October 1, 2012, carnegie newsletter

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OCTOBER 1 I 2012 FREE. Do not pay for this paper I

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401 Main, Van 6A 2T7 604-665-2289

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carnnews@shaw.ca email [l indexJ http://chodarr.org/taxooomy/teaun/3

We Have Always Been Wrong _ About Everything

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removal[moving] cost (Georgia

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Garden Plotting 101.

Hidden away in the outskirts of Strathcona are two peace-inducing gems that have delighted the neighbourhood, many passers-by and every citizen that has encountered them since 1985 known as Strathcona Community and Cottonwood Gardens. Over the years, their members have overcome many challenges and obstacles that have been thrown their way and that doesn't include bad weather, theft and various diseases.

Shortly after its inception, the gardener had to fight to save one acre of the original site to construction of a seniors' housing project which, as anyone can now see, they lost. That's all water under the bridge now and we have co-existed side by side - if not in harmony, at least in leaving each other be.

Having gone through that struggle, nothing could have prepared them fo r the stunning news coming at them from the City of Vancouver recently. As an addon to the Georgia Viaduct removal project, and in a supine effort to appease some Strathcona residents who want the traffic removed from Prior street and have it turned into a bucolic cow path or something like it, the city has proposed a new "roadway

extension" (which is not the same as a freeway) down Malkin avenue from Clark Dr. to Main St. This presumably will divert all that traffic to some new feeder system that will get the motoring public downtown and back each day much as the viaduct has done for years. (So, you see, they don't really plan to demolish the hated viaduct as much as move it).

That's where the gardeners come in. This new roadway system will require that perhaps half of the Cottonwood garden site and a portion of the Strathcona site be bulldozed away. Not only does this directly destroy the existing land, it makes the rest of the gardens virtually unusable. Who will be interested in trying to cultivate a gardening environment with freeway strength traffic roaring directly past you spewing enumerable amounts of toxic deposits accross it as it goes?

This has so far sneaked under the radar of the general public as no consultation over this proposal has been undertaken; (but for the Strathcona residents who are day by day calculating the increases in property values should this go through). What they perhaps don't realize is that when you remove any substantial traffic corridor from the system, nobody can predict how and where it will re-appe.ar. There's a good chance that a lot of it w ill begin shortcutting down Pender St. again to get downtown. Some benefit.

Another question comes to mind: l went to the open house dog and pony show at Wood wards the Planning department presented some months back detailing how the removal of the viaduct could work. The estimated removal cost was around $ 100 mi II ion.

Nowhere did they present any information about this Malkin freeway (sorry) diversion. How much will this cost? Currently Malkin is a dead end street at both ends and an overpass would have to be built over the CN tracks to connect it to Clark Dr. Has this been budgeted for?

Before the greener than green Vision team gets much further along with this bizarre project, we all better have some decent community wide consultation--who knows, maybe city wide--as community gardens are a unique and treasured resource throughout the region, before the heavy machinery starts to rev up under the cloak of secrecy. Is there enough space adjacent to the city hall's little community garden to accommodate the about-to-be-evicted at these two sites? Hope so.

Ian MacRae

COMING SOON! gth

Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

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Wednesday, October 24- Sunday November 4, 2012

Artists: Top 1- r: Patrick Foley, Priscillia Tait, Mike Richter; Second row: Tom Quirk, Graham Cunningham, Rocky D, Muriel Marjorie; Bottom Row: Joan Morelli, Carol Snider, Stan Hudac; Photo: David Cooper

First voices, legendary voices, favourite voices, culturally diverse voices: the 2012 Festival is a kaleidoscope of twelve days of music, songs, poetry, cultural celebrations, films, theatre, dance, jazz, forums, workshops, gallery openings, mixed media, art talks, history talks, walking tours and a diverse array of artist showcases.

The Festival takes inspiration from the words of Downtown Eastside poet and historian, Sandy Cameron: "We need to tell our own stories. If we don 't tell our own stories, people with power will

tell our stories for us, and we won't like what they say."

The festival is excited to present an abundance of artistic activity on the streets of the Downtown Eastside featuring local musicians and artists, including the Hastings Street Band, the first Festival Art Stroll to community galleries, and the new lantern Procession of light: Nurturing the Spirit.

Watch the next Carnegie newsletter for program highlights!

For more information contact 604-628-5672 or www.heartofthecityfestival.com The Downt own Eastside Heart of the Festival is produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre & the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians working with a host of community partners.

Big News Flash: Gov't Lies to the "Poor" The big news sham/scam our venerable leaders are leading us on with is that the BC Housing Initiative is actually doing some good for the homeless in the DTES. BULLSHIT!!! Yes we have an office at Hastings and Gore trying their pitiful best to fill the same old shitholes that were the root of the problem before the Gov't stepped in to "improve" conditions.

Recently I was shown a couple of SRO's I wouldn't let a diseased rat die in, let alone have a real live person live in the same squalid little cells of death.

Frankly, I've seen more accommodating jail cells than the ratholes our "caring and concerned" BC Housing schleps try to foist on us. Let me live outdoors where the bugs are a little more friendly than the bedbugs our gov't pays money to proliferate. Give me a break: if I can't leave in decent affordable housing the least the gov't, both provincial and city, could do is to stop the harassment of those of us who voluntarily live in the great outdoors where at least the pests are native to BC and less of a pain in the ass than the crap our elected officials want to ram down our throats.

If the City of Vancouver spent more time cleaning up our green spaces than harassing urban 'campers' a step in the right direction would finally be made.

But No. The City of Vancouver spends more time hassling the homeless than providing clean, safe spaces out of doors where urban campers could live without fear of being rousted. Stop the bullshit.

AI Loewen Some are beating the War drum.

-shall we all join the Peace drum circle?

Wherever you are, with whomever you are with!

All drums are circular for a reason Sit with peace in your heart and make beautiful love and peace, music & dance Spiral that circle and bring forth Homo Luminous .... our next evolutionary leap No longer homo sapiens, we now dance in the luminosity of our collective being ONENESS one planet one people one love AHO

8- Ball Challenge Results On Tuesday, September 11 111 at 11 am the Carnegie Centre hosted an 8-Ball Challenge against the Gathering Place.

There was standing room only as the 4-man teams competed in a single game Round Robin format, first to win 9 games. The Carnegie Centre "Ball Breakers" made up of Brian Busby, John Bengry, AI Homenchuk and Les Nelson competed against the Gathering Place "Nut Crackers" made up of John Tanner, Steven McKeen, Steven Briggs and Roy Lincoln.

The Carnegie 8-Ball challenge was won by the Gathering Place "Nut Crackers" with a 9 games to 7 games outcome. The cup will be held for 1 year at the Gathering Place.

We all should be proud of our team as they made it a real challenge. It came down to the last game of the matches to determine the winner. Again, congratulations to the Gathering Place team!

Bradley Hurlburt

Power of Cowards I just ran into my good friend SAINT MINUS the other day, he tells me cranes and strollers and all the belltollers are here and mean to stay, every inch of ground will be dug up for more SKYSCRAPERS as for the poor, the sick people with disabilities and those who have been crushed by mankind's stick so so sorry for you, we shall be loaded onto trains and off we go to the Doomsday refreshment committee Fair does this all sound too real to be true? we are taking modern day concentration camps with rides like the Furnace Wheel and real cute teacups floating in sewage .. this is your Disneyland roll up that sleeve so you can be branded HERE TO STAY will that be one night more or two?! to some this would actually be better than their personal hell adding another eleven teen billion with no hope of ever feeding them now go ring those bells enjoy the once-a-day meal while trying to deny they never ever forgot about everyone you ever knew, all possessions packed into Glad Garbage Bags Samsonite your luggage can also be your pillow when allowed to sleep you are your own gun shine accomplishments and those memories of the past just won't do, did you honestly think they would let you go no way the power of cowards is all we know we have ideas an possibilities what would SAINT MINUS do, I don't know this cowering inferno is gonna do something we could all regret, then again we shall be heard every syllable of every word the power of coward has pure intentions and makes us who we are now, and forever in your debt right I wouldn't be making stupid and costly bets, your global positioning leaches out hold me you're just making money for someone else nobody told me I know cuz i know you can tell them screw yourselves down with selfishists unlock these ... doors and I mean now!

All the humans dehumanized you all will pay we know what you've done we use the sight our birth gave us it comes out our eyes we know the wheres the whens the wizened of course the bows, too many crooks always spoil what can be spoiled too many hardship lolly pops slaving their way thru the countless fields but so few of those rich and powerful I see this earth has an egg crushed yet not hard boiled we are not the ones insane now pleas assure me l am not laying here alone, I'm not waging any war yet their shall be parts three and eventually four your brain into

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a machine will pave the even road all this future is friendly bullshit(!) makes me drive up the wall I don't even know how to drive so it's a good thing I'm not at the wheel cuz someone could get hurt like me back to reality catastrophic inner peace postponed, there is so much that we ourselves could learn as the stray drone air planes acknowledge our existence and so the air begins to bum when times are tough the tough hit the road or other way round whatever .. the power of cowards is a reward written in the sky that there will come that day, profane or profound I heard somebody say something about someone who somehow found his way top drawer all we want is not very much just stop killing and hating is that not possible I feel no remorse for your next generation sorry but * billion and more is just not the way, with figurine heads--spewing lie after lie , the promises burn quickly in the holocaust sky he just sits and smiles, do factories build these people with so much contempt and tmfeeling nor dignity or originality this man does nothing and says all is good you are , so completely out of touch, the power of cowards can at times attain frightening heights (like Harper should be a roadie for the Pussy riots - take them out of jail and leave the jailer in that sounds like a fair trade all right let him enjoy the once-a-day meal is now the nite's I won't even think of the living hell you've moved into we need you like the six million dollar man needs a crutch true evil will always coexist with remorse and forgiveness nothing is ever forgotten on SAINT MINUS list we're there too the cowards who choose to~die and the others who choose to live on sometimes these days can--the dark right out of the light believe me I have seen and it's a pretty sight take every atrocity and add it all up if you see a friendly future you must be screwed up, if only for the power of cowards might there come a time when cruel the insensitive the selfish with their inventing one of these sweltering winters we will try again us cowards will really get it right with our power we just might, you think we need to be taught how to fit in and live even JESUS only had one life to give and they say he did I wasn't there I'm sure it was in all the papers and what they print is the truth like a Hitler Youth pope who doles out free exorcisms on weekends he charges by the hour, push back all that abuse and put your thoughts and actions to good use we are the cowards we're here to stay hear us now by the power of cowards.

By ROB ERT MCGILLIVRAY

Law Students Legal Advice Program UBC law students will be holding drop-in cl inics on

Tuesdays from 7- 9pm in Carnegie's Art Gallery. lf s confidential and advice is checked with a lawyer.

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Lao Tzu said: A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good whe n people obey and acclaim him, wors.e when they desp ise him.

But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say : We did it ourselves.

HOPE IN SHADOWS Portraits of our Community I'm writing to invite you to two events: The Hope in Shadows Award Ceremony on Tuesday October 2nd and the Opening Reception for this year's Hope in Shadows exhibition on Thursday October 11th: \0 M ~

What: Hope in Shadows award ceremony to recognize contest winners t;: When: Tuesday October znd, 10:30 am to 11:30 am ~ 0 Where: Carnegie Community Centre in the theatre ('..

Cl' 1../"l Who: Photography contest participants & their friends & family 1../"l I

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All photographers who participated in the 2012 contest will receive a prize at the award ceremony. "Top 40" winning photographers and photography subjects will receive a copy of their winning photo. If you are unable to attend the ceremony you may pick up your prize after October znd at the Pivot office.

What: Opening reception for the 2012 Hope in Shadows exhibition When : Thursday October 11th, 5:30pm to 8:00pm Where: Pendulum Gallery in the HSBC building, 885 West Georgia Who: Photography contest participants & their friends & family.

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T INING SESSIONS FREE CALENDAR TRAINING SESSIONS To become a vendor you need to attend a training session.You'll get a legal vending permit for the calendar+ one free calendar to get you started. Vendors buy each calendar for $10 and sell them for $20.

Interurban Gallery 1 East Hastings St. Wednesday October 3, 1pm Friday October 5, 1pm Tuesday October 9, 1pm

LifeSkills 412 East Cordova Friday October 12, 1pm Monday October 15, 1pm Wednesday October 17, 1pm Please note: sessions are one hour and limited to 16 people.

Sign up on the day, 10 minutes before the session begins.

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For more info call: 604-255-9701 ext 136 or visit 121 Heatley Ave. (at Alexander)

HopelnShadows.com

HOPE IN SHADOWS t·.

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Sex Workers Win Right to Challenge Prostitution Laws Vancouver- Canada's highest court has unanimously ruled that a former sex worker and an organization run by and for street-based sex workers have the right to challenge Canada's laws that criminalize adult prostitution.

On January 19th of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) heard the Federal Government's appeal in the case of Attorney General of Canada v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society&Kiselbach. The Federal Government asked the court to find that Sheryl Kiselbach, a former sex worker with 30 years of experience in the sex industry and (SWUAV), do not have the right to challenge Canada's criminal laws relating to adult prostitution.

This case began in 2007, when Ms. Kiselbach and SWUAV (a non-profit organization of street-based sex workers) filed a constitutional challenge to the following Crimina\Code provisions: the communication law, the bawdy house law and parts of the procuring law that target adult prostitution. Before the case could get to trial, the Federal Government brought a motion to have it struck out of court. The BCSupreme Court agreed, deciding that the P laintiffs did not have "standing" to challenge the laws because neither Ms. Kiselbach nor SWUAV as an organization faced a current risk of being charged with a prostitution-related offence. On appeal, the BC Court of Appeal reversed the decision. The Federal Government appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. In a decis ion released this morning, the sec dimissed the appeal and granted public interest standing to both Ms. K iselbach and SWUAV. After five years in legal limbo, Ms. Kiselbach reacted to today's decision, saying: " I am appalled that the Federal Government used enormous public resources to try to stop me from having my day in court. A ll I have been asking fo r is the chance to tell a judge how prostitution laws caused me enormous physical and emotional harm. I am thrilled that I will have the opportunity to proceed with the case, and that my basic right to access the courts has been recognized. I have the safety and su pport to do this now, and it would have been impossible for me while I was actively involved in sex work."

At the Supreme Court of Canada, SWUAV and Ms.

Kiselbach argued that the extraordinary violence and discrimination faced by street-based sex workers limits the ability of individual active sex workers to start litigation in their own names and see it through a long and difficult process. Ms. Kiselbach did not have the reso urces or capacity to mount this type of complex, controversial and demanding constitutional challenge while she was active in the criminalized sex trade, but was able to do so once her circumstances changed. As an organization, SWUAV could protect the privacy and safety of its members, who because of their vulnerab ility and marginalization could not bring a lawsuit individually.

T he Supreme Court agreed, holding that in granting public interest standing,"the court should consider whether the case is of public interest in the sense that it transcends the interests of those most directly affected by the challenged law o r action. Courts should take into account that one of the ideas which animates public interest litigation is that it may provide access to justice fo r disadvantaged persons in society whose legal rights are affected."

"Today's decis ion has many exciting implications.

First, Ms. Kiselbach and SWUAV can continue with their challenge to the extremely harmful laws that criminalize sex workers," said Katrina Pacey of Pivot Legal Society, CO}Insel for the plaintiffs.

Second, the Court has increased opportunities to access justice for all marginalized persons who face barriers to bringing human rights claims before the courts. It's not hard to imagine other groups, such as prisoners, people who use drugs, people living with HIV, and children, who will benefit from the ability to litigate human rights cases as a collective."

In light of the important access to justice issues raised, many rights-seeking groups intervened in the case, arguing for a law of stand ing that would ensure that groups like SWUAV and plaintiffs like Ms. Kiselbach would not be prevented from having their claims heard. Intervenors included: Community Legal Assistance Society BC Civil Liberties Association West Coast LEAF Canadian HlV/AlDS Legal Network David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights Ecojustice Canada Canadian Civil Liberties Association Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers Conseil scolaire francophone de Ia Colombie-Britannique.

Sign on the door: "You see, i don't believe libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of ~

employing wild animals as librarians."

-Monty Python

take back space I was talking last week with libby davies, member of parliament for the downtown eastside of vancouver, and libby told of a star trek episode she'd seen -a futuristic situation in san francisco - an enormous wall had been constructed dividing poor people from everyone else .. and outside this wall i' in super consumerist upscale society there was almost no awareness of who was struggling to s urvive on the other side of the wall nor how wretched their living conditions were and libby said "that 's not our future it's happening right now" north america 's anti-panhandling bylaws and other prohibitions against the presence of certain people in what was formerly public space is a central objective in the global and local writ against the poor to put this situation in perspective I'd like to quote from an excellent book '¡geographies of exclusion" by david sibley; he says "power is expressed in the monopolization of space and the relegation of weaker groups in society to less desirable environments .. the boundaries between the consuming and nonconsuming public arc strengthening

with nonconsumption being construed as a form of deviance at the same time as spaces of consumption eliminate public spaces in city centres, processes of control are manifested in the exclusion of those who are judged to be deviant imperfect or marginal - who is felt to belong and not belong contributes in an important way to the shaping of social space . it is often the e<~sc that this hostility to others is articulated as a concern about property values the urge to make separations between clean and dirty ordered and disordered us and them tha~ is to expel the abject is encouraged in western cultures creating anxieties because such separations can never finally be achieved this anxiety is reinforced by the culture of consumption in western societies the success of capitalism depends on it and a necessary feature of the geographies of exclusion the literal mappings of power relations and rejection is the collapse of categories like public and private and to be diseased or disabled is a mark of imperfection the fear of infection leads to erection of the barricades to resist the spread of diseased polluted others there is a history of imaginary geographies which cast minorities .. imperfect people .. and a list of others who are seen to pose a threat to the dominant groupâ&#x20AC;˘ in society as polluting bodies or folk devils who arc then located elsewhere this elsewhere might be nowhere as when genocide or moral transformation of a minority like prostitutes are advocated the imagery of defilement which locates people on the margins or in residual spaces is now more likely to be applied to the mentally disabled the homeless prostitutes and some racialized minorities" the downtown eastside of vancouver where Jlivc is by any statistical measurement of po~erty and di~ase a third world area besieged by upscale developmental greed of truly genocidal proportions the highest rates and numbers of hiv/aids.. suicide.. hepatitis c .. syphuJis and tuberculosis in the western world and close to the lowest life expectancy and the single question I atri asked more than any otJoier by media and concerned citizens

is "where will they go?'' where will the people go when they are driven from this area by gentrification/displacement? referring to sibley, 1 must conclude that . the municipal provincial and federal governments must have some imaginary geography in mind because there is nowhere for the people to go and in the downtown eastside the public space that has been available for drug addicts, mentally disabled, homeless, prostitutes is being seized from them

the sophistication of the system we are opposing is such that the presence of panhandlers in business areas of vancouver has been greatly reduced without the police having to change a single person yet thus the system is able to avoid a public legal challenge and public space continues to be seized

to put this in a theological perspective I'll briefly quote from a book entitled " money and power" written by jacques ellul, who fought in the resistance shutters and grates cover doorways and stairwells in france during the second world war where human beings who have nowhere else to go and engaged in many social j ustice struggles at least could stand for awhile throughout the remainder of his life. ellul says awnings are removed from buildings so that cold rain "ultimately the rich seck to kill the poor this happens because fine rich arc exasperated pouts down on very ill people by constantly being called into question by god large private security forces ,;.:.through the poor - and this is the real reason for in gastown and chinatown business districts enforce to the limits of their capability ¡ the amazing problem that in all societies the rich anti-panhandling bylaws have detested the poor and why when precisely and harass poor and vulnerable people the rich are the powerful the superior the strong out of their areas .. away from tourists and businesses do they set themselves against the poor? we can find of course all the psychological and there is serious talk of establishing what is being called ' sociological reasons we could want the carroll street corridor - a kind of demilitarized zone "'â&#x20AC;˘ but none of these reasons is definitive between gastown and chinatown so that tourists do not 8:b none really explains hut they all relate to the fact have to walk through the defiled downtown eastside that the poor arc a temporal renection of god" and in the midst of the downtown eastside to resist today is to take back space but when the police have established a red zone we are few in numbers and have no money or political for prisoners released from jail, meaning you could power, what do we do'! be arrested simply for being found on a certain block '~!; 5 the question I finally asked myself is not which cause, and vancouver city council has recently invested time which new assault on the poor should I take on? and money in an attempt to circumvent anti-panhandling bylaws? the health care system? the charter of rights ;md freedoms housing? the legal system? racism? unemployment? naming the downtown eastside specifically as the target the thefl of children from poor women'! welfare'? of this action to loosen even more but \Vho are the defiled? the ones who don' t belong? the search and seizure regulations - the human beings who are relentlessly dehumanized? there are no-go zones in new westminster those who are victimized by this social cleansing? several block areas where you can be charged if you arc deemed an undesirable just fo r being there and that is basically in response to drug addicts driven from the downtown eastside to new west by police but there is resistance. I know there is here in victoria and in vancouver not long ago activists protesting the anti-panhandling bylaw invaded city hall and occupied city council chambers

in the downtown eastside as well as throughout the province of british columbia it is the drug addicts who are homeless, diseased who are excluded, marginalized, pushed out. vilified abandoned arid destroyed arid it is line impoverished dining addict on whom the entire system bear' s down every i nstitution of law education business health and religion

the degraded situation nd circumstances of drug addicts is one issue that affects路or will affect everyone in b.c. and is the only opening, the only breach in the svstem I have yet seen 路 during my activism in the downtown eastside the horrendous condition of drug addicts has forced government, the system, to yield resources it never would have otherwise I believe that in the downtown eastside to defend the entire community of poor people the best way to do it is to defend and stand with and Jor those who are most defiled and excluded the drug addicts a year ago several downtown eastside activists , involved with the drug situation held a protest we blocked the corner of main and hastings ~ and distributed a pamphlet describing the horrendous situation of overdose deaths and disease we planted 1200 crosses in oppenheimer park to commemorate the number of people who have died as a result of drug overdoses in the past 4 years and then as a member of the vancouver/richmond health board i' representing the downtown eastside l introduced a motion which passed declaring the hiv/aids infection rate among injection drug users vancouver's first public health emergency these events brought international media attention to the predicament in the downtown eastside and since drug addiction and its consequences affects alJ areas of our Jive including massive health care costs the media has the story from one perspective or another ever since, in such a widespread and ongoing manner that libby davies said she has never ' in all her years of activism seen anything like it

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at approximately the same time as these events ann_ livi~gston and myself held meetings with drug addicts m the downtown eastside hundreds of addicts and listened to them say over and over that what they most needed was a place to go a place, some space to be safe and rest and have the use of a telephone and a shower and a restroom common amenities denied them for even the community centre in the area is off limits from these meetings a campaign developed for a 24-hour resource centre for drug users and that coincided with the federal government the liberals conning forth with a million dollars to deal with tire public health emergency and it's been decided that the federal government will initially fund this 'resource centre for addicts a commitment which would have seemed impossible unthinkable and absurd a year ago there's currently a battle over where this facility will be and there are those insisting it be located anywhere elsewhere nowhere but it will be in the downtown eastside; and it is space taken back because if anything can be said to be an anti-gentrification project, it is this one and the health board in cooperation (of all things) with other ministries ~nd b.c housing put together money not marked for any other housing venture and purchased 2 hotels in the dark heart of the emergency - the block where the red zone is located the block most people in business wish was gentrified and the addicts expelled as soon as possible and these 2 hotels will house mentally disabled drug addicts, many of whom are infected with hiv/aids this initiative is an important signal that a commitment has been made to house "undesirables" in the downtown eastside and most dramatically of any project so far is a drug users' organization also funded by the vancouver/richmond health board it's called vandu -vancouver area network of drug users sibley says in his book "there is always the hope that through political action the humanity of the rejected will be recognized and the images of defilement discarded" and that is what vandu has most powerfully begun to accomplish the de-marginalization of those most marginalized

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the most powerless and voiceless are finding their voices and speaking forth at meetings and conferences and on committees where they had never been seen or heard before it occurs to me regarding activism in the downtown eastside that out of all advocacy efforts and all the meetings and demonstrations around housing, while important as acts of resistance, they have not yielded one square inch of space taken back but the drug emergency has been truly hopeful a petition campaign was begun by vandu members for safe injection rooms in the downtown eastside more space for the lowest the least and the last and because of the horrendous number of overdose deaths, this has become a possibility the 24-hour resource centre committee unanimously supported this petition and safe injection sites and this committee includes a gastown business leader and an inspector of the vancouver police department and the chief medical officer of be. john millar, in a report on the public health emergency, urges the government to yield resources with housing mentioned prominently to help save lives of drug users out of this suffering of drug addicts and their families out of this exclusion, out of this genocide, out of the enormous health care costs now and later out of the monstrous market of international drug trade against first nations people out of the wild fire consequences of the prohibition of illicit drugs

out of the disease, out of the lives of the most execrated most written-off and hated human beings in our society has come an opening .. a possibility for something new for change for taking back space

and the emergency is not going to go away problems associated with drug use will only increase and worsen if real changes are not made for social activists this is an opportunity that may not ever come again you can take on the whole system from the side of a drug addict this crisis is in victoria, it is in the comox valley it is on reserves throughout the province it is across the world and so I urge political activists to organize with drug addicts - they are in the biggest mess there is their lives are the biggest messes and the closer you are to them the more of a mess you get into but this solidarity is the only hope I see for actual concrete change ¡ ; the downtown eastside is being crushed "' there are a million battles to fight I have never before realized the width and breadth and power of the system as I have in this advocacy because here is a real threat to the system, trying to save the lives of those others would rather see die I'll close with another quotation from the best book I know on lllis whole debacle it's called " the comer" the comer being the drug comer, the drug scene. the authors david simon and edward burn say

"the corner is everywhere and we have swallowed some disastrous pretensions allowing ourselves a naive sincerity that even now assumes the battle can be restricted to heroin and cocaine limited to a self-contained cadre of lawbreakers when all along the conflict was ripe to become a war against tire underclass itself we can commit to the people of the comer,to the notion that they arc our own, that their future is our futme or we can throw the problem back on them empathy demands that we recognize ourselves in their faces, that we acknowledge the addictive impulse is something more than simple lawlessness that we begin to see the corner as the last refuge of the truly disowned and connectedness admits that between their world and ours the distance in human tenns at least is never as great as we make it seem" Bud Osbom

ings as their economies have tanked).

2. As Andrew Jackson recently pointed out on this blog, Canadi an provinces ranked at the bottom in their indices of labour market (de)regulation, but top in their index of labour market performance. Many states in their top rank of labour market deregulation (public sector employment as share of total, minimum wages, and unionization) performed worst in terms of labour market perfonnance and growth.

3. And just last week the Fraser Institute released its 2012 annual report on "The Price of Public Health Insurance". According to the media reports and summary BS on the Fraser Institute website, this study supposedly demonstrates that Canada's public health care system costs the average Canadian family over

[From CCPA) A bit of whimsy from the front At times, the Fraser Institute produces such helpful material.

I hope they make their well-heeled funders, such as the multi billionaire Koch brothers, proud. However, I.' m sure the Kochs are more concerned with missteps by their progeny Mitt and Ryan ... derailing their chance to buy the US presidency.

So back to the Fraser Institute and to three of their recent reports.

1. As Canada (and other countries) have increased their level of"market freedom" as measured by the Fraser Institute's flagship Economic Freedom of the World report (and other measures of market freedom and deregulation), our productivity growth has declined - as Andrew Sharpe and Don Drummond recently highlighted.

Of course the relationship between these and other economic factors is complex (it makes little sense to directly compare Switzerland and Ethiopia) but I couldn' t he lp but notice that a number of countries that in recent years climbed to the top ranks of their "economic freedom index", such as Iceland, Ireland, UK, and the US, subsequently suffered most from the econo mic crisis (and then have dropped in their rank-

$11 ,000 a year through the taxes they pay. Some columnists have even suggested that the average Canadian family pays more for public health care than US families pay for their health care.

Of course, this is all completely false, as anyone who actually takes the time to read the seven page report and do some basic on-line research can easily find.

The Fraser report actually says that Canada's public health care system will implicitly cost an "average Canadian family" $7,670 a year in taxes this year.

This wasn' t enough for the Fraser Institute's misinformationm eisters, so they used a larger than average sized famil y with a higher than average income level (over $ 100,000) as their "average family" in their releases, no doubt confident that journalists wou ldn 't read all the way to page 3 of their report to get th is information.

In fac t, as data from the OECD & Canadian Institute for Health Information show, not only does Canada spend far less on total public and private health care per person than the United States (in 20 I 0, US$4,445 per person in Canada vs $8,233 in the US), but Canada a lso spends less per person than the U.S. on our public health care system, (US$3, 158 per person in Canada vs $3,967 per person in the US) wh ile providing coverage for everybody with better quality and outcomes, while the US system leaves 50 million people uninsured.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's autho ritative annual report on health benefit costs, j ust released in September, the average annual costs of employer health care premiums in the US is $15,745 for family coverage this year and $5,6 15 for singles.

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The cost of family health care premiums has almost doubled in the US over the past decade, rising by 97% since 2002, wh ile the Fraser Institute's calculations of the implicit cost of public health care for the average Canadian family has increased by 59.8%.

While employees in the US directly pay for about a third of these private health care premiums, they pay far more when they get sick through annual deductibles, co-payments and "co-insurance" w hich a large majority of all US plans have.

For instance, the average family deductible is at least $1 ,000; co-payments for emergency room visits over $100 per & average "coinsurance" rates close to 20%.

The cheapest medical insurance my cousin, who is a doctor at a family c linic in New Hampshire, could get for his three person family was -$10,000 a year with an $8,000 deductible- and they are all in excellent health and physical shape. In effect it's catastrophic health insurance. He's fortunate and can deal directly with his family's medical problems: most of course can't.

No wonder the reason most people go bankrupt in the United States is because of medical problems, even among those with health insurance.

Much lower costs for employee health insurance premiums provides a major competitive advantage for Canadian firms compared. to the US, which they should pay back through higher taxes- but don't.

Despite the media reports, the Fraser report actually confirms that public health care is an excellent deal for most Canadian families, particularly for middle and low incom e fam ilies, as the CCPA's report on Canada's Quiet Bargain also demonstrated a few years ago.

Yes, it's true that that higher income individuals and families may pay an implicitly higher amount for these public services through progressive taxes (when they pay them) but overall costs are much lower, so we all or at least 90% of us are much better off.

We could reduce the overall implicit costs of health care for families in Canada if we changed the tax system so businesses paid a higher share of tax revenues - but organizations such as the Fraser Institute continue to push hard in the opposite direction lobbying heavily for cuts to business taxes and shifting taxes onto households. Good work over there!

Yet another enlightening report from the Fraser Institute. (With adversaries like these ....)

MAKING WAVES CONFERENCE PUBLIC FORUM Friday, October 26 7:00-9:30 p.m.

The Vancouver Island Conference Centre, I 0 I Gordon Street, Nanaimo, BC Admission: Pay what you can. (Suggested donation of $10.) All are welcome.

With welcome from Snuneymuxw Elder and Chief Douglas White Featuring keynote speakers: Maude Barlow, The Council of Canadians Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC lndian Chiefs Linda McQuaig, journalist and author Bill McKibben, environmentalist, founder of 350.org Saturday, October 27, 8:45a.m.- 5:00p.m.

The Coast Bastion Inn, 1 I Bastion Street, Nanaimo Registration is required. Admission: $70 in advance. $90 on-site. Fixed income $40. Includes lunch and admission to Friday public forum. Join us for a day of interactive workshops and plenary panel discussions that'll inform, inspire and motivate you to take action!

For more information, or to register, call toll-free at 1-800-387-.7177, ext. 333, or visit www.canadians.org/conference.

Opinion

Being blue, so lately Thinking of how I was brought up Indian Affairs is so much to blame Being in girl's group home in Prince Rupert It was run by Salvation Army We were treated with no respect They took our spirit away They tried to force us to their religion Wearing their stupid uniform dress Play their tambourines If we didn't, we were punished Doing stairs with a tooth brush If we're late for meals We didn't get any.

I believe the government should recognise th is as well.

Indian Affairs should take the HEAT All my relations, "'Gitksan" Bonnie E Stevens

BED BUGS ARE EASY TO KILL If you think outside of the box!! !Take one-tenth of a teaspoon boric acid + two shot glasses full of industrial strength bleach; Put in one litre spray bottle; MIX WELL WITH WATER. Spray bedding when trying to sleep and are bothered by bed bugs; if bothered again spray again up to thirty times more or less unti l they stop bothering you.

In the morning w hen getting ready for your day, get an orange leaf bag. Spray 7 or more squirts in empty bag, throw a bit of bedding in, spray again, put rest of bedding in bag and spray again. Ty knot air tight on the bag, then tlip it over- bug's always try to escape goi ng up and out. Leave it.

When back home, do the same thing with clothes, shoes, hat, socks etc. that you did with the bedding.

When you are ready for bed, pull the bedding out of its bag: IT WILL BE FRESH AND BUG FREE! J

(Street) doc Walter Dziekan

BLACK PLAGUE #TWO Slow bum???????

Alfred said those who don't learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

In the 'old days' it was fleas; today it's bed bugs. In the 'old days' there was garbage everywhere; Today there's trash all over: streets, skytrains, papers (news), cans checked for recyclables, even butts. Each item can hold thousands of bed bugs. They move like greased lightning. Every piece of garbage is a supper condo for bed bugs.

This problem is worldwide, just like fleas in the 'old days.' Today people throw out beds & furniture all over the city and poor people pick up this stuff and take it home, causing more of a problem.

Are we doomed to repeat past mistakes? Both bugs are small, black and breed like it's goi ng out of style.

People are s ick worldwide from disease and filth carried by bugs: they can feed on sick people passing on diseases from whatever the blood source, animal or human. I'm a person who thinks outside the box and know cleaning my place of bugs won't keep them out forever. street doc Walter Dziekan

P-e-t-t-y is Exactly the Term Big difference in being criminal I hate petty thieves 'cause they are petty in so many ways ripping off people's bikes or TVs People, individual people, real people who maybe sacrificed time and money to buy a good bicycle or quality TV petty Iii fux who never consider for a second that the same people they ripped today might one day throw them a dime once someone breaks their legs and they can't run off with whatever Wise up, rob a bank, or swindle a corporation have a little class, you ass, think think about the effort and pride that bicycle might be worth; don't assume people with money deserve to be stolen from 'cause you got zip like they owe it to you .. petty Iii mutha fuka G-Man

For Your Information 1sr United Advocacy is moving from 542 E Hastings back to the old church building at 320 E Hastings.

1 Our last day at 542 will be Friday, October 5 h.

All services provided at the current address will be available after the move, but not from Oct. 8th - 12th.

Anvone who has ever moved will understand!

We reopen at 320 E Hastings on th Monday, October 15 'City Hall dealt with 96 cases of hoarding last year' "Sheila Woody, a professor in USC's department of psychology who is leading two studies on hoard ing, is helping the city's team to identify circumstances that could influence the effectiveness of their work. " Woody and her psychology students are accepting referrals to low-cost group treatment for hoarding over the next three weeks. Treatment will be offered on a sliding scale and the 20 sessions will be based on principles of cognitive therapy. For more info, phone the U BC psychology clinic: 604-822-3005.

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THE WELFARE WORKER Who would write about Welfare Workers? Who'd even care. Who would express the understanding, the compassion for their jobs, for their stares.

Who would take the time to be curious about their minds? Who would wonder how they manage- how they manage so many caseloads and when they consult their supervisor do they do what they are told?

I wonder if they take the time to care about a client?

Or do they pride themselves on being strong and playing the ro le of Evil Tyrant?

I wonder do they smile and really mean it when they greet you, or is it just a phoney front to find out how to treat yo u?

They sit across their cluttered desk and ask us to hold on .. with phones a-ringing and they're grinning, watching us to wait so long.

Do you fee l they treat us with even one o unce of respect? Or are their noses so high up they fo rget that you exist.. alas! You' re the one to demand & to pers ist . "Oh pardon us for be ing here and ruining your day.

But we just came to get some Help ifthat's okay."

Some s it in judgement as if they' re Queen or King Tut. So let me tell yo u something Bub, while you sit so self- indulged: If it wasn't for people like us you wouldn't have a job.

I wonder if they think to bid you a fond farewell, or when they turn thei r heels so fast do they mutter," ! wish you'd go to hell."?

There are the few and far between -so keen and so intent- who sincerely give a damn about your means, about your rents. The ones who are sincere are unselfish too; the4y're genuinely concerned about wellbeing, about strife and you.

So remember when you see me & figure I'm no good that I am the person, I am the human, I am the one who understood: How life ain 't always it should be; How difficult things are; that if the tables had been turned you'd be the one I saw.

-a welfare recipient Written by Sylvia Josephine Merasty

Smell of dulce and iodi ne, salty Sea creatures decomposing Small crabs, mussels, loopy kelp the colour of dark wine Landwash.

Smell of codfish drying on the beach Turned by small gulls and old men The flakes like terraces Sun hot and high, this late summer But the frost will come soon Here on the southwest coast.

The bounty of the land, bake apples, fox berries, mesh berries Their weight in gold.

Cabbages growing in the salty sand Surrounded by the sea at high tide A herring impaled by my pitchfork As we make the g rass a smelly surprise Backbreaking work in the hot August sun My grandfather walks carefully to the barn Bearing the cured grass netted on his head.

Summer in Fortune Bay Wilhelmina

October 10, 6- 9pm St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church 1022 Nelson Street I

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Join us on World Homelessness Day this Oct 10th to hear inspiring stories from people that have lived experiences of homelessness and those that are striving to improve the lives of the homeless. Let's celebrate the work we are doing and be open about the challenges we continue to face.

HOM E J 1 1 . LESS j

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!2012 } !

Oct 7-13

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REGULAR ADMISSION

Host, The Right Reverend Gary Paterson SFU/PHS Community Choir At Home/Chez Soi Speakers Bureau Vancouver Design Nerds The Homeless Soccer Club Bud Osborn~, poet laureate Dr. Bill MacEwan Councillor Kerry Jang

$10 (to be donated to your choice of organizations on the evening of the event) Free Admission for Students (with 10) and unwaged

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PARTNERS

Magical Thinking for Artists

so like I said I came back here to die twenty-two years on the Atlantic coast Nova Scotia and Newfoundland bright beautiful beaches of fine diamond dust snow-bound winters around the wood stove isolation sometimes fog late summer the sound lonely and plaintive the lighthouses passing ships wind more than a physical force shrieking moaning around the chimney the windows wanting to get in so bad a windy ghoul from old black & white to technicolour skies of British Columbia soc ial justice - human rights Stop the War - Vietnam then Mounties in the Carnegie lane taking down heroin users s ix month's possession many died ins ide.

Now I question my decision, but does it really matter anyway.

Wilhelmina

Defenceless I think of a warrior whose weapon is trust.

The animals would understand and many children too . ..

I think of a fool whose gaze is a wave drowning all false pride.

I think of a saint who befriends them both on principle Any three of us would do, I think.

Stephen Belkin

Fall into the answer, don't lose your cool.

Distance will save you.

Just remember you have to stay as far away from happiness too.

What price fame?

Never mind. Only beauty matters, worshipper.

Stephen Belkin

To the Downtown Eastside community, For the last seven years, it's been my absolute pleasure to work as the librarian at Carnegie. So it's with mi xed feelings that I' m writing to let you know that I've accepted a new job with the Vancouver Public Library, and won't be coming back to Carnegie.

In my time in the Downtown Eastside, I' ve met some truly amazing people. I've worked with dedicated and passionate staff, and with library patrons and members of this extraordinary Downtown Eastside communi()'. And through these people, I've learned about strength and creativity and community spirit and generosity and compassion.

The knowledge that you've shared over the years has had a huge impact on me, and I will carry this knowledge into my work with other communities in Vancouver.

With respect and gratitude for everything that you' ve shared with me, Beth, your fo rmer librarian

It's like a spiral - incredible people arrive, bring their energy- the force of each person's cumulative life experience- to mix with the energy already roiling here ... and fascinating possibilities emerge. Some of the tangents on this plane end not well, with apparent lack of purpose in the manne r of that ending; others maintain, and still fewer grow with rare exceptions doing so exponentially. Being exceptional is something you and I and others strive for. Go well sister Paul

Humanities 101 -a new year!

We will be having the first Steering Committee of the school year on Tuesday, October 2nd from 6.308.30p.m. The location ofthe meeting is UBC Point Grey campus, in the Ike Barber Learning Centre room 302 (also known as the Dodson Room). The address is 1961 East Mall, V6T l Z I. For those unfamiliar with the location you'll find the building in section C4 of the attached map. It' s a 3 block walk from the bus loop.

Bus tickets and a meal vo ucher to use at the Student Union Building will be provided. Pop by the office to pick up a meal vo ucher if you want to eat before the meeting - Buchanan E room 270. As students and alumni ofHum, your ideas and perspectives are cru cia! to help guide the Programme.

Study Groups We currently have two study groups running, plus our ongoing Saturday Night Documentary series: A taste of the Middle East When: Every Monday from 6.00-7.30p.m Where: Gathering Place, Helmcken and Seymour Facilitator: Shahla Masoumnejad In this group we will be showing documentaries about the Middle East, with a particular focus on the rich culture of Iran. As such, the audience can be involved in a discussion regarding the culture of and life in the region, on topics including landscape, food, religious practices, history and traditional customs. Unlike our other study groups which run every second week, this group will meet every Monday. Have coffee and light snacks along with the occasional special treat.

Incredibly Close Readin~:. Aloud!

When: Every second Sunday from 12-2p. m. Next session September 30.

Where: Carnegie Centre third floor c lassroom Facilitated by Steve Wexler Participants in this study group are reading Homer's Odyssey, aloud. Each week we will work through a new chapter, so you can jump in at any time. Reading

aloud is a really interesting method of working through books that have a lot of meaning and concepts which people will have different interpretations of. Readings for this group will be handed out on the day of the group.

Saturday Ni~:ht Documentaries When: Every Saturday from 6.30p.m (except the first Saturday of each month) Where: Carnegie Centre Auditorium C urator: Colleen Carroll Facilitators: Georgina La Hue and Darren Pearson Humanities 101 alumni have been hosting successful documentaries viewings at the Carnegie Community Centre since 2006. The documentaries provoke thought, as information showcased is often not found in mainstream media, resulting in a desire for viewers to go on researching for more information.

Humanities 101 Community Programme Dr. Margot Leigh Butler, Academic Director tel. 604-822-0028 fax. 604-822-6096 Programme Office: #270 Buchanan E, 1866 Main Mall University of British Columbia â&#x20AC;˘ Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T IZ1 Webs ite: <http://humanitieslOl.arts.ubc.ca/ >

Organized Crime and the Government A great portion of the heroin that arrives in North America and Europe comes from Afghanistan.

There are about 40,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan who could read ily wipe out the poppy fields in that country.

The NATO governments argue that many farmers depend on the poppy fields to feed their families, and more enemies ofthe West would be gained if they eradicated the poppy farms.

The last I heard, the world still needs wheat and other cash crops that could thrive in Afghanistan, so this argument is extremely weak.

Thus, NATO must represent those who gain great wealth from the illegal traffic of heroin.

Garry Gust

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Meade

NEWSLETTER

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

WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie newsletter

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Next Issue: SUBMISSION DEADLINE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11th

Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry.

Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6 '/:)wide x 15cm(6")higl Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all wor1< considered.

Slack & 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 nckets

Jenny Wai Ching Kwan MLA Working for You 1070- 1641 Commercial Dr, VSL 3Y3 Phone: 604-775-0790

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Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor.

carnnews@vcn.bc.ca carnnews@shaw.ca www.carnnews.ore bttp://chodarr.ore/taxonomy/term/3

. Cost-effe~tive computer and IT support for ,. non-profits VCN TechTeam http://techteam.vcn.bc.ca/ Call778-724-0826 ext 2

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION ~

AIDS

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POVERTY

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HOMELESSNESS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ~ TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM ~ IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR

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