Carnegie t NEWSLETTER
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401 Ma.1 Street VanCOIMir Canada VSA 2n (604)
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.JUNE 1, 2011 http://camegie.vcn.bc.ca/newsletter http://harvestors.sfu.ca/chodarr
SECOND LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST SOUTH FRASER PERIMETER ROAD A second court case has been launched against the construction of the $1.2 billion South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR). Bertha Williams of the Tsawwassen Band. Coast Salish Nation and William Bumstick, of the C ree Sioux First nations, are suing the B.C. Government to stop construction of the SFPR through sacred burial sites and BC's oldest and most important archaeological site find to date. In November, the Bums Bog Conservation Society fi led a legal claim against the Government of Canada, stating the South Fraser Perimeter Road Project contravenes Federal legislation and fails to uphold the Conservati on Covenant on Burns Bog. Both legal actions point to the failure of the governments of Canada and British Columbia to adhere to laws which protect key archaeological s ites and critical habitats. Environmental groups strongly support these actions. The Provincial government is forging ahead with the SFPR Project choosing to ignore the South Fraser Perimeter Road Archaeology Impact Assessment, Technical Volume 14 of the Environmental Assessment Application prepared for Ministry of Transportation; it states that almost 30% of the road's alignment runs through land prized for its archaeological potential. Bertha Williams and William Bumstick claim the findings of the Archaeological Study indicate the road will cause irreparable damage to sacred gro unds, including undisturbed deposits dating from 9,000 years ago. At least six sites along the planned route of the road have been identified as having significant scientifi c merit. The Glenrose Cannery is among the most important sites in B.C. due to its age and unique spec imens of ancient bone and antler tools. The neighbouring St. Mungo site contains human burials and also shows evidence of three distinct cultural periods. The Plaintiffs claim that the B.C. Government is acting in a high-handed manner which violates our cultural heritage. It is a shared heritage of all Canadians and should be treasured and protected. The filed Statement of Claim asserts that the failure of the B.C. Government to adhere to the Archaeological Assessment of the South Fraser Perimeter Road will cause sacred s ites to be forever altered.
COMMUNITY ARTS DIALOGUE: Community, Politics and Resistance in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Photo credit: Christine Nairne Dr. Maggie O'Neill, researcher from Durham University, will discuss her work in participatory action research and participatory arts, specifically, "Community, Politics and Resistance in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside: a participatory project". This project is a social research collaboration between Atira - Enterprising Women Making Art, Providing Alternatives Counseling & Education (PACE) Society, Megaphone, and United We Ca n and supported by the Community Arts Council. The project explores ways of seeing the spaces and places of community through the eyes of DTES residents. Maggie O'Neill has extensive experience in interdisciplinary contexts with expertise in critical and cultural criminology. Her focus is on innovative biographical, cultural and participatory research methodologies; and the production of praxis- knowledge which addresses and intervenes in public policy. Her work has been instrumental in moving forward debates, dialogue and scholarship in three areas: prostitution and the commercial sex industry; forced migration and the asylum-migration nexus; innovative participatory, performative & visual methodologies. She is a member of the steering group for the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action.
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AEiENDA 10-10:30 Welcome and introductions 10:30-12:00- Maggie's presentation 12-1pm- Lunch break (on your own) !-2:30pm - Presentations from the four Downtown Eastside Organizations that worked with Maggie: Atira, PACE, Megaphone and United We Can. 2:30-2:45pm- break 2:45-3:30pm- Announcements of events etc. 3:30-4pm- Wrap up and evaluation. This event is being coordinated by the Community Arts Council in partnership with SFU Woodwards. It is part of Langara College's annual Summer School on Building Community.
FREE event.
June 18, 2011 10am-4pm World Art Centre, SFU ~Centre for the Arts 149 West Hastings (entrance on Cordova) More information 604-682-00 10 or dialogue@cacv.ca
Carnegie Theatre Workshops
What is Community? The Spaces and Places
- It's time for theatre -
of Community in the Downtown Eastside
In June 1886- 125 years ago Sparks from a clear cut fire in False Creek leapt into an inferno that destroyed the new city of Vancouver-
Exhibition - Interurban Gallery, 1 East Hastings June 14-21, 9am-5pm Photos from Maggie's project; AHA Media will also participate in the exhibition The project involved exploring and documenting 'the spaces and places of the Downtow~ Eastside' from the perspective of the local commumty.
Let's stage the story of The Great Fire! Actors dancers musicians ;nd stage 'crew ! Everyone Welcome!
- Fridays 1pm- 4pmMay 13, 20, 27, June 3, 10, 17 Class/Rehearsal in the Carnegie Th eatre Pe1jormance date, time & place still to be determined
For more info: Teresa 604-255-9401 thirteenofhearts@lhotmail.com Community Arts Council of Vancouver President, Michael Clague a t Gallery Gachet.
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DO YOU WANT TO RUN FOR THE CARNEGIE BOARD?! Every year at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), we elect a new Board of Directors for the Community Centre Association. There are about 5000 members! There are a total of I 5 people on the Board, with a minimum of 12 in case we get any d ropouts. In order to run in the election you have to be nominated by someone who is also a member. You have to have been a card-carrying member for a minimum of 60 days immediately prior to the election date, this year on Thursday, June 2nd at 5:30 pm in the theatre. In order to vote, you have to have been a member for 14 days immediately prior to June 2nd. Do remember to bring your membership card to the AGM. Now usually all nominations are made at the May Board meeting, so people have a month to think about it and ask people to support them. This year, however, just ten people accepted their nominations (i think there was a hockey game on the first Thursday in May) so nominations from the floor will be accepted at the AGM on June 2nd. What does a Board member do? Well, first of all we go to 2 or 3 meetings a month. Each director is to help on a1 least 2 committees, which include: Volunteer, Library I Education, Program, Seniors, Community Relations and' Finance. There is also a Publications & an O ppenheimer Park Committee so there's Jots to do. There are also 5 members on the Board who serve in executive positions: President, Vice-president, Treasurer Secretary and Member-at-Large. These are elected after the AGM at a special meeting of the new board. If you want to be a member of Carnegie's Board of Directors, come out to the AGM on June 2nd and get nominated. Carnegie needs people like you! By Adrienne MacCallum, Secretary . (Director for 2 years and counting!)
CRUNCH -cites
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"Work" Does Not Equal "Job" i took the photo Breaktime on Columbia in 2007, in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. It is a scene of poverty and joblessness, taken when i was in poverty and jobless. I submitted it for the Hope in Shadows Photography Contest. I remember waiting in line in the rain for the disposable camera and the promise of $5 upon its return. Getting in line on the right day at the right time, and waiting, was a job. Much to my surprise my photo won second place. To me this means that, despite the fact that i have no job, my "work'' (the photo) is permanent and significant. It documents a moment and a place. And it has reached thousands of people, as it was exhibited in two galleries as well as being published in the annual Hope in Shadows calendar and also in the 2008 book Hope in Shadows. Since then my creative work has continued. Publication of my photo led to an interview on Fearless Television, a community cable network. This, and other similar experiences in the DTES have changed my personal concept of jobs and riches. Taking the photo was not a job but, in hindsight, it was work. A moment of my work (minus the preparation time) became a direct and powerful way for me to reach people. In my whole lifetime up to that point, i had never done anything as significant. This made for an emotionally, psychologically and spiritually enriching experience. Now, i no longer look at "work" as a 9-5, Monday-to-Friday job, but rather as a matter of what i can do today that might be meaningful. I think that, as a result of this one experience, i'll have plenty of work - though perhaps not a job -in the future. Not bad for a moment's work! This is the first publicly acknowledged work i've done in my decadeslong stint of "jobs." AII of a sudden i get poor and jobless, and start doing things differently- and my whole world changes. By DONNA GORRILL
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Spring 2011
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WEST COAST MENTAL HEAL-- \:::VVORK
Breaktime on Columbia, by Donna Gorrill. Reprinted courtesy of Hope in Shadows.
Neighbourhood Small Grants Option The Vancouver Foundation and the City of Vancouver, in conjunction with the Carnegie I Strathcona I RayCam Neighbourhood Small Grants are pleased to announce funding for grants under the "Great Beginnings Program" for safety and security in our community. We have lively and dynamic social spaces within our local area and in order for these to continue to grow, we are again putting out the call for your ideas that will enhance and improve the community. What does "safety and security" mean to you? food I health & fitness I street and alley cleanup I financial & retirement planning I money management I com posting & recycling I work I play I cyclist & pedestrian safety I block watch Visit www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca to apply for grants up to $500.00. Application forms also available at RayCam I Carnegie I Strathcona Community Centres Deadline June 30, 2011 - project must be completed by December 15, 201 I
Thankless Pain Truth is replaced with lies & deceit Walking for days along the same street Thoughtless & thankless, just out for yourse lf The poorest of people know not their true wealth Only thoughts of energy & hate Neverending hunger, just empty- no fate Memories lost, forgot1en s uch s hame Walking aimless, yet others we blame. Missy
Dis Land Is Your land Dis land is my land Our home on Native land An' we be grateful For the chance to escape poverty and oppression overseas. An' we try to help the Native Aboriginal peoples -the original ones To preserve and protect the rivers The forests and lakes And al l that in them is Against the forces of greed and corruption Greed & Corruption, big and small
WEARE We are Vancouver's oldest community. We are the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood. We are living in poverty. We are advocates of the Human Rights Movement. We enable the Poverty Industry. We give them jobs, purpose and pensions. We must make the Poverty Industry realize the demise of poverty. We must end the violent enslavement of poverty. The currency of change is votes. We are advocates of change. We are advocates of a bet1er world. If not now, then when? If not us, then who?
Robert Follett
Money making dat ole world go ' round an' around and around some more Cash nexus, market forces - a horse running fu ll out, unbridled Horatio Hornblower on crack. A !I ye men of good cheer join our cause To keep the Great White North cool 'n clean. A!! my relations, Wilhelmina
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Please come to a Vancouver Public Library open house to talk about the new Library branch that will be built at 720-730 East Hastings Street. Wednesday June 1, 5-9 p.m. Carnegie Community Centre 401 Main Street
Sunday June 5, 1-5 p.m. Strathcona Branch (VPL) 592 East Pender
Free refreshments Children's activities Door Prizes!
News f)'"Otn the LibrarY
New Books 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs are Gone (362.29) helps with that stage in recovery when people realize that "putting the plug in the jug" isn't eno ugh. Part of the journey includes choosing emotional sobriety through self-awareness and right action. This means taking responsibility fo r things in your life that might fue l an addictive personality. The author, Allen Berger, is a nationally recognized expert on the science of recovery who also has first-hand experience through his own journey in recovery. He gives a fresh list of smart things to do to help with staying both physically and emotionally sober. Your Farm in tile City (630.9) No kidding! You don't need acres of land for bees, edible flowers and even organic vegetables. If you have even just a few feet of space like a window box, this guide will help you make use of it by growing anythmg trom a tew medicinal herbs to a tiny pot of tomatoes. This book is written specifically for city dwellers and tells you everything first-time growers need to know. Author Lisa Taylor is from Seattle, so she understands what grows in kind of climate and weather, too. Mondo and other stories is a collection by J.M.G. Le Clezio, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2008. His stories speak to a universal longing for life beyond the confines and trappings of modern existence. His characters help us see connections to different kinds of beauty, wonder and knowledge, by contrasting the freshness of a child's world view against the complacent and indifferent modern world. Le Clezio is one of France's best-known contemporary writers. Stephanie (your librarian while Beth was away)
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(As a . le.tter-to-the-editor; to the
Sun & Province) With the deinstitutionalisation of growing numbers of people with mental illnesses, the much- publicised police actions raise serious concerns. The fatal s hooting of the man on Commercial Drive, the one brandishing a steak knife - was the only choice open to the officer a lethal r esponse? Is the dictum "Don ' t draw your weapon unless you intend to shoot; shoot to kill" crucial to response in such a situation? A further, now academic question: Does weapons' training include the possibility of shooting to stop (wound) someone or is it kill or be killed? An authoritarian mentality pervades government agencies . We see daily proofs of people falling through gaping holes in our social service networks but we ' re learning to deal with it. We have to. The advent of people wiE~ v~~tual~ ~o~upport adequate to
s is a deinstitutionalisation; services in the Downtown Eastside are overflowing but, to save money and community backlash more & more mental patient housing is coming into this area. People here are more tolerant of errat~c behaviour, but the low cost of housing & access to services prompts other communities & municipalities to just send people to agencies/services here that are already unable to deal with increased clientele, The result includes people requiring medication to function and not hav~g the supervision to ensure that they ~11 follow their regimen. If they are one of the few who react violently when medication is lack~g, we then have instances like the one on Commercial. Decentralising hous~g for people with mental i llnesses just becomes harder when an exception like the knife weilder hardens the stereotype of "dangerous nuts". A few individuals count their money while the police don't appear to have received any additional training to deal with such incidents and the majority of services are inundated with special needs clients for whom they have no adequate services , We've bee.n running through the gauntlet with Liberal policies for too long and the above shows the coming danger. Action! and decisions made for years have giv路 en us a death on Commercial Drive. The Liberal government seems oblivious to consequences. _PaulR
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Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) Newsletter !Read CCAP reports at: http://ccapvancouver.wordpress.com
June 1, 20111
What happened to the winter shelters? Final report on the struggle to keep the shelters open Four out of five of the low-barrier shelters are now closed . The last shelter will close in a month or so. Not all the shelter residents were housed or housed in a way to ensure success.
But despite all this, there were some good things came out of this, like public education, new allies , wider understanding and commitment to this type of shelter, some leverage for shelter residents.... read on to learn more.
Seven activists and a Thanks to shelter resiI dozens of dent occuvolunteers , many who have pied Christy experienced Clarke's homeless ness campaign themselves, office and Press conference against the closure of the 4 shelters then met for your energy with Housing Minister Coleman. They during this short campaign. Thanks to got nowhere with him. (See the report those of you who donated supplies and on the page 2) money. Thanks to all the wonderful faithful groups that endorsed this camLater, eight activists went to jail refuspaign and pitched in. Thanks to our ing to leave the shelters. Some tried to new ally, the Council of Senior Citizens set up a tent city at the last shelter for of BC for their show of force. Thanks those who weren't ready to leave but to Charles Gautier of the Downtown the city and police tore it down. Sigh. Vancouver BIA who provided a quote
for our media release and complimented our work afterwards. Thanks to Councillor Woodsworth, MLA Kwan and MP Davies who spoke publically in favour of keeping the shelters open. What happened to the shelter residents? Shelter residents were traumatized in the last few days before the shelters shut down . The staff were under a lot of stress too, knowing that they were boxing people in but having to find some way of getting everyone out of the shelter. Our presence as activists helped give people a slightly better bargaining position but many ended up with places that may not work out for them. Some residents didn't take hotel rooms that were offered and just slipped away. There were a few women who went to the homes of "boyfriends." Three people were offered bus tickets in exchange for vacating their shelter. One ended up not going on the bus. Some went to hotel rooms under great duress, highly sceptical that it was a step that 2
0~ would keep them inside. Some residents got promises of new social housing .~ opening up in a month ~ or so, but could get lost ~ in the transition and lose ~ their spots. For those who Cl) got into a unit right away, Qi some won't stay if it is too ~ institutional. Some may ~ stay but they will have :S leapfrogged over 1OOO's 1ii of homeless, relatively ~ homeless and others on .g waitlists who are also in desperate need. E:
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These shelters are very different from typical shelters. They attract a crowd that faces a lot of discrimination and won't fit into most places. The best part about these shelters is residents can come and go without losing their space and set up a little home. Unlike most shelters, they can sleep for days if they need to which is sooo important for people who have serious health conditions. Like outdoor squat sites, people build community, there are many eyes watching out so people feel safe.
The Raise the Rates "Welfare Challenge" letter sent to every MLA in BC
conditions for people on welfare are even worse now. The experience of living on welfare would be real action research that could help inform decisions about the anti-poverty strategy that both parties have promised. We expect that, by taking up this challenge, you will gain a real understanding of what life on welfare is like. Raise the Rates will also use the time to lin k路 you up to other people on welfare to hear thei r stories and experiences. After all, as MLAs determine the welfare rates , they should be able to survive on them just as over 90,000 BC families and individuals do.
Raise the Rates will provide support and advice and the $610 to one MLA from each party who will take up the challenge . We are happy to discuss the practical issues in carrying out the Welfare Challenge. We will work with the MLAs who take up the challenge to ensure that the month is a valuable and insightful experience. We are hoping that the challenge takers could start by July 1st at the latest. Raise the Rates (http://www.raisetherates.org/aboutrtr.html) is a coalition of over 20 organ;zations from around BC co ncerned with the level of poverty and homelessness in British Columbia. If you would like to discuss the Welfare Challenge or volunteer please contact Bill Hopwood: bill50@vcn.bc.ca, 604 738-1653. (More pictures from the Welfare Challenge press conference on page 6) 5
"These politicians will live this life and see what is really like. They'll have a guided at the end of tour and a PhD in their month. Hopefully this will motivate them to make some changes to the system. - Fraser Stuart II
be so horrified by how awful welfare is that they'll pressure the government to raise the rates. - Sandra Pronteau II
Raise the Rates Bill Hopwood shows off the campaign demands
What happened at the "Renter's Roundtable"? It wasn't til the next day that I realized what had happened the day before. I went to the City's Renter's Roundtable at the Downtown Library. I thought it was su pposed to be a place to comment on the city's draft housing strategy, which I'd read. I thought there were some problems with the strategy. For one, it seemed to have backed down from the Homeless Action Plan's goal of getting 800 units of social housing a year between 2005 and 2015 . The new strategy was only talking about a goal of 1200 units between now and 2020, less than 200 units a year. And it was on ly talking about supportive socia l housing , not social housing for people who have low incomes but don't have other issues. So off we went, me and 4 people from Carnegie. We signed in. Then the people at the sign in table asked us to sign a waiver because the event was to be filmed . I took a look at it and it said the film might be used for a number of things includ-
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Our meeting with Rich Coleman On April 29th about a dozen people from the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council and their allies got a meeting with the provincial Minister in charge of housing, Rich Coleman.
buildings was better than not buying them, even though they didn't provide additional housing or self contained housing. The assembled activists tried hard not to laugh when Coleman said, "My biggest frustration is that we do the most of any jurisdiction and yet we take more abuse than any other jurisdiction." That's because the DNC and others have put a lot of pressure on the city to buy lots, keep shelters open , and build housing.
The meeting came after the same dozen folks had been hanging out in Christy Clark's campaign offlee for a few hours, refusing to leave. They wanted the province to provide funds to keep 4 home- CCAP volunteers meet with Rich Coleman (pic: VMC) Towards the end of the less shelters open. meeting, Coleman said, "We've met At the meeting the DNC folks and their our commitment- we may reopen allies argued that Coleman should shelters next fall- the planned closures keep the shelters open and build more are happening and I will not change my social housing so that homelessness mind on that." could be ended. Coleman also said, "Don't expect any Coleman wanted praise for buying hohelp from the City." He said the city tels and opening more shelters, even would do anything if someone else though we still have homelessness. "I would pay for it. bought 24 buildings in Vancouver and So we still have about 1600 homeless not once have I got credit for that from people on Vancouver streets (and that you," he said . This is definitely not was before they closed the shelters) true as several in the room had said on and nothing concrete from the province numerous occasions that buying the about how to tackle the problem. 3
'MLA Welfare Challenge' launched for 2011
be $700 a month. This is equivalent to $1 ,290 in today's money, double the present rate.
On Thursday, May 26th , at 11am, Raise the Rates launched the 'MLA Welfare Challenge' at Heatley Avenue and Powell Street in front of the Welfare Office in the Downtown East Side.
Now is an opportune time for another MLA to do the same, so Raise the Rates is challenging all MLA's to live on welfare for a month . We hope at least one MLA from each party will accept the challenge. The experience of an MLA living on welfare would be real action research, gaining a real understanding of what life on welfare is like. This would help to inform decisions on an anti-poverty strategy.
The challenge was to all BC MLAs to see if any would live on the province's welfare of $610 a month for a single person . It is 25 years since long-serving Vancouver MLA Emery Barnes spent 7 weeks living on the welfare rate of the time . Based on his experience, Emery Barnes stated that the welfare rate for a single person without disabilities should
Raise the Rates will provide support and advice and work with the MLA to ensure that the month is a valuable and insightful experience. We are willing to discuss the practical issues involved in accepting the welfare challenge and continuing with MLA work.
A Townhall Meeting: A Emery Barnes Reports On Welfare :dnesday, February 5, 1986 8 PM
A u diloriu m . 870 Denman Street
Emery Barnes reporting back from the 1986 welfare challenge 4
Raise the Rates has sent the following letter to each MLA individually inviting them to take the Challenge, and also to the leaders of the BC Liberals and NDP inviting them to designate an MLA from their party. - Bill Hopwood
ing advertising . I didn 't want to be in an advertisement for something I might not agree with so I didn't sign and walked into the room. We found a nice table, complete with table cloth and chips and dip in the middle. Music was playing . There was another food table , complete with dried apricots and cranberries, cheese, fresh watermelon and pineapple, veggies and chips and three kinds of dips. We dug in , relishing the healthy food. When I sat back down at the table, a nice young woman came up to me and said that I hadn 't signed the waiver. I said that was right. I didn't want to be used in an advertisement. She said I'd have to leave if I didn't sign. I thought about it too briefly, asked if I would be used in a commercial for Vision, the City's governing party, and was assured I wouldn't be. I did want to see how the meeting would go, wanted to make some points and see what points others made, so I signed . The meeting started with Abi Bond of the city's housing staff giving a brief oveNiew of the strategy I thought we would be commenting on . Then the mayor welcomed us. Then the facilitator pointed to a projection on the screen with some questions on it. I forget exactly what the questions were except that they were mostly about individual issues like, if you've moved in the last while, why? What is most
important in you choice of rental accommodation? Do you have hope for the rental future? Sort of like those. We were supposed to talk at our table about the question for 4-5 minutes and then a mike would be brought to some people in the room who could comment on the discussion or make their own personal point. As the people spoke, what they said was written up on the projection so everyone could see that what they said was being recorded. We were asked to change tables and did. The Mayor did too . I participated in the discussion and so did the others with me and people at the other tables. The process went on. Fifteen minutes before the event was to end I asked the facilitator if there was going to be a place on the agenda where we would get to talk about the city's housing strategy. He said, basically, no . One elder negotiated with the facilitator to get 3 minutes to speak. She spoke eloquently about social justice and housing. I got up a few times to get some mint tea , and another little plate of fruit that was delicious. Then it was over and we went home. It wasn't til the next day, talking with my comrades at CCAP, that I realized this about the meeting : unless you were willing to be used in an advertisement. the city wasn't going to let you attend this meeting and have a say about rental housing . - JS 7
Homelessness count: good news and bad news The latest homeless count for the Vancouver region was released on May 23rd. The bad news: the count shows that in Vancouver proper there were 25 more homeless people in 2011 than in 2008. This is in spite of the fact that about 370 new rooms or apartments opened up in 2009 and 2010. These statistics could be showing that rent increases in SRO hotels, the last stop before homelessness, are going too high for people on welfare, disability and seniors pensions. The Carnegie Community Action Project's last hotel survey found that 370 non profit rooms opened up in the DTES in 2009 and 2010 but rooms renting for $375 or under declined by about half and rooms renting for over $500 went from 272 to 634. The good news : 1460 of Vancouver's 1605 homeless people were living in shelters and off the streets at night. Also to consider: the homeless count was done in March, before four shelters closed in late April so probably more people are on the street now. ------ - ---.-------
Some websites to look at http://ccapvancouver.wordpress.com/ Virtually everything we're up to at CCAP gets posted on this blog. Click on the reports tab to read CCAP's reports. http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca Great coverage of the fight against the shelter closures and good pictures to look at too. http://dnchome.wordpress.com/ See the DNC website for updates on the shelter closures and, in the right column of the site, a calendar of events, actions, and meetings that you can download month by month .
Vancity Supporl for this project does not necessarily imply Vancity's endorsement of the findings or contents of this newsletter 8
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Minister Barry Penner Attorney General of B.C. Room 232 Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC VSV IX4 We are deeply concerned with your decision to exclude the participation of sex trade workers, Downtown Eastside residents and aboriginal peoples from participating in The Missing Women's Inquiry. Last week you told Women's and Indigenous advocacy groups that you're under no obligation to support their inclusion in the Inquiry, claiming budgetary restraints, yet you have shown no restraint in employing upwards of30 taxpayer-funded government lawyers. It's clear your approach to legal representation is unbalanced when everyone on the govern ment side of the table is funded but nobody on the advocacy side is funded. As one of the main goals of the Missing Women's Inquiry is to learn trom this horrible tragedy, to prevent it from happening again and to recommend changes considered necessary in investigations of missing women and homicides in B.C., with respect to women reported missing from the Downtown Eastside, it would appear contradictory to exclude women at risk from the table. You are indeed devaluing the purpose of holding a murdered and missing women inquiry if you deny these organizations a voice. The very person your own government put in charge
of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, has recommended that you provide fund ing for 13 g roups, including The Coalition of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and Feb 14"' Women's Memorial March Committee, who were in full participation in the evidentiary hearings. Inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal is quoted as saying that many of organizations, such as the Coalition of Sex Worker-Serving Organizations and the Native Women's Association of Canada have limited resources and their involvement in this Commission may provide a unique opportunity for their voices and perspectives to be heard. You made a promise to British Columbians to widen the mandate of B.C.'s Missing Women Inquiry and hear from more witnesses where many women have vanished over the years. You said yourself that the purpose of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry is to find out if improvements can be made in any future investigations of missing women and suspected multiple homicides. In order for this to happen, you must ensure that the people who have direct and daily contact with women at risk, including those reported murdered or m issing, are fully represented. By denying the participation of organizations like the Coalition of Sex Worker-Serving Organizations and the Native Women's Association of Canada, you are putting the integrity of this Inquiry into question. We are calling on you to ensure that the 13 groups Inqui ry Commissioner Wally Oppal has recommended be funded so that they can have legal representation in this crucial Inquiry.
Jenny W.C. Kwan, MLA
Leonard Krog, MLA
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Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and Women's Memorial March Committee Challenge BC Government's Decision Regarding Missing Women's Inquiry Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. The Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and Feb 14th Women s Memorial March Committee are condemning the BC government s decision to not provide fund ing to support their participation in the Missing Women's Inquiry. The Coalition of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (CDEWC) and Feb 14th Women's Memorial March Committee(WMMC) were granted full standing to participate in the evidentiary hearings.
Commissioner Wally Oppal further recommended that the provincial government provide funding to 13 applicants, including CDEWC and WMMC. This, however, was turned down by the BC government in an announcement made by Attorney General Barry Penner on Thursday May 19, 2011, making the participation of these organizations in the Missing Women s Inquiry entirely impossible. While we support the decision to assist with the legal fees of families of murdered and missing women, we strongly condemn the decision to systematically exclude Downtown Eastside, Women's, and Indigenous advocacy and service organizations from the Missing Women s Inquiry," says Angela Marie
MacDougall. According to Harsha Walia of the DEWC,. It is d isgusting that the Vancouver Police Department and the Government of Canada (who are the ones on trial here will have well-paid lawyers and unlimited tax dollars to defend themselves. Meanwhile, voices from the Downtown Eastside, particularly those of Indigenous women, will continue to be deliberately marginalized and shut out. This inquiry has a responsibility to highlight those systemic injustices that allowed the unimaginable deaths and disappearances of so many women from the Downtown Eastside. The membership of organizations and groups like CDEWC and WMMCprovide the critical context necessary for this Inquiry as we knew the women and their lives and their struggles. states Marlene George, Chair of the WMMC. "We were witness to the system's gross negligence as we ll as racism and sexism in investigating these disappearances and murders," says Alice Kendall, who has worked at the DEWC since I 996. "While the government has established an inquiry which we have demanded for years, we are seriously questioning the integrity of this Inquiry now fo r a number of reasons," she continues. 路路we are sick of this. This Inquiry was supposed to be about a measure of justice for us, but it is just more of the same injustices," says Beatrice Starr, who has resided in the Downtown Eastside for 30 years and whose sister and niece were both murdered. MEDIA CONTACTS: Marlene George 604-665-3005 A lice Kendall 604 68 I 8480 x 223 Harsha Walia 778 885 0040 Angela Marie MacDougall 604-808-0507
Censored News from Canada: The Wall of Holocaust Denial Begins to Topple: Aboriginal Museum is Forced to Display Evidence of the Canadian Genocide An Update, thanks to Jim Windle of Teka News Brampton, Ontario. May 13. 20 I I For the first time in Canadian history, a public museum will exhibit evidence which makes reference to overtly genoc idal policies by both the churches and government of Canada towards indigenous people, including in the deadly Ind ian residential schools. Relying primarily on the research gathered by Rev. Kevin Annett in his book Hidden No Longer: Genocide in Canada, Past and Present (20 I 0, www.h iddennolonger.com), the aboriginal advisory comm ittee of the new Peel Region Heritage Museum in Brampton, Ontario convinced the Museum designers, Vilnis Cultural Design Works, to establish a display that shows that genocide, according to the United Nations' definition of the crime, d id occur in the Indian residential school system. The schools were established and run jointly by the Vatican and the Crown of England in 1834, and continued until I996. According to government statistics, nearly half of the I 50,000 children in these schools died because of treatment and conditions there. The decision to document this genocide in the new Peel Region Museum was forced by the Advisory committee's chair, Allan Jamieson of the Haudenosaunee Nation, who faced major opposition from Vilnis to include the term "genocide" in the Museum displays. "We want to tell our story about what happened to our people, and is still happening in Canada, and we want Canadians and others to learn about it, and we don't want to sugar coat it" said Jamieson to Teka News this week. "As victims of this genocide, we have a right to characterize for ourselves how we have been and sti ll are mistreated. The committee's work doesn't include having to convince the Vilnis team of genocide in Canada It is truly tiring and demeaning to have to try to convince teamed people about accurate history." Allan Jamieson, who has consulted Rev. Annett in the past, has also learned that Canadian government agencies make up about one third of Vilnis' business. Their list of clients includes companies that also
benefit from the dispossession of First Nations lands including a home builders association, a mining association, and a pulp and paper company. Until now, not a single Canadian Museum has displayed the evidence of the massive mortality level in Indian residential schools or of their deliberate murder and crimes, documented in archived letters and testimonies published by Rev. Annett since 1998. "It's an incredible breakthrough"' commented Rev. Annett today in London, England, where he is working with an International Tribunal to bring charges against Canada and its churches for genocide. "Thanks to the persistence of Allan Jamieson and his people, th truth of crimes against humanity in Canada is finally being fonnally acknowledged, and taught to the next generation. The walls of denial are tumbling, and a huge leap has now been made towards bringing those responsible to justice." The London-based International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) has been endorsed by over thirty organizations, including survivors of child abuse in nine nations, as well as seven different indigenous nations across Canada. For more information: www.itccs.ore and hiddenfromhistory I@gmail.com - info from the files of Teka News, Brantford, Ontario, Vol. 42, issue 19, May II, 2011 See award-winning documentary UNREPENTANT on www.hiddcnfromhistory.ore
"True religion undefiled is this: To make restitution of the earth which has been taken and held from the common people by the power of Conquests, and so set the oppressed free by placing all land in common." -Gerrard Winstanley, 1650 "We will bring to light the hidden works of darkness and drive falsity to a bottomless pit. For all doctrines founded in fraud or nursed by fear shall be confounded by Truth." Kevin's ancestor Peter Annett, writing in The Free Inquirer, October 17, 1761, just before being imprisoned by the English crown for "blasphemous libel"
Letter to the Editor, Vancouver Sun [Regarding feature that immigrants and low-income families now have 2-3 generations under one roof)
Yes, it's a fact of life, and immigrants from various ethnic minorities (in Canada and more so in the US) do find it easier to cope with the unaffordabil ity of housing options. But the positive spin put on the situation implies that the home is a separate family dwelling with land and a backyard big enough for the multiplicity of generations. What about reality for the massive majority of such people? The space doesn't expand as years go by and people come in. The lie of 'anyone can make it if they work hard enough and/or long enough' is perpetuated under the rule that if you tell it over and over, people will come to believe it. . The fact remains that most immigrant families forced to share accommodations can have every legalaged member of the family with one or, as necessitated by the low pay, more than one job, and it still comes to nothing after everything priced for those earning middle class (vanishing, I know) and uppermiddle class incomes keeps them as the working poor for generations. It is the elite capitalist system that perpetuates this kind of economic terrorism and maintains the status quo of social injustice. There needs to be a "maximum wage路路, with the various tax loopholes and offshore holdings used to evade taxes shut. There's enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed. PauiR Taylor
RE: Front Page Article (May 16, 20 II )
TRANSLINK TO ADD MORE SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS TO THEIR BUS FLEET路路路 FOR REASONS: OF SAFETY AND SECURITY. For reasons of "safety and security"? That sounds like the Chinese Red army squashing the rebellion at Tiananmen Square--- for reasons of "safety and security." That sounds a lot like forcing Muslim women in Afghanistan to wear their full cloth burka--- fo r reasons of their own "safety and security." That sounds a lot like the Chinese (again) Red army invading Tibet for reasons of "safety and security." Oh, yes. How can we forget the Nazi storm troopers with their presence in Europe during WWII ---again, for reasons of "safety and security." I've lived in Vancouver for 30 years. I have seen what this wonderful city has become. I am ashamed as a human that I even have to write this; ashamed that I live in such a paranoid era in our history. If you, the editor(s) of The Vancouver Sun newspaper had any balls you would publish this on the Front Page, but I know you won't. Your hands are tied as to what you can print. Instead, you will keep on printing the usual news. A frie nd of mine calls it horseshit. Have a nice day. Larry Mousseau
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Angelic Absolution Nocturnal, hunched up and cowering in fear cornered as you are in nowherevi lle. What can l do? You say this to yourself I am sure so just shoo me away as just another nameless faceless trick. Maybe a predator on the make, maybe a goody-two-shoesyou or me but who can tell who's the fake/facsimile counterfeit... not a fri end. We both don' t own much of nuthin' except maybe heart body 'n soul. Do you wish for a buddy- not likely, not even them. Have you given it much thought? You are, I surmise, one more in a steady line of children who never had a chance to grow up. Stunted by horrific nightmarish predicaments that yopu try daily to erase, eradicate, put the boots to for momentary rapture, decramping a brain has almost begun, now numbly peaceful but so briefly .. in arrested development.. why in heaven can't it last? Why do all things pass? I know you have scruples that are constantly consistent as you gather and catch your next breath amidst heaving and crying with no place to call home. You pay a discernable price as a misguided angel, so innocent with countless others to blame for your needy predicament. Would you care to be the recipient of an unconditional strong hug, not to be mishandled nor mangled ever again? You've got to love yourself first- this you know. Forget about being tossed like a raggedy ann busted and broken- doll. Have you ever really asked for something substantial for yourself which, I might add, is long overdue.and which you so richly deserve~ Accept nothing less than extreme (that is, total) absolution. ROBYN LIVINGSTONE
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A Cl'rY WITHII'-r SI'I'E When you visit this gorgeous world-class city, what is it that you see? Not the mountains nor the oceans though there is a motion to build things out of tens of thousands of coffee cups and just as many beer cans, such true art for all our visitors to see, every mouth seems to be shouting "YOU CAN TRUST US" yeah about as far as I could throw your bloated carcass right in front of a NOT IN SERVICE bus ... Our forefathers may not have been foreign hunters but they miscast the die & ever since it's been bad news for this Land its Fill and the J'd ofJ that'd be us. How can anyone not despise what we do like looters looking to cash in on the latest catastrophe How did we get so far off the beating track will never get back the full picture but my crooked sight doesn't come close to the scum that run our country another day with Listerine for champaign and Kraft Dinner dreams for this next generation I see many wires going through their skulls say goodnite Gracie to what we did call dreams, now if or when they shut down Insite kids will start dropping like flies that will be our legacy to breed to corrupt & lie then lay down & die the Selfishists first order of business will be a Funeral Channel you know give them all the grief & more and they can then handle profit margins & Pulp fiction true or not they will buy like toilet role-models crawling their way to superstar-status with newly built skyscrapers silently asking you to "SET ME ON FIRE" or hijacked planes with stolen bikeracks on the roof.. if this is beginning to smell a little too excellent then Get the Hell OUT this ain't no MAD Magazine spoof, now closing lnsite is so wrong it could destroy th few things left right & those things are rare and few does Heaven ever shut down for repairs now I kno~ there is no roof but somebody could fall up a
flight of stairs & if that could happen would you ~ven contemplate who to sue, back down here concessiOn stands are added to all the funeral procession demands but the Government would demand its blood-soaked share; there are so many thorns in this bureaucratic bouquet of weeds I guess the trick is to actually. believe you really don't care, like a scratch & wm . your own cremation whether it be Insite or Out ofS1te the key is showing no pity (They don't) while you're still very active your identity is already in use all . around the globe !Tom sea to bubbling sea, once ~gam when all is dead & done the Earth starts over agam one by one now time may march upon us maybe that's the magic of eternity, as long as there are more than one then inspiration and transformation will have won but look ahead at the cross & bones walkway lo and behold another kingdom has begun from distant hills to ghost town thrills the shape has taken form from here its our own choice to unchoke the inner voice we all have and to choose what we want to become we can save lives if that's what we truly want I ~ish it was up to you and me but that is part of this machine called life INSITE I think would be all right if it were up to just our society. By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY "They draw, they sit, they shuffle, cut & deal; Like friends assembled, but like foes to feel." -George Crabbe
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