It sounds like a bad joke: what do you get when a Buddhist, a Christian and a Wiccan sit down for a meal together? Actually, it was one Buddhist, three Christians, one Wiccan and three agnostics and what you got was some…
Any week called Reconciliation Week has got to be a good one. We’ll start with what that’s all about, and then look at some other highlights around town in next few days. Reconciliation Week The historic nature of the week…
It is surprising to many Canadians that 150,000 Aboriginal children were forced to attend Indian Residential Schools from 1831 to 1996 as part of Canada’s official efforts to assimilate Indigenous people. It is not surprising that many victims did not…
I was getting desperate. It was the last of four days at the Montreal Truth and Reconciliation Commission meetings (in April). Sorrow, despair, hope, anger, defeat, defiance and confusion washed over me like waves buffeting a message bottle destined for the…
When Union Gospel Mission approached artist and Emily Carr University Instructor, Jeanne Krabbendam, about donating art to hang in the alcohol and drug recovery program’s building, she knew she could do much more than that. Through her vision, an entire…
This weekend Vancouver celebrates Stanley Park’s 125th birthday. Five ‘festival zones’ around the park will host a wide variety of activities, from concerts, historical tours and cricket games to Coast Salish cultural displays and nature walks. It looks like a…
Today, CBC’s The Current replayed an interview between host Anna Maria Tremonti and Vancouver homeless advocate Judy Graves on the day of her retirement, May 29. The interview is moving and informative; you won’t regret spending 23 minutes listening to the…
When you tackle World Christianity on a Friday evening and part of Saturday – allowing for generous coffee breaks – you can expect to miss a few of the fine points. But the cast of scholars collected by Regent College…
It seems to be a trend – and a welcome one. Three Chinese churches – that I’m aware of, there may well have been more – turned their parking lots over to block parties last weekend. Vancouver Chinese Baptist Church…
Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson’s website recently announced that his Engaged City Task Force is launching some “steps to modernize civic engagement” and some new online tools to achieve that goal. Noting how ironic it is that unprecedented access to communication technologies “should…