SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
VaRr,n:eagie ~ NEWS LETTE R
carnnews@vcn.bc.ca
401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7 (604) 665-2289 Email: carnnews@shaw.ca
Website/Catalogue:
carnegienewsletter.org
"We're being gentrified"
:ooVOllM DINNERS 'P:
There was a letter that was posted on the glass between patrons and servers at the entrance before kitchen renovations. Ethel Whitty had signed it and it talked about the need many regular patrons have for the food here. It appealed to people's conscience; whether it had much of an effect is an open question.
A word to Patrons A regular user of the Carnegie Food Service stopped at the Newsletter office door and asked that the letter about the subsidised nature of the kitchen be displayed again. He was right. More and more people see what excellent and nutritious food, beverages and pastries are on offer here and remain amazed at the price. The Carnegie Kitchen strives to provide the best possible repasts and does so to serve the low-income residents of the Downtown Eastside. The food is provided at cost plus, to cover the value of the volunteer tickets and maintain the service (with the wages of employees not factored in). The recent renovations were to modernise the facility and make this service good for decades to come. The point of the member was that we seem to be attracting more people who are not low-income, who come to purchase very low-cost meals and show little or no concern that the supply of goods, though generous, is limited. Often people who cannot afford to eat elsewhere find the main dishes gone by the time they can get here to eat. As the member said, "We are being gentrified." The theme of this is simple - if you can afford to eat at any of the dozens of restaurants in the immediate vicinity, then please consider that eating here, while less expensive, does mean less food for those who cannot go elsewhere. For scores of pensioners and those on income assistance, Carnegie makes it possible to eat healthily every day of the month. By PAULR TAYLOR There were other points in Ethel's letter and maybe it could go back up, or be shortened & enlarged so anyone entering the cafeteria would see it on the wall. Sahota, the one who owns the Regent, Balmoral, Cobalt etc. was coming in here for subsidised food every week, often every day. He's reportedly worth $230 million. Debra McKnaught, after moving out of the Regent, saw this guy in line and went in the cafeteria to loudly 'out' him. "This is the sleaze who runs the
crap hotels hundreds of us have to live in. He's worth millions but comes here to eat food for poor people. He refuses to run decent buildings, gouges us for whatever he can get away with ... (there was more but let's just say ETC) I don't think he's been back since. Now ifusers ofCarnegie find people they recognise as staff at banks and businesses eating here it may get ugly. Please think about thjs. It won't do to have a 'means' test for using the food services but it's also not good to be catering to those who just get off on a cheap meal with no thought of consequences.
Charity Charity is not subject to condition. It is the willingness to help another with no strings attached, with no expectation of something in return. Charity is not boastful of past deeds done, for all around to bow down in praise. Charity is humble, at times anonymous, relieving the recipient of all feelings of owing, of indebtedness. Charity can help mend a broken heart and bring faith and hope to an empty soul, that one might learn to trust again through acts of human kindness. Thank you. Š Jacqueline Angharad Giles
The 11th Annual Oppenheimer Park Community Art Show
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Exhibition runs: September & October, 2018 Gallery Gachet (9 West Hastings Street) Through October 28, 2018, Oppenheimer Park and Gallery Gachet are pleased to present What these trees have seen, an exhibition showcasing artwork from the Oppe.nheime.rPark community. Included are paintings, drawings, pnnt, sculpture, carvings and mixed media works. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm-6pm. Oppenheimer Park is the site of Legacy Sakura trees pla~ted in 1977 b a group of over 70 first generation seniors as part of a project coordinated by the Tonari Gumi (Japanese Community Volunteers Association). This year'.s e~ibition considers the wisdom & beauty of these historic trees and will delve into the themes of natur.e, time and pla~e generated through community meetmgs and a vote m June 2018. Thirty-five artists' diverse interpretations will be featured in the show. MORE INFORMA nON For more information on exhibitions and all public programs at Gallery Gachet, contact Micaela Kwiatk?,:"ski 604.687.2468, programming@gachet.org or vlsltwww.gachet.org
. fiormation . on the 11th Annual OppenheiFor more m mer Park Community Art Show, please contact Oppenheimer Park at 604-253-8830 or oppparkartshow@gmail.com
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ABOUT OPPENHElMER PARK ART SHOW The Oppenheimer Park Community Art Show began in 2~08 in anticipation of the changes, challenges and loss m a pre-Olympic city. It presented an opportunity to recognize the existing neighbourhood and its residents w~o play im?or~ant roles in creating community by drawing on their history despite challenges and struggl~s. Oppenheimer Park is one of the few green space~ m the area and one ofthe oldest surviving parks m the heart of the city. It is often referred to as the Backyard of the Downtown Eastside and is also one of the few inclusive spaces left for people who are homeless or without adequate and safe housing. The Park hosts many programs, festivals and special events, a~d is the b~siest park, per capita, in the city. Oppenhenner Park ISlocated in the Downtown Eastside, a resolute community who uphold a vision of the Park as a place for art, education, recreation, health and healing. Oppenheimer Park would like to give a special thanks to our funders, s~onsors, and partners. Editor: While watching late night TV I saw the host hold up an ad-"Crap Au Gratin" put in a newspaper by a restaurant. My opinion of all the 'know-it-ails on TV radio & papers, when they start to tell us what should be done to clean up the Downtown Eastside--these solutions are "crap au gratin.' I ~m a ~oor pe~son who believes very strongly that, until the know-it-ails' put on the shoes of the drug addict, prostitute, jailbird, person-with- HIV /AIDS and lives with all of the above, they will never know what it's like. People in the downtown eastside are here because society refuses to understand why-to listen. Money and Power are the prime reasons why our or any government exists-to help the few get it on the backs of the poor. Much of the beauty of life is seen by people who genuinely care. We, the people of the do~ntow~ eastside, care more than the almighty pinstriped SUitSand the inhumans in them. We must keep up the fight and never lay down our tools. Gael Marriotte
CANADA
IS READY fOR
A Electoral Reform: Myths & Misinformation Prop Up the Status Quo Scare tactics shouldn't block change to a better democracy. [This article, by David Chudnovsky, president of the BC Teachers' Federation, appears in The Tyee (thetyee.ca) in March 2018.]
The debate on lectoral reform in B.C. has hardly begun, but the people arguing against a change to the status quo - the first past the post system - have been quick off the mark. They've already launched an attack on mixed member proportional representation (MMP), one of the options for reform. Unfortunately, their claims have almost always been wrong and sometimes just plain silly. First, let's understand how mixed member proportional representation works. It's simple enough. Voters get two ballots. The first, just like the vote we have now, is used to elect a constituency representative. The second lets them vote for the party of their choice. Those votes are counted and, based on the percentage of support, each party is awarded seats in the parliament or legislature. This ensures the result is more fair, democratic and accountable. These seats would be filled from lists prepared by the parties, made public before the election. The parties could let members, or all voters, decide who should be on the list. Now let's unpack some of the things defenders of the status quo have been saying. 1. They claim MMP leads to extremism and first past the post doesn't. Supporters of FPTP argue there is something unique about proportional representation that leads to extremism. There's a simple, two-wo d response to that false claim: Donald Trump. Trump was elected under FPTP with less than 50 per cent - not unusual under our current system. The claim is often made that with proportional
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representation extremist parties sometimes get elected to parliaments and legislatures, so change should be rejected. But compare the impact of a small minority extremist party in a parliament to the extremist president of the U.S., a racist, misogynist, egotist with his finger on the nuclear button, elected under FPTP. 2. They claim MMP leads to unstable parliaments and FPTP doesn't. Supporters of first past the post say that there's something about mixed member proportional representation that leads to unstable governments that fall before their mandate is up, while FPTP guarantees stability. But they should read our history a bit more closely. Between 1957 and 1965 there were five Canadian federal elections under our current system - one every 20 months. One government lasted less than nine months. And it's not just Canada. In the 1920s, Britain had three elections in less than two years using out current first past the post system. So much for stability. 3. They claim that under MMP "party insiders" and "backroom boys" would have tremendous influence on who gets to be a candidate and under FPTP they don't. This is laughable. We all know that under the current system party heavyweights intervene all the time to influence and even control who their candidates will be. Justin Trudeau did it. Stephen Harper did it. Virtually every party and every party leader has been caught out trying, and often succeeding, in "managing" who becomes a candidate and who doesn't. Defending FPTP candidate selection as pure and uncontaminated by party insiders is just silly. Under mixed member proportional, each party will create a list of candidates to correct unfairness and lack of democratic representation. These lists can be determined in many ways - including open, democratic primary votes by party members or the general public. 4. They claim that MMP is too complicated for the B.C. voters to understand. All around the world, people vote in various proportional representation systems, including MMP, which is used in countries like Germany and New Zealand. Those hundreds of millions of voters are no more intelligent than British Columbians. They just have fairer electoral systems. And that's the most important reason for mixed member proportional - to make elections fairer, more democratic and more accountable. 5. Why bother to make this change? There are lots of reasons that people prefer mixed member proportional to the current system, but the most important one has to do with fairness and democracy. Ifwe're going to make et change, we should be able to identify a problem. And when it comes to electoral reform in B.C. it's easy td identify the problem. Remember the 2001 BC election? The BC Liberals got 51 per cent of the vote and 97 per cent of the seats. The NDP got 21 per cent of the vote and two per cent of the seats. The Greens got 12 per cent of the vote and no seats. That's not an insignificant or minor difficulty; it's a big problem. But it's not an unusual outcome under FPTP. It happens to a greater or lesser extent in every election. So a system that includes constituencies (so every voter has an elected community representative) and a list to "top up" the results to make them more fair, more democratic, and more accountable makes sense. The decision to reform our electoral system is an important one. Every voter should make themselves aware of the points of vie pro and con. And every voter should look critically and skeptically at the arguments being used to defend the antiquated and flawed system called first past the post.
------------------------------------SOsad to hear ofHolger's passHOLGER MUELLER
Jenny Kwan MP Vancouver Immigration,
East NDP Refugee
and Citizenship Critic 2572 E Hastings St Vancouver,
BC V5K IZ3
T: 604-775-5800 F: 604-775-5811 Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca
ing recently. He was a personal friend of mine, as well as a great math tutor who volunteered at the Carnegie Learning Centre for years. Holger had a great ability to explain things that were difficult for most people. He will be forever missed by all who knew him for his generosity and humour.. He had a great ability to tell jokes and create good ones like this: Why did the bicycle fall behind the tricycle? Because it was two-tired. RIP Holger. Bon voyage.
Aiden S.
From the Library The library is always buying new books to keep our collection fresh. Here are some of the new and hot information books this season: Preeti Mistry's new, bright Juhu Beach Club Cookbook features stories, glorious photographs (mostly food but also the restaurants and farmers' markets), and easy-to-make recipes for things like Black Dal, which she links to the Black Lives matter Movement. She is the fiery driving force behind two new restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her lineage is Gujarati, although her parents lived in Uganda until Indians were expelled in 1972, and she was born in London. She writes about the immigrant experience, dealing with "racist, ignorant bullies who despise anyone brown or 'foreign'," and includes recipes that will make your mouth water. The Encyclopedia of Misinformation: A Compendium of Imitations, Spoofs, Delusions, Simulations, Counterfeits, Impostors, Illusions, Confabulations, Skullduggery, Frauds, Pseudoscience, Propaganda, Hoaxes, Flimflam, Pranks, Hornswoggle, Conspiracies, and Miscellaneous Fakery by Rick Sorgatz ... The title says it all. Featuring entries for everything from Tofurkey to Hatsune Miko (the computergenerated "vocaloid" pop ... star? from Japan), Milli Vanilli to Exploding Pop Rocks. Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life is cartoonist Ellen Forney's new autobiography. She says, "Rock Steady is focused on bipolar disort der, but is also for any mood disturbance - tools to comfort ourselves, recognize danger signs, and just live with a good deal of uncertainty and craziness ... Getting stable is really tough. Maintaining stability over the long term is a whole other challenge. Ideally, it's less dramatic, bu it's just as demanding." The graphic novel format really lets her story shine.
and the fall season usually brings lots of new material. Do you like to discuss complicated issues? Try out the monthly Philosophy Cafe, hosted by moderators from SFU in the Carnegie Learning Centre. On October 9, the topic is "Should we work to integrate the shadow side of ourselves and our society?" It's from 6:30-8 pm, and you can drop-in. Happy reading,
Nest by s.millar As towers loom Currency's cut Propaganda propagates Addicts die As cops're loosened Elders're mugged Dealers fatten Children're abused Cockroaches fuck Sirens wail Investors speculate As senses dull Commuters disassociate Politicians squwack Illness inhabits As bread molds Thieves steal Tourists blanch Stomachs growl As cameras roll Rumours spread Hotels rot Loneliness aches As dreams die Traffic grates Stories, Memories, Reflections by Mi'kmaw Elder The pious flinch Doug Knockwood is a beautifully-assembled combiWhat remains is connection nation of voices describing the life of a respected An oasis reaffirming life man. Doug Knockwood was sent to residential school, joined the military, was diagnosed with tuber- Something here brings us together culosis, and struggled with addiction to alcohol... yet And unity is our struggle he passed through his rock bottom to become a Collective will moves me sought-after drug and alcohol counselor, and created Where I can't get alone many initiatives that have been implemented across I am embraced by community Canada by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Feeling I am home Come check out our library's New Books display for other new titles - we put them out as they roll in,
Ariel
10 YEARS OF BROKEN
PROMISES:
RALLY AT CITY HALL
City Council's refusal to build 100% welfare and pension rate housing at 58 West Hastings marks 10 years of broken promises. In 2008, Mayor Gregor Robertson promised to 'end homelessness' within 7 years.A decade later; the homelessness count in Vancouver has increased by 35%. On Tuesday,September 18,City Council will hold its last public hearing before the 2018 municipal election. Mayor Robertson and half of the sitting city councillors are not seeking reelection. After 10 years of lies, empty gestures, and broken promises, these elected officials will abandon their seats and with them their responsibility in perpetuating the homelessness crisis. At 9am, the Our Homes Can't Wait coalition will rally at the south entrance of City Hall to make sure Mayor Robertson and City Council are held accountable for their shameful tenure over the past 10 years.They promised us 100% welfare and pension rate housing at 58 West Hastings. We're not going to let them take it away from us. This rally will be a commemoration of the leaders we have lost in the last decade in the struggle for housing; an impassioned send-off to Gregor and his disgraced council; and a warning to the city councillors to come: we will raise hell until every single person in Vancouver has a dignified home to live in. Our homes can't wait! .
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RALLY DETAILS join us at the rally on Tuesday,September 18th at 9 am, south entrance of Vancouver City Hall (453 W 12th Ave,Vancouver) ORGANIZE WITH US Do you want more housing in the community? Join the fight for 100% welfare and pension rate housing! Join us for light lunch and organizing every Tuesday, I pm in the meeting room on the second floor atVANDU on 380 E Hastings St,Vancouver. Meetings are open to everyone in the community. ABOUTOHCW The Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition (OHCW) recognizes that this event and all of our organizing work takes place on the stolen territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and T sleilWaututh First Nations. Our Homes Can't Wait is a coalition of groups in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
CCAP PROVIDES FEEDBACK TO UNITED RIGHTS COUNCIL FOR 3RD UNIVERSAL
NATIONS PERIODIC
HUMAN REVIEW
OMELS IS
CRrM On May 11,2018, Canada appeared before the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) for its third[ I] Universal Periodic Review (UPR3), during which Canada's human rights record was examined by other UN Member States. A record 107 Member States participated in the review, resulting in 275 recommendations for Canada to improve its human rights situation. Canada was required to provide a formal response to the UN HRC by the end of August 2018, indicating which of the recommendations Canada will and will not accept. To inform Canada's response, the Government of Canada invited feedback from representatives of Indigenous groups and civil society organizations on the UPR3 recommendations, in writing and in person, to identify existing gaps in human rights protection in communities across the country. The Caregie Community Action Project (CCAP) was one of the organizations invited to contribute to informing the development of Canada's UPR3 response. Here is what CCAP recommended:
UNDER SECTION 4.2: POVERTY, HOMELESSNESS, AND FOOD SECURITY Implement recommendation number 150: Ensure that those living in poverty are not unduly criminalised (South Africa) CCAP recommends the immediate implementation of recommendation number 150. In a time of austerity, the government has cut funding to social programs and resources except for policing. While necessary programs and resources inVancouver's Downtown Eastside are cut, we see an increase in the Vancouver Police department's police budget. With an increase in the police budget comes an increase of police that folks on the street encounter. Poor and racialized community members are under constant surveillance from the police and many folks who are simply existing and trying to survive have experienced violence at the hands of the police. Each year the number of people living on the street grows as a result of lack of housing in the community that has been exasperated by gentrification and austerity policies. As poverty becomes increasingly visible, policing of poverty and the criminalization of the poor also increases. Zones of exclusion also become sites marked by increased surveillance and policing. Zones of exclusion are spaces where people are unable to enter because they lack the necessary economic means for participation.As wealthier people move into the neighborhood, more spaces are devoted to offering amenities that cater to them. Strategies of control and punishment are implemented at these sites in order to protect them from the presence of unwanted people and from potential disruption. Only those with status, privilege and wealth can enter; all others are watched, carefully interrogated, and criminalized. Section 4.2: Poverty, Homelessness, and Food Security contintled Implement recommendation numberl62: Take urgent steps to' address homelessness and adopt legislation that fully recognizes the right to housing and provide for effective remedies for violations for the right (Philippines) Implement recommendation number 160: Ensure that adequate measures are put in place to prevent homelessness (South Africa), And 159: Continue efforts to holistically address poverty and homelessness, taking into consideration the needs of the Q;1ostvulnerable communities, in particular indigenous communities (Sri Lanka) CCAP calls on the Federal government to enforce housing as a human right.We are in crisis. Homeless people have half life expectancy of average person. InVancouver alone, 2000 people are homeless and fighting to survive on the streets. Low-income people across the city and province are continuously evicted and displaced by rising rents, renovictions and demolitions of existing affordable housing. To make up for the lack of welfare pension rate housing built in the last years, it's critical that all level of government immediately build 10,000 units oflOO%welfare and pension rate housing, implent rent control and rent freeze everywhere, save and
CONTINUED ... CCAP PROVIDES COUNCIL FOR 3RD UNIVERSAL
improve existing low-income rates.
FEEDBACK TO UNITED PERIODIC REVIEW
NATIONS
HUMAN
RIGHTS
housing such as Single Room Occupancy Hotels (SROs). and raise welfare
We envision and struggle for a community where every person has decent and dignified housing. For this right to be realized in our Downtown Eastside community. all levels of governments must work together to build and maintain resident controlled housing at 100% welfare/pension rates. • Housing should be prioritized for those who have been most violently and rapidly displaced and excluded from decent and dignified housing by colonialism. capitalism and gentrification: Indigenous people displaced from their traditional territories across Turtle Island. Chinese seniors. people of African descent. refugees. poor and working class women. LGBTQ2S people and people who use illicit drugs and or illicit alcohol. • Housing should be prioritized for people who are currently homeless or are living in SRO hotels. especially women and children who are homeless. living in shelters. escaping violence or in other extremely housing insecure situations. We envision and struggle for housing that welcomes. supports and includes our diverse and beautiful community. • Housing should always becommunity led housing with community consult. UNDER
SECTION
6: PUBLIC SAFETY AND
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Implement recommendations, 63: Take appropriate measures to address racism, racial discrimination and racial profiling especially for people of African descent and bring the perpetrators to book (Namibia); 43 Strengthen measures adopted by the Government to com~at racism and discrimination against Canadians of African descent and 4,ndigenous peoples in the criminal justice system (Belarus); 104 Put an end to the practice of excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, and arbitrary detentions during protests at federal and provincial levels (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) We are in a crisis of colonialism and racism where racialized people. especially Indigenous and Black communities. are heavily policed and under protected.We call for an end to racial profiling and criminalizafion of the poor. Recently. the Globe and Mail found that 15% of street checks by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) are indigenous people despite making up only 2% ofVancouver's population. Meanwhile. 5% of street checks by the VPD are Black folks. despite making less than I % of the city's population. 21% of checks of women are Indigenous women while Indigenous women only make up 2% of the population. Folks feel helpless holding police and state accountable. CCAP calls for an alternative to police and state investigating themselves. and support and justice for low-income racialized people to hold corrupt police and state accountable.We want people and community power. not police power. We would like to see government push to relocate funds from police to restore funding to social programs and resources. and housing the homeless.
UNDER SECTION:
5.4 PERSONS WITH
170 Develop people institutionalization, will and preferences
and community-centred mental health services that do not lead to over-medicalization, and practices that do not respect the rights, of all persons (Portugal)
DISABILITIES
We want to see people with mental illness recognized as experts of their own wellbeing People living with mental illness, addiction and poverty should be able to make basic decisions concerning the day-to-day activities in their lives and homes. They should always be included in decision making about funding for services and supports that impact their lives.
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We want to see an end to criminalization of people with mental illness. Instead of helping people in mental distress, apprehensions under the Mental Health Act are traumatizing for individuals who are subject to them and often contribute to a deterioration of a person's mental health. Relying on the police also ignores the real harms done by police and makes people fearful of coming forward if they need assistance for fear they will be ~ forced to engage with cops. We believe that real safety comes not from surveillance and criminalization of marginalized people, but rather building community-based prevention and response strategies. To this end, funding for mental health outreach and support should go towards peer led initiatives and other mental health supports-not cops. We want to see root causes of mental illness addressed. Prevailing approaches to mental health and mental illness rely on an individualized model of care, often failing to address and understand social determinants and societal structures that impact people's mental health. In this framework, the social determinants and societal structures that impact people's mental health are erased and individuals with mental illness and addiction become seen as problems that have to be "fixed:' We want to turn this framework on its head. How can people expected to be healthy when they don't have access to housing, income and basic supports to deal with trauma.We see mental health and mental illness as inseparable from the society we live in. On the unceded coast salish territories of Vancouver this is also inseparable from colonialism, and the ongoing suffering and violence it is inflicting on Indigenous peoples.
CARNEGIE COMMUNITY
ACTION PROJECT 111:15AM EVERY FRIDAY
The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is a project of the board of the Carnegie 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 income friendly community. CCAP works with english speaking and Chinese speaking DTES residents in speaking out on their own behalf for the changes they would like to see in their neighbourhood. Join us on Fridays 11:15 am for our weekly volunteer meetinqsl Downtown Eastside residents who want to work on getting better housing and incomes and stop gentrification are welcome to attend. Lunch is provided!
CARNEGIE AFRICAN
DESCENT GROUP
The Carnegie African Descent Group (CADG) has the same mandate as CCAP. but with particular focus on issues that Black and African Descent community members experience. For more information. contact: Imugab07S@gmail.com
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CONTACT US: Office: 2nd floor of the Carnegie. 401 Main Street. Vancouver Phone: 604-665-2105 Email: info@carnegieaction.org Website: www.carnegieaction.org
vancity
Thank you to Vancity for supporting CCAP's work. Support for this project does not necessarily imply that funders endorse the findings or contents of this report.
I stand I sit I walk I crawl I fall I sleep I dream I wake I drink I eat I think I pause I look I see I hear I smell I taste Sun,
2.3.2.ot,S""·9:30pI1J
In,me 55+ Loun~e
Featuring Typewriter T)lIes: A Community Storywriting Projecf wilh Paula LlItbt'r" Kathleen Nisbet DalannahGail Bowen &. Simon Kendall e Carol}'1l Nt'apole &. Jocel~n Cameron
A B!ZARRE. MACABRE, AND COMIC CHAMBER OPERA BY NIC GOTHAM AND ANN-MARIE MACDONALD.
P.N.
understand oversit it is how now the time by the way over there is a place P.N. next on the page are sum words. Can you count how many. Can you count how many syllables Adjectives and nouns? Don't frown when you read real words written down, or printed pencils provide perfect for white paper air quality index parts per million Get some fresh air Don't care about it Free From it.
Seeds of Justice, Seeds of Hope: A Storytelling Cabaret Heart of the City Festival, 2018 Saturday, November
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CALL FOR STORIES Do you have a story about hope and justice in the Downtown East Side? Would you like to tell that story at a special event during the 2018 Heart of the City Festival? We are looking for stories that show the ups and downs of the journey to justice. These can be true stories about your own life or traditional stories from around the world. Anything that helps us celebrate our successes and mourn our losses. Storyteller Jim Sands is organizing a storytelling event scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, November 3, 2018 (exact time and place to be confirmed) that will focus on stories of triumph and tragedy in the heart of the city. He will provide workshops, one-on-one coaching and other support to people who want to share their stories at the event. Jim is an East Vancouver based storyteller, actor, songwriter, musician and occasional clown who has performed both as a solo artist and with a variety of musical groups. He has appeared in productions organized by Vancouver Moving Theatre, Community Arts Workshop, Hollywood Kidz, and in 15 Fringe theatre festivals across Canada. If you are interested in participating in this event send a brief summary (l0-20 words) of your story to: jcsands@shaw.ca, or drop off a note for Jim at the Carnegie Front Desk.
Honesty leads to humility leads to honesty I had to humble myself when I came into recovery and it has taken me fifteen years of being in the AA program to be willing to see where I have unreasonable expectations of myself. I am a student of writing, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a songwriter and a weekend restaurant worker, and I probably will never win the Nobel Peace Prize or become rich and famous. I can't live my life thinking these false goals will come to fruition. I am just now becoming content with my life the way it is. I don't have to organize my life around activities that I believe I have to accomplish in order to have a chance at pomp and power. Just getting up in the morning, and humbly going about my life, doing everyday things that all ordinary people do and not expecting to be the best at everything, or to be the most accomplished artist, is so very refreshing and gives me relief. Finally, I can take off a huge load and lay it down. I am average and that is ok today. I did drugs because I enjoyed the fantasy it allowed me. So the question becomes, who am I and what am I in the eyes of my Higher Power and what does my Higher Power want me to do. I know he doesn't want me doing drugs and alcohol. And he doesn't want me to be miserable living in a fantasy world. He wants me to be humble. Humility means living life knowing exactly who and what I am. Today, I wake up and I greet life with a shout because I don't have unreasonable expectations. Because I can live with myself, by joining the human race and become part of the billions of people out there who are also average everyday folk. They work, they laugh, they play. By taking the blinders off that caught me in an unquenchable drive of ambition which I now see as being spiritually sick, I have some idea of what it means to be happy, JOYousand free. A-ndfor that I am grateful. The belief that drug taking is the tortured brilliant artist's gateway to tortured brilliant work is a myth. In all my years of drug taking, I did little writing, music and art because I had no clarity, or work habits. It takes diligent pursuit and action to write, do music and art and my substance abuse never ever allowed me to live in that moment. I was too homeless, defeated, lonely angry and tired. But today, I have a wonderful life. I am a productive member of society, I work, go to school doing something I love and I don't end up in the psych ward every other month. I don't plan to be a career psychiatric patient. I wake up in the morning feeling like my life has meaning because like the old saying is "to thine self be true", I am living an awesome life and the Holy
Spirit is working in my life. And I am not ashamed of that. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ By RUBY DIAMOND
A Child's Wisdom - to raising one's confidence & self-esteem A young boy once said: "God don't make no junk" ! anonymous
The province jacks maximum allowable rent increase to 4.5% for BC The provincial government announced last week that the maximum allowable rent increase in BC will rise from 4% in 2018 to 4.5% in 2019. Yesterday COPE city council candidates Jean Swanson, Derrick O'Keefe, and Anne Roberts called on the provincial goverrunent to cancel the 4% rent increase. They held a press conference at a rental building in Mt Pleasant, where Jean Swanson was joined by a tenant to sm.ash a huge '4% rent increase' pinata. The building'S owner has been using whatever means to evict long-term tenants. This is a fair sample of unscrupulous landlords, many of whom are reflected in CCAP's hotel reports, who exploit a loophole in the Residential Tenancy Act that allows them to increase rents by however much they can between one tenant leaving and a new one moving in. After today's announcement by the province of an even higher maximum rent increase, Jean Swanson said: "It's outrageous, it's the opposite of what the province needs to do, they need to immediately put in a Rent Freeze and stop rent increases between tenancies. But if the B.C. goverrunent won't do it, COPE has a plan to implement a four-year Rent Freeze using municipal powers." The increase in homelessness is certainly an effect of the exorbitant rents being charged. As the corporate landlords get away with continuously raising rents, the majority of people whose incomes are not rising at the same rate must seek cheaper housing. As always the poorest and most marginalised people get crappier housing until the only place left is the street. Under Vancouver's by-law 4450, landlords already
have to apply for a business license each year, which currently costs $71/year per rental unit. "The Rent Freeze can be made a requirement of the business license," added COPE council candidate Derrick O'Keefe. "That means no rent increase for four years, either during a tenancy or between tenancies. As with the long-overdue Empty Homes Tax and short-term rental regulations, fines can be applied to landlords who don't comply. COPE will also implement a mandatory landlord registry to track rents and rent increases." COPE seems to be the only group staunchly opposed to the 'business-as-usual' platforms laid out for the upcoming municipal election. Any application of municipal powers to license and regulate must meet the standard of being for a clear municipal purpose. COPE believes stronger rent control and other urgently needed measures to address the housing crisis clearly meet this purpose. "The skyrocketing of rents we've seen over the past decade due to a lack of vacancy control coupled with the annual allowable rent hikes continue to cause evictions, homelessness, and many costs to public health and safety," said O'Keefe. "They're also causing real harm to small businesses throughout Vancouver, as our neighborhoods are hollowedout and as our family budgets are squeezed and we're unable to spend at local shops due to out-ofcontrol housing costs."
[Parts of this article were in a COPE press release. Editorial comment has been added. PRTJ
er word ideas, those rubbish bin word ideas, like truth or reality or existence or god, in the worst case actually believing that stubborn, unbending adherence to no doubt wrong ideas is a worthy, a great sacrifice, when it is surely only an indulgence. We need a new word for this, the old ones won't do, especially our favorites, the ones forever on our lips, in any extremity, as if all had been done & catalogued before, as if we had reached the farthest extremes once and for all. and are now on the mend, which we're not, not at all. we are actually far worse. and the flimsy structures that have allowed us the illusion of recovery are about to crash around us like so many toothpicks, leaving us face to face with the razor-edged surface of all things. the deadly, horrific world behind illusion. And the old words won't even begin to describe what we see. but we will no doubt use them anyway, habitually, as if we were talking about what we see, though we will be using words that don't have anything to do with what we see, only with our desperate attempt to convince ourselves that what we see. what is happening, is nothing like those other extremes, even if it is as horrible and destructive, or worse. Each new horrific extreme should have its own word, but we prefer the outdated ones, preferring to think we have' transcended such thihgs, but for a few intermittent flashbacks, when, in fact, such a ridiculous idea prevents us from acknowledging our ability to manufacture endlessly variegated new horrors, the fact that we are bent on new
~i;:'''i:'':':':':''':i::":,:=,,,,::,::-:::~=::'!'~~~~~~~~-I horrors, comparing all horror to The Nazis, trivializing We have always been wrong a ou every 109, We've always been proved wrong, even when all the evidence was before us we were wrong. Time and again things we believed were true, especially the things we believed were undeniably true, turned out to be completely wrong, yet we vociferate and evangelize and spew all sorts of political & philosophical twaddle, intentionally ignoring the fact that we are, no doubt, wrong, we hammer & hammer away at points we believe are both unquestionable and significant, though they are trivial and certainly mistaken, like all the rest of our ideas, we even bolster ourselves for the long, tedious task of informing others of our unquestionable and significant ideas by calling this intransigence a sacrifice which we make for the socalled larger purpose of any of those empty contain-
the holocaust by turning it into a rhetorical tool, all for the apparent purpose of allowing us to proceed with our horrors calmly and casually, because we have no real word for what is happening, what we are doing, all the while moving toward our own incomparable crimes, every day putting things in place to achieve our new horrors. using every possible contrivance, however nonsensical, to put ourselves in a good light. We say to ourselves we will do whatever we have to in order to prevent new horrors, but we don't do anything to prevent new horrors, not just because we don't know what to do anyway, or how to do it, but because what is called for is too costly. By DAN FEENEY
(1997)
CgLlNCH ~ eltes
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POVERTY
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HOMELESSNESS
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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
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ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE
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TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR
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