National Canadian Film Day (“NCFD”) aims to unite Canadians in a celebration of our cinematic culture and for its 7th annul event, it will be moving screenings and events online. Watch an assortment of features through your favourite streaming service and tune into a special live YouTube event with an array of directors, producers, writers and actors from across Canada.
#CanFilmDay Live will feature engaging, interactive activities, conversations with filmmakers and other industry professionals, short videos submitted by Canadians, “Happy NCFD” messages from around the world, and more.
Confirmed guests who will take part in the livestream programming include Sandra Oh, Atom Egoyan, Colm Feore, Mina Shum, Philippe Falardeau, Vinay Virmani, Patricia Rozema, Emily Hampshire, Peter Keleghan, Mary Young Leckie and Don McKellar. Many others are being confirmed daily.
Last year, Vancouver communities hosted nearly 28 screenings and there were a total of 134 screenings throughout the province. This year, the Vancouver International Film Festival (“VIFF”) team will be supporting the broadcast of films Last Night (Encore + and Hollywood Suite) and Meditation Park (Crave and CBC Gem), with online engagement for local fans featuring Don McKellar (Last Night’s director and star and Meditation Park actor), Sandra Oh (Meditation Park and Last Night) and Mina Shum (Mediation Park’s director).
Stream Films
There will be great Canadian films on CBC, CBC Gem, Encore+, Netflix, Hollywood Suite, Crave, the NFB and the many others listed on the website.
“While there is a huge selection of pop-up home entertainment happening, we believe that Canadians are hungry for an opportunity to be part of something larger, and especially something Canadian. It’s a chance to come together and give each other a big virtual hug,” said Jack Blum, Executive Director of REEL CANADA.
Special programming will be made available to more than 150 retirement residences and long term care facilities, including video introductions from the filmmakers. Reel Canada hopes these offerings will bring some comfort and much-needed cheer to our most vulnerable citizens, who are in isolation and away from their families and loved ones.
There will also be a wealth of family-friendly programming during the day, to help Canadian parents looking for activities to do with their kids. There will be have games, printable colouring pages, online scavenger hunts and other fun (and educational) content, as well as a list of kid-appropriate films that Canadians can access for free.
One April 22nd you’ll find a curated list of 20+20 films to give you a boost, and with the help of NCFD’s (soon to be released) toolkit, you can organize your own “Canadian film watch party”. Watch for updates on Facebook and Twitter in the coming days.
More than 100 items from 20 local brands are available now as Coho Collective launches the new Coho Market with local delivery all across Metro Vancouver. Shop baked goods, spreads, sauces, ready-to-eat meals, vegan options, snacks, and beverages.
Urban Tadka’s Chicken Korma – Supplied Photo by Joshua Saito
Shop Local Online with Coho Collective
Coho Collective operates three commissaries in the Lower Mainland – two in Vancouver, and one in North Vancouver. Its Coho Coffee cafe (1370 East Georgia Street) is expected to launch coffee deliveries this week, with food to come.
“We have always been about championing small businesses at Coho, and it’s critical now, more than ever,” says Andrew Barnes, CEO of Coho Collective, who opened the first commissary in 2018 with co-founder and COO Amrit Maharaj.
Participating businesses include:
BobAli Foods Bites Snacks Cacao Now Elle’s Kitchen Feeding Mama Joconde Patisserie Joyful Choices Justgo Smoothie KASA Baking Kiki’s Kitchen
Next Level One Up Pure Energy Inc. Panela Lemon Salty Cabbage Kimchi Sriracha Revolver Hot Sauce Susgrainable Urban Tadka TAO Tality Kombucha Vankoji Foods Ltd.
“Our members have so much passion and so much drive – many are still producing, but at reduced capacity. We wanted to help them get their products and goods in the hands of Canadians another way, especially since many sell at Farmers’ Markets but so many are closed now – through a collective online store. The Coho Market is now open.”
Online orders placed by Saturday 9:00pm will be delivered the following week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, depending on location.
Susgrainable’s Rosemary Focaccia – Supplied Photo by Joshua Saito
From story time with Spike to online training sessions and classic matches, you can catch some Whitecaps FC live streams and kids activities during COVID-19 isolation.
Whitecaps FC Live Streams and Kids Activities
Fredy Montero and his girls read “Happy Easter, Curious George” and Whitecaps FC anthem singer Marie Hui makes her first appearance in the latest episode of ‘Caps Clubhouse, presented by BCAA.
Caps Clubhouse When: Tuesdays to Fridays at 8:30am (until the end of April/ongoing) What: Book reading with Spike and friends followed by a fun activity. You can go back and view the archives if you missed a reading as well.
Live Skills Clinic When: Tuesday to Friday (April 14-17, 2020) at 2:00pm What: Skills and drills with coaching and BMO Academy coaches from across Canada
Caps Primetime When: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 7:05pm What: What’s Up Wednesdays: Live hangout with Russell Teibert, Inboem Hwang, and Ali Adnan
When: Thursday, April 16, 2020 at 7:05pm What: Caps Classics: Whitecaps FC vs Seattle Sounders (June 11, 2011)
When: Friday, April 17, 2020 at 7:05pm What: Friday Night FIFA: eMLS Whitecaps FC vs Seattle Sounders FC, Exraa vs The MarsBars
As part of MLS Unites, a league-wide platform designed to educate communities, entertain fans and elevate heroic efforts taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Major League Soccer and FOX Sports announced that eMLS Tournament Special presented by Coca-Cola® and PlayStation® will debut on Sunday, April 19, 2020 on FS1 and FOX Deportes at 4:00pm PT. The series will be hosted by FOX Sports Stu Holden, Rachel Bonnetta and Rodolfo Landeros, with colour commentary from Mike LaBelle.
Each Sunday the five-episode series will team up MLS players and eMLS players from the same MLS clubs in single-elimination EA SPORTS™ FIFA 20 tournaments. On May 10th Whitecaps centre back Erik Godoy will battle Toronto FC midfielder Mark Delgado in Leg One of the first round, while Leg Two will see Vancouver’s eMLS player Alex ‘exraa’ Gonzalez-Aldana versus Toronto’s eMLS player Phil ‘PhilB94’ Balke.
The best aggregate score from the Canadian clubs will then face the winner of Atlanta United FC with Franco Escobar and Paulo Neto versus Orlando City SC with Nani and Abe ‘FIFA Abe’ Valbuena.
Through eMLS Tournament Special and other programs, Major League Soccer is proud to support EA’s “Stay Home. Play Together.” Initiatives, helping the gaming community find more ways to connect through play during a time where people need to be physically apart.
On a regular summer day in June or July, 300,000 people would take to boulevards, avenues and streets to celebrate their community through arts and culture, coming together in a wide open space normally reserved for vehicles. However due to COVID–19, Car Free Day Vancouver 2020 will be online only.
“With safety and health in mind, we have come to the unfortunate decision that we must restructure our 2020 operations, and cancel our large-scale festivals.
The West End, Main Street, and Commercial Drive events will move to an online format – there are many ways we can celebrate local arts and culture digitally, and we look forward to still having performance opportunities for local artists, and ways for local makers to connect with customers online. The West End and Main Street festivals remain committed to recognizing and celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 20th and 21st – as plans develop, please keep watch for exciting announcements for what we have in store.
As the COVID-19 pandemic changes, so will we – when it’s safe to do so, we’ll host a variety of smaller pop-up events and activities to reclaim the space traditionally devoted to cars. Car-culture is not off the hook this year!”
There will still be opportunities for vendors to support the festival, through sponsorship of online events, donating prizes for giveaways, and other donations. Digital event details will be released at a later date. For more information, follow Car Free Day Vancouver on Facebook.
Live music is always a big part of the community celebrations, and the virtual festivals will be no different. The June 20th West End festival will feature two daytime stages. Full Circle’s programming includes heavy hitters like singer-songwriter Norine Braun, as well as R.E.D., The Northwest Kid, and the ever popular DJ Kookum. The Summer Sounds stage, curated by WE Arts, will include funky tunes from groups like Raincity, Mad Riddim and more.
The first ever Car Free Night will run online June 20th after the daytime festivities – co-produced with Sleepy Queer Productions. Attendees can expect a night of queer magic with drag performers and musicians all performing from home.
Main Street’s June 21st festival will have multiple stages featuring both live music and workshops and demos. Accordion Noir will present accordionists from BC and around Canada, ZillaLive will host some of the region’s best electronic dance music DJs, and the Paddle Up Main Street stage will feature Indigenous storytelling and art from the likes of Martin Sparrow and more.
Car Free Vancouver’s first two festivals take place during National Indigenous History Month, with June 21st being National Indigenous Peoples Day. Virtual attendees of both festivals can expect Indigenous music from many different genres, and will be able to explore different vendors’ online shops and social media channels from the festival’s interactive map.
When I was growing up in Surrey, Strawberry Hill meant hitting up the Starbucks in Chapters for one of those new Frappuccinos or catching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy at the movie theatre. Located along the Delta border in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, the Strawberry Hill area was indeed a place where strawberries once grew. It’s also a community that was impacted by the Japanese Canadian Internment during the Second World War.
How Strawberry Hill Got Its Name
Japanese Canadians began growing strawberries in the area at the turn of the last century, cultivating spots between stumps of old growth forest. The berries were sent to canneries in New Westminster and Vancouver and were an integral part of early trade in Metro Vancouver.
From Heritage BC: “The origins of the Strawberry Hill community are deeply tied to local Japanese Canadian families who moved to the area and began farming in the early 1900s, greatly impacting the neighbourhood’s formation through community and agricultural projects. Japanese Canadians financially supported the creation of Strawberry Hill’s community hall and the formation of 72nd Avenue in the first half of the twentieth century. Their efforts dramatically impacted Surrey’s agricultural landscape, making berry growing a thriving industry prior to 1940.
Japanese Canadian families were responsible for the creation of the Surrey Berry Growers’ Co-operative Association and the Strawberry Hill Japanese Farmers’ Association. Like many communities, Strawberry Hill supported a Japanese Language School which had a student population of 44 in 1934.
Strawberry Hill holds national, cultural and social value in Surrey’s heritage. It is the location of one of the only tracts of Japanese-Canadian owned land that was seized by the Government of Canada in 1942 and returned to the owner, Zennosuke Inouye, a Japanese-Canadian veteran, following World War II.”
Today, the Strawberry Hill Farmers Institute Hall (12152-75 Ave), now Strawberry Hill Hall, stands as a reminder of this heritage, and is Surrey’s oldest community hall. It was built in 1909 with constructed with the help of donations, grants and volunteer labour on land donated by the first president of the Institute, George Henry Flux.
More Resources
You can read a transcript of material that formed the basis of a 2012 interview with Mrs. May Brown [Strawberry Hill, British Columbia: A New Perspective On the 1942 Evacuation] about her time in Strawberry Hill before and after WWII and the Internment of Japanese Canadians. Amelia Adam’s Park (between 84th and 86th Ave near Scott Road) is named after her mother.
In the summer of 2019, the Surrey Art Gallery hosted an exhibition by Cindy Mochizuki featuring the history of Japanese-Canadian berry farmers in the region. Autumn Strawberry was in the gallery’s Tech Lab from June to August.
Mochizuki told the Surrey Now Leader: “During the internment, the Japanese Canadians weren’t allowed to take photographs. Because there were no images, I’m interested in making those images. I want to make visible what is not visible in history.”
Also in the summer of 2019 an open house was hosted to propose conservation renovations to the Strawberry Hill Hall which now sits on the corner of 75th and 121st, at the edge of R.A. Nicolson Park. According to City of Surrey documents, an Invitation to Tender (ITT) went out in March, 2020 and the project should be moving forward in April, 2020, with work happening May to September of 2020.
As someone who grew up in Surrey and who loves researching local history, I had no idea about any of this until I started drafting this post a few months ago. It’s been enlightening and heartbreaking. Hopefully when we’re all able to travel around again (after COVID19 isolation) the Hall will be fully restored — and perhaps even be on a Surrey Doors Open tour — so the history can be even more widely shared.
