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Therese Lulf

Articles by Therese Lulf

$12,000 for a chair

A Very Chilling & Alarming Contrast!

I think we have now come full circle with the insanity and cruelty known as gentrification. There is no room for doubt about the message that is being sent to this neighborhood: “We do not care about you, nor do we care for you.” There are two furniture stores and one restaurant all within two blocks: Blood Alley, Abbott Street, and Water Street. Salt restaurant in Blood Alley, Inform Furniture store at 50 Water Street, and Mountauk Sofa at 228 Abbott Street. (…)

The many faces of the Pidgin Picket (pic. Tami Starlight)

Displaced & then replaced

We, the displaced, and about to be displaced, are wondering what happened to some of our neighbours. We feel totally disconnected from some of them, and for all we know, they could have been beaten, become sick from exposure, or locked up.  We visit Pigeon Park for some companionship, and also in the hope to hear some news about our evicted, now lost friends.Our visits with one another in that little park are important to us, as we have very tiny rooms if we have one at all. Other than that we could be using a shelter, which as everyone knows, is not a home. (…)

 

   
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1
Sad Siren Song: By Tracey Morrison

― February 12, 2017

Community Spotlight: Jean Swanson

For our issue on the BC Liberal legacy, Volcano editors turned to our Community Spotlight on a legacy of our own to highlight her over 40 years of anti-poverty work. Jean Swanson is an editor with The Volcano alongside her work with the Carnegie Community Action Project. She previously worked with the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association (DERA) and is the author of a book titled Poorbashing: The Politics of Exclusion.

You’ve been active in anti-poverty work for a long time. What has been the biggest realization that you have had with regards to poverty in this province? Has your understanding or approach to government changed over time and through experience?

My approach to government has definitely changed. Back in 1979, I actually ran as an NDP MLA candidate because I thought being involved in electoral politics was a way of implementing the things you’ve been fighting for in the community. I ran with COPE for city council too, along with my co-workers Bruce Eriksen and Libby Davies, who were elected. In those days it seemed possible to get city council to do some good things for the Downtown Eastside if we worked hard at it: fund the Carnegie Centre, pass a Standards of Maintenance bylaw, put sprinklers in the hotels.

In the early 90s, after the NDP cut welfare and brought in a whole poorbashing framework to justify it, I couldn’t bring myself to vote at all, let alone run for office.

Read more about Jean Swanson's commitment to anti-poverty organizing here.

The Volcano is published on traditional, ancestral, and unceded Coast Salish Territories.

Alliance Against Displacement: The Volcano is affiliated with the Alliance Against Displacement, a pan-regional anti-displacement network of local communities, organizations, and activists fighting displacement on the ground.

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