2017

In partnership with the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, social activist and community organizer Kenny Bailey conducted a workshop on how we can imagine creative ways of solving social problems — presenting the Social Emergency Response Center as one of those solutions.

Germaine Tremmel visited SFU on October 29, 2017 to present on the Importance of Cultural Identity for Women and the Rise of Women Warriors. A grandmother who worked to initiate the movement at Standing Rock to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline, Tremmel is a lawyer and activist seeking to protect the rights and freedoms of Indigenous peoples. Her presentation focused on recognizing the importance of women within our communities, emphasizing the power women have within themselves.

On November 14th, 2017 Itrath Syed, a PhD Candidate at the School of Communications at SFU gave a lecture on Gendered Islamophobia and Muslim Women’s Resistance. Following the talk, Itrath was in conversation with Samaah Jaffer of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement.

Bringing together cultural traditions from across the world, the unique collaboration between Tzo’kam and Sawagi Taiko performed at SFU’s Vancouver campus for the third time as a part of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. The theme of this year’s festival was Honouring the Women of the Downtown Eastside.

This Thursday, we’re excited to be hosting SFU Geography professor Geoff Mann who will be speaking about his new book In the Long Run, We Are All Dead: Keynesianism, Political Economy and Revolution — a groundbreaking debunking of moderate attempts to resolve financial crises. As a preview to the book launch, we had the opportunity to ask Mann about some of the themes of the book and his stand out title.

Surrey has been a rapidly-expanding ‘up-and-comer’ in Metro Vancouver for quite some time — and former city planner Bob Williams claims the future of our province lies south of the Fraser.

Super Cool Tuesdays has been connecting artists and members of the DTES as a drop-in speaker series for over five years. With over 50 artists involved to date and a weekly attendance ranging from 10-25 community members (most of them regulars), folks meet up to discuss, learn about, and make art.

Former UN rapporteur Miloon Kothari visited Vancouver this summer to receive an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University. This trip marked his return to Vancouver for the first time since visiting as UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing 10 years ago to report on Vancouver’s housing situation.

On May 18, the Salish Singing and Drumming Workshop series of Spring 2017 came to a close. The monthly workshops are led each Spring and Fall by award-winning composer, producer, and traditional Lil’wat singer, Russell Wallace.

Simon Fraser University hosted the C²UExpo 2017 from May 1 to 5 — a conference featuring collaborations and relationships between academic and community parnters. The Community and Cultural Mash-Up reception was a special event on the evening of May 3 for C²UExpo participants, featuring some of SFU’s cultural and community partners.

For the fifth consecutive year, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement hosted the Jim Green Memorial Lecture in honour of Jim Green (May 25, 1943 – February 28, 2012), who was a city councillor, a community activist, and a formidable advocate for — and developer of — social housing in the Downtown Eastside.