With the City of Vancouver expected to announce a request for proposals (RFP) for the Woodwards’ community amenity space this month, W2 allies are busy reimaging how the space can serve the Downtown Eastside.

W2 Belongs to Me, a group of former W2 staff and volunteers, and community members, has split into two to plan their proposal for the space: one group, dubbed W3, is exploring a service co-op model for the space, while the other group is looking at the programming they could offer.

“There’s no singular unifying individual or group,” said Wes Regan, executive director of the Hastings Crossing BIA and a member of W2 Belongs to Me.

“So those two processes are, at some point, going to have to mesh together and either we’re all going to get along or maybe there’ll be some shrapnel, I don’t know.”

While Regan emphasizes there is no guarantee the City will approve their proposal, some of the preliminary plans they have include dedicating the basement to programming and arts events, while the third floor offices would be occupied by an anchor community organization.

Simon Fraser University’s RADIUS (RADical Ideas Useful to Society), a business incubator focused on social change, has expressed interest in being that anchor, but no formal agreement has been signed.

The second floor café will likely not return, but Regan says there’s been no agreement in the group on what the space should be used for.

“What we want to do is keep the best parts of W2 in the programming sense, the things that were really good, the things that the community really saw as an asset, and drop the stuff that was untenable,” he told Megaphone. “But at the end of the day it’s going to be up to the city.”

Megaphone contacted the city about the RFP, but a city spokesperson said they did not know when the RFP would be issued.

This spring, Megaphone needs to raise $12,000 to help keep our writing workshop program going. We are half way there.

To help us reach our goal, some of Canada's most acclaimed authors have joined the campaign to show their support.

"Everyone has a story to tell, and we all need to hear all kinds of stories. It's what makes us human. Megaphone's workshop helps bring the quiet, necessary stories of some to the ears of others." — Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi

Help support this important program here (through Hope in Shadows).

Megaphone's writing workshops are run in social housing buildings and treatment and community centres across Vancouver. They give people an opportunity to tell their own stories in their own voice. And by publishing them in Megaphone, everyone in Vancouver can hear them.

"Megaphone's workshops give voice to those vital, silenced stories in our communities, stories that make up the very heart of our social history." — Esi Edugyan, author of Half-Blood Blues.

But in order to get these voices heard, we need to reach our goal. With your donation we'll be able to keep our current workshops running, publish the writers in the magazine and produce our annual Voices of the Street literary edition. 
 

Please make a donation (through Hope in Shadows) today and help ensure these voices are heard across Vancouver. 

Thank you for your support,

Sean Condon
Executive Director
Megaphone

"They say the universe is made of stories, not atoms. Within this context, Megaphone's workshops are an indispensable resource for those whose stories must be told, and, of equal importance, must be heard." — Carmen Aguirre, author of Something Fierce Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter. 

“Megaphone’s writing workshops are crucial work, offering training and access to voices and stories that affect us all, and that we might otherwise never hear.” — John Valliant, author of The Tiger.

"I got started writing when I went to a Megaphone writing workshop in June of this past year. It showed me all the different styles of writing, like journalism, storytelling, and things like that. I found that storytelling works best for me because I have 40 years on the street, and I've survived pretty well, so that's some information I can share. My whole thing is I'd like to help people so they can avoid it.

I sometimes get, it's almost like a writer's block, I think of stories but I never get em down, and ["Welfare Wednesday"] is actually the first time I've put one down. And when I wrote it - they gave us a week to write it, and I wrote it on the bus going to class. [laughs] So I always seem to put myself right on the edge, and then I can do it."

Welfare Wednesday

It was a typical rainy welfare day when I discovered 

at 6:45 a.m. that I never got my welfare cheque. I 

lined up outside the welfare office with my book on 

how to play poker at 7 a.m. to see what was wrong.

At the top of the stairs was a homeless guy sleeping, 

a good spot out of the wind and rain. I was at the 

bottom of the stairs beside a drunk guy who was 

being aggressive. It’s funny, the look you get when 

they realize they should get a new victim. (If I was on 

the Internet, now would be the time to say LOL.)

Just ahead of me was a guy smoking crack and 

saving spots for people, a no-no in any lineup and 

it gave the drinker a new target. A friendly young 

man behind me was sharing drinks of what he said 

was vodka in a water bottle. I think it was rice wine, 

though, judging by the reaction of the two who 

tried it.

Another well-dressed guy needed a cigarette paper 

but the only one available had no glue on it. He took 

it and rolled a joint. that was when the drunk guy 

could not find his false teeth that he had kept taking 

out and showing us. His friend checked his pockets 

and couldn’t find them. 

This kept us entertained for about 15 minutes when 

he found them in an inside pocket.

In a span of an hour and 15 minutes, each of us, 

carving out our turf in our own way, had gotten to 

know each other and started laughing.

Finally at 8:30 a.m. the doors open and they let 

us in. I had forgotten to fill out my stubs and they 

would mail me my cheque. So much for breakfast.

Sid Bristow sells Megaphone at the corner of Broadway and Cambie, and is a participant in Megaphone's community writing workshops. His piece "Welfare Wednesday" appears in the 2013 Voices of the Street literary anthology, available from licensed vendors all over your community.

This spring Megaphone needs to raise $12,000 to keep the voices of the Downtown Eastside strong. Please show your support for our writing workshop programs by making a donation (through Hope in Shadows) here.

Syringes

They are everywhere I walk.  
Everywhere I live.

Bus stops, park benches, 
window sills, in garbage cans.

They are dangerous.  
Containing small amounts of blood
that can do large damage to a person's life
if they are poked.

Long plastic tubes, with a lethal
metal point at the end with the plunger.

Syringes have brought death to many people.
For others, they deliver life saving medications,
or extract body fluids to save lives.

They have a more sinister use, as well --
a vehicle for drugs people use to get high.

Sometimes these drugs cause total bliss,
sometimes they take peoples lives.

They can be be packed with lighter fluid
to use as a miniature flame thrower.

I've used these plastic tubes, these syringes
to administer lethal doses of life threatening drugs.

Syringes have taken, and given
life.

Frederick Miller participates in Megaphone’s creative writing workshop at Onsite.

A controversial supportive housing project for young women in the Downtown Eastside had its first visit from emergency services on April 25, when a 19-year-old Imouto House resident died of an apparent heroin overdose. 

The woman’s name has not been released by Atira Women’s Resource Society, which operates Imouto House. What we do know is she moved into the supportive housing facility at 120 Jackson St. last September, where she received alcohol and drug counselling.

The young woman’s drug of choice was alcohol, not heroin, according to Michelle Fortin, executive director of WATARI, a service provider that works with Imouto House. In and out of treatment programs all over the city, she had been receiving substance abuse services since before age 12. 

“[She] would have some insights and then slide back,” said Fortin, adding the young woman was in the process of being evicted from another program when she moved into Imouto.

“We’re really saddened by the loss of this strong, young Aboriginal woman and that to a certain extent she was a real leader at Imouto, and our hope is that the impact of her death has some positive outcomes for some of the young women that are left behind.”

Ray Cam board member Judy McGuire, who has spoken out against Imouto House before, says the death proves the need for more youth safe housing, detox, and mental health services outside of the Downtown Eastside. 

“We don’t want to lose any of our children, and frankly to place them in the Downtown Eastside where there are so many predators and there are so many problems, it’s not acceptable,” she said. 

“I don’t care what the rationale: you have to find a better way to take care of our children.”

Atira Women's Resource Society will be conducting a review into the death.

While mental health continues to be a relatively taboo topic in public conversations, it has started to surface into the spotlight. To try and help get Canadians talking, the Canadian Mental Health Association has declared May 6 to 13 “Mental Health Week,” with a special focus on child and youth mental health. The recent and troubling spate of teen suicides in the Comox Valley have highlighted the glaring gaps in British Columbia’s mental health services for young people, which is marred with both barriers to access and impossible wait times. 

In the Comox Valley, five teenagers killed themselves between 2009 and 2011. The average wait time for mental health care in that part of Vancouver Island is nine months. All this has coincided with election season in B.C., which takes place May 14. 

Continuing its tradition of holding the provincial government accountable for its mental health policies, the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has launched “Vote Mental Health 4 All,” an election-season campaign calling on the four main political parties to share their approach to addressing what the CMHA has identified as the four most pressing issues around mental health policy timely access to care; approaching addiction as a treatable health condition; increasing the Persons with Disability income-assistance benefit to lift people out of poverty; and increasing access to affordable housing for people with mental illness and addictions.

The campaign “won't stop at the end of the election,” says Jonny Morris, the CMHA’s director of public policy and campus mental health. “We see this as an opportunity for whoever takes power to really hold them accountable to their platform commitments. So far, there's been a spattering of platform commitments, there's a lot of promises made, a lot of ideas are shared. But the hard work starts in that first 100 days post-election. Where is the government going to land with its commitments to mental health and addiction?”

Mental illness is widespread, with one in five Canadians expected to experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime. To put the Comox Valley suicides in context, Canada has the third-highest youth suicide rate in the industrialized world, according to the Parliamentary Research Branch. 

But public dialogue about mental health remains relatively marginalized. 

“Mental health and addiction is often the poor cousin of other conversations about health,” Morris says. Compounding the problem is that B.C.’s mental health system remains riddled with barriers to access, from lengthy wait times to a glaring lack of services for children, youth, and people in remote communities, all of which is underscored by a lack of coordinated approaches to people with co-occurring problems.

“The mental health system in this province is very, very complex. It's a system that's very tricky to navigate—for professionals to navigate, let alone people who are experiencing long-term distress, or families who are in crisis,” Morris says. 

“The complexity of the system, and people's understanding of the system, is one very significant constraint to coordinated care or coordinated access to care.”

British Columbia’s provincial election is tomorrow (May 14^th) and there are many factors to consider when deciding which way to vote. While the province’s economic future and the environment receive a lot of attention, food security is often left out of discussions. But food security is an important issue and ensuring a food secure future means taking action now. Some parties have included long-term food security solutions, others have looked at it from multiple angles and some hardly at all.

Here’s a breakdown of what the parties are promising when it comes to food security.

BC NDP

As part of the “key priority” to “invest in healthy forests and a strong land base,” Adrian Dix’s party promises to “increase support for agriculture and food security.” This includes renewing the Agricultural Land Commission and preserving the Agricultural Land Reserve, which dictate what land in BC is reserved for farming and protected from development.

The party talks about food autonomy and keeping food local, promising to link up provincial health services with local growers, and a commitment to rev up support for the Buy BC campaign.

The fast-growing craft brewery industry is also promised some help and the party says it will tackle some of the antiquated liquor laws that some restaurants, bars, wineries and breweries say interfere with business.

The NDP promises to help protect wild salmon, ban certain pesticides and introduce safeguards for groundwater, which, in the long run, will help ensure a healthier and more food secure province for everyone.

On a social level, the NDP promises to help raise families out of poverty with a focus on children by investing $210 million in a BC Family Bonus program, allotting an extra $60 to $70 per month per child, having a direct impact on food security for low income families.

Taken together, the New Democrats are pointed in the right direction to make the province food secure, focusing on protecting the local food economy. They could push for more, though and it would be nice to see commitments to small and family farms and more specific promises on pesticides and pollution.

The BC Liberal Party

The BC Liberal Party addresses food security on a global level and with an economic vision, promising closer agribusiness trade with Asia and growing the agribusiness sector by an estimated $3.1 billion by 2017. Christy Clark’s party predicts a 10 per cent growth in food exports to China in the next year. This, however, is not real food security, it’s an economic opportunity that means more climate change and less food independence for British Columbians.

On a local level, the party does better by committing to promote 50- and 100-mile diets, and bringing local produce and milk into classrooms.

Further, the party promises a tax credit for growers that donate to food banks, has plans to implement a permanent and sustainable tree fruit replant program and would invest a further $2 million in a Buy Local campaign.

Other food related promises would raise BC’s profile in the global agricultural industry, by creating a Centre of Excellence for Agriculture at the University of the Fraser Valley and by pledging a presence at the five largest international agricultural conferences.

The party also wants to visit B.C’s liquor laws that make it difficult to move local wine across provincial borders. The Liberals commit to creating a “made in BC” program for local liquor, a “Certified B.C. Beef” label, and a provincial organic brand for agriculture.

At the social level, the Liberals promise $34.8 million for the “Success by 6” program to “support early learning, nutrition and family services” across BC.

The Liberals policy on food is more global than local, and further entangling ourselves in the global system to feed ourselves is a risky bet. While the promises to raise awareness for BC-made products is positive, there is a lot of showiness getting in the way of real food solutions. There is room for improvement when it comes to protecting our coast, small farms and the environment, making the Liberal platform lackluster on food security.

The BC Green Party

The BC Green Party takes food security seriously and makes both specific and general food security promises, and a lot of them.

The Green Party promises to encourage food businesses to support local agriculture, and will reduce dependence on energy and pesticide intensive agriculture and imported food.

Jane Sterk’s party promises to make B.C. free of genetically modified crops and commits to investing in salmon habitat restoration and revitalization, as well as creating a sustainable and robust fisheries industry.

A roundabout food security promise comes by committing to prohibit food-to-fuel production, unless that food comes from food scraps (so no growing crops to feed cars rather than people).

The Green Party links food security to health by promising to remove contaminants from soil, water and air by banning certain pesticides and implementing better labeling on products that contain carcinogens and genetically modified ingredients. They also promise to create a junk food tax.

Socially speaking, the Greens promise a Guaranteed Livable Income that will “ensure that we can meet all our basic needs,” directly impacting food security for low-income people.

When it comes to the food economy, the Greens promise to “change the way we farm.” This includes focusing on the local market by investing in the Buy BC program, shifting taxes to imported food, stimulating the provincial livestock and slaughter industry and helping small and organic farms grow. They also commit to protecting and increasing transparency in the Agricultural Land Reserve and investing in food ecotourism. They are the only party that mentions reforming milk laws that prevent the sale of raw milk.

Finally, the party promises incentives for urban agriculture and support for university-based food security programs, and promises to establish a heritage seed bank and seed exchange program.

If we are serious about food security, the Greens are making promises that would get us there. It will take a well-rounded approach like this that looks at food diversity, preservation and environmental protection. Instead of glazing over things like pesticides and local food, the Green Party has specific ideas about make BC food secure.

The BC Conservative Party

The Conservatives don’t specifically mention food security but they do promise to “introduce policies that support farmers, ranchers and others.” While the commitment is non-specific, the party’s platform says that the province’s large-scale farmers and growers work in an energy-intensive industry and face “unfair” challenges due to the Carbon Tax.

The Conservatives have a long way to go before they are even in the food security ring.

For all the parties’ platforms, visit here, and for more food security information and news, follow Elecia_C on Twitter.

Photo by Bernat Casero.

With the provincial election just days away, Megaphone Issue #129 highlights two important issues not getting much play on the campaign trail: mental health and justice for immigrants and refugees. We interview Downtown Eastside activist Harsha Walia about her struggle to ensure humane treatment for newcomers to Canada. Plus we discuss four actions the new provincial government can take, as outlined by the Canadian Mental Health Association, to improve the lives of people living with mental illness.

Also in this issue: W2 Belongs to Me splits up to create a proposal for getting the Woodwards space back; Megaphone vendor Ron McGrath pays tribute to a popular UBC homeless man; local artists re-imagine a 40 year old photography project capturing Vancouver landmarks; pieces from our writing workshops; and much more!

Laugh And Live Love

Laugh and live love, it is the way we were meant to be.

Cast out all your hate, it is a deception to being free.

There is no paradise with hate in the air

If you look inside your hate you'll find how it's unfair

We are all just one, every person everywhere

Cast aside your hate, and live love and care

Laugh and live love, it is the way we were meant to be.

Care about all you meet and you'll find harmony

Don't worry what others do, concentrate on yourself

Laugh and live love, restore your inner health

If we all just laughed and lived love, what a world this would be

So I'll laugh and live love, the first step starts with me

When I love my fellow man, I'm loving another aspect of myself

When I live love and laugh there can be no other wealth

Laugh and live love, it is the way we were meant to be.

Care about all you meet and we'll find harmony

by Raymie                                                                                    

Raymie participates in Megaphone's community writing workshop.

Goaltender Cory Schneider is the Vancouver Canucks’ main man between the pipes, edging out charismatic but inconsistent Olympic gold medalist Roberto Luongo while still managing to make light of their public pursuit for No. 1. Schneider has recorded five shut-outs on his way to becoming one of the most popular players with fans of the Vancouver hockey club.

The 27-year-old Boston College graduate is a smart conversationalist who pays attention to the world outside the rink. He effortlessly dropped a reference to baseball’s supernatural pitch, the knuckleball (“I’d just block it,” he quipped) during our interview and, later in the week, he mourned the shattered peace of his hometown following the violent attack at the Boston Marathon on April 15. “It puts it in perspective that the game is just a game when those other things are much more pressing,” he told The Province newspaper.

With the Canucks clinching a playoff spot but hitting a rough patch offensively in the first round, Megaphone reached Schneider while he was on the road to talk goaltending, this year’s edition of the Canucks, and his mindset entering the NHL playoffs as the team’s No.1 man. This interview has been condensed.

MEGAPHONE: Goalies have a reputation for being quirky athletes. Do you fall into that category?

Cory Schneider: I try not to—I hope I don’t! Some guys around the league might. I try to be pretty laid back and pretty normal. I have my things that I need to do to be ready, but overall I’m pretty approachable and easy-going and I think the guys appreciate that they can just talk to me and treat me like any other guy. They don’t have to worry about distracting me or throwing me off my routine.

M: You’re not too superstitious?

CS: No, no. Doing the same routine, some people may call superstitious but I find the way I get ready for games works for me so that’s the routine I follow. I really liked what he says here about guys knowing they can talk to him because they know it won’t distract him. That was a very interesting comment. I think it can go in. If not, this whole exchange can go.

M: It seems to me that the Canucks have a friendly locker room.

CS: Yeah, we get along really well. I think it all starts with the core group of players: the Sedin twins [Daniel and Henrik], Kesler, Bieksa, Burrows, those guys who have all been together for seven, eight years now. They all trust each other, respect each other and I think when you come into that room you have to follow those guidelines. We don’t have a guy or two who keeps to the outside. Everyone’s included. It’s a very friendly locker room.

M: Have relationships changed for you as your role has become more prominent?

CS: It’s been good. It’s been great to get to know some of these guys and even some of the guys they’ve brought in along the way have fit in very well. It’s a good mix of older guys and younger guys and guys with kids and guys without kids and so I think everyone sort of knows each other’s families at this point, you know people’s kids, you know their wives and girlfriends. I think that brings us even closer but, yeah, I think as I’ve become more comfortable I think I’ve revealed more of my personality and I try to get to know some other guys a little bit better.

M: By the way, congratulations on your recent engagement.

CS: Thank you!

M: Your goals against average (GAA) has been improving consistently month to month of this shortened season. We talk about the Canucks being a typically slow starting team and now that you’re starting to roll, what kind of momentum are you carrying into playoffs?

CS: It’s a good thing. We’re heading in the right direction. I’d rather us be hitting our stride and playing well this time of year as opposed to the first month of the season. In the shortened season, all the games count and we had to be sharp to start the year. It’s good to get on a roll like this and be playing the way we want to play. There have still been stretches where we’ve had a lot of injuries and not been able to play the way we’d hoped to, but I think we’re really settling into our lineup and our role and the style of play we want to engage in and you’re seeing results.

Like this article? Help support Megaphone's mission by making a donation to our spring fundraising campaign. 

M: Before you sat out with the flu, you were on a 9-2 winning streak going back to March. I imagine your growing confidence is one reason for your strong play, but what does it mean for you to now be solidly the Canucks No. 1 goaltender?

CS: It’s a good feeling. It’s something I’ve been striving for and trying to become ever since I was drafted by them almost nine years ago now.

M: How did you cushion your disappointment at the start of the season when the No. 1 spot was not exclusively yours?

CS: I don’t think there was disappointment. I think anywhere you play you need to earn the job, you can’t just be given the title and then go out and not play well and expect to maintain your job. That’s why this is the National Hockey League. Someone is always trying to take your job. They’re always looking for guys who can play better than you can. If I wasn’t playing well enough to earn the role exclusively, then that’s on me—it was up to me to be better and play better— nobody else.

M: At the start of the season we were talking about goaltending a lot and it seemed from the outside that it was a competitive and even tense situation, but both you and Luongo made light of this, for example, in a TSN skit. I’d like to know how humour has played a role in your relationship.

CS: We were always pretty easy-going about this whole scenario with each other and we’re pretty laid-back, lighthearted guys. I think Lu [Luonogo] started to reveal more of that side of himself in the past year and that’s usually how he is. He’s very serious about his job and playing hockey but when he’s off the ice, he’s always making jokes and not such obvious humour, which I think makes it even funnier. 

He and I have supported each other, we want the team to succeed whether it’s me or him. We ‘ve come to the conclusion together that we can both get the job done and we trust each other. I think that’s been very important throughout this whole thing and I can’t say enough about him and how good he’s been to me and how much he’s looking out for my best interests, not his own.

M: I think that’s remarkable. Do you think your relationship or bond, if you would call it that, is unique in the NHL?

CS: I’m not sure — I’m not sure how other people would react in this situation. It’s hard to say and I think this is just the way I’ve been raised and the way I’ve been brought up through this organization. It’s, you know, it’s about being humble, being about the team, working hard and getting rewarded.

Like this article? Help support Megaphone's mission by making a donation to our spring fundraising campaign.