ABORT Magazine™

Tales From The Eastside: Bryan Mollett – Special Feature

September 30th, 2011 Filed under: Tales From The Eastside™ by Editor in Chief

(All Photos – Bryan Mollett | Bryan Mollett Photography)

Purchase/Commission:

bryanmollett@gmail.com

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Please Donate Generously:

Portland Hotel Society

Pivot Legal Society

Vancouver Native Health

DTES Womens Center

Battered Women’s Support Services

WANT MORE TALES FROM THE EASTSIDE? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2011 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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Tales From The Eastside: Scott Alexander – Issue 17 Preview

September 23rd, 2011 Filed under: Tales From The Eastside™ by Editor in Chief

(CLICK TO ENLARGE | All Photos - Scott Alexander)

ObsidianFoxPhotography.com

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Please Donate Generously:

Portland Hotel Society

Pivot Legal Society

Vancouver Native Health

DTES Womens Center

Battered Women’s Support Services

WANT MORE TALES FROM THE EASTSIDE? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2011 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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Tales From The Eastside: Tyler Simpson – Issue 16 Preview Pt. II

July 14th, 2011 Filed under: Tales From The Eastside™ by Editor in Chief

(All Photos – Tyler Simpson | observeone.com)

Purchase/Commission:

tyler@abortmag.com

observeone@gmail.com

__________________

Please Donate Generously:

Portland Hotel Society

Pivot Legal Society

Vancouver Native Health

DTES Womens Center

Battered Women’s Support Services

WANT MORE TALES FROM THE EASTSIDE? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2011 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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Tales From The Eastside: Tyler Simpson – Issue 16 Preview

November 10th, 2010 Filed under: Tales From The Eastside™ by Editor in Chief

(All Photos – Tyler Simpson | observeone.com)

Purchase/Commission:

observeone@gmail.com

__________________

Please Donate Generously:

Portland Hotel Society

Pivot Legal Society

Vancouver Native Health

DTES Womens Center

Battered Women’s Support Services

WANT MORE TALES FROM THE EASTSIDE? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2010 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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Tales From The Eastside: Scott Alexander – Issue 16 Preview

November 5th, 2010 Filed under: Tales From The Eastside™ by Editor in Chief

(All Photos – Scott Alexander | Obsidianfoxphotography.com)

__________________

Please Donate Generously:

Portland Hotel Society

Pivot Legal Society

Vancouver Native Health

DTES Womens Center

Battered Women’s Support Services

WANT MORE TALES FROM THE EASTSIDE? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2010 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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ABORT Magazine – ISSUE 15: Now Online (Free Download!)

March 5th, 2010 Filed under: Exclusive!, Issues by Editor in Chief

ABORT MAGAZINE – ISSUE 15, FEATURING EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH:

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, BLACK SHEEP, HATEBREED, SOULS OF MISCHIEF, Legendary photographer NEIL ZLOZOWER, BWSS’s ANGELA MARIE MACDOUGALL, our exclusive Shooting Gallery of Olympic protest mayhem, our special spotlight on the infamous NINJA X GIRLS, plus all our regular features.

BEHIND THE BOARDS: MIKE FRASER (AC/DC, Aerosmith)

PLUS: Tales From the Eastside, DENIED!, Shooting Gallery, ABORTIST: Rank & File, our Headphonica chart and of course lots of (honest) reviews!

Free To Download and Share As Always

abortmag.com/issue15.pdf

READ OUR BACK ISSUES HERE

abortmag.com/index.php/category/issues

We’ll Lead…You Follow.

twitter.com/abortmag

Copyright © 2004-2010 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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EXCLUSIVE: 21 & Under With…Angela Marie MacDougall of BWSS

February 14th, 2010 Filed under: 21 & Under With..., Exclusive!, Made In Canada, Tales From The Eastside™ by Editor in Chief

(Photo -  Scott Alexander | ObsidianFoxPhotography.com)

The annual Downtown Eastside Memorial Women’s March commemorates the many women lost to the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In a neighborhood marred by rampant drug use and dangerous sex trade, but also held together by a strong sense of community and identity, the March has allowed the families and friends of the lost to grieve, mourn, and get the message out to the larger masses that all is not well here in “the best place on earth”, and that these women are neither faceless nor forgotten. ABORT Magazine’s Dave”Corvid”McCallum sat with planning committee member Angela Marie MacDougall to speak on the march, the conditions, and the solutions to the problems of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

David McCallum: I’m here with Angela MacDougall of Battered Women Support Services talking about the Women’s Memorial March. Can you introduce yourself and talk about your role in BWSS?

Angela: My name is Angela Marie MacDougall and I’m in the role of Executive Director at Battered Women Support Services and sit on the planning committee for the 19th Annual Feb.14th Memorial March. The memorial march planning committee consists of women from the Downtown Eastside as well as women from other community organizations and individuals and we don’t represent any particular organization on that planning committee. Rather, we do the work of organizing the march for the community.

D: Can you talk about the march itself and how long it’s been around and what it represents etc.?

A: This is the 19th year. In 1991 a woman was found murdered and dismembered in the Downtown Eastside and her family at that time conducted a ceremony at each location where her body parts were found. And the ceremony- I wasn’t at the ceremony- but it was to honor and memorialize and it was to grieve her loss. At the request of the family we no longer say her name but the Women’s Memorial March started on that day. And what I understand is that Feb.14th was chosen as the day because as Valentine’s Day, it was a day of love, and it’s a day of particular significance for women in that it’s a way to show love to women primarily. So that’s my understanding. So for the last 19 years the march has been held and I have been on the planning committee since 1995. Each year we come together between 10 and 30 women to plan the march.

D: In the 19 years since the march started, a lot has gone on in the Downtown Eastside and this issue isn’t something- it’s really difficult to talk about honestly- but this issue hasn’t gone away. The Pickton trial, that’s wrapped up now but that’s just last year. Since the march has began, how has it grown to deal with this issue as an ongoing problem in the community where women are disappearing all the time in the Downtown Eastside? It seems the majority of missing women are of First Nations. So can you talk about what is going on and how it affects the march, the Pickton trial etc.?

A: Good question. The march after the original ceremony continued as a way to honor and to memorialize women. There was critical component early on and that was that part of the march- the procession- takes us to the Police Station at 222 Main Street. And at that time in early 90’s the police were not investigating disappearances and murders at all. So each year we would go to 222 Main Street and people would speak there and would essentially ask the police to do their job and to recognize that women were being murdered and were going missing.

Now fast-forward, what we have now is a situation where in general, some missing women are being investigated, in general there have been some investigations of murders. And we’ve had as you noted, a very high-profile arrest and conviction. And that arrest and conviction was important. We’ve had other issues as well, but they were important because they were acknowledged and it was some measure of justice for the murders and disappearances. In lots of ways it took away attention and resources and it continues to take away resources. It took away attention from women who had been found murdered prior and now post.

So why we see that women go missing, why are women getting murdered, why is there a disproportionate number of indigenous women represented among the missing and murdered? I think we can look very much at the making of this Nation for us to understand that violence against indigenous women was at the heart of the making of this Nation. And the dismantling of indigenous cultures and the dismantling of indigenous ways through that process was also a relegation of indigenous women from leadership and from where indigenous women had public roles and were a central part of the communities. Prior to colonization the very process and ideology and practice of colonization dismantled that and relegated indigenous women to the very bottom of our social structure where the process of colonization relegated women less than men in general.

So that affects everything. The police were established in a lot of ways to move indigenous peoples off their land, so the lack of investigations that we saw of indigenous women being murdered and disappearing very much goes back to the making of the nation and with law enforcement here in Canada. The factors of urbanization of people and subsequent poverty and residential schools and the effects of residential schools – all that speaks to why we see indigenous women represented. Violence against women is one of most pressing issues of our time. Right now the statistics that we see through our work at BWSS that we’ve assessed, and this is confirmed by the Provincial Government, that 1 in 3 women experiences abuse as affected by violence. And women represent 52 percent of our population and so a third of us are dealing with violence. And that grinds down in a big way and becomes very… concentrated when we’re talking about women in the Downtown Eastside where women are incredibly vulnerable to violence and that violence is rampant. And murders and disappearances are then the consequences.

D: So it takes place Feb.14 and the Olympics start on Feb.12. Concurrent with the Olympics people have organized and postered for a large anti-Olympic convergence which has gone beyond that to an anti-Colonial anti-Capitalist convergence with the focus on indigenous sovereignty with the slogan ‘No Olympics on stolen Native land.’ With 95 percent of BC being ceded land being on sovereign Native territory, do you feel like with the march taking place at the beginning of the Olympics this year and concurrent with this anti-Colonialist rally, does this give you a chance to express this sentiment to a larger audience that is coming here unaware that this is going on? The memorial normally draws so many people usually and yet you have the chance to make your statement to the larger population.

A: You know, this is very difficult and complex because V.A.N.O.C. started very early on and spoke with the elected leaders of the Four Host Nations- Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Mount Currie, and from V.A.N.O.C.’s perspective it was the very first time that they had ever involved indigenous populations in organizing, agreeing or operating the Olympics on indigenous territory. So that has been controversial because the elected officials and to some extent the hereditary chiefs and officials within the four host nations are in support of the Olympics, and who am I as the descendant of settlers to disagree with them when you know, I’m here- quite frankly- as a visitor, and the Indian Act has given them authority and the Indian Act is the Law of the day. And the Indian Act- you know, I didn’t create it and neither did they and we’re dealing with the legacy of it. So that’s one layer is that I can’t disagree with them and their decision to do that. And the second part is that there are a number of urban- and there’s a lot of dissent within those four host nations of the indigenous populations who don’t agree and are very concerned about the legacy. They don’t agree with their leadership and there’s a large concern about what the legacy of that decision is going to be over the long haul and where those resources are going to and how it will shake down, not only to the people of those Four Nations but also to all the urban indigenous people that are in Vancouver that are without representation, without obvious representation.

So the anti-Olympic organizing, the anti-Colonial organizing – yes, it is going to happen and for me- and I recognize clearly and speak all the time about the fact that you can’t talk about violence against women in this nation now known as Canada without talking about Colonialism.

We’ve been very much focused on the committee in supporting all the sides of this and wanting to support obviously anybody that is against the Olympics. But we’ve been focused very much on the march being about mobilizing women and a place for women to honor women’s lives and grieve for missing and murdered women.

We’ve spoken with the anti-Olympic organizers, and certainly asked them to join us and to respect the intention of the march and we’ve received assurances from them that they would do that.

READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW IN ISSUE 15 OF ABORT MAGAZINE- COMING SOON

Educate yourself at BWSS.org

Copyright © 2004-2010 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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With Province of British Columbia Cuts to legal aid, things just got worse for women seeking safety from violence

January 26th, 2009 Filed under: KauseZ, News/Calendar/Industry by Editor in Chief

Cuts to legal aid mean things just got worse for women seeking safety from violence

Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is on the frontline where women survivors of violence are placed at risk of injury and even death due to their inability to secure legal representation in family and civil law proceedings that routinely accompany a woman’s flight to freedom.  In recent times, our community has told women to leave abusive relationships and crisis services have been established.  Now more than ever women are leaving abusive relationships and when they do they are routinely forced to interface with the criminal, family, immigration, child welfare and civil legal systems.  This interface represents the second stage of living free of violence.

A determined group of women started Battered Women’s Support Services in 1979. Thirty years later, BWSS has grown into a strong and dynamic organization. We continue to provide support and advocacy for women who have experienced abuse, as well as education about violence against women. As part of the feminist anti-violence movement, our long-term goal is the elimination of all violence against women.

Violence against women is a significant social issue that continues.  BWSS recognizes that in addition to securing housing adequate legal advice and representation is a key factor in a battered woman’s decision to escape abuse.  It is unacceptable that the province of British Columbia has chosen to cut women’s access to justice while establishing a barrier for women victims of violence.  The international community has already put Canada on notice for violating the rights of women, now the province of British Columbia leadership has entrenched this violation and therefore is putting women and children at risk.

Battered Women’s Support Services has been in contact and will continue to be in contact with women from around the province who are impacted by these cuts with the intention of drawing attention to these safety/justice issues and to bring voice to women who have survived so much already who are now faced with a steeper uphill climb.

Read the full report at bwss.org or click the link below.

bwss.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/batteredwomenjusticedeniedfinaldecember2008.pdf

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