Vancouver Courier May 27 2015

WEDNESDAY

May 27 2015 Vol. 106 No. 41

CITY LIVING 8

Artful dodgers URBAN SENIOR 18

De Genova soldiers on STATE OF THE ARTS 23

In vitro fertilization musical There’s more online at

vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION

THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908

Mayor calls for ‘speculation tax’ Housing market ‘too hot to handle’ according to Robertson

Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

Mayor Gregor Robertson has launched a campaign within his own party to pressure the provincial government to impose a punitive tax on people who flip property in Vancouver and the rest of the province.

In an email Monday to subscribers of Vision Vancouver bulletins, Robertson urged followers to sign a petition to support his efforts to have the government create a “speculation tax.” The mayor said he wants to discourage short-term sales of properties, with the aim of driving down prices.

“The goal is to discourage investors who buy a home just to make a quick buck — who buy it and then, six months later, turn around and sell it again,” he wrote. “That’s not fair to people, especially first-time buyers, who are trying to get into the housing market. It’s especially unfair to young people who are struggling in a surging real estate market.”

The mayor’s email came after he issued a surprise statement Friday in which he announced he supported a speculation tax.

The mayor indicated a need for such a tax in

a letter last week to Premier Christy Clark, according to staff in the mayor’s office.

Robertson told reporters Monday that he was “looking forward to having some backand-forth” discussions with the Clark government over imposing a tax, how it would work and who would be penalized. Calling the market “too hot to handle,” the mayor said other cities in the world have imposed taxes to curb real estate speculation.

“Certainly, there is a need for more data to be collected on this,” he said, when asked what evidence he had that speculation was rampant. “At the same time, there’s good tracking on property transfers, the values of properties — on that level of real estate, there’s a lot of activity.

How much time people spend in their homes is a lot harder to track.”

During the 2014 election campaign, Robertson was asked about imposing a tax on owners of empty homes. He told the Courier that no “rigorous data” had been collected and he wanted to wait for that research to be done before “we take direct action that might affect the housing supply.”

Continued on page 5

Empire Field art installation benched Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

First built in 1954, dismantled in 1993, then temporarily back up in 2010, bleachers — seating for at least 150 spectators — could again rise over Empire Field in the form of a permanent, headturning art installation.

Before that happens, neighbours of the Hastings Street park will have the chance to learn more about Home and Away, a four-storey structure in the shape of a massive “V” that pays homage to the park’s iconic sporting history and may include a slide in reference to a temporary wooden ski jump, the highest freestanding one of its kind, built in 1958 for a three-day tournament.

The park board decided Monday to defer approval of the $450,000 installation in order to tell the public more about it.

“If we approve the installation, I think many people in the city would find some

trouble with that process,” said Green Party commissioner Stuart Mackinnon, who questioned the location of the structure because it blocked views of the North Shore mountains.

Park board staff have received 10 letters about Home and Away. Additional letters, many decrying the cost of the project, were also sent to individual commissioners.

Designed by U.S. firm Lead Pencil Studio, Home and Away was unanimously approved by the city’s Public Art Program, including its committee of architects, artists and design professionals.

The project is funded by the city’s current and previous capital plans. The park board was tasked with rubber-stamping its location at Hastings Park, not commenting on the design or cost of the project. The colours — shown as vibrant blue and yellow in a staff report to the board — are not fixed, nor is the material of the structure.

Continued on page 9

GHOST BUSTERS Lord Byng Grey Ghosts Daniel Hurt (above, in red and white) hauls down a Lord Tweedsmuir Panther in a 36-28 loss at St. George’s secondary on May 23. Despite their best efforts, Lord Byng lost to the Surrey side in the opening round of the B.C. AAA senior boys rugby championships. The tournament continues this weekend in Langley. PHOTO REBECCA BLISSETT

A2

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

Premiere sponsor:

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

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

Cycling is an issue in Vancouver that generates controversy and, apparently, many letters and emails to the Courier, which is just great. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Readers get cranked up over cycling 12TH&CAMBIE

Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

I’ll begin with a quote from Benjamin Franklin.

You’ve probably heard it a million times, but what the heck.

It goes like this: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except for death and taxes.”

Now a quote from yours truly.

It goes like this: “In this world of journalism, no story can be said to be certain to generate controversy and reader feedback as much as tales about cycling.”

Though stories about homelessness, mental health and drug addiction generate interest and controversy, cycling is an issue that gets people all cranked up. Or in high gear. Or unchained. Or, well, you get the idea.

And that interest is just wonderful, said the reporter who is glad to see people still read newspapers and get engaged in their city.

Anyway, it’s bike-towork-week this week.

So with that in mind, I thought I’d share some comments from readers who filled up my inbox in recent weeks. They were prompted by a piece I wrote in this space that defined what a bicycle “trip” is and another story I wrote about the Vancouver

Police Department issuing 733 tickets in four years to cyclists riding on sidewalks.

For brevity, I’ve edited and condensed what you’re about to read.

Here’s Henry Cussen on the city’s stats that estimated 100,000 bike trips per day were made in 2014: “I would be very dubious about these figures.

When city hall presented their case for the Point Grey bike lane, they claimed that the traffic count on Lower Point Grey (Balsam to Trafalgar) was 2,000 per day.

Residents performed their own study and most days were less than 400 with peaks of 700 on a summer weekend. City hall redid the survey and confirmed the residents’ figures, blaming the discrepancy on a counter malfunction.”

Here’s Ross Mitchell on the same topic: “I must admit I had the same question you have with the average 100,000 bike trips per day across the city. It is just another example where the average citizen is taken to be above average stupid. The other question I had was just how long the acting director of transportation and the acting general manager of engineering would remain acting if they did not present reports like this to their bosses.”

Here’s Roger Annis on cyclists riding on sidewalks: “Until I see some statistics on bicycle-pedestrian

collisions on sidewalks, I’m going to treat this story as a tempest in a teapot.

I am a lifetime, experienced cyclist, not afraid of the road. I routinely use sidewalks when I feel a road is unsafe. OK, that’s not great and I don’t plan ahead to do that. I use the cycle routes whenever possible. But when I use a sidewalk, I slow to walking speed. And, of course, I would not do so on a busy sidewalk. I would dismount and walk. If the Vancouver region paid more attention to creating cycle routes, the issue of sidewalks would be moot.”

Here’s Virginia Richards on bicycle counts: “In 2010, over a threeweek period, I had a video camera recording bike lane traffic on the Burrard Bridge. I physically watched the video with a counter [clicker] in hand.

My numbers, even including rush hours, and making those numbers for 24 hours were about a third of the City of Vancouver’s published counts for the same days!”

Yep, folks are cranked up.

But, hey, let’s all be careful out there on the roads and sidewalks, regardless of your mode of transportation. So far this week, I’ve used my car, walked a lot and taken transit. I’ll be commuting by bike Wednesday.

I know many of you are doing the same.

So, let’s all get along, eh. @Howellings

Every step helps build our community

VA N C O U V E R

June 28, 2015

H A L F - M A R A T H O N & 5k

Pace, stride, endurance.

Every kilometre you run can earn donations for the Scotiabank Charity Challenge. The Challenge raised over $7.3 million last year, helping build stronger communities across Canada. Together, we’re building a Bright Future for everyone.

Run in the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon and 5k and register for the Scotiabank Charity Challenge at VancouverHalf.com to start raising funds.

®

Registered trademarks of The Bank of Nova Scotia.

A3

A4

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

News Yaletown community group weighing legal options DEVELOPING STORY Naoibh O’Connor

nocconor@vancourier.com

The Community Association of New Yaletown [CANY] hopes to decide this week whether to continue its legal battle over a complicated land swap between the City of Vancouver and Brenhill Developments Ltd. CANY recently lost a legal round

at the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. Its recourse is to apply for leave to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Leave or permission is given by the court when a case involves a question of public importance.

Battle lines were drawn in July 2013 when Vancouver city council voted to rezone 508 Helmcken St. for Brenhill Developments to build a 36-storey tower beside Emery Barnes Park. The rezoning was conditional

on Brenhill developing a 162-unit social housing project on 1099 Richards St. to replace the city’s 1985-built Jubilee House at 508 Helmcken.

CANY sought a judicial review of the land swap based partly on concerns about secrecy surrounding the deal. It argued the city didn’t meet its duty of procedural fairness.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in CANY’s favour in late January, quashing city decisions, including the

rezoning for 508 Helmcken and the development permit for 1099 Richards St. — the latter building was already under construction, so a stopwork order was issued. The city appealed the decision.

Before the appeal was decided, the development permit for 1099 Richards St. went back to the Development Permit Board where it was re-approved April 7. The rezoning application for 508 Helmcken went back to public hearing April 14, where it too was

re-approved. Construction at 1099 Richards St. resumed shortly after those decisions.

The Court of Appeal for British Columbia announced its decision in favour of the city’s appeal several weeks ago and then released its written reasons last Thursday. The court concluded the city had met its duty of procedural fairness and that it “provided a more robust process than was strictly required.”

The decision pointed out that residents have two important rights when the city is considering rezoning a property: the right to be given sufficient information to come to an informed opinion and the right to express this opinion to the city at a public hearing.

“When citizens feel they have been denied one or both of these rights, they may seek a remedy in the courts by petitioning for judicial review. However, judicial review has well defined limits. Citizens who disagree with the City’s view of the public interest must seek change through the political process rather than the courts,” the court stated.

CANY spokesman Jon Green said the group is disappointed by the decision and is now weighing its options. Considerations include the cost of further legal action. CANY has funded its case through donations from residents across Vancouver, according to Green.

“It comes down to a number of factors — everything from our chances that we’d win on appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and obviously cost is going to be a factor,” he said. “So we’re trying to nail down these types of points to

determine whether we want to proceed or not.”

Green called the latest ruling a significant decision that will impact how municipalities across Canada conduct public hearings and ultimately the degree of transparency required of local governments.

Considering construction continues on 1099 Richards, Green acknowledges the chance of it being stopped is quite low, but he maintains the purpose of an appeal would be to address the wider implications of the issues in question.

“This, I think, is really going to come down to more than this development.

This is really fundamentally about how the city operates and how much transparency they’re required to give and so it’s more than just about 1099 Richards or 508 Helmcken. One could argue it goes beyond the city of Vancouver. This could have implications not only in the province but all across Canada with how cities disclose information to the public,” he said.

Brian Jackson, the city’s head planner, called the appeal court reasoning good news.

“The judges were quite clear in setting out that we had provided adequate information for the public to understand the basis of the two developments — that they were happy with that,” he said. “So we will continue to make sure that our reports are as readable and as transparent as possible.”

Jackson added there are lessons to be learned from the process and if there are ways to make information clearer earlier to the public, the city will try to do that. @naoibh

Construction has resumed at 1099 Richards to build a 36-storey tower beside Emery Barnes Park. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A5

News

Condo marketer backs tax

Continued from page 1 Robertson said a speculation tax is not aimed at foreign investors, who have been accused of driving up prices, but at “anyone who’s in the market and turning over properties to make a profit.”

The government hasn’t said whether it would enforce a new tax. In an emailed statement from the Ministry of Finance, a spokesman said that while the province recognizes home ownership in B.C. “can be challenging for some people, governments need to be careful that any tax would have the desired effect, without undermining the equity that people may have built up in their homes.”

Robertson announced his desire for a speculation tax the same day that condo marketer Bob Rennie floated the idea in a speech to the Urban Development Institute. Rennie said that if speculation “is a huge negative contributor to affordability, then let’s repatriate some of that money back to our first-time buyers, perhaps in $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 grants based

Mayor Gregor Robertson wants the B.C. government to impose a tax on people who flip property in Vancouver and the rest of the province. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

on length of residency and income.”

He echoed Robertson’s concern that such a tax would be perceived as a tax on foreign investors, which is not the aim of the penalty. Rennie said he hated “the racist undertone that is rampant out there, so a visible, measurable gesture is needed.”

“I am concerned that we

will be sending out a message to all our foreign investors from India to Indonesia that if you tax foreign investment on housing on a Monday that you may tax foreign investment on technology on LNG, on manufacturing by Friday,” he said.

In an interview Monday, Rennie said a speculation tax could apply to someone, for example, who put a

down payment on a condo that hadn’t been built but was worth $700,000 in the pre-sales phase. Once the condo was built three years later, and the owner was able to find a buyer for $850,000, Rennie suggested a percentage of the gain would be taxable — on top of existing capital gains.

“I’m trying to drop the pebble in the pond to get the discussion going,” he said.

When asked what the public should make of him calling for a speculation tax on the same day that Robertson later issued his support for such a tax, Rennie said he’s the author of his own plan and that it is a provincial issue.

Rennie supported Robertson in his 2014 reelection campaign, hosting a $25,000-a plate lunch to raise money to help the mayor win a third term in office. Robertson is expected to make more announcements related to housing over the next couple of weeks and council will discuss Tuesday its plans to create more housing for families. @Howellings

2015 METRO VANCOUVER C Return Envelope 2015 Metro Vanc

ouver Transporta tion and Trans it Plebiscite

3027-C (15/01)

MUN

Municipality Name

TRANSPORTATION AND TRANSIT PLEBISCITE

CLOSE OF VOTING 8 P.M. FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Elections BC must receive your completed ballot package before the close of voting at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 29, 2015.

Voters are reminded to allow enough mailing time for their ballot package to reach Elections BC before the close of voting or drop off their ballot package at one of the nine Plebiscite Service Offices listed below.

Plebiscite Service Offices are located at:

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Capilano Mall, North Vancouver Central City Mall, Surrey Chinatown Plaza, Vancouver City Square Shopping Centre, Vancouver Coquitlam Centre, Coquitlam Haney Place Mall, Maple Ridge Lougheed Town Centre, Burnaby Richmond Centre, Richmond Willowbrook Shopping Centre, Langley

For more information, call 1-800-661-8683 or visit elections.bc.ca.

ele c tio n s . b c .c a 1- 8 0 0 - 6 61- 8 6 8 3

Transportation and Transit Referendum

Last week to vote!

A “Yes” vote will provide benefits across the region – whether you drive, take transit, bike or walk.

Elections BC must receive ballots before 8 pm on Friday, May 29, 2015.

Mail your ballot a few days early or visit an Elections BC Plebiscite office: City Square, 555 West 12th Avenue Chinatown Plaza, 180 Keefer Street Vote “Yes” to protect the environment, support economic growth and enhance the region’s livability!

LEARN MORE: vancouver.ca/transitreferendum

Volunteers Needed for Civic Agencies The City of Vancouver is seeking volunteers from the general public for positions on the following boards: • Board of Variance • Parking Variance Board Both boards hear appeals on decisions made under the zoning and development, parking, sign, and protection of tree bylaws.

The detailed description of the terms of reference, eligibility requirements and time commitment, as well as the online application and instructions are available at: vancouver.ca/volunteer You must complete an online application form to apply. The deadline to submit an application is 5 pm on Friday, June 5, 2015.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: civicagenciesinfo@vancouver.ca or phone 3-1-1

Development Permit Board Meeting: June 1 The Development Permit Board and Advisory Panel will meet: Monday, June 1, 2015 at 3 pm Vancouver City Hall 453 West 12th Avenue Ground Floor Town Hall Meeting Room

to consider this development permit application: 520 East 1st Avenue:

To develop a four-storey institutional building for the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, located on the Great Northern Way Campus.

Integral to the design of the building are key public realm elements for the campus, which include the St. George Plaza, a central pedestrian spine, and a bikeway that is part of the Central Valley Greenway.

No on-site parking would be provided. Instead, surface parking is proposed through a series of offsite parking agreements.

Please contact City Hall Security (ground floor) if your vehicle may be parked at City Hall for more than two hours.

TO SPEAK ON THIS ITEM: 604-873-7469 or lorna.harvey@vancouver.ca

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

A6

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

News

Left to right: Grade 9 Prince of Wales mini school students Emily Mittertreiner, Rebecca Baron and Elena Frie show off the medals they won at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Fredericton, N.B. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Science students win big Female students making inroads in once male-dominated field CLASS NOTES Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

?

B O J A D E E N

. ployment services We offer FREE em Visit our employ

ntres: ment services ce

VANCOUVER WESTSIDE 300-2150 West Broadway Tel 604.688.4666 VANCOUVER SOUTH Ground Floor, 7575 Cambie St Tel 604.263.5005

The Employment Program of British Columbia is funded by the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia.

Rebecca Baron’s goldwinning national science fair project was inspired by her mother’s asthma.

The 15-year-old Grade 9 student explored which bacteria in indoor plant soil could most effectively filter formaldehyde from paint fumes.

Baron expected one type of bacteria that’s known to reduce other types of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, to be most effective, but she discovered another type of bacteria, Pseudomonas putida, worked even better.

“It was big surprise and [my mom] was really excited about it and I was too,” Baron said.

She won the platinum award for best intermediate project and $1,000, a gold medal and a $4,000 entrance scholarship to Western University, a gold medal for excellence, $250 and a challenge award in environment, both in the intermediate category.

“I didn’t really do it for the prize or the money,” Baron said. “I love science in general, so it’s really been my passion. I just wanted to show other people the potential that bacteria has.”

Baron was among three Prince of Wales mini school students who triumphed at the CanadaWide Science Fair in Fredericton, N.B. earlier this month, all of them Grade 9 girls.

When asked what Baron thought about the fact that it was all girls that placed at the national level, she said: “It’s not just girls.

There were two guys who did come with us to the regionals fair, too. They did really well there. One got silver.”

But 14-year-old Elena Frie, a bronze medalist at the national science fair, winner of a university entrance scholarship and a bronze medal for excellence for her project that looked at how Cyanobacteria could reduce acidity in freshwater lakes and streams, said the results were significant.

“It was really exciting because women are still less important in the sciences,” Frie said. “It’s the coolest thing.”

Emily Mittertreiner won a bronze medal, a university entrance scholarship, a bronze medal for excellence in the intermediate category and a Statistical Society of Canada and Biostatistics Section cash award for her meta study of data on every-other-day diets, where people eat 75 per cent of their intake one day and 25 per cent the next to lose weight.

Prince of Wales mini school head teacher Andrew Humphries said Baron won out of a field of approximately 520 students.

“The girls are taking over the world of science,” he said. “They’re wonderfully dedicated. That’s what you need.”

Baron said Prince of Wales mini school Grade 8 and 9 students tackle Grade 10 material, mainly accelerating in math and science.

“I just like the idea of asking questions and try-

ing to find an answer and the whole process of trying to find that answer,” Baron said. “The procedure must have been the hardest part for me during my project but it was also the most fascinating part, and then just getting the results [which] were so astonishing.”

Baron wants to create a biofiltration system or a biofilm to see how effective Pseudomonas putida bacteria is in reducing paint fumes from households.

Meanwhile, last month, Vancouver School Board students saw their best showing ever at the SkillsBC Provincial competition in Abbotsford.

Last year, team VSB won three gold medals.

This year it won eight.

Students won gold in hairdressing, auto painting, fashion design technology, graphic design, baking, public speaking, job interview and workplace safety. Seven of the eight gold winners will compete in nationals in Saskatoon, May 27 to 30. @Cheryl_Rossi

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A7

News

TransLink’s communication breakdown OPINION

Bob Mackin

bob@bobmackin.ca

What will become of TransLink when the plebiscite ends May 29?

Since March 16, Metro Vancouver voters were asked if they want to pay more tax at the till for its $7.7 billion expansion wish list. But TransLink chose to act more like a private corporation or political party than the people-moving utility citizens expect. It went the extra mile to deny, delay and deflect questions about how it operates.

Easy-to-answer questions posed to the media relations department in February about consultants and the values of their contracts were met with referrals to the Freedom of Information department, which can take five weeks or more to answer.

It still hasn’t released copies of contracts, work orders and invoices for Mayors’ Council contractor Strat-

com, the Vision Vancouver robocall, telephone town hall and polling specialist.

On May 6, it said a list of payments to Stratcom would be released by June 17, three weeks after voting closes.

TransLink also said wait until June 17 for executive salaries, the board’s conflict of interest register and directors’ disclosure statements.

How’s that for transparency and accountability?

David Beckley is the vicepresident in charge of the overdue and over budget Compass card and fare gate system. He claimed in February that there were no records from five meetings to review or discuss correspondence with contractor Cubic because “These ‘meetings’ are entered in my calendar as place holders for internal discussions.”

TransLink’s only scheduled board meeting during the plebiscite was March 30 and it was, as usual, behind closed doors. Provincial law gives it the power to decide how to run its own meetings, but chair Marcella Szel rejected a request to observe

The TransLink plebiscite asking voters to approve a sales tax increase for transit-related improvements ends Friday.

PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

and report on that meeting.

TransLink’s traditional late-May statutory financial report and annual public meeting won’t happen until late June. That’s still within the six-month legal window, but TransLink is deliberately keeping voters in the dark about the 2014 bottom line. If the financial results were peachy keen, then why

would TransLink delay?

Then there was how the Mayors’ Council suppressed and spun information about its taxpayerfunded $6 million Yes campaign.

Among documents that TransLink did disclose were heavily censored emails that mention a Feb. 3 conference call held to approve the budget.

When the Courier asked spokesman and Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore on Feb. 16 if the budget remained at the $4 million reported in December, he said: “that’s the ballpark that we’re working with.” But, on Feb. 19, executive director Mike Buda sent the Mayors’ Council campaign sub-committee a script for when reporters ask about the $6 million campaign, including this pearl of wisdom: Q: Elections BC has no requirement for financial disclosure for this referendum. Will the Mayors’ Council release its full campaign budget?

A: We’ll make that decision at the end of the campaign when all of the spending is reconciled.

Moore referred other questions to Buda, who, the documents show, took the advice of contractor Marcella Munro, Vision’s veteran campaign communications director. Munro advised him to disregard a reporter.

“Bob called me asking for an interview on the lack

of campaign rules from the province. I assume I will let you guys follow up? Let me know,” Buda wrote in a Feb. 16 email to Munro.

Replied Munro: “I do not like engaging with him at all. But please ask him to direct his questions to our media email (I can’t imagine this is something we would comment on at any rate).”

For some reason, on March 5, Vancouver city hall’s FOI director Barbara Van Fraassen sent Munro, rather than TransLink’s FOI staff, a Courier request for information about Mayor Gregor Robertson’s involvement in the March 2 Yes campaign telephone town hall. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner was not amused.

“City of Vancouver’s FOI department was not authorized to disclose the complainant’s name to an employee who is not involved in the access request process,” wrote OIPC officer Monique LeBlanc’s March 19 letter. @bobmackin

A8

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

Community Having a ball at wilderness fundraiser CITY LIVING

Rebecca Blissett

rvblissett@gmail.com

Aside from Monica Lee’s finger injury sustained during an intense showdown on the court at East Vancouver’s Fraserview Club, the Go Wild Dodgeball Tournament looked like the most fun anybody ever had raising money.

Organizing a tournament where people chuck balls at each other to benefit the great outdoors, specifically the British Columbian branch of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), seemed a natural match for organizer Michelle Sz. That’s not just because she plays and volunteers for the Vancouver Dodgeball League and works as a communications coordinator for CPAWS, but because of the kind of people who play dodgeball.

“I figured, well, there’s a lot of people in the league who are passionate about the wilderness and care about the environment and these are people who will go hiking, skiing, pad-

Players take aim during the Go Wild Dodgeball Tournament at the Fraserview Club Saturday, while others did their best to avoid being hit. Some didn’t fare as well, like Monica Lee who shows off her dislocated finger, one of the few dodgeball-related injuries that happened during the tournament.

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

dling — so there’s good overlap there,” Sz said during Saturday’s tournament. “So I thought, why not connect the two?”

CPAWS is a non-profit organization that started in Canada in 1963 with its British Columbian chapter forming in 1979. In its 52 years, it has protected Canada’s forests, waters, and parks and has not wavered from its vision to keep at least half of this country’s public lands and waters wild, said Sz, adding that the group has helped protect places such as the Tatshenshini River, Muskwa Kechika and Gwaii Haanas.

Most of the work is done not with headline-grabbing protests, but in boardrooms where long-term negotiations are worked out between governments, big industry, and indigenous peoples, Sz said.

Funding supports the organization’s feasibility studies and reports, public awareness, and youth outreach program — the latter of which is especially important for an organization that relies heavily on grants and donations, as the average age of most of CPAWS donors is 75.

“Most people who donate are retired and they have the money, but also they’ve experienced our wilderness and they see how much of it has gone since they were young,” she said. “We think, ‘oh, trees — great!’ and don’t realize how much of it has diminished, and how quickly it’s diminishing, because we were born into this age.

So really, it’s the public that needs to say we need to protect our parks, we don’t want a pipeline going through our neighbourhood — things like that.”

Sz’s prediction that wilderness protection and dodgeball would be a winning combination proved to be true, judging by how many players milled about the B.C.-CPAWS table in the gym between afternoon games as well as by the final fundraising tally of $1,000 — an amount she only had high hopes the first-time event would raise.

“It was a great success,” she said, afterwards. “…

Everyone kept talking about how fun it was and many new players mentioned they want to start up a VDL team for next season.” @rebeccablissett

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A9

News Public art part of Hastings Park plan

Continued from page 1 The long-term plan for Hastings Park always included public art, a process which set in motion two years’ worth of interviews, proposals and committee discussions. The $450,000 price tag of Home and Away is comparable to the gigantic birds installed at the Olympic Village. The Komagata Maru memorial in Coal Harbour cost $750,000.

Architect Joost Bakker called Home and Away a “striking visual piece” and a

significant installation in elevating the city’s reputation for bold, public art. Bakker, also a member of the Public Art Program, said the scale of the structure fits in the 13-hectare park overlooked by the TransCanada Highway to the east and Playland’s wooden rollercoaster to the west.

NPA commissioners Sarah Kirby-Yung and John Coupar said they liked the installation and echoed each other in saying they’re not art critics, but nonetheless proposed the park board

defer until July.

“When I first saw it, I did do the ‘Oooo,’” said KirbyYung. “It’s bold, engaging, striking and it’s grown on me. But this is not what I like, this is about the public having the opportunity to get some good information on a significant piece that could be there for a long time. I don’t see a rush.”

Park board staff said deferral means risking the artists’ availability to complete the project.

Vision’s Catherine Evans,

who voted against deferral, argued the installation should not be stalled for an event that servers only to inform, not consult, the public.

“I don’t want us giving people the wrong impression that they somehow have a vote on public art and whether or not it’s appropriate,” said Evans, who described Home and Away as “not subtle.”

“One of the important things artists do is they challenge us.” @MHStewart

On Now at The Brick!

For more details go instore or online @thebrick.com.

A10

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

Opinion

Will False Creek planning fall flat?

Looking back on a year of columns

There are days when I wish I could trade my life for another. Hard days, when I think that literally any other set of circumstances would be easier to deal with than my own reality.

I recently discovered a remedy for this grass-is-always-greener syndrome of mine. I sit down and imagine I am a planner at the City of Vancouver and I’ve been tasked with leading the False Creek Flats planning process.

It doesn’t take long before I am grateful for my mild mid-life crisis, for my herniated disc, my quickly approaching 40th year as a single woman, my notoriety as the would-be politician who spoke too frankly and happily about masturbation for my party’s liking.

It’s all a quaint mole hill when I begin to imagine the dread that planner must feel upon waking each morning on these, the final days before Wednesday’s launch event which kicks off the public planning process for this last parcel of possibility in Vancouver’s core.

When you wake up this Wednesday morning, send a positive vibe to that planner, who will rise with purpose and dread. As you dress and comb your hair, think of the employees at the city who will likely apply their clinical strength antiperspirant and consider the practical wisdom of packing a second dry shirt in their bike paniers.

Even if you consider yourself a Vancouverite with a stake in the fate of this parcel of land that runs from Main east to Clark, and from Great Northern Way north to Prior, you, too, should be glad this is not your job.

On Wednesday afternoon, city staff hope to greet neighbours and local businesses at the intimate Circle Studio on the False Creek Flats. Snacks from a resident food truck will be provided.

Flats-brewed beer will be available for purchase as attendees browse information about the history, diverse economy, and unique industrial character of the Flats.

Armed with hashtags, smiling gamefaces and more optimism than history would indicate is reasonable or sane, they will be on hand to hear your thoughts and record your feedback.

The False Creek Flats process will have to encompass a mind-boggling list of considerations: its legacy as a signifi-

Since May 2015 marks my first anniversary as a Courier columnist, I thought it would be interesting to look back over the past 12 months and contemplate which issues will likely dominate the Vancouver civic affairs scene in the year ahead.

When I started writing this column, Vancouver was six months away from a municipal election. The NPA had no mayoral candidate and I speculated the party was down but not necessarily out.

As it turned out, Vision retained its council majority but lost control of the park and school boards.

I called for a change in the ballot design so that those at the top of the alphabetical list would not have a potential advantage. NPA incumbent councillor George Affleck was not amused.

Another column examined voters’ top worries. Not surprisingly, housing affordability, cost of living, and transportation topped the list. This has not changed in the subsequent 11 months.

In a subsequent column in June, I wrote about the demolition of character homes.

I suggested that city hall encourage builders to renovate rather than demolish by allowing a second house for sale on character properties, and subdivision of larger heritage houses into smaller suites. Sadly, character houses continue to disappear.

The next two columns explored the need for increased housing choices for seniors and renters. As the percentage of seniors continues to increase, along with the number of people who must rent since they cannot afford to buy, these topics will continue to be of interest.

Under the headline “Vancouver needs to clean up its act,” I wrote about weeds proliferating around the False Creek seawall, major streets, and parks. This column attracted considerable attention from readers but also other Vancouver media. Sadly, the situation seems to have gotten worse; although as I sat down to write this column, I received a call from city hall to tell me weeding of the north shore False Creek walkway was about to get underway.

One story that did not attract the attention I thought it deserved told the tale of multi-million dollar Southlands estate owners who pay significantly less in property taxes than many low income condo owners because they sell a few eggs or vegetables grown on their agriculturally zoned properties. Given that their

Trish Kelly Columnist trishkellyc@gmail.com

cant shipping corridor for rail and fresh produce, the recent announcement of the coming “campus of care” that will be the new St. Paul’s Hospital, and the anxious and vocal residents of Strathcona and City Gate wary of the viaduct removal.

At Vancouver’s inception, the False Creek Flats weren’t flats at all, but waterfront and marshland where several fresh water creeks drained. Before European settlement, the lands were fertile fishing grounds and harvesting sites for the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil’waututh peoples.

After only a few decades of settlement, industrial abuse had polluted the waters and land so badly that filling in the flats became a viable option in local discourse. In 1913, the flats were filled in as a result of a plebiscite, and the majority of False Creek was transformed into land for industry.

Once part of a broader network of industrial lands in Vancouver, the Flats are now one of the only industrial areas left. Tucked away from residential neighbourhoods, these lands are a unique piece of Vancouver where businesses can run non-stop and make noise, cast light and odours without annoying sleepy neighbours.

The fate of the flats must weigh heavy on the city. The Flats represent one final significant opportunity for the city to plan well. If we’re lucky and persistent, we could see some great things happen. The city could prove that it can prioritize something above condo development. We could see the city champion the integration of the St. Paul’s engagement process to ensure that a community benefit agreement cushions concerns around gentrification in the surrounding neighbourhoods, including the Downtown Eastside.

If we’re not careful, the False Creek Flats could be the setting for one final epic brawl between the non-violent communicators at city hall and the frustrated residents of Vancouver who never seem to feel heard, with both sides lugging the baggage of every other planning process gone wrong into this conversation.

Wednesday’s launch event is our first chance to show up, to air our opinions, and test our capacity for purpose and grace, with beer.

We can choose to rise to the occasion, or let best intentions fall flat. @trishkellyc

The week in num6ers...

450 9.2

In thousands of dollars, the cost of a giant public art exhibit in the form of a giant set of blue and yellow bleachers that park board staff have recommended be approved.

In thousands, the number of registered riders participating in the latest installment of Bike to Work Week, according to HUB.

Michael Geller Columnist michaelarthurgeller@gmail.com

substantial tax savings must be borne by other taxpayers, these are very expensive eggs and tomatoes.

In July, I followed up on a reader’s suggestion that we collectively try to reduce unnecessary urban noises. After reading the article, my wife had a mechanic silence the horn beep on her car’s remote locking device.

After criticizing the city for creating social problems by filling a large southeast False Creek apartment building with formerly homeless people, an August column put forward alternative approaches to housing the homeless.

Subsequent columns exploring how to design healthier and friendlier housing developments attracted considerable interest.

In September, I wrote about three transportation issues: the cost and fairness of parking regulations and charges; the Mayors’ Council position on funding an underground Broadway SkyTrain extension; and the need for bicycle registration.

I will have more to say about unfair parking practices and the proposed Broadway subway in the coming year.

As the November election approached, I shared some thoughts on the main mayoral candidates and addressing a major election issue; foreign housing buyers.

While the election is now over, concerns over foreign investment in housing remain and are likely to do so for some time to come.

Earlier this spring, a number of columns addressed concerns by some former city planners and other planning experts regarding decisions by the Vancouver planning department. They worried that in too many cases, building designs were unduly influenced by how much money the developer was giving the city, rather than good planning practices. This will be a topic for future columns.

During the past year I wrote a number of columns while travelling around the world. While some readers were upset by my distant missives, others appreciated the ideas that might be borrowed from other countries, such as Holland’s Neighbourhood Day, or French and Spanish approaches to parking management.

Over the past year I have enjoyed receiving your comments, both online and by email. I particularly like those that begin “While I normally do not agree with what you write, I must commend you…”

Thank you for your ongoing interest. @michaelgeller

3 450 12 103

The number of dolphins who have died at the Vancouver Aquarium this century.

Hana passed away this week, Spinnaker in 2012 and Whitewings in 2002.

The number of acres that make up False Creek Flats. The city is hosting a planning process launch party today seeking public feedback from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 390 Industrial Way.

The number of months architect, property developer and former NPA city council candidate Michael Geller has spent as a regular Courier columnist.

In years, the birthday recently celebrated by Mae Irving at South Granville Seniors Centre.

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A11

Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Green with envy of Brazilian pollution solution

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

High schooler sets new speed record

May 27, 1959: Eighteen-year-old Harry Jerome set a new Canadian record at Empire Stadium in the 220-yard dash after shaving 0.1 of a second off a record set 31 years earlier by double Olympic gold medallist and fellow Vancouverite Percy Williams. Jerome hit the finish line in 21.9 seconds at an inter-high school meet, beating Williams’ time of 22.0.

Jerome added the first of his seven Canadian 100-metre titles later that same year. He also went on to win gold at the Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as a bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, just two years after a torn thigh muscle at the British Empire Games in Perth, Australia, almost ended his career. He retired from competition after the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where he came in seventh place in the 100-metre.

Jerome died of a brain aneurysm at age 42 in 1982. Two years later, the Labatts International Track Classic Pre-Olympic meet at Swangard Stadium was renamed the Harry Jerome International Track Classic, and his name also lives on through North Vancouver’s Harry Jerome Arena near the high school he attended, the Harry Jerome Sports Centre in Burnaby, a track and field stadium in his former hometown of Prince Albert, Sask., and the annual Harry Jerome Awards in Toronto that honour achievements by black Canadians in sports. There’s also a three-metre tall bronze statue of him running near the Seawall in Stanley Park.

ADVERTISING

604.738.1412 CLASSIFIED

604.630.3300 DELIVERY

604.398.2901 EDITORIAL NEWSROOM

604.738.1411

Re: “Responses to dirty streets column vary,” May 20.

The issue of garbage in poor neighbourhoods got me thinking. Here is a solution borrowed from the slums of the city of Curitiba in southern Brazil.

In 1989, the mayor Jaime Lerner, faced with dirty streets infested with rats and dogs and pollution running into the streets, came up with a proposal that the city would buy garbage from the residents.

In return, the residents would receive transport tokens to be used in the public transportation system. The program was a tremendous success. In three months, the city was clean, the residents took pride in their neighbourhoods, parks were built where previously garbage mounted. Separation of garbage and recycling followed. Children were educated in the schools about the value of clean neighbourhoods so they could educate their parents.

The program expanded to the water.

The city bought garbage taken from the water by fishers. As a result, there was more fish in the water.

Curitiba today is considered the Eco Capital of the World. Can we learn from it?

Yom Shamash, Vancouver

Making Broadway car-free a suggestion for congestion

Re: “Yes side mounts final appeal,” May 13.

TI wish to suggest an alternative to His Worship the Mayor’s idea of running trains under Broadway at an enormous expense.

I feel I cannot give a Yes vote until I have more information viz: 1. Where will the stations be along Broadway?

2. How many stations? Disruptions in construction?

3. What shops or establishments will have to close or be disrupted?

So many people and stores took big losses due to the Canada Line or never opened again.

When London, England became congested, all cars were directed to other streets. Only buses, taxis, fire and ambulance vehicles etc. were allowed within the city centre. The underground trains were already there. My suggestion is that could happen in this beautiful city. Cars could travel one way along secondary roads, 11th Avenue West, and Ninth Avenue east? Or vice versa. No cars on Broadway.

Angela Conway, Vancouver

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.

Re: “Playground speedsters grow into gold,” May 13.

Thank you for an inspiring article about Conny and Matthew. Having known them since elementary and officiating at the track meets, they are very deserving of their performances with their work ethic and enthusiasm, and have wonderful sportsmanship.

General Wolfe seems to have been a breeding ground for track athletes.

Paul Fisher, who is mentioned in the article is also from Wolfe. In fact, there were 17 golds in this year’s city finals from the eight former Wolfe students: Matthew, Conny, Rhys, Michael, Oliver, Sam, Paul and Halle. Many thanks to Ms. Carlile, Ms. Ingram and other staff for running a wonderful track program.

Stan Jang, Vancouver

ONLINE COMMENTS Government intervention would hurt marketplace

Re: “No help for home buyers,” May 20.

The marketplace is not being allowed to function within a normal cycle of boom and bust. The bust is what cleanses the market of “overvaluation” and drives out speculators and the criminal element. We need that regular purge to keep prices within a reasonable range.

Manipulating the market directly by governments or indirectly by not providing essential information needed for determining risk distorts the marketplace.

A stroke of a bureaucratic pen in some foreign country limiting ownership or the collapse of a major bank in, say, China might then topple the Vancouver market. And the market would have a long way to decline before local demand by first-time home owners would be able to restart the industry and reduce what then would be a glut of inventory.

Gordon Cavanaugh, via Comments section

•••

The biggest problem that our politicos have around housing in Vancouver is using the word “density” as though it is a panacea against rising housing prices. It is not, as experienced in New York, London, etc.

What is needed in this market is a full accounting from politicos to their constituents as to what they have up their sleeves.

And they need to hear from citizens as to what they want. Many are talking about different forms for housing including townhouses that could be built on bigger single family lots —except that new homes going up on those lots are being built from property line to property line. Really, do our politicians need to appeal to the “new money” that much?

AllThat, via Comments section

have your say online...

FLYER SALES

Dee Dhaliwal

General Wolfe students are on the right track

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 7 , 2 0 1 5

The Rain Water LEADERS

since

1979

• Sales • Installations • Repairs • Maintenance

Specializing in Heavy Gauge 5” x .032” Continuous Colonial Aluminum

604.876-4604

Scan with

http://www.krguttersystems.ca

TANKTECH

Since Sin nce 1989 19899

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

• TANK REMOVAL • METAL DETECTIONS • TANK LOCATING • VAC TRUCK SERVICES • SOIL TESTING • SOIL REMEDIATION

CERTIFIED OIL TANK REMOVAL & REMEDIATION SPECIALISTS Seniors Discount • Free Estimates

604-328-1234

✔ All Renovations ❑ ✔ All Home Repairs ❑ ✔ All Painting ❑ ✔ Roofing ❑ ✔ Bathrooms ❑

✔ Kitchens ❑ ✔ Basements ❑ ✔ Masonry ❑ ✔ Decks ❑

604-732-8453 9129 Shaughnessy St. Vancouver

w w w. m r b u i l d . c o m

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A13

Living

Top 15 hot weather vegetables GARDEN Anne Marrison

amarrison@shaw.ca

As May turns into June, we have the opportunity to start plants that may hesitate in lukewarm temperatures but are so quick to surge ahead on hot days we don’t doubt crops will result.

Zucchinis are like this.

In the open garden, seed emerges fastest on hills of soil. The bush zucchinis grow nicely there as well as in large containers where slug protection is easier with copper mesh or tape than in the open garden. Also in pots, it’s easier to move zucchinis into a warm sunny spot. If you keep picking, production goes on till frost.

It’s also now time to plant snap beans like the popular Blue Lake, Gold Rush or both green and yellow types for colourful salads. The purple-pod version, such as Royal Burgundy, are pretty when growing but the pods turn green when cooked.

V V ista

iew

If you haven’t started potatoes yet, now is the time if you still hope to get a crop before blight hits. If it does, it’s best to remove the infested top growth immediately.

Then, if the potatoes need to stay in the ground a little longer, they can. Minus the infected tops, many tubers won’t suffer blight.

The other pesky potato problem is green tubers.

These should not be eaten because green skin indicates presence of a toxin.

This can be prevented if you mulch potato plants with two to three inches of soil when the plants are half-grown. It’s tempting to substitute grass mulch, but this dries and shrinks leaving gaps, which expose the shallow tubers.

It’s too late to start pepper seed, but transplants are a perfect choice for containers that can be placed out in the sunshine. Hot peppers, especially the jalapeno type, are resilient to adversity and enormously productive. But all pepper plants are pretty as well as useful, especially

when fruits slowly ripen and go through various colours.

Tomato transplants are another superb choice for containers against a sunny south or west wall and especially under a roof overhang where tomato blight can be kept a bay. In a pot, tomatoes need rich soil and lots of water.

In buying transplants it’s important to check whether they’re “intermediate” or “determinate.” Determinate types have one stem and produce tomatoes tidily on the flower cluster at the top. Intermediates produce suckers between the main stem and the leaf nodes.

It’s important to remove all suckers except the first two or three. These are the only ones with a reasonable chance of producing ripe tomatoes. Otherwise suckers produce their own suckers and intermediates become huge, tangled bushes.

Cucumbers can be sown or transplanted around mid-June. They need sun, warmth, lime, compost or all-purpose organic fertilizer

and may need protection if nights get cold. Lots of water helps prevent bitterness.

Many leafy vegetables have problems in hot weather, but New Zealand spinach loves the heat and can grow well in sun or partial shade.

Slugs and other pests don’t bother it. It’s a low-grower, tasty and sweet. The stems spread into leafy mats and need frequent picking because if it gets a chance to make seed, this plant gives up. Germination rates tend

to be low but once it starts, growth is rapid.

Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions.

Send them to her via amarrison@shaw.ca It helps if you add the name of your city or region.

star tile co ltd

Providing friendly professional help for the do-it-yourself homeowner...

Complete line of adhesives and accessories - free loan of tile cutter...

And there’s always a bargain in our Clearance Bin!

Ceramic • Marble • Slate • Granite

2121 East Hastings Street

604-254-9864 www.startile.ca

Mon-Fri 9am-5pm • Sat 10am-4pm Closed Holiday Weekends

A14

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

summer campDon’t let allergies Peanuts and gluten top the list SHANNON LYNCH • SHANNON_17_2@HOTMAIL.COM

Parents concerned about sending kids with food allergies to summer camp now have options as more are introducing rules as to just what kids can and cannot bring with them when it comes to food.

Pedalheads B.C. offers a series of bike day camps in the Lower Mainland for kids aged two to 12 from the beginning of July through end of August. Part of its mandate to keep kids safe is a reminder to parents that children should bring snacks without nuts.

“It’s one more safety mechanism,” said Claudia Sjoberg, owner of Atlantic Programs and Pedalheads Inc. One of the major steps camps do to ensure food safety is make sure instructors don’t share food with the kids — and that kids don’t share with each other.

“The kids eat their own snacks and that’s the biggest way that we can control what goes on,” said Sjoberg. “That way we can keep kids from going, ‘Hey that looks good, can I try some of yours?’ We absolutely don’t allow that.”

She said the camp has had the rule for years but hesitates to call it a full-on policy.

FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015 UBC THUNDERBIRD STADIUM Kid’s Mile: 6:30pm

All Kid’s Mile runners receive

A post-run meal with hot dogs, ice cream, cookies, chips and juice

Get to enjoy

The on-site entertainment and a fun Run Jump & Throw Program

All finishers in the Kid’sMile receive A gift bag filled with goodies

ADULTS & OLDER CHILDREN CAN PARTICIPATE INTHE Longest Day 5k & 10k 5K: 6:45pm – 10K: 7:05pm

OVER 70 PRIZESTOWIN

Donate to the JDRF for a chance to win a TofinoVacation provided by:

A CARIBOO GETAWAY C/O:

Register at: thunderbirdstrack.org or at

“It’s not like we can absolutely have an iron fist about who’s bringing stuff in,” said Sjoberg.

The nut-free snack rule is a good way to remind everyone to be conscious of the fact that some children are allergic to nuts and to be careful, said Sjoberg. And even though it’s not a strict rule, Sjoberg said Pedalheads has never had any problems relating to allergies. She added it can help parents whose kids don’t have nut allergies to empathize with those do.

“Sometimes you forget or you just don’t even know what other parents have to go through and how stressful it is for parents who do have these issues,” she said. “It’s a really good way to remind other parents to think, ‘I’ve got to be aware of this — if I’m careless it could affect another child.’”

Camp Shalom of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver also has a nut-free rule as well as a vegetarian rule — the first because of allergies and the second due to religion.

Kids from preschool age to Grade 8 attending day camps bring nut and meat-free meals to keep kids with nut allergies safe, as well as to abide by some of the rules of Judaism.

In Jewish religion, for example, Kosher meat is prepared in a certain way and so the camp avoids any traditional rule-breaking by banning meat altogether, though they can bring fish.

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

o-rama

spoil camp fun

“Nobody brings any meat from outside, so there’s no risk of mixing dairy and meat,” said director Shirly Goldstein. “Everyone’s more on the same side of the diet.”

But you don’t have to be Jewish to attend, as Goldstein explained, about 30 per cent of campers are not.

For parents wondering what kinds of foods their kids can bring, Goldstein said the camp offers suggestions such as egg and tuna salad sandwiches, hummus and carrots and other healthy options.

free environment, but now it’s different — a whole array of new things,” she said. “So we have to be very careful.”

Capture your summer.

TEEN PHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER CAMP Our talented and award winning team of

Sessions: July 13-17, July 20-24, August 10-14

photography instructors has created an

Maximum class size: 16 students

exciting 5-day program designed to inspire, challenge, and engage the aspiring teen (14-18 yrs) photographer. Students will have access to Langara’s professional photography studios and state-of-the-art equipment.

Times: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm, Monday-Friday

Students must have their own DSLR camera.

Learn more. jbalderston@langara.bc.ca www.langara.bc.ca/cs/photography To register, call 604.323.5322.

Location: Langara College Main Campus Cost: $285 per session

This Summer, catch up and get ahead !

• Private in-home 1-to-1 tutoring for all ages • Help for Grade K-12 in all subjects • Personalized academic, mentorship program • Summer enrichment !

She noted the camp is always open to input and suggestions from parents as well.

Activities at Camp Shalom include a daily swim, theme days, arts and crafts and some programs based on traditional Jewish values.

The camps run from June 29 to Aug. 21.

Visit jccgv.com for more information. @shannon1726

2 3 4

For 3 years in a row, we were voted One of the Best Educational Services by City Parent Magazine!

Call us to book your free assessment today!

TutorBright

778.300.5000

www.tutorbright.com

Goldstein said that to accommodate children with allergies besides nuts, Camp Shalom notifies everyone in the two-week-long session that has a child with a severe allergy, for example to gluten, and tells only kids in that session to also bring gluten-free food, but not the whole camp.

“We always keep the peanut-

Theatre • Music • Acrobatics • Puppetry

FINAL WEEKEND! May 25 - May 31, 2015 childrensfestival.ca

A15

A16

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

Not your average band camp.

DIGITAL MUSIC PRODUCTION FOR TEENS Interested in electronic music, DJing, or music production?

Want to record movie, TV, and video game music? Langara College Continuing Studies is offering a two-week summer camp in Digital Music Production for teens ages 13-18.

Students will also spend a full day at a professional recording studio.

Learn about: • Sequencing, arranging, and recording • Keyboard skills for composing and arranging • Ableton Live music production so_ware • Reason music so_ware • Music Theory July 6-10 and July 13-17, 2015 | 9:00am-4:00pm | $1249 Students will only need to provide their own headphones.

Limited to a maximum of 16 students.

LEARN MORE Deborah Holland, Program Coordinator dholland@langara.bc.ca | (604) 218-4824

summer

Tutoring a flexible to summer

Camps combine learning with fun SHANNON LYNCH • SHANNON_17_2@HOTMAIL.COM

Summer is a time of fun and relaxation for children, says the Vancouver director of TutorBright, a national company that provides tutor and mentoring services for kids of all ages.

“While we all deserve a summer break, it’s also important to consider the significant amount of time our children will be away from their studies and learning activities,” says W.Y. Na. “An equivalence of one year for every five and a half.”

www.langara.bc.ca/dmp

Na added lengthy summer breaks have a different effect on students than that of shorter Christmas holidays and Spring Break.

“Research confirmed that summer ‘brain drain’ does not only stagnate learning, it actually causes learning loss,” said Na. He noted while not every student experiences this “summer slump” to a large degree, the majority will lose some math and language arts skills, which impacts their ability to absorb new material at the next grade level. Na said because teachers don’t always have the luxury of revisiting the previous year’s material, it’s important students return to school with that knowledge intact. And that’s where TutorBright can play an important part in the summer.

Best Summer Ever!

“The cumulative effect over the years can make a big difference in a child’s prospects of getting into the school, university or discipline of their choice,” said Na. “The brain is like a muscle, if you don’t use it, you lose it and it will be difficult to restart.”

AN ENJOY THE BEST OF A CANADI !

MER SUM T OAS ST-C WE

SUMMERCAMPSFORALLAGES!

www.qwanoes.ca 1-888-997-9266

LIFE LIKE NO OTHER!

“Increasingly, parents are hiring tutors during the summer to help their children get ahead, not just to catch up, as admission to certain high schools or colleges becomes extremely competitive,” said Na. “It is the survival of the fittest.”

Meanwhile the founder and director of Vancouver’s Pear Tree Education says diversity in summer camp programs helps stave off boredom and makes kids more well-rounded.

“You get a lot of sports camps in Vancouver, but you don’t really get a lot of camps which integrate science and cooking within those courses,” said Paul Romani. “We think there’s no point in learning about sports if you don’t know how to take care of your body.”

Kids can join a number of various

themed courses at Pear Tree this It’s also summer, which Romani says important to consider have a function as well as fun — they’re connected the significant amount of time being to school and also real life.

The sports science camp our children will be away is one example. Instead of simply playing beach volleyball from their studies and or tennis, kids join the camp learning activities. leaders in grocery shopping to buy ingredients for recipes they — W.Y. NA follow back at camp. They learn

But luckily, Na said, there are simple activities a parent can initiate to exercise a child’s brain muscle without taking away the joys of summer, including 30 minutes of reading daily on a favourite topic and staying active in sports or the outdoors.

Jump into the adventure and let friendship fill each day. Experience a world of discovery, over 75 activities, all with an amazing staff. staff.

Na said one-on-one tutoring is a great flexible way to allow students to still enjoy their holidays without enrolling them in summer school.

about plyometrics, or “jump training,” and other forms of exercising. The kids also upload everything they do onto the

alternative school

PRESENTED BY

camp-o-rama

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Neighbours building hope since

A17

Fairinthesquare.org

19 0 7

Join your NEIGHBOURS

fair in th thee square 20 20115 E + FRE lunch

BBQ concert live

SUNDAY, MAY 31ST. 11am - 2pm

Victory Square Park. Hastings & Cambie, Gastown HOSTED BY

Marc Smith ( 30DayAdventures

>@6B 97:4 0 3=84 5=@:A@:2 0 =CA@B=: <=C>4A 0 87<<?:@A; 3=@C 0 5C@94B1

camp’s blog to learn those skills, too. Romani said the range in course content allows campers to have fun while learning, and it’s more realistic for them to be doing different things.

“You can certainly play sports and have fun but there needs to be some kind of purpose to it for us. And not just for us, but also for the kids as well,” said Romani. “The whole point is to become a well-rounded person. And for kids to realize that they’re not just good at one thing, they’re capable of doing a variety of different things well.”

Kids from ages five to 14 can sign up for as few or as many week-long classes at Pear Tree as they like. The courses range in diversity from art to graphic novels to magic to marine biology.

Vancouver school teachers run all the courses at Pear Tree, so they’re trained to help kids handle their emotions, develop their personalities and build confidence, Romani said.

The camps’ theme content is all based on children’s ages, so that kids get the kind of

STAGE SPONSOR: Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group PRINTING SPONSOR: Colour Time, Printing & Digital Imaging

learning that is right for their age group, said Romani. Children who are 10 understand things like cooking on a different level than teenagers, he noted.

A new course this year is the Pear-Formers course for 10 to 14-year-olds, which focuses on the performing arts, including the study of drama scripts and learning about the technology involved in filming. Romani noted it’s not good for the kids or educators to always be running the same kind of activities.

“If you’re constantly doing the same thing all the time, where is the learning on your part?” he said.

Summer day camps at Pear Tree run for nine weeks starting July 2 and finishing Aug. 28.

Visit pear-tree.ca for more information. @shannon1726

SUPPORTED BY: O AMES O BC Hydro O Hastings Crossing BIA O London Drugs O Nesters Market

O Opus Art Supplies O 30 Day Adventures O Tiles & Stone O Vancity O Vancouver Photobooth

MEDIA SPONSOR

‘Caps coaches ensure boys and girls of all skill levels are challenged, focused, and having fun. Plus - receive an official camp t-shirt, poster, and meet a Whitecaps FC player (at select camps).

Choose from:

PROSPECTS CAMPS SKILLS CAMP Presented by Bell FANTASY MATCH CAMPS Presented by

ell

Camps start in July, register today. whitecapsfc.com/camps Toll free: 1.855.932.1932

A18

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

urbansenior

Honour House founder walks the walk De Genova appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel to 15th Field Regiment

Sandra Thomas

sthomas@vancourier.com

Honour House founder and former park board commissioner Allan De Genova couldn’t be prouder of his most recent appointment, that of Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel to 15th Field Regiment.

“After all of my work with Honour House, I am proud to wear this uniform,” De Genova told the Courier during an interview Monday morning. “I want those men and women to know I am here to serve them.”

Honour House, which opened in New Westminster in June 2011, is a home-away-from-home for Canadian Forces personnel, veterans, first-responders (ambulance paramedics, firefighters and police) and their families while receiving medical care and treatment in the Metro Vancouver area.

De Genova fought tirelessly for years to make the home a reality and now has plans to expand the much-needed program across Canada.

De Genova said from the moment he was approached to take the honorary position, he was determined to make the most of the opportunity, both for the regiment and personally. The 58-yearold started shaping up in order to keep up with the younger troops he now helps command and has so far attended training camps in Chilliwack and Fort Lewis, Wash. Looking trim and fit in his dress service uniform, boots polished to a glossy shine, De Genova looked every part the soldier as he spoke about his decision to become as entrenched in the position as possible.

“I can assure Canadians I will be the first to serve if called on,” said De Genova.

“And I want the over 50 crowd to know it’s never too late to serve your country.”

Because 15th Field is an artillery regiment, the

Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 15th Field Regiment Allan De Genova wants to raise awareness about the good work reserve members perform across the province.

PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

realtor-by-day is also being trained in the use of heavy weapons. And as much as De Genova attempted to maintain his professional, military composure while speaking about his training, he couldn’t help but smile as he spoke of his newly honed skills.

“I shot a 105 Howitzer at targets four and five kilometres away,” De Genova said of the small cannonlike weapon. “When these reservists train, it’s like the real situation and they are in

the moment.”

De Genova wants to use his years of business experience and contacts to raise funds for reserve corps across the province and increase awareness about the important work they provide both at home and overseas.

“When the big one [earthquake] hits this province, and we all know it’s a matter of when and not if, these reservists will be the first ones to respond and the last ones to leave after the cleanup,” said De Genova.

“I plan to be beside them every step of the way.”

De Genova hopes his new role with the military will strengthen the bond he’s already enjoying with first responders serving across the province, including fire, police, ambulance and paramedics.

“I promise all of those men and women who serve, I will earn this uniform,” said De Genova. “This is my calling.”

The 15th Field Regiment, part of 39 Canadian

Brigade Group of the 3rd Canadian Division, formed in 1920. During the Second World War the brigade manned heavy artillery protective forts once located along the West Coast to protect the Port of Vancouver. Following the end of the war, the brigade turned its attention from the water inland and became a field unit. The 15th Field Regiment, originally based out of the Vancouver Horse Show building near Stanley Park, is today located at

the Bessborough Armoury on West 11th Avenue near Arbutus Street.

De Genova will act as reviewing officer when the 15th Field Artillery Regiment Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps 62nd Annual Ceremonial Review takes place Saturday, June 6, at 1 p.m. at Bessborough Armoury, 2025 West 11th Ave. Please be seated by 12:45 p.m. Proceeds from a silent auction will benefit the cadet corps. @sthomas10

A New Baby And Two Kids, I Need Help.

SHYLO Brings The Care To Your Home.

When you have a new baby and a growing family to take care of you could use some help around the house. Shylo Home Support offers: 3 recovery from c-section 3 meal preparation 3 laundry and housekeeping 3 shopping for the family.

For a FREE IN-HOME ASSESSMENT call

604-985-6881

Check us out online: www.ShyloNursing.ca www.VancouverSeniorHealth.BlogSpot.com

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A19

urbansenior

DENTURES THAT FIT

GUARANTEED! All our Dentures and Services are TAX FREE!

Friedrich H.G. Brumm D.D. B.A.

Denturist - 27 yrs exp View my video with

For your free consultation please call 604-325-1914 www.mydentures.ca

Now Accepting New Patients No Referral Needed VICTORIA DRIVE DENTURE CLINIC 5477 Victoria Drive (at 39th) “EUROPEAN QUALITY AT CANADIAN PRICES”

BIRTHDAY GIRL Mae Irving (left) celebrated her 103rd birthday May 15 at the South Granville Seniors Centre. Irving, whose actual birthday is May 5, was joined on her big day by youngster Kay Hamilton, who recently turned 100. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Simplify your life.

Right-sizing frees up room for living! When you live at an Amica retirement community you eliminate the worry of home maintenance and upkeep. And you enjoy fresh-prepared meals and lively social activities. Simply tour to find out more.

VISIT US TODAY!

Move in this Spring!

Call to arrange your personal tour and complimentary lunch!

All-Inclusive Retirement Living

• www.amica.ca

Amica at Arbutus Manor 2125 Eddington Drive, Vancouver, BC 604.736.8936

A20

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

urbansenior

Seniors win big in federal budget

Though not all groups pleased with way things played out

Tom Carney

tomcarney@telus.net

SEE BETTER FASTER EXPERIENCE

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

Your cataract surgery can be done quickly and with extreme precision using laser technology.

+ + + +

Customization with 3D imaging Laser precision More gentle approach Highly trained and experienced surgeons

Call us today 604. 874.1349

cambiesurgery.com info@csc-surgery.com

Let’s start with the obvious. Seniors were the big winners in the Conservative budget, a.k.a. Economic Action Plan 2015.

Gone are the days when a budget from government held any real surprises. Now governments are prone to leak the details from their own budgets in advance of budget day. It was no secret the budget would contain provisions that would allow people to take less out of their Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) and put more into their Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs). Whether you favour those changes or, more to the point, benefit from them, really depends on how much money you have. The government could have muted the criticism that those tax reforms disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Canadians by reversing their decision to increase eligibility for Old Age Security from the age of 65 to 67 or by increasing payments to low-income seniors through the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). They did neither.

Apart from tax reform, there’s money in the budget for homeowners and caregivers. There’s a new Home Accessibility Tax Credit for renovations to help seniors and the disabled stay in their homes longer, and a tax-free Family Caregiver Relief Benefit to help veterans.

Compassionate care benefits under the Employment Insurance system for Canadians caring for the gravely ill are extended.

There’s even some new money, thankfully, for

Seniors were the big winners in the Conservative budget, a.k.a.

Economic Action Plan 2015.

research into best practises in palliative care services.

Add that to the other seniorfriendly measures introduced by the Conservative government over the past decade, including income splitting for seniors to doubling the pension income seniors can receive tax-free, to increasing the basic income tax deductions for seniors, and it’s easy to see why lots of older adults are smiling these days.

There are winners and losers in every budget. Organizations that advocate on behalf of seniors are coming to realize that when dealing with government they need a plan. The Canadian Association of Retired Persons and more than 50 groups have formed Seniors Vote to campaign to promote the interests of older Canadians ahead of the upcoming federal election.

The Canadian Medical Association says that developing a seniors strategy to address issues, such as healthcare, infrastructure, housing and public transportation, will become the focus of their efforts going forward. Its Alliance for a National Seniors Strategy, which includes 35 groups, has set up a website, demandaplan.ca, to garner public

support. The government wants no part of that. When it comes to funding national strategies to address some of the most compelling health and social issues in this country, the federal government pleads poverty.

There’s money in the budget — $42 million spread over five years — to establish a new Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation in Toronto, but no money to fund a comprehensive strategic plan. A dementia strategy would cost approximately $150 million.

Let’s put that number in perspective. According to the government’s own estimates, the additional contribution room in the TFSA will cost the government an extra $1.1 billion in foregone revenue over the next five years. That’s enough to fund a national strategy for dementia, mental health, housing and more.

The lesson here is that budgets aren’t just about economics, they’re about making choices too. With an election expected this fall, voters will have a choice to make as well.

Tom Carney is the former executive director of the Lionsview Seniors’ Planning Society.

WANT TO HEAR A SECRET?

1 in 4 people will experience hearing loss. Are you willing to take the risk?

Unaddressed hearing loss can have an impact on your earning potential, and in seniors, can put them at a higher risk of developing dementia, a loss of brain function that can affect memory, thinking, language, judgement and behaviour (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine). A simple hearing screening can dramatically improve your quality of life!

Why Choose Miracle-Ear? Hearing Specialists.

Industry Pioneers.

Personalized Service.

CALL TO REQUEST YOUR FREE HEARING SCREENING TODAY! Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evaluation, proper fit and ability to adapt to amplification. Hearing screenings are always free. © 2014 Miracle-Ear, Inc.

Miracle-Ear Now in Canada!

Vancouver

#170 – 809 W. 41st Ave.

(604) 239-0322

www.miracle-ear-vancouver.ca

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Arts&Entertainment

GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com

1

May 27 to 29, 2015 1. Now that Ryan Adams is clean, sober and finally at peace with audience members jokingly yelling out requests for Bryan Adams songs, the only thing uncertain about a Ryan Adams concert these days is which Bryan Adams song he’ll cover during the encore. Last time he was in town, he pulled off a killer version of “Run to You.” He’s also been known to turn “Summer of 69” into a plaintive ballad.

Hear the roots rocker with a golden voice perform May 27 at the Orpheum Theatre.

Wardell opens. Details at livenation.com.

2. Boca del Lupo is at it again with another charming edition of its 2015 Micro Performance Series. I Think I Can is billed as an interactive model railway installation by Australia’s Terrapin Puppet Theatre. Through puppetry, live video and audience participation, visitors become temporary residents of a miniature model railway world via avatars. Each character’s story becomes part of the larger collective story, which is recorded by a newspaper editor who posts the stories online for audience members to check out after the show. Just like real life, minus the soul-crushing pandering of clickbait.

The show runs May 28 to 30 at Granville Island’s Anderson Street Space. Tickets and information at bocadellupo.com.

3. Combining classical opera, drag, cabaret and (naturally) verbatim first-person retellings of West Coast gay sexual experiences, the cheekily titled Cocktales with Maria gets saucy at the rEvolver Festival May 27 to 30 at the Cultch. The May 30 performance will be staged offsite at Club 8X6. For tickets and details, go to upintheairtheatre.com and thecultch.com.

A21

2

3

A22

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

Arts&Entertainment

LaBute’s In A Forest dense with discomfort Strong performances buoy dark, challenging script exploring family ties THEATRE REVIEW Jo Ledingham joled@telus.net

The potential for incest hangs over In A Forest, Dark and Deep like a huge thundercloud just waiting for lightning to strike.

Once Bobby (Carlo Marks) comes into his sister’s lakeside hideaway (designed

by Triane Tambay, lit by Graham Ockley), you can feel brother/sister sex in the air. If the production had a smell, it would be musky.

This is no Hansel and Gretel story. If you’re looking for light entertainment, playwright Neil LaBute (Dark Dark House, Shape of Things, Bash) consistently never provides it. In A Forest is a searing exploration of a relationship that swings ferociously to and from all points on the sibling relationship compass: carnality,

conditional/unconditional love, rivalry, jealousy and the happy or unhappy familiarity of a shared past.

Ably directed by Tamara McCarthy for Naked Goddess Productions, it’s an excellent vehicle for two actors and an emotional rollercoaster — more intensity than some theatregoers will be able to withstand. LaBute has been called “American theatre’s reigning misanthrope” by the Village Voice and even LaBute’s wife says he writes to shock his audience. There’s plenty of shock in this forest and lots of words your mother forbade you to say.

But LaBute does deal with some material that doesn’t come up very often: the destructive — yet sexually arousing — effect of a promiscuous older sister on a younger brother. Betty (Sandra Medeiros) is, by most people’s definition, a slut. She’s been sleeping with anyone and everyone

for years. Brother Bobby caught Betty, age 15, fellating one of her teachers who subsequently lost his job, his wife and his family. Her behaviour continued even after her marriage although she took a break until she discovered her husband was sleeping with his secretary.

She’s not only promiscuous, she’s an irredeemable liar. And a sort-of Christian.

Is sleeping with one of her college students actually against God’s law? She has to ask?

LaBute, unfortunately, gives only scraps of backstory — not nearly enough — to explain Betty’s rampant sexuality. Maybe dad didn’t love her enough.

Maybe dad was having sex with her. So all we’re left with is: Betty’s a bad, bad girl. The play, therefore, is drenched in misogyny.

Brother Bobby is no saint, either. He’s coarse, abusive, would definitely have sex with Betty if she’d let him

†

18 -MONTH TERM DEPOSIT Receive $100 cash bonus¹ when you join GVC Credit Union and open a “Real Chequing” account with a direct deposit² BRENTWOOD 1801 Willingdon Ave. 604.298.3344 LOUGHEED 9608 Cameron St. 604.421.3456 NEW WESTMINSTER 25B-800 McBride Blvd.

604.525.1414 SURREY 125-15280 101 Ave. 604.584.4434 †Terms & conditions apply. Minimum $5,000 deposit required. Rates are subject to change without notice. ¹Terms and conditions apply. This ad copy must be presented to qualify for cash bonus. Promotional offers/bonuses cannot be combined. One bonus per member. Offer ends June 30, 2015. ²Direct deposit includes; payroll, pension, and/or monthly government payments.

VANCOUVER 115-370 E. Broadway 604.875.8590

Sandra Medeiros and Carlo Marks play siblings in Neil LaBute’s play In A Forest, Dark and Deep.

and despite the integrity he boasts about having, when the truth finally comes out, he has none.

Medeiros and Marks are fantastic together. There’s a lot for Medeiros to work with: Betty is a college teacher; she’s articulate, beautiful, trendily dressed in ripped jeans, an off-theshoulder sweater and suede boots. Medeiros’s character has a journey to take.

There are ups and downs and Medeiros makes all the right moves — sometimes convincing us Betty is a paragon of virtue, at other times that she’s just a bitch in heat. Medeiros does a

sexy booty-shaker that, if Bobby weren’t already hot for her, he soon would be.

Bobby comes in already a little boozed up and ready for a fight. And he escalates from there. Marks ends up yelling on enough occasions to have your stomach tied up in knots. And he maintains an element of physical menace that keeps us wondering when Bobby will completely lose it.

Terrific performances, both.

While I appreciate LaBute tackling tough subjects, I can’t say I like his work.

In A Forest is highly charged theatre and I was engaged

all the time. But there’s an indescribable something missing: does In A Forest, Dark and Deep have any redeeming value other than its theatricality? It ends up being a kind of thriller with the bad guys wondering if they’ve disobeyed the Ten Commandments. If not, it’s all OK. She’s a bitch and he wants into her pants. Ultimately, who gives a damn?

For more reviews, go to joledingham.ca.

In A Forest, Dark and Deep is at Havana Theatre until May 30. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com.

Details at nakedgoddessproductions.com.

W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Arts&Entertainment

@VanCourierNews all you need to know in 140 characters!

Gil and Sarah Jaysmith, with their son Galen, conceived the musical One Plus One about the difficulties of concieving a child. To see a video of the couple performing “You’ll Never See Me Sad,” go to vancourier.com. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Birth of a notion Musical sings highs and lows of in vitro fertilization STATE OF THE ARTS Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

Having to have sex might sound dreamy to those surviving a dry spell, but for Gil and Sarah Jaysmith, years of scheduled sex in an attempt to conceive was no treat.

As years of therapy, drugs, invasive procedures and heartbreak wore on, the partners in life and songwriting made music about their experiences.

Now, with the help of the Pipedream Theatre Project, they’ve conceived One Plus One: A Ticking Clock of a Musical, which premieres at the Arts Club’s Revue Stage on Granville Island June 3 to 13.

“The musical Next to Normal won the Pulitzer for talking about depression in 2010. Now that’s only a few years ago, and apparently it was not cool, or it hadn’t been done, to talk about something as major and as all-encompassing that everyone knows about as depression. So clearly the conversation about IVF [in vitro fertilization] and infertility is that much further behind,” said Gil. “It’s important to realize that unless there’s a musical about something, it’s not really receiving full attention from society.”

One Plus One tells the story of two married couples in their 30s. The younger duo, Alex and Madison, are strapped for cash and deal with constant pressure from Madison’s family. Oliver and Holly are older, rich and seemingly perfect, but are also struggling to have a child.

The Jaysmiths say neither couple is them but bits of them resonate in each character in the musical that’s directed by April Green, with Keith Opatovsky serving as dramaturge.

The Jaysmiths started trying to have a child 15 year ago, when Sarah was 26 and Gil was 30. They saw various specialists in England and then resolved to take a break when they relocated to Vancouver in 2007.

“We thought well, OK, here we are in a new country, new city, let’s give ourselves permission to take a break from hardcore trying for a year or two. Yeah, it didn’t last,” said Gil, whose career as a videogame programmer prompted their move. “It was very difficult to pretend that we were just going to let things happen naturally, so after a couple of years it was back to the grindstone of scheduled sex and going to see specialists and try this drug or try this technique.”

“It’s hard enough emotionally, already, and then you add in the extra hormones from treatments and it gets really quite crazy,” added Sarah, who teaches singing and works as a pianist and composer.

“And really the only thing worse than the normal realizing that you’re getting your period is when you get your period having spent $15,000 [on one cycle of IVF],” she said.

With IVF, the egg is fertilized with the sperm outside the body and then inserted into the uterus. Gil explained a woman is then considered pregnant for two weeks until proven otherwise. That was the inspiration for the song “Fortnight from Hell” that

appears in One Plus One. “Most of our songs are fairly tuneful, but we like to have some stuff in there that is really kind of dissonant and difficult to listen to because sometimes life’s like that,” Gil said.

There’s a short rock song that describes the menstrual cycle, ballads, a passionate tango, a ditty about providing a sperm sample and an up-tempo gospel number called “The Whole Damn World Is Pregnant.”

“You’re walking around and everyone’s got a pram, everyone’s got a pot belly, everyone on Facebook is like, ‘Please welcome the birth of our new child,’” Gil said. “You see some sausage dog walking by with a ground effects belly and you’re like, oh please.”

But the Jaysmiths needn’t be jealous any longer.

Their story finally has a happy ending. The day after her 40th birthday, Sarah learned she was pregnant.

Their baby was due May 30, which could have messed with their musical’s premiere, but their son Galen arrived early, April 16.

“The fact that he was born six weeks early has meant that we actually will be able to go and see the show, instead of being at home dealing with him and his incredible capacity for drinking milk,” Gil said.

“I can’t believe that the show is actually happening,” Sarah said. “I definitely can’t believe that there’s a baby on my shoulder after so many years,” she added as Galen gurgled. “It’s really quite something.”

For more information, see pipedream.ca. @Cheryl_Rossi

A23

A24

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5

Sports&Recreation

GOT SPORTS? 604.630.3549 or mstewart@vancourier.com

Hurdler’s advantage a leg up High school provincials run June 4 to 6 in Langley ATHLETICS Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

To reach Canada’s biggest youth meet of the summer, Hannah Johnston is in training to overcome a few barriers. She has 10 of them in her two track events, the 100-metre and 400-metre hurdles, and her strategy is locked in.

“With hurdles, to go over them as fast as possible, when you’re jumping you need to have that fast reaction time when you’re taking off,” said the Grade 11 student at Van Tech who trains with coach Tatjana Mece and the Vancouver Olympics.

Most sprinters take three steps between hurdles in the shorter race, taking off with the same leg each time. In the longer race, Johnston alternates leading with her left and right legs to clear the hurdles, a technique not everyone can master. Her stride is her weapon.

“Some people, they can’t do that, they just can’t,” said the 17-year-old. “I’m lucky enough to be able to do it with both, which could be an advantage.”

On the first hurdle, she leads with her left leg.

From there, she alternates.

“That’s been working for me, she said, noting she’s running the 400m for the first season since moving up from the shorter 300m junior distance. “There’s more pacing involved with [the longer race]. In the 300, you just go all out but in the 400, I feel there is a bit more strategy. I find it a harder race. Coming around to the 300-metre mark, you’re very tired so you have to try really hard to keep your technique. I

Bernard most ‘outstanding’ UBC Thunderbird Maria Bernard capped her university track and field career with a golden crown — two, in fact — plus the women’s honour as the most outstanding performer at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Atlanta May 21 to 23.

Bernard, who’s from Calgary, dominated the 3,000-metre steeplechase from the opening gun. The fourth-year senior jumped out to the lead on the first lap to claim her secondstraight steeplechase national title in a time of 10 minutes and 12.44 seconds. In Friday’s heats, she set a NAIA national meet record of 10:12.31, breaking the previous benchmark set in 2009.

Three-and-a-half hours after her first race, Bernard stepped up for the 5,000 metres and caught up to T-Birds teammate Amelie de Fenoyl on the last lap before overtaking her with 300 metres to go. She won

her second national title of the day in 17:13.83 while de Fenoyl took silver in 17:16.44.

She became the first female Thunderbird to win the NAIA’s Herbert B. Marett Outstanding Performer award. Olympic jumper Mike Mason won the men’s award in 2008.

“I didn’t know how the double was going to go, but I’m glad I had the energy to contribute,” Bernard said in a UBC news release.

“Being able to finish my last race with Amelie right there at the finish line was wonderful. It was really a team effort, as I was definitely propelled by my teammates’ support and had great help recovering and preparing from [UBC distance coach] Sean Cannon and the whole coaching staff.”

The championship marks the final meet for outgoing UBC coach Marek Jedrzejek.

— Megan Stewart

Hannah Johnston, 17, holds city records in the 400-metre hurdles and triple jump.

PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

try to stay with the front runners as much as possible and give it all at the end.”

In the 400m hurdles, Johnston has to circle the track in one minute, three seconds to meet the standard for the Canadian Legion Youth Track and Field Championship, set for August in Quebec. In the shorter sprint, her benchmark is 15.67 seconds.

Her personal best in the 400m, known as distance hurdles, came at the city championship when she clocked 1:04.41 and in the 100m, the sprint hurdles, she won in 15.94 seconds.

The results, plus her win in the triple jump, earned her

a share of the girls aggregate for the most individual points. She tied with Hamber’s Conny Bregman.

Johnston is close to qualifying for the Legion meet. But she must also finish in the top two at the B.C. club championships, scheduled for the end of July in Nanaimo.

In June, she’ll race for the Van Tech Talismen at the B.C. high school championships in Langley, seeking a podium finish but ultimately trying to shave seconds off her time.

“It’s always my goal to get a faster time each race and improve with my own personal best,” said the hurdler who set a city record

in the 400m and finished, incredibly, nearly six seconds ahead of her closest competitor. She also holds the triple jump record of 10.71 metres.

Already in the record books for the Vancouver Secondary School Athletic Association, Johnston still has another year of high school ahead of her. She will almost certainly meet the standards she needs to qualify for the Legion and, in the meantime, will chase a gold medal at the two B.C. championship meets.

“I still have another chance if I don’t this year,” she said. @MHStewart

ALONE IN FRONT On her way to gold, UBC Thunderbird Maria Bernard had an enormous lead in the steeplechase at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Atlanta on May 23.

PHOTO WILSON WONG / UBC ATHLETICS

Heptathlon, seven times the competition Magee’s Julie Kawai Herdman placed fifth in the senior girls heptathlon at the B.C. high school track and field championship in Langley on May 22.

The Grade 9 Lion finished the seven-event competition with 4,001 points, 1,045 off the untouchable Maple Ridge gold medallist Nina Shultz but a mere 67 points ahead of Little Flower Academy’s Sophie Pauls, who came sixth in a close field of 16 girls. Only

535 points separated second through sixth places, the difference coming down to the last two events, the javelin throw and 800-metre race.

Pauls, who trains with the Thunderbirds Track Club, tied for second in the 100-metre hurdles with her time of 16.03 seconds and cleared 1.65 metres in the high jump to finish third in the discipline.

“I knew most of the girls going into it and they were all very strong,” said

Pauls, who will compete in both high and long jump at the provincial individual meet June 4 to 6, which marks the start of the summer season.

For athletes like Pauls and Herdman who are competitive on both the track and the field, the multi-disciplinary sport of heptathlon tests their range in seven events. The 10 evens of decathlon is open to boys. These competitions don’t reward sport

specialization, but reward the athlete who can, like a Swiss army knife, pull out the right tool for the task.

“You know who you’re competing against because you’ve done all seven events with them — you know if the’yre good at throwing or running,” said Herdman, who will compete as a junior in the individual long and high jump events as well as the 200m.

In addition to the hur-

dles and two jump events, the heptathlon includes shot put, javelin and 200m and 800m races.

“We’re mostly power athletes,” said Pauls, referring to the explosive, muscular output needed to leap and throw. The outlier is the 800m race, a difficult and technical distance twice around the track.

“I mean, who likes it?

It’s a pretty long sprint. It’s the last event and for most girls who do heptathlon,

it’s definitely not anyone’s favourite.”

At last year’s individual meet, Pauls fell one centimetre shy of the podium in the long jump and was in the top eight for high jump.

She wants to crack the top eight in both events again.

Also in the heptathlon, Lord Byng’s Jodie Dressel and Alina Cook finished 10th and 14th, respectively, while Stephanie Stressing finished 13th for Crofton House.

— Megan Stewart

HIGHBURY INTERCEPTOR AIR MANAGEMENT FACILITY

PUBLIC MEETING Please join us for this open house and presentation to learn more about the Highbury Interceptor Air Management Facility.

26 families forced out of homes after co-op fire

Direct aid to families in Nepal Retired Burnaby firefighter is rebuilding lives of his family of trek guides after earthquakes destroy their homes.

GOAL

35K

$

RAISED

20K

$

74 people were displaced after a fire ripped through their North Shore homes. Many have lost nearly everything.

$

GOAL

26K

RYV

Could you afford to have breast cancer?

Canadian Breast Cancer Support Fund helps women cope with financial stresses during their treatments,

$

GOAL

10K

RAISED

2K

$

RAISED

1.5K

$

do ra o l Co

PSTDfireride to help first responders Firefighters, police and paramedics are the first to respond to an emergency. But who helps them when they suffer from PTSD? Ride raises money for therapy program.

$

GOAL

70K

$

RAISED

8.2K

To donate to these campaigns or to start your own, go to FundAid.ca.

It’s that easy.

TUESDAY JUNE 9 2015, 6:00 TO 8:00 PM MUSQUEAM RECREATION CENTRE 6777 Salish Drive, Vancouver 6:00 – 6:30 pm Open House 6:30 – 7:15 pm Presentation with question and answer period 7:15 – 8:00 pm Staff available for additional questions The proposed design for the Highbury Interceptor Air Management Facility has been revised based on input from local residents, the Vancouver Park Board, and the Musqueam Indian Band. Both Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board staff will be available to answer questions and listen to your comments.

The presentation and group discussion will begin at 6:30 pm.

For those that cannot attend the meeting, an online survey will be placed on the project website.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Metro Vancouver Information Centre at 604-432-6200 or icentre@metrovancouver.org Project information can also be found here: www.metrovancouver.org (search: “Highbury Interceptor”)

A28

THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 5