Join us on Zoom and Facebook Live (on CNH’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/cnh.bc.ca) on Thursday, March 25 at 7 pm for a virtual town hall discussion on the impacts of the 5163-5187 Joyce St rezoning application on the Renfrew-Collingwood community.

The current application contributes to the continued erasure of BIPOC communities, ignores the significant cultural heritage assets in this neighbourhood, and does not align with goals stated across various City strategies and commitments that claim to support diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism.

This town hall is intended to be a space for our community members to voice their concerns and share their lived experience. We strongly encourage the members of the City Council and city planners to join us in learning more about how your decision directly affect us. We do ask that you attend as a witness who is ready to actively listen to the community and to refrain from voicing your personal opinions.

Visit bit.ly/townhall-5163-5187joyce for more info and to register. Co-hosted by Tulayan and Sliced Mango Collective

Speakers (bios follow):

• Jocelle Refol (Sliced Mango Collective)
• Dr. Nora Angeles (UBC SCARP)
• Kari Michaels (BCGEU)
• Bennet Miemban-Ganata (Plato Filipino)

Jocelle (she/her) is a second-generation immigrant Filipina settler in so-called “Vancouver”. She studies Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and is passionate about immigrant health, especially within the Filipino community. She co-founded a community project called “Shades of Sustainability” that focuses on centering the stories of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour in the climate movement. She joined Sliced Mango Collective as an Event Coordinator because growing up, she always felt like she was navigating two worlds by being second-generation. She never truly felt Filipina, but also did not feel Canadian. She hopes to share her own journey of reclaiming her identity to inspire others to do the same!

Bennet Miemban-Ganata started her journey in Canada when she was posted at the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver as a Cultural Officer and Executive Assistant. During her employment at the Department of Foreign Affairs, she proudly represented the Philippines in several APEC meetings abroad. Recognizing the significance of one’s heritage, she was inspired her to share her roots through the most renowned specialities of the Philippines – Filipino cuisine. Bennet decided to enter the food business. She started Plato Filipino with the help of her husband, a culinary graduate, and her friends. She developed her own custom style of Filipino cuisine for Filipinos who missed the “Carinderia” type of eating and consuming traditional Filipino food in all its glory. Nowadays, Bennet plans to develop and innovate a more contemporary approach to Filipino Cuisine that would cater to anyone of all ages and make these Filipino dishes be known by all.

Kari Michaels was elected as an executive vice president of the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) in 2017. She has been a member of the BCGEU since 2011, when she and her co-workers stood up to their hostile employer and formed a union at their worksite. She is a passionate advocate for social justice and believes in building workers’ capacity to take action to improve their working conditions. This work has most recently extended to her community outreach and advocacy work concerning the role of labour in addressing BC’s housing crisis through the Affordable BC campaign. In addition to connecting with unions and community groups to address housing issues, she advocates for stronger protections for renters and supports members who are fighting to protect affordable housing in their communities.

Leonora (Nora) C Angeles is Associate Professor at the School of Community and Regional Planning and the Women’s and Gender Studies Undergraduate Program at the University of British Columbia. She is currently the Graduate Program Advisor of the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies. She is also faculty research associate at the UBC Centre for Human Settlements where she has been involved in a number of applied research and capacity-building research projects in Brazil, Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries. Her continuing research and interests are on community and international development studies and social policy, participatory planning and governance, participatory action research, and the politics of transnational feminist networks, women’s movements and agrarian issues, particularly in the Southeast Asian region. In addition to her work at UBC, she is the president of NPC3.