Vancouver Courier February 25 2015 by Vancouver Courier

WEDNESDAY

February 25 2015

Vol. 106 No. 15

NEWS 7

East Side renoviction OPINION 10

mage Sports, skirts and self-image SPORTS 20

Bulldogs unleashed There’s more online at

vancourier.com m MIDWEEK EDITION

THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908

Vision spends $3.4 million on election Ruling party outspends NPA by $1.4 million Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

The ruling political party at city hall spent $3.4 million in the 2014 civic election campaign to secure its majority on city council and ensure it would have representation on the school and park boards. It’s the most money Vision Vancouver has spent on a campaign since it formed more than a decade ago when it ﬁrst elected four candidates to council in 2005. In fact, Vision has spent more than $7 million over the past four elections, with the 2014 campaign seeing the party outspend chief rival, the NPA, by $1.4 million. The unprecedented spending of cash in the 2014 campaign left Vision with a $485,518 debt. That’s because total contributions to the party amounted to $2.9 million, according to documents posted Monday on the Elections B.C. website. “We obviously didn’t want to spend what we spent, but we spent what we thought was necessary to make sure that we were responding to the negative attacks that were coming at us, and that we were connecting with voters in every neighbourhood in the city,” said Maria Dobrinskaya, Vision’s co-chairperson, whose party accused the NPA of negative-style campaigning and saw Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs launch a defamation suit against NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe and his

party. “We had to push back, and that’s what it costs us.” The millions of dollars spent by Vision and the NPA was expected and acknowledged by both parties when they released financial documents a few weeks before the 2014 civic election. Those disclosures were sparked by LaPointe announcing that his party would reveal its donor list and contributions before the election. Vision, the Greens, COPE and One City soon released how much money they raised and who supplied the money. At the time, Vision said it collected $2.2 million and the NPA, $2.1 million. The documents released Monday show Vision raised another $700,000 and the NPA another $300,000 since the original release of the documents. Although COPE candidates filed individual disclosure statements with Elections B.C., the party failed to disclose its documents for Monday’s release and is now subject to a $500 late fee if it files by March 16. Vision received most of its money — $1.9 million — from corporations and more than $360,000 from unions. Individual donations totaled $554,000 while non-profits, including two medicinal marijuana societies, gave more than $12,000. The NPA received the bulk of its donations from corporations, with party president Peter Armstrong, owner of Great Canadian Railtour Company Ltd., giving more than $470,000. Continued on page 6

LIONS EYED Children react to the lion dance at Wesbrook Village’s Norman Mackenzie Square, which was part of the celebration to usher in the Year of the Sheep this past Saturday. See story on page 8. PHOTO REBECCA BLISSETT

Next VSB superintendent says he’s ready to listen Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

After searching since Halloween for a new superintendent, the Vancouver School Board has hired from within. Former associate superintendent Scott Robinson will replace Steve Cardwell as superintendent, March 1. Robinson wasn’t sure how many people applied for the po-

sition, but he knows he was one of two candidates shortlisted. Trustees make the ﬁnal decision on the hire, and District Parent Advisory Council board chairperson Melanie Antweiler says Robinson is an excellent choice. “He’s incredibly dedicated,” she said. “He always seems to be available and he’s determined, and very, very respectful and creative.”

Cardwell, who is leaving to become professor of teaching and director of executive educational leadership at UBC, emphasized to the Courier in the fall the importance of succession training. Robinson said he was “absolutely” groomed by Cardwell for the role of superintendent. Robinson said he’s learned the importance of really listening to everyone involved in the

school system from Cardwell. “Other people’s views are very important to him, I believe. That gets demonstrated in every interaction he has with people,” Robinson said. “He’s relentlessly respectful even in situations where people are not necessarily being respectful back to him… That’s been very impressive to watch and learn from.” Robinson will have a lot of listening to do over the next two

months as the board wrestles with a funding shortfall estimated to be $17.9 million. The provincial budget announced school districts across the province would need to ﬁnd $29-million in administrative savings in the coming year, which means the VSB will have to ﬁnd a way to save another $2.9 million on top of its projected shortfall of $15 million. Continued on page 4

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

Why should Vancouver vote YES? MORE SKYTRAIN SERVICE Extending the Millennium Line along Broadway to Arbutus will shorten travel times from Commercial Drive to Cambie by 40% and reduce trafďŹ c congestion along Broadway.

MORE BUS SERVICE Increased service with more buses on busy routes in Vancouver means you save time, wait less and avoid being passed by due to overcrowding.

NEW B-LINE RAPID BUS SERVICE New B-Line buses will provide fast, frequent service all day long on 41st Avenue from Joyce-Collingwood to UBC and on Hastings from Downtown Vancouver to SFU.

Together, these projects and many more meet the demands of an expected population growth of 1 million in the next 30 years, which would otherwise put unimaginable strain on an already overcrowded transportation network. Voting YES in the upcoming Transit and Transportation Referendum will reduce the costs of congestion by 33% and improve the quality of life for everyone. All for less than 35 cents a day per household. Vote YES for a faster commute, a stronger economy and a better environment.

Look for your ballot in the mail and vote YES. Check out the Plan at mayorscouncil.ca

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

News

n o i t a c o l H S E R F

1 H C MAR E L A D S I KERR

Mary Collins (second from left) and other members of the police board will soon decide on a successor to Police Chief Jim Chu, who is scheduled to retire this spring. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

n o o s g n i com

Hunt for top cop officially underway 12TH&CAMBIE Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

So now two of the Vancouver Police Department’s three deputy chiefs say they’re “interested” in becoming the city’s next top cop. Deputy Chief Adam Palmer joins Deputy Chief Doug LePard as “interested” but whether that translates to either of them applying is not something they would share. But, as Palmer pointed out when I asked him about the job during a break at last Thursday’s police board meeting, the posting for the chief’s position hasn’t gone up yet. In fact, Palmer and others were about to join the police board behind closed doors to discuss the board’s search plan for a person to replace Police Chief Jim Chu, who is scheduled to retire in the spring. That plan involves a three-member committee to conduct preliminary work associated with a national search. The full board will conduct the ﬁnal interviews and make the selection, which could come in May.

Executive search firm Pinton Forrest Madden, which was involved in the board’s 2007 search, was hired by the board and recently recruited chiefs for West Vancouver and Victoria. Part of the firm’s work will be to coordinate a plan to get feedback from the public on what kind of attributes, priorities and expectations they want from a new chief. Interestingly, the firm has set up a confidential email address for people to provide thoughts/insight/ concerns about potential candidates. A link to it can be found on the websites of the VPD and the police board. VPD employees are also being asked to provide their input. I wanted to ask Mayor Gregor Robertson, who doubles as the board’s chairperson, about the search, but he wasn’t at the board meeting but is on record saying that he expects some good candidates to apply from within the department. Chu, as I reported last month, made it quite clear in his speech announcing his retirement that VPD senior staff should

be strongly considered for the job. The posting goes public Feb. 26. So I’ve told you about Palmer and LePard. But what about Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke’s status? Is he interested? I tried twice to ask him at the meeting but he moves quickly and wouldn’t give me a yea or a nay. So I’ll put him down for a maybe, unless I hear otherwise. What complicates picking Chu’s successor is the fact Delta Police Service is on the hunt for a new chief. That force’s longtime leader, Jim Cessford, retired this month. I polled the three Vancouver deputies about whether they were interested in competing for the Delta job. Palmer said he’s not interested, LePard didn’t answer and Lemcke was hiding. Meanwhile, Chu remains chief and still hasn’t divulged what his next move will be, although speculation is he might take a run at politics. We’ll ﬁnd out soon enough. twitter.com/Howellings

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More parental input sought Continued from page 1 “We’ve been focused on identifying budget efficiencies for a number of years,” Robinson said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find additional areas where we can cut without impacting the classroom.” Robinson intends to talk to members of the school community face-to-face to inform work on the district’s five-year strategic plan, which is anticipated to start in the fall. He also wants the board to analyze the effectiveness of its internal and external communications. Just before she was elected, Green Party of Vancouver trustee Janet Fraser said the school board needs to feel less distant to parents. She cited a lack of straightforward access to meeting information and reports on the VSB website. Robinson said he’s heard similar concerns from parents, community members and people who work within the VSB. Cardwell encouraged more involvement from students in their education and

The Vancouver School Board’s new superintendent Scott Robinson wants to be “relentlessly respectful” like outgoing superintendent Steve Cardwell. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Robinson wants to advance student involvement more broadly across the district. Robinson, 48, has worked as an associated superintendent for the VSB since August 2012. He’s been responsible for the educational operations and overall supervision of the district’s 110 elementary and secondary schools. He’s also supervised the VSB’s enrolment management

process, educational policy reviews and revision, distributed learning programs, student safety initiatives and international education. The longtime resident of Vancouver served as associate superintendent in Richmond and has been a principal at elementary, middle school and secondary school levels in the Coquitlam School District. twitter.com/Cheryl_Rossi

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

News Donations become bigger part of funding schools Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

The Vancouver School Board and individual schools received more than $2.7 million in donations last year and $6.8 million over the last three years. What the board and each school received is outlined in a report that’s going to the VSB’s ﬁnance and legal committee meeting Feb. 25. A subcommittee of the board’s advocacy committee completed a report in 2013 that didn’t specify the amounts per school. Vision Vancouver trustee Mike Lombardi said then that school administrators felt reluctant to see the amounts they raised, which ranged from $1,000 to $20,000, publicized. VSB secretary-treasurer Rick Krowchuk said staff undertook the latest report to see whether trustees want the board to fundraise more actively. “The senior management team is currently reviewing our policies, procedures and practices with respect to donations,” the report states.

Over the past three years, the VSB and individual schools have received $6.8 million in donations to pay for such things as field trips and playground equipment. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

“This will include methods to improve communications and awareness, and management of donated funds.” Krowchuk said money raised wouldn’t be used to address the board’s annual shortfall, which is projected to be $17.9 million for 2015-2016, or to replace provincial funding. “But at least it could be some positive things in other areas, like the computer replacements, or technology or ﬁeld trips,” he said. “It could be building up relationships with various organizations that want

to donate and building a relationship with those people who may continue to donate year after year,” Krowchuk added. NPA board chairperson Christopher Richardson and NPA trustee Penny Noble both hail from fundraising backgrounds. Noble said in the lead-up to the November election the board needs to seek other sources of funding in addition to money from the provincial government. Krowchuk said the donations report wasn’t spurred by these trustees

or controversy during the election about whether the board should have accepted money from Chevron. Richardson said the Surrey school district includes a business development ofﬁce, and perhaps the VSB should have a revenue development ofﬁce to ramp up rentals. He’s heard the Ottawa school district operates a development program that focuses on individuals, bequests, bursaries and scholarships. A foundation previously raised money for the VSB but was disbanded, according to previous Vision Vancouver board chairperson Patti Bacchus, because its operation was too costly. Krowchuk said

the board wouldn’t necessarily need a foundation to attract donations. The VSB received $2.4 million in donations over three years for multi-school initiatives that include breakfast, artist in residence and Project Chef programs. Individual schools received a total of $1.6 million over three years, according to the donations report. David Thompson secondary received the greatest amount of donations of any school in the district — $170,000 in 2013-2014, with major gifts given from two alumni. Hamber secondary in the Oakridge area reported receiving the lowest amount of all the high schools —

$3,400 for 2013-2014, with no donations reported in the preceding two years. The amounts included in the report are only those for which the VSB issued tax receipts. Funds raised through bake sales are not included, and the report states the majority of donations to schools comprise a large number of smaller amounts. Grandview elementary received the greatest amount of money per student last year at $502 per student; Queen Alexandra elementary received the second highest amount at $233 per student. Large donations typically fund breakfast programs and playgrounds. twitter.com/Cheryl_Rossi

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

News

Bulk of donations from corporations Continued from page 1 Robert Macdonald, former vice-president of the NPA and owner of Macdonald Development Corp., donated $165,000. The Courier left a message for Armstrong Monday but didn’t receive

a reply before deadline. In an interview during the campaign, he said he gave almost a half-million dollars because “I believe in this city and I think there’s a lot of things that need to go right in this city.”

Vision’s biggest corporate donor — at $130,000 — was David Aisenstat, the former chairperson of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s board of trustees who campaigned for a new art gallery downtown. Aisenstat’s

donations came via Keg Restaurants, Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House and The Charles White Corporation. Joo Kim Tiah of Holborn Holdings, whose company is redeveloping the Little Mountain

public housing site and working with billionaire Donald Trump on a downtown tower, gave $105,000 to Vision. Other large corporate donors to Vision included: • Amacon Management Service Corp: $75,000

• George Wong and Magnum Projects: $75,000 • Concord Pacific and its subsidiaries: $61,250 • Aquilini Development and Construction: $60,000 • Peter Wesik and Wesgroup Properties: $55,000 • MCL Motors 2010: $50,000 • Reliance Properties: $47,650 • Lululemon founder Chip Wilson of Low Tide Properties: $37,500 CUPE B.C. and two of its city workers’ locals, 1004 and 15, led all unions with its contributions to Vision, giving a total of $230,900. The International Union of Operating Engineers, local 963, gave $22,700 and Canadian Office and Professional Employees’ Union, local 378, donated $19,250. The Courier left a message for CUPE spokesman Paul Faoro but did not receive a reply before deadline. Faoro, who is CUPE B.C.’s secretary treasurer, told the Courier in a story prior to the election that CUPE’s relationship with city hall was much better under Vision than the NPA. But Faoro emphasized the union’s donations did not influence that stronger bond. “It’s not ‘We’ll give you this money and you’ve got to do this.’ It doesn’t work like that, it’s never worked like that,” Faoro said. “It’s about investing in someone who we think is going to do the right things for the city and for public services in Vancouver.” The Green Party raised $117,845 and spent $112,215, according to documents filed with Elections B.C. The Greens’ Adriane Carr was re-elected to council while Janet Fraser won a seat on the school board and Stuart Mackinnon on park board. Vision, the NPA, the Greens and COPE are all on record of wanting new rules that limit spending and contributions to political parties, including bans on corporate and union donations. The provincial government has said it will implement spending limits for the 2018 election but has not committed to contribution limits or bans on union and corporate donations. twitter.com/Howellings

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

News East Side tenants sound alarm over ‘renoviction’

Bob Mackin

bob@bobmackin.ca

When she received the Jan. 28 eviction notice, Christiane Helzel also lost her job of 20 years as the resident manager of a 30unit East Vancouver apartment building. The couple who owned 1925 Woodland Dr. for 20 years, Ole and Jytte Hansen, is retiring and sold the building to a company connected to Jameson Development Corp. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Helzel, who is undergoing cancer treatment. “We don’t blame [the Hansens] for selling it, we blame the guys that bought it,” Helzel told the Courier. Helzel, whose one-bedroom suite rents for $740 a month, said Jameson’s John Pappajohn told her the plan was to convert the laundry room and storage room into bachelor suites. “He said that they’re just doing a few renovations, we could all stay in here,” she said. “A week later we all got registered letters saying we had to be

out of here by April 30.” Because of the “renoviction,” Helzel said she fears for elderly tenants who have lived in the building longer than her and the future of affordable housing in Grandview-Woodland. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the citywide apartment vacancy rate fell to 0.5 per cent last October and monthly rents averaged $1,176. The East Hastings zone that includes 1925 Woodland Dr. had an 0.8 per cent vacancy rate and $957 average rent. Tenant Pam Burge provided the Courier a copy of the eviction notice from “1925 Woodland Drive LLP,” signed by Tony Pappajohn. It came with a copy of a Jan. 21, 2015 civic building permit for renovations to increase ﬂoor area by 520 square feet, resulting in two new residential units, a seismic upgrade and additional storage and common areas. The Hansens originally applied last June for a development permit. The Residential Tenancy Act requires a minimum

that could prevent upgrading of apartments. In many cases we would like to see upgrading.” Hansen declined comment when contacted by the Courier. Neither Tony, John nor Tom Pappajohn responded to interview requests. Vision Vancouver’s pre-election donation disclosure showed the party received $125 from both Tony and Tom Pappajohn, and $20,000 from Jameson. The Pappajohns’ marquee downtown residential, ofﬁce and retail development, Jameson House, was put under court protection from creditors after construction halted amid the 2008 credit crunch. It was eventually completed in 2011 by Bosa Development. Tenant Little Woo said most of her neighbours are resigned to moving but are joining a Residential Tenancy Branch complaint out of principle. She said the building was well-kept, with a low turnover rate. Ole Hansen kept rents low and fostered a community

Enrica Orazietti, Denise Luke and Little Woo (left to right) are three of the tenants being evicted from their Woodland Drive home.

PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

two-month notice to vacate and one-month free rent. After tenants complained to Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs, the new landlord revised the offer to two months free rent and a $500 moving allowance. Meggs said the building would remain within the

city’s rental stock, but conceded future tenants would pay higher rents. “[Rental housing] really is an area under provincial jurisdiction, not the city’s,” Meggs said. “It’s very upsetting for those tenants, I understand that. But there is nothing in the city’s laws

atmosphere in an already diverse neighbourhood, she said. “He’s taken in people that have been through violence and needed an affordable place to live. He’s got a big heart, the previous landlord, we all appreciate him very much,” Woo said. “There is a huge contrast, what the two types of landlords can be like in Vancouver. It’s the second one, the developers that are growing because of the B.C. tenancy act that allows this type of thing to happen and Vancouver city hall. We keep hearing that it’s the provincial legislation that allows this, but they’re offering these development permits and not creating affordable housing.” Burge said the location was ideal, with spacious suites and walking distance to Broadway, Commercial Drive and SkyTrain, after she experienced poor conditions at social housing projects in downtown and the Olympic Village. “I’d hate to leave here,” Burge said. “It’s my home.” twitter.com/bobmackin

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

Community

1. Chau Luen Athletic Club lion dancers perform in front of Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle house to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year this past Saturday at Wesbrook Village. “Lion dancing is really about bringing luck and prosperity, it’s a blessing for the store or event,” said club president Michael Tan. 2. Dancers with the Crazi Club perform at the MBA House. 3. Luck and lettuce are intertwined at Lunar New Year festivities. The Cantonese word for lettuce is “sang choy,” which can also mean “rising fortune” when the tone of the second character is changed. 4. The lion dance team visits University Barbershop. The lion dance lasted an hour with various members of the club and supporting club switching from dancing to drumming duties. Most of the lion dancers are also kung fu practitioners. 5. Kabro Salon’s Amanda Gilkes hands out lucky red envelopes during the popular event. See photo gallery online at vancourier.com. PHOTOS REBECCA BLISSETT

New neighbourhood spreads luck and lettuce for Lunar New Year

CITY LIVING Rebecca Blissett

rvblissett@gmail.com

The soul of a neighbourhood typically grows over time through the building ﬁbres of summer block parties, kids banding together for back-alley street hockey, or women meeting for a bottle of two for wine under the guise of book club night. Or, in the case of the newish Wesbrook neighbourhood, the developers hire somebody like Christine Chan to speed things along a bit. “It’s great to know people by name, it’s great

to know faces, and people tell me they walk by and wave to each other. It has that community feel,” said Chan, who works under the title of “community engagement manager” for UBC Properties Trust, a private company owned by the university that manages its developments. Revenue generated by the leased land goes to the university’s endowment fund that supports programs such as scholarships and research grants. Wesbrook is located off a roundabout near Thunderbird Stadium, just off West 16th Avenue next to the lush Paciﬁc Spirit Regional Park. It’s designed with walking in

mind with its mix of retail and residential, and Chan said it’s an ideal canvas to build social capital. “It’s a growing community and we see there’s a large Asian population here — that’s indicative of Vancouver as well, but we do have all types of people here —Europeans, Koreans, Japanese, and so we wanted to bring some liveliness and engagement here to the village,” said Chan. “This is my ﬁrst community project, and I love it. I tell people, ‘I put fun things on for people!’ That’s my job.” Chan brought seasonal celebrations to Wesbrook, including Saturday’s third annual Lunar New Year.

As the village grows, so do its celebrations with live performances from various local dance groups such as the Crazi Club, a pop song and dance group, participating for the ﬁrst time. While the village has a projected 10 more years of development before it is completed, there are still enough existing shops that it takes a full hour for the Chau Luen Athletic Club’s lion dance team to perform at every door. After each stop, the stores were inundated by those seeking the Lunar New Year red envelopes; it took just a couple of minutes for University Barbershop’s Bobby Callahan to hand out 100 of

them. Included in the envelope was an entry form to win a village shopping spree to the tune of $88, a numeric ﬁgure that is considered to be lucky in Chinese culture. “For me it’s about lucky happenstance,” explained Michael Tan, Chau Luen Athletic Club president who led the lion dance throughout the village. “My apartment number is 2701. My birthday is the 27th and then my birth month is October so if you switch the 1 and the 0, it’s close enough!” Speaking of luck of the New Year, above each store’s doorway hung a head of lettuce, which the lion grabbed with its

mouth to toss into the crowd to spread good fortune. Lettuce is used because the Cantonese word for it is “sang choy,” which can also mean “rising fortune” when the tone of the second character is changed. “Because of that, when they say the lettuce is spread to everyone, it’s spreading luck,” said Tan. “I always joke around that Chinese people are really into puns.” Wesbrook was one of a few stops for Tan’s team, and good endurance practice for Sunday’s 42nd annual Vancouver Chinese New Year Parade, which wove its way through Chinatown in front of a crowd of 100,000. twitter.com/rebeccablissett

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

News Heritage subject of open houses DEVELOPING STORY Naoibh O’Connor

noconnor@vancourier.com

A Dunbar “castle home” at 3815 West 39th Ave. is the latest character house featured on Caroline Adderson’s Facebook page Vancouver Vanishes. It was knocked down Saturday. Built in 1936, it was ﬁrst owned by Jack and Beatrice Wood. Wood was manager of Dunbar Heights Realty and built all the Dunbar castle homes. Adderson says it was in excellent condition. Since she started her page, Adderson has chronicled the demolition of about 240 character homes, which she said is a fraction of the total number that have been torn down — 993 demolition permits were issued last year, mostly for single family homes. Concern about the loss of Vancouver heritage homes is why she’ll be among those offering feedback at open houses about the city’s Heritage Action Plan and Character Home Review. The ﬁrst of three open houses was held Tuesday evening, but two more are scheduled Feb. 28 and March 4. Brian Jackson, the city’s head planner, said the goal is to cover three topics. First, the city will present options for First Shaughnessy. Last June, council approved a one-

year prohibition on demolishing pre-1940 homes in the First Shaughnessy District so the city could review the area’s official development plan and determine what steps can be taken to conserve heritage property in the district. “[Options] would include the designation of the area as a heritage conservation district, which other cities have done under the local government act,” Jackson said. “There’s actually about 70 of them throughout British Columbia.” While people have the perception that heritage designation affects the value of land, Jackson said Vancouver has been able to do it through density bonuses and allowing people to achieve as much density as they would have by knocking a house down and rebuilding. “So, we’re trying to find ways to allow for housing to be designated heritage or even to be saved as character homes without affecting its value and that is the nub of the tricky issue we’re trying to deal with,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to deal with it so it’s not a punishment. It becomes an incentive.” The city’s second objective is to talk at a high level about character homes. The city will present a menu and ask for feedback on different tools that it can use to better protect character homes such as stratification of singlefamily lots, density bonuses and allowing more flexibility

with building forms. “Thirdly, we want to review the best practices we’ve observed in other cities throughout North America on how they protect heritage resources and obtain public input on how they think it applies to the City of Vancouver,” Jackson said, noting possibilities include ideas such as tax deferment, tax abatement and waiving fees. Well known heritage expert Donald Luxton is the city’s lead consultant

for the Heritage Action Plan. Luxton is also working with other consultants on legal and economic aspects of the plan. The next open house is at city hall, 453 West 12th Ave., in the ground ﬂoor town hall meeting room from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Feb. 28. The third open house is from 4 to 8 p.m., March 4. It’s at the Hellenic Community Centre, 4500 Arbutus St. twitter.com/naoibh

The City of Vancouver is hosting open houses about how to better preserve the city’s character homes. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

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

Opinion Women’s field hockey skirts shorts debate

Confessions of a transit plebiscite supporter

Megan Stewart Columnist

Michael Geller Columnist

mstewart@vancourier.com

At a meeting hall near turf fields in Burnaby last week, I watched a woman roll her eyes skyward and exhale. More than once, the shake of her head told the room she’d had just about enough. For the fourth time in three years, members of the country’s largest recreational field hockey league gathered to talk about shorts. The Vancouver Women’s Field Hockey Association (VWFHA) was asking if they’re part of a woman’s uniform or not. Can you blame one woman for her quiet frustration? Yes, I can. She was listening, as we all were, to a coach read a letter from a 20-something Vancouver athlete. At one point in her distinguished career, she was a provincial and national team field hockey goaltender. She was unable to be at the mid-week meeting because she’s studying at and playing for a top-flight university in Toronto. In her letter, the player recounted how this clothing control predated her ever picking up a hockey stick. “After only a couple seasons, I was faced with having to wear a skirt if I wanted to continue playing the next year, so I quit,” she wrote. “I hated wearing skirts.” Recently, wrote the athlete, “I started an eight-week treatment program for an eating disorder that I have had for the past six years. An eating disorder isn’t going to develop just because someone is uncomfortable in a skirt, but […] something like that can be a serious trigger.” Then, across the room, another slow, sky-high eye roll. The letter is more than empty rhetoric over the difference between a uniform with or without an inseam. Unhealthy body image is one reason girls and women stop playing sport. Sadly, for women who leave and don’t return, the exercise they didn’t get might have been one of the best ways to lift their self-esteem. In Canada, only 19 per cent of women play recreational sport — that’s less than one in every five of us — while one in every three men is active. Women and girls from low-income families are even less active than their more affluent peers, especially compared to male participation rates, according to the public health office. Any barrier to playing — that includes gendered typecasting, discrimination, sexualization and a uniform that makes an athlete unrecognizable to herself — is

problematic and even damaging. Kaity Cooper was threatened with penalties and expulsion if she didn’t conform to the VWFHA rules and compete in a skirt. She plays on the Vancouver Jokers and is, along with other athletes, simply not comfortable playing in a skirt. There is a chance she will walk away from ﬁeld hockey if she has to wear one. The International Hockey Federation does not stipulate women wear skirts although many players identify them with the women’s game. For the women who choose to wear a skirt, all the power to them. Those who want to wear shorts deserve the same power. But the majority of VWFHA members are committed to the conformist status quo, the heteronormative ideal. If they say — and they do — that skirts are professional and traditional, what does that mean for a woman who doesn’t wear one? It’s worth asking if a woman in shorts is really that threatening to you and your game. Last week, the league denied individual women the right to wear shorts by a substantial margin: 190 opposed, 51 in favour. Even the international rules for beach volleyball are better on this issue. In that sport, women can opt to cover their torsos and thighs nearly to the knee. Maybe no one chooses to do this, but it’s still her choice. The VWFHA struck a compromise and decided no individual can wear shorts, but an entire team will be able to dress all players in shorts. It’s the uniform uniform. The league settled for incremental change: everyone in shorts or everyone in skirts. On this question, the vote count switched: 141 in favour, 80 opposed. I applaud the women and the few men who gathered to debate their values in sport. League president Victoria Bryan, who didn’t have a vote, was efﬁcient and personable as she ran a matter-of-fact meeting that was more collaborative than Robert’s Rules of Order. But in the end, the league got it wrong. The compromise might signal incremental change to some, but to others, it’s a message to conform or get out of the game. It’s hard to imagine, but the shortsshunners decided they are more committed to a piece of clothing with occasional pleats than they are to growing the number of girls who pick up their sport and the ranks of women who play into adulthood. twitter.com/mhstewart

The week in num6ers...

3.4

In millions of dollars, the amount of money ruling party Vision Vancouver spent on the 2014 civic election campaign, $1.4 million more than the NPA.

Out of a possible three, the number of Vancouver Police Department deputy chiefs who have expressed interest in replacing retiring chief Jim Chu.

michaelarthurgeller@gmail.com

Doctor, we need to talk. I am becoming obsessed with the forthcoming transportation referendum. Last week, I travelled to Aruba via Newark. On every leg of the journey I could not stop comparing my trip with travels on TransLink. Leaving Vancouver, the Air Canada computers were not working properly. We were then delayed because a conveyor belt was broken. Even though the oversized baggage had been screened and waiting on the belt, no one had the sense to let passengers go to the gates until mechanics finally got the equipment working. Despite these breakdowns, I did not hear anyone complain about the continuous Airport Improvement Fees or excessive Airport Authority CEO salary. We eventually made it to New Jersey. It was very cold and the hotel shuttle bus was late. But no one was complaining. I told waiting passengers that if this was a Vancouver TransLink bus, these days the delay would be frontpage and radio news. I boarded a New Jersey Transit train to Penn Station. After 10 minutes, the train stopped and over the loudspeaker we were told there would be a delay because the drawbridge was up. Then we were told the bridge was not closing properly and we would have to get off and board a waiting train on Platform 2. We all climbed up the stairs since the escalator was broken and took seats on the new train. Then a voice over the loudspeaker told us to return to the original train. Eventually we made it Penn Station, but I doubt this incident would have made the news the following day because other passengers told me this sort of thing happens all the time. I wandered down Broadway where neon lights and illuminated billboards revealed colourful tables and chairs set out in what were once traffic lanes. It was delightful, but all I could think about was how this would not happen in Vancouver since a growing majority do not want to approve a transit improvement referendum that could help reduce congestion like recent New

York initiatives. Over the past few weeks, I have taken to Twitter to express my growing frustration. On Valentine’s Day, when I should have been spending time with my wife, I tweeted about a $30-billion crowdfunding campaign in Boston aimed at fixing the city’s failing transit system. Since the state cannot come up with even a fraction of the $3-billion maintenance backlog, let alone $30 billion needed for capital improvements, a local citizen is trying to raise the money. Vancouver’s system is so much better run. Two days later, Metro Chairman Greg Moore was talking with Rick Cluff on the CBC Early Edition. As “no” side voters took to Twitter I had to ask, “Will no transit tax voters please show me where $ comes from to fund transit improvements. It sounds like a property tax increase to me.” One of my followers replied, “I think they will try a vehicle levy and an increase in gasoline tax as an alternative.” Is that what the “no” voters want? Next up was the TransLink Chair speaking with CBC’s Stephen Quinn. I waited for her to justify the dual CEO salaries, but she struggled. Most intelligent people know what the board was trying to do, but it failed. Nonetheless, I had to tweet this was still not a good reason to vote no. That weekend, the Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason and Stephen Quinn both criticized the TransLink Board decision. I had to agree and tweeted, “It sure is hard to defend the yes side except for one thing. The need for transit improvements.” The next day I tweeted, “It now seems like the transit funding debate is inextricably linked to the TransLink CEO salaries. Think about this when waiting for a bus or stuck in traffic. It’s nuts.” I wondered aloud on Twitter, “Will people soon stop contributing to cancer research because of past problems with the BC Cancer Agency’s CEO salary?” Yes doctor, I am saddened and depressed. But I am also optimistic about a yes victory since it now seems as unlikely as a Liberal government win a month before the last provincial election. twitter.com/michaelgeller

20 17.9 10

In thousands of dollars, the amount Jameson Development donated to Vision Vancouver’s 2014 campaign. Several tenants claim they are being “renovicted” by the company.

In millions of dollars, the estimated funding shortfall new Vancouver School Board superintendant Scott Robinson is faced with.

The number of prizes the Vancouver Courier is up for at the upcoming BCYCNA Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards ceremony in April.

In millions of dollars, the amount Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick recently pledged to give to the B.C. SPCA to help expand its services.

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

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Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bemoaning owning the podium after five years

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

Hovercraft service to Nanaimo starts Feb. 23, 1969: A new passenger ferry service between Vancouver and Nanaimo launches with a Norwegian-made, 35-seater hovercraft that had previously been used to cross the English Channel. Pacific Hovercraft offered hour-long crossings across the Strait of Georgia aboard the “Sure” for $7, less than half the time it took much larger B.C. Ferries vessels, which charged the same rate. Powered by a 900-horsepower Bristol Siddeley gas turbine, the 15-metre-long SRN-6 was capable of speeds of nearly 100 km/h regardless of whether it was travelling on land, snow or water. The transit service lasted only four months before the company declared bankruptcy, and the amphibious vessel was sold for seismic survey work in the Beaufort Sea.

Canucks set enduring NHL record

Feb. 25, 1971: In an away game versus the Boston Bruins, 22-year-old Vancouver Canucks goaltender Dunc Wilson was lit up three times within 20 seconds to set a still-standing NHL record for the fastest three goals by one team. John Bucyk, Ed Westfall and Ted Green each scored during the third period of an 8-3 win over the Canucks, who were playing their first year in the league and finished the season one point out of last place in the East Division. Wilson, one of three Canucks goalies that year, posted an unfortunate 3–25–2 record in 35 appearances. ADVERTISING

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Re: “Are we better off five years after the games?” Feb. 18. There is little doubt that the Olympics were a wonderful 17-day spectacle for those wanting to wrap themselves in the maple leaf and cheer on Canada’s elite athletes. However, is our city better off five years after the Games as suggested by columnist Michael Geller? The provincial Liberal government, VANOC and the mainstream media did a masterful job in selling the Games to Vancouverites. Premier Gordon Campbell, clad in his red mittens, boasted that there would be $10 billion in economic spin-offs for our economy. Former VANOC chair John Furlong declared the Winter Olympics came in on budget. Both claims proved false as many of the cost overruns were cleverly off loaded on various levels of government and the promised economic benefits never materialized. What we do know is that the Olympics and all the related infrastructure projects cost in the neighbourhood of $7 billion. The cost overruns were startling. For example, security was originally budgeted for $175 million but mushroomed to $900 million by the time the cauldron was lit. The ill-conceived Trade and Convention Centre was a $900-million boondoggle. It was a whopping $400 million over budget and was built despite the fact that there has been a long-term decline in the number of convention delegates coming to Vancouver. The City of Vancouver is out $130 million dollars on the sale of publicly owned land to Millennium Developments for the Athletes Village. The promise of 252 subsidized units was slashed by 50 per cent after the torch left town. It is telling that the provincial government never undertook a transparent and comprehensive cost analysis of the Games. The publicly funded VANOC has sealed its records until 2025. A PricewaterhouseCooper study revealed that the Olympics generated only a fraction of the GDP growth touted by Mr. Campbell. Of the $7 billion taxpayers shelled out, the Vancouver Games generated a paltry $2.5 billion in real economic growth; a lousy return that is ignored by boosters like Mr. Geller. Therefore, we are not better off five years after the games. We are the second most expensive city in the world for housing and have done little to address the issue of affordability. We have thousands of homeless in the metro area and 20 per cent of our kids live below the poverty line. We have a public transit system struggling to meet a growing demand. The Olympics diverted vast sums of public funds that could

Dee Dhaliwal

Barry Link blink@vancourier.com

PUBLISHER

EDITOR

Tara Lalanne

DIRECTOR SALES & MARKETING

tlalanne@vancourier.com

TheVancouverCourierisadivisionofLMPPublicationLimitedPartnership. Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40025215. All material in the Vancouver Courier is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without permission of the publisher. This newspaper reserves the right to reject any advertising which it considers to contain false or misleading information or involves unfair or unethical practices. The advertiser agrees the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of error in any advertisement beyond the amount paid for such advertisement. We collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Statement which is available at vancourier.com.

Tupper teen’s tale terrific

Re: “From Afghan refugee to scholarship winner,” Feb. 20. Thank you to Cheryl Rossi for her excellent article about Tupper student Somaya Amiri, whom I have the pleasure of teaching in Mini-English 12 this school year. With deftness and compassion, Rossi highlighted Somaya’s accomplishments and how she is inspiration to all students and staff here at Tupper. Now, thanks to Rossi, her story can inspire others. Jennifer Braun, Vancouver ••• I enjoyed reading your article about Somaya. That young lady at Sir Charles Tupper secondary is remarkable and should inspire other immigrants and refugees to excel in their new country, Canada. I am afraid she puts many Canadaborn young people, who have had many more opportunities handed to them, to shame. Tim Gibbs, Vancouver

ONLINE COMMENTS Plenty of fish fans of video

Re: “Video: False Creek herring rescue” online only. Jonn Matsen and his bunch did so much of this for Squamish and the rest of Howe Sound. It’s a shame that stupid people who park these leaking boats that sink and spill diesel fuel everywhere aren’t dealt with more haste. jhenry922, via Reddit ••• If there was a healthy herring population off of Vancouver, the Chinook fishing would rock and roll. There would be more fish, fatter fish and just general awesomeness. The coho would enjoy it quite a bit too, I suspect. AdiposeFin, via Reddit

Mission to Mars is moronic

Re: “Kudos & Kvetches: Mission impossible,” Feb. 18 It’s pretty unlikely to happen. And scientists who actually looked into it have said that they expect the colonists will likely only survive for 68 days. MultiTwentyOne , via Reddit ••• Let’s try to live one month on the moon before we try to live a lifetime on Mars. JustSomeGuy654, via Reddit

have your say online...

FLYER SALES

ddhaliwal@vancourier.com

have otherwise been used to enhance the quality of life for ordinary residents. I liken the Olympics to that demanding out of town guest who expects to be wined and dined and then packs up and leaves you with a pounding head ache and maxed out credit card. Jodie Johnson, Vancouver

604.738.1412

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters may be edited by the Courier for reasons of legality, taste, brevity and clarity. Send to: 303 West Fifth Ave., Vancouver V5Y-1J6 or email letters@vancourier.com

A12

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

urbansenior

SPCA extends a paw to potential volunteers COMMUNITY CALENDAR

The facilities plan is an eight-year strategy, totalling $50.4 million, to replace or renovate aging B.C. SPCA infrastructure in 10 communities across B.C. — the largest capital plan in the organization’s 120-year history. The upgrades at SPCA facilities will vary depending on the speciﬁc needs of the local community. Projects include new community animal centres, facilities to house seized farm animals, storefront adoption centres and facilities to promote increased community access to spay and neuter services. This contribution will also enable construction or planning for facilities in Vancouver, West Kootenay, Dawson Creek,

Sandra Thomas

sthomas@vancourier.com

Grandview Woodland

During a tour of the Vancouver branch of the B.C. SPCA last week, Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick announced the provincial government will provide $5 million to support the society’s Facilities Development and Services Plan. Craig Daniell, chief executive ofﬁcer of the B.C. SPCA, says this ﬁnancial support helps ensure companion and farm animals, as well as wildlife, will continue to receive the best possible care at the society’s facilities.

Prince George and Kamloops to potentially begin in 2015/16. The SPCA is also looking for volunteers to help with fundraising, advocacy and education roles. These critical individuals assist branches through activities such as dog walking, cat wellness, rabbit and small animal care, administrative support, special events, fundraising, education, volunteer coordination, fostering, advocacy and much more. Canine, cat, rabbit and small animal companions are also needed. Volunteer positions vary from branch to branch so visit spca. bc.ca/about/volunteer for more information.

Mount Pleasant

Queer black women performers will celebrate

the last day of Black History Month this Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Heartwood Community Cafe, 317 East Broadway, with playwright Vimalasara, poet Adelene Da Soul, grand slam poetry champion Jillian Christmas and artist Donna Mayhem. Doors open at 6 p.m. for dinner and drinks, and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on a $12 to $20 sliding scale with audience members asked to pay what they can afford. Visit soundsandfuries.com/ concerts. Seating is limited.

Downtown

Odlum Brown Limited presents The Sound of Mumbai in partnership with Room to Read and Indian Summer Festival at Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at SFU Woodward’s March 5.

The Sound of Mumbai is a documentary film that follows a group of slum children in Mumbai, India, who are were given an opportunity to perform The Sound of Music with a classical orchestra. Under the direction of Johannes Steinwender, an Austrian music professor who travelled to Mumbai to conduct the performance, the children learned and created a choral performance of The Sound of Music. The results underscore the magic and transformative power of music. Although the classic film, with its imagery of mountains and edelweiss, may not seem like a natural fit for Mumbai, the Bombay Chamber Orchestra begs to differ. Bramwell Tovey, music director of the Vancouver

Symphony Orchestra, will introduce the ﬁlm and share his insights on the impact of music on children’s education. All proceeds from the event beneﬁt Room to Read’s education programs in India, which provide libraries, books and education for girls in both rural and semi-urban communities and urban slums. Room to Read launched programs in India in 2003 and has since established 6,500 libraries and provided funding for 6,000 girls to attend school. The cinema is located at SFU Woodward’s, 149 West Hastings. A VIP reception takes place at 5:30 p.m. followed by the 7 p.m. screening. For ticket information, visit eventbrite.com. twitter.com/sthomas10

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“I have difficulty managing in my home on my own.”

Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick, with three-month old Boston terrier “Bueller,” was joined by Jane Thornthwaite, MLA for North Vancouver (left) for a funding announcement at the Vancouver SPCA last week. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

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

urbansenior

Court decision on physicianassisted suicide long-awaited

Tom Carney

tomcarney@telus.net

We’ve been litigating the right to die issue for more than two decades. Back in the early 1990s Sue Rodriguez, a B.C. woman with ALS, demanded but was denied the right to have a doctor help end her life. Lengthy court battles in B.C. involving Gloria Taylor and Kathleen Carter, both now deceased, led the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and others to take their case for doctor-assisted death all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Their argument was simple. Attempted suicide was decriminalized in 1972. Able-bodied people can end their life if they choose to do so. The disabled often can’t. The law discriminates against those with a physical disability who might need physical assistance to exercise their right to take their own life. Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Canadian

Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ “right to life” doesn’t require an absolute prohibition on assistance in dying and ruled that the law that makes it illegal for anyone to help people end their own lives should be amended to allow doctors to help in speciﬁc situations. The court has given the federal government and related federal agencies 12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling. The current ban on assisted suicide stands until then. If the government doesn’t write a new law, the court’s exemption will stand. We’ve been down this road before. In 1988 the court struck down Canada’s abortion law and gave parliamentarians time to craft a new law. They never did. As a result, abortions in Canada are legal and a matter between the patient and the physician. Is there a lesson here? My view is that a person’s choice to seek assistance to end their life should also be legal and be between a

patient and their physician. The best response to the court ruling, in my opinion, is for the government to do nothing and let the exemption for doctors stand. The court ruled that a person granted a request for assisted death must meet four conditions. They must be in intolerable pain. They must have a permanent condition. They must be legally capable of consent.” It’s not the court’s job to tell the government or Canadians how to make their ruling work and in this case thankfully the court didn’t. We do need safeguards in place to ensure that when it comes to end of life decisions the most vulnerable persons in our society are protected. Conservative MP Stephen Fletcher’s proposal to create a Canadian commission on physician-assisted death, an independent body that would establish the practical rules or guidelines for administering physician-assisted death, is a step in the right direction. There will always be

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those who are opposed. Those who have watched a loved one suffer for any length of time at the end of their life will welcome the Supreme Court’s decision. A combination of allowing some doctors to help people end their own lives in speciﬁc situations, with the proper oversights in place, may be the best we can do. We could certainly do worse.

A13

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There’s an art to harvesting rhubarb — pull straight up and twist to one side while keeping the stalk straight.

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Not many plants are pest-free, give us great desserts before winter’s end and grow large and fast with almost no care. The exception is rhubarb, sometimes called the pie plant. But rhubarb stalks make a lot more than pies. They’re also used for jams, tarts, puddings, wines, pies, preserves and stewed and baked dishes. Rhubarb is said to have originated in Siberia where it was mainly used by healers in days long past. But, it appears that no one then considered eating it. Rhubarb leaves and roots are very poisonous due to a high concentration of oxalic acid. The stalk is the only part of the plant that’s edible. American pioneers loved the stalk because it’s prairie-hardy, shades out weeds, resists slugs and virtually all other pests and diseases. The stalks can be cut until early June though there’s divided opinion among gardeners how long to continue. The stalks gradually get tougher and more acidic as the summer gets drier. This is the time of year rhubarb plants begin appearing in garden centres

and gardeners without the plant start considering whether to make room for it. Because this plant loves rich living, one of its favourite spots is an old compost heap or an old manure pile. In those two places, it’s quite possible to dig the large-size holes some gardeners suggest sizable rhubarb roots need. A 45-cm-deep hole seems to work reasonably at ﬁrst, but as the plant grows it enlarges and, after a few years, moving it will take time and muscle. In most other locations, rhubarb does well if you give it a mulching with manure or compost when harvesting is over. Rhubarb also likes to be watered often. If that’s not possible, it helps if you can mulch with grass clippings through summer. Generally rhubarb adapts very well to partial shade. In full shade the stems tend to be thinner but still tasty and edible. Grown in full sun, the stems emerge early in spring but die down early unless you keep up with watering. There’s an art to harvesting rhubarb — pull straight up and twist to one side while keeping the stalk straight. Not everyone gets it right the ﬁrst

time, but any little pieces of stalk wasted should be removed because they can trigger rot in the crown. As these plants age, they sometimes throw up a giant spectacular head bearing hundreds of tiny white flowers followed by tiny, flat lily-like seeds. These stalks can grow to up to two metres tall. I brought a stalk inside once and spent the next week sweeping up flower bits. Most rhubarb sold in Canada has red, very tender stems and a mild flavour. Some of the most popular varieties include, Canada Red, German Wine and Honey Red. One old-fashioned type is Victoria, which has very large, greenish-red stems and is more acidic than most of the redder varieties. The Victoria is the one often passed over backyard fences from neighbours or relatives. It is possible for adventurous gardeners to grow rhubarb from seed and one source is Chiltern in England. One type, Glaskin’s Perpetual, is said to be cuttable the first year from seed. Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to her via amarrison@shaw.ca It helps if what city or region you reside in.

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

Arts&Entertainment

A15

GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com

Feb. 25 to 27, 2015 1. Dance fans with short attention spans, you’re in luck. The Dance Centre’s 12 Minutes Max series showcases innovative new works lasting 12 minutes or less from four emerging artists — Julia Carr, Dario Dinuzzi and Natalie Gan in collaboration with Francesca Frewer — Feb. 25, 6 p.m. at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Admission is free. Details at the dancecentre.ca. 2. It’s not often you see a literary event that includes a magic show. Local author Steven Galloway joins magician David Gifford for the latest installment of the Beyond Words series to “collaboratively explore the motif of magical misconception.” It all ties in nicely with Galloway’s latest novel The Confabulist, about the life and sudden death of Harry Houdini. Check it out Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m. at the Chan Centre. For tickets and details, go to chancentre.com. 3. Surprisingly, hometown melody-makers the Gay Nineties aren’t named after the stonewash denim, capri pants and Rachelhairdo-friendly 1990s, but the 1890s, which were “characterized by societal scandal, suffragette movements and decadent art.” Perhaps that means the band will wear pantaloons when they play the Fox Cabaret Feb. 26 to celebrate the release of their new album Liberal Guilt. Tickets at Zulu, Red Cat and Eventbrite.com.

A16

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

Arts&Entertainment

Expectations great and small explored How To Be employs dance, comedy and theatre to investigate how we think we and others ‘should’ be STATE OF THE ARTS Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

Choreographer and performer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg noticed many of us are constantly questioning ourselves, so she set out to investigate how we think we and others “should” be with dance, theatre and comedy. She and dancers Kate Franklin and Kimberly Stevenson will perform part of a piece in progress that’s called How To Be as part of Boca Del Lupo’s Micro Performance Series Feb. 26 to March 1 at the intimate Anderson Street Space on Granville Island. “We’re always like should I cut my hair? How should I behave? Should I extend my vocabulary? Should I go to graduate school?” said Cheyenne Friedenberg. “It’s a ﬁrst-world problem and it’s kind of debilitating for people,” the woman who’s in her 40s continued. “We’re constantly in this state of anxiety.” Cheyenne Friedenberg gathered Franklin, Stevenson, theatre artist Marcus Youssef, and dancers and choreographers Justine A. Chambers and Josh Martin to create the piece that she expects to complete in 18 months. They explored ideas that include how a person should look, how much they

Left to right: Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Kimberly Stevenson and Kate Franklin will perform an excerpt from the work in progress How To Be as part of Boca Del Lupo’s Micro Performance Series Feb. 26 to March 1 at the intimate Anderson Street Space on Granville Island.

should talk about themselves and how much they should listen, along with the feelings that arise when you hear how others think people should be. “It’s like this big psychological experiment,” she said.

Audience members will be close to the action during the 10 performances. “It’s almost like being on a subway car, when something odd happens, that we’re all kind of implicated because you can’t get

away,” she said, adding the proximity will offer audience members a chance to see subtle movements. “We can focus on the little shifts in the body that betray what we’re thinking, that betray emotion.”

The Anderson Street Space holds only 25 audience members, Cheyenne Friedenberg said. She’s designing the performance to allow onlookers to move as the piece progresses through the space. The more re-

served can watch from the security of a chair. Boca Del Lupo specializes in experimental theatrical productions and spectacular outdoor presentations while focusing on collaborations with international, national and regional artists. The theatre company mounts its Micro Performance Series on and near Granville Island to support the creation and development of new works in intimate and small-scale forms. Boca Del Lupo started the Micro Performance Series in 2011 and How To Be is the ﬁrst production for the 2015 series. Another excerpt, which includes Youssef, who recently returned to Vancouver from a run of the staged conversation Winners and Losers off-Broadway in New York, will be presented at the Dancing on the Edge festival at the Firehall Arts Centre in the beginning of July. How To Be hasn’t been fully formed but Cheyenne Friedenberg has already beneﬁted from new insights. “We’re all kind of struggling with the same questions, which is profoundly comforting,” she said. “What if we dropped the questions and just felt how we need to be moment-tomoment?” Tickets are $10 and there’s a talkback after the Feb. 27, 8 p.m. performance. For more information, see bocadellupo.com. twitter.com/Cheryl_Rossi

A new point of view.

CBC News Andrew Chang

Vancouver Weeknights at 5 & 6 pm cbc.ca/bc

@cbcnewsbc

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

A17

Arts&Entertainment Mountaintop humanizes MLK, the man and myth THEATRE REVIEW Jo Ledingham

joled@telus.net

Portraying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. must be like portraying Mahatma Gandhi or Jesus Christ: it comes with a lot of responsibility. And we all know how it ends. In The Mountaintop, under Janet Wright’s direction, Dion Johnstone does a fine job of humanizing King who, for most of us, is more myth than man: freedom fighter, civil rights and anti-war activist, preacher, Nobel Peace Prize winner. But King was first of all a man: a man who, according to rumour, was a womanizer. On occasion, he lied to his wife about the Pall Malls he smoked. And he took the occasional drink of something alcoholic. Of these three “weaknesses,” playwright Katori Hall spins a tale of the hours before King’s assassination at 6:01 p.m., April 4, 1968 on the second-floor balcony

of Room 306 (meticulously rendered by set designer Ted Roberts) in the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tenn. The title, of course, comes from King’s famous speech, “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,” delivered in support of striking sanitation workers, in Memphis’s Mason Temple on April 3, 1968. In the play, the writer introduces us to King, despondent over the less-thananticipated turnout at Mason Temple and desperately wanting a cigarette, a cup of coffee (also on wife Coretta King’s banned listed) while trying to write a speech that picks up on the elements of his “I Have a Dream” speech. His regular companion on these tours, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, has gone out looking for cigarettes — Pall Malls, nothing else will do — when King calls for room service, which, it turns out, has ended for the night. But, regardless, up comes room service in the form of pretty, ﬂirtatious, sometimes foul-mouthed Camae (Crystal Balint). She not only brings coffee but she

Dion Johnstone and Crystal Balint star in The Mountaintop, which puts a human face to the towering figure of Martin Luther King, Jr. — Pall Mall cigarettes and all.

has cigarettes and they’re Pall Malls, wouldn’t you know? And she’s got a ﬂask with something stronger than coffee in it. If you don’t twig to something at this point, you will later. There’s good chemistry between Johnstone and Balint. He’s handsome and sexy; she’s sassy and full of attitude and it looks like that’s where the play is going although Camae is turned

off by men with “smelly feet” and King has already sniffed his shoes in disgust. Still, there’s sexual attraction and they are together on a bed. But The Mountaintop does a 180 at this point and turns into something akin to It’s A Wonderful Life. For me, this was a major disappointment and, for a while, it sucks the life out of the production. There’s a lot of talk about “God’s plans” for King

and the useful function of martyrdom — which, in the present global crisis, rings alarm bells not church bells. Fortunately, the powerhouse that was Martin Luther King, Jr. begins to build again — prompted in part by a rousing “if I were you” speech that Camae, in King’s jacket and shoes, comically delivers standing on the bed. She concludes with “F***

the white man, f*** ‘em.” but King’s speech — the speech he never got to deliver — ends more peaceably with, “The baton may be dropped but anyone can pick it up.” The “promised land” is almost here and his “dream” of a peaceful world is imminent. Projection designer Candelario Andrade puts together an amazing collage of people and events who have shaken the world, underscored by King, on the eve of what he knows will be his assassination, describing a world where “hunger is no more,” where “destruction is no more,” where there is only “love.” Johnstone is very powerful in these ﬁnal scenes. And, of course, it’s the message we all want to hear. And then we go home to the TV news. “Nobody said it would be easy,” says Camae. She got that right. For more reviews, go to joledingham.ca The Mountaintop runs until March 14 at the Arts Club Granville Island Stage. For tickets, call 604-687-1644 or go to artsclub.com.

A18

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

Arts&Entertainment

McFarland runs on Disney fumes Costner stars in familiar feel-good sports drama MOVIE REVIEW Julie Crawford

jcrawfordﬁlm@gmail.com

Kevin Costner coaches an unlikely cross-country team in Disney’s McFarland.

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Kevin Costner has carved out a nice little niche for himself as a sports has-been.

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The actor has played an ancient baseball pitcher (For the Love of the Game), a washed-up golf pro (Tin Cup), an on-his-way-out baseballer again (Bull Durham), and a baseball fan who never turned pro, but who nonetheless ploughs perfectly good cornfields for the love of the sport (Field of Dreams). Costner’s got both the aging-high-school-jock good looks and the authoritative confidence to convince us that a comeback is always right around the corner. In Disney’s latest sports drama McFarland, Costner plays real-life high school coach Jim White, whose football coaching career has stalled thanks to an altercation with a mouthy teenaged player. Out of better options, Jim moves his family to the impoverished town of McFarland, Calif. McFarland is one of the poorest towns in America, in California’s Central Valley, almost exclusively Latino and with a prison conveniently located right next door to the high school. No one gets out of McFarland. “Are we in Mexico?” his younger daughter asks in earnest. Jim starts out coaching the Bad News Osos of high school football, whose players have neither the size nor the strength to crush any of their competition. What they do have is speed and stamina and resilience against the punishing Cali heat, thanks to years spent picking fruit in the fields before and after school. So rather than lose his post, Jim talks the school administration into putting together a cross-country team. It’s a brand-new sport in 1987, a rich-kids’ sport, the principal points out. Jim has never coached crosscountry, but the free uniforms seal the deal. His eventual team of seven includes a few decent runners (played by Rafael Martinez, Ramiro Rodriguez, Michael Aguero, Hector Duran, Sergio Avelar), one potential star (Carlos Pratts, TV’s The Bridge) and one chubby

leftover (Johnny Ortiz) to round out the numbers, the underdog on an underdog team. Coach is White, all right, down to the whitebread sandwiches he packs for lunch. The requisite culture-clashes ensue, alongside Jim’s conflicting responsibilities to his runners and the needs of his family (Maria Bello plays his wife; Homeland’s Morgan Saylor is his teen daughter). While Jim is a fish out of water in McFarland, his students are unwelcome in the new, WASP-ish cross-county arena; the boys face racial slurs at the starting line. Jim isn’t much better, wielding a kitchen timer instead of a stopwatch to log the boys’ progress. Once the team finds success, Jim’s coaching ability piques the competition’s interest: cue the usual lure of something better versus the moral imperative to do the right thing. It’s an underdog sports movie and ticks all the requisite boxes of its genre, although it feels somewhat novel because of its almost exclusively Latino cast. Unfortunately, any gains made in onscreen equality are lost in inadequate scripting (Jim’s wife’s assertion that nowhere has ever felt more like “home” than McFarland, with nothing convincing to back her up) or heaped-on Americana (Latinos can sing the national anthem, too, we get it). Ultimately it’s the little moments that hit home, like the fact that the boys live in California but have never seen the ocean. (One of the film’s new actors had that experience for the first time during filming.) No, it’s not as savvy as Costner’s Draft Day last year; however, there are plenty of clap-out-loud moments to be had, and the high-schoolers at the promo screening I attended whooped and applauded on cue, an excellent testimonial for Disney. Stay tuned for the amazing stats at the end, featuring many of the real characters portrayed in the film. McFarland screens at International Village.

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

A19

Sports&Recreation

GOT SPORTS? 604.630.3549 or mstewart@vancourier.com

By Megan Stewart

Senior girls basketball

AA girls: Little Flower Academy and Notre Dame will compete at the senior girls AA B.C. Championship at the Langley Events Centre March 4 to 7. The LFA Angels return to the tournament for the ﬁrst time since 2006, thanks to a comefrom-behind surge to defeat Jessica Hanson Seycove secondary 70-60 in the Lower Mainland semiﬁnals. LFA forward Jessica Hanson had a game-high 37 points in the win.

Senior boys basketball

AAA boys: The Tupper Tigers clinched their seat at the AAA senior boys B.C. Championship last week with an 83-65 win over Steveston-London in the Lower Mainland tournament. Tupper plays in a semi-final tonight but because the top four regional teams advance to provincials, they’ve already punched their ticket. Any additional wins determine seeding at B.C.’s. Tupper plays McNair 2:45 p.m. at the Richmond Oval Feb. 25. The championship game is 6:15 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Richmond Oval. AA boys: Britannia swept through the opening round of the AA Lower Mainland tourney with a 70-39 win over Cariboo secondary from Burnaby. Yesterday evening they played Palmer secondary in a semi-final and must win in order to battle for one of just two berths to the B.C. Championship. (The game was played after the Courier’s print deadline.) The championship game is 8 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Richmond Oval. A boys: St. Patrick’s, West Point Grey Academy and St. John’s continue to draw out a fiercely competitive season through the Lower Mainland tournament. Yesterday, St. Patrick’s met WPGA in one semi-final while St. John’s challenged Richmond Christian in the second. (You now know the drill: print deadline…) The top three teams advance to provincials, meaning all three Vancouver schools could continue their season — or, one could get left behind. The championship game is 6:15 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Richmond Oval.

UBC soccer hires Kovacs

Marisa Kovacs was named the new head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s soccer program on Feb. 19. Kovacs, who grew up in Windsor, Ont., previously coached at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga., and Simon Fraser University both NCAA Div. II institutions. Marisa Kovacs “The University of British Columbia is an amazing place and I hope to use my national ties, and more importantly, my local ties to recruit the very best from our soccer rich province of British Columbia,” Kovacs said in a prepared statement. She takes over for Andrea Neil.

By the numbers…

25.30

In dollars, the maximum non-refundable tax credit available to teachers who volunteer as coaches. This coaching credit was introduced with the B.C. Budget on Feb. 17. Teachers who volunteer 10 extracurricular hours a year can qualify for $500 each year for the next three years. If that seems like a good chunk of cash, don’t be fooled. The return is a maximum $25.30 for each eligible taxpayer. Don’t take it personally, coaches — you’re worth more than this ﬁgure suggests.

Thompson Trojans head coach Jimmy Choi directs traffic from the sideline in a senior boys AAAA city championship quarterfinal against the Kitsilano Blue Demons Feb. 11. The unranked Trojans upset B.C.’s No. 10 team 93-84. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Cinderella story hangs in the balance Thompson Trojans surge through post-season BASKETBALL Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

The Thompson Trojans are trying on Cinderella’s slipper to see if it ﬁts. If it does, you know what they’re wearing to the big dance next month. The surprise team from David Thompson secondary is powering through the post-season on a string of upset wins against provincially ranked AAAA teams, including a double overtime win against St. George’s to reach the Lower Mainland tournament quarter-ﬁnals tonight at the Richmond Olympic Oval. In that win, the Trojans pulled ahead on the tremendous output of Harry Brar. The six-foot-three forward had 54 points in an 87-85 win. “Going into St. George’s with the kids that I have, they’ve never seen anything like it,” said Trojans coach Jimmy Choi. “Going into that school and seeing what money does for other people, they were a little in awe of everything that was there. There was a grand piano in the middle of the hallway. I didn’t know whether or not they would be able to focus. It was like wonderland.” The Trojans jumped to a

double-digit lead in the first quarter and held a sizeable spread at halftime. “We caught them off guard,” said Choi. “They underestimated us and might have walked in with a little too much swagger.” St. George’s sprung back with a 10-point lead in the third quarter and the Trojans began to wilt. Choi described it as “a little bit of panic.” He pushed Brar to step up since this will be his final year. “Once he heard my words, it was bombs away.” In the second overtime, Brar effectively demanded the ball and cleared the court. He scored a lay-in and drew the foul, which he sunk. “He faked the pass to Parmvir [Hyare], the defence bit and he drove right down the lane and laid it in with an and-one.” In tonight’s quarterfinal, the Trojans play Burnaby South and must contend with top prospect Jermaine Haley. They play at 6:15 p.m. at the same time Kitsilano meets St. George’s. At 8 p.m., Churchill clashes with Vancouver College and Windermere meets New Westminster. The top three teams advance to the B.C. Championship, held at the Langley Events Centre from March 11 to 14. This tournament could be

the last for Choi — at least for a while. After this season, he’s stepping down as the senior boys head coach. He may or may not coach at a younger level next season. If not, he will be missed from the program he helped build from almost nothing over the past decade. The decision is one that frustrates retired Killarney coach and Choi’s mentor, Tom Tagami. “I would be disappointed if it was going to be his last year because I think he’s got a lot to offer the school,” Tagami said this week from Arizona. “He’s developed himself into a very good coach. The other thing is that he’s aware of the entire program — the Grade 8s, 9s, 10s — and he’s concerned about the development of the basketball program as a whole at Thompson, rather than just coaching one particular team. If you’re going to be a senior coach, that has to be something you’re trying to develop.” If Choi is leaving for good, said Tagami, “I have no respect for him and he’s copping out. One thing I have always said to coaches who have decided to move down to a lower level or leave is don’t bail out on the program and leave the cupboard bare. “If you’re going to be the

senior coach, you’re going to be in charge of basketball for your school and it’s important […] you are concerned for the overall program and are not just coaching for your own ego and coaching the best team. If that’s what you’re doing, I have no respect for you. I see too many coaches that do that — I’m hoping Jim is not one of those people and I don’t think he is.” Choi got his start on the court at Strathcona Community Centre and then Britannia secondary, where he graduated. At the time, Tagami, who is still actively involved with basketball in B.C., was at Killarney and encouraged Choi to take a position, which then led to a full-time teaching job at Thompson as a P.E. and shop teacher. Choi and Tagami still chat every few days, and right now it’s a lot about basketball. “You’re using the sport as a vehicle for life lessons,” said Tagami. “It’s not winning the championship that is important, it’s what the kids get out of it 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years. And he realizes that.” With an inﬂuence like that, it’s hard to imagine Choi won’t be back on the bench — if not next season, then soon. twitter.com/MHStewart

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Sports&Recreation

Churchill Bulldog Katrina Kwong (No. 10) stays out of reach of her McMath defender during a senior girls AAA Lower Mainland semi-final at New West secondary Feb. 20. The Bulldogs lost 67-36. PHOTO REBECCA BLISSETT

Bulldogs fight for season BASKETBALL

Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

The Churchill Bulldogs had one more shot to extend their post-season Tuesday night. The senior girls basketball team is the last public school still competing for a berth at the 2015 provincial championship next month at the Langley Events Centre. Four Lower Mainland teams advance from the Crehan Cup, and the Bulldogs played Surrey’s Charles Best secondary yesterday in a wildcard game for the ﬁnal berth.

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(Because of the tyranny of deadline, I’m sorry to say the Courier is not able to report the results in print.) Churchill lost their semi-final to the Richmond McMath Wildcats, ranked fifth in B.C. last week, on Feb. 20. The next day they dropped a 53-43 game to Burnaby Mountain and would have to fight for their season with a string of wins. To stay alive, the Bulldogs beat New Westminster 64-51, almost repeating the score from earlier in the tourney when Churchill won 64-50. In their first must-win game, Cecilia Bao finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

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Grade 10 student Alexa Leynes added 14 points and was selected as a tournament all-star. Coach Jennifer Eng said Trisha Pajayon swung momentum in their favour with a surge of baskets. “We took it and never looked back,” said Eng. “The team is ecstatic to have made it this far in their season,” she added. “This has been a great learning experience, as this is a tough tournament and comes down to mental toughness and stamina. We are also very lucky to have such great support from the Vancouver basketball community.” twitter.com/MHStewart

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