The time is now for a Canada Disability Benefit. My good friend Al Etmanski has been hard at work for many years to reduce/eliminate the poverty experienced by 1.4 million disabled Canadians. We should never count our chickens before they hatch, but victory may be just around the corner. Most parties in the current federal…
Category: equity
The uncertain future of False Creek South
In the early 1970s, Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association (NPA) lost its control of City Council. A new party led by Mayor Art Phillips, The Electors Action Movement (TEAM) came to power. My mentor Harry Rankin, who was on City Council at that time, described TEAM as simply a fresher, slicker, younger version of the NPA. While…
The legacy of residential schools is not history
Content warning: This story has disturbing details about Indian residential schools. Survivors and their families can call the toll-free National Indian Residential School Crisis Hotline at 1-866-925-4419. On Thursday, May 27, Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced that they had located the unmarked burial sites of 215 children on the site…
Pinpointing what’s possible when it comes to vaccines
On the COVID-19 front, I’m delighted to share some great personal news! Out of the blue the other day, I got a call from Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre, which is part of Vancouver Coastal Health. Would I like a nurse to come to my home the next day to give me the vaccine? Of…
Re-thinking world hunger
As you know, my partner, Penny, and I are big fans of Democracy Now! It’s a daily global news hour with Juan González and Amy Goodman, who, once again, opened our eyes to a hugely important issue. Their recent show, Food is the Pathway to Peace, featured the UN’s World Food Programme — the largest…
Make a commitment to change!
Here we are in the holiday season with its many celebrations and events coming up. This has been a challenging year. But we’ll all do our best to follow Dr. Bonnie Henry’s sensible advice and keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. So I’d like to remind us all about a few action items. Close…
Help stop The Ice Pick for good. It insults us all!
The Toronto-based developers like to describe it in terms of origami for its so-called “folded planes”. But just about everybody I know calls it The Ice Pick for its cold indifference to its surroundings, and how it stabs at the heart of our city’s most iconic district. We all thought the dreaded Ice Pick project…