The Vancouver Aquarium was the perfect site for the 6:00 broadcast of CBC TV's
“Canada Now” with hosts Gloria Macarenko and Ian Hanomansing. This
kicked off the CBC TV portion of CBC's involvement with the Think Vancouver two week programming highlighting Vancouver's waterfront. I had earlier listened
to CBC Radio's On the Coast host Priya Ramu broadcast live from the
Vancouver Port authority interviewing Vancouver's harbourmaster – one
of the only women harbourmasters in the world!
Opening speeches were emceed by actor Jackson Davies (of
Beachcombers fame), as he introduced Jane Chalmers, CBC Vice President
of English Radio, and CBC Regional Directors of radio and television,
Joan Anderson and Rae Hull. All were very excited about Think
Vancouver's ambitious programming to make Vancouver's waterfront come
alive and to encourage Vancouver's residents to see it through fresh
eyes and ideas.
This was a fantastic party that featured incredible food, and some very
interesting presenters, plus a wonderful collection of guests! It was
very exciting to just see who in CBC's extended community was at this
very dynamic event. Each of the performances was hosted by CBC TV and
Radio hosts. Margaret Gallagher introduced Roger Lee, Gloria Macarenko
introduced the play “Women in Fish” by playwright Marie Clements.
Gloria Macarenko looked so outstanding in her black leather jacket and short
auburn hairdo that I had to ask Rae Hull, how she managed to have
“X-men” actor Famke Jannsen featured for Think Vancouver. Rae joked
that she has a lot of pull. Gloria seemed pleased with the compliment
and we had a nice chat about Gung Haggis Fat Choy, which she plugged
last year on Canada Now to highlight the CBC television performance
special, and for which I sent down some haggis won-tons. Gloria shared
with me that the Canada Now team always celebrates Robbie Burns Day
after the show with a haggis, and a German Canadian who can recite the
Burns “Address to the Haggis” poem. Hmm… maybe we can have Gloria
co-host Gung Haggis Fat Choy for 2006? What kind of Scottish name is
Macarenko? Is it MacArenko?
It was great to see so many people from Vancouver's Asian
communities attending the event; Larry Wong and Jennifer Lau from
Chinese Canadian Historical Society; Jim Wong-Chu, executive director
of Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop; Don Montgomery from ExplorAsian
Festival; Sadhu Binning from the Punjabi Writers' Group; Angela Leung
from Association of BC Book Publishers; plus many other guests
including Christopher Gaze, Cecilia Walters, and many many more.
The evening featured talks and performances by:
Roger Lee: Working on the Waterfront about what it was like to
work Vancouver's wharves in the mid-1900's as a Chinese-Canadian.
Elisa Campbell: Digging for Devlopment an in-depth look at develping Vancouver's busy coastline.
Dr. John Nightingale: Cleaning our Coastline – the president of the
Aquarium addresses what we can do to keep our waterfront clean and
environmentally conscious.
Christos Dikeakos: Injecting Inspiration – exploring the
relationship between Vancouver local artists and the waterfront through
his own work.
Women in Fish: by Marie Clements – a multimedia play about the
capsize of the fishing vessel Loretta B in September 1962. this play
about 18 -year old survivor eileen Lorenz – 8 months pregnant with her
daughter Jaime, survives 6 hours in the freezing water, while the
issues of the dying fishing industry and the rlationships of the women
of Galiano Island within their community and the harvest of the sea are
explored.
Sadhu Binning: Walking on Water: a Poet's Journey – a poet
reveals how the waterfront breaths joy into his life and his poetry.