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JUNE 15, 2007

earn news@ven. be. eC!· ~.earnnews .org

604-665-2289

Women's Housing March Draws Large Support

Drumming and singing echoed through the streets of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) on June 8th as the Power of Women's group from the DTES Women's Centre held their first rally to focus on housing needs and issues. The diverse crowd of youth, elders and males of

over 250 strong, held placards and banners in support for more housing as they marched from the Women's Centre through the streets of Gas­town and back up Hastings to Carnegie Centre. The march lasted approximately 2 hours. Project Coordinator Harsha Walia from the Women's Centre led the march that was supported by labor groups and more than 57 different organizations. "It's never just one action that makes a differ­ence," said Walia. "We need to bring pressure and public awareness to the needs of housing, particu­larly for single moms and their children." According to Walia the next action to focus on

housing wiJI be a public challenge to Mayor Sam Sullivan and city council for a "house swap". The challenge will be brought to council within the next two- weeks.

By Jackie Humber

Humanities 101 Information sessions for application to Humani­ties 101, Writing 101 , and Humanities 100 a new program for 18 to 24 year olds, will be held For women only Friday June 15 1:30pm D. E. Women's Centre Saturday June 16 3:30pm D.E. Women's Centre Friday June 22nd 1:30pm D.E. Women's Centre For everyone Friday June 15, 6:30pm Carnegie Centre 3rd fl. Saturday June 16, noon Carnegie Centre 3rd fl. Friday June 22, 6:30pm Carnegie Centre 3rd fl. Saturday June 23, 3:00 pm The Gathering Place Friday June 29, 6:00pm The Gathering Place Saturday June 30, 3:00 pm The Gathering Place

WOMEN IN THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE DEMAND HOUSING

Housing in the Downtown Eastside o Shelters, safe houses, and transition houses turn away approximately 200 people a night. o Rental rates have risen. Shelter allowance for those on basic social assistance increased by $50 to $375, but many landlords have put rents up to above $400/month, still making us use food money to pay rent. o Low-income housing in the DTES is of such sub-standard quality that many prefer to sleep outside. Problems include: malfunctioning or absence of heat, toilets, hot water, and running water; presence of mould, bedbug infestations, and rats; and illegal practices by landlords including refusal to return damage deposits, extortion of guest fees, room entry without permission, seizure of property, and illegal evictions. o Between 2003 and 2005 there was a net loss of 415 housing units for low-income singles. o With accelerating rates of gentrification leading to 2010, an estimated 1600 units of housing for low-income singles will be lost.

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o If low cost housing continues to close and no new housing is built, by 2010 homelessness will increase by 3 times what we see today to over 3000+ people. ·

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*The number of homeless people has doubled to approximately 2,174 people in 2005 *Approximately 4 7% have been homeless for over one year. *On any given day, there are at least 40 families with children that are homeless. *30o/o of those who are homeless are indigenous people. *Recent immigrants and refugees have been termed the "hidden homeless", disproportionately living in crowded, sub-standard conditions. Given their uncertain legal status and lack of familiarity with Canada, they are the most likely to "fall between the cracks" of welfare and housing provisions. *Women are also among the "invisible homeless", over-represented in shelters and transitional housing. *Extremely poor health conditions such as addictions, mental health, HIV, Hepatitis C, and motor disa­bilities are common with 80% of homeless people. *The DTES has been declared a medical health disaster with the highest reported HIV /HEPC infection rates in the Western world . Over 4700 injection drug users live in the DTES, and until a recent drop, overdose deaths outstrip all other North American cities .

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FEDERAL POLICIES CREATE POVERTY!

In recent years, tederal and provincial cuts to income assistance, legal aid, women's centres, women's ad­vocacy and support services, and the lack of childcare support, have had major impacts on women's eco­nomic security. Meanwhile, all levels of governments have pursued aggressive policies of neoliberal economics that places profits over people; supports tax breaks for corporations; increases privatization of crucial services such as healthcare and education; and has led to the continued devastation and expropria­tion of land and resources. While cutting social programs, the current federal government has expanded its military budget to $16 billion over two years At the federal level in the past year, we have seen: o The lack of implementation of a universal childcare program. The Conservatives have also cancelled an agreement with the provinces to fund an expanded number of public daycare spaces. o The Harper government call for the privatization of reserve lands, furthering the process of colonization and displacement for indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women. o The Conservatives vote against bill C-48 that proposed new funds for affordable housing. In 2006, there has been approximately $7 million in federal cuts to affordable housing across Canada. PM Harper told the Council for "National Policy not to feel bad about the million and a-half unemployed and poor because, "They don't feel bad about it themselves." o $5 million cut from $13 million budget of Status of Women Canada and 12 out of 19 Status of Women Canada offices are facing closure. Status of Women Canada now has no mandate to fund groups that do advocacy or general research. The organization's new mandate no longer includes "equality". 0$17.7 million cut from Adult Learning and Literacy Programs $55.4 million cut from Youth Programs Elimination ofthe Court Challenges Program and the Law Commission of Canada which provided legal access to marginalized communities to exercise their rights under the Charter and to challenge gov't laws. o Cuts to policy research and programs in areas such as health, social development and skills development.

At the provincial level, BC's new welfare policies aim to cut government spending by denying benefits and pushing people into the pool of an ever-expanding low-wage, exploitable workforce. In the past five years: o Major cuts and changes to welfare rules, including a lowering of rates. For example, shelter allowances for families of 3 or more were reduced. Welfare benefit rates for single parents have been reduced by $43 per month and for employable individuals age 60-64 have been reduced by $98 per month. o A number of additional cuts to benefits have been made, including: the capping of crisis grants (food at $20 per person per month, shelter at one month's allowance, and clothing at $100 per person annually and the elimination of many work entry assistance benefits such as money for work clothes or child care. o Major changes to eligibility for welfare. When people first seek assistance, they are now required to conduct a three-week job search. Secondly, applicants must demonstrate that they have earned a minimum level of income for two consecutive years. This two-year independence test, which refuses welfare to people regardless of their need, is now the third most common reason for denying assistance. Both these provisions assume employability despite the reality of health barriers, addictions, and childcare needs of many recipients. o There are also time limits to receiving benefits. Employable recipients are limited to a cumulative two years of income assistance out of every five years. Once the two-year time limit has been exhausted, income assistance will be discontinued for employable singles and couples without children, and reduced by $100 per month for single parents and by $200 for two-parent families. o The Earnings Exemption was eliminated for "employable" recipients. This exemption aiiowed people on welfare to work and keep $100 if they were single, or $200 if they had children or a partner. In 2002 single parents were the greatest users of this exemption. o The Family Maintenance Exemption, which permitted a single parent who was receiving child support payments from a spouse to keep $100 per month, was eliminated. This exemption was mostly used by single mothers. o Single parents are now considered 'employable' when their youngest reaches 3 years of age. Requiring single parents ( esp. mothers) to seek work, combined with the lack of accessible child care, is impossible.

o End of the universal daycare program that had begun to be implemented and slashed funding for childcare centres. This has been coupled with cuts to the Child Care Subsidy Program and elimination of the Funding Assistance Programme, which provided spaces at a maximum fee of$7 dollars a day for before and after school care. o Full-time students in programs eligible for BC Student Financial Assistance (loans) are no longer eligible for income assistance (with the exception of people with disabilities). o Legal aid funding has been slashed by almost 40%, and services for fam ily, poverty and immigration law largely eliminated. Family law legal aid is now available only in emergency situations. Poverty 1aw legal aid has been completely eliminated. End to core funding for all 37 women's centres in BC.

The Employment Standards Act was revised to foster 'flexibility' for employers while weakening safeguards for workers. In addition, a $6 training wage was introduced for new entrants to the work force for the first 500 hours of work. The largest impact is on young people, women entering or re­turning to the workforce after periods of raising children, and recent immigrants. Privatization of public services has cost over 20,000 unionized jobs: 75% held by women. Health care restructuring has injured women- as workers, as patients, and as unpaid caregivers. Ser­vices reduced, with the centralization of health care, hits rural areas and reserves especially hard.

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o Social supports for the elderly have been damaged with reduced access to home care and closures of long-term care facilities. This results in more unpaid eldercare being downloaded to women. o Closure of the debtors assistance office, including the program that assisted women who qualified

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under the federal New Identities for Victims of Abuse program.

~liminate discrimin~tion. The Ministry ofWomen:s Equality was also eliminated. Pay equity provisions m the BC Human Rights Code were repealed. Thts means that there is no requirement in this province that women receive equal pay for work of comparable value to that performed by men.

Women Working in the Sex Trade Homelessness, for many women, is an initial solution to unsafe housing. These women leave their homes because of physical and/or sexual violence and exploitation. As women without homes, they are extremely susceptible tore-victimization on the street and in their relationships with men. Personal safety and privacy are the primary concerns of all groups of homeless women when it comes to finding shelter.

Violence against women is a disturbing and destructive reality. 51 %of all Canadian women have ex­perienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence. 98% of sex offenders are male and 82% of the survivors of these assaults are female. Barriers to real justice compound this experience, as patriarchal attitudes that hold women responsible for violence committed against them predominate insociety. Some women are at particular risk of violence by virtue of a multiplicity of factors such as discrimination on the basis not only of their gender, but also their race, religion, sexual orientation, class, health status (particu­larly HIV status), status as indigenous peoples, age, gender identity, and physical/mental ability. Indige­nous women between the ages of25-44 are five times more likely than other women ofthe same age to die as the result of violence. It is estimated that over the past twenty years, more than five hundred Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing in circumstances suggesting violence.

With over 60 women still missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the trial of William Pickton, the public has become increasingly aware of the issue of violence against. sex workers, reflecting a larger pattern of violent assaults against women, particularly indigenous women.

Under Canadian law, the act of prostitution is not illegal, but the bawdy house provision (Criminal Code s. 210 & 211) makes it against the law to buy or sell sex in off-street settings while the communicating provision (s. 213) does the same for the buying or selling of sex in public. This punitive legal system ex­acerbates the unequal social and economic position of sex workers in Canada. Many in the sex trade say that the threat of arrest and law enforcement is used to drive women into more dangerous areas and situations. This is compounded with the fact that social stigmatization of women in the sex trade provides a convenient rationale for men looking for targets for acts of misogynistic violence. These men are further encouraged by the belief that sex workers are not likely to report violence. In a 2001 PACE report, one-third of surveyed women said they had survived an attack on their life while working on the street.

Indigenous Women Struggle against Colonialism, Violence, Racism and Poverty Poverty amongst indigenous people stems from a legacy of colonial conquest. This has led to massive

dispossession of traditional territories, lack of autonomy, and annihilation of cultures and traditions. Conceived under assumptions of the inferiority of Indigenous people and an assimilationist approach to the 'Indian question', the present-day Indian Act and treaty negotiations have bureaucratized and legalized gross disparities. Though amended repeatedly, the Indian Act's fundamental provisions have scarcely changed. They give the state powers that range from defining how one is born or naturalized into 'Indian' status to administering the estate of an Indian person after death.

This colonial legacy has had serious effects: the introduction of and over-representation within an alien criminal justice system; the introduction and increased use of alcohol and drugs; lack of employment; low education levels; low income levels; substandard housing; and chronic physical and mental health. Almost 60% of Indigenous people now live in urban settings with the erosion of their land base. The majority of

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Aboriginal women- 72% -live in non-reserve urban areas. For indigenous women, this is compounded by the disruption of traditional gender roles and particular

policies that disproportionately targeted women. One such policy was that prior to 1985, the Indian Act dictated that Aboriginal women lost their status if they married non-status men. Secondly, indigenous women on reserves face a particular disadvantage upon marriage dissolution. According to the Supreme Court of Canada, a woman cannot receive one-half the interest in on-reserve property for which her husband holds a certificate of possession under the Indian Act; she may only receive an award of com­pen~a~ion. ln. addition, the :esidential school system, a form of cultural genocide designed to 'civilize' abong.mal chtldre~, tore chtldren aw.ay .from their mothers. This reality of family disruption continues today as lndtgenous chtldren are four to stx t1mes more likely than non-Indigenous children to be removed from their families and placed in the care of the state.

WOMEN IN THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE DEMAND HOUSING

Cuts to income assistance, legal aid, women's centres, attacks on women's advocacy and support services, the lack of childcare support, rising costs of living, and low-income work all have had devastating impacts on women. According to the 2005 GVRD Homelessness Count, there has been an increase of60% in the number of homeless women since the 2002 Count, with shelter beds available for no more than 50% of homeless women. Overall, the number of homeless people has doubled to approximately 2,174 people in 2005, and it is estimated that the rate of rapid gentrification leading to the Olympics will triple the number of homeless in Vancouver. A June 2007 report by the Geneva­based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions found that 2 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes over the last 20 years to clear space for the Olympic Games.

As women in the Downtown Eastside we have therefore come together to demand: • Safe, supported and long-term affordable housing for women be made available at once .. • All levels of government develop a coherent, well-funded Canada-wide housing policy with

timelines, number of units to be built, and accountability components. This should include, at a minimum, the devotion of 1 %of all municipal, provincial, and federal budgets to affordable housing.

• No housing units, including supportive housing and special-needs residential facilities, be exempt from the Residential Tenancy Act and other tenancy protection legislation.

• Criteria for inclusion on the highest priority list for affordable and subsidized housing be amended to include women who are survivors ofviolence and abuse.

• An immediate moratorium by city counci l on Single Room Occupancy conversions in the DE . • Not a single person be forcibly removed, evicted, or displaced from their homes in the

Downtown Eastside and other urban, rural, and indigenous communities due to Olympics. • Rent freezes on low-income housing units be placed immediately. • Implementation of recommendations made by the Inner City Inclusive Housing Table. • Immediate withdrawal ofMayor Sam Sullivan's $1 million "Project Civil City," aimed to police

and criminalize Vancouver's poorest from accessing public spaces. • Social Assistance rates be increased by 40% at once and indexed thereafter to inflation rates. • Remove the arbitrary barriers to accessing social assistance: the three-week wait, two-year

independence test, two-year time limit, single parent employability rules, and others. • Women have immediate access to universal subsidised child care. • Establishment of a living wage of at least $1 0/hour and an end to the $6 training wage.

Contact Power of Women Project at the DE Women's Centre 604-681-8480 x234 or project@dewc.ca

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CONDEMNED returns to a Theatre near yo~! We are happy to announce that the Carnegie Opera, which played to sold-out audiences at the Carnegie Centre in October 2006, will be remounted for four perfonnances at the Firehall Arts Centre, located at 280 E. Cordova. The remount is staged by John Cooper and the musical direction is again by Earle Peach.

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The perfonnances are: June 21-23,7:30 PM; June 24,2:00 PM Reservations can be made in advance by calling: Firehall Box Office,

9:30-5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, at (604) 689- 0926. Suggested admission donation of $5 - $20. Brjng fQUr friends and family to see this fabulous local production!

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Music Books

I've spent an enjoyable few days over the last couple of weeks shopping for music books at

------~ Long & McQuade. And since I don't know my

Origami Workshop

Thursday, June 28th

2 to 4 p.m.

Cash from my Creedence Clearwater Revival , I thought I'd take along some experts (Steve, Earle & Mike). Look out for lots of Fake Books, and everything from Christmas songs to Black Sab­bath, coming soon to your library. Thanks to Mike, Steve and Earle for their great choices.

New Books Can gardening save the world? Two new books might just help us do that. Guerrilla Gardening:

1 · L' · th Art G 11 the th' d flo A Manualfesto (635) by David Tracey, helps o1n 1sa 1n e a ery on 1r or . . . . . . you commit random acts of gardenmg m dtsused

and dtscover the magtc of the Japanese art of lots, railway lands and back alleys. Not only that, paperfolding. During this class, we will focu j but there's a Q & A by Muggs Sigurgeirson on on flat models that can be used to create your gardening in groups and (in a spectacular case of own greeting cards. All materials supplied. ' one-upmanship) Bob Sarti in an 1-did-if-before-

. anyone-else article on guerrilla gardening way

New~{rcmt~~ Lv01,..~ Aboriginal Family Story Time

On Saturday, June 30, come to the library for Aboriginal Family Story Time! Frances Carlick, Tahltan First Nation born and married into Coast Salish from Songhees First Nation in Victoria, will come and share her stories and wisdom with families- adults, children, teens- at the Carnegie Library. Frances learned about her ancestral Tahl­tan stories as a child, and understands the impor­tance of transmitting stories to the next genera­tion. Everyone is welcome! Don't forget National Aboriginal Day at Oppen­heimer Park on June 21. The library will be giv ing books away. Hope to see you there!

back in 1971. More reflective, even meditative, is Donna Schaper's Grt1ssroots Gardening: Rituals for Sustaining Activism ( 63 5). Schaper argues that dirt touching, weeding, seeding and harvest­ing rituals keep radicals sane, energetic and posi­tive. So get out there and garden!

Border Film Project (304.87) is an extraordi­nary collection of photographs from two very dif­ferent groups of people. 600 disposable cameras were given to undocumented migrants trying to cross the border from Mexico to the United States, and to the American Minutemen volun­teers who try to stop them. The book shows pho­tographs from nearly 100 people, and quotes from interviews with migrants and minutemen.

Lots of people ask where the books in the library come from. Some of them come from publisher's catalogues, lots come from bookstores. This week's selections were all bought at the fabulous People' s Co-op Bookstore on Commercial Drive. We're always looking for suggestions for new books, so if you have a book you'd like to see in the library, drop by and see me.

Beth, your librarian ..

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Live reading of a musical play-in-progress

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Script and lyrics by Bob Sarti Music by Earle Peach

Directed by Jay Hamburger

A Theatre In The Raw Production

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Spirit Song soaring through the air like an eagle You can sing along when you hear it drifting through the trees Dancing amidst a thunder cloud, singing loud, is the Spirit Seagull Grandfather Sun smiles through the cloud and sings a ghostly breeze.

A path that leads to the soul has sung a hapy spirit song But when thousands of Indian Residential School baby warriors are abused and were killed. The Song becomes sad, the paths crooked, baby spirits remain strong Tell all where their remains are, we'll have a sacred burial, all will be happy and thrilled.

· Spirit Song dancing in the Longhouse like a raging fire Drums beating, warriors and all their chanting along You can feel drums lick your body as the flames dance higher Mother Earth, Spirit Sky and all baby warriors gone, listen to my spirit song.

I'm sad and lonely since you are gone Your spirit is still here; what went wrong? I know you weren't stupid, and you were nobody's fool Your spirit lost and in limbo 'cause of one Indian Residential School.

Mine spirit soars, mine spirit cries a spirit song I'm dancing with angels, pleading you'll come along The closer I soar to you, your spirit fades further away We must find you for sacred burials; earthbound you must not stay.

Lost souls weren't born Spirit Song would weep and mourn Children cry and scream in fear Parents are far away, not near. They didn't hear the twisted lies But Spirit Song will forever whisper in their ears.

Conrad Black A tall handsome man distinguished on the outside maybe corrupt on the inside

But is he corrupt? He started with the paper but capitalism set in until it became a sin

First comes hope then comes greed maybe even need but whose mouth did he try to' feed?

All my relations William Arnold Combes

Did his family or friends suffer Or is it left to all of us to feel the pain of his greed and be used as his buffer .

Conrad Black just like his name he could not forsake Did he enter the dark side?

He started with one paper and grew and grew until the explosion of power became his untameable ego

Now the truth may be told But not in his country of home but where justice may prevail in the windy city of Chicago

Black will lay beside the others like a dusty used paper floating in the streets His name will be dust in the wind just like an old used paper

Jackie Humber

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Killing Time By 'Freedome'

Well I walked for miles and miles, on the wrong side of the Law, Yeah I walked for miles and miles cursing everything I saw Trying hard to find good reason in all the crazy things I've done Well I never could find the good side of any side of a gun.

Killing time ain't the answer Killing time is for the dead Killing time keeps playing on and on All inside their heads

Tried knocking on wood, never helped me You know the world still tortures me Yeah knocking on wood never helped me I'm still fighting to be free

There is so much confusion here in my own backyard My senses fencing nonsense, I've always gotta be on guard

Killing time ain 't the answer Killing time is just for fools Killing time is sti ll wasting time And I keep breaking all the rules

So I found me a woman, or maybe she found me Yeah a sexy, sw~et lovin' woman, crazy passions all for free And so it went, hell bent, desires driving us crazy We got our kicks satisfied and all that made us lazy

Killing time ain't the answer Killing time so I packed my bags Killing time so I hit the road again 'Cause killing time gets to be a drag

There's a spirit deep inside me Keeps me up as I move along Yeah, free spirit deep inside me When I feel weak it makes me strong

And up there in the distance I see a white dove flyin' high And there ain't nothin' up above it But more clear blue sky

Killing time ain't the answer Killing time was killing me Killing time takes too much money 'Cause you can't kill time for free.

July }51 CRAB Park Festival This annual free music event starts at I :00 pm

on this Sunday with opening ceremonies. "Camp­ing on Mars"(Wayne Schmidt's new band) will start about 1:15. Wayne and his mother Irene were original 1984 Crab Camp-In people. Some of the other originals were Fred Arrance, Kelly White and Tora (Richard Pooley). The 1984 Camp-In lasted 74 days and was im­

portant in the 5-year process of achieving the 7-acre central waterfront park. At 2 :15 Circus In Flames will be the second live

band, followed at 3: 15 by Bocephus King. As Carmen Mills (Car-Free Commercial Drive Festival) said, "Celebration as Revolution."

In spite of hardships, Crab Park will still cele­brate its 201

h Anniversary (1987-2007). This beau­tiful park is under some threat from the proposed 16,000 seat Whitecap Stadium.

Don Larson

I was walking out of Carnegie Centre the other day and bumped smack into this little documen­tary project being shot on the corner. Being on the Board of Directors at Carnegie (a City run activity centre basically mandated to provide a safe, drug­and alcohol-free, homey hangout to the poor in the area) I know that we have a policy against whipping out cameras and sticking them in local people's faces, and since we had not been asked to approve any such activity, I was kind of curi­ous to learn what this project was.

I first asked cop #1 (the one who looks like he's expecting a mob to rush the camera any second) but he ignored me, and the other cop was too busy frontin' for the camera, so I finally turned to the Carnegie security person who was watching the corner at that moment. He said he hadn't heard anything about the project, but that both the par­ticipating cops were "regulars" and "real fucking pricks". So I followed the little crew into the alley beh ind

Carnegie, where I finally got one ofthe film guys to acknowledge me and inform me "We are an

independent company from Chicago". The whole time, he was very carefully holding his credentials & clipboard out of my line of sight. I let him know that I was able to represent the organization that runs the building they were shooting, and suggested that he talk to some local people other than these two cops, at which point he turned away from me without another word. The bald cop kept up his monologue on all the

gruesome stuff that goes on in the neighbourhood, "murders, fights over drugs, prostitution, sexual assaults (that's rape to you guys down in the states), people being held prisoner in these hotel rooms ... " Meanwhile, knots of people who had been using the alley hurriedly picked up their stuff and ran, the camera tracking them.

I wasn't the only person following the shoot out of curiosity: there was another guy I recognized tagging along, a Native guy. I chatted with him for a bit, and then he talked to the clipboard guy, saying he'd be happy to talk on camera, he's a lo­cal and an addict ... clipboard guy said yeah sure, wrote down his name ("Mike") and said "we'll be in touch." Mike rolled his eyes at me and wan­dered off.

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The bald cop then led the crew up to a pair of people in orange vests who were wheeling a sharps container through the alley. "These," he declared authoritatively to the camera, "are volun­teers who go through the alleys collecting used needles, which helps to slow the rate of HIV in­fection." "Actually," said the woman with the camera in her face, "we are City employees from the Carnegie Street Project. We do on the spot

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health questionnaires, advocacy, help people get on welfare and into housing, co-ordinate with the street nurses, and dispense condoms, syringes and clean water." "Oh. Sorry," said officer Straight Tripp in'. Continuing his monologue, the bald cop then de­

clared that here in BC, marijuana is a "gateway" to harder drugs like crack cocaine or heroin, and because it is so much stronger than what was available in the 60s, it is a hard drug itself, with all the attendant dangers. "You ask any of these people down here, and you ask them what their first drug was," he intoned, "and they'll say 'alco­hol and marijuana."' He's right about one thing, I was thinking. Alcohol.

At this stage I decided I had seen enough. Both the cops and film crew were studiously ignoring me and keeping their backs to my camera (gettin' the word out any way you can, eh boys?) so I headed home with visions of publishing on Jndy~edia flashing in my head. Perhaps with a

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News from the Carnegie Kitchen as of .June 15

No styro Take Out Containers

Please be advised that as of June 15/07 the Car­negie Kitchen will no longer offer styro Take Out Containers. This change has come about due to discussion with the Carnegie Centre Association and is in keeping with the City Of Vancouver's efforts to reduce waste.

It will still be possible to take out already wrap­ped items in a brown bag such as sandwiches and baked items. We hope that you will continue to enjoy the deli­

cious food made by the staff and volunteers in the Carnegie Kitchen.

Thank you, Catriona Moore

Kitchen Coordinator Carnegie Centre

BCPWA Society presents

X-Terminators A free community meeting to discuss Vancouver's bed bug crisis

link to this story: "Vancouver police impersonate journalists to bust protest leader."

Gena Thompson

Btitish Columbi~ Penons With AIDS Society

Monday, June 25th 6:00-9:00 PM

Vancouver Public Library Central Branch, AUce MacKay Room

350 West Georgia Street

• Keynote Address • Panel Presentations • Community Discussion

REFRESHMENTS TO BE SERVED

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Bob-Sarw g.& fl.Ofne;- ;

And I mean right now. You come over here and take us on death defying walks and then sneak back to your island paradise. It's Friday afternoon and I'm home, tired as all get out. I heard Bob came back for one of his famous Sarti/ walt:J.:

I don't think that was the only reason but it was good enough for me to see an old friend·. I had forgotten how demanding he can be, but he' s also a great person to follow on a walk. Just remember to stay away from the North Shore Mountains or at least the one in the middle, you know, Grouse.

As you probably all know Bob n' Muggs left us this past winter to move to an island up the coast, there to squander life growing plants.(Ha!) I guess he missed the big city because he came back to (among other things) do a walk. I thought ''GREAT" because the walks I'd been on had al-

ways been a bit chall.enging and also a chance to learn something about an area. I didn't realize that sitting around watching play-off hockey all spring can get a person who isn't in any kind of shape get into really bad shape. I found out what a sad state of shape I'm in. I walked up and down a few trails and it was mostly down and I was all tuck­ered out. I usually carry gum so I have something to stop me from getting thirsty as I stroll wilder areas of the great province ofBC. Today I didn't have any and my tongue was dragging on the

ground as I "scampered" up and down the moun­tainside. I was quickly running out of water and had to find a solution. I did. When I was a young lad about 3 lifetimes ago I used to read a lot of Westerns. You know "Louis L' Amour, Zane Gray et al. I think it was one of Louis' stories about a man crossing a desert and he had no water so he stuck a little pebble in his mouth. Well I'm here to tell you that that little trick works. After putting a small pebble in my mouth I started salivating and the walking seemed easier. Try it sometime , and ya'll see what I mean. That's when we stopped for lunch and I had what I thought was a reasonably good recuperation ad­justment. Then we started off again, but since we had started off coming down the hill we now had to go up the mountain. Relatively simple concept, right? Just walk back up to the van/bus and claim victory over another Sarti walk. Did I mention it was uphill?????

I had a bit of a laugh as we traipsed through the edge of a school area. All these young students

. came by and started hi-fiving us as they streamed pass. I think we all got a little enjoyment from that, that so many young ones would be interested in saying hi to a bunch of strangers.

As I was saying we were headed uphill and my knees being what they are allowed me to be last. Soon I was surrounded by about 5 or 6 pre-teen kids asking questions like- "Where you going?­Can we come? .- Are you going to the Hatchery?" I was played out but I was enjoying the conversa­tion (if that's what it was). Then one little girl popped up with the question - "Do you know you have a frog on your hat?" I started laughing be­cause that frog has been there for over a year. It's a pin or brooch I got from a friend in the Learning Centre. Anyway I pretended it wasn't something I knew and I took it off quick, saying "Where?!?" They got a kick outta that. That was about where I came to the end of the schoolyard so I said good­bye to the kids.

It was then I realized how tired I was. I thought "GEE, I'm never gonna make it back up the

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MOUNTAIN so I better stop where I am while it's convenient., It was really convenient too as we were right beside a downhill bound bus stop. I thought here's my chance, ifl go into the bush I might need a helicopter ride out. Besides the group I was with had been very patient with me before lunch. They had waited form~ at the top of some very steep climbs. And they did it without complaint. I thought maybe I should get away from them and at least they wouldn't have some chubby old man with bad knees slowing them down. I enjoyed the walk and I'd do it again in a minute, but I hope Bob warns me at least a year or two before he decides to come for another hike. ~-_, Thanks Bob and next time I'm gonna be in better shape, I promise. -hal

Recycler Beaten A local binner named beetiej~as beaten

up in Topaz Park a few nights ago. Last I heard he's in the Jubilee Hospital. He's given a descrip­tion of his attacker to the police.

If you want to contact beetlej~ou can check with the hospital staff or write to tony (from tonystrailers.com) at tonyhoar@shaw.ca. Tony's in regular contact with beetle.fuicetand many other of our town's fine bottle collectors. 13eetlej~is homeless and has no telephone. He's a gentle fellow who has responsibly been collecting bottles from the Belfry Theatre on behalf of Street Newz , as well as from other sources, for many years.

the truth is in here - http://relativenewz.ca Commercial free community radio

CFUV l 01.9 FM, I 04.3 Cable, http://www.cfuv.uvic.ca

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A Friend Last night Feeling alone I wanted someone to be with I had a candle in my room I lit the candle And listened to its flickering

• voice, until it was still Wondering Where are you? A caress, a smile My spirit soars It Dances The fl ickering voice holds me like no other A sense of peace Thank you my friend

Robert B

arnegie Community Centre 401 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 2T7 (604) 665-2220.

At the Annual General Meeting, the2007-2008 CCCA Board was elected. Congratulations to :

Dora Sanders, James Pau, Peter Fairchild, Jeff Sommers, Gena Thompson, Gerald Wells, Mike Read, William Simpson, April Smith, Margaret Prevost, Sofia Freigang, Grant Chancey, Rachel Davis, Matthew Matthew and Stephen Lytton. The Annual Report is available in the 3rd Floor

Program Office. The meetings of the Board of Directors are on

the 151 Thursday of each month.

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Downtown Vancouver Association, 523-409 Granville St, Vancouver. V6C IT2 Subject: Vancouver Arts and Cultures Forum Event STORYEUM June 12, 2007

I am interested in having STOR YEUM used as a shelter for the homeless in the DTES.

I do not understand how the City allowed you to do this event which wi II cost you a $bund I e to put on, considering that the City has known since November 2006 that the community of and for the homeless is interested in uti lizing STORYEUM as a 24-hour shelter. The City has been very .neg­ligent in not informing you.

When I asked the City earlier this year for a key to STORYEUM, it ignored me. How is it that you were able to secure a key and access to the build­ing even before the City completed its drafting of the Request for Proposal. Your purpose (mission statement) is to improve

the quality of life for those who live and work in the DTES. Now that you know what the homeless community has in mind you cannot interfere with the DTES' intent. Forfei ting this property for an art experience is inappropriate. The best possi ble use ofSTORYEUM is as a homeless shelter. Just think of the business owners: they are going to be happy because when STORYEUM becomes a permanent shelter, the invisibles will -without reservation- use the newly greened back alley entrance. I know that you will support STORYEUM as a

shelter with generous monetary contributions which you will gladly solicit from your willing membership. This will be a win-win for aJI in­cluding the 201 0 Olympics, as history will be for­ever grateful to the DVA for assisting in a so lu­tion to make street homelessness go away. I am sure that DERA can be convinced to operate the shelter. Monies for this necessary and worth­while project can be forward directly to DERA [Downtown Eastside Resident Association] ( 604-682-0931 ) to the attention of Kim Kerr, at 12 East Hastings, Vancouver, RC. V6A lNI

/ Audrey Laferriere, a gentle lady,

Dear Gentle Lady

Thank you very much for your letter and your interest and your concern for the homeless. I will circulate it to everyone on the Downtown Vanc~u­ver Association Board.

The Downtown Vancouver Association is very concerned about the homeless in Vancouver and has created Vancouver Community Forums and hosted the launch of www.goinhome.ca to pro­vide a forum for finding solutions to helping peo­ple get home and reducing and preventing home­lessness. With respect to the tour of Storyeum, this is not a City of Vancouver sponsored initiative and does not involve anyone from the City, either elected or appointed . This is a group of citizens, - members of our community,- who have an idea about the use of this space and requested a tour of the facil­ity before the Request for Proposal was issued to consider the interest and the possibilities of re­spone. The conversation is about that possibility, I am sure the space will also be of interest to a number of large retailers as well , - who could have their own ideas about the space . 1 will add your name to the list of people inter­ested in the homeless for future events and con­versations we arrange around www.goinhome.ca and other social challenges we face as a city.,........._ Thank you again for your letter

Yours truly, Roger Chilton

A Changing View of Drugs in Socie~ The public view of drugs is changing around the world. Come learn more about the new public health approach to drug use that is challenging the traditional "war on drugs." Topics will include:

• Legal alternatives to the "war on drugs·· • Creating a regulated market for drugs. • The debate around harm reduction and

changes to drug laws.

Presenter: Mark Haden, Alcohol and Drug Coun­sellor, Vancouver Coastal Health Date: Monday, June 25th, 2007 Time: 9:30AM- 12:00 PM Place: Carnegie Theatre

No reservation is required but seating is limited.

Possession

Gathering love, j ust hanging on We transmit vibes that make us strong To face the desperate hours in a crowded room Grasping onto our wishes and hopes ... When dreams can go kaboom.

There is a very scary thing going on in the schools right now that all need to be aware of. There is a type of crystal meth going around that looks like strawberry pop rocks. It smells like strawberry also and it is being handed out to kids in school yards in AR. I'm sure it will make its way around the country if it hasn't already. Kids are ingesting this thinking that it is candy and being rushed off to the E.R. in dire condition. It also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange it looks just like pop rocks. Please instruct your children to not accept candy that looks like this even from a friend and to take any that they may have to a teacher, principal

VANOC, Sullivan & Liberals will hide poor Re: "It's a bad time to be poor (Georgia St)

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (YANOC) and the three levels of government agreed in March 2007 to - among other things­build 3,200 more units of social housing. So far, not one member of these groups has followed through on the promise.

How long can this pipedream continue to bond, to last? What the hell, we'll just carry on and cast our fates to the stars, sun and moon.

Instead, we have Project Civil City, brought forth by city council, which is intended to crack down on aggressive panhandling, even more so than what is done under the Safe Streets Act. We have Mayor Sam Sullivan proposing that Riverview be reopened to house the mentally ill. We have an initiative by the provincial government to build more shelters. And let's not forget V ANOC's old proposal of taking $500,000 (from their multi­billion-dollar operating budget) to make shelter space available for the homeless during the 20 I 0 Olympics.

Can we ever be serious, concerned, committed? Stay in one spot or, on a treadmill, run And to put aside all cares and woes with bankrupt negatives, grieving needs, wanting, pleading for just that little bit more ... splitting up will never ever be a realistic conclusion with so much yet to be learned from each other. Exploring with telepathic synchronicity, as birds sing and soar in unison keeping splendid tune! Through good times and bad times and shifting changes like windswept dunes, casting our fates in the wake of these temporary slights of rack and ruin. We' ll try so hard to keep what we have now -long lasting and true as long as can be: We will prove the doubters extremely wrong!

Robyn Livingstone

What this adds up to is that during the Olympics, the homeless will be in jail or in Riverview or in temporary (or even permanent) shelters. So much for V ANOC and the three levels of gov­ernment honouring their social-housing commit­ment from the Inner-City Inclusive Housing Table agreement, and so much for homelessness being solved for the Olympics (or after, for that matter).

> Rolf A uer I Vancouver

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Taxes are good for a nation's health and well-being

OTTAWA: Canada is falling behind a number of OEC D nations in a wide ran12e of social and eco-.....

nomic areas. and a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives points to tax cuts as the culprit. The study. by Neil Brooks and Thaddeus Hwong. compares high-tax Nordic countries and low-tax Anglo-American countries on 50 social and eco­nomic measures and finds the high-tax Nordic countries score better in 42 categories. According to the study, tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation's citizens. For example, the high-tax Nordic countries have:

• lower rates of poverty. more equal in-come distribution. and more economic security

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for thei r workers; • a higher GOP per capita; • higher rates of household saving and net

national saving; • greater innovation, including a higher

percentage of GOP spent on research and de­velopment;

• a higher ranking on their growth competi-tiveness by the World Economic Forum:

• higher rates of secondary school and un iversity completion; and

• less drug use, more leisure time. and higher life satisfaction.

"By cutting taxes the Conservative government is taking Canada in the wron!.! di rection." savs .... '- . Brooks. "It wants to make Canada more like the United States. yet our find ings show that Ameri­cans bear severe social costs fn r liv irw. in one of

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the lovv·est taxed countries in the world." The U.S. falls near the bottom of the 2 I industri­alized countries in a stri ki ngly large number of social indicators. It also ranks as the most dvs-

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functional country by a considerable margin. In contrast, Finland ranks near the top of the in­

dustrialized world in most of the social indicators and has been named the most competitive country in the world by the World Economic Forum four

• years tn a rov,· . "The tax cut lobby has it backwards. Not only do government social programs create a healthier society, they also create the conditions for a vi­brant and competitive economy."

ltze Social Benefits and Economic Costs ofTaxa­tion: A Comparison ofHigh- and Low-Tax Coun­tries is avai I able on the CCP A web site at http://www.policyalternatives.ca

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DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE YOUTH . ACTIVITIES SOCIETY

NEEDLE EXCIIANGE VAN- 3 Rou.rs: 604-685-6561 Citt- 5:45pm -I 1:45pm

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-~ 612 Main Street 604-251-3310

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r-.. ' www .carnnews.oq~ ca rnnewsf'@vcn. be .ca

THIS NEWSLETfER IS A PUBLICATION OF TilE

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Arttclcs represent the views o f ind iv1dual rnntnbutors and not of the Assoctat tOn

2007 DONATIONS: Libby D.-$100 Rolf A.-$50 Barry for Dave McC.-$125 Christopher R.-$50 Margaret D.-$40 Penny G.$50 Janice P.-$35 Wes K.-$50 Gram -$400 John S.$60 Leslie S.$20 Michael C.-$80 Sheila B.-$20 Wilhelmina M.-$25 CEEDS -$50 Saman -$20 Phyllis L.-$200 Paddy -$125 Bob S.-$1 00 Barry M.-$125 Mel L.-$20 The Edge -$200 Greta P.-$20 The Rockingguys -$25 Jaya B.-$100

Submission deadline for next J~sue: -Thursday, June 28

Working for You

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Contact Jenny Wal Ching Kwan

MLA

1070-1641 Comm~n:ial Dr V5L JYJ Phone: 775-0790 l''at: 775-4U~81

htWi\town East~ide Resident! As§OCiation 12 E. llauting5 St, or call 682-4t9J I

Overnight~ I 1:30am- 8:30am - Downtown Ea stside- 5:30pm - l :lOam

<Clfi'j~{((]) n®~.'"liFIMI . .,..

"Th~ job of Ill~ newspaper l.s to c:umfurtlht af­flicted and affllctth~ comfortahl~. H

The famous quote is about a hundred years old and can be traced lo the work of Finley Peter Dunne, one of the groat JoumaUsls of lhe day

Editor~ Paul~ . Taylor;

Photos: Jackie Humber Gena Thompson

Gallery Gachet Call for Artist Proposals

We accept proposals for solo, group, juried. and curated exhibits in our two exhibition spaces for A pri I 2008 through March 2009. Gallery I is our larger, front space. Gallery II is a smaller, more intimate space at the back of the gallery. We also accept proposals for major exhibitions, screenings, workshops, p-erformances and collaborations. We pay artist fees, as well as provide support for open ings, catering, marketing, mailings, equipment, etc.

Include in your package: • at least t 0 supporting images (prints or digital) per artist • artwork list including title, medium, dimensions and year • art ist's cv for each participant (exhibition history) • written proposal stating a well-thought-out theme for the show (250-500 words)

Proposals will be looked at more favourably if you are willing to do an artist talk or complimenta­ry programming, or if it thematically coincides with other events and festivals. Gallery Gachet also welcomes exhibits which address themes of mental health and survivor issues. We actively look to create and maintain collaborations within the DTES, mental health, and Vancouver arts communities.

Headline: July 15, 2007.

Beijing Games make millions homeless

WANG Baoguan burned himself to death while being forcibly evicted from his Beijing home to make way for the city's construction project for the 2008 Olympic Games, which China hopes will confirm its status as a global power.

He is just one of the estimated 1.5 million resi­dents of Beijing who will be displaced or evicted · from their homes - many of them against their will - before next year's Olympics, the Geneva­based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said this week. "The prospect of being forcibly evicted can be so terrifying that it is not uncommon for people to risk their lives in an attempt to resist; or even more extreme, to take their own lives when it be­comes apparent that the eviction cannot be pre­vented," said a report compiled by COHRE. It followed an investigation into the alleged harass­ment and physical violence to which those resi­dents who resist eviction, known as dingzihu, are subjected. China has denied the criticisms. Beijing's Olym-

pic organising committee and China's foreign ministry said the figures were vastly inflated, with only 6,037 people displaced since 2002 for the construction of Olympic ?tadiums. "During the process, the citizens have had their

compensation properly settled," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. "No single per­son was forced to move out of Beijing."

However, in a case study in the COHRE report on the Beijing neighbourhood ofHujialou (which has been marked for demolition) residents told rese11rchers how the area has been transformed into a slum by the demolition-relocation company which removed windows and steel safety doors from. all buildings, removed manhole covers and exterior lighting, and scattered debris in the stair­ways of buildings where roughly one third of the

· original population continue to live. Many are vulnerable including the handicapped and chroni­cally ill, the unemployed, school-age children and

elderly people living on meagre pensions. "Residents also complained that the demolition

company had hired thugs to harass residents at night, physically attacking some of the most out­spoken critics of the demolitions and dumping rubbish and defecating in doorways at night."

Over the winter, when temperatures hovered around freezing, residents had to contend without heating or electricity, low water pressure and the constant risk of fire. Recourse to adequate compensation varied

widely, the housing rights watchdog said, adding that those who suffer a significant decline in their living conditions as a result of their relocation could be as high as 20 percent. The International Olympic Committee said it was seeking a better understanding of how mega­events like the Olympics impact displacement through a meeting with the ON Special Rappor­teur for Adequate Housing. "As a matter of prin­ciple, how the Olympic Games impact people's lives is an important matter for the IOC," said its communications director, Giselle Davies.

THE NUMBERS GAME 1 ,500,000 Residents displaced or evicted to make way for building work, according to human rights

• ~am pargners 6,037 Residents displaced or evicted, according to the Chinese government 80,000 Seats in the new Beijing National Stadium 30,000 Residents displaced by the effects of con­struction work in advance of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. 20 Families evicted in Barcelona and 200 others -relocated to make way for ring-roads leading up to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. 40% The rise in rents in Sydney between 1996 and 2003, during which time the 'Olympic effect' forced many families to move to the Australian city's fringe. 4,500 Minibuses will be operated by a total of 8,000 drivers to transport people to and from

• vanous venues 300,000 Houses in Beijing demolished to make way for construction work so far ~ Sports will be represented- just one event more than the Athens Games of2004.

B SUSAN BELL

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Arts &: Crafts

Info Booths

Teepee Sobriety Meellnp

Face Painting

Book Giveaway

.une r . •

Everyone Welcome! Oppenheimer Park

Dunlevy and Cordova 11 :00-4:00 pm

Drumming & Sin~ng! Oppenheimer Park Drum Group &

Daughten of the W'md plus!

RJpper: WiD Wadhams

Refreshments

HotDogs

Frybread!

Medicine Wheel Teachinp

To Help or Donate call Jim@ Oppenheimer (604) 665-2210 or Mar1ene George@ Carnegie (604) 665-3005

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Women's March for Affordable Housing

We give thanks and praise to the Mother and Father of Creation; honour and respect to the Coast Salish Nations for their hospitality, and greetings to my fellow women.

To the politicians, with equal voice and spirits, we demand affordable housing and an end to pov­erty and homelessness. Turn your TVs to the legislative channel and

watch how the big boys are all sizzle with no sub­stance, how they run their foul mouths on women

EVICTED?

Carnegie Community Action Project would like to hear from you! We're assembling

stories to prevent evictions from continuing to happen. Please contact Anne: 778-861·5536

UBC LAW STUDENTS LEGAL ADVICE CLINIC

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 10- 4pm Thursday: 2 - Spm

Art Gallery - Carnegie's 3rd floor

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and children's affairs, yet they vote to raise their own paycheques.

Watch how nasty rude boys, city slickers in the House of Commons, knuckle/fist fight each other with running diarrhoea of their mouths telling us that we are gonna spend money they give us on beer and popcorn. It's enough to make you want to carry your broom and mop to knock them on the head, to send them packing.

Watch them on parliament hill negotiating big contracts themselves and their corporate friends. They have nothing for us and our children We don't want to pick up the crumbs that fall off

their tables and expect us to raise healthy, intelli­gent women and men for this nation. Women should write letters, emails, make phonecalls to the politicians and tell them that you won't take their tricks and promises any more.

We live in what's cal1ed the First World with rampant homelessness and poverty; it is a shame.

I end with quotes from our foremothers in the 19th century who walked this path of struggle and who refused to get the blues: "If the first woman God made was strong

enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again."

Sojourner Truth - former slave and abolitionist. "The militant, not the meek, shall inherit the

earth. This is the fighting age, put on your fight­ing clothes. Women have been downtrodden and it is time to shake off this vicious hell, to stand up to our full stature, and do the work that has been left to us. You don't need a vote to raise hell. Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."

Mary Jones (also known as) Mother Jones

Ayisha

Shortage of housing deserves more attention Letter Published: Saturday, June 09, 2007(Sun)

It's disturbing that in a full two page spread on the Anti-Poverty Committee, there is just one sen­tence on dissatisfaction with housing policy.

Here's the story so far: On March 2, the V ancou­ver Olympic Organizing Committee, the three levels of government, and other organizations

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came up with the Inner-City Inclusive Housing Table agreement, committing to a number of rec­ommendations, one of which was to build 3,200 units of social housing before the 2010 Olympics. Since Pivot Legal Society has projected that there will be more than 3,000 homeless people by 2010, these new social housing units are necessary. Fur­thermore, they must be started no later than Octo­ber 2007 to be ready for 20 l 0. So far, there has been little or no action whatso­

ever from Vanoc or the three levels of govern­ment on fulfilling this promise, let alone the other promises agreed upon.

It's not just the Anti-Poverty Committee that is agitating on behalf of this housing; there are many other groups that are doing so also, albeit much more quietly than the APC.

This housing message is very important and de­serves at least a minimal amount of coverage.

ByRolf Auer [It requires complete and serious coverage. Ed]

small itted citizen) can cnclna

the oli1y·th ny,,-u ~ ,._.,

Looking Under ALL the Rocks

Momentum is building; money is coming in to keep the foundation afloat and the tireless activ­ists learn from the continuing attacks of bad gov­ernment and the evil masters of same. The agenda behind all such knocking of heads is

to keep the subtle and not-so-subtle manipulations of media, public perception, phantom 'needs' or national elections out of the light of day.

Every now and then the movers and shakers of so-called elite capitalism I corporatism make a blunder and the weB-manufactured vei I of proper deportment and honesty above all else slips. E.g.

"Nafta and the Gapp rounds aren't undemocratic, they are anti-democratic." Former chief negotiator for the United States, now with the WTO.

Is this another rant? Not really, but it does get frustrating knowing that much of what is 'com­mon knowledge' is twisted and skewed by the

same spin doctors and media and government do­dos who have weighed in on the diffusion of de­mocratic forms to bind more and more power to private, unelected sources.

What's my point? A recent correspondence with a researcher and self-made 'expert' on the lan­guage and implications of the various "free" trade rules asked a disturbing question: "Is the refusal of the 3 levels of government to alleviate the housing crisis in Vancouver & B.C. & Canada due to the deliberate tying of their hands by these same agreements?" i.e. Is the TILMA thing re­cently signed by Campbell and Klein pre-empting any fair or even sputtering response to building the housing and fulfilling commitments made un­der the Olympic rubric? Granted, there is a massive amount of inculcated

classism, but on virtually every issue from hous­ing to education to health care to foreign relations to government and corporate collusion the vast majority of individuals always agree with the fairest and most practical solutions - and profit for corporations or victory for the monkey's fist billionaires be damned. Yet we (presuming I' m not alone) appear to con­

tinue coming up short, being marginalised, dis­missed as 'fringe elements'. This whole piece is in thinking of reactions to such events as this Women's March for Housing, the anti-Olympic demos, and almost all anti-poverty efforts. The media keeps trying to convince us that it wasn't ­isn't- will never be useful in effecting change.

What the fuck do they know??!!! PRT

Looking for something different to do this Canada Day?

How about checking out the Downtown Eastside's first annual Fearless Fest? From 3 to 9 pm on July 1st, Pigeon Park and Hastings Street from Carra II to Columbia is party central - celebrating the creativity, talent and history of the Downtown Eastside with music,

storytelling, art, bike decorating, dance, children's activities, and performances from City Opera, Poco Locos, Dalannah Gail Bowen, Rockin' Guys and East Vancouver's notorious Theatre In the Raw. We will also be broadcasting spoken word live on Coop Radio 102.7fm, from the Radio

Station Cafe's "Courageous Words' Stage between 4-7pm. Life here is not always what outsiders imagine. Fear~ aims to transform the heart of what has been

described as four blocks of "hell" into a place of "hope and family fun" by presenting the talents and creativity of this unique and vibrant community in a positive and inspirational light.

We need people for all sorts of activities, including marketing, banner making, day-of-event logistics, security, pre- and post-festival clean-up.

Fecur~Volunteer Orientation Meetings: - Tuesday, June 19, 7pm Carnegie's 3rd floor

- Saturday, June 23, 12 noon, Carnegie Theatre

If you're interested in helping out with this fun/worthwhile event, please contact Barbara Fairbrother at barb.fairbrother@gmail.com (778) 999-2272

Visit our website at fearless.blogspot.com

This Canada Day, being feA;;{¥~is all about having fun!