August 1, 2017 carnegie newsletter

NEWSLETTER

carnnews@vcn,bc.ca

401 Main Street, Vancouver BC V6A 2T7 604-665-2289 email: carnnews@shaw.ca Website/catalogue: carnegienewsletter.org

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Tracey Morrison; pre~ident of the Western~Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society.

Tracey Morrison remembered for her tenderness and tirelessness ~ David P.Ball [This appeared in the Metro, July 18] A longtime advocate for drug policy reforms in Vancouver is being mourned after her unexpected death on Friday (July 14).

Tracey Morrison was of Anishinabe ancestry and

CONTRIBUTED

president of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society. Also involved in the city's leading harm-reduction community organization, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users CVANDU), Morrison earned the nickname Tracey the-Bannock Lady for her many years selling homemade fly bread in the Downtown Easfside.

"She's been a major staplein the community, fighting for the rights of Aboriginal people, especially Aborig-

inal women, in drug use," said Laura Shaver, president of the B.c. Association of People on Methadone and a VANDU board member.

"You can't walk down the street without someone saying something about her.

"I don't think Tracey realized how many people she affected or how many knew her from her work."

Garth Mullins, who also works with V ANDU, said he knew Morrison for years and believed she was in her mid to late 40s and originally from Winnipeg.

"I worked with Tracey as part of the movement trying to confront the overdose crisis and bring some dignity and agency to the lives of people who are really I~arginalized by the drug war," the radio documentanan and 24 Hours columnist told Metro.

"Tracey would really make the links between colonialism and gentrification and dn~g pol~cies -but she ~ad a beautiful, tender way of working WIth everybody m the community. .

"She'd always meet you with a hug. It was crushing when I heard Saturday morning. It was like someone threw a cinder block at my gut. There's been shock through the community."

In February Morrison wrote an article about the overdose crisis for The Volcano. Many of her colleagues shared the story. titled Sad Siren Song, over social media.

"When 1 hear the sad song of sirens that ring in my neighbourhood every day," she wrote, "all da~ I am dreading to hear the story if this person made It or not.

"This emergency crisis on overdoses and the death toll here in this city I love so much is inconceivable, so hard to understand why can't this problem be solved or helped? Why isn't what we are doing, working?'~ Mullins said that in addition to the grief over Morrison's death - the cause of which has yet to be determined - there's fear about the massive toll the overdose crisis has taken on the leadership of the harmreduction movement.

"I feel like this isn't going to stop until everyone of us is gone," Mull ins said. "To stop it, we need to fight.

And Tracey was one ofthe greatest fighters. .

"If this was an overdose involved here, then this and all the other thousands of people is the result of bad drug pol icy more than it is of bad drugs."

Donald "tweety turd" Trump Does this imbecile have anything Better to do with his life than .Constantly sending asinine tweets?

Trump: A connoisseur of whine.

Gwai Lo

The Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest The community is eager to see writing from denizens of the Downtown Eastside. Whether you live here or halfway around the world, whether once long ago, just here for a few days or maybe you've only heard of the place, having experience with poverty, bad housing or being homeless, drug use/substance abuse, violence & aggression, raising a family amidst any of these, being an artist, a poet, a writer, having a friend who can help get your thoughts on paper. ...

The conditions that permeate the lives of each reader are fertile ground fOTgrowth.

The structure of the Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest involves, 1) reading the guidelines on the opposite page; 2) writing your essay or story or contribution; 3) letting someone whose opinion you respect read what you wrote and listening to their feedback; 4) making a final, readable draft and submitting it in an application envelope at Carnegie's Front Desk.

The deadline is September 15,2017.

Between now and the deadline people are soliciting donations of prizes that can be given to writers. There will be cash awards of $25 for 3rd, $50 for 2nd, and a pt prize of $100. The money is coming through the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. Other items being sought are good pens, stationary, journals & gift cards from bookstores, coffeeshops and more.

There will be a panel of at least three people who will read, discuss and select the writings most from the heart. This last process will go on between the deadline of September 15 and the event during the Festival when selected writings will belecognised & prizes awarded.'

1 Do work on yours ... do not leave it until the last minute. Getting good input froIT$omeone whose opinion you respect is a two-way thing: give them time to appreciate what you've written so their feedback is from the heart and head.

Expect greatness!

PAULR TAYLOR, editor.

INFO SESSION I INFO SESSION I INFO SESSION,3 Carnegie Newsletter's Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing c»

Contest

Thinking About Entering?

Two-part

info session to give you all the tools you need to enter.

Part one: entry basics. Part two: writing tips, tricks and inspiration

ENTRY BASICS • • • • •

Contest guidelines explained Questions answered Where to find help How to submit your entry Can't decide: poetry, prose or memoir?

WRITING TIPS • • • • • •

How to get started Choosing what to write about Choosing a genre Useful tips and writerly advice How to banish "writers block" Composition and self-editing

Two sessions Wednesday Saturday Both

sessions

available

August 2 at 1pm and August 5 at 5:15 pm

in Classroom

2, 3rd floor

Carnegie

Contest deadline September 15, 2017. Entries are judged "blind."

Entry forms available at the front desk and the wall outside the Newsletter office, 2nd floor

PRIZES!

GLORY!

LASTING

FAME!

Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival August 11-12,2017 Presented by Community Arts Council of Vancouver in partnership with Roundhouse Comm unity Centre Vancouver, BC FREE ADMISSION Once known as Art Brut, Outsider Art refers to the work of any artist who has little or no contact with the mainstream art world, often including low-income, visionary, folk, and aboriginal artists, and artists with mental health diagnoses. Outsider Art fairs and festivals are held in London, New York, and Paris. Given Vancouver's number of outsider artists, we see tremendous value in this inclusive movement. * The inaugural Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival offers access to audiences, patrons, peers, community and leam ing to artists who do not currently have access to mainstream markets or cultural institutions. Unlike many art fairs, both performing and visual artists are invited to share their work, build their skills, and strengthen their connections to community.

Exhibition & Sales Friday from 11 AM - 9 PM Saturday from 10 AM - 4 PM Friday, August 11 12 PM - Artist Demonstration 4 PM - Opening Reception ~ 7 PM - "Illicit" Workshop Performance Saturday, August 12 10 AM - "Business Basics for Artists" Workshop 12 PM - Artist Demonstration 1 PM - Lively Arts Showcase with Global Party Starters, Andrea HoIIebakken, Mitcholos Touchie, M. Pyress Flame, Highs and Lows Choir, John Jaworski and Jan Cameron, Minah Lee, Claire Love Wilson, Victoria Gibson, Andrea Welsink Dance

*It is rarely recognized how, throughout history, art created by those who identify as "outsiders" profoundly influences trends, aesthetics, and evolution of cultural thought within the mainstream. Outsider Art can be evocative, prophetic, subversive, and can draw our attention to cultural legacies and understandings that are often marginalized, yet that profoundly shape our society.

There are as many definitions of Outsider Arts as there are artists who identify as outsiders. The Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival aims to create a space for dialogue, exploration, and shared discovery of what Outsider Arts means here, in this place, at this time, and what its contribution is to how we understand ourselves as a society.

Event to Honour Hundreds of Souls Lost to the Overdose Crisis

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Date/Time: August 31st 12pm - 4pm Location: 58 W. Hastings Street Downtown Eastside community partners Culture Saves Lives and Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS) in collaboration with Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD) will be hosting an event on August 31 st, International Day for Overdose Awareness, to memorialize those lost to British Columbia's overdose crisis.

According to the BC Coroners Service, between January 2016 and May 2017 there have been 1607 illicit drug overdose deaths in British Columbia. Despite the mass attention that this has attracted both from the public and the media, efforts have been unable to successfully reduce the number of overdose incidents, and people continue to die at alarming rates. In May of 2017 129 people died of suspected overdose; this equates to more than 4 people every single day.

It's easy to talk about these numbers and lose site of the devastating human loss, and the effects that this loss has at a community level. This event will give a voice to those that have been affected by this crisis. The day will feature a commemorative art canvas and attendees will be encouraged to add the names of those lost, as well as artistic tributes, to the canvas using paints or markers provided by the organizers. The hope is that this canvas will make its way to Parliament Hill in Ottawa where it can tell a more personalized story of the overdose crisis in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The day will also feature speakers from local organizations that support harm reduction, and will include those with lived experience and allies, as well as First Nations' elders. Food will be provided by the organizers.

This event is one of several coordinated events being organized by CAPUD across Canada in honour of International Day for Overdose Awareness.

For more information please contact Holly Kleban @ 604-642-5809. petty ego glorified violence might and intimidation the peasants have been made criminal sloth class interested in petty accomplishments have mine you die the violence that is shown on the media morality film that says nothing 0 eal life put the corruption of man on a sort of pedestal this is all a waste of time the ongoing grudge the fear blanket the fist of right there is a lack of acceptance of nature and mortality a fear of death a lack of compassion for the self do to them you do to all do to all you do to yourself condemning yourself lesadeetree

We Are The Women of

VANDU My heart Was full of holes Now filled with love, Empowerment's unity.

Women are very nurturing in spirit & Have a quiet strength.

I'm very blessed to be included with Loran, Laura, Chereece, & Jo Ann. Doesn't Matter what we do as users. We lead Full and active lives to Empower our community.

Tracy Morrison

The Downtown Eastside Women's Summer Fair and Flea Market:

Vendor Guidelines General Market Information: • The market will operate every Saturday to September so=, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm.on the 200 block of Columbia Street. Each vendor will be located at a table along Columbia Street, between Cordova and PowelL .

• The market will be set up between 10:00am-10:30am, and take-down will begin between 4:00pm-4:30 pm. This includes all of the tables, chairs, and tents.

• The market will operate rain or shine until further instruction is given.

• Our neighbors and surrounding business have been notified of the event.

Tables: • Tables will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. If you intend on vending, please meet at DEWC for no later than 10:00am on the Saturday of the market.

• The Fair Coordinator will assign tables in advance. When you check in, you will be directed to your table by a Peer Coordinator or Guardian. .

• Vendors are assigned a half or full table as per request. Please be mindful when choosing between a half or full table, and note that the Street Market Coordinator may assess the table situations in order to accommodate more vendors if need be.

• Vendors are asked to stay for the duration of the event. However, if you need to leave early you must inform the Fair Coordinator in advance.

• Vendors are encouraged to get creative. You can sell' a service (crafts, poem writing, hair cuts, etc.) or items that you create or find (art, household items, clothing, etc.).

• Please do not leave tables unattended without consulting with the Peer Workers and/or the Fair Coordinator. If you intend on leaving for a long period of time, pack your stuff up and bring it with you since market staff are not responsible for your items. Please also note that if you leave your table unattended & do not come back, we will dispose of all items at 4pm Other: • We ask that you please do not use and/or sell alcohol or drugs in the space, especially at tables.

• We ask that foul language is kept to a minimum.

• Children and pets are welcome, but please note that we are not responsible for them. If yot plan on bringing your children and/or pets, please make sure you are equipped to do so.

• If you cannot make it to vend, you must let the Fair Coordinator know as soon as possible.

Racquel 8elmonte, Street Market Coordinator (604)681-8480 ext. 280 marketcoordinator@dewc.ca or streetfair@dewc.ca -

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7 DEWC Women's Summer Fair & Flea Market Application The DEWC is looking for women who are interested in participating as vendors for the Downtown Eastside Women's Summer Fair and Flea Market. The fair runs Saturdays, June through September Vendors must be self identified

women,

and residents

of the Downtown

Eastside

community.

We are looking for committed vendors interested in being involved with the fair on an ongoing basis.

APPLICATION FORM: Name:

Residence/Address:

Contact info (phone/email):

Do you need a full or half table?

Tell us a bit about yourself, and what you intend to sell:

Please complete and hand in to Racquet (Street Market Coordinator) or the Front Desk at the DEWC.

From the Library In several library conversations the topic has revolved, around high adventure including grizzly bear encoun- . ters, wilderness survival, the Klondike Gold Rush, Dawson City and the Wild West. I think it's natural to dream of escaping into the woods, or perhaps hitting it rich while panning for gold. Here's some reading material to keep the dream alive!

.w

August 12*, 19, 26 ,...

3 Saturdays 1 play to read

"The Ecstasy of Rita Joen

The Stranger in the Woods: the extraordinary story of the last true hermit (2017) by Michael Finkel- For

written by George Ryga (1932-1987)

27 years Christopher Knight survived alone after disappearing into the forests of Maine. He would live in a tent even in winter and break into nearby cottages for supplies until he was finally caught.

Bad Boys of the Black Hills ... & some Wild Women, Too (2008) by Barbara Fifer - The stories are set in the Black Hills and Deadwood where outlaws and dancehall girls lived it up.

Join in - 1pm-4pm

Beneath my Feet: the memoirs of George Mercer Dawson (2007) by Phil Jenkins - Even though Dawson was crippled by a childhood illness in 1849, leaving him hunchbacked, he still managed to become an explorer, photographer, painter, geologist, botanist and ethnographer. A fascinating memoir of exploration and inspiration. Namesake of Dawson City and Dawson Creek.

Grizzlies of Pi/grim Creek (2015) by Thomas Mangelsen - A portrait of a celebrated grizzly bear family in Yellowstone, tracked & photographed for ten years.

Gold Diggers: striking it rich in the Klondike (2010)

by Charlotte Gray - A chronicle featuring six individ- . uals who caught the Klondike fever from a saintly priest, a miner, ajournalist, a business woman, to a Canadian Mountie, and of course, writer Jack London.

Gold Rush in the Klondike: a woman's journey in 1898-99 (2016) by Josephine Knowles. This is the true story of Knowles' experience in the Yukon when she left for the gold fields with her husband in 1898, and found herself surrounded by "swearing, whoring, sometimes violent miners, whom she won over with her grit and compassion."

Your librarian, Natalie

*Aug 12 - 3rd floor classroom; Aug 19 & 26 - Carnegie Theatre Fifty years ago, in 1967, The Ecstasy of Rita .

Joe premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse and is considered by many to be the most important English-language play by a Canadian playwright. The drama was one of the first plays to address issues relating to Indigenous peoples and teLLsthe story of a young native woman who finds that she has no place in either the city or with her own people.

Participate in the play reading and discussion.

Free, everyone welcome!

No experience necessary For more in/a: Teresa 604-255-9401 thirteenofhearts@hotmail.com

Backgrounder on homelessness in the Downtown Eastside by Our Homes Can't Wait Q Homelessness in Metro Vancouver I • Latest homeless count finds 3605 homeless people in March 2017 • Metro Vancouver also estimates there are 4,000 homeless people in the region based on people who get welfare and say they have no fixed address. Metro Vancouver also says there are 70 homeless camps in the region.

• Homelessness has increased by 30% between 2014 and 2017 in the Metro region • Vancouver has 959 year-round shelter beds to shelter 2138 counted homeless people so many people have to stay on the street.

Downtown Eastside (DTES) stats • Total number of people on welfare: about 3068 cases (a case is a family unit) • Seniors: about 4000 • Total on disability ($1033 a month): about 5803 cases • Homeless counted: about 1200 in the DTES and 2138 counted in Vancouver in 2017 Homeless life expectancy: According to research by Megaphone Magazine homeless deaths went up by 40% in 2015. They have also done research saying that the life expectancy of homeless people is about half of other BC residents.

DTES Community: There are lots of good things about the DTES, contrary to what you may have heard. In a 2010 report done by CCAP, residents said these were the good things.

1. The sense of community is strong; 2. Residents feel accepted and at home; 3. Residents have empathy for people with health and addiction issues; 4. Residents feel connected to a rich and authentic cultural heritage; 5. Arts practices and programs involve many community members; 6. Green spaces help residents make a connection to nature and are spiritually important; 7. Residents put in thousands of hours of volunteer work to build and maintain their community; 8. Necessities are cheap or free and nearby; 9. Health and social services are close, needed, and appreciated; 10. Many residents work for social justice; 11. Social housing provides a stable base for thousands of residents.

Single Room Occupancy Hotels (SROs) There are about 3500 units in privately owned SROs and about 1500 in government or non profit owned SROs which are generally managed a bit better and a bit cleaner but not always. These are single rooms, about 120 sq. ft or even smaller, with a bathroom down the hall and no private cooking facilities. Many of the non gentrified hotels are filthy, full of roaches and bedbugs, rats and mice and poorly managed Average low rent (each hotel generally has a variety of rents) in privately owned and run hotels according 2016 CCAP hotel survey was $548 (welfare and disability provide $375 for shelter). Residents who live on welfare and pay the average rent have only $2 a day left for food and everything else.

SRO hotels are rapidly gentrifying. Average rents in the 10 fastest gentrifying hotels have more than doubled from $444 a month in 2009 to $1101 a month in 2016. As a result, hundreds of low income people have been pushed out (see below).

We have a new group, the SRO Collaborative, that is working with SRO tenants to organize in their buildings and fight for habitability and to save the SROs until we get enough social housing. They have facilitated a class action lawsuit at the Regent Hotel asking to compensate tenants with $200 a month for having to put up with rats, bugs, broken elevators, no heat, hot water, etc. This is still winding its way through the courts.

In June we lost 173 low income rooms when the city closed the Balmoral Hotel. We desperately need government to acquire and improve SRO hotels before they are all gentrified ,in order to prevent more homelessness.

Social housing in the OTES There are about 5,000 units of social housing in the OTES that low income people can afford. When people get into these units they often feel like they have won the lottery. There is a BC Housing office in

the neighbourhood. They hand out lists of shelters to homeless people. They can also put you on a many year waitlist for social housing.

The Province is no longer funding buildings that are 100% for low income people and they are in the process of selling off public housing to non profit housing providers. The last of the 100% social housing buildings that we fought for prior to the Olympics opened in 2015.

Also, new social housing built is not necessarily affordable to low-income people. In Vancouver, social housing used to mean housing that low income people could afford at either the welfare shelter rate ($375 a month) or 30% of their income. In 2014 the city changed their definition so social housing now means housing that is owned by government or a non profit! where one third of the units rent at HILS ($962 per month for a bachelor unit). Two thirds can be at market rent and none have to be affordable to people on welfare or disability. So the city says it's creating thousands of units of social housing and everyone thinks they are for low income people but they aren't.

Federal and provincial funds allocated for social hou_singare less than a drop in the. bucket According to CCAP's calculations, only 3% of Vancouver's homeless people (1847 counted last year) could be housed this year if Vancouver got all of the money it should get from federal and provincial levels of government and if all that money was for building new social housing, which it isn't. The February federal budget said the federal government would spend about $1 billion a year on various housing programs. But that is a drop in the bucket compared to what's needed.

For example, Vancouver has about 13% of BC's population and BC has about 13% of Canada's population. If Vancouver got its share of the $1 billion, that would be 13% of 13% of $1 billion which is less than $12 M or enough to build about 60 units on city-owned land--IF it were all designated for new housing which it isn't--60 units to house 2138 homeless people!

Social mix This is patronizing and discriminatory theory that poor people need to be mixed with richer people in neighbourhoods so the prosperity of the richer people can rub off on them. Both the city of Vancouver and the province of BC are now implementing this theory, which has resulted in the gentrification of the DTES and the increase in homelessness. Woodwards is the biggest social mix development in the DTES with 536 condos and 125 welfare rate social housing units. It opened i.n2009. There is no real mix in the building as there are separate entrances and amenity rooms for the poor and rich.

Beyond that, CCAP's 2012 hotel study shows that, while we gained 125 low income units, rents increased in almost all of the surrounding SRO hotel units and we lost 404 units to rents over $500. So there was a net loss of 279 units affordable to low income people by 2012. Now many of those rents are over $1000 a month. In addition, the businesses on the ground floors cater to the richer residents & exclude low income people in their own community. They become what we call Zones of Exclusion for low income people.

Another new social mix building is at 138 E. Hastings. This building, called Sequel 138, has 79 condos and 9 social housinq units at welfare rate with 9 more at HILS (BC Housing term which means bachelor units can rent for up to $962 month). Every morning, before the police chase them out, homeless people sleep in the doorways of the still empty businesses of this building on the bottom floor. So we have homelessness on the ground floor and mostly condos on the upper floors.

At 288 E. Hastings the province is partnering with a private developer to build an 11 story building with only 34 units of welfare rate housing, 69 HILS units and 68 market rentals with stores on the bottom, a garden for the rich on the top and a smaller garden for the poor on a lower floor. The province is putting about $20 M into this. For $20M they could build 100 units without a partner for people who are homeless and homelessness would get reduced a lot faster.

At 105 Keefer the province proposed to pay a private developer $7.3 million for 25 social housing units, 17 of which can rent at market rents!! The other 8 could all rent at $962, although some may be lower. The city rejected the rezoning for this proposal so the provincial contribution is in limbo.

Welfare rates haven't been increased since 2007 and were too low then Disability rates went up by $77 last Sept. but that includes a clawback of $52 for a transit pass, for a net increase of $25 in 9 years. It went up again in April by $50 for.a total amount now of $1033 a month. $375_ of welfare and disability payments is allocated for shelter. But, except for social housing that doesn't

exclude low income people, most people on welfare or disability have to use some or all of their support money for shelter, in addition to the $375. This is one reason for all the vending that you see on DTES streets--people trying to survive in the most legal way they can think of.

City officials have told us that even social housing needs $600 per month per unit just for operating costs.

The Mayor told us that the welfare shelter rate should be $600. The City is saying that even if they got senior government funds to construct 100% welfare/disability/pension rate social housing, they wouldn't be able to operate it because they need the $600 per month per unit. We have a desperate, desperate need for much higher welfare rates.

Rent control BC theoretically has rent control but it's based on the tenant, not the unit. So whenever a tenant moves, landlords can jack up the rent as much as they like. At CCAP people come to our office often because they have been evicted from gentrifying SROs, legally or illegally. Often landlords will harass people 'til they want to move.

If they can't get rid of them with those methods it is common for landlords to simply offer tenants money to move. We have talked to tenants who have been offered $200 to $2500 to move. Hundreds of people have been chased out of SRO units by these methods. For many people who are on welfare or disability it is hard to resist this kind of money, even though other rental units are scarce. It is also becoming more common for landlords to use fixed term leases so they can avoid rent control and so they can get rid of tenants without a legitimate reason.

Rent supplements.

The supplement program that is relevant to most people in the DTES is the Homelessness Prevention Program. Some DTES groups have access to funds to provide supplements as high as $400 a month. But the groups don't advertise that they have supplements and are very restrictive in how they hand them out. For example, if a group only has $100,000 a year to hand out, that means they can only help about 20 people a year with $400 a month subsidies, more with lower subsidies. In general people who need subsidies don't know that they might be available.

Here's an example of how the program doesn't work: A gentrified SRO on Union St. was advertisingSRO units at $795 to $1195 per month. The city had a housing aqreerneht with this SRO that 2 of the units had to be at welfare rate and 6 more were for people on welfare who get subsidies. As it stands now, 2 . people who live there are on welfare, but no one else on welfare is in there because they would have required a subsidy of over $400 a month just for the lowest priced unit, and the agencies handing out subsidies don't have enough money for that. So the building is almost completely gentrified and lost to low income people, contributing to homelessness.

In addition, Vancouver has a very low vacancy rate, in the .5 % to .8 % range. With this low of a vacancy rate and with virtually useless rent control, we are afraid that rent supplements help to maintain the scarcity of housing and well as increase rents for both supplemented and unsupplemented people.

Tent cities We have a tent city at Glen and Franklin St., many of the people recently forced out of the 900-block Main site. The city does not seem to be forcing it to move. The people there support each other and feel safer together than if they were dispersed & forced to live separately throughout the city. But winter is coming.

People who live on the street are forced by bylaw officers and police to take down their tents every morning, even if it's cold and raining or snowing. They then have to carry all their stuff around with them all day until they can put it up again. If they don't move their belongings, bylaw officers often take it all.

For a full story of what is happening at the Vancouver and Maple Ridge tent cities, go here: http://thevolcano.org/ This site has awesome affidavits from homeless people about how tent cities help them find more security than living on the street.

Opioid crisis: Hundreds of people are also dying because of the opioid crisis. Last year 922 people died of overdoses in BC and it looks like more than that will die this year. Living in tent cities rather than hidden in alleys and other places helps people survive because many in the DTES have naloxone kits and are trained in how to use them and people in the tent cities save lives of others there who need help.

What we desperately • • • •

need in the DTES::

Funding to make the new housing at 58 W Hastings 100% welfare/pension rate; Funding to make new housing at 105 Keefer 100% welfare/pension rate; Funding to acquire and improve SRO hotels until new social housing is available; Rent control based on the unit, not the tenant

Nkule Dube takes center stage at African Descent Festival

By Lama Mugabo Coast Sal ish Territories - From Saturday July 22nd to Sunday July 23rd, the 3rd Annual African Descent Festival was held at Thorton Park, across from the Pacific Central. The festival headlined Nkulee Dube, the rising star from South Africa and daughter of the lat~_Lucky Dube, Africa's most popular reggae star.

The festival location is significant because of its proximity to the only Black neighborhood Vancouver has ever had.

Hogan's Alley was destroyed by the City of Vancouver through its urban renewal policy in 1972. Fifty years later, the viaducts are supposed to come down and the Black community is organizing to honor the legacy of Hog an's Alley by recreating the community that include housing, businesses and a cultural center.

Figure I. Nkulee Dube

Lucky Dube was murdered ten years ago as he was dropping off his children to visit their uncle in Johannesburg. Two assassins opened fire, the singer tried to escape but his car hit the tree and died. In the court room, they claimed that they didn't know it was the beloved star.

Nkule mourned the sudden death of her father but was strong enough to rise up and carry on her father's mission. In an interview with a reporter, she said: "1 want to do things my way. My sound is unique and I want people to understand and appreciate it. I am creating new trends in the world of music." Nkulle's music is a fusion of reggae, ethno-soul, jazz and dancehall.

The UN General Assembly proclaimed 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent, citing the need to strengthen national, regional and international cooperation in relation to the full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights by people of African descent, and their full and equal participation in all aspects of society. The festival created a platform for reconnecting with friends we have not seen for a long time.

Like her father, Nkulee Dube has a beautiful voice and stage presence. She has developed a unique style.

She treated the audience with a few of her father's songs, as well as her own music, It was wonderful to see her perform. The audience learned that it was her 30th birthday and the public showed her with gifts.

The crowd was elated when she sang her father's hits; "Slave", "Back to my roots", "Prisoner" mixing in her own music: "Who Them". She got the audience bumping and grinding; shaking what their mamas save them: .

,

l

~

Tracey MorrisQ."';~·.

It's been less than three weeks since we lost Tracey. We are reeling, breaking, staggering.

At VANDU,the fragile bonds we have built between all us broken people we turn and tear apart in confusion and anger and fear and the remembering of every terrible thing ever, because this is the punch in the gut and the kick in the head that tells you again, this is why it's so

dangerous to love.

And of course this is why we fight, because that is why she did.

And it was a complicated, long fight, and she fought it every day in many different ways and thought about it all the time.

Tracey had very clear thoughts about this. Of course she did. It was her work. All of it.

We are the people we're trying to help.

Iforget where we were, now, and it doesn't really matter. It was another situation where someone was talking about and explaining "intersectional ity" The meeting ended, we collected our $5 stipends andTracey gathered up the remaining snacks to take back to VANDU. 15 minutes to spare before a WAHRSmeeting so we had to discuss the rneetiaq and smoke what we had fast.

"It's hilarious when people explain intersectionality to you"] said.

"Right after I said who I am and what I do, I know. The whole thing, Iam an Aboriginal woman, I am a drug user, I am a poor person in the Downtown Eastside, work with WAHRS, the research, the health authorities, the city, the activists, the neighbourhood -- and they throw down a fancy big word about it then explain it to me, as if Idon't understand my own life:' "Good snacks, though:'

I actually lost my words. I lost the ability to speak for a long time. It's been less than three weeks, and it comes and goes. I really don't know now if sound will come out of my mouth when I get up to speak.

In my head, I hear our endless discussions about how important"our voices" are, and think about how determined she was to figure things out on her own terms. Tracey would tell the story, when meeting with a new group of people, about how she found her voice. How she was a mouse but now she was a mouth and because of being able to work with peer-run groups, she learned the strength to speak. She didn't just find it, like a toke on the stairs. She fought for it.

We need people to say, "We're doing this together, we lift each other up."

None of this will work if we're not all together.

Since she died, so many people are cast about in wild grief, lookinq for something to cling to, I see and understand why different interests would want to eo-opt or claim some part of what she did or represented.

It wasn't that long ago. I was in the back of VANDU, it was late in the day and I was waiting for her to get back from some damn thing because we had to go to another thing. Iwas writing and smoking and waiting and grumbling.

No, she's here, said Dave. She's talking to, you know, important people in suits. They look like they have jobs.

Haha, Tracey. So I went out to go see. They were visiting researchers from somewhere. She had introduced herself and talked about what she did, and in particular about the research paper that WAHRS had just published.

(The paper is called "They Treated Me Like Crap" and it is about experiences of urban Aboriginal people in accessing health care, and it's published in a big-time journal and explains a lot ofthings.)

thought seriously about what it meant - healing, the war on drugs, homelessness, the DTES,how it's all about decolonization, and that is all about what being Tracey meant. How, in this serious time, how do you do things in a good way?

The people - all ofthem white, professional, important people with jobs --listened and then one ofthem started to explain what they did and how what they were doing would --

We have to get together, she'd say. We have to figure this out.

. "No;' she said. "You're not actually listening to what I'm saying:' She pointed to VANDU's mission statement."We learn this here, and then we teach it out there. You can't tell us that you're going to 'fix' us. We can do that ourselves, for ourselves, each other. You can help, but you can't be shitty about it. And you have to understand this. We're the experts here. You have to learn how to learn from us:'

.-

,.

I'm really serious.

I know that for her, all the different things she worked on were actually not different at all.

Everything was connected - and it was based on her experience, her understand of being Tracey in this world, in this place and time, and with all of us.

She got so pissed every time the project was referred to as a "Hea th and Wellness Centre.That is how you know that they don't get it yet, she'd say. They will, that's why I keep going, she said, no matter what anyone says.

The idea is Healing.

She was the best teacher I ever had, and it's because she never accepted an easy answer or someone who always claimed to be right. And she always asked everyone around what they thought about things, because she took thinking seriously, and other people seriously. She

I can be a feather In your pocket thorn in your Side.

or a

We have to figure this out.

That is the first thing was all have to try to figure out if we can go on, in a good way, and make it in any way possible to deal with this fucking world, as it is now, this dim, broken shell when everything and everyone we love is dead and all of us are dying. The arrogant asshole sun still bothers to rise, as ifthere was still a world. My pipe explodes in my hand. Ican't speak .

•

We have to do all ofthis, and do it in a good way. All of it is about healing, about justice, about fighting to build a world where we can all be together, in a good way. And be alive. I am angry.

Stop this crysis.

She didn't misspell that. She thought about it a lot and meant it and we have to work together to understand what it means, because it really matters.

Stop this shit. Stop this crysis. We have to do it in a good way. ForTracey.

She died because this is how we die, because injustice is fatal, because it's not right, because stop this crysis.

For me the Creator is the only one who can judge us and he loves each and everyone

. of us. Not to be ashamed or guilty is part of healing.

Underlying the addiction is all

this trauma. And that should be the focus of the healing,

and then we can talk about healing all this, and we can learn to do it together, and in a good way.

CARNEGIE

COMMUNITY

ACTION

PROJECT

I1JDR~i±l~JJIJ.J~tlt.l iM~R

NEWSLETTER

TRACEY

MORRISON,

REST

AUGUST 2017

IN

POWER

TRACEY MORRISON

REST IN POWER Tracey Morrison, beloved DTES community member, President of Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, super bannock maker and hug giver died last month. She said she went from being a mouse to being a mouth when she was on the Local Area Planning Committee. Was she ever a mouth-- working for harm reduction, to end stigma against drug users, educating folks in the medical profession how to be respectful of users, getting about 10 hugs per block as she walked the streets of the DTES, the community she loved, saving life after life. Tracey was really good at challenging racists and people who discriminate and stereotype people because they are poor, or drug users.

Why is it that governments don't end homelessness when they know homeless people have half the life expectancy as others?

Why don't they end the opiod crisis when they see hundreds of people dying?

Because somewhere there's something in those brains that's saying, it's ok for certain people to die because they a,re indigenous. or they are poor or they are homeless or they are drug users. They are lesser: they aren't human.

Tracey was all about challenging that crap. She always introduced herself as an indigenous woman , a poor woman and a drug user.

"For me the Creator is the only one who can judge us and he loves each and everyone of us. Not to be ashamed or guilty is part of healing and wellness."

"We're a person, not the addiction:

Stop the drug war, stop the war on the poor and ...work together and help our people who are the most criminalized, stigmatized, and marginalized."

Again, she wrote, "My hopes are that developers don't crush us and that we fight strong and push them out. I think issues like social housing and raising the welfare rates are the main ones that we need to concentrate on. I think it would solve the problem of homelessness."

"I will always fight for social housing and raising the rates: said Tracey. 'That's my future here in the DTES. It's to make it a better and stronger community. I think it's already a strong community and a great one but I want to make it a better one and that's my story and I'm sticking to it."

Tracey worked really hard on the local area planning committee and afterwards to get an Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Centre in the DTES. The city needs to make Tracey's dream a reality and name it after her.

She wasn't all politics. smile, a chuckle.

She was a spark. a hug, a

"Nothing about us without us. We are the experts that have the lived experience. We should be the ones that help change policy in health care," said Tracey.

Tracey, we hope your completely unneccessary death can be a kick in the butt of all the powers that be to deal with the social issues that are killing people, homelessness, and the war on drug users, and we promise to continue your work.

said Tracey.

"I believe that the War on the Poor has a lot to do about this," she wrote. 'The laws need to change ...

JEAN SWANSON

RESIDENTS

LAUNCH

BOLD

NEW VISION

FOR CHINATOWN

ANGERED BY THE CITY'S FAILED GENTRIFICATION POLICIES AND 105 KEEFER, RESIDENTS TAKE ACTION instead. the community is proposing the People's Vision for Chinatown. a strategy for the social and economic development of the community. From 2015 to 2017. 500 Chinatown residents. businesses. and community members shared their vision of the community through surveys. interviews. and facilitated "tea time" discussions. The top issues community members are concerned with are: increased cost of living, unaffordable housing. social isolation. safety. political marginalization. and racism.

On July 16, 2017, Chinatown Concern Group (CCG) and Chinatown Action Group (CAG) launched an better vision for Chinatown called the 'People's Vision.' The vision document is a response to failed City policies, such as the Chinatown Economic Revitalization Action Plan (CRAP), that continue to gentrify the neighbourhood and displace low-income residents.

In September, Vancouver City Council will consider the CRAP. a new zoning plan for Chinatown that will let developers build more expensive condos up to 90 feet tall in Chinatown without including any social housing. if it passes. more gentrifying projects like 105 Keefer will take over Chinatown and inevitably raise rents and the cost of living for low-income residents.

The People's Vision proposes bold solutions to tackle these issues. For example, they would like to see neW. purpose built rental housing for workinq-class families and independent seniors.

The two organizations have created a petition calling on City Council to cut the CRAP. put a pause on new market-rate developments in Chinatown until the number of social housing units match. and ensure 50% of all new residential housing to be social housing at welfare and pension rates. Sign the petition at you.leadnow.ca/petitions/cut-the-crap Chinatown Action Group is a collective of people of Chinese descent fighting for social justice in Chinatown and building a progressive left voice within the Chinese community.

Chinatown Concern Group is an organization of Chinese residents in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside working to address neighbourhood issues. CCG is supported by the Carnegie Community Centre Association.

CITY TALKING ABOUT MORE MODULAR

HOUSING

The City of Vancouver wants to build 600 modular housing units a year for three years and 12,000 social housing units over ten years. But it doesn't know where it will get the money for the modular units and doesn't say how many of the 12,000 units will be for low income people. That's the result of a briefing from City staff to City Council on July 26.

•

Modular housing is like the development at Main and Terminal where people have 250 sq. ft. units with their own bathroom and a two burner stove and tiny fridge. But at least they have a door to lock and a cozy bed. And they can be built in 6 months instead of 2-3 years or more for a regular social housing building, and cost a lot less.

While the city didn't say what income range the social housing they want built will have,they did note that BC Housing income limits for social housing are $99,000 a year. With most homeless people having about $8500 a year, they would be out of luck.

"I like the idea of modular housing," said Lama Mugabo of CCAP,"but I don't know why they limited it to 600 units. The need is greater and will go up."

WELFARE RATES TO GO UP BY $100 ON SEPT. 20 The Sept. 20 welfare cheque should go up by $100 to $710 maximum, a $100 increase from $610 where it has been frozen for over a decade. Disability should also go up $100 to $1133maximum.

The $100 increase will be put on the support part of welfare and disability.

Watch out for landlords wanting to increase rents if they know that welfare has gone up. If anyone gets a rent increase because of this, come to the Carnegie Action Project office on the second floor of Carnegie. Rent increases can only happen once a year and you have to have 3 months notice on a proper form.

THREE STRIKES AND Michael is a downtown eastside resident. He has lived in this neighborhood for several years, as a homeless and low-income resident. About five years ago, he was successful in getting a BC Housing unit in Yaletown.

DTES and Yaletown are distinctly different neighborhoods. The first is a low-income resident considered to be the poorest postal code in Canada. Residents who have lived there for years are facing massive displacement through gentrification. Their single room occupancy hotels are sold to developers who renovate them and hike up the rents to the point that they are unable to pay $800 a month when welfare shelter allocation is only $375.

After Expo 86, Yaletown was transformed from an industrial to a high density residential neighborhood with some of the most expensive condos in Vancouver.

Michael appreciated the opportunity to live in a clean bachelor suite in Yaletown, away from the noise and the hassles of skid row. He wanted to use this opportunity as a stepping stone to a healthier life. He loved to write and plunged into developing scripts for the theater.

However, sooner after Michael moved into the building, he quickly realized he was in a wrong neighborhood. "People were stuck-up". "They never looked you in the eye, rarely said hello.

Their body language seemed to say to me: "We have nothing in common."

To build rapport with the building manager he used to have small talk conversations. At times, he felt that the manager understood him. But it didn't take long for things to took a different turn.

"We lived in a mixed income building. Some of my neighbors were employed. They got up every day, put on their business suits and went to work. Then there was us, unemployed and on welfare. Most of us were trying to climb up from the abyss of mental health and other related challenges that homelessness piles up on your person." We were struggling to make adjustments to fit in.

YOU'RE

OUT

Michaelliked some aspects of the housing program. They made sure those of us who were not employed had enough food to eat. Seven Eleven brought in sandwiches and wraps they didn't sell and made them available to us.

Laundry was free and the rent was paid directly by the ministry of social services.

The building had strict rules. Since most tenants were recovering alcoholics, it was forbidden to walk around with unconcealed alcohol. One day, I forgot and walked into the lobby with a can of beer in my hand. The manager reminded me about the rule and asked if I could put it away.

That was strike number one.

Next. a friend asked me to safe keep his clothes for a few days in my apartment. I agreed. Little did I know that his clothes had bed bugs. A few days the unwelcome visitors had multiplied that I had to report it to the manager. Strike #2. I was accused of infesting the building with bed bugs.

Every tenant was given a fob. The plastic card was used it to open our apartments door and activate the elevator. We were not allowed to go to other floors. One evening, I came home tired and forgot to'get off my floor. Instead of getting off at the sixth floor, I found myself on the eighth floor. I tried to open the door and the fob wouldn't work. After several attempts, I realized that I was on the wrong floor.

Meanwhile, the tenant looked through the peep hole and called the manager. He was petrified to see a black man outside his door trying to get into his apartment. he assumed I was a robber.

When the manager heard the accusation of attempted robbery. He was done with me. The fob was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was strike number three and I was kicked out.

I tried to plead with the manager, explained to him that it was an innocent oversite on my part.

He wouldn't listen and completely turned on me. I walked away, back to skid row, unable to make sense of what had just happened to me in the previous six months.

WHAT ABOUT

LOW-INCOME

& HOMELESS

LGBT?

Pride events are quickly selling out. cafes are offering rainbow sprinkles lattes, and retail stores are displaying feather boas and Pride themed clothing in their windows - Pride season is here. But as celebrations take off. low-income and homeless LGBTQ folk continue to be systematically erased.

In Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) and Chinatown, many LGBTQ residents currently survive on social assistance of $610 and pay the average Single Room Occupancy unit (SRO) rent of $548, leaving them with $62 a month, or about $2 a day left for basic necessities. And although welfare rates will be going up by $100 in September, it is still not nearly enough for people to survive.

John, a gay First Nations man living at Sugar Mountain and homeless LGBTQ.

Tent City, is calling for more support

for low-income

"People have to choose between having food or shelter when we need both to survive," says John. "Pride is a celebration of life and who we are but there's also people who are low-income, on welfare, and homeless. We exist. We are here."

Yet. many spaces, events, and celebrations, which mostly cater to middle not accessible for low-income and homeless LGBTQ.

and upper-class

gay white

men, are

Some spaces that place a rainbow flag in their window are in fact zones of exclusion for low-income and homeless LGBTQ. Zones of exclusion are sites marked by increased surveillance and policing where only those with status, privilege, and wealth are welcome while poor marginalized individuals, who are disproportionately Indigenous and people of colour, are criminalized.

Cover fees are often much too expensive for entrance to most Pride parties. And even when Pride events are free, such as the Vancouver Pride Parade, the increased policing and militarization of these events make it an unsafe space for poor, low-income, and LGBTQ folk of colour.

Black Lives Matter Vancouver is calling on the Vancouver Police Department to step down from marching in the Pride Parade given the longstanding history of violence against Black, Indigenous, and people of colour committed by police. Black Lives Matter also points out that Pride began as a protest against policing of LGBT folk, led by transgender women of colour.

o

John identifies with Black Lives Matter Vancouver's demands. "I don't feel safe at a Pride event with police marching. They say police officers are supposed to keep the peace but I've had my ribs kicked in. We don't need cops in Pride. We need higher welfare rates. We need housing."

••••• ••••• :z: ••••• ....I

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CARNEGIE

COMMUNITY

ACTION

PROJECT 111:15AM EVERY FRIDAY

The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)is a project of the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAPworks mostly on housing, income, and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES)of Vancouver so that the area can remain a low income friendly community. CCAPworks with english speaking and Chinese speaking DTESresidents in speaking out on their own behalf for the changes they would like to see in their neighbourhood.

Join us on Fridays 11:15am for our weekly volunteer meetinqs: Downtown Eastside residents who want to work on getting better housing and incomes and stop gentrification are welcome to attend. Lunch is provided!

CARNEGIE

AFRICAN

DESCENT GROUP

III AM EVERY 2ND TUESDAY

The Carnegie African Descent Group (CADG) is pleased to invite you to a bi-weekly lunch gathering at the Downtown Eastside Neighborhood House. Come, cook, talk and enjoy African dishes with us.The lunch will take place every Tuesdays,from 11:00am till 1:30pm. The group has the same mandate as CCAP,but with particular focus on issuesthat Black and African Descent community members experience. DTEScommunity members who identify as Black and or as of African Descent are welcome to the lunch. For more information, contact: Imugab075@gmail.com

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CHINATOWN

CONCERN GROUP

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CONTACT

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US:

Office: 2nd floor of the Carnegie, 401 Main Street. Vancouver Phone: 604-665-2105 Email: info@carnegieaction.org Website: www.carnegieaction.org

vancity

Thank you to Vancity for supporting CCAP'swork. Support for this project does not necessarily imply that funders endorse the findings or contents of this report.

Humanities 101 Humanities 101 Community Programme (Hum) offers free university-level courses for people who live on low incomes in and around the Downtown Eastside and Downtown South. The courses are for people who have encountered financial and other barriers to university education and who wish to expand their intellectual horizons in an accessible, challenging and respectful environment. Applicants need basic literacy skills, a willingness to attend classes at the UBC Point Grey campus, complete assignments and participate in class. Applications for these non-credit courses are accepted not on the basis of past academic history, but on the applicant's desire and ability to be part of the Hum Programme.

In August we are looking for people who would like to participate in our twelve-week hands on Writing courses (Writing 101, and Writing 201) that start in mid-September. Each week a new genre and style of . writing will be taught with a different teacher. The classes include short stories, memoir, screenwriting, poetry, manifestos, journaling, creative non-fiction and more. Participants receive school supplies, UBC student cards, bus tickets to get to and from class, meals, and childcare if needed. Visit the Hum website for additional information: humanities 10 I.arts.ubc.ca.

You can email h.u.m@ubc.ca. or call 604-822-0028 with any questions.

In mePlory of Frederik Lewis 15 December 1950 - 15 July 2017 (from Laila)

To apply for a Writing course, you must attend an upcoming infonnationlapplication session:

Carnegie Centre, Main and Hastings St. Saturday August 12 at 11 a.m, for WritinglOI

& 201

The Gathering Place, 609 Helmcken St. Saturday August 12 at 2 p.m, for Writingl0l

& 201

Crabtree Corner, 533 East Hastings St. Monday, August 14 at 2 p.m, for Writingl01

& 201

Vancouver Recovery Club, 2775 Sophia St. Tuesday, August 15 at 11 a.m, for Writing 101 & 20 I

Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, 302 Columbia St. .,' (women only) Tuesday August 15 at 2 p.m, for Writingl01

& 201

In every field of collective life there should be cooperation among the members of society. Where this cooperation is between free human beings, each with equal rights & mutual respect for each other & each working for the welfare of the other,it is called "coordinated cooperation". Where people do something individu- / ally or collectively, but keep themselves under other people's supervision, then it is called "subordinated cooperation". In each and every stratum oflife, we should do everything with coordinated cooperation and always avoid subordinated cooperation.

P.R. Sarkar

Jenny Kwan, MP

NE£.D TrEeH HELP?

Vancouver East NOP Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Critic

FridaY Morning Tech Drop-In @ Qppenheirner 'ParK Learn more about how to use: Android· iPhone • Tablets • iPads • Laptops • Email • Social Media- Other Tech Questions WHEN: Friday mornings 10:30am - 12:30pm Every Friday until the end of August, 2017 WHERE: Oppenheimer Park Field House

OGI{ush

Logo by vaoessa Webster

OG Kush is a West Coast classic! Originally from Southern California, OG Kush is rumoured to be a mix ofChemdawg and Hindu Kush. Under the right growing conditions OG Kush can have some of the highest THC levels in the world! It is a highly sought after hybrid strain that is popular all around the world but mostly in the Pacific NOlthwest, California, and Colorado. Most people believe that OG Kush means "Ocean Grown Kush", which refers to a time when th plant was grown b the ocean near the Gulf of California.

OG Kush is cherished for its ability to crush stress under the weight of its heavy euphoria. It carries an earthy pine and sour lemon scent with woody undertones, an aroma that has become the signature of OG Kush varieties and descendants. Many of our friends who regularly use OG Kush say that they feel improvements in their migraines, ADD/ADHD, & stress disorders.

Over the last couple of issues we've explored a number of different cannabis types and specific strains.

Stay tuned until next time where we explore three 'very magical letters ... CBD! Darryl & Cait

2752 E Hastings 5t Vancouver, BCV5K IZ3 T: 604-775-5800 F: 604-775-5811 Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca

"Crime: in the suites vs in the streets Both prisons & inner-city schools target a superfluous population that there's no point in educating because there's nothing for them to do. Because we're a civilized people, we put them in prison, rather than sending death squads out to murder them.

Drug-related crimes, usually pretty trivial ones, are mostly what's filling up the prisons. I haven't seen many bankers or executives of chemical corporations in prison. People in rich suburbs commit plenty of crimes, but they're not going to prison at anything like the rate of the poor." [from How ~he World Works by Noam Chomsky] \

-~~.

Rails As far as I see Rails stretch toward the horizon.

Lives like rails Run alongside each other Joined by Ties Anchored by pegs Rails sing As a train draws close A lonesome car Joined by ties, separated by those same ties Into the distance The rails run on Robert Bonner

en c Vl

:::l

o ..c

Cannibalism in the Downtown Eastside The Spanish painter, G?ya, painteda picture of a monster eating human beings. Thaes what is happening in our community now. The monster of gentrification is devouring the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver's oldest community, except for First Nations communities which are much older.

This same monster has already devoured most of the downtown peninsula of Vancouver, with Burrard Inlet on one side and English Bay and False Creek on the other. The monster is insatiable in its hunger for accumulation. It is market-driven which means that it is profit-driven, and a city controlled by this monster "is not so much a place for people to live in .and call their own, as it is a machine rationally and effectively designed for making money." (I) The market-driven monster of gentrification thrives on the war of all against all, to use the words of Tho-Mas Hobbes, and as Shakespeare said even before Hobbes: "It will come Humanity must perforce prey on itself, Like monsters of the deep."

(King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2) Businessmen today talk about acting like cannibals when they devour each other or each other's companies. Gentrification - the pushing of low income residents out of their community so that developers can reap maximum profit from high land values and high rents - is a form of cannibalism. It is war, and as the term gentrification implies, it is class war.

Referring to gentrification in the Downtown Eastside, Lief Eriksen wrote, "The market cannot abide such expensive real estate being used by the poor."

(2) The Downtown Eastside is a tiny David compared to the Goliath of development determined to build the corporate city, and the community is in crisis. An old-time resident said, "One day they're gonna come in here with a bunch of army trucks, and ship us all out to the sticks like POW's."

However, the Downtown Eastside has a long history of struggle 'for respect and human rights. In'the' foreword to the excellent book "Hope In Shadows-

Stories & Photographs of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside,' Libby Davies, our Member of Parliament for Vancpuver East, wrote that in North America most Iow income inner city neighbourhoods have .beeri.destroyed, but that has not happened in the

Downtown Eastside. Then Libby, who has-been fighting for our community since the early 1970's, went on to say, "The only reason (our community hasn't been destroyed) is because the people of the Downtown Eastside fought back. They asserted their right to live, to exist, to have hope, and to have a future. Their story is one of resistance - one that deepens the value of what community and survival really means to the lives of its residents and the place as a whole."

Never have the people of the Downtown Eastside been so united as.we struggle to save our community from the ravages of gentrification. The Camegie Community Action Project (CCAP) has just fin- , ished a report which covers the first stages of its visioning process. This report, entitled "Nothing About Us Without Us," (3) clearly shows how important the Downtown Eastside community is to the people who live here. It is the people who make the community, and the caring, non-judgemental, enduring residents of the Downtown Eastside reach out to each other and build community. As more Vancouverites understand how strong and creative our community is, they will join us in the fight to save our low income neighbourhood through affordable housing, adequate income, and necessary health services. The Downtown Eastside is the soul of Van- ' couver.

By Sandy Cameron

(I) The Developers, by lames Lorimer, pub. by James Lorirner & Co., 1978, page 79.

(2) Vying for Space: Neo-liberalism and the Criminalisation of Poverty, an unpublished essay

by Lief Eriksen, 1999.

(3) "Nothing About Us Without Us" is the motto of the Vancover Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU).

[V AN DU kindly gave the Carnegie Community Action Project permission to use its motto for the title of the CCAP visioning report.)

PEOPLE ARE BECOMING MACHINES 'Headphones chain so many people They stride buy barely seeing sun Or clouds Art-Gallery in the sky They hear no birdsong, no 'hello' We are thus becoming machines Ears once wed to life, to Nature Now laptop/cell/iplod imprison many We, are becoming Anti-Social Coid Machines! .....

John alan douglas

What you can do "In any country, there's a group that has the real power. It's not a big secret where power is in [Canada]. It basically lies in the hands of the people who determine investment decisionswhat's produced, what's distributed. They staff the government, by and large, choose the planners, and set the general conditions for the doctrinal system.

One of the things they want is a passive, quiescent population. So one of the things you can do to make life uncomfortable for them is not to be passive and quiescent. There are lots of ways of doing that. Even asking questions can have an important effect ....

If you go to one demonstration and then go home, that's something, but the people in power can live with that. What they can't live with is sustained pressure that keeps building, organizations that keep doing things, people that keep learning lessons from the last time and doing it better the next time ....

Any system of power, even a fascist dictatorship, is responsive to public dissidence ...."

From How the World Works, by Noam Chomsky.

CRUNGH~dtes

I I I )

r,

One year ago today on August 2nd, Mayor Gregor Robertson promised that 58 W. Hastings would be rezoned for 100% welfare/pension rate community controlled housing by June, 2017.

It's almost August. Our Homes Can't Wait has been working diligently with the city to get our community vision for 100% welfare/pension rate community controlled housing, but so far there is no rezoning and the City plan is for only half the housing at 58 W. Hastings to be at welfare/pension rate, and for it to be controlled by the Chinatown Foundation.

OUR HOMES CAN"T WAIT

Expect major media bullshit from such stalwarts as the Financial Post & the Fraser Institute when this starts to roll in Victoria. The last time there was an .

NDP government there were obligatory anti-NDP artiOppenheimer Park, Japanese Hall cles & propaganda in every form of media every day Firehall Theatre, Buddhist Temple for ten years. The intensity and outright lies, which Taiko, Origami, Karate, Cultural Dance gathered momentum by dint of constant repetition & belief by dint of the sheer cost of countering same, What's Up with The Balmoral? coupled with the manufactured disparagement of Clarke's "back-deck scandal" crap got Campbell in News, reported today, is that Sahota¡is facing 60 with all but 2 seats. He exploited that by putting in maintenance-related charges in connection with the , place as much of the corporate agenda as possible. conscious neglect practice in running the dump.

Chrity Clark managed to get so excessive in governThere is a Provincial thing that places certain rement of the rich by the rich for the rich that even the strictions on the City (Vancouver in this instance) - a people finally woke up enough to puke and she's out. thing that was put in place during Vanderzalm's time Take any virulently anti-government thing appearing in the late' 80s. The most that a landlord can be now with huge doses of salt. When Carnpbell/Clark charged in each instance is $10,000. This means that were in the Premier's seat there was little personal disthe most Sahota would have to pay is $600,000. The paragement because those putting out the propaganda cost to the City to renovate the structural issues & were making money from their obscene excesses. The rooms & plumbing & everything else is about $5 million. Do you see the problem? social and structural innovations that regular people Sahota is worth over $200 million. BUT he got his want & need are not solely about making as much building shut down, all the tenants evicted & had to money as possible. It will get interesting! pay a paltry amount to them for moving expenses. The City would have to pay $5 million to rebuild the place.

BfPAULR TAYLQR_ to make it fit to live in but could only get a maximum of$600K back from this scumbag. I don't know if Sahota can legally sell the land but he should be liable .r for getting rid of (tearing down) the building. DoubtThanks to those who hated me, less there's asbestos throughout so anyone taking reYou made me stronger. sponsibility for making housing on the site has major Thanks to those who loved me, , problems.

You made my heart go fonder.

The City of Vancouver has formally requested the new government to change the provincial thing that Thanks to those who cared, Vanderzalm/Campbell/Clark have zealously defended You made me feel important. for decades. Private landowners, especially parasites Thanks to those who entered into my life, like Sahota, have had ,these protections quietly wntten .'

You made who I am today. into law and its sure as fuck time to hold them liable & accountable for the sleazy ways they've profited Thanks to those who left, from such for years.

You showed me that nothing lasts forever.

The Sahota way-of-doing-business is not limited to Thanks to those who stayed, the Balmoral Hotel. Right across the street is the ReYou showed me true friendship. gent, the Cobalt is a few blocks away on Main and there are other hotels & properties being run the same Thanks to those who listened, way: bleeding as much money as possible from people You made me feel like I was worth it. with few if any options other than the street. Every Videha one of Sahota's slums needs to be upgraded and other owners (Lippman comes to mind) need to be held to account for similar practices.

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