September 1, 2011, carnegie newsletter

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

FREE

NEWSLETTER

www.camnews.org http:J/harvestors.sfu.calchodarr

A mixed-income area does not lead to communit_y, an_y more than mixing those less craz_y with those more craz_y leads to sanit_y.

Greed is repulsive; too man_y people in high places who are stone cold dead can onl_y kill.

Hope is a good thing, ma_ybe the best thing.

To all our patrons, I am pleased to announce that we have a new Assistant Director to replace Dan Tetrault.

Sharon Belli has accepted this position and will be starting immediately after Labour Day. Sharon has worked most of her life in the DTES in the income ass istance field and has been an advocate for fair and responsive service. She was instrumental in initiating the Carnegie Homeless Outreach Program pilot project and has worked with Carnegie staff in several areas including the volunteer program. She is excited about worki ng at the Carnegie Centre and is committed to providing service to our patrons.

Sharon is well known in the DTES community as a communicator and collaborator. I look forward to introducing her to you in September. Please j oin me in making her welcome.

Ethel Whitty, Director, Carnegie Community Centre

Information session on Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)

Date:

September 14, 2011, Wednesday Time: 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Third Floor Classroom 2

The RDSP is a federally registered savings plan that is designed to ensure long-term financial security for people with disabilities. Beneficiaries may receive the added benefit of government grants and bonds. The Richmond Centre for Disability (RCD) encourages people to apply for RDSP. This savings plan aligns with the Independent Living philosophy encouraging people with disabilities to plan for their long term financial security and the future costs of disability needs.

This initiative requires understanding of some complex topics in order to have a smooth process and be able to plan for future. The topics include questions like who is eligible to open an RDSP account, what are the roles of holders, how to obtain maximum grants and bonds, withdrawal and closure, etc. The RCD provides free information sessions on RDSP in various locations in the Metro Vancouver; you can learn the basics or more in-depth issues or for troubleshooting or for new developments.

More information can be viewed at the RCD website www.rcdrichmond.org

It was 1986. Expo was here. We were all picketing the Patricia Hotel because they, and about 14 other hotels, evicted their longtime res idents so they could rent at higher rates to tourists. End Legislated Poverty was just born. The province produced a curriculum for grade schools that extolled the wonders of heliskiiing. Sandy Cameron ofELP wrote a curriculum on poverty to expose the heli-skiing curriculum and the BC Teachers' Federation published it. Some of us never went to expo except to picket it. Paul Taylor was Carnegie's delegate to End Legislated Poverty. and, TA DA: Paul Taylor began editing the Carnegie Newsletter!

Twenty five years is a long time to work as a volunter, week in, week out, never stopping (except for that one issue in January) for a holiday, never stopping even when you' re s ick, staying up all night (in spite of admonishments from your wife a nd office mates) to get the paper ready. Twice a month, every month, People in the DE have a chance to get their poems published, get their a1mouncements put out to the commu nity. get their brilliant ideas or rants published, report on what they've been doing in the community, etc. Consistency is really important in a newspaper a nd we have it with Paul and the Carnegie Newsletter.

It is just assumed in the community, that twice a month, every month, the newsletter will be there for us to read or use if we have info we want to get out to others. Thanks sooo much, Paul. Don't know what we'd do without you.

--Jean Swanson

Hello Carnegie News, Congratulations on your 25 year Anniversary. The color edition is amazing, not only for its visuals, but for its contents as well.

Well done, Jason Bouchard, coordinator DTES Small Arts Grants

Dear Paul, Congratulations on 25 years of publication of the Carnegie Newsletter. It is a work of love and a powerful voice for the DTES. You have shown tenacity, vision and a great sense of courage- always with a dollop of mischief- over the years.

Here's to another 25 years!

Ethel Whitty, Director, CCC

3 This is just a reminder the deadline for the Common Experience Payment (CEP) is September 19, 2011.

Legal Services Society has published a fact sheet

"Indian !Residential Schools Settlements and the Common Experience Payments and the Independent Assessment Process/" This factsheet can be ordered free of charge either through our website: www.legalaid.bc.ca or through Crown Publications www.crownpub.bc.ca We also published a booklet called "/A Guide to the Ind ian Residential Schools Settlement/" This guide is only available online. lfyou would like to organize an infonnation session on the Indian Residential Schools Settlement pleaso contact Pamela Shields, LSS Aboriginal Services Program Manager at (604) 601 6298 or e-mail : pamela.shields@lss.bc.ca You may want to check o ut our new LSS Aboriginal website for add itional resources and information: www.lss.bc.ca/abori ginal/

TI

-r=r::-Silvia Tobler Legal Information Outreach Worker (LIOW) 路LIOW line: (604) 601 6 166 LSS di rect line: (604) 60 1 6084

5th ANNUAL WOMEN'S HOUSING MARCH *************************************** Saturday, September 17@ 1:30 pm Starts at Cordova and Columbia, just west of Main St. Unceded Coast Salish Territories On Saturday Sep 17 at l :30 pm, join the Downtown Eastside Women Centre Power of Women Group* in the 5th Annual March for Women's Housing and March Against Poverty.

We invite groups to bring their banners and anything else for our festive march and 'GentriFucation Tour'.

A ll genders are welcome and celebrated. Please bring your drums and regalia. This march is child-friendly and there will be a rest-vehicle for elders. Spread the word!

This year, we celebrate the recent victory that has forced the provincial government to commit funding to a 24-hour low barrier shelter for women as a result of our collective efforts.

-Social Housing, Childcare, and Healthcare for all!

-No more Evictions and No more Gentrification in the Downtown Eastside!

- Stop Criminalizing the Poor!

All genders welcome for the DTES Power of Women's 51h Annual Women's March for Housing and March Against Poverty and our festive 'Gentrifucation Tour'.

-ort'ES BLOCK PARTY To ~~coNDOS ON 100 ~ Saturday Sep 17@ around 4 pm Main and Hastings Music, food, and the last bit of summer sun!

We want 100% social housing not condos at the old Pantages Site.

The DTES is not for developers to make millions; it is for our vibrant and vital low-income community!

Organized by Aboriginal Front Door, Carnegie Community Action Project, Citywide Housing Coalition, DTES Neighbourhood Council, DTES Power of Women Group, Gallery Cachet, Streams of Justice, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. Info: htq:?:/{dtesnotfordevelopers.wordpress.com/

Saturday September 17 2011 -The Fifth Annual Women's March for Housing A poem by Rolf Auer THE UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS -1948 PREAMBLE (subsection): Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing , housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.(itatics mine) (Canada ratified this Universal Humen Rights Protection in 1948, but never wrote that law guaranteeing housing for everyone into its own Constitution. As a result, Canada is now one of the few industrialized countries to not have a national social housing program.)_ _ __ Perhaps the good news is that armed insurrection hasn't happened yet; some might argue otherwise.

Definitely, however, Here IS some good news: instead, on Saturday, September 17, 2011 beginning at 1:30 pm there will occur The 51h annual Women's March for Housing starting at Columbia and Cordova Streets near the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre in the Downtown Eastside (DTES).

(The March will be followed by a block party starting at 4:00 pm.)

So far, on Facebook 293 are recorded as attending with another possible 185.

In 1993, the Canadian federal government cance lled its national social housing program and therefore homelessness in Canada has been on the rise ever since.

In 2009, Miloon Kothari-

then UN Special Rapporteur on Housmgrecommended that Canada enact federal and provincial laws guaranteeing housing.

This never happened.

People aren't asking fr pity.

They are asking for a basic human right: the right to adequate housing.

Canada is one of the richest countries in the world; it can afford to guarantee housing for all its citizens if it were to-for examplecut its massive military budget by an approp riate amount and channel that money into providing housing for ALL Canadians.

The DTES Annual Women's March for Housing isn't about pity or freebies or handoutsit's about the Canadian government doing right by its citizens.

So, please join the March!

Be not afraid! Resist!

America's Rampant Inequality Impossible to Deny

by Roger Bybee The CIA ranks the country 64th, behind Ivory Coast and Uganda-but Fox's banshees still scream 'class warfare' when Warren Buffet wants to tax the rich 1....

.....

路 ~ 路~ 路

..

....:..v:. ..:

(

v

..J For years, America's super-rich and their allies in Congress and the media have tried to deny that a tiny elite was growing astronomically wealthy at the expense of the vast majority of Americans.

But the vast gaping canyon between the richest I% and Corporate America, on the one hand, and the rest of us on the other, has become so large and welldocumented that denial no longer works. The ideological combat gets especially intense when it turns to the relatively minimal taxes that corporations and the rich pay.

What defense can be offered when billionaire investor Warren Buffet admits that he pays a 15 percent capital-gains rate on most of his income, while everyone else in his office (including the secretary) pays a considerably higher rate?

What can the pundits of the Right say when a corporation like General Electric makes $14.2 billion in profits in 2010 and not only pays no federal income taxes, but collects $3.2 billion in tax credits to lower future tax bills? Well, on Fox at least, they go on the offensive, accusing critics of the wealthy of cruel "demonizing."

The Right has a lot to justify: The gap between the top 1 percent and the majority is now so vast that three Citibank analysts in 2005 created a new term to describe the situation: "plutonomy." (Which Don Peck insightfully explains in The Atlantic.)

The inequalities in income and wealth have become so stark that America is increasingly no longer recognizable as the middle-class society in which many of us grew up. Where Americans once condescendingly mocked the gross inequalities so evident in the

" banana republics" of Latin America, the United States is now far more unequal than most Latin nations.

Significantly, the plight of the broad American middle class has been closely linked to the fate of the labor movement as it has come under siege in the last 35 years. While many middle-class people have long resented the gains made by blue-collar workers who often lacked higher education, the fact remains that as labor has lost ground in terms of real wages, so has the middle class.

Prof. Bruce Western of Harvard concluded in a study this month : 路'From 1973 to 2007, wage inequality in the private sector increased by more than 40 percent among men, and by about 50 percent among women. [...) deunionization-the decline in the percentage of the labor force that is unionized-and educational stratification each explain about 33 percent of the rise in withingroup wage inequality among men. Among women, deunionization explains about 20 percent. .. " Having invested in union-busting lawyers, private police, and anti-union politicians, America's rich benefit immensely from such de-unionization. The most affluent Americans and big corporations have enjoyed a spectacular recovery from the deepest recession in 80 years.

While effects of the recession linger for working-class families in America-joblessness and insecure employment, loss of health coverage, exhausted unemployment benefits, falling home values, the threat of home foreclosure, to name a few- the prosperous and Corporate America have almost entirely avoided this pain. In fact, corporations saw their profits soar 243 percent in 2009 and another 61 percent in 20 I 0. The wealthiest I 0 percent now account for 60 percent of all consumer spending.

With most U.S. consumers having little money to spend, American corporations see little reason to crank up production and hire new workers in America. Corporations are sitting on at least $2 trillion in savings (plus another $1 trillion or more stashed outside the country) but have no reason to invest in the U.S. The consumer demand simply doesn't exist in America, and corporations can sell to the engorged elites of emerging nations like China, India, Brazil, and Mexico.

Perhaps that explains why major corporate leaders seem perfectly complacent with the obstructive hi-

j inks of Congressional Republicans, in whom they invested so heavily with campaign contributions (outspending labor in 2008 by a ratio of 15-1) and who are committed to crushing any and all programs that might serve as a badly-needed economic stimulus.

When President Obama seeks a modest increase in corporate taxes and the closing of some of the most outrageous tax loopholes, he is cast as a "Third World leader"-with all of its racial and authoritarian implications-and "demonizing" the rich.

Normally, these statements go unchallenged by talkshow hosts or most Democratic politicians, who seem to have a strong masochistic streak. But Jon Stewart's August 18 Daily Show allowed the Right to run thorugh their string of talking points, followed by the kind of hard-hitting (and hilarious) commentary on U.S. inequality that seems utterly forbidden on major networks:

Sen. Marc Rubio (R-Fia.) said in June: "It's disapp-7 ointing, it's class warfare, and it's the kind of language that you would expect from a leader of a third world country, not the President of the United States."

Rubio's comment perfectly set up this acid retort from Jon Stewart, who used CIA figures on income inequality to show exactly where America stands: It's true, because the United States of America is not a third-world country by any measure, except, perhaps, income inequality ... where we rank ... (list scrolls down) blabliddyblabliddyblabliddy ... worse than the Ivory Coast, worse than Cameroon ... 64th! Ahh! In your face, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Uganda! Uganda?

Yeah, Uganda. Keep trying, Rwanda. Wow. Stewart's skewering of the Right on inequality is a povverful reminder of why labor needs more independent media that are unafraid to slaughter some sacred cows. And it's also a reminder to do the slaughtering with good humor.

Why a long article on America's locked-in fix for keeping money in rich hands??? Such simple facts are much harder to find and comment on in the Canadian media. Dan Leonida submitted this: UNITED NATIONS

Dtstr.

CiE"'ER/,L

General Assembly

A liRC 10 i Add.3 I i l·cbruary :!009

0 2

H oySI"lQ q·S!S

·- -~·re:s'. "T1"1! pas: ~a r~h. M;toon Kochan tt-c- United to.a~lo<'\s ' SpeC•6'

Ongtn•l. E'\GLISII

Repora ofthr Spet'-1 Rapporttur on adtquatt housi•g I!. a tompuntnt ofth t righl to an odequalnlandord oflh·io~. •nd on tht rlg~ntu non.otdbcri.minatioA: '" thit. contt\1, ~1Uoon Kothan \IISSIO:-o TOCA'\..\01\" (9 to 22 O<tob<r 2007)

a crcr·!OQ ron-ern

S:t'lrer-er, Ed~ard So~'l1lilt~ Nov. [Sumat: .. E C] l.S June 20:::6

Cft'aoon:t.bttract

Fun tcr..

Fund afforgabl~ hoy$10Q not war· fONT EdrtJonl Cro·... e. Ca:hy iorco::o Sl.J~ [To"'Cntc. 0.,.]15 f-.1:·. 20:)':':

e.

.. of us wel:orne=' the ..... o ..ds c! M~ Kothln , Un.t•c "atoC."'\S Sp.eoa . .:-1ppo-te~· u c'"ld .. et' l.ll'ld ner • Kothart a.ddf!l "The federa q:~.-.er-,-ne"'t nee!:k t~ cerrm•l

f.

Ct.abon'Abstr ac. ~ · Fu'l tot

Miloon Kothari is a very specific name- not many in any phone book. He was in Canada from October 9 to 22, 2007, as the UN Special Rapporteur on housing and homelessness and governmental response in this country. He came to the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver being a near-last stop on the fact-finding tour. It was the persistent work of non-governmental organisations and those constantly exposing the empty rhetoric and political smoke 'n mirrors of those fronting for corporate greed that prompted the UN to act.

There was just one article, in the Toronto Star, about 3 weeks after Kothari finished his mission and returned to the UN. He submitted his exhaustive report to the UN General Assembly in February 2009, some 15 months later.

What Dan Leonida discovered was that NO coverage was given in any Canadian print media until June, 2010; each of the two articles cited something released in March 20 10, not bothering to mention that the report had actually been made public 13 months before that.

As fuzzily said on the cover of this Newsletter, people in high places, hacks for Canadian corporate greed, are stone-cold dead. They smothered Kothari by simply ignoring the facts. Always be looking for what you I we aren't being made aware of. Follow the bread crumbs to uncover the sleaze.

By PAULR TAYLOR

News rrom the Library New Books Two Thursdays ago, a group of library patrons and staff went shopping for new books for the collectio n.

In addition to being a lot of fun (who doesn't like a shopping spree?), we picked up some great books.

Here are a few hig hlights: Let's start with the Calgary Flames. That's right, I said it. The Calgary Flames. Or, more truthfully, one of their greatest players- Theoren Fleury. In 2009, Fleury published his autobiography, Playing With Fire (92 1 FLE), which shocked many readers with its allegations that he had been sexually abused by one of his coaches. Fleury feels this contributed to the alcoholism and drug dependence he experienced thro ug hout his adult life. The story has a happy ending though- Fleury overcame his addictions, became a public speaker and advocate for sexual abuse victims and attempted an N HL co meback with the Flames at the age of 41 - all of w hich is detai led in this updated edition . A s a review of the book states: "It's hard to believe Fleury survived his own life."

We don ' t hear much about the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation in BC's forests anymore, but it remains

one of the largest forest insect infestations ever experienced in North America. Andrew Nikiforuk's Empire of the Beetle (634.9) deta ils how human im pact, in the form of logging, poor public policy and bad science, is largely responsible for this unprecedented blig ht.

Harold Innis was one of the great Canadian intellectuals of the early twentieth century -a colleague, mentor and predecessor to Marshall McLuhan. His Empire and Communications (302.2) (published in 1950) remains a key text in the study of communication and media in relation to imperialism. Some of his views ring surprisingly true to this day, such as his belief that the twentieth century wou ld be characterized by pennanent mobilization for war.

Jazz is one of those styles of music that can often provoke passionate opinions either fo r or against. You either love the spontaneous beauty and pass ion of the great improvisers, o r you j ust w ish the soloist would as Miles Davis once advised John Coltrane- "just take the horn out of [his] mouth". The truth is Jazz can be both those things and it's sometimes hard to figure out which recordings wi ll yield much of the former, while avoiding the latter. Fortunately Brian Morton and Richard Cook's Penguin Jazz Guide (789.91) provides an authoritative, chronological guide to the genres" I 001 best albums". It's all killer, no filler!

Finally, in an age where everything o ld is new again, we have Eco Fashion (391 ). If you're wondering how fashion design can be "eco", pick up this book and see how today'sfashionistas are recycling all our unwanted old clothes, fabrics and industrial materials into cutting edge style- everything from purses made out of o ld books, to dresses made out of, uh, old dresses.

All of these books are in the library's display case, and will be avai lable to borrow on Monday. Sept. 5th.

-From Randy, your librarian for the summer

Completion Of a CYCle

Mugged, Drugged and Shrugged

By Bonnie Fournier My purpose is to share my joys, smiles and tears covering twenty-eight years of forensic nursing in the provincial co u11 holding cells and eight years of nursing on the streets of the Downtown Eastside. T want you to see pictures through my words and feel a part of the laughter, tears, joy and fears of a forgotten society. I want you to be educated, informed and to understand the realities of addiction, violence and devastation.

Some people left their footprints on my legs, arms and back until !mastered ducking, dodging and darting. The most memorable footprints left on my heart; kept warm and never to be forgotten.

Never forget that the greatest of achievements were at first & for a time just dreams. The dreams are over; it is time to face reality and foster positive achievements in a society set aside and sorely ignored for many years.

But the journey's not all doom and gloom . Come witt me on a ride through the underside of our affluent society, and see for yourself... ~

Ia

Dispatches from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside ~·~· • ... . Meet Bonnie Fournier, not just "Mom" to so ~I many, but a gifted psychiatric nurse who took loving ~' care of them as she patrolled the city's poorest postal ' 1 code in her health van night after night, year after ~ year. Cleaning their wounds was only part of her job; What was just as important was the friendship, practical advice and kindness she dispensed with the bandages and medicine. Before she started working on the Health Van, Bonnie did the medical assessments of people in cells in the Downtown Eastside's (courthouse) ... Bonnie is one of the Downtown Eastside's heroines and her story will inspire you-and break you heart." Stevie Cameron, Author of On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women. Bonnie Fournier was born in Powell River, B.C. in 1944. She graduated as a registered psychiatric nurse in 1966 following three years of hospital training at the Essondale (later Riverview) Hospital in Coquitlam. In I 968 she began to specialize in forensic and addictions nursing. She is now retired and lives in Coquitlam, B.C. She is the proud grandmother of three grandsons.

I dream ofNelly Her lovely belly Her light brown hair straight out Fine upon my pillow Her cucumber scent mixed with violets Shy and cool Barely educated, worldly-wise Friendly and unselfconscious as a puppy or a newborn lamb before magpies appear ... \Her eyes as blue as much-washed gingham Crinkly at the corners Freckled nose a roman princess would envy Totally irresistible As a new sheet of virgin paper Waiting for the letters Waiting for the colours Waiting for the dark to set her free.

Wilhelmina Miles

Ghost Dance to these sacred streets come the many many shaded slaves of sorrow to these sad avenues we all drift in with the blues wander in from the East Coast thousands of miles just to overdose to die here on this sacred shore travel so far to travel no more at night I see the ghosts dance whistlin and wail in in the wind

:·····~~:~~::~~~~~~;~~·~·~;~~~:~;~::~··~:~~~=·~~·~·~~·, ~~~~;~;··~·~~~;~~···

1

*** Important Dates*** September 1, 2011 -7 Nominations for Board of Directors opens October 31, 2011 -7 Last day to become a member in order to vote at the AGM November 18, 2011 -7 Last day to submit Board of Directors nominations December 1, 2011, 6pm -7 Annual General Meeting@ 573 East Hastings Membership is free of cost. To become a member or submit a nomination for the DTES NH Board of Directors visit the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House at 573 East Hastings(@ Princess) or our office at 501 East Hastings(@ Jackson). ~ --·· ..................................... ········ ...................................................................................... ··········........................ ············ ................................. ;

DTES Workers Boycott ofPantages/Sequell38 Condo Project Property developer Marc Williams plans to build a mixed-use building called Sequel138 on the grounds of the recently demolished Pantages Theatre. He is proposing 79 condos selling for approximately $227K as well as a token 18 units for social housing (as REQUIRED by the current DEOD zoning).

Sequel 138 claims to be "affordable" condos for Downtown Eastside service and agency workers and is catering its advertising blitz as "providing affordable housing for artists & for workers in non-profits helping the people of the Downto~rn East side."

In reality, the majority of us who work in the Downtown Eastside, especially those with families, could not afford to buy and live in these condos.

Importantly - as advocates, service providers, and front-line and outreach workers who are committed to serving the Downtown Eastside, we support the, DTES Community Resolution opposing condos in heart of this neighbourhood. We would not want to be complicit in a project that will further displace, impoverish, and police residents of the Downtown Eastside and make people feel more unwelcome in their own neighbourhood. Currently, condos are outpacing social housing affordable to DTES residents at a rate of II: I, contrary to the City's own Housing Plan. The critical and life-saving priority is decent, affordable housing for current residents, not condos

that let developers make millions in the DTES. Therefore, we the undersigned, who work in and serve the Downtown Eastside community in various capacities, express our opposition to condo development on the Pantages site (Sequel 138). We hold the proposed development to be unethical because of its role in gentrification and displacing low income residents in the Downtown Eastside. * Add your name and any affiliation at the bottom of this link: http://dtesnotfordevelopers.wordpress.com/dtesworkers-boycott/

Thursda)., writing Collective begins the fall session on Thursday, September 15.

We meet every Thursday, 2-4pm, in the third floor classroom at Carnegie.

Join us for two hours of free, drop- in creative writing discussion and writing prompts.

Everyone is welcome! www.tltursdayswritingcollective.ca

Too soon Sebastian trembled in the sun. *0 Jack, Jack. look Look again, at the physical the spiritual the unfairness* Another man shouting shirtless in the street: *0 Jack, Jack,* doing pushups in the quick August rain A woman watching can't stop listening; she hears the echoes in her mind Even closing her eyes to a too-average day She stumbly walks on. *Look what we've become,* shaking in grief, And draws his own self up again. A woman bows. History Rolls on, unmoved as concrete to poets like these: These my inexorability blues-- and the moment is over, The sidewalk shimmers empty .. This brown dog is curious, My old shoes hang in the breeze Over these crowding hanging wires As ravens ravened, whirled.

Karen Ward

Smoking Song GRANDFATHER HEAR ME Open your ears to my cries I have prayers I need your help wit!

Help me, Grandfather for I am lost in the storm my footsteps find no purchase I am too old to fight.

Help me find the light and let it shine thru me for all to see.

Rid me please of the violence I've wrought on others fought my own brothers.

Take away the cold-hea11edness that makes me care less when I should care more for those to come for those who came before.

Help me find peace in my own self, my own heart Let me bless all those I know wherever they may go: Let them a ll know.

Help me put down the crack pipe put down the dirty rig Help me help us all to leave alone the alcohol.

0 Vancouver 0 Vancouver! Our beloved and beautiful city, 1 We're united as we celebrate your 125 h birthday.

With pride and delight we see thee grow A progressive city for all to know.

East and west, north and south, 0 Vancouver You're indeed a great city to remember.

God keep our city peaceful and clear, 0 Vancouver, you must indeed be seen!

God bless our city! God bless Vancouver!

Long live our city! Long live Vancouver!

Ric Lardizobal

Head me to a clear space I can see in the clear light Between what is wrong and what is right.

Help me Grandfather Help me walk the walk Teach me to talk the talk Solid as a rock.

Grandfather, here on my knees help me find the peace help me find peace peace ...

R.Newman

DownTown EastSide Smudge Ceremony September 24, 2011 All are Welcome!

For more information: www.wavaw.ca

Governments are let off the hook Diane Brennan, The Daily News [Nanaimo] Thirty years ago Canada's first food bank opened its doors in Edmo nton. By 1983, a group called Unemployed Workers opened the first food bank in Nanaimo Several meal programs have sprouted since then, the Salvation Army and the 7-10 Club being the most prominent.

No one seems to question the need for food banks or meal programs anymore. In the 1980s when food programs started to appear, there was fierce debate among providers. Government began offering funding to groups to offset their costs and groups began to formally incorporate as not-for-profit societies.

The debate centred on whether incorporation meant

the institutionalization of poverty. People argued that government had a responsibility to ensure an adequate standard of Iiving was available to all c itizens.

They said when charities pick up the slack, governments are let off the hook. Others said when government drags its feet, we have to step in because it is unconscionable to stand idly by.

It was a tough debate but eventually gaping need ovetiook principle and food programs are commonplace. They are an institution, no matter what the state of the economy. I served meals at the 7-10 weekend brunch a while back and l was struck by the numbers and also by the individuals themselves . Singles, families, seniors, teens, yo uth and babies - all colours, all faiths - everyone was represented.

At Queens University, Professor Elaine Power is raising the debate again. She is calli ng for the closure of all food banks. Her credentials are sound. She has volunteered at food banks and served on a food bank board. She says she recently took part in "a challenge where 1 ate from a typical food bank hamper" and after 18 years researching food, hunger and poverty she has concluded that it is time to close food banks.

She argues that food banks "have become a serious obstacle in the fi ght against poverty." She doesn't want to see people go hungry and she doesn't blame food banks.

But, she says, the problem of hunger in Canada is j ust too big for community based charities to handle.

After 30 years food banks have penetrated so deep ly into the social fabric of this community that we have neighbourhood food banks.

Thanks to the churches we have six satellite distribution depots scattered from Departure Bay to Cedar.

Without the churches there is no doubt people would go hungry. Providing food to hungry people is a natural and compassionate response; one that everyone supports. But relying on charity does not create change, it fosters the status quo.

According to Professor Power, "it's time we held governments accountable to their obligation to ensure that all Canadians have a standard of living adequate for health and well-being."

The executive director of Food Banks Canada agrees.

Canadians need to take up the debate that we started in the 1980s. It is time to begin the talk about causes and solutions. Closing all food banks, without a solution in sight, would be a grave mistake. However, we need to insist the discussion begin.

car'i legie C NEWSLETTER

·- =---

"Never doubt that a small group of thOllghtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. " - Margaret Meade

401 Mai.JJ Street. Vancouver 604.665.2289

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

WANTED

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

Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter *Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry; *Cover art -Max.size: 17cm(6 o/.t")widex15cm(6")high; *Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside but all work considered; *Black &White printing only; *Size restrictions apply (i.e. If your piece is too large it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit; *All artists will receive credit for their work; *Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication; *Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets.

Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor.

GET CLEAN! Shower up at the Lord's Rain .

327 Carrall Street, just off Pigeon Park HOT SHOWERS (towel, soap, shampoo (the works!] &coffee) · Monday: 7 -10am Ladies only; 11am- 3pm; ·..

Friday: 11am-3pm; Tues, Wed, Saturday: 7am English, Francais, Espanol FREE DENTAL HELP 455 E Hastings; Monday &Friday, 9:30-12:30 Volunteer dentists: Fillings, crowns, root canals etc.

Cleaning at VCC: 604-443-8499 FREE LEGAL ADVICE UBC Law Students' Legal Advice Program All cases are checked with lawyers. Confidential.

Mondays & Thursdays: 10am-4pm (Lunch brk 12-1) Tuesdays: 2pm-Bpm

Next Issue SUBMISSION DEADLINE:

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th 2011 DONATIONS: Libby D.-$50, Margaret D.-$50, Rolf A.-$50, Brian H.-$100, CEEDS -$100, Barry M.·$150, Leslie S.-$50, Savannah WfTerry H -$200, Jenny K.-$25, Barbara M.-$200 · Vancouver Moving Theatre -$300, 'The Edge -$200, X' -$52, Wilhelmina M.-$25, Sheila B.-$100, Christopher R.-$1 75 Michael C.-$50, 0, Bonnie F.-$100, CUPE 15 -$1450, W2-$1 00 Rhizome Cafe -$25

Ellen Woodsworth City Councillor

" Workin g with you, for you and for strong neighbourhoods" 604 873 7240 clrwoodsworth@vancouver.ca

carnnews@shaw.ca www.carnnews.org http:l/carnegie.vcn.bc.ca/newsletter http:l/harvesters.sfu.ca/chodarr Jenny Wai Ching Kwan MLA WORKING FO R You

1070- 1~ 1 Com•nercial Or. V5L 3Y3 ..

Phone: 604 -775-0790

Solder & Sons 247 Main Street Coffee & Tea. Used Books Curious Audio Recordings

•

rhe. nexf

Downtown Eastside ..__. . .

-· PO£fRY CABAR£f SAfURDAY ~

~

~is· this · ----.....;;:~

t----.1

SEPTEtnBER af 7 PM in fhe CARNEGIE THEATRE FREE ADMISSION FREE COFFEE & SNACI<S OPEN MII<E

..

o o