Author Archive: liisah

Moments of Community and Labour History

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Walking Tour
Sunday October 27, 11am – 1pm 
Meet at Oppenheimer Park Field House, 488 Powell
Moments of Community and Labour History is a walking tour of twelve memorial plaques that commemorate perseverance, resistance and the struggle for inclusion in the Downtown Eastside. Join Jean Swanson (Carnegie Community Action Project) and Joey Hartman (President, Vancouver and District Labour Council) on a walk through the Downtown Eastside where moments in Vancouver’s labour and community history will be marked. People who participated in these community moments will also be on the walk. Learn about camping for CRAB Park, redressing the Head Tax, the death of Olaf Solheim, striking longshore workers being attacked at Ballantyne Pier, the soapbox victory for Free Speech and more! This is the first tour of the commemorative plaques since the project was completed and installed this past summer with funding from the City of Vancouver. Please wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather. The walk will end at Woodward’s Atrium, 111 W. Hastings. $10 for non-residents, free for local residents

Click for photos and video coverage of this event.

 

Listening to Truth, Seeking Reconciliation

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Talkumentary
Saturday October 26, 6pm – 10pm
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main

IRSSS-New-LOGOFollowing BC Reconciliation Week we ask “what does reconciliation mean to you?” Join Angela White of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society for a “talkumentary” evening with documentaries, guest speakers and discussion on how we as a community can move forward together towards reconciliation.

Guest speakers include Stephen Lytton, Sid Chow Tan, Grace Eiko Thompson and Sukhvinder Kaur Vinning.

Musical guests Iskwew Singers will perform songs that tell stories of our connection to the earth, the Creator and one another.

Films shown this evening:

  • The Language of Love (2011, 11 min) directed by Marie Clements, featuring DTES artist and activist Stephen Lytton;
  • We Were Children (2012, 83 min) directed by Tim Wolochatiuk, National Film Board;
  • It Matters: The Legacy of Residential Schools (2013, 5 min) produced by the World Sikh Organization of Canada;
  • Hidden Legacies (2013, 18 min) directed by Lisa Jackson, a young Aboriginal filmmaker;
  • Yummo Comes Home, A Residential School Healing Journey (2013, 28 min) produced by Don Klaassen and the Mennonite Church Canada.

Everyone welcome. Free

Truth and Reconciliation – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

 “To ‘reconcile’ is to weave a stronger and more vibrant social fabric, based on the unique and diverse strengths of Canadians and their communities.”  – Chief Robert Joseph

Truth is about Listening. It is about allowing what you hear to soak in. It is about each person making informed decisions on how that truth impacts them directly and indirectly.

The same with Reconciliation.  For each person reconciliation means something different. We each find our own journey to reconcile differences of opinion or harms that were perpetuated directly, or perhaps indirectly by our ancestors.

Messages from Reconciliation Canada –

“Let us find a way to belong to this time and place together. The time is now to move forward beyond sorry. The time is now to move beyond misunderstandings of the past that filtered into the present. The time is now to open the door to rid ourselves of preconceived notions of what history has wanted us to believe about aboriginal peoples of Canada.” – That shame, loneliness, hurt, pain and sorrow needs to be acknowledged but NOT owned.

“We have the power to be that catalyst for social change towards injustices of the past. We can build a strong founding relationship between aboriginal peoples and all Canadians. Through understanding, dignity, openness, hope and willingness for change.”

“For the sake of our children, past, present and future!” – We all have stories, and each of our personal stories are important to share with one another. – “Let us take this opportunity for all Canadians to renew our relationship based on a shared understanding of our histories and our cultures. Let us take this opportunity to begin to walk a path together for a shared tomorrow.”

– Angela White, Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS)

 

 

 

Afternoon Documentaries

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Film
Saturday October 26, 2:30pm – 5:15pm 
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
There is an abundance of video, film and media artists living, working and telling stories in the Downtown Eastside. For this afternoon’s program we are pleased to present films from accomplished filmmakers that look at stories of past injustice, celebrate the present and look to reconciliation in the future. Filmmakers and participants will attend the screenings and there will be time for questions. Free

film_42:30pm • Paper Sons and Daughters (2012, 20 min) Executive Producer: Sid Chow Tan. Director/Producer: Deborah Angrave
This bare bones documentary is compelling storytelling of Chinese immigration and family histories. Janey Lew interviews individuals who immigrated to Canada as children by adopting the false identities of others at a time when Canada limited Chinese immigration. These are very personal stories of family reunification.

3pm • Weaving Our Lives (2012, 18 minutes) Director: Raeanne Elkins, Williams Lake BC (Chilcotin, Carrier, Cree)
Produced in the spring of 2012 when Raeanne worked with Vancouver Moving Theatre on the Storyweaving production at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, Weaving Our Lives features interviews with First Nation elders and their reflections on the importance of Aboriginal Friendship Centres.

3:25pm • We Have Stories: Women in Fish (2013, 25 minutes) Director: Rosemary Georgeson
We Have Stories weaves together intergenerational accounts gathered along the west coast telling of the deep and enduring connections between Indigenous women, communities, water, and fish.We Have Stories asks what the disappearance of fish means for these relationships.

4pm • Tailor Made: Chinatown’s Last Tailors (2008, 60 minutes) Directors: Leonard Lee, Marsha Newbery
Modernize Tailors opened in Chinatown in 1913, and in the 1950s Bill and Jack Wong took over from their father. Over the years, Bill and Jack created suits for all occasions and for customers from all walks of life. Challenged by the advent of their inevitable retirement, this is a heart-touching Canadian story about legacy and finding a successor for Modernize Tailors, a special place in Vancouver’s history. First broadcast on CBC Television.

Iskwew Singers

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Iskwew-Singers-3

Music
Saturday October 26, 2pm – 3pm
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, 578 Carrall
Iskwew Singers: (pronounced Is-kway-yo) is a trio of Canadian Aboriginal women who create and perform songs in the plains tradition. The soaring vocal harmonies of Fara Palmer, Krystle Pederson and Sandy Scofield will soothe and uplift your spirit. Fara Palmer, blessed with a love of music and a powerful set of pipes, is a multiple award-winning Cree singer; Sandy Scofield, a Metis from the Saulteaux and Cree Nations, has invested a tremendous spirit, navigating and negotiating through a life dedicated to music; and Krystle Pedersen is a Cree/Metis singer, dancer, musician and well-respected teacher of Metis culture. Their music underscores a message of culture from a people who survived the multiple impacts of colonization. Each of their songs is a story, and the heartbeat of mother earth is heard through their drums. By donation to the Garden