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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 MINI ART GIANT SUCCESS
VOL. 47 NO. 08
BIUndercurrent
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The Hearth’s Mini Art Show sets records PAGE 13
Surprise grant for Davies Orchard
METRO VANCOUVER PROJECT GETS $450,000 IN COVID RESPONSE FUNDING BRONWYN BEAIRSTO
Editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com
REDress project on Bowen Island
UNDERCURRENT PHOTO
HONOURING, REMEMBERING, RAISING AWARENESS
Islanders may have noticed the striking sight of red dresses hanging around the island this past month (including Deep Bay and Grafton Road. The above photo is from the intersection of Cowan and Grafton Roads.) The dresses were hung in support of the REDress project – a visual reminder of the thousands of missing and
murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGTBQQIA people across Canada. Begun in 2011 by Métis artist Jamie Black, “the installation seeks to evoke a presence through the marking of absence.” The project began with Black installing dresses on the University of Winnipeg campus and has since been taken up across Canada and in the U.S., with Black’s encouragement, as communities have hung dresses in solidarity and to bring awareness MMIWG2S+. The 2019 National Inquiry into
MMIWG final report found “persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people,” and called for “transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.” (Read the report at mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report.) The report has 231 calls for justice. CONTINUED ON P. 4
Davies Orchard Revitalization Project just got a revitalization itself. The project received $450,000 from a provincial COVID-19 response grant (the original ask was $1 million). Coun. Maureen Nicholson, who sits on the Metro Vancouver Parks committee, shared the news with Bowen Island Municipal Council at a Feb. 22 meeting. The grant was part of the province’s $100 million Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program (CERIP) – the distribution of which was announced Monday morning. “[Monday] morning, I had a very excited conversation – excited on both ends – with Metro Parks, where they were thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, now what,’ and reviewing their budget, figuring out what the conversation would be with the metro parks committee, not all of whom are in support of the Davies Orchard Project,” said Nicholson. “But in cash injection $450,000 is bound to focus the mind.” Metro Vancouver created a revitalization plan for the orchard in 2018 but set it aside due to lack of funding, indicated Nicholson. There’s been little on-the-ground work done since Metro Vancouver demolished four orchard cottages in 2018. “To have received such a really significant contribution to that project is quite remarkable,” said Nicholson “And to be honest, I think, very unexpected, which says something about the value that the province is putting into recognizing the history, the community life.” Read more at bowenislandundercurrent.com.
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