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IPA Corner: June 2023

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IPA stands for IBPOC Plus ALLIES while IBPOC stands for Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour. Welcome to IPA Corner, a new regular feature in UCV’s monthly E-Bulletin with updates about our events and the work we are doing at UCV. 

Read on for updates on recent and upcoming events at UCV by your IPA team fostering cultural connections, leading to greater understanding of IBPOC experiences and promotion of healthy relations. 

May was Asian Heritage Month and IPA team members participated in several events held in the city as well as lead a service on May 21st!

 

  • IPA-led service on Sunday, May 21 – the IPA (IBPOC Plus Allies) lead the May 21 Sunday service. The service was a celebration of what we’ve achieved and learned in our first year of existence. The service was very interactive and participatory, in keeping with the IPA’s mandate of cultural connections and creativity. The service featured several videos created by Tamiko Suzuki in honour of our first anniversary as well as IPA members sharing what their involvement in the group has meant to them over the past year. Thank you so much to all who attended and who were willing to do things a bit differently, as well as for your active and enthusiastic participation in the singing and dancing! It was wonderful to use the beautiful sanctuary space in a new way and thank you to all who helped move chairs to make it happen!
  • Film Event – DOXA Documentary Festival – May 9th, 2023   – Several UCV members watched the movie Big Fight in Little Chinatown together as part of the DOXA film festival, then gathered afterwards over coffee to discuss the film. This documentary is a story of community resistance and resilience. Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, the documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighbourhoods are facing active erasure. For those who couldn’t catch it at the DOXA festival,  Big Fight in Little Chinatown can now be screened for free at https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/big-fight-in-little-chinatown
  • White Noise, written by Taran Kootenhayoo (Various Dates)– IPA members attended the play White Noise, a comedy about two families who have dinner together for the first time during Truth and Reconciliation week. White Noise explores what it means to live in Canada from two different paradigms and asks us to consider: How do we deal with internalized racism? Do we keep pushing it away and pretend to live safely in our day-to-day lives?

IPA Members Catherine Hembling, Mei Jia Lam and Catherine Strickland at the screening of White Noise.

Passage to Freedom: Film Screening and Discussion May 13, 2023 – Several IPA members took part in a screening of the Hearts of Freedom exhibition’s accompanying film, Passage to Freedom. The film is a moving documentary that features oral histories of Southeast Asian refugees that made the dangerous journeys from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to Canada after escaping horrendous conditions imposed by repressive regimes from 1975 to 1985.

A panel discussion after the documentary touched upon global migration trends, Canada’s role and policies, etc. We were fortunate to have Elder Larry Grant from the Musqueam Nation participate in the screening as well and give the land acknowledgment. The group interacted with the exhibit with its creator, former Laotion Refugee. Dr. Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe, a former Laotian refugee. Before the show, a group visited  Outside the Palace of Me, a major exhibition of new work by Canadian visual artist and performer Shary Boylem followed by a lunch discussion after with Gerta Moray at Vancouver Art Gallery. 

For more info on the Hearts of Freedom exhibit visit: https://www.pchc-mom.ca/hearts-of-freedom 

For more info read this website post by IPA member Hisako Masaki. History and Resources for Asian Heritage Month http://vancouverunitarians.ca/history-and-resources-for-asian-heritage-month/

Dr. Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe, the project’s  principal curator, here at the mobile exhibit she created.

 

Two girls of Laotian origin outside UBC Robson Square.

UCV/IPA members at the Hearts of Freedom film exhibit and panel discussion at UBC Robson Square, Saturday, May 13.

 

IPA members take in Shary Boyle Outside the Palace of Me exhibit at Vancouver Art Gallery followed by a lunch discussion on May 13.

 

History and Resources for Asian Heritage Month

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Hearts of Freedom: Stories of South East Asian Refugees

Hearts of Freedom is the story of the people of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, who came to Canada as refugees between 1975 and 1985 and Canadians who assisted them. The website, created by 170 interviews, tells the experience of refugees who suffered from the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge, surviving through the escape journey, as well as the experience of officials and other people of Canada who helped with their resettlement.

The exhibit is currently in Vancouver, then will travel across BC, and will be shown across Canada for a year along with the documentary film “Passage of Freedom”.
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This is also the story of Canada’s first acceptance of non-white refugee groups. It is also the story of Canada’s creation of the refugee program which became the model for the world. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) was the first to recognize the private refugee sponsorship program, signing a Master Agreement with the government in 1979. Canadian national and local institutions and groups of five individuals began sponsoring
refugees by undertaking their resettlement responsibility. More info: https://heartsoffreedom.org

 

Rehearsals for Living by Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2022)

This book is the exchange of letters between Robyn Maynard, a Black activist/scholar, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar/writer/artist. They talk about continuing racism and colonialism in Canada in the covid era. Komagata Maru Incident is part of the Asian exclusion history of Canada. Asian labours were brought in to build the nation-state of Canada but were oppressed and eventually denied entry.

This Asian exclusion policy ended in the 70s with the acceptance of South East Asian refugees. However, systemic racism continues. The Canadian state was built on the dispossession of the land of Indigenous peoples, their sovereignty, and humanity. Black people were brought to the continent as slaves. During Asian exclusion and even after South East Asian refugee acceptance, Indigenous peoples continue to suffer as their sovereignty on their territories has
been denied to this day. Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson discuss Canada’s realities and talk about our decolonization journey ahead.

 

*Thank you Hisako from our IBPOC caucus for these resources. 

UCV needs U: Small group facilitator training

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June 11th, 2-5pm, Fireside Room

Have you ever wanted to have a small group of UUs who share the art and music that makes your soul soar? Have you heard about how much our Elder’s Circle enjoyed delving into topics of aging, meaning, service and spiritual will? Have you wanted to get beyond reading a book on social justice or anti-racism and do the work in a community atmosphere?

Do you wonder how to start such a group and if you have the time or knowledge to lead one?

Lifespan staff and Ministers are delighted to run programs for our community – and shared ministry means we are strengthened, enriched, and energized when members are invested in leading things together. Our strong working teams are evidence of the energy and skill of our members, but we also need spaces and groups to deepen our connections to spirit, life, and each other.

On June 11, Kiersten Moore and Rev. Samaya Oakley are running a facilitator training open to all metro-Van Unitarians. Learn to facilitate small group discussions with ease, so you can take your ideas and our resources and run with them. Our congregants have so much to offer each other, and our offices are full to the brim with ways we can support you in creating the UCV you want to see. If interested in the facilitator training, please email Kiersten at dre@vancouverunitarians.ca.

Unanimous! Shawn Gauthier is our new Settled Minister

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By the unanimous decision of those in the Sanctuary and online, UCV members voted on April 30th to call Rev. Shawn Gauthier as our next Settled Minister. Sunday was a joyful culmination of the work of so many in the ministerial transition and search process. We look forward to Rev. Shawn starting at UCV this August!

The vote took place at a special meeting held right after Sunday service. Once the results were announced, Rev. Shawn returned to the pulpit to accept the call, thank the Search committee, the Board, Rev. Lara, and all those who made this ministerial transition happen. He then signed his contract and shared brief remarks about his hopes for the congregation and our work together in the coming years, concluding with the words of Mark Belletini:

“Go in peace. Live simply at home in yourself. Be just in your word and just in your deed. Remember the depth of your own compassion. Forget not your power, in the days of your powerlessness. Practice forbearance in all that you do. Speak the truth, or speak not. Take care your body, for it is a good gift. Crave peace for all peoples in the world, beginning with yourselves and go that you go with the dream of that peace set firm in your heart.”

LGBTQ+ Book Club

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There is a new book club starting up at UCV for LGBTQ+ identified adults to discuss and share LGBTQ+ literature. This will be a potluck style book club, bring what you are reading, have read and enjoyed, talk about an author you love or just come to listen.
If you are interested, please email Kiersten at dre@vancouverunitarians.ca. This group will meet on the second Thursday of each month from 7pm to 8pm.

IPA Corner: May Connections and Happenings Springing Forth at UCV

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IPA stands for IBPOC Plus ALLIES while IBPOC stands for Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour. Welcome to IPA Corner, a new regular feature in UCV’s monthly E-Bulletin with updates about our events and the work we are doing at UCV. 

Read on for updates on recent and upcoming events at UCV by your IPA team fostering cultural connections, leading to greater understanding of IBPOC experiences and promotion of healthy relations. 

 

SECOND Annual Cherry Blossom Picnic – April 2 & 9, 2023

The IPA demonstrated that sometimes in life, we receive curveballs, but we are resilient and know how to pivot!

On April 2nd our planned picnic under the cherry blossoms was moved indoors due to heavy rain, and at times hail! That’s Spring in Vancouver for you. 

Instead we had an enjoyable indoor celebration, sharing memories of the blossoms, singing songs and even learning about and composing haikus to celebrate the season. 

We also celebrated together the IPA 1st Birthday, viewing three videos skillfully crafted by Tamiko Suzuki, tracing our efforts and sharings with UCV and beyond, that brought us this far. 

The walk to view the blossoms was postponed to Sunday, April 9th, but again nature had other plans! 

We plan to continue on with this as a yearly tradition, rain or shine. 

We took the opportunity on April 9th to present a card with our heartfelt thanks to the hard working UCV staff for all of their efforts, support and help to the IPA team in the past year.

Image: Some of the haikus written during our cherry blossom event!

Image: IPA member Megumi Anderson explaining how to write a haiku. 

IPA-led service on Sunday, May 21

The IPA (IBPOC Plus Allies) will be putting on the May 21 Sunday service. We want to celebrate what we’ve achieved and learned in our first year of existence. The service will be different from what you normally see, and will be interactive and participatory, in keeping with the IPA’s mandate of cultural connections and creativity. The service will also feature several videos created by Tamiko Suzuki in honour of our first anniversary as well as IPA members sharing what their involvement in the group has meant to them over the past year. We hope you can attend! 

 

Reminder: An Invitation to Circle Work on the Process and Content of the 8th Principle May 6 and 20, 1 – 5 pm in the Fireside Room/Hewett Hall

You are invited to two circle sessions, to be held in the Fireside Room of the Hewett Center, Unitarian Church of Vancouver, on Saturday May 6 and Saturday May 20. The sessions will start at 1pm and be finished by 5pm and include a break for refreshments and treats provided by an Indigenous caterer. PLEASE REGISTER HERE. Detailed information on these sessions can be found here.

 

 

May is Asian Heritage Month! 

Asian Heritage Month is a time to reflect on and recognize the many contributions that Canadians of Asian heritage have made and continue to make to Canada.

Below are some Asian Heritage month events being held in the city so be sure to check them out!

If you are interested in getting a group together to attend and discuss after, please contact bipoc@vancouverunitarians.ca 

 

Celebrate Asian Heritage Month: Uplift Asian Sponsored by the Vancouver Public Library 

A series of programs to celebrate Asian cultures and perspectives, and push back against discrimination in our communities. Discover authors and artists, and hear discussions with Asian thinkers who represent a diversity of experiences across Asian communities in Vancouver. 

https://www.vpl.ca/program/uplift-asian

 

Film Event – DOXA Documentary Festival – May 9th, 2023

You are warmly invited to join together with other interested UCV members to watch the movie:  Big Fight in Little Chinatown on May 9th at 5:15 at the Vancity Theatre.  We will go for a coffee afterward at the nearby Perfecto Cafe to discuss the film. 

The film is part of the Doxa film festival and there is also a second show that same evening, titled Twice Colonized at 8:00 pm for those able to stay for a second film (or join in for the second film if you can’t make the first one).  It also looks like an excellent film!

Looking forward to being together in community to watch and discuss good films.

You can buy your ticket online (see links below) or at the door but please email Debra Sutherland at debrasutherland8@gmail.com if you are coming.  

https://doxa2023.eventive.org/schedule/64262845160ec800c164c814

https://doxa2023.eventive.org/schedule/6424b0bfdd79cd004098dd4a 

 

LIVE performances of Firehorse and Shadow, May 4-6 at Left of Main, a location in Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown that has deep significance.

Situated in Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown, Firehorse and Shadow is an autobiography charted in gesture, storytelling, ink painting and shadow puppetry that tells the tale of the lives and choices of four generations of Chinese Canadian women. 

Buy tickets here https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/0464f02b-d037-44c1-8d17-17be6889f851

 

Two Upcoming Workshops associated with Firehorse and Shadow

Storytelling & Dance Workshop with Sarah Chase

May 19 from 10:00am – 4:00pm

Chinatown Storytelling Centre, Vancouver

Sarah Chase will offer a workshop focusing on how to draw upon story, narrative and memory from our own lives to create gestures and movement patterns in new and unexpected ways. 

 

Shadow Workshop with Annie Katsura Rollins

May 5 from 2:00pm – 5:00pm

Left of Main, Vancouver

Join us for a shadow workshop with artist Annie Katsura Rollins. Participants will be invited to dwell on “this place”, Vancouver’s storied Chinatown, and how particular places and spaces have shaped us and continue to create a sense of identity, even if those places have undergone a visible transformation.

Register for both workshops by emailing kelsi@dreamwalkerdance.com

 

The Firehall Arts Centre and Savage Society present White Noise, written by Taran Kootenhayoo.

A comedy about two families who have dinner together for the first time during Truth and Reconciliation week, White Noise explores what it means to live in Canada from two different paradigms and asks us to consider: How do we deal with internalized racism? Do we keep pushing it away and pretend to live safely in our day-to-day lives?

https://tickets.firehallartscentre.ca/TheatreManager/1/online?event=988 

 

Hearts of Freedom in BC – Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees

Learn more here: https://www.pchc-mom.ca/hearts-of-freedom 

 

May 23rd is Komagata Maru Remembrance Day

On May 23rd, 1914, Komagata Maru, a ship from Hong Kong carrying 376 passengers arrived in Vancouver. However, these migrants, originally from Punjab, mostly Sikh British military veterans, were denied landing. After two months of discussions between the governments, immigration officers, activists and lawyers, all passengers, except twenty-two who had previously lived in Canada, were denied entry and were forced to return to India. Upon their return, 19 passengers were tragically shot and killed. Many others were injured or jailed as they were labelled political agitators. Learn more here: https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/komagata-maru-remembrance-day.aspx 

 

Medicine Wheel at Alderwood School financed by R&A Koerner Foundation Community Fund

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The R&A Koerner Foundation Community Fund contributed a total of $6,750 to finance the installation of a Medicine Wheel at the Alderwood School run by The Children’s Foundation. Alderwood has made a short video after the completion of the wheel in 2022.

You can watch a video explaining the project here.

The Children’s Foundation website explains the significance of the The Indigenous Medicine Wheel: “a sacred symbol used by many Indigenous cultures throughout North America. It is a circular symbol divided into four quadrants, with each quadrant representing one of the four directions, elements, seasons, stages of life, and spiritual aspects.”

 

 

Hot off the presses: Read our Climate Justice Dialogue series report

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Every day we are reminded that we are in a climate emergency.  Unprecedented heat waves, droughts, fires, extreme weather events, floods, refugees – the list goes on. Taken together with the current pandemic, it’s understandable that many of us feel frightened, overwhelmed, powerless.  Where can we find the individual and collective strength to clearly face the truth of the emergency, mourn the damage being done to our blue planet, and inspire ourselves and others to action?

From December 2021 to June 2022 the Vancouver Unitarians in co-sponsorship with the Multifaith Action Society hosted a series of talks on this subject by people of religious, faith, and secular backgrounds, including an Indigenous peoples perspective. They were invited to educate, nourish, and inspire us from their respective world views. How are their outlooks challenged by the climate crisis? How might they help us engage more effectively with the crisis and create our way forward to a sustainable future – for ourselves and our families, our communities, our nation, and for the health of our loved ones and our planet?

Three Vancouver Unitarians moderated the series – introducing the speakers, leading discussions after each talk in-person and on-line, and providing continuity over the course of the full program.

Covid restrictions were in effect when the program began and remained partially so to the conclusion.  The presentations were live-streamed and are available on the UCV website. Read the full report here.

Forums featuring Rev. Shawn Gauthier at UCV this week

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This week is your chance to meet Rev. Shawn Gauthier! You can see a full schedule of Candidating Week events here.

In addition to several Tea with Shawn events (both in-person and online), there are three evening forums this week.

These events will be multi-platform events and are open to all members and friends of UCV. We hope you will join us this week.

The forums will be available as livestreamed events at ucv.im/forum and will the YouTube live video will also be embedded on this page.

Tuesday, April 25 7pm: UCV in the Wider World – Conversation on Social Justice and Denominational Outreach 

Wednesday, April 26 7pm: Conversation on Worship, Music, Theology, and Ritual

Thursday, April 27 7pm: Learning and Growing – Conversation on Religious Education and Faith Formation

 

 

 

An Invitation to Circle Work on the Process and Content of the 8th Principle

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You are invited to two circle sessions, to be held in the Fireside Room of the Hewett Center, Unitarian Church of Vancouver, on Saturday May 6 and Saturday May 20. The sessions will start at 1pm and be finished by 5pm and include a break for refreshments and treats provided by an Indigenous caterer.

The Unitarian Church of Vancouver has recently concluded a process of considering and lending support to an 8th Principle, adopted by the CUC. This process and the result have been received in different ways and for different reasons by members of the congregation. The result has been differences of opinion about the process and outcome and the development of uncomfortable relations that many would like to see healed.

Frank Tester will be facilitating circle work related to the process and outcome with regard to the 8th Principle.

Frank is a member of UCV. He has had no involvement with this process. He is also a Restorative Justice trainer and practitioner, with years of experience working with different levels of government, non-governmental organizations, and Indigenous communities in Canada and internationally. He is an Emeritus Professor at UBC, and an Adjunct Professor of Indigenous Studies, University of Manitoba and the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, Nelson, B.C. Participants are required to register and, ideally, make a commitment to both sessions. This experience is available to Members and Friends of UCV.

Pre-registration is required. REGISTER HERE.

There are principles relevant to the work participants will be doing in circles.

The first four principles of the CUC recognize:

  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person
  • Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations
  • Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
  • A free and responsible search for truth and meaning

Content from the Covenant on Healthy Relations is also relevant.

  • Be compassionate and supportive in my relationships with others, assume their best intentions and be curious rather than judgmental.
  • Communicate with active listening and consideration.
  • Deepen our connections by getting to know and understand people of all ages and points of view within the congregation.

First Session: May 6

This will be circle work focused on ‘active listening’. It will provide an opportunity for those with different feelings about what happened, and the result, to share their feelings, and specific reasons for them with one another, in a format and way respectful of different experiences.

Participants will also be asked to recount what it is they have heard from others.

This will not be an exercise in debating what happened, what was said, done or not done.  It is an opportunity for all participants, regardless of how they feel about the process and outcome, to share their feelings, give reasons for their feelings, and to be reassured that they have been heard.

Second Session: May 20

The second session (May 20) will start by hearing from two members of the congregation with different feelings and positions about the 8th Principle. While the differences remain, they are comfortable with continued communication.

Participants will be asked to reflect on what they have heard. They will then be asked to speak to what has interested, concerned, or left an impression on them.

In the second half of this session, participants will be asked to reflect on, and indicate what they would find challenging, or would need to do in order to achieve a comparable outcome. What are the personal barriers, challenges, and possibilities of achieving, or not achieving, a comparable outcome with others?

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Two observers will also be present for these sessions. They will not participate in the circle work.

Muriel Harris is a UCV member. Macaela Bradley-Tse is a recent graduate of the psychology programme at SFU, and is President of the Vancouver Association for Restorative Justice.

They will share their observations with the facilitator, make suggestions for changes and improvements in the facilitator’s communication and management of the process, and assist in interpreting, understanding and appreciating what has transpired. Frank will prepare and submit a summary document to the Board. It will consist of general observations and suggestions for ‘going forward’, with no disclosure identifying what individuals have communicated in the circle.