FIND WHERE AND WHEN YOUR VENDOR SELLS MEGAPHONE FIND.MEGAPHONEMAGAZINE.COM FIND A VENDOR APP DESIGNED BY DENIM & STEEL Contents # 177 Out front 6 B.C.’s lifetime income-assistance ban for people convicted of criminal welfare fraud is lifted. Critics worry about the lack of public awareness of the change. In Vancouver’s historic Chinatown, a coalition of young activists is working to protect low-income housing for seniors. Vendor of the Year 2015 8 Megaphone’s annual Vendor of the Year award celebrates a vendor whose extraordinary dedication is a bright light in the community. This year, it’s Eric, a beloved daily presence at Commercial Drive and 1st Avenue in Vancouver. MEGAPHONEMAGAZINE.COM FACEBOOK.COM/MEGAPHONEMAGAZINE @MEGAPHONEMAG Dance dance revolution 10 Meet Lorelei Williams, the founder of Butterflies in Spirit, a Vancouver-based dance troupe comprising friends and family members of the more than 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. Dancing together, Lorelei says, provides an opportunity to heal. INSTAGRAM.COM/MEGAPHONEMAG YOUTUBE.COM/MEGAPHONEMAG MEGAPHONE IS SOLD IN VANCOUVER AND VICTORIA BY HOMELESS AND LOW- INCOME VENDORS. VENDORS BUY THE MAGAZINE FOR 75¢ AN ISSUE AND SELL IT TO CUSTOMERS FOR $2. Our goal is to provide a voice and an economic opportunity to homeless and low-income people while building grassroots support to end poverty. THANK YOU SUPPORTERS & SPONSORS Electronic arts 18 In a musical genre dominated by men, Soledad Muñoz has founded a record label exclusively for women-identified electronic music artists. “Unlike other labels, this one was created on the basis of feminist theory,” she tells writer Aurora Tejeida. Is blood thicker than water? 20 Like many Victoria residents, Quinn MacDonald often jokes about the city’s progressive community—polite and inclusive to a fault. But the joke turned sinister this summer when a trip “up island” for a family wedding resulted in a broken jaw, spurring MacDonald to question whether blood truly runs thicker than water, and whether it’s possible to bridge political divides among family. Kathryn Calder finds peace 22 She’s best known for her membership in Vancouver indie-pop supergroup The New Pornographers, but in the decade since she’s joined the band, singer-songwriter Kathryn Calder has walked a hard road. For years, she was a caregiver for her mother, who battled ALS until she died in 2009. Her solo work, which has tracked the tangled experience of loss and grief for years, marks bold new steps forward in healing, happiness, and peace. This changes everything 24 If climate-change science is failing to move the people it needs to persuade, what to do? Radically change the public conversation, says author and journalist Naomi Klein. “If we can tell another story about who humans are and what we're capable of,” she tells writer Michael Stewart, “then maybe we can look at this issue from which so many of us are averting our eyes.” The Beast 28 Downtown Eastside poet and longtime Megaphone friend Jim Ryder is no stranger to the ravages of mental illness. His poem, “The Beast,” tracks the experience of hospitalization, of psychosis, and of the beasts inside our heads. Cover Photography By Kourosh Keshiri About the photo Legendary Canadian journalist and author Naomi Klein has worked tirelessly to change public attitudes about consumer culture, the environment, and how capitalism is the chief architect of global inequality. She’s pictured on this page in a still from This Changes Everything, her latest documentary about the fight for climate justice. 2 Change that Works MegaphoneMagazine.com 3