Connection to culture saves lives in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Vancouver, BC – Across the street from Pigeon Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), a large orange feather pops into view from a storefront window. As one gets closer, the deep sound of traditional drumming bellows out the open door, inviting the country’s most marginalized in for a cup of coffee, a sandwich and a safe place for people to just sit and be.