Downtown Eastside culinary school defends Pidgin Restaurant
Posted February 21, 2013 11:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Amid the ongoing protests in front of new restaurant in the Downtown Eastside, another organization continues to graduate people living in the neighbourhood from its culinary program.
The HAVE cafe’s eight-week program is designed for people who’ve lived on the streets, and need help getting into the workforce.
“This is the most amazing place. It changes people’s lives,” enthuses Ian Tostenson, co-founder of the six-year-old program, and the head of the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
“Six hundred students have gone through the program, and at least 70 per cent of them have got jobs.”
He says local restaurants, like Pidgin, are key to their success.
“The Pidgin Restaurant will have some of our students work in their restaurant. So the entire eastside benefits from this kind of training,” he notes.
The people who’ve been demonstrating in front of Pidgin say it and other developments make the neighbourhood less affordable.
But Tostenson says by employing locals, the restaurant is helping the area.
“What Pidgin is doing is evolving the neighbourhood, not changing it.”
