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Vancouver, Armenian DM pays tribute to the memory of genocide victims

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 Armenian delegation led by Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan arrived in Canada in the evening of November 14 to participate in the 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial in Vancouver.

This conference, which is the largest gathering of Defense Ministers dedicated to UN Peacekeeping, features more than 500 representatives from 80 countries.

Before the opening of the conference, the Armenian delegation, together with representatives of the Armenian community of Vancouver, paid tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.

 

Vancouver: Canadian Armenian rallies commemorate anniversary of the Armenian genocide

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Gagrule.net April 24 Hundred of Canadian Armenian  rallied through downtown Vancouver commemorating 102 anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey’s Ottoman Empire with protest gatherings and marches.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Christian Armenian population of the Turkish Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states 45, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.

 

Vancouver: human error and ‘terrible housing crunch hundreds lined up to see a $1,200 two-bedroom co-op suite

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Members of a Vancouver housing co-op say an inadvertent error may have led hundreds of people to line up to view a two-bedroom suite.

But co-op representatives also suggested that the extreme interest is an indication of the need for more affordable rental housing.

“There’s a terrible housing crunch out there,” said Erin Gilchrist, president of the Heritage Housing Co-op on W. 8th Avenue at Heather Street.

About 200 people attended an orientation meeting — similar to an open house — Wednesday night to view the co-op’s unit.

Co-ops are non-profit housing ventures where members pay a share and are considered equal owners.

They share in maintenance costs and responsibilities which, combined, help to keep housing costs down.

The charges for Heritage Housing’s 900 square-foot unit are $1,220 per month, but could rise depending on a family’s income.

Many online were shocked by images of the long lines of people trying to view it.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/this-is-nuts-why-hundreds-lined-up-to-see-a-1-200-two-bedroom-co-op-suite-1.4078756?cmp=news-digests-british-columbia

Vancouver Trump Hotel grand opening. Security heightened before Trump sons’ visit to Vancouver,

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Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump expected to draw protests as they attend the Trump Hotel grand opening.

The Trump Tower luxury hotel with giant uppercase chrome letters across the front has already become a magnet for protesters in Vancouver, and now, as the hotel officially opens, a visit from the polarizing U.S. president’s sons is sparking renewed attention.

Trump Hotel opened its doors to the public in January, but the tower’s grand opening is on Tuesday.

Donald Trump Jr. and his brother, Eric, are expected to attend the invitation-only ribbon-cutting event, and as members of President Donald Trump’s family, they’ll be accompanied by a U.S. Secret Service security detail.

Police gear up

Local police are also preparing for the visit. The Vancouver department is tasked with keeping the peace on the street outside Trump Tower and managing any disruptions to traffic that may arise from the expected protests.

The RCMP are also involved in co-ordinating security. The force released a statement saying it is responsible for the “safety and security of designated internationally protected persons.”

Massive chrome letters mark the Georgia Street side of the Trump Tower in Vancouver. The front entrance leads directly into the Trump Champagne Lounge, while the alley-side entrance serves as the hotel’s front door. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)

The RCMP said in the release that the security costs for protection would be covered through the existing operational budget, but that it could not be more specific.

Vancouver police have also been unwilling to discuss security planning or costs, suggesting those numbers may be available after the event. Two K9 units were parked in front of Trump Tower on Monday as officers made preparations.

A B.C. Ambulance Service truck and a Vancouver police SUV are parked in front of Vancouver’s Trump Tower on Monday, as officials plan for the tower’s grand opening and expected protests. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said last week that he expects demonstrations on Tuesday to mark the event, and he hopes they’ll remain peaceful.

“It’s a demonstration and I think it’s about a lot more than just Trump Tower, frankly. I think, as we saw with the demonstration, the Women’s March that happened a few weeks ago,” said Robertson.

“It’s unfortunate that it does cost a lot of money to deal with protests when they come up, but this is Canada and we embrace free speech and the opportunity for people to gather and express how they feel. So we’ll just try to keep it as safe as we can,” he said.

Controversial brand

Robertson wrote a letter to Trump Tower’s developer, Holborn Group, in December, asking that the Trump brand be removed from the building.

“Trump’s name and brand have no more place on Vancouver’s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world,” the letter read.

Trump and his family don’t own the new luxury tower, which includes a hotel, apartments, and the Trump Champagne Lounge, but the Trumps have a licensing agreement related to the brand.

Nobody from Trump Tower Vancouver was available for comment leading up to the grand opening.

Planned demonstrations

Multiple demonstrations are being planned on social media, including a Trump Welcome Party on Georgia Street in front of the tower, and the Resist 4 Peace March, which is planned at the nearby Jack Poole Plaza.

Resist 4 Peace organizer Nora Fadel said that demonstration will steer clear of the Trump Tower and send the message that the Trump brand isn’t welcome in Vancouver.

“I feel that having that name, the building doesn’t fit with Vancouver itself,” said Fadel.

“Even for a second, I’m going to have that icky feeling in my stomach, like, “ugh, this is in my city, really? This is in my country?’ A man who was so against Muslims, so against — he wants to build the wall — and so against so many of the communities, just because he can? This is not OK in the city of Vancouver.”

Source: Rafferty Baker, CBC News

Metro Vancouver snow causing closures and traffic incidents

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Reduced service on Expo and Millenium Lines; SFU and Capilano have cancelled remaining classes

The second snowstorm of the week in Metro Vancouver took longer than expected to hit on Friday but is now starting to impact services in the region.

Southbound lanes on the Alex Fraser Bridge are heavily delayed because of an accident and there is currently no estimate for when it will be fully cleared.

Meanwhile, the Expo and Millennium Line routes are running on reduced service because of the weather, but are not experiencing delays as of 5:45 p.m. PT.

Further north, Simon Fraser University and Capilano University have cancelled their classes and exams for the rest of the day, and Capilano has also preemptively closed its campus for Saturday.

“As this weekend’s weather remains unpredictable, students and employees should consult capilanou.ca before travelling to the campus on Sunday.”

TransLink has suspended bus routes to SFU, and there have been changes made to the 20, 151, 152, 169 and 210 routes, with multiple reports of Commercial Drive being very slippery between Broadway and Venables.

“The afternoon snow is impacting bus service across the region, causing many delays,” said TransLink in a statement.

7 to 15 cm in many areas

Snow failed to accumulate in the early hours of Friday across the region, promoting some online mockery — but picked up in earnest later in the morning.

Source: CBC.ca

Photo: Here’s what $2.4 million gets in five Metro Vancouver communities “Thanks to China Money”

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Photograph by: Files , MLS

Photograph by: Files , MLS

(Vancouversun) 453 W 14TH AVENUE, Vancouver offers prime location in Point Grey. It lists for $2.398 million.

Shop and compare: Vastly different homes list at the same price — $2.4 million — in five Metro Vancouver communities: Point Grey, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey and Langley.

 

Another  1996 Shaughnessy mansion slated for demolition raises bar in debate over Vancouver real estate

By all appearances, the house at 6088 Adera St. is a well-appointed, relatively new, $6 million luxury home with an indoor pool, media room and new hardwood floors. It would seem to be a desirable residence as is, but instead it is slated for demolition.

The prospect of a luxury mansion becoming just another Vancouver tear down is sparking a new level of debate over the rapid re-construction of Vancouver’s residential neighbourhoods as word of the development circulates among neighbourhood and housing advocates.

11686112“It’s mind boggling,” said Caroline Adderson, a Vancouver author and heritage advocate. “They’re not putting up condo complexes, it’s going to be another single-family house.”

She said the home’s demolition and the presumably even-more-luxurious replacement “runs contrary to every single goal the city stands for,” because redeveloping the property won’t help increase affordability or density” and “there is nothing green about demolishing a perfectly livable house.”

The city has confirmed that the home’s owner has made an application for a demolition permit, which is pending until approval of the combination development and building permit for its replacement.

The building permit application is for a new, single-family dwelling, said city spokesman Jag Sandhu in an email, which complies with the neighbourhood’s RS-3 zoning.

Property records show that the 7,300-square-foot house was last sold in 2013 for just over $6 million — the assessment today is $7.44 million. According to the 2013 listing for the property, it boasted $350,000 in recent renovations including new hardwood floors, a water purification system and windows. The listing sheet shows the two-storey house on a corner lot has 19 rooms including seven bedrooms, a media room, office and 12-foot by Seven-foot walk-in closet off the master suite.

Adderson has become a heritage advocate for Vancouver’s character homes, administering a Facebook page dedicated to chronicling the rapid demolition of pre-1940 houses and co-authoring the book Vancouver Vanishes, which explores the issue.

However, she said increasingly people are calling her attention to houses built in the 1990s or later being replaced by new homes.

“Everything is bulldozer bait,” she said. “Now it’s all about the building lot.”

In early 2015, The Sun reported that almost 8,700 buildings were demolished in Vancouver since 2005 and that houses were still being torn down almost daily.

“It’s very disheartening,” said Vancouver Coun. Adriane Carr of the rapid demolition of homes.

She said she plans to raise the Adera Street demolition at council to find out more about the circumstances and whether there are ways to “prevent the destruction of perfectly good homes.”

“It’s such an incredible waste of resources at a time in our planet’s history when conservation of resources is on everyone’s mind.”

At present, Carr said it doesn’t appear that there is a way to do so, but she mused whether council can use zoning changes to prevent such demolitions.

Carr is one of two council liaison members to the city’s heritage plan committee which is looking for ways to encourage the retention of more pre-1940 heritage homes and zoning is one of the options being considered, which she hopes could be applied to “the problem of any home that’s decent being torn down on a whim.”

Vancouver BC: Armenian Syrian refugees celebrate Armenian Christmas in B.C.

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Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan meets with newly-arrived Syrian refugees at St. Gregory Armenian Church in Richmond. (Catherine Rolfsen)

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan meets with newly-arrived Syrian refugees at St. Gregory Armenian Church in Richmond. (Catherine Rolfsen)

Small Richmond church has helped more than 50 Armenian Christians flee violence in Syria

Richmond’s St. Gregory Armenian Church has sponsored more than 50 Armenian Syrian refugees to come to B.C. and most have arrived in the Lower Mainland over the past month.

On Sunday, many of those families gathered to celebrate Armenian Christmas, and were visited by politicians including Federal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

He thanked them for supporting and sponsoring refugees, but also spoke about a group of 100 people — including Syrian refugees — standing outside the Muslim Association of Canada Centre in Vancouver who were pepper sprayed, Jan. 8  by an unknown man on a bicycle.

“I’m confident that this one little incident that has happened, as horrible as it is, is going to light a fire amongst other Canadian to say, you know what? We can’t allow this to happen,” he said.

“As the prime minister has stated this is not the Canadian way,” he added while gesturing to the congregation that their efforts to sponsor refugees, is the Canadian way.

Vancouver Armenian Small congregation sponsors nearly 100 refugees

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Syrian Refugee children go about their daily lives at the refugee camp in Osmaniye, Turkey. The St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church will welcome three Syrian refugee families on Tuesday and as many as 80 more over the next five weeks. Photograph by: ADEM ALTAN , AFP/Getty Images

Syrian Refugee children go about their daily lives at the refugee camp in Osmaniye, Turkey. The St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church will welcome three Syrian refugee families on Tuesday and as many as 80 more over the next five weeks.
Photograph by: ADEM ALTAN , AFP/Getty Images

Many members of Richmond Armenian Church have close ties to those fleeing Syria

By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun

Three hundred members of a tiny church in Richmond are helping to settle 92 Syrian refugees, but much sooner than they planned.

Members of the St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church have already helped settle three families and had committed financially to take 27 more families through private sponsorships over the next 15 months, according to Father Hrant Tahanian.

Instead, 80 people will be arriving in the next five weeks, thanks to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent pledge to fast track 10,000 of the 25,000 refugees that Canada had offered to settle.

“Our (refugee) families were already in the application process — some had gone through security screening, some had been interviewed — so it was easy for them to speed them through,” said Tahanian. “Some of our members have sponsored two families and they thought they would come many months apart.”

Three families will arrive to a warm welcome at Vancouver International Airport Tuesday and another 70 people will be here by the end of January.

“We aren’t complaining, but the speed of the influx was unexpected,” Tahanian said.

Because the refugees are privately sponsored, they are not eligible to share in the $1-million fund set up by the provincial government to assist government-sponsored refugees, he said.

The revised timing of their arrival has strained the resources of the sponsoring families and the church, which has set up a fundraising page to help pay for bedding, school supplies and groceries.

Families at St. Gregory that came to Canada from Syria’s Armenian minority began by applying to sponsor extended family members and friends of church members displaced when the war forced them from their homes. Many of the refugees initially sponsored by church members were ethnic Armenians, descendants of the thousands that fled genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago.

“The Armenian community in Syria is very important to us,” said Tahanian, whose great grandparents fled Armenia as refugees. “Muslim nations like Syria took us in and we were able to rebuild our lives, but now the minority in Syria is caught between many swords and our people were suffering there.”

As the situation worsened in Syria, St. Gregory congregants extended their efforts to sponsor ethnic Syrians as well, Tahanian said.

“We were hearing firsthand what was happening — more than what you hear on the news — and it really affected us,” he said.

The church, as a sponsoring organization, had applied to take four families that had no existing support network in B.C. before the prime minister’s announcement.

Video Vancouver: Thousands Rally Welcome Refugees and remembering “Kurdish boy Alan Kurdi”

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Vancouver, welcome refugees Rally

Vancouver, welcome refugees Rally

Thousands have turned out in Downtown Vancouver to lend their voices to world-wide calls of support for Syrian refugees fleeing the crisis in their homeland.

The Syrian refugee crisis became personal for many last week when a moving photograph of a drowned Syrian boy face down in the sand of a Turkish beach circulated on social media.

On Sunday, the Pope pledged that each parish in the Vatican would take in a refugee family and called on European Catholic parishes and other religious institutions to do the same. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said last week the government has already resettled nearly 2,300 Syrians and 22,000 Iraqis and has further plans to accept 23,000 Iraqi and 11,300 Syrian refugees.

The rally in Vancouver is one of several happening across the country this weekend.