Vancouver Courier May 20 2015

WEDNESDAY

May 20 2015

Vol. 106 No. 39

CITY LIVING 8

Kids rock Heritage Fair ENTERTAINMENT 19

Theatrical Heights SPORTS 20

Fast trackers There’s more online aatt

vancourier.com om MIDWEEK EDITION

THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908

Cops nab 733 sidewalk cyclists Council gives VPD $500,000 for crackdown Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

The Vancouver Police Department continues to crack down on rogue cyclists and wrote 733 tickets over the last four years to cyclists for riding their bikes on a sidewalk, according to statistics provided to the Courier.

The statistical evidence suggests some city councillors’ accusations at a council meeting Tuesday that police weren’t enforcing laws against cyclists for riding on a sidewalk are unwarranted. Councillors Tim Stevenson, Adriane Carr and George Affleck all raised concerns about police inaction on ticketing cyclists for riding on a sidewalk.

“I’ve never seen police ever doing anything,” Stevenson told council after listening to presentations from city staff related to

cycling and transportation. “I don’t know if they have a program. It’s difficult to catch people, obviously, unless you have some sort of a system with police waiting at a certain place like radar traps. But I would really like this to be taken more seriously.”

Affleck told reporters after the meeting that police weren’t “doing their job” enforcing laws for cyclists riding on a sidewalk, riding without a helmet or without a bell on their bikes, which he said would help reduce collisions with pedestrians.

“Certainly, as councillors, the number one complaint we get is related to enforcement — that we are not enforcing the laws that exist,” said Affleck, whose concerns were echoed by Carr, who suggested staff work with the city’s active transportation advisory committee to identify “hot spots” where infractions are prominent.

Continued on page 5

City paying for urban farm flop Jen St. Denis and Darryl Greer jstdenis@biv.com

A failed urban farm located in a downtown parkade continues to be a costly headache to the City of Vancouver.

According to documents filed in a continuing lawsuit against the city, a greenhouse and equipment from the farm is still located in the parkade, over a year after the company operating the farm went bankrupt.

In a counterclaim filed April 20, EasyPark, a non-profit authority that manages parkades owned or leased by the city, claims it has been unable to use the roof of the parkade or make any income from the space.

EasyPark alleges the greenhouse is a safety risk because it could collapse in a heavy snowfall, and it continues to pay for security

and maintenance related to the greenhouse, according to court documents.

EasyPark is asking for an injunction requiring the farm’s current owners to either remove the greenhouse from the roof of the parkade, or permit EasyPark to remove and dispose of the structure.

The counterclaim follows an initial lawsuit filed by Clay Haeber and a numbered company on March 3. In that claim, Haeber alleges the City of Vancouver’s refusal to transfer a licence to operate the farm in the parkade to his company is breach of contract.

Meanwhile, Donovan Woollard, one of the proponents of the high-profile vertical farm that went bankrupt in 2014, says he still believes in the concept and is now working with an Australian company on a new project.

Continued on page 6

CATCHING ON Fisherman Shaun Strobel, director of the community-based fishery Skipper Otto’s, says fishing has improved with the rising demand for local and sustainable food: “It just feels good to provide food for people.” See story page 4. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

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W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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News Paige’s story highlights government inaction 12TH&CAMBIE Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

Sorry to bum all of you out after the long weekend.

But that’s kind of my job.

And this story about Paige really bummed me out.

You’ve probably heard her story via various media channels — 19-year-old woman dies of a drug overdose in a washroom adjacent to Oppenheimer Park in 2013 after years of abuse, neglect and “persistent inaction from front-line professionals and an indifferent social care system that led to this young woman’s demise.”

The quoted part of that sentence is courtesy of a report released last week by B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

In releasing the report, Turpel-Lafond called it “one of the most troubling investigations my office has ever conducted.”

Which is saying something, considering her office

conducted more than 20 reports over nine years that revealed how government failed vulnerable children and youth in this province. A major focus of the work conducted by Turpel-Lafond’s office has been advocating for better services for aboriginal children, youth and their families, an overrepresented population in the B.C. child welfare system.

Paige, whose surname wasn’t published, was aboriginal.

Before Paige’s story became part of the conversation last week, TurpelLafond’s office released a report in November 2013 that detailed how the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) spent $66 million over the past dozen years on aboriginal service-delivery discussions and projects, with no evidence of a single aboriginal child or family receiving better services as a result.

This is what TurpelLafond said then: “Aboriginal children and youth in B.C. deserve better. MCFD must make a real effort to improve the outcomes for

Paige at birth, as a child and before she died of a drug overdose at 19 in the Downtown Eastside. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF B.C.’S REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH.

those children by actually knowing what they require and what works to support them. Government needs to stop directing money into the big theoretical fixes, and instead shore up the front lines of the system.”

This is what she said when I spoke to her by telephone Friday: “I’m not confident change is going to happen unless we push hard and I can’t be alone. I need people to support me.”

She used the word “alone” twice in the

10-minute interview.

Here’s the second time: “I absolutely feel completely alone with respect to pushing this issue. I feel like I push, push, push. I go to the senior leadership in health, I go to the senior leadership in education and I go to the senior leadership in the Ministry for Children and Family Development and they continue to find many, many reasons why they can’t tackle it, none of which I find acceptable.”

That pushback, she said,

is why she wrote in her report about Paige that “I could only call this institutional racism.” She added that “for some kids, I guess they’re disposable. But of course that’s not acceptable and they’ve got to be pressured to change this.”

Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux’s initial response is that she was “horrified” by Paige’s story, saying “from the moment she was born, she faced obstacles that few of us can imagine or actually comprehend.”

The fact remains, she said, that despite the “dedicated and well-intentioned efforts” of ministry staff and repeated involvement throughout Paige’s life by a number of organizations and professionals, “the system ultimately failed to keep her from harm.

The result is unacceptable.”

So, there you have it — Turpel-Lafond says it’s unacceptable, so does Cadieux.

But only Cadieux has the power to make some change.

So what’s she going to do about it?

For a start, she’s imple-

menting a “rapid response team model for youth” in the Downtown Eastside.

“Because we need to catch kids as soon as possible before they become entrenched in one of the worst areas and neighbourhoods in our province — an area that nobody deems fit for a child or teen to live in,” Cadieux told reporters. “To help youth, we have to hear about them, though. And it shouldn’t matter which professional or service provider, or organization is that first point of contact for youth. There are lots of services available but they need to come together.”

While Turpel-Lafond welcomes any action, she noted the reality for many young vulnerable aboriginals like Paige who live in Vancouver is this: “Right now, the drug dealers, the pimps and the exploiters have more command of the social system than does the social care system.”

Read Paige’s story at rcybc.ca @Howellings

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

News

Community fishery hits the spot

Kathleen Saylors

kathleen.saylors@gmail.com

Shaun Strobel didn’t so much choose fishing as it chose him. As a child born into a fishing family, he spent weekends out on the boat and worked with his father part-time.

“I started going with him on a part-time basis in 1977, when I was just a boy out of school for the summer,” he said.

Now he’s a fisherman and director of Skipper Otto’s, a community-supported fishery in Vancouver. Last Thursday marked the beginning of Vancouver’s annual spot prawn season and the members of Skipper Otto’s could pick up the return on their investments in the form of pounds and pounds of prawns.

Skipper Otto’s claims to be different from other fisheries because of the role consumers have, Shaun said. Members pay before the catch has even been hauled ashore, buying shares that allow them access to fish for

Last Thursday marked the opening of Vancouver’s annual spot prawn season. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

the season.

“Through the community fishery we sell our own fish, my fish, my father’s fish and other independent small-scale fishermen that we’ve known for years and do things the right way,”

he said.

The fishery came about as a way to help Otto Strobel, Shaun’s father, break even in the industry, said Sonia Strobel, managing director and co-founder with husband Shaun.

Before they founded the fishery, the two were high school teachers who took part in community-supported agriculture projects that allowed them to buy produce directly from farmers.

“We had the brainwave one day: maybe we could apply what farmers have done to agriculture to fishing,” Sonia said. The fishery started in 2008, and has grown to include 1,400 members.

Members buy credit into the fishery in $100 increments and pay a small membership fee.

Once the fish is caught, members order quantities, the price of which is subtracted from their credit.

Sonia said prices are “less or comparable” to what is found in stores.

“Anyone that’s a member can give us an order,” noted Shaun. “We tell them ‘We’re going to have 300 pounds of prawns tomorrow, how many would you like?’”

The model works because customers are funding the fishery and in exchange receive fish.

Sonia said one of the main benefits to belonging to the fishery for consumers is transparency about where their food comes from.

“They know exactly

who caught it, how, where and when, and they know exactly who touched that fish between when it came out of the ocean to when it got on their plate.”

Sonia said the fishery has a wide range of members from young professional to families and seniors. What they all have in common, she said, is a desire for better and more ethical food.

“The thing they all have in common is a concern for the environment and a concern for social justice, and that spans demographics.”

Shaun said working as a fisherman has improved since the trend towards local and sustainable food has taken off in Vancouver and elsewhere.

“Now that it’s farmers first, and food producers and fishermen are recognized and important again, it’s good. People line up and want to shake your hand and hear stories of the sea,” he said. “It just feels good to provide food for people.” @KathleenSaylors

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W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

Some city councillors criticized police this week for not cracking down on cyclists who continue to ride on sidewalks. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Councillors split on stats

Continued from page 1 The statistics provided to the Courier didn’t indicate location but showed 202 tickets for riding on a sidewalk were issued in 2011.

That decreased to 132 in 2012, then increased to 230 in 2013 and dropped again in 2014 to 169. Each ticket comes with a $129 fine.

Tickets for riding without a helmet totalled 1,810 in 2011. Police issued 1,808 in 2012 and 1,541 in 2013.

Last year, tickets issued dropped substantially to 990.

The cost of a ticket is $29.

Const. Brian Montague, a VPD media liaison officer, said he understands concerns from council and the public about dangerous habits of cyclists. Police also hear the same concerns about pedestrians and motorists and have to prioritize enforcement, he said.

He noted that during an interview Wednesday with a television reporter outside the VPD’s Cambie Street precinct, at least a dozen cyclists rode by on the sidewalk. About half were not wearing helmets, he said.

“Yes, our job as police is enforcement and education but we can’t ticket everybody,” Montague said.

“There’s no way you can do that — even if we put the entire police department on duty to do nothing but ticket cyclists. Would the citizens of Vancouver be happy with how we are deploying those resources? Probably not.”

Added Montague: “There are bad drivers, there are bad cyclists and there are bad pedestrians. And there’s lots of good drivers, good cyclists and good pedestrians, too.

But everyone has a role to play here. If everyone followed the rules of the road, we would have far less collisions and far less fatalities.

Bottom line.”

Mayor Gregor Robert-

son reminded councillors at Tuesday’s meeting that council dedicated $500,000 in the 2015 budget to the VPD to target dangerous drivers and cyclists who put pedestrians at risk in school zones, on sidewalks and near community centres, parks and libraries.

The VPD are still working on implementation of the campaign but Montague said enforcement will be “a big part” of the focus, although he added that “plans can also change depending on the results or impact of what action is being taken.”

A staff report that went before council last Tuesday showed that cyclists made an average of 100,000 trips per day last year. On the Burrard Bridge alone, monthly cycling trips reached 300,000, according to the report, which also showed more people were riding bikes, taking transit and walking than ever before in the city.

An accompanying report on cycling safety showed cycling trips were up 41 per cent between 2008 and 2011, with collision rates decreasing by 17 per cent for the same time period. While half of all collisions involved a vehicle, only eight per cent were related to a cyclist colliding with another cyclist, pedestrian or animal.

Coun. Andrea Reimer remarked on the city’s success to get more people taking alternative modes of transportation than a vehicle. She also pointed out the cycling safety study indicated that 93 per cent of collisions involving bicycles showed cyclists had the right-of-way.

So she wondered why councillors were focused on bad behaviour of cyclists instead of the good news in both reports. Her remarks seemed to cause her fellow Vision Vancouver council-

lors Stevenson and Kerry Jang, who once participated in a cycling course but prefer driving, to abruptly leave the council chambers before being reminded that a quorum was needed to conduct the meeting.

“As long as we’re seeing cyclists as being always being at fault, it’s very difficult for the drivers to change their behaviour,” Reimer said before the two councillors got up from their chairs.

Reached Thursday, Jang and Stevenson told the Courier that Reimer’s comments had nothing to do with them simultaneously leaving the chamber.

Stevenson said he needed a coffee and Jang said he needed a washroom break.

As for his comments to council regarding police inaction on ticketing, Stevenson said he now believes police are taking the issue seriously and he was pleased to hear the VPD issued 733 tickets over the last four years.

“I think that’s excellent,” he said, noting his main concern is with seniors being caught off guard by cyclists riding on sidewalks. “The fact that I didn’t know about these [statistics] obviously means a lot of other people don’t, either. You don’t read about it. It would be helpful to publicize because I think that those cyclists who do do that need to know that indeed the police are looking out for them.”

Told about the statistics for the ticketing of cyclists for riding on sidewalks and not wearing helmets, Affleck said he still believes police could do a better job to enforce the law. He argued that with staff reports showing an increase in cycling, the VPD stats actually show a decline in tickets.

“To me, based on statistics, it shows me they aren’t doing their job,” he said.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

News

New buyer sought bragging rights Continued from page 1

‘Innovative spirit’

In 2012, Alterrus, a company trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange, signed a licence agreement with the City of Vancouver and EasyPark to use space in the parkade at 535 Richards St. Alterrus and its subsidiary, Local Garden Vancouver, operated the vertical farm in the parkade. It used a system involving stacked trays that moved automatically “to maximize exposure to natural light,” according to court documents.

The business model for the farm involved selling pesticide-free greens and herbs to high-end restaurants. Local Garden hired people with barriers to employment and planned to deliver by bicycle, according to media reports from 2012.

At the time of its launch, Mayor Gregor Robertson said the project showed “the innovative spirit in our city’s booming clean tech sector.”

Public filings for Alterrus show the company tried several business ideas from the time it was incorporated in 1996, from bicycle rentals for hotels to online dating to skin care.

By 2007, the company was focused on vertical farming, and in June 2012, changed its name from Valcent to Alterrus.

Alterrus’ 2012 annual financial statement showed an accumulated deficit of $52 million.

In 2014, both Alterrus and Local Garden Vancouver went bankrupt. The companies owed over $4 million, including $1.2 million to the largest creditor, Vancity Credit Union, and were behind on rent payments to EasyPark.

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The business model for the vertical farm, operated by Alterrus and its subsidiary, Local Garden Vancouver at a downtown parkade, involved selling pesticide-free greens and herbs to high-end restaurants. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

prises, Woollard partnered with Alterrus to launch Local Garden. Woollard is also director of Radius Ventures, a social enterprise program at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.

“For various reasons which I’d rather not get into, Alterrus as a company went bankrupt,” Woollard said. “At the end of the day there were a number of creditors of which I was one. I am hopeful for the space and [I] continue to do work in the vertical farming space and would love to see that facility open up again.”

Woollard is working with a potential business partner in Australia on another vertical farming project, although the venture is in a preliminary stage, he said. It’s possible the project may be based in Vancouver.

Strawberries forever

Haeber was appointed to Alterrus’ board in

n! li lio M

November 2013. In his lawsuit, Haeber claims he incorporated a numbered company because he wanted the vertical farming operation to continue and he was “keenly interested in the urban gardening concept.”

Haeber did not respond to interview requests.

Haeber is currently head of information technology for Kit and Ace, a clothing firm started by the son and wife of Lululemon founder Chip Wilson.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Haeber worked at Lululemon between 2007 and 2013.

Haeber’s numbered company purchased the loans owed by Alterrus and Local Garden and became owner of the farm in July 2014, but still had to negotiate with the City of Vancouver and EasyPark for a licence to operate.

Haeber claims he told the city that once he got the licence, he would sell all his shares in the

numbered company to Affinor Growers Inc., a company with experience growing medical marijuana in a vertical farming format. Like Alterrus, Affinor trades on the CSE, an exchange with simpler reporting requirements and lower fees than the Toronto Stock Exchange or the TSX Venture.

According to Haeber’s claim, Affinor confirmed to the city in writing that it would only grow vegetables such as strawberries in the parkade, not marijuana.

Affinor is not a party in the lawsuit.

Haeber alleges that both EasyPark and the city, along with Alterrus and Local Garden’s bankruptcy trustee, agreed to the terms of the licence agreement, prompting Haeber and Affinor to ink a $1.4 million deal for the operation, which included $500,000 in cash and the rest in Affinor stock.

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grant the licence meant Haeber lost $1.4 million, he alleges. Haeber is now searching for a new buyer.

In a response, the City of Vancouver claims that city solicitor Heidi Granger made it clear to Haeber that final authority to sign a licence agreement rested with either the city’s director of legal services or city council.

The city alleges that while Haeber advised them he planned to sell the business to a third party in April 2014, he didn’t tell the city the identity of the buyer until the following August.

When the city did due diligence on Affinor, the response claims, it learned the company was in the business of growing medical marijuana. Affinor’s financial statements “raised concerns with respect to Affinor’s financial circumstances,” according to court documents.

“Ultimately, the City rejected the plaintiff’s

proposal that Affinor be substituted in place of Haeber,” states the city’s response.

Now Affinor is considering launching its own lawsuit, said Nick Brusatore, the company’s chairman.

He said his company lost $210,000 when the deal fell through.

“I feel borderline discriminated against,” he said.

Affinor has several projects in the works for both vegetable and medical marijuana production, Brusatore said. None of the farms is yet operational.

Brusatore doesn’t believe a vertical farm in the downtown parkade is viable as a business. His aim was to use the farm as a demonstration project to “have something pretty for the city so we could brag about what we did.”

The City of Vancouver declined, and EasyPark did not respond to, interview requests for this story.

With files from Mike Howell

Is vertical farming viable?

Nick Brusatore, chairman of Affinor Growers, believes vertical farming has big potential.

“Human beings, we’re fairly dirty — E. coli comes from us,” Brusatore said.

Because vertical farming is automated, it’s “impeccably food safe … there’s no water waste.”

At a vertical farming operation his company is developing in Quebec, Brusatore said, 1,100 plants can fit into every 120 square feet. Affinor is interested in growing vegetables and medical marijuana using vertical farming techniques.

But Navin Ramankutty, a professor who studies global food security at the

University of British Columbia, is skeptical about the business of vertical farming.

“I think it makes sense from a demonstration point of view,” Ramankutty said. “But from a pure economic point of view it doesn’t make sense to me. Urban areas are some of the most highly valued pieces of land. And vertical farming requires a lot of energy.”

Ramankutty said it was difficult to imagine how vertical farming, with high infrastructure and energy costs, could be profitable — with one exception.

“If you have a high-value crop like [marijuana], then it makes sense to do that.”

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W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

Marpole Oakridge Community Centre to move?

Firehall preserved for new community services Stanley Tromp stromp@telus.net

The location for a new Marpole Oakridge Community Centre remains a hotly disputed topic, and will likely remain so for the rest of this year.

The Marpole-Oakridge Community Association has called a public meeting on several local planning topics at the centre at 990 West 59th Avenue at Oak Street for 6:30 p.m. on May 25th. City planning staff are expected to attend.

“The Marpole Oakridge Community Centre will be demolished,” association president Mike Burdick wrote in an email notice to members. “The City of Vancouver is planning to build the replacement community centre in a high-density hightraffic location on Granville Street instead of at its current location in Oak Park.”

But Susan Haid, the city’s assistant director of planning for Vancouver South, told the Courier that the statement is “incorrect,” because the city has made no such decision yet. The Marpole Community Plan approved by city council last year called for a replacement and renewal of the community centre, but did not mention a location.

“We don’t have a preconceived plan at all,” she said. “We will go through a very robust planning and consultation process with the community about the location, led by our parks commission, which will likely start later this year.”

Burdick remains unconvinced, saying that “in our discussions with city staff, they said they really want to relocate to where the Marpole library is, and they also have property on Granville Street, so the inference is

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always there.” He attached a 34-page presentation to his email to argue why the centre should stay put.

The two main items on the May 25 meeting agenda are Marpole traffic and transit issues, and the Cambie Corridor Phase 3, which may rezone some houses just west of Cambie Street between 59th and 68th Avenues. Burdick wants the meeting to focus on those items and leave discussions of the community centre for the later public consultations, although he added that city staff can talk about the centre at the meeting if they wish.

In a civic electoral debate last October attended by 200 people at the centre, most people booed when candidates raised the prospect of moving the centre, and applauded at the proposal of keeping it at its current location.

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In other Marpole news, Haid foresees a bright future for the former Marpole firehall at Hudson Street and West 70th Ave., which has been closed for repairs since a flood in 2013. Because the firehall is on the city’s protected heritage list, as noted in the Marpole Plan, no demolition is planned.

“Our city facilities group will be looking at community uses in the facility once its renovation is completed, we expect by end of 2015,” Haid said.

Meanwhile, on plans for a 10-acre park at the foot of Cambie Street at the Fraser River, she said the city is negotiating for the land through its real estate branch.

“We hope to have an update on that soon. It’s in the Marpole Plan, we have secured funding to get a site, and it’s a huge priority of council and the city manager,” she said.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Community

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1. Janet Morley, centre, has been Vancouver’s Heritage Fair coordinator since 2007. 2. Lizzie Valencia, right, a Grade 6 student at John Norquay elementary school, focused her Heritage Fair project on Nellie McClung while Vivi Cao, a Grade 4 student at Lord Selkirk elementary, researched the Vancouver fire that burned the city to the ground 100 years ago. 3. Emily Law, a Grade 7 student at General Brock elementary school, focused on Paris Shoes and Paris Orthotics, a Vancouver businesses her grandfather Steven Paris founded. 4. Euan Scipperfield was one of the few boys who participated in the open house at Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre this past Saturday. The Edith Cavell elementary school student’s project was about the history of Bauer, which created the first hockey skate blade that was permanently attached to a boot. 5. Olivia Richards, a Grade 6 student at Edith Cavell elementary school, focused on the Commodore Ballroom for her project, for which she interviewed Aaron Chapman, Courier contributor and author of Live at the Commodore. She created a split model of the ballroom’s famous dance floor, with big band leader Dal Richards on one side, and glam rockers KISS on the other.

See photo gallery online at vancourier.com. PHOTOS REBECCA BLISSETT

Students go deep at Heritage Fair

CITY LIVING Rebecca Blissett

rvblissett@gmail.com

The level of knowledge in the gymnasium at the Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre was so high you would have been surprised, if you hadn’t been told ahead of time, that it came from the brains of elementary school kids.

It was the first time in Vancouver’s 11-year history of participating in the British Columbia Heritage Fairs Society that select students in grades 4 to 10 from all across the city were invited to showcase their projects to the public. While the work was presented by way of the traditional upright threepanel board, it was not of the paper mâché volcano

variety — topics included a fascinating range of the little-known to the wellknown aspects of Canadiana. Topics ranged from Ontario’s Orillia Asylum for Idiots and the Edmonton Fur Tannery to the more local Granville Island and the Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter.

“Some of these students ask their parents if they can be in the class the next year where they know a teacher is participating,” said Janet Morley, who has been Vancouver’s Heritage Fair coordinator since 2007.

“They have that passion for their particular project.

Looking back over the years, I’ve probably had 3,000 different topics. Kids come up with anything.”

Not having limits, aside from geographical, gives students the creative fuel

they need to get carried away. The project start month is January and Morley said they are sparked by a variety of inspirations, as in the case of Amy Liu, a Grade 7 student at Sir Sandford Fleming elementary who read Barbara Greenwood’s Factory Girl and discovered the sad history of child labour in Canada during the 1800s and early 1900s.

“I was really surprised because, my goodness! I didn’t know child labour even happened in Canada,” said Liu, who is one of the five students from Vancouver selected to present at the B.C. Fair in Victoria, July 2 to 6.

Another student, Euan Scipperfield, was inspired not by books but by something he is exposed to every day.

“Hockey is pretty much my life,” said the Grade 7 student at Edith Cavell elementary. “I’m on the ice every day and everybody I play with uses Bauer hockey equipment so I always wondered about the story of their success.”

Scipperfield, a bantam division goalie for the Vancouver Thunderbirds, said the most fascinating thing he learned from research was that, in 1927, the Bauer family started the business as a shoe company in Kitchener, Ont., and created the first hockey skate blade that was permanently attached to a boot.

It’s not just strong research skills that earn entry into the Vancouver Heritage Fair; it’s also the ability to demonstrate critical thinking skills, said Morley.

“The students work really hard in their approach to the critical thinking aspect rather than just pure research. By the time the school fair happens in March or April, everybody in the class has the opportunity to present their project for 10 to 15 minutes and then each teacher picks three students to represent each class at the event here,” she said.

“Sometimes there are duplicate ideas but most teachers say, ‘I’m not having two Louis Riels, or two Battles of Abraham, or two Tim Hortons or whatever.’

They end up negotiating because the students don’t want to end up in competition with one another.”

It’s a competition just to get into the Heritage Fair selection. There were about 100 students involved this

year and that explains why the competition outgrew its previous home at Museum of Vancouver two years ago.

Killarney secondary school offered its gymnasium to the group, along with the suggestion the fair move to the community centre for one day to give the public a rare glimpse of the projects.

And, even then, with the allowable numbers, it’s a challenge for the judges to choose which students get in.

“I have a waiting list,” said Morley. “But it’s tough, we’ve chosen the best ones but I could go into the gym next door and put another 100 projects up and you wouldn’t notice any difference because the quality is outstanding.” @rebeccablissett

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News

Free store focuses on the useful Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

A man wearing a turquoise cap hopped off his bike in front of the East Side Free Store Tuesday afternoon and told the Courier he wanted to poke his head inside.

“That lion sweater caught my eye,” he said referring to a sweatshirt that featured a lion’s face, replete with green and topaz bejeweled eyes.

Passerby Alvin Hackett said he’d picked up a jacket, shoes, a T-shirt, backpack, hat and socks for free at the store. He wishes more people knew about the shop.

“As long as they don’t take advantage of it and sell things in the Downtown Eastside,” he said. “That’s a no-no… Bad karma.”

Hackett, a resident of a low-income hotel near Oppenheimer Park, plans to donate alarm clocks to the store that runs on donations. A street-front free store as of this year, it started as an annual event created by artist Julia Higgs and a few friends.

“We had this idea just before Christmastime,” she said. “We wanted to do something to curb the mass consumption of the Christmas shopping madness.”

Red Gate Arts Society provides the store’s ®

“We find homes for abandoned objects that would otherwise go into the landfill, particularly stuff that people value but they can’t use anymore,” says artist Julia Higgs of the East Side Free Store. To see related video, go to vancourier.com. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

100-square foot space at 855 East Hastings St. free of charge.

A painting of a tattooed pig with a long snake-like tongue graces one section of wall and a sticker on an old boom box reads, “Not free, thanks!”

Cassette tapes, CDs, records, a Forrest Gump VHS tape, sewing pat-

terns, clothes, books and hugs are just some of the free goods on offer.

“Part of the fun of this project is watching people’s responses to the amassed bric-a-brac of forgotten commodities. I see the experience spark personal reflection on how we treat and value objects,” Higgs wrote in a handout

for the volunteers who help her staff the store.

Shoppers can take items from the store without donating.

“It’s not a trade or an exchange. The idea is that however it would be useful to you, that is how you can participate,” Higgs said. “We find homes for abandoned objects that

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would otherwise go into the landfill, particularly stuff that people value but they can’t use anymore, they just don’t want to see it go to the Salvation Army or anywhere.”

The free store has seen a snowboard, an inflatable dolphin the length of the shop, a bicycle, and flatscreen TVs pass through its door.

When the free store ran as an annual event, young backpackers from Europe once scored two sets of skis and boots that fit them perfectly, making it possible for them to swish down local mountains.

“It was just one of those perfect free store moments,” she said.

Area resident McKay Wood wanted to learn about the Free Store as he and his daughter lingered outside, mid-bike ride, chewing on landjäger sausages they’d bought at the adjacent Les Amis du Fromage.

Wood prefers the idea of donating to the free store, rather than Value Village.

“Value Village is a forprofit entity and it’s nice if we can donate locally and give back to our community with free stuff,” he said.

“Everyone loves free.”

The East Side Free Store seeks clean, functional, useful objects. It accepts bras but not used underwear, bedding or cathode ray tube TVs. “I’m not a garbage disposal service,” Higgs said.

Those who want to help stock the store can visit during store hours, which are noon to 4 p.m.

Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and 2 to 5 p.m. Fridays. For more information, see facebook. com/vanfreestore. @Cheryl_Rossi

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Opinion

Millennials shouldn’t Responses to dirty lower expectations streets column vary Jessica Barrett Columnist

jessica.barrett@gmail.com

Every generation has its cross to bear.

I hear this time and again when discussing the particular challenges of my Gen Y cohorts (for those just tuning in: job instability, stagnant wages, skyrocketing education and housing costs, environmental degradation, to name but a few).

Of course it’s true.

Our parents had the Cold War to contend with and the oil crisis. Their parents had the Second World War, and so on.

The thing that irks me, though, is when this pithy truism is trotted out in order to shut down any conversation regarding possible solutions to the very real, very worrying challenges faced by millennials.

I’m not saying we have it worse than our predecessors, although economic indicators do point to us being in the first generation in history to be less prosperous than our parents. But in revisionist history narratives, previous generations seem to have managed to get out of Dodge through sheer gumption, determination and bootstrappiness. In reality, they had help.

It took an international, intergenerational effort to end the Second World War, for instance, and the era of economic prosperity peacetime ushered in made it easier for our parents to land stable, well-paying jobs than any other generation in history.

And yet, when it comes to the issues facing young people in cities like Vancouver and Toronto — chief among them housing prices — society at large seems to have thrown up its hands and said: Yeah well, that’s the way it is. Deal with it.

And so we do. We cobble together careers out of contract jobs, scramble to pay the rent and convert pantries into nurseries for growing families. Up to now, my preferred coping mechanism for this reality has been acceptance in the form of Zen-like indifference. But Eveline Xia has me wondering if maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to acquiesce to a life of lowered expectations.

“We seem to think we either have to move or accept the status quo,” she told me. “But you just look around the world and there are so many examples of conservative, free-market governments, like Hong Kong, who’ve stepped in [to the housing market].”

Indeed, as many as half of Hong Kong residents live in some kind of subsidized housing, and in Australia a robust public housing system eases the cost burden for low and middle-income earners. Xia has

become somewhat of an expert in housing market interventions in the month since she vented her frustration on Twitter under the hashtag #Donthave1million. That tweet — her very first — quickly snowballed into a powerful social media campaign that has installed her as a leader in the crusade for affordable housing. She sees many options for intervention here, from preferential property tax rates for local residents to the rekindling of a national housing strategy.

On May 24, she’ll be discussing them at an affordable housing rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery beginning at noon.

Xia said she believes her tweets hit such a nerve because they tapped into a generation embarrassed to speak up about their financial difficulties and fearful of being tarred with the entitlement brush. And there’s certainly been a vibrant backlash skewering millennials for making their own beds by being apathetic voters, or painting us as spoiled children holding out for white picket fences in the most expensive market in the world.

It’s a predictable response, but it misses the point. Sure, younger generations have a role to play in setting our own fortunes — voting in sufficient numbers would sure be a good start. But Xia makes the point that we’re not asking for multi-million dollar mansions. We simply need a few affordable housing options that will allow us to raise families in the communities where we live, work, and in many cases, grew up. In Xia’s view, it’s time to ask for — if not demand — the same courtesy other generations enjoyed in overcoming their challenging times: help.

While Xia’s focus is on getting it from all three levels of government, I’d add another target group to the cause: our parents.

They may not be able to lend us the exorbitant sums required for a down payment, but they can lend us their political clout. The simple reality is that until we do start showing up to the ballot boxes en masse this issue won’t get much attention from the powers that be without an intergenerational effort. Rather than pitting young against old, I hope Sunday’s rally brings us together in the aim of making the world a little easier for those who are stuck in the starting blocks. So if you’re planning on coming out, perhaps invite mom and dad along. And if you’re a little skeptical that waving some signs will bring about help on the scale we need, just take a cue from even further down the generational spectrum. As my grandfather used to say: it never hurts to ask. @jm_barrett

Michael Geller Columnist

michaelarthurgeller@gmail.com

When I wrote last week’s column after seeing garbage piled up on the pavement along East Hastings Street, I expected a good number of responses.

But I was still astonished by what many of you had to say.

Some online comments were included in Friday’s Courier, including a note from Joji Kumagai of the Strathcona BIA clarifying that the Hastings Crossing BIA is responsible for daytime cleaning of this portion of East Hastings Street, not his organization.

Sarah P. was more critical: “Michael Geller, your pearl clutching is embarrassing. And if you’re this hard up for column ideas, you might consider just not submitting something, rather than turning in this kind of ideological dreck.”

I did hear from Wes Regan, executive director of the Hastings Crossing BIA. He initially was of the view shared by many others; namely that my concern for weeds and garbage outweighed any concern I might have for the people on the street.

I subsequently spoke with him. He questioned how a BIA with the smallest budget in the city could reasonably be expected to keep the 100-block of East Hastings Street tidy, noting their entire budget could be blown through in a couple of months.

He referred me to the city’s street cleaning and sanitation departments since he has often asked for more garbage cans but they never seem to arrive.

I promised to mention this with the hope that my column might result in more garbage cans along the street.

He also pointed out that it is important to distinguish between the regular sidewalk street vending along 100-block and the Pigeon Park Street Market, which is relocating to a new site on Powell Street, adding: “If we want to see cleaner, nicer, safer looking streets, we should eliminate poverty and work with street vendors.”

While I hope we do not have to end poverty before we can have cleaner streets, I do acknowledge another of Regan’s concerns, also indirectly expressed in Jordon Shaw’s Facebook comment: “This isn’t clutter, this is their living room. How would you like it if someone took a picture of your liv-

ing room?”

Low-income neighbourhood residents have steadily lost indoor spaces to socialize in over the past 15 years.

The 24-hour diners have disappeared and mom and pop restaurants are being priced out of the neighbourhood. As a result, a lot more people are looking for places to hang out.

However, last week’s column and the accompanying photograph were not about the street vendors or people standing around on the street. My concern was the garbage being allowed to pile up on the road.

While many defended the mess since the people are poor, a local resident named Deirdre shared my view of the situation. Poverty has nothing to do with being dirty; it’s stereotypical to believe they go together.

Last week’s column also elicited concerns about other parts of the city.

Jacqueline wrote: “Our streets downtown are dirty as well! Have you ever looked around the Bay and seen and smelt the urine? Granville Street is awful!”

While I heard similar concerns about other neighbourhoods, I received encouraging words from the City of Vancouver.

It seems Vancouver does have an adopt-a-block program as part of the Keep Vancouver Spectacular (KVS) initiative and 76 blocks are being looked after.

The program is in its 20th year, with 18,739 participants, and as part of this year’s kickoff and Tourism Vancouver’s annual cleanup, volunteers do cover part of the Downtown Eastside.

In addition, the Chinatown BIA is doing a cleanup on May 24 and the Carnegie Centre organizes cleanups throughout the year. There is also one volunteer that who lives in the neighbourhood who cleans up each Sunday after the Pigeon Park Market.

So there you have it. Yes, the 100-block East Hastings Street is a serious problem that needs attention, but the city-wide situation is not as grim as I may have portrayed.

Now, if we could get more garbage cans and additional funding for street cleaning along Hastings Street, hopefully I won’t have to write on this topic next year.

This will no doubt please Sarah P. @michaelgeller

The week in num6ers...

500 733 1.4 66 76 In thousands of dollars, the amount city council dedicated in the 2015 budget to help police target dangerous drivers and cyclists in school zones, sidewalks and city property.

Over, the past four years, the number of $29 tickets handed out by Vancouver police to cyclists for riding their bikes on sidewalks

In millions of dollars, the amount Clay Haeber alleges in a lawsuit against the City of Vancouver that it has cost him for refusing to transfer a licence to operate a failed urban farm.

In millions of dollars, the amount the provincial Ministry of Children and Family Development has spent on aboriginal services over the past 12 years.

The number of city blocks volunteers help clean up as part of the Keep Vancouver Spectacular initiative now in its 20th year.

8

The number of different mainstage shows at this year’s rEvolver independent theatre festival at the Cultch running May 20-31.

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A11

Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DTES mess a market-driven problem, says councillor

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

Basi-Virk corruption trial begins

May 17, 2010: Nearly seven years after a police raid on the B.C. Legislature in connection with the $1-billion sale of B.C. Rail to private-sector rival CN Rail, the trial of then-ministerial aides Bob Virk and Dave Basi begins in B.C. Supreme Court. The two were accused of accepting bribes from a lobbyist company representing one of the potential bidders. The sale was controversial because then-Premier Gordon Campbell had made an election promise not to sell the publicly owned railway but, once elected, his Liberal government instead privatized it. Basi and Virk both oiginally pleaded not guilty but, just as a long list of powerful government and Liberal Party insiders were about to take the witness stand, they switched their pleas to guilty in exchange for the provincial government paying their $6-million legal bill. They were each sentenced to two years of house arrest.

Feds shut down B.C. coho fishery

May 21, 1998: Federal fisheries minister David Anderson shuts down the B.C. Coho salmon fishery, saying there was scientific evidence that some wild stocks were close to extinction, including runs on the Skeena and Thompson rivers. The ban came amid tense negotiations with the U.S. over Pacific salmon fishing rights, with Alaska fishermen being accused of catching too many fish returning to B.C. rivers to spawn.

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Re: “Vancouver needs a good spring cleaning,” May 13.

Michael Geller’s recent discovery of garbage along the curb of the 100-block East Hastings St. resulted in two factual mistakes: first, the conclusion that “there is now an area in our city which the sanitation department deems too dangerous to keep clean during daytime” and secondly, that the city lacks a volunteerdriven spring cleaning program.

In fact, Keep Vancouver Spectacular, Vancouver’s neighbourhood-based, volunteer-driven program is now in its 20th year and has been well under way for weeks.

So far this year, more than 18,700 volunteers have worked on 79 city blocks, collecting tons of litter. Chinatown’s clean-up is scheduled for May 24 and the Downtown Eastside has already had one event. Carnegie Centre does its own periodic clean-ups and a volunteer has adopted Pigeon Park.

But the city does not rely on volunteers alone for street cleaning. Night time cleaning is often much more efficient, when people and cars are fewer. About 18 per cent of the city’s street cleaning budget is directed to the Downtown Eastside, from Cambie Street to Campbell Avenue, with mechanical sweeping four to seven nights a week and motor litter cart cleaning seven days a week.

In addition, the city supports social enterprise initiatives through Street Grants funding so groups like United We Can can do micro-cleaning of city lanes and streets through the Downtown Eastside. These low-barrier jobs for local residents provide two shifts, Monday to Friday, morning and afternoon.

The litter Mr. Geller spotted probably originated with the informal street market that has sprung up on that block.

The city has been involved in intensive efforts, working with the VPD, Vancouver Coastal Health, the community and many stakeholders to find a safe new location for this activity. That work continues, but the city has already concluded that in the new location, there will be proactive measures to control garbage and vendors will be registered.

Like all Vancouverites, we are proud of our city and want to see it look its best.

Coun. Geoff Meggs, Vancouver

Show wealth-disparity complainers the door

Re: “Nice rich people don’t need poor doors,” May 13.

One more person blaming rich people

Barry Link

ddhaliwal@vancourier.com

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.

ONLINE COMMENTS City needs new approach to preserving old homes

Re: “City’s anti-demolition policy is a failure,” May 15.

I can’t agree more with this article.

Instead of issuing restricting regulations on demolishing older homes, the city should hold open discussions with homeowners to know what would encourage them to keep the homes standing, how to make the best use of their houses and maintain the house to raise its market value.

If the house is too small on a big lot, the city should allow extensions and additions to raise the functionality and house value. If it’s a huge house on a small lot, allow multiple units or boarding houses.

All should be done with ease as opposed to with great difficulty. The city has to put an effort to make these houses appealing to own and maintain instead of a burden to keep. The city will have to change its attitude from policing homeowners to actually working with them to maintain the heritage of our city.

Look at Europe. Buildings and houses are hundreds of years old, are in perfect function and their market value is skyhigh not because some developer is going to buy them and knock them down but because they are spacious, they are updated to reflect modern life use and most importantly hold historical value.

A Vancouver Homeowner, via Comments section

Trip numbers are misleading

Re: “Cycling getting trippy in Vancouver,” May 15.

Interesting. I’ve already encountered people who said the count increase was biased. Now I can tell them in black and white how they got there. Or refer them to the Courier. donclaw, via Comments section

have your say online...

FLYER SALES

Dee Dhaliwal

for having the nerve to live the way they want. Thanks to those wealthy bastards and those evil developers, poor people can afford to live in a place with roof and running water in a city the people at City Hall have been obsessed with selling to the world as the best place to live.

I find people using the phrase “poor door” are usually self-entitled persons who think we all should have granite counters and soaker tubs but someone else should pay for them.

Being poor is not a shame; whining and demanding to have free stuff and expecting rich people to have “social responsibility to their neighbours or the children of our society”(after the hefty sums of money paid in taxes) is blatantly egotistic and irresponsible.

Mario Castanon, Vancouver

604.738.1412

vancourier.com FACEBOOK TheVancouverCourierNewspaper TWITTER @vancouriernews WEB

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, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Family

Remade fashion, online safety and food CALENDAR

available at tedxgastownwomen.com.

tickets and events found at europeanfestival.ca

Kathleen Saylors

May 30

June 5

kathleen.saylors@gmail.com

May 23

Upcycle, verb: to create something out of a used or discarded product that has more value than the original.

That’s exactly what some of Vancouver’s leading designers and fashion students did over the course of a twomonth project. The challenge was to create two or three high fashion pieces out of used clothing. Come see their results at the Upcycled Fashion Show, hosted by Frameworq. Tickets and information at frameworq.ca

May 27

It’s no secret that between different forms of social media, a lot of our personal information is available online. But how do you manage all this information? The Vancouver Public Library is hosting a free workshop on managing and protecting your online presence, exploring

Protecting yourself online will be the focus of a free workshop at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

social media, privacy and your professional presence.

The workshop is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Central library branch. Reservations required, call 604-331-3603 to reserve a spot.

May 28

Did you know that B.C. produces 75 per cent of the world’s jade supply? In honour of B.C. Jade Day on

May 28, the public is invited to a free screening of Circle of Life, a film about one of the world’s most interesting gemstones and the people who mine and carve it. Reservations are recommended and jade-coloured drinks will be served. The event will take place at Beaumont Studios. See bcjadeday. eventzilla.net for reservations and information.

May 29

Vancouver’s inaugural TedxWomen event will be live in Gastown. Community leaders will deliver talks riffing on this year’s theme, “fearless.” Bring your mom, aunt, sister or daughter to hear what Vancouverites — from authors to entrepreneurs — have to say. The event is from 3-9 p.m. Tickets

Hawkes pop-up market and food celebration brings the best of national and international food to Vancouver. Featuring shows, chefs and the “most unique” food Vancouver has to offer, guests are invited to party until the early hours of the morning at the Rocky Mountaineer.

Best of all, admission is free!

See hawkersmarket.com for dates, times and tasty treats on offer.

Love John Hughes? One of the most important directors of the 1980s directed only eight movies, but classics like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Home Alone have become cult classics. Attend the opening reception of We’re All Pretty Bizarre an art show dedicated to paying tribute to his work, from 7 to 11 p.m. on June 5.

The show runs June 4 to 27.

Visit hotartwetcity.com for more information. Bueller?

May 30-31

June 6

Everyone knows summer is the time to take off to somewhere new and exotic. But with the cost of plane tickets, many of us are homebound for the sunniest of seasons. No need to fear — the Vancouver European Festival is bringing a little taste of Europe to us.

Representing more than 30 countries, learn about the culture, music, and food, of Europe. Festival tickets are $10. Complete line-ups,

Bring the family down to Oak Park in Marpole from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a longstanding Marpole tradition. Worth venturing to find from as far away as downtown, the day will have rides, entertainment and snacks for the kids. The festival features free admission and takes place at the Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre. See marpoleoakridge.ca for more information.

Theatre • Music • Acrobatics • Puppetry

THE FUN STARTS MONDAY! May 25 - May 31, 2015 childrensfestival.ca

SAVE UP TO $5 ON PLAYPASSES AT: PNE_PLAYLAND

PNECLIPS

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A13

Family

Girl donates hair to remember sister Shannon Lynch

shannonlynch815@gmail.com

Three weeks ago, David Shannon had to say goodbye to his baby daughter.

Elizabeth passed away on April 22 because of a knot in her umbilical cord. She was expected to be born a month later by caesarean. But after Shannon’s wife couldn’t feel her baby moving, she went to the hospital.

When Shannon and their two daughters came to meet his wife there, the ultrasound showed no heartbeat.

They got to hold her for the first and last time.

“We had our moment of absolute despair and tragedy,” said Shannon.

“We got to hold Elizabeth for over 24 hours before it was time.”

After such an immense loss, the family wants to give back. Shannon’s five-year-old daughter Mila is donating her long, blonde hair to Wigs for Kids, a charity for children with cancer. In just over a

week, the North Vancouver couple has already received $3,300. Their goal was a grand. Shannon said it’s been overwhelming.

“The grief has been overwhelming, the loss had been overwhelming,” he said.

“We have everything set up for this baby to come home and it’s gone.

That’s been completely overwhelming and then you get this response ...

And that’s been overwhelming because you’re just like, ‘whoa, there are some amazing people out there.’”

Shannon and his wife, Caitlin Grange, both teachers, took to social media to get the word out about their story and cause. Through Facebook, Twitter and community groups, they’ve received a lot of support from friends, family, colleagues, and even from strangers.

“We’ve had strangers come to the house and deliver food,” he said.

“There isn’t enough words to describe how

David Shannon, Mila, 5, Caitlin Grange, and Juliette, 2, hold baby Elizabeth for the first and last time after she passed way from a knot in her umbilical cord three weeks ago.

grateful we are for all their compassion and support at this time.”

Mila is having her hair cut on May 21, the day Elizabeth was expected to arrive. Shannon said “a good chunk” — six to eight inches of Mila’s hair, which now falls to the middle of her back, will be cut off. She’ll have the cut at Avant Garde Hair Studio in Yaletown.

“Her hair is that white, golden blonde, that precious golden colour,” said Shannon. “So hopefully

there will be some kid out there who will really enjoy this set of hair.”

All the money donated

will go towards Wigs for Kids, which is set up through B.C. Children’s Hospital. Shannon said though Mila might not completely understand everything about the money and overall significance that her haircut means, but that in time she will.

“We’re just incredibly proud of her handling Elizabeth’s passing and what’s she’s doing right now. I think that in the years to come she’ll realize that how big this was and how important it was to give something back.”

For those interested in donating, search for Mila Shannon’s name in the Wigs for Kids page on the B.C. Children’s Hospital website. @shannon1726

VOICES OF THE STREET

SPECIAL LITERARY ISSUE

CELEBRATING 5 YEARS

GIVE A COMMUNITY ITS VOICE by purchasing a copy of the special literary issue, Voices of the Street, from Megaphone’s homeless and low-income vendors.

Find your vendor here: Find.MegaphoneMagazine.com

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Living

Walk for the dogs

Sandra Thomas

sthomas@vancourier.com

Spanish Banks

SEE BETTER FASTER

More than 200 walks in support of Canadians with physical and medical disabilities take place across Canada May 31, including an event at Spanish Banks.

The annual event, sponsored by Purina Walk for Dog Guides, raises funds for the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides, a national charitable organization that breeds, trains and places service dogs with qualifying applicants.

The walk in Vancouver was organized by the Vancouver Burrard Lions Club, a strong supporter of the foundation. This is the 30th anniversary of the walk.

The Purina Walk for Dog Guides has gained steady momentum over the past three decades, last year raising more than $1.16 million. Thanks to lead sponsor Nestlé Purina Pet Care, 100 per cent of funds raised go directly to dog guide programs, offsetting the cost of breeding, training and placing the animals. The walk is a family and dog-friendly event, suitable for all ages and abilities. A dog is not necessary to participate.

Registration takes place at 9 a.m., May 31, at the

East Concession at Spanish Banks. The walk begins at 10 a.m. To register or for more information visit purinawalkfordogguides.com.

Downtown

Join Beauty Night staff and volunteers for a unique night of mingling and networking combined with all your favourite beauty services.

Drink wine and connect while getting a blowout, a Dermalogica MicroZone skin treatment, back massage, make-up touch up and manicure and, more importantly, find out how it feels to help the women of the Downtown East Side through the magic of Beauty Night. The Beauty Night Society builds selfesteem and changes lives of impoverished women and youth through three streams of programming wellness, life skill development and makeovers.

All proceeds from the event will be dedicated to Beauty Night’s mandate of women helping women.

Thanks to 500 volunteers, in the past 14 years Beauty Night has been responsible for 50,000 life-changing makeovers. The event takes place from 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, May 21, at Dermalogica, Suite 332-1177

LASER CATARACT SURGERY WITH THE CATALYS PRECISION LASER SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE AT THE CAMBIE SURGERY CENTRE

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This weekend, owners of four Lower Mainland greenhouses are inviting the public to see for themselves just where much of their food comes from and how so much can be produced from so little — and for so long.

To visit a B.C. greenhouse is an opportunity to see firsthand scientific solutions to the time-and-space restraints on food production that have challenged humankind since the start of agriculture. In B.C., greenhouse production of flowers and vegetables accounts for 21 per cent of total agriculture production. That production occurs on only 1/100 of one per cent of all the province’s agricultural land.

As well, in B.C. greenhouse production puts fresh local vegetables on the kitchen table 10 months of the year.

The tours are in conjunction with B.C. Veggie Day, May 23, an initiative supported by the provincial government’s Buy Local Program delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. with funding from the agriculture ministry. Visit bcgreenhousegrown.com for times and locations. @sthomas10

MISSING A TOOTH? Dr. Marianna Klimek

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W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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There are periods in our lives when we feel stuck in the middle. These are the in between times when we feel far from where we want to be in life.

It can be when we’re young and single; when we’re in high school, trying to get into a good postsecondary program or just trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives. It can be the mom who can’t wait until her toddlers are in school so that she can get some of her personal life back. Then there’s mid-life when we longingly think back to those very times when we were young and most of life was ahead of us.

Med school was one of those in between times for me. Often what we were doing was far removed from our goals. Though I had many good preceptors, some were not great teachers and treated students poorly.

I just made it through one surgical rotation after getting on the bad side of my preceptor. As we were transferring a patient from gurney to operating table, the sedated patient passed gas.

I asked, “Was that the patient . . . or someone else?”

The surgeon said, “It’s usually the first person who mentions it.”

I foolishly said, “It’s usually the first one who blames someone else.”

Unhappiness arises from the gap between what we have and what we want.

When my patients need a reminder to appreciate the good things in their lives, I ask, “What is it we don’t want?” After a moment of surprise, they usually start listing bad things they would like to avoid.

But the answer of course is that we don’t want what we already have.

We want what we don’t have — something we want

“We’re all stressed

by Dad’s illness.”

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In the case of lifestyle changes, the greatest challenges are old habits. The man who wants to quit smoking repeatedly fights against the habitual pattern of smoking in response to old triggers.

in the future or something we’ve lost in the past.

We take what we have for granted.

But sometimes what we want is something better for ourselves — communicating better with others, stronger personal relationships, feeling more engaged in our work and our studies, enjoying a healthier lifestyle.

Maybe what we want is a better world — solutions to poverty, disease, injustice and other forms of suffering.

So when we’re unhappy, we have three choices.

1. Do nothing and stay unhappy. 2. Learn to love what we have. 3. Take steps toward positive change to create a better life.

At a physician leadership conference last week, I saw an empowering aphorism on a colleague’s notebook: Accept what you cannot change; change what you cannot accept.

Every day in my office, I treat patients who bring their lists of problems to be solved.

Sometimes the problems are difficulties quitting smoking, losing weight and eating a healthier diet. Sometimes they are uncomfortable psychological states, such as anxiety, anger, depression or low self esteem.

In the case of lifestyle

changes, the greatest challenges are old habits. The man who wants to quit smoking repeatedly fights against the habitual pattern of smoking in response to old triggers. The one who is struggling with anger replays the thoughts that reinforce his sense of being right and feeling justified in his anger.

With depression and anxiety, we can be preoccupied with those negative feelings, fight them but replaying the very thoughts that reinforce them. Thinking that we’ll never be happy, reinforces feelings of hopelessness.

Thinking that something bad will happen, reinforces anxiety.

The first step to positive change is to set a clear goal. Ask, “What do I really want?”

Once you’ve articulated your goal, you can break that big goal into the necessary but small, manageable steps, and when you successfully complete each successive step, your confidence grows and you move steadily in the direction of your dreams.

The crucial ingredient is the power of visualization.

Visualization allows you to clearly see your goal.

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Friedrich H.G. Brumm please call 604-325-1914 To get me through the in D.D. B.A. www.mydentures.ca between times of medical Denturist - 27 yrs exp View my school, I started using hypvideo with Now Accepting New Patients nosis tapes from the public No Referral Needed library. Most useful was a recording on relieving stress ICTORIA RIVE ENTURE LINIC and anxiety by well-known 5477 Victoria Drive (at 39th) psychologist, Dr. Lee Pulos.

“EUROPEAN QUALITY AT CANADIAN PRICES” By amazing coincidence (that some would call synchronicity), Dr. Lee Pulos will be teaching a workshop on “The Power of Visualization” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 23 at the Vancouver Masonic Hall 1495 West Eighth Ave. This seminar is open to both the public as well as health professionals. The cost is $175/ person.

For more information, contact the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BC) at (604) 688-1714 or hypnosis. bc.ca. #207 - 1160 Burrard St • Vancouver, BC Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician. You can SoundHearingClinic.com read more about achieving your positive potential in health at davidicuswong. …ge aught …get …get caught caught …get …get caught caught …get caught in our web wordpress.com.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

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3550 Lougheed Highway, Vancouver, BC D#6279 | Open Sunday: 12pm – 5pm | D#6276 604-676-3778 | vancouver.mbvans.ca ©2015 Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc. Lease offer based on 2015 2500 144" Cargo Van (Stock #S1501913). National MSRP $41,300 *Total price of $44,960 includes freight/PDI of $2,895, dealer admin fee of $595, air-conditioning levy of $100, PPSA up to $45.48 and a $25 fee covering EHF tires. **Additional options, fees and taxes are extra. 1 Lease example based on $510 per month (excluding taxes) for 60 months. Lease APR of 4.99% applies on approved credit. Down payment or equivalent trade of $5,000, plus first payment and applicable taxes are due at lease inception. Cost of borrowing is $6,186. Total obligation is $39,910. Lease offer only valid through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. 2 Please note the $5,000 discount has been applied/included in the calculation of the monthly lease payment, it is only valid on 2015 Sprinter Cargo Vans delivered before May 31, 2015. † Three years of scheduled maintenance covers the first 3 factory scheduled maintenance services or 3 years, whichever comes first; and is available only through finance and lease through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Scheduled maintenance interval for model year 2015 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is the earlier of 1 year or 25,000 km. The specific maintenance services included are described in the applicable Owner’s/Operator’s Manual and Service/Maintenance Booklet. 3 Extended Limited Warranty covers up to 6 years or 160,000 km (whichever comes first) and has a value of $1,895. Only applicable on lease and finance offers. Offers are non-transferable, non-refundable and have no cash value. 4 Based on a comparison of the Automotive News classification of full-size commercial vans. 5 Based on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standard Testing of 2014 model year Sprinter 2500 cargo van, 144" wheel base, standard roof, at 50% load capacity, and at highway/city speeds according to the standards of the “CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM NEW HEAVY–DUTY MOTOR VEHICLES [Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations – Part 1037]” as conducted by Mercedes-Benz in September 2013. Stated fuel consumption based on highway driving cycle. Your actual fuel consumption may vary. Not for comparison purposes. Fuel efficiency test results determined using Government of Canada approved test methods are not available. Offers may change without notice and cannot be combined with any other offers.

Certain limitations apply. Vehicle license, insurance, and registration are extra. Dealer may lease or finance for less. Offers may change without notice and cannot be combined with any other offers. See your authorized Mercedes-Benz Boundary Vans Centre for details or call the Mercedes-Benz Vans Sales Centre at 604-676-3778. Offer valid until May 31, 2015.

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Arts&Entertainment

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GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com

1

May 20 to 22, 2015 1. Showcasing new works from emerging theatre artists, the rEvolver Theatre Festival takes over the Cultch May 20 to 31. Plays include The Art of Building a Bunker, Caws & Effect, Double Recessive, Hell of a Girl and The Progressive Polygamists among others. For tickets and details, go to upintheairtheatre.com/revolver-festival or the cultch.com.

2

2. Three-man musical ensemble the Alloy Orchestra performs a live score to accompany the screening of the twisted 1924 silent film He Who Gets Slapped.

Starring Lon Chaney as a sad-sack clown who relives the greatest humiliation of his life, day after day, the live film event screens May 21, 7:30 p.m. at Vancity Theatre.

Details at viff.org.

3. Hailing from Queens, New York, big and bearded rapper Action Bronson brings the goods to the Vogue Theatre May 21, 8 p.m. in support of his full-length major label debut, Mr. Wonderful. Tickets at ticketfly.com.

4. Lisa C. Ravensbergen and Thomas Hauff star in God and the Indian. Set against the backdrop of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Drew Hayden Taylor’s play explores what is possible when the abused meets the abuser and is given a free forum for expression. It runs May 20 to 30 at the Firehall Arts Centre.

For tickets and more information, call 604689-0926 or go to firehallartscentre.ca.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Arts&Entertainment

Boca Del Lupo shows empathy for the wolf Big Bad updates Little Red Riding Hood with modern, interactive flair at Children’s Fest STATE OF THE ARTS Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

The grandmother speaks from the belly of the beast in Boca Del Lupo’s contemporary take on Little Red Riding Hood.

She remarks on how scary wolves look from the outside but how empty the wolf is on the inside.

“And what it must be like to be a wolf and have everybody be afraid of you,” said Boca Del Lupo’s artistic producer, Jay Dodge.

The reimagined fairytale, called Big Bad, will premiere at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, May 26 to 31.

Boca Del Lupo’s artistic director Sherry J Yoon and Dodge consulted with a child psychologist and students in Grades 1 to 4 in the making of this multimedia production that was commissioned for the festival.

“Empathy is a big part of dealing with danger and fear, understanding where the other person is coming from, and it’s really funny,” Dodge said.

The grandmother, played by award-winning playwright and actor Lucia Frangione, refers to Wikipe-

Big Bad, Boca Del Lupo’s contemporary take on Little Red Riding Hood, premieres at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, which runs May 26 to 31.

dia while she’s in the wolf’s belly and notes wolves don’t actually eat people.

“The more you know, the less there is to be afraid of,” Dodge said.

A movie-like segment of the production features a woodsman, a “bumbling boob” according to Dodge, who uses a selfie stick and

live feed akin to Skype or Facetime to take the audience on a journey outside the theatre.

The mother character will get audiences involved in helping her craft a monster with paper and live video.

What danger looks like today isn’t as simple as it perhaps was when Charles Perrault penned Little Red Riding Hood, which was

published in 1697.

“Wolves don’t look like wolves so much anymore, when you think about Internet predators,” Dodge said.

He and Yoon wanted to explore the tension between keeping your child safe without making them afraid of the world in the show, which is meant to appeal to audiences of all ages.

Big Bad’s creators hope

the fun and engaging performance will provide parents, teachers and kids with a vocabulary to refer back to in discussions about safety and potential dangers.

Boca Del Lupo combines its fearlessness in telling stories with technological sophistication, as it did drawing on real-life accounts of conflict photographers with PHOTOG., its know-how

in creating all-ages productions as it has done at Stanley Park and beneath the Burrard Street Bridge, and its love of collaboration to create Big Bad. “We get a lot of energy out of working with people from different disciplines,” Dodge said. “That’s what keeps it surprising and delightful both for us in the creation process but also I think it translates to the audience as well, it takes it to the stage.”

Mara Gottler, co-founder of and costume designer for Bard on the Beach, fashioned the costumes for Big Bad, and craft artist Valerie Thai helped Boca Del Lupo design the monster-making segment.

Boca Del Lupo also presents a Micro Performance Series that supports the creation and development of new works by local, national and international artists working across disciplines in intimate and small-scale forms at the Anderson Street Space on Granville Island. The next installment, May 28 to 30, is I Think I Can, an interactive model railway installation by Terrapin Puppet Theatre from Australia.

Big Bad will run at the Granville Island Revue Stage. For more information, see childrensfestival.ca or bocadellupo.com. @Cheryl_Rossi

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Arts&Entertainment In the Heights is a cultural stretch for Arts Club

Tony Award-winning musical set in largely Dominican-American neighbourhood of NYC’s Washington Heights THEATRE REVIEW Jo Ledingham

joled@telus.net

For one fleeting moment I thought, “Oh, a new, locally created musical about the Heights” — that lively stretch of East Hastings chockablock with delis, eateries, fresh produce stores, used books, a great hardware store and coffee bars galore.

But of course, the titular “Heights” is a run-down northern Manhattan neighbourhood in New York City with its predominant population of DominicanAmericans.

With music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, In the Heights was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Choreography. It was also nominated for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama but was beaten out by Gina Gionfriddo’s ferociously gritty Becky Shaw. Not in the same dramatic ballpark as Becky Shaw, In the Heights is a fine musical with a happy ending.

The action happens over three hot days in July in the Heights, and choreographer Lisa Stevens cranks it up with sizzling salsa and calorie-burning breakdancing. Outstanding in the “busting a move” department are Julia Harnett, Alexandra MacLean, Julio

KUDOS & KVETCHES Trifecta of loss

It’s been an emotional week here at K&K headquarters. On Friday, the Irish rock band U2 closed out a two-night stand at Rogers Arena and left Vancouver to embark on a worldwide tour. On Sunday night, television series Mad Men came to an end with the surprising conclusion that Don Draper invented the latest incarnation of McDonald’s sketchy looking mascot the Hamburglar. Or at least we think that’s what happened (we drank a few too many Old Fashioneds at our Mad Men-themed party of one). And on Wednesday, iconic late night talk show host David Letterman will finally call it a day after 33 years. Here’s a rundown

The Arts Club’s lively and colourful musical In the Heights runs until June 7 at the Stanley.

Fuentes (dance captain), Michael Culp and hot as a jalapeno pepper Elena Juatco (Vanessa).

Costume designer Carmen Alatorre cuts loose in the Fourth of July club scene with skimpy, bodyclinging dresses in the red/ yellow/orange palette; every wiggle gets the layers of frills shaking.

Set designer Ted Roberts puts us on a street within view of the Washington Bridge (all a-twinkle at night): a “bodega” (corner store that sells Lotto tickets), Daniela’s Salon and Rosario’s cab station. Above the storefronts are old brick tenements. The band,

under the direction of Ken Cormier, sits elevated stage right behind a scrim.

The glue that sticks this together over two-and-ahalf hours is composed of intertwining love stories: Usnavi (appealingly goofy Luc Roderique) and Vanessa (Elena Juatco), Benny (Chris Sams) and Nina (Kate Blackburn), Nina’s parents Kevin (Francisco Trujillo) and Camila (Caitriona Murphy), and everyone else loves old Abuela (Sharon Crandall).

Daniela, the hairdresser with a heart of gold, is played by Irene Karas Loeper.

In Bill’s Notes (a Coles Notes knock-off available

of what we’ve lost this week and what we’ll miss.

Name of the departed: U2.

Why they left us: To make more money, promote that album that keeps showing up on our iPhone even though we keep deleting the songs, to find what they’re looking for.

What we’ll miss the most: Tweets about band sightings at Chambar, stories about tweets about band sightings at Chambar, that video of guitarist the Edge falling off the stage and headline writers’ hamfisted attempts to pull off an Edge tumbling over an edge pun.

tic 1970s-era pubic hair toupees, the Hammaconda needs to be free!

What we’ll miss the most: the way Don Draper would sharply say “what?” and then stare blankly into the distance like a spiritually bankrupt ghost, Roger Sterling’s new moustache, creepy Glen.

Name of the departed: Mad Men. Why it left us: the series had run its course, the show didn’t have the budget to fit the entire cast with authen-

Name of the departed: David Letterman.

Why he left us: to spend more time with his wife and son in rural Montana, escape the blinding glare from Paul Shaffer’s shiny head, travel back in time to kill Jay Leno.

What we’ll miss the most: our faded youth that once gave us the ability, endurance and stamina to stay up late enough to watch Letterman. @KudosKvetches

in the lobby and well worth a read), Bill Millerd, Arts Club artistic managing director and director of In the Heights says, “Casting

the show with Vancouverbased music theatre artists was a challenge considering not only the setting for the piece but also the demands of the type of music and lyrics that Lin-Manuel has written. Not everyone can do hip hop or rap.” But the larger challenge is the paucity of Latino theatre artists in this town. The cast does its best, but it would be really fabulous to see it with a cast of Dominican-American or Puerto Rican-American singers and dancers. There’s just a little something missing here. One of my favourite songs, “Enough,” is sung by Caitriona Murphy, ostensibly — but not believably — a Puerto Rican immigrant.

Murphy does a terrific job of this song, telling her husband and squabbling daughter “enough,” but we have to imagine the character, Camila Rosario, as a passionate Latino woman blazing away.

It’s a stretch.

The songs, while beautifully sung, are not memo-

rable and not every ear is tuned to catch all the words in some of the rap numbers.

There are times when I wished for surtitles although I know the language being sung is English.

But In the Heights is a heartwarming story. Nina, having dropped out of Stanford, will go back to school and, with luck, she will still love Benny after she gets her BA. Usnavi and Vanessa will settle down together; Kevin and Camila will enjoy retirement; and Abuela — because she’s just so darned nice and cheery and generous with her money — will go to heaven for her reward.

It’s lively and colourful; it will try to convince you that no matter where you live — West Vancouver or the Downtown Eastside– there’s no place like home.

For more reviews, go to joledingham.ca.

In the Heights is at the Stanley until June 7. For tickets, call 604-687-1644 or go to artsclub.com.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Sports&Recreation

GOT SPORTS? 604.630.3549 or mstewart@vancourier.com

Playground speedsters grow into gold

Winners at city track and field championships ATHLETICS Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

Playing a high-speed game of hide-and-seek tag during recess at General Wolfe elementary, the two fastest kids in the school yard grew up to be city champion sprinters.

Conny Bregman and Matthew Chan were almost untouchable, swiftly racing each other down in a children’s version of Manhunt more than half a decade ago.

“She’d come really close to catching me,” said Chan, 18.

“He’d always be the last one left,” said Bregman, who’d catch him “every now and again.”

Bregman and Chan won gold, she for the Hamber Griffins in the girls 100m final and he for Lord Byng in the boys 100m final at the city track and field championships, hosted at UBC on May 11 by the Vancouver Secondary School Athletic Association for public schools.

Winning the event in 12.72 seconds, Bregman shaved off time to reach a new personal best and dropped more than half a second from the 13.21 result that clinched her the gold medal last year as a Grade 11 student. At the 2014 provincial championships, Bregman finished sixth in B.C. At the B.C. high school championship next month in Langley, she feels pressure to make the top eight and even wear the Griffins maroon and teal blue on the podium, but will be pleased with running faster than she’s run before.

“As long as I’m improving, I’m happy,” said the athlete who will study at Langara in the fall.

Bregman also won the 200m sprint and long jump at the city championship, beating the silver-medallist by 59 seconds to win with a

Conny Bregman and Matthew Chan — of the Eric Hamber Griffins and Lord Byng Grey Ghosts, respectively — are the 100m, 200m and long jump city champions. They compete next month at the B.C. track and field championship in Langley. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

time of 25.85 and out-jumping the closest competitor by 24 centimetres to win with a distance of 5.13 metres.

She ran second in the 4x100 relay to help propel Hamber to a fifth-place finish at the city meet and tied Vancouver Technical’s Hannah Johnston for the best-overall aggregate with 30 points each.

Chan — racing for Lord Byng where he is enrolled in a specialty music program and plays the trumpet — ran the 100m in 11.23 seconds, beating the second-place finisher by a quarter of a second, more than the .22 seconds he outpaced his closest competitor in the 200m.

He covered the longer

distance in 23.41, not a personal best but enough to win and save a little for the 4x400m relay, which Lord Byng finished off the podium in fourth.

He also jumped 6.10 metres to win gold in the boys long jump.

For his three gold medals and other high-placing results, Chan won the

boys aggregate with 30 points, two more than teammate Kieran Lumb’s 28. Chan has brought home the best-over-all aggregate prize in Grade 8, 10 and now 12. In every year except last when he was injured, Chan has won the 200m sprint.

At provincials, Chan is eyeing a top-three finish

on the track.

“I really want to get on the podium again,” he said. “It’s incredible to hear your name called and hear people cheer.”

He is committed to Western University next year and has been offered a spot on the track and field team by Derrick Johnston, the Mustangs coach and formerly Chan’s club coach with the Vancouver Thunderbirds.

Bregman doesn’t train with a club, but instead works at twice or thrice weekly school practices under Hamber coach Stacey McEachern, and plays field hockey in the fall and basketball in the winter for the Griffins.

The athletic director at Hamber says Bregman is one of the most naturally gifted athletes to come through the school’s doors.

“Her physical literacy is everything a P.E. teacher or coach could ask for,” said Hamber’s Inderpal Sehmbi.

“She can do everything,” In addition to their shared elementary school on Ontario Street not far from Hillcrest Community Centre, Bregman and Chan both have older siblings that influenced them in the same, key way.

Bregman’s older brother Isaac and Chan’s older sister Florence ran track and sprinted for their schools.

The younger siblings took note.

“I wanted to be like him,” said Bregman, who picked up her brother after track practice on the same black, hard-top track that she uses now.

“She came home with a pair of spikes,” said Chan, remembering his sister’s high school career.

“I didn’t know what they were but I wanted a pair.”

He watched a video of his sister crouching into form, ready to take off at the gun. “She exploded from the blocks,” said Chan. “It was just amazing.” @MHStewart

City’s best prepares to meet B.C.’s brightest The B.C. high school track and field championships run June 4 to 6 at McLeod Park in Langley, drawing some of the top competition from around the province. The combined events of heptathlon and decathlon run May 22 and 23 at the same venue.

Vancouver’s brightest include Conny Bregman and

Matthew Chan, both the city’s all-round aggregate winners at the senior age group at the Vancouver Secondary School Athletic Association championship May 11. The sprinters will compete in the 100m and 200m events, plus the long jump and possibly various relays.

Hannah Johnston, a Van Tech Talisman who tied Bregman

for the all-around award, won gold in the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles and the triple jump.

Her time of 1 minute, 04.01 seconds in the longer hurdle event is the fastest recorded time since 2008, when records started. Since switching to triple jump from long jump this year, her 10.71 meter result was also the

best recorded.

Johnston, a Grade 11 student, medalled at the junior level, taking gold in the 300m hurdles and is a podium favourite this year.

Kieran Lumb, Chan’s teammate at Lord Byng and also in Grade 12, won the senior boys 1500m middle-distance run and took silver in the

3000m event behind Jules Vern harrier Simeo Pont.

At the juvenile age group, still with four years ahead of her in high school, Julie Kawaii Herdman, at the city meet won the high jump, long jump and 200m sprint.

Killarney’s Grade 10 standout, Joe Laird, won the junior boys aggregate by taking the

javelin, shot put and long jump despite starting only this season.

Paul Fischer, a Grade 9 Tupper Tiger, won the 400m and 800m events, but also made a remarkable statement in the long jump. His 5.83 distance took gold in his age group, but was second only to Chan’s at the senior level.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 5