In the 15 years I’ve been helping churches and municipalities engage with one another, I’ve never been more hopeful that genuine dialogue is keenly desired on both sides of the table – nor more convinced that time is running out…
Jonathan Bird has been working on a unique project with the City of Vancouver and is offering an opportunity to inform how the Christian community and the City interact in future for the common good. Read his article and look…
Generations ago some wag coined the local aphorism, “Vancouver’s favourite bloodsport is real estate investment.” I first heard it when I arrived in the city 22 years ago during a period of rapid rise in home prices, one that now…
If there is one thing most people can agree on these days, it’s that our society is deeply fractured and getting more burdened and broken by the day. A growing chorus of sociologists, philosophers and economists is saying that these…
Since 2011, CityGate Leadership Forum has coordinated the Planted Community Food Network to help seed a cultural shift in Greater Vancouver away from haphazard food charity, toward a sustainable local food system – opening access to affordable nutrition by building on the…
The perennially hot debate over the role and value of independent schools received some welcome hard data with the release yesterday of the latest report from the Cardus Education Survey. Begun in 2011, this ongoing survey of high school graduates…
In late November, the City of Vancouver released the Housing Vancouver Strategy to replace its Housing and Homelessness Strategy (2012-2021). Despite having exceeded several of the key targets it had established for this midway point in that 10-year plan, city…
Last week the Vancouver Foundation released a much-anticipated update to its landmark 2012 Connections and Engagement report on loneliness and community life in Metro Vancouver. This update, like the original report, provides hard evidence for trends most of us know…
Last week, for the fourth time since first being elected in 2008, Mayor Gregor Robertson convened a meeting with faith leaders at Vancouver City Hall, to seek their assistance in addressing homelessness and affordable housing. Nearly two dozen senior clergy…
Jonathan Bird wrote about the year-long Vancouver Consultation process for the national Faith Today magazine. Vancouver is rightly celebrated for being one of the most liveable urban regions in the world. Yet Vancouver’s very success has contributed to profound spiritual…