Snauq was the name of the Squamish village at Kits Point, before the Kitsilano Indian Reserve was created in 1876. By 1913 the Native population had been pressured to move from the area. That history has been largely overlooked – I certainly…
Jenny Hawkinson has been working as an artist for a decade, mostly in the Downtown Eastside. For several years she worked with Mission Possible; now she is a DTES street pastor / artist with 24-7 Prayer. Over the summer, she and…
A peculiar thing happened in Vancouver when Canada’s new prostitution law came into effect in 2014. Instead of turning the efforts of law enforcement toward sex buyers, pimps and traffickers, as the law was intended to do, the exploitation of women has…
Many church members around the city will be inviting international students and new citizens home for Thanksgiving dinner, but I have been particularly taken with the uniquely welcoming atmosphere at First Christian Reformed Church of Vancouver, at 11th and Victoria.…
This profile is from the Faith in Canada 150 Thread of 1000 Stories. Faith in Canada 150 exists to celebrate the role of faith in our life together during Canada’s anniversary celebrations in 2017. I grew up in a church-going home. Attending church…
For the past 10 years the Verge Conference has focused on a range of fascinating arts-related topics. Last year it was Arts + the Inklings; in previous years arts and the environment or ethics or social action . . . This year…
Canada, to its shame, offers no legal protection for children right up until the day they are born. Our politicians and our media elite ignore that reality – but we are fortunate that a few heroes keep up the seemingly hopeless…
Peter Biggs of The Light Magazine is researching one Metro Vancouver / Fraser Valley municipality each month, and producing a four page feature. The September issue features Surrey. The Semiahmoo, Katzie and Kwantlen First Nations People have lived in the region for thousands…
Karen Giesbrecht coordinates several community meals at churches around Vancouver. Some of the participants struggle with addictions, and she is concerned with the implications of easier access to marijuana promised by all levels of government. On a recent Monday evening,I…
For a number of years my daily prayer and study time includes reading online national and international news articles, preceded and followed by readings from the Psalms, Gospels and Epistles, and often from the Torah and Prophets as well. Reading…