The Government of BC held a press conference today to announce the end of the temporary Circuit Breaker (put in place at the end of March) and introduce a new four-step plan to bring the province back together. The BC Restart Plan, starting May 25, 2021, means British Columbians can gradually begin to restart important social connections, businesses and activities.
The government emphasizes that getting vaccinated is the most important tool supporting our restart. The criteria for Step 1 is at least 60% of the 18+ population vaccinated with dose 1, along with stable case counts and COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The criteria for moving to Step 2 is at least 65% of the 18+ population vaccinated with dose 1, along with declining case counts and COVID-19 hospitalizations. The earliest date we move to Step 2 is June 15.
The criteria for moving to Step 3 is at least 70% of the 18+ population vaccinated with dose 1, along with low case counts and declining COVID-19 hospitalizations. The earliest date we move to Step 3 is July 1.
The criteria for moving to Step 4 is more than 70% of the 18+ population vaccinated with dose 1, along with low case counts and low COVID-19 hospitalizations. The earliest date we move to Step 4 is September 7.
The Stanley Park Train will be reopening! Starting Saturday, May 22nd, the train will be open on weekends, including statutory holiday Mondays, with COVID protocols in place.
Stanley Park Train Reopening
When: Weekends from 11:00am to 4:00pm, including statutory holiday Mondays Tickets: Purchased onsite at the ticket booth, debit/credit only
The Stanley Park Railway has always been popular with locals and tourists alike. The 20 gauge, 2km track winds through the forest over ground cleared by Typhoon Freda, the most devastating storm in Vancouver history which blew through in 1962. The railway’s collection of old locomotives is a locally-built replica of Canadian Pacific Railway Engine #374, famous for pulling Canada’s first transcontinental passenger train into Vancouver in the late 1880s.
Passengers can get a close-up look at a vintage engine and a quick photo before boarding for the 15-minute ride.
Masks are required for all passengers 3 & up to board the train and must be worn for the duration of the ride. There are plexiglas dividers between the benches and they are sanitizing the trains before and after daily operations. The standard physical distancing protocols are in place for all visitors while on site.
On June 30th, summer operations will come into effect, with the train running Wednesdays to Sundays until Labour Day.
The second (and final) Aunt Leah’s Virtual Trivia Extravaganza is happening May 29th and you can win your way in! Register and encourage your friends, family, coworkers, and social groups to play and donate to a great cause.
Aunt Leah’s Virtual Trivia Extravaganza
When: May 29, 2021 Where: Online Tickets: Register here for $20
Can’t make on the 29th? You can host your own trivia event to support Aunt Leah’s. If your calendar is packed and can’t accommodate a trivia event, you can still be a superstar and support foster youth by participating in the online auction or donating.
Trivia Nights Support SEFFY Program
The trivia nights benefit the Supporting Education for Foster Youth (“SEFFY”) program. SEFFY supports long-term education planning for foster youth and former foster youth in care. The emphasis is on highlighting strengths, identifying needs and advocating for resources that lead to success for youth. Each youth is connected with an educational specialist and receives help applying for bursaries and training opportunities, from a variety of schools and programs.
Scotiabank has generously offered to match every donation dollar for dollar up to $25,000 in support of the SEFFY program. Aunt Leah’s Place helps prevent children in foster care from becoming homeless and mothers in need from losing custody of their children. To support them on their journey to self-sufficiency, they provide supported housing, job training, and coaching on essential life skills.
Giveaway
I have two tickets to give away to the May 29th trivia extravaganza! That way you can sign up and also have a friend or family member join the fun from their screen at home. Here’s how you can enter to win:
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win tickets to @AuntLeahs Virtual Trivia Night Extravaganza http://ow.ly/HqR050ERO0i” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 9:00am on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.
Miss604 is the proud Media Sponsor of the Virtual Trivia Extravaganza
With non-essential travel not allowed between BC’s 3 travel zones, stay close to home and enjoy some local restaurants (for patio, takeout or delivery), our beautiful outdoors spaces, featured attractions, and more right in our own backyard. Miss604 is a proud sponsor of Summer at Burnaby Village Museum and you can find this and many more things to do in (Greater) Vancouver May Long Weekend right here:
Commit Us to Memory: Black Women Curators Interrupting the Canon
When: Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 4:00 Where: Vancouver Art Gallery ZOOM channel Tickets:RSVP here
The roundtable stems in part from Commit Us to Memory (2020), a provocative site-specific installation by Lewis conceived specifically for Where do we go from here? in response to the Gallery’s colonialist architecture and history. Located at the centre of the exhibition, this monumental text-based work functions as a kind of manifesto, poem, and testimony, which speak to the complexity of Black Canadian expression and experience. Lewis integrates into the installation the titles of important exhibitions curated by Black curators in Canada, proposing a groundwork for an art history of Black artistic production across Canada. For this important roundtable discussion, Lewis and her peers will reflect on the ongoing work—both past and present—of building a Black art history for the future.
About the Speakers
Alyssa Fearon currently holds the position of Director/Curator at the Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina Public Library. Integral to Fearon’s curatorial practice is a community-based approach that prioritizes the voices of historically underrepresented audiences. In 2018, Fearon was the inaugural Curator of Nuit Blanche Toronto’s Scarborough zone. Fearon was also a Curator at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (2018-2020). She has held lecturer positions at York University, University of Toronto Scarborough, and Brandon University. Raised in Scarborough, Ont., Fearon is now based on Treaty 4 territory in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Nya Lewis is a Vancouver-based, independent curator and MFA candidate at OCAD. Moved by the goal of equitable access to art and diverse stories in Canada, her work is the culmination of African resistance, love questions, actions, study, and embrace. Currently, she serves as the Founder and Director of Black Art Gastown, a year-round programmer Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and contributing curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery and UBC Museum of Anthropology. A writer, activist, and community organizer committed to building just and inclusive cultural and social infrastructure in Vancouver – her work celebrates the strength and perseverance of Black Canadian culture, history, and its diversity.
Kosisochukwu Nnebe is a Nigerian-Canadian visual artist. An economist by training and a policy analyst by profession, her visual arts practice aims to engage viewers on issues both personal and structural in ways that bring awareness to their own complicity. Her work has been exhibited at AXENEO7, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Place des Arts, the Art Gallery of Guelph, the Nia Centre, Studio Sixty Six, Z-Art Space, Station 16, and the Mohr Gallery in Mountain View, California, She has given presentations on her artistic practice and research at universities across Quebec, including Laval, McGill, and Concordia, and has facilitated workshops at the National Gallery of Canada, the Ottawa Art Gallery, and Redwood City High School in California. She is currently based in Ottawa.
Geneviève Wallen is a Tiohtiá:ke Mooniyang/Montreal and Tkaronto/Toronto-based independent curator, writer, and researcher. Wallen’s practice is informed by diasporic narratives, intersectional feminism, intergenerational dialogues, BIPOC alternative healing platforms. Her ongoing research focuses on the intersections of longevity and pleasure as contemplative spaces for care work in the arts. Wallen is the Exhibition Coordinator at FOFA Gallery. She is also part of the collective YTB (Younger than Beyoncé) Gallery; the co-initiator (with Marsya Maharani) of Souped Up; a member of the Black Curators Forum; an advisory committee member for the BLACK PORTRAITURE[S]: Toronto, Absent/ed Presence conference and she recently joined the advisory board of the Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora.
