All totals or averages were done for the two-year period from April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2006.)

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicated in his campaign promises in the lead up to the last election that his government would close the site if elected. Now it looks as if that' s about to happen.

I talked to Diane Wood about this (who, by the way, prompted me to write this article) and she said, "That's like telling a [lung] cancer patient that he's not going to get chemotherapy for his illness be-

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cause it was his fault." That's certainly true, and it's in keeping with Stephen Harper's small-minded conservative value system, the same one that made him distance himself from an important conference on AIDS held in Canada.

I responded to our MP Libby Davies's call for help in alerting the federal government to concen1s about the continuance of Insite by sending an e-mail to the Minister of Health, Tony Clement, at minister_ministre([~hc-sc. gc. ca It's certainly easy enough ~ here is an outl ine: lyour addressJ ftoday's date !

The Bon. Tony Clement, P.C., M.P. Minister of Health Room 278 Confederation Building House of Commons Ottawa, ON KIA OA6 Dear Minis fer, [text of your message; you might want to mention something to the effect that a Downtown Business Association previously opposed to the opening of Insite is now in favour of its continued operation, because there are less addicts shooting up in front of their businesses and there are less syringes and drug paraphernalia left in front of their businesses (I know this reason completely disregards the good the site has done for addicts, and is very self-interested, but as long as they' re on side, why not use it to our advantage?)] [your name] [your e-mail address and even telephone number if you feel like it] Send one today; be part of a group of progressive citizens who don' t want to see more of the regressive social values of Stephen Harper's government implemented. It'll make you feel better. (Please note: if you send your letter by regular Canada Post, it goes postage free since it is being mailed to the federal government in Ottawa.)

By Rolf Aucr

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Reductionism for a more totalitarian world.

By Jorge Escolan-Suay

News froan the Library New Books Local author (and Work Less Party founder) Conrad Schmidt argues that we need to stop consuming and start relaxing in Workers ofthe World Relax: The Simple Economic.ft ofLess Industrial Work (331.25).

More health books just in: Coping with Bipolar Disorder: A Guide to Living with Manic Depres.5ion by Steven Jones (61 6.89), 7 Tools to Beat Addiction by Stanton Peele (616.86), and Learn to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Self-Discovery and Fulfillment by

David Fontana (158.12).

Do all the fabulous Carnegie musicians inspire you to take up the guitar? Teach YourselfVzsually: Guitar by Charles Kim (787.61) shows you in pictures what other books tell you in words. Photographs show finger positioning for hundreds of chords, and give useful tips on techniques such as moving b tween chords and how to hold the guitar.

Poisons: From Hemlock to Botox and the Killer /Jean ofCalabar by Peter Macinnis (615.9) takes you on a trip through history' s poisons and poisoners. Find out if wallpaper can kill you, whether Lincoln's notorious bad temper was caused by mercury poisoning, and if Jack the Ripper was fond of eating arsemc.

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Movie buffs can take a look at a new series of books from Rough Guides. These books give you the lowdown on Gangster Movies, Sci-fi Movies, Horror M ovies and Comedy Movies (all 791.43).

Goodbye from Beth I'm heading off to have a baby for a few months at the beginning of August. Replacing me until March will be Mark Koep. Mark comes to us from the downtown library, where he's been working at Newspapers & Magazines, Science & Business. . Welcome, Mark Beth, your librarian

Reductionism is one of the most primitive ways of trying to crush the freedom of thought. Whoever uses reductionism as a means to succeed, departs from the premises of the extreme opposites. From the caves to Plato, from the Spanish inquisition to the Hal9000 computer ot the 2001 Space Odyssey of Arthur Clarke. Easy for them: those who are not with them, they are against them, thus we must be crushed. Any ways of dissent -even the most minimal, are to be punished and repressed by using all the manpower of the establishment. That perspective has proven not to be very effective in the long run, cause no matter if people are killed and towns are destroyed, sooner or later ideas always make a come back, sometimes even in a more powerful way.

Problem for them is that ideas are indestructible.

One of reductionisms most vicious attacks is against tolerance. For them, differences must be de· stroyed; there is just one way, their way. I listened to someone speaking in that context, explaining further, "that tolerance is a weapon of the Demon, therefore being tolerant is not acceptable~ " Interest· ' ing, if not scary.

But the thing is that colours, for instance- are a fac~ therefore the perspective of a black or white reality leads nowhere but to totalitarianism. And when voices are repressed, a tremendous amount of pres· sure is generated into the boilers of the so-called social system. If that pressure is not released, explos1ons may occur.

From the year 2001 on, our neighborhood was the frrst to take the impact of social cuts. Little by little that impact has been progressively felt by other neighborhoods and sectors. The human community as well as the business community of Gastown will take a big hit by the redevelopment of an historical site -in the name of soccer (in spite of Heritage By Laws and very well detailed, major technical objec· tions. Now, South Vancouver will be re-developed in the name of the World Mega Stores.

Our local entrepreneurs in supermarkets and the small and medium business community will take a big hit, as well as our national producers -who will not be able to compete against big chains (which m_a~e huge profits on imports produced in conditions •

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of slavery, exploitation of women, child labor and miserable pay ..

Steven Biko once said that the most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Anna Mae Pictou Aquash gave her life to fight the reductionism that, in her own words, only leads to a more totalitarian world. Reductionism is destructive. Tolerance is vital for coexistence.

To promote diversity is good; as Kji Keptin Alex Denny wrote: "if there is only one thing I will not concede; be it that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause."

I Lost Her Way

Acknowledgments: This article is dedicated to Anna Mae Pictou A quash (1945-1976?). A brave woman, mother, wife, social worker, daycare teacher. Born in lhe Micmac Nation -now Nova Scotia, murdered in the U.S. Anna Mae, you live in our hearts always.

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for D.E.W.C.

Columbia/Cordova

no baby, no you don' wanna kill yourself even tho, god knows, it is enough to try the patience of Job. Hang In The sun is coming hope is coming life is coming for you and me an' all the others the downtrodden and disheartened bottom rung Coming even for the fair-haired child whose beauty did not save her.

-We are fodder for the machine loco A rotten system Pawns in the great chess game in the sky The game the gods play tricksters all.

@j~~=::::::~ Wilhelmina

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To get the girl, for I the boy To lose her then, tis' the end of joy The boy who wins, not me I say This boy strikes out, oh the price I'll pay Have you too been, please, would you like to share?

Whom has lost a game of love, ain't fair To this old challenge of mismatched pairs Who do you call out to in your most deep despair?

And to hug and hold onto, is it a soul mate, so rare?

For about this brief encounter whirl, you ought to know the score.

There are no rules, not numbers, is this cryptic tale, of love, no more It is about hard knocks, and of appearing late, as when you went to school, like maybe second, in a choosing, it all seems so bitter, cruel.

It's not tons of fun, when you've fallen hard, it is just like being dealt, a bad hand of cards And then even when you blow it off, like embers, all afire, you will never quite forget; her, you know the one, your heart's necessary desire The one you put upon a pedestal, of sand, of stone, and of wire Somehow I sensed, I would ever, for the most part remain alone To hold onto my hot tears, in these brimming soulless eyes and so tough at time, it seems, you know, as I suppress my muffled cries.

Oh yes, of course, there have been many others, dear, that I would pretend to cherish However these carefree, synthetic and detached affairs, were doomed to fail, and then perish.

The ignited girl, who caught my fire, and then so suddenly snuffed it out She was the girl for me I say to you, so simply and so truly, without a shadow of doubt.

And so I press on with my life as a castaway, as I think and dream of her, day after endless day.

By Robyn Livingstone

An Evening of Old-tyme Coutnry & Gospel Music

Just FrJends From New Brunswick

Wednesday, August 16, 2006 7 pm in the Carnegie Theatre 401 Main Street, Vancouver Just Friends had it's beginnings in 1998, and has performed at publ ic engage ments, fairs, festivals, senio rs and church events in the Moncton, NB

KARAOKE with Steve Friday, August 11, 7- 10pm Carnegie Theatre Karaoke is a form of singing available for everyone.

Discover the joy of singing in an encouraging and accepting environment. Come and sing along and have some fun with Steve, our maestro!

Everyone WELCOME! Refreshments served to the brave souls.

'VOLUNTEERS OF THE MONTH' (July 2006) Keith Pilipchuk What did we do before Keith joined us?. He has been an ~ending source of creativity and support in many vofunteer areas and all with his own initiative.

Marilyn Joe Our sweet Marilyn volunteers as our Lane Level Receptionist. Her dedication is absolutely commendable but what I ~ove ab~ut M~yn the most is the kindness and pattence With which she treats other people -an example of true community spirit.

Volunteer Committee Meeting Wednesday, August 9, 2pm in Classroom II .

All welcome! Your voice is needed and appreciated.

IJ,LEBT!! ALERT!! ALEBl

area. The music they play has been inspired by bluegrass, trad itiona l country, gospel, folk - oldtyme aco ustic music. The group has four recordings to it's credit: The group consists of fou r couples * Glen & Joan Carson * Faye & Harold Wilson * Doug & Lenore Bul mer * Linda & Laurence Coates All membe rs of t he group sing harmony and lead vocals, which is s upported by acoustic guitar, . mandol in, banjo, dobro, fiddle and electric bass guita r. Inspirational & Gospel music has always been an im portant part of Just Friends musical presentations. â&#x20AC;˘

Volunteer Dinner Wednesday, August¡16, 4:30pm AT CRAB PARK This is a dinner for all Volunteers with a minimum of 12 hours service for the month. Tthis dinner is one way for staff to show our appreciation to all of you for all that you do for the community.

Please pick up your dinner ticket in the Volunteer Program office ahead of time, we don't want you to miss out.

BASEBALL: Vancouvet Asahi Baseball Teatn penheimer park is this prominent team's home ground where they had their eginnings. Please come and watch the game. It should be a blast.

WHEN Monday, August 7th WHERE: Oppenheimer Park TIME: Meet at Info Desk at 10:45 am (Lunch provided)

Sign up with in the Volunteer Program Office

Annual Volunteer and Senior Picnic

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BOUNDARY BAY- Teddy Bear Picnic Reunion must bring your teddy bear or perhaps not allowed on the bus<wink>and we don't want you left behind.

WHEN: Monday, August 21st WHERE: Boundary Bay

TIME: . . . ..

9:30am - 7pm

Meet at info desk 9:30am sharp.

Volunteers I Seniors- day trip to the PNE When: Monday, August 28th Where: PNE TIME: 10 AM- until we drop Meet at the info desk at 1Oam please LIVE BAND DANCE 'Frankly Scarlet' When: Friday August 18tb Where: Carnegie Theatre Everyone welcome?- Come and let loose Ya know ya wont to

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The FIRST ANNUAL CARNEGIE VS OPPENHEIMER SOFf BALL GAME was yesterday and was a complete blast. Our team started out as the 'Yellow Jackets' vs the 'Pirates' but quickly regenerated into the 'Snoozers' and the 'Losers'.

Colleen was the Volunteer Coach & we had at least ; 10 Grumpires 'which whittled down to Paul C., with .

Wayne as the Official Score Keeper, Carl as the . photographer and a mystery person as journalist. We . even had the Marlboro Man (aka Mathew Mathew) ! hit a fly ball with a cigarette hanging off his lips. l Displaying the traditional Carnegie largesse of spirit,: : we lent the Pirates their best player, Johan, who ; 1 us how to play softball 'Leisure League Style'. :; taught ,...__.. .. :

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· 11i"'e Snoozers (Carnegie) turned out en mass and

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: were veritable rockets with a baseball bat and glove • ; in hand. We had 3 home runs (Josh, Elvis, Paul) and . : several players that batted 1,000. We beat our oppo- · · nents 19 to 7; however, in the 4th inning, the 10 · 'Run Mercy Rule' was applied costing us two runs : loaded bases and one out. 6 innings were played.

Rumor has it that the 'Pirates' are already practicing . for our rematch. This time we were shamelessly 1 . : gloating winners which we thoroughly enjoyed . .. but. for wllen we win the rematch I am sending our top : players (all of them) to Obedience School.

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I Our booty was the Coach of the 'Pirates" team head: band which will be displayed at the August 18th . .

Live Band Dance.

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We do want to thank Oppenheimer Park staff and . .

--7"-" volunteers for the good grace of hosting our frrst "Those who don't learn from the past . game and putting up with our over-the-top gloating tt d~ •ff" behaviour - on your own home turf at that. You are are con emne ,o repeat lt. • : good sports! We look forward to our rematch.!! __ ..

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DEYAS Needle Exchange Van Schedule

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE .

YOUTH ACTIVITIES SOCIETY 49 W.Cordova

Telephone (604) 6'7-6S61 AM Van 7:00am .. S:OOpm (on the road 8am-4pm) PM Van 4:00pm. 2:00am (on the road ~pm-lam) 1 D~ys/Week 2006 DONATIONS Libby D.-$100 Rolf A.-$50 Barry for Dave McC-$1 00 Christopher R.-$30 ·Margaret D.-$40 Bruce J.-$15 The Edge-$200 Mary C-$10 Penny G.-$50 MP/Jelly Bean -$20 RayCam-30 Janice P.-$30 Wes K.-$50 Paddy -$60 Glen B.-$25 John S.-$60 Leslie S.-$20 Wm.B -$20 Michael C.-$80 HumanitieslOI-$100 Gram -$20 Sheila B.-$20 Ben C.-$20 Brian $2 CEEDS -$50 Joanne H.-$20 Wilhelmina M.-$10 Saman -$20 Phyllis L. -$200

604-251-3310 FREE - Donations accepted

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,N ~ ws·l. E-TTE-R THE NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION. Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.

Contributors may not malign, attack, or relegate any person, group or class, including drug users and economically poor people, to a level referred to or implying 'less than human'.

We -;k~o;ied"g;thai Dm~gie Co;.;;u~ity C;ntre, ~dth~ , :__ _ .!f..e!sl.!!!.e!:., ~ ~ .!!!_e ~<l!!mJs~~i~s~e!!!}o,!Y.;_ _ ~

r

Editor: PauiR Taylor; cover, Lisa David.

Submission Deadline for next issue: Thursday, August 10

Contact

Jenny

<CJFIR{l{J) n®~.7IFoo ·:·c~JP> ~~~~ Gentle Readers: The August 15 edition of Ye Olde Carnegie Newsletter will mark the 201h Anniversary of the paper. Probably over a thousand individuals have had stuff published here over these years.

If you have anything to say - about memorable articles, stories, poetry, art or opinions expressed (great, good, bad, awful) send it in via email or drop it off at Carnegie. Basic rules are -and have mostly always been- No racism; No sexism, No personal attacks on members of our community, no crap .. .

I'm unaware of any special or specific event being planned but if you're in the neighbourhood drop in on that Tuesday and say hi.

PRT

fYal Ching

(wan

NEW CONCESSION HOURS:

MLA

9am-11:15am; 12pm-4pm; 5pm-8pm

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working tor You 1070-16.. 1 Commercial Dr V5L JYJ .

Phone: 775-0790 Fax: 775-0881 ' Downtown Ea!ltside Residents Association 12 E. Hastings St, or call 682-U9J I •

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DO YOU HAVE A LEGAL PROBLEM? Come to our Free Clinic on Carnegie's 3rd floor UBC Law Students Legal Advice Program . '

Tues, I Oam-8pm; Wed & Thurs, IOam-4pm

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Free Prisoners from Abuse

By Angela Sterritt No eagles circled the sky above the concrete boxes at the Burnaby Youth Secure Custody Center, but a group of Elders, youth and advocates scoured the ground, ensuring no more In~genous youth were being physically burned and spiritually tortured at â&#x20AC;˘ the youth jail. .

It was the frrst delegation that the group took part m since they discovered that the youth inmates were restrained with metal shackles when attending the Scared Sweat Lodge Ceremony. Escorted by prison officials, they pounded the cement and the dirt, .examining the old site where youth used to crawl mto the Scared Lodge to pray, bounded by iron leg holds.

Justice for Girls (JFG), a local girl's advocacy organization, frrst found out about the disturbing use of shackles when a girl inmate told them about her experience. Recognising the practice ~s degrading, racist and inhumane, JFG started talking to the local Indigenous community about working together to end the practice. The fight got heated when the girls' advocates, with the assistance of Preston Guno, Child and Youth Officer, discovered that the shackling of youth in the Sacred Ceremony was not just a practice, but a policy mandated within the Burnaby Youth Secure Custody Center (BYSCC) Operations Manual.

The prison policy (Section H.l3.03 (l), BYSCC Operations Manual) explicitly mandated the use of leg restraints on every youth during the Sweat Lodge despite the fact that wider the same policy youth were screened (for flight risk or violent offences) prior to participation in the Ceremony. The Section was approved on April2001 by the Director of BYSCC, meaning that Indigenous youth were subjected to this policy for at le.ast ~~ears. In earl~ February of 2006, Justice for Girls .JO~ed fo~ces Wit~ the Urban Native Youth Assoctatlon, Umted Natlve Nations and Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Associatio~ to demand an immediate cease and desist of the policy and practice. As it is the ~inistry ~f Children & Family Development that ts responsible for youth justice and youth services, the groups called on Stan Hagen, Minister of the MCFD, to change the policy they expressed as tantamount .to abuses carried out in residential schools. Underua-

bly, the mandated use of iron leg holds in an Indigenous Ceremony illustrates the continued colonial criminalization of Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices. ¡ Without a response, apology, or action from MCFD, the four groups jointly contacted the Premier.. In a letter written to Campbell, it was reiterated that the use of mechanical restraints exposed youth to physical harm, emotional and mental stress, and spiritual damages that undoubtedly negatively affect Indigenous youth's identity, their value systems and the true healing powers of the Sacred Sweat Lodge.

St'at'imc Elder and Spiritual Leader Seis/\1\/\lom (Glen Williams), from the Urban Native Youth Association, who spent twelve years working in federal and provincial adult prisons, explained the importance of the Sweat Lodge Ceremony within prisons: "Our intent was to provide a healing path for the Native Brotherhoods and later the Native Sisterhoods, to become fully self-sufficient with help from Elders and Native organizations to ensure sustainability and sovereignty." Seis/\1\/\lom pointed out that, "At no time did the security staff in any of these high level security institutions ever consider shackling or restraining in any physical way the Brothers who came to seek help and healing for themselves and their relatives [within the Lodge1".

Indeed it is hard to understand why the youth prison ~ould implement such a p~lic~ w~en the practice is unheard of in the adult mstttuti~ns. The policy can only be seen as part of a long his.tory of cultural genocide- a history most assume will not.be repeated in 2006. Letters and pho~e ~ails .poured mto the Justice for Girl's office, questtonmg, m outrage, the unjust treatment of Indigenous youth at BYSCC. But it didn't matter to officials at MCFD, whorefused to acknowledge the gambit of inhumanity and cruelty that the use of iron restraints on Native youth in a Scared Spiritual Ceremony presented. Instead the ministry defended and justified the actions, in the name of "security and public safety". In fact, the Deputy Minister, in a response letter finally sent to JFG at the end of March 2006, said that he disagreed that the practice was inhumane and said that it "reflected a sincere and good faith effort, based on consultation with some Elders, to respond to the needs of Aboriginal youth by continuing access to the sweat lodge, in keeping with the principles of the Youth Criminal Justice Acf'. He also argued that he felt the question was not about whether or not shackling was a cruel and unusual form of punishment but a question of giving youth permission to access the Sweat Lodge or not. .

However the Sacred Sweat Lodge Ceremony IS not an earned ;ecreation incentive; it is a Sacred Right that has been carried out by Indigenous communities as a spiritual cleansing and healing Ceremony.for thousands of years. This right stems from the mherent rights of Indigenous people as true owners and keepers of this unceded land (that the prison occupies). It is also a right recognized in colonial administrations.

For example, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 37) and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Section 12), guarantee young people freedom from cruel, inhumane, or torturous treatment and/or punishment within penal institutions. In addition, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Section 3(l)(c)(iv), states that "measures taken against young persons who commit offences should respect gender, ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences and respond to the needs of aboriginal young persons and of young persons with special require, ments.

In the middle of March 2006, the advocates' calls for the termination of the policy and practice were

met. Promulgated on March 13th' the prison director stated to advocates that: "Effective immediately the applicable operations manuals are to be amended including the BYSCC Operations Manual. Although this spelled out a victory for Indigenous youth in the prison, advocates still want to make sure.that the language in the policy is even more specific, so. that it articulates that the inhumane use of shackles m the Sweat Lodge is never mandated in the future. In ad- : dition Justice for Girls and Indigenous youth advocates ~e concerned about the experience of Indigenous girls in the Lodge, since there is only one Lodge that is mixed with boys and there is not a separate Lodge run by a female Elder.

Further, in order to prevent abuse and foul treatment at the prison and promote the rights of the Indigenous youth prisoners, it is important that all staff at BYSCC and MCFD be re-educated and held to the strictest of conduct rules to eliminate the propensity to any potential future violations of Indigenous and Human Rights Laws.

Today, just a few months after the policy change, Indigenous youth and girls' advocates continue to observe the prison' s treatment of Indigenous youth to ensure there are no further abuses at BYSCC. An Elders and Youth Council has been formed out of the delegation group that will draw upon Indigenous governing, spiritual ceremonies and com~unity . meetings to make decisions and engage With Indigenous youth in the prison. The group's role is to e~颅 sure Indigenous teen girls and boys are treated wtth respect and have access to their inherent rights. Ultimately the group wants to see Indigenous youth out of the criminal justice system and working in our communities free from the chains of poverty, vi lence, injustice and oppression.

**Annual Prison Justice Dal Memorial Rally 路 Thursday August lOt, 6:30pm Claire Culhane ~emorial Bench SE Corner of Trout Lake, near the playground 15th & Victoria, East Vancouver Speakers & performers include Cease Wyss - Coast Salish welcome, Eddie Rouse, Strength in Sisterhood, Karlene Faith, BCPWA .

Prison Outreach Program, No One Is Illegal, Justice For Girls.

Everyone Welcome. Rain or Shine.

Prison Justice Day 2008 Vancouver Event.:

**Prison Justice Day Community Radio Specials: STARK RAVEN, Co-op Radio 102.7 FM. Monday August 7th, 7~8 pm. Prison Justice Day Special **Film Screening: Cruel and Unusual A documentary film looking at transgender women inside men's prisons in the United States.

Wed August 23, 5pm Tinseltown Cinemas, 88 East Pender, Vancouver Part of Out on 5creen Queer Film Festival, Cruel and Unusual is more than an unflinching account of the atrocities suffered by transgender women who are sexually abused by guards and prisoners, denied ongoing hormone treatment, and placed in psychologically damaging solitary confinement for "their own protection".

Shot over three years, it braids together several poignant character profiles, personalizing the issue with honest accounts of the circumstances leading up to their arrests. It is estimated that 30% of transgender Americans have been incarcerated --3 times the national average. Cruel and Unusual explores how the poverty that often results from dis.. crimination creates this imbalance, and pays tribute to the brave individuals seeking to rectify it.

Prayer Grandfather, ,..._ ""''"~ Our suffering not our sins remember.

Help us to stretch forth our hands knowing that all, even the stars, must die ......., Help us to stretch forth our HV~ to the broken-hearted, in the midst of our despair ~ giving garlands, ~

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More.about PrisQn Justice Day - AuWJst l!nb, August 1Oth is a day set aside each year when prisoners and supporters gather to honour the memory of the men and women who have died unnatural deaths inside of Canadian prisons. On August 1Oth, 1974, Eddie Nalon bled to death in a solitary confinement unit at Millhaven Maximum Security Prison near Kingston, Ontario, when the emergency call button in his cell failed to work. An inquest into his death found that the call buttons in the unit had been deactivated by the guards. Following the death of another prisoner in 1976, in that same unit, it was discovered that the call buttons had not been repaired. Prisoners mark the anniversary of these deaths by fasting and refusing to work.

What started as a one time event behind the walls of one prison has become a national day of solidarity. On this day, prisoners across the country fast, refuse to work, and remain in their cells, while supporters organize community events to draw attention to the conditions inside of prisons.

Prisoner deaths from murder, suicide, and neglect can and must be prevented.

walking alone in early morning over the brown towards the grey blue ~~~

wide the beach and empty wide the grey blue sea and the sky's silver light touch the hushing waves and the luminous air don't look back

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