Category: Recent News

The monthly e-newsletter selects about 5 news posts with this category. Priorities are news relevant to a wide number of people and especially of interest to visitors or new folk.

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 https://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.

 

Update from the Healthy Relations Team

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The Healthy Relations Team (HRT) came together last fall. Such a team had existed a few times over the years and has been wanted in recent years. At the request of our interim minister Rev. Lara Cowtan, the current HRT emerged and grew to seven or eight members in a matter of months. Our members come with various skills, experience, and perspectives.

At least half of our members have had significant family or personal challenges this year, and like most volunteers around UCV, everyone is busy, so our program development has been slow but the rapport, goodwill, and commitment have been noticeable. We are still here and looking forward to a new church year!

A brief summary of activity:

A few of us have been approached by some individuals or groups at UCV for consultation or support around sensitive issues.

We were able to collaborate with Rev Lara, the MTT, and our UCV archivist Diana Ellis to develop and present the Ministerial History series, Triumphs and Tumoils. This series was well received and we were impressed by the degree of deep interest and serious contemplation about the history revealed through our archives, with added perspectives from participants. We are pleased that recordings of Diana Ellis’s presentations from the archival material now exist and are accessible to UCV members.

We all learned how knowledge of our past is instructive about our past and present triumphs and turmoils. We saw how patterns of behaviour and interactions have recurred over the decades. We learned how ministry extends well beyond the minister and how we all contribute to a healthy and diverse community.

The Healthy Relations Team were of course aware of, and several of us participated in, the two Circles of Understanding offered in May of this year by Frank Tester. Considerable practice was had in listening! Frank is receiving feedback about the two circles he led and we understand that he will prepare a final report. Some of our members were also involved in earlier listening circles pertaining to the 8th principle.

The HRT plans to offer further training in skills that support us in living into our Covenant of Healthy Relations. Over the summer you might want to research ways to become aware of implicit (unconscious) biases: there are awareness tools online such as the Harvard-based implicit bias tests. Or you might look into bystander interventions when witnessing racism, sexism or other oppressions (e.g. online training by Right to Be, and background info by the American Psychological Association).

A book two of us appreciated reading this year was “The Persuaders: at the front lines of the fight for hearts, minds and democracy” by Anand Giridharadas. One simple line: “So the moral of this story is, how you make people feel matters.” One activist said “I have never seen an instance where, because somebody was deeply shamed or called names or ignored, they changed their mind. I just haven’t”. They went on to describe how the stages once suggested for creating change through activism were: Express Anger about a situation. State a Hope. Suggest an Action (AHA). They are coming to believe that what is more effective is: Identify a shared value. State the current problem. Propose a solution. The book has many good stories and insights.

Feel free to reach out to us about learning opportunities or for support in difficult communication situations. [email protected].
– submitted by Marg Fletcher, co-chair (with Leslie Kemp) of UCV’s Healthy Relations Team, May 29, 2023

Grateful reflections on three years as your Interim Minister

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“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another.” – Anatole France

This month of June will be my last one with you at UCV, then I will be moving on and you will prepare to receive Rev. Shawn Gauthier as your new Settled Minister.  The past 3 years feel as they have been both long and short, as many complex journeys and relationships are.  We have been through a pandemic together, weathered unexpected storms and also great healing and discovery. We have held steady relative to the wider world of religious bodies during the challenges, and this community is emerging renewed, strengthened and hopeful, even if a bit bruised in places.

I am looking back over our time together and re-reading notes I took from those many first conversations, back when we could only meet on Zoom.  I asked almost 100 people the same five questions: Who are you? What do you love about UCV? What could change here? What should I know to begin this ministry? Who should I talk to to impact change?

These conversations helped to frame the work that we have done together, and were also the beginning of some deeply meaningful relationships. We have done many things, many hard and many joyful things. It has been an honour and privilege to help UCV navigate the transitions and changes that will help give meaning and depth to people’s lives and to prepare your path forward to your next chapter.

As I move into my own time of transition after being with people in theirs, so many feelings are alive in my heart. I feel the sadness that comes with having to let go – relationships that touched my heart are coming to an end among people who honoured me by welcoming me into their lives, allowing to grieve with them their losses and to celebrate and rejoice in their blessings. We have shared our lives with one another in deeply meaningful ways. I have witnessed children growing into teens and teens into adults. I have seen incredible generosity of spirit and openness as well as impatience and fear exhibited in less healthy ways. I have seen people come and go as they are nourished and called in different ways. Through all of it, we have known that my time with you would come to an end.  An interim minister, a colleague of mine writes, is like a harbour pilot, navigating the congregation through a temporary harbour during a time of reflecting, retooling, provisioning and staffing for the next sea adventure. It is a partnership with the vessel’s crew and the harbour pilot, and their mutual success is ultimately a function of communication and trust. Things haven’t been perfect in those areas, we have had particular challenges during this transition time, and we have also done some amazing things together.

You are resilient, beautiful and deeply caring people. My hope is that you will continue to lean into your covenant with one another to break down the barriers of personal relationships and build towards a truly shared vision of the promise of this community. I hope you may let go of lingering fears and open your hearts to one another.

I will be leaving UCV grateful to have been here with you, to have had this chance to know, to love and to grow with you along this journey. I am confident that you know yourselves better, who you are, what you love about UCV, what needs to change so you can thrive, how to support your next ministry and the people who need to shape it.

As every interim minister knows, serving as a harbour pilot is a privilege, and a time will come to wish the congregation fair winds and many blessings ahead. A ship in harbour is safe – but that is not what ships were built for. Happy sailing, UCV.

Many Blessings,

Rev. Lara Cowtan

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For a New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

 

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

 

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

 

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

 

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

– John Donohue

 

In the interim: Reporting back on the CUC National Symposium

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I have just returned from a week in Ottawa where the tulips were in spectacular bloom. I had been on retreat with Canadian ministers and then attending the CUC National Symposium. A lot was packed into this week! If you missed it, I encourage you to watch the powerful Confluence Lecture delivered by Rev. Julie Stoneberg, speaking to where we, as Canadian Unitarian Universalists and Unitarians are now and may be going. People are talking about how inspiring, funny and challenging her message to us all is. It would be interesting to have a discussion group at UCV about the lecture.   

 

Also really fantastic was the Sunday morning Worship service, ably led by Rev. Eric Meter from Ottawa, Rev. Diane Rollert from Montreal and Rev. Fulgence Ndigadimana also from Ottawa, plus the amazing song leading of Susanne Mazairz, Toronto’s Neighbourhood UU Congregation’s Music Director. Enjoy! (Watch the service.)

 

You will be hearing more about the CUC Symposium in the coming days and weeks. I want to lift up a couple of special announcements, one of which you may have already heard: UCV’s own Kiersten Moore is newly-elected as the President of the Canadian Unitarian Council.  Congratulations Kiersten!!! Also, Rev. Anne Barker (who delivered the 2020 Confluence lecture) is beginning her new role with the Congregational Life Team supporting Western Canada, in place of Joan Carolyn, who retired this Spring. Many transitions, new roles and exciting new leadership to shepherd our movement across Canada into the future.  

 

I was sorry to miss the wonderful and creative worship services by the Partner Church and IPA, and will check out the recordings. There seems to be a lot of energy and momentum as we head toward summer, which is so inspiring! I am looking forward to our last month together as a time to appreciate just how far we have come since our beginnings in the summer of 2020.  

 

With warmest blessings, 

 

Rev. Lara Cowtan

Vancouver Unitarians at the CUC

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What a week it has been! I left for Ottawa last Wednesday to attend the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) gathering, AGM, and Symposium on Living into the 8th Principle. It was an uplifting, challenging, inspiring, and generative weekend. I was pleased to see a few other Vancouver Unitarians in-person and online for the first national multi-platform conference made possible by multiple owl conference cameras (including ours–thank you!)

I have been the CUC Board Secretary for the past five years, and I agreed this year to stand as President. It is with humbleness mixed with excitement and trepidation that I step into this role for my last year on the Board.  The people working at the national staff and Board level are kind, courageous, thoughtful, compassionate and dedicated to the thriving growth of our denomination. And we cannot do this work without you. 

To thrive as Unitarian-Universalists in Canada we must reach out beyond the boundaries of our individual congregations and see each other as part of something bigger. As one of the largest congregations in Canada we are positioned to be a pillar of leadership, a mother tree in a forest ecosystem. In my role as President I hope to bring the humanity of the CUC and the reality that we are a community of communities home. 

I understand that there was a deeply meaningful listening circle held here this past weekend focused on hearing and understanding each other in relation to the 8th Principle adoption. Out of that circle came a desire for UCV to create its own statement of purpose around antiracism and anti-oppression work. Our youth see the 8th Principle as the action principle–the doing, building, and getting down to work Principle. And it will be healing to work in circles of consensus to define how we, as a congregation, will manifest our work and dedication to a more just and peaceful world. It has been 7 years since we undertook a visioning process and now is an auspicious time to take up this work; re-forming ourselves in a post-lockdown time and preparing to welcome a new settled minister. I hope many of you will take the opportunity to participate. 

There have also been many conversations around how we govern ourselves, how we make decisions, and how to do so in a way that lives into our values and includes voices that are often left out. The CUC Decision Making Exploration Team is holding a series of workshops between now and January for people to practice different forms of decision making such as consensus building and sociocracy. I hope our Board and anyone else interested in new ways to generate participatory democracy will attend and help shape the CUC and Vancouver Unitarians into the future. People are asked to participate in at least three of the year’s events in order to join the January workshop on drafting a preliminary proposal for the CUC’s annual general meeting. 

Mark your calendars for June 10th, 10 am Pacific for practicing Sociocracy together: https://cuc.ca/events/practicing-together/ 

I look forward to seeing you in National U*U spaces!

–Kiersten Moore

CUC President and BC Region representative

Kiersten Moore elected President of CUC for 2023-24

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Vancouver Unitarian member and Director of Lifespan Faith Development was elected to be President of the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) at its Annual General Meeting on 19 May 2023. Congratulations to Kiersten!! 

The hybrid meeting lasted 4 hours and included approximately 50 delegates online via zoom and a similar number face to face in Ottawa. At the time of registration CUC was comprised of 41 congregations with 3,845 members with 114 delegates.

Some highlights of the meeting:

  • Approved various Bylaw Amendments as presented.
  • Postponed Indefinitely the motion to approve proposed 2023 Goals and Strategic Priorities.
    This was preceded by extensive discussion of this complex document. The Board will seek more input on it and bring forward a revised document at a future date TBA.
  • Approved a motion to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and implement a related action plan.
  • Approved an update of the 2023 budget and a preliminary 2024 budget, with some concern expressed due to volatile investments and larger than usual planned deficits.
  • Appointed auditors and approved the audited financial report for 2023.
  • Thanked staff and volunteers for their dedicated work on behalf of CUC member congregations over the past year.
  • Noted that Rev Anne Barker (Edmonton) has been hired as the new full time CUC staff person – Congregational Life: Lead, BC and West Regions (replacing Joan Carolyn who retired recently).
  • Appointed Nicole MacKay as a Chaplain to the Canadian Military.
  • Noted that Rev Samaya Oakley (South Fraser/Calgary) has been elected as President of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada (UUMOC) for 2023-24.
  • Elected and installed a new CUC Board for 2023-24 comprised as follows:
    • President: Kiersten Moore, BC Region
    • Vice-President: Margaret Kohr, Central Region
    • Co-Treasurer: Yvette Salinas, Eastern Region
    • Co-Treasurer: Margaret Wanlin, Western Region
    • Secretary: Rev Rodrigo Solano-Quesnel, Central Region
    • Member at Large, BC Region: Rev Debra Faulk, BC Region
    • Senior Youth Observer: Artemisia Frolic-Smart, Central Region
    • Minister Observer: Rev Shana Lynngood, BC Region

Meeting background documents can be found here.

Thanks to the six Vancouver members who volunteered to be UCV’s delegates at this year’s meeting: Emilie Adin, Lynn Armstrong, Marg Fletcher, Leslie Kemp, Tamiko Suzuki and Keith Wilkinson.

At the 2023 CUC AGM in Ottawa.

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. 

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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected] 

 

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]

 

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