VIPIRG special projects
In most VIPIRG campaigns, VIPIRG and staff participate indirectly by helping members figure out how to translate a campaign idea into effective action. There are special circumstances where VIPIRG staff may be more directly involved in organizing:
- emergency campaigns that require immediate action
- requests by vulnerable students or community members who would risk violence, deportation, or other negative consequences if they worked directly on the project
- situations where a VIPIRG staff member's skills, knowledge, experience, or time is critical to the success of a campaign
- action relating to a community-based research project undertaken by VIPIRG
Special projects may also be undertaken by VIPIRG practicum students or volunteers. These are typically projects that are more effectively done by one person over a short period of time than by an ongoing working group, or otherwise don't fit a working group structure.
Current special projects
Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable
CR-FAIR, formed in 1997, is a coalition of organizations and individuals involved in our local food system, with a secretariat provided by the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria. Our mission is to increase knowledge of and bring about positive change in the food and agriculture system within the Capital Region.
This includes:
• increasing the viability of farming
• reducing hunger
• increasing the supply, consumption and diversity of locally produced processed food
• increasing our community’s knowledge and involvement with food and agriculture issues
VIPIRG Executive Director Greg Awai sits as co-chair of CR-FAIR as a part of his ongoing food security and sustainable agriculture work.
CR –FAIR members include:
BC Government Employees’ Union; Canadian Cancer Society, BC & Yukon Region; Certified Organic Associations of BC (COABC); Community Council; Growing Green Project; Island Chefs’ Collaborative; LifeCycles Project Society; Ministry of Agriculture and Lands; Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter; Small Scale Food Processors Association; TLC The Land Conservancy of BC; Vancouver Island Health Authority and the Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG).
CR-FAIR publications:
 Final Report: Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table Phase 1
Fact Sheet: The Real Cost of Food, May 2004
Fact Sheet: Food Decisions Shape our Community, Sept 2004
A Baseline Assessment of Food Security in British Columbia's Capital Region, March 2004.
Making Food Matter Report from the Food Forum - 2003
CR-FAIR Brochure
Raise the Rates
In 2002, the new Liberal BC government introduced policies and laws that increased the suffering and hardship for people living in poverty. The Raise the Rates Campaign aims to reduce poverty by pushing the provincial government to raise BC welfare rates by 50%, end the arbitrary barriers that stop people who need help from accessing welfare, allow everyone on welfare to keep the first $500 they earn, raise minimum wage to $10 an hour, and end the
$6/hour training wage. Initiated by the Carnegie Community Action Project, the campaign is supported by a number of BC social justice organizations. VIPIRG's involvement in Raise the Rates is part of Research Coordinator Bruce Wallace's ongoing work combining welfare research with action to address economic injustice.
You can help by:
- Raising awareness with campaign leaflets and posters (hard copy available at VIPIRG)
- Collecting petition signatures
- Sending a letter to Claude Richmond, Minister of Employment and Income Assistance
For more information about the Raise the Rates Campaign, email info@raisetherates.org
Proposing a new special project
Special projects undertaken by VIPIRG depend on staff expertise and VIPIRG's available resources. The VIPIRG coordinating collective considers proposals year-round. Email vipirg@vipirg.ca or call us at 721-8629 to discuss your idea.
Past special projects
Protecting suburban farm lands (2006)
In March 2006 residents of Langford, a suburb of Victoria, received a letter from their city council asking for support to take all Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) lands in Langford out of the land reserve. This would have enabled massive sale of farm lands for development. Quick action by a coalition of residents and nonprofit organisations (including VIPIRG) resulted in council backing down from the initiative and agreeing at their April meeting not to make a blanket application to remove land from the ALR.
Langford cranks up farmland fears (Victoria Times-Colonist, March 31, 2006)
Solidarity with Ethiopian students (2005)
In June 2005, students at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia held demonstrations to protest parliamentary election results and call for an investigation into reported killings, arrests, and beatings of opposition candidates. In response, police opened fire and arrested and detained over 3600 people. After talking to several Ethiopian students in universities in Vancouver and Victoria it became clear that none could openly challenge the Ethiopian government for fear of their safety and the safety of their family and friends back home. In this human rights emergency, VIPIRG organized a solidarity campaign to encourage Canadian students to take action.
VIPIRG backgrounder and call to action
Amnesty International urgent action appeal
Sample letter for Canadian students
Campaign against time-limited welfare (2003-2004)
In 2002, the newly elected BC Liberal Party made sweeping changes to welfare legislation and policy, reducing eligibility and benefits for people in need of social assistance. One of the most controversial changes was the imposition of a time limit for people considered able to work. Under the new legislation – the first of its kind in Canada – people considered employable would only be able to receive welfare for up to 2 years in any 5-year period, with mandatory denial or reduction of assistance after 2 years regardless of individuals’ needs. Across BC there was both organized and spontaneous opposition to the
time limits, including criticism from unexpected quarters such as the mainstream
media. In response to mounting public pressure, in February 2004 the Liberal Party announced a new policy creating exemptions to the time limits to reduce the numbers of people who would be cut off welfare. Although the campaign was successful in temporarily protecting social assistance for several thousand people, the legislation remains, leaving people on welfare uncertain what the future holds.
VIPIRG campaign materials
Other resources
 Links to other groups’ welfare time limit campaign materials
Fighting public transit fare increases (2003 & 2000)
In 2000 and 2003, VIPIRG joined local anti-poverty groups in speaking out against
fare hikes proposed by the Victoria Regional Transit Commission (VRTC). For the 20% of Victoria residents living in poverty, public transit is a necessity rather than a choice and the current fare is already unaffordable. VIPIRG's campaigns focused on the impact of proposed fare increases on people living in poverty, and suggested possible alternative means of increasing money to support public transit.
Spare some more change? (2000 submission to VRTC)
Thinking outside the fare-box (2003 submission to VRTC)
Opposing mining in Tambogrande (2001)
Canadian mining company Manhattan Minerals sought to turn the town of Tambogrande, Peru into an open-pit gold mine – a plan that would have forced relocation of half of the 16,000 residents and permanently damaged the farmlands in the area. VIPIRG developed materials for the 2001 Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) summit in Quebec City, pointing out the links between globalization and Canadian exploitation of Peru's resources and highlighting Canadian responsibility to stop Manhattan Minerals. After intense resistance by local residents and internationals, in December 2003 the Peruvian Ministry of Mining refused permission for Manhattan Minerals to proceed.
First, we take Manhattan...Before they take Peru
Stopping NATO from meeting in Victoria (2000)
Six hundred delegates from the defense ministries of 35 member-countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had planned to meet in Victoria in October 2001. VIPIRG called for mass-scale protest similar to activist gatherings at the meetings of the World Trade Organization (Seattle, 1999), the International Monetary Fund and World Bank (Washington, 2000), the Organization of American States (Windsor, June 2000), and the World Petroleum Congress (Calgary, 2000). Concerned about an estimated $3 million in policing costs and the impact of intense police security on Victoria's tourist image, Victoria mayor Alan Lowe asked NATO not to come to Victoria.
Protesters shut down NATO meeting (Martlet reprint by Global Policy Forum)
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