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CANADA DAY:
a moment on TUrtle Island
One history has this Canada Day, July 1, as the 141 51 in succession since 1867, as the same history measures time. This perspective comes from a television ad for a show a few weeks ago when Elijah Harper, an elected member of the Manitoba Legislature, refused to go along with an otherwise unanimous vote to let the Meech Lake Accord be "fasttracked" (not debated or something), with all the whitewashing and sweeping of past racial, political
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and economic disparities into the void. The preview had Mr. Harper responding to a reporter's question, "How can you justify killing this historical agreement (something accusatory like that)," with, "That depends on whose history you' re talking about." Perhaps cynicism is out of place, but again it depends on perspective. From the viewpoint of those (especially immigrants over the last 25 years, say,) who find Turtle Island to be free, beautiful, open for opportunity and with a civi lized society not controlled by a malignant dictator and/or a police state. From the viewpoint of the vast majority of people, the growing gap between those who have too much and the rest of the citi zenry facing a daily grind of rem inders of everything this inequity perpetuates. Vague philosophy ... they are 'wrong' and we are ' ri ght'; point for point in a true and fair paradigm has moral courage on the side of people struggling for a sentient peace. It's all too often hard to see how those profiting from things the way they are can have virtually no conscience; how the concept of"doing business" is a front for having no feeling of responsibility or accountability to anyone anywhere who is not contributing di rectly to the success (sic (same-in-context)) of the businessperson. ... and even then any such person is expendable if/ when they've turned themselves inside out for their boss's goal. This leaves those with another focus in li fe to fight over crumbs, too often for the very survival of those different goals. Moral courage means to stay strong in what is honest, and to persuade others to believe. If, as often happens, some individuals refuse to give up their selfish delusions, you may be obligated to hit them with a hammer. If that doesn't work, hit them with a sledgehammer. By PAULR TAYLOR
ITS FINALLY HERE!!! Once again, the "NEIGHBOURHOOD SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM" returns to the Downtown Eastside and Strathcona! The opportunity to make your neighbourhood into your dream begins ..... Funded by a grant from the Vancouver Foundation, this program offers up to $500.00 to individuals or groups of neighbours who do small projects to enhance their neighbourhoods. Residents can plant a neighbourhood garden, host block parties, organize community BBQs, chi ldren 's festivals, youth outings - the ideas are limited only to your imagination. Application forms and brochures are available at Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main Street, Ray-Cam Co-operative Centre, 920 East Hastings or Strathcona Community Centre, 601 Keefer. For more information, phone the DTES/Strathcona Neighbourhood Small Grants Committee at 778385-5606 or email roberta.nsgp@gmail.com Application deadline: Friday, July 4, 2008 If you have any questions, please speak with Hal Asham or Sandra Pronteau. Many thanks for your assistance, Roberta Robertson
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Gentle Readers: This issue of the Car11egie Newsletter has some stuff that's appeared before. Several of the announcements for events in July were in the June 15 edition and are here again. A couple, like the upcoming Prison Justice Day (Aug. I0) and the 2"d annual Fearless Festival are over a month away even now. The article by Spent Hen was first in the Feb 151 2008 issue, as well as the one on Forgiveness by the editor. Both are still, sadly, apropos. PRT
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Be Apart of Vancouver's Famous
PRIDE PA August 3, 2008
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CCAP is looking for volunteers to march or help out at this year's Pride Parade. It's going to be an awesome day full of fun and festivities! You could .... 1) Wear a cardboard box home 2) Wear a Poverty Olympic Costume 3) Hold a banner 4) Help push the Poverty Olympic Tarch 5) Assist with selling T-shirts, buttons, handing out leaflets at the table To walk in the march- you will need to be available to make costumes and possibly attend a dress rehearsal (dates tba). Your creative ideas are welcome.
The DTES Community Arts Network Is happy to announce:
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The f;econd Annual fearless festiVal 1 24 h 2008
Sunday, August from 3 to 9 pm in and around Pigeon Park. We want to get as many people who live here or work here or even who just love this 'hood to come out and celebrate. When we first came up with the idea for this fest it was in reaction to the Vancouver Sun article calling the DTES "tile four blocks of ltelr'. We thought: "Why can't we have a party down here just to show em?" So we did. Those of you came last year had a great time and our festival was featured on Shaw Access Fearless TV a few times too! We arc looking for artists, performers, volunteers, and most of all involvement from you. Even if you just show up on that afternoon, we'll be happy. Our neighbourhood is under real danger from gentrification and developers; it is even more important that those of us we live here get together in solidarity to have some fun. If you want to help us celebrate the diversity and beauty of the DTES, either as a performer or a volunteer, please contact: Michelle at "mlchellcr,ichard@yaho.o.com" or Steve at "srduncan@shaw.ca" or give him a call at 604-788-8340
solder & sons 247 Main Street
Coffee, Boo
Electronics & More
If you are interested in participating, please contact Anna at 604-562-9912 or ann am n @ ahoo.com ?c;,t>?c;,t>?c;,t>?t>o
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FREE DENTAL HELP in the DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE The Eastside Walk-In Dental Clinic 455 E. Hastings 604-254-9900 Open Mondays and Fridays, 9:30 - 12:30 Volunteer dentists will help with fillings, \ crowns, root canals, etc. The Vancouver Community College 604-443-8499 For cleanings
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Reeular and Double-Shot Coffee
JULY Special: Iced Tea for $1.50
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Editor:
" is Wrong and In reference to "Why an Apology Deceptive" by Rev. Kevin Annett., I agree that any disclaimer that intent was not deliberate is in error. There is ample evidence that the federal government adhered to the racist philosophy of genocide of Canada's aboriginal people. The erection of Indian Residential Schools may have appeared as assimilation but I doubt this was ever intended. Assimilation means intermarriage and this was unacceptable. For example, provincial laws were passed whereby white women were not permitted to work in Chinese restaurants. All provincial laws were sent to Ottawa and likewise officials of both governments, particularly Ontario, were often interchangeable. Followers of the eugenic movement of Anglo-Saxon superiority held high positions in the federal government. Native and unacceptable white women were sterilized in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario for population control. The institutional structure that perpetuated racial discrimination needs to be examined; neither have individuals been held accountable. Those who died have likely been venerated. Their obituaries need to be re-written for future generations to reveal the true nature of their misdeeds. I would refer to Magistrate Emily Murphy of Alberta, whose well-known racist policies took root in federal legislation. She is presently honoured with a statue in front of the parliament buildings in Ottawa. Velma Demerson
Despite being enshrined as a symbol of women's struggle for equality, Murphy was a leading advocate of the eugenics program which saw over 2500 Canadian women sterilized between 1928 to 1972 as "mentally unfit" to bear children . Natives made up about 2.5% of Canada's population, but accounted
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for 25% of those sterilized. Murphy's intense contempt for Asians and blacks was immortalized in her famous book, The Black Candle. In it, Murphy argued that marijuana was being used by Asians and blacks to weaken and subjugate whites. She urged that opium and marijuana and smokers should suffer longer prison sentences & more whippings (deportation if non-white.) The B~ac~ C~udfe was a bestseller, and led directly to cnmmahzat1on of marijuana in Canada in 1923. In her book, Murphy gleefully quotes cops saying how "marijuana addicts" become "raving maniacs" who will attack and kill without provocation, "using the most savage methods of cruelty." She describes Chinese people as "black-haired beasts in our human jungle," with a .. desire to injure the brightbrowed races ofthe world." Murphy was also terrified of blacks, claiming that they also seek to enslave whites with dope, and that .. one of their greatest writers has boasted how ultimately they will control the white men." Prime Minister Mackenzie King, featured on the front of the $50, also played a major role in setting up pot prohibition in Canada. As Labour Minister King wrote a very influential report called The ' Need for the Suppression of Opium Traffic in Ca.nad~, based on Murphy's early writings and sens.atJOnahst .newspaper stories depicting the corruptiOn of white women by Chinese. King's report resul~ed in the passing of Canada's first drug law, the Op1um Narcotic Act of I 908. King became Prime Minister in 192 I, and banned marijuana two years later.
Kin? also shared in Murphy's racism, infamously refusmg to allow most refugee Jews into Canada during WWII, even though they were fleeing German genocide. The phrase None is too many" referred to how many Jewish immigrants King said Canada should accept. Perhaps interested Canadians would get a stamp made so you can stamp the back of any $50 bill to alert all that Canada honours this abomination. 11
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News From the Library ~
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Summer is a great time for reading. I like to set up the hammock in a nice shady spot, or bring along a . book to the park and lay out on the grass with a cool drink. If you love readin g, or are looking for a good excuse to get back in the habit, how about joining Carnegie Library's Adult Summer Reading Club? This year, we are challenging folks to read six books over six weeks. The program runs from July 2 to August 16 (registration begins June 25). We have a couple of informal events scheduled (July 4, Aug 15; l :3 0pm, in the library)-refreshments and door prizes will be provided. In addition, the first 30 registrants recei ve a free VPL bookbag, and we have weekly prizes to keep you motivated. And all participants receive a copy of'The Return of the Downtown Eastside Poets" collection. Reading can be such a rewarding and inspiring activity, and it's great to be able to share our read ing interests and ideas about books with other likeminded people. Reading diaries and complimentary bookbags will be available from Carn egie Library's staff beginning June 25, so come and join us for a summer of great reading! Beth's June Fairy-godmother )
Some Questions June, the month of pairing .. or is it paring To wed or not to wed, that is the question Me, a maiden @ the sixth level, as my older friends so kindly put it Me, I am ready once more to plunge into the breachTo seek sanctuary in the arms of a new-found friend Caution to the Winds! ·
New~fyo111/t;h,et LlhYruy
New Books The Human, The Orchid and th e Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World (921 COU) is Jacques Cousteau's last book. In it, he describes his deep ly informed philosophy about protecting our world for future generations. In Defense of Food (613.2) Michael Pollan is worried. Instead of eating food , we're consuming "edible food like substances", the product of food science rather than nature. Instead of eating communall y and ritually, as our ancesto rs did, we're consuming food in front of the TV, and alone. The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become. is his passionate argu ment that we need to eat real food, the kind of food that our grandmothers would recognize. His mantra is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'' In Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga ( 18 1.45), Amy Weintraub shows how specific postures, breathing practices and meditation techniques can ease suffering and release life's traumas and losses. The book addresses a range of djagnoses, including dysthymia, anxiety-based depression, and bipolar disorder. Finding Memories, Tracing Routes: Chinese Canadian Family Stories (971.1) collects eight family histories that were created during a community writing workshop. This bilingual (Chinese & English) book demonstrates the power of finding our common history in the lives and deaths of those who came before us. Beth, your librarian
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Mother Mona's voice pricks my bubble "Don't get hurt." But how can you do dat ting Mon? Is there not More than garlanded flowers? What about Descartes Cogitation was, alas, my folly Yes, but it tempted me To illusions of Instant Karma OfPeace in MY TIME
To Whom This Concerns:
And yet, after all, the beaten path grows much more than mosses Wilhelmina
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My name is Hugo A-go-go. I live at 420 E.Cordova across from Oppenheimer Park. I jst have to say thank you very much for adding those beautiful trees. Are plans afoot for - maybe, hopefully- Community Gardens? I think that would be lovely and useful; or how about this Art-church "The Device to Root Out Evif' by Dennis Oppenheim? Oppenheim in Oppenheimer - get it?! I say 'loveyourghetto' .
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Tltnes Times when you have no one to talk to Brace your emotion Go find yourself, your most inner feelings Ask oneself ' How can I change?'
I kissed a frog into a prince But he turned back To his natural amphibian state After many years My kisses having lost their original magic.
Do I spill my guts to someone I trust? Do I go to an open space? Do I just sit and write my emotions?
Being pig-headed -and maybe pig-ignorant too, I prayed to St. Jude To help me with this lost cause It being his area of influence.
Times like this I ask the Great Spirit in the Sky Let me out of this mess! Guide me to the right path Help me understand Times I want to say I will take care of me I ' II try to understand that life goes on
Now froggic appears a prince once more Tenuously held up by prayer and pig-headedness To be kind, generous, and handsomeQualities unnatural to my dear frog. In hard times, and these were hard times.
Don't ever give up on oneself Self-care is important No matter where life takes you Take it by pride Take it in stride
I never learned from the past, I guess 1 think change happens And then remains fixed in place. Some say the most beautiful thing is what you love best.
It takes a person to say they're wrong But in all to make it right Feel better for oneself
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My dear friends life isn't easy It is how you want to live it. •
All my relations, Bonnie E Steven
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[Submitted for ESL students by Bill]
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I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw I saw Esau with my girl I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw Giving her a merry whirl. When I saw Esau, he saw me And I saw red and got so sore And I got a saw And I sawed Esau off that old seesaw. for Antoine
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a bcdefg h ij kl m nopqrstuvwxyz This morning I dumped out my porta-potty, againthe potty my dad mailed to me back in the spring of 1995 when shipping charges were still reasonable. 1995 was the year that the Canada Assistance Plan got axed. Government fiscal restraint claimed that social assistance to the suspiciously lazy poor needed to be cut back. This would include cuts to educational incentives and investment in health care and hospitals. Now, 10 years later, we are witnessing privatization- meaning that our "care-less" government has handed over many of our public services, along with the public's money, to private corporate contractors (who, in the interests of their profit and so-called "efficiency'', care even less about people). Back to the porta-potty. In my life of limited choices; l choose not to go down the hallway of an S.R.A. to defecate. My potty was plugged full of paper so I made a mental note to use less paper in order to prevent Clogging. This is a useful metaphor about government public policy. Much paper is wasted in turning over our public services to bemanaged by private contractors who plan to be more efficient- meaning for profit. However, for us users of public services, there is no reduction in the use of form filling paper or hoops to jump through in order to "deserve" something as basic and necessary as, for eg., affordable housing. Lack of a decent place to sleep, eat and defecate abandons many men, women and children to sleep and shit in the streets and to line up at chari- , ties. 1 can only speculate on why it seems that women and children aren't as visible as men in these lineups, so 1 won't go into that here. C.C.A.P. could probably provide us with some reasons which will be more historically accurate than anything I might ruminate about. The Carnegie Community Action Project has the facts on the lack of decent and affordable hotel rooms; S.R.A.s. I do recall hearing from an urban planning professor at U.B.C. that over the past five years, B.C. Housing has lost 2,000 units of social housing per year: 10,000 units in 5 years, lost. Perhaps I heard wrong. Could this really be so and if so, Why? Is the city more concerned about selling the land to developers, for profit? There is no money to be made from public housing for the poor. Where will our shit go? Does our government care? $250 mil.lion dollars sitting in an investment fund in Victoria. Did you hear that? Holy moneymaking shit! Spent hen
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News From the Learning Centre This has been an extremely productive and positive year in the Learning Centre. We had our annual endof-year party on June 12'h• It was very well attended and enjoyed by all. Some of the highlights were the poetry readings, digital stories and Stan's musical accompaniment. I heard that the blueberry tarts were wonderful, too! Emceed by Claudio and myself (Adrienne) we acknowledged all our learners, tutors and staff. Being a long-term volunteer tutor, I am looking forward to next year's challenges and successes in the LC. Another highlight of our year was the trip we took to Bowen Island in May. About 40 students, tutors and staff enjoyed a sunny ferry ride, a visit to the museum, lunch on the beach and a wonderful hike through the woods to Harrington Lake and back. Lots of pictures were taken which wi II help us to remember our getaway. Thanks Bao for your enthuisiastic photography! Since the regular staff will be away until September, we have had to change our schedule in the summertime. From now on until Lucy and Betsy's return we will be open Monday through Thursday from 9- 5, and Friday from 1 - 5. We will be continuing to hold our student/tutor meetings every Thursday morning from II - 12. The dedicated LC volunteer tutors will be happy to help you with your learning needs this summer. We are going to be having a monthly report in the Carnegie Newsletter from now on, so I am hoping to get some feedback and news from you, the people who use the LC on a regu Jar basis. That's it for now and Happy Summer and Canada Day from the Carnegie Learning Centre.
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www.homelessnation.org
Do You Have a Legal 'Probletn?
Join us to see the website; *access computers and the Internet * Learn new skills; *create a radio show, make your own video
Are you charged with a crJtne?
With Colin at the Carnegie Learning Centre Every Thursday 1:30- 4:30
Visit the UBC Law Clinic in the 3rd floor gallery of Carnegie Centre for free advice & representation. UBC Law Students Legal Aid Progt路am (LSLAP)
Tuesdays 2- 8pm; Wed, Thur, Fri. 10- 4""'"
For information, contact cford@homelessnation.org
Fromllal'ens in a Hectic World: nuding Sacred Places
NOT FAR FROM Jericho Beach, however, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is a place that doesn't leap to mind when you mention the word "sacred." We hear about the poverty, addictions, crime. home- 路 less ness and hopelessness there. It's a pretty bleak picture. Until Leslie Alexander tells her story. She arrived in Vancouver "at loose ends, a happy chick, flat broke, with no ambitions." But she could sing and play the guitar. Fast torward: within a few years. she'd become an alcoholic, struggling with drug addiction, busking on the street for coins. "A mess" is how she described it. But even then, she felt a sense of kinship with her neighbours and was "intensely grateful for the acceptance l was offered there, expressed through gestures such as a shared cigarette. or a smile-it was a true neighbourhood." Life started to improve a little, as people offered to help her out, and Leslie made up her mind to get off booze and drugs. One Saturday night, in the midst of her personal struggle. she said to herself: "I need a sign" that things will be okay, and headed out, wandering the streets. She walked past St. Paul's Parish Church on Cordova Street and was curious to see lights on at 10:30 PM. She slipped inside, saw a
group of people holding candles and realized it was the Easter Vigil mass. Someone handed her a candle, and she stood peacefully in the group, thinking, "Well, maybe this is my sign." Suddenly, the flame from another candle accidentally set her hair on fire, and the next thinob Leslie knew, people were slapping her head, putting out the flames. She sat there afterwards, stunned. The Irish priest, Father Bob, came over and sat beside her, his eyes twinkling, and said, "I just want you to know, not everything is a sign." He became her mentor and friend, and a couple of years later married her to her music producer. Today, Leslie is sober, has released three CDS and has a successful musical career. But even now, when she needs inspiration, she goes back to the neighbour hood she considers her sacred place. "Like many others, ( was able to improve my sense of self-,vorth while living there as a direct result of kindnesses given by other residents, particularly those who lived at the Ford Building at the corner of Main and Hastings, and at St. Paul's Church on Cordova. Many people go to the Downtown Eastside expecting to die there and instead are reborn, "There's a lot of hope in the Downtown Eastside. You find it in the strangest places. In my own experience, you don't really need hope unless you've gone to the dark. There's tremendous potential for people that are at the absolute worst stages of their lives. 'Cause once you go to that dark place, if you can tlip to the other side, you have so much more light to give, and I've seen it many many times down there, many times. "I believe that the broken ones in our society have a special function in the well of life they are here to awaken our humanity and compassion, to pull us out of our natural self-centredness and ask, how can 1 be of service here? How can I help the healing process? In so doing, we save our own souls." By Star Weiss
Carnegie Community Action Project {CCAP)
Newsletter Find us in the Carnegie Association office (604-839-0379)
July 1, 2008
Concord Takes a Beating Wendy Pedersen, CCAP organizer: "We need some indication that there is a future here for low incon1e people.
Last Monday (June 23) about 40 Downtown Eastside residents and friends descended on City Hall to tell the Development Permit Board to stop the Concord Pacific proposal for 154 condos in their community. The Carnegie Community Action Project had already collected and sent 201 letters opposing the proposal to the board and city councilors. First, city staff outlined the project, trying to anticipate every argument they thought we would bring. Jill Davidson from the city's Housing Centre assured the board that the city's policy of replacing each SRO unit with a new unit of social housing is being met, using statistics that counted provincially owned SROs as replacements for SROS and ignoring the fact that many hotels are inaccessible to low income people because of high rents, daily/weekly and student only rentals. Then about 30 people spoke. Every speaker asked the board to tum down the proposal. Here's what some of them said:
Nice sym bolism for Concord's application - pltotos by Jay Black Otherwise condos at 58 are like a slap in the face. It is so disrespectful to build half million dollar homes for the rich when people are dying in the streets." "I understand that many people want our cOinmunity to change. We want change too. But we want healthy 1
deliberately because of the people who are our neighbours, because of the community .... Hold the word community in your mind in all the things you do." Jean Swanson of CCAP: "SROs are not replacements for SROs ... .If you allow condos to take up land and push up prices in the DTES, hotels will push out more low income people who will become homeless on the street. This is more important that cornices, or "variability and syncopations of the retail elevation." Matthew Matthew, president of the Carnegie Centre Community Association: "people with HIV can get medication for free that costs several thousand dollars a month, but they can't get housing . . . .It appears that money speaks louder than all the voices here .... Every unit of new market housing is more than just something that's not for us. It means our shops and services will disappear because they'll serve the new people ... .Where will we go to? Will we be just some footnote somewhere?" Harsha Walia, Downtown Eastside Women's Centre: "The reality of I for I
change, not the dysfunctional change where one group of people takes over ... and people get pushed around and pushed out." Wendy quoted the Director of the city's Housing Center, Cameron Gray: "The pace of development is like a hurricane and is going twice as fast as the DTES Housing Plan predicted." ''Neighbourhood change should not be driven by the market. It should be driven by a plan." Joe LeBlanc a DTES resident recently elected to the Carnegie Board: "I've traveled all over and the support I've received in the DTES has made a huge difference in my life .... We have to stop the condos at this point and build a lot of social housing." Lora Constantinescue lives in Grandview: "The DTES is a community where I am inspired .... It's undeniable that homeless people need homes .... Wealthy people are disrespectfully surging through the community." Glyn Shepard fTom Strathcona said: "We live in the 400 block Keefer 2 •
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replacement is a myth .... About 1200 units have been lost since 2003. The city is selecting and fudging figures to serve interests of corporate developers like Concord Pacific . .. Every single person in this room is committed to fighting these condo's. Either you do the right thing or take on the community." Rev. Mother Emily Smith, Anglican Church: "The Anglican Church is not known as a hotbed of radicals .... When you get church ladies mad, you're in trouble .... Greed is not a family value to uphold. We have a responsibility to act with love, compassion and justice, and not for profit." Dave Diewert works with Streams of Justice: "People can do evil without intent. ... People in the DTES are about to be rendered superfluous to developer's ambitions. We need something better. People are dying because they have no housing." Father Mathew Johnson of St. James Anglican Church: "58 W. Hastings has become a potent symbol for the DTES, a symbol of a system that works for affluence."
Elvin Wylie, an assistant professor of Geography at UBC: "We need rate of change 1nanagement tools." Mike W atiman, a DTES condo owner: "We already have a community. What we need are homes. Let's not bring other people in until we take care of people who are here." Ayisha Faruk, CCAP volunteer: From a Third world country's perspective, this is a damn shame .... The community doesn't want crumbs that fall from the developers table. The rich are getting richer and the poor are watching." Mike Powar, UBC student: "People effectively deconstructed all the arguments (for the proposal) on every front. How much role will the people play? The project has no grounds to continue." Jay Black, city worker: "Its time to slow everything down .. . Allow residents to have a say in visioning and creating a com1nunity. Concord Pacific, how about giving something back for a change? Why not make it all social housing?" Muriel Williams, DTES resident: "I pray you really hear or maybe have some 3
backbone, and if you don't, maybe you'll have trouble sleeping." Stephen Rathjen, "recovering yuppie" from Kitsilano who volunteers at Union Gospel Mission: "I still buy Starbucks ... .I used to go thru the DIES on the bus and hope no one got on. I didn't want to see it, to know it. All I wanted to think was 'those people need to get jobs.' .... Something else is going on. You can't put it in statistics. The lives that have put people there. Residential school abuse, foster child abuse, evictions . . .. all I do is hand out coffee. Sometimes people come in the morning and are so blue they can't put the coffee to their mouth .. ..These groups are just band-aids.... In this rootn today there's a choice that can affect these people and not be just a band-aid .... What needs to be said to you guys to get you to understand that this doesn't make sense?" At the end the board approved the proposal, making two small "considerations" as a result of the opposition. A consideration is not a requirement. One consideration was "that staff and Concord Pacific work to educate and infonn prospective
purchasers of the goal of supporting and retaining low income housing in the DTES. The other was, "That the applicants and staff .-• •.....• continue to consult with • • the DTES community prior to the release of the pennit." Did we win anything, even though the proposal will go ahead? A few more people on the Development Permit Board got a lesson on how the DTES is a real con1munity. The city and Concord Pacific were warned that the DTES will fight more condos if the needs of existing residents are not met. City staff had to deal with more pressure for them to allow DIES residents to create their own vision and for staff to create n1echanisms to control the rate of change in the area, as well as pressure to get more social housing built. Concord may try throwing a few crumbs to the community to get us to back off. "We don't want crumbs " said· ' Pedersen. "We want Concord and other developers to back off until we have a proper community vision and until the city is willing to control the rate of change effectively, and build n1ore housing." .....Jean Swanson /
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The Building has been Penetrated
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"The building has been penetrated." Those are the words that greeted a crew of CCAP volunteers and friends as a security guard spoke into her walkie talkie at the entrance to the building that houses Concord Pacific offices. It was hard to keep from giggling. I think some of us did. We had come on June 13, with a giant card for Terry Hui, the head of Concord Pacific, which is building over 200 condos in the DTES. The card suggested that Hui withdraw his project or donate his proposed building at 58 W. Hastings to social housing and name it after Darrel Mikasko, a homeless man who burned death trying to stay warm. We also brought a big Welcome Wagon type basket to help Hui understand how to be a good neighbour -
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in the DTES. When the media showed up, Wendy Pedersen, CCAP's organizer, . .
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Jar of Cockroaches labeled: uBe part of the solution not the problem" (above); Richard from VANDU (left) speaks outside to ntedia after we are kicked out of the lobby. Phoenix & Rolf show gifts and Joe hands them over finally (next page) . . . .took out sotne of the items to show them: The Pivot book, Hope in the Shadows, poems by Sandy Cameron, Sheila Baxter's book, Death in a Dumpster, a Carnegie Newsletter, and a jar
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with 2 dead bed bugs. · Before we arrived with our goodies for Hui, two of our fearless reconnoiters briefed us that we wouldn't be able to get up to the 9th floor because the elevator was locked and security guards were
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Hotel, between hope and despair. We need more hope and that means more social housing." "It would be nice for developers to give back to the community they are •
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hanging around. All we had done was send out a news release saying that we were going to present Hui with a DIES welcome and bring him some gifts. CCAP decided on the visit to I-Iui's office after he refused to answer numerous messages asking for a meeting. "Concord made billions off the Expo lands and can afford to give a little back, especially in our neighbourhood. We 're getting pushed out and it's not right," said Robert Bonner of CCAP. Joe LeBlanc, a resident of Vet's Manor said Concord is "putting their condos between the Portland Social Housing Project and the Grand Union
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making so much money off of us", said Phoenix Winter, another CCAP member from the community, who is referring to Concord's condos on Powell Street now under construction. Towards the end ofCCAP's caper, we asked a security guard to take the basket of gifts to Hui on the 9th floor. She agreed but later appeared to simply put the basket out the back door. Anna Truong, CCAP's fearless former practicum student, walked right through all the security guards and retrieved the basket which was later handed to a man who claimed to work for Concord Pacific by Joe. ~Jean Swanson
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Endorsers of CCAP's Motion to Stop Condos •
Ahavat Olam Synagogue Battered Women's Support Services BC Coalition of People with Disabilities BC Persons with AIDS Society [BCPWA] BC Women's Hou~ing Coalition Canadians for Reconciliation Carnegie Community Action Project [CCAP] Carnegie Community Centre Association Citywide Housing Coalition [CHC] Civil Society Development Project Community Advocates for Little Mountain (CALM] Desmedia Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood I louse [DTES NH] Downtown Eastside Residents Association [DERA] Downtown Eastside Women's Centre Power of W01nen Eastside Story- Co-op Radio 102.7 FM Fairview Baptist Church Faith Communities Called to Solidarity with the Poor Gallery Gachet Society Grandview Woodlands Area Council Impact on Comtnunities Coalition (IOCC] Jeru1y Kwan MLA Libby Davies MP Life Is Not Enough Society [LINES]
Lord Strathcona Elementary School Low Income Land Use and Housing Coalition [LILAHC] Lutheran Urban Missions Society Magdalene Recovery Society Paloma Housing Cooperative PIVOT Legal Society Positive Women's Network Prostitution Alternatives Counseling & Education [PACE] Staff Raise the Rates Riley Park Community Visions Implementation Committee Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy St. James' Social Gospel Coordinating Group, St. James' Anglican Church Streams of Justice Tenth Avenue Church United Native Nations [UNN] University of British Columbia [UBC] School of Social Work Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users [V ANDU] Vancouver Catholic Worker Vancouver-Langara BC NDP Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society [WAHRS] WISH Drop In Centre Society YouthCO AIDS Society 614 Vancouver. Salvation Arn1y 7
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CCAP's New Blog: http://ccapvancouver. wordpress.com/
******************************** LISTEN EVERY MONDAY FROM 2:00-2:30 TO CCAP'S
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CO-OP RADIO SHOW
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102.7 FM "EASTSIDE STORY" Hosted by Diane, Harley and Ayisha Always a special guest interview
"Support for this project does not necessarily imply Vancity's endorsement of the findings or contents of this report."
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HUM 101 AND SCIENCE 101 DOCUMENTARIES for JULY 2008 Carnegie Theatre 6:00P.M, 2,3&4 111 Saturdays July 12: Dark Secrets of the Black Sea- Uncover-
Monday, JULY 7th, 2:00pm Carnegie Community Centre Theatre
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GET READY FOR THE BIG ONE Almost daily in the news, we see natural disasters happening around the world. Earthquakes, floods , hurricanes, Vancouver is not immune to such things happening, and it is your responsibility to be prepared to look after yourself in such a case for at least a week. Are you ready? Are you sure? We all saw what happened after Hurricane Katrina in the poorest part of New Orleans. Many died because th ey were not prepared to look after themselves. Let us not repeat history in Vancouver's down town east side. Let us all join together to show the world that in a natural disaster we are one organized community and we will not become victims as those ofNew Orleans. Let us today take measures to see to it that we are prepared to look after ourselves. Please join a session of Emergency Preparedness and Get Ready for the Big One. A documentary will be shown and a presentation made with handouts for all attending. Sign up at the Carnegie 3rd floor administration office to attend. Door prizes will be given out at the end of sessions. (Mini emergency Kit) . So get ready, get set and go to the Carnegie Emergency Pr¡eparedness Sessions. -
UBC Humanities l 01 presents OPPENHIEMER PARK DOCUMENTARIES 5 :00 pm Mondays JULY 7TH The Life of Mammals Part 1 July 14th The Life of Mammals Part2 July 28 The life of Mammals Part 3 August 4 The life of Mammals Part 4
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ing The Roots of Early Civilization Amazing archeological evidence of ancient advanced technology and a long lost advanced civilization that flourished in the Dead Sea region before The end of the last lee Age. July 19: Technologies In The 21st Century These technologies are advancing rapidly raising serious questions about privacy, safety and their proper uses. Socal planners and others are attempting to use these breakthroughs to create a more directed and controlled society while ignoring the positive applications of many new discoveries. This DVD delivers an overview and update on HAARP , cell phones, privacy, underwater sonars and other technology. Unknown Powers This amazing fact filled feature length program is the most comprehensive exploration of paranormal phenomena ever attempted on film. July 26: Hemplands The story of America's most controversial crop. The shocking story of the most amazing and maligned member of the plant kingdom, Cannabis sativa. Find out how this plant . went from important cash crop to sinister outlaw, to subsidized war hero, to counterculture dropout and may yet return as an environmentally friendly economic force once again.
To concerned residents: The confiscating of shopping carts by a City garbage truck as noted in article by Concerned Resident, M.D. Prevost may be contrary to the City's environmental policies. One might have thought that where a particular cart of goods was in dispute that compassion would have prevailed. These carts often serve to transport the personal belongings of the homeless from one refuge to another. Further, the contents of these carts may be seen as part of the distribution of goods being saved for future use--a means of conservation not generally recognized. Large numbers of these carts are being utilized for recycling cans and containers. Payment for these items is negligible when compared to the expense of paid labour. Concerned Citizen
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¡Quality, affordable child care? Not in Canada ... thanks to market failure By Lynell Anderson Let's face it-- debating whether or not governments should invest in child care is a waste of time. The fact is, they have been investing for years (albeit inadequately) and federal, provincial and territorial governments have made many public commitments about improving access to child care services. It's not a question of 'if but of 'how much' governments should invest, and how to ensure that public funding results in measurable improvements. For most of the last 30 years child care policy in Canada has been grounded in the wishful thinking that, through the magic of the market, desired services will be available on demand. The market-based approach equates child care with clock radios. It assumes that families can pick the mix of quality and affordability that they desire for their young children's education and care, and that there are a range of community-based services that meet family needs. A little public funding is provided to lower-income families to compete in the high-priced marketplace but most families are left to fend for themselves. The reality? A triple market failure. Canada has the lowest child care access rates in the industrialized world, with regulated spaces for fewer than 20% of children. Parent fees are among the highest in the world, often exceeding the annual cost of university. And quality is constantly undermined by low wages and poor retention rates for college-trained early childhood educators. In short, 'wishful thinking' hasn't worked. Will this approach continue? That depends. If families continue to make do, and if women continue to work in child care for low wages, then i might. But the evidence is clear-- Canada's market-based approach is failing children, women, families and communities, and it is undermining Canada's economic performance. Given the child care crisis in Canada, it was dis-
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turbing to hear recently from Professor Deb Brennan, visiting Australian child care expert, that things could be even worse. The pressure to increase public funding is strong, but the pressure to maintain a market-based approach -- with no strings attached to public funding-- is formidable. Like Australia, Canada could increase public funding for child care by providing more money directly to parents, with 'no strings attached' for where programs are located, who they serve, or how much they cost. How has this worked for Australia? 'No strings attached' means public spending is up, the system is dominated by for-profit corporations, public accountability is down, and public goals aren't being met. Australia provides a glaring example of what can go wrong when the rhetoric of 'the market provides choice' trumps all other considerations. Canada needs to take another course of action-one that finds substantial common ground between the large and supposedly left-of-centre child care community and the powerful and supposedly rightof-centre OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). The recommendation? 'Accountability for results' through a focused public investment strategy that provides direct funding to child care services. Public funding should be tied to measurable improvements in affordability, quality and accessibility through reduced parent fees, increased wages for trained staff, and additional spaces. In countries that have adopted this strategy, child care programs are an expected and planned part of neighbourhoods. Like schools, libraries and recreation centres, child care programs are available, accessible and affordable to all who choose to use them. Children's healthy development and parent's work/life balance are well-supported, the current and future labour force is enhanced, and the economic returns on public investment are promptly realized. So what will it take to move from 'wishful thinking' to 'accountability for results'? The courage to admit that the market has failed child care. Lyne/1 Anderson, CGA, supports citizen engagement work with the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada and is a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
[This is here to highlight how the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House had to choose when given no choice - to even raise awareness of the need for quality childcare in our community, the best
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chance was to get a great new space in the Woodwards redevelopment- the "Community Space'' allotted for local interests. BUT each square foot of this reserved space was casted at the "market rate", meaning that the Neighbourhood House got equal consideration and concessions as London Drugs did, and would have to come up with the required dollars per square foot to pay for whatever construction had to be done to the specifications needed by a place that would provide the expected services and amenities for quality childcare and family involvement. For the DE Neighbourhood House it was over four hundred thousand dollars. Just to get the space they would have had to spend endless hours/days/weeks going to rich people, competing with every other interest fundraising, and hope for a magic wand to wave giving the amount needed with as few strings as possible attached. The NH people just withdrew their application, not willing to play such a capitalist game and expend all available energy on the only goal of getting money. The one remaining Downtown Eastside-connected interest is the Community Arts Foundation with over a dozen different spheres in a coalition to keep at least one corner 'ours(?!)'. They have to raise over Eight Hundred Thousand dollars. Ed.]
End homelessness in 24 hours? Every compassionate person wants to end homelessness. We disagree about tactics. How about a general strike? Have we learned enough through our attempts at general strikes? Some can support a strike by continuing to work. A hopeful, realistic proposal: www.korky.ca/generalstrike.html (See also story in the .Victoria Street Newz, [details of idea] 2007 November, page 8.) Korky Day
OVERDOSED INVADERS Disturbed energies flow blindly in lost anticipation accumulating powers of hatred and detachments dissolved love 'n desires disappear into oblivion a darkness no angelic child wants to lay eyes on an invisible mirror reflects abused crying eyes tear drops running like snakes, flowing endlessly towards a lake of massive graves of baby bones where urban landscapes cover and hide murderous lies truths hidden beneath mountains of pain, shame + eternal whippings like lava, a wall of aliens invaded mine people's land giving them lies, grief, broken promises 'n shook their hand
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John McGowan Assistant Chief Communications Officer Vancouver Fire & Rescue Service
Re: Fire at Crab Park Observation Pier on June 1st This fire caused significant damage. Over the past two weekends (end of May) a group of 15-20 youths with bikes & cellphones who looked to be out-of-the - area have been congregating on the beach in Crab Park at Portside. Local resident Bruce Clarkson has seen these groups from his residence stock-piling wood underneath the Main Street overpass and then covering the wood with sheets of plywood. It took a significant-sized bonfire路 under the Crab Park Observation Pier to catch the structure on fire. It's unfortunate that CBC Radio attributed the fire to homeless people. Don Larson
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(lying) tongues of a venomous spirit, poisonous overdosed invaders tearing hearts apart hearts of missing women, the homeless, vulnerable 'n lonely their apologies are a sword of lies; leaders? nay overdosed invaders, yeah the atrocities that took place -babies' bleeding- fatal results now powerless over alcohol, drugs and crime gruesome battles -lost love- families torn apart the overdosed invaders laugh at bleeding hearts - who's running Canada anyway? the overdosed invaders? the overdosed invaders! voids trigger the mind, turn lights on 'tis time to heal, spoils of our mistreated Mother Earth rebalance this terrestrial world and banish the overdosed invaders - who's running Canada now?William Arnold Combes
Lost in the inner city streets Ayisha, Diane and Harley are the hosts of East Side Story, a weekly radio show of interviews, news updates, music and poetry from the neighbourhood. We're the voice of the Carnegie Action Project ' CAP does research, public education and actio fo improve the lives of the low-income residents of. the DTES. Eastside Story comes to you live every Monday at 2:00, on Co-Op Radio, CFRO 102.7 fm.
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COMMUNICATION Communication? Language a blunt instrument Rendering partial meaning Often not even Often misinterpretation Tragedies and travesties occur due to words. And in the beginning was The Word. Who said that? It ain't necessarily so. "The things that you're libel to read in the Bible." So - go figure Pilgrim - this language thing not the grammar not the word not the gesture not the assumption A clean SLATE- tabla rasa. Unlearn- learn anew Member ole Ezra P., one of those clever fascists "Make it New." Rethink Plato and Khayyam Even Shakespeare & Cervantes There is More than Will Power & Windmills Maybe - sometimes. Let the New Sun Dance Begin Wilhelmina.
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Going to and fro aimlessly BIistered feet Walking, walking, walking, But still going no where Pounding the pavement Day after day Night after night Like a walking corpse My soul is lost My body hurts Chasing a high That no longer works to numb my pain
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Lost in the inner city streets Momma, can I come home? My body is beat My heart has turned to stone I have no more life in me to fight The drugs, the meth, the drinking Took everything J had ~--'" Including my soul
Walking, walking, walking, But still going no where I feel like I have died The day I took my first drug I woke up in the morning Like a walking corpse Without a feeling I start my day Going to and fro Chasing a drug That no longer numbs my pain
I lave to lie down Can no longer walk Maybe, maybe just take a knife To kill the pain forever Searing through my heart The stab Slowly l die The streets won the battle Another one dead. Momma rm so sorry I didn' t know How bad it was Just to get a little high
Walking walking walking Hoping it would all end soon? How can I stop it? I thought it was just fun Only death seems to be the answer ,No one prepared me I' m lost in the inner city streets For a journey so harsh A drug so strong Momma, just let me come home It held on until It's worse than a jungle It took all of me Like lost in a maze No way out To the grave 1 hear yo~r voice calling me Momma, try your best But I don t know how to get to you To tell other young kids Pretty lady Not to try crystal meth, Gorgeous guy Or anything so gripping It's all a lie Gives me a fix But for a moment That holds you until death I am all right Momma don 't cry The pain starts all over again Chasi ng the next one Sylvia Sharon Isaac
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DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE .
NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN·- .3 Rou.t.es: .. City- 5:4~pm -ll:45pm 604-685-6561 . Overnight -l2:30am -8:30am Down ~ 5:30p~ -1:30an . "
YOUTH
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ACTIVITIES SOCIETY
604-251-3310 612 Main Street
CFRO
102.7FMCO-OP RADIO . .
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8ttblldflslpn tleadlllae fur next Iss~•~= I
Friday, July 11 Free Showers for homeless persons at 327 Carrall Wed 7-8:30am; Sat 7-10am; Fri WOMEN ONLY 6-BPM
NEWSlETTER
THIS NEWSLETTER IS A PU DLICATION OF 'I'H 1£ · .. • .• . • . .......... . · . • .. · ·. · ... ' ------~--- - ~~--~, CAitNEGIE. COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIA '"' fiON · We:acknowledga-thit:Carnagi.Comm~~~~:C•ntr!; a~d ·thle Articles reiJresent the views or IndividuAl I Newifetter;·are,fialrlpinlna.on;the.Squaml.h:Natfon'e territory. contributors nntl not or the AssociAtion. • _ __ _ _ !f... J . _ · .- ;wi. 'JJ.: .... .- - . ~
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------· ·-----------Editor: PauiR Taylor; layout help, Lisa David.
WANTED
Cover Art by Priscillia Tait
Artwork ifor the Carnegie Newsleller
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TIM STEVENSON • CITY COUNCILLOR
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SERVING THE COMMUNITY WITH PRIDE
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CITY HALL 453 WEST 12fll AV£. V5Y 1V4
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Phone: 604.873· 7247 Emat\:
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\tm. stcvenson®vancouver. ca
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Jenny WaiChlng Kwan MLA
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Small Illustrations to accompany articles and poetry Cover art- Maximum size: 17cm(6·3/4") wide x 15cm(6") high. Subject matter relevant to Issues pertaining to the Downtown Eastside Is preferred, but all work will be considered Black &white printing only Sfze restrictions must be considered (I.e., If your place 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; ·~.-.. ~· 2008 DONATIONS: Barry for Dave McC.-$250
Working fhr You 1.010-164& C:ummerch'l IJr V51, 3Yl · -·-..l~hcm~t175·91~!LI~A!&.17~·DBHt ........
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Anne P.-$40 Margaret D.-$40 Paddy -$70 Michael C.-$50 Judy E.-$10 Alayne K.-$50 Libby D.-$70 Callum C.·$100 The Edge -$2QO Jenny K.-$22 Penny G.-$40 Wilhelmina M-$30 Jaya B.-$1 00 Mel L.-$50 Pam 8-$50 Rolf A.-$50 · , Gt_c;!~.~=~,;:~~Qq Greta P:-$59 Anonymous -$50
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.. forgive and forget-- so we can move on". We should all take a look at how far this approach is proper or not. Using the wrong .. solution" toresolve our problems will not bring a pretty outcome
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What is forgiveness? ... How should a virtuous person behave? If one is satisfied that the wrongdoer's habit has been rectified, one may pardon her. If someone is perpetrating atrocities however, one has no individual right to excuse the wrongdoer because that wrongdoer has harmed innocent people. If a person commits atrocities on me alone, and if I am satisfied that her nature has been transformed, it would be proper for me as a good person to show forgiveness. However, if her nature has not been rectified, my forgiveness may result in that person becoming even more of a reckless scoundrel and in such a case forgiveness would be considered as a sign of my weakness. In collective life one has no right to forgive anyone ... Forgiveness is something personal; it is not a collective matter. Suppose you are a member of the Carnegie Association ... If someone harms the collective life of the Carnegie Community Centre and, by extension, sows distrust and hate-mongering in the wider community, you must not forgive them. Likewise, as you belong to the entire human race, you must not forgive anyone who harms humanity.
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SOME OF THE KEY POINTS 1) There is no forgiveness in collective life. If someone has harmed the society no individual has · the right to forgive them. 2) Forgiveness is limited to individual life only-even then it must be done only under certain special conditions. That is only if the guilty party has fully rectified their wrongdoing. 3) Rectification is a pre-requisite for forgiveness. If the wrongdoer has not corrected her defective beh.avior then she cannot be forgiven. 4) Premature forgiveness results in further harm done to the society. So the whole sense is that forgiveness is one particular practice that can only be done under very limited or special circumstances. It is not something that can be handed out freely or done indiscriminately. Rather doing so will undermine the whole scene and create more problems and lead to more injustices. CAN WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO ... have committed countless wrongdoings yet not an ounce of rectification has been done-- nor has there been any admittance of such misdeeds? Day after day there have been so many opportunities to correct these things, but not one wrong has been undone. Nor has there been a peep about it from those responsible for doing that damage. Those groupist kingpins or an individual sociopath who will not reinstate those rights taken away from targets or manipulated and distorted to put others in the way of consequences do not express any iota of repentance for wrongdoing. Yet they want that we should revere and follow them. The whole idea being that when someone is calling· out that 'so and so number of groupist honchos or a self-styled 'blameless' individual should be given a blanket pardon and forgiven entirely', then we should be alert and stand firm. All cannot forgive those who have harmed society and cannot forgive , those who have failed to rectify their behavior. Such: wrongdoers must not be pardoned. So when there 1 has been not any hint at rectification and when not an iota of repentance has been expressed, then in that case where is the scope for forgiveness? Rather under such conditions we should pay heed to this wise, stern warning. PRT- With the guidelines ofPR Sarkar.
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Maclean.Park Family Barbeque · , ·· · Join your_ neighbours, bring a /awnchairl .'
Libby Davies, Member of Parliament for Vancouver i;~~ & the Strathc?na Community Centre invite you ·~ · and your famtly to an East Van Barbeque!
Join us for good eats and good summer fun.
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Sunday, July 13, 14pm . MacLean Park- Keefer and Heatley
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Qpen House <Y Plant Sate at Strathcona and Cottonwood Gardens
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Sunday, July 13, 10- 2pm For more Info, call 604-253-3384
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STOP CONCORD PACIFIC'S
DISCOVERYOF THE DTES SATURDAY JULY 5 AT 2 PM It starts at Pigeon Park, corner of Carra II & Hastings. Everyone welcome! Come out!
58 West Hastings is the site of a new condominium development by Concord Pacific. They are "discovering and developing" the DTES just like colonizers. New luxury condos will replace low-income housing and more poor people will be displaced and homeless. There are over 1500 market housing .,~.,~units planned for the DTES in the next few years. Join us for "A-wake" - a mock funeral procession to show how condo development will mean our community's destruction! Organized by an ad-hoc group of DTES residents along with Carnegie Community Acti on Project, Vancouver Area Network of,prug Users, DTES Women Center Power of Women, Streams of Justice, Pivot Legal Society, DTES Neighbourhood I louse, Citywide Housing Coalition, and others.
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