A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Cutting Down Trees for Better Views and Respecting Protesters By Arresting Them

Tea & Two Slices is a long-running news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran restaurant dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown. He is very aware of his privilege, so there’s really no need to remind him of it.

It’s working! $4M-plus home sales in Vancouver plummet by half in 2018: Sotheby’s.

Vandals target trees at Spanish Banks. By cutting off just the top halves? “Vancouver Police and the park board are investigating after a number of trees were vandalized at Spanish Banks”. Lol, vandals? No. I would start the investigation by asking who has a brand new ocean view and a “For Sale” sign on their front lawn.

City asks developer to revise drawings for separate doors for social housing and market housing tower on Robson Street. The board voted that prior to receiving a development permit, VKJ (Cardero) Investment LP must present revised drawings to director of planning Gil Kelley indicating “a balanced expression of the adjacent market and social housing residential entries”. Liberals be like, let’s not actually fix the systems of power that have made the worst income disparity of all time, just make the poor door look more like the rich door.

B.C. premier ‘confident’ for peaceful resolution after arrests at Gidimt’en camp checkpoint. On Wednesday, Horgan said he respects the right to protest but said protesters are “breaking the law and there are consequences for that.” This is not a fucking protest, you dolt. This is a people defending their land, and you are breaking the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by forcibly removing them.

“There is no quick fix,” Horgan says. Um, yeah…there is. The police and industry need to stand down immediately and respect Wet’suwet’en law that has been in place for thousands of years.

Horgan then goes on to basically gaslight indigenous communities by saying there are “differences in opinion within families within communities within clans”. This is a dogwhistle to the fact that the wrong chiefs are signing pipeline benefit agreements. What a letdown.

He might as well have said RCMP officers involved in arrests in Wet’suwet’en territory were carrying ‘reconciliation sticks’, not rifles.

And then there’s Trudeau: Trudeau promises “best ever” reconciliation speech after RCMP break down Indigenous barricade for pipeline. The thing about good satire is that it’s never far from the truth…

“You are afraid to lose everything you benefit from our oppression and our suffering. You are afraid to lose your comfort…” Trudeau Called ‘a Liar and a Weak Leader’ at Chaotic B.C. Town Hall.

Tweet of the day:

Indigenous VR experience Biidaaban imagines Toronto after reconciliation.

Jackson’s Indigenous heritage is at the heart of Biidaaban. Offering an insight into a world in which age-old First Nations traditions flourish within Toronto’s urban jungle, her imagined future allows the viewer to wander around a to-scale vision of the city reclaimed by the natural world. The anchor point of the experience is language. As users slip between each rich vantage point, words from the Wendat, Anishinaabemowin, and Kanien’kaha—the first individuals to inhabit the place initially known as Tkaronto—rise up on the screen and are narrated over the sound of chirping crickets and stirring leaves.

 

Bonus: Canadian astronomers discover 2nd mysterious repeating fast radio burst.

There is 1 comment

  1. If you’ve never listened to them before you should really listen to Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Johnny’s Teeth is very relevant to this whole fiasco.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.