Story and photos by CARA McKENNA

Sydney the border collie is a member of Pets and Friends. On Wednesday, he paid a visit to UBC to help students deal with exam anxiety. Photo by Cara McKenna.

Petting dogs is an unconventional method UBC students are using to deal with exam-related stress, and it may be catching on with schools across Vancouver.

Wednesday, the non-profit organization, Pets and Friends, visited to UBC as part of their “Stress Less for Exam Success” day, bringing a horde of canines along with them to visit with stressed students.

Organization hopes to expand to other schools

Daphne Parker, the assistant administrative coordinator for Pets and Friends, said she is excited about the possibility of bringing the program to other schools.

“We were very excited when we were approached by UBC,” said Parker, adding that her favorite thing about her job is seeing people’s faces light up when they see the dogs. “It’s a very feel-good concept,” she said.

Many of the volunteers at Pets and Friends, who regularly bring their pets to elderly care facilities, hospitals and hospices as well, said they have seen the magic that visits with animals can bring to people’s lives.

“When [my dog Rigby] is doing a shift at hospice he beelines for the wheelchairs first,” said Beth Ledrew, a volunteer who mostly brings her dog to hospital visits due to the dog’s calm nature. “It’s almost like it’s instinct.”

Another volunteer, Cheryl McCutchen, said she likes Pets and Friends because it’s a way to bring her Pomeranian, Michi, to work with her.

“I [also] work at an extended care facility,” said McCutchen, adding that Michi is very sensitive to people’s emotions. “We had one resident who was dying and after visiting with him, [Michi] went back to my office and just needed to be alone and suck on his toy for a bit.”

Introducing animals a first for UBC

Patty Hambler, the student development officer of the Wellness Department of UBC, says bringing a program like Pets and Friends in to help relieve student stress is a first for the university.

“A student here had the idea to bring [the program] here,” said Hambler. “This is the first time we’ve had pets on campus.”

By ASHLEY VIENS

Canada ranks among the worst countries in the world for child care policy, based on UNICEF’s international standards, and the Surrey Board of Trade is hoping to change that.

By working locally and nationally with other chambers of commerce across Canada, the board aims to discuss how specific government funding can help businesses help families.

“We really wanted to take a leadership role,” said Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, about its Business and Families Position paper, released Tuesday, calling for a New Deal for Families.

Huberman is focusing on helping businesses provide healthy work-life balance for families raising children in an economy that doesn’t allow for single-income scenarios.

“There are nine licensed child care facilities in Surrey for every 100 kids, in comparison with 18 facilities per 100 kids in Vancouver,” said Huberman. “This is just one indication of the changes that the government needs to provide for Surrey’s burgeoning population.”

Projections for Surrey’s population were predicted to surpass Vancouver’s in eight years, with 900 new families settling in Surrey every month.

UBC professor Paul Kershaw says the businesses are paying a price for the status quo.

“The Surrey Board of Trade is unique in that it is the first that has been very concrete in the policy changes that need to happen,” said Kershaw. “As a business leader, they are saying that this is an economic issue in addition to being a social issue.”

Kershaw also stated that families in Canada are paying as much as a second mortgage to stay at home for a year with their newborns, whereas countries such as Denmark and Sweden have much more affordable programs for parents.

“It takes two earners now where it once took one breadwinner to pay for costs of living.”

“The policy recommendations in a New Deal [include] giving parents more time at home with their kids and figuring out what the role is in business of supporting that,” added Kershaw.

Ruth Bancroft, head teacher of the Langara Child Development Centre, said in an email that Surrey’s New Deal “would mean that families in every community would be able to send their children to high quality and affordable child care programs.”

“Parents are very concerned about how difficult it is to actually find child care spaces for their children,” Bancroft said. “It is also a shock for parents to find out how expensive child care is, the second highest family expense next to housing.”

By ROSS ARMOUR and SASCHA PORTEOUS

A controversial federal bill has refugees and immigrants worried they will be subject them to arbitrary profiling, detentions and deportations.

Protesters gathered yesterday downtown at Georgia Street and Hamilton Street to rally in opposition.

“Foreign nationals could be detained for up to a year without any review,” said lawyer Peter Edelmann, who represents those opposing the bill.

“You wouldn’t be reunited with your family members and you wouldn’t be able to apply for permanent residence.”

Bill C-31 would give Immigration Canada the power to enforce jail time for asylum seekers, deny permanent residency and expel refugees from Canada, according to migrant and refugee rights activists.

“Canadians take great pride in the generosity and compassion of our immigration and refugee programs. But [Canada] has no tolerance for those who abuse our generosity and seek to take unfair advantage of our country," said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in a press release.

Edelmann — who was at the protest — said the bill would have devastating effects on refugees and foreign nationals already present in Canada.

“There’s no reason for this bill to be slammed through parliament as quickly as the government is intending. They want to pass this through parliament before June 29^th,” Edelmann said.

Protestor Will Molina is outraged with the proposal of the new bill.

“The government is taking advantage of its majority to push its laws as fast as it can,” said Molina.

As refugees arrive in Canada, Bill C-31 implements a required hearing within 30 to 45 days.

“That’s simply not enough time for somebody who is traumatized or someone who needs to gather documents from a foreign country, have them translated and try and present them to the board,” said Edelmann.

Molina said becoming a refugee is not a decision anyone wishes to undertake.

“No one chooses to be a refugee, but if your life is at stake you’re going to flee no matter what.”

Former chairman of the Immigration and Refugee Board Peter Showler said in an interview with rabble.ca that Bill C-31 is “a bill that violates the Canadian Charter of Rights, international law and, frankly, common sense as well.”

“We actually do believe that it is necessary to reform Canada's refugee system but it's important to do it in a way that has features that are fast, fair and effective. None of these features are contained in Bill C-31,” said Showler.

Story and photo by CARISSA THORPE

Hard-hitting, body-slamming, roller derby action is back again for another season and this year things are kicking off for a good cause.

The Terminal City Rollergirls are opening up the roller derby league’s sixth season this Friday night.

Season opener also a charity benefit

Proceeds from VIP ticket sales for the season opener will go towards bursaries for The Cinderella Project. Two young women who are graduating from high school will receive funding to pursue post-secondary education while also participating in athletics. 

The Cinderella Project is a Vancouver-based charity that encourages youths to complete their high school education in the face of financial hardship, with the ultimate goal of breaking the cycle of poverty.

Vancouver's own roller derby league has members of all types

Vancouver’s first female roller derby league, the Terminal City Rollergirls was started in 2006 to showcase “strong, sassy and smart Vancouver women,” according to their website. They also aim to provide entertainment and build both the team members’ character as well as their community. 

Among the 60-plus women who make up the four teams in the player-owned league are nurses, teachers, construction workers, television producers and aspiring rock stars.

The teams will face off in two bouts on Friday at Kerrisdale Arena: the Riot Girls taking on The Bad Reputations, followed by the Faster Pussycats battling Public Frenemy. 

Cinderella Project sends kids to prom

The charity also makes prom a reality for 165 high school students by providing them with formalwear they otherwise couldn’t afford. 

Donations of prom dresses, accessories and shoes for women and dress shirts, ties, belts, accessories and dress shoes for men will be collected on site at the Rollergirls’ bout. The donated clothes will then be distributed at the Cinderella Project’s upcoming Boutique Day at the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel. 

New toiletries, new makeup and Groupon deals for manicures and pedicures are also being accepted to help the teens prep for prom. 

Season starts on Friday

Tickets for tomorrow’s Terminal City Rollergirls opener are $15 (plus service charges) in advance or $20 at the door for adults and $10 for children over five (kids five and under are free). 

Season tickets are also available for $75, giving ticket holders access to all six of this year’s major bouts, but are limited. 

Doors open for Friday’s event starts at 5 pm and the action begins at 6 pm. 

Advance tickets are available online through the league’s website.

By HAYLEY DOCTOR

Langara instructor publishes 5th book, about animals adapting to urban environments

Nicholas Read, a journalism instructor at Langara College, has recently published his latest children’s book about animals in urban areas.

With a self-proclaimed visceral love of animals, Read has written five children’s books about nature and wildlife, including two about the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia.

With his latest publicaiton, Read is filling a need for literature about urban wildlife. “I wrote a column on urban wildlife in [a newspaper] . . . and I discovered there was no book in North America about it,” said Read.

City Critters looks at animals that live in the city and have had to adapt to urbanization. From deer to mice and  even alligators, Read describes how the animals live and interact with humans.
The 134-page book highlights urban animals divided into categories, including mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.

Animal Photography

(download)

Click here to download:

nicholas-read-publishes-book-about-urban-wildlife-wvlpxqDvGDuFdjjjDnEx.zip (5.03 MB)

Read’s new book features vivid and detailed photography from a variety of sources, including three photos from Langara College geography instructor Colin Mills.

The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals supplied some of the photos published, after holding a photography contest seeking shots of animals living in the city.
City Critters also looks at how humans can help animals that share the streets with us.

Every penny of profit from the book’s sales goes to animal charities.

Read doesn’t necessarily write his books solely for a child audience.  In City Critters the book is aimed at a middle-school-aged readership, but the information is detailed enough that even adults can find the book useful, said Read.

“What I want to do is write books about animals,” said Read.

By HAYLEY DOCTOR

Though NDP leader Adrian Dix narrowly avoided getting a ticket from Translink on March 3 for riding without paying his fare, many other riders are not so lucky.

An average of 150 tickets are issued every day over the past year.

According to ICBC, transit police issued $11 million in fines to fare evaders.

Not paying for transit will cost you a $173 fine if you get caught, but the provincial Green Party is calling for stiffer penalties.

“Passengers found without proof of payment on SkyTrain should be removed from the train/station and fined with no exceptions," said the Green Party in a statement released today.

The party also suggested using a sliding scale.

They said the scale could give those who pay their fines immediately a lesser fee than those who wait those who put off payment.

Only one in eight tickets handed out get paid, which totals about $10 million that could go towards transit developments or improvements.

“It’s completely the honor system,” said Jordan Bateman, BC Director for Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “If the honor system isn’t going to work for the $3.50 fare, it’s never going to work for a $173 fine.”

Translink estimates about 4% of riders don’t pay fares.

Karena Tchakedjian, an arts and science transfer student, believes that not paying for transit is equal to any other crime.

"I always pay or show my bus pass whenever I get on the train or the bus. I feel like if you don't pay for a ticket then you're just stealing,” said Tchakedjian. “What if you got caught stealing from a store? It's totally the same thing!"

By JACQUIE RICHARDSON

Picture of a paintballer playing woodsball, which is paintball that’s played in a wooded or natural environment TSAWWASSEN PAINTBALL photo

Paintball is one of North America’s top grossing sports, according to paintballer Matthew Jantzi, whose professional paintballing career has taken him around North America and all over the world.

“It started out with BB gun wars and pellet gun wars,” said Jantzi of how he and his friends got into the sport. “Once [our] parents discovered all this was going on, our guns got taken away and I had to find something else to do.”

In 2002 Jantzi’s team, Cartel, won the National Professional Paintball League’s World Cup.

Different kinds of paintball

There are, he says, three different kinds of paintball. The first is called scenario, in which teams act out a real-life event from history.

For example, on March 25 Jantzi’s company, Tsawwassen Paintball, restaged the epic Second World War Battle of Stalingrad, with two armies, one German and the other Russian. The German team, who were on tanks, tried to break through Russian lines to get to a certain point in the field and locate certain objects, while the Russian team had to gain German territory and immobilize German tanks.

The second type is called woodsball. This is where teams compete in the woods or a natural environment.

The third type is called airball. This is played in an open field with inflatable objects called bunkers that players hide behind and then emerge from to shoot. This game is the most competitive of the three, says Jantzi. The others are more recreational.

Easter Event coming up

On April 6, North Shore Paintball will host a special Easter event. The top prize is a $1,000, fully modified and fully automatic paint gun that shoots 20 balls a second. The aim of the game is to shoot the Easter bunny, who is played by a person and guarded by five other paintballers, in the head.

It costs $25 to play. To register show up at 9 a.m. at the North Shore Paintball on Capilano Road. 

Paintball "a nice alternative to video games"

Andy Chong, who manages North Shore Paintball, has played in the Far East, Europe and all over the U.S. “It’s a nice alternative to video games,” he said.

New Westminster Secondary has even incorporated the game into its summer P.E. curriculum, he said.

“I shot Will Smith in the ass” laughs Chong, whose list of celebrity playmates range from boy band Soul Decision, to actor Mark Wahlberg, and the Vancouver Canucks.

On April 28 and 29, Tsawwassen Paintball will host the West Coast Classic Paintball Tournament. Teams must register by 10 a.m. April 27.

By CARA McKENNA

Vancouver-born transgendered Miss Universe Canada finalist Jenna Talackova is being allowed to compete conditionally, but she says she wants the discriminatory rules taken off and is threatening legal action.

Talackova was initially removed from the pageant for not being “naturally female,” but after a public backlash the pageant took back their decision on Monday.

Vancouver's Jenna Talackova is a Miss Universe Canada finalist.

The only condition is that she has to pass “gender recognition requirements” which vary province-to-province but may include obtaining medical certificates and other documents from doctors.

“I want [Miss Universe owner Donald] Trump to state that this rule will be eliminated because I do not want any other woman to suffer from the discrimination that I have endured,” Talackova said during a news conference in L.A. yesterday.

Talackova’s lawyer Gloria Allred said that the Miss Universe pageant needs to shape up and she will be “considering all of Jenna's legal options” if the rule isn’t taken away.

Trump considers changing the rules

“Trump has caved in a bit already; he has to go the rest of the way and say it loudly, and say it clearly, that not only will Jenna be allowed to compete, but that the rule is gone – no ifs, ands, buts, or ors,” said Allred at yesterday’s conference.

“No conditions and no excuses.”

Even though the Miss Universe Organization made a statement that Talackova “did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form,” she publicly stated in 2010 that she had sexual reassignment surgery at 19.

Susan Stryker, an internationally recognized scholar, author, filmmaker, groundbreaking transgender studies author and co-founder of Transgender Nation, told the Voice that although Talackova shouldn’t be discriminated against, beauty pageants themselves are what should be questioned.

“Trans women shouldn’t be excluded,” said Stryker.

“But do we really want to celebrate beauty queen culture in general? We could critique the shallow emphasis of appearance over anything else.”

LSU Queer Liaison hopes for continued dialogue

Langara Students’ Union Queen Liaison Andy Sandberg hopes that Talackova and the Miss Universe pageant will continue to open up a dialogue about transgender issues.

“I think it’s really interesting the way [this] has opened up discourse,” said Sandberg.

“What’s funny is there are no rules against plastic surgery. They’ve all had it. Her plastic surgery just happened to include gender reassignment.”

By ASHLEY VIENS

Charles Dixon, the bus driver who was assaulted 14 months ago, expresses his displeasure with Tuesday’s ruling

The sentence handed to a man convicted of punching a bus driver in the face has sparked outrage from both the victim and his supporters.

Del Louie was found guilty of assault and handed an 18-month conditional sentence and two years probation at the Main Street courthouse on Tuesday morning. 

Louie punched Charles Dixon, a bus driver for Coast Mountain Bus Company, in the head on Feb. 15, 2011.

Dixon had asked Louie not to board from the back of the bus.

Union representing bus drivers calls ruling "totally unacceptable"

Don MacLeod, president of CAW Local 111, the union representing Metro Vancouver bus drivers, was very outspoken after the sentence hearing.

“This sentence is totally unacceptable,” said MacLeod. 

“Dixon suffers with this assault today, like many of our members from past [assaults] still do,” he said. “Where is the justice? Where is the jail time for somebody who assaults a bus driver?” 

Judge Karen Walker said she considered both Louie’s health issues and First Nations ancestry in handing down her sentence.

Crown Prosecutors had asked for nine-to-12 months jail time with 18 months house arrest.

Victim concerned about future of safety on Vancouver buses

Speaking outside the courthouse, Dixon was adamant that the sentence implied that it is no longer safe for operators or passengers on Vancouver buses. 

“The decision that came down today wasn’t good enough, the message wasn’t strong enough. It just blows me away why the good people of this city put up with this,” he said.

“I don’t think the punishment fits the crime here today. I’ve been on ‘house arrest’ [with injuries] for 14 months. That’s four months shy of what he gets,” said Dixon, breaking down as he described the extent of his injuries.

“I don’t care what ancestry he is from,” said Dixon. “He knew what he was doing, he knew how to throw one hell of a punch. You can’t use aboriginal ancestry as an excuse to commit crimes, I’m sorry.” 

“I’m sorry for what was done to the Aboriginal people 148 years ago, but that doesn’t stand true today,” he added.

Dixon didn’t know if the Crown was going to appeal the court’s decision.

The terms of Louie’s two-year probation include 200 hours of community service, no contact with the victim and abstinence from drugs and alcohol.

By DANA BOWEN

An example of Jennifer Bell's eco-friendly creations

Eco Fashion Week is less than a week away, and Jennifer Bell is one of several other designers and stylists who will be showcasing their original ideas for environmentally-friendly fashion.

Bell became inspired to officially start her first clothing line three months ago when she received positive comments on her Facebook page for her clothes.

The designer takes old dresses that have been torn, stained or have fallen apart and creates new and modern pieces from it.

“[My outfits are] mostly made from anything going to the dump,” said Bell. “I take it apart, revamp and make it more modern for people to wear today.”

She will be working alongside Natalie Strzelecka from Bitru Fariel, a jewelry designer in Eco Fashion Week.  Bell is making the outfits to go along with Strzelecka’s jewelry. 

Strzelecka’s designs are made out of natural materials such as rocks, pumice, coins, cinnamon and more.

The 40-year-old designer signed up for Eco Fashion Week as a volunteer with no intention of showcasing, but when she discovered one of the designers had dropped out, Bell’s coordinator got her the position to partner with Fariel.

“It’s shocking to go from just starting out to being a part of Eco Fashion Week,” she said.

Bell said she makes clothing on the side, while her regular job is as a swim coach.

She said she is going to Eco Fashion Week because she wants to get a taste of what it is like to be a part of the show.

Bell was also given the opportunity to showcase at New York Fashion Week as a new designer. She is still considering the offer, however, because in order to be in the fashion show, she will have to make two or three sizes of each outfit, but she said she wants to keep her designs one-of-a-kind.

“It’s an ethical choice for me,” she said.

Bell said her favourite designs from her line are the ones made out of paper and the ones that are 100 per cent recyclable. 

“It’s the inspiration of it,” said Bell.  “Maybe people will think before they throw their [garbage] out.”

Eco Fashion Week will be at Robson Square from April 10 to 12.  Bell’s show starts at 8 p.m. on the first day.