March 1, 2002, carnegie newsletter

NEWSLETTER 401 M a l n St.,V a n c p u v a r , BC V 6 A 217

MARCH 1,2002 Email: ~arnnews@Jdirecr.~~

Their Spirits Live Within Us The 2002 Women's Memorial March took place on February 14. This event is to give all pause and time to remember the many women who have died in the Downtown area.

In Loving Memory of the Following Women Vera Lyone, Lorna Lambert, Rose Peters, Corrine Dagnault, Kanice Mills, Lana Morin, Bernadette Grace Pierce, Susan Jones, Beverley Whitney, Nya Rane Robillard, Rhonda Gaynor, Lou-Ann (Bonnie) Stolarchuk, Corrine Sherry Upton La Fleur, Wendy Grace Lewis, Sally Abou, Debbie-Ann McMath, Vicky Buchard, Christine Elizabeth McCrae, Betty Case, Ruth Oliver, Gerry Ferguson, Jeannie Wibe, Debra Foley, Enola Evans, Tammy Lee Pipe, Carol Ann Walden, Melody Newfeld, Tracy Olajide, Lisa Moosomin, Laurie Ann Rix, Helen Lassardo (Bowers), Victoria Yonkers, Chantal Gilade, Dana Draycott, Amanda P.Flett (Mandy), Annie Cedar Jr, Rose Merasty, Maureen Riding at the Door, Barb Mills, Meranda Isaac, Beverley Ann Desjarlais, Lori Newman, Debra Lucas, Mathilda Charles, Clarissa Mary Adolph, Joyce Paquette, Darlene M.Johnston, Florence Isaac, Connie Rider, Connie Chartrand, Edna Shande, Geraldine Williams, Helena George, Karen Anne Baker, Katherine Phyllis August, Peggy Favel, Basma Rafay, Saltana Rafay, Kanwaljitk Gill, RanjitkToor, Naazish Khan, Harinder Knijjar, Linda Nelson, Swaranjitk Thandi, Michelle Wing, Deloris Rivet, Rita Holy White Man, Rhonda MacDonald, Sandra Amos (George), Janice Saul, Roberta (Bobbie) Lincoln Jennie Lea Waters, Lisa Leo, Debbie Neaslose, Gertrude Copelog, Holly Cochran, Ruby Williams, Diane Lancaster, Bernadine Standing Ready, Pauline Johnson, Nancy Jane Bob, Wendy Poole, Charlene Ken-, Cindy Williams, Verna Lyons Jennifer Pete, Lorraine Arrance (Ray), Mary James, Sharon Arrance, Monika Lillmeier, Barbara Charles, Tracy Lyn Hope, Veronica Harry, Susan Presvich, Barbara Larocque, Barbara Paul, Brenda George, Carol Davie, Carrie Ann Stan-, Chantal Venne, Dora Joseph Patrick, Christine (Chrissy) Billy, Darlinda Ritchey, Debbie Kennedy, Maryann Jackson, Donna Rose Kiss, Elsie Tomma, Gloria Duneult (Sam), Lois Makie, Janet Basil, Julie Mai Smith, Laverna Avivgan, Laurie Schotz, Loran Carpenter, Lorna George (Jones), Margaret Vedan, Maria Fergeuson,

Margorie Susan Prisnen, Marina George, Martha Gavin, Maxine Paul, Patricia Andrew, Patricia Ann Washams (Trish), Patricia Thomas, Peggy Snow, Rose Piapst, Sadie Chartrand, Sally Jackson, Terry Lynn, Sheila Hunt, Shirley Nix, Tanya Wallace, Jayne Hill, Verna Parnell, Alice Hall, Kelly Myers, Cheryl Joyce Vicklund, Margorie Mack. Darlene Weismiller, Michelle Lafleshe, Bernadeth Camp, Sandra Flamond, Mary Ann Monroe, Susan Ball, Beverley Wilson, Jennifer Moerike, Verna Missar, Ruth Anderson, Janet Pelletier, Leanna Cupello, June Hill, Sonia Mathews, Mary Ann Charlie, Amy Mertyl Roy, Josephine Johnson, Nadine McMillan, Fong Min Wong and her 3-week old daugjhter, Lisa Marie Graveline, April Reoch, Mavis Hippolyte, Lavern Jack, Theresa Humchitt, Norma Jean Nolan, Lily Nuon, Ry Rong, Grace Myran Gonduralz, Jenny Furminger, Julia Ferenze, Mavis McMullen.

Out of respect for families, some of the women's names have not been included.

Our Prayers of Hope for the Missing Women: Andrea Fay Borhaven, Angela Rebecca Jardine, Catherine Louise Gonzales, Catherine Maureen Knight, Cindy Louise Beck, Dawn Ritchie, Diana Melnick, Dorothy Anne Spence, Elaine Allenbach, Helen Mae Inge Monique Hall, Ingrid Soet, Janet Gail Henry, Jacqueline Maria Murdock, Jacqueline Michelle, Julie Louise, Kathleen Dale Wattley, Kerry Lynn Koski, Leanne Scholtz, Marcella Helen Creison, Marnia Lee Frey, Mary Johnson, Michelle Gurney, Olivia Gale Williams, Sarah Jean Devries, Sheila Catherine Egan, Sherry Lynn Rail, Stephanie Marie Lane, Tanya Marlo, Yvonne Stevens.

The Sixth Sentences -8-31. What price is your silence?

2. What god do you serve?

3. Sisterhood is pwerhl???

4. Perhaps, like in George Orwell's Animal Farm, 'some are more equal than others.'

5. What price is our silence?

6. What god do you serve?

Muriel Williams

Gordon Campbell And Economic Apartheid The word apartheid means 'separateness' or 'held apart' in a specific way, It refers to the policy of racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-Europeans that was in place in South Africa from after World War Two until 1994.

On April 27, 1994, the African National Congress (ANC), led by Nelson Mandela, won an important election in South Africa, and although this country still has serious social and economic problems, Nelson Mandela's victory was an inspiration to oppressed peoples throughout the world. After twenty-six years in prison, Mandela returned to help the people eliminate the policy of apartheid.

Today, Gordon Campbell and his Fraser institutedriven provincial government, is attacking poor people in such a violent, vicious and murderous way that it undermines their ability to lead meaningful lives in society. It pushes them to the extreme margins of existence; it creates an underclass that does not have enough money to live confidently and hopefully, and it creates part-time, temporary slaves who are forced to work at non-livable wages in demeaning conditions. Racism, sexism, and classism are all part of this system of exclusion. It is no accident that in our exploitive society, the worst jobs at the lowest wages are held by women of colour.

This Gordon Campbell, Fraser Institute, big business agenda of transferring wealth from the poor to the rich, is a form of economic apartheid. It creates huge divisions in society. and excludes large numbers of citizens from participating in the cultural life oftheir communities. Gordon Campbell is using government to eliminate checks on private power. He is using laws and regulations to deregulate and privatize our economy, and it will be difficult to reverse these laws because of international trade agreements like NAFTA. Campbell's role is to hand BC over to

international corporate and investment powers. The sooner BC citizens can stop Campbell from turning our province and ourselves into commodities for sale in the global economy, the better.

On Wednesday, February 13,2002, Campbell talked to the people of BC on television. His speech was a masterpiece of equivocation and the usual corporate propaganda we expect from the Fraser Institute. He attacked "special interest groups" that's you and me -but he failed to mention that he represents the mother of all special interest groups: corporate business. And he had no reference to poor people or his brutal attack on social programs in his speech. We don't exist for him. We are not a factor in the equations that Fraser Institute fanatics babble in their profit-intoxicated dreams. Campbell will save bus passes for seniors - a victory for them - but his attacks on social programs, Medicare, education and the environment are so horrendous that they will destroy the social and environmental health of British Columbia.

Recently, the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. (SPARC) issued a report saying that welfare benefits are far below what people need to meet their basic needs. Now Campbell is going to reduce those welfare rates even more. People are going to die because of his cuts to social programs, and that dynamic will make him an accomplice in death by legislation.

Gordon Campbell's reign ofterror can be stopped.

Maybe the ordinary people of British Columbia can force him to resign. We can say "No!" to his big business agenda by non-cooperation, by a work slowdown, by a general strike, or by consumer boycotts of corporations that support Campbell's community-destroyingpolicies. Maximum profit seems to be the only thing the stupid "system" believes in. Somehow we have to stop that system. and build communities for human beings instead of

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destroying communities so that those who have much can have even more.

Meanwhile, tell your stories about this oppressive provincial government in the groups you join for self-protection and protest. Tell your stories in the independent media - the Carnegie Newsletter, the DERA Newsletter, The Long Haul, other community papers, Co-op Radio, lndymedia anywhere you can get a hearing. The corporateowned and profit-driven media won't be much help.

That media is working to destroy democracy, as other huge corporate interests work to destroy democracy. It is in their nature to expand, to eliminate all opposition, to become a monopoly.

'They call it competition.

A huge resistance to corporate Campbellism is growing. Join it. Find out what's happening from community papers, the internet, notices on bulletin boards, or from posters on lamp posts. Become part of the solution.

By SANDY CAMERON

Greed, Hatred, Prejudice, is the world that surrounds me.

It confines me, it captures me, refusing to release me.

It consumes me.

It torments me, it puzzles me, it wonders me. Why? Is there beauty in this?

Can there be, should there be, why can't there be?

If there was, where is it?

Can it be only for the blind to see.

The ones who consume what is good and discard what is right, and choose not to see what they have accomplished.

Greed, Hatred, Prejudice, is the world that has been created.

Elmo Wienearbaegiolo

The welfare office has been sold to the Scroouu COT; Mandate: Get rid of you or use you for profit.

Owned by liberal tinanciers.

Scene I Worker; suit and tie, large photo of Gordon on desk.

Worker reading Playboy.

Mother and child enter.

Worker.

Good morning I am your designated worker. How are we today!

Mother I've been evicted. 1 have no money, no diapers for my child. The shelters are full and the Women's Centre is closed... .Please ... please help me Worker.

Well there is a solution. I have your DNA, your medical record.. You are healthy. .we can offer you a nice apartment.. day care.. support.. furniture. .because you have a valuable asset: your kidney is a perfect match for an important Liberal politician.

This is an asset.

Mother But I could die! Who would take care of my baby?

What if I don't agree?

Worker Sony. Unless you use your assets, no help. And the other asset is your child. With good nutrition she too will become a.........

Mother Oh my god this must be a nightmare. Is there no stopping these monsters? They must be stopped They are forcing me into the sex trade.. that's all that's left! Don't worry little one. Mama will fight.

Mama will be strong. She's gonna join the protest, she's gonna go on a squat.. Power to the people!

Power to the poor!

Worker You're a good looking girl -nice legs- Be nice. Give me a blow job and 1'11 give you a food voucher.

Mother This is all on tape... Good-bye.

By Sheila Baxter

RESPONSE TO THE DECIMATION O F LEGAL AID NEWS CONFERENCE, held at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, on Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 2:30 p.m.

Participants: - BCACLO (BC Association of Community law Officcs) NCLOABC (Native Community Law Office Association of BC) - The Canadian Bar Association (B.C. Branch) - Canadian Bar Association (Poverty Section) Sandi Tremblay, former chair, Legal Service Society Board of Directors * ALL PROVINCIAL LEGAL AID OFFICES TO CLOSE AUGUST 3 1 ST. The Legal Services Society has just announced that all of the 60 offices that deliver legal aid will close as of August 3 I st. The offices will be replaced by 7 regional centers. This reduction of service follows the recently announced closure of 24, or one third, of BC's courthouses, and virtually eliminates access to justice for many British Columbians. * REMOVAL OF THE LSS BOARD The Legal Services Society of BC is an independent body. Within 72 hours of an order-in-council removing the duly appointed, independent Board of Directors, trustee Jane Morley has implemented the government's massive budget reductions with no consultation whatsoever with those who deliver or receive legal aid.

In an interview on CBC Radio One, Kathryn Gretsinger asked Attorney General Geoff Plant about the independence of the LSS Board and the new trustee, and he said, "her job will be to do what I think is the job ofthe board which is to implement a budget that shows how services can be delivered within reduced financial circumstances." * LEGISLATURE ADDRESSES ACCESS TO JUSTICE MOTION On Monday, February 25th, the Legislature debated a resolution (Jenny Kwan, NDP MLA, Vancouver Mt Pleasant) which reads: "Be it resolved that this House supports the right for all British Columbians to access to justice including representation irrespective of who you are, where you come fiom, where

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you live and socio- economic status." * THE GOVERNMENT PROFITS FROM LEGAL AID The provincial government currently collects over $100 million annually fiom the provincial tax on lawyers' fees and federal transfer payments for legal aid. The government proposes to reduce fimding for legal aid by 40%, to $54 million annually, over the next three years. By the time these cuts are fully implemented, the government will be collecting almost twice as much for legal aid as it actually spends on legal aid. * LEGAL CHALLENGES TO THE CUTS WlLL BE DEFENDED AT TAXPAYERS' EXPENSE * ALL AREAS OF LEGAL AID HAVE BEEN HARD HIT BUT POVERTY LAW SERVICES HAVE BEEN ERADICATED AND COMMUNITY OFFICES WILL CLOSE "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.

When I ask why poor are hungry, they call me a communist." -- Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife, Brazil

cold undernourishment grief the beginning of the end the hture is a void the devastation speaks for itself finally discredited soon to be eliminated an overall judgement with immediate results the brutal last stages with little or no warning no better able no more willing a shadow all alone barren charles fortin

BENEFIT CONCERT The Social Event of the Week Got up early this morning.

Had a shave, combed my hair, Put on my cleanest dirty shirt.

Looked at the clock, it was time to go.

Checked how I looked in the mirror Put on my jacket and checked again Straightened my collar, smiled at myself Damn I look good and walked out the door Got to where I was going Had to stand in line - as usual People around me were Friendly - not unusual Strangers talking like old friends . maybe we were There was a person, selling smokes Twenty five cents, for a coffin nail We had an opinion on that Too expensive - at least we thought so The man next to me said It costs me about a buck-a-day to smoke I laughed at him and said Why don't you buy a computer He had a chuckle, so did the lady in front And so we continued to pass the time As we slowly progressed Towards - opportunity - the door We had been in line for Fifteen or so The lady was getting worried Would we make the door The gentle man and i Reassured her - ourselves That we had lots of Time Finally - we arrived With plenty of time to spare We went in, got our bags of food and left Returned - from the social event of the week

for END LEGISLATED POVERTY "Help E.L.P. Fight the Cuts"

Maritime Labour Centre 11 1 Victoria Drive (at Triumph) Friday, March 15 Doors open 7:30 / Show starts 8:00 $1 0 advance / $12 door A few complementary tickets available The Liberals are attacking the poor and marginalized at every turn. That's why this benefit to help E.L.P. continue its vital anti-poverty work could not come at a better time! We'll get the show on the road witha rousing performance by the Raging Grannies, followed by a fantastic lineup of musicians, all of whom have generously donated their talents for this exciting event:

* Orchards and Vines (Stratospheric folk) Simukai (Mbira music from Zimbabwe) * Sambata Celestial (Afro-Brazilian percussion) * Manik & special guests (First Nations hiphop) * Pepe Danza & Los Elementos (West AfricanICuban rhythms) Speakers: * Jim Green, community activist and former CEO of Four Corners Community Savings * Jean Swanson, author of Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion * Jenny Kwan, MLA for Vancouver-Mt.Pleasant * Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East.

The evening's festivities will also include a cash bar, tasty snacks, info tables, E.L.P. t-shirts & buttons, a raffle with lots of great prizes, and a largerthan-life Gordon Campbell dartboard!

Tickets available at: * E.L.P 2 1 1-456 West Broadway (604)879- 1209 * Highlife Records 1 3 1 7 Commercial Drive * Ten Thousand Villages 5920 Fraser St. (at 43rd) 21 50 West 4th Ave. (btwn. Arbutus & Yew)

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grave.

7 The media, in fact, had about 30 seconds coverage ofthe whole event. Similar was the coverage given to a rally in Ottawa a while ago. Over 70,000 people converged on Parliament Hill and it got 20 seconds on the news and a story on an editorial page.

The press is owned by the same millionaires that are getting richer with this crap. It isn't news, but it is a way to clear the cobwebs. All people who attend this and other rallies and protests can take heart - the actions are always worth it - and the feelings and bonding in solid resistance help. When the need is to change the very system and the minds of those perpetuating it, use every power you have.

The acid spoof of the Vancouver Sun, perpetrated

by Guerilla Media, was almost too satirical. Almost.

What is going on with the major media not taking the government to task for the Liberals' slashhum and steal? It's not a game with no pain from losing.

When the NDP was in, there were obligatory antiNDP stories. articles, TV coverage every day. Now, with tens of thousands of people reacting angrily, with intelligent analysis and response fiom economists and professionals in virtually every tield fiom the legal to the environmental to the social, the papers and other media are more into boot-licking.

On February 23, over 30,000 people made their way to Victoria to voice calls for resistance and even a general strike against Campbell's hacks There was a strong union presence, but thousands more speakin on issues of poverty, seniors, women, Aboriginal claims, health, students... Over 500 people were on the road from a small town in the northern end of Vancouver Island, coming to protest the closure of their hospital. Campbell has said that emergency cases can come to the city, but these people -just like an ambulance - were unable to get through due to snow and road closure. This alone should have been front page news, but the media was silent as a

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11 W Hasting Street Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1G4 (604) 255-4383 Community Economic Development Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, B.C. email us at common@vcn.bc.ca Common Concerns Association, a Downtown Eastside-based community economic development society, is pleased to announce the opening of the Clothes Encounters CaftVLaundry at 1 I W Hastings Street (next door to Army & Navy). It has taken 4 years of hard work to bring this project forward.

Many people worked long hours to make it happen.

Early in the development of the project the location at I I West Hastings proved to have insufficient electrical service to handle the requirements of all the proposed laundry equipment. Months were spent securing the additional funding needed to put in new transformers and completely upgrade the electrical service for the whole building. The start of construction in early 200 1 meant the closing of the dropin local business development work and the eventual loss of the grant which paid the salary of the Co-ordinatorlExecutive Director. Ruth Meta, who had been busy working on the development of the RiveGauche Market and working with small business people to get them set up to sell there.

1 was hired as General Manager of the CafiYLaundry on October 23,200 1. Many of you will know me

from my 9 years at DERA or the 3 years I spent working at DEYAS. We had many struggles with electrical upgrade problems and one of the main jobs I had at the beginning was in overseeing the finishing of the construction and installation of all the machines. purchasing all the Cafe equipment and interviewing people to work here (all of whom are residents of the Downtown Eastside and were unemployed).

One of the biggest hurdles over the last few months was satisfying the inspectors for the 9 different types of permits we needed to open our doors. A last minute glitch with the electrical permit caused us many months of delay while we worked out how we could affordably protect building residents from Hydro transformers in the back lane that don't even serve our building.

We had a great deal of help from many different city staff, including Nathan Edelson, City Planner, his Assistant Celene Fung, Buildings Manager Ken Neilson, Chief Electrical Inspector Ark Tsisserev, and staff at the Health, Environmental Protection, Plumbing, Electrical, Occupancy Permit, Business License, Building Inspection and Sprinkler Inspection Depts... whew, I may have missed one or two.

We officially opened our doors to the public on February 8,2002 at 8 am sharp, and have been open every day since. We look forward to developing our CafeILaundry with the hture addition of bee Internet access, displays of the works of local artists, music nights etc. We will also be allowing people to volunteer their time in exchange for laundry service.

We hope to be having our Grand Opening on March 2 1, 2002 (first day of spring and the Vernal Equinox) so keep your eyes open for the posters. Drop by anytime for a fiee tour!!

Dayle Moseley General Manager

Open 8 am to 8 pm every weekday 10 am to 8 pm weekends Sandwiches, Coffee. Teas. Pastries, Muffins WASH - $1.00 per load Drop off- $5.00 per load - wash, dry and fold Commercial Laundry service also available Call 604-255-4383 for price-

Do not keep the alabaster box of your love and friendship sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears can hear them, and while their hearts can be thrilled and made happier.

The kind things you mean to say when they are gone, say before they go.

Colleen, Volunteer Program

Know, Now can you feel what you were when the Earth wa severely, solidly centred, grounded, spinning on a slashed axis of darkness, gloom.. far away stars and distant moon out of your clutches, scorchin, yet within your reach -you plot, you plan, you map your dream -you drink of the ocean tide of intuition ...fickle winds howl and wheeze, ice age mansions crack and crumble, swallowed up into the deep shards of shattered ice, drift listlessly to infinity.. to nowhere. People and creatures ramble and tramp about hither and yawn, aimless and without direction desperately searching for the reason, the answer, the truth. No need to in your reality I say to you now, in the now - stay close to home. You can stroll ancient mystical paths to discover your purpose, and the trip you'll travel to piece together the murky ghost of a puzzle you possess will remain impossibly incomplete until you capture that spark, that fire that burns in your very being- your special and quite unique self, your soul.

Robyn Livingstone

Recall your MLA www.petitionon~ine.com/2005 May 17,2005 is the date for the next election. If you don't want to wait that long, check this out.

BC Coalition of Women's Centres calls on Minister of State for Women's Equality to resign

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Women in British Columbia are shocked and outraged by remarks made by Minister Stephens in an interview with the Langley, BC-based Advance N e w on Friday, February 15,2002.

Stephens has blatantly denied the Government of British Columbia's obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the rights set out in lnternational Human Rights Treaties, including the lnternational Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. and the lnternational Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

In the interview. Stephens claims, incorrectly. that inequality exists because of women's own choices.

Minister Stephens said. "People make choices. This government is not about to say you can do this, but can't do that. From choices flows everything else.

You are fiee to work where you wish, for whatever you wish; you are free to live where you want."

In the Advance News interview, Minister Stephens went on to say that while funding to some women's anti-violence services would be maintained despite budget cuts, gender-based violence isn't an issue of inequality "More women are abused. not oppressed."

Minister Stephens has not only denied the reality of British Columbian women, she also denied violence against women as a form of oppression, despite lnternational human rights treaties, including the lnternational Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which states: "Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women. and that violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into

9 a subordinate position compared with men."

The International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) states that ".in situations of poverty women have the least access to food, health, education, training and opportunities for employment and other needs." The CEDAW also states that "extensive discrimination against women continues to exist."

The BC Coalition of Women's Centres, as co-signers to a submission to the United Nations lnternational Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Feb. l3,2002), has already expressed it's concern for the Government of British Columbia's violation of women's economic and social human rights thru recent cutbacks and changes to public policy. The Coalition joined eleven other BC non-governmental organizations in requesting UN intervention.

Through Canada's commitment as a signatory to lnternational Treaties protecting women's human rights, the Province of British Columbia acknowledges the lack of equality for women and the commitment to continuing its work toward implementing International law.

Minister Stephens has flouted and denied British Columbia's commitments.

Now, on behalf ofwomen in British Columbia, we call on the Premier to answer our demand that he set the record straight.

We demand that the Government of BC declare its plan for meeting its legal obligations to International Human Rights Treaties.

Furthermore, we demand the resignation of Lynn Stephens as Minister of State for Women's Equality and Social Programs. Her refusal to acknowledge that women's rights are human rights are clear evidence that she is unsuitable to represent the interests of British Columbian women.

"Consultation is an over-used word, but in this government!~case it's an underused concept. How can anyone expect to make the justice system better, with significant&fewer resources, ifthe people who know it best aren't involved in developing the plan?" - from a letter sent to the Attorney General by the Legal Sewices Society Board of Directors. The AG responded by eliminating the entire Board and replacing it with a trustee. He doesn't want to be confused by facts.. .

77 Questionsfor Liberal MLAs Would you please ask the Premier to explain why his Government is mounting such a punitive program of social service cutbacks, when, as he says, the taxes we pay belong not to government but to us as citizens?

Would you please ask the Premier to explain why his Government is acting in an unlawhl manner and contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Section 7 and 15) and certain international human rights obligations (JCESCR, 1976) by denying people access to income support to meet their basic needs for f@ clothing and shelter?

Does the Liberal Government believe in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

Would you please ask the Premier to explain the consequences of your Government's punitive program of income support and social service cutbacks in terms of undermining values of caring, nurturance and sensitivity so essential to supporting hmily life and human well being in British Columbia; and why he is intent on undermining the capacity of parents to discharge their social responsibilities as parents?

Have you ever read Oliver Twist? Vancouver will become like Victorian London.

Would you please ask the Premier to explain to the taxpayers of British Columbia why our taxes (which he states belong to us) should be used to pay a US Multinational Corporation to financially benefit from privatization and management ofthe provincial social assistance program?

Would you please ask the Premier why in his televised address to the province (Feb 13/02) he made no reference at all to the plight of the tens of thousands ofpoor and vulnerable citizens (who are all taxpayers) of British Columbia?

Where have the virtues of care and compassion gone?

How will imposing hardship on the vulnerable make us a richer society?

10. Would you please ask the Premier who in his Government will be speaking on behalf ofthe tens of thousands of forgotten British Columbians - women, children and men - who are being made redundant by his policies of retrenchment?

1 1. How is breaking legal contracts beneficial for the province?

12. Would you please ask the Premier why your Government is launching such a profound and bitter assault on the rights of women and mothers in British Columbia?

13. How will a woman leaving an abusive relationship find safe housing?

14. How will a woman who has left an abusive relationship represent herself in court? In mediation?

15. How will mediation work in situations where there is unequal power?

16. How can we have justice for all when abused women have little or no access to the courts?

17. If the government isn't going to provide legal aid to single low income mothers in order to get decent child/spousal support orders, won't the children in the care ofthose mothers suffer?

18. How can you justify spending less on legal aid than you get &om lawyers' tariffi and the federal government?

19. How will closing courthouses while simultaneously cutting legal aid and tribunals like WCB and Human Rights reduce backlog in the courts?

20. How was the percentage cuts to legal aid funding determined? Likewise to finding of Women's Centres?

2 1. How will new immigrants receive legal assistance with 40% reduced legal aid hnding and increased workload?

22. To what government agency could one apply when legal aid is required23. Why didn't you consult with lawyers and judges prior to deciding on legal aid cuts?

24. How is the court system going to handle the burden of increased unrepresented litigants without hiring more judges, court staff, etc.?

25. With the closure of Vancouver Pre-Trial, isn't the government going to spend a lot more money on the transfer of prisoners to another location?

26. How can the Attorney General justifj. the impact on public safety of cuts to justice system services?

27. With respect to your cutting of w e l h e payments for mothers of 3 year olds -how will mothers get the necessary training for employment?

28. How will kids be better off by cutting their mother's welfare cheques?

29. Why have you cut childcare when you expect parents to work? Who will care for the children?

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30. How will someone on social assistance be able to replace the amount cut from his or her benefits?

3 1. How can a person get off welfare if there is no money for job training and no incentive to earn money without it being clawed back? It costs money to look for work.

32. How will a person who can't find ajob and isn't eligible for welfare survive?

33. What will happen after two years if a person on welfare simply cannot find a suitable job?

34. What do you envision persons who have been cut off welhre will do?

35. Does the Premier, his cabinet and MLAs plan to adopt welhre cut-ofi? Or could they live on $6 an hour?

36. Do you expect family violence to increase when breadwinners are unemployed or under-employed?

37. How will a parent help an abused child if she has to work?

38. Why are you afiaid of having an independent advocate for children and youth?

39. Where will children in care take their complaints ofabuse in foster care?

40. What services will there be for children age 16 to 19? What changes to legislation are being proposed?

4 1. Where will the financial and emotional support come for pregnant teens and teens who wish to leave their homes because they are being abused?

42. What will happen to young people who are suicidal if support programs are cut? Where is someone who is suicidal going to get service?

43. How many abused kiddadults have to die before you provide service?

44. We have traumatized street homeless people in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. At what price do we let homeless, hungry, and exposed people suffer without help?

45. What are people to do when the cuts are reducing possibilities for employment, education, a secure home life and every avenue is closed to them?

46. Will poor seniors be healthier ifthey lose their meals on wheels?

47. Why did you raise Medicare premiums for low-income people who are not poor enough to qualifj, for premium assistance?

48. Is it not obvious that ifa senior cannot afford the prescriptions he or she needs, they will end up in emergency care which is much more expensive?

49. Do you know that a good Public Health Program is preventative and can reduce health costs?

50. What has happened to the 5,000 long-term and intermediate care beds you promised in your pre-election New Era commitments?

51. Where is the evidence that privatization of health care works?

52. The federal Liberal government is encouraging all Canadians to become educated so why is the BC Liberal government discouraging BC residents to get educated by increasing costs for education?

53. Why do you feel that university education should only be for youth who have rich parents, or who will have high paying jobs to pay back their loans?

54. How will BC attract new immigrants required to address the shortage ofupcoming workers that our economy needs?

55. Where is the evidence that creating a fiagile, disrupted health care, social service and education system will attract business to BC? 56. Have you identified the risks in your cost cutting? What are they, and what plans do you have in place to respond to them?

57. Do you think your cutbacks to social needs will not increase harm in all areas -increased crime, diseases, addictions, suicides?

58. Reduction in welfare benefits = increased crime. How will your Government deal with this?

59. How will cutbacks in social assistance help Vancouver's downtown eastside? Crime will increase, the neighbourhood will become unsafe, theft will increase, and drug selling will increase. How will the working minority in the DTES and their property be safe?

60. Reduced income assistance equals losses in pride, self esteem, self-worth, hope and increases richtpoor gap. How will government deal with depressed neighbourhoods?

61. How will refbgees live legally or will you turn a blind eye to illegally gathered income in order to survive?

62. How will Vancouver deal with increased displaced persons due to rural communities crumbling due to your cuts?

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HOW will removing land from the Agricultural Land Reserve, making it available for big business, stimulate the BC food market, or protect hmily-owned farms in BC? What plans are in place to address the increased homelessness that will result fiom cuts to social assistance and legal aid? What will you do with all the homeless?

Do you plan to introduce poor houses?

What do you mean by special interest groups? Why is everyone except business designated as a special interest group?

Why not learn fiom the mistakes of Harris, Klein and New Zealand? They are not all successes.

What is the logic oftaking $600 a year away fiom the people who only receive $6,600 a year, and giving a tax break of over $6,000 to one person who earns over $200,000 a year?

Why not give the tax breaks to people with lower incomes since these monies will almost certainly be spent in BC? Provincial sales tax, which everyone pays, should be cut, rather than income tax for the wealthy. Are you planning to reverse the income tax cut for high-income earners?

In 1983, Bill Bennett's government brought in a wealth tax. Why would this government not do the same?

How can the government have a structural deficit when the government controls both revenues and expenditures?

What is your relationship to corporate interests and how will you be rewarding those who funded your election to office?

Whose interests are being met by BC Government, hc?

What will be the hnction of the provincial government after it has devolved its responsibilities?

Why is it so difficult to approach our MLA? Is it hir to the next government to have to clean up the social disintegration that you are creating?

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE YOUTH ACTIVITIES SOCIETY

STD CLINIC - 219 Main; Monday to Friday, loam - 6pm NEEDLE EXCHANGE - 221 Main; 8:30am - 8pm every day NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN - 3 Routes: - 5:45pm - 1 l:45pm Overnipht - 12:30am - 8:30am Downtown Eastside - 5:30pm - 1:30am --

2001 DONATIONS Libby D.469 Sam R.-$30 Nancy W . 4 4 Eve E . 4 2 5 Margaret D.430 Shyamala G.430 Pam C.-$20 Val A 3 2 0 W m B 4 2 0 Harold D.420 Pam-$20 Mary C-$30 Rolf A.475 Bruce J.434 Peggy 6 4 5 Kettle -620 Sonya S.-$120 BCTF-$20 Nancy H A 19 Rill G.-S130 Wes K.-$14 DEYAS-$ I 50 Raycam-$70 LSS-$230 John S S 3 4 Paddy 4 6 0 Sarah E.-$20 Rockingguys $30 Anonymous -$283 The Edge -$ZOO Celeste W.-$22 JO'S Mom 4 2 5 Charles F.-s 1 0

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THE NEWSLETTER IS A PllBLlCATlON OFTHE CARNECIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION.

Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not o f the Association.

Submission Deadline for next issue:

Welfare problems;

me to the Dera office at 425 Carrall Street or

ERA has been serving the Downtown Eastside

(MURRAY BUSH is the creative energy behind the I "G'odiilla" poster adorning the fiont cover of the Feb. 15 Newsletter. Murray accepted an apology for not attributing - credit to him. There are a few dozen of the fill-size colour posters here!

I

Comments?

Concerns?

Contact jenny Woi Ching Kwon, MLA

107o-ibqi Cornmerclal Dr., VgL 3Y3 Phone: n5-0790 Fax: 775-0881 Offlce hours: Tuesday-Friday gam-qpm VISIONQUEST. 1 saw the most brilliant minds of my generation destroy themselves with liquor, with pills, or with an out and out jump fiom a nondescript bridge.

I saw women on Madison avenue stare at each other with disdain, because their fur coats only cost five thousand dollars, while a hooker who had been raped with a broken wine bottle bled to death on the front steps of St. Vincent's hospital.

I saw junkies on the lower East side of Vancouver, on their hands and knees at five in the morning. willing to sell their souls for 20 minutes of salvation.

I saw the most profound opportunities for love, discarded and destroyed by the most capricious and trivial of circumstances.

I saw pure and wonderful souls, crippled and tainted by the toxic poisons of boredom and the cruciQing effects of loneliness.

I saw superior and intelligent individuals, alienated

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and forced into exile, by the green monsters of envy and jealousy.

I saw the conjured duplicity of two thousand years ruin the lives of the innocent and the unsuspecting.

I saw children in Calcutta, shoveled offthe streets and into the rivers.

1 saw noble and high ideals brought low, forced to their knees by obesity, sloth and vulgarity, both figurative and literal.

I saw so-called "children of God" wiped out and made destitute, while evil and ugliness grew fat and sleek.

I saw technologies that were supposed to make human lives easier, only to turn them into living nightmares.

I saw good people temporarily elated when they thought that goodness had finally won a round, only to later realise that it was only evil that had taken a brief rest.

1 saw hype, superficiality, glitter and gloss, collectively build on themselves to such a height, that they eventually overshadowed and obliterated anything of true substance.

I saw whatever virtues that were possessed by decent and humble souls, chipped away and eroded by the increasingly harsh realities in which they were destined to exist.

I saw injustices perpetrated upon individuals to such a maddening extent over the course of their entire lives, that these maddened innocents eventually became the demons of lawlessness let off their chains, broke their shackles, and ran fiee into the blot, blood, riot and blur, down the darkened hallway to their own destructions.

I saw the worst monsters of this world draped in blue-collar gray, snarl their negativity at each other as they staggered passed the smokestacks and into the black satanic mills.

And I finally realised, after thirty years of struggling to clear my vision of the veils of Maya, that what I was seeing for the most part, were simply many, too many thoughtless worldlings who had never been more than a burden and a pestilence on humankind, but yet, when faced with their own dissolution, would view that dissolution as nothing less than the obliteration of everything which mattered most.

Martin A McDermid,

Renewed Hostilities Break Out In Utah Between Nations Of The World.

Carry Gust The scheduled 2002 Winter Olympics, otherwise know as the Cay and Lesbian games, came to a bloody end last Sunday with the main victor being CNN and its sycophants.

The events went rather peacefully until a pair of Canadian ice skaters proclaimed that they were robbed of a gold medal by corrupt judges. CNN heard this, bit into it, and wouldn't let go until the crybabies from Canada were given their gold medal.

Hours after the bogus gold medal was presented to the Canadian crybabies, Wayne Cretzky took the CNN forum and proudly proclaimed that the world hated his hockey team and this was reason enough that they too should be given a gold medal even tho his team had not yet won a single ga me.

With the fear of CNN on their heels, the Swedes sagely decided it would be wiser to let the Belarus Hockey team beat them in order not to become involved with the Gretzky bunch who went on to beat Belarus to meet either Russia or the USA in the final match for a gold medal.

The Russians, in the meantime, threatened to withdraw the services of their hockey team because one of the Russian skiers was disqualified because she was menstruating and had a high red blood cell count after winning an event. But, thanks to CNN, this rebellion was ignored and the gold medal hockey game took place

...

These 2002 hostilities spilled over above the northern border where the Premier of BC attacked his own citizens with new taxes and withdrawal of medical services, which ignited a promise of retaliatory response from the few remaining protesters in that wayward province.

In fact, I personally witnessed a man and woman carrying protest signs on their way to a march in Victoria on the weekend. I wanted to stop and kiss their feet, but I was on a bike and it was raining.

And now the hostilities have come to an end for the next four years. Somewhere in the world today there are many loser-causalities tightly gripping their silver and bronze medals vowing revenge when again the combat resumes in 2006.

Elvis has put away his earrings, Cretsky is sitting in the kitchen sharpening his ice skates, and a pretty French judge is weeping on her sofa and wondering what sort of strange creatures live in a land called Canada.

After the closing ceremonies, CNN president, Alphonse Corleone, was overheard to say: "Cod, I love this power!"

I Wonder...

Next time you are washing your hands and complain because water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be ....

Here are some facts about the 1500s: 1 .Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.

2. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.

The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. * hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

3. Houses had thatched roofs -thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof * hence the saying "lt's raining cats and dogs."

4. There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

5. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor."

6. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway -hence, a "thresh hold."

7. In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while-*hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

8. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over. they would hang up their bacon to show OK It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat."

9. Those with money had plates made of pewter.

Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so. tomatoes were consi-

dered poisonous.

10. Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made fiom stale bread, which was so old and hard they could be used for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mould got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, mouldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

1 I . Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

12. Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey.

The combination would sometimes knock them out

for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. * hence the custom of holding a "wake."

13. England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell! ;thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer".

And that's the truth ...and whoever said that History' was boring?!

Wednesday, February 13,2002 "Enron explained"

In case you were wondering how Enron came into so much trouble, here is an explanation reputedly given by a Colorado Ag professor to explain it in terms his students could understand.

Capitalism You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull.

Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.

You sell them and retire on the income.

Enron Capitalism You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debtlequity swap with an associated general orer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.

The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by your CFO who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on six more.

Now do you see why a company with $62 billion in assets is declaring bankruptcy?

Submitted By David

Guerilla Media produced and distributed a scathing parody of the Vancouver Sun and presented readers with the real story behind Campbell - the coverage sadly lacking in the usual rag. Following is the kind of thing that the BC Liberals must take great pride in Based on Statistics Canada 1999 data: BC has 56,2 1 8 millionaire families, or 3.3% of our population- the highest population of any province in Canada.

The average net worth of BC millionaires is a cool $2.7 million, also the highest in Canada!

BC's millionaires control an awesome 35.5% of our province's total wealth.

BC h~nilieslead all provinces with an average net wortli of $23 1,235.

BC's richest 10% are tops in Canada with an average net worth of $1,3 18,534 while our poorest 10% had a negative net worth of -$8,126 $100 more than the welfae bums in Atlantic Canada BC has by far the greatest wealth gap in Canada, 5.3% better than Alberta and a radical 26.6% more than Ontario (in your face, Mike Harris) The better half of BC's population controls 96% of our $423.5 billion total wealth leaving only 4% for remaining bottom feeding 50%.

Between Statistics Canada's 1984 md 1999 wealth surveys, the richest 20% of Canada's families increased their wealth 39" while poorest 20% saw theirs decrease during those 15 years And all this even befog tile BC Liberals' righteous tax cut that gave the top 3% of our earners 30% of the prize about $300 million a year!

OLYMPICS COME TO DOWN TOWN EAST SIDE Solid gold. medals b r the nurses, social workers, volunteers.... survivors, care givers. all the heavy weight champions who fight the good fight for fair play to down town east side.

Sam Roddan

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a "Solutions Budget" today, which it says will restore economic and social security to British Columbians.

"The government's experiment isn't working," says Marc Lee, Economist in the CCPA's BC Oflice.

"The belief that tax cuts and 'small government' would boost our standard of living, especially in the current economic climate, was a leap of faith and that isn't delivering. It's time to for the government to rethink its fiscal plans."

Instead, the CCPA calls on the government to adopt a more hopeful plan, outlined in today's publication Towara's a Solutions Budgel for BC. The CCPA's plan would ease the economic downturn, help those in need, and enhance the long-term prospects of BC's resource sectors and public services.

"The first priority is to deal with the impact ofthe recession on BC's economy," says Lee. "Now is not the time to cut government spending."

Fiscal recommendations are based on an economic model provided by Informetrica, the well-respected Ottawa-based economic forecasting firm. "Our Solutions Budget shows that spending cuts are not necessary or inevitable," says Seth Klein, the CCPA's BC Office Director. "We demonstrate how, by scaling back the tax cuts for upper-income

anonymous capable jagged distracted better a survivor the need to celebrate genuine, explosive excitement you only have to think back there's no question can't you hear the buzz please, no more loud noises feel thoroughly don't go to the mirror it's just another myth it might be fun to learn and live naturally taking refuge even higher slightly different within you charles fortin

earners and corporations, the province can modestly increase spending and boost job growth and the economy. while having the same budget impact as the Campbell-Collins plan."

According to the Centre's economic model, the government's current fiscal plan will increase provincial GDP by a mere $130 million in 2002.

Under the CCPA's plan, this rises to over $500 million without increasing the projected size of the deficit, while also creating four times as many jobs for British Columbians. "This will allow BC to honor contracts and to help the most vulnerable, while still lowering taxes for the bottom two brackets," says Klein.

Over the long term, the Centre's "solutions budget" stresses new investment. A number of initiatives are recommended to revitalize BC's resource sector, such as providing tax credits to forest companies investing in value-added production and establishing a provincial resource investment bank to finance new projects.

Centre's website at www.policyalternatives.ca

Le monde entire n'est rien qu'un echo: vous semez la haine et la haine riviendra sur vous; semey la colere et la colere retournera sur vous; vous abusey des autres, I'abus sera revisit6 chez vous. Projetey des epines et les epines seront reprojete sur vous: tout ce que vous donnez vous reviendre. Par manieres infinies et si vous partagez l'amour, cet amour vous reviendra en manikres infinies. Si I'amour n'est pas arrives chez vous en manieres inumeranles, sachez donc que c'est parce que vous n'avez pas donner d'amour submitted by Videha

Oh Canada?

Oh Canada?, our home now makes us scream Now heavily ruled by the New Nazi Regime With saddened hearts we hear the lies The true north no longer free And Canada?, we stand on guard For the next inhuman cuts on you and me Oh Canada?, we're in a state of emergency We stand on guard trying to protect our economy Oh Canada?, impeach all those Hitler wanna-be's Kris Davenport

DEMOCRACY Majority Rule.

Poor, hungry, thirsty, nomadic peasant from whom we are descended.

We see with their eyes Democracy in action.

We toil as they toiled, We accept the unacceptable We feed our families on dreams of improvement Plow the soil of conformity Plant sees of self worth Harvest rich grains of subsistence Celebrate seasons as our forebears did Believe in democracy as we are conditioned Whiie signs of discontent Assail our geneology ...and the peasants cry A.Kostynuik

Testimony of Muriel Williams *

Hadee, Aneen My name translated is bitter sweet and I'm middleaged. Some of my friends don't like this, as it means they're middle-aged.

As usual I am an outsider, and you know what - I found a home n the DTES with other outsiders.

In this community you can be arrested for painting a daisy, or a beautiful water colour scene at the old Woodward's building. In the end the daisy won, but the struggle continues on.

I love the Downtown Eastside because of its beauty and its strength, in its rehsal to SHUT UP and in its insistence on Justice.

For example the missing women. No one hears our voice, except to perpetuate stereotypes. Missing women. It takes a Yankee to say "serial killer". voice is heard.. ours is not, although we have been saying this for some time.

Comfortable women bleed for the Montreal women. They raised monies for chiseled stone to sit on at the old railway station at Terminal & Main. At Crab Park we have a boulder, a ROCK. YES! and we are strong in our insistence on Justice and our refusal to be silenced.

I love this community because of its beauty. It sees beauty, value and worth in those who have been deleted as human beings.

I need this community because it gives me strength and sees my worth. *First appeared in Savage God (24) D.E.M.O.C.R.A.C.E. 16/02/02

Love in the Downtown Eastside Love in the Downtown Eastside?

There's those slobbering romances Between three-day millionaires At the Mardi Gras' parties Some of those odd couples Have stuck it out for years together Through really good times And horrible times THAT'S LOVE There used to be Two young men friends One of them could see The other was blind

Mornings at Oppenheimer The soft fragrance of sweetgrass Fills the air and erases the stink Of the chicken factory and crack A Downtown Eastside elder Offers a cleansing smudge To everyone regardless Of race or profession THAT'S LOVE Recently, in theatre There was an amazing play Called Rooms for Rent' About life in the Downtown Eastside In one touching scene Actors help a disabled actor across the stage Then they whisper him his lines And he delivers them well THAT'S LOVE

They laughed happily As they walked about The blind man's hand perched On his friend's shoulder THAT'S LOVE A tall, pale bag lady Used to roam the streets alone ~ a n t i n and g raving curses Mixed with pearls of wisdom One day as she cursed and cried A small dark woman approached her Barely reaching her waist She embraced her They talked together Within a block after parting The bag lady was shouting again But smiling THAT'S LOVE

People gather and march On February fourteenth each year To honour the women Who have died in the Downtown Eastside Friends push non-walking friends Through the streets in wheelchairs And sometimes shopping carts Spirits move amongst us and within us THAT'S LOVE We live in the Downtown Eastside We know many of our neighbours We make each other laugh We love our children Twice on the sidewalk I've seen a person Stick a needle into Another person's neck MAYBE THAT'S LOVE Leith Harris