We acknowledge that this event is taking place on the ancestral, traditional, unceded and occupied Indigenous territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, and in particular, the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. The xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory on which UBC Point Grey campus is located is unceded, that is, it was never surrendered, relinquished, or handed over by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm to Canada or British Columbia through a treaty or other means; it is sovereign and unsurendered.

Event Description:
"Vancouver Housing Crisis Roundtable (Part 1)" is the second event in a series of roundtable discussions on the "Face of Modern Capitalism" that will be happening this year. The overarching goal of these discussion series is to create alternative discourse spaces for students and scholars to engage in critical discussions about the development of Western capitalism and the contemporary social and economic issues facing us.

The purpose of this roundtable is to gain a greater understanding for how issues of class (housing unaffordability, gentrification, capitalist development), racism (growing anti-Chinese, anti-immigration sentiments, gentrification of Chinatown), and settler colonialism (gentrification of DTES and displacement of Indigenous people from the city) interact and overlap with one another in the context of Vancouver's housing crisis.

This is a public lecture - everyone is welcome to join us. However, due to limited seating, please RSVP in advance.

Questions:
What are the underlying causes of the housing crisis in Vancouver? Which role does capitalist development play in the crisis? What are the short-term and long-term consequences (i.e. what is at stake)? How does intergenerational justice play into this?

The politics of national belonging, exclusion and racial scapegoating- how does racism and Canadian whiteness play out in conversations about “wealthy Chinese immigrants”? How have the crisis and the surrounding discourses affected Chinese-Canadians and other migrant communities in Vancouver? What are the effects and consequences of development and gentrification in Chinatown?

How has the housing crisis affected Indigenous people in Vancouver? Do the public discourses about the housing crisis undermine and ignore Indigenous rights and titles to the unceded territories? Are Indigenous people being displaced from the city once again? How can we decolonize housing affordability issues in Vancouver?

Should affordable housing be a human right for residents? If so, whose responsibility is it to provide affordable housing? What should the role of government be concerning the regulation of external capital flows? Is the 15% property transfer tax on foreign buyers a sustainable/ethical solution? What other alternatives do we have?

Confirmed Panelists:
David Ley (UBC Geography, Immigration, Housing and Labour markets, Gentrification)
Paul Kershaw (UBC School of Population and Public Health, leading Generation Squeeze)
Chris Lee (UBC Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies, Narratives about Chinese Canadians)
Amie Wolf (UBC Sauder, Indigenous Studies - Traditional Aboriginal Worldview and Colonial History)
Thomas Davidoff (UBC Sauder, Real Estate and Vancouver Housing Crisis)
Josh Gordon (SFU, School of Public Policy, Vancouver Housing Crisis)

Format: The discussion will be facilitated by Dr. David Silver (business ethics professor at Sauder) who will be asking the panel open-ended questions (listed above) and allowing panelists to answer individually, as well as to comment on each other's answers. In the end, we will leave some time for questions from the audience.

Location: UBC, Henry Angus building, room 968

"Conversations about Vancouver Housing Crisis (Part 2)" will be focused on the voices from the community. The roundtable will be happening in January, 2017 (the dates/times/panelists to be determined).