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LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19 2015
Y O U R
Sean Davies, Sea
REAL ESTATE E ASSISTANT
H O M E T O W N
N E W S P A P E R
City dives into new pool plan Canada Games Pool is in ‘critical’ condition Theresa McManus
tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
SAFE HAVEN New Westminster resident Mohammed Alsaleh fled Syria as a government-assisted refugee, and now he’s hoping Canada’s laws will change so he can bring his family here. PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER
From Syria to New West
‘I feel this kind of survival guilt. I made it here. I’m safe and sound. I have a good life, but unfortunately, my family doesn’t.’ Jennifer Moreau
jmoreau@burnabynow.com
Two years ago, when Mohammed Alsaleh was just 24 years old writing a test for medical school, Syrian state forces marched into his classroom and arrested him. He was detained for 120 days, tortured and nearly killed. “This is why I left my country,” he says. “If I go back, I will be dead.” He went to neighbouring Lebanon, and with help from the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees, came to Canada and settled in New Westminster nine months ago. But he came alone and left behind three brothers and two sisters – all younger – and his mother. His father passed away 16 years ago. When people ask how his family’s doing, he’s not sure what to say. “They are in danger,” he says. “I just say they are still alive luckily, and I don’t know about tomorrow.They might not make it. They might not survive. I might receive bad
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news any minute,” he says. “I feel this kind of survival guilt. I made it here. I’m safe and sound. I have a good life, but unfortunately, my family doesn’t,” he says. “They are still in Syria.They are under a very bad situation.There is no life there.” The world is witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War, and in the midst of it, two of Mohammed’s brothers made the trek to Europe.
(Farsi translator available)
THE BROTHERS’ CROSSING When the body of toddler Alan Kurdi washed up on the shores of the Mediterranean, Mohammed kept thinking of his Continued on page 3
New Westminster is taking the plunge and embarking on plans to build a brand new pool. Canada Games Pool’s days are numbered after a technical assessment of the pool’s infrastructure concluded it’s in “critical” condition.The city had been contemplating whether to refurbish the existing facility or build a new pool, but has concluded its money is better spent building a new facility. Canada Games Pool is one of the most important civic facilities in New Westminster and has the highest usage and attendance of all the city’s facilities, said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “Unfortunately, it is also a facility that is starting to show its age,” he said. “As the (staff) report highlights, the millions of dollars of maintenance that would have to go in just to keep the facility going is starting to get to a breaking point.The decision has been made to move forward with the redevelopment of a new Canada Games Pool.” According to the staff report, the city would need to spend $11.2 million in the next 20 years to renew the facility, with $2.3 million needed in 2016 and $6.9 million required in 2019.Those repairs would require the pool to be shut down for about two months in 2016 and four months in 2019. In addition to sinking millions of dollars into an aging facility, the city is also concerned the pool is “reaching a degree of functional obsolescence” when the city’s current and future recreational needs are considered.The pool was built for the 1973 Canada Summer Games. A staff report outlined a variety of repairs needed to the pool’s architectural, mechanical and electrical systems in the next five Continued on page 8
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