Contents
- “POORJUDICE” KEEPS WELFARERS GROUNDED
- News from the Library
- Change in Timing of Cafeteria Price Increases
- GOING HOME
- Community Voice Mail Gets You Connected
- Siberia Was a Start
- HUM 1O1 DOCUMENTARIES
- Thursdays Writing Collective
- Who knows who I am?
- Life is Real
- Without fear young one
- Inequality, Democracy, & Class Warfare (Part 3)
“POORJUDICE”
KEEPS WELFARERS GROUNDED
What purpose is served by Liberal government’s insistence that welfare recipients pay full fare for transit – as much as one quarter of their cheque for some?
In the past 20 to 30 years great strides have been made fighting racism, homophobia and prejudice against the physically disabled, among others. Some groups, however, have made no progress in public understanding and empathy. These include drug users, sex workers and the poor - certain types of poor in particular.
Let me rephrase that – there is enduring antipathy for poor drug users and poor sex workers. Even among some social outcast groups, having money can almost earn total redemption in public opinion. Extremely beautiful women who are "high class escorts" are almost fashionable and widely admired. Rock star Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has been a heavy heroin and cocaine user for decades, but because of his fame/fortune he gets to be featured in full page ads for luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
But not having money is inexcusable. Being out of pocket is out of line, and while this is nothing new, it’s actually getting worse. I call it “poorjudice” to make the point.
One of the reasons the first three groups have made progress is because being an ethnic minority, homosexual or physically disabled is natural born, and thus unavoidable. But most people blame the poor for their lot. Our weak characters, lack of self-discipline and irresponsibility have led to our sorry fate - and having made our beds, they should lie in them and not ask for “handouts” from those who have made self sacrifices to avoid that end.
In time I am almost certain that the heavy consumption of natural resources by the affluent and, conversely, the far lighter carbon footprint of the non-affluent, including people who choose voluntary simplicity, will play a key role in correcting this monstrously misguided and unfair distribution of social esteem. But that is in the future.
Of all classes of poorjudice, dislike of welfare recipients ranks right up there, a step down from revulsion for crack dealers. When any party in government wants a boost in the polls, it can pretty much rely on being tougher on crime and harder on welfare recipients. NDP premier Mike Harcourt could not resist, calling us “deadbeats and varmints” and the Campbell Liberals have outdone themselves – going further in their welfare throttling than even their ultra-right mentors of the Fraser Institute recommend.
This deeply entrenched hostility might be eased a tiny bit if it was well known that welfare recipients Expected To Work (ETW – of whom I am one) must check in with a case coordinator every week, showing evidence of attempting to find work, or else we are cut off. I was cut off welfare once because my case coordinator was so busy she cancelled two appointments in a row, and as a result the system showed I had not complied. It was soon corrected, but it just goes to show that welfare recipients do have our feet very firmly held to the fire.
Anyone who thinks people voluntarily opt to live on $610 monthly is misguided. The percentage of folk who make welfare a lifestyle choice must be tiny. Under the BC Liberal Party legislation, welfare recipients cannot earn a single dollar without it being taken off the monthly allowance.
In my own year on welfare I have already racked up debt of thousands of dollars to friends and family paying my own way to study for an extremely difficult qualification that got me off welfare for three months but did not lead to long-term employment. I am now preparing to undertake more study, of a year or more, to qualify for yet another new career – one that almost guarantees me full-time work for the remaining 15 to 20 years of my working life. I never want to be on welfare again.
For the record, I ended up on welfare because I got so sick I could no longer work, in a country where I had no medical insurance – Vietnam. That little oversight cost a fair penny I can assure you. Once I recovered I could not find work in an economy where every job in my field is contested by 200 applicants.
Then I gambled my life savings on a business that did not work out, as indeed the vast majority of new businesses do not. I mention this as it is helpful to know why some people end up on welfare, which is only temporary, before concluding they are lazy, irresponsible slackers.
Surely as a Canadian citizen and BC registered voter I am entitled, as we all are, to my one 4.5 millionth share of the natural bounty and common wealth invested in the infrastructure of this prosperous province no?
Do you know how many ETW welfarers there are now in BC? About 33,000. That is 0.73 % of the province’s 4.5 million population. The unemployment rate is 7.5 percent, so fewer than one in 10 people out of work are on welfare – the rest are on Employment Insurance, disabled or living on savings.
On average BC welfare recipients get $550 a month each – as people in couples get less than the $610 for singles. This is a cost of about $18 million a month to the BC economy, which is about 0.13 percent of the province’s monthly GDP of 14 billion. So all of the hullabaloo and crying blue murder is over one-tenth of one percent - meaning it can be covered by a tiny miniscule fraction of the income that comes from our common heritage, such as forests or fisheries, mining or tourism.
Yes, society does owe everyone a living. If nobody did any work and we had robots to harvest our resources, sustainably, and we doled out the proceeds exactly equally, do you think we’d each get more than $20 a day? Probably 100 times that.
Oh, by the way in that profligate socialist paradise of Australia welfare recipients get just over $1,000 a month, in New Zealand $750 and even in Britain it is far more generous. BC has one of the most punitive welfare regimes of any OECD country, comparable with the USA and even harsher in some key respects.
The aspect of life on welfare that bothers me most is the current government’s insistence that we ETWs pay the same as everyone else to travel on buses and the SkyTrain. For me this would be $81 monthly for a one-zone pass in Metro Vancouver. Pity poor Surreyites or Coquitlam residents needing to travel into downtown Vancouver for job interviews. For them the monthly cost of travel is $155 – about a quarter of their total income. Vancouver’s fares are the highest in Canada by the way, and among the highest anywhere.
We ETWs get a few bus tickets doled out to us by our magnanimous case coordinators, but at most about 20 a month. This is obviously too little for all the traveling that a normal person undertakes.
Even if you feel that life on welfare should be unbearably uncomfortable, to ensure that we ETWs find untapped reserves of motivation to get off it, I challenge you to make a case for limiting our mobility on public transportation. It is this kind of unnecessary and excessive suffering on behalf of us poor dole bludgers that I protest – it is meanness just for the sake of appeasing unfair dislike and poorjudice against welfarers.
If we could ride transit free or for a fair fare, say about five percent of our income (average for BC workers) which is $30 a month or $1 a day, do you imagine that we would abuse the system? Would we ride the buses and SkyTrain train up and down all day just for the sheer exhilaration of it? Would this special treatment prompt more people to leave their jobs frivolously because on welfare they could get a big break on bus fare? Oh please.
Only people classified as disabled or PPMB – Persons with Persistent Multiple Barriers, can get $45 annual passes.
Together with a number of other activists I am planning a civil disobedience campaign to bring attention to this injustice and to force the government’s hand. Called Don’t Move BC, the campaign will consist of welfare recipients and supporters taking transit and refusing to pay the fare. When security is called, the idea is to refuse to pay or leave, and to passively resist arrest if it comes.
The disruption to the transit system will be so severe it will draw corporate media attention (and condemnation no doubt) but widespread public support once the particulars are made clear. How Mr Campbell’s government responds will be most instructive.
This is not damaging property remember, or hurting anyone, just jamming an aspect of the system that is punitive, discriminatory and counter-productive. Look out for notices of the campaign when we are ready, and there’ll be a Facebook page titled “Don’t Move BC.” We hope you get on board.
By Dave
News from the Library
New Books
Those crazy rock stars. A few new books uncover the lives and music of some musical icons. Did you know that Karen Carpenter was a frustrated drummer? Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter (921 CAR), by Randy L Schmidt, tells the story of the mellow voice and troubled life of the singer who died aged 32. In Just Kids (921 SMI), Patty Smith writes the story of the summer of 1969 in New York City, where she and Robert Mapplethorpe visited the court of Andy Warhol, set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea, and immersed themselves in the worlds of poetry, counterculture, rock and roll, art and sexual politics. I Slept with Joey Ramone (921 RAM) is the story of the iconic punk legend by his brother, Mickey Leigh. An intimate look at the life of Joey Ramone? A man cashing in on his brother’s fame and notoriety? A book about Joey Ramone, or a book about Mickey Leigh? Read it and decide for yourself.
Love them or hate them, the Idiot’s Guide series are immensely popular. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creative Writing, by Laurie E Rozakis (808.02) contains writing tips and techniques, advice on agents and publishers, and advice on how to find your writing niche.
We’ve also got a few new self-help books. Boundaries: Where You End and I Begin, by Anne Katherine (302) talks about how boundaries protect our well-being and define us as unique and individual. Fear and Other Uninvited Guests (152.46) is Harriet Lerner’s look at how unhappiness is fuelled by three key emotions: anxiety, fear, and shame. I’m always a bit sceptical of books that claim to have found “the” cure to mental illness or addiction. Olivier Ameisen, a cardiologist and acute alcoholic, claims that a muscle relaxant is the one-way ticket out of alcohol cravings. Read more in The End of My Addiction (616.86). Also on the addiction theme is Freedom from Addiction, a book by Deepak Chopra and Chopra Center founder David Simon (362.29). With a mix of Western research and Eastern traditions, they claim to “give anyone the tools to uncover the true cause of their addiction and provide comprehensive steps to end it for good.”
All of these books are in the library display case, and will be available to request on Wednesday, September 1.
Beth, your librarian
Change in Timing of Cafeteria Price Increases
Change in Timing of Cafeteria Price Increases
Dear Carnegie and Community members,
After some reflection on our part and input from Carnegie members we have decided to delay the increases in Cafeteria prices to Sept. 22. The staff of the Carnegie Centre are aware that the additional cost of food at the Carnegie Centre will have a major effect on the budget of some residents and members. Delaying to Sept. 22 gives people a chance to plan for this increase by making whatever changes are possible to their budget. We regret that we can no longer support the old prices but must make this change if the cafeteria is going to continue to be viable.
Thank you all for your understanding and patience.
Sincerely,
Ethel Whitty
Director
Carnegie Community Centre
401 Main Street
Vancouver, V6A 2T7
phone: 604 665 3301
email: ethel.whitty@vancouver.ca
GOING HOME
GOING HOME
Gradually or suddenly, things change and Why? gets asked. Ask anyone you wish: what’s the deal? Everyone has a story, whether good or bad, and changes are taking place in all of our lives realising distances, new boundaries and fateful destinies.
Oh the wonder of it all; to be newly enthralled, entranced, with no warning or advance notice – maybe just a bright premonition or a dark foreboding – and whatever way it breaks we have to deal with it, no denial, no distress, never fear the worst only hope for the best with no time wasted on hazarding a guess.
Love is the answer, sharing and sacrifice, knowing whom to turn to with mind a mess clothes in tatters keep the faith don’t give up ‘cause you’re so precious
...ain’t that enough?!
Roll with the punches, soft or hard; goodness matters and above all else brothers & sisters just be yourself. Imagine worlds afar, an endless universe, where in the end we’re just dust scattered back to mother earth to oceans and nature. Spirits rise up to the heavens when ours go home to where they belong. Breathe!
ROBYN LIVINGSTONE
Community Voice Mail Gets You Connected
Community Voice Mail Gets You Connected
…For FREE!
Have a Goal in Mind? Take a Number!
How do you get a job without a phone? A place to live? Safety from domestic abuse? You don't.
Access to a telephone is a basic survival tool...and one we often don't think of. Lu'ma Native Housing Society is proud to coordinate a remarkable program that has been changing lives and connecting homeless and/or phoneless people elsewhere for almost 20 years.
Community Voice Mail (CVM) is a simple and effective solution to a complex problem - how to help people in crisis and transition stay connected to the very tool they need most: a constant, reliable telephone number.
The roll-out for this program started in February 2010 when 30 service providers of housing, employment, healthcare and social services in and around the DTES began receiving their banks of DID (direct-inward-dial) phone numbers with personal voice greeting and voice mail. These numbers are passed on to clients by the people who help them...helping them identify and achieve goals (health care, social services, family contact, employment, housing etc.).
CVM has some unique features: "Broadcast messaging" allows an organization to send out important info to all clients using CVM at once; "Email notification" lets a client know via email if there is a voice-message waiting in their box and "Re-set by phone" allows a case worker to recycle an unused CVM number on to a client who will use it.
DERA’s Call'n'Post has recently been rebranded "Lifeline Voicemail" and is a low-cost way for someone to stay connected. Lifeline Voicemail is provided at a nominal cost of $3/month to users. There is no need to be in a crisis. Sometimes these are sold to relevant charities/non-profits who then give them to clients in need for free.
CVM is meant for people in crisis with a goal in mind, so yes, ALL are required to fill out the "Intake Form" (the name on the form can be Mickey Mouse....what I need is to collect data which proves these numbers are for our most vulnerable and "at risk" citizens--85% of CVM clients are homeless, living in a shelter or transitional housing--the average monthly income for all is $676/month while 9% report "no financial resources" whatsoever. This data that is collected is shared with ALL CVM Partner Agencies to help them better understand their client-base, and help them make cases for future funding too! It's by the community, for the community.
Interested? The following places offer FREE CVM numbers to clients with goals who need them:
There are 4 things that make this program accessible and successful: 1) it is provided to the people who need it by the people that help them--whether you're fleeing abuse and talking to a counsellor at ATIRA, or looking for a job at Pathways...your caseworker provides it at a crucial time of need. 2) there is no "Poverty Stigma" attached to using CVM - the number looks like any local number and the greeting is the client's own voice; so the person calling you has no idea if you are in crisis or transition...especially vital for job-seekers. 3) "Broadcast Messaging" allows everyone using CVM to be reached in one call with important community-building news, opportunities and health/weather alerts. 4) it's FREE.
Lu'ma Native Housing Society is proud to "build bridges" in Vancouver's Community of Caring - providing CVM to organizations for free who care about our most impoverished citizens, regardless of ancestry. It would be nice if at least this point were made when you run the article. Aboriginals still make up a disproportionate number of Vancouver's homeless (30-40%), and I think it's encouraging for people to know we're tackling the issue as a community. I am regularly gratified to hear about people who've been estranged from family for years, using CVM to get in touch and re-connect...can you even imagine the value of this? Check out www.cvm.org if you want to learn more.
James Foster
Community Voice Mail
@ Lu'ma Native Housing Society
604-876-0811 ext 232
ACCESS
ATIRA Women's Resource Society
BCPWA
Broadway Youth Resource Centre
Coast Mental Health
Downtown Community Courts
Elizabeth Fry Society
First United Church
Helping Spirit Lodge
John Howard Society
London Hotel
newSTART Bridging Employment Program for Women
PACE
Pathways Information Centre
PEERS
Pivot Legal Society
Positive Outlook Program (POP)
Raincity Housing
Sheway
The Lookout Emergency Aid Society
Urban Youth Project
VACFSS
Vancouver Aboriginal Transformative Justice Services
Vancouver Coastal Health Pender Clinic
Vancouver Coastal Health Housing First Placement Team
Vancouver Coastal Health Clinical Support Team
Vancouver Native Health Society
Vivian House
Wish Drop-in Centre
YWCA Career Zone
Siberia Was a Start
Siberia Was a Start
Like 492 people jumping the queue or 20 1st-degree murder charges stayed & all in one day, now that you know how it’s done the Canadian way how can you just stand there when tomorrow’s yesterday already here what have you to say?! Like the new skystain being the International Space Station’s next stop... severe isolation but a good place for slumber when bad guys start laying the lumber – get their number – but remember I can run faster scared than you can mad so put your pitiful goodbye note in the shredder & let’s find one better as I pull another from my bag. I'm learning new meanings of things as I move my life & sanity 76 blocks away was it Jesus who created 3000 new cars then gave them all away? as thes ever-increasing immortal speedsters some aimed at the stars driving has never been my scene that’s just me, now that you are that star (at least for today) all newspapers parading your picture (Before, definitely not after) same with no laughter but you’re on every 40-foot screen what a scream.. you are a celebrity yet your lights are quite dim.. I'll leave out any war ‘cause I’ve written off more than I can chew
..in the past month I’ve seen over a dozen of my pens die; now a lot of my shirtpockets have their own Minnesota Rohrshach test but thank you so much for staining in touch. Honestly and contentiously I’ve served my interpretation of time –a time-honoured tradition – Guzzleaholics don’t fret it’s not another Prohibition it’s worse this eerie invention from mankind, from sundials to brain tumour machines with all the accessories encrusted between at least their hand isn’t nailed to the side of their face all the time; the dormant doorman has watches up his sleeve on the hour of every hour like proper Egyptian pyramid schemes give anything to anyone at any time & some are born to be deceived straight from the start but this must be stopped.
PhDs on your wall are good for covering up domestic abuse (When asked: it’s all your fault!)
Siberia has so many secrets but so little time guzzle back that Martini as I’ve added a little lyme and just a dash of lemon-flavoured Pledge why I could get the pope himself on top of his celestial ledge (doGDamn those Vatican gardeners with their rosebush hedges))
I span the map with choked eyes & once again there isn’t a single surprise: Africa is about to join the Billion + country club, China & India have already arri-ved so savour that tiny bit it may be all you’re gonna git, moving is like fate: just when you think you’ve found yourself there you are with the good hands people “ALLSTATE” is there in d’ middle of d’ road at times like this you’ll never be late – like walking into a paint store and urinating on their white wall ‘n exclaiming “That’s great! That’s the colour for me!! I'll take a gallon or three!!!”
- always the subtle touch is fate.
By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY
HUM 1O1 DOCUMENTARIES
HUM 1O1 DOCUMENTARIES
Sept. – Oct. 2010 Carnegie Theatre
Saturdays at 6:00
Sept 11
Zero 9-11 and Loose Change - Some DVD’s and Bumper stickers for door prizes.
Sept 18
Dying to Have Known and Food Matters as well as A question of Eligibility (Each 80 Minutes.)
Sept 25
Mac Libel (85 Min) and Tobacco Conspiracy (80 Min)
Oct 9
CIA Part I (2½ hours) and In Debt We Trust (1 hour).
Oct 16
CIA Part II (2½ hours) & Death in the Bunker? (2hr)
Oct 23
Beautiful Truth (92 Min) and Dirt (87 Min)
Oct 30
638 Ways to Kill Castro (History of Attempts on his life) (2hr) and Martha INC. (1½ hours)
Thursdays Writing Collective
On Thursday, September 16 creative writing classes with Thursdays Writing Collective start up for the fall. Join Elee Kraljii Gardiner and Anne Hopkinson every Thursday from 2-4pm in the third flood classroom in the Carnegie Centre for writing prompts and discussion. This fall we will discuss revision and experiment with different ways of pushing our work past the first draft. Please check our website for info on our schedule of visits from writers Fiona Lam, Cathleen With, George McWhirter and Michael Turner.
Class runs until December 9 when we break for winter. Classes are free and everyone is welcome. www.thursdays poemsandprose.ca
Who knows who I am?
Who knows who I am?
Not wrapped in belief in a mosque
nor caught in anyone’s rituals
not someone pure
amongst the impure
neither Moses
nor Pharaoh
Bullah?
Who knows who I am?
Bullah Shah
-Sufi poet
Life is Real
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes or something they did, know, failed. You might be disappointed if you fail, but you’re doomed if you don’t try again. Not everything we face can be changed but nothing can be changed until it’s faced.
So be like a postage stamp and stick to one thing that you love or like until you get it.
R.H. Without fear young one
Without fear young one
Without hate young one
Without ignorance young one
Without pain young one
Without extreme behaviour
young one,
Without running young one
Without faith and selfless love
you have a hole in your heart
and it aches for luscious waters
ever pouring forth
-Nora Rickman
Inequality, Democracy, & Class Warfare (Part 3)
Inequality, Democracy, & Class Warfare (Part 3)
By Rolf Auer
Written out of respect for Sandra Pronteau, Adrienne Macallum, Phoenix Winter, Priscillia Tait, Stephen Lytton and all the fine citizens of the Downtown Eastside.
I was talking to Sandy Cameron about Part 2 of this series, and he had these words of advice for me: “Always remember when writing: what is the organizing principle?” So, yes, I admit, that last article was like, in Sandy’s words, trying to jam too many things into a suitcase.
So I’m keeping to one subject in this one: the law and class war. On the cover of Sandy’s book (Taking Another Look At Class, available from the CCPA, 604-801-5121, $3) is a photo of a mural that was painted by the famous Downtown Eastside social justice activist Bruce Eriksen in the 1970s, which features a quote from Anatole France, a French poet, journalist, and novelist from the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. It reads: “The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges to beg in the streets and to steal bread.”
In his chapter titled “The Law and Class War” in his book (p.22), Sandy goes into much detail about how the poor are betrayed over and over again by the law, and by government policies which virtually forces them to break it in order to survive (such as abysmally low income assistance rates, for example).
According to a statistic in this chapter, Canada (as of 1999) had the fourth highest incarceration rate in the western world, at 130 inmates per 100,000 population, behind the US, Russia, and South Africa. That’s class war, too.
And what of BC? What we do know is that 4 percent of BC’s population is Aboriginal, while 20 percent of its prison population is Aboriginal. That’s also class war (as well as cultural war, as Sandy pointed out to me.) I pulled that stat off the ‘Net from Prison Justice Day.
I also found this article in The Province on August 17, 2010 by Janice Tibbetts, “FAS ‘a huge problem’ in jails,” telling how both federally and provincially, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome sufferers shouldn’t be held responsible in the same way as other prisoners because of their affliction.
And yet at the beginning of August, we have Conservative MP Stockwell Day publicly announcing Canada is going to spend $13 billion building more prisons, based purely on an unsubstantiated claim that “more and more often, crimes are going unreported.” StatsCan quickly shot that down: “StatsCan refutes minister over crime numbers,” Mike De Souza, Vancouver Sun, August 4, 2010, wherein the agency takes Day to task for using numbers of theirs incorrectly.
HUGE class war! Think of all the daycares, social programs, national social housing that money could fund. Who are they building these prisons for? Not the well off, that’s for sure. That’s the irony of France’s quote at the beginning of this article.
I’m reminded of this also famous quote by a Downtown Eastside old-timer sometime after Expo ’86: “Someday, they’re going to come in here with a bunch of army trucks and ship us all out to the sticks like POWS!” Like I said, it’s not the well off (who’ll be shipped out), that’s for sure.
