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A new creative arts centre for Vancouver is burgeoning along Great Northern Way. It’s part of the False Creek Flats in an area dominated by the new Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC), roughly situated between Thornton Ave. on the west side, Glen Drive on the east, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) on…
In February 2015, at the age of 55, I moved to Vancouver. Yes, I was fleeing winter but I also had a desire to better understand my own country. I had always wondered why Canada did not feel united as the United States does. Or was I the one feeling all broken up? The question…
The BC Liberals suffered a blow in by-elections last week, losing a riding they had previously held in Coquitlam Burke Mountain. The NDP’s Jodie Wickens picked up that seat in the Legislature, winning a close race that included a strong showing from the Green Party’s Joey Keithley. The NDP also easily retained their traditional stronghold…
Like a number of awe-inspiring experiences, coming face-to-face with the Taj Mahal is finally reaching the front of the winding line from which you couldn’t glimpse the attraction. Unlike others, this is quite intentional. From the time you reach the public entrance at the traffic roundabout until you step under the red sandstone gateway arch,…
We’re at West 6th Ave. and Arbutus St. outside the Arbutus Coffee café. It’s at the centre of Kitsilano’s oldest neighbourhood. The park named Delamont is located at West 7th Ave. and Arbutus St. and runs behind Arbutus Coffee and several other houses. On August 19th, 2012, Arbutus Coffee received Vancouver’s Places That Matter plaque…
When I’m out and about in Vancouver, be it at a party, shopping or sheltering rainy hours away at a coffee shop, people often ask me, “Where are you from?” Perhaps it’s based on statistics; so many people pass the Rocky Mountains and call this city home, but the questioners come across as genuinely perplexed.…
Long overdue by-elections are finally taking places to fill two vacant seats in B.C.’s legislature. For a couple of months, opposition MLAs have been calling on Premier Christy Clark to hurry up and call the interim elections in the ridings of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, where MLAs had resigned earlier in 2015 to run…
It feels as though everyone in India is an entrepreneur. A fair assumption when travelling the country is that no product or service is too insignificant to bargain over. Even those already in employ, such as IndiGo baggage charge collectors, appear somewhat disappointed not to be cajoled. An expectant look, daring you to twist their…
Royal Sweet Diamond, a bronze sculpture by Canadian artist Joe Fafard, is the name of this life-size bull at the corner of Georgia and Richards Streets in downtown Vancouver. Viewing the bull, it does seem to exhibit a sweet disposition. It would seem more natural in a pastoral situation rather than in the bustling scene…
Who knew that a choice made at the age of 11 would impact my personal and professional life for many long years? French is my mother tongue, so what would I choose to study as a second language? I chose German. But then, what of English? English was my second choice and to which I…
After four moves in the last four years, my family begins 2016 confident we’ve finally found a place to call home in Vancouver. It’s been a constant search to find decent sized and relatively affordable rental housing in this city. Settled at last, it’s a relief to know we can at least plan for the…
This massive construction site along Howe St. and Pacific St. is not unfamiliar in Vancouver but it typifies the expensive building projects in the city. Luxury condos are enriching developers, construction firms, real estate companies and investors. Of course, they provide a beautiful space for those who can afford it, and some investors will actually…
Last October in Australia I fumbled over a ballot I ordered from overseas. Feeling politically isolated in a remote city named Wagga Wagga, I researched various candidates. At that time I was confronted with a startling question: what does it mean to be Canadian? Reading the headlines on my favourite websites I suddenly missed the…
