December 1, 2006, carnegie newsletter

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NEWSLETTER

. DECEMBER .1, 2006 www -~~r·"·n,ews.ort:

401 Maln Street, Vancouver V6A 2T7 t·eo4) 665-2220..---·

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ncrease gentrification:

Making a list,

more low-income residents shut out ·'""'" . ··I .

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ontrol media; feed fear '< ..·

..•.•.·•. ·co-opt or discredit locals L . ..

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checking it twice,

•··r~al estate speculation ' IS sacred (repeat, repeat) .... •.

, Justice -decent, affordable, safe housing here · -fair opportunity ·limit on wealth

Support an Immediate Call for 24 Hour Community Space for Women in the Downtown Eastside and Donations of Food and Blankets •

Mt. Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan is supporting a caU by the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC) to continue providing a 24 hour community space for women by expanding hours to cover from 5pm to 8am. The DEWC is also in need of donations of food and blankets for about tOO women every night. The cost to keep the centef. open the additional 15 hours would be $700,000 a year, to: * Provide food services, showers, washrooms, telephone and computer access 163 hours/week (closing for only 5 hours for weekly staff meetings); * Work with various outreach programs to bridge women to existing services; and *Use a peer support, self help strategy to address addiction and mental health issues "We are seeing an unprecedented level of homelessness in this city, which has been exacerbated by the wet and cold weather. These women are vulnerable and face being exploited, sexually assaulted or other dangers on the street. The Premier cannot wait until the next budget to act - we are in a crisis situation right now," said Kwan.

Many women in the Downtown Eastside are often left out of the data on homelessness because they are "hidden" -seeking shelter that may be fraught with violence and exploitation in order to avoid sexual assault and harassment on the street. The DEWC Elders Advisory Council, which conducts a weekly outreach to listen to women on the streets, have seen an unprecedented number of homeless women on the streets, in the alleys and in various buildings.

The Dowotown Eastside Women's Centre has called for extending the hours of the Drop In as the main priority that has been identified and requested for over 2 years.

"After our experience of this week, we are committed to making a 24 hour space work. We've wanted to do this for the past two years and hope that the public will support us on this matter," said Cynthia Low, Administrative Coordinator.

On November 19 a group of homeless women and .. their supporters demanded that the DEWC stay open 24 hours• a day so women known from the neighbourhood could have a safe respectful place to sleep. As an organization always responding to the

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• .-_. ,• .L ...... ..._... .-:. •' .. needs and conditions of women and children in the community, the DEWC remained open: 120 women used it as a refuge and 42· homeless women slept on the floors as one staff and a team of 8 volunteers provided meals and other basic necessities.

The next night 80 women used the Centre and 50 homeless women slept there. The staff and volunteers took four women to clinics or hospital for immediate wound care and two women are working with advocates to access social services and other entitlements.

Kwan said, "The provincial government needs to act now. It is their policies which have contributed to this unprecedented level of homelessness, inflicting hardship on low income people and communities. They have no right to turn their back to a prob lem which they were heavily involved in creating." .', ') ,__.

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24/11/06

4TH ANNUAL MARCH& SYMBOLIC BURNING FOR FRANK PAUL DECEMBER 06, 2006 Leaving Main Street Skytrain 2:30 March to 377 East 2ndBehind Vancouver Detox Food burning begins at 3:00 With Derek Wilson Feel free to bring tobacco or other offering to add to the fire to send prayers to your lost loved one.

STOP POUCE & RCMP ABUSE OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLE! PUBUC INQUIRY FOR FRANK PAUL NOW

rial-activists to focus attention on the disappearanc~ ..

Van

pe Relief and Women's Shelter

is hosting two events regarding the Memorial for the Montreal Massacre.

Of particular note is Barbara Cameron speaking on the need for a guaranteed liveable income and the roundtable discussions on the issue of prostitution (how do we end it) which is of course we cannot talk about ending prostitution without discussing women's poverty.

Also of note Diane Matte (the lntemational Coordinator of the World March of Women) Diane Matte organized with over 200 women's groups around the world to demand an end to Women's Poverty and an end to Violence Against Women. She was key in the development of the "Women's Global Charter for Humanity" please join us on December 2nd and help the spread the word.

and murder of women in Canada.

The DVD has been used aJ Douglas College to play in the concourse before the start of December 6th ceremonies. It has also 'been shown during the ceremony itself. The historical information was especially included to inform young students who know nothing of the massacre of 14 women that took place December 6, 1989, at the University of Montreal. It has also been shown by a women's centre and a women's union symposium at Dec 6th gatherings.

The show was originally created for non-profit educational use in post-secondary institutions. We also welcome its use by other interested non-profit groups if they should find it helpful. It is our contribution in support of Canada's National Day of Action & Remembrance on Violence Against Women.

It's being made available at cost of distributi<?n only.

Thank you, Christine McDowell, creator, December 6th Slideshow & Yasmin Irani, Douglas College student

December 2nd

lOam-6:00 Vancouver Public library 350 West Georgia Dialogue Among Feminist Activists Day Long lecture series by Feminist Speakers Feminist Films with Discussion Feminist "walk in her shoes" an interactive display Wednesday, December 6th

6:30-8:00 North Side of Vancouver Public Library Rally against violence against women First mourn, then organize Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca daisyk@raperel iefshelter. bc.ca Dear Friends,

Attached is a descriptiqn of the December 6th DVD slideshow that is now available for people who wish to show it at their December 6th events.

The December 6th slideshow consists of images, text, music, soundscape and silence. It provides some historical background to Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, and highlights the efforts of memo-

The Student/ Tutor Meeting We come together Thursdays The sick and battered by society Along with helpers who represent society's interest.

And yet we have illusions of strength.

"To have no voice is to have no power" Proclaims a sign high on the wall, Just beneath the space where hung the painting of The Goose "Bullshit", I say To have no voice is to have no voice; To have no power is to have no power.

And yet, while there is hope that we, the underclass, can break into the game can be heard, perhaps there remains a slim chance.

Wilhelmina Miles

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FAS/FAE/NAS FAS I FAE I NAS is preventable but alcohol is so much a part of our culture. It is advertised so aggressively that it is hard to resist.

Mothers who are planning to have a baby should be alcohol-free for at least 3 to 4 months. It takes a couple to have a healthy baby so men should be clean from alcohol just the same.

This truth and program should be taught in schools.

Professionals should include this in their studies. It takes more than a week to learn about FAS IFAE I NAS. It is an ongoing learning process and this also ' needs to be acknowledged.

For more information about the YWCA Crabtree Corner F AS IF AE I NAS Prevention Project, call Nola Harper, FAS I FAE I NAS Facilitator regarding workshops and/or joining a group.

Phone:604-216-1659.

I would like to let you know that FAS I FAE cannot be cured or fixed and will not be outgrown; not curable but manageable.

I highly recommend this program for all cultures, ethnic and economic groupings.

I've learned a lot in this program. It takes a whole community to raise a child.

I hope you can acknowledge where I come from.

FAS I FAE I NAS affect ill.! cultures.

All my relations, Bonnie E Stevens

Terms and definitions Drugs affect not just the pregnant mother. Alcohol and most other drugs pass through the placenta and enter the bloodstream of the developing fetus, Drugs are present in the same concentration in the bloodâ&#x20AC;˘

stream for both the mother and the fetus. In the case of alcohol, the fetus takes longer to metabolize or break down the alcohol, which means that it remains in the bloodstream of the fetus much longer ttian in the bloodstream of the mother.

FASand FAE Fetal alcohol syndrome, or FA~, refers to a pattern of birth defects found in some individuals whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy.

FAS is the most serious result of fetal alcohol exposure. It is characterized by facial abnormalities, low weight both before and/or after birth, mental handicaps or learning disabilities, other nervous system dysfunction (such as poor coordination, hyperactivity, attention problems) and damage or malformation of body organs.

Fetal alcohol effects, or F AE, refers to the effects on children who are born with some, but not all, ofthe problems found in babies with FAS. Although there are fewer birth defects with FAE, each birth defect can cause serious problems. For example, learning problems alone can cause a lifetime of challenges. ln recent years, the two terms F AS and FAE have often been referred to as FAS/FAE to reflect the idea that there is really a continuum, or spectrum, of effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol.

The extent of harm is determined primarily by: * the amount of alcohol the woman consumed during pregnancy (that is, dosage), . * when she drank during the pregnancy (during what developmental stage of the embryo and fetus) *drinking patterns (frequently or in binges), *individual differences (genetic susceptibility of. mother, father or baby), and *maternal health (infections, diabetes, mal nutrition) There are different opinions about dosage. We know that those who drink heavily (frequently or in binges) are at highest risk, but it is not known whether any alcohol at all can be consumed without risk. For that reason, doctors and health workers say "there is no known safe amount ofalcohol consumption during pregnancy: The only way to completely eliminate risk is to abstain from using alcohol dur .mg pregnancy. , ARBD Alcohol-related birth defects, or ARBD, is a

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broad term which refers to any birth defect to the fetus as a result of alcohol use, such as congenital defects of the heart, face & skeleton including FAS.

NAS Neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS,.refers to a newborn's withdrawal from drugs. Different drugs can cause different withdrawal symptoms in infants, just as they do in adults. Infants withdrawing from opiates (heroin and methadone) are distinguished by their high-pitched crying, vomiting, diarrhea, irritability and tremors. Alcohol withdrawal generally occurs within 48 hours of birth and may include irritability, sleep problems, poor feeding and tremors.

ARDD and other terms: As more is learned about this subject, more specific terms are being used. ARDD, which refers to alcohol-related developmental disabilities, is beginning to replace the terms ARBD and FAS. The term NAS is used in certain centres in Canada and the United States but in recent years is being replaced with terms such as "prenatal drug exposure" or "drug-exposed infants."

RESEARCH ON DRUG-EXPOSED INFANTS 'There are enormous amounts of recent research on the effects of alcohol on the fetus, including the long-term effects. There is less research available on prenatal effects of other drugs. A study of 300 children currently in progress in the United States is examining the long-term effects of cocaine, but the children being followed are now only about five years old. One of the difficulties of researching the effects of many drugs is that few drugs are taken in isolation, or the mothers may have other problems such as poor nutrition. Most women who use co caine, for example, also use alcohol and tobacco.

"The effects ofprenatal alcohol and other drug exposure can be compounded by the 4 "P'S": • POVERTY, • POOR PRENATAL CARE, • POOR NUTRITION, and.

• POLY-DRUG USE. * Dr. Christine Loock, Chair, B.C. FAS Resource Society

· *Poly-drug use refers to people using more than one drug such as alcohol and cigarettes or cocaine ·

A Vie;il With The Silenced (through 4 Wednesday noon hours beginning with Nov. 29th. ... at Granville & Georgia corner) Faith traditions call us to stand with the poor and vulnerable. People standing here today have witnessed if not experienced first-hand the suffering resulting from government policies. We witness increasing numbers of homeless people and the working poor. We see seniors and disabled people who cannot get adequate home care; illiterate and disabled people who have been thrown off welfare.

The plethora of encouragements to donate goods for the homeless or contribute gifts to needy children mask the dark reality of political and economic policies that perpetuate homelessness and poverty.

Thus, this is a prophetic time to mark light coming into the world. We stand here today to bear witness to the cries for justice a setting right of that which has caused hurt, exclusion and anguish.

We are here today, as the Spirit summons and enables us, to be a faithful public witness to the current fate of those who, like us, have felt silenced.

We invite you to join us in our witness, and we urge you to express your concerns to the following: · Mayor Sam Sullivan, City of Vancouver. Email: mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca; Ph: 604 873-7011 · Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia. gordon.campbell.mla@b~.ca Ph: 604 660-3202 . · The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada. Harper.S@parl.gc.ca; Ph: 403 253-7990

Memories of Our Sisters We will always treasure their memories Even if it is in a small thing; In what we shared It means a lot to one person.

Letting go is so hard.

We need peace for our sisters They need to go help in the Spirit world Their memories will always be in our hearts.

Always, think of wonderful sayings She will always be beside you She'll probably whisper positive things to you In the wind, or in your dreams.

Keep strong for the ones who are left behind They need your courage and understanding You have the power Don' t let anyone take that Spirit Fight for what is right Freedom to stand up to anything.

All my relations, Bonnie E Stevens

Paper Blues

Got to throw away some paper It's comin' out my ears.

Need to clear the decks and all the drawers of duplicated duplicates of very important documents.

Everywhere I go the rising tide of paper Threatens to choke the meaning from the words.

The Paper comes; it goes unread To start my fire it's only en~ M.eanwhile, I cannot find my bloody buspass •

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Wilhelmina Miles

News from the Library · New Books The Long Exile :A True Story ofDeception and Survival Among the Inuit ofthe Canadian Arctic (970.41) by Melanie McGrath tells the true story of Joseph Flaherty, illegitimate son of explorer Robert Flaherty, and his Inuit mother, who were part of a group of Inuit taken to an uninhabited region of the arctic by the Canadian government and left to fend for themselves. in The Unquiet Grave : The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul ofIndian Country (323.11) Steve Hendricks provides an update on the battle between the FBI ~nd the American Indian Movement (AIM) uncovering abuses of power, primarily by government agencies, but also by AIM activists, and Indian tribal leaders.

In Canadians at the Table: Food, Fellowship, and Folklore: A Culinary History of Canada (641.09) Dorothy Duncan gives us gives us an entertaining overview of Canada's unique and fascinating food history.

Londonstani by Gao tam Malkani, is a gritty, accurate depiction of the South Asian diaspora in West London written in a mix of slang, urban patois, and cell phone text messages from the perspective of a member in a small gang.

In The Communist's Daughter Dennis Bock gives us a fictional Norman Bethune composing letters to a daughter he never saw (or in real life ever had) that wonderfully illuminate the moral ambiguities of war, political idealism and personal responsibility.

These books are currently in the third floor bookcase. Ask at the front desk of the library if you want to reserve one (or more) of them.

Book Giveaway Rain (or snow) or shine we are outside the Carnegie Centre on Hastings Street Friday afternoons at 2:30pm to give away books. There are often magazines to take away as well. Come say hi and grab a few books .

Mark the Librarian 0

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December Volunteer Program .

Christmas Blues ·.

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Volunteer Co,mmittee Meeting - Last one before Christmas is Wednesday, December 6th at 2pm in Classroom If ALL VOLUNTEERS WELCOME! Your voice is needed and appreciated.

Volunteer Dinner Your contribution and hard work is appreciated by the many people who benefit from your services. Let the staff serve you!

Wednesday, December 13th in the Theater

4:30pm SHARP! If you have 12 volunteer hours this month, please

pick up your dinner ticket from the Volunteer Pro ' gram Office on the 3rd floor VOLUNTEER CHRISTMAS PARTY HO HO HO ,

Santa will be in the Theatre just to see uou.

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-(I told him you'd all been good this year) (( shhhhh, I didn 1 tell))

Friday, December 15th, 4 • 6pm Carnegie Theatre Please write this date on your calendar - we don't want you to be le"ft out!

Entertainment including the very popular 'Feso Trio' who performs with rare passion and exuberance. The pace never lets up and the grooves are deep and long marimbas, drums and hoshos. There will be a mystery guest who I promise will have you howling in your seats plus food and gi"fts.

Please pick up your Christmas Party Ticket from the Volunteer Program Office .. .followed by

!LIVE BAND DANCE- 'de Rockin' Eighties' Friday, December 15th 7pm -IOpm Carnegie Theatre. Come one, Come all

Traditional Pool Room Tournament Christmas Eve * 9 Ball Cballenge*Top 5 Game Runs For more information please see Mo Blixt and AI Homenchuck in the Pool Room

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l feel so blue I feel saddened We~ so many homeless people Where is our human spirit?

Can't we see that our people are homeless?!

Housing is so scarce Christmas is going to be blue For many people Especially with Carnegie c1osing in the morning early.

Where can we find a safe place for Christmas Hope Santa brings all our hopes, dreams and, most of all, A Nice, Warm Home.

That's all I wish for all our homeless people.

I wish everyone all the best.

A II my relations, Bonnie E Stevens

Doom And Gloom An article on the op-ed page of the November 10 Globe and Mail caught my attention. Titled, "Taking the Earth's temperature," it was by renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood, and was about g lobal warming. The penultimate sentence reads, " Instead of turning life into gold, we have the chance to tum gold into life good water, fine air, healthy soil, clean energy."

The article (which was actually an excerpt from a speech Atwood gave) is in keeping with the mainstream media's warnings recently about crises such as global warming and depleting worldwide fish stocks but, in my view, these warnings don't go far enough.

For example, I' ve written letters to newspapers warning about the impending exhaustion of oil resources. As oil is the lifeblood of our civilization, this topic is extremely important. Except for The Republic ofEast Vancouver (Issue 150), my letters have been ignored. I can only postulate that because the media are run by corporations, the letters go

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against the corporate agenda and are therefore "unprintable."

But the crises facing humankind are much more extensive than I've enumerated.

In A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright gives a number of examples of past civilizations that have succeeded or failed when confronted with environmental crises.

In Heat: How to stop the planet from burning, by George Monbiot, the author gives a passionate defence of those people wanting to take immediate action to halt global warming.

In The Ingenuity Gap by Thomas Homer-Dixon, the author writes that there won't be any miraculous technology invented in time to save mankind from impending catastrophes. In his recent book, The Upside ofDown, he writes of taking action on five crises facing humankind right now.

• But the book that I find most intriguing is Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed by •

Jared Diamond. In the final chapter, the author lists 12 calamities facing humans which need to be acted upon immediately, and, if any of these 12 isn' t solved, humankind is doomed.

These 12 disasters, according to Diamond, are: destruction of natural habitats; destruction of wild foods, especially worldwi4e f1sh stocks; loss of biodiversity; loss of farmlands; fossil fuel exhaustion; depletion of freshwater sources; loss of photosynthesis capacity; toxic chemicals; alien species; gas pollutants that destroy the ozone layer and contribute to global warming; the population explosion; nonsustainability of human impact on the world's environment.

You'll have noticed that these are mainly, if not all, environmental disasters. Problems like nuclear weapons proliferation or depleted uranium ammunition or wars or water commoditization aren't even mentioned. (There are lots more you can think of.)

I thought Diamond had a sure grip on the problems facing humankind, and their solutions. But then I read a review of this book in the September issue of Z Magazine, and, although the review was complimentary of Diamond for his examinations of past societies which had succeeded or failed when faced with similar crises, it was critical of his neglect to mention the role of classism and free-market ideology in being major influences in the formation and implementation of solutions. (Diamond seems to leave the solutions up to individuals, and though we are responsible to some degree, in a large part the problems are systemic.)

I attended aBC NDP Community Conference on healthcare on November 25. There, 1 met a woman with whom I got into a discussion about neo-con governments and their policy directions, which seemed to me to be nothjng more than trying to g uarantee the biggest slice of the pie for themselves and their wealthy friends before any of the major catastrophes hit. · She then asked me a difficult question: why, then, are these governments elected? Partial answers only occurred to me later. In the cases of the Campbell government of BC, and the Harper government of Canada, they rode in on waves of discontent with the previous governments. (The same thing happened when the federal Liberals succeeded Mulroney's Tories, for which the disdain was so great that it was reduced to two seats in Parliament.)

In the case of George W. Bush' s two elections, tne only answer I could come up with was that both elections had been stolen by the Republicans. (But that still doesn' t explain why a large percentage of Ameri cans voted for Bush.)

I' m not worldly, so I can' t explain how Blair held on to power so long in England, or how other rightwing governments succeeded in Europe.

I can only give stock replies to the question: people to a significaRt degree suffer from voter apathy.

A large number of those who are left no longer hold the same societal values that were once prevalent, which historically allowed for the construction of the welfare state in many countries. The media play no small part in this process. Globalization is another factor.

One thing is for sure, though: it is going to take an extraordinary change of attitude in dealing with uncompassionate governments and world crises in order to suppla'nt the current reigning societal paradigm of self-interest.

By Rolf Auer

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Letter to the Editor (FhecProvince) Dear Editor, It' s hard to believe that V ANOC is proposing such an outrageous proposal for homeless people ($500,000 to be spent to shelter homeless during Games, the Province, November 2 t, 2006).

As I understand it, they want to get people off the streets into emergency shelters for the two weeks of the Olympic Games.

Presumably, before and after that, VANOC doesn't care about the homeless, as long as the Games are clear of any signs of poverty. Such a shameful attitude of corporate irresponsibility is astounding.

If V ANOC believes in sustainability as they cla im, they need to work with housing advocates to pressure all levels of government fo r safe, affordable, appropriate, long term housing, not two week emergency shelters - and then nothing.

Yours Sincerely,

Libby Davies, MP Vancouver East Dear Beats on Broadway list: As all of you know, Beats on Broadway is an acoustic open stage which happens once a month and is hosted by Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House. Recently the House was broken into on three separate occastions, and all the computers used by seniors were stolen. Apart from being a discouraging sign of social despair, this theft has meant that the multi-ethnic, mostly low-income users of MPNH have no local access to a computer.

This is a request: If you have a reasonably good (minimum Pentium Ill) computer hanging around or which you've been thinking of replacing, and you'd be willing to donate it to the Neighbourhood House, would yo u please contact Shirley Francisco at the front desk, 879 8208?

Thanks for your help!

Earle

"Just say NO to panhandlers" - Seattle Business To me, this approach to dealing with the extremely poor is another example of how uncaring our society has become. Instead of instituting the proper reforms (and l mean reform in the real sense of the word) to ensure that panhandlers don't have to resort to begging to get by, the advocated response is to give to charities (and I'm sure you're all familiar with the slogans, Justice, Not Charity! and No Justice, No Peace!) This attitude of ignoring or sidestepping social plights has to be changed for real reforms to take place.

Ro lf PS: J don't buy the insistence that money that goes to panhandlers goes to feed addictions. (J feel this is just a form of poor-bashing, marsha]led to excuse not doing anything for panhandlers.) The hard facts say that most are there out of the necessity to live.

By Sandy Cameron

Wild Sheep In The Mountains We were doing mininR exploration at Godlin Lake in the Mackenzie Mountains, and the geologist told Roy and myself to camp~out for two nights in a high valley in order to collect certain rocks he needed to finish a geological map he was working on.

"The Jet Ranger will take you to that valley," the geologist said. The Jet Ranger was a helicopter that could skim over mountain peaks like an enchanted deer.

"Willi need my parka?" Roy asked.

"Yes," said the geologist. "Even though tomorrow is July 1st and we're getting twenty-four hours of sunlight every day, the temperature can drop below freezing at night, and l've seen snow in July in these mountains."

Roy was a thoughtful young man from Vancouver who had always lived in the city. When he arrived at our base camp at Godlin Lake, in the North West Territories, he gazed in amazement at the lake, the wide valley, and the surrounding mountains.

"Nobody told me about this," he said.

"Nobody told you about what?" I asked.

"About this beauty," he replied.

The helicopter took us to the high valley in late afternoon. It was above the tree line, and we couldn't see a single tree. A small stream divided the two sides of the valley, and each side was like a green meadow. With the sun shining, the valley seemed like a mountain paradise, but if a storm arrived we would be in trouble because the valley offered no protection from fierce winds or snow.

We cooked supper on a Coleman stove because there wasn't any firewood, and then we sat in the sunny evening silence and told stories. Roy said that he had grown up in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and he liked people in his community because they cared about each other. He said that .. this land in the north of Canada opened up a new dimension' in his life, and he repeated a phrase that he .had said before: "Nobody told me about this."

I said that the beauty of the land had pointed me in the direction of justice. "How can people live in a cruel, selfish and violent way in the face of such beauty?" I wondered. "They can't see;" ~oy said.

"People like that are blind."

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to the sound ofsheep baaing in the valley. At first I thought I was back on a fann we had when I was a child, but then I remembered that Roy and l were in the Mackenzie Mountains.

"How can sheep be in this valley?" I asked myself.

Quietly I got dressed in our tiny tent, and then I crawled out to greet the coming day. The Dall sheep were easy to spot. They were traveling on the other side of the valley at a higher altitude than our tent.

There must have been about fi tleen of them: all ewes with their lambs, all mothers with their children.

They moved majestically across the land, calling back and forth to each other. An Elder led them, in the early morning, with the sun shining on them and on the valley.

Roy was out of the tent by now. He heard the sheep.

He saw them.

"Where are the rams?" I asked.

Roy looked with the binoculars. "They're higher up" he said. "I can see five or six of them." Then I saw the rams with the sun flashing on their horns. They were looking down at the ewes and the lambs. They stood so strong, so proud, on their own land.

We watched the sheep until they disappeared into the next valley. Then I heard Roy mutter to himself, "Nobody told me about this."

Because this place is a safe ~spot for people trying to stay 'clean, things like needles, wrappers, empty drug papers, and blood stains are not only banned but really disrespectful to those of us who are tryin to clean. come here g>'>· ·• . - --\-t>\~ · Please try. It s more . . ..\l~P' question of getting caught.

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--"' The season ofgoodwill Hq,s come once again.

Makjng some people happy, ·-·e ausing others much pain.

Now, you might give up One ofyour dimes, 'l'o some one you'd shun At all other times.

There's only one reason For this season ofJoy. . .

That's 'cuz Joe 's "virgin" wife Gave birth to a boy.

It was old school philosophy That Jesus had preached And this pissed offRome Whose tolerance was reached So god's son was crucified And died for our sin. (lyou truly believe A place in heaven, you win.

It was two thousand years or more Since it all came to be, The spirit's been lost Due to greed and hn70crisy Nmr u-lwt most matters Is u-lwtthe ad\·ertisers say. (~l u·hat you're to hu;v And how much you'll pay Christmas has now been ~Perverted for all, ~ For want ofanother Unneeded baseball.

Ayisha

Twas da night before welfare and all through da land everybody was starving both woman and man da minister of welfare was in bed but awake he was getting some there so.da checks they could wait Then all of a sudden there arose such a clatter "que pasa?" he yelled! "say what? Waz da matter?" he jumped outta bed and through da kitchen he ran tripped over da cat and knocked over da fan He looked down da hallway and what did appear?

A binner, a native and a few o' their peers a tired old woman her face full of woe . gave out a yell"hey cough up da doe!"

The minister pouted "i'm sorry i'm wrong" but alas of course we've all heard that song he gave out the cheques and he passed out ~tale beer then he said with a sneer "see ya same time next year!"

Mr. McBinner

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Lite _5e_yond This

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An ethnographic installation and photographic art exhibit by four Aboriginal Downtown Eastside residents exploring urban Aboriginal health, visual ethnography and experimental methodologies in community based research through photographs.

An innovative community-campus collaboration between Vancouver Native Health Society, Department of Medicine at UBC, and SFU's Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

The reception: Friday December 8th, 5-7pm.

Hosted by Dr. Mark W. Tyndall.

Guests include: Dr. Dara Culhane,

The exhibit runs December 5- 31st 2006 Carnegie Centre Art Gallery, 401 Main Street •

For more infonnation contact Marian at Vancouver Native Health Society 604.710.2408.

HOMEWORK - Humanities 101 Class Social Theory Professor William Flynn November 2006 - Submitted by Harold Asham I {omework assignment - Take a concept and use it to talk about any aspect of your socia l life.

of those assignments. Last year l discovered man~ new and different things and now I use that learnmg to carry on my daily life with all the decisions that that entails. So this is my idea of what social theory is and this is one way it affects my social life.

Concepts Sociological Innovation Double Consciousness The Vei l Live Faith (saving, losing, poise) Class Struggle "" Women 's Inequality

Following is the social theory ofthe bifocal. The Spectacles or B(focals - The long view is ofpublic issues and social structure. The up close and personal view is about personal troubles and milieu (I think this means environment.)

I thought I' d include another concept. What is Social theory to me? According to Mr. Flynn it's what a person thinks of his society. Following is one of the views I have of my society. It' s about learning. Last year when l took the Hum 101 course 1 found myself struggling to learn new things or to keep up with what the professors were talking about. It was a challenge and it was interesting and fun. Most of the time it was an ongoing and continuous strengthening of my concepts, adding new ones and the sometimes changing of ideas and concepts. It was as if there was never enough time to absorb the knowledge that I was gaining.

It' s a year later and I have this unique opportunity of taking the same course. No, its not that I failed the course, its just that this year I'm a mentor. When I was in the midst of learning I didn' t realize changes coming over me. Well, last night I was throwing out stuff, you know fall cleaning or whatever, and I came across my homework assignments from last year. As I read through them, I came to wonder what happened to all the insight 1 had apparently gained when l was teaming. I was wondering, did I really write this stutl"? It seemed insightful, kinda, and intelligent, sorta. What happened to all my learning? I didn' t throw it out or leave it some place by mistake did I? Yet I didn' t really relate to my own writings, they had seemed to be written by another person. .. Someone from another time and I guess it really is from another time. One year ago. l am not the per~on who wrote those assignments, l am the product

SUNDAY CELEBRATION Well, I had a pretty good sleep for a change. Lately I've been having trouble getting a good rest. Must be something in the air. It's Sunday morning and I' m looking forward to the event planned for this afternoon. lt's a sort of reaping ofthe seeds we cast out during last summer; that's when we did our selecting and the actual sowing of the seeds.

I guess J should explain what I'm running on about.

1 was part of a group (Neighbourhood Small Grants Advisory Committee) whose mission was to spread joy and harmony among the three neighbourhoods of Carnegie, Ray-Cam and Strathcona. It's been going on for a couple of years now. I'm not sure of the actual time. We were to do this by giving groups a grant of up to $500 and they were to use this money to have some kind of neighbourhood festivity.

The Vancouver Foundation supplied the money.

They gave us $15,000.00. Our job was to filter through any and all grant applications and hand out a maximum of $500.00 to anyone who we deemed deserving. I can tell you right now it was a struggle.

Oh just do the math and you' II see how we were limited. We had over 60 applications and the optimum number was 30 grants.

It's hard trying to decide who deserved the money and who didn't. Our first job was to set some rulesor maybe guidelines, yea, I guess that's a better term for what they were. They were there to guide us in our decision-making. Of course we had some of the

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Carnegie .Community Action Project (CCAP)

Newsletter Written by Jean Swanson n

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December 1, 2006

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$500,000 set aside for "poor cleansing'' during Olympics face unreasonable increases in rent as a result of the Games; and • Provide an affordable housing legacy and start planning now.

Unfortunately, we have already lost almost 400 units of housing in the Downtown Eastside in the last year.

Hotels like the American, Pender and Burns Block have been closed and their residents evicted.

In other words, the Olympic commitments have already been violated.

Rental housing stock is not protected.

People have already been made homeless. And residents have already been involuntarily displaced and evicted and faced unreasonable rent increases.

At least part of this is probably due to the upcoming Olympics as well as intense property speculation in the Downtown Eastside.

Downtown Eastside groups are outraged that the three levels of government have set aside $500,000 to sweep homeless people off the streets and put them into shelters during the 2010 Olympics. "It's poor cleansing," said Carnegie board member Bob Sarti. "It's so foreign visitors won't have to look at homeless people." The governments are looking at the homeless situation "as a cosmetic problem," Sarti added, "not as a human rights or human suffering problem."

Before Vancouver got the Olympics all three levels of government and the Olympic organizing committee agreed to five housing commitments: • Protect rental housing stock; • Provide as many alternative forms of temporary accommodation for Winter Games visitors and workers; • Ensure people are not made homeless as a result of the Winter Games; • Ensure residents are not involuntarily displaced, evicted or 1

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Wendy Pedersen joins CCAP · .

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Hi there, •

My name is Wendy and I'll be working with Jean and others at CCAP. I'm a parent who lives at the Four Sisters Co-op on Powell Street. When I'm not looking after my 2 kids, you might have seen me working on a new DTES Neighbourhood House, a coalition against the stadium on the waterfront, a community plan for Alexander Street, the Woodward's Community Advisory Committee, at United We Can, the Potluck Cafe and some of you may remetnber that I worked in the Learning Centre about 10 years ago. A handful in this neighbourhood knows me from my first community. I grew up in a Westcoast gillnetting family and just finished my deckhand career 6 years ago.

Not much left of that industry and families are in disrepair ... that's a long story in itself.

What I've learned from all this is: the needs of all people (and the planet) must be considered before we make every single decision, especially economic ones. What are the consequences of lifting the moratorium on SRO · conversions??? Five years ago in April, the Provincial Government cut welfare rates. What about that? The result is dire: people in survival mode, poor

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health, more poverty, more kids in care, displacement and so on.

At CCAP, we are working to "Raise the Rates" by 50%, fix up the existing 5000 units of SRO housing for low income people and creatively push for at least another 5000 homes. My lofty personal goal is to include thousands in this neighbourhood and friends beyond in this campaign. I know it doesn't look good out there, but I'm hopeful we make a change.

Please come by and say hello to me in the association office on the 2nd floor of Carnegie or send me an email wpedersen@look.ca. In the near future, look for info about housing and welfare rates on lampposts and local newsletters, including this insert.

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Mayor's ''Civil City'' project targets poor Mayor Sam Sullivan plans to spend at least $1.3 million on what he calls a "Civil City" project. He plans to introduce this project at a city council meeting on December 14th.

Many of the actions listed in Sullivan's glossy brochure on his plans involve making it harder for people who are poor and homeless to survive on the streets: • Teach citizens not to give money to panhandlers; • Have cameras on the streets to detect public disorder; • Study a "no sit, no lie" bylaw that would forbid homeless people from sitting or lying on the street; • Have locked garbage bins so binners won't be able to get things to sell or eat.

Some of the points in the plan would be ok, but these are the ones that don't have any money or other levels of government behind them: • Give prescription drugs to addicts; • Increase the number of safe injection sites.

It looks very much like Sullivan is pushing ahead on an agenda called for by 12 of Vancouver's most powerful business groups in a letter to all three levels of government. The letter says Vancouver is "in the grip of an urban malignancy" of aggressive panhandling, visible homelessness, crime and disorder,

and calls for more supportive housing, mental health services, and police.

What we really need are solutions that deal with the causes of homelessness and panhandling: welfare rules that keep people in need off welfare; extremely low welfare rates; and not enough decent housing.

N PA votes for small suites People from the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) went to City Council on November 2 to tell council that we don't want them to reduce the standards for new suites from 400 to 100 square feet. After hearing from Carnegie people such as Muggs Sigurgeirson, Chris Laird, and Jean Swanson, as well as Sister Elizabeth Kelliher, Kim Kerr of DERA and others, council ignored what the community wanted and voted unanimously on Nov. 14th to work with BC Housing to replace existing single room occupancy units with new units as small as 10 feet by 10 feet that may not have bathrooms or kitchens.

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People continue to speak out for. welfare increases Last month another long list of groups spoke out against low welfare rates, the barriers to getting on welfare, the need · for an earnings exemption for everyone, and a higher minimum wage. These are the demands of Raise the Rates, the group that the Carnegie Community Action Project is working with to get higher income in the Downtown Eastside and other places too.

Burnaby City Council passed a resolution calling on the province to raise welfare rates; end the three week wait, two year independence test, and other barriers"'"' ~~!ti11g on welfare, restore the earnings exemption, and increase • • minimum wage.

An article in the newsletter of St. Mary's Anglican Church urged readers to support higher welfare rates and write their MLA. An article in the Terrace Standard also called for the government to implement Raise the Rates' demands.

The NDP called for a debate on welfare rates in the legislature, but didn't get it.

The Dieticians of Canada, BC Branch, released their annual report saying that governments should have the goal of poverty reduction; that income assistance should be increased to bring people out of poverty and should be based on the actual cost of nutritious food, shelter and

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other necessities; the minimum wage should be increased; and funding for social housing put in place.

First Call BC Children and Youth Coalition held a news conference calling for higher welfare rates, among other things.

The BC Teachers' Federation also adopted Raise the Rates' demands and gave $5000 to the group.

Be sure to write to Claude Richmond, the Minister of Employment and Income Assistance, and urge him to implement Raise the Rates' demands. His contact info is: Room 133 Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Phone: 250 387-7750 Fax: 250 387-7292 Toll-free: 1-866-387-3952 Or email him at Claude.Richmond.MLA@leg.bc.ca We need to keep up as much pressure as possible between now and provincial budget time in Feb., 2007.

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last year's committee's guidelines. We could have used them as they were or make our own guiding principles. That was the path we chose.

We actually gave out 35 grants because we decided that one of our guidelines was that no one would receive honorariums or be directly compensated for their participating, as this was for neighbourhood participation. So some grants were adjusted accordingly. We took out money wanted for honorariums and gave them money tor supplies and such. This brought down the total from $500.00 and we got to give a few more groups some money.

Now on to today' s agenda. I had volunteered to help setup the room for the celebration. I didn't really know what to expect but I wanted to be there to see the results of our many meetings in the early â&#x20AC;˘ summer. By the way I got to meet some very mce people at those meetings. We had a wonderful P.erson there to guide us. She was the NSGP Coordmator, the only paid person and she didn't have a vote on the .individual projects. She did what I think was ... a great job. Thank-you Teresa for your guidance.

Everyone was from one of the 3 neighbourho?ds and we were searching for a level of accommodatiOn and we had to agree to work as a group for the spending of some one else's money. That's not as easy as it sounds. I think each of us had a favourite project that wasn't accepted by the others (at least I know I did).

There were also some people from last year's committee and they provided leadership also.

Today was the final meeting and we were to share a meal with the recipients of the grants. Secause of my visit back home in Manitoba I didn '_t get t? any ofthe events. There were many events mcludmg BBQ's, readings, films, and outings for preteens,

teens and elders. There was food and garden supplies, all kinds of things. People sure have a great imagination for these projects. l wish we had more money to give out. Some people had more than one project and to be fair we had to try to limit so not one group was doing too many things. Not that they weren' t good things(!) it just we couldn' t give extra money to one group and leave another group out completely. l think that was the only downs!de of this. Not enough money and so many great Ideas.

Anyway, on to the supper. I met some recipients for the first time; other members of the advisory committee got to attend some of the celebrations. l didn' t. There were about 20-25 different recipients represented there and they all got to talk about their projects. We had an oriental singer whose song was beautifully done, and then we had a oriental couple do a couple of dances. I talked to lots of people there including a husband who helped with his wife's project, a couple of people who helped fill out grant applications and a young lady who took a grou~ of teenagers on a trip to a park. Some of these proJects are still going on because we gave them start up money. This was beyond our wildest dreams and it sure makes a person feel good to know that we helped start it. There were ~~!.so block l-: ~anups and beatification projects. This was a great project and I am proud to say that I was part of it. I hope to be part of it again next year. As for you well its never to early to start planning your project. See Y.ou at t~e dinner next year and possibly at your proJect as It takes place in your neighbourhood.

All this storytelling and l didn't even mention how good the meal was. My congratulations go to the people who made that great supper and my thanks to Strathcona for letting us have our celebration there.

Gggreat job. Also my thanks to Ethel for getting me involved in this process. Thank-you very much!

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DANCING YOUR EDGE Thanks to all of you who have let me know they want this again. For you, and me, we will resume sessions in the new year, the second Saturday of the month, from 2-4, in the gym at Carnegie. All are welcome to drop in, to shake off the winter doldrums and express your free self, moving through the rhythms of music from all over the world .

Why We Are Not Sorry for Our Crimes: The Residential Schools Settlement Farce

by Kevin D. Annett, M.A., M.Div. The perpetrators of the worst crime in Canadian history are absolving themselves of that crime and feeling quite good about it. That's essentia11y what's going on these days in courtrooms across Canada, in what is developing to be the greatest travesty of justice in our sordid history.

In the spring of 1996, when I was asked to be an advisor to the first group of men and women who were s uing the government and the United Church of Canada for their torture at the so-called Alberni Indian Residential School, l assumed, like most Canadians, that electrically shocking six year old children and driving nails through their tongues was a crime. I also assumed that when half of the children in a school consistently die every year, and their bodies disappear, those responsible would have to answer for such barbarities, like any serial killer. But what I didn't realize was that when the victims are aboriginal, and the perpetrators are Christians and theif Clergy, a nomOIP~~ly different Standard applieS, and the murderers, quite literally, are above the law.

1 have had to come to this conclusion after hard and bitter experience, after twelve years of recording hundreds of survivors' stories, publishing corroborating proof of crimes against humanity in Indian residential schools, and trying, and failing, to win justice for these survivors in the Canadian courts. I've had to conclude that the deliberate genocide that killed more than 50,000 children in these "schools" is not considered a crime by Canada and its churches, either legally or morally.

Since the commencement of the residential schools lawsuits a decade ago, not a single fiduciary officer of either the government or the Anglican, Catholic and United Churches which ran these schools has ever been charged or brought to trial, and not one person has been charged with genocide, murder or any other crime more serious than "physical and sexual abuses". This is, frankly, astounding, considering that deliberate acts of murder, involuntary sterilization, torture, slave labour, medical experimenta• tion and germ warfare went on in these schools as a matter of state and church policy, and not as the result of ' random acts' of individuals, acting alone.

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The evidence of this deliberate genocidal policy is considerable, beginning with statements of senior civil servants like Indian Affairs Superintendent Duncan Campbell Scott, who said ·o n record-in the spring of 1909, "It is true that Indian die at a much . children . higher rate in our Indian hoarding schools from communicable diseases ... But .5uch is in keeping with policy of this Department, which is geared towards the Final Solution of the Indian Probl.em."

One of his employees, department medical officer Dr. Peter Bryce, commented after his tour of western residential schools, "I believe the conditions are being deliberately created in the /ntlia11 schools to spread infectious diseases. The death rate often exceeds fifty percent.

• This is a national crime." (Oct. 9, 1907) All of this evidence, including the exhaustive firsthand, eyewitness testimonies of survivors of these crimes, has been completely ignored by the fraudulent court process that has pretended t9 bring acknowledgement and "healing" to the thousands of survivors of the residential school nightmare. With the help of compliant state-funded native "leaders" of the Assembly of First Nations, the,government and churches have absolved themselves of their criminal acts by shifting the legal issue away from one of criminal liability to financial "compensation" to their victims. This travesty has killed any hope of justice for aboriginal people.

For example, in the latest "settlement" offered by Ottawa, the churches are completely freed of any liability for the harm done to children under their legal guardianship in the residential schools, including the deaths ofthousands of them; the original "apology" for the residential schools is abolished; and survivors must legally gag themselves and refrain from any future legal action, as must their descendents, in order to receive the whqpping sum of $10,000 for a lifetime of torture and ruination.

Would any "white" person, be they politician or church official, accept such a deal if he or she was sterilized, tortured, or endured the trauma of seeing friends and relatives murdered in front of them? I wonder how much Prime Minister Harper would demand if such crimes had happened to him?

Of course, we're dealing with Indians, who have always been an expendable class of people on this

continent. A njnety five percent extennination rate doesn't lie, after all.

As a member of the culture that committed the worst genocide in human history, and continues to ravage this land and its indigenous people for its own profit, I find it quite crazy that my people, Christian or otherwise, can do such things and yet drape themselves in a self-righteous sense that we somehow regret or are sorry for what we did, and are doing. Why don't we put that myth to rest, once and for all.

As a minister, I have had the chance to see close-up how people behave when they are truly ashame~ or sorry for the hann and murder they have commttted on others. They mourn, and tear at themselves, and are irreconcilably despairing. They don't talk about throwing a bit of money at their victims, or mouthing meaningless verbal "apologies" to those who will never recover. And they don't get fancy lawyers and PR guys to cover for them.

1have yet to see a single official of the churches or government publicly mourn, or cry, for what they did to thousands of innocent native children. None of them have come on their knees and begged forgiveness to the residential school survivors. Despite all the churches' Sunday morning rhetoric, none of their clergy have closed their churches as a sign of true repentence, and mortgaged their billions of dollars in property in order to "give away all that they have to the poor" - to those they have wronged - as Jesus prescribed. On the contrary; the response of these "Christians" has been utterly inhuman.

All of that tells me that my culture and'fonner religion is a dead shell with no moral or ~piritual substance left in it. We cannot heal anyone, let alone ourselves. And so, ironically, the final victory belongs to those aboriginal people who we tried to destroy: the ones who have kept their soul, and n~t bartered it away for the riches and power of thts world, as we have done.

So let's stop pretending that we sympathize for our residential school victims. Let us mourn, instead, for ourselves: for all that we have lost, and can mwer recover. Let us close the doors of our churches and Parliament, those dead and blood-soaked institutions, and try to find whatever is left of ourselves, shorn of our false gods and riches. Let us look for that tortured and forgotten Christ who was the first innocent we murdered in the service of Empire.

Rev. Kevin Annett

A House Divided Many are suffering from the bitter cold and the wet and yet, some ¡governments think this is just fine, no big sweat. It's not about left or right, it's about . what's right and what's wrong. It' s about oppressmg the weak and opposing the strong, assertive, aggressive, non-violent, benevolent behaviour through stonny, inclement unpredictable weather when we see & observe that nothing is being done .. and we appear to go out of favour, not exactly looking for a â&#x20AC;˘ savtour.

I know that public opinion is rising and going over to our more humane, sharing and populist side as the politicians continue in their most dangerous game to dither and dance and cruelly divide. They attempt to grind us down.

It cannot be done.

'Putting us out to pasture' we just pick up speed ... rise up faster until you do your duty. At present your claim of "due diligence" just exposes you as phony and stagnant politicians who re!'~::;" .:..:~1 snooze in fortified towers, twiddle thumbs and navel gaze; you ponder in an ignorant haze. Meanwhile the homele_ss huddle, by heat ducts, in vacant doorway shelters, tn hungered daze, cold to the touch. You talk pro's and con's and, when push comes to shove, you stall, you doublespeak, you delay, doing nothing much. Your provincial and federal cronies speak volumes with their silence.

As the rain pours down in sheets, as solid ice fonns in puddles - the situation more desperate by the hour as you sit on your butts, in a foggy muddle. We Are Not Going Away. Remember this when you sleep.

It's a fact, yes, it's true that people will get sick and some may die as you have flipped and flopped, deaf to desperate cries. Yes, you are to blame, with your unused levers power, with refusing to act.

We wilJ for certain remember when the next election writ is dropped. You will feel the boot of thousands upon thousands who still havÂŤ: a powerful voice, who will not be pushed around.

You know we do have a choice and we will stand our ground.

By ROBYN LIVINGSTONE

KARAOKE Friday, December 8th

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Tuesday, December 26th Boxing Day SPECIAL 7-lOpm, Carnegie Theatre for both

Karaoke is a form of singing available for everyone.

It is a golden chance for people to discover the joy of singing in an encouraging and accepting environment. Come and sing along and have some fun with Steve, our maestro! EVERY WELCOME! Refreshments served to all brave souls.

SWALLOW THIS Okay, Jet's get something straight. I am no ecofreako but I might just end up joining the movement in order to feel safe eating all my favorite foods. I have always enjoyed eating a big juicy hamburger with all thL fixings from any greasy spoon out there.

Because of last year's mad cow disease scare, I no

longer enjoy eating hamburgers. l began eating chicken as an alternative. When the Avi an flu hit parts of Canada earlier this year my thought about eating one of our fine-feathered friends tle\vout the window. Finally I began eating fish as an alternative.

Earlier this year, some salmon fishermen started catching salmon that were infected with sea lice. The fishermen blame the fish that had escaped from farms for spreading sea lice. Now the thought of barbequing a salmon full of sea lice is not a picture I care to think about. I' m left with not many alternatives for eating safely. I guess I could start eating vegetables. [ know many vegetarians and they seem healthy enough. Oh, but wait. Last year, with the discovery of mosquitoes carrying the West Nile disease, many municipalities started spraying some sort of chemicals over the Lower Mainland and across parts of Canada in order to kill the disease- carrying bugs. I don' t think vegetables are for me. Actua11y there doesn't seem to be a choice of safe food to eat any more. I suppose l will have to keep boiling and filtering the water that flows out of my tap and the bark that has become lodged in hands might just make a nice light snack.

By Jackie Humber

~\.\. VJE ARE SA')'ING .... IS GIVE ?EAS A CHANCe .. .

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A messa.ge from the V'egeta.ble Ma.rketing Boa.rd

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THANK YOU! A big thank you everyone who came out to The Shadows Project play reading and wrote and talked about your responses to the play. There were 40 of you and your feedback is such a valuable contribution to the creative process.

This is some of what you told us. Most people weren't confused by the story - but~ few were; this helps us recognize what needs to be clarified. Most people recognized themselves, their relatives or neighbors somewhere in the play and said most of the language had the ring of truth. You let us know where it didn't. Many told us they would bring a youth or child, depending on age and maturity level.

You told us which characters and images stood out for you; pointed out places of confusion and critical elements that we missed; told us where you wanted ~or~ and how we might additionally represent addtctiOn. We know it won't be humanly possible to include all the ideas, but our stretch to consider all of them will result in a stronger, more truthful play. _Rose~ary Georgeson and I've really enjoyed workmg wtth the great team of writers who've shared in its creation: Sheila Baxter, Wendy Chew, Paul Decarie, Mary Duffy, Melissa Eror, Patrick Foley, Leith Harris, Stephen Lytton, Muriel Marjorie and James Fagan Tait. A big thank you, too, to the readers who came forward: Paul Decarie, Patrick Foley Sophia Freigang, Jay Hamburger, Bradford Keewa;tincappo, Kevin Loring, Renae Morrisseau, Elizabeth Murdoch, Charlene Ottenbros, Tom Quirk, Bob Sarti, Terri Williams and Eroca Zales.

Savannah Walling, Artistic Director

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Thanksgiving ...canadlan style They say it is a day to remember Remembrance day for those .gone wrong Wrong roads to destruction of innocence A country once populated by natural rhythm rhythm of drums and dance there was no electric hype there was no taking from the giving thanks taking from the circles of rhythm who to thank for the turkeys slaughtered by turkeys who brought them down down down down to undo their gown their gowns of glory made by hand by women who knew it is their land How can heartless people now celebrate when a few dollars a head was the going rate who made them what they are?? who were those white and damaging stars?? lighting up the sky in a hexagram reversed for those who slaughtered the lamb the lamb was black and filled with fright the werewolf shifted within the night how can people eat so fine?? on this day of sacrificial bread and wine??? what saviour came to sip and dine.?? on carcases left in wood bo.Aes of pine in latter years we all protested the day un thanksgiving... we called it, genocide at play i will not celebrate this day of country faire . a country who took the circle and made a chair jewish people know the story well killed in the name of some savior's bell Ringing out time on schedule now the people had to lick their boots and bow first people are the ones who will prevail as they now watch the serpent eat its tail christians quote the bible and take their land sitting bull has not taken his last stand it is over for the ones who steal and lie it is time to bid them adieu and good-bye the real prophecies of the old ones will be fulfilled the ones who claim what is others will be billed ...

And that is it in a nut-shell ....... not a computer chip ..

No nourishment there, for soul we shall overcome A day to give thanks shall come - for all good not some Beth Buchanan on that day

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tant, Lynn Stone 908 Island Hwy. ph 287-5100 lynn.stone@leg.bc.ca . ' The J.A .D.E Society, formerly known as the North Island Advocacy Society, has expanded it's mandate and is considering an association with the newly formed CR Homeless Committee as a adhoc committee.

.Island J.A.D.E Society contact, Sian Thomson 206-1040 Shoppers Row. ph 830-1171 island jadesociety@crcn.net Hello Everyone: Not only is he my brother- I at times get so frustrated with him, but it was the addiction he was suffering; now he is turning his life around in Campbell River to help out with alcoholic/drug addicts.

I thought I should send you this inspiring story of a alcohol/drug addict making a difference by helping his brother and sisters who are still suffering.

Giving back for what he was so freely given is now making a huge difference for those who are not getting the help they need. If you can help in any way, please contact Leanne and/or John at the address and phone numbers below Thanks in advance for helping: to me it is about g iving back what was so freely given to us and John Martin Prevost (ps. I am so proud of this brother of mined) For s ure he gave me many grey hairs LOL smiles.

Margaret Prevost This is truly John Prevost's initiative and not officially sanctioned by the committee. Knowing John and the reality of his story I fully support his sense of urgency.

The CR Homeless Committee is in a nebulous stage of creation and has just initiated the committee rol es. John is the street spokesperson and liaison.

OriginaiJy this homeless initiative was commissioned by MLA Clair Trevena. Most of the social organizations on the North Island have been battling this burgeoning issue for years. The North Island, unfortunately, has subsequently been battling addictions, family strife, and economic uncertainty for so long that resources and the workers are frazzled and thinly funded .

MLA-North Island Clair Trevena: contact assis•

The Campbell River Chamber of Commerce is coming on board too. They will generate awareness amongst their members within their newsletter and help with a CR District Council presentation.

Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce, contactKim Vokey/Martin Brooks 900 Alder st. ph 287-4636 · cham ber@campbellrivercham b£r.ca John Prevost is a Namgis First Nations man of 46 years who has suffered a painful journey from Alert Bay and back; only to be turned away from his community, because of a shortage of housing and shelters. Turned away he bounced all over the North Island tenuously attached to security and sobriety unti I the CR Evergreen Shelter squeezed him in.

Although he is an awesome treeplanter and worker, a child support garnishment of his wages and a knee injury keep his income precarious over the winter.

John's journey is intertwined with the residential school, multi-generational impacts and the separation from his family at an early age; which set into motion addictions, jail time~ street Jiving, recovery and the long journey of deep healing. Getting to know John, I have become an inspired and suppor-. tive person to his and others' healing.. John can't relate to administrative or political bureauracy. The real John is a spiritual, sensitive & action orientated man. Enjoy his story. The life and death need right now is money and/or a transportation arrangement with a taxi or personal vehicle. John cannot walk any great distance because of physical injuries and cannot travel as his work with the CR Homeless Committee requires.

Jobn Prevost 287-9010 or a message witb tbe CR Alano Recovery Club 287-2911

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Airing our Laundry or Keeping our Community If felt strange, but not new. Another article in here : describes the beginnings of the protest occupation, non-closure of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre to provide a warm, safe shelter for the growing number of homeless women in the 'hood, and the pian for women and their supporters to go to a City-sponsored meeting that was billed as supposedly giving the public a say in "establishing priorities for the civic budget(s)".

The women ¡::auted to present their case and demand immediate action. They were in solidarity.

The meeting had also raised the ire of people calling themselves the Anti-Poverty Committee (APC) as it came across as a thin disguise to have the City's plan to set aside $5 million a year for the next 4 years ($20 million) as an Olympic slush fund given the 'approval' of the "public".

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The APC apparently convinced some of the women to join forces with them and make a bigger noise for desperately needed housing for Downtown Eastside residents in generaL Quickly printed flyers had a quickly-arrived at (or already decided before the women's hopes were swept up (or away)) that the strategy and tactics of the coming encounter were all and only to "Shut This Meeting Down!"

The press cameras and microphones were there and rolling as about a hundred people started chanting and drumming. What became increasingly apparent was that no dialogue or giving of demands in any kind of civil way was on the agenda. Members of the APC yelled and screamed louder and louder, repeating what they had yelled and screamed at a squat on Hastings St recently: No Housing, No Peace.

The behavior and actions of those most determined

to be on the news included drowning out any words from others, screaming into any mike within screaming distance and, next but not fin~lly? throw.ing chairs and maybe overturning a table or two.

There were a number of police officers present, ostensibly to ask that policing costs and equipment be high on the future priority list, and they were putting themselves in the way to maintain whatever order they could. One of the APC people allegedly tried to grab a female officer's gun and all hell broke loose.

The purported thief was pepper-sprayed in the face and others were isolated to prohibit violence. Arrests . began, with some of the more obvious charges being public mischief, assault, and the most serious likely to be assaulting a police officer. It was at this point that Kim Kerr, of APC and Dera, came into our meeting on the Impacts of Gentrification on the Downtown Eastside in the next room [all this was going on in the lower level of the Central Library on ' Georgia Street] and called for all present to come out 4 and be part of the struggle to protest the arrests and whatever else had or still was happening. Names were called by Kerr and several individuals were dumped on for not rising and committing themselves ¡ to whatever was going on "in the real world" as Kim Kerr labeled it. The point of this naming was apparently to put down and/or shame those named for not being behind him, the APC, and whatever behaviour/actions they were championing.

The fact of people being arrested was supposed to be ' the catalyst for, immediate and unanimous action.

I What held me back - and likely most in the room was the very real possibility that people were being arrested.for screaming, inches away from police persons' faces, that the object of wrath was a "fucking

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Nazi pig bastard" or something equally vile. And the fact that the APC people were infamous for using blunt tactics, for not caring anything for how what they say or do may affect the issue as a whole or what their angle was doing to the credibility of anyone else involved. Time and again, when speaking at public meetings, to City Council and other government/business reps, yelling and screaming was the norm with every 3rd word being fuck - this, that and the other thing. 1t was also an expected outcome that anyone not supporting the APC 1OOo/o would be trashed verbally, slammed for not living up to the standards of action and behaviour taken by the APC - wherever and whenever. lt is also common for Kim and co-APC person David Cunningham to literally scream in people's faces if they had the temerity to challenge or even disagree with the APC' s strategy, tactics, and verbal or written material. .

The women's demands were never heard at thts meeting, there was not one word about housing, homeless women or even the desperation that drove them to go to that meeting - in the papers, on the radio or on TV. The problem experienced by many individuals and groups is "Do you go to be part of a meeting and be co-opted just by being there - with your name and nothing else in the lists of"those we consulted" or do you boycott whatever it is and be ignored?" . [ hope for pre-event agreements or at least shanng of planned activities; a way for all to feel heard while not watering everything down so as not to offend anyone - and that is a waste! l also keep in mind the sentiment expressed in the quote below, felt and feared by a lot of people: "Don 't march in the streets with others who share your prejudices. Loud shouts are often the easiest to ignore. "I mean, look at them out there shouting their fool heads off! You want to make common cause with them? " - Frank Herbert, author of DUNE

Nov. 22, 2006 Official Opposition Calls for Immediate Increase to Shelter Rate for Income Assistance Recipients Vancouver- The Offici~d Opposition today called for an emergency debate in the Legislature to increase the shelter portion for income assistance recipients to address the growing homelessness crisis.

NDP Caucus Chair and Vancouver Mt. Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan said, "If the government does not act now to raise the shelter rate for income assistance, there will be more homelessness in the coming months- the coldest months of the year. This is totally unacceptable- we must act now."

Jagrup Brar, the Opposition Critic for Employment and Income Assistance, said, "Homelessness is a problem across this province. The premier must act now and not wait until the next budget. We are in the middle of a crisis. Over half of those at risk of . . . '' homelessness are .mcome assistance recipients. . Opposition Critic for Housing, MLA Diane Thorne, said, "Since the government reduced shelter allowance rates in 2002, rental housing costs have increased by over 10%. We all know they were already inadequate in 2001. Now they are so inadequate that the premier agrees that tr.~ rates must be increased. Housing is a human right and the government must step in now."

In a recently released Vancouver survey on homelessness and street disorder, 84% of the almost 2500 citizens who responded to the survey say disorder has increased in the city. 71% said sleeping/camping in public parks or on beaches is a major concern.

In a recent Pivot Legal Society report, it predicted that homelessness could triple by the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver if the government does not take a series of preventative路 measures.

ByPAULR TAYLOR R esponsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with th ose w ho have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually.

Peace, for example, starts within each of us.

When we have inner peace, w e can be at peace w ith those around us.

Am Johal- 778-895-5640

D<lWNTOWN EASTSIDE

YOUTH

NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN - 3 Routes: 604-685-6561 City - 5:45pm - ll ~45pm ()vernight- 12:30am - 8:30am Downtown Ea.s tside- 5:30pm - 1:30am

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ACTIVITIES SOCIETY 612 Main Street 604-251-3310

www .carnnews.ore carnnews@vcn.bc.ca .

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2006 DONATIONS Libby D.-$100 Rolf A.-$50 Darry for Dave McC-$100 Christopher R.-$30 Margaret D.-$40 Druce J.-$1 5 The Edge-$200 Mary C-$10 Penny G.-$50 MP/Jelly Bean -$20 RayCam-30 Janice P.-$30 Wes K.-$50 Gram-$$ Glen B.-$25 John S.-$60 Leslie S.-$20 Micha~l C.-$80 HumanitiesiOI -$100 Wm.B -$20 Sheila 8.-$20 Ben C.-$20 Brian $2 CEEDS -$50 Joanne H.-$20 Wilhelmina M.-$10 Saman -S20 Phyllis L.-$200 Paddy -$125 Anne P.-$20

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WANTED •

H ilS NEWSLElTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGlE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association

Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter

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Contributors are not permitted to malign or attack or relegate any person or group or class, including drug users and poor people, to a k \ ...: rei erred to or implying ' less than human' .

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Editor: l)auiR Taylor; cover & layout, Lisa David.

Submission dead:ine for next issue: Tuesday, December 12'

Carnegie Community Centre

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Please make sybmis~lons to: Paul Taylor, Editor

.Jenny Wa/Ching Kwan MLA

Carnegie Newsletter 1-----------------~--We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this 1 L N!w!!et_!!r,.!r~hagp~i~ 0_! t~ S,!!u!!_ni~ ~~~n!_te~i~ry.:.. _I

DO YOU HAVE A LEGAL PROBLEM?

Working for You 1070-1641 Commercial Dr VSL JYJ Phone: 775-0790 Fax: 775-0881 Dow~town Eastside Residents Association 12 E. Hastings St, or call 682-0931 •

Sma11 illustrations to accompany articles and poetry Cover art - Maximum size: 17cm (6-3/4") wide x 15 em (6") high Subject matter relevant to issues pertaining to the Downtown Eastside is preferred, but all work will be considered.

• Black and white printing only ~· Size restrictions must be considered (i.e., if your piece is too large, it will be reduced _ and/or cropped to fit) A II artists will receive credit for their work Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication.

Renumeration: Carnegie volunteer tickets

Come lo our Free Clinic on Carnegie's 3"1 floor

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UBC Law Students Legal Advice Program •

Tues. 10am-8pm; Wed & Thurs. 10am-4pm

Hi Carnegie community -

â&#x20AC;˘

The 3rd Annual Downtown Eastside

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Festival, Carnegie and NFB organizers recetved thts email from filmmaker Christine Wel~h and we wanted to share it with you: Finding Dawn is a very important and powerful film about the grief and support facing Aboriginal women in Western Canada. For those who missed the screening, the film will be shown again at the Carnegie Centre on Wed Feb 7, 2007 4pm. We will see you there.

Heart of the City Festival Presenting a festival on the scale of the Heart of the City Festival is a huge undertaking and a unique endeavor in Vancouver and in Canada. We can' t do it without the vast support of community individuals, organizations, funders and audiences. Your participation is greatly appreciated! .

Particularly we want to thank the individual artists in the community who presented their work during the festival with such commitment, passion and generosity. Your strong voice has been essential to the success of the festival .

If you have any ideas or events to contribute or suggest for next year' s Festival give us at call at 604254-6911 or talk with Rika, 604-665-3003.

Thank you once more!

From the Festival programme and production team.

November 8, 2006 Finding Dawn at Heart ofthe City Festival Hello everyone, I wanted to express my deepest gratitude to each of you for all you did to make the screening ofFinding Dawn at the Carnegie Centre last Saturday such an enormous success.

While the film's "world premiere" was at the !mag. ineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto in October and its Vancouver premiere was at the Amnesty International Film Festival last week, for me the film's REAL premiere was the Heart ofthe City screening on Saturday afternoon.

It was such an honour to be f11:!. . :~ hring the film back to the community that Dawn called home for so many years, and to have it embraced in such a heartfelt way by those who were there. The making ofthis film was a long and often painful journey, but the response ofthe people who bore witness to the importance ofthis story at the Carnegie Centre made it all worth it.

Thank you all for the part you played in helping to launch this film "in a good way. " All my relations, Christine Welsh Lbve I fight myself out of that shell that shell enclosing me warmly Protecting me from a hostile world that shell - your love.

.To M9

Raining It has been raining Just like our poets' creative tap running Once we are here gathering Forever we are there and everywhere meeting.

With Diane' s organizing and fans' participation Poetry would be from surviving to thriving One day poetry is booming Our multi-culture will be lasting.

Swallow

As the chick will die if she fails to break through So will I in my spirit die Enclosed forever in your overwhelming all-knowing beneficence Wilhelmina

My Feelings

Winter Coat Giveaway Residents of the DTES wiJJ not have to be cold this winter. Once again the SPCA Thriftstores of the Lower Mainland have collected winter coats for the annual Winter Coat Giveaway.

Gordon Sanders, Richmond SPCA Thriftstore manager, began th~ coat drive 13 years ago as a birthday present to himself. "Well I wanted to help the homeless. I had a surplus of coats in Richmond and now, after 13 years, it keeps growing," said Sanders.

There are seven SPCA Thrift stores that now support the coat drive. Sanders is pleased with the growing numbers of coats collected over the years.

This year the ttJ:.,Js an~ !he highest so far. "We probably have close to 5000 so far. That's a 500 improvement from last year and it will take two twoton trucks to deliver them," said Sanders. . "The Girl Guides of Richmond always get involved. They put up a 60 foot table and hand out soup and hot coffee to everyone," said Sanders. This year the coat giveaway will also include 29 hats and scarves made by one good samaritan in Richmond.

• "One woman makes all the hats and scarves for us. I would really like to thank her but I don't know her name," he said. Sanders will also be providing the Richmond food bank with 100 children's winter coats. Sanders donates the remaining children's coats and almost all of the 5000 to the outreach programs in Vancouver.

The giveaway will happen outside the Carnegie Centre on Sunday, De.cember lOth at 7pm. "We always find people who need them. We never take a coat home," insisted Sahders.

With the early blanket of snow now covering the city, this years coat giveaway has arrived just in time. .

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

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By JACKIE HUMBER

I don't feel very eloquent but in my mind there's a beat to praise the Carnegie Centre for all it is and has been.

• Let's say a fond farewell to Bob Sarti and Muggs when they leave us. in January. We will miss them greatly, remembering all they have done for us.

This started out to be a poem but somehow I failed lf there would be anything I could do, I would wish Gordon Campbell out of power. But more power to our Carnegie Centre for the people it helps everyday.

Something should also be said for our faithful janitors. Without them where would we be?!

God bless those poor souls on the street struggling to exist.

And for my son and daughter, who have made friends here too - as well as my dear Chuck - we all say thank you.

I am only a volunteer but I devoted my life to my task here.

Thank you Carnegie for a job well done.

Sincerely, Joyce _ __

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' OUr dynamic duo •~ l\1uggs>and Bob the Boy Wonder .:. . are _leaving.this vaJe·of tears in January. Any accoi~des, ·roasting, thoughts and laughs to share? Get.them here by 12/12!