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“Red Paper” published by the Yellowhead Institute

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Please join the Reconciliation Working Group’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 29th at 10:30 in the Family Room. . We’ll be discussing the new “Red Paper” published by the Yellowhead Institute in Oct ’19. All are welcome. For info and to RSVP, please contact Lynn Armstrong lynnbea@gmail.com or 778-835-2546.

More info about the “Red Paper”

1) Preface: https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2019/10/24/preface-landback-redpaper/
2) Full report: https://redpaper.yellowheadinstitute.org/
3) Royal Proclamation of 1763: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-proclamation-of-1763

UCV Directory of Small Groups and Committees

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UCV Directory of Small Groups and Committees

Wanting to get involved with a group but not sure what’s available?  Our newly updated Directory will help you navigate our complex Unitarian community. You can find hard copies on the Welcome Tables or in the office.

If you’d like an electronic version, please contact Sheila at sresels@gmail.com

The Social Justice annual report is now available

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Working towards social justice is a core value of Unitarians so most of us are involved in some way with action to promote democracy, high quality public health services, affordable housing, peace, human rights, fair trade, ethical investing, elimination of poverty, solidarity with indigenous peoples or other significant issues of our times.

Please read the full annual report of the UCV Social Justice Committee here:
SJC Annual Report 2019

Gift bags for Mothers Offering Mentorship and Support Program

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MOMS (Mothers Offering Mentorship and Support) is supporting struggling young people in East Vancouver.

The programs run by MOMS, located at Grandview Church, make an incredible difference in the lives of those experiencing poverty, social isolation, familial instability, and health challenges. In past years, MOMS has organized the “Coldest Night Walk” to raise money, but this year MOMS will hand out Christmas bags.

UCV has been asked to help prepare  gift bags filled with daily necessities, like grooming and food items, or even with some toys. MOMS is hoping for about 20 bags, big or small.

Here is a list of items that may be placed in the bags:

  • toiletries,
  • candles,
  • scarves/gloves,
  • coffee gift cards,
  • small games,
  • stamps and greeting cards,
  • tea towels,
  • simple jewellery, or
  • chocolates.

The bags will be collected by Ursula on the Sundays Dec. 8 and Dec.15, before and after the service in Hewett Hall.

MOV Exhibit: There is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Indian Residential and Day Schools.

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Check out the Museum of Vancouver exhibit: There is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Indian Residential and Day Schools. Four UCV’ers accepted an invitation from Canadian Memorial to join a dozen others at the exhibit Nov 26 for an explanatory talk by the curator, Dr Andrea Walsh. All found it a powerful, deeply moving experience.

More information about the exhibit:

April 5, 2019 – January, 2020
There is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Indian Residential and Day Schools.
There is Truth Here focuses on rare surviving artworks created by children who attended the Inkameep Day School (Okanagan), St Michael’s Indian Residential School (Alert Bay); the Alberni Indian Residential School (Vancouver Island) and Mackay Indian Residential School (Manitoba). The focus of the exhibition is not on the schools themselves, but upon witnessing the experiences of the survivors as conveyed through their childhood artworks – for some the only surviving material from their childhoods.

Redevelopment Mini-Messages – July 9th

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Campus Redevelopment Update #1

How do I keep informed? Get Involved?

There are 5 work groups involved in specific topics. Starting September 15 the Planning Committee will host 5 special Sunday forums. For information and participation: Planning Committee: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Update #2

Why redevelop?

Concerned about long-term financial sustainability, the board in November 2016 established a planning committee to explore redeveloping part of the campus (while retaining ownership) with non-market rental housing to generate additional revenues. A business plan is underway to determine if these objectives can be met, for decision in November 2019.

For information and participation: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Update #3

To redevelop or not?

The business plan at the AGM November 17 will be deciding whether not to proceed. Two other groups are examining alternatives to redevelopment: retaining/improving Hewett Centre (Buildings and Grounds Committee); exploring expanded sources of revenue (Keith Wilkinson).

For information and participation: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Up-Date: #4

Why now?

55 years ago members of this church made the most important decision they could: to buy property at 49th and Oak. Now a similar decision is at hand with our AGM on November 17; whether or not to build non-market rental housing and a new Hewett Centre for the financial security of UCV for the next 50 years. 5 special forums planned starting September 15 sponsored by the Planning Committee and Circle of Concern.

For information and participation: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Up-Date #5

What is the redevelopment package?

A 95 unit, 6 story, non-market rental housing, 50% to accommodate families; a new Hewett Centre (financed out of the project). The package is to generate a growing revenue stream for the church into the future.

For information and participation: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Up-Date #6

What are the concerns?

Timing is bad: we will be recruiting a new minister; volunteer and staff resources will be over-stretched; carrying on during construction. What about just up-grading the Hewett Centre? Members can get involved in these and other issues with 5 member work groups and 5 special Sunday forums sponsored by the Planning Committee starting September 15th. For information and participation: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Up-Date #7

What stage is redevelopment at?

The City has given support in principle to apply for rezoning for non-market rental housing and a new Hewett Centre subject to discussions that include the Hornbeam Trees on 49th Avenue and potential up-grades for the heritage – designated Sanctuary. The board will bring a recommendation to the November 17th AGM.

For information and participation: Gordon Gram (gordongram@me.com) Michael Clague (mclague@telus.net).

Campus Redevelopment Up-Date #8

If we decide to redevelop, how do we maintain church programs during a 2.5 year construction period possibly starting Spring 2022?

A transition plan with costs is being developed by John Boyle, Elliott Dainow, and Connie Wigmore.

Campus Redevelopment Up-Date #9

What is the vision?

The following statement was approved in the proposal to prepare a business plan for redevelopment by 64% of members in attendance at the 2018 ExtraOrdinary General Meeting:

At this mid-century point of its life, our vision for the campus of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver for the next 50 years is that of a compelling, beautiful, intergenerational home for Unitarians to worship and to celebrate, one respectful of the original design, one that provides an affordable place to live for a cross-section of our community, and a place for all Vancouverites to gather for spiritual enquiry, to enjoy arts and culture, and to engage in dialogue and action on matters of social justice and the environment.

64 Red Dresses — Art Installation by Doreen Manuel

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Above: Red Dresses to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women

Honour the Women Project

At the Stop Trans Mountain Pipeline rally at Creekside Park on June 9, 2019, Doreen Manuel, Secwepemc Nation film maker, and sister of the late Chief Arthur Manuel, announced that she is collecting red dresses (the symbol of missing and murdered Indigenous women) for her “Honour the Women project”. She will hang red dresses along the route of the pipeline in Secwepemc Territory both as an art installation and as a reminder to all who the victims are.

Thank you to all who contributed red dresses and cash! A total of 64 red dresses were collected from UCV members or purchased from thrift stores using donations by UCV members.

These dresses were delivered to the BC Union of Indian Chiefs and will be hung along the Trans Mountain pipeline route in Secwepemc territory.

This red dress collection drive at UCV  was sponsored by the Social Justice Committee and supported by the Environment Team and other individuals.

The recently released report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls states that there is a correlation between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women and girls. Work camps/man camps built for resource extraction projects are implicated in higher rates of violence against Indigenous women at the camps and neighbouring communities.


For more information about this project, please contact Doreen Manuel at: honourthewomen@gmail.com

Protect Old Growth Forests – Letter Writing Materials

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Photo: Castle Grove, Walbran Valley / Credit: TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance

Mythical, awe-inspiring, ecologically rich, and endangered – old growth forests are unprotected by legislation! Andrea Inness, a forest campaigner with Ancient Forest Alliance, was the guest speaker for the Environment Team’s forum on May 5th.  The Environment Team urges you to write a letter to Minister Donaldson to support strong action to benefit BC’s forests and communities. Sample Letter to Minister Donaldson

Please keep reading to see how you can help protect Old Growth Forests in British Columbia.

B.C.’s old-growth and communities are in crisis. Raw log exports are at a record high and mills are closing. Climate change and massive forest fires are here to stay. But we are still clearcutting our most resilient and carbon rich forests at an alarming rate.

map

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What we are calling for
The science is clear: to sustainably manage coastal rainforests we must stop clearcutting endangered old-growth. B.C. needs a provincial Old-Growth Protection Act using elements of the celebrated Great Bear Rainforest Agreements combined with strong support for First Nations and good long term forestry jobs.

We also need an immediate halt to logging in critical intact old-growth hotspots. This will protect magnificent areas like the Central Walbran that are immediately threatened with destruction.

Taking these steps will help us to:
— Protect globally rare ecosystems, wildlife, water and climate
— Strengthen First Nations’ governance and community well-being
— Transition from old-growth logging to sustainable second-growth forestry

BC’s coastal temperate rainforests are among the rarest ecosystems on the planet, but today only 10% of Vancouver Island’s biggest old-growth trees are left. Because of climate change, these forests will never grow back as we knew them—if we cut them, they’ll be gone forever.

Using logging data and age class information Sierra Club BC estimates the total number of hectares of old-growth logged on Vancouver Island at about 1,708,000 hectares (without including original forests lost to deforestation, e.g. urban areas). More than 10,000 hectares of old-growth got logged in the last 12 months alone, equivalent to more than 3 square meters per second. Today, the vast majority of the remaining old-growth on the Island belongs to ecosystems with smaller trees not targeted for logging (for example along the outer coast or in higher elevations). Only about 10 percent of the biggest trees remain standing. For more information, check out our backgrounder.

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” But so far the BC government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland oldgrowth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

Please tell Forests Minister Doug Donaldson you support strong action to benefit BC’s forests and communities. Please refer to sample letter below for ideas.

Sample Letter to Minister Donaldson

Bill C-262 rally supported by UCV members

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Bill C-262: An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The Canadian Unitarian Council was a co-sponsor of the pass Bill C-262 rally on Saturday, April 6th. Representatives of all 4 Greater Vancouver Unitarian congregations spoke including Leslie Kemp from UCV.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called Canada to adopt and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Bill C-262 will ensure that Canada’s laws are in harmony with the Declaration.

Please sign this online petition to urge the Senate to pass this bill without delay.

From Colonization to Reconciliation (?) – Resources and Future Plans

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Ryan McMahon, the Anishinaabe activist, challenged us to read and engage with our foundational laws, treaties, Acts, and official Commission reports and recommendations. “Let’s use pre-existing documents, studies, inquests, etc. that have done ALL the heavy lifting for us,” he said. “It’s not too late to look back at where we’ve been, determine what went and is wrong, and fix things on a go forward basis.”

Our reading and discussion group met on Wednesday evenings in February and March. About 20 people participated in our lively discussions.

Steven will announce plans for further discussions in the coming months.

Truth and Reconciliation Resources

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report Executive Summary

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action

Beyond 94 – Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

The Indian Act

The White Paper

Highlights from the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

Citizens Plus/Red Paper 1970 response to the White Paper

Kelowna Accord

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples