Vancouver Courier February 18 2015 by Vancouver Courier

WEDNESDAY

February 18 2015 Vol. 106 No. 13

OPINION 11

Geller on Olympics’ legacy CITY LIVING 12

Winter Games replay HEALTH 14

Men’s mental health stigma There’s more online at

vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION

THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908

No rules, no worries Transit vote lacks disclosure rules

Bob Mackin

bob@bobmackin.ca

JOKER’S ON YOU John Oliver Joker Chantel Wacchan, 15, takes hold of her Sentinel secondary opponent in a 54-kilogram bout at the regional wrestling championship at John Oliver secondary Feb. 11. Wacchan won bronze. Read more Page 20. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Housing eyed for transit centre Concepts include towers, daycare and park

Naoibh O’Connor

noconnor@vancourier.com

Housing for hundreds of new residents, including towers up to 15 storeys high, is under consideration for the potential redevelopment of TransLink’s transit centre near Oakridge mall. Three concepts for the Oakridge Transit Centre site, which is owned by TransLink, were unveiled at recent open houses at the VanDusen Garden visitor centre. The city, at the request of TransLink, is creating a policy statement to guide future redevelopment of the 13.8-acre property, which sits between Oak and Willow streets and West 38th and 41st avenues. The concepts envision mostly residential development with some ground ﬂoor retail, a park

ranging from 2.2 to 2.6 acres, a daycare and buildings ranging from three to 15 storeys for a potential inﬂux of 1,200 new residents. That’s a rough estimate at this point — the next planning phase will include the estimated number of units and population for the area. The property is located near Oakridge Centre, which is slated for massive redevelopment. The site is zoned for single-family use but has been used as a transit centre since 1948. Before the transit centre opened, it was used as an army barracks. The site now serves as an operations and maintenance facility, primarily for vehicle maintenance, commissioning and decommissioning, as well as for storage of retired buses. TransLink expects to redistribute those services among newer facilities in 2016. Preliminary open houses for the site were held last June as part of the city’s planning process for the policy statement. Concept A features a linear “green

promenade” that leads to a park at the north end of the site. It also includes residential buildings organized around courtyards, a childcare centre and the tallest buildings along West 41st with a “modest amount of local-serving retail fronting 41st.” Concept B features a “mews” street structure and a greater variety of building types. The park would sit at the north end of the property, and as with concept A, the tallest buildings would be along 41st where again there would be a “modest amount of local-serving retail fronting 41st.” Concept C includes a curved street that goes along the park and the tallest buildings would also be on 41st. Susan Haid, the city’s assistant director of planning for Vancouver South, said these are very earlier concepts but feedback from the open houses last year identiﬁed the park and a daycare as critical elements. Continued on page 6

When the provincial government set the rules for the non-binding plebiscite on a sales tax hike for TransLink expansion, it didn’t include any campaign fundraising or reporting regulations. “We think it’s embarrassing for a mature democracy like B.C. to not have disclosure rules,” said Jordan Bateman, leader of the No TransLink Tax campaign. “The fact that we may never know how much these government agencies spent in tax dollars on this yes vote is ludicrous, it’s a breach of the public trust.” Bateman, who is also the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation’s B.C. director, is against the proposed 0.5 per cent provincial sales tax increase in Metro Vancouver. The TransLink Mayors’ Council wants it to raise $2.5 billion over 10 years toward a $7.5 billion wish list for a subway under Broadway, light rail in Surrey and Langley and a new Pattullo Bridge. Bateman said his group expects to run a $40,000 campaign and would voluntarily disclose donations before the scheduled March 16 to May 29 mail-in voting period. Without rules, Bateman said large multinational engineering and construction firms hungry for TransLink contracts could spend millions of dollars to influence the vote. “There’s no accountability, no one will ever know,” Bateman said. “It’s secret money, just the way the province has set this up to be.” Coincidentally, the Feb. 12 cabinet order called Plebiscite 2015 (Regional Transportation System Funding) Regulation came a day before the statutory Feb. 13 deadline for candidates, elector organizations and third-party sponsors in last November’s municipal elections to submit their campaign finance reports to Elections B.C. IntegrityBC executive director Dermod Travis said there is nothing to prevent plebiscite campaigners from voluntary disclosure. He pointed to the 2014 Vancouver civic election, in which the four main parties published donation lists before voting day. “Here’s an opportunity to do it again,” Travis said. City councils, like Vancouver’s, are dedicating public staff and funds to promote the yes campaign. Residents who vote no, he said, “have a right to know how much of their dollars are being used to sway them.” Continued on page 3

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015 CENTRE COURT 11:00 – 3:00 PM PM FORTUNE TELLER - ALEX YIM

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This spring’s plebiscite to increase the provincial sales tax to relieve Metro Vancouver traffic congestion has no campaign fundraising or reporting regulations. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Mayors council not seeking ‘outside’ funding

Continued from page 1 “Mayor Gregor Robertson was quoted as saying ‘we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is,’” Travis said. “Technically speaking, it’s not his money and it’s not really the City of Vancouver’s money.” TransLink mayors’ council interim executive director Mike Buda referred the Courier to Justinne Ramirez of the Mayors’ Council Secretariat, who had no comment and referred questions to Elections B.C. Robertson chairs the council, but the Ofﬁce of the Mayor did not respond to the Courier’s

Feb. 16 interview request. Neither did Deputy Mayor Andrea Reimer, a campaign ﬁnance reform advocate. Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said the Vote Yes for Better Transit campaign’s TransLink-funded budget of $4 million hasn’t been ﬁnalized, but it would also rely on in-kind support from municipalities. “The mayors’ council is not seeking any funding from outside or private interests,” said Moore. The Better Transit and Transportation Coalition is allied with the Mayors’ Council, but is seeking donations via its website. Co-chairs Iain Black of

the Vancouver Board of Trade and Bahareh Jokar of the UBC Alma-Mater Society did not respond to interview requests. In 2003, the Courier reported that the winning Team Yes 2010 coalition in the civic plebiscite on Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics bid outspent the No Games 2010 group $700,000 to $5,000. Real estate marketer Bob Rennie bought eight full-page daily newspaper ads worth $40,000 in favour of the bid. He eventually got the Olympic Village condo marketing contract. — with ﬁles from Stanley Tromp twitter.com/bobmackin

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

News Retirement will be impossible for most under 45

The cost of living in Vancouver is notoriously high compared with other Canadian cities, and while those working in the city are spending higher percentages of their incomes on day-

to-day expenses, fewer are saving for retirement. This is a serious problem, according to a Vancity report, which found that three out of four Vancouverites who are now under the age of 45 may be unable to retire if they don’t change their retirement

savings strategies. More than 75 per cent of those surveyed in this demographic do not contribute anything to RRSPs. Among those that do put money into these investments, the average amount being put aside has fallen over the past several years.

In 2000, under-45s contributed an average of $1,494.23 to their RRSPs per year. By 2012, that amount had fallen to $1,222.48. The percentage of Vancouver residents in this age category who made any contributions fell almost 10 per cent over this period,

from 33.9 per cent in 2000 to 24.2 per cent. Across the country, those under 45 contributed an average of $1,064.42 to their RRSPs in 2012. However, due to the inﬂated cost of living in Vancouver, the amount of income needed in retirement is higher than

in other cities.. Many of those surveyed said they plan to rely on CPP and OAS in their retirement years. However, the report points out that these amounts are too low to live on at $7,300 and $6,700 per year, respectively.

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

Dinner restored for hungry Marpole

Food and seniors programs lost last year return via coalition of groups and city funding Stanley Tromp

stanleytromp@gmail.com

South Vancouver residents were saddened last year when Marpole Place, a service known by some as Marpole’s community connection for nearly three decades, quit operations. Both Marpole Place and its operator, the Marpole Oakridge Area Council Society, became inactive, but organizers hoped its programs, including a popular weekly dinner, could be restored if more funds and a new home were found. Their prayers have been answered, at least for a few months. City hall gave money to hire seniors’ outreach coordinator Jessica Fiddler until April, and new programs have found a home at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church on 8680 Hudson St. at West 71st Avenue. Last week, several groups met to discuss local seniors’ needs, said Fid-

dler. The groups included the Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre, the Marpole-Oakridge Family Place, the Jewish Seniors Alliance, and St. Augustine’s. They formed a new partnership called the Hudson Street Seniors Hub, which will be creating a website with Twitter and Facebook accounts. Marpole Place programs had been running at the old firehall on West 70th Avenue since the mid-1980s, but after a major flood there in December 2013, they moved to a temporary residence in St. Augustine’s. (The future of the firehall is still uncertain.) Many praised these social contacts as valuable for isolated seniors, disabled, homeless and others. The provincial and federal governments have yet to commit funds for Marpole programs. “The trend now is for governments to download these programs onto non-profits and make them compete

Mary Messere (left) and Ling Pritchard are regulars at Stitch in Time gatherings at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

and run after money,” said community activist Gurdun Langolf. “It’s outrageous. Service agencies cannot do it alone.” With the resumption in programming, Thursday

night dinners are served at 6:30 p.m. for a $6 suggested donation, with Friday morning breakfasts at 9:30 p.m. for $4. St. Augustine’s pastor Andrew Halladay said nobody will be

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turned away. Stitch in Time, a sewing group for all ages, is held on Mondays from 1 to 3 p.m. Walking clubs start on Tuesdays and Fridays, meeting at the corner

of 73rd and Hudson at 9 a.m. On Wednesday mornings at St. Augustine’s, an 11 a.m. church service is followed by a social luncheon at 12 p.m. That evening an organic farmer’s market is held from 4 to 7 p.m. The Greater Vancouver Food Bank is set up at St. Augustine’s on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (where users need to bring ID to register), except for cheque week. Rummoli card games are played as a drop-in that day from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Seniors’ exercises and yoga classes are held on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., with a social afterward. This is followed by games for seniors – such as bridge, scrabble and ping pong — from 1 to 3 p.m. except for holidays. Donations and volunteers are needed, as are ideas for programs. For more information call Jessica at 604-2435474 or email hudsonstreetseniorshub@gmail.com.

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

News

Proposal would include affordable housing Continued from page 1 Haid said only two 15-storey buildings are being envisioned for the site, both located on 41st Avenue. “It’s really taking three storeys off of other parts [of the property] and adding them to these buildings in order to provide opportunities for more ground-oriented townhouses and more low-rise wood-frame [buildings], so more affordable housing,” she said. “So it’s really shifting density.” Haid added that public input last June suggested the community supported a mid-rise district, with any areas for height closer to 41st. The goal is also to include a 20 per cent target of affordable housing, which could take many shapes. “That’s an area we need to do work on with the community and our housing people and also, in the next round of concepts, start doing some economic testing on what’s pos-

Susan Haid, the city’s assistant director of planning for Vancouver South, spoke with people who attended the second of two open houses about the Oakridge Transit Centre site. The city, at the request of TransLink which owns the property, is creating a policy statement to guide its future redevelopment. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

sible,” she said. Participants in the ﬁrst round of open houses indicated a “strong desire”

for senior housing, family housing and affordable rental,” Haid said. Diana Herbst, who’s

lived in the neighbourhood since 1985, told the Courier at last Thursday’s open house that she

prefers concepts A and C — particularly C because more houses would overlook the park.

“I’m interested in the development and changes in this part of the city,” she said. “You need to do something with it obviously and I like that it’s going to be residential. That’s important and that’s needed in Vancouver.” Herbst questions whether retail space is necessary since the property is close to Oakridge Centre and other businesses, but she accepts the fact that it will be redeveloped and agrees taller buildings should be along 41st Avenue. “I think it’s a fait accompli that we’re getting taller buildings. It’s inevitable. Vancouver is still growing, so it’ll have to grow upwards,” she said. Online input will be accepted for about another month. Then, staff will summarize feedback and identify a preferred concept or a concept that combines some elements of each one, which will be unveiled to the public for further feedback, possibly by June. twitter.com/naoibh

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

Community

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A small dog adoption event at Bellingham Airport Feb. 28 hopes to draw Vancouver pet lovers.

Top family events in February Sandra Thomas

sthomas@vancourier.com

Dog adoption event at Bellingham Airport

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A Vancouver-based dog rescue group is hosting a second adoption event at the Bellingham Airport in partnership with an American organization that works to ﬁnd homes for small dogs and puppies. The Flight for Dogs adoption event takes place at the Bellingham Airport Saturday, Feb. 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and, according to the Thank Dog I am Out rescue group, all of the paperwork is ready to bring these incredibly cute canines across the border to a new home in B.C. Thank Dog I am Out has partnered with Wings of Rescue, an animal rescue group run by pilots who understand the details needed to plan a safe, successful ﬂight full of future pets. The pilots partner with ground volunteers to make loading and delivering dogs as easy as possible. The initiative was born because in California many dogs and cats of all ages, including pregnant mothers and their newborns, spend their last days in a shelter before being euthanized due to lack of space. The pilots from Wings of Rescue work every day to change that by providing desperately needed air transport for their rescue partners and the thousands of animals they save each year from these highkill shelters. The pilots

use their private planes to deliver this precious cargo to rescue organizations along the west coast of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Canada. Most of the flights are completed in three to four hours. The pre-adoption application process is easy, but has to be completed as soon as possible to find homes for all these deserving dogs. Once the application process is complete, approved owners drive to Bellingham Feb. 28, to meet and pick up their newest family member. The group says crossing the border back into Canada with a Wings of Rescue pet won’t be a problem. All the dogs are spayed or neutered, up-to-date on their shots, including rabies, will travel with all the necessary paperwork, including an International Health Certificate, and are micro-chipped. As a gift of appreciation, all dogs will leave with a collar, leash, harness, safety strap and an identification tag. Applications and all other details, including photos of these adorable, adoptable dogs are available at thankdogiamout.com. The Bellingham Airport is located at 4255 Mitchell Way, Bellingham, Wash.

The Little Prince with Monster Theatre

These free performances take place at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Feb. 28 at ArtsStarts Gallery, 808 Richards St. Meet talking roses and

foxes and experience interplanetary travel as the Little Prince heads out on an adventure during which he celebrates acceptance, learns to open his heart and ﬁnds the beauty of imagination. Using puppets, masks, original music and a little theatre magic, the storytelling experts of Monster Theatre promise to capture the audience’s hearts and funny bones as they bring Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s cherished novella to life. For the past 15 years, the award-winning Monster Theatre has toured schools, community venues and festivals across Canada and the U.S. No registration is necessary. Visit artstarts. com for more information.

Winterruption

Many events are taking place during Winterruption on Granville Island Feb. 19 through Feb. 22, and families with children will deﬁnitely want to check out the Yarnaments and Yarn-imals Craft workshop at MAKE Vancouver, 1648 Duranleau St. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids and adults will learn that yarn isn’t just for sweaters, but can also be used to create cute animals or window ornaments using upcycled materials. Participants will also get to take home their one-of-a-kind yarn creation. For a complete list of Winterruption events, visit granvilleisland.com. twitter.com/sthomas10

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News New program aims to attract Asian HQs

Greg D’Avignon says it’s unfortunate a friend of his enjoys living in Vancouver but finds it necessary to fly to Hong Kong frequently to work at a major accounting firm. That kind of lifestyle is something the Business Council of B.C. (BCBC) CEO hopes to curb through a new initiative designed to bring Asian companies’ headquarters to Vancouver. “We have the most Asiancentric population of anywhere in North America,”

said D’Avignon.. “We’re not connecting those relationships and those familial ties as effectively as we should at a personal level, but on a business level as well.” The HQ Vancouver program — a partnership between the BCBC, Victoria and Ottawa — launched Feb. 13 and began identifying targets and building business cases for corporate relocations. Over the next three years, Victoria is contributing $3.4 million, Ottawa is contributing $1.9 million and the BCBC is providing $1.2 million in funding and in-kind support.

HQ Vancouver will focus on natural resources, life sciences, education, transportation, agri-food and other sectors. Yuen Pau Woo, former Asia Paciﬁc Foundation president and CEO, leads the new organization’s efforts to attract headquarters following decades of erosion. A 2011 Fraser Institute report calculated Vancouver had two corporate headquarters per 100,000 people as of 2010. That’s a drop from 1990, when there were 2.8 corporate headquarters per 100,000 people.

According to Statistics Canada, B.C. was home to 11.3 per cent of the country’s corporate headquarters in 2012, Alberta had 14.2 per cent and Ontario had 40 per cent. D’Avignon noted Montreal, Toronto and Calgary have all been assertive on carving out niches for corporate headquarters for aerospace, ﬁnancial services and oil and gas companies. “We [Vancouver] have a more diversiﬁed economy, but we haven’t been as assertive on opportunities,” he said, adding Vancouver’s large port and proximity to

Asia and the western U.S. shows there’s a business case for more foreign head offices to set up in B.C. D’Avignon said by attracting more head offices, the rest of the province benefits by building up clusters of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) providing services to the Asian companies. But Vancouver’s high cost of living could prove challenging, according to Boyd Company principal John Boyd. His Princeton, New Jersey, organization specializes in corporate relocations, and for years Boyd has placed Vancouver near

the top of the list of cities to be headquartered in. He said the decline in the loonie offsets some concerns over the high cost of living for foreign companies looking for a more cost effective alternative than California or the Paciﬁc Northwest. “This is a very, very smart initiative,” he said, “and it’s a very timely initiative. It’s working with several bigpicture global trends.” Boyd added reduced payroll costs due to universal health care and lower corporate tax rates also play in Vancouver’s favour. —Tyler Orton

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

Opinion ‘Firefighter’ sent to bail Are we better off five out TransLink years after the Games? Les Leyne Columnist lleyne@timescolonist.com The last time Doug Allen was named interim CEO of a transportation outfit, he sold $450 million worth of ferries for $19 million and then privatized the highest-visibility Crown corporation in the entire provincial government. He accomplished those startling moves 12 years ago with characteristic low-key affability. By that point, he was already a master at diving into any number of red-flagged files to sort things out and calm things down. Catherine Holt, his former business partner at the Sage Group through 10 years of special projects for government, summed him up as an “agent of change” who always delivers. Allen is the bureaucratic equivalent of a firefighter. When the alarm sounds, the politicians call him in. One way or the other, he puts out the fire. Today, TransLink is smouldering and threatening to turn into a political inferno, depending on which way the referendum wind blows on a proposed new tax. TransLink announced last week it has removed CEO Ian Jarvis. So the call went out again, and Allen answered it. He has been quietly running the private company InTransit B.C., which will operate the Canada Line from downtown Vancouver to the airport for the next 30 years, under contract to TransLink. It’s the latest chapter in a long series of adventures for the well-regarded fixer. Senior government officials often frame the official cabinet order naming them to their post and hang it in their office. A retired deputy recalls dropping by Allen’s office once. He had so many framed orders-in-council they looked like wallpaper. He grew up in Grande Prairie, Alta., childhood friend of David Emerson, and worked for the federal government early on before being recruited to Victoria by Emerson. He arrived at the senior reaches of government in 1991 as deputy minister of government services, after a stint with the Treasury Board. When a serious problem emerged in the deputy health minister’s office, he was named acting deputy minister of health and smoothed things out, later officially taking the job.

He was deputy to hard-charging employment and investment minister Glen Clark during the Mike Harcourt government. When Clark became premier, he decreed that 21,000 new jobs would be created in the forest industry. Allen was a deputy minister at the time, charged with making it happen. He took a time out to work in Ethiopia on governance issues. He later set up the Sage Group with Holt. Former cabinet minister Andrew Petter picked him to do a detailed report on ICBC, another assignment fraught with peril. No-fault insurance was considered as an option but eventually rejected. Most of his other recommendations were put in effect and some survive today. A fraud crackdown, aggressive accident prevention, a traffic-safety commission, a new licence-testing system. He also worked on a commission that looked into problems in licensing community-care facilities. Allen was just as valuable to the B.C. Liberals after they took over in 2001 as he was to the previous NDP government. With B.C. Ferries a provincial laughingstock after the fast ferries failure, the government fired the boss and installed Allen as interim CEO. His marching orders were to get rid of the ferries ASAP, by any method short of scuttling them, and then fix the system as a whole. The three aluminum catamarans were auctioned off for next-to-nothing. Then Allen helped devise the blueprint still in effect today, a publicly owned, privately operated company. He started the planning for three new ships and urged a new fleet-wide focus on the customer. He sat on the board for the first few years. The Sage Group also delved into serious problems with the ministry of children and families, urging delay of a regionalization plan they found wasn’t being executed properly. With 25 years of damping down crises behind him, he’s a good choice for this new gig. Just so you know: Allen phoned me by chance an hour or so after his appointment. We chatted briefly, but I could barely understand anything he said. Because he was on the SkyTrain. That’s a good sign. twitter.com/leyneles

Michael Geller Columnist

michaelarthurgeller@gmail.com

Do you think Vancouver is a better city today than it was five years ago? I was first asked this question by my Uncle Dave during a 1991 visit from London, England. Five years earlier, he had attended Expo 86 and was struck by the changes that had taken place around the city during the five years. I recall telling my uncle Vancouver was a much better city than it was prior to Expo. Vancouverites had been urged to invite the world for Expo and people came, especially Asian investors like Li Kashing who purchased land and started to develop around the region. The city had become much more cosmopolitan and new development was contributing to an improved economic vitality. Unfortunately, my uncle passed away a few years later and never made it to the 2010 Winter Olympics. However, had he attended and returned this past week during its fifth anniversary, I suspect he would have again asked is Vancouver better today than five years ago. I would have again answered yes. The Olympics did not transform Vancouver as much as Expo 86; however there is no doubt the Games served as a catalyst for increased tourism and infrastructure improvements. While I am the first to acknowledge Vancouver would have seen an expanded convention centre, upgraded road to Whistler and Richmond/airport transit line without the Games, the Olympics accelerated their construction. The Olympics also gave us popular new community facilities including the Hillcrest Community Centre and the Richmond Oval, and has also generated an astounding amount of new real estate development and revenue for the region. Sadly, the same cannot be said for most of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics facilities I visited just over a year ago. Like many 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic venues, today they lie fallow, costing taxpayers billions. Speaking of money, one of the most controversial components of the 2010 Olympics was the Southeast False Creek Athletes’ Village. Despite a difficult birth, it has grown into an attractive, vibrant new community. However, there remain

The week in num6ers...

The number of 15-storey towers being floated for the Oakridge Transit Centre site policy statement.

40 75 50

In thousands of dollars, the amount the Canadian Taxpayers Federation plan to spend on its No campaign over the transit plebiscite.

The percentage of Vancouver residents currently under age 45 who likely won’t be able to ever retire in the city, according to a new report from Vancity.

In dollars, the amount participants will receive for attending a first meeting of Strength in Unity: Men Speaking Out Against Stigma that promotes mental health.

unspoken issues including the future ownership and management of some very expensive social housing. The Village at False Creek, as it is now called, has been the catalyst for a significant amount of new development south and east of the site. While the city’s neighbourhood zoning resulted in building designs which appear to me to be too tall to be midrise structures and too short to be highrises, a once under-utilized industrial area is being transformed. While I applaud Expo 86 and the Olympics for enhancing the city’s cosmopolitan character and serving as catalysts for new neighbourhood developments, not everyone agrees the city is better than it was in the past. Many attribute Vancouver’s high house prices to the foreign investment that followed these international events, even though Vancouver has always had higher land and housing prices by virtue of our geography and attractiveness as a place to live. This is not going to change. As we golf and garden while other parts of the country are shovelling snow and being warned to stay indoors because of dangerous wind-chill factors, expect an increasing number of baby boomers and seniors to move here. This will put even more pressure on house prices and also the need for improved transportation infrastructure. This is why I am both frustrated and saddened by the forthcoming transportation referendum and those people unwilling to pay a 0.5 per cent sales tax increase because of questionable TransLink management. On this, the fifth anniversary of the 2010 Olympics, we need to remember the tremendous civic pride and community spirit that existed during Expo and the winter Games. We need to remind ourselves of how they changed our transportation habits and allowed us to enjoy a new-found spirit in the city. We need to cast aside negative feelings towards the premier and TransLink and decide to vote yes for a sales tax dedicated to transportation improvements. Let’s not forget the classic FRAM oil filter commercial which warned: “You can pay me now … or pay me later” when it will cost much more. Otherwise, five years from now, Vancouver may not be a better city than today. twitter.com/michaelgeller

The number of Vancouver residents among 100 finalists shortlisted for a pie-in-thesky civilian mission to Mars planned for 2024.

The number of points Churchill Bulldog Harry Liu earned in the final against the Trojans to win the win the AAAA senior boys basketball city title.

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR False Creek Residents Association member says facts are false

CO U R I E R A R C H I V E S T H I S W E E K I N H I S T O R Y

Ricker wins gold medal on home hill

Feb. 16, 2010: Two days after moguls racer Alex Bilodeau became the first Canadian to claim Olympic gold on home soil, snowboardcross racer Maelle Ricker became the first Canadian woman to achieve the feat after beating the competition on a course at Cypress Mountain, where the West Vancouver woman first learned to ride. Ricker led from start to finish in a dominating win that came after surviving a crash in qualifying that was an eerie reminder of the Turin Games in 2006, when she fell in the final, was knocked unconscious and finished out of the medals. It was Canada’s fifth medal of the 2010 Winter Games.

Linden sets new Canucks record

Feb. 16, 2004: Trevor Linden overtakes Stan Smyl’s record for the most number of overall games played while wearing a Vancouver Canucks jersey after playing in his 897th, a 1-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. The NHL team’s current president ended his playing career in 2008 with 1,138 games in total. Current captain Henrik Sedin is now in second place with 1,010 games, according to Wikipedia, while twin brother Daniel, the goal scorer in the game against the Avs, has just 10 fewer.

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Re: “VSB settles with reluctant strata,” Feb. 4. As co-chair of the False Creek Residents Association, I was saddened to see the Feb. 5th article convey ill-informed and unverified information about the situation in the International Village where our residents have been actively advocating for the delivery of the long promised elementary school. Contrary to the information in the article, at no point did any residents complain of negative impacts of the school on property values. On the contrary — residents look forward to the school as an essential part our growing community. The Firenze Strata Council wanted to ensure that their building could withstand the work on the foundation that the VSB proposed. How is this unreasonable? The Firenze Strata Council wanted the VSB to assume liability for its construction. How is this unreasonable? These and many other issues were resolved cooperatively by parties without the need for intervention by the Supreme Court. We regret that the VSB official who was not involved in the negotiations raised these issues in the media long after they were resolved. Residents hope that the board will develop more of a collaborative, good neighbour policy as construction proceeds. We also hope that in future the Courier will check facts before publishing. For a complete response by the Firenze Strata Council see: www.falsecreekresidents.org. Fern Jeffries, Vancouver

One Man, Two Guvnors a farce to be reckoned with

Re: “British farce frustratingly silly,” Feb. 6. Sorry, Jo Ledingham, judging by the sold-out crowd last night and the nonstop laughter, I think One Man, Two Guvnors has scored a hit. Even if you can’t follow all the dialogue, you cannot fail to be impressed by the amazing acting, especially Andrew McNee, Ryan Beil and Andrew Cownden. Perhaps in an increasingly angry world, this is just the ticket for a few hours of pure fun. Angela Brodkorb, Vancouver

ONLINE COMMENTS Mixed responses to yes-or-no plebiscite question

Re: “Soapbox: Saying ‘No’ to TransLink is the new Canadian way,” Feb. 6. How about generating revenue from taxing those who contribute virtually nothing to Metro Vancouver? Absentee (foreign) home owners who leave their homes vacant along with other property speculators should be heavily taxed. How about asking the developers who have long ago bought up property surrounding the proposed SkyTrain and LRT terminals and who stand to make millions on this plan to contribute? Instead, the costs will be largely borne by middle and low-income families who are already struggling. Oh, and can we please STOP the fearmongering and apocalyptic spin from the Yes side? The world will not come to an end if this plebiscite doesn’t pass. Maybe we’ll actually ﬁnd a way forward that is more efﬁcient and wiser. Stan, via Comments section

•••

Let’s keep the facts straight in published articles, please. This is not “TransLink’s proposed infrastructure” — the whole plan and the completely necessary “childish idea” for the new tax were both proposed by the elected Mayors Council, not by TransLink as you claim. Anyone who has problems with TransLink needs to bring it up during the next provincial election. It’s an issue that only the province is able to ﬁx, and Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberal administration has done nothing about it. As for this vote, it’s about building infrastructure that is much needed. Vancouver has had great success with similar infrastructure projects like the SkyTrain, the Canada Line and the SeaBus, and each one has been an enormous boon to our region’s people and economy. This new plan will do the same. The only major infrastructure screw-up I can think of is the compass card system, which is mostly the fault of the particular contractor, Cubic Systems. This new plan continues our proud tradition of building toward a more livable region where everyone has the choice of getting around how and when they want to. As a resident, I’m happy to pay this totally reasonable tax and enjoy an even better city. Braden MacDonald, via Comments section

•••

It’s also just ridiculous in terms of public ﬁnance policy to be instituting consumption taxes (which are regressive, affecting the poor more than the rich by their very nature) to pay for things that could easily be paid for by a simple tightening of the public belt. Simon Currie, via Comments section

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

Community 1

Olympics still shine bright for fans Families at Legacy Celebration recall their 2010 excitement CITY LIVING Rebecca Blissett

rvblissett@gmail.com

People of the pint-sized variety are either too young to remember or simply did not even exist when the 2010 Winter Olympics rolled into Vancouver. Yet they made up the bulk of the crowd that came to the Southeast False Creek Olympic Plaza for Sunday’s Winter Games Legacy Celebration. True, the craft stations included tables to make your own Olympic medal (in a sparkly gold, naturally) or a torch made from red and orange sheets of paper were for the young, but the real excitement came from those who had fond memories of first-hand experiences. Janet Teodosio was pregnant with Lucas five years ago, and wanted both him and his sister, two-year-old Mia, to get a glimpse of recent Games history — even if it was a faint echo of the real thing. “This is why we’re here,” said Teodosio, motioning to her kids who were fixated on the mini curling game set up next to a vendor tent. “We wanted them to have a taste of the celebration. It was an amazing experience for us. The community spirit, this is what Vancouver is all about.” Next to the mini hockey rink with its foot-high foam boards, Moonwater and Wes Withrow watched daughter Tayen, aged fourand-a-half, push around one of the plastic pucks with

a plastic stick. The family lives in Bellingham, Wash., and made the trip across the line just for the day’s celebration of Olympic memories. “We had the most epic day,” said Moonwater of their visit five years ago. “I was eight months pregnant with Tayen and we wandered around for 16 hours. Imagine the enthusiasm and the excitement of thousands and thousands of people coming together in one place.” The day they visited also happened to be the same day it was determined Canada would be playing the United States in men’s hockey for the gold medal in what was called The Most Important Hockey Game of All Time. There was some friendly ribbing from the Canadian fans who zeroed in on the American flag on Wes’s backpack but it was all part of the day’s fun, he said, adding that they’re more speedskating than hockey fans but, it was all part of the experience. “We’re Olympic nerds.” A family of five watched a flatscreen television cheerfully blaring a highlight reel of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic events and, going by the joyous expressions, it seemed like they were either experiencing the Games for the first time, or being transported back to another time. It was the latter, it turned out. “Watching the video, I just want to cry. I feel like I’m living it again. Being here woke up so many memories for me,” said Rejoice Kry-

zanowski, a volunteer for both the 2010 opening and closing ceremonies who was also picked to carry the ﬂag for Ghana’s lone athlete Kwame NkrumahAcheampong as the West African country is also Rejoice’s place of birth. Husband Jordan Kryzanowski was a camera operator for the Games. One of his highlights was shooting the gold medal curling game between Canada and Norway. Jordan spotted Mike Babcock, the head coach for the 2010 Canadian men’s hockey team, in the crowd and asked him if he’d be willing to appear on the television feed. “We put him up on the jumbo screen and everybody just went crazy. He was all of a sudden full of happiness and life, he realized all of Canada was behind him,” Jordan recalled. “It was in the middle of curling for the gold medal and the place went crazy. I’m sure you’re not supposed to do that in a curling match, but…” “The next day, we won,” added Rejoice. The Games meant so much to the Kryzanowskis that they moved into the Athlete’s Village Housing Co-operative in 2011. As fate would have it, the third child of the Olympics-loving couple was born in the Olympic Village. “Sequoia was the ﬁrst child born here. Third kid, fast labour, came out like a bobsled,” said Jordan, laughing. “I delivered her and, literally, she came out like a bobsled.”

1. Rejoice Kryzanowski and daughter Sequoia Jordan, 3, attended Sunday’s Winter Games Legacy Celebration at the Southeast False Creek Olympic Plaza. Sequoia was the first child born in the Olympic Village. 2. Moonwater plays a little hockey with daughter Tayen Withrow, 4, while Nyla Withrow, 1, has a comfortable seat. The family drove from Washington State for the sole purpose of attending the event. 3. Kyson Chuang, 3, holds the Olympic torch in front of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic mascots. 4. A mini curling game was one of the many activities popular with children. See photo gallery online at vancourier.com. PHOTOS REBECCA BLISSETT

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Root your camellia cuttings in soil Anne Marrison

amarrison@shaw.ca

Q: How long do I need to dry the seeds from a Thai chili before planting? Mi Vuong,Vancouver

tain various minerals. Camellias love humid, moist conditions but do need to be rooted in soil. About three, four or ﬁve stem nodes is a good length for cuttings, but stems this long won’t contain enough nourishment to support whole leaves and make roots as well. So the leaves should be snipped in half to reduce the drain on the cutting’s energy. Once the cuttings are planted in soil, they should

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Grandview-Woodland Community Plan Events

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Sub-Area Workshops

Monday, February 23, 2015 at 3 pm Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue Ground Floor, Town Hall Meeting Room

1 Broadway/Commercial (between Clark,

to consider this development permit application: 1819 West 5th Avenue: To develop the site with a six-storey, mixed-use building; retail on the first floor; 25 dwelling units on the second to sixth storeys over two levels underground parking (61 parking spaces and seven commercial parking spaces plus one Class B loading) accessed from the lane. Please contact City Hall Security (ground floor) if your vehicle may be parked at City Hall for more than two hours.

Nanaimo and East 12th Avenue) Saturday, February 21, 2015, 10 am - 4 pm 2 Commercial Drive (between the Grandview Cut and Hastings Street) Saturday, March 7, 2015, 10 am - 4 pm

East Hastings Street

2 Venables Street

Both workshops are free, but you will need to register to attend. A few days before each workshop, there will also be an optional walking tour of the sub-area.

Visit: vancouver.ca Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1

FOR MORE INFORMATION: vancouver.ca/gw, grandviewplan@vancouver.ca or phone 3-1-1

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bcchildren.com or call 604-692-2333

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for ULTIMATE BONUS PRIZE midnight Feb. 20: Sports Package or Luxury Vacation or $28,000 cash.

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The Development Permit Board and Advisory Panel will meet:

Dundas Street

Come and discuss community issues, review proposed neighbourhood policy options, and help plan the future of the following areas in Grandview-Woodland:

Victoria Drive

Development Permit Board Meeting: February 23

The City’s Planning Department is holding a number of sub-area workshops as part of the community planning process.

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A: It’s very rare to succeed in rooting a camellia in water. Virtually all need rooting in soil. An acidic sand-peat mix is best with modest amounts of rooting hormone. Huge amounts of rooting hormone are very hard on plants. For rooting plants that do succeed in water, rain water is much healthier than city water or well water. Tap water can contain additions such as chlorine while well water may con-

Commercial Drive

Q: I’ve tried sprouting some camellia cuttings in a bucket of water since September. I put some others deep in root hormone before I stuck them in pots. But all those with growth hormone died. After three months, one of the camellia cuttings has two sprouts that are still alive but it looks like they’re stagnant. I really want to save them. Addy, Vancouver

Your camellia pots are best in a warm shady-but-bright place that’s kept gently misted and moist but not drenching wet.

Clark Street

A: Dry them until they resist when you try to bend them. If they do bend, they need drying even more. But not all Thai chili pepper seed is suitable for sprouting. Seed from some grocery store chili peppers may not grow at all depending on their handling. If they’ve been subjected to high heat to make them mature artiﬁcially, or perhaps were sprayed or given a gas process, the seed could be damaged. The best kind of grocery store source for Thai chili peppers is an organic store, or perhaps an ethnic store where people know how their chili peppers have been treated. These chili peppers need to be completely ripe before the seeds are close to being ready for harvesting. The mature colour of the peppers may vary. It’s usually red but could be purple, orange, brown or black. After cleaning the seeds with water, you need to store them in a gently warm place. The top of a refrigerator or water heater should be OK. They shouldn’t be in direct sunlight, not above a heat vent and not in an oven. Shake or stir the seeds a little bit as they dry.

be misted and placed in a large plastic bag (or propagator) to hold in the moisture. It would be useful to place them on a greenhouse heat mat. Camellias love bottom heat but it should come from a plant mat that’s manufactured especially for plants. Heat mats for people are too hot for plants. Your camellia pots are best in a warm shady-butbright place that’s kept gently misted and moist but not drenching wet. You might experiment by taking one potted cutting and standing it outside against the north or east side of your house wall. The temperatures and humidity at this time of year are very like camellias natural habitat. Be sure to take it in if frost threatens. Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions via amarrison@shaw.ca.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5

Mental health study needs men Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

Former Vancouver high school counsellor Rodrick Lal had a previous Asian male student attempt suicide by walking into the Fraser River. “He hindered on maybe bringing shame to the family,” Lal said. “It’s funny, isn’t it? If he committed suicide it’s OK… But to say that he had a mental illness and needed psychiatric help, that would have brought shame on the family.” As a PhD student at Simon Fraser University and co-investigator with a community-based research project called Strength in Unity: Men Speaking Out Against Stigma, which aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness among men and youth in Asian communities, Lal hopes to prevent such incidents. Sepali Guruge, a Toronto-based doctor of nursing, initiated the Strength in Unity project. “That’s a key point,” Lal said. “Not a male, but a female that saw in the community that even the male professionals are not discussing this matter.” While stigma about

Former high school counsellor Rodrick Lal, a co-investigator with a community-based research project called Strength in Unity: Men Speaking Out Against Stigma, wants Asian men to shed internalized stigma about mental illness and share their awareness with their communities. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

mental illness crosses cultures and backgrounds, evidence suggests Asian immigrants are among the groups least likely to seek help for mental health

problems — a summary about the project states this has been attributed to stigma and saving face. Moreover, as asking for help is often characterized

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as a feminine trait or a sign of weakness, men are less likely to seek mental health services. Other times, a man might want to get help but doing so might be considered shameful by his family. “Coming from Asian or South Asian families, it’s interdependent, it’s not independent, so their family comes ﬁrst and whatever the family dictates you have to abide by that,” Lal said. “The man may want to [seek help] but he’s caught in a double-bind.” Movember Canada, a group dedicated to men’s health, granted the threeyear project $3.3 million to train Asian men, age 17 and older, who have

direct experience with mental illness, to reduce internalized stigma and to become community mental health ambassadors. “We just want dialogue,” Lal said. “If we can do this in Canada, in British Columbia, we can change maybe back in India, China, Taiwan, Japan.” Ambassadors will be encouraged to speak to business leaders, clergy, grandparents and parents about how mental health problems affect an estimated seven million people in Canada, or 20 per cent of the population, and how stigma that prevents someone who’s suffering from seeking help often leads to social isolation, more severe

symptoms and serves as barrier to success in work, school and social situations. The project wants to see ambassadors communicate that seeking help takes strength. “The vast majority of [Asian] people who go to university are middle class and they know [about] getting counselling,” Lal said. “And yet they can’t go three blocks [to get help] because no one has told them it’s OK.” Ambassadors will raise awareness about the supports and services available and encourage communities to take up anti-stigma initiatives. Participants will receive $50 for attending an information session and those who participate on a handful of Saturdays over three years will receive a $500 stipend. Study sites include Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver and researchers are seeking close to 800 participant in B.C. Nearly 100 men in Metro Vancouver have signed up for an information session, but Lal says the project needs more teenaged males and men aged 60 to 66. Interested participants should sign up by March 15. Researchers are to communicate their ﬁndings about what approaches work best and where money needs to go to provincial and federal governments at the conclusion of the project. Lal said researchers might learn, for example, that it’s helpful to provide counselling in malls. “This way here, when you tell people, ‘I’m just going to the mall,’ they don’t suspect anything, right,” Lal said. For more information, see strength-in-unity.ca. twitter.com/Cheryl_Rossi

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Three key emotional health skills to meet life’s challenges Davidicus Wong

davidicuswong.wordpress.com.

When considering health, most of us focus on physical wellbeing. I see emotional wellness as a deep sense of meaning and purpose, an abiding sense of peace, the ability to manage the stress and transitions of life, awareness of your thoughts and feelings and the ability to manage them. Your emotions matter. Emotions inﬂuence your behaviour, your relationships and your thinking. When we’re angry, we regress and aggress. We don’t think clearly or logically. We can’t see any other point of view but our own. An adult will act like a child, a ten-year-old like a toddler. A teenager . . . may still act like a teenager. We say and do things we may later regret. When depressed, we withdraw; we think negatively about ourselves, others, our world and the future. Depression narrows our thinking and shades it black – we don’t recognize our positive options and we may close ourselves off from the world. When anxious, we freeze

“I’m worried about Mom.”

— we overestimate danger and challenge — and we underestimate our ability to cope. Anxiety holds us back from doing what we need to do, from moving forward, from reaching out and from giving our best to the world. You might see your emotions as products of genetics, physiology and luck. But it’s crucial to recognize your own resources and ability to cope with them. In fact, gaining mastery in key emotional health skills can bolster resilience to life’s challenges.

your ability to make a positive difference in your life. You’ll be more likely to see the positive throughout the day, and as each day unfolds, you may feel more empowered to seize opportunities to make a difference. As you retire at the end of the day, reﬂect on its blessing (how you helped others and how others helped you) and lessons. You may not end the day any younger or richer, but perhaps a little wiser and with memories of some positive experiences. What is the measure of your days?

Three Key Emotional Health Skills

• Choose your thoughts: Thoughts are powerful. If we don’t take care, they can provoke anxiety, fuel anger and prolong depression. You can’t control the weather, trafﬁc lights, the behaviour of others or luck, but you can choose your thoughts. Cognitive therapy is one method of becoming aware of your thoughts, recognizing how they affect your mood or anxiety level and gaining control over your emotions by choosing more efﬁcacious thoughts. The next time you feel angry, irritated, sad or

• Meditative practice: Prayer, yoga, formal meditation and mindfulness are all effective ways of calming the mind, centring thoughts and reﬂecting. By deliberately pausing, breathing and slowing your thoughts and actions, you become less reactive. Begin each day with a prayer of thankfulness. Count your blessings before you even get out of bed. This can prime the pump to allow you to see the good that you have and

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anxious, reﬂect on the thoughts that may have triggered your emotions. Is there another way to look at the situation? With time, you’ll gain facility in recognizing the underlying assumptions and beliefs behind unhealthy thinking. • Turn your problems into goals: Instead of replaying the past or ruminating on the negative, think about what you want. When you are most relaxed, visualize yourself having achieved your goal, experiencing a sense of peace and living a life rich with purpose and meaning. How do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear? Make it real. If the effects of stress, anxiety, mood or other psychological symptoms are having a signiﬁcant impact on your performance at school, work or at home, your relationships, your self-care or your enjoyment of life, see your family doctor. Your emotions are an important aspect of your health. Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician. For more on achieving your positive potential at every age: davidicuswong.wordpress.com.

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Arts&Entertainment

GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com

11 Feb. 18 to 20, 2015 1. The 15th annual Chutzpah! Jewish Performing Arts Festival celebrates music, dance, theatre and comedy from near and far, Feb. 19 to March 15 at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre and various off-site venues. Highlights include Israeli dance company Maria Kong, Shay Kuebler’s dance piece Glory, Ethiopianfused reggae band Zvuloon Dub System and the world premiere of B.C. choreographer, writer, painter Serge Bennathan’s new work, Monsieur Arbutun. For a full list of events, go to chutzpahfestival.com. 2. Although it doesn’t feel too wintry in these parts, the 10th annual Winterruption Festival is back to combat any potential winter blahs with a hefty dose of music, dance, theatre, ﬁlm, family fun, gastronomy and outdoor celebration on Granville Island, including Charlie Ross’s One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, dance troupe Aché Brasil and screenings of the documentary Grey City (Cidade Cinza), about Brazilian artists Os Gemeos who are responsible for Giants, the largest outdoor mural ever created by the spray- painting twin brothers that can be seen decorating Ocean Concrete’s six massive silos on Granville Island. Details at winterruption.com. 3. With his laid-back, slightly stoner-ish demeanour, Hannibal Buress is one funny dude as evidenced by his appearances on Louie, Broad City and numerous comedy specials. The former staff writer for SNL and 30 Rock brings his standup act to the Vogue Theatre Feb. 18 as part of the Northwest Comedy Festival. Details at northwestcomedyfest.com. 4. Presented by Ballet BC, the Miami City Ballet visits Vancouver for the ﬁrst time to perform Balanchine — a triple bill of acclaimed choreographer George Balanchine works: Serenade, Symphony in Three Movements and Ballo della Regina. The show runs Feb. 19 to 21 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets at ticketmaster.ca. Details at balletbc.com.

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petition trying to drum up support for a massive water slide down Main Street on Car Free Day, without doing the slightest bit of diligence, such as calling the city or the organizers of Car Free Day, which would have revealed that neither had even been contacted by the slide fantasizers and, in fact, the city wouldn’t support such an endeavour anyway because of safety concerns. But why let facts get in the way of thousands of people sharing your inaccurate story? Mostly, however, we just feel bad for the 202,400 applicants who didn’t get accepted to potentially go to Mars in 2024. That has to be a bit of a kick to an already fragile, slightly warped ego. But if it’s any consolation, those who make the ﬁnal cut won’t be going to Mars either. twitter.com/KudosKvetches

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Throwing all skepticism and common sense to the wind, the Sun, the Province, CTV News and Vancity Buzz all fail to question the legitimacy of the so-called mission with even the slightest mention of how incredibly naïve and unlikely it is that there will be a human colony on Mars, let alone one in 10 years. CTV News went so far as to call the local winners of the Mars fantasy camp sweepstakes “brave,” kind of like how it’s brave of us to volunteer to go on a safari hunting unicorns with only our bare hands. And Vancity Buzz, which has never met a press release it didn’t like, treats the Mars One press bumph as gospel, which isn’t too surprising. You may recall when the website ran the erroneous headline “1,000 Foot Long Slip and Side Coming to Vancouver,” essentially echoing an online

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Apparently 100 questionably adventurous dreamers have been shortlisted to take part in a one-way civilian mission to Mars in 2024. Dutch non-proﬁt organization Mars One is heading up the fairly unrealistic crowd-funded trip, which aims to establish a permanent human colony on the red planet by 2025. Those who successfully made the cut from 202,500 candidates include a 42 year-old high school teacher from Whistler and a 42-year-old volunteer Scout leader from Vancouver. We realize that turning the inauspicious age of 42 is no great shakes, and the fantasy of leaving your troubles behind and starting anew in some far off exotic locale where nobody knows you has a certain allure. But this is Mars, people. You think being stuck on Earth surrounded by crummy humans is bad? Imagine being stuck with a higher concentration of them under a geo-dome and only having Clif Bars to eat for the rest of your sweaty life. It’s not like you could pull a Cheryl Strayed and hike your troubles away. Even more curious is how local media have chosen to cover this quasi-news story.

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Arts&Entertainment PHOTO BY: RICH WHEATER | DESIGN BY: ANNA SOBIENIAK

Claire Robson, co-lead artist of Queer Imaging and Riting Kollective for Elders, or Quirk-e, directs Call and Response: An LGBTQ Intergenerational Performance Evening, Feb. 19 in Surrey and Feb. 22 in Vancouver. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Queer youth and elders share stories STATE OF THE ARTS Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

FEBRUARY 13TH - 21ST 2015

Queer youth, aged 13 to 22, and queer elders, aged 55 to 86, have posed questions over the past year and exchanged personal stories they’ve shaped to be presented at Call and Response: An LGBTQ Intergenerational Performance Evening in Surrey on Feb. 19 and in Vancouver Feb. 22. Former COPE city counsellor Ellen Woodsworth wrote about what it was like to be a dyke in the 1960s and ’70s. “How, when you stood out then, you were viliﬁed not just by straight homophobes but within the feminist community,” said Claire Robson, co-lead artist for Queer Imaging and Riting Kollective for Elders, or Quirk-e, a group to which Woodsworth belongs. Woodsworth forwarded her work to members of Youth For a Change, a group of advocates, activists and educators that is facilitated by Sylvia Traphan and Jen Marchbank, a professor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies at SFU, and meets in Surrey. “And [the teens] were like, ‘Wow. This is amazing. What a history,’” Robson said. Youth provided Woodsworth with feedback on her work and she will read her polished piece at the event, which will include digital media, spoken word, poetry and stories that are typically relegated to the margins. Tyler Cogwell-Shears,

a 14-year-old transgender boy, will outline what it has been like to explore his male identity in a difficult school situation with an audio recording and images. Another queer teen will share her story of being booted from her family home and then rejecting placement in a group home that wouldn’t accommodate her homeless 14-year-old girlfriend. Quirk-e’s other lead artist, Kelsey Blair, helped Quirk-e couple Bridget Coll and Chris Morrissey fashion a film, which includes dancers, from their interviews that were woven into poetry about dealing with homophobia while one of them lives in a residential care home with dementia. “To have those two ends of the spectrum is quite something,” Robson said. “Both groups tend to be marginalized in the queer community, which is really focused so much on 25- to 35-year-old[’s] issues. If you look at Xtra! that’s what you see,” Robson added. “I knew that these were cool kids. I knew that they were doing important work, but I’ve been so impressed by their wisdom and maturity and strength. It sounds sappy but really, they’re amazing.” The Call and Response project has been a genuine exchange with elders learning as much as youth. “They’ve taught us a lot about being gender fluid,” Robson added. “We have a transsexual presence in Quirk-e… [but] it’s been an education for us to have to think carefully about pronouns and to have to check about pronouns… It’s so much more complicated than when we grew up and

what we’re used to.” The groups joined forces after the elders provided a workshop to the youth group, told them about Quirk-e’s launch of its anthology, The Bridge Generation: A Queer Elders’ Chronicle from No Rights to Civil Rights, which covers the institutionalization and electronic shock therapy queer people faced in the 1940s in Canada to personal and creative expression today, and youth attended. “I thought that’s initiative that needs to be rewarded,” Robson said. “Why shouldn’t they get to do some art?” During the process, the two groups learned they share more similarities than differences. “A lot of people think that kids need to be provided for, particularly atrisk youth, and people think the same of seniors,” said Robson, a 65-year-old postdoctorate fellow in the same department as Marchbank at SFU. “And the philosophy of all four facilitators [for the two groups] is really f*** that. These youth and these seniors are a resource. Nobody really likes to have stuff done for them. We need to challenge them and get them doing for themselves.” The Feb. 19 show runs 7 to 9 p.m. at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, room Fir 128 at 12666 72nd Ave. in Surrey. The Feb. 22 show runs 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Britannia Services Centre, Canucks Family Education Centre, 1001 Cotton Dr. For more information, search for Call and Response on Facebook. twitter.com/Cheryl_Rossi

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Sports&Recreation

GOT SPORTS? 604.630.3549 or mstewart@vancourier.com

Tigers chase off Bruins to win second city title

Britannia dedicated game to coach, who was courtside despite cancer BRITANNIA TUPPER

78 67

BASKETBALL Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

The Britannia Bruins made B.C.’s No. 1 AAA senior boys basketball team prove they were worthy of their top rank Friday night in the city championship at Churchill secondary. The Bruins held the Tupper Tigers to one of their lowest ﬁrst half outputs of the season, keeping the score close at 36-35. Muscling through on 21 second-half points from forward Chris Schneller, the defending AA/AAA city champs outpaced the Bruins down the stretch to win the 2015 title by 11 points. “We know we’re a better second half team and if we kept it close, we were going to do well,” said Schneller, who scored half of Tupper’s 42 points after the half and totalled 23 when the night was done. He was also named the tournament MVP. “They’re a hard team to play against,

they play tough and they have some really good shooters,” he said. Britannia’s Dylan Joe led all scorers with 27 points before he came off in the fourth quarter with a leg cramp. His midcourt steals interrupted the Tigers’ offence and led to numerous fast-break counterpunches. “Because we’re a running team, my teammates get me the ball and I just go,” said Joe. “We’re a fast team, we work hard.” It was also an emotional night for the Bruins. For one of the few games this season, coach Eric Ming was on the bench with his team. Ming was in remission from leukemia but earlier this year, cancer returned. “We all wanted to dedicate it to our coach,” said Joe. “He told us to leave everything on the ﬂoor. It was really motivating seeing him on the court.” Britannia coach Wayne Hoang said the unranked AA Bruins were ready to take it to the No. 1 AAA ranked team in B.C. “Our team is really under the radar. I don’t think many schools or teams know who we are,” he

said. “These kids are really gritty and they always give 100 per cent.” “These are two really good East Side schools clashing,” said Hoang, adding that Joe has been a leader all season and averages 30 points a night. “Dylan’s been our heart and soul,” said Hoang. “He’s a really gritty tough kid.” In 2014, the first time for a AA/AAA city championship bracket, Tupper beat Britannia 68-52 in the final and continued to finish fifth in the province at AAA. Tupper will advance to the AAA Lower Mainland tournament as the No. 1 seed from Vancouver. Britannia advances to the AA regional tournament as the city’s top seed. Schneller was the tournament MPV. Joe was named a first-team all star along with Tupper’s Santi Ubial Taylor Ross and Niko Mottus and John Oliver’s Devin Johal. Britannia’s Andrew Fang, Point Grey’s Evan Urquhart, Lord Byng’s Jens Perrson-Thomas and J.O.’s Oghosa Abonmwandolor were named to the second all-star team. twitter.com/MHStewart

Trojan Harry Brar (No. 14) holds the ball out of the reach of Churchill’s Handel Ochieng (No. 12) in the AAAA city final at Churchill secondary Feb. 15. PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER

Bulldogs blitz Trojans for repeat championship DAVID THOMPSON CHURCHILL

65 97

BASKETBALL Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

Britannia’s Dylan Joe (No. 10) soars to the hoop, avoiding Tupper’s Niko Mottus (No. 22) and the outreached hand of Chris Schneller (No. 7) in the AA/AAA city final at Churchill secondary Feb. 13. PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER

The defending AAAA B.C. senior boys basketball champion Churchill Bulldogs ran away with the city title on a string of early three-point shots, winning in their home gym over unexpected finalist David Thompson Friday night. Churchill’s first 12 points all came from deep (nine from the hands of senior Gary Minhas) and their first two-point bucket almost became a threepoint play when a foul was called on the shot. The free throw rimmed out but the string of three-pointers got longer. For good measure, Churchill sunk three more treys to end the opening quarter with a 27-5 lead. By the half, the Bulldogs were up 56-21. “We felt we had a few shots at the beginning, they kept going in so we just kept

shooting,” said Minhas, who finished with 13 points and the MVP hardware, which his brother Mindy claimed the previous year. “We were trying to push the ball and anything that we had opened, we felt good and we were just hitting shots. We were trying to push the ball the whole time. We didn’t want to overlook DT because underdogs always come out really hard.” “They blitzed us,” said David Thompson coach Jimmy Choi. “Playing on their home floor, defending champs — they were ready. We still lost by a large margin, but the second half was better. Win or lose, we were not supposed to be here. “I’m enjoying the ride and maybe there is still a Cinderella story for us.” The Trojans knocked off the Kitsilano Blue Demons in a semi-final. Kits finished fourth overall, coming behind Windermere after a 92-91 loss in the consolation final. In the second half, Churchill coach Rick Lopez turned to his bench. The Trojans’ zone defence kicked up the ball and the

visitors outscored the Bulldogs 28-20 in the third quarter by hustling fastbreak layups and blinkand-you’ll-miss-it no-look passes. Churchill is ranked sixth in B.C. this week but the Bulldogs have nothing on their minds other than repeating. “If we keep on playing the way we do and keep on working hard, we can achieve anything we want,” said Minhas. Bulldog Harry Liu had 26 points in the win and Trojan Harry Brar led all scorers with 27. Six-foot-three Brar said the Trojans honed their focus for the ﬁnal. “Yesterday at practice we made sure we worked hard, we focused on getting through our sets. We knew they were going to play man-to-man full-court [defence] and we had to protect the ball. The ﬁnal result doesn’t show we put in the preparation, but we did,” he said. The Lower Mainland tournament begins next week. The top three teams advance to provincials. twitter.com/MHStewart

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PINNING WHEEL St. Patrick’s wrestler Anna Victoria Chow (in red) fights to flip and pin her St. Thomas Aquinas competitor in a girls 51kg semi-final at John Oliver secondary Feb. 13. Chow finished third in her class and advanced to the provincial championship.

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Close finish at regional meet WRESTLING Vancouver College tied with the North Shore’s Carson Graham secondary for top place in the regional wrestling championship Feb.

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13 at John Oliver secondary. Both boys teams had 87 points. The host Jokers were next with 86 points. In the girls ﬂight, St. Thomas Aquinas came out on top with 37 points, followed by J.O. with 25.

Jokers Torrey Toribio won his 57kg class and Earl Lagos his 51kg class. Tupper’s Rio Sui won 38kg and Gladstone’s Jonathan Guervera won 54kg. Paul Oeda won 48kg for Vancouver College, and teammates Ian Vackart

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