11/17/2025
Our recent Carnegie Housing Project town hall was full of honesty, connection and real care for the Downtown Eastside. It was a reminder of how much people here fight for their neighborhood and for each other.
We opened with a land acknowledgment from Tanya Webking, recognizing the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and grounding the night in the long history of community and resistance on these lands.
We also shared one community play, The Blob, a satire about the city’s “uplift plan.” It showed how planning goes wrong when it ignores the people who live here. Huge thanks to Briellea, Max, Lance and Matt for bringing it to life. Full clips will be added to our YouTube page.
Speakers shared what real uplift looks like:
Dwayne from the Community Land Trust: “We’re fighting for land because we’re fighting for the right to decide our own future.”
Scotty from VANDU: “When we look after each other, that’s when real safety starts.”
Robin from the V6A Garden: “Food, knowledge, care — they grow the same way. You plant them and you share them.”
Udokam from Hogan’s Alley Society: “We’re rebuilding what was taken and making sure the next generation has a place to stand.”
Angela, fifth-generation Japanese Canadian researcher: “Displacement repeats unless we stop it.”
Max from the Carnegie Housing Project: “People want homes that are affordable, secure and built on dignity.”
Community members spoke from the floor, including the reminder, “One chopstick breaks easy. A bunch together doesn’t.”
Jean Swanson closed with a direct call to push back on the 32-story rezoning plan: “If we don’t act now, we lose the neighborhood.”
Thank you to everyone who joined, spoke, volunteered or showed up. This town hall showed what happens when neighbors gather — ideas grow, connections deepen, and the vision for a fairer city becomes stronger.
