Author: Stephanie Law

A wall was covered with grass, fish and waves at the end of a literacy gathering Friday and Saturday at the Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House. Over 200 people crowded into a 400-square-feet room to discuss the community’s new literacy plan.

The literacy gathering, “Sea of Change,” was organized by Joanna Lemay, facilitator for the Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood literacy plan. Participants jotted down their thoughts, ideas and suggestions on colourful paper cut-outs that were all stuck onto the back wall.

“We want to look at what’s going on and what people would like to see,” said Lemay.

According to recent data published by the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) in B.C., kindergarten children in the Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood are the third least ready developmentally compared to other Vancouver communities.

Lemay was aware of these findings and emphasized the importance of community-based discussions to help address shortcomings. The new literacy plan is funded by Legacies Now.

As the attendees funnelled in through the single door, excitement and anxiety permeated the room. Children, parents and seniors, inspired to be part of the new change, were greeted with the smell of warm soup and traditional Cree bread, bannock. They gathered around tables covered with colourful paper cut-outs.

Translators for Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish positioned themselves at all the tables. The majority of attendees were visible minorities. Many were Chinese, but there were also Filipinos, aboriginal people, Vietnamese and Spanish-speaking people.

On grass-shaped green paper, participants wrote down what they currently see in the neighbourhood around literacy. Some complained about the increasingly expensive childcare facilities, and the overall increase in cost-of-living in the neighbourhood. Some expressed their fears over the impending closure of several elementary schools in neighbouring communities.

The strengths on which the community can build on to improve literacy were identified on pink fish cut-outs. A popular characteristic participants identified was the multicultural integration inherent to their community. Many agreed that the community was built on sharing and having family get-togethers. They were also proud of First Nations programs available to help aboriginal children integrate without denying their heritage and ancestry.

Finally, on the wave-shaped blue cut-outs, participants identified what they would like to see in the new plan. The major concerns they had were racism in school and the lack of resources to breakdown language barriers. They expressed a need for more adult E.S.L. classes, and classes for children under the age of three to learn writing.

Most of the children wanted more comic books, one child wrote on his blue wave, “More Spiderman stuff!” In response, a librarian from the Kensington Library said they had just ordered over $4000 worth of graphic novels.

Lemay was satisfied by the turnout and discussions at the event, and said she will strive to incorporate the community’s thoughts into the new literacy plan. What started off as a bare wall at the back of a solitary room was now filled with colours, shapes and ideas.

Condos are springing up all along Kingsway, introducing not only a new landscape to the nearby neighbourhoods but also new dynamics.

Kingsway is a high-traffic road. The road is like an urban desert between 10^th avenue and the northern tip of Collingwood. Despite the wealth of stores and services along the road, cars dominate the scene and few people are on the sidewalks.

Local stores, restaurants and auto-repair shops sporting multilingual signs like “Dong Thanh Supermarket” and “Do Most Auto Repairs” line either side of the road. There are also various religious centres hidden under the disguise of commercial spaces, including the Gold Buddha Monastery, which is housed in a three-storey brick building that looks nothing out of the ordinary aside from a golden awning. But there are few residential buildings along the way, except for the rare upper-levels of stores that have been turned into homes.

Most stores have parking at the rear and other services like TD Bank offer drive-thru. There are few green spaces along the road. The sole purpose of the road seems to be for people with cars to get in and get out – quickly.

But this commercial and robotic landscape is about to change.

Between Mount Pleasant and Collingwood, new condo developments have started to appear. There are the King Edward Village high-rise condos at the corner of King Edward and Knight. These condos were built in 2008 and are modern glass-clad structures ranging from five to 17 floors. There is a mid-rise condo with a modern exterior of glass and brick currently under construction at Gladstone and Kingsway across from a large Canadian Tire. And there are two condo towers of Kingsway 2300, which will be constructed upon demolition of the El Dorado Motor Hotel currently at that location. The El Dorado Motor Hotel, now empty and dilapidated, used to be a popular spot for business travellers and also was a neighbourhood music venue and pub.

In matters of a couple years, the landscape on Kingsway has changed from only two to three-storey flat-roofed commercial spaces, to an interspersion of contemporary and swanky condos. But alongside these developments came corporate logos and large chains. For example, a Starbucks coffee was built into the ground level of a King Edward Village condo – in contrast to the rest of Vancouver, this is the only Starbucks to be found along Kingsway before passing into Burnaby; it is a newcomer.

According to Vancouver-Kingsway MP Don Davies, densification of Kingsway with condos could improve the use of space by densely housing many small households while allowing existing or new stores to occupy the ground levels.

But on the other hand, the transformation of a street that has historically been used for transportation purposes to one for housing a dense population could have negative consequences. How will this new and large population affect the day-to-day interactions of the families living in homes quietly tucked behind Kingsway? What Davies calls densification is known as gentrification to many others, which is often blamed for drastic increases in prices of residential and commercial property. The rapidity of change has created an undeniable possibility that wealthy corporations like Starbucks might slowly conquer Kingsway while small family-owned businesses gradually disappear. Already, there are many empty store windows along Kingsway with large “For Lease” signs hanging, making room for larger businesses to move in.

Dramatic rent increases for social housing across Vancouver have left many low-income individuals and families in constant fear of eviction.

Brant Villa is one of many social housing complexes owned by BC Housing. There are 48 units in total – some are apartments intended for single adults and others are townhomes designated for families. The complex is located in a family-oriented neighbourhood, tucked away behind the high-traffic Kingsway.

The two-storey units in the complex are arranged in two rows spanning from 25^th to 27^th avenue. In between the rows are two parking lots on both ends, largely empty on a Saturday afternoon, and a patch of neatly trimmed grass in the middle. There is a single bench that sits on the side of the grass.

The units’ exteriors are uniformly designed and have grim and hermetic appearances – small windows provide few openings in the brown stucco walls on the ground level and dark teal wood panels lining the upper level. A short flight of stairs leads abruptly into each unit in the absence of a front porch. Tenants attempt to lighten up their units’ harsh exteriors with various decorations and motifs. One house has seven dreamcatchers of different sizes and colours hanging from the eave.

The Villa seems to be in a world of its own and is in direct contrast to the large family homes with front and backyards that surround it.

Despite a sense of isolation from the rest of the neighbourhood, there is a strong sense of community within the complex. Several adults were engaged in active conversation late Saturday afternoon outside their homes. Among them were a caucasian woman, a black woman carrying a 7-month child in her arms, and a Muslim woman wearing a purple hijab. While they were chatting, their children were playing tag and running about between the units.

The three women all expressed their anger towards the recent raise in rent, which they claimed was part of Premier Gordon Campbell’s relentless efforts to balance the provincial budget at the expense of the poor.

According to the black woman, who is a single mother of three, her rent has increased two-folds this year from 300 to 600 dollars. Due to her seven-month-old child, she has not been able to return to work and has relied on social assistance the past year.

With the recent rent increase, she now has to allocate three-quarters of her monthly welfare income for rent, and this does not include additional expenses on utilities. When she spoke to BC Housing regarding this issue, they told her to use the Canada Child Tax Benefit she receives monthly to supplement the shelter portion of her welfare income. She said their suggestion completely disregards the wellbeing and development of her infant. The other women shared similar stories.

To exacerbate their current situation, they said that BC Housing has yet to announce a rent freeze for the upcoming year. Thus, there is looming uncertainty over whether the rent will increase again, which could leave many tenants with no option but to move out, and worse, to live on the streets.

A group of single mothers shared their struggles with poverty and housing as new immigrants to Canada Friday at Rhizome, a local café at the intersection of Kingsway and Broadway that serves pay-what-you-can lentil soup.

The event was part of a project called Breakthrough, led by the Vancouver Status of Women, an organization that seeks to empower women who self-identify as low-income, of colour or of indigenous background in downtown Vancouver. The women who took part and spoke at this event wanted to let other single mothers struggling know there is support within the community.

The audience gathered around the small stage marked by a square rug and a microphone at the back of the café. Many who attended the event were visible minorities. Among them were Muslim women who wore traditional hijabs of different colours, cheerful children there to support their mothers – one child was dressed in a spiderman costume, as well as aboriginal women and men from the Haida and Cree nations.

“Motherhood is an act of defiance in the midst of chaos,” said Gabriela Reynosa, one of the women who participated in Breakthrough. “Women have to fight together to survive. It’s about how all the bad stuff can make us so much stronger.”

The women talked about how they struggled with language barriers, racism and poverty when they first arrived in Canada. Those who spoke felt liberated to be able to share their stories.

“I am grateful for this night, this is part of my healing,” said Rahat Chaudhry, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan over ten years ago.

Despite having made progress since their arrival, the struggle continues. Downtown Vancouver has seen widespread gentrification and densification. Tall upscale condo buildings are being built all along Kingsway and are slowly replacing housing more suitable for families. Many members of the audience expressed discontent with these changes in the neighbourhood and associated them with increased housing costs. One man claimed he had recently become homeless due to rental hikes in a nearby area.

The event ended with an open discussion among the audience about housing in Vancouver. Many expressed concerns with the long wait-times for social housing and the limited options available that are often restricted to specific neighbourhoods in Vancouver.

“There should be social housing available and integrated in all the neighbourhoods, including the upscale ones like Yaletown or the West-End,” said Nancy Cameron, a community program manager at YWCA Vancouver. “Women and families who have low incomes should be given the opportunity to live in a community that allows easy access to public schools and facilities, and shouldn’t be made to live in neighbourhoods that lack basic amenities.”

In spite of the sombre closing discussion, many left the gathering feeling supported by others in the community and empowered by their own voices.

Four old men of East Indian origin sat leisurely on a bench Wednesday evening outside a two simple structures surrounded by a large patch of green that make up the oldest school in Vancouver, which is facing potential closure in 2011. Behind them is a large signpost detailing the history of the school and how it has supported the community since its establishment in 1896.

Sir Guy Carleton Community Elementary is at the corner of Kingsway and Joyce in Vancouver’s historical Collingwood neighbourhood. The school serves a culturally diverse neighbourhood of largely immigrant families. This diversity is reflected by the various local stores and restaurants with non-English signage, like a cafe called “Thuong Dang Danh Tra.” There are also small cinemas, like “Raja Cinema”, dotted along Kingsway that screen films in Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi, and Punjabi.

Despite the cultural differences displayed by the neighbours strolling down Kingsway and the various storefronts, the school appears to act as a unifying force. The freshly cut grass around the school and student artwork posted along the fence demonstrate how important this school is to the community. Furthermore, a large signpost  as well as to Vancouver’s heritage. It is unclear why this community might be losing their school.

In discussion of the school’s possible closure, the men sitting outside the school revealed that this is not the only elementary school in the neighbourhood under threat of closure – it is among three that serve the communities living around Kingsway. They said the Vancouver School Board announced their potential closure due to budget shortfalls and because the land could be used for better investments.

They said many of the families living in the area are unsettled by the Board’s decision, and have organized rallies and petitions in protest. A demonstration held on Monday outside the school gathered over 100 protestors from the community.

The Carleton school has long been part of the neighbourhood’s history. The neighbourhood is fearful of what would happen when the children have to integrate into schools in other communities. Furthermore, if all three schools in the area close, it is unclear whether nearby schools – which are widespread – would be able to absorb the sudden influx of schoolchildren currently enrolled at the three schools.

The final decision regarding the closure of the schools is pending, but the community is prepared to fight for their right to keep them.