GVAD proudly presents: DeafBC Bulletin October 2022 Edition
GVAD is now starting up our monthly newsletter once again. For more further information please read below. We have announcements, events and more to show!
Announcements!
Hello to our readers and members! We are starting up our newsletter called “DeafBC Bulletin” once again. This email will be sent to current mailing list once. If you wish to subscribe to our monthly newsletters, please click “Subscribe” at bottom of the newsletter. We apologize if there has been any duplicate email addresses that caused this email to be sent to you twice or more, we are only using this mailing list once. All and any future newsletter will be sent out to the new subscription. Now onto to all major announcements we have!
As many of you may have noticed, we have new logo! After many years of using our current logo, we have decided to upgrade and reached out to a deaf artist, Kristina Guévremont under her business “Twelve Pixels” and had her to design us a logo matching to modern times. The Board of Directors are thrilled to have this excellent logo to represent GVAD for many more years to come.
Annual General Meeting – Oct 14th!
We have announced our Annual General Meeting for Oct 14th at 7:30PM to 9PM. We will be holding at Douglas College at New Westminster – Room to be announced. Cameron Epp, GVAD Secretary, will chair the AGM. The information will be sent to members soon as we know more in next few days. If you are interested in becoming a member for GVAD, please go to our membership registration form below we are looking forward to seeing you on Oct 14th!
After 3 years of following COVID-19 Restrictions and its rules, we are thrilled to announce that Bingo Night is finally back and ready to rumble! We have booked Bonsor Recreation Complex in their Banquet Hall for 6:00PM to 10:00PM to compete and enjoy playing Bingo and 50/50 once again. If you are interested, please RVSP soon as possible by using this link: please RVSP soon as possible, we have limited space! We will let you know if you are on waiting list. We are very excited to have our Bingo Nights back and look forward to seeing you all there! For any questions or concerns, please email gvadevent@gmail.com
We had lot of fun and laughter at our 41st Annual Corn Party – We had over 140 people come and catch up with each other and enjoyed BBQ food cooked by our chefs from Deaf BC Disc Golf Club! Big big thank you to Christian Vasquez and to his team for doing all of the cooking! Thank you Peggy Fee and Bunnie Munch for the Kingo game and thank you to Leanor Johnson providing drinks. Thank you to Raakee Pillay for overseeing the event.
MASSIVE thank you to David Johnson and his team for their incredible and hard work in organizing 41st Annual Corn Party for us to enjoy after 4 years. We hope to have even bigger turn out at next year Corn Party!
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in ASL
On Thursday, September 29, 2022 we had an wonderful presentation by Paula Wesley from Terrace, BC that helped us to understand more about TRC. Thank you to Douglas College through Lisa Anderson and Barb Mykle-Hotzon for letting us use their Aboriginal Gathering Room. Thank you to Raakhee Pillay for planning and overseeing the event.
Sports Drop-In Night is back! Come out to enjoy some fun-filled games of pickleball and basketball starting next week!
Where: South Slope Gym at 4446 Watling Street, Burnaby
SPORT: Pickleball WHEN: Wednesdays TIME: 6:00pm to 8:00pm DATES: Wednesday October 5, 2022 – Wednesday, May 31, 2023 Please note the following Wednesdays are not included: November 9 & 30, December 7, 21 & 28, March & April, May 10 & 17
SPORT: Basketball WHEN: Thursdays TIME: 6:00pm to 8:00pm Dates: Thursday October 6, 2022 – Thursday, May 25, 2023 Please note the following Thursdays are not included: November 10, December 1, 8, 22 & 29, March & April, May 11 & 18
Fee: Free for BCDSF members $5 for non-BCDSF members for each drop-in
Membership Cost from January to December: $20 Adult $10 Adult with Student ID (19 years old and up) $0 Youth and kids (18 years old and less)
Do you like going to shows (theatre, dance, performance…)? The PuSh Festival invites you to join the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community Committee. They will meet on October 18th or 19th and vote on what shows should have ASL-interpretation or captions.
Everyone on the committee will be paid $50 for their time and will get two tickets to a show in the festival. Deadline to apply is October 11th. Note: you might see 3 different dates (Oct. 8 at the end of the video, Oct. 10 AE signing and texts below from PuSh Festival says October 11th), so the deadline is actually the 11th of October.
Transcript start. Title Page that says “Updates re to GVAD AGM” A cacausian male appears with blue digital background with white globe with blue continent that has red bar with text saying ‘BREAKING’ and white bar that says ‘NEWS’
“Hello my name is Cameron.” He signed his name. “I’m on board as GVAD Secretary. We gvad board, we have announcement, what? Our Annual General Meeting, AGM, will be postponed. It’s not on Oct 1st, it’s now on Oct 14th, at 7:30PM to 9PM, our goal. Where? At Douglas College at New West, the room number will be released at later date, documents and other things for members will be released soon, we are trying to work it out. Why it was postoned? We have new accounting program and there was errors that popped up, that we’re sorting out. To make sure everything is good, we postponed it to Oct 14, from 7:30PM to 9PM. For those who are interested to be member or need renew, information to do so is in the comments on where to register, it is through google forms, y ou can pay at AGM or e-transfer to our treasurer. I hope I will see you at the AGM!” He waves good bye and the screen transition to text that says “Questions or Concerns?” “Email info@gvad.ca”
Transcript end.
To register or renew your membership, please go to here: Registration Form
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is currently developing its Accessibility Plan as required by the Accessible Canada Actand wants your opinion. This plan will set a roadmap to improve accessibility at the CRTC.
To ensure that our accessibility plan leads to meaningful improvements and reflects the perspectives of persons with disabilities, we are consulting Canadians on their experiences interacting with the CRTC. Whether it’s your experience participating in public hearings, browsing our website, or filing a complaint, for example, we are asking for your crucial feedback on any barriers you may have encountered and proposed initiatives to help reduce, eliminate or prevent them.
You have a lot to contribute! We want to hear from you about your accessibility:
· experiences;
· challenges; and
· any barriers you may have encountered when interacting with the CRTC.
We are inviting you to participate in one of two ways:
Aethernet is a really fun community-engaged dance project, open to all bodies and abilities, no previous dance experience required, during which ASL interpretation will be provided.
After Granville Island last June and North Vancouver at the beginning of the month, it is now time for us to come to Burnaby.
We’ll be conducting free workshops (with ASL interpretation) at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on September 24 & 25, and will perform Aethernet as part of BC Culture Days on October 1st at Deer Lake Park. Info and registration here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/aethernet-burnaby-tickets-416262471257.
The Sooke School District is seeking two positive and dynamic District-Communications Facilitators to work at Edward Milne Community School and Spencer Middle School, 32 hrs/wk positions.
Qualified individuals are invited to submit their cover letter and resume, including the names and telephone numbers of at least two references to Make A Future at https://bit.ly/3LxoSvA and https://bit.ly/3RZ2PQR.
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You just can’t beat our climate and unlimited access to year-round recreation. Mildest climate and driest summers in Canada! 2,200 hours of sunshine. Frost-free season of 8 months. This is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations AND it’s a great place to work! Unlimited access to year-round recreation minutes from our schools.
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School District No. 62 (Sooke) is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment. We believe in a learning and work environment that is welcoming and safe that values, reflects and appreciates differences.
To review the full job descriptions and apply online, please visit go to Sooke 62 at:
September 19-23 is the International Week of the Deaf People and International Sign Language Day, we GVAD are celebrating our heritage and our community that we would be not able to be here without our community. This year theme is “Inclusive Communities for All”. Our board has made this video to honor #IWDP2022 and #IDSL2022. Transcript is below.
Transcript Start [Title Page that says International Week of Deaf People] [Caucasian male wearing striped shirt colored blue, yellow and white with blue background behind him and a painting of trees on a lake] “Hello everyone my name is Cameron [hand shaped ‘C’ taps on the left side of forehead] I’m on GVAD board as secretary. We Gvad are thrilled to celebrate this week, what? International Week of Deaf People, also International Day of Sign Language. Wow! This week we will recongize our community, without our community, how we will thrive and fight for or rights, for our voice to be heard, without us working together, how we can succeed? [Nods] This year theme is… “Inclusive Communities for All.” Now our board members will show their videos showing how our communities has impacted their lives, how it developed their lives or their experiences, they will give short video clip. To recongize International Week of the Deaf People. To recongize our community. That even to this day, we still need to fight. Together. As community. To make sure our voice will be always HEARD. Thank you. Now we will watch the video clips from our board. [Video shifts to other Caucasian male wearing white shirt with blue wall as background behind him. A text pops up saying “Interim President – Forrest Smith] “I love sign language, I grew up with sign language, it is beautiful and powerful, and I still advocate for better accessiblity for all in BC.” [Video shifts to other video clip] [A Indo female wearing grey and black shirt with flowers on the chest with blue background with a text popping up in background saying ‘Vice President – Raakhee Pillay] “Hi! I have a short and sweet story I want to share. I grew up at africa, and I had to learn oral and really struggled with it, I moved here to B.C. at age of 9, I noticed SEE (Sign Exact English) and was picking up sign language. When I moved up to high school, they used American Sign Language (ASL), I was taken aback and started learning more about it and found in common with people in the community and finally had sense of belonging, giving her feeling of inspiration and proud to be deaf. [A Caucasian male wearing black shirt with white image of cars and white font text that says ‘WESTSIDE AUTOMOTIVE’ with blue background with text popping up in the backround saying ‘Vice President – Joel Kvarnberg] “I want to let you know, Sign Language is like water, we can’t live without water.” [A Indo male wearing blue shirt with blue background and a text popping up saying ‘Vice President – Imran Hakamali’] Now we’re celebrating IWD’s theme, what it is? Wanting to have inclusive communities for all. What it does mean, we see many different groups of deaf people, we want to bring them all together and work together, socialize together. Sign Language is precious and appreciate each other, know each other How? By using Sign Language. We all have it. Breaking down into different groups? Unnecessary. We should be all in this together. I hope to see this from on now. [Thumbs up] [A Indo female wearing black shirt with blue background and a text popping up saying ‘Treasurer – Jessie Sangha’] I was born in Singapore, I learned English Sign Language until I moved to Calgary in 1990 and learned ASL there. Wow, I struggled a lot while learning and picking up ASL. Until I finally fully understood and became fluent in ASL. Why we do use Sign Language? Because it comes from our hands, our body. [A Caucasian male wearing striped shirt colored blue, yellow and white with blue background behind him. A text pops up saying ‘Secretary – Cameron Epp’] Deaf community is important – Why? With no community, who I am? Who’s Cameron? I’d have no identity. I’d be lost. With Community… Having Sign language, being able to connect with others in the community… It makes me feel contented. I know who I am – Cameron and I have a community. [Video switches with a text in black background]
#IWDP #IDSL
SHARE WITH US HOW THE DEAF COMMUNITY HAS IMPACTED YOU. www.facebook.com/gvad.vancouver www.twitter.com/DeafBC1
· Choral Classes Location: Christine Sinclair Community Centre 3713 Kensington Ave, Burnaby, BC V5B 0A7.
· This class caters to individuals with diverse needs and abilities of all ages.
· Dates: October 4 – December 6, 2022 (10 classes) Led by Cheryl Olvera
· Every Tuesday, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
· Fee: $250 for the 10 classes.
· If you would like to attend the classes and are facing a financial barrier, please contact us at email info@theatreterrific.ca, and we can arrange a discount or waive the fee, depending on your needs.
· Location: Christine Sinclair Community Centre 3713 Kensington Ave, Burnaby, BC V5B 0A7
· This class caters to individuals with diverse needs and abilities of all ages.
· Dates: October 6 – December 1, 2022 (10 classes) Led by Bill Beauregarde
· Every Thursday, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
· Fee: $250 for the 10 classes.
· If you would like to attend the classes and are facing a financial barrier, please contact us at email info@theatreterrific.ca, and we can arrange a discount or waive the fee, depending on your needs.
