With phase two of B.C.’s COVID-19 restart plan in effect, businesses and services around the province have reopened their doors. Citizens have been given permission to congregate in groups of six or less, most elementary schools are expecting some students back in September, and overnight camping will be permitted again starting in June. This announcement... Continue Reading

There have always been some subjects you just can’t bring up at parties. Among them are the tried and true pot-stirrers — Israel and Palestine, American gun rights, and immigration law — as well as some new and controversial topics that pop up every couple of months which keep us at each other’s throats. Before... Continue Reading

Blue Rivera applies hip-hop production to pop sprinkled with latin influences — the sonic trademark of the songwriters behind the project, 21-year-old twins Julián Borderas-Ochoa and Joaquin Borderas-Ochoa. Joaquin plays guitar and sings and Julian plays the bass backed by drummer Stephen Coley, pianist Simon Freeman, and synthesist Hourmazd Naderi. Joaquin and Julian have been... Continue Reading

I can genuinely say I don’t know how I’d be surviving quarantine if I didn’t have cannabis.Being confined to the house for the indefinite future, and without a regular to-do list to devote myself to, I could very easily descend into madness at any time. Having a daily puff of the devil’s lettuce has insofar... Continue Reading

Vulnerable communities across Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are in need of special support as social distancing becomes paramount, global markets shudder to a halt, and the opioid overdose crisis continues to take lives. In recognition of the community’s unique place as a hotspot for two simultaneous crises, representatives from the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Coastal Health,... Continue Reading

British Columbian policymakers are rushing to adapt as both the COVID-19 pandemic and overdose crisis  become increasingly harmful to vulnerable communities. As part of this effort, the provincial government has released a new set of guidelines and resources on safer supply which eliminate some barriers to getting prescriptions for opioids, stimulants, illicit benzodiazepines, tobacco, alcohol,... Continue Reading

Over a very short amount of time, COVID-19 became a global health pandemic, spurring countries around the world to declare states of emergency and urge residents to stay inside. Here in Vancouver, the last week has been a whirlwind of federal, provincial, and municipal announcements, but citizens are feeling it on the ground too. Our... Continue Reading

When Camille Brereton was a little girl, she danced in a group called the Caribbean Singers and Dancers alongside her mom, a singer, and cousins. In elementary school, she started writing her own lyrics in a notebook that had Lola Bunny from Space Jam on the cover and eventually picked up rapping by borrowing friends’... Continue Reading

A recent Media Indigena episode by Rick Harp, Kim TallBear, and Candice Callison examined the debate between the media’s use of the term “protectors” versus “protestors” in reference to Indigenous people acting against the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. The episode opened with commentary about a story titled “War of words: Experts say the Wet’suwet’en actions are... Continue Reading

Picture a journalist. Who do you see? Most minds will conjure up a Walter Cronkite type — white, male, cisgender, probably straight. Likely wearing a stiff tie and a button-up, nearing their fifties, semi-decrepit. Embarrassingly enough, that image isn’t far off from the truth. Much like politics, journalism has long been overwhelmingly dominated by white... Continue Reading

Feeling isolated as a queer Chinese-Vietnamese man in Vancouver was getting old for DJ On by the time he decided to spend a year in Taiwan, where he hoped life would be gayer, more fun, and less white. In retrospect, On says, that wish was granted. When he left Canada, he was a bored, seventh-year... Continue Reading

According to Historica Canada, the first named Black person to set foot on Canadian soil was Mathieu Da Costa, a translator hired by European explorers to communicate with Indigenous people in 1605. Fourteen years later, the first ship of African slaves to reach British North America docked in what is now Jamestown, Ontario, and systemic... Continue Reading

Look across the water from Vancouver’s English Bay and you’ll see a beautiful, blue expanse teeming with plants, animals — and humongous industrial ships lining the horizon. Rain or shine, night or day, vessels carrying everything from coffee to chemicals float in and out of Vancouver’s harbour, leaving a trail of greenhouse gasses behind them.... Continue Reading

Paloma Pendharkar really likes oatmeal. Specifically, she likes rolled oats cooked with chia over fresh banana and walnuts, topped with hemp seeds, cinnamon, and soy milk. Her name’s origin story is as simple as that. She’s a queen who loves her oatmeal. Her origin story as an artist, however, is longer and more complicated. Pendharkar’s... Continue Reading