I want to thank Urbanarium for the invitation to participate in The Mixing Middle Competition. It's an honor to represent my Coast Salish communities of MST and share my knowledge with the architectural and planning industry.  There are so many projects in these territories that require participants like myself, a member of the Squamish Nation and an independent cultural advisor, to engage with but I am only one of a couple of cultural consultants that have an architectural background and who also practices classic Coast Salish art.  

Growing up in a multi-generational immigrant family, the struggle to find available public washrooms was a constant struggle we faced. Whether it be finding a barrier-free washroom for my grandpa with Alzheimer’s who used a walker, or a family stall for my screaming cousin who refused to go into the womens toilets. We would be turned away at coffee shops and gas stations where staff ridiculed us for not making a purchase, or for not spending enough to warrant our whole family to use the facilities.

It’s 7 o’clock in the morning. I turn on my kettle to heat some water, adjusted the lighting in my living room and turned on my laptop to log into zoom: I was preparing to meet up with my friend for tea. Logging into a platform that was once reserved for work meetings has now become my primary mode of meeting up with friends. My living room has become our 3rd place. 

By Frances Bula, published in the Globe and Mail | Full Article Click Here

A massive new effort to produce a vision for the future Vancouver, a city currently in the throes of an extreme housing crisis and pitched battles over how to fix it, will cost almost $18-million and take three years.

But its supporters are hoping the proposal for a city-wide plan, coming to council Tuesday, will help reduce the acrimony.