Contents
- On The Rocks
- Heart of the City Festival - Events
- Heart of the City Festival - Report
- The Mind’s Protection: A Heartsong
- HOPE IN SHADOWS
- Sisters
- There Goes the Neighbourhood
- VOLUNTEERS
- The Immaculate Assumption
- The New Age Cult Racket,
- Nothing Changes. This Violence Must Stop
- Contact Information to Report: Security Assault Harassment
- I was contacted by the Solicitor general
- Spirit of Missing Women
- Light in darkness
- FAIRNESS
- Classical Concert at Carnegie Centre
- DANCE 101
- Renovations: Early afternoon at McDonald’s
- The Macho Man !
- Sestina: The Road Home
- Private Jurassic Park in Stanley Park
- The Tao of Tao
- newCHAPTER2: Employment Resource Centre
- Forgiveness
- The APC Team of 6 & Litany of Crown Conditions
On The Rocks
I open up my eyes
It’s another dawn today!
My spirit cries for freedom
I get on my knees and pray.
I feel the wind of change a’blowin’
It is the breath of life
And the nature of the truth
Rolls like thunder after lightning.
Well y’ can roll your own dice
And I’ll play my own hand
If you’re hoping time in a bottle
You can’t move in shifting sands
I’ve been twisted and turned around
In my own stone-washed mind
On the shore line, on the rocks
I feel the waves, see I’m not blind
And they’re crashing all around me
As they wash the past away
Although nothing seems to change
It will never be the same.
So you can roll your own dice
I’ll play my own hand
If you’re hoping time in a bottle
You can move with shifting sands.
Freedome
Heart of the City Festival - EventsThe 4th Annual Downtown Eastside
Heart of the City Festival
Wed. 24 October – Sun. 4 November 2007
Only 4 days left in the 4th Annual Heart of the City Festival and still lots to see and do!
• Today, Thursday Nov 1, go to St. James’ Church at 303 E. Cordova for the Day of the Dead Lunch, Fiesta and Procession. At 2pm there is a lunch hosted by Watari – open to everyone – followed by the Mariachi Mexico de Vancouver and piñatas. At 5pm the Carnival Band will lead us on a parade to Oppenheimer Park and beyond to honour the lives lost on these streets.
• On Friday Nov 2 the Vancouver Police Museum, 240 E. Cordova, will be hosting an Open House from 12pm to 5pm, everyone welcome and at 4pm Chris Mathieson will lead a walking tour Sins of the City: Vice and Virtue, pay as you can. Also on Friday 4pm to 7pm is MUNCH #8: CoCreating the Creative City. Learn about the possibilities for a self-organized “creative city” in the DTES with guest Mark Kuznicki of Toronto. Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova, pay as you can 0-5$
What’s so funny about the DTES? Find out in a fabulous evening of theatre and comedy! On Friday Nov 2 and Saturday Nov 3 at 8pm, Vancouver Moving Theatre presents Stand Up For Mental Health and a workshop presentation of A DTES Romeo & Juliet. Created by Gina Bastone with contributions from almost 100 community members and performed by an ensemble cast. Russian Hall, 600 Campbell, pay as you can
Share your Saturday Nov 3 at the Carnegie Community Centre for a day of special media events. At 12noon the festival hosts the premiere of Bringing Shadows Into Light, a film by Cease Wyss documenting the two year journey of the production We’re All In This Together, a giant-screen shadow play about the roots of addiction and recovery. At 2:30pm we will screen A Safer Sex Trade, the documentary examining the complex issue of the sex trade. Director Carolyn Allain will be in attendance. Join Stand Up for Mental Health at 3:45pm for a talk and special treat, followed at 5pm for the premier of Summer Dreams by the Fearless TV cluster of the DTES Community Arts Network. Carnegie Theatre, all events free
The festival is pleased to participate in the regular 1st Saturday of the month DTES Poetry Night, Saturday Nov 3. We have invited local poetic treasure Bud Osborn to share his work and visual artist Richard Tetrault will provide projected images as a backdrop to the evening, Carnegie Theatre, 7pm, free
• Closing day is Sunday Nov 4! Start at 11am at Victory Square to join the Anti-Asian Riot Walking Tour led by Michael Barnholden, pay as you can for local residents. The tour ends at the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall Food Bazaar where the Kin Fung Athletic Group will take to the stage and perform a traditional Chinese Lion Dance, 487 Alexander, 12pm to 3pm. Stop by St. James’ Anglican Church Open House from 2pm to 4pm for a Parish History Tour and organ recital. At 3pm, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians presents an afternoon concert of music, song and dance with special guests Dalannah Gail Bowen and friends, DTES piano wizard Stan Hudac and the Strathcona Chinese Dance Company. Stay after the concert for the Hall’s fantastic Ukrainian Supper at 5:30pm followed by everyone’s favourite – the Urban Barn Dance with Three Potato, starting at 7pm. Ukrainian Hall 805 E. Pender. Then we can rest our festival feet until next year!!!
For complete programme details, pick up the Festival Program Guide at the Carnegie Front Desk.
For information contact 604-254-6911 or www.heartofthecityfestival.com
Presented by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians.
Heart of the City Festival - Report
Heart of the City Festival
At Last! Once again the much anticipated Heart of the City Festival is back for the 4th Anniversary of this huge celebration and undertaking to present some of the best talent and individuals available from the Downtown Eastside community.
It all started with a bang at Gallery Gachet on Sunday, October 14, with the showing of Munch #5, Redressing a Redress. And there followed continuously ten days of exciting & fascinating pre-festival events. There was a wide array of artistic presentations on radio, in theatres and galleries. I was fortunate enough to see the exquisite Blues Queen, Dalannah Gail Bowens heartbreaking, emotionally moving and yet, in the end ultimately empowering tour de force production at the Firehall Arts Centre of “Returning Journey”-which had 6 performances.
As usual the Festival Launch at the Carnegie Centre Theatre on October 24 was short (1 hour). I was discreet in leaving right away to go to Chapel Art s on Dunlevy at Hastings to catch Tricia Collins starring in her one-person life story, past and present with her portraying 4 separate people, all in her family. She took you on a beautiful yet treacherous time travel trip around the world.
Friday, October 26 was another action-packed day, with many events to choose from. I caught the very engaging and pleasant married duo Silk Road at SUCCESS on Pender Street, another full house with a lot of fun and amusing audience participation. By the way folks, on Friday I also managed to catch a short glimpse of the Water Cabaret at the very loyal and supportive Radha Yoga & Eatery. The event was under the amazing musical directive talents of Ya-Wen Wang and magnificent inspiration of the water crystal work of the Japanese writer & researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto. It for certain included stellar and dynamic, as well as touching performances by all of those ideal artists involved – that we’re so proud of – with poetry, spoken word and musicianship in a wide range of categories: classical, jazz to pop ensemble, every last one singing their hearts out!! It was also very emotionally moving – Asian voices, music, stories and film added to an overall exhilarating evening; talent for all ages by a wide range of ages hosted by Znita Bleelwin Xie, Jack-of-all-trades, man about town, who displayed his comedic versatility.
There was filmed spoken word, opening with the kids from Admiral Seymour, Taiko drumming and, closing fittingly with the legendary Sawagi Taiko (this is fast becoming a Festival tradition).
All in all it had outstanding variety, produced (like everything) by Terry Hunter and artistic director Savannah Walling of the well-known and loved Vancouver Moving Theatre.
I have so much more to report on yet but alas I’m quite limited by time. I’ll most certainly have much more for you in the next ground-breaking and always creative edition of the Carnegie Newsletter. (largely because of the unending dedication and long, logged volunteer ‘hours’ (years) of the one and only editor of this popular journalistic paper, PaulR Taylor. Under his stewardship for 21 years of gleaning, reporting and editing what’s happening and going on in our little world and beyond, selected from a wide array of contributions from our Downtown Eastside community and global collective.
So, with a few days to go in this year’s Festival, snatch a program at any of the venues – at Carnegie Front Desk and around town. For sure don’t miss the closing gala at the Ukrainian Hall on Pender, followed by the now-permanent feature after party Barn Dance with Three Potato. Also, A Downtown Eastside Romeo & Juliet will be at the Russian Hall on November 2 and 3. All Must Sees!!!
By Robyn Livingstone
The Mind’s Protection: A HeartsongThe Mind’s Protection: A Heartsong
“shorter of breath.....” Pink Floyd
-for all the other strangers
in my life.
Time looms suddenly short now;
Let the sadness show.
Remember the drumbeat shock – desperate trust.
I’m calling in my stess-chits now...
Let the sadness grow.
All tricks are forgiven now –
I’ll swear it was always so!
Let the sadness flow.
And are we all together now
And was I just the last to know?
Then let the beauty through now
for I’ve no one else to go.
Stephen Belkin
(Sometimes you have to break the language to make it work. Refuting Wittgenstein is just a bonus.)
HOPE IN SHADOWS
PIVOT Calendar is Extraordinary!
FIRST PLACE Mercy Walker
SECOND PLACE (5 WINNERS, $100 EACH): Marlene Thistle, Teresa Ng, Steven Mayes, Donna Gorrill, Edie Wild.
THIRD PLACE (11 WINNERS, $50 EACH): Rosalynn Humberstone, Steven Mayes (2), Randall Vickers, Todd Agema, Laurence Bell, Philip Kim, Sean Mitchell, Robyn Livingstone, Rowena Toth, Janice Wreede.
HONOURABLE MENTION (23 WINNERS, $25 EACH): Delores Dallas, Sean Mitchell, Sharon Deville, Wilda Ruttle, Bobbi O’Shea, Todd Agema, Adrienne Macallum, Delores Dallas, Dennis Cournoyea, Janice Wreede, James McQueen, Skyla Sund, Frank Thompson, Letecia Whitehead, Robert Desnoyers, Laverne Grandel, Gary Cormier, Steven Mayes, Liza Levie, Bella Ryan, Greg Lesnick, Kevin Sleziak, Fred Lincoln.
The photography contest
This calendar was produced following a three-day photography competition in June 2007. An innovative approach to empowerment through art, the calendar was designed to give marginalized people the power to define their own identities, and to offer them an opportunity to showcase their talent and potential. The 200 contest participants, residents of Vancovuer’s Downtown Eastside, received free disposable cameras and were asked to focus on their daily lives, with a focus on the theme “My Family and Friends.” The cameras, which were donated by Fuji, were distributed and collected at the Interurban Galley. After a panel of professional judges shortlisted the top 40 photographs, the winning photographers and subjects were interviewed in order to write the captions for the calendar and exhibition.
The community vote
This year’s community vote was held under a tent on the sidewalk outside the Carnegie Community Centre between July 23 and 27. The strike by council workers had force the last-minute change in location, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we received 50% more votes than last year from the public. It is expected that the sidewalk vote will now become a permanent feature. The community vote determines the ranking of the photographs for the award ceremony on October 11, 2007.
The calendar
The calendar is a selection of the top 40 photographs representing a collection of complementary images. Most of the Hope in Shadows calendars are sold on the streets of Vancouver by residents of the Downtown Eastside who participate in a special training program and receive a City licence. The remaining sales are made in over 90 retail outlets around Vancouver, through individuals in several cities across Canada and on the internet. Proceeds from the sale of the calendar go to the organization of the contest, the development and printing of over 4,000 photographs, the enlargement of the exhibition images and the framing of the exhibition. They also pay for the prize money and an enlargement of the photographs for the winning 40 photographers. Finally, they pay for the production of this award-winning calendar. Thank you for supporting this project
www.hopeinshadows.com/calendar
Sisters
Are very special
I know sometimes
I don’t say I love you
In my heart that dwells
In happiness,
Love most of all
Being my sister
Has the awesome feeling
You will always be a part of me.
Bons
There Goes the Neighbourhood
It’s been my experience over time that you will find three kinds of people engaged in community activism: Leaders, followers and destroyers. The first two types of people are never numerous enough and are familiar to everyone who is aware of what’s going on in their midst. The destroyers are those people who frequently appear from nowhere, have little or no currency or visibility within the community but somehow manage to insinuate themselves into positions of influence or power, and through either malicious conniving or simply awkward clumsiness, jam a stick into the wheels of essential community functions and mechanisms which have been carefully built up over years by hundreds of volunteers who have committed thousands of hours of earnest endeavour to help others.
The destroyers are bubbling with energy when it cmes to seeing their names or the outcomes of their actions in print. They often punctuate their vocabularies with slogans and buzzwords in order to give their activities a veneer of authenticity: “True Democracy!” “Anarchy!” comprising some aspects of the latest contributions to the “struggle”. These people never quite flesh out what any of this means in any kind of context; how their ideas – where they emerge – can be shown to move effectively from the theoretical to the functional. What they are most adept at is showing up religiously at any and all public areans where their presence can be noted but vanishing like a breeze down the road when the heavy lifting of actually getting things done time comes around.
There are two examples of assaults of this kind I can personally recall: The manipulated coup over the Carnegie Association Board many years ago where a number of people pissed off by God knows what stacked the nomination process and planted a number of their sycophants into Board positions. (Does anybody recall any of them by name now?) But for the intervention of The Social Planning Dept. at the City, which ordered a new election after seeing what kind of destructive calamity was looming, who knows what permanent damage could have come to the Carnegie Centre – perhaps even closure.
Seven or so years ago the same plague spread – with a different cast of ‘where are they now? characters – to DERA. It cost DERA $40,000 in legal fees and an inestimable cost in the level of public confidence in the organization to extricate itself from that foray into True democracy. [The presiding judge, in his ruling, stated that the actions of this gaggle were patently “malicious, vexatious and totally without merit.”- Ed.]
Tempting as it may be, it’s not enough to simply lay blame for these outcomes at the feet of the destroyers –it’s what they do. It comes right back to the Leader segment of the community to step up and say enough! Draw the curtain down on this tawdry melodrama and the actors who “fret and strut their hour on the stage.” It won’t matter much to them anyway; they’ll soon move on to the next conquest.
While all of this is happening, in case anyone is vaguely interested, SOLD signs are springing up like weeds throughout the neighbourhood. The Unit-block of W.Hastings, the entire area from the Grand Union Hotel east to the Portland Hotel is lost. Save-On-Meats, across the street, is currently up for sale at an asking price of $3.2 million – a potential disaster in the making – except for the developers. Army and Navy just sold its parking lot on Cordova St. Next door to the Pacific Hotel on Main Street is a new complex called GINGER (78 zesty new homes) –cute. Concorde Pacific is building an 8-storey complex across the street from – wait for it – Paul Taylor’s residence. Anyone want t get on the waitlist for any of these Downtown Eastside housing sites? Don’t leave it too late. And there are plenty more examples where these came from and more still that are still in the embryonic stages somewhere out there.
Is anyone outside of Wendy Pedersen, Jean Swanson and regrettably too few others in a leadership role paying any attention to these community destroyers? This is the real ground zero for the real struggle.
By the time the “democracy” bedlamites achieve whatever new Jerusalem they envision by disembowelling the Carnegie Newsroom, there will be precious little of this community left to lament over for those of us who truly care and work to bring a better future for low-income residents who can now barely keep their heads above water. Can we stop feeding this inane madness now before it consumes all of us?
By IAN MacRAE
VOLUNTEERS
DJ MIX has returned! Move to the Groove
Join us for a swinging good time – have fun!
Loosen up!! Dance Prance Romance!!!
Friday, November 2, 7 – 10pm
Carnegie Theatre
Refreshments served.
KARAOKE with Steve
What do Mickey Mouse, a Hawaiian Luau and Marilyn Munroe and Karaoke have in common?
Come to Karaoke and find out!!
Fridays, Nov. 9 & 23, 7-10pm
Carnegie Theatre
Refreshments for brave, willing souls!
Volunteers of the Months (Aug/Sept/Oct)
David McKeller, Kitchen; Dominic Dubeau, Kitchen; Audrey Hill, Kitchen; Kirk Hosie, Lane Level Receptionist/Haircutter; Gary Cox, Weight Room; Mike Read, Learning Centre.
Congratulations!
The strike, yes: it sucked indeed! ..the whole thing, from beginning to end. Being declared an “essential service” we were permitted to keep most areas in the Centre open while operating with a skeleton staff. Although the Volunteer Program staff were not considered essential (aww, I always knew that) the volunteers were absolutely crucial.. as always.
During this period our volunteers showed themselves to be stalwart warriors receiving few benefits with little support no matter what the circumstances.
Thanks to steadfast efforts of our core volunteers the Pool Room, Weight Room, Senior Coffee sellers the Kitchen and the Carnegie Newsletter continued to operate smoothly with little supervision.
The Kitchen volunteers! Volunteering in ‘the belly of the Centre’ is never easy. Upon my return to work the Kitchen staff raved over and over about how fabulous these people were over the course of the whole strike (Ethel raved about you all!).
There were also volunteers who showed their support for the striking staff by not volunteering – which caused considerable hardship in terms of their foregoing meal tickets. I applaud you all.
Thank you Egor, Gary, Carl and Marvin for visiting us on the picket line. Your company and support always brightened our days. You are All Awsome!!
Colleen
Volunteer Committee Meeting: Wednesday, Nov.7, Classroom II at 2pm. Everyone Welcome!! Your voice is both appreciated and needed.
Volunteer Dinner: Wed, Nov.14 at 4:30pm, Theatre. It’ll be a Birthday theme; wear your favourite threads and let staff serve you for a change! If you have 12 volunteer hours this month, pick up a ticket in the 3rd floor Volunteer Program office.
HAIR with Heart – Hair cut and styled by our mae-stro, Kirk – by personal appointment only. Sign up with Kirk directly or with Colleen in the Vol.office
Utterly Useless Information (but gripping post-Hallowe’en lore): What many see as a standard pot boiler, “It was a dark and stormy night...” was only the first line. The entire quote goes as follows:
“It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents –except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” – Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
The Immaculate Assumption
The Immaculate Assumption
-for Dorothy Kidd
On the day that John Lennon
Met Marshall McLuhan
The song playing in the background
Was “The Winner takes it all” by Abba.
Stephen Belkin
The New Age Cult Racket, Be aware “light workers” can mean wolves in sheep’s clothing!
I am letting the community know of a dangerous Cult organization that seeks to train front line workers and work with abused populations. Recently “Training In Power, A Spiritual Journey of Service” founded by Faye Fitzgerald has been promoted at several dtes organized events. Anyone who has been considering taking this meditation training should be fully informed of their choice by full accounts of their practices. Great articles on cults, hypnosis, prophetic charisma, brainwashing, sorcery, and group think, along with accounts by ex members of this cult, can be found at the two links provided here below. This group is a New Age Sorcery Cult, whose leader claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Buddha, Lucifer, The God Mars and the Archangel Raphael. See these websites for more information on the dangers of “Training In Power A Spiritual Journey of Service”, also called “Training In Power Academy of Meditation and Healing” and “Living in Power” Church.
http://zhahara.livejournal.com/
http://lessonsinawareness.com/default.aspx
Sara Marks
Mental Health Services Central Office
200-520 West 6 th Avenue
Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4H5
Tel: 604.874.7626 www.vch.ca/mental/
Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division
1200-1111 Melville Street
Vancouver, BC
V6E 3V6 Web: www.cmha-bc.org
Tel: 604-688-3234 Fax: 604-688-3236
Email: office@cmha-bc.org
Centre for Concurrent Disorders
The program supports those individuals who present with both a chemical dependency disorder
and a serious psychiatric illness (such as clinical depression, anxiety and thought disorders).
Hours of operation: 8:15am-5:0 pm Mon to Friday.
255 East 12th Ave.
Vancouver, BC V5T 2H1
Tel: 604.255.9843 Fax: 604.251.4579
Email: BCAMH@vch.ca
Canadian Disability Act
www.disabilitypolicy.ca/resourcesNational.php
Canadian Mental Health Act
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/M/96288_01.ht
BC Coalition of People with Disabilities
#204-456 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC V5Y 1R3 Canada
Tel. 604-875-0188
Fax 604-875-9227
TTY 604-875-8835
feedback@bccpd.bc.ca www.bccpd.bc.ca/
Civil Liberties Complaints & Inquiries
If you’d like to inquire about assistance regarding a civil liberties issue or are unsure if your question or concern is a civil liberties issue, call Jesse Lobdell T: 604.630.9754. F: 604.687.3045. jesse@bccla.org
BC Civil Liberties Association
550-1188 W.Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A2
www.straight.com/article-114431/private-police
Nothing Changes. This Violence Must Stop
Primcorp Security Assaults Homeless Man with Mental Health Issues at 2:38 pm Sunday October 21, 2007, in front of the HSBC on Keefer Street. Security says "I will smash your skull myself" as he slams the man from behind into the pavement.
City Trauma Public Spectacle
Location: alley behind the St Clair Hotel on Richards and Dunsmuir, the front of the building is a shop called Blushing Boutique. Date: Beginning of October 2007. Time: 10:00 am.
The man from the hotel hit the other man so hard he knocked him unconscious, or was it when his skull hit the pavement, that he vomited, a sign of concussion. The man who hit him is a large man from the Hotel, he said it was self defense.
And yet, fifty yards away from the hotel alley entrance, where he claimed this man, threw a bag at him, this small, older man, barely conscious… fifty yards away, a man, with his face on the ground, not moving, with blood on his head, and blood and vomit coming out of his mouth.
Someone from the Hotel, in a feeble attempt to somehow justify this violence as though one could somehow justify hatred in general, said "you should see what we have to put up with"
I could only think of: the skull, the pavement, the blood, the trauma, the blood on the pavement, the violence, the hatred, the blood, the violence, the somehow justified hatred.
Police, general public hesitant to do anything.
He is a poor man, he could be a homeless man. What happened to the Downtown Ambassador, they did not even bother to do anything, or to even stay to make sure the police arrived.
Employs Primcorp
Vancouver Chinatown Merchant's Association
508 Taylor Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 6M4
tel: 604-682-8998 fax: 604-682-8938
Email: vcma@shawcable.com
Chinatown Business Improvement Association
508 Taylor Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 6M4
tel: 604-632-3808 fax: 604-632-3809
www.vancouver-chinatown.com
Email: VCBIA@vancouver-chinatown.com
Contact Information to Report :
Security Assault Harassment
Canadian Human Rights Commission
British Columbia and Yukon
301-1095 West Pender Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 2M6
Telephone: (604) 666-2251
Toll Free: 1-800-999-6899
TTY: 1-888-643-3304 Fax: (604) 666-2386
Pivot Legal Society
678 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1R1
Telephone: (604) 255 9700
Email: info@pivotlegal.org
Victims Services BC
302 – 815 Hornby Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2E6
Telephone - (604) 660-5199
Fax - (604) 660-5340
Email: VSDVictimsServices@gov.bc.ca
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Email: sgspdsec@gov.bc.ca
Honourable John Les (Minister's Office)
P.O. Box 9053, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC, V8W 9E2
Telephone: 250 356-7717 Fax: 250 356-8270
Investigations Officer
Olev Rannaoja 604-572-8423
B.C. Human Rights Coalition
#1202 – 510 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1L8
Telephone: 604.689.8474
Toll Free: 1.877.689.8474 - Within Canada
Email: info@bchrcoalition.org
Chinatown Community Policing Center
Tel: 604-688-5030 Fax: 604-688-5070
118 Keefer Street Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1X4
Contact: Chris Beach
Email: policing@telus.net
Keep Your Local MP and MLA Informed of
Human Rights Violations
Jenny Kwan MLA
Email: jenny.kwan.mla@leg.bc.ca
Libby Davis MP
Email: daviel@parl.gc.ca
I was contacted by the Solicitor general and met with the Investigative Officer Olev. The company owners are aware of the situation and are out of town in a conference in Atlanta Georgia for security till the end of the month. Basically I wanted you to know that the investigator responded right away and informed me that this security has a previous good record and said that persuasive measures are used to get people to leave an area, I said does that mean using language like I am going to smash your skull in, he said the difference is in the motive, as to whether someone would actually follow through with it or if it was a use of words in a moment, and that it would be hard to prove motives. There may have been other events leading up to this situation that was the implication when he talked to me, he was also surprised by my account as that seemed to be new information.
I went on to talk about other security incidents of racism. I worked with a aboriginal woman who was discriminated against on sky train the security singled her and a Mexican woman out and the first thing he asked them was do you work, they showed him their passes and still he grabbed both of them by the arm so hard that it left huge bruises. The woman worked with me at Pivot and she said her son was pursuing it. I also related the assault I witnessed behind the St. Clair hotel and he talked about how these hotels often pay someone who is not licensed, to clear the area and that there will be more accountability in the new securities act, where there is a code of conduct /ethics required in the licensing. Of course the regulation of this will largely fall in the company’s hands.
He also related an incidents of security being attacked unprovoked by a street person and another where one that was mobbed. He also told me that when security cross the line they are charged. The other problem with these situations is that the victims often do not press charges and in this case the victim left the scene. Olev is following up with the police report he agreed that the problems are compounded by lack of resources for people.
He asked about the Carnegie security and I said they were great that they have a built in accountability being civic workers, he agreed and also stated in the new act all security will have to be licensed and carry a card like a drivers license. I am not sure of all the details of this act but I know John Richardson founder of Pivot Legal has some concerns via the Georgia Straight article.
Spirit of Missing Women
Art Exhibition by Olga Afonina
November 16 - 29, 2007
Opening Reception:
November 16th, 4-5 PM
Carnegie Centre 3rd Floor Gallery
Olga is a Russian born artist who came to the Downtown Eastside two years ago to find her 19 year old son. This exhibition is about her reflection on the DTES, her learning and changes here after her journeys around the world.
Carnegie Center is a quiet and healing center in a very complicated and traumatic neighborhood. Carnegie provides many opportunities for creativity and education, social networking, activism and wonderful meals. It is upheld by committed volunteers and staff. The glass dome of the building, Olga notes, is like a healing crystal.
Olga believes that art was one of the most important things that brought Europe out of the Dark Ages during the Renaissance. Her exhibition is related to this subject, as she believes that art is one of the important things that is also helping the DTES in the same way. She wants to share her experience of hope and the possibility of rejuvenation even in great difficulties such as those that face many people in the DTES.
YOU CAN OBTAIN ANY OF THE PICTURES BY DONATING WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE WORTH. IF YOU REALLY LIKE A PICTURE BUT CANNOT AFFORD TO DONATE ANYTHING AT ALL YOU CAN STILL HAVE ONE FOR FREE.
Light in darkness
Russian immigrant Olga Afonina only arrived in Vancouver in April, but in her choppy English she says she has already found a good sense of community in her new home … so you might be surprised to learn she lives in the Downtown Eastside, near the Carnegie Community Centre and Pigeon Park.
A painting by Olga Afonina depicting an immigrant's journey, feeling split and looking for unity (symbolized by the circle)
Much has been written about the poorest neigh-bourhood in Canada and the city's desire to clean it up. “It looks scary for some, but for me it's not,” she told me on a rainy afternoon near her home.
Driving by on Hastings Street , you'll likely see anything from strung-out homeless to transvestites. On the afternoon we met, I saw a man shouting aggressively at cars that passed, then right after saw a disabled man trip over his walker as he tried to cross the street … two ailing women behind him rushed to pull him up and help him get going. “It's humanity here,” explains Afonina.
“There is a lot of support here. There is free education, computers and food … such great humanity and kindness is really Canadian for me.”
Afonina, who teaches yoga and works in various part-time jobs, including construction, is thankful for the support available at the Carnegie Community Centre, including a course she took there called Humanity 101, put on by the University of British Columbia.
Afonina says the area is also an inspiring place for artists. A painter and photographer, she recently participated in an event called Art Against Brutality at nearby Oppenheimer Park , September 16. There she displayed some of her work, much of which deals with immigration, as well as the contrasts of living in a place that has poverty and addiction on one side, generosity and compassion on the other.
She recently won second place in the Pivot Legal Society's Hope in Shadows 2006 Downtown Eastside Photography Contest for her photo Alley Contrasts , which plays on light and shadows to reflect the area's many contrasts.
“Immigrants should know that this place is also part of Canadian life, and it's not only about bad things.”
[Taken from Canadian Immigrant]
YOU CAN OBTAIN ANY OF THE PICTURES BY DONATING WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE WORTH. IF YOU REALLY LIKE A PICTURE BUT CANNOT AFFORD TO DONATE ANYTHING AT ALL YOU CAN STILL HAVE ONE FOR FREE.
FAIRNESS
The importance of community has become more prevalent to me since I started coming to Carnegie more than ten years ago.
What I have experienced at Carnegie is what I wish I could experience in Victoria, where I have lived for the past 20 years.
At Carnegie I have witnessed staff struggling and succeeding in small steps – successes of empowerment. I have watched them pull together a community of depressed and oppressed people and help transform them in transforming it into something that the entire country can learn from.
Staff, volunteers and patrons have created an entity that is a shining example of what community is when people share their experiences and play a role in a decision-making capacity.
All here, take pride in your community centre because it is your hard commitment that has made it survive all these years.
Carnegie has offered me, as an out-of-town visitor, hope and support in many different ways; especially in a way that VGH has never been able to.
During the weeks spent here I was able to use the phone, email and had some good listening ears – my family has been going through a major trauma. I also made a connection – Robert D and Clarence D- who were able to take me to the Aboriginal Front Door where I met Tami, the support worker who made phone calls for me. Clarence took me to the Native Courtworkers who then referred me to UNN. This office was able to provide me with a liaison worker who came to the hospital with me.
All of these people have made a difference in being able to do the hands-on interview with me. Thanks especially to Clarence who was literally walking beside me all the way. The joy of being aboriginal is we never really leave our brothers and sisters’ side when they are in need.
What I’ve learned while here this last time is the value of good community, communication, friends and family. If it had not been for Wendy & John’s kind hospitality, the lack of bus tickets would have been the least of my problems. Because they opened their hearts and door I was able to be in a warm, dry place. So to Wendy, John, Aki and Agnes a great big thank you!
Rose Henry
Classical Concert at Carnegie Centre
Classical Concert at Carnegie Centre
Monday, November 5
at 1:00pm in the Hall
Violist Marie-Claude Brunet, clarinetist Johanna Hauser, and pianist Monica Pfau will perform chamber music by W.A Mozart, Max Bruch, and Moshe Denburg.
Marie-Claude Brunet is a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and the string quartet, Babayaga.
Johanna Hauser is director of the Kits Classics+Worlds Beyond concert series and performs with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.
Monica Pfau has performed with the Vancouver Symphony and also with international musicians such as Janos Starker and the Fine Arts Quartet.
Renovations: Early afternoon at McDonald’s
Renovations: Early afternoon at McDonald’s
“Are you with Manners Blasting?”
“I am Manners Blasting.”
“We need you on the second level.”
“Why are they blocking the sidewalk?”
“Why are they blocking the door?”
Overhead there is a great bang.
Dora Sanders
SALT IN THE COFFEE
She’s tired, he’s worn out
Construction all around
Hard hats on the customers
Noise, noise, noise.
What is that taste? What is that taste?
Oh, it’s awful! It’s a bit sweet!
Yuck! Yuck!
Salt in the coffee! Sugar on the fries!
Dora Sanders
The Macho Man !The Macho Man !
In Vancouver during the early 1900’s one of Carnegie’s elderly seniors was working in a train yard putting trains together. He remembers one particular incident when he had to take a new employee to the ice car to show him where he was going to work. The young man had been sent to help him shove blocks of ice down into an ice crusher. There was a boxcar especially made to carry ice and that car had to go next to the restaurant car, and close to where boxcars full of foods were placed. Ice had to be crushed to use in the restaurant car and to place around food to keep the perishables at an even temperature. The ice would arrive in huge chunks which would be placed in the funnel of the ice crusher. Sometimes the sharp points of the crusher would send up bits of ice. Those bits could be any size and fell all around the men next to the crusher, so they had to wear boots and protective gear. They would also have to wear a harness when making sure the ice was going down into the crusher. It was their job to go on top of the rim of the machine to push the ice down.
Gerry told the young man to put on the protective clothing and boots, take a pole, go to the top and push some of the ice into the crusher. The guy grabbed a pole and started to climb up the ladder. Gerry stopped him and told him to put on the boots and protective clothing first, then the harness: te rim was slippery. The guy refused and continued to climb. Gerry, who was putting a train together at the same time, had to stop and concentrate on this one worker. He ordered him to come back down and put on the harness. The guy refused again.
The shunting of boxcars stopped, totally, while the two men argued. Finally the Yard Supervisor came over to find out why the train was not being put together. Gerry had to explain that the young man ‘will not put on his safety gear or harness’; the supervisor told the young man to go home..he was fired. The young man immediately said, “Okay, okay, I’ll put on the harnessx” which he did. Gerry could go back to adding more cars to the train.
Not long after a lot of shouting came from the area of the crusher’s funnel. Workers in the ice car were frantic. Gerry got there and was told that the young fellow had slipped on some ice and gone over the edge of the funnel to the crusher, but he was fine – his harness saved him and his dangling feet were a good six inches away from the crusher. Two men, wearing harnesses and protective gear plus boots had climbed up onto the rim and pulled the young man out. He was visibly shaken and was taken to the First Aid shed.. later to be sent home.
His macho behaviour was very much left behind after that, because when he returned towork the next day he put on the boots and protective gear, then the harness, and did what he was told from then on.
By Dora Sanders
Sestina: The Road Home
Amidst the sighs of the gently swaying poppies’ rhapsody,
You sign off the letters home that reveal so little and yet tell so
much in the mere writing
Inside the thin envelope you’ve slipped one of the works of
life-sustaining art
That survives long after your elevation
To life in the next world. Who makes that animal-
Like howling caused by the nighttime’s music?
Praying for time, you weep inwardly as the music
Plucks at your heartstrings. No longer do you care about
your life song’s rhapsody.
Spiralling slowly downwards into a bottomless pit
like a blind animal,
The bleakness of your life and your imminent death subtly
colour your writing.
Looking into the pool of water, your soul searches for elevation
And the remnants of your passion pore forth into your art.
Scraps of discarded material become a precious commodity of art
To savour and to treasure. Behold my creation! Wonder at the music
Created by a small Red Cross tin’s elevation
Into the beauty of a spoon. Ah sweet rhapsody!
The dancing colours of your writing
Cannot be contained, much like the spirits of extinct animals.
In blessed sleep you dream: of the animal-
istic chants of “What do you want for this objet d’art-
Some writing
Paper, a piece of bread, a sheet of music?”;
Of a journey filled with rhapsody.
Once reunited, our spirits’ voices will soar in jubilant elevation.
Do not weep, I shall always be with you even as you elevate.
Like Noah’s Ark of animals,
We shall enter into history. Our exodus will be rhapsodized
In our children’s hearts, in their dreams, in their souls’ full of art.
We will always be bound by the music
Of our lives and by the truth of our writings.
Through the textured layers of our rites
And of our life stories, we not only elevate
Our souls’ passage but also our life songs’ music.
While loved ones and friends are marched like some
diseased animals
To the showers or boxcars, generator’s art-
Fulness in deceit, deception, and hatred dissipate in the air
like the strained notes of a rhapsody.
When writing of peace and war, how can one determine
the cost to humans and animals?
How does one capture on canvas or on film the (he)art
Of the soul’s conflicted elevation or the nuances of
humanity’s rhapsody?
Barbara Morrison
[First reaction on: Council to Consider Public Land to host Private Jurassic Park." The idea is to have Vancouver CIty permit some company put huge plastic dinosaurs in Stanley Park. No specific space or corner but randomly onto prime pieces of the park's geography. Turning tourists to uckers and public land to xsome refugee from Disneyland.]
Greetings all,
Today is the first I've learned of this proposal. By rights it should be public information : i.e. a plan and description and cost estimates and so on. If, just after the longest strike in recent memory has come to an end; if, with the Library workers still working to get a fair deal for hundreds of underpaid people - pay equity is not an unrealistic dream; if, after the City moans about shortages of funds for many deserving projects dumped by the provincial government but can still find $80million for fish housing and $20+million for an Olympic slush fund, spending the required millions to somehow advance a ponzi scheme to attract tourists is cruel. That many involved in making such a decision are not offset by these realities or, in fact, cannot even understand how any of this is related, you should just resign and let people with a conscience move in.
PaulR Taylor
The Tao of Tao
For Coreen Douglas, who “just kind
of pushed me this way”sb
‘When will this loneliness end?’ – Lao Tzu
The tao (way) is
like a straight line
you must follow that
is never in front
of you. Boo!
-Stephen ‘there’ll-be-no-sleeping-
tonight’ Belkin
[Author’s note: Just to be absolutely clear – if tedious and unpoetic – by follow I mean only in the literal sense of ‘staying behind of...’ OK? Let’s go!]
(This is not a test.)
newCHAPTER2
Employment Resource Centre
newCHAPTER 2 welcomes unemployed individuals eligible to work in Canada who are committed to seeking gainful employment. Individual assistance through Case Management, one-on-one assistance & counselling, or independent job search is offered. Assistance to individuals who are re-entering the workforce or furthering their education is provided.
newCHAPTER 2 believes that, given the appropriate support, everyone has the capacity to succeed.
Drop-in
newCHAPTER2 has an open door policy and provides free access to resources for employment purposes, including:
· Computer & Internet access
· Employment phone & message centre
· Fax & limited photocopy access
· Job board, classified ads
· Labour Market Information
· Resource materials
· NOC / Job Futures
Case Management Unit
newCHAPTER 2' s Case Managers offer job seekers information, counselling, and referrals to appropriate job search programs, education and training, and/or community resources. Case Managers are also available to assist with resume and cover letter creation or editing, internet job searching and skills assessment and career exploration. Case Managers also provide assistance with all employment related or education applications (student loan, college, etc).
All services are free of charge
newCHAPTER2 and newCHAPTER are funded by Service Canada and sponsored by the Vancouver Eastside Educational Enrichment Society (VEEES).
Jayne Mason / Case Manager Mon-Fri
Resource Centre Administrator 9 – 4:30
newCHAPTER2
Employment Resource Centre
835 East Hastings Street
Vancouver BC V6A 1R8
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Is this a hard task?
Where one person takes all their hate
to the grave?!
Why have so much remorse – the person is dead
Give yourself a hug, say: All My Relations
Ask the Creator to pass on your message
And you will be enlightened by relief
Your heart wouldn’t be burdened
by all that hate
Open up the wounds – let it heal
You will have a better way
of learning to love again.
Be free, plus be a happy person.
As you’ve always been
Love, love again.
All my relations,
Bonnie E Stevens
The APC Team of 6
and its Litany of Crown Conditions
The Vancouver Police arrested the so-called advance-ed APC (Anti-Poverty Committee) Squat Team of 6 at 2:30 in the early morning of Sunday, 14 October at 18 W. Hastings, the Burns Building - an old, empty SRO located across from the Army and Navy department store. They were charged with breaking and entering, although no member of the Team of 6 broke in and no damages occurred.
In fact, it was the police who broke into the Burns Building; it took them one hour to break down the door. After being notified by 911 of a possible trespass, the police arrived within a few minutes at the back of the building with five police cars containing at least ten police officers. Spotlights were focused on the back looking for evidence of trespass. A few minutes later, the front of the building witnessed another six cars, a paddy wagon, and ten members of the City’s finest as well as a number of unmarked police vehicles and plainclothes police. This group was equipped with batons, tasers, guns and dogs.
For forty-five minutes the police banged with hammers on the iron-gating at the entrance of the building. did not achieve entry. The police ordered a technician’s vehicle to attend and then with an electric saw the iron-gating was cut. The taxpayers got their monies worth: It was a great show with a large night time audience from the DTES community watching.
The moment the police entered the three APC members who were inside called out “We are not resisting arrest. We are not resisting arrest.” The police called “OK, put your hands up and come down.” They complied and the arrest was peaceful. The other three were arrested outside.
During the arrest, all of the Team of 6 faced a line-up of at least a dozen police officers in a threatening stance, like a firing squad ready to execute on command. There was no doubt among the APC Team of 6 that the police were eager to use their weapons, targeting them for any abrupt movement or disobeying any instructions.
The Team of 6 could not believe the amount of police presence. It was surreal: it was like a script from a Hollywood movie. The only thing that surpassed this was the conditions that the Crown wanted to impose on them prior to their release.
Later that day a demo-parade of at least three hundred activists and citizens, with tin pots and pans, wooden spoons and whistles, walked from Victory Square up to the jail at Main and Cordova Streets.
The supporters banged and chanted, demanding that the APC Team of 6 be released. They arrived at the jail’s small single jail house door on Cordova, which was barricaded by 23 of the City’s finest behind a fence of police bikes. On the roofs of the police station and other buildings there were police with video cameras and weapons. There must have been a $surplus in the police budget and it’d been decided that money had to be spent by the end of the day.
Twenty lingering protesters waited until late into the evening in the vain hope that the 6 would be released.
At the bail hearing on 15 October 2007 draconian Crown conditions were asked for from each of the APC Team of 6:
*The Team of 6 was not to go on Hastings Street;
*The Team of 6 was not to go to the DTES from Cambie to Hastings to Main to the waterfront. This prevented those arrested from living, from shopping, from recreating and/or from working in the DTES;
*The Team of 6 was told not to associate directly or indirectly with each other;
*The Team of 6 was not to associate with any member of the vast membership of the APC past or present;
*The Team of 6 was not to go to any VANOC properties;
*The Team of 6 was not to participate in any future protests;
*The Team of 6 was not to go to the Burns Building at 18 West Hastings;
*The Team of 6 was not to contact the witnesses;
*The Team of 6 was to be subject to a 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew;
*The Team of 6 was to keep the peace and to be of good behavior;
*The Team of 6 was to report to bail supervisors immediately and then report personally every two weeks until the trial;
*The Team of 6 was to be subject to a $1,500 fine each if any of the above conditions were broken as well as being possibly imprisoned until their unknown trial date nine or ten months from now.
Upon hearing the conditions, a member of the Team of 6 echoed that she had escaped from Communist Poland, spent one year in a refugee camp, and decided to come to Canada, as it was supposedly a just and democratic country. But, even before having a court trial for the alleged break and entry, the police, along with the Crown, wanted her to lose freedoms which she considered dear to living in a democracy: she was told that she could not associate with whom she wanted and that her freedom of movement was severely limited. It also wanted her to have a curfew. “This wasn’t Canada; this was Communist Poland,” she uttered. She felt she was back in a police state. The conditions of the Crown were blatantly restrictive and against what an ordinary common man would believe living in a democracy allowed.
The APC Team of 6 refused to agree to any of the conditions so they had to wait until the next day in dirty freezing jail cells looking forward to the same meal each day of a cold baloney sandwich for breakfast; lunch and dinner.
The formal bail hearing was held at 4:00 p.m. on 15 October 2007 at which time the Team of 6 asked that most of the conditions be waived as being unreasonable before being released pending trial.
The APC Team of 6 was composed of a diverse range of individuals: three men and three women aged from 20 to 64. They were two retired Canadian citizens, three working-poor Canadian citizens and one student Canadian citizen.. all unlikely Olympic terrorists
At the bail hearing most of the outrageous restrictions were quashed. A fair judge struck them out. The hysteria of the Sunday event was then seen for what it was: it was only a harmless group of six citizens wanting to make a political statement about lack of affordable housing; nothing more, nothing less. And for the Team of 6 to be hit with the full wrath of the State seemed unnecessary and stupid. The APC Team of 6 was finally released on Monday the 15th at 8:00 p.m.
They are all now waiting for the drafting of the Particulars on the Information (i.e. the particulars of the charge(s)). Fifty police officers and 30 hours later no one had yet typed up a written report as to what exactly occurred, if anything criminal.
By Zofia Kiefer and Audrey Laferriere
