CHANGE THAT WORKS | NOVEMBER 2015 CLIMATE CHAMPION NAOMI KLEIN CHANGES THE WORLD FREE WRAPPING PAPER INSIDE FIND WHERE AND Contents # Out front 6 WHEN YOUR VENDOR B.C.’s lifetime income-assistance ban for people convicted of criminal welfare fraud is lifted. Critics worry about the lack of public awareness of the change. In Vancouver’s SELLS MEGAPHONE historic Chinatown, a coalition of young activists is working to protect low-income housing for seniors. FIND.MEGAPHONEMAGAZINE.COM Vendor of the Year 2015 8 177 Megaphone’s annual Vendor of the Year FIND A VENDOR APP DESIGNED BY DENIM & STEEL award celebrates a vendor whose extraordinary dedication is a bright light in the community. This year, it’s Eric, a beloved daily presence at Commercial Drive and 1st Avenue in Vancouver. Dance dance revolution 10 Meet Lorelei Williams, the founder of Butterflies in Spirit, a Vancouver-based MEGAPHONEMAGAZINE.COM dance troupe comprising friends and family members of the more than 1,200 missing FACEBOOK.COM/MEGAPHONEMAGAZINE and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. @ Dancing together, Lorelei says, provides an MEGAPHONEMAG opportunity to heal. INSTAGRAM.COM/MEGAPHONEMAG YOUTUBE.COM/MEGAPHONEMAG Electronic arts 18 In a musical genre dominated by men, Soledad Muñoz has founded a record label This changes everything 24 Cover Photography exclusively for women-identified electronic By Kourosh Keshiri music artists. “Unlike other labels, this one If climate-change science is failing to About the photo was created on the basis of feminist theory,” move the people it needs to persuade, Legendary Canadian journalist and author what to do? Radically change the public Naomi Klein has worked tirelessly to change she tells writer Aurora Tejeida. public attitudes about consumer culture, conversation, says author and journalist the environment, and how capitalism is the Naomi Klein. “If we can tell another story chief architect of global inequality. She’s pictured on this page in a still from This about who humans are and what we're Is blood thicker than water? 20 Changes Everything, her latest documentary THANK YOU SUPPORTERS & SPONSORS Like many Victoria residents, Quinn capable of,” she tells writer Michael Stewart, about the fight for climate justice. MacDonald often jokes about the city’s “then maybe we can look at this issue from progressive community—polite and which so many of us are averting our eyes.” MEGAPHONE IS SOLD IN inclusive to a fault. But the joke turned VANCOUVER AND VICTORIA sinister this summer when a trip “up island” The Beast 28 for a family wedding resulted in a broken Downtown Eastside poet and longtime BY HOMELESS AND LOW- jaw, spurring MacDonald to question Megaphone friend Jim Ryder is no INCOME VENDORS. VENDORS whether blood truly runs thicker than stranger to the ravages of mental illness. BUY THE MAGAZINE FOR 75¢ water, and whether it’s possible to bridge His poem, “The Beast,” tracks the political divides among family. experience of hospitalization, of psychosis, AN ISSUE AND SELL IT TO and of the beasts inside our heads. CUSTOMERS FOR $2. Kathryn Calder finds peace 22 Our goal is to provide a voice She’s best known for her membership in and an economic opportunity to Vancouver indie-pop supergroup The New homeless and low-income people Pornographers, but in the decade since she’s while building grassroots support joined the band, singer-songwriter Kathryn to end poverty. Calder has walked a hard road. For years, she was a caregiver for her mother, who battled ALS until she died in 2009. Her solo work, which has tracked the tangled experience of loss and grief for years, marks bold new steps forward in healing, happiness, and peace. 2 Change that Works MegaphoneMagazine.com 3 Contributors Director’s Corner Andrea Warner Executive Director Writer Sean Condon Andrea Warner was born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., Operations Manager where she spent childhood weeknights penning soapy teen Jessica Hannon novels by the light of streetlamps when she should have been sleeping. Today, she is a writer whose work appears Vendor Coordinator in such places as CBC Music, Pitchfork, Exclaim!, The Misha Golston Georgia Straight, and other publications. Feminism, art and pop culture make her happy. She can be found online at Vendor Field Managers TheAndreaWarner.com or or @_AndreaWarner. Allegra Costigan (Vancouver) Savanna Bazuik (Victoria) Editor Jackie Wong Art Director Harry Olson Emi Sasagawa Writer Editorial Support In 26 years Emi has lived in four continents and seven Geoff D’Auria countries from Tokyo to Amsterdam to Rio de Janeiro. Her interests include social movements, environmental politics Photographers and indigenous rights. She started writing short features for Jackie Dives, Adam Gilmer, Megaphone in 2014. She recently spent a year reporting on Sarah Race mental heath initiatives in low resource regions around the world. Emi is a Lego fanatic. Her favorite brick is #4618537. Project Coordinator Jade Bacchus We have a special gift for you in the them for printing. The next two winning Writing Workshop Facilitators Wrap up November and December issues of designs will be in the December issue. Surya Govender, Blythe Hutchcroft, Megaphone. Inside you’ll find wrapping The two wrapping paper designs you Julia Kochuk, Helen Polychronakos, paper designed by Megaphone vendors. see in this issue are from Carmen and Shannon Rayne, Yvonne Robertson Michael Stewart We hope you can use it to wrap this Stephen. Carmen, who designed wrapping Hope with season’s holiday gifts—or, even better, paper featuring a Dr. Seuss-style string Writer Board of Directors a Hope in Shadows calendar. of Christmas tree baubles, says it was a Nezihe Aquino, Bob Dennis, Michael Stewart is a freelance writer and editor based The holiday season is intended to be lot of fun getting into the holiday spirit. David Lee, Kevin Hollett, in Victoria, B.C., focusing on B.C. politics, housing and Megaphone a time to celebrate what’s important to Stephen, who illustrated candy canes Michael Roberts, Jo Shin culture. He is also the blogs and promotions coordinator us: our families, friends and community. in heart shapes, was Megaphone’s 2014 at Rabble.ca, Canada's largest independent news But amidst the pressure and stress of Vendor of the Year and is one of the Volunteers publication, where most of his writing appears. Michael is this the season, it’s easy to get swept up in cheeriest people you’ll ever meet. Brit Bachmann, Katharine Bleinis, a bad editor, a PhD dropout, and a union thug who enjoys the bustle and forget why, and who, Wrap Up Hope is also part of our Eliza Christie, Monique Dillon, fishing, gardening, and throwing his two kids up in the we’re celebrating. And it can be hard to holiday fundraising campaign. This Hanna Fazio, Mawuena Mallett, air. Follow him on Twitter @m_r_stewart. convey our feelings in the gifts we give. winter we’re working to raise $20,000 Jenn McDermid, Scott Neufeld, holiday Megaphone’s wrapping paper is part so we can continue to support the Becky Price,Elizabeth Rostad, of our Wrap Up Hope campaign, which Megaphone and Hope in Shadows vendors Shane Sharma, Sarah Sheridan, gives people an opportunity to give gifts in Vancouver and Victoria and make Caroline Wong season with meaning this holiday season. When sure this employment opportunity is you give someone a Hope in Shadows available to more people experiencing Editorial Contributors This Issue calendar and use Megaphone’s wrapping poverty and homelessness in our cities. Bob Dennis, Alex Hudson, paper (for the calendar or for any present), “Selling Megaphone has helped me Katie Hyslop, Quinn MacDonald, Michael Roberts you’re directly supporting an individual have a job and have something stable,” Jim Ryder, Emi Sasagawa, Board member experiencing poverty or homelessness. says Carmen, who works at Main and Michael Stewart, Aurora Tejeida, We got the idea to make holiday 26th. “[It also means] I can afford better Andrea Warner Michael is a human resources executive with extensive wrapping paper for the magazine from our food. You have the extra couple bucks to experience leading and managing in the high-tech sector. sister paper in Nashville, The Contributor. go get whatever it is that will help you.” His particular expertise is in developing HR structure and They ran the project last year and it was a When you make a donation to programs to support corporate goals, strategy, and growth. big hit with both vendors and customers. Megaphone, you’re supporting vendors Michael is currently the President of Caliessen Consulting Sean Condon Many customers loved the wrapping paper like Carmen and ensuring that Megaphone Megaphone is published Inc., an HR consulting firm focused on providing strategic HR Executive Director so much that they bought multiple copies. and Hope in Shadows are giving homeless guidance and advice to small- and medium-sized firms. He every month by Street Corner Megaphone Magazine We kicked off Wrap Up Hope by holding and low-income people in Vancouver and Media Foundation. is also a founder and partner at The Stratfour Group, which a contest this fall with Megaphone Victoria an opportunity for hope. provides comprehensive people management solutions to vendors to submit holiday wrapping 121 Heatley Avenue companies undergoing transition. paper designs. We chose the first two Enjoy your holiday wrapping Vancouver, B.C. designs submitted for the November paper and please go to page 31 and V6A 3E9 m Carmen created one of the holiday wrapping issue. Longtime Megaphone contributor make a donation today. [email protected] paper designs in this issue. Photo: Jackie Dives. and designer Will Brown help prepare 4 Change that Works MegaphoneMagazine.com 5 Out Front Out Front A big change, but no bang Direct action gets intergenerational Province quietly drops income-assistance ban Youth rally for Chinatown seniors By Katie Hyslop Story and photo by Katie Hyslop Thirteen years ago, the provincial The ban was lifted after government government introduced, with great fanfare, received repeated requests to do so during a lifetime income-assistance ban for people public consultations, according to a A convicted of criminal fraud.