December 15, 20118 Carnegie Newsletter

DECEMBER 15, 2018 FREE-Do

not pay for this paper.

~ carnnews@vcn.bc.ca 401 Mafn Street Vancouver Email: carnnews@shaw.ca

Canada V6A 2T7

{604} 665-2289

Website/Catalogue: carnegienewsletter.org

Cover art by Priscillia Mays, Gitxsan-wetsuwet'en.

'Black Friday' ... 'Cyber Monday' ... 'Giving Tuesday' ... & maybe scrambling the other days ...

Well the first 2 are advertising ploys to get people into buying stuff, spending money, The 3rd is to hint that there is a lot of stuff and organisations and work that can use (read 'better' use) some of any extra money that current holders may want to put in circulation.

The Carnegie Newsletter began in 1986 as a 12page paper in 60 copies made on an old photocopier upstairs. Publication expanded over the years, with rare exceptions twice a month, to be a forum for the lives of literally thousands of people. All manner of input on poverty, housing and homelessness, street life & safety, women's dignity/violence against, "free" trade, the drug trade, the sex trade, gentrification developer greed, racism, classism, ways of governance besides capitalism or communism, kids' dreams and poetry and theatre and festivals ....

The paper print costs were covered for the first 2 decades and then some with funds the Carnegie Community Centre Association garnered through having status with the Canada Revenue Agency as a registered charity - hence having legitimate access to funds raised through gaming (bingo/casino). The government got involved, making every charity apply for its own money and weeding out the few people trying to use fake paperwork in order to seam the system. Their criteria changed and suddenly the Newsletter was no longer a legitimate recipient of this money - not a "program."

At first it seemed like there was some misunderstanding. It seemed like explaining what the Newsletter was and how it impacted the Downtown Eastside and lives lived hefe would be sufficient to get an 'exception' to some arbitrary criteria written no-oneknew-where. Rolf Auer wrote a letter that I found recently. I think it was copied here but I don't recall if it was ever published.

"The Carnegie Newsletter is in danger of losing its funding. If it happens, then this very necessary, longlived, extremely valuable resource will be forever lost to the vibrant Downtown Eastside community.

The late poet, writer, social justice fighter, and frequent Newsletter contributor Sandy Cameron-a de facto Poet Laureate of the Downtown Eastside-wr?te a long, beautiful poem about the Downtown Eastside in one of his poetry book .Being True To Ourselves, p.35, titled "One Hundred Years of Struggle."

It opens with a quotation by famous social justice activist Bruce Eriksen: "We need to educate the people about their rights and how to fight for them."

This idea is emphasized in the first line: "The history of the Downtown Eastside is a history of the struggle for human rights."

Those are purposes of The Newsletter: to inform people of their rights, and to tell how to achieve them. The notable, well-known conclusion of Sandy's poem: "Memory is the mother of community."

Again, another purpose of The Newsletter: to keep alive essential, important memories of the Downtown Eastside community: essential and important, because these memories help the Downtown Eastside preserve its identity.

Is The Newsletter dangerous? By way ofreply, here's a quotation from Voltaire's Bastards, p.8, one of Canadian philosopher John Ralston Saul's books: "When we look around at the influence and strength of money, of armies, oflegal officials, or indeed at the ease with which writers are silenced through censorship, violence and imprisonment, it seems that the word is a fragile blossom. But one step back from this immediacy is enough to reveal the power of language. Nothing frightens those in authority so mu~h as criticism .... Language - not money or force - provides legitimacy. So long as military, political, religious or financial systems do not control language, the public's imagination can move freely about with its own ideas.

Uncontrolled words are consistently more dangerous to established authority than armed forces." (italics added) The Newsletter is nothing if not a bastion of criticism.

Lifetime volunteer editor PaulR Taylor's many scathing editorials are-in themselves-evidence of that. Many others have likewise contributed.

The commonality of most of these is the idea of the preservation of the Downtown Eastside.

That is another purpose of The Newsletter, perhaps the most important."

The Carnegie Newsletter has been struggling to survive for several years, with worry about money often overshadowing prime concerns about the vitality, even survival of the Downtown Eastside communities.

As editor I also continue to seek funding for Help in the Downtown Eastside. This is the pocket-size resource guide that has been regularly updated and re-

vi sed since 1991. Since the financial meltdown in 20082009, the twice-yearly printing has gradually become once in 8 months, then 10, then 12, then 14 monthswith the time between the last 2 full-run editions nearly 2 years. Funders have the quick line that all the information is "online" as hand-held devices are ubiquitous in their world. The vast majority of people here may have some access, but many many people do not have smartphones with dataplans or know how to use computers in a way that gets the needed information.

The Camegie Newsletter needs your help. During 20 I 9 there will be continued effort to get sustainable funding, but without now-necessary dona.tions prospects of continuing are obscured. If you can help please do, either by filling out the form below and mailing it in or by going to the website at camegienewsletter.org and following the links.

Respectfully submitted, PAULR TAYLOR Volunteer

-...r

3

editor since 1986

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One Hundred Years of Struggle 'We need to educate the people about their rights and how to fight for them." =Bruce Eriksen (1) The history of first General Strike the Downtown Eastside took place in Vancouver is a history of the struggle to protest the murder of Ginger Goodwin, for human rights. a labour organizer First Nations people from Cumberland, B.c. have fought for a just land claims settlement In 1919, there was another General Strike for over one hundred years, in sympathy with and we take inspiration the Winnipeg General Strike. from their example, especially in these dark days During the Great Depression when we feci of the 1930s, we are losing control unemployed men of ounlives in the Downtown Eastside to global economic wars, fought for the right or mega-projects to food shelter, that overwhelm our neighbourhoods. work and wages.

In April, 1935, In the Downtown Eastside Mayor McGeer read working men and ~men. "lit the Riot Act fought for the eight hour day at Victory Square and the right to two thousand to form trade unions. unemployed men.

The Vancouver and District labour Council, Willis Shaparla was there, one of the oldest labour Councils in Canada, and he commented, started in 1889.

"When hungry Canadians In 1903, Frank Rogers were asking fOTfood, was picketing for McGeer read us the Riot Act" the striking United Brotherhood Soon after the occupation of Railway Engineers of the Camegie museum when he was shot and killed by three hundred unemployed by a C.P.R hired guard workers in May, 1935, . at the foot of Gore Avenue. the men of the In 191( Canada's . Relief Camp Workers' Union

began the On-To-Ottawa Trek.

Then in June of that year one thousand Iongsboremen were attacked by. police near Ballantyne Pier as a result of a lockout and strike.

Longshoremen had been fighting for their own union since the 18905, and by 1944 they had a strong union that protected their rights.

On May 20, 1938, unemployed men looking for relief occupied the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Georgia Hotel and the Post Office at Granville and Hastings.

Gradually, the occupation shifted to only the Post Office which the police attacked on June] 9th.

Over one hundred men were hurt in the ensuing struggle.

That night ten thousand people attended a rally at tile Powell Street Grounds, now called Oppenheimer Park, in support of the homeless, hungry men.

In September, 1939, the Government of Canada would ask these unemployed men to fight for their country.

They did fight, and many of them had the dream

of a better Canada after the War was over.

In 1995, federal public servants occupied this old Post Office, now the Sinclair Centre, to protest a federal budget that planned to throw ftfty thousand of these workers into the anguish of unemployment. v->

Chinatown and Japantown, called Powell Street by citizens of Japanese background, were also part of the Downtown Eastside.

At first people lived in these Communities , because they weren't allowed to live anywhere else, but as the years went by.

Chinatown and Japantown became centres of resistance against injustice, and they shaped their history with courage and endurance.

From 1881 to 1885 Chinese labourers helped build the Pacific Section of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

At least six hundred Chinese workers died building that track. in 1887, three hundred white men beat up a camp of sleeping Chinese workers at Coal Harbour.

In 1907, another race riot broke out, and a vW1ent"lnob rampaged through Chinatown and Japantown.

During the Great Depression one hundred and seventy-five Chinese people died of starvation in China town. (2) After the attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7,1941, the federal government uprooted the entire population of Canadian citizens o[Japanese origin,

and mov~,.innQCent people to intemmen,t camPs With no re!Wd for human rights or family ties. " True, the war was going badly ji.li941.'

Before the end ()f the year nearly two thousand Canadians were killed or captured when Japanese troops entered Hong Kong.

Panic, and fear of a race riot, may explain the action of the Canadian government, but they do not excuse it.

Not one Canadian of Japanese origin was found gUilty of any offence against the security of Canada ' throughout the war.

After a long fight for human rights, Japanese Canadians won redress and on September 22, 1988, ' Prime Minister Brian Mulroney formally apologized on behalf of the Government of Canada for wrongfully interning and seizing the property of Canadians of Japanese background.

All:b.oughJapantown never regained its prewar size, the Powell Street Festival has become an annual celebration of the Japanese Canadian community and Chinatown has become ' a busy social, commercial and tourist centre with a highly respected

~-_m~2~.

In 1968, the Strathcona t:..

Property Owners and Tenants -' Association (SPOT A), was formed to stop the disastrous urban renewal plans of City Council.

SPOT A stopped the bulldozers and saved Strathcona Bessie Lee of SPOTA remarked, "We have to remind the City that when I:b.eydecide to change things in a community, they must always consider the total planning or mat communny, and the concerns of the people who live in it\! (3) The Downtown Bastside Residents' Association (OERA) would agree with that statement.

Since the early 19708" DERA has fought to establish the rights of the community, to change its image from skid road to the Downtown Eastside ' • and to win much needed services for the members of Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood.

"The people who live here, they call it the Downtown Eastside,' Bruce Eriksen said, and in. 1983 Mayor Harcourt of Vancouver presented a civic award to DERA which declared that this citizens' organization had helped to change the perception of part of Vancouver, formerly known as skid rood, to the Downtown Eastside.

In the 19805, DERA, with Jim Green as organizer, . addressed the right to housing in the Downtown Bastside by building low income housing.

The DERA Housing Co-op was completed in 19&5,

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and the Four Sisters Co-op was finished in 1987.

In the 1970s, citizens of the Downtown Eastside fought for seven years to win the Carnegie Community Centre for the neighbourhood.

Later, they won Crab Park, and in 19&5, they started the Strathcona Community Gardens which empowered the community through the creative act of planting seeds.

Downtown Eastside poets, such as Tora and Bud Osborn, and the Carnegie Newsletter, edited by Paul Taylor, gave a powerful voice to the community, as did tile books of Sheila Baxter, This writing showed that human beings could forcefully reject the negative image ascribed to them, and replace it with a community of caring that speaks from the heart.

In. 1995, the Downtown Easrside, in co-operation with friends all over Vancouver, defeated a casino mega-project that would have done great harm to both the community and the City of Vancouver, and in recent yegrs

tha Vancouver A~ Network of Drug Users (VANDU), the occupiers of Woodward's in the Woodsquat campaign, homeless people in tent villages, and Latinos in Action, have fought courageously for respect, dignity, and the opportunity to lead a meaningful life.

Remember also the glorious Downtown Eastside Community Play that was part of the celebrations for the Camegie Library's lOOili birthday in the year 2003. â&#x20AC;˘

This play expressed the energy and the caring of our beloved community.

Now the Downtown Eastside is under siege from the gentrification that has destroyed many inner city neighbourhoods.

The fight for survival is a desperate one as developers, in their haste for profit, dehumanize die people who live here.

A discussion paper prepared for the Gastown Improvement Society in 1992, referred to Downtown Eastside residents "those social service clients who frequent the area:' (4) A Simon Fraser University instructor, when talking of the human beings who call the Downtown Eastsidc their home, said.

"They get moved along; they get kicked out.

Those poor buggers are used to it.

'They always get disenfranchised." (5)

5 (I) Quoted in Hasson, Shlomo, and David Ley Neighbourhood Organizations and the We/fare Stale, pub. By the University of Toronto Press, 1994 - chapter 6, "The Downtown Eastside: 'One Hundred Years of Struggle, page J78.

(2) VancOlwer's China/ownRacial Discourse in Canada, 1875-1980, byKay 1.

Anderson, page 143.

(3) An interview with Bcssie Lee in the book Opening Doors -. Vancouver 's East End, by Daphue Marlett.

(4) Carnegic Action Project Newsletter, September 15, 1996.

(5) "Gastown ideal [or single: women," by Fiona Hughes, The Vancouver Courier, .'

January 21, 1996.

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When men 0f great power . '¡ deny the humanity of human beings and the history of a community, they tend to think that they can destroy both the people and the place

without moral qualms.

TIle Downtown Eastside has a !onghistory, however, and a rugged identity.

It is not expendable, and it is not just skid road.

We are strong when we stand in solidarity with those who have fought for human rights for over one hundred years.

Memory is tI1C mother of community.

What Are

We Waiting

Sitting in my room late at night the ink bottle begins to move

For~

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from "the Library

•.:.•.:.• W'0?) •.:.•.:.• Carnegie Theatre Workshop We're back for the Winter season!

"Show thou Carnegie workshop Players"

We're putting our ideas together for a holiday pageant ...,still chance to join in '" Creative sessions: Sat Dec 15, 1pm-4pm Wed Dec 19, 6pm-9pm

Sat Dec 22, 1pm-4pm Carnegie Theatre

Performance on Christmas Eve Monday December 24 Free, everyone welcome!

For more info: Teresa 604-255-9401 thirteeuo£hearts@hotmail.com

I can't help it, I can't help it, I just can't help it.

This time of year, all I want to do is settle in and watch a bunch of corny old holiday movies. And apparently I feel I have no choice but to share some of my favourites with you. These may not all be available in the branch, but they are all available through VPL. The Shop Around the Corner. As holiday classics starring Jimmy Stewart go, this one is hands-down the best, if only because we've all seen It's A Wonderful Life a million times. Set in Budapest rather than Bedford Falls, and directed by Ernst Lubitsch rather than Frank Capra, the humour is just a little more sophisticated, and a little less sentimental although it's still a sweet lovely movie in the end.

A vailable on Turner Classic Movies Greatest Classic Films Collection.

Tokyo Godfathers. There are not a lot of classic holiday animes set in Tokyo out there. But even with a wide-open field, this one is great. It follows three homeless friends who find an abandoned baby in a dumpster on Christmas Eve, and travel the city trying to reunite it with its parents.

17 different-versions of A Christmas Carol. Yeah, there are a lot of different film versions ofthe classic Dickens tale. I like the Muppet version for some reason .

Die Hard and Die Hard 2. Seems like in recent years these films, or at least the first one, have become accepted as holiday classics. Christmas serves more as a backdrop to Bruce Willis's John McLane getting beat to a pulp as he single-handedly takes out armies of terrorists who clearly got their Christmas shopping done early.

Miracle on 34th Street. I mean, come on!

Please come by the branch in the next week, and enter our holiday contest. You can win your choice of one of several book prizes, including a gift set of Game of Thrones books, and a single volume set of the full Chronicles ofNarnia.

See you all in the New Year!

Randy

We Can Have It All

7

Recent economic research and recent history can direct us to creating a better world. More equality equals fewer social problems and more equitable communities. The creation of money by both banks and governments can help create better societies. Government growth fosters increased trade and a wealthier economy.

These three ideas have each had books written demonstrating their validity; however, in this very short essay I try to connect them and hope to encourage the reader toward further research.

In their book, 'The Spirit Level: 'Why Equality is Better for Everyone', Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket compare how well twenty-one developed nations function in relation to the amount of income disparity within their borders. Evidence comes from studying income differences between the wealthiest 20% and the poorest 20% in these societies.

In Singapore and the United States, the wealthiest 20% are about eight times as wealthy as the poorest 20%.

In Japan and in Nordic countries, the wealthiest are from three times to four times as wealthy as the poorest 20%. Graphs show a close to one to one correspondence between increased inequality and more social problems. Mental illness, including rates of addiction, obesity, crime rates, homicides, rates of incarceration, infant mortality, the rate ofteenage births, levels of trust and other negative social indicators are all higher, sometimes by as much as a factor often, in more unequal societies.

In 2008, after thirty years ofneoliberal economic ideology - which amplified income inequality - the world economy came close to a catastrophic collapse. Belief in the self-correcting capacity of markets led to shrinking government involvement in economies, to worldwide deregulation of financial markets and to widespread currency manipulation in developing nations with catastrophic results and numerous near-collapses and defaults on debts in many nations, including in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina and Russia.

In 2007 - 09, complete collapse was avoided only because the US Federal Reserve's Quantitative Easing Program created $4.3 trillion that was used to bailout the banks and institutions that were "too big to fail."

Ann Pettifor writes in 'The Production of Money': that when Senator Bernie Saunders directed the US Government Accountability Office to calculate the amount of 'state money' created during and after the 2007 - 9 crisis it was discovered that $16 trillion had been mobilized for some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world ... and not a cent of these trillions of dollars was raised ~y taxing Americans.

Quantitative easing is created by a few strokes on a computer keyboard.

Since money can be created out of thin air for bailouts of financial institutions and corporations, why can it not be created to finance productive economic activity that cleans the biosphere, creates full employment, implements robust social programs, provides free education and builds homes for everybody. Why can we not quantitatively ease ourselves into truly just societies and into a robustly healthy planet?

Dani Rodrik in 'The Globalization Paradox' writes that: Governments are bigger and stronger not in the world's poorest economies but in its most advanced economies. The correlation between government size and per capita income is remarkably tight ... Markets and states are complements, not substitutes, as simplistic economic accounts would often have it.

After researching the economies of developed nations and the economic history of 100 developing nations he concluded that: [he] had stumbled on one of the fundamental truths of economics that no one in graduate school had ever told [him] about: If you want markets to expand, you need governments to do the same.

We have evidence that more equal societies have significantly fewer social problems. We know that as government size increases, trade and economic activity increase and that per capita income rises. We know that governments - with their central banks - can create all the 'state money' we need for productive economic activity, whether it be for infrastructure construction, for transitioning to a green economy, for full employment, for social programs, for decent housing for everybody, for education and for creative private enterprise, all of which help create more equal and more equitable societies. So, what are we waiting for?

By Gilles Cyrenne

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Magic Cabaret with Merlin

Seniors Christmas Pal

Fri Doe 1417 - 8 pm I Theatre

Thurs Dee 20 12 - 4 pm 11

I *Ticket

will be available from Do c

Winter Solstice

Tues Oee 11 at 1:30 pm OR We

Mon Dee 1715 - 9 pm I Theatre Featuring an Indigenous inspired menu

Oppenheimer Park Chi

'Tickets will be available from Nicole Bird at Cultural

Fri Dee 21 12 • 4 pm I Can

Sharing on Man Oee 11 from 5 - 9 pm

Featuring Santa!

, Karaoke Fri Dee21 17 - 9:45 pm

11

Christmas Eve Celebrl Out Trip· Lights at lafarge IuesDects

14 -,9pm

*Sign up @ the Program Office (3rd Floor) • Tues Dec 12

1 Mon

Dee 24th I Until1arl1

Lots of events through the night Seafood Dinner Complimentary

15 - tpm I 2nd Tourtiete I 7:3

Christmas Eve Cultural Sharir

I Lane Level

Holiday Cabaret

Pool Tournament

Tues Dec 181 7 - 9:45 pm I Theatre

Performances in the Theatre

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Movies AIJ Night 1 2nd Floor Lo

Holiday Card Making Wed Dec 19 I 11 am • 1 pm I Learning Centre

Christmas Day Celebration

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heatre

Tues Dec 2517:30am • 11 pm

is' office by lottery:

Breakfast 17:30 - 10 am I 2nd Floor

iDee 19th at 10am

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- Free (while quantities Jast) Bingo & Movies

istmas Party

Christmas

egie Theatre

I2

- 9:45 pm I Theatre

Dinner 15:00 pm 1 2nd floor

- $1.50 for a full Christmas a'inner

Boxin

Dinner

Wed Dee 26th I 2 • 5 pm I Theatre

heatre

No Uckets required. Everyone Welcomel i

'ion Christmas Macbeth 1Activities in the gym from 6 to 9pm r::/oor

~I 3rd Floor Gaf/ery I 6 to 9pm Jool Room I 6pm - Sign up at 5pm

Sat Dec 29th I 3 - 5:30 pm I Theatre

New Year's Eve Celebration

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: Mon Dec 31

15pm

·1 am

15 pm I 2nd Floor

~pm to rnidnight

Dinner

mge ! tpm to Midnight

$1,50 I Music by Geneyieve McKay Dance 7 pm - iem Music by Baby Fats

I Theatre,

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY

ACTION PROJECT

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Part of Japanese community in front of Uchida Building.

A Century of History on Powell Street: social housing approved on the site of the "Uchida Building" at 439 Powell Street

On November 29, the Development Permit Board approved the demolition of a historic building across from Oppenheimer Park and a new "social housing" project by the Ming Sung Benevolent Society in its place. The new building at 439 Powell will have 55 micro-units for seniors with rents in accordance with to the Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan, (meaning only 30% of units are guaranteed at shelter rates) and two retail units on the ground floor.

In its report to the Development Board, city staff acknowledged that, "the loss of the "Uchida Building", an important piece of Japanese Canadian history, and one of the last remaining original buildings of Japantown in its character and associated memories, is regrettable and unfortunate." Nevertheless, they agreed that the building be demolished and replaced with a new building that doesn't look very much like the old one.

CCAP and other presenters at the hearing argued that the few heritage signifiers of the proposed new building don't do justice to the building's century of history and memories, and that the new building should be at 100% shelter and pension rates rather than only 30%. The number of low-income people in the DTES who are on welfare and disability assistance has increased by almost a hundred people in the last year. About 60% are low income, and the number is even higher in the Oppenheimer area.

â&#x20AC;˘

The site is known as the "Uchida Building" or the "Ming Sung Benevolent Society Building" and was originally built by a sawmill owner and purchased by a Chinese family and run as a hospital for Japanese Canadians during the war. Although it is not technically placed on the Vancouver Heritage Register, it is one of the 20 oldest buildings in Vancouver.

In 2011, community members fought determinedly to save the building when it was threatened with demolition, both in recognition of its historical significance and to preserve it for muchneeded housing for low income seniors. Earlier architectural plans for the building proposed retaining its unique facade and with 100% of units available at shelter and pension rates.

Speakers at the hearing criticized the new plan but supported the low-cost housing.

CCAP stated, "In summary, we are requesting that development at this site not contribute to gentrification, isolation and displacement brought about by "social mix" theory including inaccessible or gentrifying retail spaces, exclusionary rental rates, and that the new building respects the cultural and community heritage as well as the social reality of its historic location."

The DPB approved the proposal but admonished the architect to better reflect the community history of the site and to work with BC Housing to "deepen affordability".

Here is an excerpt from the presentation by Angela Kruger, a gosei (fifth generation) Japanese Canadian, and a researcher and volunteer in the Downtown Eastside.

I am concerned about racism. The development application itself includes racist language--that is, reference to the "Japanese Village" (p. 8-9) that once inhabited the area, which elides our real, legal, and complex relations to the Canadian state, and tribalizes what was, in fact, a modern community. The application also reduces the Japanese Canadian community's interest in this development to being one of merely the building's "interface with the public realm," as if a "retail function" that emphasizes the area's "Japanese character" (p. 10) is, in the first place, something other than a racializing fallacy, and secondly, the central stake that our community has in this place.

I am concerned about green gentrification. As we speak, anywhere from 15-30 tents are set up in Oppenheimer Park, as people attempt to survive the housing/homelessness crisis we are facing in this city. This park is critical to the well-being of the low-income community of the Downtown Eastside, not only in terms of pitching tents, but also in terms of doing crafts, sharing food, playing games, and just sitting and talking in an environment that is safe for the neighbourhood's low-income residents. Given 439 Powell's proximity to Oppenheimer Park, I am concerned about how the development application understands the proposed building's impact on the area: the proposed building does not necessarily represent a "positive contribution to the more challenged , Oppenheimer Park and Powell Street context" (p. 12). Rather, this type of presumed benevolence risks the unwitting--and sometimes, intentional--exclusion and displacement of people with less power, such as the Indigenous, low-income and Chinese Canadian communities dwelling in the Downtown Eastside, the very people who, it seems, this building would aim to house.

However, I do support this application. I commend the Benevolent Society's efforts to support the Chinese seniors of the Downtown Eastside, and the neighbourhood's other low-income residents. That said, I want real social housing. I want a place where the Indigenous, low-income, and Chinatown communities' residents, who are here in the Downtown Eastside now, get to stay. Therefore, I call on BC Housing--again, as loudly as I can, from this development permit board meeting--to support this building to run at 100% welfare- and pension-rate social housing.

Let's have housing justice at 58 West Hastings and recognize housing as a human right

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In August 2016, then mayor Gregor Robertson committed to turning a vacant lot at 58 West Hastings Street into a 100 percent social-housing project for low-income residents.

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY ACTION PROJECT

By Lama Mugabo For more than a decade, residents of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) have been fighting for housing justice to ensure that low-income residents are not displaced by constant rental hikes and gentrification. Uniting as the Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition (OHCW), DTES residents and over 20 grassroots organizations have campaigned to raise public awareness on the impact of the housing crisis in their community.

The Coalition calls on the three levels of government to build housing that low-income residents can afford. Constructing and operating 100 percent welfare and pension rate housing projects across the DTES is a concrete step toward meeting Canada's international-treaty obligation to respect the right to adequate housing and to respect the spirit of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms.

On August 2016, Mayor Gregor Robertson capitulated to the demands of DTES residents and the mounting political pressure of tent cities that were springing up across the city. He conceded to build 58 West Hastings as a 100 percent welfare and pension rate, community-controlled residence. Shortly after the signing, representatives of OHCW began meeting with the mayor to figure out how the community vision for 58 West Hastings could be made into a reality.

The city offered the land and invited the provincial and federal governments to put money on the table. The Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency (VAHA) estimated that the project will require $65 million to build. The city brought in the Chinatown Foundation as a partner. The Chinatown Foundation promised to raise $30 million to build and operate the facility.

At that time, the B.C. Liberal government in Victoria did not want to have anything to do with the project. After the NDP came into power, ministers responsible for housing and poverty reduction came to visit the area. The housing minister put on the table the $30 million required to develop the residential building with two floors for Vancouver Coastal Health. OHCW would like to see Vancouver Coastal Health provide a cash contribution to deepen the affordability.

On January 16' when the provincial government announced its contribution to the project, OHCW learned that the construction cost has gone up. The gap was not $30 million, but a whopping $60million deficit. We were told that instead of building the facility to house 100 percent of residents at welfare and pension rates, it will only house 30 percent of the tenants. The remaining 70 percent will pay higher rates up, to $1,200 a month.

How on earth can someone earning $710 on welfare afford to pay $1,200 a month for rent? People feel that the city is dangling housing like a carrot before their eyes, and every time they try to grab it, it's out of reach.

Social mix and gentrification The call for 100 percent community-controlled, social housing at welfare and pension rate raises a red flag among some who experienced growing up in a "ghettoized" housing project in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. They fear that housing poor people under one roof might be a magnet for crime and chaos.

To the contrary, OHCW organizers argue that in addition to housinq.jhe three levels of government should provide a package that includes: employment opportunities, community support services, and meeting space for community groups. They see stable, dignified, and rent-controlled housing as fundamental, especially for people who have been homeless for an extended period of time. When people's housing needs are stable, their mental health remarkably improves, they are able to take back their lives, find work, and live again.

The rejection of the "social-mix" model is a reaction to the fact that since the 2010 Olympic Games, developers have been buying single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotels and flipping them to replace lowincome renters with yuppies who want to live closer to where they work and play. The 2005 DTES Housing Plan cal ed for "revitalization without displacement" by proposing to keeping the rate of market housing development to social housing development to 1: 1.

Ten years later, the city dropped the rate-of-change model and opened the gates for gentrification to spread like a bushfire, causing massive rental hikes. In the 2017 SRO housing study report, the average rental for a SRO unit rose to $687/month, leaving tenants on welfare with only $23 to spend on food, transport, hygiene, and sanitation.

When Vancouverites talk about the housing crisis, residents of the DTES see their neighborhood as being at the epicentre. The solution to this problem requires all three levels of government to work together and restore housing as a human right.

If the city of Vienna can reserve 60 percent of its housing stock as social housing with a strong rent control where people regardless of class live together in harmony, there is no reason that Vancouver cannot do it. It all begins with the political will to act.

Lama Mugabo is part of the Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition.

*PARTIAL* VICTORY TO BAN RENOVICTIONS IN VANCOUVER

On December 4th Vancouver city council voted unanimously in favor bf an amended motion to ban renovictions. It is a partial victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Here's what passed: *Tenants covered by the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy may come back to their apartments after renovations without breaking their leases (NO RENT INCREASE) *The city will track sold apartment buildings and inform tenants of their rights upon sale *The city will ex:elore measures to regulate and record tenants buyouts. *The city will aSKprovince for more power to regulate tenancy matters Here's what parts have been deferred to staff to study (did NOT pass): *The City calling on the province to implement effective vacancy controls in BC, or give Vancouver the power to regulate maximum rent increases during and between tenancies. (Part D of the motion) *The city expanding the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy to all rental units. (Part Aii of the motion) This policy currently only applies to purpose-built rental stock with 6 or more units) and building permits (this is arguably the biggest loophole in the current law).

Make no mistake - this was made possible by tenants who organized and stood together.

However, we still have our work cut out for us in 2019 when staff reports back on the items that were deferred. We're going to get ALL tenants in this city protected.

Jean Swanson addresses tenants packed in City Hall

Our Homes Can't Wait! Housing and healing at 58 West Hastings At a Townhall for Our Homes Can't Wait on December ih, participants talked about the community vision for 100% shelter/pension rate and community-controlled housing at 58 West Hastings.

Aiyanas did a presentation describing community-controlled housing as, "Conflict resolution not social control, emancipatory, and participatory. Consciously developing communities, communities of resistance, and a truly democratic building with elected board and directors, orqanizers, or floor councils and space to bring people together. Instead of paying supportive housing providers, why not a co-op model instead? Pay the residents to run the building!" .

Other presenters talked about "Housing as healing": "It's hard to be healthy on the street," said Laural and Susan. "There's too much gentrification, we need peace and quiet not developers, management teams, gatekeepers and constant police presence. Take back the space! We need restorative justice, and to deal with the problems ourselves."

Other demands included Real Reconciliation and family reunification: "We're displaced and apprehended," said Robin. 'There's no proper housing for families, and we lose housing and lose kids - it's acvicious cycle." Larry said, "People are dying on the street, and tents are getting cleared.

They want to change the community; we don't need condos. Let's cause some disruption and help our people and have buildings for us - it's about healing. This land is unceded, and we need to make everybody accountable - MP, MLAs, and mayor - they're gouging the community."

Participants at the town hall agreed that housing at 58 West Hastings could be up to 50% Aboriginal, in reflection of the community. Teresa from the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre said she's been at every tent city since 2000, and 58 West Hastings is important to us. "We need housing not temporary shelter, and up to 50% Native housing." Teresa thanked the Carnegie and the women's centre for all their activism over the years.

The Carnegie Community Action Project is a project of the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works 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. CCAP works with english speaking and Chinese speaking DTES residents in speaking out on their own behalf for the changes they would like to see in their neighbourhood.

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

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Carnegie Community Action Project

CONCERN GROUP

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CONTACT US: Office: 2nd floor of the Carnegie.

401 Main Street. Vancouver Phone: 604-665-2105 Email: info@carnegieaction.org Website: www.carnegieaction.org

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

THR GOLDEN BIN I pray this year that I will win The chance to dive that golden bin The golden bin it holds no tin Has coffee, brass, and maybe gin It just might hold a dream or two A lotto ticket! Trips to the zoo!

Tvs, radios, computers old There's just no telling what it may hold You'll know I've found the golden bin For on my face will be a grin A VCR maybe l' ve found A brick of gold, maybe a crown One thing I know I'll find no dope The golden bin has love and hope It may be thick, it may be thin But still it'll be the golden bin The golden bin is full of grace It's full of love for every race The golden bin is never locked The golden bin is fully stocked Maybe I'll find some boots or socks The golden bin it holds no rocks From the east north south or west That golden bin will be the best Unlike the uncaring city tart The golden bin gives from the heart In sun, snow, sleet or rain It gives and gives with no pain The goose that laid that golden egg Knows that I won't need to beg No needles in that golden bin The golden bin someday I'll win Carl MacDonald

Jenny Kwan MP Vancouver East N DP Immigration,

Refugee

and Citizenship Critic 2572 E Hastings St Vancouver,

BC V5K IZ3

T: 604-775-5800 F: 604-775-5811 Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca.

The nite before T'was da night before welfare and all through da land Everybody was starving both woman and man Da minister of welfare was in bed but awake He was getting some that night so da checks could wait Then all of a sudden there arose such a clatter "Que pasa?" he yelled! "say what? Waz da matter?"

He jumped outta bed through da kitchen he ran Tripped over da cat and knocked over da fan He looked down da hallway and what did appear?

A binner a native and few of their peers A tired old woman her face full of woe Gave out a yell "hey cough up da doe!"

The minister pouted "I'm sorry I'm wrong" But alas of course we've all heard that song He gave out the cheques and he passed out stale beer Then he said with a sneer "see ya same time next year!

Carl MacDonald MERRY CHRISTMAS

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ALL THESE REMEMBER WHENS. When I was part of the street scene doing my drugs, I ran into all kinds of characters. It was dog eat dog, and everyone was just trying to make enough money to keep from being drugsick. There were boosters, who would have the best cuts of beef for sale, or levis the name brand that everyone was wearing at the time.

The cost of these articles was one-third of the ticket price, which for the most part was a bargain. It was like we had our own little community, you really didn't have to venture far, to get exactly what you needed.

We had it a11- the drugs, the food, and the clothing.

I live in the DTES now and I see that things haven't changed too much since the late seventies. One thing that has changed is me. I hit my low, and didn't look back. I did whatever it took to stay away from the drugs that had such a hold on me. Lots of help, from rehab, to transition house, to preemployment, anger management, trauma therapy, and a counsellor.

I am so fortunate to be present to write about this, lots of my freinds didn't make it. I feel blessed that I was spared. J have an obligation now, to help those that want to change, give them hope, and show them there is a better way, and that it is possible. All you have to do is reach out and ask for the help you want. there are so many resources out there, that are available to you. There are so many people that are willing to help. It is never too late, and people really do care.

YOU ARE SO WORTH THIS. Sandy Bypass "Didn't we reach for the sky?"

Robbie Robertson

The end of the struggle approaches. I am defenceless.

The love of strangers carries me onward, peacebound afterall. I was not alone. fairness; simple fairness All that is asked, all that is needed.

Those who care enough risk caring too much. A fatal trap, snapped shut by the lazy cruelty of boors. Surrender - faith is then all that's left, while, high above us, from-form-to-function-perfect. The albatross on zephyrs glides; winning us all - awkward landing notwithstanding.

Stephen Belkin Author'snote:The scientistswhomonitorher namedthe 50+ year-oldalbatross"Wisd0m."

My thoughts and personal interpretation of a Christmas 'Storybook rescue' is in the story of Cinderella, for sometimes "we have to bite the bullet and help rescue ourselves: mind, body & soul".

Cinderella Was Cinderella a Victor or a Victim?

- 'before' meeting the Prince Cinderella guarded her heart throughout all the rejection and isolation that she experienced.

This led her to an innocent unconditional love that only the wildlife and birds above were capable of - at the time and place that she was in.

Laborious physical work kept her trim - a pretty package for the beauty she fought to keep within; which later caught the Prince's eye after she cried - over being denied an invitation to the Ball.

Her cleansing tears preserved her heart - and sparked supernatural aid making a Queen out of this maid.

She was a Victor - it's true for she fought to keep her 'heart-filled joy' and worked on 'what to overcome' versus focusing on 'what had become undone'; aware that only hardened bitterness can make a Victim out of you. inga g.

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Has "Common Courtesy" Become Extinct?

This question comes to mind everyday and it saddens and fears me that it may be Yes to the question.

Gone are the days when you seen a person stuff getting stolen you spoke up and said, "Hey! Leave that stuff alone." Gone are the days when you seen a fellow homeless person cold er, hungrier, dopeier, you said, "Hey, take this blanket/clothes, 10 or 20 papers, sandwich or muffin, and pay me back when you are on your feet.. or better yet pay it forward.'

Then it occurs to me maybe it's my fault - my generation's fault - because although however shitty my upbringing and as was others of my age because we're next generation after Residential Schools those were our parents. We said. 'Hey my son or daughter, you'll never have to go through what I did.' And so they never did. We said we want whatever is best for our kids and that's what they got. The turnout was a generation of spoiled shits who think everything is theirs. Everyone should do what they say or else.

As I sit on the front steps I look out and observe two mid-30 gents telling an old lady with a walker to "fuckin' move" - gone are the days when they would have moved aside before she had to ask, and smiled and said, "Have a nice day, lady." So I ask them to show a little respect for the elders and now I'm getting surrounded and pushed and punched for not minding my own business. Why was it wrong to ask for a little common courtesy?! Who is this young man standing there with a can of bear mace telling me to have a little respect to these guys, to apologise to them or else I'm gonna get sprayed ...

Inside I think back and cry a bit inside. 'Look at this guy, smile and say "Not a chance", get sprayed, and walk away laughing at them ... as I get Yz-blockaway the same old lady walks up to me and says "thanks" and I say "oh it was nothing, just a little common courtesy." Next she hands me 25 dollars and walks away.

Age 37

Steve Roberts

The Slingshot

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I was born in 1959, on the White bear Indian reserve. I was born in a mud shack and into a family that would eventually consist of nine brothers and four sisters.

Our family did not have much of anything, there was not much food, not much toys to play with and certainly not any friends to play with. I did have a cousin that came over on a regular basis to play with my older brother. My cousin would some day tell me stories about myself, of when I was a kid.

One day my cousin and my older brother were playing in the bushes near the shack and my younger bother and I were following them around, as they shot at crows with their slingshots.

Whether it was by accident or not, I don't know, but somehow my cousin lost his slingshot in a clump of fallen trees. In the centre of those fallen trees was a wasp's nest and next to the wasp's nest was the slingshot.

My cousin didn't warn me ahead of time about the wasp's nest. The only thing he said was, that if! wanted his slingshot then I would have to go and get it. I wanted that slingshot so bad, that I literally dove into the bushes to retrieve it.

The outcome of that was not good. Not good for me that is. The wasps were furious and they showed it by stinging me all over my little body. Crying and in a lot of pain, I ran all the way home and clutched in my little swollen hand was the slingshot.

Arnold Nokohoot These 2 stories got an Honourable Mention In the Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest.

A Brief Report on being at the National Inquiry into Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls A group from the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, members & staff, travelled to Calgary. I was part of the six facilitators for the focus groups. All together there were 110 Indigenous and 15 non-Indigenous women who participated.

It started with the focus group, with a few questions for the women from the DTES. Harsha compiled those statements with toe women's recommendations from the community for the final report. It was sad to hear some of the stories that were shared.l spoke of women being homeless in the DTES or having a single room or living in shelters. This is what I shared with the two commissioners, Brian Eyolfson and Oajaq Robinson, who witnessed the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre's testimony. Chief Commissioner Marion Buller and commissioner Michelwe Audette were absent.

It was nice to have members from the centre state the recommendations to the public. I got a little emotional and did not read the summary of Harsha's Housing crisis. I shared what I witnessed during the focus group.

I was with strong and humorous Indigenous women, thank goodness because I take things too seriously. This week last public hearing is in Ottawa and the final report is due in June, 2019. I hope with all the testimony our voices will be heard and actions taken by the federal government.

The violence against women has to end. It needs to end.

You can read more or listen on the website of the National Inquiry into Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls.

(Special thanks to Harsha and Carol.)

Priscillia Mays Tait

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We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this Newsletter, are occurring on Coast Salish Territory.

THIS NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.

LSLAP (Law Students Legal Advice Program) DROP-IN

WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter -Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry.

-Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6 %")wide x 15cm(6")high.

-Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered.

-Black & White printing only.

-Size restrictions apply (i.e. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit).

-All artists will receive credit for their work.

-Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication.

-Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor.

The editor can edit for clarity, format & brevity, but not at the expense of the writer's message.

Call 604-665-2220

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 11 WEAPONS

401 Main Street, Vancouver V6A 2T7 604-665-2289 Website carnegienewsletter.org

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Catalogue

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AIDS

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POVERTY

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HOMELESSNESS

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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

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ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE

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TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM

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OF MASS DESTRUCTION

IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR

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DONATIONS 2018 In memory of Bud Osborn -$125 Kelly F.

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For Bob Sarti, playright for the DTES cornrnunity, all those whose lives have been hit by racisrn & prejudice -$100(Jay) Craig H.-$500 Winnie T.-$200 Teresa V-$50 Barbara M.-$1 00 Robert -$40 Elsie McG-$50 Robert McG.-$145 Laurie R.-$175 Leslie S-$200 Michael C.-$100 Michele C.-$100 Ashley -$20 Vancouver Moving Theatre -$500 Douglas Z-$5 / Christopher R.-$180 Laila B.-$100 Aiden S-$10 Rose B.-$20 Elaine V.-$100 Phoenix W -$20 /! ) Sheila B.-$50 Marvin F.-$20 Karen T -$50 ('/ Ron C.-$50 Angie Z-$17 Stephanie F.-$50 Mathew A & Reuben J -$50 Sharon J -$25 ~/ <-_ Anonymous $165 Fundraiser-$1267 . ~ Penny G.-$50 Peter F.-$100· -, _

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