Last week I meant to add a note that the Centre for Inquiry Canada has issued a press release about the fact that Pattison Outdoor Advertising had rejected their fairly inoffensive new billboard campaign in Vancouver. A pretty slick ad that’s pretty hard to find fault with. I’ll skip over
Continue readingTag: Vancouver
Terahertz: Vancouver too expensive, not over-taxed
It must be easy to write right-wing anti-tax screeds when you don’t have to actually research any facts. Take for example, this new piece in the Vancouver Sun which blames the local tax system for “scaring off potential businesses.” Author Roslyn Kunin notes that 46 new businesses were licenses in
Continue readingMelissa Fong: “Micro-brothels” in BC: Are we still criminalizing prostitution?
“Micro-brothels” in BC: Are we still criminalizing prostitution? The short answer: YES. Now the long answer: I’ve seen a couple articles in Vancouver’s 24hr News about how micro-brothels are a booming and we should be really scared because micro-brothels are dangerous. See here and here. First article: Sex-worker activist Sue
Continue readingArt Threat: Allegheny, BC: transformative theatre that shirks corporate culture
With six internationally acclaimed albums and a well-received book of poetry to his name, Rodney DeCroo is turning his talents to the theatre. I met with Mr. DeCroo in Vancouver at a Commercial Drive café in late August and talked with him about his current project. Allegheny, BC, directed by
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Minimum Wage: Not Just for Kids Anymore!
The 1% and their media apologists and think tank lackeys would have us all believe that minimum wage is for kids. It’s for unskilled labour in entry level jobs.And it’s ok. We shouldn’t worry. They’re just kids after all: no families or mortgages. They don’t have much training or life
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Vancouver Sun Letter
A letter of mine in the Vancouver Sun today, this one about the “Disappearing Palestine” ads on public transit here in the city. I try to defend the ads against the absurd charge that they target Jews. Click here to read it. Filed under: Ethnicity, Letters to the Editor, Middle
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to TransLink Regarding the “Disappearing Palestine” Ads
Dear TransLink: I am writing to express my wholehearted support for your decision to display the pro-Palestinian transit ads recently unveiled at the Vancouver City Centre Skytrain station and on several buses. The ads offer an important perspective that needs to be heard as part of any informed debate on
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: At The Squamish Nation Powwow This Weekend!
Enrich your understanding at the Squamish Nation Powwow this weekend. In the quest for a better Canada, one that is more democratic, inclusive, consultative and less rejecting of science and climate change realities, it is important to reach out. Sovereignty Summer is part of that movement, coming out of Idle
Continue readingThings Are Good: 15-Year Study: Stop Drug Use Through Harm Reduction
The American style “war on drugs” undoubtably ruins more lives than it saves (all while militarizing North American police forces), yet some people think that punishing drug users is sound policy. Research is continually adding more evidence that approaching drug consumption as a health issue and not a criminal one
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Anti-Gentrification Pidgin Protesting: Bad Urban Planning but Potential for Good Social Movement Building
This is a fifth instalment to the gentrification series- discussing the Protests and pickets in Vancouver’s DTES Thus far I haven’t been too clear about where my commitments lie. I understand both sides. Team Anti-gentrification/ CCAP/ Homeless Dave/ Poor people’s movement/ DTES advocate: They are locally organizing against some larger scale problems,
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Vancity & Anti-gentrification CCAP Protests in DTES: When social economy work gets messy
Vancity is a co-operative [2] bank that has been a long time funder of the Carnegie Community Action Project. On April 13th Vancity released a statement on their stance on CCAP Protests in the DTES. After a lengthy non-committal statement about their stance on housing and the gentrification of the
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Vancouver symposium explores commodification of Aboriginal culture
By: Simon Fraser University | Press Release: Simon Fraser University archaeology professor George Nicholas is joining international scholars at a Vancouver symposium May 2 to explore the commodification of Aboriginal culture. “The abundance of souvenir totem poles and inukshuks in many shops locally often makes it difficult for tourists and locals alike to
Continue readingknitnut.net: Seamy Underbelly, Part II
Visiting the Downtown Eastside (DTES) has churned up some contradictions for me, and resolving those contradictions requires re-thinking some questions I thought I already knew the answers to: 1) To what extent do people choose to live in the DTES, and to what extent are they stuck there? 2) Does
Continue readingknitnut.net: My visit to the seamy underbelly
At the harbour, outside my hotel So…I went to Vancouver for a whirlwind business trip. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and left Friday morning. I was working most of the time, but I did have two more-or-less free evenings, so I did what I could to cram Vancouver in. I hadn’t
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Eliminating clubland: Planning for the right dance & social spaces in the city
Eliminating clubland: Planning for the right dance & social spaces in the city I’m going to respond to this article from an Urban Planning point of view, but also from a Feminist and “dance-positive” point of view [2]. This month I have been dreading my move back to Vancouver –
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: CAW Reaches Tentative Agreement with Dynamex
By: Canadian Auto Workers Union | Press Release: VANCOUVER, April 2, 2013 – The Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) has reached and signed a tentative agreement with Dynamex, a division of Montreal-based transportation conglomerate TransForce Inc. (TFI-T). CAW Local 114 represents 240 workers at one of the largest bargaining units at Dynamex covering Vancouver and the surrounding
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Will new businesses help the DTES?: A much needed lesson on the definition of gentrification
Apparently it looks like this has become a series on Gentrification in the DTES: 1) Are the Anti-Gentrification Front protesters wrong to “vandalize” Save-on-Meats? 2) Anarchy, the Anti-Gentrification Front and Violence I am still quite shocked that there seems to be a general lack of understanding that DISPLACEMENT of poor people is a central
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Anarchy, the Anti-Gentrification Front and Violence
Now, I never passed Anarchy 101 and have never painted a haphazard “A” within a circle in red paint. Ever. Never even thought about it. But I’m going to take a stab at understanding the logic behing the Anti-Gentrification Front and other groups associated with Anarchy. Now, I’m trying to
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Pidgin Picket, the Housing Crisis and the State
The Role of The State in Gentrification, the Housing Crisis, and its Ability to Relieve or Maintain the Current Situation by Rachel Goodine Pidgin, a new fine-dining restaurant located on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, moved in to the neighbourhood on February 1 of this year, prompting plenty of controversy. It’s
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Are the Anti-Gentrification Front protesters wrong to “vandalize” Save-on-Meats?
My facebook feed went crazy last night with my Vancouver friends posting about a stolen sandwich board. Why is this important? Context: Save-on-Meats is kind of an iconic butcher in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A long time retailer that had mixed reviews has now invested some capital into their business and,
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