This is VANCOLOUR

Ahmed Danny Ramadan is is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker, storyteller and an LGBTQ-refugee activist. Since his arrival to Vancouver in 2014, Danny's community contributions as a storyteller and activist are a testament to the strength of diversity in our community. As an activist, he has been involved in coordinating online and on the ground efforts to support Queer and Trans identifying refugees from Syria to immigrate to Canada. Danny runs the annual fundraiser "An Evening in Damascus" to support those efforts. Since May 2015, he has raised over $100,000 to support a total of eight other LGBTQ-identifying Syrian refugees. He has also participated in efforts to ensure safe passage to 24 Syrian Queer and Trans refugees to Canada. He was appointed Grand Marshal for the Vancouver Pride Parade 2016. Additionally, he was awarded the StandOut Award for his social activism, the RBC’s Top Immigrant in Canada award, and the Bonham Centre Award for Excellency. His critically acclaimed English debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was named amongst the Best Books of 2017 by the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. It was also a finalist for a Lambda Award.

Vancouver mayoral candidate, Patrick Condon, wants to be the "Bernie Sanders" of Vancouver as he makes Metro Vancouver's housing crisis the central focus of his election campaign. He breaks down the causes of the housing crisis, what the crisis means for people who live and work in Vancouver, his solutions (including increasing non-marketing housing in Vancouver and implementing Vancouver's very first city plan), the curious case of how fellow mayoral candidate Hector Bremner named his new political party, the other mayoral candidates on "the left", and ultimately, the choice that Vancouver must make to determine its future. Patrick Condon is seeking the mayoral nomination for the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE). He is the founding chair of Urban Design at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Megan Edwards and Janet Reynolds, collectively known as THE UND8ABLES (@TheUnd8ables), kick off This is VANCOLOUR, with an exploration of the often treacherous dating terrain in Metro Vancouver. We went over time talking about dating rules (or lack thereof), first date etiquette, dick pics, coffee dates, catfishing, and more, unfiltered and unapologetically. Their collection of stories about unsuccessful dating and other fuckery, "Girl, It's Not You (it's definitely him)", is available now!

A preface for "This is VANCOLOUR": a podcast about the creative class in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.