Twitter Campaign Reunites Homeless Man With Estranged Family
A couple of weeks ago, USA Today reported about Underheard in NY, a project that gave four homeless people a prepaid cellphone each loaded with a month's worth of unlimited text messaging and a Twitter account. The idea is pretty intriguing: in hopes to 're-humanize' homelessness by focusing...
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Morning Meganews
ANGER MANAGEMENT City councillor says he gets threatening phone calls whenever there is a housing protest RAISING A STINK Delta, home of Vancouver's garbage dump, says that smelly gas is ruining the neighbourhood WARMTH Even with 100 cold-weather shelter spaces, some homeless people are being forced to sleep in sub-zero weather...
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Morning Meganews
POWELL PROJECT Oppenheimer Park gets a well-deserved upgrade—but what about the bathrooms? TEE VEE Those video display advertisements on billboard skirt around sign laws FOOD Except for the toxic wasteland, there's a great new urban farm ready to open SKYSCRAPERS Chinatown residents reject towering condo development EAT UP New Westminister...
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Morning Meganews
BUH BYE Big fish, no fish; small fish, exploding fish MISSING WOMEN Mounties have released artist's rendition of unknown woman murdered by Robert Pickton. Can you identify her? OLYMPIC VILLAGE Here's a way to make people buy those condos: sue them if they don't. YUM Some bold-faced-named chefs have been...
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Morning Meganews
BRAVO Members of the Canadian Forces can be vulnerable for unemployment, homelessness, or chronic medical issues after release, so a 'good show' is in order to Defense Minister Peter McKay for setting up five support centres across Canada VIDEO KILLED THE WAR ON THE CAR Journalist Frances Bula challenges people to...
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Dr. Julio Montaner Fights HIV/AIDS
In this latest issue of Megaphone, we sit down with Vancouver's Dr. Julio Montaner, who's pioneering work around HIV research has saved countless lives around the world. In our interview, Dr. Montaner calls out the federal Conservatives for trying to shut down the safe-injection site, explains why governments around...
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Who Loves You, Baby?: Explaining Vancouver’s most ubiquitous graffiti
Photo by TTCopley If you’ve been walking around Vancouver, and it isn’t raining, you’d be able to look up and see all of the visual art our graffiti taggers have created for our viewing pleasure. A couple of months ago, you would delight in finding some positive graffiti tags depicting...
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Morning Meganews
ANNALS OF ADVERTISING In a shocking story, a man who is selling condominiums says that he is stunned by the demand. Wow! You should buy now...because, you know... the demand. TAKING CIVIL LIBERTIES In the course of investigating missing or murdered women in Prince George, the Mounties collected DNA from...
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Honouring Their Spirits: Missing and murdered women live on through art
Dalannah Gail Bowen. By Jay Black. Dalannah Gail Bowen’s long greying hair is worn in a braid that falls over her left shoulder. Her delicate brown hands are folded in front of her and an understated ring—silver and opal—adorns her ring finger. She wears beaded blue earrings and a brightly...
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The Changing Face of Homelessness: How municipalities are tackling increasing hidden homelessness
Photo by Chris Bevacqua When we talk about poverty, we often turn to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where the health and housing struggles of its residents are obvious and well documented. But a tendency to focus the discussion on the inner-city, a densely populated area where urban poverty is highly...
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Morning Meganews
IT'S ALL IN GOOD FUN Former Vancouver Police chief is guilty of 'discreditable conduct.' Because he let it be known that the bus hired by Olympic protestors was being driven by a police officer. NON BELIEVERS Former Vancouver mayor buys ads in The Province and the Sun apologising to former Vancouver...
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Morning Meganews
OWN THE PODIUM Olympics pushed out homeless youth, says researcher FINDING THE TRUTH IS LIKE PULLING... SOMETHING BC Government is denying inmate dentures after pulling out his teeth against his will FINALLY, SOME SENSE Former councillor, and bike guy, Peter Lader comes out in favour of downtown bike lanes MONEY...
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Memorials to our Missing Women
Memorial for Sereena Abotsway at Hastings and Glen. Photo by Adam Krawesky. Over the past year, synthetic evergreen branches that spell out the names of some of Vancouver's missing women have popped up on the fences of abandoned lots in the Downtown Eastside. These subtle memorials, done by an...
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Morning Meganews
WATCHING SAUSAGE BEING MADE If the Mounties want to regain the people's trust, the next Commissioner should be the guy that runs Maple Leaf foods? PROBLEMS, WHAT PROBLEMS? Meanwhile, the media Mountie say, 'There isn't a lot they can do about complaints in the report, since many of the allegations...
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Morning Meganews
HAND ME DOWN WORLD Burton Cummings is upset that the farm near his Vancouver Island house is trucking in compost FLY OVER AND COME VISIT COUNTRY Even in the wilds of rural British Columbia, people don't like the idea of police investigating themselves SOMEWHERE FOR EVERYONE BC Housing promises to change...
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Morning Meganews
CALL MARTIN SCORSESE If you think we have gangs now, take a look at Gangs of Vancouver in history FINALLY Mayor of Surrey wants at-grade passenger trains ROMANCE IS DEAD Apparently, an abundance of pubs and golf courses makes Victoria Canada's most romantic city POLICE Woman sues Vancouver Police for policy...
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Taxing Times: Canadian authors tackle growing income inequality
Billionaire Warren Buffett was an unlikely class warrior last year when he said that rich people, like himself, should be paying higher taxes. It’s an issue that Buffett, the world’s third-richest person, has actually been arguing for some time—often pointing out that he somehow pays a lower percentage of...
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The Hidden Homeless: How municipalities are tackling increasing homelessness in the suburbs
Vancouver’s well-documented dearth of affordable housing has been the subject of spirited debate for years, but our tendency to focus the discussion on the Downtown Eastside's urban poverty can mask the fact that Metro Vancouver suburbs also face unique and growing homelessness and housing issues. In the last...
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Morning Meganews
PLACE YOUR BETS Some answers to some questions about the new casino IF THERE IS A DEPARTMENT, THAT EVENTUALLY MEANS LICENSES The City has set up a Department for Pedestrians SORRY, LADIES Victoria has put up one beautiful pubic urinal REVOLUTIONARY ROAD Meet Keith Wilson, scurge of governments ON THE BUSSES...
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The Changing Face of Homelessness
In the latest issue of Megaphone we finish our two-part series about Vancouver's changing face of homelessness. With rising real estate prices pushing more people out of the downtown core, Vancouver's homeless numbers have been quietly growing in the city's suburbs. In this issue we break down what Burnaby, Richmond, Delta,...
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