Discussion: Resisting Gentrification in Downtown West
Tuesday, February 17, 3pm
LB Atrium, 1400 de Maisonneuve West (métro Guy-Concordia)
Part of the CSU/HOJO Housing Fair (11am-4pm)
As part of the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and Housing and Job Bank (HOJO) HOUSING FAIR on February 17, QPIRG Concordia is hosting a discussion on resisting gentrification in Downtown West.
Our starting point will be to identify gentrification – the displacement of working class, low-income, poor and/or marginalized people in favour of middle class and rich people – as a clear problem not to be accommodated, but to be actively resisted. We will share the various factors contributing to the gentrification of Downtown, including high-end condominium and business developments, a cultural industry that prioritizes middle class consumers, “green” capitalism, social profiling, as well as Concordia University’s own development plans. As community members of Downtown West – students, workers, residents, neighbors, visitors – we can come together to stop our complicity in gentrification, and think of ways to support ongoing efforts at resistance.
This initial discussion will hopefully build on previous informal efforts by various members of the Concordia campus community to oppose gentrification, and perhaps lay some groundwork for a future campaign/organization to sustain ongoing anti-gentrification efforts.
One reference point for this discussion will be the publication Gentrify This! A Student’s Guide to Understanding and Resisting Gentrification, a 2012 Quebec Concordia research stipend. The guide will be available during the Housing Fair at QPIRG Concordia’s table. Gentrify This! is also available online here: http://issuu.com/qpirgnoah/docs/gentrify_this__guide__english_?e=8027728/2166748
Downtown West refers to the area roughly between Sherbrooke and Notre-Dame, from Peel to Atwater (covering Peel, Guy-Concordia, Atwater and Lionel-Groulx metro areas).
If you can’t make this discussion but would like to be involved in possible anti-gentrification organizing at Concordia, get in touch at info@qpirgconcordia.org
Organized by QPIRG Concordia: your campus-community link for social change!
www.qpirgconcordia.org
Your campus community link for social change