Homeless profiling?

24VAN_P001_0325
3/24/09
7:09 PM
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City comes down on Fox theatre 3
WEDNESDAY MARCH 25, 2009 Vol 4 No. 246
Today’s weather: Chilly but sunny. High 9C. Low 2C
sports
people
21
13
David Letterman quietly
marries his girlfriend
Canucks were down in
Dallas chasing Stars
Homeless
profiling?
Eby questions why
VPD targeted Hubbard
- CARMINE MARINELLI, 24 HOURS
MAKING A STATEMENT, Robson Street LUSH owner Karen Wolverton stripped down, painted herself red and laid
down on a bloody Canadian flag to protest the thousands of seals that will be killed and skinned during this year’s
seal hunt. See the story on page 4.
Michael Van Hubbard, who was shot and
killed by police last Friday, was not in possession of a stolen bag, according to what
police told his family.
Police shot the 58-year-old after he
allegedly pulled a knife from his bag in the
500 block of Homer Street. The officers
were investigating a car theft on Granville
Street and wanted to check Hubbard for a
bag stolen at the scene.
B.C. Civil Liberties Association
executive director David Eby, who learned
of the development through Hubbard’s
family, said it raises serious questions.
“If all that ties [Hubbard] to it was the
bag, it raises whether they stopped him just
because he looked homeless and thought
he was more likely to commit a crime. Were
they profiling?” Eby asked. “The reported
car theft was five blocks from where
Mr. Hubbard was. There had to be hundreds of people between the two scenes and
surely people carrying black bags.”
Eby says the way Hubbard’s death is
being handled is further proof a civilian
body is required to investigate police
incidents. Abbotsford police are currently
investigating.
Eby said getting video evidence that was
allegedly deleted by police from a witnesses’ phone is proving to be a challenge. The
forensic company hired to extract the data
may have to send it to an American lab.
- MATT KIELTYKA, 24 HOURS
Proprietor and Publisher: Sun Media Corporation – 554 East 15th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5T 2R5
24VAN_P004_0325
3/24/09
7:00 PM
Page 4
4 VANCOUVER
24 hours Wednesday, March 25, 2009
briefs Sealing her protest in blood
SEAL HUNT PROTEST
local news
Book crooks
An activity book being passed
off as a fundraiser for the
Delta Hospital Foundation is
a fraud, according to the Better Business Bureau. They
claim the “Healing Hands
Busy Book” is being sold by
an Alberta company with no
connection to the hospital and
is not a charity.
Hawkins ill
Kelowna-Mission MLA Sindi
Hawkins has been diagnosed
with leukemia for the third
time. Premier Gordon Campbell said Hawkins will leave
legislature to begin treatment
in the coming weeks. “As she
leaves to pursue the treatment she needs, I want Sindi
to know that the thoughts,
prayers, and support of her
friends are with her at this difficult time,” Campbell said.
Vote!
Voters in four Vancouver
electoral districts are lagging
behind other ridings in the
province in registering to vote
for the upcoming provincial
election, Chief Electoral Officer Harry Neufeld said yesterday. Vancouver-False Creek,
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant,
Vancouver-Fairview and Vancouver-West End have less
than 68 per cent of eligible
voters registered. The provincial average is 75.6 per cent.
Anti-racism
The City of Vancouver will
hold a special event today
to mark the International Day
for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination. The event
is titled “Building Stronger
Communities: Collaboration
and Outreach” and will feature presentations on issues
of racism from a youth perspective.
PEAK Top 5
1. “Crack the Shutters” Snow Patrol
2. “Geraldine” - Glasvegas
3. “No Sunlight” - Death Cab
for Cutie
4. “Spaceman” - The Killers
5. “You Found Me” - The Fray
- 24 HOURS NEWS SERVICES
vancouver.24hrs.ca
she said. “We at LUSH believe
quite strongly in a lot of different
charities and we hope that being
as large as we are we can make a
difference in this world.”
As tragic as actress Natasha
Richardson’s death was, a West
Coast skier says he’s seen it all
before, and far too often.
Former pro Richard Kinar
told 24 hours serious head
injuries and death on the slopes
happen on a daily basis and will
continue to until the federal
government regulates helmet
standards.
“A lot of helmets out there
offer no more protection than
putting a bag of milk over your
head,” Kinar said. “People have
no idea because it’s completely
unregulated.”
The Canadian Standards Association has developed the
country’s first alpine helmet
standard, but Kinar says manufacturers refuse to adopt it.
And with preventable injuries being the biggest cause of
death for men under the age of
35, Kinar is putting pressure on
the federal government to support local MP Hedy Fry’s bill to
legislate ski and snowboard helmets.
“When you can cut down on
up to 88 per cent of these injuries, why wouldn’t the government want to come up with
a [helmet] standard?” he said.
“It’s absurd, but it doesn’t seem
to be a priority for them.”
- DHARM MAKWANA, 24 HOURS
- MATT KIELTYKA, 24 HOURS
Instead of wearing luxurious
body butter, LUSH owner
Karen Wolverton painted herself blood red to protest Canada’s seal hunt, which resumed
Monday along the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
Wolverton curled up on top of a
Canadian flag outside her cosmetic
chain’s Robson Street location
while LUSH employees urged
passersby to sign a petition calling
for the end to the country’s commercial seal hunt. An online petition is available at www.lush.ca.
“We have this opportunity, we
have so many stores in Canada,
it’s up to us to put the word out
and help make people aware of
what’s happening back east,”
Wolverton said yesterday.
The Department of Fisheries
and Oceans approved the culling
of 280,000 seals this year.
According to Amy Baird,
spokesperson for Sea Shepherd,
the barbaric practice of clubbing
harp seals to death is unsustainable and inhumane.
“The seals obviously feel a lot of
pain. They’re not able to see the
people coming up on them.
They’re defenceless,” she said.
The ethical-cosmetics retailer
will donate all proceeds from
sales of its First Swim bubble bar
- CARMINE MARINELLI, 24 HOURS
LUSH OWNER Karen Wolverton gets ready to protest Canada’s
seal hunt outside her downtown store yesterday.
to Sea Shepherd.
Wolverton promised to continue protesting despite the federal
government’s efforts to keep the
industry afloat.
“It won’t be my last [stand],”
Cop not certified in first aid
CITY SPENDING
$340K on Olympic tickets
Vancouver will spend $340,000
on Olympic tickets for visiting
dignitaries, a move one city councillor calls “inappropriate.”
The Vision Vancouver-dominated city council approved the
funding yesterday. It’s expected
the tickets will go towards hosting some of the 1,600 dignitaries,
heads of government and even
royalty expected to visit during
next year’s 2010 Olympics.
The lone councillor to oppose,
Ellen Woodsworth with the leftwing COPE party, said the move
was a poor choice amidst a climate of economic uncertainty.
“I think there are many people
in the city who are worried about
the costs of the Olympics,” she
said. “I think it’s an inappropriate use of our funding.”
Her COPE colleague, David
Cadman, didn’t oppose spending
the cash but wanted visiting mayors to pay for the tickets.
But Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs
said the tickets are a necessary
Helmet law
debate grows
“We run the
risk here of
looking really,
cheap, I
think... To say
MEGGS
to a visiting
mayor, you know we’d
like to take you to the
Games, but it’s going
to cost you $300.”
expense.
“We run the risk here of looking really, cheap, I think,” Meggs
said. “To say to a visiting mayor,
you know we’d like to take you to
the Games, but it’s going to cost
you $300.”
Money for the tickets will come
from the city’s $20-million legacy reserve fund, which has gone
to paying a variety of Olympicrelated costs.
- IRWIN LOY, 24 HOURS
The RCMP officer who
“I was reluctant to regave the order to jolt
move them,” he said.
Robert Dziekanski with a
But Robinson removed
Taser gun had let his firstthe cuffs after being asked
aid certification lapse for
a second time by paramore than five years
medics.
when he encountered the
“I remember giving
Polish immigrant, the inthem the warning they
quiry into Dziekanski’s
ROBINSON have to potentially get out
death heard yesterday.
of the way if he comes to
The second day of testimony swinging,” Robinson said.
from the senior officer involved
He denied he ever choked
in the October 2007 incident has Dziekanski, or placed his knee on
seen RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Robin- his neck while arresting him.
son defend his efforts to help
Lawyer Walter Kosteckyj, repDziekanski in the moments after resenting Dziekanski’s mother,
the Polish immigrant was jolted suggested a widely seen video
by a Taser.
showed Robinson perched on
Robinson acknowledged his Dziekanski’s neck.
first aid certification had expired
“It was not on his neck,” he
in March 2002, more than five said. “I was never on his neck.”
years before the incident at VanRobinson is the last, and most
couver International Airport. senior, of the four RCMP officers
Certification is supposed to be who confronted Dziekanski early
kept current every three years.
that morning.
Robinson’s first-aid knowledge
The public now knows
has come under the microscope Dziekanski was hit with a Taser
because previous witnesses have multiple times shortly after
testified he initially refused to re- being met by the officers.
move Dziekanski’s handcuffs for
The inquiry continues.
- IRWIN LOY, 24 HOURS
first aid responders.
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CANADA’S MOST RELIABLE NETWORK
FEWEST DROPPED CALLS CLEAREST RECEPTION
FEW
rogers.com/reliable
rogers.c
Most reliable network claim refers to call clarity and dropped calls test results as conducted by Rogers and a recognized third-party research company in the majority of urban Canadian centres within the Rogers Wireless footprint, comparing services of other major wireless providers.
TM
Trademarks of Rogers Communications Inc. used under license. © 2009 Rogers Wireless.
2 CHANCES TO WIN!
2 CHANCES TO WIN!
CITY OF VANCOUVER
See page 9 or visit
bclc.com for details.
VANCOUVER • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009
See page 9 or visit
bclc.com for details.
metronews.ca
Protest Anti-seal hunt campaign
KRISTEN THOMPSON/METRO VANCOUVER
Artist’s rendering.
Vancouver House
gets library setup
2010 “Vancouver
House”
will be set up in the atrium of the Central Library
during the 2010 Olympics
to showcase our city.
The free, interactive
display will include giant
images projected across a
screen of hanging drapes
on the glazed façade of
the library at Homer and
Georgia streets. It’ll be
carbon neutral and also
include a web portal.
Users will be able to view
and upload content that
relates to the theme —
the world connects here
— and have a chance to
see themselves online in
Vancouver House.
METRO VANCOUVER
Earth Hour
Before you turn your lights
off this Saturday at
8:30 p.m. to mark Earth
Hour, Metro has some
environmental stories to
get you thinking “green.”
Comment & Views
• Word on the street, pg 12
Metro Drive
• Canadian
auto parts
giant
Magna eyes the
green market with electric
vehicle concept, pg 20
Riding the Recession
Metro shares advice on
how to cut down on
expenses and navigate
through the recession.
Canada
• We look at parties where
you not only
get to see
friends, but
leave with
a few pieces
of clothing — at
no cost, pg 7
Karen Wolverton, a co-owner of Lush Cosmetics, protests Canada’s seal hunt outside the company’s Robson Street store at
noon yesterday. The anti-seal hunt campaign extended to Lush stores across North America. Story, pg 3
Police’s ’09 crime fund
half gone in 2 months
Force not in ‘crisis’ over gang violence costs, council told
JEFF HODSON
[email protected]
Vancouver has as many
guns on its streets as
Seattle, the city’s police
chief told council yesterday
as he warned that police
had burned through half of
their $2.1-million criminal
investigation fund in the
first two months of 2009
to combat gang violence.
Vancouver Chief Const.
Jim Chu, briefing council on
a covert gang operation
code-named Project Rebellion, said the recent spike in
violence is because there
are more gangsters, who
are more heavily armed,
than there have ever been.
The jump in investigative
costs, about $1 million
through January and February, was driven largely by
round-the-clock
surveillance teams and wiretaps
on gang members.
“This isn’t a crisis,” said
Vancouver Deputy Chief
Doug LePard. “It’s pressure
that we are dealing with in
our budget right now. It’s of
significant concern, but we
are managing.”
LePard said the drain on
human and budget resources was not sustainable,
Gang news
• LePard said police would
be making another major
gang announcement in the
next two weeks.
but was hopeful for additional funding from the
provincial government.
The department, he
added, has recovered roughly half a million from B.C.’s
Integrated Gang Task Force
and Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
The number of “shots
fired” complaints dropped
almost in half, down to 16
between October 2008 and
March 2009, the duration of
Project Rebellion.
There were 29 shots over
the same five-month period
last year.
The project also resulted
in 120 charges against 38 individuals, including Barzan
Tilli-Choli,
the
alleged
leader of the United Nation
gang, who has been charged
with attempted murder for
a targeted hit on two people
at T-Barz in Surrey.
ShareYourViews
[email protected]
Shot man
not sought
thief: Police
KRISTEN THOMPSON
[email protected]
INVESTIGATION A homeless
man shot and killed by a
Vancouver police officer
last week was not the suspect they had been looking
for in connection with the
break-in of a van nearby,
police said yesterday.
Michael Vann Hubbard,
58, was shot on a
downtown street after two
female officers approached
him and asked to search his
bag, which looked like one
that had just been stolen
from a vehicle.
Police said the man pulled
out a utility knife and when
he refused to drop the
weapon, he was shot.
“The bag in (Hubbard’s)
possession, although
similar, was not the bag
stolen from the vehicle in
the reported theft,” said
Casey Vinet, a constable
with the Abbotsford Police
Department, which is
investigating the shooting.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance video from
two sources, and the footage
will eventually be released
to the media, Vinet said.
Police also expect to
interview Adam Smolcic,
who claims to have
recorded the shooting on
his cellphone before an
officer took it from him and
allegedly erased the video.
On Monday, Smolcic took
the phone to a forensics
expert to see if the video
can be retrieved.
Civilian panel
• David Eby, a Vancouver
lawyer with the B.C. Civil
Liberties Association, says
he doesn’t think police
should investigate themselves and that a civilian
panel should be investigating the shooting.
Free Daily News Group Inc., operating as Metro Vancouver Newspapers 1190 Homer Street, Suite 250, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 2X6. Publisher: Maryse Lalonde
metronews.ca
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
metro
3
Pride society ready to celebrate
The Vancouver Pride Society announced that it’s getting ready to “Educate, Liberate and Celebrate” — the
group’s theme for the next three years. The 2009 Pride Parade has been set for Aug. 2. METRO VANCOUVER
City households among richest: Report
Local
With a net worth of $592,851, Vancouver households are the wealthiest in the country, according to a survey released yesterday by Pitney Bowes Business Insight. Toronto is second, Calgary
METRO VANCOUVER
third and Quebec City is last among Canada’s largest cities.
B.C., U.S. police make major bust
Drugs worth $10 million netted along with cash, guns and helicopters, cops say
Eight people have been arrested after police broke
up what they call a sophisticated cross-border drug
organization that used
stolen helicopters to trade
drugs and cash between
B.C. and the United States.
Police
in
Spokane,
Wash., said yesterday the
eight B.C. men, one of
whom hanged himself in
jail, and one U.S. man were
trading B.C. pot and ecstasy for U.S. cocaine and
cash. In total, police seized
340 kilograms of marijuana, 83 kilograms of co-
“This international investigation reveals
just how seamless American and
Canadian law enforcement work
together.” Staff Sgt. Dave Goddard, RCMP
caine and 240,000 ecstasy
tablets, worth $10 million
to $15 million, as well as
cash, guns and two helicopters. The operation was
uncovered in February
when police in Utah arrested a Canadian and an
American man with 83
kilograms of cocaine.
“This international investigation reveals just
how seamless American
and Canadian law enforcement work together,” said
RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Goddard.”
SAM SMITH/FOR METRO VANCOUVER
Lush boss opposes hunt
KRISTEN THOMPSON
[email protected]
Covered head-totoe in red paint and lying
on a bloody Canadian flag,
Karen Wolverton turned
heads on Robson Street
yesterday afternoon.
Wolverton, who is coowner of Lush Cosmetics,
was meant to represent
one of 280,000 seals expected to be slaughtered in
Canada’s seal hunt this
year.
The cosmetics company
yesterday kicked off a campaign in partnership with
the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to protest
the hunt and raise money
for the environmental organization’s fight to protect baby harp seals.
“We’re trying to educate
the public on the slaughter
PROTEST
that happens every time
this year,” said Brandi
Halls, spokesperson for
Lush. “It’s horrendous and
cruel to animals, and we
want it to stop.”
We’re an ethical retailer
and we do business in
Canada, so it seems natural
to us to use our storefront
as a way to get this message out,” added Halls.
“And we’re ashamed about
what’s happening.”
Lush employees across
North America, including
those at the company’s
Robson Street store, handed out postcards urging
Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to outlaw the hunt.
The company has also
created a seal-shaped bubble bar called First Swim.
Proceeds from the sale of
the soap go to Sea Shepherd, which intervenes in
the annual seal hunt.
Capt. Trevor Greene and his wife, Debbie, at the opening of Honour House in Vancouver last night.
War vets get housing with honour
SAM SMITH
for Metro Vancouver
Heavy toll
• More than 1,000 wound-
Bribery nets man $1,000 fine
A Vancouver man
who pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe his driver’s licence examiner got
a rough ride from a B.C.
judge who ordered him to
pay a $1,000 fine.
Kim Hen Huynh failed
his eighth road test in August 2007 at the ICBC Driv-
COURTS
er Services Centre in Burnaby. After leaving the car
and returning to the centre, Huynh placed four
$100 bills on the examiner’s open folder and said,
“Happy Birthday! Can you
help me?” The examiner
immediately reported the
bribe.
METRO VANCOUVER
SOLDIERS The
families of injured soldiers and first responders sometimes need
a “roof,” according to a
Vancouver soldier who suffered a serious head injury
in Afghanistan.
Capt. Trevor Greene was
in Vancouver last night for
the opening of Honour
House, a charity that will
provide free, temporary accommodation for war vets
ed soldiers have returned to
Canada since 2002.
who are injured in the line
of duty and their families.
It will also house the families of first responders, like
police officers, firefighters
and ambulance medics.
“I expect support for me
and the troops,” Greene
said yesterday. “I think it’s
very
important
what
they’re doing.”
Greene was hit in the
head with an axe on March
2006 after taking off his
helmet out of respect
while speaking to a tribal
leader in Afghanistan. He
said a facility such as Honour House would have
helped him and his family.
Allan De Genova, president of the Honour House
Society, said the housing is
a response to the lack of resources in British Columbia.
RCMP PHOTO
KRISTEN THOMPSON
[email protected]
Bags of narcotics seized by police after they busted a drugsmuggling ring.
News in brief
PHONE A Burnaby man says he
gets as many as 12 calls a day
from collection agencies for a
$7,000 bill from a cellphone he
doesn’t own, CBC News Online
reports. Paul Babstock says he
thinks someone used his identity to get the phone.
CANADA LINE It’s up to a judge
to decide if merchants affected
by Canada Line construction
are entitled to compensation
for loss of revenue,
Vancouver’s mayor said yesterday. Gregor Robertson testified
in the civil case a former Cambie Street shop owner has
brought against TransLink.
PARKING Coined parking meters could be replaced by credit
card pay stations on Granville
Street if a new project is
approved, news1130.com reports.
METRO NEWS SERVICES
What’s online today.
Video The only Mountie
to check the vital signs of
Robert Dziekanski had not
been first aid certified in
five years, at
metronews.ca/canada
Blogs Hollywood
Rants ponders the
puzzling longevity
of Nicolas Cage’s
career
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
metronews.ca
metro
canada 7
Investors taking tougher stand on exec pay
A Canadian campaign to give shareholders a say on how much
top executives take home is gaining momentum. REUTERS
Security of driver’s
licences questioned
Groups want moratorium on high-tech cards
Civil liberties groups concerned about privacy want
a moratorium on
enhanced driver’s licences
until the federal
government debates their
merit.
Several provinces began
issuing the high-tech identity cards as a cheaper alternative to passports. As
of June, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will require them to
cross the border by land.
The licences have radiofrequency identification
chips containing a unique
number that allows border
officials to access personal
information such as birth
“Enhanced driver’s
licences ... will
create significant
privacy concerns.”
Roch Tassé,
civil liberties activist
date and citizenship.
“Enhanced driver’s licences will not make us
safer from terrorism, they
will not ease traffic flow at
the border, but they will
create significant privacy
concerns related to flawed
technology and dangerous
information-sharing agreements with the U.S. and
other governments,” Roch
Tassé, national co-ordinator of the International
Civil Liberties Monitoring
Group, told a news conference yesterday.
Driver’s licences fall under provincial jurisdiction
but since they were developed to address international security concerns
they should be debated
and studied by Parliament,
Tassé said.
Manitoba, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec
are issuing the licences but
Saskatchewan announced
this week it will scrap its
program.
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Vancouver Protesting the seal hunt
KRISTEN THOMPSON/METRO CANADA
Karen Wolverton, owner of Lush Cosmetics, protests Canada’s seal hunt outside the company’s
Robson Street store in Vancouver at noon yesterday. Covered head-to-toe in red paint, Wolverton
was meant to represent one of 280,000 seals expected to be slaughtered in the hunt this year. The
cosmetics company yesterday kicked off a campaign in partnership with the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society to protest the hunt and raise money for the environmental organization’s
fight to protect baby harp seals.
Listeria testing delayed: Memo
Canada’s food-safety
watchdog has quietly delayed a crucial element of
its new listeria-monitoring
program, according to an
internal memo obtained
by the Toronto Star and
the CBC.
Inspectors for the Canadian
Food
Inspection
Agency started testing in
food plants in February,
looking for traces of the
deadly bacteria in poultry
and ready-to-eat meats.
But the testing has been
put on hold until next
month after some inconsistencies were found in the
initial tests, and because
the inspectors have yet to
receive training.
“We identified some
training gaps,” Paul May-
News in brief
TASERING Robert Dziekanski
FOOD
“We’ve identified
some training gaps
(among inspectors).”
Paul Mayers, CFIA
associate VP
ers, the CFIA’s associate
vice-president for programs, said yesterday,
adding that meat-plant operators had raised concerns about a lack of consistency in the way inspectors were conducting the
tests.
Bob Kingston, head of
the agriculture union that
represents CFIA inspectors, said some inspectors
will be trained shortly.
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
might be alive today had he
not picked up a stapler while
facing four Mounties in a
standoff at Vancouver International Airport, the supervising
RCMP officer yesterday told a
public inquiry into his death.
“There’s no reason he should
have picked up that stapler,”
Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson said. TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
metro
metronews.ca
2
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Vancouverite up for photography award
Vancouver photographer Jin-me Yoon and Montreal’s Lynne Cohen are competing against two Mexican photographers for the $50,000 Grange
Prize. The works of all photographers will be shown online at grangeprize.com. The winner will be announced May 26 in Toronto. CBC NEWS ONLINE
Lush owner protesting seal hunt
Local
Lush cosmetics owner Karen Wolverton will cover herself in red paint today
and will lie down on a bloody Canadian flag to protest the seal hunt. The
protest, run in conjunction with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, will be
held outside Lush on Robson Street at noon.
METRO VANCOUVER
Cops accused of erasing shooting video
A Vancouver man who
claims police erased his
cellphone footage of an officer shooting a man on a
downtown street will likely find out today if the
alleged video can be recovered.
Adam Smolcic, 25, took
his phone to data recovery
experts Sherlock Forensics
yesterday, and said he’s
confident they can retrieve
his footage.
“I saw pretty much everything,” Smolcic said of the
shooting of 58-year-old
Emery says Olympics being
used as an excuse to oust him
ANDREA WOO
for Metro Vancouver
The “Prince of Pot” believes that Vancouver is using the upcoming Olympics
as a last-ditch effort to boot
him out of town.
Marc Emery, outspoken
pot activist and leader of
the B.C. Marijuana Party,
has never needed a business
licence for his various Hastings Street stores because
they operated under the
umbrella of his political
party.
POT
With the Games approaching, however, he
feels Vancouver police are
nagging city hall to turn up
the heat and close the businesses: the 420 Convenience Store, the Cannabis
Culture store and Cannabis
Culture magazine’s administrative office.
“This is the last great
chance for the Conservative
government to get rid of
us,” he said yesterday,
adding that he has complied with every government, health and safety order to date.
cbc.ca/mercerreport
KRISTEN THOMPSON/METRO VANCOUVER
KRISTEN THOMPSON
[email protected]
Michael Vann Hubbard,
who police said was a suspect in the break-in of a
van nearby.
“(The officers) asked the
gentleman to search his
(bag), at which time he
slowly backed away shaking, as if he had Parkinson’s (disease). He reached
into his bag and slowly
pulled out an X-Acto knife.”
Smolcic said he recorded
as the officers ordered Hubbard to drop the weapon
and then shot him.
Shortly later, Smolcic
said another officer asked
to see his cellphone. When
Smolcic got it back, he said
the video was gone.
Adam Smolcic at the office of Jason Gratl, a lawyer and vicepresident of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, in Vancouver yesterday.
David Eby, a Vancouver
lawyer and acting executive director of the B.C. Civ-
il Liberties Association,
said while he “isn’t jumping to any conclusions,”
he’s met with Smolcic to
talk to him about his legal
rights.
“Even if this allegation
proves not to be verifiable,
the public loses confidence
in the police force,” Eby
said. “That’s why it would
benefit the VPD to be able
to turn this over immediately to a civilian team.”
As for Smolcic, he said
he’s apprehensive about
testifying against the police.
“If there was a civilian
panel I’d definitely provide
testimony to that, but I
don’t know about the police,” he said. “It’s risky
business.”
GM Place gets a Juno makeover
KRISTEN THOMPSON
[email protected]
If the Vancouver
Canucks — who are away
on a six-day road trip —
were to see GM Place today,
they probably wouldn’t recognize it.
A giant stage sits where
the ice should be, there’s a
maze of lighting hanging
from the rafters, and by
Sunday — when the Juno
Awards take place — giant
Alice In Wonderland-like foliage will fill the space.
Workers are four days in
AWARDS
to an eight-day-long process
to transform the hockey
arena into the set of Canada’s biggest annual music
awards show.
Peter Faragher, production designer for the event,
said erecting the set is like
putting together a jigsaw
puzzle.
“The big shows that you
see in an arena like this —
those bands that have sets
that are built to break down
and set up really quickly,”
Faragher said.
“This is 10 bands, it has to
be very versatile … and we
have to light it (well) be-
cause it’s being watched on
TV.”
Faragher said producers
came up with the design for
the show in July.
“Every venue has a different vibe. We made lists
about what Vancouver is …
looked at history and geography, and then we tried to
distill it down into one idea.
“What we came up with
this year was this sort of
gleaming,
architectural,
simple zen-like set,” he said,
adding that the stage will
be framed with 13-foot
leaves
in
psychedelic
colours.
Whitecaps season
tickets go fast
MLS The first wave of 5,000
deposits for season tickets
to Vancouver’s Major
League Soccer expansion
franchise sold out in less
than 48 hours, the Whitecaps said yesterday.
METRO VANCOUVER
News in brief
POLITICS Lee Rankin, an eight-
term Burnaby councillor,
will be acclaimed B.C. Liberal
candidate for BurnabyEdmonds at a riding
association meeting today. The
seat is held by New Democrat
MLA Raj Chouhan.
ASSESSMENT The Ministry of
Transportation received an
amendment to its environmental assessment certificate for
the proposed new Port Mann
Bridge.
METRO VANCOUVER
What’s online today.
Video The Suncor-PetroCanada merger creates a
new global energy giant at
metronews.ca/canada
Video Canadians react to
a Fox News host’s mocking
remarks about
Canada’s
military at
metronews.ca/
canada
Tonight at 8
followed by THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES at 8:30
Chrysler could leave Canada if CAW talks fail
— business, B12
wednesday
March 18, 2009 • Serving Guelph and Wellington County • 71 cents + tax (75 cents) • guelphmercury.com
Union:
We want
same raise
CUPE argues its workers
should get same increase
as other county staff
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION, GUELPH MERCURY
Mercury staff
[email protected]
Faculty urge colleagues to fight for program,
which is on chopping block as part of cuts
GUELPH — Faculty and students at the
University of Guelph are rallying to save
the women’s studies program, which is at
risk of being eliminated as the school wrestles with a massive budget shortfall.
Three professors recently sent a letter to
their colleagues urging them to fight for the
program, and a Facebook group dedicated
to the cause has already collected close to
400 members.
Janet Wood, a biology professor and coauthor of the letter, is worried the program
will be cut “in the heat of the moment” as administrators look for places to save money.
Wood compared the reaction to the financial crisis reaction after the Sept. 11,
2001 terrorist attacks.
“There was a crisis and . . . many actions
“
We have to be careful
not to cut things willy-nilly.
Janet Wood, U of G biology professor
who worries university would regret
cutting women’s studies program
were justified that we later came to regret
and some of us still regret,” she said. “I
think the psychological response to this situation is similar.
“We have to be careful . . . not to cut
things willy-nilly.”
The university’s bachelor of arts programs committee recently voted to eliminate the women’s studies program, but that
decision still has to be approved by the board
of undergraduate studies and the university
senate before the program would be dead.
Wood and co-authors Marta Rohatynskyj and Karen Wendling are urging their
colleagues to ask the board of undergraduate studies to overturn the BA programs
committee’s decision. That board next
meets March 24.
Wood said students and faculty “want to
ensure this (proposal) has the widest possible consideration,” and if the reason for
eliminating the program is strictly budgetary “then it should be justified.”
Veronica Majewski is a third-year philosophy major who takes many courses tied
to the women’s studies curriculum. She
said these are the only programs on campus that specifically focus on issues such as
racism, homophobia and ableism.
Majewski said initially she heard the university was focusing on several low-enrolment programs with fewer than 40 majors.
ping routes.
Employees of the local Lush Cosmetics
store will wear pirate outfits today in support of Sea Shepherd, a marine wildlife
conservation organization committed to
ending the seal hunt, and to conserving and
protecting the ecosystems and species of
the world’s oceans. Sea Shepherd is often
referred to as the “pirates of compassion.”
“Our employees are super excited about
this,” said Brianne Service, manager in training at Lush Cosmetics in Guelph. “We all
work for Lush because we like the ethics involved in the company. Lush has a history of
making a difference in other places, and I feel
this is a good start for the store in Guelph.”
Members of CUPE Local 973 — which
represents about 80 employees in social
services, housing and daycare — balked at
that offer, and following mediation accepted
a three-year deal giving them three per cent
in the first year and 2.75 per cent in the second and third years.
Smyth said union leaders believed the
county did not have the money to offer the
full amount sought, and recommended its
members accept the slightly reduced rate.
So she said members reacted with “shock
and hurt” last September when county
council approved a three per cent “economic
adjustment” for non-unionized employees
over each of the next three years.
The approximately 80 members of
CUPE 973 are the only unionized workers
among the county’s approximately 700 employees.
“Why do our members deserve less?”
Smyth asked the committee. “You don’t care
what you have done to these employees. This
experience has degraded and demoralized
80 of your county employees.”
➤ SEE PROTEST ON PAGE A2
➤ SEE COUNTY ON PAGE A5
Local cosmetics shop staff taking part in chain-wide campaign against sealing
GUELPH — Animal rights activists believe the death knell of the annual Canadian commercial seal hunt will soon be
sounded.
A protest against the hunt is scheduled
for today at the Lush Cosmetics store in the
Stone Road Mall, part of a chain-wide, antiseal hunt campaign in conjunction with
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. There
have been a series of demonstrations
across the country leading up to the hunt,
which starts later this month.
A number of organizations are opposed
to the hunt, and continue to push for a wide-
spread boycott of Canadian seafood products to put pressure on the Canadian government to end a commercial hunt that
many believe is barbaric. Most seal skins
find their way into the European fashion
industry.
The European Union will vote next
month on legislation that would ban Canadian seal products. That would effectively
close the largest market for Canadian seal
skins. The hunt killed more than 250,000
newborn seals last year. Canada’s largest
markets for other seal products, such as
Russia, China and Norway, are outside the
EU. However, sealing industry experts fear
a ban would curb the demand for sealskins
from the fashion industry and disrupt ship-
Births-Deaths B11
Canada
A6
Classified
B8
Comics
B3
Cryptoquote
Editorials
Horoscope
Life
B9
A10
B2
B1
Jill Smyth, CUPE national representative,
addressing Wellington County’s administration,
finance and personnel committee
➤ SEE WOMEN’S STUDIES ON PAGE A2
Workers don pirate garb to protest hunt
Mercury staff
[email protected]
“
Why do our members
deserve less? You
don’t care what you have done
to these employees.This
experience has degraded and
demoralized 80 of your
county employees.
Lottery results
Scoreboard
Sports
Sudoku
A2
B4
B5
B8
Keep up on the Storm’s playoff run
at our Saxon on the Storm blog
A LOOK AT
TOMORROW’S
WEATHER
FULL FORECAST, PAGE A2
high: 5 low: –9
BECAUSE HE’S STILL YOUR BABY
When you choose YD’s Collisionfree! Approach to Driving™, you’ll know
that he has been through the safest and most effective driver training
available. Of course you’ll still worry...just a lot less.
Prepare for the road ahead. Next Class
R001327555
Mercury staff
[email protected]
WELLINGTON COUNTY — Ten months after its members ratified a three-year deal, a
representative of the Canadian Union of
Public Employees asked county officials yesterday for a raise.
The union would like its members to receive the same wage increase the county
subsequently granted their non-unionized
colleagues.
“It is our opinion that the County of
Wellington should be ashamed,” CUPE national representative Jill Smyth told the
county’s administration, finance and personnel committee, alleging the county was
“acting toward (unionized employees) in a
punitive manner.”
During contract negotiations early last
year, Smyth said, the county’s negotiating
committee said it could not meet the union’s
demands for a three-year contract with
three per cent increases in each year. The
county offered wage increases of three per
cent in the first year and 2.5 per cent in the
second and third years.
March 24 - April 16, Tues & Thurs, April 13- May 6, Mon & Wed
www.yd.com or call 519-836-4070.
121 Wyndham St. N., Suite 205
local
Guelph Mercury ❙ Wednesday, March 18, 2009 ❙ A2
Spring bringing on great things
Who to call
hat’s that bright, yellow thing in the sky?
And what’s that strange sensation underneath our parkas and tuques — something
vaguely familiar, from the past. Is it sweat,
maybe?
The sweetest sound crackled over a police
scanner this week. Men were putting out a
grass fire — yes, a grass fire — in a field near
Cambridge. No one was hurt, and the flames
didn’t spread far. It was all over in a few minutes, but it was a trumpet blast for a changing
season. The idea that our fields could hold anything but ice, snow and puddles of cold March
rainwater should be a cause for celebration.
Spring is finally coming to southern Ontario. And not a moment too soon.
This year, winter came in the second week
of November, put down roots, and never left. It
was a fittingly bitter backdrop for a daily avalanche of bad news — more factories closing,
depressing economic forecasts and layoffs
across the country.
The bad news remains for now, but at least
we’re being reminded things can change for
the better again. That’s what spring does. It
has an endless capacity to bring us hope, to remind us that all bad things must pass, and that
there are sunnier days ahead.
Suddenly people are feeling good again, almost normal.
Students are crowding around bus stands
W
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Greg Mercer can be reached by email at
[email protected].
➤ WOMEN’S STUDIES FROM PAGE A1
“I thought if women’s studies was to get
caught up in something like that at least it
would be fair,” Majewski said.
That is precisely what’s happening, associate vice-president of academic Serge Desmarais said.
“This is not about women’s studies at
all,” Desmarais said. “Unfortunately this is
the first program that’s come forward as
part of a package of programs that could be
discontinued.”
Desmarais said the university asked all
its deans to identify low-enrolment courses
and majors, and for the last few years
women’s studies has not seen more than 25
majors at any time.
“Clearly it’s not of interest to the majority of students,” the vice-president said.
But Desmarais noted most of the approximately 40 courses affiliated with the
women’s studies program will continue to
be offered.
“The program may go, but the courses do
not,” he said. “The message that has been
put forward — that we are particularly targeting women’s programming — could not
be further from the truth.”
Desmarais conceded cutting women’s
studies will only save about $100,000 per
year.
“But if you take 25 things that save a little bit of money it’s millions of dollars,” he
said.
“You have to chip away at it.”
Advertising
Advertising dept.: 519-822-4310
Advertising: Sally Sarachman
Advertising Fax:
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Operations: Jonathan Scott
Administration Fax:
in skirts and T-shirts. People are actually
walking outside, talking to neighbours they
haven’t seen in five months, dusting off their
bicycles.
Birds are chirping and dogs are prancing.
Why, there’s baseball on television, and
nothing says new beginnings like the first
sounds of white cowhide cracking on maple
bats and snapping into leather gloves. In no
time, the crowds will be shuffling back to
David E. Hastings Stadium in Exhibition Park,
snacking on grilled-cheese sandwiches from
the canteen and plunking down lawn chairs
along the third-base line.
There’s even a rumour, if you can believe
it, that city staff are beginning to move in to
the new civic administration building downtown. The first city council meeting is
planned there next month. After a long fall
and winter of delays, cost overruns and a legal fight with the first builder hired to do the
work, the new city hall is almost ready for its
Deans asked
to point out
majors with
low turnout
ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST
Managing Editor: Phil Andrews
City Editor: Brian Williams
News Editor: Roger LeBlanc
Night Editor: Brent Butcher
Editorial Page: Greg Rothwell
Sports Editor: Rob Massey
Arts/Life Editor: Declan Kelly
GREG MERCER
mercer retort
debutante’s ball, though some of us found a
way to complain about that, this being
Guelph, after all.
Certainly, city officials aren’t blameless for
the delays. They’ve been accused of changing
their minds more times than a teenage girl
picking outfits for her first day of school.
Throughout construction, they ordered
“countless” changes to the project, according
to one subcontractor who worked on it. Two
weeks before Urbacon was removed as the
main builder, the city redesigned the landscaping at the front of the building, which caused
problems for the already installed storm and
sewer drain systems.
I’ve been a critic of those delays in the past,
but it must be said after all this mess we will be
left with an attractive, modern and useful
structure that ultimately adds to our downtown. For the first time in decades, residents
will be able to pay parking tickets, visit the tax
office and find the engineering department all
in one location. It almost makes sense, doesn’t
it?
See? This is what spring does. It gets us
right in the guts, and makes us feel good.
Makes us see the bright side of things. Even
grumpy, pale columnists.
823-6010
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✓
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ensure the information
we provide is factual and correct. But sometimes we make mistakes, and when we do,
we will correct them promptly and prominently. If you see a factual error, please
contact the newsroom at 519-823-6060 or
by email at [email protected].
Lottery results
Yesterday’s unofficial winning numbers:
Pick 3: 4 4 4.
Pick 4: 5 1 7 7.
Keno: 4, 6, 7, 8, 17, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28,35,
36, 42, 47, 54, 55, 62, 63, 67, 68.
Encore: 1922524.
GUELPH MERCURY
Save Our Seals soap sits on a table at the Lush Cosmetics store at Stone Road Mall yesterday. The
chain donates proceeds from sales of the soap to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Numerous campaigns target hunt
➤ PROTEST FROM PAGE A1
Guelph’s Karen Levenson is a director of
Animal Alliance of Canada and Environment
Voters. She is involved in campaigns to end
Canada’s commercial seal hunt.
“I think the hunt is definitely going to end,”
she said. “A number of organizations have come
together to fight the seal hunt tooth and nail. It is
not sustainable, and it is intensely cruel.”
Levenson said main branches of the Canadian government, as well as the government of
Newfoundland, heavily subsidize the seal hunt.
“If the government took those millions of dollars and put them into infrastructure and retraining, we would not have this problem,” she
said, adding governments persist in supporting
the hunt for political, not economic reasons.
Lush has produced a body moisturizer and a
new bubble bar in the shape of a baby seal especially for the campaign. All proceeds from the
$19.95 moisturizer and the $6.75 bar will go to Sea
Shepherd, Service said. All Lush products are
100 per cent vegetarian and 74 per cent vegan.
The store started a postcard campaign this
week, and the response has already been
strong from customers. About 50 postcards
were filled out in the first two days of the
week. They will be sent to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper when the campaign is over.
The annual commercial harp seal hunt subsidizes the income of Canadian East Coast
fishermen, who derive roughly five per cent of
their income from the spring hunt, according
to reports. Since 1978, sealers haven’t been allowed to kill the youngest harps, called whitecoats, until their fur changes colour. That can
be 12 days after birth but federal officials say
most hunted seals are about 25 days old.
With files from The Canadian Press
Nearly 200 U of G employees accept buyouts
Mercury staff
[email protected]
GUELPH — Close to 200 University of Guelph
faculty and staff have signed on for voluntary departure packages as the school tries to slash costs
in the face of an enormous budget shortfall.
U of G president Alastair Summerlee said
122 staff members and 68 faculty took advantage of the program, which will save about
$20 million annually.
The university has also identified a further
$10 million in savings through operating cuts.
“These are all people choosing to leave voluntarily,” Summerlee said, “and now we have about
$17.8 million more savings we need to find.
Ontario Press Council
The Ontario Press Council considers
specific, unsatisfied complaints from
readers about the conduct of the press.
Complaints should go to:
• The Ontario Press Council
2 Carlton St., Suite 1706,
Toronto, Ont., M5B 1J3
• [email protected]
• fax 416-340-8724
“In total we’re looking to remove close to
$48 million out of the university. It will affect
everything.”
Last October, the provincial government
announced it was flatlining funding for universities, which Summerlee said is tantamount to a $5 million per year funding cut because the university’s expenses keep increasing.
The university was already wrestling with
a “structural deficit” of $16 million as a result
of funding lagging behind spending for several years.
At the same time the university saw a nine
per cent decrease in the market value of its
pension funds during 2008, and a decrease of
about nine per cent — or $15 million — in endowment funds.
Summerlee said the university has identified low-enrolment courses and majors — including women’s studies — as possible areas to
make cuts.
“It may be that we no longer have the faculty strength to continue offering them,” he said
of such programs and courses. “I suspect it
will cause a lot of anxiety.
“This is the most difficulty I’ve ever experienced in terms of making decisions, which are
not knee-jerk . . . but these are challenging
times for everyone and not just universities,”
Summerlee said. “It is frustrating and it is disappointing.”
©The Weather Network 2009
ALMANAC
TOMORROW
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Normal High
1.9°
Normal Low
-6.6°
Record High 11.3°/1979
Record Low -19.6°/1993
Precipitation
Today's Normals 2mm
Partly cloudy
H: 5
L: -9
Sunny
H: 1
Flurries
H: 5
Rain/snw shwr
H: 6
L: -1
CANADA
TODAY
Calgary
Charlottetn
Edmonton
Fredericton
Halifax
Iqaluit
Montreal
Ottawa
Quebec C.
Regina
Saskatoon
St John’s
sunny
6/-4
sunny
4/1
p.cloudy -2/-9
showers
6/2
sunny
5/1
snow
-13/-14
showers 10/-2
showers 10/-3
rain
6/-4
p.cloudy -8/-13
sunny
-9/-13
sunny
-3/-5
Toronto
Vancouver
Victoria
Whitehorse
Winnipeg
Yellowknife
RESORTS
Acapulco
Barbados
Bermuda
Havana
San Juan
showers 11/-3
rain
9/5
rain
9/5
p.cloudy -8/-18
p.cloudy -9/-17
p.sunny -15/-24
TOMORROW
p.cloudy
p.cloudy
sunny
rain
p.cloudy
31/24
28/23
21/15
24/18
25/24
L: -8
WORLD
Amsterdam
Beijing
Berlin
Brussels
Hong Kong
Honolulu
Jerusalem
Kiev
Las Vegas
Lisbon
London
Los Angeles
L: -2
TOMORROW
sunny
sunny
showers
sunny
sunny
p.cloudy
p.sunny
rain
cloudy
sunny
sunny
p.cloudy
10/4
15/13
7/4
11/2
26/21
26/21
16/3
5/1
28/13
23/11
14/3
23/12
Madrid
Mexico
Miami
Moscow
New Delhi
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Singapore
Stockholm
Sydney
Tel Aviv
Tokyo
sunny
p.cloudy
showers
snow
sunny
p.cloudy
cloudy
rain
tstorms
p.cloudy
p.cloudy
cloudy
p.cloudy
ACROSS
THE
REGION
Collingwood
2/-9
24/3
22/7
23/18
0/-2
31/23
12/1
15/7
13/11
31/26
0/-3
28/22
20/10
19/16
Goderich
1/-9
Sarnia
2/-6
Windsor
6/-5
Guelph
5/-9
Hamilton
6/-8
London
4/-8
Toronto
5/-8
Niagara
Falls
5/-6
Visit GuelphMercury.com
Saturday night for coverage
as the Guelph Storm opens
its playoff series in Saginaw.
mercuryeditorial
A12
Friday, March 20, 2009
publisher
Founded 1853
Paul McCuaig
managing editor
Phil Andrews
Published by Grand River Media,
a division of Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Neil Oliver, Metroland West Media Group Publisher
8-14 Macdonell Street, Guelph, Ontario N1H 6P7
editorial page editor
Greg Rothwell
Awaiting a chance
to make their case
egal niceties don’t always tie up in a nice little bundle, but
nonetheless there is a nice little bunch of them in a
defamation lawsuit launched by a member of county council and the county’s main civil servant against county watchdog
Bill Manderson.
The nicest of these niceties is the fact that while the only
plaintiffs — or complainants — in the case are county councillor
(and Puslinch mayor) Brad Whitcombe and county chief administer Scott Wilson, their legal costs are being covered by the County of Wellington. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association believes the county shouldn’t be footing the bill, and it seems only
fair that the Ontario Court of Justice give the association due
consideration in its push to be granted standing as an intervener
in the case so it can present its argument.
There are parallels, but key differences, with this case and one
that involved a Halton man who was also sued for defamation involving comments directed toward a municipal employee. In that
instance, the man — Al Kirouac — was sued for comments made
on a website. Part of the claim against Manderson also involves
website comments. But in the Kirouac case, the local municipality — the Town of Halton — joined the local parks and recreation
director as a lawsuit plaintiff.
In a 2006 ruling, a judge with the Superior Court of Justice dismissed the court action in Halton, stating citizens are free to criticize governments without fear of a government suing them for
defamation. It was the second Ontario court ruling that came to
that conclusion, and they are sound ones.
It will be some time before there is a legal resolution in the
Manderson case, but along the road Canada’s chief civil libertarian body should be able to argue who it believes should and
shouldn’t be paying the plaintiffs’ legal bills.
L
It’s nothing short of disturbing
as it someone with a grudge, someone with a misguided
cause or just a plain nut? We don’t know who put sewing
needles in packages of processed meat products found
at a Guelph grocery store this week, but we hope someday soon
we will.
Blessedly, food tampering is a rarity, but it’s understandably
disturbing when it happens in your own community.
The scope of the tampering increased yesterday, when Guelph
Police reported that four more needles were found in three packages of Schneider’s wieners at a local No Frills store, meaning a total of 11 needles have been found in 10 packages of meat products.
Fortunately, no one was injured, but this underscores the need
for consumers to closely inspect all food products at the time of
purchase or after, something that was done here and led to the
alerting of authorities.
If this case ends in criminal charges that lead to a conviction,
we trust the penalty will fit the gravity of the offence.
W
Be a little more appreciative
what others say
anadians are aware of the presence of foreign aid workers
in troubled regions of the world, but it would be a fair
guess that many of us don’t know any personally or can
even put a face to the people who go quietly about the work of
helping people recover from natural disaster, war or underdevelopment.
Only when crisis strikes do we get a glimpse of the people involved in this vital work.
For Prince Edward Islanders, that crisis occurred last week
when the news broke that three foreign aid workers, including Island native Laura Archer, a nurse working with Doctors Without
Borders, had been kidnapped in Sudan’s Darfur region.
For Ted and Barbara Archer of Charlottetown, her parents,
the following days must have been ones of unimaginable anguish, and no doubt many Islanders empathized with their anxiety as the hours slowly passed.
Fortunately, Archer and her colleagues were released Saturday, and although fear for their safety has subsided, the incident
has been a sobering lesson in the peril many aid workers risk
when they take on the work they do.
Development work, depending on where it takes place, can be
complex, delicate and dangerous. It’s not a job for the faint-hearted or for those who have no appreciation of the root causes of underdevelopment, political tension and poverty. It requires not only a deep commitment to a simple ideal — helping people build a
better life — but a willingness to live and work in areas where political tensions or violence can break out at any time. Archer was
working with Doctors Without Borders at a health clinic in
North Darfur when she, an Italian doctor and a French field
worker were abducted.
Elsewhere, other aid workers have also been targeted. On
Monday, four United Nations aid workers were abducted near the
Somali-Ethiopian border and released several hours later. According to an Associated Press story, quoting the UN, 35 aid workers were killed in Somalia in 2008 and 26 abducted.
Unfortunately, incidents like these threaten the worthwhile
work foreign aid workers perform in many regions of the world.
Officials with Doctors Without Borders, the story reported, say
the organization will now have to assess whether it’s safe to continue projects where staff remain in the country.
Those willing to do this work possess a remarkable altruism,
and their fellow citizens owe them a debt of gratitude for the
work they do to promote peace, development and hope for a better life in the globe’s most troubled regions.
Without them, the world would be even more unstable and
volatile than it is.
The safe release of Laura Archer and her colleagues comes as
a great relief. And hopefully today we’re all a little more appreciative of the work they, and many other aid workers, do.
— An editorial from the Charlottetown Guardian
C
letters to the editor
Don’t attack MP
for Christian beliefs
Dear Editor:
Re: “Science minister ends evolution brouhaha” (Guelph Mercury, March 18).
This week, several well respected and influential federal Liberal
party members have been publicly
ridiculing Cambridge’s Conservative MP Gary Goodyear — Canada’s science minister — for his
Christian faith, claiming that he
ought not to hold a cabinet post due
to his beliefs.
I find this shameful and appalling on so many levels.
As the party that touts itself as
one of tolerance, you would think
the Liberals would show a little
more tolerance toward people of
faith.
The irony is, however, that in
publicly attacking Goodyear,
they’re also implying that by extension, members of the Canadian
Muslim community, along with the
Canadian Jewish community, are
therefore ineligible to hold a cabinet position in this country.
If you think that sounds familiar, it is. I encourage you to turn
your thoughts back to Europe in
the 1930s for a refresher course in
excluding certain groups from
public office.
I’d encourage Guelph Liberal
MP Frank Valeriote to call for a
public apology from these representatives of the Liberal party, for
two key reasons.
First, because their racist policy of exclusion is clearly wrong.
And second, because these Liberals are saying that Valeriote himself shouldn’t ever be allowed to
hold a cabinet position either,
since he’s also a professing Christian.
Now is that right or fair? Or
even Canadian?
— Andrew Prescott, Cambridge
Our missing friend
is missing no more
Dear Editor:
Glancing across the Guelph
Mercury’s advertising section in
January, my attention was caught
by a small eight-line ad posted by a
lady from New Brunswick — freelance writer Johanna Bertin.
She was collecting materials for
a book she was writing on Don
Messer, asking anyone for info on
the beloved Canadian folk musician and his band.
My husband and I had met them
during a concert at the Canadian
National Exhibition in Toronto in
the 1960s and been invited backstage by one of the show’s artists, a
good friend we had known in Scotland since he was a wee lad with an
accordion and lots of talent.
Messer, who died in 1973, became a well-loved icon for many
Canadians and is missed to this
day.
After he died, his band dispersed. I remarried, our Scottish
friend moved and we lost with him
contact.
I wrote to the lady from New
Brunswick, relating our meeting
with Messer, Marg Osburne and
Charlie Chamberlain, and Gunter
Buchta, the director and choreographer of the Buchta Dancers. We
were great fans.
In my post script, I signed my
former Scottish name, wondering
if perhaps our friend Johnny had
returned to Scotland.
Wishing her luck with her book
on Don Messer and thanking her
for keeping the memory of this talented entertainer alive for us, I also
signed my current name, then forgot about the whole thing.
Last week, I received a phone
call from Richmond, B.C. A Scottish-accented voice announced
that he was Johnny, and was
amazed to have finally located us,
having tried to find us for 40
years.
Apparently Johanna Bertin had
located him through the Internet
and passed on our address and
phone number.
We are planning a family reunion in Scotland in September.
So, how about establishing a
“Missing friends” section in the
Mercury?
— Vera C. Busshoff, Guelph
Getting out real facts
on the seal hunt
Dear Editor:
I have to respond to your article
of March 18, “Workers don pirate
garb to protest hunt.”
I’m sick and tired of the argument that the seal hunt is subsidized by the government.
What these protest groups often
refer to as a subsidy is actually the
cost of putting Canadian Coast
Guard vessels out to perform rescue duties and break ice.
If that is a subsidy, then so is
icebreaking in the St. Lawrence
seaway.
How would Guelph or Ontario
in general run most of its manufacturing business if that were not
provided?
It’s always sickening when
these well-meaning people — like
the ones from the cosmetics company involved in the Guelph
protest — who live in urban areas
believe they know more about the
hunt than those who live in the areas where it is a part of life.
As for groups such as the Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society —
don’t even get me started.
In the 1970s the leader of this
group, Paul Watson, admitted during an interview with CBC’s Barbara Frum that the seal is not endangered and that animal rights
groups only use the seal as a means
of protest because it makes more
money for them than any other animal.
The interview is available on
YouTube, for anyone out there who
doesn’t choose to take my word for
it.
When newspapers allow themselves to be used to spread the
propaganda of these groups everyone loses. The facts are not as “exciting” and don’t sell as many papers but they are nevertheless the
facts.
It’s too bad they don’t often get
out to the masses.
— Myles Higgins, Portugal Cove,
N.L.
Public employees
union out of touch
Dear Editor:
Re: “Union: We want same
raise” (Guelph Mercury, March 18).
I read with dismay your story
and the comments made by Cana-
dian Union of Public Employees
national rep Jill Smyth, in which
she asks for an additional raise for
unionized county workers.
Although I understand the
union wants the same raise for its
members — three per cent as opposed to 2.75 per cent — as nonunion employees received, I strongly oppose campaigning for an additional raise in these tough economic times.
With many Guelph employers
shedding jobs, we in the public sector are fortunate.
As a previously self-employed
individual and as a relatively new
county employee, I believe CUPE is
out of touch — not only with the
private sector economy on which
we depend, but with the taxpaying
public and, in at least one case,
with its own membership.
— Michael W. Mahoney, Guelph
Remembering days
in Sleeman’s bush
Dear Editor:
During the Second World War
and for a few years after, I lived at
82 Water St. in Guelph’s fair city
with my family — my mother,
brothers and sisters.
Dad was overseas during the
war.
Being an adventurous young
chap, I spent many, many hours
hiking around what we knew as
Sleeman’s bush, Bedford’s bush
and Maple Street bush.
After the war, I accompanied
my dad as we hunted in those same
bushes.
Occasionally he shot a cottontail rabbit, which mom cooked and
we sure enjoyed. Those were good
days.
That was an exciting time for a
young person in Guelph.
From the stone bridge that
crossed the Speed River on
Wellington Street downstream to
Edinburgh Road was — with the
exception of Sleeman’s derelict
buildings, Charlie Barber’s and a
couple of other houses — uninterrupted bush.
It also stretched nearly uninterrupted from the river up Edinburgh Road to Forest, Cedar and
Bellevue streets, which didn’t run
through to Edinburgh Road.
Today, some 60 odd years later, I
live near the town of Penhold, in
central Alberta.
I often think back on the wonderful times myself and others had
as lads hiking around in Sleeman’s
bush.
And when I have a beer at the local pub, I have a Sleeman’s and tip
a drop in a salute.
God bless old Mr. Sleeman, he
started it — and God bless those
who are carrying on the Sleeman
brewing tradition.
— Syd Ward, Penhold, Alta.
letters
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