December 1, 2003
- DECEMBER 6TH
- WISH gets $1 million
- West Coast LEAF
- Unceded Coast Salish Territory
- TENT CITY NEWS
- DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE POETS
- people off welfare
- The Heart of a City
- News from the Library
- Winter Solace at Carnegie
- VOLUNTEER CARNEGIE
- Lest We Forget
- Poetry Prize
DECEMBER 6TH
NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE AND ACTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
As women in the downtown eastside, are we safer now that the police are walking through our neighbourhood?
These women were not safe in this neighbourhood:
Lovingly Remembered are:
Sereena Abottsway
Marine Frey
Mona Wilson
Cindy Feliks
Jacqueline McDonnel
Tiffany Drew
Dianne Rock
Tanya Holyk
Heather Bottomley
Sarah DeVries
Brenda Wolfe
Angela Jardine
Jenniifer Furminger
Diane Melnick
Helen Hallmark
Sherry Irving"
Patricia Johnson
Andrea Joesbury
Georgina Papin
Inga Hall
Heather Chinnock Unidentified woman known as "Jane Doe
What has occurred with the Pickton case over this past year?
* January 13th, Preliminary hearing begins
* Is it 61 or 63 women on the missing women's list? No one seems to know for sure
* Pickton charged with fifteen counts of 1st degree murder
* DNA of another 6 women has been identified, families notified
* Remains of an unidentified woman, known as "Jane Doe"
* Pickton house and surrounding farm buildings demolished in July 2003
* Trial of Willie Pickton is being scheduled for mid 2004 at the earliest
* It is estimated to cost $70,000,000 (costs include: 15 identification officers, 10 civilian support workers, 51 anthropologists, 51 more anthropologists for part of summer)
* Thousands of samples of DNA
* September 03, Families who speak to the media are ostracized and excluded from participating in family support group meetings with Victim Services workers
* November 03, Green River killer Gary Ridgway is investigated for links to the murdered and missing women in Vancouver
* November 03, investigation of the Pickton farm wraps up
I can still remember the day I was working at Carnegie when a woman came and said "did you know that Serena Abottsway has been missing for three weeks? She didn't pick up her cheque." It was a feeling of disbelief. A feeling of, how could this happen to her? She knows the streets. I never thought that she would be one of the women who disappeared. Sereena was one of the women who came into the Cultural Sharing group like a whirlwind on Monday evenings to make something and say hello to others making crafts and then leave. I often thought, what happened to her? Where is she?
I recall how just after Angela Jardine disappeared, Sereena looked a lot like Angela and I said you know you look like Angela? Sereena said "no, she is my friend, I know people have said we look alike."
There are ways you can keep the memories of these women alive and do some good for women who continue to survive in this neighbourhood.
The Missing Women's Legacy Society is entering a critical phase in its goal to build a recovery home in Maple Ridge for women suffering from addiction. The target is to be open by the summer of 2004. To reach that goal, the society is gearing up for a campaign to attract corporate donations to turn this dream into reality.
The Society was founded by family members and supporters of the missing women who were taken from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and murdered. According to the Society, awareness of the needs of this population (women suffering with addiction and forced by addiction into prostitution) grew steadily from 1998 to the present. According to the society's website, "Independent research - talking with men and women suffering with addiction on the streets of the downtown eastside, combined with several months of AA and NA meetings as well as a review of psychological and medical research on addiction - led us to acknowledge the lack of adequate detox and rehabilitation programs available for women."
To make a donation, or if you require more information on ways you can help, contact Missing Women's Legacy Society, donations (604) 462-1322 or visit their web site www.missingwomenslegacy.ca Here is one way to HELP END THE VIOLENCE and TAKE ACTION. With this is mind we can make a difference!
WHY, WHY, WHY?
Let me relay a story to those of you who do not know that a woman was beaten to death on the 2nd floor of the Regent Hotel this past May. She was a young woman about eighteen years old. From what we know she had been living with an abusive man for about a month prior to her death. Many people who lived in the building knew that she was being held captive in her suite and they knew that she was beaten on an almost daily basis until her final beating.
People who lived next door to her and even those who lived on other floors, heard her screams for help as she was being beaten. Her screams and cries for help were going on for a long time before she was silenced by the beating. Why didn't anyone do anything? Why couldn't they go to the front desk and ask the manager to call the police. Why couldn't they intervene and help the woman in some way? Why couldn't or wouldn't they? Why? Why? Why? For some neighbours it was a relief when she finally stopped screaming!
If it was your daughter, sister, niece, aunt, grandmother, mother, loved one; wouldn't you want someone to help her? This young woman's death was preventable! Why are we complacent when it comes to violence against another human being? Why do we not act, why do we not ask, is everything all right? Why do we not ask, do you need some help? Why do we mind our own business when we shouldn't? Why? Why? Why?
I do not know what this young woman's name was, I do know that there was nary a mention of it in the newspaper, and barely a mention of it in the neighbourhood. There was no memorial for her. There were no flowers left at the place where she drew her last breath. There were no pictures of her, there is however, a quickness to forget what happened to her.
How many more stories like this do we need to read or hear about in this community before some change is effected? Why is someone's life so valueless in the minds of others that they would not pick up a phone and say "I think this person needs help". What is it going to take? How many people need to die before we sit up and take notice. Women disappeared from this community because no one stood up and took notice. As long as we have this kind of complacent attitudes around violence, others like Robert Pickton will surface again.
ON DECEMBER 6TH
NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE AND ACTION ON VIOLENCE AGA1NST WOMEN
* WE ARE DESIGNING A BANNER FOR THE FEBRUARY 14TH WOMEN'S MEMORIAL MARCH
* WE ARE REMEMBERING OUR SISTERS WHO HAVE DIED THROUGH VIOLENCE
* WE ARE MAKING PLACARDS AND POSTERS FOR THIS NATIONAL DAY
* WE ARE HAVING A MARCH IN THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE AT 5:00 PM
* WE ARE HAVING A CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL AT THE MEMORIAL POLE
* WE ARE SHARING A MEAL - REFRESHMENTS AND SNACKS
WHERE: In the basement of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, 304 Columbia St, Vancouver
WHEN: 1:00 pm with the march starting at 5:00 pm
All women are welcome to join us. If you are participating in the banner/placard making, please sign up so we know how much food to order, sign up with Marlene or Carol at the numbers listed below.
Please bring your drums and noisemakers
If you have any extra hats and gloves to donate to other women please do so
Bring your spirit of song and voices against violence
For more info: Marlene at 665-3005; Carol at 681-8480 ext. 233; Mabel at 687-1868
"THEIR SPIRITS LIVE WITHIN US"
ANNUAL WOMEN'S MEMORIAL MARCH
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2004
The first meeting of the organizing committee will
be held on Thursday, December 18th at 10:00 AM
in the Carnegie Theatre at 401 Main Street.
This event is organized and led by women because
women, especially Aboriginal women, face physic-
al, mental and emotional violence on a daily basis.
Please bring your enthusiasm and ideas,
all women welcomed.
Honouring and remembering the lives of the mur-
dered women and women still unaccounted for in
the Downtown Eastside.
Poem written by Shelly Hallmark for her sister, Helen
You will never be forgotten
Or erased from my mind
You didn't have the best life
But to me you were one of a kind
Your picture reminds me everyday
With memories of the good times we had
The love you felt for our family
Even though your life was so very sad
The happy way about you
The kindness that you would share
To all that were around you
Even when you were in despair
Your eyes showed the sadness
Of the many years of pain
You stayed away from your family
So they wouldn't feel the strain
Your lifestyle was not sought after
And most looked down on you
But you made do with what you had
Where most would not continue
All of a sudden you went missing
We desperately looked around
We knew something was terribly wrong
We wouldn't stop until you were found
The most important thing to us
Was that you were alive
When you stopped calling us
Something just didn't jive
Hopefully people realize their acts of judgement
Were so carelessly misplaced
And now they will see the daily horror
With which you were faced
Although we couldn't protect you
You were always in our heart
And that is all we are left with
For now we are apart
The saddest thing to have to fathom
Is the brutality of your demise
How someone could just take your life
And watch as your soul dies
Instead of saying goodbye
I will have to say so long
Till we meet again my beautiful sister
This will be your song
Downtown Eastside drop-in centre for sex trade workers gets $1 million from VanCity Credit Union
Vancouver, November 20, 2003 -
A drop-in centre that provides a safe and supportive atmosphere for up to 200 female sex trade workers each night in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is the winner of this year's $1-million VanCity Award.
The WISH (Women's Information Safe House) Drop-In Centre is currently operating on limited hours out of an 800-square-feet site in a church on East Hastings Street. The award will be used to open a 24/7 shelter and wellness centre that will offer a permanent women's health clinic and refuge from today's escalating violence.
The centre, funded by the City of Vancouver, the provincial government and private donations, was opened 16 years ago and continues to see an increase in demand. It offers services ranging from hot meals and showers to referrals to shelters, detox and rehabilitation services, and literacy and pre-employment programs.
"A 24/7 safe house has been on sex workers' wish list for many years and now, thanks to VanCity and its members, that dream will become reality," says Mary Wreglesworth, Chair of the WISH Board of Directors. "The murder and disappearance of so many sex workers in Washington state, Vancouver, and Edmonton are a painful indicator of just how vulnerable these women are. This is not about supporting or promoting prostitution; this is about giving support and showing basic human decency to women - our daughters, sisters and friends - who need help."
The wellness centre was chosen from four finalists by VanCity members who voted for their choice in September and October. This is the third year of the annual award that saw applications submitted from 100 non-profits in the communities VanCity serves. The $1-million award money comes from a percentage of VanCity profits set aside each year for community initiatives.
The other three finalists for the VanCity Award were: the Atira Women's Resource Society, a community-based organization that supports women and their children impacted by violence, for its proposal to build a centre in Surrey to assist pregnant and early parenting women and girls; Burnside Gorge Community Association, a unique centre providing services, such as recreation programs, education and accessible childcare for Victoria residents that proposes to build a new community centre and Mennonite Central Committee - BC, an international relief and development society that wants to transform a 16-hectare gravel pit into a family-friendly public park and nature reserve.
"All of these ideas are visionary and once again, it was a very close race. VanCity would have been proud to support any of these projects," says Bruce Ralston, Chair of VanCity's Board of Directors. He adds: "We know the wellness centre will have a huge impact on women in the Downtown Eastside. It will support an extremely vulnerable segment of our population by working to make their lives safer and by supporting them to exit the sex trade."
VanCity CEO Dave Mowat wants to thank the VanCity members for their participation in the award process.
"The vision of our Board is for this award to make a significant and long-lasting contribution to our communities. We are pleased that so many of our mem-bers participated in selecting WISH. This choice will add to our legacy of helping people and communities thrive and prosper," he says.
Letters of intent for the next VanCity Award will be accepted from non-profit organizations in the communities VanCity serves starting in March 2004.
VanCity is Canada's largest credit union, with $8.2 billion in assets, 297,000 members, and 41 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria. VanCity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. Both VanCity and Citizens Bank are guided by a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work.
West Coast LEAF, in conjunction with the Poverty and Human Rights Project and the Community Legal Assistance Society is developing a Human Rights Case based on a claim of discrimination against single mothers by the provincial government. Rather than taking into account the specific needs of this disadvantaged group as required under Canadian and international human rights law, the BC government has taken measures that discriminate against single mothers and dramatically worsen their already precarious situation. Some of the changes include lowering the shelter allowance for single parents with three or more children, considering parents with children over three years old (rather than seven as it was) as 'employable', and eliminating the ability of parents to earn a small amount or collect a small amount of family maintenance. 90% of single parents on welfare are women.
West Coast LEAF is looking for single mothers and their advocates to provide feedback in the case development stage, and will be looking for possible complainants and witnesses once the case is underway.
West Coast LEAF is also collecting affidavits from women who have been rejected for legal aid and have gone to Family Court unrepresented. They are trying to establish the equality-rights issues inherent in the continued cuts to family law legal aid.
For information about these and other West Coast LEAF activities, please contact Alison Brewin at programdirector@westcoastleaf.org or 604-684-8772, or toll free 1-866-737-7716.
Petition to rescind the two year time limit on welfare benefits
To the Honourable Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia in Legislature assembled. The petition of the undersigned states that
Whereas beginning on April 1, 2004 the provincial government is planning to deny or reduce welfare, regardless of need, to people who have been on assistance for more than two years out of five, and;
Whereas we believe that denying social assistance to a person in need violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as international conventions that Canada is party to, and;
Whereas the official province-wide unemployment rate in British Columbia has risen to the highest level seen in a decade, and;
Whereas the time limits will impact some of the poorest people in the province, and those that are already struggling to deal with the impacts of other program and service cuts, and;
Whereas time limits effectively download provincial responsibility for people in need onto municipal governments as more hungry and homeless people are forced to seek food, shelter, and community support in our neighbourhoods, streets, and parks;
Therefore your petitioners respectfully request that the Honourable House rescind the law imposing a two year time limit on receiving income assistance benefits.
Sincerely, The Undersigned
Unceded Coast Salish Territory
("Vancouver, Canada")
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Twenty native youth and elders occupied St. James
Anglican Church in the downtown eastside today to protest the continued refusal of the Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and United churches to admit their Genocide of native people in Canada.
"We are not the people who need healing. You are!"
declared elder Harriett Nahanee to the mostly Caucasian congregation. "Your church helped to take our land from us. And so I'm using this church to take our land back again."
After the priests attempted to drown out Nahanee's words with organ music, they finally let her speak from the pulpit. One of the priests then tried to justify the actions of his church, and he was immediately drowned out by shouts of "What about all
the murdered children? What about them?".
At that point, Anglican church officers called for the police and threatened to have all of the occupiers arrested. The group decided to leave peacefully, but vowed to return the following Sunday, and to conduct similar occupations of other churches.
Members of the ad-hoc native group handed out flyers to the congregation calling for:
1. An end to the denial and cover-up of the deaths of more than 100,000 Indian children in the Indian residential schools.
2. An International War Crimes Tribunal at which the Anglican, Catholic, United and Presbyterian churches, the RCMP, and the federal government of Canada can be put on trial for crimes against humanity, and
3. A boycott of these institutions - including the revoking of the churches' charitable tax status - until justice is done for native survivors of Christian Genocide.
The ad-hoc group is planning more actions like this
one in the future. For more info, contact Kevin
at 604-466-1804 or 1-888-265-1007.
Comforting the Afflicted, and Afflicting the Comfortable, on East Cordova street
By Kevin Annett
We moved as one body, the eighteen of us, into the Anglican church that Sunday morning. The organ music droned on, and the pew-drones grasped their hymnbooks compulsively, like lapsed addicts. But none of that stopped us. We scattered throughout the pale congregation, and five of our number walked firmly to the front of the sanctuary, amidst dreary icons and fancy robes. The five turned and faced the crowd.
The priests looked shocked. We had clearly caught them off guard, standing on their preserve, occupying what they thought was their turf. Since the five were all Indians, the priests were nervous, but too wedded to politeness to say anything.
It must have seemed odd to the worshippers, this sudden throng of poor people, standing where only the ornate god-talkers were supposed to be. But the pew-drones were polite, too, and so they just kept watching and listening, like they were taught to do.
The organ music halted, hesitantly, like a surprised deer caught in headlights. And in the sudden silence that followed, a single, aging voice spoke from amidst the robes and idols and incense: our clan mother Tsebeoilt.
Her words were simple. She spoke of her torture by Christians at their residential school, of how their Anglican church had Indian blood on its hands. She spoke as an elder, imparting wisdom like the wind dispenses seeds each spring, letting them bloom where they will: even among the rocks and thorns.
Sudden recognition of who we were filled the priests with dread. One of them quickly signaled the organist to begin playing. The funeral noise drowned out our clan mother's voice, but she kept speaking, unfazed, as the drones began singing on cue, not looking up from their little books.
The priests hoped we'd go away at that point, but we didn't. We waited, like we've been waiting for centuries. With an unspoken word, our band gathered at the front of the church, some of us handing leaflets to the crowd, others standing near our clan mother, guarding her words and her witness.
Seeing our strength, the machine sputtered and stopped. The organ gave up the fight and quieted. Trying to control the anger and hatred on his face, the older priest approached us and muttered,
"You can all go to jail for two years for disrupting a church service. You know that, don't you?". Our elder silenced his threat by uttering,
"You people destroyed my religion and you never went to jail for it. So why should you put us in jail?" The priest switched to the Niceness Strategy. Turning to the crowd, he announced with a saccharine smile, as to children, "We have a new friend with us today. She has arrived, uh, somewhat unexpectedly, but she has something to share with us."
Our mother walked to the pulpit, and said quietly,
"I'm here today because your church helped take away our land from us. So I'm using this church to take back our land. You all support this church with your money, so you're all guilty for what went on." She paused. Not a sound could be heard in the cold building.
"But I'm here to say that we're not the people who need healing. You are. You need healing because you are sick people who did genocide to us. But I'm offering you a way to heal. I'm here to help you heal, if you'll let me."
The older priest got pretty upset at that point, and moved to cut off her words. Regally, our mother turned away from him and left the pulpit, escorted by her nephew, a chief like her: twin lightbeams lancing through the dusty lies and corrupt mess all around them.
The pew-drones gave a collective shudder then, like a dog shaking himself when he knows he's filthy. They looked so lost and confused, suddenly. Sensing disaster, the priest sputtered into the microphone,
"Our church has apologized for residential schools and we are working with First Nations people to heal the ."
A voice roared through the church, stopping his lies. "What about the murdered children? What about the murders? What's an apology to dead children?"
Chaos erupted then: pure, liberating chaos. The pew drones scattered under the blows of truth. some of them fleeing the building, others covering their ears. A church usher screamed something at us, waving his arms. We applauded the man who shouted the truth, as our power grew.
As the light of truth filled that place, the machine's mask slipped, as we meant it to, and the Thing stood exposed, for all to see, in all its bloody violence. Naked and powerless, It roared its outrage. Nicety vanished. Brute force took charge. It sent its thugs after us then, as both the priests and two 'security' men rushed towards us and demanded that we leave. One guy began yelling into his cell-phone, saying over and over, "Get me the police! The police!"
Rage-filled eyes stared out at us where a moment before was the sleepy cow-like gaze of the contented."Good Christians" called us scum, whores and junkies. The older priest yelled into a quiet native man's face,
"Get out of here you fucking stormtrooper!"
With the unspoken joy Jesus must have felt that day when he trashed the Temple so long ago, our little army moved as one body out of that place "of dead mens' bones and everything unclean", for the moneychangers had been routed, and we had done our job. Laughter spilled from our once-shadowed hearts as we walked as free souls down the dirty streets of the downtown eastside of Vancouver: a suddenly radiant land where simple courage and direct acts brought a blessing on all who had eyes to see and hearts to receive.
We were alive again.
The police took awhile to arrive, but even they couldn't save the Official Christians from Christ that day. By then, we were gathered in Circle, tasting our Creator, and giving thanks for our strength and our love that day.
They say that crucifixions always follow from such daring moments. But we are not afraid anymore.
TENT CITY NEWS
- A Conrad Black Publication
Nov. 2003 Tent Cities Destroyed
In a surprise development, Jack 'Cess' Poole has ordered the removal of all tent cities. "Who the hell do these people think they are to live in Vancouver in dwellings that don't leak, and how am I supposed to profit from this?" stated Jack when reached at his villa in Palm Springs California. The Mayor of No Fun City was out fishing and said he didn't know what was going on, "but I did catch a real whopper and it's mounted in front of city hall, and it's really colourful and stuff." His buddy Jim Green was so upset that he was being called a poverty pimp that he jetted off to London, England and didn't have a clue, "and anyway this is a provincial problem" his spokesperson Miss Scarlett said in a prepared statement. "This is typical of junior levels of government," said Premier Gordo 'Poi Pot' Campbell
"always blaming someone else, and anyway this is a federal matter," he claimed from his hacienda in Honolulu. "And as the henchman of Mr. Poole who is an outstanding British Columbian I can assure you that Jack will act in his best interests all of the time," added Gordo from the bar of the posh 4 Seasons hotel where he was having breakfast. At the Shawinigan Lakes Golf Course the Prime Minister Jean-Paul Martin Crouton said: "I don' no wad is up wit dat ting over dere in BC, wear I went to dat place one time and give a job to all my friends and family what is yi got da job 'ere and it is the natives what did it and go an' bug dat other guy and maybe it is the fauld of Sheela Cop or some ting and speaking of da cops can't dey go an' take dese bums to da park and beat their head in or someting?"
[found on the floor, unsigned]
THE RETURN OF THE
DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE POETS
It's been a while, but we're baaaaaack! We will take over the Carnegie Theatre, on Saturday December 13th from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Don't worry, we'll give it back.
Sandy Cameron, Sheila Baxter, Diane Wood, Marie Baker, Muriel Williams, Teresa Gray and Caroline Credico will all be reading... and you can too if you show up a little early and get your name on the list for open mike. Keep a time limit of 7 minutes in mind, to give everyone who wants a chance to read.
PRT will have copies of our book, "The Heart of the Community, The Best of the Carnegie Newsletter" for sale; the coffee's free, as always.
Then, riding our wave of success, at 7:00 p.m. on December 18, we will be reading at the Central Library, in the Alice MacKay Room, on the lower level. Admission is free.
Liberal B.C. government will cut people off welfare on April 1, 2004
Hill Times Newspaper
By NDP MP Libby Davies
VANCOUVER EAST, B.C. The same day Paul Martin became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the next Prime Minister, I held a town hall meeting in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in my riding of Vancouver East to discuss the looming impacts of some very nasty welfare cuts in B.C.
Paul Martin was very much on our minds, as we talked about the devastating consequences of the B.C. Liberal government's plan to be the first province in Canada, ever, to impose time limits for social assistance. As of April 1, 2004 the government in B.C. will begin cutting people off welfare if they have been receiving assistance for more than two years.
This policy represents a major shift in Canadian social policy and Paul Martin laid the framework for it to happen. As finance minister, he eliminated the Canadian Assistance Plan (CAP) that paved the way for the new Canadian Health and Social Transfer (CHST), which ended guaranteed standards for income assistance, and left the door wide open for provincial governments to eliminate social assistance to people in need.
So significant is this change and its severe impact on up to 27,000 people in BC, that local organizations have joined to launch a constitutional challenge to the 24-month time limit on eligibility for social assistance. The challenge will focus on Sec. 7 and Sec. 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects the right to life, liberty, and the security of person, and equal protection and benefit of the law. In addition, Sec. 36 of the constitution will be challenged, which commits the government of Canada and the provincial governments to "Providing essential public services of reasonable quality of all Canadians."
Social assistance has always been a critical part of the safety net, yet the demise of the CAP and the advent of the CHST have produced a political environment that allows the federal government to relinquish its mandate for social equality and universality, coupled with funding limits that allow the provinces to cut and erode important and necessary social supports with no accountability for federal funds they spend. Mr.Martin can claim clear ownership, as nearly a decade later, poor people and those who are vulnerable in our society are worse off.
Lack of access and denials to basic social support - whether it be income assistance, affordable housing, childcare, or training programs - widens the gap between poverty and wealth. And the federal government's abandonment of funding and program support and standards have exacerbated the widening gap. Ask how many poor people benefited from the $100-billion in tax breaks that favoured big business and wealthy Canadians? Ask why childcare spaces in Canada have actually declined since the much-heralded Early Childcare Development Initiative announced in 2000? And ask why homelessness is still at crisis proportions in our major cities? The answers all point back to the fading patchwork of federal social policies that lack coherence, accountability and adequate sustained funding tied to real objectives and standards. As the new federal Liberal leader is ushered in, we are told it will be an era of new ideas.. but everything we've seen to date is about erosion and less accountability.
Federal New Democrats believe it's time for Paul Martin to acknowledge that the CHST is a failure and that it has not produced an equitable or accessible framework for social equality for Canadians. We believe it's critical to develop a federal/provincial/ territorial social framework based on sustained and adequate federal funding that adheres to social and economic rights.
We must rather commit to a sound, transparent and clearly laid-out framework of social development. It must advance the principles of accessibility, entitlement based on need, public service delivery and administration, and sustained funding arrangements for an adequate and defined standard of living for all Canadians regardless of where they live. This social framework has to have accountability for the federal dollars spent by provinces and should apply to social assistance, housing and childcare, post secondary education and other programs for social development and equality.
Some may argue that we can't afford such a social framework and that it will become a bottomless pit. And indeed, we're already seeing Mr.Martin stake out what he hopes is new fertile ground, to stamp out the debt. It's also likely that we'll see increasing rhetoric to downplay the annual federal budgetary surpluses to downsize the public's expectation for social expenditures. Yet poll after poll tells us that Canadians believe in fundamental values such as compassion, fairness and social justice. When welfare is cut, when housing is cut, when EI fails, the level of homelessness and destitution increases. So it's critical to present a balanced picture. The failure of governments to deal with social inequality and growing poverty has an enormous economic and social cost in lost opportunities, lost earning power and lost lives, that far outweigh this necessary investment in sound and manageable social policies.
In reality the federal budget surplus is estimated to be $55.9-billion over the next four years by the "Alternative Federal Budget", that has provided a more accurate forecast of surpluses than the government itself! Back at my forum in the Downtown Eastside, often called Canada's poorest urban community, Jean Swanson, 30-year anti-poverty advocate and
former president of the National Anti Poverty Organization (NAPO),pointed out that Mr. Martin went and personally visited the area devastated by firestorms in B.C., and saw for himself the disaster and its impact on people's lives and their community.
But will he pay the same attention to this crisis of destitution? People are suffering no less and their situation is directly related to public policies that can easily be changed. Mr. Martin may want to heed the words of Gwen Brodsky, one of the lawyers from the Poverty and Human Rights Project involved in the constitutional challenge on the B.C welfare cuts, "human rights aren't found.. it's what we make of them".
Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East, is the NDP House leader as well as the critic for social policy, housing and homelessness and post-secondary education.
483 West Block 2412 Main St,
House of Commons Vancouver, BC
Ottawa, On K1A 0A6 V5T 3E2
Ph. (613) 992-6030 Ph. (604) 775-5800
Fax (613) 995-7412 Fax (604) 775-5812
www.libbydavies.ca email: daviel@parl.gc.ca
**Libby Davies'
Seasonal Open House
Thursday, Dec.18, 5 - 7 pm, 2412 Main Street
CORPORATE GIANT VERSUS
PRAIRIE FARMER
The wind, the rain, or the birds spread Monsanto's genetically engineered canola seed on Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser's fields. He neither bought nor planted Monsanto's seed, yet Monsanto charged him with violating their patent. Incredibly, he was taken to the courts and found guilty as charged.
Percy Schmeiser will talk about his ongoing battle with Monsanto - the next step is the Supreme Court of Canada. In the words of David Suzuki "his story should terrify every Canadian."
Wed Dec 10, 2003 at 7:30 pm
Alice MacKay Room
Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia
(Admission is free)
Sponsored by the Council of Canadians, Lower Mainland Chapters. For more information call 604 688-8846 or 224-3852. Websites: www.canadians.org www.percyschmeiser.com
The Heart of a City: A Downtown Eastside Community Play promises to be a hit. Every voice that's given a bit of a preview, either from the inside or the outside, exclaims on the originality, broadness and vitality of the entire production. Attendance at a dress rehearsal saluted all the descriptions made! One thing that's hilarious about this is the energy and creativity that people we know bring to their roles.
The play is running December 4,5, 6, starting at 7:30 at the Japanese Hall at 485 Alexander. There's a matinee on Sunday, the 7th, at 2:00 pm and that'll be the final performance.
There are a limited number of community tickets available from the Firehall Theatre for $1. If these are gone for the performance you want to go to, tickets can be obtained from the Festival Box Office and a word to all - it's "festival" seating: first come first seated.
There's also a pre-show fair each time from 7-7:30 with different organizations in the DE offering crafts and books for sale. Come out and enjoy!!
PRT
News from the Library
Some of the new titles received:
Zen of Listening: mindful Communication in the Age of distraction
This useful book not only gives suggestions on how we become better listeners to others but also how we can listen to ourselves and in so doing become better communicators.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
This best seller by Irish author Eoin Colfer is attracting devotees of every age. It is described as a thriller fairy tale for all ages. Colfer claimed in a recent Vancouver appearance (to a packed theatre at the Hollywood) that he wrote it to avenge himself on his terrible brothers. He is very funny and not just for "naughty" boys Some librarians have told me they prefer him to J.K. Rawlings of Harry Potter fame.
The Cave by Jose Saramago
This book by Nobel Prize author Saramago is a novel of ideas, shaded with suspense. The Cave follows the fortunes of an aging potter, Cipriano Algor and the story is described as an allegory of individualism and unexpected love.
Shake Hands With the Devil by Romeo Dalliare.
In the words of its famous author who is acknowledged as one of Canada's real contemporary heroes "this book is nothing more or less than the account of a few humans who were entrusted with the role of helping others taste the fruits of peace. Instead we watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect".
Dude, Where's my Country by Michael Moore...
A call to arms by the scourge of stupid white men everywhere...
Saints of Big Harbour by Lyn Coady This book was a national best seller and selected as Best Book of 2001 by the Globe and Mail. Set in rural Nova Scotia, it describes small town boredom with poignant prose and hilarious wit.
Louis Riel; A comic-strip biography by Chester Brown
This is receiving rave reviews and was first issued in 1999. Graphic Art books are being acknowledged as a very special Art Form and can be enjoyed by all ages. We have purchased some other titles also in graphic or comic form which we hope you like.
Giving Voice to Bear by David Rockwell.
This revised edition of a classic describes how in Native American traditions the mysteries of the un
verse are revealed through animals.
Other News........................................
Library staff are looking forward to visit from former Carnegie librarian Eleanor Kelly when she is volunteering at the Aids event in the theatre.. Eleanor is very well loved by our community; we know she will meet lots of old friends
Mary Ann
Winter Solace at Carnegie
A Concert by the CCD Trio
As the moon of wintertime casts its pale light upon us, the CCD Trio offers music for winter solace. Traditional yuletide favourites, along with music of a more classical persuasion, will fill the Theatre on
Saturday, December 6th from 2 - 3 pm
The Trio is David Hamilton (piano) Cliff Ridley (baritone) and Colleen Muriel (flute) You don't want to miss this!
"Joyeux Noel"
Join acclaimed Vancouver duo, Heidi Krutzen (harp) and Lorna McGhee (flute), for a soiree of sumptuous music with friends and VSO stars, Camille Churchfield (flute) and Christopher Millard (bassoon)! Music by Faure, Berlioz, Bach, Jolivet, Shaposhnikov, Francaix and Saint-Saens.
CARNEGIE CENTRE, 3rd DECEMBER, 7:30 PM
VOLUNTEER CARNEGIE
- Volunteer Committee Mtg.
Wednesday, December 10th, 2:00pm Classroom II
- Volunteer Dinner
Wednesday, December 10th, 4:30 Sharp! Theatre
1. VOLUNTEER CHRISTMAS PARTY
Friday, December 12th, 3-6 pm Carnegie Theatre
Write this date down and Don't miss it!
~ Directly followed by ~
DJ MIX Christmas Dance
6pm- 10pm Carnegie Theatre
Ho! Ho! Ho! Come out and have a holly jolly ole' time with DJ Mix and friends.
Refreshments served to the thirsty
2. CHRISTMAS KARAOKE with DARRELL
Friday, December 19th 7 - 10pm Carnegie Theatre
Wanna exercise those pipes singing Christmas jingles and other good old-fashioned tunes?
Come and join in with Darrell to show us the way....
PLUS
Friday, Dec.26 right after Boxing Day dinner 6pm 10pm just because he wants to help you all have fun while he is having fun himself!
Refreshments served to the brave souls.
3. CUSTOMER SERVICE SEMINAR' Part 2 Volunteers Only
For those guests who attended this training opportunity, I thank you for being such willing and enthusiastic participants. It was a lot of fun and extremely usefull too (that combination is rare!).
Now don't forget:
CHOICE: You have the Power to choose
CONSEQUENCES: You have to live with your choices so make them wisely
- Can you ACCEPT a situation?
- Can you CHANGE a situation?
If not, EXIT/REMOVE yourself (emotionally)
Don't be too hard on yourselves, if at first you don't succeed, keep trying. It can take time to make changes. Awareness is the first step which you have already taken. Action is the next. 'Together We Can'
Coileen
Lest We Forget
On November 11th, 2003,
a large crowd
gathered at the cenotaph
at Victory Square in Vancouver
to remember Canadians
who had died in war.
The mood of the people
was somber, respectful, and anxious.
So many have died,
and war is everywhere.
The ceremony was dignified,
and sensitive to the grief
of veterans who had lost comrades
in war, and sensitive also
to those who had lost
family members.
Prayers called for peace,
but there is no peace,
and the people mourned
at the cenotaph
while the great "W" of Woodward's
looked down,
symbol of the hope
that speaks to the homelessness
that plagues our nation.
Lest we forget -
but we have forgotten
the hopes of returning veterans
in 1945.
The First Canadian Division
was made up of men
who had lived through
the bitterness and violence
of the Great Depression.
Gathered at the cenotaph
in Victory Square, in 1935,
unemployed, hungry men,
most of them quite young,
asked for food and shelter.
Mayor McGeer replied
by reading them the Riot Act.
One million Canadians
were in uniform in 1945,
and their dreams
for a better world
were expressed in
the United Nations'
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"War has opened the eyes
of working people," a veteran said.
"Never again will we have
the unemployment, poverty,
and homelessness of the 1930's."
Yet in 2003, we see poverty,
unemployment and homelessness
everywhere.
In 1944, the hope for justice
by ordinary Canadians
fighting for their country,
helped Tommy Douglas and the
Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation
get elected in Saskatchewan,
and in that same year
the Conservative Party
changed its name
to Progressive Conservative.
In 2003, the word "Progressive"
was shamefully removed,
leaving our country
with a Conservative Party
of corporate greed
totally divorced
from the tradition
of social responsibility
expressed by John Diefenbaker
or Benjamin Disraeli.
Mackenzie King, leader of
the federal government in 1945,
was acutely aware
that when citizens
fought for their country,
they expected to be treated
with more respect than
as market commodities.
He established programs for veterans,
planned for high and steady employment,
and created the Ministry
of National Health and Welfare
to co-ordinate social programs.
We were proud of ourselves
in those days.
We had seen
what Canada could do
in a national emergency.
We had a social democracy
for which men and women
had died, and we
believed industrial growth
ought to be regulated
by ethical priorities.
We even dreamed of having
our own flag.
In these abysmal days
of food banks, high unemployment
and homelessness,
we need to remember
that veterans fought
for a decent life
for all our citizens,
not for the corporate oligarchy
we have now.
At the memorial service
on November 11th,
an anguished cry for peace
silently rose into the blue sky,
a cry of the living
and a cry, also, of all
those who have died in war.
The dead were with us
on that day, in that place.
They help us carry on,
and we have a duty
to work for peace and justice
in their name.
As John McCrae said
in his poem Flanders Fields,
"If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."
Sandy Cameron
brains to flaunt
experiences to grow on
you can't forget me
an angel of death
unloving
holding it down
i am serious
as your life has dissolved
exchanged for stones
i can't hear you calling
i'm going back to the battle
someone else
somewhere else
good and/or bad
and what can you do but die?
i'm a loner and all right
all night
a risen son
a golden rose
a dropping tear
charles fortin
Bipolar Ride
a poem for eagles and snakes
Open till empty
that's the way for me.
Pain drains from beauty
beauty drains from pain.
I didn't know it was an abyss
when I chose to jump inside.
I was tricked by spirit-laughter
that awakened undreamt-of fears.
The humour is all but lost
now that the joke's inside
filling me up again -
with the faintest echo of promise
with the smallest hope of gain
this time, more beauty than pain!
- Stephen Belkin
Blessed
are the women who bear our burden; Blessed
are the men whose reward is more effort; Blessed
are the children where leadership is learning; Blessed
are the creatures with pride of instinct;
Blessed are those who bless us.
Religion is a means to an end,
not an end in itself;
The Religious Age is over!
We've grown beyond an Age where myths satisfy
We must recognize the God-like in each of us
Aspiration of power to command and willingly obey
For Love is what we obey - blessed
are the sensitive, soft and suggestive; blessed
are the strong, whose faith is our hope; blessed
are the users who witness our fears; blessed
are the poor whose generosity brings tears; blessed
are the dreamers with eternal scope; blessed
are you who know more than before.
May love guide us to the Blessed
May sex bless!
A. Kostynuik
Putting Dad to Rest for Good
Christmas time always reminds me
back then at 17 in Vaughan Shut Detention Ctr,
looking thru the wire mesh and bars
on the phone to an unfamiliar number
I asked the girl "Is Mr. Such-n-Such there?"
She said, "Jes a sec, I'll get 'im."
In the pause, I thought
'here I am, phoning this guy, my real father,
someone who doesn't even know I exist,
to tell him, "Here I am, your bastard son.
oh, I'm in jail how are ya?"
I couldn't do it. Quickly before he came
I hung up.. couldn't do it to him or anyone
on Christmas morning hung up the phone
and let the matter die on the line
Ya, Christmas; I guess you have to be white
to have a real white Christmas
Only reminds me of all the things
I'll never know in this life.
Al
Good Books, Good Friends
the good books I've read lay still now
you plow thru to the end languishing there
in someone else's mind for awhile,
for a change, for a rest; you lay it down,
another piece in the jigsaw
I'm a collage of books, poems, songs,
leftover conversations; I release the book
in its physical form...
the genesis is here in my heart forever -
the gist I've eaten and become -
I carry many voices in my head,
many a story that will never end__
it's all one story after a while,
new faces add new angles
new voices carry the eternal song
we all sing the blues ~
slow, sweet, jazz style
my clothes are old but not dirty,
pockets are empty,
but here in my heart and here in my head
I'm the richest man in the 'hood, blessed
with riches no one can steal I carry life
in my packsack the blood sweat and tears
of those before me
their words ringing in my ears
I own nothing but my own sweet time
the world in mine,,
when I open yet another book,
another time capsule,
spaceship vessel of any kind
I'm a traveler in between the lines
only alone as I mount the library steps
Allan Rydman
Carnegie Newsletter Editor:
When the twenty thousand get cut
and have nothing left to lose
what's then to stop them
hunting down the rich
and dining as they choose.
Safety nets can do two things. One, they protect the poor from the worst of poverty. And (this one seems to have been forgotten by Campbell Inc.) Two, they keep the rich safely away from the desperate poor.
But if the poor have nothing left to lose,then what do you think Mr rich man that the poor are going to do?
Maybe just one day gonna come by and visit you.
Ken Strang.
Taum:
3rd week of November,2003
We move through each
other's lives like falling
stars from periphery to centre and
right on through perhaps to the very
edge and on out maybe
zooming in again
with impact or
out of focus
out of the picture
bright images or shadows depending
on our perspective
we meet so seldom
we are always in a hurry
we are always passing
Now you have passed us all
Unexpectedly going on ahead
In the depths of this harsh and vivid
autumn with the flamboyant leaves
a fitting tribute to your colorful
character yet inadequate nevertheless for a life
cut short before its season
Taum: your self appointed task
was to expose the truth
from its nest of lies your enthusiasm was
contagious the word
defeat was not
in your vocabulary
and there's so much work still to be done
before everybody has a place here.
It might take a dozen of us
to cover the ground that you did
in a day there was rarely an encounter
that you let slip by without
risking the chance to enlighten
anyone who would take
the time to listen.
Now we must carry on without
your tireless energy but with
your example. Champion of the people
rest assured
you made a difference.
All love, Delaney
LONG WEEKEND #2
The wars go on,
Nourished by religious dogmas
Students die for misty democracy
Without experiencing slavery
Marx and Lenin caused confusion
And sealed the millennium's fate.
The three great evils:
Religion, Democracy & Communism
Are the reasons why the earth has
Been "wacked out'1 by our collective
Intelligence and apathy.
The starvers hate the rich
Who are confounded by greed.
Poisoned rivers feed the rain chain
While lungs adapt a leathery tissue.
A decade away a new millennium waits;
A new age of evolutionary frontierism
.Tonight we lie on a bed of stone
As we live the history of the future.
Garry Gust
1/11/89 (14 years ago!)