To the Children, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings of Vancouver

 To the Children, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings of Vancouver 💔🥺

I want to start by saying: I am so sorry. I am sorry that the city you were born into — the streets you walk, the schools you go to, the buses you ride — are so broken. I am sorry that you can’t understand why your parents or grandparents can’t afford bus fare 🚌💸, why they worry about rent 🏠, why sometimes there isn’t enough food 🍞🥛 or heat 🔥, and why they can’t always help you like you deserve.

You see people overdosing 💊💔. You see people sleeping on the sidewalks, in doorways, in parks 🏞️. You see friends or family struggling with substance abuse. Maybe some have died. Maybe your dad or mom works as a police officer 👮‍♂️👮‍♀️, and you notice how stressed, overworked, and unhappy they are. Maybe neighbors fight over money 💰. Maybe some friends go without lunches 🍎🥪, winter coats 🧥, or basic necessities. Maybe you’ve even had to sneak onto a bus because there was no other way to get around.

I want you to know: it’s not your fault. None of it is your fault. You are living in a city and a society where the systems that are supposed to protect and support people are failing — healthcare 🏥, housing 🏚️, social services 💬, schools 📚, policing 👮‍♂️. The people who are supposed to make your life safer and easier — the politicians, developers, and institutions 🏢💸 — often prioritize money, power, and appearances over the lives of ordinary people.

The truth is harsh: thousands of people in Vancouver are unhoused or homeless. Seniors 👵👴 are filling shelters like never before. Indigenous people 🌿 are overrepresented among those living on the streets. Every year, hundreds of people die from overdoses ⚰️💊 — some of them people you may have known, or who could have been your neighbors, your cousins, your friends.

I see the confusion in your eyes. You ask: why are my parents struggling? Why are my friends hungry or cold? Why do so many people around me seem to be suffering while the city keeps building condos 🏢, pouring money into policing 🚓, and ignoring basic human needs?

I don’t have all the answers. But I want you to know that what you see and feel matters. Your empathy ❤️, your awareness 🌟, your frustration 😡 — these are real. They are valid. You are noticing injustice, scarcity, and pain, and that matters more than you know.

I want you to remember that even in a city that often feels harsh, you have the power to see, care, and act. Small acts of kindness ✨ — sharing what you have, checking on a friend 🤝, speaking up about what’s wrong — ripple out in ways you may never see, but they matter.

And I want you to know that it’s okay to be angry 😠. It’s okay to feel sad 😢. It’s okay to feel scared 😨. These are normal reactions when the world around you feels unfair. You are not alone. There are people fighting for change ✊, even if it feels slow. There are others who see what’s happening and are trying to do something about it.

One day, when the systems finally start to catch up, your courage 💪, your understanding 💛, your ability to witness and care, will be the foundation for a better city 🌇. But until then, I want you to hear this: I see you. I hear you. I am sorry you have to live this way. And you are not to blame for the brokenness around you.

You deserve warmth 🧣🔥. You deserve safety 🛡️. You deserve a city where your parents don’t have to choose between rent and food 🍞🏠, and where your friends can go to school and ride the bus without fear 🚌.

Hold on to each other 🤝. Watch out for each other 👀💛. And remember: the fact that you notice, that you care, that you question — that is what keeps hope alive 🌟.

Vancouver Vibes: Beauty, Noise, and the Battle for Sanity 🇨🇦

🌆🇨🇦🔥Vancouver Vibes: Beauty, Noise, and the Battle for Sanity 🇨🇦🔥🌆

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

It’s sunny in Vancouver. People smile. The city glows. But beneath the sunshine, there's a pressure cooking. Traffic jams, construction noise, honking horns, sirens, electric scooters whizzing by, luxury cars, fire trucks, delivery vans, cats and dogs and geese crossing streets, and the nonstop grind of development. It's noise, noise, noise.

Where is the peace?

There are studies — and more being done — about the mental health impacts of urban noise. And still, city planners race forward. No foresight. No pause. The result? People are cracking. Anxiety. Depression. Burnout. Seniors getting robbed in daylight. Ambulances rushing to overdoses. People dying in streets, hidden or exposed.

Ten years ago it felt bad. Now it’s worse. Way worse.

COVID didn’t just hurt us — it wounded the city. Then came Gentrification 2.0. Families arriving from Paris and elsewhere, saying how much better Vancouver is. They work remotely, raise kids in million-dollar homes. I was a nanny once, part of their immigration puzzle. When I asked to house-sit while they visit Paris — no answer.

At least I’m walking a friend’s dog now. She immigrated long ago, has some money, and is kind. But her health is fading. She's glued to Netflix and a tablet game. The dog sometimes poops in the house. I worry.

I remember 20 years ago — Pickton trial. Women vanishing. Today? Still. Murmurs of people banging from inside shipping containers. No port cops. The fear remains.

I’ve lived in BC for 63 years. Vancouver since 1993. Kits since 1997. I know this place. I've seen Hope, the Kootenays, Victoria, Duncan (WOOFING), Kelowna. Vancouver looks like a dream but hides a nightmare. If gentrification weren’t so intense… maybe there’d be space to breathe.

Sometimes I feel hopeless. But then I hear my mom in my head: "There’s always hope."

We lived beyond Hope — literally. After my dad died, my mom started again. Two heart attacks, open-heart surgery (one of the first at St. Paul’s). She learned to drive at 45. Became a home support worker. Twelve years of service. A union shop steward with BCGEU. A fighter. A survivor. She saved me so many times.

It breaks my heart that she’s not here for my child. And that there were times I didn’t talk to her. Today, so many daughters aren’t speaking to their mothers. What forces are at work here?

Women — especially young women — are being targeted, manipulated, harmed in every possible way.

Pride is almost here. The parade returns this weekend. Remember: it’s a protest, not a party.

A protest against hate, against erasure, against ignorance.

And what about the future? One year? Two?

Will an earthquake destroy everything? A solar storm cut the power? Smoke choke the skies? Floods? Fires? We can't survive heat domes in glass towers. And yet condos sell for $3000+/month. Mansions list at $32 million. How will they cool their homes when there’s no power?

Does anyone care?

Or like the song says — “Is there anybody out there?”

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🌞🌍🇪🇸 Versión en Español

Vancouver está soleado. La gente sonríe. Pero debajo del sol hay presión, mucho estrés. Tráfico, sirenas, construcción, ruido constante. Bicicletas eléctricas, ambulancias, camiones. Es difícil encontrar paz.

Estudios muestran que este ruido urbano afecta la salud mental. Aun así, los urbanistas siguen construyendo. ¿Y los resultados? Robos a plena luz del día. Muertes en las calles. Personas colapsando.

COVID nos dañó, y luego vino la gentrificación. Familias extranjeras diciendo que Vancouver es mejor que París. Trabajan desde casa. Compran casas caras. Mientras los locales luchan por sobrevivir.

Yo cuido a un perro ahora. Su dueña inmigró hace años. Tiene dinero. Pero su salud está decayendo. Se distrae con Netflix y videojuegos. Me preocupo por ella… y por el perro.

Recuerdo hace 20 años — el juicio de Pickton. Mujeres desaparecidas. Hoy en día, aún pasa.

Llevo 63 años en BC. Conozco esta tierra. Vancouver parece hermosa, pero hay un lado oscuro y aterrador.

A veces me siento sin esperanza. Pero escucho a mi madre: "Siempre hay esperanza."

Este fin de semana es el desfile del Orgullo. Recuerda: es una protesta, no una fiesta.

Y el futuro es incierto. ¿Terremotos? ¿Tormentas solares? ¿Incendios? ¿Quién sobrevivirá cuando no haya electricidad ni aire acondicionado?

¿A alguien realmente le importa?

---

🌈🌍🇫🇷 Version Française

Il fait beau à Vancouver. Les gens sourient. Mais sous le soleil, la pression monte. Circulation, sirènes, chantiers, bruit permanent. Vélos électriques, ambulances, camions. Il est presque impossible de trouver du calme.

Des études montrent que ce bruit urbain nuit à la santé mentale. Pourtant, les urbanistes continuent à construire. Résultat ? Agressions, overdoses, morts dans la rue.

Le COVID nous a tous blessés. Puis est venue la gentrification. Des familles disent que Vancouver est mieux que Paris. Elles travaillent à distance, achètent des maisons chères. Pendant que nous, on survit.

Je garde le chien d'une amie. Elle a de l'argent mais sa santé décline. Accro aux jeux et à Netflix. Je m’inquiète pour elle… et pour le chien.

Il y a 20 ans : le procès Pickton. Des femmes disparues. Et aujourd'hui ? Encore.

Je vis en Colombie-Britannique depuis 63 ans. Vancouver est belle… mais cache un côté sombre et dangereux.

Parfois je perds espoir. Mais j’entends la voix de ma mère : "Il y a toujours de l’espoir."

Ce week-end, c’est la Fierté. Souvenons-nous : c’est une protestation, pas une fête.

Le futur est incertain. Séismes, orages solaires, incendies. Que fera-t-on sans électricité, sans climatisation ?

Est-ce que quelqu’un se soucie vraiment ?

Why Poverty in BC & Canada is Complex

So at first I posted this in my FB, 

Just listened a little to Christy Clark about the shadow flipping and homes. She is so off base- so many people are.

She talks about how these people bought homes and hung on to them 40 years and now they should be allowed to sell and make profits. This is where EVERYONE is going wrong.

Before people passed the land on to their children. Now there's nothing to pass, just a condo and there's lots of rules with condos...so they sell and split the money and then there is nothing left because it's not enough to buy any LAND. 

NOT ONLY THAT why does everyone claim a right to that land when it's Unceded Salish Territory...so no one here really owns the land technically.

Why are people allowed to be so wealthy but not the First Nations that were born and raised here or anywhere in BC. and many places in Canada. It is a very complex problem.

Especially when people inherited land from family, when they look down on others who were not fortunate to receive that same.

This poverty issue can not be solved easily. But it's everyone human right to have food and shelter - UN Declaration- article 25. and something has got to give.

People need to stop being so selfish and actually share. Unfortunately the last generation, most of the boomers were taught it's all about them and they are "spending their kids inheritance" but that is so so wrong and goes against everything. And they have taught it to their kids and that's why we have kids valuing $4000 purses and $100,000 cars.

The values are lost, mixed up. She was saying people in the stock market and google - if they made a lot of money you wouldn't take that away...well, yes I would, because it's not right for some to be super rich and others to be super poor. It's wrong.

You are not supposed to own land...we only supposed to use it ...and share...
Here's hoping the next generation wises up and sets things straight.

-------------------------------------------------------------
But I need to add a bit.
How did I come to my conclusions?

I have seen it happen and felt it personally and I try to warn others.

I saw and experienced in Bucerias, when I was first pregnant was Angel. We left Zipolite because it was just after 9/11 and it was a ghost town, it always is in Sept & October and no tourists.

So I went to Bucerias to do web design. While living there, the only place I could afford was on the OTHER side of the highway. All the wealthy Canadians and Americans own the beachfront homes.

How do I know, well I knew Bucerias when it really was a sleepy little village back in 1988 or so.

And at that time a man from the states (moved there because his wife had passed) and started a new life building and selling real estate. Boy did that town change!!!!!!

It was while living on that side of the highway I experienced many issues of poverty and it brought enlightenment and it humbled me. 

Imagine my surprise upon returning to Canada, pregnant and alone (by choice and because of finances) that I would be plunged into poverty.

No one will hire a pregnant woman in CANADA. And the welfare system would only give me $525 a month. 
 
And I am sure this is true today, nothing has changed.

I had tons of debt from years of education that I took on because WCB would not fund retraining for me because they didn't recognize tendonitis at that time as a life long chronic condition that would limit my work capabilities and I was also downsized by an evil corporation that actually in time dismantled the entire company. (I had been making $45,000 year- mostly o.t. and very long hours) but silly me I paid most of it to Student Loans, rent, commuting and food.

Anyways Fast Forward to now...I saw what has been happening hear for the last 15 years and I started warning people ...saying we need policies to stop people from selling all the land to rich people- let alone rich foreigners.

When I was living in Nelson I found out the true Nelsonites sold out and moved when the housing market skyrocketed and they because a tourist vacation town, that struggles with poverty because there is only business when the tourists come and many of them are Vancouverites and Calgarians that sold their homes and moved there...and vacation half the year there and half in Mexico.

And that is lovely and all but it wreaks havoc with the housing situation.

I had heard that Singapore had rules that you couldn't buy land or cars, you can only rent. I thought that was crazy but then I realized that most islands have rules like this. Rarotonga when I visited has a rule if you stay more than a month you pay. This is to protect the original people born and raised there.

In BC, do you know how people got the land?

Through disease. Smallpox wiped out most of the First Nations and they got it from the Europeans that came here. Whether on purpose or unwittingly they killed off most of the people and then forced them to reservations by withholding food and medicine. They also gave them alcohol, so they used addiction to get what they needed.

Once that happened they stole their children and forced them into Residential schools where horrific abuses happened to them. Many of their families turned to alcholism to cope with loosing their children, their language and spiritual rights. They were not allowed Potlatches. This was a vital part of their lives.

The First Nations believe you shared the land, you didn't own it. Anyways they got pummeled and now people think they are entitled to their lands because their parents and grandparents somehow recieved it. Or they have come here from somewhere else and invested.

There is huge inequality here. 

In my sweet little Zipolite I was very very afraid this would happen to their land. That developers would come in and somehow break up the Ejido and it can be done, people are very sneaky.

Anyways, once it happens, that is it and if you look at Punta de Mita near Bucerias, that's exactly what happened. They bought everyone and moved them out of a gorgeous prime property so that they could put in resorts and golf courses.

Vancouver is like that on a grand scale. We've been bought and are being sold and people are caught in the middle and we have this huge poverty issue GROWING AND GROWING. And the rich are saying "Well isn't that too bad" "We are Canadians we should help" isn't that what Christie Clark said. But she is truly clueless on what it is to be homeless.

Until you actually experience poverty, joblessness, homelessness, hopelessness you will never truly get it. And I wouldn't wish that on anyone but you walk under the bridge and see the homeless people living there for the last 6 months...maybe a year...and HOW DO YOU PEOPLE working in the downtown WALK BY all the hungry homeless people EVERYDAY as you go to your jobs...how do you do that, day in and day out...as you buy your fancy suits, shoes, cars....

Don't you realize SOME THING IS WRONG!! VERY VERY WRONG!

Anyways when you begin to try and buy that house and you realize that you don't have enough because you have to pay off the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ of student load debt and the $$$$$ rent and the $$$$$ groceries and you wonder how you will ever have enough to have a home and a family...and perhaps you find yourself 32, 34, 37 and no baby and suddenly it's a baby or ??? and you go for it and are blessed, does anyone help you and find you a home and help you with food. NO!!! 

And they wonder why women put off having kids and why these men are on the internet all the times searching for something....because we are lost.

We are lost souls trying to find our way back to the land. 

It's definitely not an easy issue to fix. I could be if we stopped being fixated on status and wealth and mass production of food, energy and pollution.

Well that's my 2 cents worth. 

I know I am not alone. I didn't do anything bad. Life keeps kicking me in the ass, I keep getting back up, sometimes people actually reach out and pull me up...but I often fall back into the poverty pit because as Bernie says it's "rigged system"

It's true, the banks have rigged it all, with everything, the land, the education, the politicians. We are all f___d up. 

And when you have cities that care more about bike lanes and a street car, than food and gardens to feed people, when you have cities and governments and corporations that care more about flooding our "Bread basket" than going green and listening to the people, when you have governments and corporations that want to kill Canada's second largest salmon run...and there is no affordable housing, that women and children live in unhealthy situations due to not being able to support themselves...LOOK,LOOK into the FUTURE....

what do you see....LOOK TEN YEARS AHEAD....

Will Vancouver wake up and share the wealth and take care of the people, treat everyone equally, give us food and shelter...





or will we have a very dark scary MAD MAXX thing happening.


 

IT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T MAKE CHANGES. 

Change begins with you and me....please start today!

This is a prototype I created at Emily Carr, it's for a app/game that I was hoping to enlighten this generation to the changes that are necessary if human life is to continue on this planet. It's based on a vision I had. This is extremely simplistic but the message is simple but not easy. Great choices must be made. It will come down to good vs evil. It always does...please let good win. Share! Share the wealth. Change your ways....get others to change too. http://thechangerzz.blogspot.ca/

Political Choices

Political Choices can rebuild Canada back to what it once was. Make the right choice!

How is Wealth Distributed in Canada- WATCH CLOSELY!

This is very disturbing but not surprising. I had seen this done for the US but it's great to see it for Canada. Maybe once people visually see this they may grasp the seriousness of the situation and VOTE!