NEWS 3
‘Full steam ahead’ for hospital
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2018
ARTS 9
Students take to the stage
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
SPORTS 16
Knights’ B.C. quest stopped
There’s more at Burnabynow.com
LIFE LESSONS
History comes alive for these students By Mario Bartel
editorial@burnabynow.com
The stories Elita Chan’s parents told her of their immigration from China to Canada have become real for her. It happened when the Grade 10 student at Burnaby North Secondary School got off the train at Port Moody station with only a suitcase and checked in at the immigration desk.The contents of the suitcase and the life they represent belonged to a fictional character, but the experience echoed the authentic arrival of so many new Canadians, including the families of Chan and her classmates in Mia Lehtonen’s social studies art enriched class. The students collaborated with Port Moody’s Station Museum to recreate the experience of immigrants arriving by rail to start a new life in the city in the early part of the 20th century. The suitcases packed with belongings, treasures and life stories researched and curated by the students will become part of a new permanent exhibition at the museum called Unpacking
UNPACKING HISTORY:
From left, Emily Zhang, Zuzanna Liniewski and Elita Chan go through the contents of a suitcase belonging to ‘Aishe Boswell,’ a fictional Romani Gypsy character they created to tell her immigration story from persecution in France to a new life in Canada. They were part of a collaboration between Port Moody’s Station Museum and Grade 10 social studies students at Burnaby North Secondary School to recreate the immigrant experience of newcomers to Canada arriving by train in Port Moody. PHOTO MARIO BARTEL
My Suitcase: Immigration to Canada. Markus Fahrner, the museum’s coordinator, said it’s a particularly important time to share the im-
migrant experience as some countries close inward and fear the intentions of newcomers. “People can wake up and realize there is no dan-
ger,” Fahrner said, adding the suitcase is a particularly powerful metaphor because it’s often all that new immigrants are able to bring with them when they seek a new
life in a new country. “You look into that suitcase and realize there is someone in there who is like you,” Fahrner said. Lehtonen said the proj-
ect gave her students the chance to “live and breathe the experience of immigration” and discover what it Continued on page 4
PUBLIC HEARING
‘City has let us down’ on housing
By Grant Granger
editorial@burnabynow.com
Housing activists and residents unloaded a heaping helping of vitriol on Burnaby city council at a public hearing for a Metrotown
highrise proposal Tuesday night. The hearing was to deal with a rezoning application by Intracorp to build a 32-storey condominium tower between McKay and Silver avenues next to Maywood Park. It will be built on what is now six
single-family lots. But when it is completed, two apartment buildings on Maywood Street containing 31 rental units will be torn down to expand the park, although that’s not expected to happen for at least another five years.
To the 20 or so speakers, if the project gets the go-ahead, it will be another example of Burnaby allowing developers to reduce the city’s affordable rental stock in favour of luxury condos. “There’s been a strong program
St. Patrick’s Day P U B L I S H I N G I N T H E B U RN A BY N OW: We d n e s d a y M a r c h 15 t h 2 017
to create high-density housing. I understand that. But I’m not sure there is an equal program to replace what’s been lost,” said James Grunau, who says he has been a Continued on page 5
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