Lower Island NEWS An Independent Democratic Socialist Newspaper Serving the Lower Island Area for 26 Years Volume 27 Issue #2 April/May 2010 Victoria, BC Poem and photos Spring by Peter Woods Canada Geese flock land- Cackling ing on Lost Canada Lagoon Geese with a new arriving “visitor”. on Lost Lagoon There is a Rhythm to Spring A beat - A chorus - A rush. It is both steady movement and turbulent flow, Arrivals and departures - Shifts in old routines. Female Anna’s Hum- mingbird feeding Anna’s her two Humming- nest- bird in the lings. Community Garden. Spring is - A wild flowering. It is a new voice. It is the pairing of living things - It can be felt and seen, Breathed in, tasted, smelled, listened to, and heard. Sander- ling: A first winter Adult bird takes Bald time out Eagle from feed- landng, ing for with a quick talons stretch, ready. at the entrance to First Narrows in Stanley Park It is a season of movement and growth - A season of unfolding - Spring is a dance A season of expanding - With an invisible choreographer, and many dancers. And renewal. The sun and moon play their parts in the heavens. Peter Woods lives in Vancouver and Wind and water move magically - photographs the wildlife at Lost Lagoon, Exchanging roles - Beaver Lake and Stanley Park. And partners. Inside this issue Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement # 40008124 Return to: The Lower Island News Nanaimo grandmother in Africa 2 You’re needed in board room 12 Box 311-2750 Quadra Street Victoria, BC V8T 4E8 Security deposits: your money 3 The question of status 13 Editorial and op/ed 4 Three strong women 14 Letters to the editor 5-6 Militarism and climate change 15 We need farmland freeze now 7 Who does Yellow Jacket sting 16 Farewell to McMorrans 8 A step toard democracy 17 Denise Savoie reports 9 Book and other reviews 18 BC budget breaks promises 10 Coming events calendar 19 The values of being NDP 11 Directory 20 Page 2 April/May 2010 The Lower Island NEWS Nanaimo grandmother to attend Raging Grannies dump blood historic African gathering on ministry building Nanaimo grandmother Donna Anthony The Nan Go Grannies has a dozen ac- One hundred and fifty outraged com- the social welfare of our communities. We has been selected to join a delegation of tive members and about 80 supporters in munity members took to the streets in refuse to let the needs of our community more than 40 Canadian grandmothers, the Nanaimo area. They have raised more downtown Victoria April 9 to support the be ignored.” including Sally Gellard of Merville, and than $55,000 to date through events such “Raging Grannies” as they dumped blood in Activists specifically criticized the pro- Gloria Herbert of Hornby Island, heading to as book and yard sales, beer and burger front of the Ministry of Housing and Social vincial government for cutting $25 million Swaziland this May. nights, dinner parties, and direct donations. Development to symbolize the suffering that dollars from income assistance programs Anthony will attend the first international This year, BC Grandmother groups were recent cuts to social spending are creating including a reduction in dental visits, and African Grandmothers’ Gathering on African honoured to receive the Rosemary Brown for this community. the cancellation of the province’s minimum soil in order to help tackle the great chal- Award for international work toward wom- The Victoria Coalition Against Poverty shelter allowance. lenges of raising grandchildren orphaned by en’s equality. The next fund-raising event (VCAP) organized the rally that started in “Cutting social spending hurts our entire AIDS. On May 8 -- the eve of Mother’s Day is a wonderful collaboration between the front of the Ministry of Health and marched community,” said Hagel. “Investing a small -- she will join in a march of solidarity that Group and local artists who have painted through the streets to the Ministry of Hous- amount of money now into harm reduction, is expected to attract thousands. Muskoka chairs and benches in brilliant ing and Social Development where activists welfare and disability programs will save “I am incredibly honoured and excited designs to be sold at heard speeches, chanted slogans, played millions of dollars in health care costs and to be attending this historic event,” said auction, with appies music and shared a free meal. The event prevent many long term social problems.” Anthony. “The courage, determination and and entertainment, on was dubbed “The Olympic Party’s Over” by Speakers at the rally included repre- ingenuity of our African counterparts in the May 1 at the Cavallotti organizers who cite the $6 billion Olympic sentatives from Harm Reduction Victoria, face of AIDS is awe-inspiring. These women Hall. spectacle as a major reason for the gutting the Committee to End Homelessness, the are holding together the continent – and this Anthony and the of services. Community Support Network and the Action event will be powerful!” other delegates are “Now that the $6 billion Olympic party is Committee of People with Disabilities. All Funded by the Stephen Lewis Founda- urgently seeking do- over, this government needs to stop ignoring of them called on the province to make a tion and hosted by an organization called nations of Aeroplan the needs marginalized populations,” said meaningful commitment to protecting the miles to get the del- rally organizer Danielle Hagel. “We demand rights of poor and working class people. Swaziland Positive Living, the African Grandmother egation of Canadi- the Campbell government stop its attack on Grandmothers’ Gathering will present the cares for grand- ans to Swaziland and first significant opportunity for African grand- children, home again. Through mothers to share their experience and skills, orphaned by HIV. celebrate their accomplishments and define its Beyond Miles pro- the path forward. gram, Aeroplan facilitates the donation of The Canadian delegation will represent miles by Aeroplan members to the Stephen more than 5,000 women from across the Lewis Foundation year-round to offset ongo- country involved in the Stephen Lewis ing travel costs. Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmoth- Miles for the Swaziland gathering should ers Campaign. They will participate in the be donated through the Stephen Lewis event alongside African grandmothers from Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmoth- 40 projects supported by the Foundation in ers Campaign website at www.grandmoth- 15 countries. erscampaign.org. The Canadians have also been invited to The Grandmothers to Grandmothers visit grandmothers in their own communities. Campaign was launched on March 7, Upon their return to Canada, they will share 2006. The first international Grandmothers’ their experience in order to raise aware- Gathering took place in August of that year ness of the needs of African grandmothers when, with the support of Aeroplan, the and the work of grassroots organizations Stephen Lewis Foundation brought 100 to change their lives and those of their grandmothers from sub-Saharan Africa to grandchildren. meet with 200 Canadian grandmothers Anthony has been active in women’s on the eve of the XVI International AIDS equality issues for many years. She has Conference in Toronto. Donna attended three grandchildren, and is a founding mem- the historic Gathering of the Grandmothers ber of the Nan Go Grannies that has been in Toronto along with Ycha Gill, another Nan active since May, 2005. Stephen Lewis had Go Grannie. She says it was a life-changing Complete with a large inflated bear, Victoria residents gather in front of the Royal embarked on a series of interviews in the experience, “as the Swaziland Gathering Bank in downtown Victoria to protest bank’s funding of the tar sands. media, and his vivid descriptions of horrific promises to be”. conditions suffered by women and children Today the Campaign boasts hundreds due to the AIDS pandemic in Africa inspired of groups across the country and more than Royal Bank told to get out of the her, as it has thousands of others. $7 million has been raised. She says, “It was as if the Grandmothers Individuals wishing to start or join a themselves were speaking to us and the call Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign tar sands by protestors to take action in solidarity with these amaz- group in their community should contact VICTORIA:--Victoria residents gathered nanced an estimated minimum of $641 ing women was urgent and compelling.” It Helen Silbiger at campaign@stephenlew- outside of Royal Bank of Canada’s Victoria million of capital used by oil and gas com- moved her to call a meeting of friends and isfoundation.org or 1-888-203-9990 ext. headquarters March 3 to tell the bank to “Get panies operating in the Alberta tar sands, neighbours and the Nan Go Grannies was 230. Locally, contact Becky: 250.751-0165 Out of the Tar Sands”. the extraction process for which uses ap- launched. The Stephen Lewis Foundation sup- The action was one of several occurring proximately three barrels of fresh water for ports grassroots organizations across Canada, and coincided with RBC’s every barrel of oil produced. that are turning the tide of HIV/ annual shareholder meeting that was held • An estimate of RBC’s total fos- AIDS in Africa by providing earlier March 3 in Toronto. sil fuel financing based on public records care and support to women, “RBC clients and individual shareholders shows over $50 billion financed across all orphaned children, grandmoth- might be interested to know that their bank business lines in 2007. The participants in ers and people living with HIV is the largest financier of Alberta’s tar sands, the March 3 events emphasized that RBC and AIDS.