By David P. Ball
---
The New Year offers opportunities for more Vancouverites to advance conversations on anti-racism and structural changes, says local musician Tonye Aganaba, who is an organizer with Black Lives Matter Vancouver and the Defund 604 Network.

Aganaba told The Pulse on CFRO that she was surprised that just before the holidays last year, City Council voted to freeze the Vancouver Police Department's budget despite the police board's insistence on more than $6 million increases -- and recalled with enthusiasm how inspiring it was to be part of worldwide rallies against anti-Black police violence last summer.

But she said that her efforts, and other activists, to defund the police and, as she put it, "re-fund the community," must continue even more urgently in 2021. And that means investing in community organizing, difficult conversations, and true community safety efforts.