Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. The show is archived at: www.gorilla-radio.com. The GR blog is at: gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com, and you can find and support the program at GRadio.Substack.com. Financial support is also possible through the Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/PacificFreePress. He’s too the past contributing editor to the web news site, www.pacificfreepress.com, (now defunct) and tweets at @paciffreepress. G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media. Some past guests include: M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, Ramzy Baroud, David Barsamian, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Paul Cienfuegos, Yves Engler, Laura Flanders, Denis Halliday, Julia Butterfly Hill, Sam Husseini, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Chalmers Johnson, Malalai Joya, Kathy Kelly, Ingmar Lee, Dave Lindorff, Andrew Gavin Marshall, Stefania Maurizi, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, John Pilger, Kevin Pina, Ted Rall, Paul Craig Roberts, John Ross, David Rovics, Joan Russow, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, David Swanson, Andy Worthington, Mickey Z., Howard Zinn and many others.
Welcome to the Year-ender show, wherein you’ll enjoy seasonally-themed blatherskite, music, and more.
It’s been a pretty strange year past, punctuated with highs and lows that, like the weather, have peaked with extraordinary insistence. I think it’s a trend we’re going to have to learn to adapt to.
As if to echo, the political climate has too been erratic. In British Columbia, our Spring time election witnessed the bizarre, Mugabe-like siege of the Legislature by the Liberals, taking months as it turned out to prise Christy Clark’s death-rip from the reins of power before a Summer swearing in of a government of an entirely new stripe.
Or at least, that’s how it was advertised.
But as Autumn turned, so did hopes the NDP would prove itself an alternative to the crony capitalist, BCLiberals. Just two weeks ago, the new premier announced the government would continue the course set by Clark and carry the Site C dam project forward – a project with more strikes against it than an English coal mine.
I hosted quite a few shows about Site C over the last year, (and previous ones too) most frequently speaking with Peace Valley farmer and president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association, Ken Boon. I’ll talk to Ken again in the second half of the show to get his take on possible next steps in the continued resistance to this disastrous turn of events.
I’ll also talk to long-time Victoria-based green business savant and horticulturalist extraordinaire, Christina Nikolic at the bottom of the hour, taking the pulse of the city and environs with the Left Coast Events bulletin for the X-Mas/New Year’s week.
But before letting go the scruff of Christmas past; in a recent interview John Horgan, as if to underline for any still thinking the NDP would change the province’s political course announced,
“If we’re going to be a government that governs for all British Columbians, we have to set aside our activism and start being better administrators.”
In the same interview, Horgan also said it wasn’t Christmas for him until he’d heard the Pogues song, Fairytale of New York. It seems a fitting companion piece to the beginning of the end of another failed dream of change in BC. Happy Christmas Premier Horgan, this one is for you.
11:01:00 4:00 Ini Kimoze – All I Really Want for Christmas – Putumayo Presents World Christmas 11:05:00 3:00 Blatherskite Intro 11:08:00 4:00 The Pogues (with Kirsty McColl) – Fairytale of New York – If I Should Fall From Grace with God
11:12:00 2:00 Blatherskite (Looking back/forward)
Past as prologue played large in BC in another way in 2017. Late in 2016 long-time environmental defender Ingmar Lee’s fears came to fruition. Ingmar has been on this show many times over the years, blowing the clarion of wise ecological alternatives to the economically-driven choice of policies made by concurrent governments and corporations. Typically, these calls are a whistle in the winds of the mainstream media maelstrom, lost in the veritable monsoon of brain badgering bafflegab and bullshit.
He’s been warning of the oil spill disaster where Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, 10,000 ton oil tankers barge up and down the harrowing BC coast, pushed by ships designed for the rivers and inland seas of the southern United States. He and his growing number of allies track these potential latter day Exxon Valdez’s, one of which, the Nathan E. Stewart he had written extensively about.
Sure enough, the Nathan E. Stewart grounded and sank, fortunately not bringing its thankfully empty tanker down with it, but still fouling the seas and coastline not twenty miles from Ingmar’s home near Bella Bella. This past November 30th, while the province slept, the Nathan E. Stewart’s replacement, the Jack Shearer, while crossing Hecate Strait in moderately heavy seas, separated from its fully laden oil tanker.
For hours, the crew of the ill-prepared tug frantically, and heroically, saved the barge from running aground and certainly being ripped to shreds on Gosling Rocks. Another narrow escape, but not near enough calamity to alter the course of the trade allowed to continue plying up and down the coast while offering Canada and Canadians nothing but the risk of certain environmental disaster to come. Sadly, the country’s federal government too “set aside activism” on becoming government, and dare not offer resistance to so obvious and grievous a menace.
11:14:00 3:00 Moody Blues – Story in Your Eyes – Every Good Boy Deserves Favour 11:17:00 2:00 Blatherskite Broadly
Naturally, the odious Mr. Trump, (or is that the “Naturally Odious Mr. Trump?”) was my newsmaker, if not person, of the year past. Not only did he feature on the wrong side of every issue of major import, but the media-hogging omnicon president has in his first year set a new highbar for all the low-lifes to follow him into public office everywhere. With his unrepentant mendacity, and unprecedented alacrity at using his trusted position for personal enrichment, Trump has set back the very idea of public service centuries.
Regardless of how much criticism he receives, and you can’t help but admire the breadth of enmity he attracts or the diversity of his detractors, it seems the end of Season One of the Donald Show is just the beginning of a sequel defying tranformational period for the United Empire of America Inc.
“Must watch” hardly does the spectacle justice, and sadly, “watching” is about all the Democrats seem able to do; mired as they are in scandals of their own, infighting, and outright collusion with the administration’s destructive foreign policies.
What this all means for the Season Two debut has me shaking in my slippers, and reaching for the popcorn.
11:19:00 5:00 Gil Scott-Heron – Working for Peace – GasCD (fade to b s-m) 11:24:00 4:00 Buffy Sainte-Marie – The War Racket – Medicine Songs 11:28:00 1:00 Cart(s) 11:29:00 7:00 Christina Nikolic Left Coast Events bulletin 11:36:00 3:00 Poalo Nutini – Cherry Blossom – Caustic Love 11:39:00 19:00 Discussion w/ Ken Boon
Welcome back to GR, etc. This is our Year-ender show. One of the year’s most frequently appearing guests joins us now. Ken Boon is a Peace Valley farmer and president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association. Ken and his family have lived at the heart of the resistance to the Site C dam project from the beginning. It’s a fight that’s cost him personally, but not nearly so much as it will cost all British Columbians should this ill-conceived third major dam on the Peace River be allowed to continue to completion.
“Welcome back to the program, Ken. I had BC Green Party candidate, Douglas Gook on the show last week. he says he’s not through fighting the NDP decision to go ahead on Site C; is there a way to turn this around yet?”
11:58:00 1:00 Thanks to Ken Boon, Christina Nikolic; upcoming.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Jolly Kwanzaa and a very Cosmic Solstice as we enjoy today the great turning of the Sun too! It’s normal at this late date to cast an eye back across the year’s happenings and accomplishments, and it’s been an eventful year here in BC, with a new government brought in – and brought in in such a novel way.
Many on the greener side of the political spectrum hoped the change would bring with it a new way of looking at the way things are done in this province, and my first guest may well be one of those.
Ray Grigg is the author of seven books on Taoism and Zen, and the columnist behind the long-running environmental column, Shades of Green.
He recently released The EcoTrilogy, a compendium of sixteen years worth of his weekly column, comprising the books, Ecologos, Ecopathy, and Ecocide.
Ray Grigg in the first half.
And; where British Columbia’s ecological record during the sixteen-plus years reign of the BCLiberal party was never great, the last years, culminating as they did with the Mount Polley mine tailings disaster, proved particularly destructive. So, hope for change was especially buoyant when the electorate discharged the Liberals in favour of a coalition government featuring, for the first time in the nation’s history, a Green Party component. But those hopes were dealt a cruel blow last week, when John Horgan’s New Democratic Party refused to stop the contentious, and ecologically deleterious, Site C dam project.
Douglas Gook is a Quesnel-based ecology activist and farmer who’s focused on Eco forestry alternatives in the woods there and beyond for more than forty years. The Nechako Lakes Green Party of BC candidate is a director of the BC Environmental Network and Spirit Dance Cooperative Community, and leads Forest Protection Allies, one of the many environmental organizations pressuring government to get effective cleanup processes going, and appropriate compensation for those effected three years after the infamous Mt. Polley spill. He’s also one of a growing chorus who do not accept the Site C decision as final.
Douglas Gook maintaining the fight against Site C in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events bulletin of good things you can get up to around here in the coming week. But first, Ray Grigg and The EcoTrilogy.
It’s been two weeks since the ATB, or Articulated Tanker Barge, Jake Shearer separated from its 10,000 ton tanker load of Alaska-bound crude oil off Hecate Strait along British Columbia’s mid-coast region. Less than a nautical mile from disaster, the stormy weather very nearly dashing the barge onto Gosling Rocks, where the result would surely have been the long-predicted Exxon Valdez-like ruination of one of the World’s most precious natural marine environments. Whether by luck, or some divine intervention, that disaster did not take place November 30th, 2017, but the threat remains, and it’s only a matter of time before it does happen.
Ingmar Lee is a long-time, BC-based environmental defender. From the Nanaimo watershed and first-growth valley bottoms of Vancouver Island, to the nuclear plant-threatened coastline of India, and the threatened shores and Sandhill Crane nesting grounds of British Columbia’s mid-coast, Ingmar has advocated for and stood between an increasingly fragile ecosystem and the rapine destructiveness of big business and its government enablers. For this he’s been arrested and charged in the courts, and had his name traduced and character vilified in the corporate and state media. Yet though he persists in defense of the wild world.
Ingmar Lee and the long fight for the embattled natural world in a special end of year Gorilla Radio presentation.
It became official this week; the International Olympic Committee says Russia will not be welcome at the upcoming Winter Games. This ostensibly due to what the IOC says was a widespread, and official, policy of performance enhancing drugs using, or doping.
But, is that all there is to this story?
The Russian government denies any such policy, saying the IOC is being used as an extension of Western efforts to isolate them, and to embarrass President Putin in the run-up to elections.
But is there still more going on here?
John Helmer is a long-time, Moscow-based journalist, author, and essayist whose website, Dances with Bears is the only news bureau “independent of single national or commercial ties.” He’s also a former political science professor who has served as an advisor to governments on three continents and regularly lectures on Russian topics. Helmer’s book titles include: ‘Uncovering Russia,’ ‘Urbanman: The Psychology of Urban Survival,’ ‘Bringing the War Home: The American Soldier in Vietnam and After,’ and ‘Drugs and Minority Oppression’ among others.
John Helmer in the first half.
And; the clock is ticking on efforts in the United States to stop again the once-defeated attempt to kill Net Neutrality, the principle deeming Internet service providers treat all data equally. Next week, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote whether or not to end the rules protecting that neutrality.
Despite broad-based opposition to the move from public interest advocacy groups, and some of the Internet’s most prominent corporate players, FCC chairman, Ajit Pai is standing pat on his declaration the rules are not necessary to protect users from what critics charge are the monopolistic tendencies of Big Data broadband providers.
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist, blogger, co-editor of BoingBoing.net, and former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. While still working with EFF, he’s also a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, and Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University. The Canadian-born Doctorow co-founded the UK Open Rights Group, and currently resides in the United States.
Some of his book titles include: ‘Walkaway’, a novel for adults, the graphic novel, ‘In Real Life’, and ‘Information Doesn’t Want to be Free’, a book about earning a living in the Internet age. His Young Adult novels, ‘Little Brother’ and it’s sequel ‘Homeland’ were New York Times Bestsellers, and join ‘Pirate Cinema’, ‘Rapture of the Nerds’, and ‘Makers’.
Cory Doctorow and once again into the breach for Net Neutrality in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events bulletin of good things to do in and around our town in the coming week. But first, John Helmer and stone cold political Olympic games.
720 Douglas Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8W3M7
Join us in the Oak Bay Room at the Victoria Conference Center for a look at the emerging design concepts for the continuation of the Active Transportation Network slated for: Wharf Street, Humboldt/Pakington and Cook Streets. Ask questions and provide feedback on the designs. Visit: http://arcg.is/2B7wKhV for more information.
1055 Canada Place Hall A, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3C1
Join us in dressing up as an inflatable baby for this years BC Dairy Industry Conference protest! More info to come. Email EmilyL@peta.org if you have any questions or want to dress up as an inflatable baby (costume provided).
1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6J 3J9
Join us for an engaging panel discussion that will explore one of the central tenants of MOV’s City On Edge exhibition: archives and their historically rich relationship to activism.
Exhibition co-curator Kate Bird will moderate a discussion featuring some of Vancouver’s cutting edge archivists – Ron Dutton of the B.C. Gay and Lesbian Archives, Bailey Garden from the B.C. Labour Heritage Centre and Vincent Tao of the Pollyanna Library & 221A artist run centre.
Admission: Adults: $19; Seniors and Students: $16; MOV Members: Free; Individuals who self identify as First Nations: Free.
Bios
Kate Bird worked as a librarian at The Vancouver Sun and The Province for twenty-five years. She is the author of City on Edge: A Rebellious Century of Vancouver Protests, Riots, and Strikes and Vancouver in the Seventies: Photos From a Decade That Changed the City, which was nominated for a 2016 British Columbia Historical Writing Award. Kate has been the researcher for numerous books, including Making Headlines: 100 Years at The Vancouver Sun, and Lilies and Fireweed: Frontier Women of British Columbia.
Ron Dutton is a retired librarian whose professional activism included establishing Carnegie Library in the Downtown Eastside; amalgamating existing library programs into Outreach Services for the sight impaired and homebound; and managing several subject divisions at VPL’s Central Library. In 1976, at the height of the gay liberation movement, he began collecting material that documents BC queer political initiatives, organizations, ethnic minorities, cultural and social activities, health issues, and art. The Archives has now grown to contain some 3/4 million items in all media, and is heavily consulted by journalists, academics, cultural workers and the public.
Bailey Garden is a social, political and environmental activist originally from Calgary, AB. She is a Project Manager at the BC Labour Heritage Centre, as well as the creator of the Centre’s Oral History Workshop & Guide. Bailey is an alumni of Simon Fraser University and has worked on a number of oral history research projects based around British Columbia, on a wide range of subjects including labour, land use, industry, immigration, diversity and more. Her oral history video, “Our Working Waterfront”, won 2nd prize in the SFU Blue Student Competition in Water, acknowledged at the 2015 Canadian Water Summit.
Vincent Tao is the Librarian at 221A, where he is responsible for the Pollyanna Library collection and associated programs. His independent research and organizing work concerns urban displacement and the right to the city. Tao’s recent projects at 221A include Notes on Political Ecologies (N.O.P.E. 2016); Rereading Room: the Vancouver Women’s Bookstore; Parallax Study: The New Romantics; and Deep Blue Open Archive. Recently, Tao took part in documenta 14’s an education program at Under the Mango Tree—Sites of Learning, travelling to Kassel to present and workshop the 221A’s educational programming. Prior to moving to Vancouver, Tao studied at McGill University in Montreal, where he was the outreach coordinator for a worker-run community kitchen.
City on Edge: A Century of Vancouver Activism is a photo-based exhibition exploring how protest demonstrations have shaped Vancouver’s identity. The exhibition is a unique opportunity to access rarely seen images capturing epic moments of Vancouver’s protest history from the Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers’ photo collection. These photographs are exceptional historical records of intense and transformative moments in the lives of Vancouverites.
808 Douglas St., Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2B6
Synergy, Surfrider and the City of Victoria are co-hosting a film screening that will spark the conversation about Climate Change. Join us at the Vic Theatre on December 8th for a film screening of Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, followed by the Grand Unveiling of the new Victoria Climate Leadership Plan, presented by Mayor Lisa Helps and Fraser Work.
Climate Change can be a daunting issue, but the solutions start with us. Following the film, the City of Victoria will announce the the new plan, Synergy present green economy solutions, and Surfrider will convey what we can do as active citizens to make change.
Let’s fill the room with movers n’ shakers who want to see Victoria continue to shift towards a more sustainable future!
This is a 19+ event as beer and cider will be available for purchase along with some of our favourite movie theatre snacks! Seating is not assigned. Doors open at 6:00 pm the film will start at 6:30 pm.
1415 Broad Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2B2
On Friday December 8th join us at the Victoria Event Centre for the annual NGO HO HO, the holiday party for Victoria’s non-profit community. This year’s event features Bučan Bučan, Victoria’s favourite balkan brass band, along with special guest DJ’s. There will also be drink specials, a photo booth, and most importantly a room full of people who are engaged in creating positive change in our communities.
This year’s event is hosted by SocialCoast. We look forward to seeing you there!
NGO HO HO 2017 Friday December 8th Victoria Event Centre Doors open at 9:00pm Tickets $10 advance (or get 20% off a book of 10) or $15 at the door No one turned away for lack of funds
Bučan Bučan, Victoria’s favourite Folk/Roots group in 2013 (Monday Magazine Awards), is a “high energy,” “spontaneous,” “not to be missed” Balkan brass marching band! Made up of a very colourful and talented collection of musicians playing trumpets, violins, clarinets, tubas, accordions, trombones and drums, Bučan Bučan has been entertaining crowds for the last five years with its variety of traditional, eastern European brass band tunes and original material inspired by Balkan rhythms and melodies.
This high energy group is mobile and often plays while moving around a venue, indoors or outside, making use of the different features of performance spaces while giving their audiences an up close and personal experience with live music. Alternately, the band is just as comfortable on a nightclub stage playing to a packed dance floor.
———————————————– TERRITORIES
This event is taking place on unceded Lkwungen territory.
———————————————– ACCESSIBILITY
The Victoria Event Centre will be completing a new and detailed accessibility audit at the beginning of December, and is working to improve the accessibility (and accessibility information) of the venue. One of the washrooms has recently been modified to accommodate wheelchairs. The on-site elevator is currently undergoing a recertification process, and until that process is complete we cannot consider the venue to be wheelchair accessible. The VEC will post updates as new information is available.
– this is a 19+ event – the VEC is a licensed venue and will be serving alcohol – washrooms will be gender-neutral for this event
*Please note* The timing for this week’s vigil has been adjusted, to coincide with the VCS co-presented workshop, Intro To Kingian Nonviolence and Reconciliation. Workshop attendees, please feel free to attend the vigil in the morning pre-workshop; or, we will have support on site for folks attending during the regular timeframe who are unable to attend the workshop.
This is Vancouver Chicken Save’s weekly chicken vigil at the Hallmark Chicken Slaughterhouse. We come together to bear witness and say goodbye to the chickens before they go to slaughter.
Taking it to the next level, we are also there to document any cruelty, ‘extreme suffering’ (ie broken legs, wings, wounds) or even dead chickens in the crates. With documenting we need close up as well as far away, meaning; footage of the actual event of bearing witness, the scene as a whole. We also have a presence out front on the NE corner of Hastings and Commercial. People are invited to hold signs & wave to drivers-by and open peoples eyes to the fact that this grey nondescript building is in fact a slaughterhouse.
Please join us in spreading the message of compassion and kindness!
Stay tuned for some other events happening this weekend.
New attendees: if you are joining us this week for your first vigil, please check in with Zoe, Meghan, Mick or Roy.
WHAT: Come join us for this transformational two-day workshop exploring Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence and the strategies of the Civil Rights Movement.
This workshop has helped thousands of people in various social justice movements as well as in prisons, law enforcement, schools and other communities understand the depth of the philosophy of nonviolence and conflict reconciliation.
If you are an organizer working for social change, an activist working to reduce violence in your community, a youth worker/organizer, or just someone who wants to learn how to resolve their personal conflicts better, this workshop is for you!
WHERE: you will get exact directions after you register.
This event is taking place within Lkwungen Territory.
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Victoria Health Cooperative Dec 12th Special General Meeting
We, a group of Wellness Practitioners and enthusiastic clients, established the Victoria Heath Co-op in 2008 to facilitate access by the clients to a wide range of professionally qualified practitioners. Very soon we were also providing services to community organizations including Our Place, BC Housing locations, public libraries etc.
In 2010 we agreed to take over the medical services previously run by the James Bay Community Project. We are proud that we have maintained this service, caring for up to 7,400 patients. But this has been at a high cost financially, in terms of community outreach and sheer exhaustion.
We now have an opportunity to hand over the medical service (the Co-op Health Centre) to Revive Lifestyle Medicine. Revive would make space available to the Victoria Health Co-operative to facilitate the wellness and community services that were our first priorities. The Victoria Health Co-operative will continue to provide services to its members.
We invite you, as a Member-Owner of the Victoria Health Co-operative, to participate in a Special General Meeting to vote on whether to accept the proposal from Revive Lifestyle Medicine. If you are able to attend in person, please do so. If you are unable to attend, we invite you to use the Proxy Form below. Scroll over the link to open the document.
The Special General Meeting will be held on Tuesday December 12th at 7 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Boardroom of the James Bay Community Project at 547 Michigan Street. We hope you will plan on attending.
To RSVP for the meeting or if you have questions that can’t wait until the meeting, please call Vanessa at 250-415-9272 or use the email address below.
Sierra Club BC Offices 301-2994 Douglas St. Victoria, BC V8T 4N4
Come join us for a volunteer orientation and work party.
Things are picking up speed here, and we have an urgent need for many volunteers over the next few weeks.
We launched a new stage of our forest campaign, and we’re racing against time to stop the rapid deforestation happening on Vancouver Island. Right now, endangered old-growth rainforest continues to be cut at a rate of 3 square meters per second. Find out more here: www.rainforestisland.ca.
We are gathering at the Sierra Club BC Victoria offices on Wednesday, December 13th from 3- 5pm for an orientation and work party. If you’re new, come get trained and if you’re seasoned, come meet our new recruits and help with our forests campaign.
Once you’re trained, we will take to the streets, educate the public, and get as many petition signatures as possible. Can you join us? There will be copious amounts of potato chips and hot beverages.
If you’re on board, please send me a note or text me with your availability.
1 Centennial Square, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 1N8
Council is looking for input from the public before finalizing in December. We need to hear from you!
What is a Town Hall? A Town Hall is a public meeting where citizens can come and voice their opinion on certain topics, outside of a formal Council meeting.
The Town Hall, with an e-Town Hall component, will be held on Thursday, November 30 at 7 p.m. and will be an opportunity for you to ask questions about the draft budget, and provide your feedback. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with an open house portion until 7.
The meeting will be interactive and webcast live. You can attend and provide feedback in person at City Hall, or from the comfort of your own home. The e-Town Hall component allows you to participate, whether or not you are able to attend the meeting in person. You can submit questions prior to the event, or in real-time during the event. If you submit a question but can’t attend the event in person, you can watch the webcast to listen for the answer.
Participation is easy! Just use any of the following ways to ask a question or provide a comment. •In person – Attend the meeting at City Hall, 1 Centennial Square •Facebook – Join this Facebook event and post your questions on the wall here. •Twitter – Submit your questions via Twitter. We’ll provide a hashtag for your tweets by November 23. •Website – Submit your questions or comments using the online form (open November 23) •By Phone – Once the meeting is underway, call us at 250.361.0327 and we’ll transcribe your question for you. Please note this number is not monitored prior to or after the Town Hall.
Find Out More •Read through the Budget at a Glance, Budget Summary, or full 2018 Draft Financial Plan at www.victoria.ca/budget
Due to time limitations and the anticipated volume of questions received, it’s possible that we may not be able to respond to all submissions. Questions will be answered by either Council or staff. Questions of a technical nature directed towards Council may receive a response from staff, and policy related questions for staff may be answered by Council. We reserve the right to prioritize first time questions in the event that multiple questions are received by individuals – if you have more than one question we would love to hear them, but may not respond to additional questions in they order they are recevied, so that we can hear from as many individuals as possible.
Please be advised that by submitting a question or suggestion, the information you provide will become part of the public record. The information collected and used is done so in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
1330 Fairfield Rd., Victoria, British Columbia V8S 5J1
More that 55% of residents in Fairfield are renters. Are you one of them? If so, we want to hear from you about the draft Fairfield Neighbourhood Plan.
Join us for treats and warm drinks to have a conversation about what the plan does to address rental housing issues in the neighbourhood.
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Decolonizing Practices for Community Organizations
2008 Wall Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V5L 1J5
Pacific Association of First Nations Women
Wondering how we can work together better? Let’s talk about that!
Diana Day, Oneida, and Michelle Nahanee, Squamish, of Indigenous Women Rise at PAFNW, are looking forward to hosting a workshop dialogue on Decolonizing Practices for Community Organizations. What is working and what is not? Let’s share some time to break down big words and good intentions into practical solutions. Everyone is welcome.
NOTE: We are now booked beyond capacity, thanks so much for your interest! Please sign up for the PAFNW newsletter for news of future offerings. The sign up button is on our home page: https://www.facebook.com/PAFNW/
8 East Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6A 1T1
Participants:
Ajay Bhardwaj Patricia Barkaskas Stephen Collis Hilda Fernandez Samir Gandesha Harjap Grewal Sanem Guvenc-Salgirli Adel Iskandar
Time to wrap up our Free School with a free-ranging discussion of the spatio-temporal dimensions of contemporary authoritarian politics.
* What do we gain, and what do we lose, by calling the contemporary nationalist right “fascist”?
* Are we today facing the uncanny return of 20th century fascism or is it a species of neo- or post-fascism, and how might we define that?
* Does contemporary authoritarian politics entail, as historical fascism did with its projected 1000 year Reich, a colonization of the future, or is the contemporary manifestation more concerned with preserving property relations in a catastrophic present geared to not just to the extraction of surplus labour but also surplus natural resources in the here and now?
*Do we see in the calamities of southern Europe, Greece in particular, the application of colonial techniques of domination through financialization and “governing by debt” to Europe that had hitherto been applied to the developing world, Africa in particular?
* What is the role of social media, alt-news and digital platforms like 4-Chan and digitally-mediated communications more generally in the rise of the alt-right and the triumph of Donald Trump; is this the time to further shake the institutions of liberal-democracy or do they need to be defended?
* IS it OK to “punch a Nazi”?
These are among the questions we’ll be posing to our panelists. Considering the weakeness of the contemporary Left, and the social media saturated environment in which we live, what is, in fact, to be done?
c/o 13340 Smallwood Place, #104, Richmond, British Columbia V6V1W8
Let’s head over to Rabbitats, a rabbit shelter and a vegan organization to help out!
Rabbitats operates a shelter and office at the Richmond Auto Mall (the vicinity of Westminster Hwy and Knight) housing around 90 mostly adoptable (and adorable) abandoned rabbits or their offspring. (They have another 125 ferals at an outdoor sanctuary in South Surrey). The Richmond shelter is a single bay unheated garage housing three colonies of rabbits. The heated office next door hosts our new arrivals and special needs bunnies.
Let us know of others that are joining you if there are any we need to know numbers
Bring a vegan dish enough to share for lunch ! This is going to be a wonderful day!
Join AV: Vancouver, Canada for Cube of Truth: Vancouver, December 3rd later on that day in Vancouver —
SAFER SPACE POLICY: This Safer Space Policy exists to facilitate an immediate response to any oppressive actions by attendees of our official events. Oppressive actions include:
• Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, species, size, class, ability, reproductive choice, sexuality, and gender identity.
• Promoting disrespect or violence towards nonhuman animals.
We strive to create a community that is safe and welcoming, and which prioritizes the needs of people who are typically marginalized by society. Please feel free to approach any organizer in confidence if someone at one of our events makes you feel unsafe. Whenever possible, we will confront people who violate the Safer Space Policy on your behalf. We prefer to resolve such issues through reconciliation, but as a last resort we reserve the right to ask attendees to leave our events.
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Cube of Truth: Vancouver, December 3rd
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3 December at 15:30–18:00 CST
5 days from now
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Vancouver Art Gallery (robson Street)
There is a mandatory briefing at 3:30 pm so please be on time. Also please dress for the weather.
Direct action street outreach and demonstration. We bring the information to the people in an attempt to break down unawareness and show the cruelty inherent in meat, dairy and egg production. We will also be offering the public the opportunity to experience life from a livestock animal’s perspective with virtual reality technology. All footage used shows the standard practices for animal-based food production in Canada.
IMPORTANT: Please bring a laptop or tablet if you have one. If you do not, please come along anyway; masks and signs will be provided on the day. Please wear black clothing where possible, though a black jumper is essential (preferably hooded). Please fully charge your laptop/tablet for the day.
1 Centennial Square, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 1N8
Lunch Time Lectures at City Hall This will be an engaging and inspiring talk in which author Monique Gray Smith will share her own journey and her families continued journey of reconciliation. She will share how these journeys have influenced her writing, specifically the three books that come out in Fall 2017. Monique will provide a couple short readings from one of the new books.
Monique Gray Smith is an award winning author, international speaker and sought after consultant. She is well known for her storytelling, her spirit of generosity, and her ability to fill a room with love. Open your heart and mind and allow her words to transport you to another world.
This lunch time lecture series explores city-making in the 21st century. What does Victoria look like in 30 to 40 years? How do we get there? Lunch Time Lectures at City Hall will provide doses of inspiration from near and far and will examine how, together, city hall, residents and businesses can seize the opportunities and challenges of being a leading-edge city in the 21st century.
All lectures run from noon to 1 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
1415 Broad Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2B2
Craft beer + Craft food + Good people + Good Cause = Good times!
Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and tanker project poses unacceptable risks to our oceans and waterways, our climate, local economies and communities. It must never be built. First Nations have vowed to stop it in court. People, businesses, & communities are raising funds to support their court cases and stop this pipeline, together.
All admission and beer sales go directly to Pull Together– a fundraiser for First Nations lawsuits against the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline. Learn more at http://pull-together.ca/
Doors open at 5:30 for after work drinks and an open mic. The event will keep rocking late into the night for dancing, munching, sipping and shenanigans!
Pull Together supports the Coldwater Band, Tkemlups-te-Secwe̓pemc, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and is organized by Force of Nature Alliance, RAVEN trust, Sierra Club BC and many passionate and dedicated volunteers.
This event will be hosted on the unceded territories of the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations.
This event is 19+. Beer responsibly: arrange a ride or take transit.
Accessibility:
The Victoria Event Centre will be completing a new and detailed accessibility audit at the beginning of December, and is working to improve the accessibility (and accessibility information) of the venue. One of the washrooms has recently been modified to accommodate wheelchairs. The on-site elevator is currently undergoing a recertification process, and until that process is complete we cannot consider the venue to be wheelchair accessible. The VEC will post updates as new information is available.
9811 Seaport Place, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4X3
Ocean Networks Canada: Where High-tech Meets the Deep Sea
Cabled ocean observatories permit us to extend our senses beneath the waves to make new discoveries with data collected by scientific instruments from the coast to the abyss. Despite covering more than 70% of the planet and having some of the world’s tallest mountains and deepest valleys, the ocean is largely unexplored and still holds many secrets to fully understanding our planet. How can we measure the changing thickness and extent of sea-ice in the Arctic? How do scientists quantify emissions from hydrothermal vents at the mid-ocean ridge? What allows us to deploy these sensors in the extreme environment of the deep ocean? Technology allows for exploration and aids in answering these questions.
Dr. Maia Hoeberechts started her early career dreaming about robots, playing with a soldering iron, and programming games on her first computer. She holdsa PhD in Computer Science from Western University and is the Associate Director, User Services at Ocean Networks Canada. Together with her team, she works to make big data from the ocean accessible to scientists, educators, and community members around the world.
Twenty people were killed last week in renewed fighting between the ethnic Oromo and Somali people of Ethiopia. Though the groups have lived harmoniously for generations, tensions have been on the rise in recent months, culminated in bloody clashes and a mass exodus of tens of thousands in September. Violence and intimidation in camps set up to shelter displaced members of both Oromo and Somali minorities chased from their respective homes is also reported. But why the fighting; and why now?
James Jeffrey is a freelance journalist who’s worked for various international media outlets, filing stories on business, political unrest, humanitarian crises, and the cultural pursuits of the people of Ethiopia, and throughout the Horn of Africa, since 2013.
James Jeffrey in the first half.
And; earlier this month, legendary academic, economist, author and media critic, Edward S. Herman died. Herman was best-known perhaps for his collaboration with Noam Chomsky on the 1988 book, and source of the tour de force documentary film, ‘Manufacturing Consent’. Herman’s passing comes at a time of unprecedented technological upheaval in America’s mass media, but how much has the corporate ethos driving the newsroom he and Chomsky wrote about changed?
Dave Lindorff is an award-winning journalist, author, broadcaster, and founder of the award-winning web news site, This Can’t Be Happening.net. Lindorff and Edward Herman were friends, and collaborators for a while at Herman’s website, Inkywatch. Dave’s book titles include: ‘This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy,’ ‘Marketplace Medicine: The Rise of the For Profit Hospital Chains,’ ‘Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal,’ You can tune in Dave’s This Can’t Be Happening radio program Wednesdays at the Progressive Radio Network.
Dave Lindorff and Edward S. Herman’s accounting for the mass media in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist, and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events bulletin of good things to get up to in and around our town for the coming week. But first, James Jeffrey and Ethnic Violence in Ethiopia Amid Shadowy Politics.
To say Gaza City and the Gaza Strip, that thin slice of remnant Palestine walled on three sides by Israel and Egypt, patrolled with deadly seriousness from the sea, and whose airspace is entirely controlled by Israel’s air force, is in crisis is labouring the obvious.
Targeted by a ruthless campaign of managed starvation by Israel, the so-called “Gaza Diet” has ensured an entire generation of children will be stunted physically and intellectually, while deliberate and repeated attacks by Israel’s military guarantee emotional trauma.
But, things in Gaza have taken a dramatic turn for the worse since political turmoil in neighbouring Egypt closed the Rafah border, and the military Junta there began a program of systematic destruction of the tunnels that had supplied Gaza with the necessities of life Israel’s illegal embargo routinely denies.
Eva Bartlett landed in Gaza with one of the only Gaza Boats able to break Israel’s blockade in 2008. She stayed on with the International Solidarity Movement, or ISM, as an accompanier in time to suffer the horrific Cast Lead bombardment, and to bear witness daily to Gazans’ tribulations in their homes and streets, in the farmers’ fields, and on the fishers’ boats, subject to the caprices of Israel’s naval forces. Eva will be speaking here this Wednesday November 27th at the University of Victoria as part of ‘Gaza in Crisis: Eyewitness Reports’.
Eva Bartlett in the first half.
And; Oak Bay council recently decided to launch an “experimental” deer culling program aimed at “controlling” urban deer. Predictably, the decision is controversial, and one group opposed to the scheme held demonstrations in Oak Bay over the weekend. DeerSafeVictoria says the cull plan is cruel, and will ultimately prove ineffective. I went down to the demonstration to talk to some of the people involved. Deer hunting behind the tweed curtain in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good to do in and around our city’s streets, and beyond too.
But first, Eva Bartlett and an escalating crisis in Gaza.
*Content warning: domestic abuse*
We know the facts. We know that women and girls continue to be more at risk of experiencing many forms of violence than men and boys. As a society, we must ask ourselves why and – more importantly – what can we do?
On November 23rd, two days before the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence begins (on November 25th), join Reel Causes for the VANCOUVER PREMIERE of the NFB documentary A Better Man.
This inspiring and courageous film follows Attiya Khan as she reaches out to her former abuser, inviting him to participate in A Better Man, a documentary project that sets out to reframe the complex issue of domestic abuse. The film screening is in support of ‘We Can End All Violence against Women’ BC Campaign and BWSS Battered Women’s Support Services. There will be a post-film Q&A with local activists working to end gender-based violence in the local community.
Tickets: $5 for Reel Causes members. Not a member? Membership is only $10. www.reelcauses.org
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This Living Salish Sea – Van. Premiere Fundraiser Pull Together
This Living Salish Sea film screening is a fundraiser to stop Kinder-Morgan expansion, (Canada, 2017, 95 minutes). At The Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St. Vancouver. This event is sponsored by BROKE – Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder-Morgan Expansion.
The film maker, Sarama, will be in attendance for a Q&A and discussion after the film. Sarama is an artist, diver, and environmental protector. Through extensive underwater cinematography, his film explores the rich bio-diversity and beauty of the Salish Sea and is a critical examination of why we need to protect this precious natural treasure from inappropriate industrial devolpment.
The film has been classified with a PG rating.
Tickets- suggested $10 donation at the door.
1882 Adanac Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V5L 2E2
Party with Pivot, all in support of the Pivot Foundation’s ongoing work fighting for human rights and social justice across Canada. Proceeds from ticket sales, raffles, and purchases will support charitable programs, projects, and initiatives aimed at ending poverty and marginalization for society’s most vulnerable. #PFJ2017
Café Simpatico presents
Digging Spanish Earth
A New documentary film screening and discussion by filmmaker Tom Shandel explores the rise of Fascism in Spain in 1937.
Friday, November 24, 2017
1923 Fernwood Road
Doors open at 7 pm, Music 7:30 pm, Film at 8 pm
“In 1937, Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens, together with Ernest Hemingway, traveled to Spain to make a film supporting the
democratic Republican Government against the nationalist/fascist revoltled by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the events which
would open the way to the Second World War. The Ivens film,
titled El Tierra Español, is considered a cinematic masterpiece, the
first consciously propaganda documentary, attempting to get
America to give food and munitions to the beleaguered partisans fighting for their democratic survival.”
Digging Spanish Earth explores the original masterpiece and
the consequences still evident in Spain today.
Presented by the Victoria Central America Support Committee (CASC)
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Elect Jean Swanson to Vancouver City Council
Jean Swanson launched a successful and memorable campaign for the Vancouver by-election held on Oct 14th 2017. Her proposals for a Rent Freeze and Mansion Tax shaped the debate in the by-election, and changed politics in Vancouver.
The independent/people-funded campaign finished second, right behind the conservative NPA with its still-undisclosed big money contributions. Jean’s strong showing is an important victory in a city that’s been run by developer money for too long.
But the by-election campaign was only the beginning of our movement.
The team of volunteers and activists behind Jean Swanson is kicking back into gear and is determined to shake up the City Hall in the October 20, 2018 general municipal election. Now is a great time to get involved!
Today, we’re writing to invite you to the upcoming action-packed weekend of housing justice, which Jean and the team have been putting their energy toward:
November 22nd marks the National Housing Day of Action, the same day that the federal government will release its National Housing Strategy. The government’s plan—like the federal housing budget announced earlier this year—is unlikely to put a dent in the housing crisis, so housing groups in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal are coordinating rallies to call for what we need. In Vancouver, there will be a rally and a march on Sat, Nov 25th, 12-2pm starting from 58 W Hastings St and ending at 105 Keefer st. The rally will be a chance to hear from different community groups from across the city about their housing struggles, to unify our demands and our voices and stand stronger together. Come, invite your friends and don’t forget to wear your Rent Freeze t-shirts!
Sat, Nov. 25th, 5:30-7:30pm: The Vancouver Tenants Union is holding a forum (@855 E Hastings) on affordability with anti-poverty and tenant organizers joining from L.A., and Toronto to discuss the crisis of housing, displacement and renters organizing. See the Facebook event page here.
Sun, Nov. 26th, 9:30-5pm: The Tenants Union will also hold its first convention and Annual General Meeting (@600 Campbell Ave), open to current and prospective members. It’ll be a great opportunity to learn about the work of this newly launched organization, talk about tenants issues and get involved in tenant organizing.
We hope to see you there!
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Performance as Medicine: Indigenous Performance Art Symposium
675 Belleville Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 9W2
Performance as Medicine is a one-day interdisciplinary and inter-generational symposium that will seek to present and explore Indigenous philosophies and contemporary expressive forms.
The program was developed by Iroquois Mohawk artist Lindsay Delaronde, who is currently the Indigenous Artist in Residence with the City of Victoria.
Register to enjoy a series of interactive workshops and a lunch, or drop in later in the day for a performance and a panel discussion.
Workshops will be faciliated by Krystal Cook, Bradley Dick, Jessica Sault and Sarach Pocklington.
This is a City of Victoria initiative, presented in collaboration with the Royal BC Museum.
•9:00 am – 3:00 pm, Workshops (registration required)
•3:30 pm – 5:30 pm, Performance and panel discussion
The performance is titled ‘Rage Flowers’ and is a collaborative work created by Erynne Gilpin.
The panel discussion is moderated by Lucy Bell and will feature, France Trepanier, Erynne Gilpin and Lindsay Delaronde.
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Ancient Forest Alliance Year-End Celebration and Fundraiser
Join us Saturday, November 25, at the Victoria Event Centre for the Ancient Forest Alliance’s year-end celebration to honour our 8th year of operation, and the amazing community that has helped us get to where we are today!
Enjoy some appetizers, drinks, and music with AFA volunteers, staff, donors, and supporters! The night will feature a fun and informative slideshow presented by the AFA’s Andrea Inness, Ken Wu, and TJ Watt, followed by a meet and greet, silent auction fundraiser from 5:30 to 8 pm and then musical performances from 9 pm to 1 am. This is also a great chance to pick up Christmas gifts like our 2018 calendar. Come join us for a beer, relax, and have some fun!
We are also very excited to announce that Oliver Swain will be playing at our event, followed by three local djs! Music bios can be found below. http://oliverswain.com
Tickets are available for the presentation and/or music performances.
EVENT SCHEDULE
5:30 pm doors open / meet and greet
6:30-7:30 Presentations
7:30-8:30 meet and greet/silent auction
Silent Auction ends at 8:30 pm sharp
8 pm doors open for 19+ portion of event
Presentation | meet and greet | silent auction (all ages): 5:30pm-8:00pm
$10 | $8 for students
Music Performances | Dance (19+ only): 8:30pm – late
$15 | $12 for students
Access to the entire event: $20 (reg) | $15 (students)
No one turned away for lack of funds!
Spaces are limited, so get your tickets early!
For hard-copy tickets, please contact 250-896-4007.
Interested to volunteer? Please email Amanda at canvass@ancientforestalliance.org
ACCESSIBILITY
If you require the elevator or need extra assistance, please call or email ahead of the event. 250-896-4007 or info@ancientforestalliance.org
DONATIONS
All proceeds raised go toward AFA campaigns and activities. Please consider supporting our event to help protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry.
MUSIC BIOS:
Oliver Swain: http://oliverswain.com
Award winning roots artist Oliver Swain Has as been a celebrated musician for years, held in high regard in acoustic and folk music styles for both his astonishing instrumental and vocal abilities, though he seldom gives the genre a fully traditional treatment. Oliver Swain strays towards the whimsical, the spiritual, and the socially conscious side of what he likes to refer to as “chamber folk odyssey”, and it’s these beguiling and provocative elements that make him unique as an artist and songwriter. Devon Leger even called him “The Zen Rock Garden of old time music” No Depression
Oliver’s most recent release Never More Togetheris a rich and sublime example of Swain’s personal obsessions; clawhammer banjo, bowed bass and slack key guitar style, and fascination with ethnomusicology. Modern rock and early R&B are curated within the traditionally-based songs, used as springboard into the imagination.
Oliver Swain got his start performing and writing with many of the US and Canada’s most loved roots bands including The Bills, The Duhks, Outlaw Social and The Red Stick Ramblers. He’s a two time Prairie Music Award (WCMA) winner, 3 Time Western Canada Music Award nominee(2016 Roots Artist of the Year) Juno nominee and has a few “M” (Monday Magazine) and Times Colonist Music Awards under his belt. In 2011 he released In A Big Machine, hailed as “Absolutely mesmerizing”and “one of the best albums of 2011, regardless of genre”, touring across Canada and the US including Folk Alliance International(twice official), Winnipeg Folk Festival, Calgary Folk Music Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, The Harrison Festival of the Arts, North Country Fair and Mission Folk Fest. Between his own shows and tours, Oliver is a busy side man with artists like The Fretless, Twin Bandit and Daniel Lapp and also runs the Victoria Django Festival each February in his home city. Oliver is also one half the Leonard Cohen tribute duo project Tower of Song.
C-Frets:
mixes roots, electronic and bass music from latin america to the balkans, bringing together folkloric sounds, hypnotic beats and deep bass for a deadly dancefloor combination.
Taquito Jalapeno:
an extraterrestrial DJ bringing the intergalactic sounds of fun to the people of planet earth!
THANK YOU to our Sponsors and Silent Auction Donors
Across the street from Holt Renfrew 737 Dunsmuir St
“It’s not fashion, it’s violence”
“Animals are not ours to wear”.
Direct Action Everywhere and Anonymous for the Voiceless Vancouver unite to protest the Worldwide Fur Free Friday (WFFF) happening on Nov 24th
Demonstrations happen across the world as the primary goal is to bring an end to the inhumane treatment of fur bearing animals worldwide
We hope you will join us to speak up for animals – fur bearing animals are mercifully tortured and killed in fur farms or trapped in the wild for their fur and skin many are used for blood sport ,as domesticated animals are likewise exploited for fur , meat and leather
The fur trade is cruel
You can read more about WFFF here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1439636269488623/
1:00 – 1:20pm Meeting and rehearsal
1:30 – Action
From here we will walk to different shops around down town that sale fur so don’t leave yet!
3:00pm – Coffee Social
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is a grassroots network of animal rights activists working to create a world where every animal is safe, happy and free. Through community building, open rescue, and disruptive protest, we are building a strong movement for animals.
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RALLY and INFO Night for Ancient Forests and BC Forestry Jobs!
907 Pandora Ave, Victoria, British Columbia V8V 3P4
YOUR participation makes all the difference!
The election of a new provincial NDP government has created the greatest opportunity in BC’s history to finally protect the remaining endangered old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry in the province! This is the government that is most likely to take decisive action to finally put an end to BC’s decades-long “War in the Woods” – IF they have the political will because YOU speak up now!
The new government is currently deciding on which direction it will take with its forest policies – to continue with the unsustainable status quo, or to overhaul BC’s system of forestry to ensure sustainability for ecosystems, First Nations, thousands of BC’s forestry workers, tourism businesses, and British Columbians in general.
Key Speakers Include:
• Arnold Bercov, President of the Public and Private Workers of Canada
• Gisele Martin, Tla-o-qui-aht Cultural and Environmental Educator
• Dr. Andy MacKinnon, Metchosin City Councillor and forest ecologist
• Jens Wieting, Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC
• Karl Ablack, Vice President, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce
• Josh Schmidt, Director of Development, West Shore Chamber of Commerce
• TJ Watt, Photographer & Campaigner, Ancient Forest Alliance
• Andrea Inness, Campaigner, Ancient Forest Alliance
• Ken Wu, Executive Director, Ancient Forest Alliance
And others TBA…
Why is This Rally Important?
Old-growth forests are vital to sustain endangered species, First Nations cultures, tourism, the climate, clean water, and wild salmon. Old-growth forests are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of industrial forestry, where the forests are to be re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.
75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on BC’s southern coast, including over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow.
A century of unsustainable logging has eliminated the vast majority of the biggest, best old-growth trees in the valley bottoms and lower elevations that historically built BC’s forest industry. This has resulted in diminishing returns as the trees get smaller, more expensive to reach higher up, and lower in value.
As second-growth forests mature and now dominate the forested land base, the previous BC Liberal government did little to stimulate investment in second-growth sawmills and value-added facilities to process the logs. Instead, they facilitated the export of vast quantities of raw logs to foreign mills in China, the USA, and elsewhere.
In recent years, the movement to protect old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry has rapidly expanded to include major support from businesses, unions, forestry workers, local governments, and diverse segments of society, along with environmentalists and First Nations.
You can send a message to the BC government to protect ancient forests and end raw log exports at: www.BCForestMovement.com
*** Volunteers Needed!
Do you live in BC? Can you volunteer a few hours of your time between now and November 27th? We’re looking for friendly people to phone our supporters (using a script and a list that we provide) to inform them about this upcoming rally!
If you’re interested, please email us at info@ancientforestalliance.org with the number of hours you’re available between 10am – 8pm and we will be in touch.
***Thank you!
YOUR attendance at this rally and info night sends an unequivocal message that the fate of BC’s ancient forests and jobs must be a first-rate priority for this new provincial government!
The Road Forward will soon screen at several locations on Vancouver Island and Gabriola Island.
The film The Road Forward follows the rise of Indigenous activism in B.C. and Canada and is told as a musical documentary, i.e. social and political issues are dealt with in seven story-songs, with a blues-rock score.
These are the next confirmed screenings:
Saturday Nov. 18, The Vic Theatre (via Victoria Film Festival, director in attendance) – Vancouver Island premiere
Tuesday, Nov 21, Port Hardy Civic Centre, Port Hardy, BC (via the Sacred Wolf Friendship Society)
Wednesday, Nov. 22, Gate House Theatre, Port McNeill, BC (via the Sacred Wolf Friendship Society)
Wednesday, Dec 06, – Roxy Theatre, Gabriola Island, BC (Truth to Reconciliation Speaker Series)
Monday & Tuesday,Dec 11 & 12 – (4 screenings) –CINECENTA, Student Union Building University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
The Road Forward is currently playing throughout the country on the #Aabiziingwashi (Wide Awake) NFB Indigenous Cinema Tour, an initiative to bring Indigenous-helmed films to the public free or at a low cost.
The clock is winding down, the moment of truth drawing nearer for the contentious Site C dam mega project in BC’s Peace country. Billions in the hole, and billions more promised to go down it too should it proceed, or be cancelled; now the new government in Victoria has to decide which way it will go.
Ken Boon is a farmer and president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association. His has been nothing short of an epic battle against crown corporation, BC Hydro and the former BC Liberal government.
But, the battle is not his alone, all British Columbians have a stake in what John Horgan and his NDP decide, as do their yet unborn children, and the generations that follow them.
Ken Boon in the first half.
And; perhaps no other entity embodies better all that is wrong and tragic with the corporate dominance of the world today than Monsanto. The “life science” company specializes in creating cancer causing poisons currently killing unknown millions, and yet none seem able to stop the Leviathan’s inexorable progress. As glyphosate, one of the key toxic ingredients of its Roundup weed killer faces a possible ban in Europe, due to a growing body of scientific evidence of carcinogenic effects, the company is pivoting to its newly “improved” product, Dicamba. Problem solved, right? Not quite.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events bulletin, bringing us up to speed with some of the good things to get up to around here in the coming week. But first, Ken Boon and the last dinosaur, the Site C dam.
More than six weeks have passed since the president of Catalonia defied the federal government, holding an independence referendum. The reaction by Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy was swift and definitive; declaring the upstart region’s government null and void and Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, (along with several of his party’s key ministers) criminals; and by decree rendering the independence movement itself effectively illegal.
Today, Puigdemont is in exile, out on bail in Brussels after being arrested on an EU warrant, and prime minister Rajoy has scheduled elections for a replacement government in Catalan for December 21st, Señor Puigdemont’s participation being expressly unwelcome.
Dr. Pablo Ouziel is a Post-Doctoral fellow at UVic whose project in progress is, ‘Towards Democratic Responses to the Crisis of Democracy in Spain: Forms of Participatory and Representative Civic Engagement.’
Pablo Ouziel in the first half.
And; next week Victoria will host inveterate American activist and singer/songwriter in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, David Rovics to town. It will be the first time I get a chance to talk to David since he dramatically dropped out of the US presidential race in 2015. We can now just wonder, if only he had stayed in the running, “What might have been?”
David Rovics bringing a world of politics and music to Victoria’s doorstep in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events bulletin update of good things to do in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Pablo Ouziel and an increasingly darkening horizon for both Spain’s and European democracy.
Every Armistice Day, pacifists and anti-fascists meet at Victoria’s memorial for the MacKenzie-Papineau Brigade. The “Mac-Paps” are those Canadians who defied their government to travel to Spain and fight the fascists during that country’s Civil War.
This year, Christina Nikolic went down to record the event for Gorilla Radio.
Here’s what wikipedia says:
“The Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion or Mac-Paps were a battalion of Canadians who fought as part of the XV International Brigade on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Except for France, no other country gave a greater proportion of its population as volunteers in Spain than Canada.[1] The first Canadians in the conflict were dispatched mainly with the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Battalion and later the North American George Washington Battalion, with about forty Canadians serving in each group. The XV International Brigade was involved in the Battle of Jarama in which nine Canadians are known to have been killed.”
If popular culture is good for anything it’s for providing a window on the zeitgeist; that ineffable yet immediately recognizable “spirit of the times.” Following my TV’s guidance then, the pervading essence defining us in this moment seems to be… the zombie. Brainless and soulless, devoid of imagination or self-awareness, though the maelstrom may rage about it, our zombie looks neither up nor down, but gazes directly ahead, able only to pounce on whatever happens to cross the narrow focus of its fixed eye.
Is it apathy, a feeling of powerlessness, or just the desperate need to ignore the impending catastrophe fueling our denial; making us now identify with the blissfully oblivious walking dead?
Dahr Jamail is a Truthout staff reporter and author of books, ‘The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan’, ‘Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq’, and, with William Rivers Pitt, ‘The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible’. His much anticipated forthcoming title is, ‘The End of Ice.’
And; this past week marked the centennial of Red October, Russia’s socialist revolution that not only shook the world, but shaped the 20th Century.
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist who’s covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Vltchek’s numerous book titles include: ‘Western Terror: From Potosi to Baghdad’, ‘Indonesia: Archipelago of Fear’, ‘Exposing Lies of the Empire’, and ‘Aurora’. His latest book is the freshly released, ‘The Great October Socialist Revolution: Impact on the World and the Birth of Internationalism.’
Andre Vltchek and revolutions remembered and those to come in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here with the Left Coast Events listing for good things to do in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Dahr Jamail and collective ADHD in the age of ACD.
Sat down to talk with Andre Vltchek about his newly released book, ‘The Great October Socialist Revolution: Impact on the World and the Birth of Internationalism’ (please see blurb below).
On 25 October (7 November, New Style) 1917, the day the battleship “Aurora” fired its symbolic salvo at the Winter Palace in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), the entire world was awakened to an absolutely new reality.
“So, with the crash of artillery, in the dark, with hatred, and fear, and reckless daring, new Russia was being born.” Wrote John Reed, an American author and journalist, who witnessed first-hand this amazing event that he then almost immediately celebrated in his immortal book “Ten Days that Shook the World”.
John Reed came to a simple and powerful conclusion: “Imagine this struggle being repeated in every barracks of the city, the district, the whole front, all Russia.
Imagine the sleepless Krylenkos, watching the regiments, hurrying from place to place, arguing, threatening, entreating. And then imagine the same in all the locals of every labour union, in the factories, the villages, on the battle-ships of the far- flung Russian fleets; think of the hundreds of thousands of Russian men staring up at speakers all over the vast country, workmen, peasants, soldiers, sailors, trying so hard to understand and to choose, thinking so intensely-and The Great October Socialist Revolution deciding so unanimously at the end.
Spain’s constitutional crisis geared up last week with the unilateral declaration of independence issued from the separatist Catalonia government of Carles Puigdumont.
Predictably, Madrid made good on it’s threat to turf out the regional government, and went further: arresting those in the pro- Independence leadership that hadn’t already slipped out of the country, banning the independence movement outright, and taking over Catalunya’s media, police, and government bureaucracy.
The lament going up today in Spain is for the death of democracy, a haunting reminder of the country’s not so distant fascist past.
Dr. Pablo Ouziel is a Post-Doctoral fellow at UVic whose project in progress is, ‘Towards Democratic Responses to the Crisis of Democracy in Spain: Forms of Participatory and Representative Civic Engagement.’
Pablo Ouziel in the first half.
And; the Pop-Up Prayer Vigil encampment has moved along to Saanich. The ongoing homelessness camp and protest site has been on the move weekly, spending the last few weeks at various locations in Oak Bay; much to the consternation of local authorities, residents, and an increasingly hostile local media. Chrissy Brett is spokesperson, and self-described “head cat herder” for the Vigil/Protest movement. I spoke with her a few days ago about what they hope to accomplish.
Chrissy Brett keeping a vigil for homelessness in the second segment.
And; activist efforts to ban the capture and incarceration of whales and dolphins scored a major victory in Vancouver earlier this year when City Council voted to ban the practice, despite intense lobbying by the Vancouver Aquarium and its industry allies. That victory wasn’t the end of the struggle, nor even the beginning of the end; but perhaps it was, as Winston ‘the Whale’ Churchill would say, “the end of beginning” of the campaign to stop world-wide the obviously barbarous practice of cetacean imprisonment.
Camille Labchuk is Executive Director of Animal Justice, an organization dedicated to looking out for the legal interests of animals, exposing cruel and systemic practices creating animal suffering both in the wild and in agriculture, and seeking meaningful policy changes to redress those practices.
Camille Labchuk and whales (and dolphins) for the saving in the final segment.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin. But first, Pablo Ouziel and Spanish democracy’s dark night of the soul breaking on an uncertain morning.
Sure enough, the Nathan E. Stewart grounded and sank, fortunately not bringing its thankfully empty tanker down with it, but still fouling the seas and coastline not twenty miles from Ingmar’s home near Bella Bella. This past November 30th, while the province slept, the Nathan E. Stewart’s replacement, the Jack Shearer, while crossing Hecate Strait in moderately heavy seas, separated from its fully laden oil tanker.
Regardless of how much criticism he receives, and you can’t help but admire the breadth of enmity he attracts or the diversity of his detractors, it seems the end of Season One of the Donald Show is just the beginning of a sequel defying tranformational period for the United Empire of America Inc.
On 25 October (7 November, New Style) 1917, the day the battleship “Aurora” fired its symbolic salvo at the Winter Palace in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), the entire world was awakened to an absolutely new reality.