THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS
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MIDWEEK EDITION
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013
Vol. 104 No. 39 • Established 1908
NEWS: Meatless on Monday in the city 8 CALENDAR: Jellyfish invasion at the Aquarium 13
Lostseniors agrowing problem DUNBAR RESIDENT HAS HELPED THREE SENIORS IN HER NEIGHBOURHOOD DREW MCLACHLAN Contributing writer
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photo Dan Toulgoet
B.C. VOTES 2013: It’s finally over. Our deadline yesterday prevented us from providing coverage of the election
results in today’s paper, but go to our website at vancourier.com for full Vancouver election stories and photos. Read Friday’s paper for follow-up stories. Scan this page with Layar for election coverage.
Evangelical church sets up in the Roundhouse GAY COMMISSIONER HAS NO ISSUE WITH VANCOUVER WEST CHURCH SANDRA THOMAS
Staff writer
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n openly gay park board commissioner has no issue with the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in Yaletown renting space to a church that teaches against abortion, pre-marital sex, same-sex marriage, divorce and the ordination of women. Vancouver West Church has been holding regular Sunday services at the Roundhouse since Easter weekend. “As long as they’re not promoting hate crimes,” said Vi-
sion Vancouver commissioner Trevor Loke. Loke was successful Monday night in passing a motion that will see a working group created to come up with a plan to make Vancouver the world’s most inclusive jurisdiction for trans and gender-variant communities. Loke said that goal should include gender-neutral washrooms and change rooms in park board facilities, such as community centres, as well as human resources training and staff policies, programming and public and community partnerships. See THREE on page 4
he time was nearing midnight as he paced up and down the quiet Dunbar-Southlands block. He was 78 years old, but he couldn’t remember that. He had no Care Card, no driver’s licence, no means of identification. He had no cellphone on him and even if he did he could not remember his daughter’s phone number. The Chinese-speaking senior’s lapse of memory had taken what English he had known, so he walked from corner to corner on Mackenzie Street, peering at the street signs, hoping that they would tell him where to go, hoping that they would tell him anything. That’s how Linda Dudley found him April 24. Dudley, a 64 year old resident of the neighbourhood, was on her way home from seeing a movie when she spotted him. They made eye contact for a second before he looked away, but the sense of helpless confusion lingered. Dudley pulled her grey Honda Civic to the curb and stepped out to ask if he needed help. His answer was barely coherent, and as he had no identification, Dudley decided to call the Vancouver Police Department. Three VPD cruisers soon pulled up next to Dudley’s Honda Civic and the man’s daughter rushed from the cruiser and into Dudley’s arms. She told Dudley that her father had been missing since 7 p.m. and was grateful that somebody had stopped to help him. “It’s a good day,” Dudley whispered in her ear. “Lost seniors” are a common problem, Dudley feels, but they often go unnoticed. “It’s not always obvious,” Dudley said. “The man was well-dressed and was walking with purpose. He had been walking all night and had probably passed a lot of Chinesespeakers but didn’t stop to ask any of them for help… the average person might not notice.” Dudley had previously helped two lost seniors. She found one woman walking down a busy road, address and a list of numbers in hand. When she looked at the address, she noticed that the woman had walked right past her own home. Dudley walked her home and immediately contacted the woman’s nephew before leaving. See ALZHEIMER’S on page 4