As low income and working residents of Vancouver continue to face the devastating consequences of an affordable housing crisis, many of us grapple with how this happened and how we can change it. Unfortunately an ugly part of Vancouver’s racist history is rearing its head yet again when media attribute the cause of the lack
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A Chinese elder’s commitment to the DTES community: By Mercedes Eng
By Mercedes Eng with translation support from Deanna Wong I recently met with Sheung Leung, a Chinese elder better know as Popo Su, and Deanna Wong, the Chinese Seniors Outreach coordinator at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. I wanted to talk with her because of her long-time commitment to the DTES community. Many of the
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Una crisis de vivienda en los campos de Canada: Por la Alianza de Trabajadores Agricolas
Por la Alianza de Trabajadores Agrícolas, Centro de Apoyo de Surrey La proxima vez que usted visite Richmond, Surrey, Langley, el Valle del Okanagan, o cualquier lugar en BC, preste atención a los campos donde nuestros alimentos están siendo sembrados y cultivados. ¿Alguna vez ha notado los trabajadores que laboran duro para poner esa comida
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A housing crisis in Canadian fields: By the Agricultural Workers’ Alliance
By the Agricultural Workers’ Alliance – Surrey Support Centre The next time you visit Richmond, Surrey, Langley, the Okanagan Valley, or other places in BC, pay attention to the fields where our food is being grown and harvested. Have you ever noticed the workers toiling to put that food on our tables? Would you have
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Make Vancouver a Sanctuary City Today – Make No One Illegal Tomorrow!: By Ivan Drury
Downtown Eastside residents without citizenship status can’t get welfare, don’t qualify for social housing or most homeless shelters, risk deportation if they go to health clinics or the hospital, and are vulnerable to racist police (and immigration officer) harassment and brutality. A recent ruling by Toronto City Council declaring Toronto a “Sanctuary City” might offer
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Immigration officers are unwanted visitors in the Downtown Eastside: By Byron Cruz
Beware, beware! Pay your ticket when using the Sky Train or the transit officers will ask you for your name and they will communicate with immigration officers. An undocumented worker was beaten in the head (a hate crime). He was taken unconscious to hospital, and suddenly woke up to realize that beside his bed there
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.