12th ANNUAL DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
.HEART ¥lE CITY FESTIVAL
OCTOBER 28 TO 1'~.NOVEMBER 8 2015
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Featuring over 80 events at over 20 locations throughout the Downtown Eastside Music • Spoken Word • Theatre . Film· ~istory Walks • Art Talks Dance • Gallery Exhibits
Cover Dalannah Gail Bowen David Cooper, photo , Diane Wood, phoenix image John Endo Greenaway, design
lih Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival Wednesday October 28 - Sunday November 8, 2015
Thursdays Writing Couective, photo David Cooper
SECOND WEEK - So much more to do! Most is free; check it out! SUNDAY November
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• WALL OF JOY Art Talk with Eyoalha Baker. llam-12pm. SE corner Abbott & Pender. Free • SUNDAY AT THE INTERURBAN. 12:45pm Michael Edwards; lpm RedSoulBluez; 2:15pm Beaver T and the Divas; 3:45pm Orkestar Slivovica. InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings. Free • SOLIDARITY NOTES LABOUR CHOIR. 1:30pm-2pm.
Woodwards
Atrium, 111 W. Hastings. Free
• STEALING LIGHT: Stories of Transformation with Columpa Bobb. 2pm-3pm. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. By donation to the Garden. • WORK IN PROGRESSwith Carnegie Dance Troupe and Karen Jamieson Dance. 4pm-5pm. SFU Woodwards World Art Centre, 149 W. Hastings. Free • BARRIO FLAMENCO: Flamenco for the People. 7pm. Ironworks, 235 Alexander. By donation MONDAY November
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• TERRAIN OF THOUGHT Workshop w/Ruth Howard. llam-2pm. Carnegie 3rd floor. Free • WOMEN ROCK. lpm-l:30pm. Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main. Free • EXPRESSIVEARTS Workshop.
1pm-3pm. Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova. Free
• TEACHING POW WOW. 1:30pm-3:30pm.
Carnegie Gym, 401 Main. Free
• DAY OF THE DEAD Celebration. (2pm) 3pm-4pm. Oppenheimer Park, 488 Powel!. Free • TERRAIN OF THOUGHIf Opening Reception. 7:30pm-9:30pm. Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery. Free
TUESDAY November
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• HEALTHY AGING THROUGH THE ARTS Puppet Show. 11:30am-12pm. SCC,601 Keefer. Free • COAST SALlSH PROTOCOL IN THE ARTS Panel. 2pm-4pm. VIMAF/W2 Hub, 877 E. Hastings. Free • 1975-2055: ART AND COMMUNITY Panel Discussion. 7pm-9pm. UNIT/PID, 236 E. Pender. Free WEDNESDAY November 4 • DTES FRONT & CENTRE: Boys' Night Out. 7pm-9:30pm. Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main. Free • CULTURE SAVES LIVES! Gala and Auction. 7pm-10pm. InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings. Free THURSDAY November 5 • LEARNING CENTRE LIVE!. 1pm-3pm. Carnegie Learning Centre, 3rd floor, 401 Main. Free • WOMEN'S ZINE Workshop Series. 2pm-4pm. EWMA Studio, 800 E. Hastings. Free • LOST & FOUND PUPPETS. 4:30pm-5:30pm.
DTES Neighbourhood
House, 573 E. Hastings. Free
• IF I FALL, IF I DIE Book Reading w/ Michael Christie; music with Hearts of Stone, and Shiloh Lindsey. 7:30pm-11pm. SBC Restaurant, 109 E. Hastings. Free FRIDAY November
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• EXPERIENCEOF CANTONESE HERBAL MEDICINE. 10am-12pm.
DTESNeigh. Hse, 573 E. Hastings. Free
• OPEN HOUSE. 10am-5pm, also Sat Nov 7. Vancouver Police Museum, 240 E. Cordova. Free • TWELVE ANGRY JURORS Staged Reading w/Theatre in the Raw, 1pm-3pm. Carnegie Theatre. Free • CREATIVE MOVEMENT Open Studio. 1pm-3pm. Carnegie Gym, 401 Main. Free • SALMON STREAM MOSAIC PROJECTLaunch & Reception. 1pm-3pm. Oppenheimer Park. Free • THE SHAKUHACHI QUEST: An Epic Journey Into the Soul of Music with Jim Sands, Michel Vies, Mike Richter. 8pm, also Thurs Nov 5. InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings. Tickets at the door,S cents to $20 SATURDAY November 7 rd
• POETRY AT CARNEGIE. lOam Slam Poetry Workshop w/Pam Bentley; rpm Carnegie's 3 Poetry Slam!; 3pm The Courage to Heal, w/Valerie Mason-John, Bertha Clark, Jillian Christmas. Reg Johanson; 4:30pm Sustain and Nourish w/Thursdays Writing Collective; 7pm DTES Poets Cabaret & Open Mic w/guests Valerie Mason-John, Bertha Clark, host Diane Wood. Carnegie. Free • THIS OLD TOWN Meet the Artist w/Ryan Lundy. 1pm-5pm. Gam Gallery, 110 E. Hastings. Free • TELLING STORIES Exhibition & Reception. 2pm. Chinese Cultural Centre Museum, 555 Columbia. Free • REGULAR EXPRESSIONSDebate Competition. 2pm. 221A, 221 E. Georgia. Free • MR. FIRE-MAN AINTS A PICTURE. 5pm-10pm. InterUrban, 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall. Free rd • CARNEGIE SING ALONG CHOIR led by Mike Richter. 6:30pm-9:30pm. Carnegie 3 floor Gallery. Free • ASHKENAZI!. 7:30pm-9:30pm. Floral & Hardy Edible Plants. 688 E. Hastings. Free • ALL OF ME: Evening w/Dalannah Gail Bowen and Friends. 8pm. Ukrainian Hall, 805 E. Pender. $10/$5 SUNDAY November
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• SEEDING HAND-SKILLS Workshop.
12:30pm-2:30pm.
Trillium North Park, Malkin & Thornton.
Free
For complete event details, pick up the Festival Program Guide at Carnegie Front Desk; Strathcona and Raycam Community Centres; VPLBranches Britannia, Hastings, Mount Pleasant and Strathcona; or go to; www.heartofthecityfestival.com. Produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and over fifty community partners. Front cover: Dalannah
Gail Bowen, photo
David Cooper, phoenix image Diane Wood, design Big Wave Design
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The "Heart of the City" festival is upon us and the Carnegie Library is really excited to have author, Michael Christie present his new book, Ifl Fall, Ifl Die on Thursday November 5th in the Smilin' Buddha Cabaret restaurant (109 East Hastings) starting at 7:30pm.
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For months I have attended meetings with the city; community members whose interest is to establish an Aboriginal Wellness and Healing Centre in the DTES. Many ideas; visions of what the centre should provide \ and to who. The message that rings loud and clear is harm reduction; and its place in the proposed centre. I walk up to a gated Buddhist temple; buzz; let in; I see no harm reduction box on wall; a few Chinese Societies; their entrances also gated; but from the door, I see into the room; no harm reduction box there either. A huge gated compound; I walk into an East \ Indian temple; no harm reduction box. I assume that these places and people police themselves and not allow people to wander in to use their washroom to do a fix; nor some floor space to nod off; or sleep. The centre I envision is one where Indian people who practice their traditions and culture can do so.
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Our people need a sanctuary; a place where we can ceremony; heal our spirit; heal ourselves; heal others. So much talk about how this city wants to reconcile; heal the past. By building and supporting this centre that would be a step in the right direction. If they are sincere; let us be Indians; just as they allow, other ethnic groups to be who they are; practice what they practice as a people; we deserve the same; a place of our own. Ekosi Robert Bonner
The location was chosen because it features a skateboard ramp, and skateboarding has a role to play in Christie's book (and the author's life) about a young man growing up in Thunder Bay, finding his identity and independence while coping with a mother who has agoraphobia. The book was long-listed for this year's Giller Prize! Christie first gained recognition for his book of short stories called The Beggar's Garden, set in the DTES which won the 2011 City of Vancouver Book A ward, and was developed while he was as a local outreach worker. Please drop by to request Christie's books, and for more fiction set in the DTES try these: Anatomy of a Girl Gang by Ashley Little (2013)Little is currently VPL's Writer in Residence, and there are a variety of writer's workshops and events she is hosting, such as the "Long Haul . Writing Marathon" on Nov. 7th. This book is about a gang of teenagers' called "The Black Roses" whose path becomes filled with darkness. Like a Child to Home by Bill Engleson (2013) - This story is from the perspective of a brooding, fading social worker named Wally Rose who has little patience for red tape. The old case of a troubled youth returns to him, and it becomes a battle to save himself and others from "the system". Wrong by Chris Waiter (2009) - WaIter features most of his writing in the DTES, including this one about the lead-up to the Olympics and a housing crisis that results in social unrest and a kind of apocalypse. A Day's Life by Tony Wilson (2012) - This novella by renowned guitarist, Tony Wilson reveals the life of a crack-addicted musician who lives on the streets of the DTES and busks to get by. To hear Wilson's music, we also have the CD "Pearls before swine" by the Tony Wilson 6tet. Your librarian, Natalie
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gROTESQUE cHICANERY Unbiased bigotry - sounds like an oxymoron but the context is a federal election. The specifics involve a handful of rich people who own/control major media in Canada & have the unmitigated gall to claim that "The Globe & Mail" The Toronto Star" "The Vancouver Sun" endorses the Conservative Government!? On the front cover of a 2011 Carnegie Newsletter, a depiction of Harper was accompanied by words giving this editor's opinion that voting Conservative was anti-democratic, that Harper's acts were fascist & his plans would'be treason. Tit for tat. When using the might of media to convey an opinion it has to be clear that a) it is an opinion; b) there are clear reasons why such has formed; and c) any claims made or facts referred to can be verified independently. In the 3 publications cited above none of these basics were met. Each paper was given copy written by the Conservative Party, in several instances word-for-word what appeared on their website, yet transformed into an "editorial" under a byline of some individual. There was no reasoning other than repetition of "good for the economy" on anything to do with money, while the ass-kissing of fossil fuel extraction, agribusiness, big pharma & untendered,
exponential increases in 'defence' (read billions on fighter jets while physical & mental health programs for traumatized vets get shut down) permeated said "editorials." The worst thing about these pat Party ideologues' claims was & is that the idea of independence in selecting which facts are factual, which claims stand up to scrutiny, is that Election Day was too close for the obvious holes & extreme bias in said selection to be shown for what it was. In this edition of the Newsletter there are comments on what comes next, the willingness to have a wait&-see period and keeping a tight hold of platform promises. This is rhetorically plausible. The very real matters close to most in the Downtown Eastside community -safe decent affordable housing, drugs & addiction, harm reduction & treatment, mental health, violence against women, the right to remain, hope and compassion and spiritual progress ... cannot be dismissed out-of-hand because a relative handful of people insist on business as usual. One sobering comment on the election result is that Liberals campaign from the Left but govern from the Right. By PAULR
TA YLOR
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staff ~ee.ti?g & th~n. ~or just a few hours. With over 7 individuals visitmg a day, any longer would just increase the crowd at the gate! It's like a safe harbour on a storm-tossed sea. I come for comfort - a cup of tea, a bowl Of soup, a real meal deal all for a fraction of cost to the city. At the same time as we gather all must be careful (well, I certainly have to be) not to BITE the hand that feeds us/me. We/I take umbridge sometimes but that's personal. We, all of us, have to keep our heads up to deal with how society sees & doesn't see us. We the people shall never be defeated. Wilhelmina M.
Heart of the City Come beat with us on a common drum With a heart that's pure and true No drugs or booze, instead we choose To depict what we think and do. In the Downtown East is a veritable feast Of music and art and love We portray our ways to live our days With a spirit that comes from above. If you join our crowd we will shout out loud How we conquer hate and fear And our common soul will make us whole 'Midst the mud and the blood and the beer In Vancouver's town we will all get down To dance with the stars up high And the city fest will provide the 'test To determine our place in the sky. Holger Mueller Sunday Nite Homesick Dinner Blues Lineup starts at 5. A steady stream of mostly single men wait patiently for a $3.25 complete dinner. We're at Carnegie Centre, Main & Hastings - red zone of the street drug traffic in Vancouver & the skid row of old. Here are the rundown hotels built in the last century to house, at first, Chinese migrants who worked on the CPR and, later, the loggers who came to town to drik & generally carouse. Most brought their young Native girls who were too young to drink - they'd just hang around the pubs waiting for their boyfriends. In the 50s & 60s it was mostly booze along the Strip. Now, in 2015, it's become an 'internationally-known hotbed of social imprt' but with teams trafficking in all manner of mind-altering substances; prostitution goes hand-in-hand with illicit anything. This is the sensationalized media's picture in overdrive!' However there exists a beautiful "old" building in the very. of this rotten apple - Camegie Community Centre. It's high ceilings & magnificent spiral marble; staircase accent stained glass windows, being a hub of straight & sober activities making an oasis from the wheeling & dealing right outside. All seasoned ages & genders are represented within the various public spaces & a branch of the Public Library is open 10-10 every day of the year! The Centre itself is rarely closed, maybe for a full
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PACIFIC BLUEGRASS & HERITAGE
SOCIETY
A variety of bands playing Bluegrass, Folk and Country Music! Wednesday, 7 . 9 pm November 11, %015 Carnegie Theatre
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Original Airdate IV Apocalypse Vow
L.ike a homosexual naif war criminal trying to find . his way out ofa walk-in closet we used up our time so damned fast never thinking ahead until it was too late & we had lost it yet the bands we were in were replaced problems can be solved if you really care, like Dementia 'Ri Us code-breaking the ten republican scumbags who want to rule the USA, friends started. or restarted hard drugs which was fine until death started taking us one by one this was no way okay ... Clubs were trashed bands came & went like a fire sale in Syria hopses burnt down as the epidemic threshold had started itaking the unwilling but what can you do with pure evil as it sucked up so many memories and members & that was oh so wrong, we moved into 909 Windermere (The Terrible House of Sickness) in 1984 heroin began its nasty disdain of health what could we do everyone was shooting & selling drugs it really seemed like to not do it was to be a fool: but death hit the terrible house hard, Mink died in Nov people started moving out by early' 85 it was time to keep my job & sanity so many addicts about we had created a situation of serious concern so many victims choosing the Ace of Death card, Jeff would be killed by a cop while AI overdosed no sunr.ise ~ia ~rank herself to death all this misery occurrmg nght irrfront of my eyes if! named every person I'd be reciting a Chinese phonebook .. saint minus honestly tried to protect us from ourselves from Doctor Injectables & Mr Hyde but our destiny like timelapse photography couldn't stop our death-wish like self-made prophecy at least we were released from our ~elf-wovenjails it was the life that I couldn't deny to this day people still give me cold-hearted noncaring looks & acts Every page could have been a book every line a chap~er every word a verse this is the story of a future past It could have been a little better yet it could have been so worse here I am it's almost 2016 back then there ~ever would've been a now, the moon & its gravitatl~nal'pull pulls so hard to stop this pen of mine my mind IS always reminded of that ultimate timespan we worshipped like an apocalypse now.
There are so many stories I could tell you'd laugh t until you cried. I'll give it a go so sit back & enjoy the ride these have no order just the preordained truth, we destroyed the Gastown Lodge kicking doors down & .. . . ! nppmg ml~rors off a large ~et .of drawers the~ going : out on a wmdow ledge & aurung at a car's windshield smash it went -all the glass cascaded around the doors' we wrecked the manager's suite having a demolition party god I loved abusing my youth, we also lived at Pier One an abandoned warehouse at Cord ova & Columbia everything was nicely arranged so many rows of windowsto break I never thought it strange the cops would arrest us one day for robbery I was 16 my best friend had turned 18 that very night, between the Buddha & the Lotus our days were pretty full of mis~ chief & disease we drank every day now that'snot to say everything was obtained with ease you had to be watchful - every single sound & sight, I had no ' money but the Lotus Pub guys were so cool we got shit-faced every day & nobody took us for fools but getting arrested changed all that, we scored our first place to live at s" & Manitoba right across from a soccer field even under cover the cops watched us play World Cup 24 this was in 1982 & the world was ours to fuck up clean up or steal the overcast days were cool but there was still a catc, Friends Records ! was an.awesome record store Lisa would close & go to the liquor store for me I used my credit, I was 17 & on UI which meant a $286 cheque every 2 weeks that ! was as cool as cool could be, late n '82 we moved to 6th & ~t George the gov't stopped sending me cash, got a job at the cannery Eric from East Van Halen & his ~oulmate had moved in & he said to apply so I got' the Job but Mink didn't but that didn't mean he didn't try while the time of my life was going fast, we drank & listened to punk rock all day if conscious all night . then Roland & his record collection moved in, I was worki~g as was Mink Roland drove a cab everything j By ROBERT McGILLIVRA Y for a tune was alright listening to 'New York Dolls' :, .' (Any bands, record stores I forgot my mind is getting cloudy with intermittent sanity ... ) Mi~or Threat'The Cure' Aerosmith'GBH'Discharge' while the band I was in "No Exit' died in August '83 "'PUnk ain't no religious cult! 'PUnk means thinking Oh Well I'm still young but not old enough to get on for yourself!" -Jello Biafra welfare .
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Carnegie Community Action Project
110 JI~*Âą 1ÂŁ1-1mtJ ~ IU November Newsletter
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Bif Naked and Jenny Kwan to take the 4th annual Welfare Food Challenge
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Raise the Rates held a news conference to announce the 4th annual Welfare. Food Challenge (left to right: Fraser Stuart, Harold Lavender, Bif Naked, Bill Hop wood, Jenny Kwan, Fraser Doke).
For the week of Nov. 3 to 9th, two famous people are going to do what over 170,000 people on welfare do every week: not have enough money for food. On Oct. 27, the Raise the Rates Coalition launched their 4th annual
Welfare Food Challenge at the Aboriginal Front Door in Vancouver. Singer Bif Naked is taking the challenge for the second time and new Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, Jenny Kwan, is taking it for the first time. Both women say they will spend that week
eating only what they can buy for $21. "I'm doing it because nothing has changed," said Bif at a news conference held to launch the Challenge. "Last year a big part of my motivation was people like Fraser (Stuart)"and Harold (Lavender). This is real. It's not just about eating. It's about having hope." "When you wake up every day and the only thing you have on your mind is what can I eat, there's no justification for it," said Fraser Stuart at the news conference. Fraser said he had been on welfare for about 3 years and it provided enough money to get through about a week and a half, not a full month. Derek Gent of Vancity Credit Union also spoke at the news conference about his experience of doing the challenge with his family last year. "In many ways it was tantamount to child abuse of my children," he said, adding that he had become "a fervent advocate of higher welfare rates." Harold Lavender, who has been on disability for 8 years, the same length of time that rates have been frozen, said that it's getting harder and harder to get by. "You have to ensure that people have enough money to
get by," he said. "I wish every politician in the province would try this," said Fraser Doke, who has been on disability with numerous health issues. "I urge Premier Christy Clark to listen to people in the community about what their lives are like when they have only $21 for food," said Jenny Kwan, who is also taking the Challenge. "At the end of one week my life resumes to where I have adequate food. I also have proper housing. We can end poverty. We can end people living on the streets." Participants in the Welfare Food Challenge eat only what they can buy with $21 for a week. Raise the Rates calculates that people living orr the welfare rate of $610 a month must spend about $450 for rent, $20 for security deposit, $21 for bus tickets, $25 for a phone, $10 for personal hygiene. With those expenditures, only $84 is left for food for a month. This works out to about $21 a week. Raise the Rates holds the Welfare Food Challenge to raise awareness about the inadequacy of welfare rates and pressure the provincial government to raise welfare rates substantially. If you would like to join the Challenge, contact bill50@vcnbc.ca.
New tower at 288 E Hastings (@ Gore) welfare are tiny, at 263.4 and 335 sq. feet. The non-market housing would be on the first 4 floors above the commercial stores on the ground floor. The more expensive, privately owned rentals would be bigger, at 432.3 sq feet for a studio, and would be on the top 6 floors with a better view.
Remember November 12th, if you're concerned about more expensive rental apartment towers coming to the Downtown Eastside (DTES). That's the day of an open house for a new proposal at 288 E. Hastings, just west of Gore Ave. from First United Church. The proposal is for an 11 storey building with 172 rentalhousing units. According to the current plan, which could still change, only 34 units will rent at the welfare rate, 70 at the Housing Income Limits rate (about $912 a month for a bachelor, but it rises every year). The remaining 68 units will be privately owned market rental units, probably with very high rents. The proposed units for people on
The Wall Corporation currently owns the plot and the plan is for BC housing to buy it from them, construct the building and then sell the retail spaced and market units back to Wall Corporation. It's unclear how much profit the Wall Corporation will make in this deal or how much BC Housing will be subsidizing their profits, if at all. The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is afraid that the new project will help gentrify the neighbourhood because most of the rents will be higher than current rents in the DTES. With higher rents, property values and taxes will go up and rents in nearby SRO hotels could also go up. The new proposal also requires eliminating several businesses, like the Golden Wheat Bakery, Lee Loy BBQ meats, the Ferry Market, and a barbershop that serve the low income
and Chinese community.
project, however, will finance units for people who are able to afford $912 a month for rent.
Upcoming events 2.53 E. HASTINGS STREET VANCOUVER COAST SALlSH TERRITORiES
sao Will people be able to get a haircut for $8.50 in the new development?
On Nov 12th, CCAP will hold an alternate Open House near the Chinese Cultural Centre, 50 W. Pender, where the official open house will happen between 5 and 8 pm. Come on down and learn about the proposal and its impacts from CCAP and let the city know what you think on their official comment forms. This proposal does not require a rezoning but does have to be approved by the Development Permit Board at a meeting on Jan. 25 at 3 pm at City Hall.
Beaters' Rigbts
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It looks like BC Housing will be putting at least $15 to $16 m illion into this project. With the cost of a new self-contained unit estimated to be about $250,000 in Vancouver, $16 million could build 64 units that people on welfare could afford. This
COMMUNITY SUPPORT THAT YOU NEED TO GET REPAIRS DONE -, PREVENT EVICTIONS!
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Viaduct removal will speed up OTES gentrification current plan will "turn the area into another Yaletown," to quote CCAP member Victoria Bull. According to the staff report, the $180 to $200 million cost of removing the viaducts, will be funded through condominium development-related revenues, including sale or lease of city-owned lands.
The Province, act 21st 2015
Last week a delegation from Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) went to City Hall to speak against the removal of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. On Tuesday, Oct 27th, City Council voted in favor of removing the viaducts. The removal of the viaducts will accelerate gentrification of Chinatown and Downtown Eastside. Gentrification pushes up rents, displaces low-income people, creates zones of exclusion and breaks up low-income communities. So far evervthinc indicates that the
In other words, the plan to finance the viaduct removal hinges on highend development and rising land values in the area. As CCAP member Harold Lavender told City council last week, "The developers stand to benefit a great deal from the rising land values, but it is unclear if anyone else will benefit." Last year, over 300 Single Residency Occupancy (SRO) units - the last stop before homelessness - were lost as gentrification pushed up the rents in many of the SRO hotels in the Downtown Eastside. Phoenix Winter explained to city council, "there is an onslaught on low-income housing in the DTES, and there are fewer and fewer places for people on welfare to live." It is likely that current plan will accelerate this ongoing loss of affordable housing in the area, while
at the same time failing to add any new units of social housing to the area. According to the staff report, the plan is to use this city-owned land to build about 1,000 market units with only 200-300 so called "affordable" housing units. However, the wording about the number of affordable housing units is vague and social housing is not mentioned once in the report to council. "The affordable housing will not be affordable to low-income people. The City's affordable housing is actually higher than market rents" to quote CCAP member Fraser Stuart. Indeed according to the City, anything that rents below $1 ,443 per month for a studio, $1,517 for a one-bedroom, and $2,061 for a two-bedroom apartment qualifies as "affordable housing." This is far out of range for most working class people in the city, and for the people on welfare who live in the surrounding area and who only receive a total $610 a month, of which at least $375 goes towards ren . "A lot lot of low-income people like me, will not be able to live there," Harold Lavender told city council. Taken together, the plan as it currently exists, is likely to perpetuate the history of displacement on the city-owned sites. In the early 1970's, the oredorninatelv Black community
living in Hogan's Alley was violently expropriated and displaced to make way for the viaducts. Now another low-income and racialized community will be displaced when the viaducts are removed. The viaductsare a testament to past injustices perpetuated by the City, and should be an opportunity to learn from the past and not repeat mistakes over again. Any future plan needs to make sure that development does not come at the cost of continued displacement. While CCAP opposes the current plan, we believe that it is important that any future planning process includes former Hogan's Alley residents, their descendants, and Vancouver's Black community groups.
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Phoenix Winter urged city council, "to build social housing for the people that need it." CCAP also demands that the city undertake a social impact study to evaluate the impacts of the development on lowincome residents and low income housing in the area.
Vancity Support for this project does not necessarily ImplY .. Vancity's endorsement of the findings or contents of this newsletter
Residents fear opening of Sequel condo project
Workers on the site of the new Sequel 138 development at 138 E. Hastings (opposite Insite) say that the building should open up in December. It will contain 79 condos that cost about $250,000 and more, 9 social housing units at welfare rate and 9 social housing units that are above welfare rate. The development also includes 10 retail storefronts that are selling for around $1 million each. Despite the fact that the vast majority of units in the development are unaffordable condominium units, BC Housing has arranged interim construction financing of $21.8 million to the developer. Journalist Mark Hasiuk calls it "the sweetest government deal since 40 acres and a mule." At the SRO convention on Oct. 18th, CCAP volunteers and staff asked community members what they thought of this new development. Here is what some
people said: - "There will probably be security watching every move I make." - "The people who live there are going to want to get rid of people like us" - "It should have been social housing." - "They'll probably tear down the buildings on either side." - "It's going to be like Alexander St. The "good" people walk on one side and the not so "good" on the other side." - "Lend me a quarter million and I'll live there." - 'The 'hood should be for us low income people." - "I don't like ~ really. It's going to be a high and, mighty race coming down here." - "Too much condos, they should care about homeless people first." - "It is ridiculous. They are selling the entire Downtown Eastside to rich people." - "Gentrification is seeping in block by block. We need housing for lowincome people." - "It is going to become like rail town: segregated." - "Why can't they help us out? We were here before." - "A lot of people will be forced out of the neighborhood."
Housing crisis town hall: How do we get governments to keep homelessness from increasing? I 2-4pm, Saturday, Nov 28th Only 45 new social housing units are confirmed to open in 2016, despite record high numbers of people sleeping on the street and despite rising rents, record low vacancy rates and a continued loss of affordable housing. Homelessness will drastically increase - especially in the DTES - if all three levels of government do not act now. Altogether, 648 new social housing units opened throughout the city last year and 458 of these units were used to house homeless people. Even though all these new units opened up and 458 homeless people moved into them, homelessness in Vancouver only went down by 57.
What will happen when only 45 new social housing units open and evictions, gentrification and displacement continue at the same pace? Come to Carnegie Community Action Project's housing town hall on November 28th to strategize about how to stop homelessness numbers from doubling in 2016. The town hall is a kick-off event for a campaign to unite individuals and groups in the DTES who want to fight for more social housing and to protect existing afferdable housing in the coming year. United we are stronger!
Do you want to see homes and better incomes for all? The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is a project of the board of the Camegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works mostly on housing, income, and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver so that the area can remain a low -ncome friendly community. The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) meets every Friday at 11 :15 on the 3rd floor of the Carnegie Centre. Join us! The CCAP office is located on the 2nd floor of the Carnegie https:l!ccapvancouver.wordpress.com! Unceded Coast Sal ish Territories
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Published on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 by Common Dreams
From 'Sustainable' to 'Regenerative'-The
Future of Food
by Andre Leu, Ronnie Cummins Earlier this week, the paywalled site PoliticoPro reported that Tom Vilseck, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, wants "farmers and agricultural interests to come up with a single definition of sustainability in order to avoid confusing the public with various meanings of the term in food & production methods." We agree that the word "sustainability" is meaningless to consumers and the public. It's overused, misused & has been shamelessly coopted by corporations for the purpose of green washing. "Do we want to grow our food in ways that restore climate stability & regenerate soil, health, economies .. rather than merely maintain the status quo?" But rather than come up with one definition for the word "sustainable" as it refers to food and food production methods, we suggest doing away with the word entirely: In its place, as a way of helping food consumers make conscious, informed decisions, we suggest dividing global food and farming into two categories: regenerative and degenerative. In this new paradigm, consumers could choose food produced by degenerative, toxic chemical-intensive, monoculture-based industrial agriculture systems that destabilize the climate, and degrade soil, water, biodiversity, health & local economies. Or they could choose food produced using organic regenerative practices based on sound ecological principles that rejuvenate the soil, grasslands & forests; replenish water; promote food sovereignty; & restore public health & prosperity-all while cooling the planet by drawing down billions of tons of excess carbon from the atmosphere & storing it in the soil where it belongs. 'Sustainable'-Is that All We Want? The dictionary defines "sustainable" as: able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed; involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources; able to last or continue for a long time. In other words, sustainability is about maintaining systems without degrading them. Arid it is about keeping things much the same without progressing. â&#x20AC;˘ Industrial agriculture today, with its factory farms, waste lagoons, antibiotics & growth hormones, GMOs, toxic pesticides 'and prolific use of synthetic fertilizers, doesn't come close to "not using up or destroying natural resources." And even if it did, is that all we want, or need, to achieve? Or do we want to grow our food in ways that restore climate stability and regenerate-soil, health, economies-rather than merely maintain the status quo? Greenwashing and the Labeling Game Corporations love to brand themselves, and label their products, as "sustainable." The hope is that consumers will view "sustainable" products as superior to mere "conventional" products, or better yet, equate the word "sustainable" with "organic." But when a widely discredited and despised company like Monsanto eo-opts the word "sustainable," the word loses all meaning for consumers. On its website, Monsanto says: Our vision for sustainable agriculture strives to meet the needs of a growing population, to protect and preserve this planet we all call home, and to help improve lives everywhere. In 2008 Monsanto made a commitment to sustainable agriculture - pledging to produce more, conserve more, & improve farmers' lives by 2030. Nothing could be further from the truth. Monsanto's Roundup-Ready, chemical-intensive GMO crops now dominate agriculture, on a global scale, poisoning soil, water, air, farm workers and consumers. The words on their website fool no one-the agriculture they promote is anything but "sustainable." It is the same with the certified "sustainability" labels promoted by corporations such as Cargill, Heinz Benelux, Mars, Nestle, Unilever and Cadbury. These labeling schemes-such as Rainforest Alliance, Sustainable Agriculture Network, and UTZ--can be congratulated for promoting the planting oftrees on farms, for improving the farm environment and for requiring compliance with minimum labor standards. But they do nothing to curtail the use of soil-destroying, climate-destabilizing chemical fertilizers and the thousands of toxic pesticides that are known to cause.??!b _~nvironmental and health damage.
A "sustainability" label may mean the production methods behind a product inflictedsomewhat less damage on the environment. But it doesn't mean the product will cause less damage to human health. Numerous published scientific studies link ex- posure to the smallest amounts of these "approved" pesticides to cancers, birth defects, endocrine disruption,reproductive problems, developmental neurotoxicity, ADHD, autism, obesity, type 2 diabetes, reproductive problems, immune system damage, epigenetic mutations, kidney, liver & heart disease and numerous other non-communicable diseases that are currently in epidemic proportions. Most of the farmers enrolled in these "sustainability programs" used to grow crops or graze animals traditionally, with little or no chemicals. The same is true for the many thousands of certified organic coffee & cacao farmers who have been hijacked by these schemes-schemes which allow them to charge a premium without meeting the more rigorous organic standards. How can the promoters of these "sustainability" labels claim that they are reducing chemical use when they have converted thousands of low-input traditional farmers to the use of chemicals that they never used before? A global 'Regeneration Revolution' is under way In the 1970s, Robert Rodale, son of American organic pioneer 1.1. Rodale coined the term 'regenerative organic agriculture' to distinguish a kind offarming that goes beyond simply "sustainable." According to the Rodale Insti-路 tute: Regenerative organic agriculture improves the resources it uses, rather than destroying or depleting them. It is a holistic systems approach to agriculture that encourages continual on-farm innovation for environmental, social, economic and spiritual well-being. Regenerative organic agriculture "takes advantage of the natural tendencies of ecosystems to regenerate when disturbed. In that primary sense it is distinguished from other types of agriculture that either oppose or ignore the value of those natural tendencies." Regenerative organic agriculture is marked by tendencies towards closed nutrient loops, greater diversity in the biological community, fewer annuals and more perennials, and greater reliance on internal rather than external resources. Regenerative organic agriculture is aligned with forms of agroecology practiced by farmers concerned with food sovereignty the world over." "An increasing. number of farmers want to grow food and raise animals using organic and regenerative farming and grazing practices that are not only better for human health, but that also cool the planet, feed the world, heal the soil, foster food sovereignty and strengthen communities. " We opened this piece by stating that the word "sustainability," in the context of food & food production, has led to consumer confusion. But we don't like where Vilsack is headed. "In recent years," he told PoliticoPro, "consumers have raised concerns about conventional agricultural practices, which has led to the growth of organic, GMOfree foods & 'natural' products, often at the expense of the reputation of conventional products. I think it's going to be incumbent on us to have a common understanding of what [sustainability] means to better serve the interests of agriculture as a whole and consumers." At the "expense of the reputation of conventional products"? Is Vilsack referring to the well-earned bad reputation of products (those containing GMOs & toxic pesticides, perhaps?) produced using degenerative, rather than regenerative, practices? A "common understanding" of what sustainability is might better serve the interests of Monsanto and the agribusiness corporations-but it will do little to serve the interests of small farmers and consumers. The number one driver behind rising sales of organic foods is consumer concern about health, especially pesticides, growth hormones and GMOs. But as scientists issue increasingly dire warnings about the climate, and people throughout the world connect the dots between industrial agriculture and global warming, there is a growing contingent of fanners and consumers who want to do more. An increasing number of fanners want to grow food & raise animals using organic & regenerative farming & grazing practices that are not only better for human health, but that also cool the planet, feed the world, heal the soil, foster food sovereignty and strengthen communities. And consumers want to purchase those products, knowing that their production generated healing, not harm. It's a Regeneration Revolution. And it goes well beyond "sustainability."
Theatre for Living is looking for workshop participants! All cast AND participants will be paid a living wage. No acting experience necessary. FREEDOM is a theatre project about finding solutions to a world transformed by the desire for economic growth, at the expense of human and environmental rights. What have we lost as a society, as we've turned towards pursuing economic freedom instead of human and environmental rights? "There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources & engage in activities to increase its profits" - Milton Friedman Economic freedom appears to have become more important than human and environmental rights; than freedom of speech; than affordable housing; than higher education. Has our role as responsible citizens in Canada become to maximize profits for anonymous shareholders at the expense of nurturing our families, communities and the environment? What have we lost from this? What has happened to our world? Have you experienced some of the changes in this shift towards economic freedom? ... we'relooking for workshop participants! If your answer to the question is "yes", (at either personal, family or professional levels) - that you have experienced loss within this new Economic Freedom paradigm that has affected the environment, freedom of speech, and other human rights issues - then you have knowledge and a perspective that is valuable to this theatre production. Having living knowledge of the issue is an essential criteria for participation; having acting experience is not. We need a diversity of perspectives to enrich this work. Please keep in mind, you will not be required to make personal experiences a part of the public performance - we want lived experiences to bring expertise into the room to create the play, but the play that will be created will be a fiction. We want to collaborate with individuals who have lived experiences in this shift towards economic freedom, to join us in creating our next main stage production: FREEDOM. All cast and workshop participants are paid. How to Apply: If you are interested in helping create the play and being a cast member, please indicate that you are available to do so. This is full-time work, (Feb 23 to April 16), 5 & sometimes 6 days a week. A day-to-day schedule is TBA. We want real diversity in the group, so please tell us who you are and WHY you want to be part of this project, and HOW it is relevant to you, in CONCRETE ways, specifically through your own life experiences. This information will be kept confidential. Be sure to let us know how we can find you again (emailphone number.rnailin] address and/or a secondary contact person) PLEASE SEND APPLlCA TIONS TO info@theatreforliving.com For more information please visit: http://www.theatreforliving.com/present_work/freedom/freedomjndex.html All participants are paid a living wage for their participation in the project, and no acting experience is necessary only lived experiences in the issues. 604.871.0508 is my office line.
Attention. artists living in the Downtown Eastside: DTES Small Arts Grants Applications are online at:
vancouverfoundationsmallarts.ca/apply Paper applications are also available at the Camegie Community Centre Info Desk (main entrance). Learn more about applying at an I11fo Session held on the third floor of the Carnegie: *Saturday, October 24th, *Sunday, November 15th, Deadline for submissions
1:00 pm to 2:30 pm 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
is:
Thursday, November 26, 2015, 4:00 PM For more information, contact: Jason Bouchard, coordinator DTES Small Arts Grants 604-665-2213 dtesartsgrants@gmail.com
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Please make cheques or money orders payable to the Carnegie Community and write "Newsletter donation" on the memo line at the bottom of the cheque.
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Articles represent the views of individual contnllUtors and not of the Association ..
Next issue:
WANTED
#-
Small illustrations 10 accompany articles and poetry. Cover art -- Max size: 17cin(6 '/.")wide x 15cm(6jhigh. Subject mattel pertaining 10issues relevant to the Downtown Eas.lside, but all work considered. Black & While printing only. Size restrictions apply (Le. it your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped 10 fit). All artists will recei.vecredit for their work. Originals will be returned \0 the artisl alter being copied for publication. Remuneration: Camegie Volunteer TICkets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor. The editor can edit for darily, formal & brevily, but not al the expense of the writer's message.
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12th'
Law Students Legal Assistance Project -at Camegie has resumed. Students listen to & explore options of your legal matters, all confidential and with supervising lawyers. TUESDAYS, 7 - 9pm, 3rd floor Art gallery, 401 Main Street.
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTIOI' • AIDS • POVERTY • HOMELESSNESS . • VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ABORIGINAl GENOCIDE • -TOTAlITARIAN CAPITALISM IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR .
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Meade'
. THIS NEWSLEITER IS A PUBUCAllON OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION
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Vancouver Moving Theatre -$450 Pat 0.$50 Harold & Sharron 0.-$100 Michael C.-$100 Vancouver's Eleanor 8.-$25 Elaine & Oavid -$40 Ruth McG -$50 Margaret M.-$50 Jacqueline L -$75 Christopher R.-$100 non-commercial, Jenny K -$100 Robert McG.-$110 listener supported Penny C.-$50 in memory of Miriam Stuart community station. Skateboarders -$50 I Wilhelmina M.·$77 Jackie W.-$50 George H.$110 Ruth L.-$100 Barry M,·$250 Anonymous -$130 In Memory of Harold David - WiII/Sharon C.-$50 *Barbara M.-$200 Gina F.-$100 lori /Borys -$100 *Catherine B.-$50 Yukiko T.-$50 taylor 5.-$20 *Solidarity Notes Labour Choir -$25 *Kevin & Richard D.-$100 CHIPS -$500 *Radiation Therapy Clerks -$40 Jacki 5.-$15 *Roger C.-$100 Oenise D.-$60 Lydia McK.-$100 Kelly F.-$50 in memory of Bud Osborn Catherine H.-$50 laila 8.-$50 Aideen McK.-$10 Aiden S.-$25 Yasushi K.-$50+ Jay H.-$100 Mike J.-$1750 Linda 0.-$25 S & J T.·$50
From the Council of Canadians This historic election surprised and stunned us all. There are many thoughts and emotions that surface for me right now and I want to share them with you. First, I am so very proud of the work the Council of Canadians - our staff, board, chapter activists and especially supporters like you - undertook over the last year to boost voter turnout and bring change to Ottawa. Together we organized town hall meetings in 10 battleground cities, providing a forum for thousands of concerned voters to debate key local and national issues, and galvanize those concerns into action. The Council's tireless team of volunteer chapter activists organized a total of200 election activities across 39 communities, including door-to-door canvassing, allcandidates debates, and information tables at community events. We worked closely with First Nations on their voter registration programs and we distributed more than 185,000 copies of our Voter's Guides. Thanks to your support, we were also able to reach the most vulnerable in our communities, such as in Peterborough, Ontario where the Council organized buses to bring low-income voters to register with Elections Canada. And in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, we handed out copies our Voter's Guides at the local food bank to ensure people had the tools to know how to vote and to cast an informed ballot. Then there was the incredibly successful campaign led by Brigette DePape to boost young voter turnout. She built a remarkable team of "Game-Changers," students volunteers who took action across 20 college and university campuses, including our wildly successful "Storm the Dorrn," where we put more than 50,000 Ballot Box Toolboxes directly into the hands of young and first-time voters. The result? This morning Elections Canada is reporting that three million more Canadians voted in this federal election than in the last. Wow! The second reason why I'm so proud is of course that the country rejected the Harper Conservatives' vision and record, and sent Stephen Harper packing. In the months leading up to the election, your support helped the Council of Canadians publish detailed analyses of the Harper record and get this information out far and wide, giving voters concrete evidence of its destructive nature. It was actually sad to see Stephen Harper standing with Rob Ford in a lastditch appeal. Together, we also were successful in putting forward issues dear to our hearts - such as challenging destructive trade deals, exposing the violation of the right to water in First Nations communities, condemning the assault on civil society and charities, fighting climate change and pipelines, and trumpeting the need to protect and strengthen our public health care system. Well done all! Finally, you and I should take pride in the apparent overall lack of electoral fraud in this election. The Council has â&#x20AC;˘ worked flat-out to restore the integrity of Canada's democracy in the wake of the robocall scandall and so-called "Fair" Elections Act that followed. The unflinching support of people like you has enabled the Council to fight these attacks on our democracy in the courts and expose them to the Canadian public. But now you and I must turn our attention to the work ahead. While such a majority for one party might not have been our desired outcome, and while we are sad at the loss of many dedicated MPs, we can move forward now to hold the Liberals accountable for their promise of a new way of doing things and a more open and democratic government. Together, you and I will be insisting that Justin Trudeau makes good on his promises of holding a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, negotiating a new Health Accord with the provinces, instituting electoral reform and fixing the '\Fair" Elections Act, ending the war on charities, repealing anti-union legislation, repealing parts of Bill C-51, welcoming more refugees to Canada, protecting the Great Lakes, and banning oil tankers off the West Coast, among other promises. There are a number of fronts where you and I will have to be particularly on guard, including on trade, where the Liberals support the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its European counterpart, CET A, both of which contain the destructive investor-state dispute settlement mechanism; on water, where the Liberals support flawed public-private partnerships for our water utilities; and on climate, where they support pipelines such as Energy East. We need to send the new Liberal government to the Paris climate talks this December with a clear mandate for swift and meaningful action on climate change. But today is a day for you, me and the Council of Canadians community to celebrate a new future for Canada and welcome new and returning MPs from all parties back to Parliament. May a new day of cooperation and respect attend their return to the House of Commons, and a new day of civility begin between elected officials and the people of Canada. With hope and resolve, Maude Barlow, National Chairperson
ICE, .