:REE - donations accepted. a

401 Main Street, Vancouver V6A 2l7 (604) 665-2220

Th

e N

atio

nal

Act

ion

C

om

mit

tee

on t

he

Sta

tus

of

Wom

en is

pu

blis

hing

the

1997

S

hock

ing

Pin

k P

aper

to

pro

vide

the

shoc

king

fa

cts

abou

t wom

en's

liv

es in

Can

ada.

W

e en

cour

age

you

to c

opy

this

pap

er a

nd

to u

se it

dur

ing

the

fede

ral e

lect

ion

to

ques

tion

cand

idat

es o

n th

eir ~

art

v's ~

latf

orrn

. P

-F

The

gove

rnm

ent

cut b

illio

ns

from

pio

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ial t

rans

fers

for

he

alth

car

e, je

opar

dizi

ng it

s ab

ility

to u

phol

d th

e C

anad

a H

ealth

Act

. U

.S.-s

tvle

tw

o-

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loom

s as

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r pr

ofit"

firm

s m

ove

to f

ill th

e va

cuum

cr

eate

d by

hea

lth

care

cut

s. W

omen

will

hav

e to

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ck

up

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slac

k in

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mili

es

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ca

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rd

expe

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Sta

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Wom

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me

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ores

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rom

NA

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r $9.

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1998

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t will

hav

e a

surp

lus

of $

12 B

illio

n an

d on

ly 4

8%

of u

nem

ploy

ed w

orke

rs a

re

hurt

wom

en in

clud

e to

ughe

r ru

les

for

regu

lar

&

xegn

ancy

be

nefit

s in

the

za

se o

f par

t-tim

ers

with

15

to

34

hour

s w

eekl

y,

wor

kers

)la

ced

on p

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dic

layo

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ie

w e

ntra

ntsl

re-e

ntra

nts.

Canada has risen by at least

46

% since

1989. Kids are

poor when their parents are

poor; federal

policies that

destroy jobs and the social safety net m

ake it worse.

Job creation,

better m

inimum

wages and social

soendina w

ould attack

The new

Child Tax B

enefit gives the w

orking poor a few

more dollars but none for the

kids of those on

welfare.

NA

FTA rem

oved protections that guarantee our rights as w

omen &

workers; w

e need "fair traden agreem

ents that guarantee rights to people, not transnational com

panies. W

orldwide, w

omen

bear the brunt of their country's debts; C

anada must forgive

its loans to "poor" countries. 0 C

anada m-ust ratify the U

N

on the

Rights

of M

igrant W

orkers & their fam

ilies affecting dom

estic workers.

The prom

otion of w

omen's

rights and. equality is more

important

than ever

but federal

fundina for

dropped from $1 1 m

illion to $8.1'

million.

With

more

groups eligible for grants, a w

elcome m

ove, the funding needs a significant boost.

It's essential that

Since 1993 the Liberals cut

training spending by $600 m

illion d

es

~ite

Red

Book

. . . . . . . - .

- -

-1

-

promises of m

ore m.

Federal training m

oney will

be gone by 1999. The job

shifts to the provinces. T

raining program

s for

wom

en & im

migrants have

been dumped. W

omen w

ill carry big debts if th

eyta

ke

out El training loans.

For-profit

trainers are

moving in; they have a poor

record in training w

omen.

Less than 15%

of children

access to licensed care. . T

he Liberals broke their R

ed B

ook prom

ise to

establish a

national childcare

program.

They

have ended

all federal

funding for child care. F

or the first time in 25

years the

number of

child care spaces is declining. A

ll levels

of governm

ent are

IOW

shifting responsibility to

ndividual families.

51% of w

omen e

x~e

rien

ce

at least once as adults. 0

T

he federal government

downloaded

responsibility for transition houses,

rape crisis and w

omen's centres

to the provinces, letting them

deliver the

fatal blow

to

services & w

omen's groups.

Funding m

ust be restored. 8 M

easures to end wom

en's social &

economic inequality

~o

uld

help reduce the rising

liolence.

r- Ove

r 1

mill

ion

Can

adia

ns

are

'in

de

s~e

rate

need

of

prov

ince

s, h

omel

essn

ess

is

on t

he in

crea

se, p

artic

ular

ly

for w

omen

-led

hous

ehol

ds.

0

Sin

ce 1

993

ther

e ha

s be

en n

o ne

w. fe

dera

l fun

ds

for

low

in

com

e ho

usin

g pr

ogra

ms;

the

go

vern

men

t ha

s w

ithdr

awn.

0

The

fed

eral

gov

ernm

ent

mus

t ta

ke

the

lead

in

a

natio

nal s

trate

gy to

pro

vide

af

ford

able

hou

sing

.

Full

reco

gniti

on o

f sam

e se

x co

uple

s as

fam

ilies

is

not

reco

gniz

ed b

y ou

r fe

dera

l go

vern

men

t. Th

is

is

a

to

acce

ss,

cust

ody

&

adop

tion

are

deni

ed,

as i

s sp

onso

rshi

p un

der

fam

ily

clas

s im

mig

ratio

n po

licie

s.

0 T

he f

eder

al I

ncom

e Ta

x A

ct s

till d

oes

not p

erm

it th

e re

gist

ratio

n of

pen

sion

pla

ns

that

ext

end

bene

fits

to s

ame

On

aver

aqe,

stu

dent

s le

ave

with

$25

,000

of

debt

. Lo

w

paid

fem

ale

grad

uate

s ca

rry

a c

ostly

deb

t loa

d.

0 H

igh

er

tuiti

on,

prog

ram

cu

tbac

ks,

and

a co

rpor

ate

orie

ntat

ion

flow

fr

om

.the

fed

era

l go

vern

men

t's

aban

done

d ro

le &

sla

shed

fu

ndin

g to

the

prov

ince

s.

0

The

fed

eral

gov

ernm

ent

mus

t fun

d &

sha

pe a

qua

lity

post

-sec

onda

ry s

yste

m 't

hat

is a

cces

sibl

e &

affo

rdab

le.,

Am

ong

sing

le e

lder

ly,

mos

t of

them

wom

en,

the

pove

rty

rate

is

still

50%

. Tw

ice

as

man

y w

omen

ove

r 75

are

po

or, a

s co

mpa

red

with

men

. P

rivat

izin

a e

nsi i

ons

bv

slas

hing

do

esn'

t sa

ve m

oney

, it

just

sh

ifts

the

burd

en

to

the

indi

vidu

al. M

ost w

omen

hav

e lo

w e

arni

ngs

and

can'

t affo

rd

pers

onal

R

RS

Ps,

a

fact

ov

erlo

oked

by

thos

e w

ho

prom

ote

RR

SP

s,

like

the

Ref

orm

Par

ty a

nd th

e ba

nks.

-

.,

poor

est

of t

he p

oor"

in

this

co

untry

, on

-res

erve

or

off-

re

serv

e.

Rac

ism

, se

xism

an

d po

verty

inte

ract

. S

ome

end

up h

avin

g to

pla

ce th

eir

kids

with

Soc

ial S

ervi

ces.

0

Une

mpl

oym

ent

amon

g A

borig

inal

wom

en i

s al

mos

t 18

%;

for

thos

e liv

ing

on-

rese

rve

it's

30%

to

80%

. Th

e la

ck o

f pub

lic fu

ndin

g fo

r se

rvic

es

and

on-r

eser

ve

child

care

onl

y re

info

rces

this

xi

sis

leve

l of u

nem

ploy

men

t.

Sin

ce

1993

th

e Li

bera

l go

vern

men

t ha

s sl

ashe

d m

ore

than

$7

Bill

ionf

from

pr

ovin

cial

fund

s fo

r he

alth

, po

st s

econ

dary

edu

catio

n,

soci

al s

ervi

ces

and

wel

fare

. F

undi

ng m

ust b

e re

stor

ed.

mus

t be

set i

n fe

dera

l law

to

ensu

re

prov

ince

s do

n't

redu

ce o

r priv

atiz

e se

rvic

es,

allo

w

user

fe

es,

adop

t w

orkf

are

or c

reat

e di

ffere

nt

entit

lem

ents

and

sta

ndar

ds

acro

ss

- -

the

coun

try.

Only 40% of adults with disabilities have paying jobs. The federal government must improve their access to training, employment & income support, disability tax credits and social housing. 0 The health services that

Onlv one in five women have steady full-time paying over $30,000 yearly. Women fill 70% of part-time jobs. 0 Unemployment persists at more than 9% but the government laid off 45,000 federal sector workers and cut transfers which led to layoffs for women in health, education & social services. 8 Government spending on construction continues to ignore social infrastructures like child care & elder care.

need are under attack. The federal government must establish national standards to ensure health care plans jon't discriminate against 2eople with disabilities.

--

ANNA TERRANA

I hope all of you reading this appreciate being part of history, since this election is going to go down in it like what goes down a toilet.

We're supposed to believe that this election was called just to reassure that corporate lawyer, Jean Chretien, that the majority of Canadians didn't think he belonged in a toilet. The truth is that the reality of cutting seven thousand million dollars in transfer payments to the provinces over just two years is hitting hard in increased homelessness, people losing their jobs, not being able to get anythmg paying the same, losing their homes, losing sight or even time to see the fact that the wealthy few are getting richer, that corporations are getting their way etc. etc. etc.

We're also supposed to believe (because that's what elections are about) all the crap being circulated by the current Liberal Member of Parliament for Vancouver East - Anna Terrana. It's supposed to be about voting for a party, not

for an individual. In my mind, it's also supposed to be about honesty - on the part of the person who has been in office and on the part of everyone working to replace that person.

Personal claims: - social acrivist and community administrator (read: social butterfly, a job running the Italian Centre and token immigrant rep on the Police Commission.) - experience with criminal justice issues (from being on some board) the same as claiming "experience with poverty" due to passing a panhandler or tripping over a homeless person ... ? - active Member of the House of Commons Task Force on Disability Issues, Jobs & Small Business - responsible for $42 million coming to VanEast and the creation of 7,100 jobs.

- reelection endorsement from Police Association, which is crap (a lie(!)), since cops are non-partisan by definition; found fundingfbr another "study " on prostitution while the Neighbourhood Safety Office gets squeezed dry and trampled by feds - strongly supported Fed. Liberals in improving health care - cutting funding for Health Education and Welfare by seven thousand million dollars and letting people blame provincial governments for closing hospital beds and bringing in user fees to stop this hemorrhaging of crucial money. - worked to end childpoverly.. at a public meeting

Terranas said it was a choice between gutting the CBC and child poverty (??!) Child poverty is caused by parent poverty - so obvious that the federal Liberal gov't refused to see it and gave a tax credit to people who are not on welfare; this credit is otherwise clawed back, dollar-for-dollar, by provincial rules. Amazingly, Terrana pretends that she doesn't even know about this! - i'ensrons are her strong point. She supported the Fed. Gov't (as though she had or has any choice) and claims to be responsible for more money for seniors. What she ensured is that her gold-plated pension. after 6 years of self-sacrificing service, will keep her in wine for years to come. - Human Iiights has her supporting the prohibition of discrimination against someone on the basis of their sexual orientation; no such prohibition ever surfaced about discrimination based on a person's source or level of income since, as Terrana said after her first attempt to raise this in Ottawa, "As soon as I started talking about the poor, the rest of the MPs just ignored me.. . so I stopped.". - Vancouver East

Her campaign stuff has this "Action with Anna" line that must mean she's been speaking and doing everything she can for us, but every other person vying for this seat has rightly started by saying VanEast needs a real voice.

JOBS The federal Liberal government has cut transfer

payments to the provinces by seven thousand million dollars over the last 2 years - this means less health care, cuts to social programs, fewer dollars for education. This federal government has also taken away our right to social assistance and to an adequate level of income. In short, they have taken away our right to survive in Canada with food, shelter and dignity *What is wrong with this picture?

Bank of Montreal Chief Executive Officer Matthew Barrett:

$3,900,000/year ($1,875/hour)

Magna Corporation CEO Frank Stronach:

$47,226,100/year ($22,724/hour)

BC woman earning minimum wage $1 4,560lyear ($7/hour)

Single BC woman (able to work but can't find a job) on social assistance:

S6,000/year

he all 'It s e

i I ;' I W

hi

: st -

i ' M I R I l a

U

I a

S

, q i 4

C

t I

KEITH MITCHELL - Reform This guy is a classic example of someone who

gets up in public and recites what he's been told. The media managed scam to hold up Reform as this popular party is ironic, as it remains a group of extremists who talk out of both sides of Presto Manning's mouth. - we '11 reduce the size ofgovernment and create rea1.job.s By cutting a further fifteen thousand million dollars, privatizing everything from

healthcare to education, and eliminating welfare altogether. Various Reform politicians have been quoted as saying that "Pensions are welfare for seniors." Maybe they'll cut CPP and OAS too. - we '11 give you tax relief Over 80,000 profitable corporations now pay no income tax and Reform will virtually eliminate government ... so you and I have to pay fees to all the private companies who will do the same things for profit. - we 'I1 make our streets safe By creating a police state that does nothing about eliminating poverty. - we '11 repair the social safety net By eliminating welfare payments.. just as Keith Mitchell said that Reform would solve the drug problem by giving all addicts jobs. Funny that 1.5 million people are unemployed right now; and most will qualify for any "jobs" - is Reform talking about workcamps?? - national unity Again Mitchell mumbled some slogan about everybody being treated the same. A question fiom Ellen Woodsworth: "What about the treatment of lesbian & gay people?" Mitchell choked, but managed "the same" in closing. One of the supposed beauties of party politics is

that Mitchell is a clone - he just repeats what a small group cynically decided would be a "plat- form" and inserted his name in the space provided. When asked specifics, he, like most Reform candidates, had to pause or mumble until sure he had the standard answer. "Seniors will manage their own pensions" - meaning if you still get one. OTHER PARTIES It's a democracy and people can run for office.

It's sad when people claim to be a grassroots group and then run candidates in a riding like VanEast where the only valid candidate is Libby Davies and where any splitting of the non-Liberal vote will only make it harder for her to win, given the disillusion of people here. She is the only candidate who truly knows and can speak for residents of the Downtown Eastside. Terrana has been a joke. She said at a public meeting, "I've t ied to talk about housing and poverty but no one in Ottawa wants to listen. Sorry." And Libby Davies got up and said, "That is not good enough.

You were elected to speak for us, not to give us excuses." With the deaths of one hundred and thirty-one women, we had a meeting on public safety in Carnegie to focus community awareness. Terrana came and, after hearing horror stories for over an hour, responded by asking for 15 minutes to talk about the GST for God's sake!

If this Multilateral Agreement of Investment is next on the corporate agenda, this election will be the last in which individual politicians can make any difference. I'm not going to pretend that the Carnegie Newsletter is totally non-partisan, but it is clear that Libby Davies is the only individual in this riding who can and will make a difference.

DON'T WASTE YOUR VOTE!

By PAULR TAYLOR

- --

TEA at CARNEGIE

I need a drink, so I can think. What will I do? Put on my shoe and scoot on down to Chinatown, and have a tea at Carnegie.

To learn the books and see what cooks and get the-looks - when I have my tea at Carnegie.

And eat good food served in joyous mood, a fine repast that will last when I have my tea at Carnegie.

See volunteers who give their years so that the rest will have the best while I have my tea at Carnegie.

My day is done. I've had great fun. I'll take my leave with a toast to a good hearted crew: I drink my tea to Carnegie.

BB Polecat

NOTICE OF NEW PRICES at the

Carnegie Concession Starting Wednesday, May 28,1997

Note: Volunteer ticket values will be increased to .40 cents effective this date.

Beverages: Coffee Juice Tea Milk Soy Drink

Sandwich

Oatmeal Cereal Toast Muffin Cookie CakeJPie Fruit Crisp Scone Fruit Yogurt Pop Eggs Pizza Burrito Hamburger Breakfast Lunch Dinner Soup Fruit Salad Potato Salad Chili 1 Stew

S O or I volunteer ticket

1 .oo or 2 volunteer tickets

If you have questions or comments, please speak to Catriona or Dan. Thank you for your patronage.

MIHEN NCIDL)~, MY 6-eM- Am-YOV IN RULI~Y, C H I W H ~ ~ O 11 DEEP AND RICM. 1 OW DAUGHTER, WAS A%ED C A N 7 PRO- I T ~ VITAL, MY~~ERIOUS, AND PROFOUND. WHRT \ PO FOR A LIVING, 6 I , , I REMEMBER MJOWNCH~LDHOOD VIVIDL~.,.

EX-YOU~ h said lations only officer eight such for Vancouver charges have police, been

laid in in the past S n e years. Of worker those, only two have resulted in convic- tions.

Drennan said it's difficult to net a con- viction because police must irove the youth looked under 18 and that the ac- guilty of cused was aware ofihy.

Sebellin noted the onlv two other -.

convictions in B.C. for soliciting a mi- nor did not result in jail se-ntences. sex count In 1995, a man charged with the same offence was fined $35 and put on

KIM PEMBERTON probation for one year. In 1996, anoth- Vancouver Sun er man got a suspended sentence with

A 41-year-old former native youth two years' probation and was ordered worker was convicted Wednesday in to perform 240 hours of community Vancouver provincial court of trying to work. buy sex from a child. About a dozen people representing

John M&owski was charged with the Downtown Eastside service groups, rarely laid offence of soliciting a minor packed the courtroom for M&owski's after being found with a 16-year-old girl one-day trial. in his car in the 1200 block of East "We're absolutely disgusted by these Broadway on Nov, 8,1996. men who pick up children," said Deb

He will be sentenced July 8 and Mearns of the Downtown Eastside Crown prosecutor Phil Sebellin said he Neigllborhood Safety Office. will seek a jail term. Marion Dubick of the Downtown

Constable Anne Drennan, media re- Eastside Women's Centre said she's ap-

palled anytime someone buys sex from children. But, she said, this case is par- ticularly troubling because Makowski was a youth worker.

After the charge was laid, he was sus- pended from his job as a counsellor with the Urban Native Youth Associa- tion, where he had been working for a year.

"This is a horrific situation where someone who is supposed to be an ad- vocate, [a] confidante of young people is out there exploiting them," said Allan Roscoe of the Vancouver Native Health Safe House for Underage Children.

Another community worker who at- tended the hearing, Dale Mosley of the Downtown Eastside Youth Association, pointed to Edmonton and Montreal, where police are making a concerted effort to charge men with buying sex from minors. But invancouver, he said, the Crown isn't making enough of an effort to bring such cases before the courts.

Editor

In the May president Ian the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and the Vancouver Recovq Club's efforts to eradicate the unsightly presence of panhandlers from the streets of their personal little profit-taking fiefdom has neatly touched a nerve for me. Since the start two years ago, I have found the daily newspapers' slobbering praise for this insidious program to "socially sanitize" the down- town business district to be disturbing and dishon- est at best, more often fiendishly cruel and manip- ulative. Like Mr. MacRae, I am revolted that the Vancouver Recovery Club has imprudently allow- ed its name to be used to lend an air of dignity and compassion to a scheme born essentially of greed and malevolence. The Business Improvement Association's basic

intention - to remove fiom the view of tourists and potential customers any reminder of the poor and their condition - is certainly nothing new in the human repertoire of avarice. The Nazi regime dev- ised a breathtakingly simple method to remove fiom German, Polish and French streets the pers- ons it deemed inconvenient to the business at hand Off-duty police and military personnel have been employed by business associations in Rio de Janeiro and Guatemala City to round up and execute homeless street children whose begging might have been an annoyance to tourists and shoppers. In beach resort cities in Jalisco, Guerrero and Quintano Roo, Mexican citizens are

kept out of the sight of unwitting foreign sunbathers by armed guards and steel barriers.

A somewhat new approach to this old dilemma is the Business Improvement Association's pitiful attempt to disguise its crude rousting of unsavoury human refuse within the shifty subterfuge of a velvet glove. With the complicity of the Province and Vancouver Sun, we are being asked to believe the city's homeless are being plied with kind advice and mugs of hot chocolate while the association's members distribute "information cards" advising the public not to encourage pan- handlers in their substance abuse by giving them spare change - a new and softer twist to the old adage of 'ignore them and maybe they'll go away'. If history teaches us one clear thing, it is this: Unless something is done to address the causes of poverty, economic injustice and addiction, these things do not and will not just "go away".

Some Vancouverites will remember Mayor Tom Campbell, who fancied the use of tear gas, billy clubs and police officers on horseback to keep unruly locals in line. In light of the latest sugar- coated smarminess fiom the Downtown Vancouv- er Business Improvement Association, the methods of Tom Temfic seem to have had a certain quaint, honest simplicity that is almost endearing.

Butch Burwash

March For Jesus '97 May 24th 1997

Dear Downtown Eastside,

We, the Pastors of the organising committee for the 'March For Jesus', wish to state that while the intent of this years' 'March For Jesus' is the same as in the previous years -to publicly celebrate Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord in Christian unity - we wish to acknowledge this year the presence of Jesus within the struggles of the economically poor and physically afflicted residents of the Downtown Eastside, who are currently attempting to save their community fiom displacement and homelessness.

We also ask the residents of the Downtown East- side, especially the many First Nations People, to forgive us for any harm, offence or insensitivity experienced from Christians in the past.

We hope that this brief statement clarifies both the intent of the 'March For Jesus' in Vancouver as well as the intent of some Pastors fiom East Vancouver. The latter hope to continue in dialog- ue with the Downtown Eastside in order to bear witness as fully as possible to the Good News Jesus announced to the poor.

Yours sincerely,

Pastor David Carson, Chairman, On Behalf of the MFJ '97 Committee

(*This letter is verbatim what was delivered; say- ing you're sorry before you do it - does this make it okay? Or does one person have the authority to ask for blanket forgiveness for any and all "harm, offence or insensitivity" ever perpetrated by any- one in the name of Jesus? - Ed.)

I want to be perfect I want to be with you I hope I shall be Be with me Everytime I am at a loss Everyone needs to be perfect You do too - I need you

- . . . - . - . Love in vain was all that came until I found you. I remember waiting and waiting for you Would you ever come through? Then we'd be together - honey, I'm with you and we'd be so much in it, so much in love. I took my cue from you - we shared all ourselves and everythmg - I am still with you. All my world was in constant celebration though we were almost a generation..apart. I departed happy but lonely each time, When would I be with you again.. and a constant refrain: love me love me love me.. . and I have nothing but love for vou

we know that we can we try we convict ourselves we hate..we forgive..we forget. .

~lizabeth Thor~e

Letter to the Editor of the Vancouver Sun

I congratulate Lloyd Dykk on his devastating review of Vancouver Cityfest, in which he managed to show exactly how tawdry the whole thing was. I had entirely missed this clever angle and was under the misconception that I'd heard a lot of very fine music and had a great time.

Fortunately Mr. Dykk headed off my galloping enthusiasm at the pass with his penetrating put- down of the politicians, the Paul Latta dancers, the Raging Grannies, the Vancouver Morrismen, the food, Danielle's lyrics, the VCC Campus, the Camegie Music group, and of a group of dancing children who were, unfortunately, in the line of fire; in fact of everything he came in contact with save the fine playing of Star Maris. In this way Mr. Dykk reminds us that the arts

should be left to the pros, and the rest of us should abandon any pretensions to it.. we are too stupid, too vulgar, too plebeian, for the real aesthetes of this world, who have flitted about on the beaches of Papeete. Our crude hand-lettered signs, our pathetic politi-

cal passions, our boring low-class little festivals of which nobody important has ever heard ... all of these can be trying for a truly sensitive artist such as Mr. Dykk.

I say give a man like Mr. Dykk his head and soon we will all be able to sport knowing, sad sneers as we navigate this mawkish flea market of a world.

Thanks Mr. Dykk. Heads up!

Earle Peach

Carnegie Musicians at CINFEST

Members of the music program had a successful set at Vancouver Cityfest on Saturday, May 18th. We brought our guitar and bass amps, along with the instruments that play through them, over to the VCC King Edward campus (Broadway at Clark) and played on the Broadway stage for a bit less than an hour. Roger, our soundman, had some trouble getting the sound system working at first, so the Carnegie musicians leapt into the breach and played instrumental music until everything was up and running.

Kumaran Reddy performed first, followed by Sue Skoda, Rosetta Stone and Mike Curtis, Dave McConnell, Mike , Ben Wolfe, Ken Tobata and Cory (and I) played backup. The crowd was small but appreciative.

In general, Cityfest is a blast, and one of Vancouver's better-kept secrets. It's a free folk festival that happens each year at King Ed. on the long weekend in May. All kinds of musical and cultural groups participate and the emphasis is on community and sharing. For me, one of the great moments in this year's festival came by accident when a small parade of percussionists and dancers, snaking through the crowd, passed by a group of I

Morris dancers who were performing in the South Court. The rhythms of the two groups were quite different but their tempos meshed, creating an immense, complex polyrhythm (which probably confused the heck out of both groups) but sounded great! Probably the musicians in each group had to concentrate like mad to avoid being thrown off by the other group.. . Later on I heard a group called the Animato String Quartet in the lounge, playing beautiful classical music. What can I tell you? The whole day was like this. I kept thinking "..and this is all free!" To top it off the day was sunny. Probably the only person who didn't enjoy himself was Lloyd Dykk from the Sun, who wrote a poisonous review of the festival. I guess he hates working Saturdays.

-- t- - By EARLE PEACH -

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGL'~.

Downtown Eastside Women's Centre 5:00 p.m, Monday, June 23

44 East Cordova

All women and children welcume! This is our annual meeting &elect women to the

Steering Committee (Board) for the next year. The committee makes important decisions about the Centre.. . staff, policies, money, etc. You have to be a member to either vote or run for a position yourself, so come in to sign up beforehand. To be on the Steering Committee means commit-

ting to come to monthly meetings for the next year. You would also be on a smaller committee that looks at personnel, finance or policies. Other activities could include fund-raising or organising events. Talk to Marlene (681-4786) or call Karen (660-

1178) if you want more information about being on the Steering Committee. Hope to see you there!

I KNEWTERR\BLE f HING )... 07 1 K N W I MUSTN'T L€T DULTS KNOW I KNEW..,

Attention All C-ih, Agencies:

Tradeworks Training Society is proud to announce the launch of our new Non-Profit Temporary Workers Ofice. This community service is strictly not for profit; instead we are seeking to provide employers and members of our community a streamlined service targeted to meet their immediate needs.

Due to an ever-increasing market demand for temporary workers, Tradeworks has taken the initiative to develop this facility at 668 Powell Street. The objective is to compile a data base of all interested individuals who are ready, willing and able to take on temporary assignments as they become available, and match suitable candidates to positions (this happens regularly at Tradeworks). We ask that you copy the application form and make them available to interested persons, who can then fax

the completed form to Tradeworks at 251-8984. Please note that it's important that we can get in contact with people on short notice, so a contact number is needed. If you have questions, call 253-9355.

TEMPORARY WORKER REGISTRATION FORM NAME:

ADDRESS:

CITY:

AGE:

PHONE:

CONTACT NAME:

POSTAL CODE: CONTACT PHONE:

WHAT TYPE OF WORK ARE YOU LOOIUNG FOR?

WHAT SKILLS CAN YOU BRING TO THIS TYPE OF WORK? (List experience, tickets, licenses, certificates, vocational training, etc.)

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU HAVE THAT WlLL BE NEEDED ON THE JOB? (Work boots, Tools, etc.)

/ + CAN YOU AFFORD TO LOSE-

$96.00 PER MONTH ?????

"UNEMPLOYABLE " 'OUR CHEQUE WILL BE REDUCED UNLESS YOU ARE APPROVED FOR

SPECIAL NEEDS OR DISABILITY BENEFITS

BY JUNE 30,1997

APPLY NOW! 1 -+ Legal Services Society

9:oo a.m. to 4:oo p.m. Go to any of these offices for help with your Suite 1120 - 605 Robron Street B.C. Coslitton of People with Disabilities Suite 204 - 456 West Broadway

+ Downtown Eastside Residcnts' Association 9;00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Suite 1 - 425 all Street

-+ First United Church application. No appointment necessary. am, only 326 East Hastings Street

all day 1 170 Seymour Street

-+ 1,OOKOC'T all day

-+ The Kettle Friendship Centre all day 1725 Vcnables Street

-+ pacific AIDS Resource Centrc

4 15 Alexander Street + MHA

all day Suite 207 318 Homer Street

Application Action Day

Tuesday, June 10'~

Carnegie Community Centre Association 7:00 pm, Thursday, June 5

In the Theatre at 401 Main Street (Registration begins at 6: 00 pm)

This meeting is held for the purpose of hearing reports, electing directors & all other business as may properly be brought before it.

All Welcome!

To run for the Board, you must have been a member by April 5. To vote, you must have been a member by May 20.

binner@thepentagon.com mcbinner@hotmail.com fax: 684-8442

Greetings fellow binners and binnerettes. (Maybe 1 should say voters and voterettes!) Don't forget to cast your ballot. Remember, it's

not what your country can do for you but how you can do it to your country. But I digress ...

On Friday May 23, there was a dance at Carnegie featuring the Rocking Guys. Although at one time they were a very famous group, there is a little- known fact about them. Seems there was another member name of Paul La Quere. The band was called the Charlie Horses. Paul later went solo and

wrote such hits as "They're cornrning to take me away" and "Asshole from El Paso" Both went plutonium. The band then became known as the , Rocking Guy's, after the infamous Rocking Guy Tom Lewis, who now plays with Dollie West.

Also on the 23rd, the Sun told the story of the - city's 1 lth homicide at Pony's Cabaret. In the headline it called us Skid Road. I e-mailed the writer, Deme Moore, and am waiting for an apology to the Downtown Eastside. CKNW, on the other hand, continues to bash us every time they feel like it..calling us skid road. I have been on the phone with the news department and they hung up on me when I asked for an on-air apology Please boycott CKNW. CKWX 1130 treats us OK Please remember to vote. If you don't vote, don't

complain about the problems in our community. Now for the Ken Report:

Call 68 1-000 1 for more information. The noise at Carrall, Powell and Alexander is

getting out of hand again. Looks like McBinner & Trashhopper will have to investigate the situation.

Don't forget to vote. Bye for now. Hey, let's be careful out there & May The Bins Be With You!

MR. McBINNER

I - Dear Mr. Taylor,

'I

I s May 1997 HIV 1 AIDS Group - 21 people attended. 1 Enclosed please find a cheque In the amount of

$200 to help with the cost of producing the - man! vlruses l~ve m ~ d c our bod~cs

(brnegre Ne~talettcr and Help rn the I ) ~ \ t w o ~ t w - keepmg enlot~ons stable hclps prcvcnt

Ih1s1de booklets. the mimunc s! stcni from break~ng donn

We are very happy to be sponsonng such worthy *Life on Earth 1s so short-

services and hope this small amount wrll help you continue. We wish you success.

Sincerely, Clement Diep Branch Community Rep., VanCity Chinatown.

1995196 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SAVE 01JR LIVING ENVIRONMENT

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

. The annual general meeting was delayed by sev- eral months in order to accommodate a change in accounting systems. This will be explained by the accountant during the Treasurer's Report.

Earlier this spring Save Our Living Environment through United We Can was part of a very important announcement by the Provincial Government. The oflicial announcement was made at the bottle depot. It spoke about the plans to expand the deposithefund system for beverage containers by next April. This represents an

Y important step for us towards the achievement of K one of our goals: the inclusion of all beverage 't containers under the depositlrefund system.

The bottle depot is still not able to cover all it's costs. We hope that during the coming period with the changes to regulations for the expansion of the system that a fairer rate for handling fees

Z will be established. Last year we began an experiment in lane

cleaning under a new project called Crossroads and Lanes. Workers have been out cleaning the lanes regularly. The project creates jobs and improves the local environment. During the

make every day a happ!, one." *I can still be health!,.

cvcn \\ i th the virus in niy bod!,." *Use mcditation, ),oga and methods of relaxation

\ to learn how to chanp ncsativc emotions'. \ \, *Is joy a gift - can we lose it?

coming year we hope to be able to do much more and employ more people.

As a part of this project we also set up a free bike repair shop and computer club in the base- ment of the bottle depot. More than 20 people used the bike shop so far and we will be looking at ways to finance these services in the future.

We have begun looking for a new space for a second bottle depot to serve the Westend and Downtown South area of the city. We would like to have the second depot operating before the end of 1997. We have also been asked to help a group in Victoria (Victoria Street Community Association) to start a bottle depot. We are currently making suggestions to them as to how this might be done.

Save Our Living Environment intends to address other urban environmental issues including water quality, noise pollution and air pollution. Now that the beverage container issue looks like it may finally be addressed it will be time for the Society to plan other initiatives to address some of these serious problems. To this end, the Society supported the establishment of a new Charity called United We Can. We hope that the charity will be helpful in supporting this important work.

ANUIWB JEWEL Garry Gust

Once a month, old Zeke would treat himself to a six-pack of beer. During the course of the night he would sip on each beer till it was finished, then put the can in a bag under the kitchen sink. After eight months Zeke had five bag

fulls of beer cans, so he decided to cash them in at a place he had noticed on Cbrdova street. He put the cans in a large garbage

bag and walked out the back of his building. Halfway up the lane he saw two young men crouched against a shed. One had a needle in his arm as the other one watched. Zeke tried to walk softly passed them. Ten minutes later Zeke looked up and

saw the sign: UNITED WE CAN. He walked in the doorway and down a

narrow hall till he came to a huge room Four customers were sorting their cans and bottles into short boxes and taking them to a counter where they were ex- changed for cash. Zeke looked at the storage area

behind the counter and gulped. A mountain of clear plastic bags con- taining cans reached halfway up to the ceiling. He put his cans in a box then waited

his turn at the counter. The person in front of him had five times more than he did, which the clerk tallied up quickly. Zeke kept looking at the mountain of

cans, trying to guess how many there might be, but it boggled his mind. He thought that the mountain of cans

would probably fill every square inch of space in a small house. Zeke's turn came and the clerk counte

48 cans then politely told him to go to the cashier for his money. He walked out of the shop and down th

street in deep thought. The name "United We Can" made clear sense to him

now. The nameless people he had seen around the city scrounging for pop and beer cans in the alleys suddenly took on a new light. 'These people are prospectors, ' ,he

thought. They were mining the city for precious metals! Zeke shuddered to think that if these

binner/prospectors didn't exist, the mountain he saw at United We Can would end up in garbage dumps and land fills tainting the good earth. Zeke took on a fresh pride that such

a service to mankind was taking place in his community.

BE A WINNER! G . Gust Libby Davies has a good chance to represent East Vancouver in Ottawa, but it's not a sure thing.

I'he fact is, Anna Terrana, the current MP for east Van., has strong support from the Italian community who's numbers are about equivalent to the number of some Downtown Eastsiders who don't traditionally vote.

Please remember, you're not voting for e political party, you're voting for a person to represent your community's interests in the federal government's scheme of things.

Libby has fought for east Vancouver at City Hall, and now we need her to take that fight to Ottawa.

We also need to show the political power brokers that the Downtown East- side is also a force to be reckoned with, and this can 0- be done by most of us showing up at the polls on election day.

Please, take ten minutes out of your life and vote for Libby Davies.

P.S. Not registered? tala a rent receipt, or a Hydro or phone bill, and you'll be accdted.

1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: An O m Letter by (Rev.) Kevin Annett May 23,1997

Last week, after the United Church "de-listed" me as one of its ministers, I did more than ponder again why none of the witnesses called "against" me had ever been in my church or seen what I had done in Port Alberni. I realized that this failure of church officials to know the circumstances of my ministry at St. Andrew's United Church accounted more than anything for my removal.

Perhaps if those officials who de-listed me had seen what I saw for three years in Port Alberni, they would not have been so quick or harsh in their actions. If only they had have seen middle-class grandmothers of my church bagging food for young families and then driving them across town to save them the walk, they might have felt more hope for my ministry. A hungry child held close would have been their best educator, as it was for some of us at St. Andrew's.

When my family and I arrived in Port Alberni in the summer of 1992, we found a struggling and divided town of widespread unemployment, a place described by the 1993 Provincial CORE Report as being one of the two most destitute regions in B.C. We also found a church that was built to hold 120 people with only twenty in it on a Sunday, most of them elderly, all of them white. I was hired by that congregation of St. Andrew's to "bring new people and life" into it as its minister.

During the next three years I did just that, by making my church a place where everyone was accepted for who they were. This was a rare thing in Port Alberni churches, which dwelled behind the familiar denominational fences of "members only", and where native people could not be found, despite their being one-third of the local populace.

Within six months of my arrival, the twenty people at a St. Andrew's service had grown to seventy, and the Sunday school had increased from five children to forty. My wife, two small children and I were deeply involved in the community and the lives of many families, including the largely unseen native communities. After less than a year, 90% of the congregation voted to permanently have me as their mirhter.

The size of my congregation climbed to 100 by the time I was fired without cause or notice in January, 1995. On my last Sunday there, the faces in the pews were no longer just senior or middle-class. Native elders, teenagers and impoverished young families sat alongside the traditional St. Andrew's members, all of whom had stayed on.

I

The faces had become familiar by then. Most of them I had met in the course of my daily visits, which took me from the homes of retired mill workers to the native reserves and the slums of central Port Alberni, where children go for days without food. Among all of them I encountered the same desire to change things, and recover a new sense of what our community could be. I invited all of these people to come to St. Andrew's and try to find that place together.

The response was real, and constant. Native families walked miles to come to St. Andrew's on a Sunday morning. Teenagers began filling the hall on Friday nights. Our public forums began attracting dozens of non church-goers.

From out of this response came new beginnings, and the seeds of change. Our congregation helped launch and sustain the following:

I - a food bank that supported more than 200 families, the first attempt to distribute food on a regular basis to low-income people in the region

- the first tenants' rights group to be formed in Port Alberni, that began improving housing conditions in the worst slums in town

- a community garden on three acres of farmland, donated by a member of our congregation, where low income people grew their own food

- a non-profit housing society, created by the tenants' rights group, that eventually secured government finding for co-op housing projects in Port Alberni

- Justice in the Valley, a community coalition that brought together native and non- native people for the first time in projects to combat racism and poverty

It was small wonder that, after I had worked at St. Andrew's for barely two years, it was commonly referred to in Port Alberni as "the church of the people".

As such a church, St. Andrew's began to echo with new voices, not just mine. The lives of many different people began to be the sermon each Sunday. Part of the new voice was that of native people sharing their trauma about the local United Church-run resider~tial school, of destroyed families and native land sold by the church. But the same voice offered prayers and songs in an ancient language that had survived every abuse.

The new life that had taken root and grown at St. Andrew's United Church should

have given the wider church much hope and joy. I will always be proud of what I helped create in the Alberni Valley, and my one regret is that others in the church did not share in that pride.

If the United Church officials and lawyers who worked so hard to de-list me had have been there with us on a Sunday and joined hands across walls of race and class and distrust as we sang together our weekly benediction - "Go Now in Peace" - I don't believe I would be de-listed today.

(Rev.) Kevin D. ~ n n e t t May 23,1997 ph: 604-224-4753

Tribunal a mockery Shame on the United Church officials who

have abused their power to delist Kevin An- nett (United Church ousts minister who said killings hidden, May 16). He is the minister who unearthed disturbing stories about al- leged murders and other wrongdoing by the United Church in the Port Alberni region.

In dismissing him, these church officials have done a great wrong to the church itself and to an exceptionally clever and socially conscious minister.

I attended the whole hearing except for two days and saw a disturbing tribunal, where goalposts were moved continually and one absurdity after another occurred.

The most senior church official in B.C. set up the hearing, chose the judging panel and then testlhed against Rev. Annett. Not one witness or panel member had ever heard Rev. Annett preach and one witness who tesnfied against him had never even met the minister.

How can church officials possiblyclaim to have "followed stringent rules of evidence and procedure" when they issued Rev. An- nett with an ultimatum to close his food bank and not to visit nonmembers of his church, and when- against their own rules - an official of the conference handed Rev. Annett his letter of dismissal?

What stringent rules are being followed when it was stated on record that the crite- ria for judging Rev. Annett's fitness for min- istry would be set only after the hearing con- cluded? Such mbunals make a mockery of Canada's justice system.

This whole hearing has been nothing more than an obvious attempt to silence and punish a dissident. I do not know how Rev. Annett has survived the ordeal.

I still have my membership in the United Church and take part in a lot of programs and services across Canada in the United Church - unless, of course, I, too, have re- cently been delisted for telling the truth.

JENNIFER A. WADE Vancouver

The Downtown Eastside Resid can help you with:

* any welfare problem "information on legal rights *disputes with landlords "unsafe living conditions "income tax "UIC problems "finding housing

SOCIETY 1997 DONATIONS Rocking Guys-$30 Paula R.-$30 Diane M.-$15 h'm. B . -$20 Lorne T. -$20

C, rr) L i l l i a n 11.-$25 Me1 L . -$20 - -..- - N A Joy T.-$20 S a r a D.-$20 Cf,

TIIE NEWSLETTER IS A PUDllCATlON OF TtlE I Frances -$25 C E E D s - $ l o CARNEOIE COMMIINITY CENT RE ASSOCIAlION x Charley B.-$15 Susan S.-$30

4-J DEYAS -$75 Arllclrs rrprrscn1 (hr vlrws of lndlvldud

0 Libby D. -$40 conlrlbulors and no1 o l the Assoclallon.

ents'

.d u Guy 11.-$10 B r i g i d II. - $ l o 0 V) Tom D.-$10 Amy E.-$10 V) Itene F . -$30 Kay F.-$5 0 u Sail1 11. -$20 N e i l N.-$10 d > Kick Y.-$63 Sharon J-$50 k 0 BCClV -$SO llolden l l o t e l -$S -$50 V) Sonya Sommers -$I00

Association

Submissiotr Deadline for the next issue:

11 June Wednesday

*opening a bank account Come into the Dera oMce at 425 Carrall St. or phone us at 682-0931.

4 Census Employees -$200 Po 0 4

S . C . P L U M -$lo00

NEED HELP?

DERA HAS BEEN SERVING THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

FOR 24 YEARS.

I GORDON, THE MEDIEVAL TROLL

1 Gordon was determined to leave his family. His i parents couldn't afford to feed him or his seven ' siblings. They were always after him to work and

when he did they took his few pennies. When he was 12 Gordon left their rented shack in the early hours of a summer morning. Taking what little he owned with him, some food and blankets, Gordon

headed for Plymouth, the nearest port, intent on going to sea. He managed to go aboard a sailing ship without being seen and hid his small frame under some nets on deck.

, Gordon felt the ship move and the rocking of the waves. He fell asleep. When he woke it was daylight and the rolling had stopped. Gordon dared move his covering and peek out. The ship was in a new harbour. He left the small sailing ship unseen, and wandered about the town where they had landed. He found he was in a foreign country. After a time he realized he was in Spain. He kept wandering until he was able to do some work for a farmer. Gordon did odd jobs all over Europe and learned many different languages.

Gordon returned to England once, but his family didn't want him. He got a job on a large ship to North America and landed in Canada. From there he roamed the continent and went to Australia where he joined a Medieval Society. He was also very interested in deep sea diving. He bought

I deep sea diving equipment and moved to New Zealand for the clear water view of fish and ocean bottom. Gordon spent his days on beaches, and slept in trees next to the beach, sometimes near

cities. He rarely shaved or bathed properly, which is his usual habit.

On one occasion Gordon got lost in an inland forest in New Zealand and rested against a tree. It was then he discovered he was going around in circles. He was so exhausted he sat down on the forest floor, then remembered he shouldn't be- cause of the bugs, and hunkered down instead. It wasn't even safe to hunker down, or be still because the ground cover was fidl of all kinds of insects. The trees were full of monkeys and birds all making a lot of noise. Gordon knew that if they kept quiet for a moment he could hear the village noises and get his bearings for his direction out. Some monkeys came down to chat at him. He thought they were begging for handouts but he didn't have anything in his back pack to give them. He ignored them and took his hat off to wipe his forehead with his sleeve. His balding scalp felt the feet of some of the many insects flying around him. He had to brush them off his head before putting his hat back on. He knew their bites could infect him but he stayed calm.

One of the monkeys went up a nearby banana tree and threw down several bananas, which landed on the forest floor in front of Gordon. Gordon ate most of the bananas, without any complaints from the monkey. There was a brief quiet spell and he heard the train whistle coming from the railway in the village.

Gordon got his directions and headed out toward the village to pick up his duffle bag. He caught a train for the nearest harbour. When he got to the oceanside he applied for a job on a ship. A lady captain hired him but, perhaps because she made him her lover, they had many arguments. On one occasion, the captain shoved him overboard during a quarrel. He fell into the water in such a way he broke his shoulder and nearly drowned. The captain had to send in another crew member to rescue him and then had to take care of him by setting his shoulder. It still bothers him.

Gordon returned to Canada and joined a branch of the same Medieval Society as the branch in

Australia. He became their troll, sitting at the entrance to the medieval society hall to collect fees of a single loony to enter, or a twoonie to enter and dine in medieval fashion. He gives the visitors his partly toothless grin and is supposed to utter a magic incantation at them to insure their safe stay in the New West Armouries building. He remembers the incantation but doesn't say it.

Gordon's costume, representing a high ranking off~cial, is made of suede and velvet. It needs special care and is only worn on formal occasions. Gordon has sewn together pointed, flat shoes made in the medieval fashion and has acquired a cape, made out of a blanket, which he wears on informal occasions. He takes part in the medieval dances, and has tried the sword fighting, but he makes and effort to keep away fiom the rough stuff. A certain amount of the rough stuff is requ- ired if he wants to make points, but . . . Gordon likes to invite people to join the now 50 year old medieval society.

I

Dora Sanders

(*Note: Gordon's affiliation is with the Sociery For Creative Anachronism)

Trasihhopper says...

Hey enough already with CKNW screwing with us. Mr. McBinner says to boycott the boogers. Right on! The bins are getting sloppy again in my area.

Binners are making a mess. Not cool dudes. There are a lot of us out there now and McBinner got over the swine flu, so we are watching the lazy screw-ups.

Good Day Voters

Let's get going out there. Strike one for Libby & don't forget to vote. I came across a storefront at 136 E.Cordova the

other day. It has a lot of TV and film items. They sell books like up-to-date video movie guides, on stage lighting, acting, play-writing. They also have software on Canadian plays. Ask for Catherine! On the 25th of May I, along with many others,

went on the annual Walk for Literacy. Back at King Edward Campus after the walk there were talks from several people and we had Native Dancing performed for us. Watch out next year because I'll be asking everyone I know to parti- cipate. (I made $45 for them!)

I would like to thank CKNW for trashing us again, calling us skid road. No class.

1 saw on TV where Big Brother is thinking of decriminalizing possession of heroin & coke for personal use. Typical. Take the easy way out. Parking meters now run till 8pm, 7 days a week; if you don't pay you get towed. The city did this to

make extra money, yet Mayor McCheese and Shitty Hall can't get rid of the Hastings drug problem. Did you know that the day after the shooting incident in Victory Square there were 2 needles laying on the grass in front of the cenotaph? No respect. Take care

By CARL MacDONALD

MLA Report By Jenny Wai Ching Kwan, MLA (Vancouver-Mt . Pleasant)

Woodward's housing project too important to lose

to create better housing conditions. In particular, they have fought for years for the development of non-profit housing units in the community. To date, there are approximately 4,700 non-market housing units in the Downtown Eastside, Chinatown, Gastown and Strathcona areas.

The NDP government has continued to invest in the development of non-market housing, despite the federal government's withdrawl from funding social housing since 1994. BC is one of only two provinces still funding housing. Our government believes that it a right and not a privilege to have safe, secure and affordable housing. We also believe in public-private partnerships in the development of mixed, healthy communities.

Towards those ends, the NDP government initiated a partnership with Mr. Kassam Aghtai, President of Fama Holdings Ltd., to redevelop the Woodward's building into a mixture of market and non-market housing.

In 1995, Mr. Aghtai of Fama Holdings bought the Woodward's site. An application was made on behalf of Fama to the City of Vancouver to redevelop the building from commercial use to a mixed use of residential and commercial. In July of 1995, Vancouver city council, in a 10-to-1 vote, approved Mr. Aghtai's application and gave away significant benefits, in the form of a density bonus to Mr. Aghtai, without requiring him to give a return back to the city. Mr. Aghtai has been given significant special treatment that other developers have not been afforded. According to city policy, density bonuses are given to developers only if a return equal in value is given back to the people of Vancouver.

Equally important, from a civic planning point of view, a large upscale condo project at Wood- ward's has the potential to drive up property values of nearby SRO units, accelerate the loss of SRO units through conversion and demolitions, displacing existing residents in the Downtown Eastside. To the residents of the Downtown Eastside, Woodward's is the anchor for housing stability for low-income residents.

Recognizing the importance of Woodward's to . *

The issue of safe, affordable and secured hous- ing is very important to many residents in the city of Vancouver. Nowhere is that more important than to the residents of the Downtown Eastside.

e Many residents of the area reside in single room occupancy --SRO-- housing units. A typical SRO unit consists of one room, about 10-by-10 feet, with no private bathroom. If the resident is lucky, they will have a hot plate to cook on.

With few exceptions, SRO residents have low incomes and cannot afford better accommodation.

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The rent tends to be set by the shelter component of Social Assistance, which at $325 per month, makes them some of the most expensive rental units on a per-square-foot basis. At $325 a month SRO tenants typically pay 60% or more of their income for their rooms. There are approximately 7,500 SRO units in the downtown core. Over the last five years, the SRO stock declined by about 400 units. The loss of these units is due to demol- ition for redevelopment, conversions to tourist use, fires and closures. While this form of housing is unquestionably substandard, it is unfortunately a means to address the issue of homelessness.

Many people in SRO's are long-time residents in the community. Many are seniors on a fixed in- come. Over the years, residents have worked hard

the health of the community, the N UP government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mr. Aghtai to develop 200 units of non-market housing within the 400-unit project. As of April 1, 1997, all significant issues were resolved except one: the developer's ability to provide a 50% performance bond and a 50% labour and material bond to the province. lnstead of requiring the developer to provide the normal form of bonding, the province agreed to other forms of security for the project. The province was waiting for Mr. Aghtai to submit a letter from his accountants, assuring BCHMC and the co-op that they had the financial ability to complete the project. lnstead of receiving that, on April 4, 1997, Mr. Aghtai held a press conference and abruptly withdrew

from his previous agreements with the province. Government staff have bent over backwards to

accommodate the demands of this development, and still this developer would not or was not able to deliver. Mr. Aghtai has failed in his perfonn- ance and failed the people of the community.

While it would appear that the deal is now dead, the spirit and the belief of the people in the Downtown Eastside are not. They continue to work towards the goal of saving our community. Residents of the community are coming together in solidarity to fight for what they believe in. I'm very proud of the people, and will continue to work towards the dream of a mixed-housing project on the Woodward's site.

Remind the people run~iing for office that we are

poor and our housing is taken from us while our volces are ignored.

Public Housing is a specific term, indicating not only city ownership but also a public trust that the government will maintain its responsibility for the poor, disabled and others unable to pay the higher costs of decent housing. Selling off this property violates the public's trust and leaves each city doing so with no assets in land. Why eliminate public housing for the poor when a declining city economy just reflects the sweet deals (in terms of tax exemptions and tax evasion) for big business?

One recent measure that is having a huge impact on housing is the increase in taxes for houses

having secondary suites. Rents (on individual suites) have risen by $50/month, with additional charges of $15 for garbage, etc. This puts much more pressure on all rental housing.

Many owners could rent for decent rates but greed seems to win out - "whatever the market will bear." Regional plans include putting more than a million people into the Lower Mainland in the next few years, so every way to get landldensityl space is being exploited.

Write to your MLA and insist they put pressure on the Union of BC Municipalities to stop eliminating housing for low income people.

By MIKE BOHNERT

Literacy And The Cuban Revolution

In 197 1 I was in Mexico attending a school run by Ivan Illich. One day a woman who had worked in Fidel Castro's Dept of Education told us a story about Cuba's famous literacy campaign of 196 1.

On September 26, 1960, Castro announced at the United Nations that a campaign to eliminate illiteracy in Cuba would begin in I96 1. As he hadn't told the people in his new Department of Education the news, they were as suprised as everyone else. They knew illiteracy ran over forty percent in rural areas, and felt Castro had commit- ted them to an impossible task.

When Castro returned from the United Nations, his staff jumped on him for making irresponsible statements. "How are we going to end illiteracy in one year?" they asked.

"I don't know. Working out the details is your problem," Castro replied. He wasn't being irresponsible because the revolutionary view was that the people would respond to the challenge.

The literacy campaign would be the first national effort to uni@ the country now that the fighting was almost over. Castro knew that illiteracy was basically an economic and political problem, and that the countries which were most exploited economically and most oppressed politically, were the countries that had the largest number of people who couldn't read or write. What was needed was a literacy campaign that would bring hope to the people by giving them an opportunity to particip- ate in the revolution.

As the old school system discriminated against poor people, and many of the old teachers didn't believe that the peasants could be taught to read and write, the new leaders didn't know how to get the literacy campaign in high gear. In desperation, they asked the people for help, and received thousands of suggestions. One day they received a letter from a high school student that said, "Close the schools, and send the students out to teach."

The idea seemed so wild that the leaders hesitat- ed at first. On April 15, 196 1, however, they

closed all secondary and pre-university schools. They mobilized an army of one hundred thousand literacy workers from those students who had completed at least grade six, and were at least thirteen years old. The students and their parents supported this decision.

Student-teachers travelled everywhere in Cuba on very little money. The level of literacy aimed at wasn't much higher than grade one in some cases, but literacy means more than reading and writing. It means having the skills to live one's own life and to participate in full citizenship.

In the Cuban literacy campaign of 196 1, city students and rural farmers lived and worked together. They respected each other. The campaign inspired an outburst of song and poetry, including these lines by an older peasant:

"I will learn from your primer

P . L 1

And you will learn from the land."

By December, 196 1, 1.5 million Cubans were involved in the revolution as teachers or students out of a total population of seven million people.

At the end of 196 1, the official illiteracy rate had dropped to three percent, but more import- antly, the students, the young teachers, the parents, the workers, and the peasants were proud of themselves. All the hardships, including murder by reactionary forces, had been overcome. There was so much hope.

Sandy Cameron

We Have Always Been Wrong About Everything

We have always been wrong about everyhng, we've always been proved wrong, even when all the evidence was before us we were wrong. Time and again things we believed were true, especially the things we believed were undeniably true, turned out to be completely wrong, yet we vociferate and evangelize and spew all sorts of political and philosophical twaddle, intentionally ignoring the fact that we are, no doubt, wrong, we hammer and hammer away at points we believe are both unquestionable and significant, though they are trivial and certainly mistaken, like all the rest of our ideas, we even bolster ourselves for the long, tedious task of informing others of our unquestionable and significant ideas by calling this intransigence a sacrifice which we make for the so-called larger purpose of any of those empty container word ideas, those rubbish bin word ideas, like truth or reality or existence or god, in the worst case actually believing that stubborn, unbending adherence to no doubt wrong ideas is a worthy, a great sacrifice, when it is surely only an indulgence.

New Words for It

We need a new word for this, the old ones won't do, especially our favorites, the ones forever on our lips, in any extremity, as if all had been done and catalogued before, as if we had reached the farthest extremes once and for all, and are now on the mend, which we're not, not at all, we are actually far worse, and the flimsy structures that have allowed us the illusion of recovery are about to crash around us like so many toothpicks, leaving us face to face with the razor-edged surface of all things, the deadly, horrific world behind illusion. And the old words won't even begin to describe what we see, but we will no doubt use them anyway, habitually, as if we were talking about what we see, though we will be using words that don't have anytlung to do with what we see, only with our desperate attempt to convince ourselves that what we see, what is happening, is nothing like those other extremes, even if it is as horrible and destructive, or worse. Each new horrific extreme should have its own word, but we prefer the outdated ones, preferring to think we have franscended such things, but for a few intermittent flashbacks, when, in fact, such a ridiculous idea prevents us from acknowledging our ability to manufacture endlessly variegated new horrors, the fact that we are bent on new horrors, comparing all horror to The Nazis, trivialking the holocaust by turning it into a rhetorical tool, all for the apparent purpose of allowing us to proceed with our horrors calmly and casually, because we have no real word for what is happening, what we are doing, all the while moving toward our own incomparable crimes, every day putting things in place to achieve our new horrors, using every possible contrivance, however nonsensical, to put ourselves in a good light. We say to ourselves we will do whatever we have to in order to prevent new horrors, but we don't do anything to prevent new horrors, not just because we don't know what to do anyway, or how to do it, but because what is called for is too costly. By DAN FEENEY