WEDNESDAY
May 13 2015
Vol. 106 No. 37
GELLER 10
Vancouver needs a cleaning CAMP-O-RAMA 12
Developing young leaders THEATRE 25
Shakespearing things up There’s more online at
vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION
THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908
Schooling the mind John Oliver secondary focuses on mindfulness Cheryl Rossi
crossi@vancourier.com
A young girl leaned into 18-year-old Amandip Thiara as their group played a game of memory with homemade cards Monday morning. Later, two little boys asked Thiara for help with their balloons. Thiara and her class of Grade 12 family psychology students from John Oliver secondary visited John Henderson elementary Monday morning equipped with actionpacked lesson plans related to a book called Who Am I? The objective of both the book and the visit: explore mindfulness. “I wish we had this in elementary. It would be so much fun,” Thiara said. “I like how kids get to interact with older kids. They get to learn more. I remember when we were small we used to be so scared of older kids.” Thiara’s class has been learning since October about paying attention to their thoughts, feelings and the related sensations in their bodies. Continued on page 7
HEAD CLASS John Oliver secondary student Jasdeep Gill, left, John Henderson elementary student Dexter Cruise, JO student Amandip Thiara and Henderson students Kathy Thoy and Dev Joshi participated in a mindfulness exercise at the elementary school Monday morning.
PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
Yes side mounts final appeal Friday deadline for requesting new ballots
Mike Howell
mhowell@vancourier.com
With only three weeks until voting closes, the Yes side in the transportation and transit plebiscite battle launched a big push this week to urge its supporters who still haven’t voted to mail in their ballots. Organizers will use newspaper and radio ads, a rally in Surrey, a telephone town hall meeting and a “ride-in-yourvote” bicycle event to urge voters to cast a ballot for a 0.5 per cent tax hike that will help pay for a $7.5 billion plan to
curb congestion in Metro Vancouver. “It’s just really finding those people who have already decided to vote yes and encouraging them to vote,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor B.C.’s area director and one of four co-chairpersons of the Better Transit and Transportation Coalition. Ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on May 29 but McGarrigle, whose union represents bus drivers, said the coalition is focused on this Friday’s deadline. Eligible voters who didn’t receive a ballot, lost it or misplaced it have until midnight May 15 to request a new ballot package, which includes a “certification envelope” that must be signed and birthdate provided. “A lot of people, we think, may have just accidentally recycled their ballot,
or lost it somehow, and we just want to remind the public about this and that it’s so important for our region,” he said of the mayors’ plan which promises more buses, increased HandyDart and SeaBus service, upgrades to roads and cycling infrastructure, rapid transit in Surrey, a new Pattullo Bridge and a subway along the Broadway corridor. New ballots can be picked up — or completed ones can be dropped off — at one of nine Elections B.C. plebiscite depots in Metro Vancouver, including two in Vancouver. A complete list can be viewed on the agency’s website. Elections B.C. reported May 6 that it received more than 600,000 ballots, or about 38 per cent of the 1.56 million
BOOST YOUR CHILD’S SKILLS THIS SUMMER FRASERACADEMY.CA 604 736 5575
packages mailed to registered voters in Metro Vancouver. Although voters cast ballots at polls, Vancouver’s 2014 election saw a 43.4 per cent voter turnout. The agency will provide an update Wednesday on the returns. Don Main, communications manager for Elections B.C., said the HST referendum in 2011 was the last mail-in only vote in the province. Voter turnout reached 52.7 per cent, with almost half of the returns sent in during the last two weeks of the voting period, Main said. “If history repeats itself, we won’t know that until it happens,” said Main when asked if the agency was anticipating the same last-minute wave of ballots. Continued on page 5
BOOST CAMP Session 1: July 6-17 Session 2: July 20-31 For students entering grades 3-8 1:1 ACADEMIC SKILLS DEVELOPMENT July & August Monday-Friday To improve math, language arts and/or study skills. For students entering grades 1-12