Rowena

Rowena was born on a very tiny island called Lubang Island, in Mindoro Philippines in 1963. She is the middle child to two brothers and 5 sisters. Her dad was a contractor and Mom raised the children. Rowena finished High School and went on to College to receive a degree in Business Management and a Secretarial course.

She moved to Hong Kong China in November of 1989. She wanted to support herself. At this time her father was losing his memory. She was only planning to stay there for 2 years, as a contractor as a nanny. She ended up supporting her family at this time. She was the primary “bread winner”. She stayed for 15 years in Hong Kong.

In April 2005 to June 2005 she went home to see family in Philippines before coming to Canada.

In June 2005 she applied to come to Canada as there was contract work here as a nanny. Her work visa came through and she looked after a family of one child. When she came the employer told her she had to cut her contract after 15 days of being here. She needed to look for a new employer.

She found a new employer in September of 2005 to a family of 4. two boys aged 8 and 10. In 2008 her immigration papers expired because the family refused to fill them out for her. In April of 2008 she found out she was 2 months pregnant with a man she had met in 2006.

In May she was kicked out of her employer’s house because of her pregnancy. She moved in with her baby’s father.

Rowena was 26 weeks into her pregnancy when Amanda was born. She was 1lb, 12 oz. Kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for 7 ½ months. She was born with Down syndrome, hardening of the lower chamber of heart, lung hypertension, and asthma.

At 3 ½ months she had heart surgery.

In May of 2009 Amanda’s father drove Amanda to the police station with no car seat and on his lap. He walked into the police station high on drugs and informing police that there are dead people in the living room of his home and Rowena’s life was in danger. Police surrounded her house, with dogs and guns drawn. Ordered Rowena out of the house. Police drove her to the police station to get Amanda and sent him to the hospital for help. They found a pellet gun in the car.

In June of 2009, they were evicted from her home. Rowena called child services and they moved them to the Sheriff King Home. They were now homeless. Amanda was receiving daily injections for the blood clot she developed after heart surgery.

After spending 7 weeks at the Sheriff King Home they moved to Margaret Chisholm. In April of 2010 Amanda’s Godfather learned they were in a shelter, and he felt an obligation to her. They moved into their home for 9 months, until the Godfather moved to a new city. At this time Amanda became sick and had to spend 3 weeks at the Hospital.

She met a friend who needed a sitter for her child while she worked. Rowena moved in to watch the child and looked after him. With no money and no immigration papers, she could not claim Alberta Works. She did receive $62 dollars every 3 months for GST as she did file her income tax. The “friend” was abusive. Called Amanda ugly and stupid, even slapped her. Rowena moved out.

The saga continues for a few years - moving 5 times almost every year.

In August of 2011 she moved back into Margaret Chisholm, and sought help from the Calgary Catholic immigration services.

Rowena was now facing another eviction from the centre, as it is a temporary shelter. She applied for Calgary Housing Company (CHC) and was declined, told her file would be reviewed in one year and there was no space. She would be left on the streets, with a child with health problems, Amanda was now on oxygen and using a CPAP at night. She was desperate and went to the CHC to beg for help. (This is when she broke down in tears, while I interviewed her.)

She got her immigration papers in June of 2012. After meeting with the Immigration Officer. The officer asked her why she should let her stay in Canada, Rowena’s reply was:

“If you wish to send me back, that's fine with me. But Amanda will deteriorate, there is no help in my country for a child like Amanda. She is a Canadian Citizen."

In August Rowena received a call from CHC to tell her they have a place for her to look at. They asked her to come and look at it and if she liked it she could take the unit. She responded with, “I like it already, it’s a home!” August 21^st Rowena received the key to her and Amanda’s new home.

Amanda is now 7 and doing well despite her many health issues. She has vision, pulmonary, dental, cardio, immunology, sleep clinic, nutritionist appointments that are always ongoing. She is still fed through a G-tube. She is a delightful girl with many giggles, smiles, and LOVES to dance.

Rowena has now finally been able to see a Doctor for her own ongoing health issues. And recently had surgery to repair her ear. She has this message to everyone who might be going through the same things:

“Be strong, have faith. Have faith in God and yourself. You will make it, it is hard even though all the negativity is staring at you. I strongly believe in the power of mind, positive thought."
Her motto - "Never surrender.”

Brian Pincott Talks 3

#Briantalks 3

In general, how do Calgarians respond to policy changes? For example, how do you think they are responding to the minimum wage change?

·         “Part of the human condition is that we don’t like change. But I see this over and over again. We put a policy change in place, whether it’s bike lanes or parking or land use, anything really. You would think the world was going to end. But once people get used to it, it’s not a big deal anymore.”

If there was 3 things Calgarians could do to make your job easier, they would be?

1.       “Talk to your neighbors,

2.       Think about your neighbors,

3.       And talk to your councillor. Not enough people participate in community. And this is one of the things I find makes my job hard and frustrating. People don’t get involved until they realize something may affect them. And it could be 2 years after we’ve done public engagement on the issue and they haven’t gotten involved. We come up with a plan, we start to go and do it and a whole bunch of people go, Wait a second, that’s effecting me. You have to go back and start over again. If more people talked to their Councillor they would know what’s going on, and if they participate, and they talk to their neighbors and they thought about their neighbors, ALL of those things put together would make my life and everyone else’s easier.”

Is it important to connect with people?

·         “It depends. There’s what we call retail politics. Which is saying Hi, shaking hands, spending 30 seconds with everybody. Which is really important. But in the real world those real one on one connections aren’t that important, but; there is the community side of politics and to me that is about community, community building and communities supporting people, and supporting people building community. And here you actually do need to have to get to know people one on one, it takes more time, it takes more work, it’s slower and it’s sometimes not fun. But I think it’s more meaningful.”

You’ve been very active and present in Lincoln Park, is that normal for a City Councillor?

·         “Probably not. We had the “We Vote” day on October 17. Someone asked me why is poverty not an issue? I was really honest when I said, because you don’t vote. 18 – 25 year olds don’t vote so you don’t see politicians talking about youth issues, AT ALL. Because they don’t vote. They don’t talk about poverty issues because people living in poverty, don’t vote. There’s absolutely no benefit to a politician to spend any time in an area like Lincoln Park. Politician’s COUNT VOTES, where can I get the votes to WIN the next election?”

So what makes Lincoln Park different?

·         “Because I actually see people in Lincoln Park struggling through all of their shit, to actually make their community better. That’s what I see in Lincoln Park. A bunch of people struggling through all of their shit, and there’s some people who live in Lincoln Park who have EVERYTHING going against them. And through all of that they’re working to make ALL of their lives better, their community better and stronger.

Please follow #Briantalks on my twitter feed ajcan36 for more blog questions and answers.

#Briantalks Part Two

Welcome back to #Briantalks.

 

5.            “How would you sum up the current climate of Calgary in making change?”

·         “It’s interesting, I would say that Calgary right now is a little bit scared of change. I think that has to do with the economy, in this economic state people retrench, they don’t really want too much change, they just want to survive in a way. I moved to Calgary because I was attracted by the Calgary attitude of let’s try anything. And that’s true in the arts like nowhere else, I mean people talk about how we’re an oil and gas town or an entrepreneurial town right, and we’re a business town and all about business entrepreneurialism. I honestly think that the most entrepreneurial sector that we have in our city, is actually the arts sector. Every time the arts sector does something they put it completely on the line, there is only success or failure. The business sector has a load of information to learn from the arts sector in this town. We need to get more of that risk taking in government and community.”

He goes onto remember the first month he was in the office and was invited to a breakfast, the newbies were asked to speak about what they hope to accomplish. Brian stood up and said; “I am looking for the great successes, and for that I am more than happy to risk and accept magnificent failures.” If you want to get the great success, you don’t get it, if you’re not willing to take a chance on failing big.

6.            “How would you sum up the current climate of Calgary in innovating social programs?”

·         “Again, it’s pretty risk averse. We have a lot of social programs that we know are not quite working the way we want to, but we’ve been in a climate of really stressed funding, of stress supports for social programs before the May election of provincial government and with the federal government election. So we had two governments who really were tightening down on social programs and funding of social programs. In that environment there is no room or capacity to try new or innovative things. I am hoping with the new governments we’ll have the opportunity to try innovating things with social programs.”

7.            “How would you sum up the current climate of Calgary in sustainability?”

·         “The original definition has been twisted and turned into what anybody wants it to be. Generally people understand that we are not sustainable. People want to get there, as long as it effects nothing in their lives. People look at it and think it’s a problem bigger than just me and don’t know where they fit in it, and figure they can’t do anything about it because it’s a global problem.”

8.            “What was the most ridiculous moment you’ve had in office? (Silly, humorous, embarrassing)?”

·         “We spent 4 hours talking about 1 secondary suite, and in that very same meeting we had a development that had 10,000 people in it, and we spent 20 minutes on that issue. 4 hours, on 1 person, 20 minutes, on 10,000 people. THAT is ridiculous. I also find it very funny when people take themselves so seriously.”

9.            “What are the most difficult requests you deal with? What issues are totally out of your hands so you wish people would stop asking about them?”

·         “The most difficult requests are where people are only thinking about themselves. And where they honestly and completely have no compassion for their neighbor. Those are really hard to deal with.”

·         “I wish people would stop asking me about parking. It’s really frustrating how much time we spend, talking about parking. I said in debate once; we spend more time talking about where cars sleep, than where people sleep. In a way it’s out of my control. If you’re concerned about parking, then don’t own 5 cars.”

Councillor Pincott on Calgary and Politics

It's October 20, and Councillor Pincott and I sit down to write my blog. I feel comfortable and at ease with him. He is definitely not what I get from most politicians. He is a people person, and has the ability to connect to people from any walk of life. More questions have come up for my blog, because the Federal Election was held yesterday, and the Conservatives have been knocked out of leading Canada, taken over by a Liberal. My first question is geared towards this:

1.      “It is now Tuesday October 20th, the first day after the Federal Election of 2015, how do you feel Councillor Pincott?”

• “I have mixed emotions, and I knew I was going to have mixed emotions. It is good that we got rid of the conservatives. They were a horribly destructive government, destroying things about this country that I love. So that's a good thing. I have mixed emotions because I am a New Democrat, my party did not do well. I look at the MP's that lost and they're really, really good people; Paul Dewar, Megan Leslie, Andrew Cash, Peggy Nash, Jack Harris, Elaine Michaud, just to name a few, and their staff are really good people, and now they're unemployed. That bothers me.”

2.      “Do you find politics an effective way to bring about change?”

 

·        “Not in and of itself. You need politicians working to bring about change at the same time as citizens are pushing to bring about change, because we each have to work, and do work in different ways and on different sides of the system. One can't be successful without having both politicians and citizens working for change at the same time.”

3.      “So what are your challenges?”

·        “Trying to find the leverage points you can actually push at as a politician that will bring about the change, and trying to find the ways to get there. I mean, I always look at where is the point I want to get to, what does the end game look like? Then backing it up and going ok, what are the steps, and what’s the right order, to start making change, to get to, where you want to get to. Trying to figure that out is a challenge. Trying to be effective at that, is a really big challenge.”

4.      “What are the benefits?”

·        “Making a better community, making a better society for everyone. That to me is what it’s all about. If we can make somebody’s life better, if we can make a community better, that’s the benefit.”

I ask, “so before you got into politics you were a?”

Brian jumps in immediately here,

“Theatre lighting designer, I was a theatre guy for 20 years in the arts.

So I ask him, if you were to go back, would there have been a different path that you would have chosen?

With absolute certainty, and without hesitation, his reply was “Never!”

“I went to University as pre-med, I was going to be a doctor, and then I discovered theatre and did a whole bunch of different things in theatre, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“What are some similarities between politics and theatre?”

He laughs at this question, He jokingly says but not so much jokingly, he used to do all kinds of theatre, drama, comedy, musicals, opera, etc.… But now he only does one kind of theatre, the theatre of the absurd. "You know, the similarities is that….politics is about human interaction, human relations, politics is about….how we interact with each other and how we want to interact with each other; and that’s the same thing theatre is about, the exact same thing theatre is about.”

This blog will be a part of a 3 part series, along with a Twitter feed. Please follow #Briantalks on Twitter for more.

Alberta Works Part Two

So now that my emotions are under a bit more control after having to deal with the indignity and frustration with the Alberta Works office, I will conclude how the rest of the story went. 

Before I even got into the room to sit down, the lady asked me what I was doing back there, and that there is no reason that I should be back in the office. That this was NOT my fault.

We sat down, I passed over all of the documents required of me. She proceeded to redo the paperwork all over again.

After looking at the computer and doing the paperwork she stepped away from her desk for a brief moment. When she came back and sat down she apologized profusely to me.

She admitted that the reason why I was back at the office was because she had not gone back into the system when I first came in and closed last years file on me, or something. So it was her fault that I was back in the office once again.

I truly appreciated and valued the fact that she took ownership of that, admitted it, apologized for it, and was willing to correct the error.

At the same time, I do not know how I was able to file my report to begin with if I was not supposed to be on it in the first place, second; why did my financial worker NOT look into my file and find that error?

After I left the office, I ran into one of my neighbors. Who had almost the similar issue happen to her. I found out the next day that another neighbor, who's child has Down Syndrome and she cannot work due to multiple medical issues her daughter struggles with, was cut off of Alberta Works at Christmas last year. To get reinstated she had to supply them with Dr's notes. She respectively did this and has recently been told once again by her worker, 9 months later, that she needs more Dr's notes stating why she cannot work. As if her daughter magically woke up one day and her heart, lung, and Down Syndrome magically disappeared and her circumstances changed.

As much as I agree that last year she should have supplied a Dr's note. I do NOT believe it was appropriate to cut her off of Alberta Works first. Leaving her at Christmas, worried and fearful of how she will pay her rent or supply a Christmas for her child.

To top things off with my circumstances. 1 week after the lady I saw reinstated my case my financial worker called to question where $602 dollars came from according to my bank statement. I informed her it was from them. She told me she saw no record of that and would call me back after looking into things. She left a message on my machine later stating she could not find that and if I could not supply that info that I would have to reimburse them that money. I went into my bank account and found the deposit they gave to me, plus another $50 some odd dollars from my GST cheque.

I find it quite sad. That even the Alberta Works front line staff are becoming frustrated and encouraging people to write to their MLA. So I did, cc’d to a letter to the Minister of Human Affairs.

I am hoping to have a personal, face to face discussion with them about them soon.

Amber Cannon