Two Saturdays, in a row. Two events. Different causes affecting different parts of the world.
On January 22, I attended the Edmonton Homeless Memorial Remembrance Celebration. In its sixth year, the event seeks to honour the memories of people who have died in the past year as a direct result of having no home. Sadly, the number of people who are being honoured as doubled since the first event. This year, we remembered 57 people who died in 2010 (and this is a conservative estimate, as these are people whose identities have been confirmed by family members and social agencies). The memorial took place at Boyle Street Community Services - just a stone's throw away from the proposed downtown arena. In fact, there are numerous service organizations in that area. I can only hope and pray that the City honour its commitment to fight homelessness and poverty and not sell out to huge land developers. Here are photos from the event and a video featuring speakers and music.
It has been a week of revolution in Egypt, and yesterday cities around the world rallied for the people there who are being tortured and killed under the Mubarak regime. A rally was put together in Edmonton by a group of grassroots citizens, and despite the short notice and bitter cold, the turnout was excellent. Here is a video of some of the passionate chanting, and some photos.
No comments:
Post a Comment