Part-time, temporary teachers worry new international student caps could spell trouble. P3
South Van drop-ins on the rise following tear-down of Marpole tent city. P2
Rats and mice flourish on campus following B.C.’s pesticide ban. P4-5
PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA MARCH 14, 2024 • VOL. 57 NO. 06 • VANCOUVER, B.C.
Langara Students’ Union staff members make on average $112,292, significantly more than SFU student union employees — despite servicing less than half the number of students.
The SFU Student Society has four staffers managing its 37,000 members.
Meanwhile, the LSU pays six staff members to oversee its much smaller 15,917 membership.
Additionally, SFU’s union staffers make an annual average of just $95,576.
According to Spencer Dane, one of Langara College’s top business management instructors, the justifications for the LSU’s large salaries are “opaque.”
“What were those people doing for the remuneration?” said Dane, who is also the college’s creative arts division chair. “How did it get approved? It seems fairly opaque, you know, through, behind closed doors.”
According to its latest financial statement, the LSU paid out $673,753 to six full-time staff members.
Like all non-profits, the LSU falls under the Societies Act, which does not limit staff pay but requires societies to disclose the total remuneration paid to all staff making over $75,000.
Potentially, this could mean that five LSU staffers make $75,000 while executive director Gurbax Leelh makes almost $300,000, Dane said.
“It’s really hard to know what’s going on because they’re not telling you,” he said. “They’re not revealing enough to say, ‘Oh, the executive director makes half of it.’”
Sheldon Falk, a lawyer at the Macushla Law Corporation who specializes in non-profits, said student unions are able to set their own wages and stipends.
See
However, they are expected to do it in a transparent manner.
Falk said if this isn’t done, the student body needs to take action by holding the council accountable.
“The recourse would be to go back to the bylaws and say, ‘Well, I think we need to bake into these bylaws a little bit more accountability,’” he said.
While the average LSU staff salary is more than $112,000, toptier instructors at Langara are paid $104,708.
Stanley Tromp, an FOI journalist and a Langara journalism graduate of 1993, described the amount paid to LSU staffers and the lack of transparency around their salaries as
“shocking” and “dreadful.”
“I think there should be a full public consultation process about the future of student unions and how they should operate,” Tromp said.
In addition to LSU staff salaries, student union fees also pay stipends for elected board members.
Each fall, the student body elects a board meant to oversee LSU operations. Six full-time staff members operate the day-to-day affairs. Elected representatives get stipends, often paid in a single lump sum.
After reviewing the latest financial statements, Dane also questioned “very large stipends” paid to LSU elected board members that vary with no explanation, which he called “irregular.”
Dane said the stipends of some student board members looked more like salaries, with amounts ranging from $7,546 for the international students rep to a whopping $21,384 for the VP internal.
He said the lack of transparency around the high stipends and the actual work done by the board members gave him pause.
“Why were there specific people who were paid more, like, it looked more like a salary?” Dane said. “It’s very odd to me that for … what I think is a not-for-profit organization
is paying people on the board, when we don’t know what they’re actually doing.”
The LSU financial statement showed that the 2023 stipend for the VP internal also rose sharply to $21,884, from $8,200 the year prior. Meanwhile, the VP of finance and administration made $21,304 — almost 10 times more than the stipend from 2022.
In an email to the Voice, the LSU said, “The executive of the board and the reps of the board have different roles and have a different workload that changes every year.”
The LSU also said that the amount paid to the board members “was decided by the previous councils.”
Former council member Kunwar Vikrant Devgan, who was the LSU VP of finance and administration in 2019, told the Voice in an earlier interview that he never saw any financial figures and the staff made all the decisions.
“I will tell you that I did not sign any of the financial decisions taken during my period, not even a single decision,” said Devgan. “All decisions were made by the full-time staff.”
Devgan said he was made to sign an NDA or non-disclosure agreement, which surprised him.
“I was expecting transparency because it’s called the students’ union,” Devgan said. “If students
cannot know what happens . . . then what the hell are you doing here?”
Devgan said he was disillusioned once he joined the council, quickly realizing his role was not going to be what he expected.
“After you start the role, they basically explain to you that . . . it’s completely different.”
In addition to the elected students, the board also includes two senior managers, who under the B.C. Societies Act, can be a student or an LSU staff member.
According to the act, if the senior board members are on the staff, the stipends are included as an addition to their regular salary.
The audited 2022-2023 financial statement and report obtained by the Voice showed that the two senior managers received stipends of $54,216 and $30,238.
The Voice asked the LSU to provide the names of the senior managers last November. The LSU responded that they were “Sukh Kaur and Keshav,” but did not include Keshav’s last name nor provide it when the Voice followed up.
The LSU said the senior managers share in all tasks but do not have the authority to exercise powers.
“They are contracted by the board and manage the various roles,” the LSU said in an email.
Since the removal of a campsite in South Vancouver, nearby shelters have seen an increase in people seeking refuge from the weather.
A small community of campers had set up an encampment near the Oak Street Bridge for months. Police removed the camp in Febru-
ary following a trespassing order from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. There were also safety concerns after a fire at the site. Additionally, some residents had reported people from the tents were dangerously jaywalking across Southwest Marine Drive and following them as they walked by.
Recently, mainly due to cold weather, the Lookout Housing and
Health Society has re-opened more shelters for people who need somewhere to sleep. One of the shelters is located at the Marpole Neighbourhood House.
“Lookout Society has recently opened a few new locations to offer added shelter beds,” said Megan Kriger, the director of development of Lookout Housing and Health Society. “It still does not meet the
need, but it is a step in the right direction.”
Volunteers at the Marpole Neighbourhood House, which hosts the Lookout Housing and Health Society shelter, said that they had their highest number of people sleeping at the shelter on March 7. The shelter reported a total of 22 people who stayed overnight. The shelter can accommodate up to 25 people.
The volunteers said this year has seen an increase in people using the shelter compared to last year.
The city made the decision to remove the tents in the South Vancouver encampment. The shelters say it is important to give people a safer living environment.
“The perception can be that encampments are unsafe. Mayor and council have taken steps necessary to open more spaces so people can come indoors,” Kriger said.
The city opens warming centres when the temperature drops below -4 C.
The city has various shelters including both permanent and temporary that open only with extreme weather conditions.
Residents living in the Marpole neighborhood near Oak Street Bridge where the encampment was demolished were surprised by its sudden removal.
“Just one day it was gone,” said Jim Skinner, a local resident.
Before the teardown, Skinner would drive by the site every day and was upset by the number of residents needing to live there.
“I drove by it every day and [it’s] sad,” Skinner said.
While Skinner was not concerned about his personal safety while walking past the area, he said his main feeling towards the encampment was “the sadness of seeing so many homeless people.”
A second encampment area near the Knight Street Bridge was also removed last week.
The campsite was a fraction of the Oak Street tent city at the time of the removal.
By CAROLINE BASSO
More than a year after a request by a Langara instructor and students for more all-gender washrooms in the A Building, the college has not made any changes to the building’s washrooms.
Caroline Ross, a photography instructor, said the A Building needs universal restrooms to be inclusive. She said non-binary models coming to campus to participate in her class demonstrations did not have a safe space in the A Building to use washrooms. She also said she could not bring in non-binary guest
speakers because of the same lack of washrooms.
“If you’re not comfortable in a binary restroom, then you have to go use one in the T Building,” Ross said.
Ross wants more all-gender washrooms in the A Building which currently only has two such washrooms in out of the way locations.
By comparison the T Building has six all-gender bathrooms in accessible locations.
Ross said she asked the college a year ago to provide universal restrooms because students of all genders need to be able to use a restroom quickly.
Claire Thomas, a second-year
photography student, worked with the group of models for Ross’s class demonstration. She said she felt guilty “when somebody asked where the bathroom is, and [she] could only point them to gendered washrooms.”
Thomas said the A Building’s second floor, where the photography department is located, should have at least one washroom that is accessible to everyone by changing the designation of one of the floor’s washrooms.
“It’s more about the actions than the words,” she said. For her, these changes are a way of showing Langara’s commitment and support to the queer community.
Alejandra Rodriguez, a firstyear math student, said she didn’t know Langara has all-gender washrooms in the A Building and has only used such a washroom at the YMCA near Langara.
She said that people who don’t identify as male or female will benefit the most from these changes in the washrooms.
members who works in the building who feel strongly supportive of the value of more inclusive washrooms,” Brown said.
Langara has a diverse community both in terms of sexual orientation and gender identity. Disability is also important when it comes to inclusive washrooms, Brown said.
Brown said the college formed an inclusive washroom committee that has been meeting regularly to discuss the situation.
Recently, the committee met with TransFocus Consulting, based in Vancouver, to “ensure that any changes made are truly supportive of the goals of accessibility and inclusivity.”
Mono Brown, an English instructor, said they were also following up on the request for changes.
“I’m definitely one of the faculty
Langara’s office of equity, diversity and inclusion has been working on inclusive washrooms for at least one semester. An email from the office to the Voice said it does not have a set timeline yet and is hoping “to see some progress over the next few semesters.”
Recently Langara president Paula Burns announced the launch of Langara’s equity, diversity and inclusion framework. The framework lays out general terms, and makes no mention of washroom designations.
LSU PAY, continues from page 1
Adding to the disparity, Langara students have long complained about the low number of LSU services and events, particularly with the lower number of students at Langara.
Student unions typically provide a wide range of services for their members, in addition to administering their U-Pass as well as health and dental care.
SFU’s student society, for example, regularly offers food vouchers, free breakfasts, monthly pet therapy, and hosts seasonal events such as Holi, Munchie Mondays.
Douglas College has a roughly similar student population to Langara’s and hosts weekly events. The New Westminster-based college spent $257,260 on campus life, services and events for its last listed year of 2022.
Meanwhile, the LSU spent $104,677 on campus life and events from May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023, according to its 2023 financial statement.
Nancy Brar, VP external and community affairs of the SFU student society, said transparency is crucial for its membership.
“If you’re not transparent with your students, you kind of lose their trust,” she said.
As independent organizations that fall under the Societies Act, student unions have no oversight whatsoever and can only be held accountable through legal action. Neither Langara College nor its board of directors have any say in the LSU’s operations or finances.
The Langara board of governors does not have direct oversight of the operations and finances of the LSU, which is an independent organization, board chair Mary Lynn Baum told the Voice in an email.
However, she said “The board can request college management to investigate an issue it’s made aware of.”
EDITOR TY
Part-time instructors at B.C. post-secondary institutions worry they could lose work following the federal government’s recent announcement that it will cut the number of international student visas.
Meant to prevent the growing exploitation of international students who have become cash cows for some institutions, the cuts will mean a revenue hit for post-secondaries, leaving many schools and instructors on edge.
“At another institution that I teach at, there have been cuts already announced and ongoing hires that have been stopped, essentially.”
“I think many of us thought there was going to be a reckoning and that this was always kind of like, borrowed time.”
The new cap system, revealed in January, allows for 83,000 undergraduate study permit applications in B.C., down 15 per cent from 97,000 in 2023.
— ELLIOT MONTPELLIER, ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY INSTRUCTOR
Elliot Montpellier, a part-time anthropology and sociology instructor at Langara, is concerned his already uncertain employment at the college will become even less stable.
“There’s been no communication about what this looks like in terms of potential lower enrolments,” Montpellier said. “From what I know, it’s all been moving very quickly.”
Montpellier said other institutions where he also works part-time have already slashed jobs.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced in January that it would reduce the number of study permits for international students by 35 per cent over the next two years. Eligible colleges and universities must request attestation letters from the provincial government so international students can apply to study in that province. The number of attestation letters each institution will receive remains unclear.
According to Langara’s website, international students made up 38 per cent of Langara College’s student population last year, generating 70 per cent of the school’s $114 million annual tuition revenue.
According to a 2022 report from Global Affairs Canada, international students generated $22.3 billion in the country, surpassing exports of auto parts, lumber and aircraft. Montpellier is worried, but his situation wasn’t unexpected.
“I think many of us thought there was always going to be a reckoning and that this was always kind of like, borrowed time for these universities,”
he said.
Warren Dean Flandez, who teaches arts and entertainment management at Capilano University, said his department sees a relatively high number of international students.
“I think anything that impacts an organization’s ability to generate revenue is definitely a cause for concern,” said Flandez.
Jessie Niikoi, secretary treasurer of the BC Federation of Students, said the organization is calling on the
provincial government to reinvest in public post-secondary education.
“We started to see that institutions are becoming overly reliant on international student numbers and their tuition to fund their budgets,” said Niikoi. “Institutions need to be properly funded so they don’t have to rely on students or just international students as their main source of funding.”
The federation presented an open letter to the provincial government with five calls to action last month.
“Basically, we’re calling for an increase in funding for the postsecondary education sector,” said Niikoi, adding that the student group has also called on the government to release the results of a funding review initiated in 2022.
“We just want that completed so we can identify the gaps in funding and then fix the issue of funding,” Niikoi said.
Langara College was not available for comment, while Langara Faculty Association declined to comment.
Putting their chosen name in parentheses next to their legal one on B.C. postsecondary parchments is a practice that is emotionally harmful, some students are saying.
Students and B.C. post-secondary institutions are currently caught between legal necessity and personal identity within the matter of chosen names on school documents.
Since 2020, Langara has allowed students to apply to replace their legal name with their chosen one, or otherwise known as preferred names, on class lists and Brightspace. Only a chosen first name is allowed.
Second-year English student Austin Hesse said the use of his legal name on something tied to a current accomplishment, like his diploma, is painful.
“It brings up a lot of trauma and a lot of reminders,” said Hesse, adding that a lot of people have only ever known him as Austin.
He said having his legal name disclosed is distressing, and for some students, having their legal name on their parchment poses a risk to their identity.
“Especially if you’ve been out for years and you’re passing, you have surgeries, whatever,” he said. “It can
instantly out you to people who you don’t want to be outed to. And it’s not fair to be outed as trans on the terms of a college instead of your own terms.”
Former Langara student River Pengelly, who went through the name change process at the college, said it went smoothly but she was disappointed that chosen names are only in parentheses on graduation parchments.
“It’s almost like it’s being attributed to someone else when your name isn’t on it,” she said. “If that’s not the name you go by — whether you’re trans or not — that’s something that should be respected and brackets, in my experience, do not lead to that.”
Students wishing to change their name can request to add a chosen first name to any records on Brightspace and class lists through Langara’s Student Information Change Request form, without any supporting documentation.
For a student to change their name on their parchment, they must submit a Request for Change of Student Information Form along with official documentation of their name change.
Hesse said he’s also looked into the name change process at Langara but was bounced around over the course
of several months.
“I sat with a [Langara] counsellor trying to figure out where to find that website,” Hesse said. “We could not find it for half an hour. You can’t find contact information for anybody.”
Pengelly said the ability to easily change their name on documentation and class lists is vital to feel in a learning enviroment.
“It’s hugely important for people to be able to show up as themselves and to have that recognized,” she said.
Some students who are transitioning or have transitioned might have a chosen name but have yet to legally change it.
As such, Langara College officials say their hands are tied when it comes to the parchment.
He said if the student is applying to another post-secondary institution, it may not be willing to accept the documents for admission or transfer credit.
Although bound by the same legalities, KPU and UBC also state on their website the importance of using chosen names as much as legally possible.
Arnie Clark from registrar and enrolment services told the Voice that parchments are considered legal documents, therefore require a student’s legal name.
“For a student presenting documents where there is a discrepancy in the name, it could create problems obtaining a work permit or for financial aid or sponsorship, or potentially employment,” Clark said in an email.
the university worked with both BC Registrars Association and TransFocus Consulting to create the form.
Kozak said the university is still working on having only chosen names on its parchments.
“I would like there to be some sort of version of the parchment that is for like, explicitly for display that could show the name somebody uses,” said Kozak, who is also a member of the Preferred Name and Gender Information committee.
“It's not fair to be outed as trans on the terms of a college instead of your own terms.”
— AUSTIN HESSE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT
In 2018, UBC announced that chosen names would be shown as consistently as possible throughout its information systems. KPU, on the other hand, has had a student information change form even before UBC’s initiative.
Romy Kozak, the director of diversity in the office of equity and inclusive communities at KPU, said
Hesse said having his name on his parchment is important because it reflects a monumental personal achievement.
“It’s a document that I take pride in for my accomplishments over the last two years, not a document that everyone needs to see,” Hesse said.
Kozak acknowledged while there could be potential legal issues with chosen names, it is more important to reduce the harm caused by using birth names, also known as dead names.
“I think there's two types of harms. And we have to sort of weigh what is the most probable, what is the most harmful,” Kozak said.
Langara College students and staff say they are noticing more rats on campus as the city grapples with a continuing increase in its rat population.
Langara marketing management student Jeah Dino said she has seen rats darting in and out of bushes throughout the campus.
“It makes me feel that the campus is not really hygienic,” said Dino.
have been spotted roaming around the campus by students who attend classes at night. Vancouver has seen an increase in rats since 2021 when the province banned the use of rat poison to reduce accidental poisoning of other animals and wildlife.
Videos of rats at locations in Vancouver have gone viral on social media in recent months.
“The Ministry of Environment ... implemented an immediate restriction of all rodenticides.”
— MIKE LONDRY, WESTSIDE PEST CONTROL
Many bait stations are located around the campus to trap and humanely kill rats. Despite that, rats
“There’s been a steady increase in the rat population [throughout Vancouver],” said Mike Londry, owner of Westside Pest Control. This ban was first implemented in 2021, after concerns were raised that pesticides were harmful to other animals and The ban on rat pesticides became
The Langara facilities department did not respond to questions from , so hard information on the rat population on campus cannot be verified. But reports from pest control companies and residents suggest the rodent population in Vancouver has mushroomed since the
Dino said the college should let students know about the rat problem “so that people can be more hygienic and not scatter litters everywhere,” Dino said. “I don’t want to come to my classes and see rats running Chetna Jangra, part of the main-
tenance staff at Langara, said she has difficulty cleaning the college due to the rats.
“They eat the garbage bags that have garbage inside and it’s very hard for us to take it from the bins because all the bags have holes in them,” Jangra said.
Jangra said the cleaning staff has brought up the issue of rats with the college.
“We informed them many times, but they are not doing anything. We get requests that they are inside the offices under the tables but the college is not doing anything,” said Jangra. Londry said pesticides were a first line of defence against rodents. Without them, he said the best available solution to control rat populations is the use of bait stations.
“Large snap traps in a tamper proof station in the backyard are good for controlling rats. It’s helped to control the rat population,” Londry said.
Rat's nest in east parking lot at Langara College near the loading docks. Taken Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024.
Rat stretches out at Langara College gym on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024.
Picture was taken with night trail camera.
Rat takes a bite next to the gym on the north side of campus. Taken Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, at Langara College. Picture was taken by night vision trail camera.
While rats are the king of the outdoor campus, mice are the rodents causing concern inside Langara’s buildings, say students and staff. Issues have been raised on the mice being spotted inside the buildings, particularly near the cafeteria despite bait stations being placed nearby.
Chetna Jangra, part of the maintenance staff at Langara, said mice have been reported inside the buildings.
“We get requests from the offices that they are right under the tables inside. And every time we have to clean it,” Jangra said.
Students have also spotted mice inside the college’s buildings. Abinan Singh, computer science student, said he has spotted mice a few times.
“I’ve seen them in the evenings when there are less people in the cafeteria,” Singh said. “I think the college needs to do a lot more to get rid of them.”
Singh said the college needs to have more effective action to rid the buildings of mice.
“If bait stations or traps are not working then the college should find other solutions because it’s not good enough,” Singh said.
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Student playwrights and a set designer with an ambitious plan have undertaken the risky endeavor of simultaneously premiering four plays at Studio 58.
Fourplay, which features four oneact plays written and performed by current or former Langara College students, will premiere at the college March 27 to April 7. Studio 58 works on a limited budget, and there is also a tight deadline by which the set must be built.
Cormack said the challenge of designing the Fourplay set involved finding unifiable elements between plays which have contrasting plotlines. For example, the plot of one play takes place in a Vancouver basement apartment, while another is located in a courtroom at the bottom of the ocean. After communicating with his colleagues, Cormack created his vision for the set.
“The hard part for me was trying to figure out how to make noticeable changes in the set that don’t take too long for the stage management team to set up and take down,” Cormack said. “The big thing that I have to worry about is how to make one set fit for very different locations.”
Cormack referred to his set as a “magic trick” that reveals different things as the panels move on and off. Cormack said the set will be completed in several weeks, after which it will be painted.
Jenna Leigh, a sixth semester Langara theatre program student who write Panty Sniffers for Fourplay, said she recognized the challenge involved with creating a multipurpose set.
Leigh hailed Cormack for his ability to create a set with transformational capabilities.
“At one point, it’s an apartment
and the next one, it’s a courtroom,” Leigh said. “The way that he’s done it is just incredible.”
Leigh said she was impressed by Cormack’s creativity.
“I was so amazed that something so innovative could come out of one brain,” Leigh said.
Sewit Haile, who wrote one play and is acting in another play within Fourplay, acknowledged she does not face the budget issues Cormack is dealing with. However, writing her one-act play presented several challenges.
“It was a bit scary writing Pretty Girls because it is pretty explicitly about eating disorders,” Haile said.
Haile felt a responsibility to “honour” her fellow theatre program students by writing a script worth studying.
“Their time is just as worthy as my time is,” Haile said.
Yorline Bernido, a fifth-semester theatre program student who wrote Fly, Love for Fourplay, said the risks she undertook involved writing a plot revolving around race and disability, as well as working with a limited budget. Bernido said the challenge of writing a play included separating her “brain from being an actor” to “being a playwright.”
Bernido embraces the chance to showcase her work, while she is cognizant of Fourplay’s limited resources.
“As a writer it’s a big step to see your art being put up there,” Bernido said. “Theatre is so low budget.”
Leigh said she relishes the opportunity to have her work shown at Langara because of the competitive nature of the theatre industry.
“Being out in the world, it can be that much harder to get your work out there,” Leigh said. “So, having that opportunity here to start is really fantastic.”
Power tools & digital machines are efficient, while traditional tools enhance authenticity
Although digital technol ogy and modern power tools enhance wood carving, traditional hand tools produce the most authentic art, according to fine arts instructors and woodworkers.
Jesse Toso, owner of Toso Wood Works in Vancouver, uses chainsaws, power tools, power grinders and chisels to create wood sculptures and furniture. Toso prefers using electric tools due to their superior efficiency.
“They’re a lot faster,” Toso said. “I can get weight through the wood a lot quicker.”
Toso, who is a carpenter and a wood artist, said it would take months for him to create the same work with a hammer and a chisel that he creates in one day with a chainsaw.
Aaron NelsonMoody, who teaches Indigenous Carving 3D at Langara College, also uses a chainsaw to “rough out a shape.”
means.”
— PHILIP ROBBINS, DIRECTOR OF MAKERSPACE
He carves the finer details using a chisel and a flat knife. NelsonMoody believes the rise in popularity of computer numerical control machines will not allow traditional carving to become outmoded.
Nelson-Moody said CNC machines have a “prohibitive cost,” and they cannot replace human artistic creativity.
“They're also not able to create
and the direc tor of Makerspace, said one of the challenges of traditional wood carving is that it is based on people’s physical capabilities.
When people “are not strong enough to manipulate material” or when they lack the manual dexterity to use hand tools, traditional processes can be overwhelming, Robbins said.
“With digital processes, it allows us a level of accuracy and repeatability and detail that we may not be able to achieve with our own physi-
According to Mendez Castro, wooden objects, such as Ikea furniture, created by machines, come from a “craftmanship of certainty.”
“There are some other objects that you build, or you make with what they call craftsmanship of risk,” Mendez Castro said.
As far as losing the authenticity of art by using digital technology, Nelson-Moody said machines are not to blame for the counterfeiting of art.
“There’s even human beings who copy each other's work,” NelsonMoody said. “So, it’s not just machines that do that.”
Nicotine pouch users are opposed to the B.C. government’s recent decision to regulate the sale of the product by limiting its sale to solely in pharmacies, saying it is an integral part of smoking cessation.
Last month, the provincial government announced the restriction in an effort to deter minors from buying pouches.
University of Alberta student William Peebles, a former smoker, said he used nicotine pouches to kick the habit after smoking for a decade after seeing an ad at a vape store.
Peebles said what the B.C. government is doing is keeping the product from smokers who need it to quit.
“It makes sense to have it in the place where people buy their cigarettes,” he said. “Unless you’re going to move cigarettes to the pharmacy, I don’t think it makes sense.”
Under the new measures, nicotine pouch products, such as Zonnic, will
only be sold over the counter at pharmacies without needing a prescription. The pouches are no longer sold elsewhere such as vape shops and gas stations.
According to the latest Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine survey published last September, 30 per cent of teens aged 15 to 19 have vaped before.
Zonnic, a popular nicotine brand, was marketed as an aid for people to quit or cut back on tobacco usage. Pouches contain around 4 mg of nicotine, while the average cigarette has 10 to 12 mg.
Victoria resident Marie Paradis, a former smoker, said nicotine pouches help quell any urges that still persist even years after quitting.
“It helps me stay on track in relation to not smoking tobacco and drinking less and being more attentive at work when I need that extra boost,” Paradis said.
The B.C. Tobacco and Vapour products control act prohibits tobacco and inhaled nicotine
products from being sold to people under 19. Since nicotine pouches don’t contain tobacco and are not a vapour product, minors are able to buy them.
The B.C. government and organizations like Canadian Cancer Society say they worry that teens are developing nicotine addictions through these products.
“We have a new nicotine product and we have this regulatory gap once again,” said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst from Canadian Cancer Society. “We do not want a new generation to become addicted to nicotine.”
product in Canada, no data exists on the usage rate amongst youth, but Cunning ham said the society has heard “repeat indications” from schools that minors are using pouches.
“If you know someone, like a teenager, is going to quit then that's a good thing."
— ANGELA WONG, PHARMACIST
Young people aged 15 to 19 years old remain the biggest users of the addictive products, according to the cancer society. As a relatively new
Cunningham said he’s worried that the mass advertising of the in exciting settings like playing sports or dating.
“And you know these are classic cigarette lifestyle advertising themes that over decades have been appealing to young people,” he said.
As part of B.C.’s smoking cessation program, the government provides up to 12 weeks of PharmaCare coverage for nicotine replacement therapy products.
BC Wheelchair Basketball Society buys new wheelchairs, but still short on coaches
By SIDDHARTH TEOTIAThe BC Wheelchair Basketball Society received $55,000 in federal funding to buy a shiny new fleet of wheelchairs. Now, they just need money to pay for coaches.
The society, which promotes participation in sports for people with disabilities across B.C., received a portion of the Community Sport for All initiative late last month, that came through Wheelchair Basketball Canada.
With the funds, the B.C. society was able to buy 10 new sport wheelchairs Tuesday.
Michelle Comeau, BC Wheelchair Basketball Society’s communications coordinator, said there is a dire need of sport wheelchairs.
“We have over 100 kids waiting on a waiting list for wheelchairs, so this will help us fill some of those spots,” Comeau said.
With the sport chairs using up $50,000 of the grant, little is left for future repairs. Meanwhile, 90 kids still await chairs.
“People who are wheelchair users in the province, not everyone has a sports chair, and we don’t have
enough to service those people,” said Nadine Barbisan, program coordinator of the Let’s Play program run by B.C. Wheelchair Basketball Society.
The program pairs B.C. youth with disabilities with sport wheelchairs.
Barbisan said while they are grateful for all funding, they remain short of capital and paid staff to run programming across the province.
“I think we don't have enough funding that goes specifically to pay for coaches or pay for staff’s time,” said Barbisan, who is the only fulltime staff for Let's Play and services the entire province.
The program serves 13 communities in B.C., from Southern Vancouver Island to Terrace in the north.
“We don’t have enough coaches or leaders to run the programs because I can’t be in Prince George on a Monday and then Surrey on a Tuesday,” Barbisan said.
In Metro Vancouver, programs with sport chairs are few and far between.
Darlene Antoniuk, volunteer coordinator for Let's Play drop-in sessions in Langley and whose child is a wheelchair user said travelling to different towns for evening sessions is tough for participants outside of Metro Vancouver. And most coaches prefer not to drive out to the Fraser Valley,
“A lot of the parents of kids with disabilities are pretty maxed out with the demands on them,” said Anto-
niuk, adding that makes it difficult to get people in that world to commit to something as time consuming as coaching.
Julia Townsend is a fourth-year Kwantlen student who plays wheel chair basketball competitively and got her start in the Let’s Play program. Though her commute time to Let’s Move drop-in sessions from her home in Delta is usually only 25 to 45 minutes, she knows people who travel over an hour.
“Travel time is a thing that comes up constantly in this sport,” she Townsend.
Spencer van Vloten, a B.C. disability advocate, said federal grants like the Community Sport for All initiative that group together people with distinct needs into one cate gory is a two-edged sword.
Community Sport for All funding is desig nated to sports orga nizations that support Black, Indigenous and racialized communities, newcomers to Canada, as well as persons with disabili ties, LGBTQ+ and people with low incomes.
“These groups may all face inclu sion barriers, but they’re very differ ent from one another,” said Vloten. “You’re stripping them of kind of, their identity and that can backfire if one of the goals is to foster more inclusivity and celebra tion of differences and if
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