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FEBRUARY 1, ~017
caRriiiegie,~ NEVVSLETTER 401 Main Street, Vancouver
email: camnews@Shaw.ca
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BC V6A 2T7
camnews@vcri.bcca.
604-665-2.1.89
Website/cata1ogue:camegiimewsletter.org
"THEIR SPIRITS LIVE WITHIN US"
27th ANNUAL WOMEN'S MEMORIAL MARCH TUE~ul~
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I ",U17 @'i 10:30 Al\l GATHER IN CARNEGIE For family and community members 1
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The February 14th Women's Memorial March is an opportunity to grieve the loss of our beloved sisters in the DTES and to commit to justice. This event is organized and led by women because women, especially Indigenous, face . physical, mental, emotional & spiritual violence on a daily basis. All welcome. Artwork: Christiane Bordier
http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/
Homeless Connect • • •
•
Date: Tuesday February 7th Time: lOam - 2pm Place: Oppenheimer Park (400-block PowelI St.)
Join us at Oppenheimer Park for Homeless Connect 2017! This event is an opportunity to connect with valuable resources in your community. Services include wheelchair repair, free eyeglasses (please bring an updated prescription), hearing tests, bike repair, and haircuts. Breakfast served at lOam. Lunch served after 12pm Raffle & giveaways throughout the day!
HomeGround Volunteers Pre-sign up: February 6th: 1Oam-12pm at Camegie (second floor) February 6th: 4-6pm at Jacob's Well (239 Main Street) February 7th: 10am-2pm at Oppenheimer Park
.NARCANTraininl Learn about overdose prevention. NARCAN kit provIded.
1OAM-1 OPM -'. every day
Every Tuesday @ 3 PM
380 E. Hastings
DCHC Multipurpose Room
SAFE
WARM
SUPPORT
Downtown Community Health Centre
569 Powell Street, Vancouver
HomeGround Festival Dates: Wednesday February 8th - Friday February 10th Time: Ham-8pm daily Location: Oppenheimer Park (488 Powell Street) The 9th annual HomeGround festival, hosted by the Camegie Community Centre, Oppenheimer Park, and Gallery Gachet, takes place from 11:OOamto 8:00pm February 8 - 10,2017. The festival features food, entertainment, and lots of fun activities. Enjoy one of many breakfast, lunch, and dinner seatings, prepared by the Vancouver Community College. Breakfast starts at 8:00 am. Lunches are served at 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm. Dinners are served and 4:00 pm, 5:00 pm, and 6:00 pm. Lunch and dinner tickets are handed out one hour before mealtime. HomeGround showcases a mix of well-known local performers & Downtown Eastside musicians from a variety of cultural & musical genres. Highlights this year include Baby Fats, M'Girl, Saint James Music Academy, Las Divas, City Opera, the debut of The Eastside Puppeteers' "Eastside Confidential: A Walk in Shadowland," an umbrella parade from Gallery Gachet to Oppenheimer Park & th~.e~er-popular Oppenheimer's Got ~alent show. Eastside Coltfidelttial: A Walk ilt ~hadowlaltd The Eastside Puppeteers, formerly known as Drug Users Resource Centre's Arts in Action, invite you to enter a shadowland where lives hang in the balance. Guided by a three foot tall host, you'll be transported to a world hidden in plain sight. This processional piece explores the daily experiences of our community and how we are affected by the fentanyl crisis. This is FREE There will be 3 shows only, during the HomeGround Festival. All will be on Thursday, February 9 at Oppenheimer Park. 4:30 (meet at 4:15); 5:30 (meet at 5:15); 6:30 (meet at 6:15). Artistic Team: David Mendes, Kelty McKerracher, Sam Chrol, Devon Martin, Julie Hune-Brown Story and Script Contributors: Ali, Patricia, Quincy, Paul, Tara
Thanks to the HomeGround
Festival and the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood
House.
On this occasion of the departure of Ethe I Whitty from the leadership of the Carnegie centre, we the staff would like to take the opportunity to extend our sin. cere congratulations and best wishes to her on her future endeavours. Ethel's term has been transformative to the Carnegie centre. This place - the sandstone lady that never sleeps (in the words of our board director Phoenix Winter) - is a crucial node in the complex system of services in the DTES, and has benefitted from Ethel's clear-eyed guidance and steady leadership. There is no place else quite like this place and without Ethel's tireless efforts, building on previous work, to create connections between people and agencies the """"'''''''''''''''''''=j],. Carnegie would not be the place it is. It is a place of art and culture, which serve to strengthen the ties between people and communities in trying times. It is a is place of refuge and sanctuary from the vicissitudes of the downtown east side and all its moods and faces. It is a place of strength, acceptance, and celebration for all those who pass through its doors and all those who are touched by its mission. This vision is shared universally by the staff of the centre. Tilting the pivot of now - moved forward by momentum and fullness of the past, or drawn toward the unknown, fringed with potential and trepidation - it is a talent to balance both poise and passion, but to do it Thursday, February 2,1- 2:30pm while steadfastly keeping not just the human rights of those suffering in poverty and mental illness and the On the 3rd floor results of a centuries of institutionalized racism and Everyone is invited to our classism, but concerned for their very survival in such Happy Birthday Celebration dangerous tlines, this is not talent - it is, however ll\iiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiilllllll4 meted, a measure of love, and perhaps what allows
Carnegie Learning Centre 33 years old!
Constituency.offlce now open 2572 E. Hastings Street Vancouver BC V5K 1Z3 lel: 604-775-5800 Fax: 604-775-5811 Email:Jenny.Kwan@pari.gc.ca Jenny Kwan MP Vanoouver East NDP Immigr:ation,Refugee and Citizenship Criti~
you stand just slightly apart in the civic machinery. It is a place occupied by a select group of esteemed predecessors - Jim, Diane, Donald, Michael - whose lega cy is now yours as well.
.,
Ethel Whitty has left her indelible stamp on this place she will be missed. Good luck. Godspeed. Farwell. On behalf of Carnegie Staff.
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(greetings) As a volunteer, I witnessed Ethel Whitty's party. It was nice to see our local musicians and artists perform. The Cultural Sharing group made & gave her a cedar head band in symbolizing her next journey after her completion at the Carnegie. It is one of many programs that run at the Carnegie Community Centre. Our local musicians played, like the Carnegie Jazz band, Mike Richter, Fraser Stewart and Phillip, two members from blue grass, Earl Peach and Robyn Livingston who performed "Rise Up" from "Condemned' a Camegie Opera (Ethel help eo-write its libretto). To this day Homeground is part of Carnegie's Festival of music and arts and connecting with other agencies in early February. It was nice to see former staffDan . Tetrault & Colleen Gorrie, witnessing this event. . Thank you to the volunteers and Nicole and Luke who helped decorate the theatre for us to enjoy the performances. Thank you to the Carnegie Board for your work and Gilles and Adrienne for writing such a wonderful piece for Ethel. You see there are people who have hidden talents. Ethel can now focus on family and writing but please come visit, the doors are always open. By Priscillia Tait
Ethel Whitty is gone (1) from the windowless cubbyat the back of the Administration cloister upstairs. If/whn anyone wanted to track her down that was where directions would take them, but Ethel was involved in so much and so many community endeavours that the "office" of director couldn't contain her. This is what I gleaned from the 'departure' party held in Carnegie's theatre on Friday, January 27. Harmony of Nations began with drums and songs in the Native I tradition, then a group of singers & elders from Cultural Sharing sang her songs for travelling - safely and with grace. Even the choir of Chinese seniors sang. The words of gratitude came in a constant flow, extolling how Ethel was always mediating between the community and the real needs & aspirations of local residents and the forces causing, even perpetuating matters of discrimination, gentrification, development and the forced dispersal of community pragmatism in the face of profit-driven alterations to the social landscape. Speakers gave heart-felt renditions of Ethel's ability to keep ourrealities on the table in as equal a balance as possible with the pioneering endeavours of those for whom the Downtown Eastside is seen as virgin territory and the thousands of low-income residents as little more than a gross incorivenience. High points included involvement with and support for The Heart of the City Festival for 11 years, Homeground for 9 years, doubling her workload by taking a lead role in the task force on homelessness while Outreach developed into a strong force in the neighbour'hood. These are the most obvious, but there are liter. ally SCOt~S of issues, struggles and ongoing fights to continually re-establish our right to remain in our own community. Ethel has been here for us. Superwoman scenarios are the stuff of "graphic novels" so all this eulogising may be causing embarrassment - it's hard to encapsulate almost 12 years' work in a few paragraphs. An interesting point is that Ethel gave a commitment to 5 years when she first took the job of director; she's stayed for an additional 7 years. Methinks we grew on each other ...
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By PAULR TAYLOR
VOLUNTEERS Volunteers ofthe Month Mo Volaric- Computer Lab Garnet Wiens- Pool Room Congratulations! !
From "the Library
Volunteer Committee Meeting The library is looking forward to all the activities at Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 3:30pm, Classroom 2 Oppenheimer Park, with a book giveaway at the Volunteer Dinner Homeless Connect event on Feb. 7th, followed by Wednesday, February 15,2017 at 4:00pm, Theatre Tech Cafe services during HomeGround. You can find, Tech gurus every Friday at the Park from 10:30Burrito Dinner 12:30, available for questions and trouble-shooting. Monday, February 2~, 2017 at 5:OOpm,2nd floor If you want to learn about Mobile Apps for your February "the moneh Of love phone, sign up in the library for the workshop on Feb. For the month of February show some love and vol14th. It's in the Classroom from 6:30 - 8:30pm, where unteer !! By volunteering at Carnegie you are not only you will learn how to find, install and use apps, and showing love & appreciation to your Downtown Eastdiscuss privacy settings. side Community but you are loving yourself by the February is also Black History Month! Lama Mugamany benefits volunteering has to offer! bo, from "Building Bridges with Rwanda" is hosting a discussion panel and film screening of "lntore" (2014). '\'. Some benefits include: The film showcases how people have survived tragedy • Gain confidence . through music, dance and culture. Please join us in the • Make a difference . Theatre on Wednesday Feb. 15Jh from 6:30 - 8:30pm. • Meet people .... Further reading for the month ... • Be part of a community .... Another Brooklyn (2016) by Jacqueline Woodson. • Leant new skills .... From the perspective of an African-American girl ' • Dike on a challenge .... growing up in Brooklyn during the 1970s. If you liked \ • Have fun! the classic book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" consider this novel. Volunteer Orientations are offered every Monday & The Black Panthers: portraits from an unfinished Saturday @ 2:30pm, fitthe 3rd Floor Volunteer Prorevolution (2016) by Brvan Shih. A cool collection of gram Office. No experience needed!! Just the willing45 pictures and interviews for the 50th anniversary of ness to help others Q the movement. ~ " Born Bright: a young girl's journey from nothing to something in America (2016) by Nicole Mason. An inspirational story of a young girl, raised by a teenaged mom, overcoming adversity and prejudice. The Defender: how the legendary black newspaper changed America from the age of the Pullman Porters to the age of Obam a (2016) by Ethan Michaeli. Founded in 1905, this newspaper gave voice to the voiceless. Led by Faith: rising from the ashes of the Rwandan genocide (2008) by Immaculee llibagiza. A memoir of miraculous survival and forgiveness in Rwanda.
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Your librarian, Natalie
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Just For Today
I'm just so fucking depressed and can't seem to get out of this mess Sick of having to bethis soldier, who never blows her composure. Cause the moment I blow that composure; I'll be right back at the start. It's fuckcd how this is all from something clarified so heavily on the chart. Every time I do go back it's almost like cutting myself and just wanting to see how much it bleeds, it's like adrenal in, the pain is such a sudden rush for me. The more I try to shelter from it, the more it backfires on me. I become the main source of the pain. Constantly worn and tired of being so torn all because feeling like this new me hasn't been reborn .. I run and hide from the side that only seems to send me back towards the tide. .. Trying to keep holding onto my pride but struggling to strive and keep on to trying. Today's just another day and these thoughts are just another way. I'll just pray that they slip away. Sick of living to use and using to live. Not wanting to just give this time. Need to stop wishing and start doing. Keep wondering how long it is till I'm gone? Keep listening to the same old song Depressed and feeling alone, feeling like this is all just a test. Because i can't seem to get any rest. Feeling lost and misused. This pain isn't feeling like much of a gain. Just keep thinking bout throwing it all down the drain. The comfort of knowing we are not Constant struggles with myself and all this pain. to blame for our mistakes ... Keep wondering if this rain will ever stop. It's destiny, it's fate, it's someone They keep telling me to be strong, but is it wrong ifI can't? Guess this is just another rant. else's problem, somebody else's job /
Kaleigh Fontaine
We are pawns .Shifted willy-nilly at the Will of the Red and Black Queens
it :1'.,
fo'
ate the world on the back of the Elephant with intentions of rape pillage and murder (invasion) Death in the Past, death in the NOW forever death not NEW. Personal sleeping Political sleeping Even before a glimmer of Light Even before Sun at dawn in a Women-hating persona simple garden wet with dew Male - in the bosom of down & out Women - politics again Panache and Poise irrelevant in This, the Age of Hypocrisy DTrump and JTrudeau This, the Age of Ignorance, negotiate brutality, and belief systems Mickey Mouse, or the rat that
Sleeping with an Enemy
So, we surrender, we give up Ifwe can't lick 'em join em Until we learn the secrets Get the keys to their equipment And then ... The Power and the Glory are Ours Wilhelmina Miles P.S. and thus we feel special, in our Higher position The Top of the food chain The Top of moral authority The highest our Race has achieved Rethink some of these assumptions "There's a lot of garbage out there." -Alister Brown: Bio-Medical Ethics t
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Colleen Carroll (April 11, 1949 - January 12,2017) was a force of nature, a powerful woman with strong convictions and huge amounts of energy to see them through. She was the founder and curator of "Documentaries for Thinkers", a documentary film series held at Carnegie Centre on Saturday evenings since 2006. For many years, Colleen was an active student and alumna of Hum (Humanities 101 Community Programme) - more recently, she would often come to Hum Steering Committee meetings while visiting Vancouver, away from her beloved home in Ecuador. She had a profound influence on so many people, and we will truly miss her. The documentary series she started continues on, currently curated by Hum alumnus Terence Lui. This is what Colleen wrote in 2008 about what it meant to her. "In a world filled with information and a mainstream media pre-occupie with dancing around real issues, the documentary has become a welcome and popular medium for truth and knowledge seekers. Although many wonderful documentaries are available at our 10callibrary, living in poverty often means that a DVD or video player is unavailable. All of the newest and best documentaries aren't always available at the library, nor is the money to rent or purchase them. Documentary nights thus have been providing the poorest of our society with the opportunity to view, and learn. Viewers at the Carnegie may lack money, however they sure make up for it in enthusiasm and brains. In the last year and a half these evenings have developed a core clientele of 35-40 persons who attend nearly every viewing. On average 50 attend what has
become known as one of the most popular programs at the Centre. We've had many nights with as many as 80 people in attendance. For many, the best part of these evening is having a shared new knowledge and someone on a level playing field with whom to discuss this mutually new found knowledge, and being spurred into learning more at their library. As with most learning, the evenings' benefits leave the Community Centre and follow the viewer home, if they have one. Many don't. The evenings often provide diversion of thought from the mundane strife of life, towards the possibility and ability of humanity. With new knowledge comes the potential of new power and hope for a better life and world. And is this not the essence of a UBC experience!? UBC's spirit of seeking and providing knowledge spreads to & builds community in many guises. Just as it takes a community to raise a child, it takes a love for and desire to build community to make humanity. As a graduate of Humanities 101 you are encouraged to seek the needs of your community and do what you can to meet those needs. The rewards of discovery are boundless, as is knowledge itself. Remember, the difference you make, also makes you." Colleen Carroll (2008)
Downtown Eastside Women's Art Collective
Art workshops and art projects for people self-identifying as female. Workshops every other week 4-6pm: Feb: 14th & 28th Mar: 14th & 28th Apr: 11th & 25th May: 9th & 23rd June: 6th & 20th July: 4th and 18th
Carnegie Art Room
CARNEGIE COMMUNITY
ACTION
FEIURARY
PROJECT
lJo/l~j.tr&~lfjr~tt'j
2017 I Z 0 1 =t.lf Z
rI VANDUmember David Joseph Hauck getting ready to go to City Hall.
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On Wednesday January 25, 2017, fifteen CCAP and VANDU members showed up to speak out against a City motion to devote a quarter-million dollars to establish a new Community Policing Centre (CPC) in the DTES. The motion to open a CPC was buried in a broader city report on municipal actions to address the opioid overdose crisis that claimed 914 lives in British Columbia in 2016. In the midst of the overdose crisis, it is shameful that the City has decided to use funds set aside to mitigate the fentanyl crisis towards a project aimed to placate property owner fears about low-income drug users (read CCAP's statement on the CPC on the next page).
Why CCAP opposes opening a Strathcona Community Policing Centre No bonus police funding in the name of fighting overdoses. Downtown Eastside is already the most policed neighbourhood in City, and maybe even in Canada. Since the election of Vision Vancouver in 2008, the annual police budget has increased by 70% while funding for housing and other social programs have remained stagnant. More police doesn't help drug users nor does it help to mitigate the fentanyl crisis. Police are not good health care or social workers. Drug users are targeted and harassed by the police, and drug users avoid interactions with the police because of the very real fear of arrest and charges. Increased policing and community collaboration with the police will make Strathcona less safe for persons who use drugs, push them into less visible and less public areas, and ultimately make them more vulnerable to violence and overdose death.
Stop City support for an anti-drug user moral panic. The City proposal to support Strathcona residents and business demands for a community policing centre legitimizes the business and property owner moral panic about the public visibility of low-income drug users. It endorses the idea that homeless
people and drug-users are dangerous and, disturbingly, it reinforces the stigmatizing myth that middle class people's safety is actually compromised by low-income people having health facilities blocks away. We oppose the City's proposal for a CPC because it entrenches anti-drug user stereotypes and distracts from the fact that in the midst of a worsening overdoses crisis it is drug users safety and wellbeing that is really at stake.
Support peer-led drug user groups and initiatives, not cops.Drug users and drug user groups have been on the frontline of the fentanyl crisis, and often they are the first people to attend to overdoses. Drug users know best what is going on in the community, what drugs are going around, and what supports and services are needed. Yet, peer-led groups and initiatives like VANDU are chronically underfunded. The $200,000 set aside for the Strathcona Community Policing centre should be re-directed towards drug user led community groups and initiatives where it can make a difference in stopping the overdose crisis, rather than to more cop resources, where it will make the problem worse.
Renters Townhall on "Fixed Term Leases" ---. Landlords throughout Metro Vancouver are increasingly exploiting a loophole in the Residential Tenancy Act by getting tenants to unknowingly sign Fixed Term Tenancy Leases, making it easier for them to evict tenants without proper due process and raise the rents above the yearly maximum. A sharp
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rent increase or eviction has devastating effects for all of us, but especially severe impacts on low-income folks who as a result may become homeless. We must join in solidarity and fight for tenant rights! Come to our renters townhall and learn how to respond to an exploitative landlord and seekjustice!
RENTERS TOWNHALL ON Learn about the latest dirty tricks landlords use to evict tenants and raise the rents!
Coffee and Snacks I Wheelchair Access I Sign Language Organized by Carnegie Community Action Project & SROCollaborative
Have some beans and raise a stink about welfare rates! What you afford
on welfare
$1,000 VIP dinner
Eat beans while rich eat $1,000 dinners! Premier Christy Clark has repeatedly refused to meet with people on welfare to talk to a.Qout increasing welfare rates. Now we're getting our chance.
The Premier will be at a Liberal Party event at a Steak House on Feb 7. You can go as a VIP guest if you have $1,000 or you can be a mere non VIP and just pay $300.
Meet us 5pm at the 1015 Burrard Street, or meet us 3.30pm at the CCAP office (2nd floor of 401 Main St.) to make posters together. We will leave Carnegie at 4.15pm sharp.
Picket Christy Clark's $1000 a plate dinner! 5pm, Tuesday, Feb 7th @ 1015 Burrard St. 4
The problem with Warming Shelters On Thursday, January 12th, Vancouver Parks Board entertained a motion to direct staff to suspend operations of the warming centre trial program in all Parks Board run community centres, buildings and facilities. The motion was put forward by right wing Non Partisan Association (NPA) commissioners who argued that keeping the community centres open at night for people who are homeless compromised the safety of their "patrons." The motion eventually failed, but the fact that the discussion even took place in the first place indicates we have reached a new and historic low-point in the housing crisis. Homelessness has become normalized to the point that temporary shelters where people can be warm when temperatures drop below minus 2 (and only when they are at an increased risk of actually dying from the cold) are under attack. The warming shelters were opened in response to the cold snap in December, and were especially designated to not act as shelters where people could actually sleep. They were opened in recognition that hundreds of homeless people are unsheltered every night in Vancouver and in recognition that a cold snap increases the odds of dying on the streets. Yet despite recognizing these basic facts about homelessness, the City only decided to open warming shelters. Not shelters, not housing, and not even a permanent
place to be warm. In other words, warming centres are the most basic and minimal shelter provision that is possible to imagine. The City of Vancouver has 956 permanent shelter beds and 195 additional temporary winter shelter beds, which are opened for only a few months. They also have up to 234 beds available during extreme weather, only open for a few nights every winter. Taken together, the number of permanent and temporary shelters is far from enough to house all the homeless people in Vancouver and City Hall knows it. This scenario is possible because the government and its supporters accept homelessness as natural and accepts the lie that shelters and warming centres are the best we can do. Warming Centres are a miserable, unacceptable compromise, lower even that Gregor Robertson's turn from an earlier campaign promise of ending homelessness to ending "street" homelessness. The only thing more despicable than Vision's vapid self-congratulating about their magnanimous warming centres, is the NPA's inhuman motion to deny the homeless even that. But now that the mercury has risen 3 points, both sides will happily go back to pretending the homeless don't exist at all. By: Maria Wallstam
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Home Sweet Bedbugs and Cockroaches Zook moved to Vancouver from Calgary, via Toronto. Originally from South Africa, he was one of the few lucky refugees who was given the opportunity to make Canada his new home. Like many African refugees who emigrate to this country, the image of Canada as a land of milk and honey, where money grows on trees fades quickly shortly after they arrive here. Lack of affordable housing is a major barrier to integration for new immigrants. When the welfare shelter allowance is $375/month, it becomes a challenge to find an affordable home at that rate. Zook was drawn to Vancouver by its climate and access to the sea. "I like to run. Every time I watched the weather channel, I dreamed of a life in Vancouver where I could run with the sea, the breeze blowing in my face". He dismissed warnings about the high cost of living and low vacancy rates. Zook initially stayed at Heaven, a shelter ran by Salvation Army. "The place was clean. I was grateful to have a roof over my head, but a few days later, I realized that a shelter is not a horns. You check in at 9:00 pm and out by 6:00 am with no place to store your stuff. I had to get out of there, real quick. Luckily, my perseverance paid off, I got a room at the Afton Hotel". The manager took Zook around to show him the room. "Here is how the system works", he explained: "The only thing private is your room. You share washroom and shower with tenants on your Aoor. There are coin operated-washing machines on each Aoor. Your
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rent is $480/month. We will need $240 for your damage deposit. Once approved, the Welfare office will send the rent directly to us. They will lend you the damage deposit, which you will reimburse by taking $20.00 off your monthly cheque. Please fill out this application form and we can have you move in, as soon as Welfare cuts us a cheque." Zook invited me to visit his room and for a while I forgot I was in Canada. The building desperately needed repairs, the floors were dirty and unkempt. The air was stale and uninviting. He opened the door and said to me: "Welcome to my palace!". The room is about 6m x 3m. Enough space to lay down a bed, a chair and hang up his clothes. It has a small fridge, an old small TV with cable and an electric hot plate where Zook is able to prepare small meals. "Today is bedbug cleaning day': His bed was leaning against the wall, he had spread insecticide powder on the bed, mattress and floor, to kill the uninvited guests. I asked him what he liked and what he didn't like about his room. "I like my privacy. When I come home and close the door behind me, I can sit back, relax and watch a little TV before I hit the sack. What I cannot stand are three things: The air ventilation was poorly installed, so whenever someone uses the toilet, a nasty stench spreads across the Aoor. To top it off, my next door neighbor has a habit of playing loud music late at night when I'm trying to get some sleep. Lastly, I hate daily fights against cockroaches and bedbugs." By: Lama Mugabo
Developer plans another gentrifying monstrosity in DTES
On Ian 24th the city and developer Bonnis held an open house for a massive 15 story tower, taking up three lots at the corner of Main and Union. The plan is to move the old Iirni Hendrix shrine, and demolish the Creekside SROHotel and the Brickhouse building and build 15 stories of market rental apartments in their place. The developer has to replace the 18 SRO units they are planning to destroy but
the replacement units are tiny, bed in the kitchen social housing units. Like many other social mix buildings, the development will also have one entrance for the richer market housing residents and another for the poorer social housing residents. Beverly Ho with the Chinatown Concern Group attended the open house and told Global News that "even the retail stores are zones of exclusion, that the low-income community can't access. These proposed retail are also bars and expensive coffee shops that the community doesn't need." "We need to bring back the lost heritage of the only black community the City of Vancouver has ever had;' said Lama Mugabo with CCAP.The Carnegie Community Action Project is calling for the city to stop this development and build 100% welfare/pension rate social housing for Chinese seniors and the Black and African Descent community.
95 W. Hastings market housing proposal has no benefits for low income community On Ian 26, yet another developer open house was held in the DTES,this time for a proposed market rental project at 95 W. Hastings, across Abbott St. from Woodwards. The plan is for a ten story building with 132 units of market rental housing above commercial space on the ground floor. The commercial space will probably be more gentrifying zones of exclusion for people who live in the Woodwards condos
and new residents ofthe market housing. Carnegie Community Action Project and Chinatown Concern Group members attended the open house and filled in feedback forms saying that the development didn't meet any needs of the low income and homeless community. The project does require a rezoning so there will be more chances for community feedback.
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Stop The City's Freeway Of Con dos In Chinatown!
When: 10.30am, Saturday, February 4th Where: 50 E Pender St. City staff began preparing
an update on the
Chinatown Economic Revitalization Action Plan (CRAP) in October of last year, which included two open houses for the public to share feedback regarding the proposed changes. Proposed changes include height restrictions being laxed (with a max of 150' or 14 stories on Main St), 200' wide storefronts, and gutting the public consultations (open houses and public hearings), making it a free for all for future developments. As per usual with consultation processes, the City failed to notify residents in many buildings in Chinatown, Strathcona, and the DTES.
After Chinatown Concern Group held a press conference last November calling out major problems of accessibility, undemocratic consultation processes and changes that further push for condos and gentrifying retail, the City agreed to hold a third open house in early 2017, as requested. However, the timing is within the first week of lunar new year (festivities last for 15 days) so many residents are busy, and notices were sent to the same buildings that were flyered for the October 2016 open houses less than two weeks prior. We continue to demand City Hall to respect language rights, publicize their open houses, and make development equitable and beneficial for the already marginalized and ignored low income Chinese community. This policy review, if passed, will open the floodgates for-condo development in Chinatown, raising rents, the cost of living, and displacing its most vulnerable residents to an even greater rate. Join our disruptance to call out the City for silencing the voices' of the residents and excluding them from making decisions about their home, Chinatown!
About Carnegie Community Action Project CCAPfights poverty, works for social housing and demand that the government raise welfare and pension rates to meet the cost of living in the province. We are DTESresidents who organize to combat gentrification and the displacement of poor people onto the streets as low-cost housing units are replaced by high-end condos. We meet every Friday 11.5 on the third floor of Carnegie,join us! More info: www.carnegieaction.org Unceded Squamish, Tsleil-Wauthuth
and Musqueam territories
aÂŽ~~tl~*~~~ili~~mW~~~fiÂą~*ilih.o
DEAD and thought of no more
ours could find a way that last rest for time immortal seems so right, the ground above us falls lower as I wonder if god is gay I will soon die looking forward to the sleep country fairies that are hard at work everyday Sorry if I am wrong seems that almost any word could cause a fight. .. So many lives have hatched grown up & died I guess the upshot of this whole mess could have be-enavoided with one .liebu! -those are as cornmon as the innocent year of so many incarcerated who have done no wrong. Defeat comes to all off the end of a diving board with maybe one drop to break that fall to bad it was only a long piece of ice with absolute nothingness below that sheet nothing but death of course you can always hear the sirens of ambulance fire guys & the cops always suspecting we are evil & wrong you're wrong so go sit in a corner where you belong.
Like asking what a light bulb and Hell have in common: one hangs all day the other burns all night... Just imagine yourself winning a Nobel Prize for better waste management -so cool & refreshing yet still in sight another million Canadians earth says thanks so very much, I have lived in places where bad guys By ROBERT McGILLIVRA Y would probly not drop off dead bodies homelessness has been around since the Bible with all it teaches all "Life is merely a numbers game, a series of odds and eventually we all lose." -Pete Wentz the money with which to clutch, poor people are the ultimate silent partner learn how to write their name P.S.: The lines have been drawn for turning the Pacific Ocean into a dead black sea. I am into life. Does that anything you can swipe is your game if god were unconscious you'd be going thru his pockets nothing ~ake_.:n~ ar:~nemy of god? What side to be on! seems to ever change, If anything happens to me unplug me if you care about anything make this world less full of tragedies as I stand along the tracks of an absolute land or skytrain, so many artists & writers do what they do because they're addicted or just in love with what they do like a scientist experimenting on black holes could solar light be the correct choice I doubt it oh boo-hoo is what keeps us alive what drives out funeral processions common sense banned yet again, so many laid to rest when fina y the relatives cry the funeral is a surreal goodbye. Iftheres a heaven if there were a chance to do it all over again I must refuse options do exist, there was a girl who cared for me hoping I'd embrace life if not herself there has been roughly six - loneliness is a self-made hell & one horrible tragedy how much horrificness must one endure if there is reincarnation I hate life so one of these days I will gladly show off Force to these miserable days with my fist, I see beautiful horses am I the only one as soon as a leg is broken they shall proudly become glue this must be a sickness for many animals are so beautiful life that "\ 1:_1,_ wants to live! Opening Carnegie Community Centre This is no here I heard a spectator say so many born so Thu.-sd"y Feh. 2 3.-<1floor Gallery 7:00PM 401 Main Street many have to die I believe that this world's worse than
Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel, founded in 1923, the beating heart of the community that desp!te the arrival of the Viaduct in 1972 didn't cease beating until the 1980s. Hogan's Alley had a distinct economy and its own rhythm of commerce that had little to do with th~ surrounding city. It was situated very close to the railroad station and so provided convenient housing for the LIVES LIVED - Hogan's Alley men employed as sleeping car porters, & accommodation for their brother porters during layovers. Through By Debra McNaught the local chapter of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car To pay tribute to Black History Month, this column is Porters the people of Hog an's Alley were linked by devoted not to a person but a place in our neighbour. rail to cities throughout North America; messages hood, a place now - like too many other places down could easily be sent on to far-flung friends and relahere - forever lost: Hogan's Alley. And I'll come back tions. Hogan's Alley was the geographical centre of to the "forever lost" part later. , the Black community, and when the bulldozers arrived It wasn't a large neighbourhood. The edges blurred that centre was deliberately disappeared. into Chinatown, and some of the early Italian emiThe community got bulldozed because it was not a grants to the Downtown Eastside stayed in what had White community. That Hogan's Alley lay in the path been their original neighbourhood, but Hogan's Alley of the proposed Georgia Viaduct and the turning o~ was predominately a Black community, Vancouver's Main Street into the freeway hell of Los Angeles (Imfirst Black community, and the only one since. It ocagine the horror) was much more than a happy co.incicupied the area now bounded by Jackson, Prior, Main dence. It was the perfect rationale for the CIty to rid and Union and even today it's easy to find because the itself of a non- White area of "squalor, promiscuity, Georgia Viaduct is sitting right on top of it. and crime." That's the way it's done and has always It was known as Hogan's Alley even prior to 1914, been done: if somebody is sitting on something you although the city designated it Park Lane. In the arwant you invent 'he moral justification to get rid of chival photographs the place looks humble, informally them. "UrbanRenewal" sounds a lot prettier than planned, and filled with a wildly creative assortment "slum clearance"; that cities all over North America of owner-built businesses and housing. There were eager to embrace the future invariably targeted ethnic cafes ~nd places with outdoor tables and seating with a neighbourhoods for "renewal" should not come as a yard big enough for dancing to the band. Plenty of surprise, and Vancouver did not escape this madn~ss. places where you could get a drink and a steak, there The plan was to completely eliminate Strathcona, 111were numerous small restaurants and "chicken houseluding Chinatown and Hogan's Alley, and by the es," many of whichgioubled as speakeasies, there were time the citizenry got outraged and organized enough brothels and bars and places for a friendly, many storeto be effective the bulldozers were finally halted at fronts and corner shops. The roads were unpaved. It Chinatown. But Hogan's Alley was destroyed, and was "a cultural center of gospel, drinking, dancing, faded into memory. gambling, southern blues and ethnic cuisine," but HoForward to 2017. Developers have always been diagan's Alley was something larger than all of that. It bolical assholes but in the face of relentless antiwas a place where the Black population could come gentrification actions and protests by th~ ~arnegi~ together in community, of a strength in numbers that Action Project's "Our Homes Can't Wait campaign meant the chances of not just surviving but actually supported by many of the key DTES resource groups, thriving were greatly increased: It was the one place in the bastards have stepped up their public relations and the city where as a Black immigrant there was a good it's an all-new Game of Homes. It's not enough that chance people spoke your language, that they ate fathey're in bed with the city and that bitch in Victoria, miliar foods, had roots in the same kind of music, but they actually brag about their magnanimity in shared similar histories of discrimination, bigotry and "gifting multi-millions of dollars of social housing to persecution. And there had been a church, the African the city" (eg: Bonnis Properties) when in actual fact
they are required to, they're now trying win support by exploiting a dead rock star, equating the building of a 15 story condo mess of a tower and it's dollar store . shrine as sufficient retribution for the loss of an entire community. When they hear the word culture, they take out their cheque-books. And that particular developer bandwagon has a lot of seats because there's talk of rebuilding Hogan's Alley, which brings us back to "forever lost." There's a Hogan's Alley Cafe now, and an official postage stamp, and with the viaducts coming down some people are organizing to claim the land back again and rebuild what was, to bring Hogan's Alley back. There is talk of a cultural centre - undoubtedly tied to more condos - and it's not coming just from White people with Developer Lust, but members of the Black community, and some who belong to the People of African Descent, and consensus is not unanimous within either group. In his book of the same name, Thomas Wolfe famously asked if you ever really could go home again, and with regards to the reincarnation of Hogan's Alley it might be time to revisit that. If this rebuild is developer-led we might as well just call Disney and have done with it. Can the current Black community find the wherewithal to build the vision they see? Is it possible that a new Hogan's Alley can again provide that same spirit of community, the same essential geographical centre? Of course it is.
Wednesday Feb. 15th, 6:30pm, Carnegie Theatre Free! In celebration of Black History Month, community planner Lama Mugabo is hosting a film screening called "lntore" about surviving tragedy through music and dance, followed by a discussion with local panelists, & the role of the Canadian organization "Building Bridges with Rwanda." Please join us to learn about how Rwanda has transformed after its troubling past. 604.'331.3603 or info@vpJ.ca.
CARNEGIE CLASSICS Beethoven
'Eyeglass
CONCERT
Duo' for Viola and Cello
Stamitz Clarinet Quartet, opus 19 Bocchenni Trio, opus 38 Purcell Trio Fantasias KodaJy Jntermezzo
Ji Eun Jenny Urn viOlin Tawnya Ropoff viola Cristiall Mark.os cello Johanna Hauser clarinet
Saturday, February 4th, 2:00pm The Hall at The Carnegie
Centre
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Bring your Voices! Bring your Instruments! Bring your Songs! Friday, Feb 3 & 17 Classroom n, 1 - 2:30 pm
Vancouver Coastal Health expands women's services in the Downtown Eastside Driving through the Downtown Eastside you'll notice more men than women lined up to access services. Yet nearly 40 percent of the residents of the Downtown Eastside are women, many of them struggling to raise families, overcome substance use problems or pay their bills. "The Downtown Eastside is home to some of British Columbia's most vulnerable women," said Health Minister Terry Lake. "By expanding access to services for women in this community, we can help reduce barriers to wellness and increase access to supports that will help improve their health." "We know that women, especially women who have experienced trauma or are vulnerable due to problematic substance use and/or mental health issues have some unique challenges accessing appropriate health services in the Downtown Eastside, and we want to change that," says Laura Case, Chief Operating Officer, Vancouver Community, Vancouver Coastal Health. As part of the Second Generation Strategy and in consultation with the community and women's organizations, VCH is beginning to fulfill a commitment to create greater access & stronger connections for women to health care in the Downtown Eastside. Several new services will be implemented over the coming year. Women's Supervised Injection Services Vancouver Coastal Health is moving forward on a proposal for women's only supervised injection services. The vision is to partner with a commUl;ity service provider to-create a small site that is street level, accessible, and embedded within other community-based supportive women's services. "Although lnsite provides injection services for both men and women - and 27 per cent of the clients of Insite are women - some vulnerable women feel safer and more supported when they are able to access services in women-only settings," says Bonnie Wilson, Director, Vancouver Coastal Health. "Our goal is to create a safe and supported environment around substance use and harm reduction education." Once a location is identified, VCH will submit an application to Health Canada. This initiative is part ofVCH's larger harm reduction and overdose response strategy and compliments the work of Joint Task Force on . Overdose ~esponse.
Women's Intensive Case Management Team (ICMT) A multidisciplinary, integrated outreach team will serve the most vulnerable, disenfranchised women of the Downtown Eastside. The ICMT will consist of outreach nurses, clinicians, a team leader and a peer support worker. The ICMT will link clients to other services and supports within the broader system, such as primary care, substance use treatment, housing, income assistance, parenting programs, and em- -'ployment support. The Women's ICMT was made possible through a $3 million donation to the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation. Women·s Mobile Health Services Van A specially equipped van will be used by the Women's Intensive Case Management Team to connect with marginalized women who are less likely to engage with traditional health centres. This "pop-up health shop" will be agile enough to move as women move, allowing health care teams to provide services at parks and shelters in the Downtown Eastside. It's anticipated the van will be operational by the spring of2017. Vancouver Coastal Health is responsible for the delivery of$3.4 billion in community, hospital and residential care to more than one million people in communities including Richmond, Vancouver, the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky corridor, Powell River, Bella Bella and Bella Coo la. VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation is Vancouver : Coastal Health's primary philanthropic partner, rais, ing funds for specialized adult health services and . research for all British Columbians. The Foundatio~partners with donors to drive innovation and sus· tainable health care at VGH & UBC Hospital, GF Strong Rehab Centre, Vancouver Coastal Health · Research Institute and Vancouver Community Health · Services. . CONTACT: · Carrie Stefanson, Public Affairs Officer, VCH Office: 604.708.5338 Cell: 604.312.1148 · E: carrie.stefanson@vch.ca [Call her for things like the Drug Users Resource Centre & trying to cut the throat of Gallery Gachet. Ed.]
Carnegie Membership Drive It is time to renew your membership with the Camegie Community Centre Association. If the card in your wallet is not pale orange then your membership has expired. A one-year membership is still only $1.00 and provides great value for your investment. Camegie members enjoy access to a wide variety of activities at no cost. Membership also allows you to vote for the people who serve on Camegie's Board of Directors. Come and join the During our current Membership Drive, some of our Board members are hosting door prize draws that are open to members only. Draws were held at a recent bluegrass concert & at a dance in the Camegie Theatre. Saturdays 6:30 - 9:30 PM More prize draws will be held during February. Hundreds of people come to Camegie Centre every day Sundays 2:30 - 5:30 PM but only a small percentage of them are members. Only January 28 to April 30 2017 members are able to use the free phone, go on outtrips, borrow sports equipment or musical instruments, access Classroom 2 (3rd Floor) computer room or play pool, among other privileges. I encourage you to visit the front reception desk at the Centre's main entrance and purchase your 2017 membership card soon. Respectfully SUbmitted/( love, I'~ve love, love . Lisa David Love can be v.rhat"ever our heart" deslr.es
CARNEGIE SINGALONG CHOIRI
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Casey Bowman 35mm film. Colour or B&W photographer@maiI2artist.com 788-888-0312
Lov e at"first" sight". Love rrrelrs our heart: Into various colours. S=olours t:hat: are, at: cirrres; psychelic; vvh~ch enlight:ensany mood vve .ra r-e in. To love is to be vvhoever vve are_ Even the slight:est: fart vve let: out: in front: of our love does not: rnatter. Hey, that's part: of rr.a r ra r-e, Love is more t"han gas and rrr o le cna l.es, even more t:han a piece "of delicious, scrumptious, lat:hering layering Brussels chocolat:e, huckle , berry cheesecake. Love tends ("0 be' carefree and exciting fr o rn the w o r-Ld around us. Love can rneri d t:he pain and ro r'rrremr, Love is part: of healing. Love is humour. My first: love vvas love at: .f'i r-sr sight". My .heart v.ras so v.rired, like ri a rta r a l l y heing high
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NEWSLETTER
401 Main Street, VancrJuver
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BC V6A 211
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We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this Newsletter, are occurring on Coast Salish Territory.,:
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604-665-2289
Websllel~",,:_I_lttIer.org
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." -Margaret Meade
tsLAP (Law Students Legal Advice Program)
WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter • • • • • • • •
:::
Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry. Cover art - Max size' 17cm(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 (Le. 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: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor. The editor can edit for clarity, forrnat & brevity, but not at the expense of the writer's message.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH
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(Publication is possible only with now-necessary donations.)
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Call 604-665-2220 for time COMPUTER ADVICE Vancouver Community Network Cost-effective computer & IT support for non-profits VCN Tech Team http://techteam.vcn.bc.ca Call 778-724-0826 ext2. 705-333 Terminal Ave, Van
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION • • •
AIDS POVERTY HOMEL5SSNESS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR
DO-NAT-IO-NS 2017 'C' /n memory of Bud Osborn: Kelly F.-$50 /n memory of Debbie B/air Teresa V.-$50 Lloyd & Sandra 0.-$200 Elsie McG.-$100 Winnie T.-$200+ Yasushi K.-$500+ Christopher R.-$150 Glenn B.-$250 Craig H.~$500 Leslie S100 Michele C.-$100 New Star BOOkS-$28Y Yukiko T.-$50 Laila B.-$100 Elaine V.-$100 Vancouver Moving Theatre-$500 Abraham K.$20 Hum 101-$200 /.
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