St. Paul's Hospital No comments yet

Will 2011 be the year that capital dollars are invested in St. Paul’s Hospital?

By on January 17th, 2011

2011 undoubtedly will be an eventful year for the on going process of the redevelopment of St. Paul’s Hospital.

In the fall of 2010 Providence Health Care (PHC) updated the Downtown community about their plans for redevelopment of St. Paul’s Hospital. A “concept plan” is being work on now by PHC and should be ready for community input eminently. This concept plan will be a good opportunity for the community stakeholders of St. Paul’s Hospital to be better educated about the future of the hospital and have input on the process.

With leadership races underway for both the BC NDP and BC Liberal parties now is an advantageous time to inquire what all the leadership hopefuls’ positions are on providing capital dollars to improve St. Paul’s Hospital.

The Save St. Paul’s Coalition will be developing a survey for the leadership candidates in the next weeks to explore which candidates are going to have the best plan for the renewal of the hospital.

Both Kevin Falcon and George Abbott are former Health Minister and know the that St. Paul’s Hospital is in urgent need of capital dollars for renewal. I have not heard Christy Clark on how much she would allocated for the a capital project on the Burrard Street site and I will be keen to know where she stands on this important issue for the province.

In the weeks ahead as PHC’s concept plan for the development of the hospital emerges it will be interesting to see what is in the plan and how receptive PHC is to suggestions and feedback from community members and community organizations.

Given the hyper scrutiny that development is being given in the city right now, it will be interesting to see how this will affect plans to redevelop the hospital. Will concerns over heights of a renewed hospital make the potential project problematic for all concerned?

This week on Wednesday there is another in the series of free community lectures on the great work that goes on at St. Paul’s Hospitals:

OWN YOUR HEALTH
ST. PAUL’S HOSPITAL COMMUNITY FORUMS

Join medical experts from Providence Health Care for monthly community forums at St. Paul’s Hospital. Each month features a different health topic with time to pose questions to the experts. The forums are free and open to the public and staff

Wednesday January 19, 2011
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Lecture Theatre Level 1, Providence Bldg.
Let’s Talk About: High Blood Pressure

Hypertension 101: Treating the Patient, Not the Pressure
Presented by:
Dr. Jake Onrot
Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine
Division of General Internal Medicine
Providence Health Care 
University of British Columbia

and

Dr. Nadia Khan
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Division of General Internal Medicine
Providence Health Care
University of British Columbia
Intended for patients (and their family members), who have been affected by hypertension, those who are at risk and those who just want to know more about this medical condition. The presentations will focus on the major risk factors for Hypertension, how to reduce this risk and how to help patients feel better and live more functional and healthier lives. The presentations will also highlight the latest in treatment and the ongoing research at St. Paul’s Hospital.

housing No comments yet

Better a Year and a Day than Never: Dr. Hedy Fry response to my Letter on Bill C-304

By on January 13th, 2011

Dear Mr. Granby,

Thank you for your email concerning Bill C-304, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians.

Affordable housing and homelessness programs are an important part of basic human right to shelter.
The Liberal Party feels that the federal government has an important role to play in ensuring Canadians have equal access to safe, affordable housing.

The Conservative government has failed to deliver a national housing strategy that addresses the significant housing needs of Canadians. In their 2006 Budget, the Harper government cut $200 million of the $1.6 Billion per year committed by the Liberals for affordable housing. The Conservative Party’s negligent approach to affordable housing and homelessness is a true reflection of their “fend-for-yourself” approach to social programs.

I voted to send this Bill to committee at second reading. The Liberal members of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities introduced 17 well received amendments that make the Bill more effective. Currently, however the Bill has been stalled in committee due to a disagreement over a Block Québecois motion, which the Conservative chair had ruled out of order. However, regardless of whether our Liberal members continue to support this legislation at the committee level, when this Bill does come up for debate in the House it will most likely be ruled ‘out of order’ by the Speaker. The reason for this is that Private Members Bills is that aim to have the government spend money on an initiative, must be agreed to by the party in government, currently the Conservative party. As they do not currently support this legislation, so it will most likely be wiped off the order paper due to parliamentary procedure.

The former Liberal government did have a National Housing Strategy drafted in 2005. This strategy was agreed to by all of the provinces. When it looked like an election was looming, Prime Minister Paul Martin asked NDP leader Jack Layton to support the Liberal Party until they could get this legislation, and the Kelowna Accord passed into law. Mr. Layton ignored Mr. Martin’s request killing this legislation when the Conservatives won the 2006 election.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please feel free to contact me at any time if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue.

Sincerely,

Hon. Hedy Fry P.C., M.P.
Vancouver Centre
Chair of BC federal Caucus

Travels No comments yet

Pre-wedding ritual to Agni and the making of the bride

By on December 24th, 2010

I am here in India for vacations, but also to to witness Anita’s cousin Hitha’s wedding. This video is the pre-wedding ceremony. The priests from the temple were conducting a ceremony to bring auspiciousness to the house before the wedding. The deity that the ritual is directed at is the Hindu god of fire, Agni (I am going to ask my Anita’s aunt, Bharathy for confirmation on the correct identity of the deity)
Angi: www.thebuddhagarden.com/agni.htm”>Hindu Fire God

After the pre-wedding ceremony of asking of blessing of Agni the fire god, the next part of the pre-wedding ritual is “the making of the bride” This is were the women give presents and blessing to the bride to be. There is a lot of singing.

Then there was lunch on the roof of the family home.

Travels No comments yet

Images of a Munnar morning walk high in Kerala tea country

By on December 19th, 2010


More images of Kerala tea country

Travels No comments yet

Images from Ajunta Caves

By on December 18th, 2010


More images of Ajunta caves

Travels No comments yet

First full day in New Delhi

By on December 12th, 2010

My partner’s cousin Hitha, a major force in the blogosphere – check out her blog,Hitha On The Go is getting married in India and I am here with my family for the ceremony. Hitha’s wedding is in two weeks and we travelling around India before we go to Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and stay with family.

As soon as the plane landed last night I could smell India. I was here 15 years ago and one of my lasting memories is of the smells. There is a haze that permeates the air here and on the ride to the hotel – you can see some of the reasons: Little fires at the roadside to keep folks warm through the night. December is the cold season and people really bundle up.

This is my first time in Delhi. The other time I was in India I stayed with my wife’s family in Andhra Pradesh, which is more to the south. Delhi recently hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games and one can see the evidence of this with the posters throughout the city.

Even with the haze, the air quality is much better than 15 years ago. I am told that this is result of the use of compressed natural gas for a substantial portion of their vehicles (including auto-rickshaws). Delhi also has a new fleet of articulated buses that have both AC version and non-AC versions. Also there is the new Metro Rails, which is a subway system.

My last experience of traffic in India was an impression of total chaos. It just seemed so dangerous and made no sense at all. This time my impressions of the traffic are not nearly as overwhelming and it seemed to flow pretty well. Still, there is a lot of activity on the road to think about and at times the lines on the road and the stop signals appeared to be “optional”!

Traffic seems to flow from a complicated system of accommodation. Drives beep their horns when they want by or when another drive is getting too close, to signal a left or right turn. I think there are a lot of other deep messages in the horns because it is constant, but interestingly, it does not have the feel of anger that using your horn in Vancouver often implies. It’s more like a spoken language of the road here. Drivers don’t get all bent out of shape here with all of the maneuvering and that’s why it seems to work.

The city is very lush with mature trees everywhere. The history is incredible and diverse. The sights we saw today were breathtaking and some of the places were built as early as the 5th century AD during the Mughal empires. It was Sunday and the places were full of people, mostly locals enjoying their beautiful city.

The misery of India is just one intersection away where someone is holding their limp child for you to inspect with the doctor’s bill pleading for alms or little kids dancing in traffic for donations.

Here are the some of the photos from my first day in Delhi:
brent’s flickr

housing No comments yet

The status of Bill C-304

By on December 9th, 2010

Bill C-304, an Act to ensure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians
C-304

Libby Davies’ private member Bill C-304 to enact an national housing plan, to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians, has had one hour of debate of third reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday October 20, 2010. The bill still needs one more hour of debate before it is called to a vote.

The BQ have amended the bill to require the bill to returned to committee to consider further amendments on the question of provincial jurisdiction.

As MP Libby Davies states on her blog: “Getting a Private Members Bill through Parliament is no easy task and there are many potential procedural and political roadblocks to overcome. C-304 is no exception, and it’s been an eye opener to navigate and resolve various issues and problems. But so far, so good!”
Libby Davies

On November 24, 2010 the following BQ amendment was passed in the House of Commons:

“That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “That” and substituting the following: “Bill C-304, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians, be not now read a third time but be referred back to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities for the purpose of reconsidering Clauses 3 and 4, or to add new clauses, with a view of clarifying the role of provinces, specifically Quebec, within the jurisdiction of the Bill.”.

So, Bill C-304 goes back to a committee and still needs to come back to House for one more hour of debate and for another vote.

One can track the status of the bill on openparliament.ca atbill c-304 @ openparliament.ca

Vancouver Park Board, Vanpoli No comments yet

Full letter to editior of Courier on Jericho Wharf

By on December 1st, 2010

Dear Editor:

Re: Jericho Marginal Wharf and Mr. Hasiuk’s “Park board fires ‘green’ torpedo at historic Jericho Wharf “

The decision by the Vancouver Park Board on November 4, 2010 to remove the Jericho Marginal Wharf is a good example of evidenced based decision making.

After consultation and debate going back to 2008, involving two different Park Boards with different party majorities, no community or stakeholder consensus could be reached around the wharf. It was clear, however, that to restore the structurally unsafe wharf would cost almost one million dollars more than to dismantle it.

While Mr. Hasiuk is dismissive of information contained in a letter sent to the Park Board by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans – calling it part of a “modern green movement” – the evidence in the letter was very relevant to the decision that the board took at the November 4, 2010 meeting.

Habitat restoration encourages and promotes biodiversity, and ecological restoration in Vancouver’s parks will only enhance our enjoyment of these areas. Habitat restoration also recognizes and reconciles a profound history of natural habitat destruction in the city. Where there is the possibility of restoring an area back to its natural state, the opportunity should be taken.

Imagine what Vancouver could be like if all our long covered salmon bearing streams were “day lighted”, ecologically restored, and given a chance to start teaming with life again? Imagine what Beaver Lake in Stanley Park would be like if was restored to its previous rich biodiversity?

Vancouver was born out of plentiful natural treasures found in one of the most ecologically diverse places on the planet. Isn’t that is a history worth celebrating?

Brent Granby
Chair of COPE Park Board Caucus

Park board fires ‘green’ torpedo at historic Jericho Wharf

Uncategorized No comments yet

Alden Habacon recipient of 2010 Power of Peace medal

By on November 26th, 2010


Alden Habacon at a dinner at the YMCA Robert Lee Building on Tuesday November 23 was awarded the Power of Peace medal.

Alden Habacon is described in in his nomination for the Local and International Peacemaker award in the following way:

“Alden is a peacemaker in the most active sense of the term. He engages Canadian of all ages and backgrounds in dialogue about diversity n a way that promotes understanding, mutual respect and equality. He is influential because hes ideas around “Diversity 2.0” are helping to bring forward a fresh approach to the national discourse that defines Canadians beyond race and ethnicity. His provocative assertion the that the mosaic model of multiculturalism is obsolete challenges us to think about the role we all play in deepening intercultural understanding. His ideas are influencing a generation of changemakers who are excited about the possibilities of creating a more respectful and peaceful world. Among his accomplishments, Alden is the founder and publisher of Schema Magazine. His work with the Asian Canadian Journalist Association, CBC, and now UBC reflects his impact. Alden is not only a thinker but a doer and is deeply committed to community service. He actively mentors young people and is a founding board member of RESPECT, a group working to create opportunities for Filipino-Canadian newcomers in Vancouver.

Schema Magazine

Congratulation Alden.

me No comments yet

The power of peace

By on November 22nd, 2010

I have had the honour of being nominated for the YMCA’s “Power of Peace” award along with West End Residents Association (WERA). I won’t win as there are so many inspiring people in Vancouver doing impressive work that are more deserving, but still, I am proud to be nominated.

The YMCA describes the Power Peace award as: “… an opportunity to celebrate local individuals and organizations whose work strengthens communities through the promotion of peace. In every community, there are exceptional leaders whose work influences the lives of others. The YMCA Peace Medallion is your way to recognize and celebrate leaders in your community who are dedicated to finding peaceful solutions to violence, conflict and injustice. Peacemakers come from all walks of life and are united by their desire and commitment to create cultures of peace.”

More information about this award can be found at: power of peace

I am proud of the volunteer work that I’ve done with WERA over the past 6 years. Organizations like WERA serve an important function of being advocates for important issues that aren’t necessarily popular, but are nonetheless important and require informed policy responses. In this regard, WERA’s efforts of being one of the key stakeholders in the Downtown Transportation Plan led to WERA’s support of the separated bike lanes on the Burrard Bridge.

There may not be an appreciation that environmentally sustainable transportation advocacy is part of a peaceful culture given that heated debate on the Dunsmuir bike lane, perhaps the opposite is the dominant perception. However, there can be a compelling argument that protecting and enhancing the rights and safety of pedestrians and attempting to promote healthy and sustainable transportation is central to a peaceful culture because it forces us to interact with those around us. Not to go to way out there on this point, it is interesting that such great practitioner of peace, as Gandhi was such big walker.

WERA has been active in promoting a responsible, respectful and informed public discussion on important issues and these dialogues serve as a cornerstone of a peaceful civic culture. Rather than increasing the rhetoric on issues, which is a simple method for garnering attention, WERA has held many public forums that have engendered a high standard of public discourse with the goal of arriving at solutions that are based on sound evidence and reflect best practices.

WERA has focused on projects that make a difference in resident’s lives. From constructive participation in coalitions, promotion of community art projects, community gardens, community forums, community base celebration and the dissemination of information, WERA has been part of civic engagement process that does lead to more peaceful and cultural harmonious society.