Visiting Squamish Country (Vancouver)
Hi folks
I'm a Kulin from southeastern corner of the australian continent, heading over to Vancouver in a few weeks for a workshop. My inclination is to firstly head see what other mob are up to and seek welcome when visiting, so with the light reading I see our version of 'Gathering Places' are your version of 'Aboriginal Friendship Centres.'
Naturally, as I'm staying downtown, I looked locally for the nearest place to visit, and was a little shocked (well, was and wasn't) to see the first (and closest) place suggested was a supervised injecting site (incidentally, I looked for my own city and the first response was a disability support service, so it's funny seeing how we're all perceived by the algorithm).
Sorry if it's confronting or negative. Unsure if it's the same kind of responses you guys would get, but I just thought I'd mention it and hope there might be some change. It's not fair to be made a monolith of impairment and disease.
Anyway. More importantly, what's good to do? I get in on the Friday, and will be there for a week. Would prefer to spend as much of it with local mob, especially seeing as the weather will be good.
Ngun godjin