January 9th, 2008

100 Years of Homelessness
January 9, 2008While homelessness may seem like a relatively new issue for Vancouver, homeless people have long been a part of Vancouver's history. Local First Nations were the first homeless. By the late 1860s, nearly 100 years of smallpox epidemics had reduced the native population of B.C. from an estimated 155,000 to only 20,000. Approximately 700 indigenous people lived on Burrard Inlet along with 500 non-Aboriginals. In the late summer of 1886, a great fire swept through the city, destroying almost all wooden structures. Mayor MacLean sent a telegram to federal authorities saying: "Our city is ashes. Three thousand people homeless. Can you send us any government help?" For a short while, Vancouver was a tent city while new buildings were erected.

Young farmers challenge MLAs not to give up on industry
Despite dismal prospects for their immediate future, young farmers say they believe there is a future in farming in Prince Edward Island. Ryan Weeks, a fourth-generation dairy farmer from Pleasant Valley, says the problem is they have to convince government leaders to believe in farming. He said that means investing in the future of farming rather than putting money towards an exit strategy to get Islanders out of farming. Before Christmas, the Ghiz government put a $2.8-million exit strategy on the table to help get struggling hog farmers out of the pork business. Weeks made his comments Tuesday as legislative hearings into the crisis facing Island farmers continued. “We have a generation of young agri-food professionals who will be lost if we don’t get our act together and make P.E.I. a sustainable place to be in agriculture,” Weeks told Island MLAs.