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© Lutheran Urban Mission Society ~ Updated March 27, 2011 ~ Designed & managed by our Web Servant
Check the stophomelessness website
for their latest news and resources
Click to find Recent News (google.ca) about ...
Visit Poverty Reducation BC for the following ...
A renewed call for a BC Poverty Reduction Plan
Where do the political parties stand on poverty reduction in BC?
The 2010 Child Poverty Report Card and a Memo to the New Premier on Familes First
New Living Wage Numbers
(March 2011) the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families Campaign, the CCPA, and First Call, released the 2011 Metro Vancouver Living Wage update. In 2008, the CCPA, First Call and Victoria’s Community Council published the inaugural report Working for a Living Wage. That report calculated that the living family wage was $16.74/hour in Metro Vancouver, and $16.39/hour in Metro Victoria. Since then, however, family costs have continued to rise and changes have occurred to government taxes and transfers. A new report reveals the 2011 living wage calculations –– now $18.81/hour for Metro Vancouver and $18.03/hour in Metro Victoria. You can find the update, as well as the calculation guide and spreadsheet for other communities wanting to replicate the methodology.
Two Upcoming Public Forums on Living Wages and Child Poverty in Vancouver and Surrey!
- Vancouver - Monday April 11 • 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Moderated by Dr. Clyde Hertzman
Alice McKay Room - Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver - Surrey - Tuesday April 12th• 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Moderated by: To be confirmed
Theatre 2600, SFU Surrey, 250 - 13450 – 102 Avenue, Surrey
At these forums you will have the opportunity to find out more about what a living wage means and how it can benefit parents and children trying to live on low wages. You will hear about how New Westminster passed the first Living Wage Policy in Canada in 2010. You will hear about businesses that have committed to pay all their direct and indirect staff a living wage. You will also hear from our SPECIAL GUEST, DEBORAH LITTMAN of LONDON CITIZENS (London, UK). London, UK has had a Living Wage policy for over 5 years and next year’s Summer Olympics in London will be the first Living Wage Olympics!
Whether you are a service provider, a member of a faith group, a business owner, an immigrant, a low wage parent or an elected official we would love you to come along to join the dialogue. And please tell your friends and colleagues by circulating the forum fliers as far and wide as you can (download the Vancouver <http://firstcallbc.org/pdfs/lw/vancouver%20forum.pdf> and Surrey <http://firstcallbc.org/pdfs/lw/surrey%20forum.pdf> flyer). Fliers translated into Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese will be available early next week at <http://www.livingwageforfamilies.ca/> .
Tue, 8 Mar 2011 18:56:38 -0800
Subject: Join the fight to stop condo towers in Chinatown!
Lots of organizing happening here to oppose 12-15 storey towers in Chinatown.
City council's public hearing on raising heights for condo towers throughout Chinatown is just 10 days away and the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council is fighting for the soul of the city. It is becoming clear that the stakes are that high: An increase in condo tower heights will drive up rents for the 1,000 low-income people who live in Chinatown and for the many more who live in surrounding sub-areas of the DTES. An increase in condo tower heights will push up rents and leases in storefronts too, and stores that served the historic low-income community will be replaced with stores for condo owners. The streets will be policed against the bodies of poor people for the enjoyment of middle class and rich shoppers and condo owners.
But it's not too late to stop them.
The community statement against the condo towers plan has been endorsed by 29 local groups and 8 DTES businesses. We have collected close to a thousand signatures on petitions on the streets of Chinatown and through knocking on doors of low-income housing units throughout Chinatown. We are organizing a series of community meetings about the towers in partnership with Chinese seniors' outreach and support workers. We are witnessing the emergence of a voice of Chinatown that City Hall has pretended does not exist -- a voice that is expressing the unique needs, assets, ideas, and dreams of a community that is rich with Chinese seniors, families, and low-income singles who live together and make up one of the most diverse, complicated... and vulnerable communities in Vancouver.
A sign of the momentum building around the Chinatown condo towers fight is that we have been collecting statements from influential figures. See these statements:
Jenny Kwan and Libby Davies:
Building Communities Society (Mike Harcourt and Ray Spaxman's
group):
And this article from Gabriel Yiu:
The community resolution and list of endorsers
is here
The DNC is helping to organize a Chinatown Residents Committee meeting this Saturday, March 12th, 3pm at the Carnegie Centre Theatre to give a tangible form to that voice and to make it impossible for Council to say again that there is unanimous support in Chinatown for the condo towers plan. Council will not be able again to argue that Chinatown, alone in the DTES, does not need a local area plan to protect the low-income community before they encourage expensive condo development and gentrification.
Over the next 10 days we will be reaching out to the community in Chinatown to invite Chinatown residents to come together and add all their voices to a unified community response to the city's Chinatown Condo Towers Plan.
To help with this effort:
- Volunteer! See the DNC March calendar of actions and events. Write to dtescouncil@gmail.com to sign up for any of these actions. If you have some time, please send your calendar of availability to the above email address and we'll contact you with times.
- Sign the petition! The DNC has put up an online petition here. Or download a paper copy to print and distribute.
- Sign up to speak at the public hearing! The date of the public hearing has been announced for March 17th... register to speak! Call the city clerk’s office to register: 604-873-7268; or email tina.hildebrandt@vancouver.ca You just have to leave a message with your name, address, contact info, and the topic that you want to speak to. You can say "I want to sign up to speak about the Chinatown Historic Area Heights Review recommendations on March 17th. My name is ______, and I live at ______. You can contact me at (email or phone number)."
Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council
----- End forwarded message -----
UPDATE: The hearing continues April 5th