SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
t:aRriori:lJi·'~.~. NEVVSLETTER
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401 Main Street, Vancouver BC V6A 2T7 604-665-2289 email: carnnews@shaw.ca
Website/catalogue: carnegienewsletter.org
Housing Crisis Town Hall When: 1-3pm, Saturday, September 17 Where: Carnegie Theatre 972 homeless people were counted in the Downtown Eastside in 2016. That's over a hundred more than last year. Despite the record high homelessness crisis, no level of government has committed to implementing rent control or funding more social housing in the Downtown
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Come and help us figure out: • • •
How can we get 10 sites for welfare-pension rate housing in the Downtown Eastside? How can we get SRO's preserved and improved until social housing is built? How can we get a rent freeze or rent control that works?
This meeting is organized by the Our Homes Can't Wait campaign (OHCW). Come and hear updates about the campaign. as well as discussion about future steps and OHCW structure. The town hall is taking place on the unceded coast salish territories of the xwmaekwayam (Musqueam), Sali'wata?ISelilwitulh (Tsleil-Wauthuth) and Skwxwu7mesh Uxwumixw (Squamish) peoples.
Vancouver
Moving Theatre/Downtown
Eastside Heart of the City Festival and Jumblies Theatre present
Realms of Refuge
Realms of Refuge is a two week residency at InterUrban Gallery that involves artists and community
participants working together to create and animate miniature worlds that
explore and express different
ways we find, create and imagine places of refuge, shelter
and comfort. Artists include, among others: Ruth Howard, Savannah Walling, Kelty McKerracher,
Bill
Beauregarde, Renae Morriseau, Sharon Kallis, Russell Wallace, Rose Georgeson, Adrienne
•
Marcus Raja and Karis Jones Pard. This residency has two components members:
for community
1. WORKSHOPS Sundays, 16 and 23 October 2016, 1:00-5:00pm. Vancouver)
Interurban
Gallery (1 East Hastings Street,
For artists and cultural workers involved and interested in community-engaged arts practices. This two-part
and inter-cultural
workshop will provide a hands-on learning experience of community
arts facilitation. Facilitated by Ruth Howard, AD of Toronto-based
Jumblies Theatre, joined by Vancouver Moving
Theatre's AD Savannah Walling, Kelty McKerracher, Renae Morriseau (Cree/Saulteaux) Application
and others.
deadline: Friday, 14 October 2016, 5pm. Limited to 16 places. Participants accepted on
a first-served-first-paid basis. Fee: Regular $50. / Downtown residents - pay what you can.
Eastside involved low-income
For further info / to register please contact Kelty McKerracher at realmsofrefuge@gmail.com 778-886-8871, or visit www.heartofthecityfestival.com.
or
2. PUBLIC ACTIVITIES - Everyone Welcome.
Free. Interurban Gallery. 1 Hastings Street. F
PROJECT LAUNCH - Wednesday Oct 19, S:00-6:30pm. Refreshments. ART-MAKING
DROP-INS
Wednesday to Saturday, Oct. 19-22, 1-4pm Wednesday to Friday, Oct. 26-28, 11-4pm Thursdays, Oct. 20 & 27, 6:30-8:30pm PUBLIC CON VERSAnONS Being a Good Neighbour
in the Downtown
Eastside - with Jean Swanson, Diane Wood, Kelty
McKerracher and guests TBA. Friday Oct. 21, 8-9:30pm Reconciliation
and cross-cultural
collaboration
- with Renae Morriseau and Rose Georgeson
Friday Oct. 28, 8-9:30pm
I
FINAL PRESENTA nON Saturday Oct. 29: 4:30 to 6:00pm - with M'Girl, Sharon Kallis, Russell Wallace and other artists tba. Refreshments. There will also be special workshops for artists and community groups. If interested, please get in touch with Kelty at realmsofrefuge@gmail.com or 778-886-8871., •
The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival is produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre & Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, working with a host of community partners. Realms of Refuge is part of Jumblies National Four Lands Tour.
Growing vegetable gardens is the foundation for a healthier community By Lama Mugabo "Give someone a fish, they eat it in a day. Teach them how to fish, they'll eat forever." The same applies to teaching people how to grow foods. It's a gift that keeps giving. I worked in Rwanda, using a peer exchange model that involved sharing knowledge and building awareness around healthy living. In a country where three meals a day is not guaranteed for everyone, thinking creatively and finding a way to use small spaces to grow foods for households can generate rewards that make everyone happy. I worked with a team of university agriculture students, local leaders and community residents to fight malnutrition and build resilience towards food security and foster wellness.
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Figure I. Household Kitchen Garden Whether one lives in smaII rural village in Rwanda or DTES in Vancouver, people have one thing in common. They aII have to eat. They also share the problem of malnutrition. In developed nations like Canada, people are under nourished because they eat highly processed foods, deprived of essential nutrients. In a developing nation like Rwanda, the main diet is made up of starch, hardly no protein. When I came back to Canada, I was pleased to see how people are organizing around their community to raise awareness about the value of nutrition through community gardens and healthy cooking, such as the one at the Carnegie Center. To build healthier communities, the Government of Rwanda promoted the concept of household kitchen gardens, where they wanted every home to grow vegetables and fruits. My organization, Building Bridges with Rwanda recruited coIIege students to work closely with residents, turning challenges into opportunities. We spent time talking with residents and exploring the feasibility and learning their needs. Villagers were pleased to speak about issues they faced with regards to food security and nutrition. We started by identifying the most vulnerable households and convening residents to build kitchen gardens for them. Beneficiaries were asked to volunteer and learn how to build the gardens and maintain them. -We use the platform as an opportunity to teach people the value of healthy eating. What a hoot! We would work four hours, breaking for lunch and returning to work four more hours. ViIIagers loved the interaction. We sang, cracked jokes, had a great time. Later, when Canadian volunteers came, they joined us and the village became alive, with lots of stories and fun time, learning from one another. The garden was built in tier. Three levels. Carrots were planted in the highest tier because of their long roots. In the lower levels we planted spinach, amaranth, onions, garlic, etc ... At the center of the garden, we placed dried grass to filter the water. The good thing with this system is that the gardens didn't require clean water to water the plants. We could use water from laundry or shower. The grass filtrated the soap. This way, the garden didn't rely on the rain to stay alive. It could virtually be kept aII year long and grass in the center after they are degraded they
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were used as compost :? This is a simple technique that allowed households to grow food all year long in their backyards and save money they normally used to buy vegetables at the market. When we returned to do the project evaluation, we were amazed with the remarkable impact that simple design of garden has made in people's lives; one mother told us that she went to the local clinic because her vision was blur. During the consultation, the nurse asked her when was the last time she ate green vegetables? She couldn't remember. She was recommended to eat greens like amaranth and spinach weekly. Lucky, her garden was ready to be harvest. At the time we talked with her, she was beaming with pride: "Look at me. My vision is back to normal and my skin is clear. I feel great."
An Event Worth Noting
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We are complacent. We bask in the idea that Canada holds 20 per cent of the world's freshwater - water crises face other countries, but not ours. We could not be more wrong . Join me (Maude Barlow) and David Suzuki in Vancouver on Thursday, September 29 as we discuss Canada's water crisis and my new book, Boiling
Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse and Canada's Water Crisis. In this book I lay bare the issues facing Canada's water reserves, including long-outdated water laws, unmapped and unprotected ground water reserves, agricultural pollution, industrial-waste dumping, boil-water advisories, and the effects of deforestation and climate change. This will be the defining issue of the coming decade, and most of us have no idea that it is on our very own doorstep. Event Details When: Thursday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30) Where: Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, 15410 Avenue E, Vancouver (map) Admission is free. Please RVSP to confirm your seats for this event. My book is a cry from the heart. It is time to abandon our erroneous beliefs that Canada has unlimited supplies of water, that Canadians have taken care of this water heritage or that we still have lots of time to do so. We need a strong, national plan of action based on a new water ethic that puts water protection and water justice at the heart of all our policies and laws. The path forward is clear, if not simple. With hope and resolve, Maude Barlow
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We are not Alone in the Struggle There is a United Nations conference going on in South America called Habitat HI. The focus is to be a new urban agenda whereby an international agreement is hammered out to which countries commit themselves. First response was 'so what?!' such agreements often seem to have no weight or bearing on what individual countries do or on the laws they pass. This is a harsh reality check until the equally real time phenomenon of adjustment is recognised. Little happens immediately .. there is no magic wand to wave over human behaviou yet when laws are written these international agreements dictate the new framework. The concept of rights is inherent in what's deemed good & proper in any and all human interactions and this Habitat III assembly arrived at what has been proclaimed an "historic consensus" - so significant that it's gone around the world in a matter of hours. The "Right to the City" has been written in to international. documents for the first time. To quote from press releases: The "right to the city" emerged early in the Habitat III process as a demand from civil society groups active in urban social-justice campaigns around issues such as gentrification, forced evictions, foreclosures, refugees, the privatization of public space and the criminalization of homelessness. Under the slogan "Cities for people, not for profit", such groups have called for the New Urban Agenda to encourage national and local governments to care for their most vulnerable inhabitants rather than cater to private-sector interests as the planet continues to ur-
banize at a rapid pace. However, the tenn is relatively unknown in the human rights world. Indeed, "right to the city" is not currently recognized under intemational human rights law, an argument that several governments [including Canada] raised to counter any such mention in the New Urban Agenda. Activists respond by arguing that the right to the city is a synthesis of existing human rights, not a new right per se. "In some countries and cities, the recognition of the right to the city and/or the adoption of right to the city charters seem to have positively improved interaction between authorities and inhabitants and led to concrete results," Bahram Ghazi, with the Office of the U. N.High Commissioner for Human Rights, told Citiscope in a written statement. "If the use of the concept ofthe 'right to the city' can encourage and mobilise governments to comply with their binding international human rights obligations, and ensure that they pay due attention to the essential indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights in their legislations, policies and practices," Ghazi continued, "it can prove to be a valuable contribution to the New Urban Agenda and to the realization of human rights worldwide." The original language started with "We commit..." but that was flagged as problematic by many western nations, including Canada. The oligarchs (read the rich & selfish) were likely whining about how that would conflict with their rigged games, kind of like how people ranted about Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation would ruin the country by freeing all the slaves. A bit of the final wording is quite fit to quote: "We share a vision of cities for all, referring to the equal use and enjoyment of cities, and human settlements, seeking to promote inclusivity and ensure that all inhabitants, of present & future generations, without discrimination of any kind, are able to inhabit and produce just, safe, healthy, accessible, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements, to foster prosperity and quality oflife for all. We note the efforts of some national and local governments to enshrine this vision, referred to as right to the city, in their legislation, political declarations and charters." By PAULR
TAYLOR¡
CARNE6IE 30t.h.~ Although Paul Taylor has been at the helm of the Carnegie Newsletter for thirty years, he is quick to tell others that he is not solely responsible for the publication reaching this milestone. Including himself, Paul estimates that over 1,800 people have volunteered their time and talents during the past three decades. These photos show a few members of the publication-day crew; the people who collate, staple, fold and deliver the Newsletter 23 times a year. We are grateful to everyone -- past and present -- who has contributed writing, artwork, photos, clerical skills, delivery work, and help with fund-raising. The Carnegie Newsletter is a uni for members of the Downtown E. community to express themselve: great things about the Newsletter low-barrier publication. Paul is t editor I know who will accept har • submissions and type them for th Thirty years ago, lu
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Debra -- She is camera-shy se
NEWSLETIER Videha
{levenue tside I One of the ! <8 that it is at e only 1 I-written I :writers. did this on a typewriter. He may use a computer now, but the essays, poetry, and other submissions are still cut out with scissors and pasted down during layout with actual glue. This is a hands-on publication and a labour oflove. Photos: Jackie Humber Text: Lisa David
Karen Jamieson Dance Company
Creative Dance Workshops September-October
2016 --------------~ Join Us!
FREE Workshops
led by
Karen Jamieson Everyone Welcome All ages and Abilities!
All Workshops 3:00-5:00 Vvednesdays & Fridays starting September 14 SFU Woodwards
I Goldcorp
Centre for the Arts
149 Hastings-2nd Carnegie Community
14 @ SFU
• September
16 @ Carnegie
• September
21 @ SFU
• September
23 @ Carnegie
• September
28 @ SFU
• September
30 @ Carnegie
• October
5 @ SFU
• October
7 @ Carnegie
For more information.
floor
• October
12 @ SFU *2:00-4:00*
• October
14 @ Carnegie
• October
19 @ SFU
• October
21 @ Carnegie
• October
26 @ SFU
• October
28 @ Carnegie
• October
29 @ SFU! Dress Rehearsal!
• October
30 @ SFU! Performance!
• Please nate Dress Rehearsal Sat. Oct. 29, 2:00-5:00. Sun. Oct. 30 Rehearsal 2:00 Performance 4:00
admin@kjdance.ca
Brought to you by Karen Jamieson Dance Company Carnegie Community
Art Centre
Centre Gym
Main & Hastings-2nd
• September
I World
floor
. 604.687.6675 in partnership
Centre and SFU's Vancity Office of Community
www.kjdance.ca
with
Engagement
gallety gachet UNFOLDING THE "MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS" Prevailing approaches to mental health & mental illness rely on an individualised model of care, often failing to address & understand social determinants and societal structures that impact people's mental health.
t Individuals with mental illness are dehumanised & become seen as problems that have to be "fixed".
t This view entrenches stigma & leads to discrimination, within the mental health system and within society at large.
.
t
Stigma makes it harder for people to openly talk about mental health & to seek the support & services they need, and can sometimes be moOre destructive than the illness itself.
t Even when people try to access supports there are systemic barriers to accessing existing services, supports & services. This is especially a factor if you are low-income, a drug user, or if english is not your first language.
t Because of chronic underfunding & more recently cuts, the services that exist are insufficient & inadequate to meet people's needs.
t One of the problems is that service providers and front line responders lack appropriate training, knowledge & understanding of mental illness.
t
The system is not working & people with mental illness continue to fall through the cracks. People in mental distress are increasingly dealt with by the Police, especially in the Downtown Eastside.
t In 2014 the final number of VPD apprehensions under Section 28 of the Mental Health Act reached a five-year high.
t In the fall of2013 the City of Vancouver, along with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) & the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), announced a "mental health crisis."
t However, representations of the "Mental Health Crisis" have been negative & have contributed to increased stigma and discrimination of people with mental illness, especially in the DTES.
t At the same time VCH is undertaking changes to health care provision in the DTES, the so-called Second Generation Health Strategy.
t As a result of the new health strategy, some existing spaces & peer-run services that provide supports in the DTES are losing their funding, in favour of more clinical approaches to mental health.
t In the meantime the social determinants of mental health go unaddressed. Cuts to housing budgets & loss of affordable housing has contributed to the highest homelessness count ever.
t People with lived experience of mental illness continue to be marginalised & excluded from political decision-making processes that impact their life, wellbeing and health care provision.
t In short: * the mental health crisis is real but is inseparable from a larger social crisis * DTES residents (low-income, drug users, Indigenous people) are most affected * no client-based political group exists in the DTES that represents people with mental illness
True Voice Theatre presents Free Theatre Performance and Creation Workshops starting September, held every Thursday 3 to 5 pm at SFU Woodwards in the Djavad Mowafaghian World Arts Centre From the facilitators of "Much Ado About Something" and "For a Muse of Fire" For more info please contact Luisa at
luisa.jojic@creativainternational.com
NATURE'S BEAUTY
PKILOSOPHERCAT by Jason Logan.
Have you ever smelt the wind I right after a rain? Crisp scent of nature at it's best Troubles seem to slip away Like drops of dew off a sun-splashed leaf. lackie Humber
Constituency Office Now Open 2572 E Hastings Street Vancouver, BC V5K 1Z3 Tel: 604-775-5800 Fax: 604-775-5811 Email: lenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca
Jenny Kwan MP for Vancouver East NDP Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship
Critic
THESE OCEANS t SHALL DROP I SHALL Like a vaccinated solar system no other planets want to play we have over-welcomed Mr Alpha & Mrs Omega's stay leaving a sinkful of tectonic plates, then there are the elevators going though roofs to floors that simply are not there. Everyone is conc1usionjumping & making judgement day calls that are so ridiculous only the Russian Track & Field team would call fair - acidic oceans will soon have Translunk gates, the 2020 Games in Tokyo look at the horrid conditions in Rio does their sun fade or shine as hope & anticipation consume the Distress Industry (Milky Way Branch) The supporting acts have been scolded by the Antidoping Agency future cheats will lose fam-
WRITIN6 CONJTEST to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Carnegie Newsletter Entries will be accepted for the following categories: >Poetry (maximum: 40 lines) >Essay (up to approximately 450 words) >Memoir (up to approximately 400 words) Contest Details: • • • •
•
You may write about any topic of your choice that you think would interest or entertai readers of the Carnegie Newsletter. A panel of judges will read all entries and choose a winning entry for each category. The winner in each category will receive a gift to inspire future writing projects. All entries will be potentially eligible for publication in a future issue of the Carneqi« Newsletter. If your writing is chosen for publication, you will be remunerated with volunteer tickets. Submissions will be returned to the writers, upon request, after the contest winners al announced.
How to Enter the Contest: 1. 2.
3. 4. 5. 6.
Do not put your name on your poem, essay or memoir. Put your poem, essay or memoir into an envelope. Complete the contest entry form. Place the entry form inside the same envelope as your poem, essay or memoir. Seal the envelope, Print the following words on the outside of your envelope: WRITING CONTES
ENTRY, c/o Carnegie Newsletter. 7. Deliver your entry to the Carnegie Community Centre (401 Main Street, at Hastings Street) before the contest deadline. 8. DEADLINE: Contest entries must be received by 12:00 p.m, on
October
1, 2016.
Questions? Please direct all questions about this contest, in writing, to Lisa David in care of the Carnegie Newsletter. You may either leave a note for her in the Carnegie Community Centre Associatir Office (second floor) or send an e-rnail message to carnnews@shaw.ca. If you send an e-mail, please put WRITING CONTEST in the subject line.
WRITIN6 CONJTEST to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Carnegie Newsletter
ÂŁNTR)(
FORM
Please print as neatly as you are able. Thank you. Mynameis:
_
How may we contact you? Phone: ----------------------------------------------------------E-mail: MailingAddress:
_ ---+
Other:~---------------------------------------------------------
Please enter my writing under the followingcategory (check one):
D Poetry D Essay
D Memoir Thank youfor entering our writing contest. Good Luck!
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• .o~
THIS NEWSLETIER 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
•
•
•
Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry. Cover art - Max size 17cm(6 Y<")wide x 15cm(6")high. Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered. Black & White printing only. Size restrictions apply (Le. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit). All artists will receive credit for their work. Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication. . . Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets
Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor. The editor can edit for clarity, format & brevity, but not at the exp.ense of the writer's message.
Next issue:
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
WEDNESDAY,
W.e acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this Newsletter, are occurring on Coast Salish Territory.
SEPTEMBER 28th
"Never doubt that a slll?ll group of thoughtful eo III III itted citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Meade'
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OF MASS DESTRUCTION
AID~ POVERTY • HOMELESSNESS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR
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2016:
Sheila B.-$300 Robert McG.-$230 Elsie McG.-$300 In memory of Sam Snobelen: Anonymous $200 In memory of Harald David: Susan S.-$200 In memory of Bud Osbom: Kelly F.-$66 Laura $50 In memory of Gram: L.-$10 Barb & Mel L.-$100 Christopher R.-$300 Laurie R.-$50 Sid CT -$50 Wilhelmina M.-$44 Leslie 5.-$200 Ellen W.-$35 Glenn B.-$200 Cory K.-$19 Winnie T.-$200 Humanities 101 -$300 Craig H.-$500 Maria Z.-$50 Michele C.-$100 Yasushi K.-$50+ Michael C.-$50 Lisa 0.-$50 Susan C.-$100 New Star Books -$56 . Laila B.-$100 The Farm -$250 Anonymous -$110
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