"Literacy is our power to say who we are." -- Sandy Cameron

Born in 1931, Sandy Cameron is a stalwart activist for social progress in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver who has self-published Being True to Ourselves: Downtown Eastside Poems of Resistance (2004), endorsed by MP Libby Davies. Having taught at all school levels from primary to university, he has volunteered as a tutor at the Carnegie Learning Centre for more than 15 years, having first come to the Downtown Eastside in 1965. "The school system discriminates against poor and non-white kids and labels them Slow Learners and Trouble Makers," he says. "The poverty and violence in their lives are not reflected in the stories of Dick and Jane." A former logger and prospector, Cameron has been a frequent contributor of essays, poetry and political analysis to the Carnegie Newsletter. His dignified and accessible poetry was featured at a Vancouver Writers Festival event at the Carnegie Centre in 2004.

BOOKS:

Being True to Ourselves: Downtown Eastside Poems of Resistance (2004)
Downtown Eastside Poems
Sparks from the Fire (Vancouver: Lazara Press, 2000)
Taking Another Look at Class (Carnegie Community Centre Association and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 1999)
Fighting for Community: Stories from the Carnegie and Downtown Eastside (editor)

[BCBW 2004]