In issue #96, Megaphone offers our own take on the failing "war on drugs" with an in-depth look at the history of drug use in the Downtown Eastside. Did you know there's a connection between Chinatown's opium dens and former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King? That harm reduction was first proposed in the 1950s? There's more to drug user activism and support than Insite, and in this issue we touch on it all to show how far we've come in 100 years--and how far we have left to go.
Everyone who went to school in Canada knows about the Group of Seven, but we remind you it wasn't all paint, praise, and poses for the artists, particularly Frederick Horsman Varley, whose story is featured in this issue. His tale of alcohol, depression, and poverty is one familiar to some of the members of another Group of Seven: the original seven Vancouver street paper vendors, who we pay homage to for their decades of work on the streets.
Also in this issue, we take a look at the DTES' Local Area Planning Process, wax poetic with David Suzuki on what is so radical about peace, love, and a cleaner environment, feature moving poetry from our writers' workshops, and more. Support your local vendor and pick up a copy today!
It just became a little safer to smoke crack in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, thanks to a Vancouver Coastal Health’s free crack smoking kits.
Starting in early December, five neighbourhood services began distributing kits provided by the health authority, which include shatter-proof, heatproof glass stems, a mouthpiece, a brass screen, alcohol swabs, push sticks and baggies.
“By preventing the sharing of crack smoking equipment and providing the heatproof, shatterproof stems, we can reduce cuts and burns to the lips of users and reduce the spread of infections,” says Trudi Beutel, public affairs officer with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH).
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This January, New Democrat MLA Jagrup Brar joined the ranks of the province’s poorest by deciding to live on just $610 for the month—the welfare rate for single, employable individuals. While some had decried the act as a publicity stunt, Brar’s month of scarcity offers us the opportunity to look at how badly the province’s welfare system needs to be fixed.
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By the third week of January, it's difficult to remember your New Years resolutions, let alone keep them. So to help remind and re-inspire you, Megaphone and Hope in Shadows vendors lay out their resolutions for 2012 as they work to get their lives back on track. Buying our magazine means offering our vendors not only financial support, but the basis for reaching their goals this year, whether that's kicking a drug habit or quitting smoking, to rejoining family members or focusing on social activism.
It's not just Megaphone making resolutions this issue, either. We look at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority's new program to supply crack users in the Downtown Eastside with clean crack pipe kits, which takes steps towards their goal to find out more about the users of this prominent drug. David Suzuki celebrates the federal government's resolution to create a national park in Toronto's east end, and writer Crawford Killian resolves never to forget the impact Chuck Davis had on the history of Vancouver, culminating in his posthumous new book The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver.
Despite Auld Lang Syne's instruction that "all acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind", Megaphone looks back on 2011 and our first public awareness campaign "I Work Here," this issue, with pride and thanks. You may have seen the ads on bus shelters, on TV screens, or caught the articles in the Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, or 24 Hours, about how our magazine supports homeless and low-income vendors. But it wouldn't be possible without readers like you, and we'd like to thank all who supported our vendors in 2011 and look forward to 2012 with you.
This past autumn, Sad Mag, a quarterly publication that celebrates independent art and culture in Vancouver, published a special double issue called ‘The Vancouver Queer History Issue’. The issue is a celebration of Vancouver's diverse queer art and culture from 1960 to present, and packed with profiles of the powerful and creative voices in the community. Included in the publication is a feature of two Megaphone vendors, Suzanne Kilroy and Charlize Gordon, who were courageous enough to share their experiences in gender identity in the Downtown Eastside.
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The Downtown Eastside may be home to our city's most marginalized residents, but that doesn't mean it's always accepting of people who live on the fringes. Just ask Charlize Gordon and Suzanne Kilroy.
Charlize, a recently-transgendered woman, and Suzanne, who's two-spirited, have bravely faced down myriad challenges ranging from simple homophobia to physical abuse while finding their places as proud members of the DTES's LGBTQ community. The diverse social makeup of today's DTES owes much to the struggles and triumphs of people like Charlize and Suzanne, as uncovered in this story from Sad Mag's Queer History issue.
Also in this issue: Megaphone vendor Peter Thompson profiles Arbab Mehrab, a successful hot dog vendor who works Peter's corner; the Pivot Legal Society defends social housing tenants in the Olympic Village who face unexpected bills; David Suzuki explains why the D-word is so dirty; and a few pictures from Megaphone's fundraising extravaganza Night of Joyful Voices.
Over the past year, Megaphone has grown to more than 40 vendors, helping more homeless and low-income vendors in Vancouver earn an income and work toward becoming financially self-sufficient.
But in order for Megaphone to be able to continue to provide the trainings that help our vendors overcome poverty, we need your support.
This holiday season we need to raise $10,000 to help keep our vendor program going. So far, thanks to our supporters, we've raised $7,000. Which means we need to raise just $3,000 more. With your help we can reach our goal.
Your donation will help pay for:
* Vendor training
* Gear (Megaphone hats, bags, badges, T-shirts)
* Printing the magazine
Please make a donation of $50, $100 or even $500 dollars this holiday season and help Megaphone continue to give the city's homeless an opportunity to earn an income.
Sincerely,
Sean Condon
Executive Director
Megaphone
P.S. If you would like a tax receipt, please make your cheque donation out to 'Hope in Shadows' and mail to: #611, 142-757 W. Hastings St., Vancouver BC, V6C 1A1.
In 1971, a single room in the Patricia Hotel at Hastings and Dunlevy Streets was rented out between midnight and 8 a.m. every night. The room contained two beds, one rollaway cot and about 20 people lying wall-to-wall, using the small room as a crash pad. Volunteers offered blankets and support.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Karen O’Shannacery roamed the streets and back alleys of the Downtown Eastside, making sure people knew that the small hotel room was available to them as a warm, safe place to sleep. Working with one other volunteer, O’Shannacery attempted to reach those in need before police officers arrived to “clean the streets”, generally meaning a night spent in the drunk tank for people found spending the night outdoors.
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Being a comedian is probably not the most effective way to obtain worldly riches. Unless you’re a Bill Cosby or a Jerry Seinfeld (or some other hipper, more contemporary mega-successful comedian working today), chances are that big payday won’t come through, at least not in a long running television network sitcom, the comedic equivalent of hitting the jackpot. No, these days, making the money by being funny requires loads of performing and writing, otherwise known as a lot of hard work.
That’s what makes Vancouver comedian Graham Clark such a remarkable guy: he gives up his talent for free, for those who need it most. And over the past couple of years, Megaphone has been one of the lucky recipients of Clark’s generosity on a number of occasions. That includes performing at last year’s fundraising event for Megaphone, contributing an article, and making donations.
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As the weather chills and the holiday season approaches, Megaphone #93 takes a retrospective look at Lookout Emergency Aid Society as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The organization has provided shelter for more than 11,000 people in the last three years alone.
We also profile local comedian Graham Clark—and his facial hair. The do-gooder funny man donates his comedic and artistic talent to a number of charities, Megaphone included.
Also inside this issue, David Suzuki uses logic to fight for nature; internationally renowned author and activist Naomi Klein voices her concern against condo development in the Downtown Eastside; and we have vendor profiles, upcoming art events, poetry from our writing workshops, horoscopes and more!
