November 1, 2014, carnegie newsletter

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Carnegie~ NEWS LETTER

401 Main S treet Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7

carnnews@vcn bc.ca (604) 665-2289

carnnews@shaw.ca www.camnews.org

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11th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival SECOND WEEK- So much more to do! Most is free; check it out!

Saturday November 1 to Sunday November 9, 2014

WORKSHOPS- CARNEGIE- Free Sat Nov 1 • Slam Poetry, with Pamela Bentley and Sho Wiley, 10am-12pm. 3rd floor Classroom Sun Nov 2 • Community/Political Posters, with Murray Bush . 2pm-Spm. 3rd floor Gallery Thurs Nov 6 • Scraps & Stitches, with Karenza T. Wall. 2:30pm-5:30pm . 3rd floor Gallery SATURDAY November 1 • lOam- 3pm. OPEN HOUSE. Vancouver Police Museum, 2nd floor 240 E. Cordova. Free • 12pm- 4pm. OPEN HOUSE. St. James' Anglican Church, 303 E. Cordova. Free • KEEPERS OF THE FLAME: A Daylong Celebration of Poetry. Carnegie Centre, 401 Main . Free lpm Carnegie's 2nd Poetry Slam! with MC Jillian Christmas 1:30pm Poetree on the street, with Magdelanye 3pm A Celebration of Bud Osborn, with Graham Ord, Paul Blaney, Ked rick James and guests, MC Sharon Kravitz 7pm DTES Poets Open Mic, with special guest Antonette Rea, Host Diane Wood • 6pm-10pm. SHRINES for DAY OF THE DEAD. Insid e Carnegie Theatre & outside Carn egie. Free SUNDAY November 2 • AT THE INTERURBAN GALLERY. 1 E. Hastings. Free !2:30pm ACCORDIONS ON FIRE ...AT HOME!, with the Squeezebox Circle 2:30pm HEIDI MORGAN and FRIENDS 3:20pm HAISLA with NASTY, BRUTISH & SHORT 4 :30pm BUD OSBORN and POEMS FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, Thursdays Writing Collective • 2pm. SAWAGI TAIKO & TZO'KAM . SFU Woodward's, 149 W. Hastings . Free 3pm THEY WOULDN'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER Panel. Russian Hall. 800 Campbell. Free WEDNESDAY November 5 • lpm. GREAT VANCOUVER FIRE Slide Show. Carnegie Learning Centre, 3rd floor. Free • 7:30pm DTES FRONT AND CENTRE: 0 Muses, light my fire!, Carnegie Theatre. Free

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• 8pm THE RAYMUR MOTHERS: Two for One. Tickets: 604-708-5448 or www.theatreintheraw.ca THURSDAY Novembe r 6

• 5pm. GATHER ROUND FOR A STORY: Our Journey of Reconciliation So Far. UBC Learning Exchange, 612 M ain . Free • 7pm SALT WATER CITY STORIES, w ith Sea n Gunn, Ka rin Lee, Jim Wong-Chu, Faye Leung, MC Sid Chow Tan. Chapel Arts, 304 Dunlevy. Free FRIDAY November 7

• 2pm. WHO STOLE THE SPIRIT OF CARNEGIE. Carnegie Theatre. Free • 6pm FEAST YOUR EYES TOO! A Fashion Show Celebration. DTES Women' s Centre, 302 Columbia. Women and men welcome! Free • 7pm. The MOZART MIRACLE, with City Opera. Carn egie Theatre. Free • 7pm. ROARING COMEDY, with Merl in, David Granirer & Stand Up For Mental Health. Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova. Free • 7pm-10pm. EASTSIDE FRIDAY: Creative Magic !. EWMA Studio, 56 E. Hastings. Free SATURDAY November 8

• 11am. DTES RENOVICTIONS WALKING TOUR, w ith CCAP. Meet on front steps of Carnegie. Free for local residents • 12pm FIELDHOUSE STUDIO HOP . Starts at Macl ean Pa rk Fieldhouse, 710 Keefer. Free • 2pm BIG PRINT Artist Talk. Raven's Eye Studios, 456 E. Hastings. Free • 2pm CELEBRATING BLACK STRATHCONA. Carnegie Theatre. Free • 4pm A RIGHT TO REMAIN COMMUNITY PRESENTAT ION . Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova. Free • 6pm RECONCILIATION- MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER. Talkumentary- films, performance, guest speakers. Carnegie Theatre. Free • 6:30pm CARNEGIE SING ALONG CHOIR, led by Mike Richter. Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery. Free SUNDAY November 9

• lpm URBAN CLOTH PROJECT: Terroir. Hastings Urban Farm, 58 W. Hastings. Free For further details pick up the Festival Program Guide at the Carnegie Front Desk, around the neighbourhood or visit www.heartofthecityfestival.com. For information please call 604-628-5672.

Presented by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre & the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, working with over 40 community partners .

SLAM POETRY· Works hop with Sho Wiley • Saturday November l, lOam - 12pm • Carnegie 3rd no or Classroom, 40 l Main In anticipation of Carnegie's 2nd Poetry Slam! Sho Wiley, creative writing instructor and long-time sla m poet, leads a workshop where she'll share advice and tec hniques. Poetry is best when read aloud, even performed. Microphone technique, body language, gestures and more. Bring two of your favourite poems or write one in the workshop; you' ll get an opportunity to try out your s lam poetry ideas and with one-on-one mentoring you' II be ready to step up and go for it!

"Poetry is meant to be heard. poetry for the people'" says Sho and who knows that better than the poets of Carnegie! Free , "Drop-in is fine; Pre-registration is better! .

(Don't let your own greatness daunt you!!)

DTES Small Arts Grants Applications will be available on:

Friday, October 24, 2014 after 1 PM. -please pick up at the Carnegie Centre main floor information desk.

To learn more about the grants and their criteria, please attend one of our information sessions: Tuesday, October 28th, 2:00 - 3:30PM, Classroom 2 (3rd floor), Carnegie Centre, 40 I Main Street.

Tuesday, November 4th. 6:00- 7:30PM. C lassroom '2 (Jrd tloor), Carnegie Centre. 40 I Main Street.

For more information: Jason Bouchard, coordinator · Email: dtesartsgrants@gmail.com Phone: 778-879-9843 Webs ite: vancouverfoundationsmallarts.ca

CARNEGIE'S 2nd POETRY SLAM! • Saturday November 1, lpm - 2:30pm • Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main· In celebration of the Carnegie News letter and its long his tory of encouraging writers and poets in the Downtown Eastside, and in honour of the late, much loved friend a nd extraordinary talent Zaccheus Jackson (he hosted & performed at the first Slam! in 20 13), we present Carnegie's 2nd Poetry Slam!

Have you slammed a poem before? You'll have three minutes to say your poem. Memorize it, improvise it, rant or s ing it out. Then five random audience members chosen to judge will give you a score. The rules have still to be decided, so be prepared for surprises.

Featured host and MC is Jill ian Christmas. Be part of the audience - laugh, cheer, cry, clap- or step up and s lam it, you know you want to! Free

ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH@ 2-4 PM IN THE CARNEGIE THEATRE COME OUT TO SEE NICK GRANT SOLVE A CASE IN THE CARNEGIE CENTRE AN ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF NO MERCY PRODUCTIONS AND THE HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL WHO STOLE THE SPIRIT OF THE CARNEGIE FREE & ALL WELCOME

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NOVEMBER WEDNESDAY

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P IVOT equo!i')l•ifls everyone

night gift

"Water is to land what the voice is to the body" - Kaluli knowledge, via Steven Feld and Walter Lew make space and let the night speak through you -what will the darkness say? will it sigh the song ofnightcleaners, the lame nt of the wrongly imprisoned, the rage of the ragged, the dispossessed? how will the night take you back? will you be the vessel for earth shatter, hydro poison, ancestral revenge? perhaps steady weeds, growing irrepressibly into the cracks, urban repurposing, straddling both the drugs that kill and the ones that heal?' the g lobe moves around the sun, unstoppable, feeding pine trees and the petro-state alike, g iving us the days and nights by which to stand with the trees, what the industry calls overburden, or to die more rapidly, more stupidly, by peak oil. as rivers and oceans fill with carcinogenic wastes from the petroleum-plastic-supply-chain, the political systems follow, stuffed full of suncorpse and tired old neo-colonial ego that refuses to stop growing until it reaches the limits of the planet's patience. who knows what alliances and monkeywre nches will be enough to stop the greed of the greasy machine? what I do know is that humble migrants who've traveled the ocean know its wisdom better than an arrogant elite that doesn't heed the world's necessary stories. jail the stories and the storytellers, but they will keep speaking the night until empire expires, with or without the multitudes alive. in this race may we be ready to move fast, yet steady enough to encompass musicians and lake gatherings, forests and guerrilla gardens, fueled by a love more immense than the unnatural systems we've inherited! we need to live the world that is possible even while we struggle through war. respect living coasts and fluid watersheds, not murderous imperial borders. in grief and in celebration, in fear and in courage, in anger and in compassion, the night replenishes us so that we may continue to embody her songs.

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NDPINTRODUCESLANDMARK ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS BILL OTTAWA - NDP leader Thomas Mulcair is proud to second groundbreaking legislation introduced by Linda Duncan (Edmonton-Strathcona), an Environmental Bill of Rights to legally enshrine environmental rights for Canadians and the duty of the fede ral government to take action to protect the environment.

"As Minister of Env ironment in Quebec, f made the right to a healthy environment a charter right for all residents of Quebec," said Thomas Mulcair, Leader of the Official Opposition. "I am pleased to support this bill, which would safeguard the right of present and future generations of all Canadians to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment".

According to Duncan, "This bill is long overdue. The

Rita Wong Supreme Court ruled that the fede ral government shares responsibility for protection of the environment. My bi ll grants Canadians the specific right to have a voice in all decisions impacting their environment, to take the federal government to court where those rights are denied or where federal laws are not e nforced and it protects wh istle-blowers". The bill also amends the Bill of Rights to add an environmental right.

"Canad!ans must ?e given a voice. An NDP government ~Ill work Wtth the provinces, territories and all Canadtans to make the right to a clean, healthy environment a guaranteed and abso lute right," said Mr. Mulcair.

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Walk a mile in my Gucci's $600 could have bought .•• • A wheelchair for my dear wife so I could push her when she's in too much pain to walk (a retiree) ·Milk for my kids for a year (mother of four) • Almost 300 bus tickets for my job search rides (young immigrants) ·600 bowls 0' soup at Carnegie (hungry young man) ·Enough noodles to last for 5 years (Chinese G-mthr) C1) *Tune-up for old beater that gets us to work each day ~ (Mr + Mrs working poor) t*Laser surgery for cataracts in both eyes (senior) *Steel-toed boots and a hard hat so I could get a construction job (young man) *!50 jars of jam tq go with my peanut butter sandwiches (school girl) *I could get my prescriptions filled (senior citizen) ·600 presents from the Dollar Store so I'd always have gifts for my family (a 'training' wage earner) *Bannock to feed all the hungry tummies and blankets for the winter (an elder) *Decent clothes for my children to wear to school so no one laughs at them (single mom) *Dinner for 300 people at Union Gospel Mission at Easter (homeless person) *Brushes and paint (a starving artist) *600 boxes of Kraft Dinner (a young mom) *Comfortable shoes for the next 10 years for our poor, tired feet (taxpaying public) Instead our $600 became some ugly shoes abandoned in a rich woman's closet.

M. Kelly

KELLY STEWART Sept 30, 1944 - Oct 9th, 2014

In Memory of Kelly Stewart There is a story that's now being told, Her heart was sort of made of gold.

I often pondered 'How could this be?'

She was kind of like a stranger to me.

Those who had known her sadly said, She was ~uite intelligent and well read.

Her guiding light was within her heart, Charitable causes had played their part.

There are so many things one can think, And reasons with just an eye of a blink.

I wish I had plenty more words to say, Of a precious lady who went her way.

If only I had more words to tell, I just wish I knew her very well.

Because now she's gone so far away, 1 feel like I'd seen her only yesterday.

I never really knew her all that well, There's not very much for me to tell.

She often sat in that rotating chair, Her volunteering was fair and square.

Seventy years old is still very young, So 'Amazing Grace' is what I sung.

Although she didn't live for very long, I still sang for her this peaceful song.

Being a single mom was meant to be, With a loving son that set her free.

And I wish I knew her as a friend, Tragedies are often hard to mend. © DJ Bruce

Premier Christy Clark & Hon. Don McRae, Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation Box 904 1, Station PROV GOVT Victoria, BC V8W 9El

Dear Premier Clark and Minister McRae, RE: Raising Social Assistance Rates I am writing on behalf of many constituents who receive social assistance, and are in dire financial straits every day. Specifically, I respectfully request that you raise welfare rates.

The typical rate of $61 0/month is grossly inadequate to meet basic needs. This amount means that there is only $26/week remaining to cover not only food but also clothing, medication, transport, childcare, education, hygie ne, and other fundamental necessities- a task that cannot be realistically achieved. The current welfare rates are abysmal and ensure that people will remain destitute.

It is difficult to put into words the sense of anger and despair shared by those stuck in the poverty trap. This is a wealthy province, so why does our province have the highest poverty rate in all of Canada? This is often passed off as due to individual failings, but I have seen an abundance of motivation & capacity amongst those living below the poverty line. The problem is due to a failure of public policy.

I know that it is our collective hope that our poorest citizens have a better life, and a better future. But first they need stability. And stability is only achieved with a decent income. The rates need to be raised immediately- and I ask that you r government do so.

Thank you for your consideration.

Strangers- Estimated Time of Arrival Very early one morning many moons ago On my way to the cafe Robon-Strasse Taking my usual shortcut through the Art Gallery block beside the fountain I was surprised Watching the strangers in black unlead their gear Big black vans, electric equipment tic tock, I think.

"A film location?"

They answered me not Going about their work in a seri ojus and practiced manner.

I felt something momentous, perhaps secret Should I even be witnessing this grim crew?

I felt invisible to them, or maybe just irrelevant [ moved on by to the warmth of hot coffee and cinnamon buns I forgot my encounter at the Gallery Did thee not come to me & the world that day immortal bird?

Myself amid alien corn.

L'etranger, nobody's child ofthis forgotten slur No womb of earth gave me life But the eternal ocean.

And you familiar to me as myself.

Wilhelmina Mary X

VANCOUVER INFECTIOUS DISEASES CENTRE

HEPATITIS TESTING FAIR DID YOU KNOW THERE IS CURE FOR HEPATITIS C? GET TESTED WITHOUT BLOOD COLLECTION RESULTS ARE READY fN MINUTES

Friday, November 14, 1- 3 PM Carnegie Theatre

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) Newsletter

SRO TENANTS' CONVENTION A SUCCESS BALMORAL, REGENT, COBALT "WIN" CRUMMY COCKROACH HAVEN CONTEST The first ever and hopefully, first annual, SRO tenant convention, was a huge success. About 200 residents attended the half day event on Oct 19 to eat, talk, learn about their rights as SRO tenants and plan what to do in the future to clean up the SRO hotels and get more social housing .

Co-chaired by Arnold Nokohoot and Wendy Pedersen , the convention took place at the Japanese Hall. Describing the purpose of theconvention, Arnold said, "We want everyone to know about the living conditions that a lot of us have to

put up with. We want to protect the rights of people who live in SROs. We want to help you learn what you can do as a tenant if you are being unfairly treated in your SRO." Chinese translators were available.

Besides great food and door prizes, people who attended got to choose from workshops on tenant organizing, voices from Tent City, tenant organizing in Chinese, how to use pictures and notes to document complaints to the city and Residential Tenancy Branch, a women's Aboriginal Talking Circle, surviving yom l

Kathy Shimazu, and Tamara Herman.

The Balmoral Hotel won first place as the worst hotel with 93 votes. The Regent was second with 49 and the Cobalt was third with 21 . All three hotels are owned by the Sahota family who got their own special award as best slumlord.

SRO experience with services, bed bug science class, and the Right to Remain.

Near the end of the convention, residents talked about the next steps in working toward getting decent housing. Some suggested blocking bridges or setting up a tent city at the Mayor's office. In the end it was agreed to meet again on Nov. 8 at the Dodson Hall from L pm - 3 pm to begin setting up a new group called the SRO Collaborative, modeled after a group in San Francisco that has been successful in saving and improving.SROs. The Highlight of the conference was drawing the winner of the Crummy Cockroach Haven Contest. Over 300 people entered the contest by nominating the Crummiest Cockroach Haven Hotel.

Special trophies for the winning hotels were made by Priscillia Tait, Ali Lohan, 2

After the winners were drawn, people from the convention marched to the Regent, Balmoral and Cobalt Hotels to present the awards to the hotels. Residents chanted: "the Regent isn't decent;" "the Balmoral isn't moral." "What do we want?

Clean SROs. When do we want it? Now." Residents marched into each hotel shouting "greed," and "shame," when handing the trophies over to the hotel.

After the convention, CCAP wrote to the city calling on them to require non profit management in all of the Sahota owned hotels so hundreds of Downtown Eastside residents don't have to put up with filth and poor conditions.

I{ letter to the

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CC4P ...

An excerpt from a letter we re sending to the City Dear Penny Ballem (City Manager), On October 19th 2014, CCAP announced the winner of its Crummy Cockroach Haven Contest at the DTES SRO Tenants' Convention. For three weeks, we collected nomination forms for the SRO with the worst living conditions from residents. We received a total of 325 nominations. The winning hotels were: First Place- The Balmoral: 93 votes Second Place -The Regent: 49 votes Third Place- The Cobalt: 21 votes

the City's Standards of Maintenance Bylaw. Although we noticed the Regent is in slightly better shape than it was last year at this time, the hotels still have plugged toilets and filth in washrooms, halls, baseboards, around radiators, on windows, and in common areas. There was blood on the wall of the Sal moral when we were there in the week of October 13th. Roaches are still rampant.

As you know, the campers at the Oppenheimer Park Tent City often said that camping was better than living in an SRO. Our contest results and our own inspections show us how this can be possible. At our.SRO tenants Convention on October 19th, people made the following comments about SROs: "All SROs should be demolished. They're full of rats."

"Those places are so deplorable.

Women experience sexual assaults, doors get kicked in, very unsafe, cockroaches, bedbugs and rats."

Filth and needles in the Balmoral CCAP staff recently visited ten hotels, including the three "winners", and we have seen that many are not meeting

"Lots of bugs, different kinds. Lack of security and safety for tenants."

The message from the Tent City campers and people who attended the SRO tenant

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convention is that forcing people to live in these conditions is dehumanizing. We are convinced that you would come to the same conclusion if you walked through one of the "winning" hotels.

Not all hotels are filthy. The Patrick Anthony, St. Ehlmo's and the Holborn, for example, were in fairly good shape. This proves that SROs can be well maintained.

The action that the City is taking to improve the standards of maintenance in SROs is grossly insufficient. We are happy that the City has put the West and the Regal under non-profit management. Since all the winners of the Crummy Cockroach Haven Contest belong to the same owner, the Sahotas, CCAP is asking the city to impose non profit management on the Balmoral, the Cobalt and the Regent. Over 300 human beings have been putting up with poor conditions in their buildings for far too long and its time for action that works.

Blood in the Balmoral,jilth in the Regent For the rest of the hotels, it is clear that annual inspections are not enough. Hotels may clean up prior to their inspection, but for the rest of the year tenants have to live in deplorable conditions. Inspections should be monthly and rigorous until deficiencies are dealt with.

Sincerely, King-mong, Jean and Tama ra The Carnegie Communit y Action Project

SOCIAL HOUSING ALLIANCE ACTION CALL OUT On Monday Nov. 3, we'll take a st and against managers of the homelessness crisis and demand:

BUILD HOMES NOW! March on "National Conference on Ending Homelessness" Meet at CCAP at 5:00 pm March from sout h side Vancouver Art Gallery, Robson and Hornby 路 to Sherat on Wall Centre Hot el, 1088 Burrard St

THE MARKET IS THE PROBLEM NOT THE SOLUTION! 4

DTES ALL-CANDIDATES' MEETING

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We had a full roster of municipal election candidates at the Carnegie on October 23rd , 2014. We took your questions and asked them what they would do to reduce (or raise) the police budget, improve conditions in SROs, prevent another tent city, implement rent control , stop renovictions and protect low-income serving businesses. Here's some of what they had to say.

Adriane Carr, The Vancouver Green Party "We absolutely have to stop renovictions. Only five percent of the city's SROs are still at shelter rate. The SRA blyaw needs to be changed so that SROs are defined as existing at shelter rate .Rents have to be pegged at what people can afford. Vision has top-down decision making and doesn't have to listen with its majority government."

Nicholas Chernen, The Cedar Party "It goes back to a developer-driven City Hall versus a community-influenced City Hall. Big busine!ss has too much influence. Limiting that influence starts with limiting campaign contributions. In Cedar, the maximum donation is $2400 ... We need a community-driven planning process".

Sid Chow Tan J1.rJ~Wl!, COPE "COPE would work to raise the welfare rate and change the Vancouver Charter to set a municipal minimum wage of $15/hour. We have a policy on renovictions. We would stop giving demolition or renovation permits that lead renovictions.

Landlords would have to let tenants back in at the same rate or look after them if they move out."

VANCOUVER ELECTION DAY: NOVEMBER I~TH * 8AM - 8PM Vote at Carnegie Community Centre 1 Strathcona Community Centre

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Pete Fry, The Vancouver Green Party "Police are doing a job they aren't supposed to do, especially when it comes to mental health issues. Crime prevention is the key, not crime reaction. I feel really safe in my neighbourhood [DTES/Strathcona]. More often than not, people have your back.

And what that means is that we need to empower communities."

Anthony Guitar, Independent "lnsite should be open twenty-four hours ... l'm watching my community disappear here ... l'd work with the SRO task force and eventually phase out SROs. SROs are not homes. I won't make a promise I won't keep but I will do everything I can to help me community. Renovictions gotta go! " Andrea Reimer, Vision Vancouver "In an absence of provincial or federal dollars going into housing, the only way we can build [new homes] is by finding partners out there in the community... From 2003 to 2012, the land value on the DTES has more than tripled. The [Local Area Plan for the DTES] has actually stopped the speculation and development from happening even faster."

Suzanne Scott, Non Partisan Alliance (NPA) "I have a very close relationship with the VPD. Crime prevention is paramount for all of that. The police are working very well and doing the best they can in a difficult situation. Gentrification means that people wanted to move into a given neighbourhood, but the right kind of consultation is missing.

Nikki Sharma, Vision Vancouver "We've been really working hard with the tools we have as a city government to enforce standards in SROs, and it's something we're committed to doing in the future. Vision was the first in the City's history to take a landlord to court over SRO conditions."

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Audrey Siegl sx+emtana:t, COPE "This system, this government has failed so many people. I'm one of these people ... We need to stop prioritizing investors ' and developers' money over humans. DTES residents are being forced out when they already have nowhere left to go. We need to prevent tent cities by including people of the DTES in decisions, and ensuring their options aren't SROs or shelters."

To register to vote: Bring two identification documents with you that show who you are and where you live. One of these two identification documents has to include your signature.

THE 2014 WELFARE FOOD CHALLENGE WELFARE RATES AREN'T ENOUGH TO SURVIVE ON, SAY WElFARE FOOD CHAllENGE-TAKERS

BY JEAN SWANSON October was a busy month for people who are trying to get the BC government to increase welfare rates.

That's because the third annual Welfare Food Challenge happened from Oct. 16 to 22nd. To participate in the Challe people can only spend $21 for a week's worth of food because that's all a single person on welfare would have to spend.

Singer B if Naked he1 ped raise awareness of this

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year's Challenge by agreeing to do it herself. As a result, there was a lot more media coverage about how impossible it is to eat nutritiously on a mere $21 .

Over 100 people took the Challenge Takers across BC, of all ages and backgrounds . Several spoke at a news conference at the BC Teachers' Federation building in Vancouver at the end of the Challenge. .h h k UBC student Samantha Truong BifN l aked wll er wee . . summed up what most satd of grocenes . . when she listed 4 thmgs that

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happened when she tried eating on just $21 for a week: she lacked energy, felt social exclusion because she couldn't join classmates for meals or coffees, had to spend lots of time traveling to cheap stores, and was hungry, moody and cranky.

Truong concluded: "$21 is not enough."

Singer Bif Naked said the Welfare Food Challenge helped raise awareness and dialogue about poverty. Now, she said, we need to "get welfare rates for really good people and families." Naked said she was alarmed to hear all the misconceptions about poverty during the Challenge.

"We're going to write to Don McRae (Liberal Social Development Minister) and Michelle Mungall (NDP Social Development critic) and ask them to meet with us and let's discover what we can do."

"This problem that 180,000 people on welfare face has a solution," said Irene Lanzinger, secretary treasurer of the BC Federation of Labour. "It requires only political will. We can share our resources to end poverty."

is "indisputable evidence that reducing poverty will make us healthier," she said.

"We can't stay silent while there is an epidemic of disease fueled by poverty."

Dr. Vanessa Brcic "None of us could survive on $21 a week.

We shouldn't expect our patients too," added Brcic. "We need to act with logic, evidence and compassion to raise the rates and implement a cost saving poverty reduction plan in BC." The next step for the Raise the Rates campaign, said organizer Bill Hopwood, is to have meetings with the Liberal Minister and NDP critic for Social Development, the government department that controls welfare rates.

Jay-AnnGilfoy, senior vice president at Vancity Credit Union, said the Challenge was a "week of physical symptoms and deep awareness of how awful it is to have to do this." She said Vancity is behind a poverty reduction plan.

Dr. Vanessa Brcic talked powedully Support for this project does not necessarily about the connection between imply Vancity's endorsement of the findings or poverty and poor health. There

Vancity

contents of tMs newsletter

8

Assassination' of Public Health Systems Driving Ebola Crisis, Experts Warn Neoliberal economic policies that defund health infrastructure responsible for current crisis in West Africa and across the globe, say analysts.

By Sarah Lazare, staff writer As the official West African death toll from the worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history nears 5,000, global concerns about the highly infectious disease continue to mount. Analysts and medical providers, from Liberia to the United States, say that in order to address the crisis, the international community must tackle the real culprit: western-driven economic policies defunding public health systems around the world, particularly in the countries hit hardest by the outbreak.

"The neoliberal economic model assassinated public infrastructure," said Emi ra Woods, a Liberia native and social impact director at ThoughtWorks, a technology firm committed to social and econom ic justice, in an interview with Common Dreams. "A crisis of the proportion we've seen since the beginning of the Ebola catastrophe shows this model has failed."

Gutting of West African Public Health Systems Since the 1980s, western financial institutions have given loans to third world govern ments on the condition those states impose austere domestic reforms and roll back public services. This approach is encapsulated in the 1981 World Bank report Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa, which presses for "structural adjustments," including rapid privatization, shrinking of public services and subsidies, and a shift towards export dependency as a solution to "slow economic growth."

"In West Africa, the resulting neoliberal economic policies sought to promote growth and prosperity through structural adjustment programs (SAPs) that generally involved contraction of government services, renewed export orientation on crops or goods deemed to have a comparative advantage, privatization of parastatal organizations, removal or reduction of many subs idies and tariffs, and currency devaluations," explain Macalester College Professor William Moseley and colleagues in a paper for the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci! ences of the United States ofAmerica.

1 "What you had was a shift of public expenditures from health care, school, and essential services to a model of economic development driven by the World bank and International Monetary fu nd, which said that public service provision was not passage to development, and services should be privatized," said Woods. "There was this notion that poor people can pay, and services are better provided by the private sector."

While years of war played a role in weakening public systems, it is the "war against people, driven by international financial institutions" that is largely responsible for decimating the public health care system, eroding wages and conditions for health care workers, and fueling the crisis sweeping West Africa today, says Woods. "Over the past six months to a year there have been rolling health care worker strikes in country after country-Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia," said Woods. "Nurses and doctors are risking and losing their li ves but don't have protective gear needed to serve patients and save their own lives. They are on the front lines and have not had their voices heard."

Even the World Health Organization, which is tasked by the United Nations with direct ing international responses to epidemics, acknowledges the detrimental impact these policies have had on public health systems. "In health, SAPs affect both the supply of health services (by insisting on cuts in health spending) and the demand for health services (by reducing household income, thus leaving people with less money for health)," states the organization. ''Studies have shown that SAPs policies have slowed down improvements in, or worsened, the health status of people in countries implementing them. The results reported include worse nutritional status of children, increased incidence of infectious diseases, and higher infant and maternal mortality rates."

A "Highly Vulnerable" World Medical responders have criticized the international community for failing to aggressively address the crisis. In a press statement issued in late August, Brice dele Vingne, Doctors Without Borders director of operations, slammed western states for their isolationist policies towards the epidemic: "Self-protection is occupying the entire focus of states that have the expertise and resources to make a dramatic difference in the affected countries.

They can do more, so why don't they?"

The WHO has recently suffered severe budget cuts that have left it weakened, under-staffed, and incapable of adequately responding to the international emergency. "There's no doubt we've not been as quick and as powerful as we might have been," Dr. M~rie-Paule Kieny, a WHO assistant director general, told the New York Times in an article examining the cuts.

Critics say the de-funding of public health system within western states is putting populations at risk. Despite the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and the Obama administration to assure the U.S. public of a robust response, nurses tell a different story. Workers with the union National Nurses United have repeatedly warned that the for-profit U.S. health care system is in fact ill-prepared for an Ebola outbreak, with U.S. hospitals lacki ng basic protocols, training, and protective gear.

Meanwhile, Woods warns, the U.S.'s militarized response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa-including Obama's authorization on Thursday for th e Pentagon to deploy reserve and National Guard troops-raises serious concerns. " If yo u think about the costs of sending in the military compared to putting resources into nurses and doctors and rebuilding public health infrastructure that will last, U.S. tax payers s hould be really questioning the tax dollars being spent and what the long-term implications are."

"The world will remain highly vulnerable to this and similar outbreaks unless all countries prioritize the universal right to health, including the international obligation of rich countries to pay their fair share in ensuring that basic health capacity is available everywhere," the global justice organization U.S. Africa Network argues. "The failure to do so is a violation of human rights and our common humanity."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

We're all in this together

Poverty in the Promised Land In the Fifties we scro unged the dump for heavy glass -Pop bottle~- coca cola, orange crush, 7UP Patsy Murphy & I traded them for penny candy: Black Babies, Honeymoons, Coconut, Buds, -tiny cones full of honey+ brown sugardelicious to us.

Also the blackberries by the train track

new solidarity choir for people who want to sing in support of labour and social justice

$60/10 weeks (nobody turned away) Tuesday Sept 23- Tuesday Nov 25 ?-8:30pm Strathcona Community Centre 601 Keefer info & registration: 604-713-1838

Near the dump, the abattoir & Africaville; but the biggest, juiciest grew near the Graveyard ...

We sold them for 50c a quart (remember quarts) Now I cruise the lanes for good garbage cans+ bottles for recycling to buy bread & milk, maybe a little meat Oh Canadt our home + the Native's land Glorious and free!

Freedom is a thin gruel Human rights cold comfort in the mean streets.

Wilhelmina

Function as Art Art as Function The artwork of Sue Griese This show is an experiment on different ways to involve the public and galleries in ways to view functional pottery as an art fo rm. This show will coexist in two gallery spaces:

From the Library

With the " Heart of the City Festival" in full effect, I would like to highlight some of the artist~' work found in the library. To compliment the "Celebration November 7 - January 4 Opening Saturday, Nov 8 of Bud Osborn" event (Nov I @ 3pm), we've got GalleryGachet, 88 East Cordova St. access to several of Bud Osbo rn 's writings such as 2-Spm, November 14 - December 21 Keys to Kingdoms, Oppenheimer Park, and Signs of Opening 14, . .__ _ _ _ _Friday, _ _ _November _____ _7-lOpm _ _ _ __. the TheTimes First Nations musical group, Tzokam will be

Studio126, 126 East Pender St

performing on Nov. 2nd, and the library shares their CD called, Heart beats: a CD benefit for Warriors Against Violence (Music CD- 784.51 H43w). Tzokam includes traditional singer/composer Russell Wallace, whose CD Neo-nativisms is available (Music CD- 784.75 1 W 19n). The event also features the all-women Japanese drum g roup Sawagi Taiko, who can be heard on this Tiqilap Singers CD, Where the People Gather (Music CD -784.751 T59w).

Renae Morriseau (Juno award winner) is part of the powerful line-up of women for the event "Women in the Round" on Nov. I , and can be heard shari ng her story on this DVD called, Echoes ofthe Sisters regarding First Nations women and breast cancer (DVD - 6 16.99449 E l8c 1).

If you enjoyed David Granirer' s comedy routine at "Stand-up for Mental Health" (Nov. 7) consiger reading his book The Happy Neurotic: How fear.,and angst can lead to happiness and success ( 158.1 G759h) or watching the film on using laughter as therapy called Cracking Up (DVD- 362.2 C88g).

1 O n Nov. 8 h, an event called "Celebrating Black Strathcona" includes performances by Vanessa Richards and Kevan Cam eron. Cameron contributed to the book The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian poetry, which can be requested from the Central library (c821 .8 G7862m).

And, if you plan on joining "The Jade Peony Walking Tour" (Nov. 9), make sure you read a copy of Wayson Choy's novel before yo u go!

The li brary wishes everyone a wonderful ''Heart of the City Festival" experience!

Your librarian, Natalie

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DTESFood Talks!

Presented by: DTES Neighbourhood House + Potluck DTES Kitchen Tables Project

Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House

http:/ /dtesnhouse.ca

Friday, November 14th, 2014 1-3pm

573 East Hastings [@ Princess] (program Space) Mail: c/o 403 -533 East Hastings St. Vancouver BC V6A 1P9 604-215-2030 CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR DTES NH BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House (DTES NH) is embarking on the nomination process for available director positions for it~ Board. If you wish to nominate a candidate: l. Interested members who have time and expertise to offer are invited to submi t a letter of interest indicating their experience and areas of interest, including written consent of the nominee if not self-nominating, to: Josephine Martyn, Treasurer and Nominating Committee Chair, admin@dtesnhouse.ca by 6pm on Tuesday 2 November 1822014.

2. Voting for election will occur at the next DTES NH Annual General Meeting to be held before December 3 1, 2014 at the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House 573 East Hastings Vancouver, BC. 3. Successful nominees will be notified immediately.

The Committee wfll seek to nom inate candidates so that the Board has a balanced representation from the community. The Board meets at least once a month for Directors Meetings and once a year for the Annual General Meeting. Directors also participate in at least one committee. Directors do not receive remuneration but receive reasonable compensation for expenses incurred by them in the normal course of their duties.

Qualified, diverse and visionary individual s are being sought for the following offices: -Treasurer -Director at Large

@

DTES Neighbourhood House 573 E. H~stings St. Is it difficult to get enough food to eat in a day?

Is food available as often as you'd like?

Are you satisfied with the quality and quantity of food you get?

What does the word "meal" mean to you?

How do you decide where to eat?

Come share your feedback on these questions and more in fun and engaging ways! Snacks provide

ERODED COUNSEL Shiny stones upon sunrise beach contain some kind of unique soul each And could they separately speak Out to our static human kind One by special tectonic one what would they then say?

Would they tell us "Slow down, think" Spend less time polluting our earth Would they flinty scream and scream At us to watch less computer/tv screen?

And stroll much more on them Or would they soft whisper that in due geological time,we shall all ofus become them!

John Alan Douglas

THE SCATTERED MEN The Social Unrest Party is gunning for the Liberals this is no big surprise news story been played out before, moral shellings & half-truth tellings shall make us choose who not to believe more, like an other boy sent to the comer of a room social service surplus are here & not a moment too soon (very depressing) for the next generation & beyond, back when they were smoothing out the first opium war China was leasing Hong Kong for 99 years no more dates come & vanish so many have gone, it is with heavy hearts as homeless decomposes into hopeless the young the old alike are scattered like drops from a heavy torrent of wind & rain, like winning a Nobel Prize for Forensic Artist of the Year or discovering a kind way of instilling fear as discreet panic & widespread apathy are too scattered one more time again, l hear the Passerines (love birds) with the marching of these men from subtropical to sub-arctic climates made for unlikely chances made possible ...

The big question is when the capable are not culpable if only calm could take over a city about to vote ...

The XTC song Mayor of Simpleton sure fits the fiscal & financial bill, soon it will be a crim~ to have your ashes scattered wherever on thjs earth that

means the most to you - drone caskets & drone urns will come in designer or generic plus aU the pretty colours too & all the collectors can put them by their money: coins plus all the one & two-dollar bills, As your heart slowly beats itself to death a natural causes expirer who's lived to 80 or so that's one billion beats (who's counting ... besides me) we all have our secrets far beneath our breath soon drone g ift shops will be selling fresh just caught breath along with the new issue of the Primitive Times newspaper, like if this planet were to commit mankindicide could you really blame it We have turned into a toilet full of overflowing garbage & throwaway newborns tossed like rubbish this neighbourhood used to be so nice soon to be just another crater, They say it is better to have belonged & lost than to have never belonged at all but the scattering has will&alwayswill begun---Now if we're not already in he ll the departing gifts throw me off as the scattering of sanity really turns me upside down as I cough I wonder if this last war wins' mentality will extinguish all our shining suns.

By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY

'"Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful." -Friedrich Nietzsche Vancouver

community network Street Messaging System

PACIFIC BLUEGRASS & HERITAGE SOCIETY

A variety oi bands playing Folk Bluegrass, a Country Music!

7 . 9 pm Nov 12th Carnegie Theatre

VCN has developed a web-based text messaging platform that will instantly connect street involved, disadvantaged & vulnerable people in the DTES with vital information on shelter, food services & health alerts as well as programs, skills and training opportunities.

Starting in the Downtown Eastside & using simple text messages, VCN will web-enable direct messaging to help end street homelessness, locating shelters, send alerts about 'bad batches', missing persons and jobs/skills training.

www.streetmessagingsystem.ca

CRUNCH..v a-res 'vJ(t L 1 ,-HEY CtoS£1> -rH£ PRDT£5 i

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OPPENHIEMO. PAR.I< f)o',+IN . .II WAS' A ..,./itt>IEST! t IHOVGI-If , , WA~ vcJST A CA.NPr¥RoutiC>?

wr~,~., Now 1Ts uusr f.INSob1J€l> 0PPE"Nf.II(M£R PA~K /,All]).

Y£P, HoPE -rHtY Miff)~ THEIR. PoiNT./

MAACHTH£

N~T&ONAL CONI=ERENCE

ON ..nU~lNe- MANAGING HOM[lfS3NfSS

Organlzad by tha Social Houalng Alliance on Uncaded Coaat Sallah Terrltorlea

carilegieC NEWSL E TTER

c;~rnnews@vcn t>e r.o

THIS NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.

WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter

Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry.

Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6.7")wide x 15cm(6")high.

Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered.

Black &White printing only.

Size restrictions apply (i.e. If your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit).

All artists will receive credit for their work.

Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication.

Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets.

Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor.

COMPUTER ADVICE Vancouver Community Network Cost-effective computer & IT support for non-profits VCN Tech Team http://techteam.vcn.bc.ca Call 778-724-0826 ext2. 705-333 Terminal Ave.

(Publication is possible only with now-necessary donations.)

DONATIONS 2014 Elsie McG.-$ 100 Robert McG.-$ 100 Terry & Savannah -$ 100 Margaret D.-$40 Leslie S.-$200 Dave J .-$24 Sharon J .-$35 -~-1---11 C hristopher R.-$ 100 Bob & Muggs -$300 Carnegie Seniors Support Group -$300 Sharman W.-$76 Michele C.-$1 00 C atherine C.-$100 Yukiko T.-$30 Vancou ver Moving Theatre -$200 Downtown East Village Pride -$50 Maxine B.$21 to honour poet N Benson Michael C.-$100 Mel & Barb L.-$50

"Neve r doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Meade We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this Newsletter, are occurring on Coast Salish Territory.

Next Issue: SUBMISSION DEADLINE

路 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH

Jenny Wai Ching Kwan MLA Working for You 1070 - 1641 Commercial Dr, VSL 3Y3 Pbooe; 604-775-0790