NEW S LE TT.E. R _ . -. 401 Main Street, Vancouver
V6A 2T7 604-665路2289
Libby in Parliament *Elected NDP Member of Parliament for Vancouver East June 2, 1997 *Deputy Leader of the New Democrat Party of Canada since 2007; NDP House Leader from 2003 to 2011 *Brought attention to the issue of housing & homelessness in Parliament in 1998 & 2001. Undertook National Housing Tours &was able to secure federal funds dedicated to ending homelessness. Became known as a key advocate for drug policy reform and the need for a public health & harm reduction apprQ~ct} to the use of illicit drugs ~ampaigned tirelessly for Canada's first supervised safe injection site in the Downtown Eastside *Was the first MP to raise the issue of missing and murdered women in Canada, beginning with sex trade workers in the Downtown Eastside & becoming an outspoken advocate for sex worker rights & safety *Played a lead role in negotiating the redirection of $4.6 billion in corporate tax cuts in the 2005 budget to investments in Canadians' priorities, such as more accessible post-secondary education, renewable energy & affordable housing. *Successfully negotiated Parliamentary support for the need to address prescription drug shortages &, more recently, a call to the government of Canada to support the urgent needs of the 95 remaining Canadian survivors of Thalidomide (Love Canal).
website carnegienewsletter.org email carnnews@shaw.ca carnnews@vcn.bc.ca
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Dear Neighbours, As you may know, after almost 40 years of public service & elected office (18 as your MP) it's time for me to call it a day. I won't be seeking re-election in the upcoming federal election in October. It has been the most extraordinary experience of my life to serve the people of Vancouver East. I have loved my work, both here in the community & in Parliament and I thank the good folks of East Van who elected me 6 times as your rep in Ottawa. Whether in the Downtown Eastside, Strathcona, Grandview-Woodland, Hastings Sunrise or Mount Pleasant, I have been inspired by the activism & community spirit that abounds in our diversity. I thank you for your support & encouragement. We tackled some pretty tough issues together! And I'll not forget the struggles we've fought for social justice & equality. It's been an honour to represent this riding as the NDPMP & to serve alongside such incredible NDP Caucus members over these 18 years. So, folks, this is farewell for me with heartfelt thanks and yes, sadness. Wishing you "LOVE, HOPE and OPTIMISM."
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Local poet and activist, Bud Osborn (1947 - 2014) [found inspiration to write and recite from the Down-
.town Eastside community. He was also very wellread and it has been noted by a close friend that his personal collection of books was his "most prized possessions." Even with a limited income Osborn tracked down books (especially poetry), which would become conversation partners and good company. Recently, we received a large donation of Bud's collection and would love to make them accessible to the DTES community. The challenge is finding a space to keep them together because they are so wonderful full of notes, underlines, bookmarks and postcards, which reveal his'Interests. The Carnegie library would like to host an "Open House" for anyone interested to take a look at the books, enjoy a coffee, reminisce, and contribute ideas on where and how we can best share them. Please come to the Carnegie Centre Classroom on Level 3 on Thursday August 6th between 4:30pm - 6:30pm. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
d Do you have to suspen disbelief to make belie.f? (Le. religion & politics) ';;'
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From 'the Library
[A combo farewell/fundraiser dinner was held at the Pink Pearl restaurant on Sunday the 26th with many accolades for Libby & support for our MLA, Jenny Kwan, who will be running to succeed her in Ottawa. Stephen Lewis was the keynote speaker & he listed the myriad issues Libby Davies spoke to & worked on, limiting the recitation to one highlight for each of the 18 years. Some, like Insite are applauded the world over. Check websites of both Libby Davies & J~y Kwan to be blown away!]
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Words from Colleen: / Watch your thoughts, they become words Watch your words, they become actions Watch your actions, they become habits Watch your habits, they become character Watch your character, for it becomes you
Here are a few titles: . Eating Bitterness: A vision beyond the prison walls by Arthur Solomon . A Season in Hell & Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud The World's Embrace - Selected poems by Abdellatif Laabi Spain in our Hearts by Pablo Neruda Now and Then: The Poems ofGil Scott-Heron 500,000 Azaleas: The Selected Poems of Efrain Huerta
""I' Everyman's Poetry by Ivor Gurney Your librarian,
Natalie
Humanities 101 Community Programme (Hum) offers four free university-level courses for people who live on low incomes in and around the Downtown Eastside and Downtown South. The courses are for people who have encountered financial and other barriers to university education and who wish to expand their intellectual horizons in an accessible, challenging and respectful environment. Applicants must have a love of learning, basic literacy , skills and be willing to attend classes, complete assignments and participate in group discussions. Applications for these non-credit courses are accepted not on the basis of past academic history, but on the applicant's desire and ability to be part of the Hum Programme. Classes take place at UBC point grey campus 01) Tuesday and Thursday evenings, beginning in early September. You can apply for an eight-month interdisciplinary . course where you will study a different subject in the arts and social sciences each week, including history and politics, art, music, architecture, philosophy, literature, sociology, first nation studies, economics, . gender studies, popular culture and more. Or you can apply for a three-month hands on writing course where a new genre and style of writing will taught each week. Participants receive school supplies, UBC student cards, bus tickets to get to & from . class, meals, and childcare ifneeded. Note that this year Hum is offering Writing 201 for the first time. This course is only open to alumni of Writing 10 l. Please attend an upcoming information and application session for more details on how to participate in the Programme. You must attend one of these sessions if you want to ap ly. Information is also available at humanitiesJOl.arts.ubc.ca, or email h.u.m@ubc.ca with any questions.
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We are all family. We as brothers and sisters have been touched. We care for each other through the good and the bad times. Where there is love there is everything. Maria Teixeira With every failure we learn a lesson. we cannot be discouraged by our emotions or lack of experience. Our failures will make us stronger individuals and give us the inspiration to carry on. Maria Teixeira
Carnegie Centre, Main & Hastings S1. (3rd fl classroom) Saturday August 15th at 11 a.m, for Hum 101 & Hum 201 Monday August 17th at 11 a.m, for Writing 101 & 201 Wednesday August 19th at 11 a.m, for Hum1 01 & 201 + Writing101 & 201 Gathering Place Community Centre, 609 Helmcken 51. (meeting room) Saturday August 15th at 1 p.m, for Hum1 01 & 201 Tuesday August 18th at 1 p.m, for Writing101 & 201 Crabtree Corner, 533 East Hastings 5t. (3rd floor room) Monday August 17 at 1 p.m, for Hum101 & 201 + Wriing101 & 201 Vancouver Recovery CltJb, 2775 Sophia 5t. Tuesday August 18th at 11 a.m, for Hum 101 & 201 + Writing 101 & 201 Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, 302 Columbia 5t. (women only) Wednesday August 19th at 2 p.m, for Hum101 & 201 + Writ ing101 & 201
tel. 604-822-0028 http://humanities101.arts.ubc.ca/ Do you believe that there are no accidents in life?
!!FLASH 'PoetS 0/ 'Performers FLASH!! The monthly Poetry Night, held in Carnegie Hall (the theatre) on the 1st Saturday, has been moved for just this month to Saturday August With the Pride Festival and the Powell Street Festival it's deemed a "break" for all Spoken Word artists.
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Everything happens for a reason. Every person we meet will have a role in our lives, be it big or small. Some will hurt, betray and make us cry to become stronger. Some will teach us lessons not to change us, but for us to realize our mistakes and to help us grow, and make us a better person. And some would simply inspire and love us to make us happy. Videha
STItANGE NECESSITY An exhibition featuring Larissa Blokhuis, Jenny Hawkinson, Diane Thorn Jccobs. and Shelimar Lakowski
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light refreshments served
Dates: 7 Aug Friday 6 - 9 8 Aug Saturday 12 - 5
Location: Studioworks 335 PrincessAve Vancouver BC V6A 3C6
t\ 39th Annual Powell Street Festival When: Saturday, August 1st & Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 11:30am to 7:00pm Where: Oppenheimer Park (400 block of Powell Street) Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Street) Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall (475 Alexander Street) Vancouver Buddhist Temple (220 Jackson Avenue) Centre A (229 E. Georgia Street) r Ming Sun - Uchida Building (439 Powell Street) Cost: free
www.powellstreetfestival.com
house near medicine garden at Oppenheimer Park. We will have a quick meeting & a warm-up. Please be there on time, otherwise your painted fish may be offered to other interested participants. Those who would like to be a part of the show must
COMMUNITY ART FISHSTIX PROJECT
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Thank you very much for participating in the FishStix workshops at Carnegie & Oppenheimer Park! The Against the Current performance time is set nd for Sunday, August 2 from 5:15pm - 6:15pm at the 39th Annual Powell Street Festival! Those who made salmon props and are interested in taking part in the performance, please meet us nd
on Sunday, August 2
at 4:30pm behind the field-
commit 2 hours of their time in order to carry a fish or banner (from 4:30 to 6:30 pm). This schedule is subject to change. Please check at the Festival information Sunday, August 2nd.
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booth for final details on
Vancouver Taiko Society
web: vancouvertaiko.com email: fishstixworkshop@gmail.com
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HASTINGS Hastings Street is so much more than a continent: The smells are the smells of a town faraway, one like yours, like mine, like everyone's. It stinks like the hatred of the government that administers its filth. Hastings, I pass along her everyday, so as not to forget her face I measure my steps slowly along her garment I want to see her always through the height and breadth of her body Curled up, with her mouth closed, waiting for them to speak to her or to shut their eyes She doesn't say anything, but she's alert. I scream to her face, broken with marijuana and crack, Lost -in dreams of coke and paradises of heroin that are not hers Ay! Hastings, everyone's scandal No one can say that they have ncthing 0 0 with what happens, They can say they haven't seen it, but they can't say that they do not know. Hastings - why are you always the place of the forgotten ones? Sanctuary of the condemned, people murdered by the rules, Laws and regulations that are given out at the food bank, Handouts from Welfare, a bus ticket, the philanthropists' lunch Spoils of the drug dealers and the functionaries who administer vice and misery. Lives thrown away in needles into the gutter: Shock oozing pus, Smell of shit, of despair, of compassion, of losing it all, And somehow, never by accident, of tenderness. (In Hastings statistics never drop by, they never visit this corner I was looking everywhere for my indigenous brothers (and sisters) of pain and blood And I came upon them on the sidewalk and they did not know me: Their struggle and their future tied up in making sure they have their next fix. These ones, (my beloved), drag their rotten colours and faces and skin, It doesn't matter their sex, their age or how many years their bodies have birthed And they measure, without knowing it, the price of a bit of drugs, cheap and murderous. Here dogs don't bark, but rather weep in pain for them. For those who wonder why we don't give up, Hastings is, more than anything, a building up of fury, Memory that needs a fist made of dignity A path which speaks the future that I don't want Horizon against which I have armed my strength. Enough! Ifwe're all going to die, no more lying down in silence, Let this wretched poverty rebel Because nothing is free and there will be overdoses in order to clean the streets As the Olympic year hovers over the business district. Hastings is not hope's grave, It is so that we won't forget -- and why not say it - it is the colour of my fear and my shame. Raul Gatica
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THE UNMITIGATED GREED OF THE PROFESSIONAL CLASS So, for 2 weeks the public was fumigated with smoke from forest fires and all the news stories mentioned how much money the Gov't was spending fighting the fires - but there never was a mention about the public health effects that people were bearing because of the smoke. And if you did a word count of the news stories, the word fi~e.wa~mentioned much more than the word smoke. LIVing In a smokehouse for 2 we~kS is going to have serious long term health effects for路;the elderly & for those with underlying medical conditions. After the pine beetles devastated BC's forests - an, good reference is the 2013 broadcast of The Nature Of Things with David Susuki (available on You TubEithe Gov't has no incentive to put out the smouldering millions of dead trees that have no value whatsoever they're just so much kindling. If live trees or structures are at risk, they'll fight the fires energetically. During the fumigation some Gov't spoksman stated that the fires won't he nut out until the first snowfall! So, you better get your respirators out. Naomi Kline .is helpful with her insights into disaster capitalism: how to turn a disaster into profit. Resulting in the future, will be a boom in prescriptions for walkers, puffers, inhalers, pills, oxygen tanks, etc. All the proI fessions will be happy: the doctors, the drug companies, druggists, specialists, etc. No surprise here that some sectors profit from illness - just as it is with war. There are some serious issues needing discussion, ie. The depopulation of Hastings St. in step with the redevelopment in DE&; the under representation of seniors in the DES; and how anyone with Ministry Benefits has their benefits plundered by the vast numbers ofDr.'s Mengele. And Harper will be mailing out fewer old age pension checks. Harper's Fairy
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Editor Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the newsletter and all the hard work that goes into it, and all the support for local artists and causes. Blessings. Karen Thorpe, Listening Post
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Far grosser than ole Tennessee Williams 'big daddy' in a play, /1)$ Harper loves our jets over Middle East overspending on military gutting social programs also making money just don't trust him ' close wallet/heart to him stop overconsuming Turn offtvs, laptops, ipods engage physical reality instead and his power will evaporate like rain roplets on a parched brown soccer field mown! john alan douglas
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Drugs Vancouver is a city that never sleeps. These days you can buy any drug you want from Main along Hastings to Abbott St and beyond: cocaine, heroin 'scrip pills, even eer & marijuana. My pries told me about something called crystal meth and what it does to you. One time I went to Battleford to visit my family and when I got back fopur people had overdosed on heroin. That was in the "white snow" year, a deadly year. I learned 3 months ago that my friend od'd in a back alley and once a guy in the next hotel room died of an overdose. People always want to get high; they should get high on life and live. You only Iive once so make the right choices. Marlene Wuttunee
the usual vagrants sleeping on 3am benches the unusual couples caress people waiting to go somewhere or waiting to go nowhere tonight trying tenaciously tenderly to escape homesfbooze jobs flim-flam men seeking fat wallet victims ladies with mink coat minds with bloody fangs underneath waiting for rich lonely eligible bachelors migrants simply seeking another chance in life crooks nonchalantly escaping from lucrative jewel robberies creatures from all worlds all planets incogr:ito in sunglass spendour in other words, all oflife! John Alan Douglas
T.e Edi~r.
[From the Idle No More website]
. Now that the notorious denier of the Jewish Holocaust, David Irving, has been jailed, I am waiting with baited breath for the western world to be consistent in its supposed moral values and start arresting every academic or writer who has publicly denied the deliberate mass murder of tens of millions of aboriginal people here in North America. Or are some Holocausts more worthy of our denunciation than others? Rev. Kevin AnneLt www.hiddenfromhistory.org
This summer the Supreme Court of Canada made a historic ruling that the Tsilhqot'in Indigenous nation in British Columbia holds Aboriginal title to its traditional territory and ensures that First Nations with title have decisionmaking power. If this court decision can be implemented on the ground, it offers a chance tocreate a radically more just country. But the Harper government is denying this new reality: in order to push through their tar sands pipelines and resource extraction projects, they are trying instead to accelerate the elimination of Aboriginal rights. In response to the Tsilhqot'in decision, Harper has quietly introduced a newly revised policy to undermine and negate the Indigenous land rights that stand in the way of his agenda. We can't let this happen. Honouring Indigenous jurisdiction would not just payoff Canada's enormous legal and moral debt to First Nations: it is also our best chance to save entire territories from endless extraction and environmental destruction. Canada can seize the opportunity at this historic crossroad, but only if we build massive pressure on the Canadian government to finally recognize and affirm Aboriginal title. Join Defenders of the Land and Idle No More in putting forward 4 demands to challenge the current land claims reform process: 1)Disengagement of negotiating bands from the Termination Tables & forgiveness for all loans taken out to finance the process; 2)A fundamental & joint reform of both the Comprehensive Land Claims and Self-Governmenl policies with duly mandated representatives of Indigenous peoples, with the aim of making the policies consistent with both Canadian law on Aboriginal title, Aboriginal rights, treaty rights and inherent Indigenous laws of jurisdiction; 3)Federal and provincial governments must provide funding grants to Indigenous peoples for negotiation processes; and 4)Absolute rejection of the unilaterally imposed Eyford consultation process. What is Termination? Termination means the ending of First Nations pre-existing sovereign status through imposed Indian Act legislation, policy and fed sral coercion of First Nations into Comprehensive Land Claims and Self Government Final Agreements that convert First Nations into municipalities, their reserves into fee simple lands and extinguishment of their Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty Rights! What are the Termination Tables? The termination tables are negotiation tables between the Federal Government and mainly First Nations Chief and Councils. These negotiations are called "Comprehensive Land Claims" and/or "Self-Government" negotiations, the final agreements will=within Canadian constitutionallaw--extinguish Aboriginal Title and convert "Indian Bands" into municipal type governments where federal and provincial powers will dominate First Nations powers What can First Nations do to turn the tables on termination? 1. Educate community members about how the Termination Tables will have intergenerational effects for the loss Indigenous rights. Our children & grandchildren will lose their inherent rights to self-government & access to land 2. Plan community meetings to seek support on stopping these negotiations that are based on extinguishment and denial of our Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty rights and campaigning to replace these Terminations Tables with Self-Determination Tables that are based on recognition & affirmation of our inherent Aboriginal & Treaty rights. . .
Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)
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August 1, 2015
New city rules won't stop renovictions in SROs Vancouver City Council just made some changes to their Single Room Accomodation bylaw that some newspapers think are drastic changes. But the Carnegie Action Project and SRO Collaborative don't think they will make too much difference. On July 22 about 12 Downtown Eastside residents spoke at a Council meeting to tell them to take even stronger measures. What did Cquncil agree to do? They are raising the amount that Council may charge landlords for taking their hotel rooms out of the SRA bylaw by changing them into condos, offices, hostels or apartments. The fee is going from $15,000 to $125,000 per unit. That sounds like a lot. But most hotel owners
Fraser Stuart: "The city should spend as much energy lobbying for a federalprovincial housing program as they do to stop the pipelines. " Page 1
who evict people and then jack up the rent hundreds of dollars don't take the rooms out of the SRA bylaw, so the increase won't apply to them. Council also passed a motion that they can't charge the $125,000 unless the room is taken out ofthe bylaw. The Carnegie Action Project (CCAP) and SRO Collaborative asked Council to keep the fee hike but not the change that keeps them from charging the fee to owners who kick out people, then raise the rents.
Adam Jay: "We have mice and bugs. Let's not give all the leverage to the landlords. They're making money out of the people who live on the bottom.
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The city made another change on that day: They now say that if a landlord wants to do minor repairs that require a tenant to move, like changing the floor or painting the room, he has to ask for a permit. When he goes for a permit the city says they will make the landlord relocate tenants to similar or better accommodation and give them the right to return at the same rent. If the landlord doesn't do this, he could face a penalty. This is better than nothing, but the problem is that most landlords use a variety of excuses and tactics to get rid of tenants before they upgrade rooms. What does this mean for you? If you live in an SRO, watch out for signs that the landlord is evicting low income people and upgrading the building so he can raise rents. These signs include: getting a new owner, upgrading the lobby, halls and washroom areas of the building, upgrading the outside of the building and/or the bottom floor of the building for a business, harassing or evicting low income tenants, or changing the flooring or painting or cabinets in your rooms. If this starts happening in your hotel, tell the Carnegie Action Project or SRO Collaborative immediately. Call Wendy at 604839 0739 or Jean at 604 729 2380. (Jean and Wendy will be away for part of August). They can make sure that the city knows what is happening. Hopefully, the city
will then make the landlord pay to relocate the tenants and allow them to come back at the same rent when the renos are done. What else is wrong with the city's plan? Even when the city does negotiate with landlords, in the past it has only required that about one-third of the units in a renovated hotel be at welfare rate. For example at the Low Young Court, they only want 2 of 15 rooms at welfare rate and another 6 to be for people on welfare with a rent supplement if the landlord agrees to take them. At the American Hotel they only wanted 6 of 40 rooms to be at $400 a month for 10 years. Why did the City make these changes? CCAP and the SRO Collaborative went to Council last year and got a motion through to review the SRA bylaw. For years CCAP has been begging Council to recognize that renovictions in SRO hotels are causing homelessness. This year, when the homeless count came out , the city said that about 300 SRO rooms have been lost in the last year and that this has contributed to homelessness. On July 22 several Downtown Eastside residents spoke to City Council about the new SRA bylaw changes. Here is some of what they said:
Wendy Pedersen (SRO Collaborative): "Making the conversion fee ($125,000) not apply to renovictions is a huge mistake. " "When owners see what the possibilities are conversions could speed up and we could lose rooms. Pass the $125,000 and leave the language in the bylaw the way it is." "Inspectors have low standards for low income buildings. I can show you dozens of violations on any given day. You have the power under the Standards of Maintenance Bylaw to do the repairs. "
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advocacy like the SRO Collaborative is doing. "
Harold Lavender: "A big problem is the investor class. These people want to make a profit and raise rents. The market allow them to double rent and replace tenants. "
Mohammad Valayati: "Some of the buildings are falling apart but renovating and increasing rent makes them inaccessible. I'd like more
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Jack Gates: (Jack showed slides of garbage, rat infestation, and filth at the Regent Hotel to Councillors) "Some people have rats living in their mattresses. There are holes in the walls for easy rat access, Management tries to blame the tenants but if it were fixed up people would try to take care of it. We're getting afew things done cause of the SRO Collaborative.... The city should do repairs and bill the owners and get non profit management to take over the building. '~
Sid Chow Tan: "SRO's are the first step to stability .... These are real lives of people who are trying to live in one of the most unaffordable cities in the world. "
Katelyn Siggelkow: "I anticipate an all time high homeless count next year. I'm concerned that the bylaw will make things worse. Let's look at all of the angles to find what loopholes we're leaving. Wefear it won't stop Steven Lippman and the renovictions that are happening. Implement the fee and keep working with the bylaw. "
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What's happening with rent supplements? You may have heard about rent supplements. That's when you can get money from the government to help pay your rent. If you are over 65, there is a rent supplement program called SAFER which can help out with rent a bit. And if you have kids there is another rent supplement program called the Rental Assistance Program. But what if you don't have kids and aren't 65 yet? Well, that's a good question. The province gives money to some agencies for rent supplements for some people who live in the DTES and in other parts of the province. But how much they are and who gets them doesn't seem to be public information and there is no advertising about it. So it depends on whether or not you know which agencies have access to the supplements. And then, what are the criteria for how much of a supplement you can get? Can you get $50 a month? $100 a month? $300 a month? And for how long? Will it run out? Is there a time limit? And who decides? Does anyone know the answers to these questions? Both the federal and provincial governments seem to desperately want to avoid building social housing and to Page 6
make it seem that "the market" can provide everyone's housing needs. When that obviously isn't true, and we have hundreds of homeless people, they came up with rent supplements. The US has rent supplements too and several studies have shown that they have a lot of bad points, for example: •
•
• •
•
It's actually cheaper in the long run to build new social housing than to keep paying rent supplements over years and years; Rent supplements actually push up the rents of people who don't have supplements if there are people with supplements in their area; You don't have security of tenure with a rent supplement; Rent supplements are notoriously exploited when there is a low vacancy rate which Vancouver has (half a percent when a healthy vacancy rate is 3-5%); Rent supplements are also notoriously exploited when rent control is lacking or ineffective as it is in BC.
(Continued on the next page) ...
Rent supplements ...continued
from
previous page In short, rent supplements are a way to use poor people to give even more money to landlords. It would be way better for governments to spend their money building social housing.
Vancity Support for this project does not necessarily imply" Va.ncity's endorsement of the findmgs or contents of this newsletter
In the meantime, however, if you think you need a rent supplement, ask around to see which agencies are giving them out and see if you can get one.
You're invited: CCAP meetings Are you a Downtown Eastside resident who wants to work for higher welfare, more and better housing and to stop gentrification? If so, come to the Camegie / Community Action Project's weekly meetings. We discuss important DTES issues and get involved in them. CCAP meetings are on hold for August so the next one will be on Friday, Sept. 4 at 11:15 in Classroom 2 on the third floor of Camegie Centre.
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Homelessness could go up by hundreds next year The city finally released this years' homeless count. It was 1746, down from 1803 last year. Why did the homeless count go down? Because three new buildings for low income people opened up (383 units), the city leased the Quality Inn after the Oppenheimer Park tent city (157 units), Taylor Manor (56 units) and a few other units opened, for a total of615. Next year the city says 45 new units that homeless people can afford will open. But, the 2 year lease on the Quality Inn willbe over so that's 157 units that will be lost. Plus, last year the city says we lost 300 SRO hotel rooms to higher rents. While the city changed their SRA law, hoping to prevent renovictions, advocates don't think it will work very well because landlords evict tenants before they renovate. So that could be 300 more low income people who need housing. Plus other people will age out of foster care, be released from hospital and jail and simply not be able to afford
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rent. So it looks like homelessness could really start going up next year. The big problem is that there is virtually no new housing that low income people can afford in the works. The 14 sites that the city bought and the province funded are finished except for one which is in limbo. Those sites were announced in 2007 so it's taken 8 years for some of them to be built. The province claims that it has money for social housing from the sale of BC Housing. 'It says there is $144 million this year, $90 million next year and $39 million the year after. Its not clear if this money is really available. Here's hoping the city and some non profit groups will put in some proposals now and at least call the province's bluff if the money isn't for housing. And we desperately need the parties in the federal election to commit to a federal/provincial national housing program that builds thousands of units of social housing a year.
About the land claims policy: (1) What is the land claims policy? The Comprehensive Land Claims policy is a federal policy that was introduced in 1973 as a political process to resolve the matter of all outstanding unceded First Nations' land in Canada. A land claim is not about recognizing Indigenous title, it is about establishing Canada's claim to Indigenous land. (2) Aren't the land claims policy and self-government policy good for Indigenous people? Why are Indigenous people critical of them? The Comprehensive Land Claims policy undermines inherent Indigenous rights to the land by forcing negotiating bands and groups to make all of the compromises over land and governance while Canada makes all of the gains. The 1981 policy stated that the policy's objective was "to exchange undefined aboriginal rights for concrete rights & benefits," calling for the "extinguishment of all aboriginal rights & title as part of a claim statement." These modern "treaty rights" since the Nisga'a Final Agreement include the requirement that all collective, unceded lands are transformed into fee simple private property. They involve a land-cash formula that averages out to Indigenous loss of approximately 95 percent of territorial lands. They promote a guarantee of band autonomy over remaining lands, but wherever Indigenous law conflicts with provincial jurisdiction, the latter trumps. The new rhetoric of extinguishment has been reinvented as a policy of "exhaustion," where the diminished "rights" contained in the treaty document "exhaust" all the rights the band or nation can claim, in order to deny all possible avenues for exercise of inherent rights of Indigenous sovereignty and jurisdiction 3) What is the current status of the land claims policy? In late September 2014, Canada quietly introduced the first major reform to the land claims policy in 30 years. This policy is not intended to address the fundamental problems with existing policy, it is intended to shore up that policy & expedite extinguishment. The unbelievably short consultation period on interim policy ends 30111. (4) Why are Indigenous peoples critical of the reforms? The interim policy states that opportunities for Aboriginal "long-term success and economic prosperity" cannot be achieved without addressing Section 35 rights. What the interim document attrmpts is to collapse Section 35(1) rights and the land claims policy into one comprehensive extinguishment agenda. The interim policy reiterates that there are no guarantees of resource revenue sharing, no guarantees of subsurface rights, and no decision making power - let alone Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, as recommended by UNDRIP - over environmental management. Economic development will proceed on the same terms as it always has - under provincial jurisdiction and authority. Other changes recommended in the interim policy include bringing non-land treaty rights like education under the land claims policy. (5) What does the recent Tsilhqot' in Nation v. British Columbia (2014) Supreme Court of Canada decision have. to do with the land claims policy? There are fundamental changes that Canada could make to reform the Comprehensive Land Claims policy for the better. In her ruling, Justice McLachlin specifically rejected what Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart Philip called the "postage stamp" theory of Aboriginal title. Instead, the court opted for a more expansive understanding ofIndigenous land rights over a broad territorial range. Yet the land selection process under the Comprehensive Land Claims policy is precisely the kind of site-specific approach to addressing underlying Aboriginal title that the Supreme Court of Canada rejected. The entire territorial range including private lands should be on the table at least for compensation and Aboriginal title should not be extinguished upon settlement or transformed into private property. [For more detailed analysis, information, reference links etc. go to the Idle No More website. Such quasi-legal trickery and doing again what has been disallowed by the Supreme Court is a hallmark of Harper's gov't. Ed.]
Silver Fox
You make deals with -what remains ofa conscience 'violated from th start as you see the lighter side of concentration camp life&death do you really have a , ': working tearduct in your head & dopes your chest really contain a heart what about those dreams of painting the White House black (the cops of America wilol put an end to anyone or thing that takes part), Daycare Centre lockdowns will most definitely become a piece of every child's routine when you hear the Truth Freight's whistle a-blowin you will know Officer Down & company won't be within kilometers ~:r.;0".'. .. \" of any criminal scene as for Christie & the Harpster & of" Gregor & all the rest shall be complaining that their tickets were not free, Black man white man soulman coal men are we not all created equal to many observers waiting to see if their kind would make it to the sequel the Truth Freight is here to cut all tales short so that we can bet-, ter understand&see, with mountains of promises to THE TRUTH FREIGHT speed around the coal men shovel verbal shit now if Most of the remaining future I will not see & that is a you like happy endings think of the afterlife cuz this blessing unto itself I've seen too much fire death & is not the place ot time of (LIFE IS GREAT Incorpomisery with so little care for one's health like a Chilrated) this is bullocks don't believe in any of it we are dren's Services Beauty Pageant too much truth too if nothing else a gifting culture with hands out in. little time to set things right, like an English football ~very direction 'oh are we ever' we know every lie player being flung to the ground by a gust of wind he like the hands on our back, with all this Aryan knowl- : may need a stretcher better notify next-of-kin just like edge and unfortunately it is always deemed success a bumper scrape can break a grown man's knee & that b~a~k house turns white again a structure built by take away his sight, how many of us live on the sideassociation even by our Earth's Standards is one lines of achievement content to watch life go on by bloody awful mess maybe our collective arses need a some of the best musicians I've ever had the pleasure near-terrorist experience .. to play with have chosen other paths or have died I PART 11-Chorus: The Truth Freight has swept me can't pull this Truth Freight by myself, offmy feet that locomotive Smithrite is gonna disreExpectations begin the second you are born now if for gard every worry you repeat' oceans full of dyes and any reason you do not make something out of yourgarbage let's set fire to the seven seas' so many minds' self you are a disappointment doomed to shovel the stuck in minefields a universe filled to the brim with coals for the Disoriented Express full of ridiculous , never-ending misery" the Truth Freight coud deliver scorn at least you don't have to worry about unknown anything it wants it is up to you and up to here with relatives asking for a piece of any wealth, like reinme' to co.n~ain an eternal continuous evil of nonstop stating crucifixion as the death penalty for a full life monstrosities. of throwing others away or joining a terrorist group By ROBERT McGILLIVRA Y for the exercise you'll be wearing that Size '8' dress "The parched evisirated soil, gapes at the vanity of pretty well any day as your war continues making toil, laughs without mirth, this is the end of earth." holes out of its human parts -T.S.Eliot I
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A Tale of Two Towns on the "Web" Come to Vancouver - gem of the Pacific -High mountains, greener than any other town! -Parks and beaches galore! -A tolerance not matched; alternate lifestyles and yet its own unique traditions all its own!(!! ...) Ancient native nations, fresh off-the-boat Europeans, South East Asians, Peoples sans papier from the farflung empire (Br) Halifax, 4000 miles to de heast, fortified agin the ferocious Indians -they never attacked, but taught the French immigrants how to survive the brutal winters. Game on the hoof; medicines in the forest (spruce tree (Vit.C) to beat scurvy, a nasty way to die .. : The Pacific, the mighty Fraser, the fresh bays of Vancouver attract a class of people who come to retire. The Atlantic, deep & cold & teeming with fish also .. The warmth of Vancouver; the chill of Halifax Similarities and Differences Wilhelmina
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Disability Alliance BC (DABC) is thrilled to launch of our new program, Tax AID DABC. Tax AID DABC is a free, confidential provincial program that will assist people with the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) designation or Persons with Persistent and Multiple Barriers (PPMB) designation with basic income tax filings & information/referrals on tax-related matters. Our main focus will be on helping chronic late tax filers to catch up on their unfiled taxes. We can as . t clients in several ways including: o Filing income taxes through one-to-one meetings o Helping gather tax slips & necessary documents o Providing advice and information (in-person, or by phone and/or email) about filing income tax returns o Providing referrals in clients' communities o Accessing advice & support for clients with more complex tax returns from a chartered accountant. More than 20,000 people receiving BC's disability assistance don't file their income taxes regularly. This means they're missing out on hundreds of dollars each year. For example, the GST credit, BC sales tax credit and carbon tax credit can provide an extra
$400-$500 annually. Also, once people have filed their taxes they may be able to open a registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) with grants and bonds which can be worth thousands of dollars. Please feel free to refer people receiving PWD and PPMB with unfiled taxes to Tax AID DABC. For more information, please contact Sam Turcott at 604872-1278/1-800-663-1278
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NEWS FROM OPPENHEIMERPARK
EXTENDED HOURS! Monday to Sunday, 9:15am - 8:00pm BLACKJACK Soccer Game Every Sunday Ipm- 3pm Thursday August 6th, 2pm Interested soccer players, please be at Oppenheimer
ASAHI BASEBALL TRIBUTE GAME Saturday.August 15, 10:30am With the support of Oppenheimer Park, Carnegie Ctr and the Japanese Canadian and Downtown Eastside communities, the Powell Street Festival Society PSFS and the GVJCCA Japanese Canadian Young Leaders are organizing a celebration of the historic Vancouver Asahi baseball team by playing baseball in the team's home field at Oppenheimer Park. This is the same field where the original Vancouver Asahi played from 1914 to 1941. In September 2008, Parks Canada put a commemorative plaque at the Park signifying the historic importance of the Vancouver Asahi baseball team. If you are interested, sign up at the Park.
THE 8TH ANNUAL OPPENHEIMER PARK COMMUNITY ART SHOW: IN BETWEEN! Thank you very much for submitting applications. We are currently reviewing all & those chosen will be notified in early-August regarding your participation in the show. This year's theme is "In Between!"
SATURDAYS
2PM-4PM
Join Sarah to create a community art piece for the 8th Annual Oppenheimer Park Community Art Show! 604-253-8830
1488 POWELL
ST.
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•• :.+ .:•• '@\fi9j ••:.+ .:•• Carnegie Theatre Workshop
Friday Aug 7 ... 1pm-3pm Bold, Brave, Fearless
ACTING BASICS with Nathan Slattery Local Artists
• Workshops
• Live Mus ic and More!
Artful Sundays An Outdoor-Multimedia- Visual Arts Market In Napier Greenway (Napier St & Commercial Dr) 4 Sundays: August 9-30, 2015
12-5pm
"Opening beat relaxation, Chorus elements, from engaging ensemble to Stoical stardom." Fun approach to acting, voice, and confidence onstage. Nathan is an actor, dancer, teacher and director originally from IreLand, living in Vancouver by way of Toronto, New York, Los AngeLes and many pLaces in between.
Plus Fridays
Aug 14
&
21
Acti ng basics of tragedy ... read King Oedipus by Sophocles First performed in 429 BC, this classic Greek traqedy tells the mythical story of a man who becomes king, fulfilling a tragic prophecy. Fate, free will or human flaw? No experience
necessary
Everyone weLcome, Free!
All classes in the Carnegie Theatre - lpm For more in/a: Teresa 604-255-9401 thirteenofhearts@hotmail.com
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CRIME
Officer posing -as target for attacks found' only kindness - Emil.Y Jackson
, Metro IVancouver -, 1\ veteran Vancouver poliq;- , .• officer-went undercover as wheelchair user-with a l;-, :injiiry in an attempt to catch 'those responsible for a spate .i of violent attacks on people in wheelchairssinceJanuary2014, , Equipped with .a $16;000 wheelchair borrowed from GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre 'and a backstorythat he became an incomplete quadriplegicin a 'motorcycle accident, Staff'Sgt, Mark Horsley spent five days and nights in the Downtown Eastside leaving himself vulnerable to an attack "Essentiallyour operator was I was ready to ~ victimized .•.. our bait, and we were trying $i~ndch~r~ct, he walked away to catch the predator, Insp. ' "Iwas readyto be victimized. I W(lS really taken by the' Howard Chow said at a news Our plan wasjust to take whatI·t th rt ever the assault or the robbery _ po I en~. e COu eousness. conference Thursday. Staff Sgt.' Mark Horsley Despiteintentionally leaving- was....I was reallytaken by the cash hanging outof his funny politeness, the courteousness," ':;' ~ . ~ pack, he wasn't robbed or at- said Horsley, who has been it:y:,of:-\vhichoccurred in the "It's an entire community that , is supporting the vulnerable:" ,tacked. Instead, Horsley was , going undercover since 1986. DowntownJi;astside. surprised and inspired by the Walt Lawrence, a peer sup"In the DTES,Ifound that far But they ~n't considering port worker who has used a volume of kindness and corn- more people would get down this a failed.operation. passion-be received from the to my level to talk to me," he Instead, they're using it as wheelchair for 46 years after a' community. said,adding peoplewould often a chance to draw attention to diving accident, helped coach Two young men talked to check if he had someone to the fact that it's not just the Horsleyto use the chair,He said him and returned an hour later care for him. police watching out for people ne feelsbad for the perpetratorWithpizza.Oneman bent down Policedidn't find the person who use wheelchairs - it's the who has fallen to that level. ' to zip up his fanny pack In ' or people responsible for th,e, entire community. lan Denison of GF Strong 28 attacks on people in wheel>. '. "Part of what we're doing, agreed. more than 30.0interactions, ' "If these perpetrators get some' of which involved bar- chairs over the past18 months , bringing awareness to a despictering, 'no onetook advan- (21 assaults, six robberies and able person that might commit wind of the video, they might tage ofhim or took any of his: one sexual assault), the major- a crime like this," Horsleysaid: be thinking twice." #'
~~ Drug War Crimes my mother had been in the U.S. army and while hospitalized on base in a locked ward after her first pyschic breakdown was gang-raped by american soldiers and lived mentally ill from then, became a drug addict and at 64 years old dying from cancer was arrested and locked in a freezing blind-cell because of a handful of marijuana my son is banned from Canada he's in and out of jail in the States for possession of pot and disqualified from minimum wage jobs for failed urine tests and has 2 small children to support so he began cooking crystal meth _once on my way to visit him I W,1lS in an area where hitchhiking was legal going from L.A. to San Francisco when two Paso Robles police cruisers pulled up and thefirst cop said, "Empty your pockets!" I reached inside my coat for a book and both pulled and aimed their guns right at me and one said they could take me into the desert shoot me and no one would ever know instead they tore my notebook of poems into pieces ripped my few cigarettes into shreds and scattered my clothes while continuing to ask where the drugs were I told them I didn't have any drugs . "But what if I find some anyway?" the cop said and I knew they could magically materialize a kilo of crack in my pocket if they wanted to then I was told to get in a cruiser because "We're gonna have to strip you bare-ass naked!" they wedged me between them they banged my head against the steering wheel they hauled my pants down and a slender metal flashlight
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was shoved so far up my ass it felt like it was tearing my soul the front seat rocked with their laughter until they threw me onto the highway traffic slowing to see me humiliated • empty blue sky overhead and the cop said "Don't ever come back to Paso Robles!" years later I was in one more courtroom for possession and the judge before sentencing me said "You're of no use to society!" and I took his remark as a compliment I've never wanted to be 'of use' to a human rights-erasing family-shattering community-destroying genocide-generating prison-profiting war on the poorest of addicts who are trying to relieve the pain of a society gone insane I know a woman named Carolyn who had a decision sent from hell to make
she'd once been a teenager turning tricks as a cover for running heroin from Ohio to Kansas City and Buffalo and was finally busted but after doing the time made a change in her life a hard-won degree helping brutally beaten and addicted women discover they were somebody somebody infinitely important
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Carolyn knew both myself and my street partner Lance Smith young dopefiends but already barely able to steal and score . with lives lost in childhood and broken more everyday by prohibition's terrorism and tight as we were Lance and Ieach wanted Carolyn to be our personal samaritan and take us home to her 3-room slum apartment and 4 kids the anguish was that Carolyn loved both of us and knew neither Lance nor Iwould survive without her for very long not in the bloody alleys and burned-out storefronts where our junkie acquaintances were beaten, poisoned, and frozen to death but Lance was not the one chosen by a choice Carolyn should never have had to make so Lance tried once again to return to his very wealthy home of "tough love" and was begrudged only a single night of relief from the street Lance rebelled all alone late in the night and loaded his father's shotgun in one of the family bathrooms
where the persecution of prohibition , ended for him all over the walls I pray for Lance everyday and have always believed in a horrific way he gave his life for mine with forgiveness and in protest against prohibition and Ipray for Carolyn who nearly died during emergency surgery twice when her intestines twisted inside her from the tension of trying to save me whose addiction and prohibition twisted me like U.S. imperialism into a self-centred cold-hearted dangerous human being -r
Ihad frozen Lance out of Carolyn and my lives erased him out of the lives of his only friends
Iwas possessed by cruel needless jealousy and a dope-driven need for every penny which the'absence of prohibition . would likely have never forced out of me so this poem . is my accusation and my confession and my realization that one day I will celebrate even if in spirit alone that one day I will rejoice with others as damaged as myself that one day we will all live a beautiful freedom and the amazing possibilities for which we have been born human beings when truth suffering sacrifice and a powerful global communal movement defeats the deadliest bunk drug of allprohibition Bud Osborn
Carnegie~ NEWSLETTER
We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this Newsletter, are occurring on Coast Sal.ish Territory. :;.< .... ;.
~a~""<A~"'-' ~
. THIS NEWSLETIER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association ..
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -MargaretMeade Next issue:
WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter
• •
Jenny Wai Ching Kwan MLA· Working for Y.ou 1070 - 1641 Commercial Or, V5L 3Y3 Phone: 604-775-0790
Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor. The editor can edit for clarity, formal & brevity, but not at the expense of the writer's message.
COMPUTER ADVICE lIancouver Community Network
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:;ost-effectiYf7·computer & support for non-profits {eN Tecti Team http://techteam.vcn.bc.ca :all778-724-0826 ext2. 705-333 Terminal Ave, Van.
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SUBMISSION DEAnUNE TUESDAY, AUGUS{11TH
Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry. Cover art - Max size: 17cin(6 ';.")wide x 15cm(6")high. Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered . Black & White printing only. Size restrictions apply (i.e. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit). All artists will receive credit for their work. Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication. Remuneration: Camegie Volunteer Tickets
DONATIONS 2015
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WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTIO~ • • • • •
AIDS POVERTY HOMELESSNESS VIOI.!ENCE AGAINST WOMEN ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE ,TOT AUT ARIAN CAPIT AUSM IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR
Terry & Savannah -$150 Michele C.-$100 Or Kevin -$50 ~••~...•• Leslie S.-$125 Bob & Muggs -$100 Leslie K -$50 Catherine C.-$100 Glenn B.-$200 Sheila B.-$150 Vancouver Moving Theatre -$200 Pat 0.$50 Harold & Sharron 0.-$100 Michael C.-$100 Eleanor B.-$25 Elaine & Oavid -$40 Margaret M.-$50 Ruth McG -$50 Jenny K -$100 Jacqueline l-$75 Robert McG.-$110 Christopher R.-$100 ) Penny C.-$50 in memory of Miriam Stuart Skateboarders -$50 Wilhelmina M.-$25 Jackie W.-$50 George H.$60 Ruth L-$100. . Barry M.-$250 Anonymous -$110 In Memory of Harold David - Will/Sharon C.·$50 Barbara M.-$200 Gina F.-$100 lori lBorys -$100 Catherine 8.-$50 Yukiko T.-$50 taylor 5.-$20 Solidarity Notes labour Choir -$25 Kevin & Richard 0.-$100 CHIPS -$500 Radiation Therapy Clerks ·$40 Jacki S.-$15 Roger C.-$100 Oen~e_D-$60 1Ydla McK-UJill laila 6.-$50 Aiden S.-$25 Aideen McK -$10
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