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PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS NOVEMBER 27, 2014 • VOL. 47 NO. 11 • VANCOUVER, B.C.

TOYS FOR TICKETS........................................3Impark, which handles parking services for the college, is allowing unpaid tickets to be repaid in toys for The Salvation Army.

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JAMES GOLDIE and CHARLOTTE DREWETT photosLeft: Kirk LaPointe, NPA mayoral candidate in the 2014 election, right: CUPE BC president Mark Hancock and lawyer Leo McGrady.

By MEL EDGAR

Although reports of being touched inappropriately on transit are on the rise by almost 40 per cent com-

pared to the same time period last year, the exact reason behind the increase is uncertain.

“We believe that it is quite likely that the increase is due, in large part, to ad-ditional reporting,” Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan said. “But it may be also that there are more offenses, so you can’t be sure.”

According to Transit Police, the rea-son behind the uncertainty lies in the new reporting measures introduced this summer, including a mobile app OnDuty, which lets you report a prob-lem, check news alerts or even see what crimes have been reported on the app in real-time.

As many as 90 per cent of sexual assaults go unre-ported, Drennan said. “So we think that the numbers of sex offenses re-ported in the last year have gone up considerably in part because of [the] ability to provide information discrete-ly and more easily though the app.”

The 40 per cent figure though is well over the 15.8 per cent rise in sexual of-fence rates summarized in the Vancou-ver Police Department’s 2013 end of year report. A figure attributed to a greater number of “gropings.”

Langara students generally don’t feel like they need to use the OnDuty mobile app, however.

Even Zafrim Alam, a third year gen-eral studies student, who rides the Hastings bus at night.

“Sometimes there’s people who get on that make me feel uncomfortable,”Alam said. “They might start talking to me and then try-ing to get information out of me, stuff like that. It makes me feel a little bit unsafe.”

Alam said that, although she’s heard of the app, it never really occurred to her to install it.

The Voice has previously reported on three sexual assaults in the South Vancouver area this year, the latest oc-curring on the morning of Oct. 3, when an older Asian woman said she was as-saulted when walking towards a bus stop on Granville Street.

Transit sexual harassment on the riseTransit Police releases new app to help riders report and check crimes

By JAMES GOLDIE

Langara students will be paying higher prices next semester for ba-sic student services, due to a series

of increases approved by the Langara Council in October.

These changes include increases in the fees for transcripts, graduation ap-plication, and even the rental of gradu-ation gowns.

First year business student Amit Lu-thra said he felt the changes felt dras-tic.

“It’s unfair because the real cost be-hind a transcript is a piece of paper,

and how much time the administration staff spends to produce it,” he said.

Jana Jorgensen, executive director of the Langara Students’ Union (LSU), asked the council to defer implement-ing the changes proposed in June, ar-guing that the LSU had not been prop-erly consulted.

Her request was accepted, with the earliest date for implementation of the new fees set for the winter 2015 semes-ter.

On Oct. 6 the LSU presented a writ-ten report to the registrar and dean of student services, Clayton Munro. The report included the LSU’s position on what they believe students deserve ac-cess to.

This list included high-quality edu-cation and affordable education, and opposition to any “fee or penalty in-creases imposed upon students on the

basis that it negatively impacts stu-dents’ access to affordable education.”

However, despite the LSU opposition to some of the fee increases, the motion was ultimately passed.

On Monday, LSU spokesperson and sexual and gender diversity advisor to council, Ben Friesen, said that the “LSU understands that the college is facing difficult financial times,” how-ever, he reiterated the union’s opposi-tion to fee increases.

Starting in January, the fees for transcripts will increase from $6 to $10, the graduation application fee will in-crease from $10 to $25, and an enrol-ment letter will jump from $7 to $15.

The tuition penalty fee will also in-crease. Students looking to drop cours-es during the first week of classes will now only receive a 70 per cent refund, as opposed to the current 80 per cent.

By CHARLOTTE DREWETT

Kirk LaPointe and the Non-Parti-san Association (NPA) are be-ing sued again, this time by CUPE BC.

CUPE BC and Local CUPE 1004 held a media conference on Nov. 26 an-nouncing that they have filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction along with “the removal of offending language from websites and substantial general dam-ages as well as punitive damages,” said CUPE BC president Mark Hancock, fol-lowing the NPA’s accusations of “cor-ruption” on Vision’s part by accepting campaign contributions from the union.

LaPointe said in a telephone inter-view that the union’s claim, “appears to be similar in nature” to the current lawsuit filed by Mayor Gregor Robert-

son and councillor Geoff Meggs. “Once we have a look at [the claim]

we’ll be able to assess what we’ll say in terms of our own defense, so until then really we’re not commenting,” LaPointe said.

CUPE’s legal representative, Leo McGrady, from Vancouver law firm Mc-Grady & Company, said the key issue is the allegations of corruption.

McGrady said the language former NPA mayoral candidate LaPointe used in interviews and on the NPA website gradually got more offensive as the campaign went on.

Secretary-treasurer of CUPE BC, Paul Faoro, said what the union has done is allowed, both in B.C. and Cana-da.

“It needs to be perfectly clear that all of our donations are within the elec-tions acts of British Columbia,” Faoro

said. Frances Bula, journalism depart-

ment head at Langara College and mu-nicipal affairs writer for The Globe and Mail, said when someone accuses someone of corruption it’s a criminal offense.

“So obviously there was some uncer-tainty in the media about how to phrase this themselves,” Bula said.

Bula said that the lawsuit “seems like a prevention measure for the next election,” adding that people might be concerned about other negative ads.

LaPointe said that the lawsuit is “a long way from anything involving the courts.”

McGrady said that an apology from LaPointe and the NPA would have an affect on the damages awarded but they are “not prepared to drop the law-suit.”

Langara Council approves LSU-opposed fee hikesCosts for transcripts, penalties for withdrawn courses set to increase

NPA under fire from CUPEUnion case follows lawsuit filed by mayor and Vision councillor

“It needs to be per-fectly clear that all of our dona-tions are within the election acts of [B.C.]

PAUL FAORO

SECRETARY-TREASUER, CUPE

“It’s unfair because the real cost behind a tran-script is a piece of paper

BEN FRIESENLSU spokesman

ZAFRIM ALAMLangara student

News EDITOR KARLY BLATSTHE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 27, 20142

Mall expansion to take decadesOakridge Centre redevelopments were discussed yesterday at the Fairmont Vancouver

FLICKR.COM/CLAYTON PERRY photoThe VPD is adapting to new technologies and advances in crime.

Wet weather,more crashes

The Granville Street public library is back open

A news release claims po-lice in Canada are facingmore complex crimes By SABLEEN MINHAS

Vancouver Police Department is keeping pace with the changing nature of crime and advancements

in technology.Council of Canadian Academies

(CCA) released a report called Policing Canada in the 21st century: New Polic-ing for New Challenges yesterday. The report compiled by a 12-member expert

panel said that the “generalized po-lice force model is no longer realis-tic.”

A news release by the CCA said that police now are facing more com-plex global crimes like terrorism, identity theft and cybercrime. Due

to this, police needs to adapt in terms of specialized skills and collaborate with specialists, public and private security services.

Virginie Bochard, manager of Gene-sis Security Group, said that the firm works closely with VPD and other po-lice departments by exchanging emails and sending out warnings about crime in the community.

Randy Fincham, media relation’s of-ficer for the VPD, said that the depart-ment is doing its best to adapt with the changing technology.

“In the last 20 years, there has been a dramatic change in the nature of crime,” Fincham said.

He said that along with the tradition-al crimes, now there is “identity theft, bullying on the Internet and other cy-ber crimes” to deal with.

“We recruit police officers and civil police who are experts in the field of technology,” he said.

Apart from recruiting officers with expertise in the field, the department is also changing the way it collects evi-dence, Fincham said.

“Unlike earlier times, we now use electronic evidence like photo evi-dence, video evidence.”

He said that this has also led to an increase in time required to process files.

Library getsmakeover

By SANDY POWLIK

Transforming Oakridge Centre from a shopping centre into a small city that will house 3,000 residents is a project that will

take decades, said the head of Ivanhoé Cambridge, the owners of the property.

In a speech at the Vancouver Board of Trade, Daniel Fournier, CEO and chair of the head of Ivanhoé Cam-bridge, said his company has a compre-hensive platform strategy for all its de-velopments.

“We’re aiming high,” said Fournier. “For us, it’s a whole new level. It’s all about city building. We’ve achieved something very, very special here. It’s a

solid base with great people and teams and very dominant properties.”

The $1.5-billion Oakridge redevelop-ment project was approved by city council earlier this year. Some critics at public hearings complained the proj-ect—which will take a decade to build—was too big.

When done, the massive project will include a park, a library, seniors’ cen-tre and a small lake on top of the mall’s roof.

“For us, transportation is every-thing. So the Canada Line for Oakridge and the Expo Line for Metrotown... for us that’s fundamental. Almost every project we’re doing around the world now, it’s got to be a hub on the trans-

port side,” said Fournier.Fournier said it’s important that peo-

ple understand the goals behind the company’s developments across the re-gion. Those projects include Me-trotown, Guildford Town Centre and Tsawwassen Mills, the first collabora-tion it has done with a First Nations community.

“We’ve kept a low profile on pur-pose,” said Fournier to an audience of about 250 people at the Fairmont Van-couver Wednesday. “We know our malls need to be destinations. They need to be experiences.

With the Tsawwassen Mills project, which Fournier called a win-win for both the company and the First Na-

tions, the development will create 3,000 jobs when done and 4,500 jobs during peak construction times.

Fournier said he’s heard from resi-dents who have questioned the compa-ny’s redevelopment plans. “What are you guys actually doing?”

Fournier said development projects should be seen in the long-term.

“We’re not building Oakridge for just three or four years. We’re building it for decades.”

“I believe history repeats itself, there are cycles. And you need local knowl-edge” Fournier said.

He said they know their markets, they invest in logistics and they act carefully with all platforms.

HANDOUT photoOakridge Centre will be transformed from a shopping mall to a small city housing close to 3,000 residents.

SANDY POWLIK photo Vanouver Board of Trade CEO Daniel Fournier.

“In the last 20 years, there has been a dramatic change in the nature of crime

RANDY FINCHAM

SPOKESPERSON FOR VPD

As weather worsens this winter an increase of ac-cidents has been reported

By ORVIS NOEL

Dark and wet streets at this time of year combined with harried Christmas shoppers add to dan-

gers for pedestrians, say Vancouver police.

The Vancouver Police Department is promoting pedestrian safety because of increased accidents recently due to weather and traffic conditions.

Johann Yakovic, a Coast Mountain bus driver said pedestrians are not paying attention.

“People must be visible and if driv-ing, keep their distance and stay in the middle of the lane, he said during a stop at the 49th Street and Cambie sta-tion.

Yakovich, a 15-year-veteran driver, said he has seen pedestrians take un-safe chances.

In order to save money, and for trav-el efficiency, some students choose to carpool to and from school.

Langara schoolmates Laura Taylor and Xavier Dandurand, have been co-sharing rides all semester.

They say they’ve seen clogged trains and leaves on the ground, which have made roads slick and dangerous.

“The vehicle has ABS brakes,” said Dandurand.

With the wet weather and dark streets, he said he takes extra precau-tions.

“I drive really, really slow.”

By SABLEEN MINHAS

Visitors are impressed with the new look of Vancouver Public Library’s Firehall branch.

The library re-opened today after be-ing closed for renovations for about ten days. A media advisory by VPL said that the enhancements were required to meet the “community’s growing needs.”

Noreen Ma, head of VPL’s Firehall branch said that the library did not have any upgrades or renovations since opening in 1994.

“I think the library needed this,” said Tizoc Flores.

He said that earlier it looked like “an 80s type of building and now it looks more like a downtown type apart-ment.”

“I don’t know how functional this will be but it surely looks nice,” Flores said.

RANDY FINCHAMMedia spokesper-son for the VPD

SABLEEN MINHAS photoThe Vancouver Public Library.

“For us, it’s a whole new level. It’s all about city building DANIEL FOURNIER

CEO AND CHAIR OF VANCOUVER

BOARD OF TRADE

The evolution of crime

EDITOR ALI CRANE THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 27, 2014Campus news 3

Win prize with a postcard

Toys for tickets

The Langara Social club is offering a photo with Santa by donation

Drop off your unused toys instead of paying fines

Any Langara student can participate in the English department’s contest

ALI CRANE photoLSC club members pose with Santa in the lobby of Langara on Nov. 26. Many students stopped for photos and enjoyed the holiday cheer.

Photos with a Claus

VIVIAN CHUI photoParking tickets can be very costly.

By VIVIAN CHUI

Langara College’s English depart-ment is challenging students to take part in their third annual Postcard

Contest in a bid to encourage writing from all students, no matter what they’re area of study is.

The contest, which asks students to write a 250 word story on a postcard and attach a related photo to it is open not only to students in the English depart-ment but to students in other areas of study who possess strong writing skills.

Creative writing instructor Caroline

Harvey coordinates the contest and said it is a place for students with exception-al writing to show the Langara commu-nity what they can do.

“The photography department puts up pictures, the Falcons have their awards, we would like this part of the community acknowledged as well,” said Harvey.

“In this text-filled world where you have so many ways to express your-selves online, a lot of people have ideas, they have stories, it doesn’t matter if they are in science or math,” said Har-vey. “They just need an opportunity and some encouragement to write.”

Hal Wake, artistic director of the Van-couver Writers Fest said the image ele-ment makes the contest an interesting and fun challenge for everyone.

“250 words isn’t a lot, it’s something a lot of people can conceive of doing,” said Wake.

Last year’s winner Anita Shen said she wishes there were more writing competitions to encourage participa-tion.

“We all have a story.”General arts student Hana Osman

submitted an entry to the contest yes-terday.

“This is my first time doing this kind of thing for a contest, I just always wrote for myself,” said Osman. “I just try and get it out there and see if my writing is actually interesting.”

First and second place winners will receive $100 and $50 prizes respectively, and their work will be featured in Lang-ara’s library and website.

VIVIAN CHUI photoLast year Anita Shen won first place in the contest.

By VIVIAN CHUI

Vancouverites can have unpaid Im-park parking violation tickets waived in exchange for toy dona-

tions this morning. For each new, unused and un-

wrapped toy dropped off at the Salva-tion Army Belkin House at 555 Homer Street between 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. today the donors’ unpaid parking violation notices, with the North American park-ing operator Impark, will be waived.

“It doesn’t matter how old the notice is, doesn’t matter if it went to collec-tion, one toy cancels one ticket,” said Corey Medgyesi, vice president of shared services at Impark.

The parking operator has run the toy drive in various North American cities throughout the years, including Winnipeg, Halifax, and in the B.C. inte-rior Medgyesi explained.

“We just thought it’s time to bring it back to Vancouver, [where] we seemed to have the best results, raising $3500,” added Medgyesi, citing the event’s last visit to Vancouver in 2012.

Lauren Chan, director of communi-cations and marketing for the Salva-tion Army’s B.C. division, said the or-ganization is appreciative whenever Impark runs the event.

“They don’t do it every year [in Van-couver],’’ said Chan. “You can’t get people to expect it, they’re just never going to pay their ticket.”

“It caters to a lot of people in the downtown core on their way to work.”

Surrey secondary school counsellor Catherine Hall normally gets free parking at work and said the event is a good way for Impark to give back to the community.

“Instead of that money just going to parking, it goes towards a good cause.”

By SANDY POWLIK

Santa Claus is coming to town! More specifically at Langara and will be back one last time today thanks to the Langara Social

Club (LSC). The LSC set up a Christmas booth in

the foyer of Building A yesterday and for just $2, anyone could get a photo with Santa. All proceeds go to the Unit-ed Way of the Lower Mainland.

Langara has a strong relationship with United Way. The LSC is aligned with the group and Langara president and CEO Lane Trotter is also involved.

LSC coordinator Eyren Uggenti said the club didn’t know what to expect from the two-day festivities, as this is the first time for this event.

“We have done a lunch bag drive for the last three or four semesters,” said Uggenti, but this time they couldn’t get the bread lined up or donated, and they had to cancel the event. The event, also known as “#lunchbag,” is expected to happen again next semester.

Instead of the lunch bag drive, the LSC decided to substitute the event with a Christmas themed concept.

“We wanted to do something charita-ble with a Christmas spin,” Uggenti said, and he thought bringing in Santa seemed like a great start.

Uggenti said members of the club are “willing to participate, spend time and pitch in.”

He said there was a great level of in-volvement this semester.

Langara sociology student Sam Wil-

son was one of the club volunteers yes-terday. Wilson and the others were smiling as they set up the booth area, adjusted Santa’s outfit, and helped with photos and customers.

Santa will be back today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., where they will be giving away free vouchers for carousel rides and the LSC will be doing a Christmas market as well.

The Langara Business Association club will be helping students to get in the spirit with a ticketed event tomor-row night at Mr. Brownstone’s, a restau-rant on Main Street.

Last year the event raised over $850 and the hope is to raise over $1000 this year. They will be doing a Langara holi-day hamper that goes to helping single parent families.

“We want-ed to do something charitable with a Christmas spin

EYREN UGGENTI

LSC COORDINATOR

ntertainment4 THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 27, 2014 EDITOR LUKASZ JOCNA E

Lights of Hope and fireworks

NICH JOHANSEN photoA lion sculpture stands guard at the Sun Yat-Sen Classi-cal Chinese Garden on Carrall Street.

St. Paul’s Hospital continues their 17-year-old fundraising tradition

Chinatown undergoing transformation

Festival for Grey Cup 2014 underwayDowntown Vancouver will feature a three-day festi-val featuring free concerts and lots of events

SUBMITTED photoThe 2013 Lights of Hope celebration fireworks display.

By SHANNON LYNCH

Nov. 27 marks the 17th anniversa-ry of the annual Lights of Hope campaign celebrated in a bril-liant display of fireworks and

over 100,000 Christmas lights.The display will start at 6:30-8:30 p.m.

at 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver. Lights of Hope is a fundraising cam-paign operated by St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation to raise money for the hos-pital’s greatest needs.

Such needs include equipment for patient care and project research. Among this year’s biggest needs are a new MRI scanner and fetal heart moni-tors.

Six months of planning and over 120 volunteers donating their time and ma-terials make the hugely popular event happen every year.

Brice Dare, manager of communica-

tions of St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation, said the goal of Lights of Hope is to “in-spire the community to make dona-tions to the hospital, and also to recog-nize those who have already given.”

Dare said people donate to the cam-paign because St. Paul’s Hospital gives remarkable care to patients from all walks of life.

He said there is also world-leading teaching and research that takes place at the hospital.

“St. Paul’s has a very long history of providing the most compassionate care to people,” he said. “There are ad-vancements in health care taking place that affect lives across the world at St Paul’s.” Donations for Lights of Hope support these initiatives.

Helen Pel-uy is a patient at St. Paul’s Hospital, she said the lights adorning the hospital “provide a little glimpse of the coming holidays.”

Pel-uy said the campaign and lights will make people think of the people in the hospital who are sick over Christ-mas.

“These people are worried if they are going to live tomorrow,” said Pel-uy. “[The lights are] like a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean.”

When the lights turn on for the first time, thousands of people come to see them and watch the fireworks. A street festival follows, which includes food trucks and live music.

“It’s a really fun evening for a lot of people,” said Dare. Last year, the event raised a record $2.4 million. “Lights of Hope is something people are really passionate about,” he said.

This year St. Paul’s Hospital hopes to raise a grand total of $2.5 million, sur-passing last years total.

People can see the lights from Nov. 27 until Jan. 12.

SHANNON LYNCH photosOver 100,000 Christmas lights are on display at St. Paul’s Hospital.

Vancouver documentary will be screened at the Vancity Theatre after a run at the VIFF in October

By NICH JOHANSEN

A Vancouver filmmaker is shining the spotlight on Vancouver’s his-toric Chinatown and the changes

the neighbourhood has seen in recent years.

Sundance Award-winning director, Julia Kwan, directed Everything Will Be, which played three sold-out show-ings at the Vancouver International Film Festival in early October.

The film will be back on the screen from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 at Vancity The-atre.

Everything Will Be explores the transition Chinatown is undergoing and the struggles residents are facing to preserve a unique culture.

It shows how developers who have little interest in maintaining that cul-ture are buying up the neighbourhood.

Margaret Lau’s parents have owned a bookstore in Chinatown for over 20 years. She has seen many changes in

the neighbourhood.“New commercial and residential

buildings have been upgraded,” Lau said by email. “You can tell that the area has been undergoing gentrifica-tion.

Rebecca Law works at Ga Cheong Herbal Medicine Co. and has lived in Chinatown for 10 years. She has seen the demographics in the area shift.

“It seems more Caucasians come down to live nearby,” Law said. “More shops are becoming not Chinese and more Caucasian, it’s different.”

Lau remains optimistic that China-town’s unique qualities can be pre-served.

“I think we are in the early stages of a new start to Chinatown,” Lau said. “Hopefully, it will one day return to its days of glory as a vibrant, cultured and safe community.”

This film is Kwan’s first non-fiction film. Her first feature length film, Eve and the Fire Horse, won a World Cine-ma Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2006.

For more information on Everything Will Be and show times, visit viff.org/theatre/films/fc8296-everything-will-be.

“[The lights] provide a glimpse of the coming holidays

HELEN PEL-UYPatient at St. Paul’s Hospital

TELUS Street

Festival

11 am-9 pm

Canada Place Way

PlayNow.com Main

Stage (Daily music)

3 pm-7 pm

TELUS Street Festival

Red Truck Tailgate

Concert Series

lineup: Hey Ocean!, Fam-

ily of the Year, Gay

Nineties

5 pm- 12 am

VCC - West

CFL Awards7 pm

Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Source: Xop 6 on 6 xop xop xop

EVENTSFor Grey Cup Nov. 27

Blakes CFL Alumni

Legends Luncheon

11 am- 1:30 pm

VCC- West

Calgary Grey

Cup Committee

Pancake Breakfast

11 am- 1 pm

Canada Place Way

Red Truck Tailgate

Concert Series

lineup: Tim Hicks, Tebey

and One More Girl

4 pm- 12 am

VCC- West

Edgewater Casino

Night

7 pm- 10 pm

VCC- West

Source: Xop 6 on 6 xop xop xop

EVENTSFor Grey Cup Nov. 28

By LENA ALSAYEGH

One of the oldest sports trophies in North America, the Grey Cup, is kicking off in Vancouver this week-

end, and the 102nd annual Grey Cup Festival ushers in the game beginning Friday.

The Grey Cup Festival is the biggest party in Canadian football, a three-day family event celebrating the champion-ship game.

Highlights include the Red Truck Tailgate Concert Series featuring ten bands and a beer garden, and the Save-On-Foods Grey Cup Festival Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, with over 100,000 expected to attend.

The Red Truck Tailgate Concert Se-ries is a themed three-night event at the Vancouver Convention centre with locally brewed Vancouver beer.

Thursday is new music night featur-ing Hey Ocean!, Friday is country night featuring Tim Hicks, and Saturday is classic rock night featuring Trooper. Tickets are available at the door.

Jessica Doherty, manager of market-ing and communications for the festival says things are going great and every-one is anticipating its launch. “Had the cup arrival today down at the water-front, which is quite fitting for our ‘Roar on the Shore’ theme this year,” Doherty said. “We’re looking forward to kicking off the action tomorrow.”

Other activities include the Telus Street Festival on Canada Place Way, pancake breakfasts, a cheerleading competition, player autographs, and an obstacle course. Most events are free and family friendly.

BC Lions legend Lui Passaglia will be honoured as this year’s CFL Man of the Year on Friday at the Blakes CFL Alumni Legends Luncheon. A few tick-ets are still available.

Doherty said she’s expecting tens of thousands of people in the streets this weekend, and hopes the festival will show Vancouverites what the Grey Cup is all about.

“There’s something for everyone, a lot of free activities, not just for sports fans,” Doherty said. “I hope Vancouver comes and checks it out.”

EDITOR DAVID LA RIVIERE THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 27 , 2014Lifestyles 5

MARY BEACH photoThe Portage shop has recieved a lot of attention despite their short sojourn because of social media apps like Instagram and Twitter.

By MARY BEACH

A Vancouver shop full of artisan goods hand made by local art-ists and crafters is in existence largely because of social media

according to two of its founders. The Portage pop-up shop in China-

town opened Tuesday, for one week only in THISOPENSPACE a storefront on Columbia Street. Co-founders Mela-nie Hull and Andrea Wong attribute a good portion of advertising their store to promotion through social media.

“We decided to do Portage about a month and a half ago. We’re so involved in the maker scene because we’re mak-ers ourselves, fundraisers, craft

shows,” said Wong. “We selected our favorites using the theme of the Pacific Northwest cabin setting in mind.”

Wong said that social media played a major role in the life of Portage, espe-cially through the use of Instagram.

“That’s the best way to get word of mouth,” said Wong. “For Portage, we really only organized it a month and a half before we opened our doors. We started an Instagram account and we have over 200 followers and counting.”

She also mentioned blogs like Scout Magazine helped drive traffic to the short-lived store.

“A lot of our community of support-ers are on Instagram mainly as well as Twitter and Facebook,” said Wong.

Wong says the maker community is

a hard-working group who share a pas-sion for this type of work.

“ It is sometimes just a labour of love. You don’t really make a ton of money sometimes,” said Wong.

Julia Church, whose items are popu-lar at Portage, “creates honest swim-wear for the everyday woman.” Her line, Nettle’s Tale Swimwear is “de-signed for an actual Vancouverite,” said Church.

Portage also has locally made edi-bles from small businesses like East Van Jam.

“The jam-maker has a canning back-ground,” said Hull, “so she knows how to select fruit at the peak of its season and capture that flavor.”

Pop-up shop all about locality Portage gives local makers a place to sell their wares for one week

Vancouver has been named the most entrepreneurial city in the country by Futurpreneur Canada

Holiday-inspired beers have hit liquor store shelves just in time for Vancouver’s coldest days

Cold beer is the new hot chocolate

Entrepreneurs thrive in VancouverBy NATASHA CHANG

Vancouver has proven to be a driv-ing force behind the Canadian economy following the recent an-

nouncement calling it the most entre-preneurial Canadian city for 2014 by Futurpreneur Canada.

Vancouver took on all of Canada for the title, and the results were based on the number [of] events held during Global Entrepreneurship Week ac-cording to Futurpreneur Canada’s press release. The entrepreneurial in-dustry has created more than 27,600 jobs in Canada, according to Futurpre-neur Canada’s statistics.

Brandon Luu, started two business-es in Vancouver, All-Court Stringing and Custom 4 Biz Inc.. Luu started a store specializing in re-stringing rac-quets and providing sporting goods from major brands, Luu has recently ventured into creating customized goods like uniforms.

With experience in running two businesses, Luu said that entrepre-neurs have created more jobs. “Small businesses employ more people than any other type of business in Canada,” he said. Small business owners also buy locally, which helps the economy grow, Luu added.

Queenie Subion’s family have been running multiple Blenz Coffee shops in the Metro Vancouver. Although “Van-couver has a very competitive entre-

preneurial nature,” she said in an email, there are “many opportunities to open small businesses.”

Natasha Jung, executive producer of RichCity Idol, said that entrepreneur-ship is a lifestyle in Vancouver, and there are lots of resources available to young entrepreneurs. “Small Business BC is a great hub of materials and sup-port.”

Small Business BC is a resource cen-tre organizing seminars and webinars in Metro Vancouver. They focus on get-ting funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Minis-try of Jobs.

Like Luu, Subion observed that en-trepreneurs bring growth and innova-tion to Metro Vancouver. “Entrepre-neurship stimulate[s] economic growth in Metro Vancouver by provid-ing more job opportunities and servic-es.”

Sean Sung, new owner of the Langa-ra Café in Langara College, has had success since the first day he took over the café on Monday, Nov. 24. However, he disagrees with Vancouver being the most entrepreneurial Canadian city.

“Vancouver is a small city compared to bigger cities, there’s not much mon-ey flow going on,” Sung said. “But that does not mean you can’t be success-ful.”

He added that he thinks running a business is still a good career for young people to get into.

By ALICE D’EON

It’s getting chilly out there, so put on a warm woolly sweater, curl up by a cozy fire and crack a cold one. While many people think of hot

chocolate and eggnog as the classic cold-weather beverages of choice, the craft beer revolution is getting in-

volved with rich, luxurious beer of-ferings to suit win-ter-time palates.

Chester Carey, the product port-folio manager at The Brewery Creek Cold Beer & Wine Store on Main Street, said that there are four major trends in winter beer. “Bar-ley wines, which are strong, and

boozy, as well as imperial stouts and other dark, heavy beers are not neces-sarily marketed as seasonal beer,” he said, “but that’s just when companies tend to put [them] out.”

Carey said people can expect to see lots of spiced and sweet beers, which are labeled specifically as Christmas beer.

“These brews will have chocolate notes, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg [flavours],” he said. “Dark beer sales, just like red wine sales definitely go up in the winter.”

Simon Cotton, owner of The Reef Caribbean Restaurant on Main Street, said he rotates his taps to incorporate good pairing with the food people tend to eat more of depending on the sea-son.

“Generally people are eating heavi-er items in the winter and they want the beer to pair up with that,” said Cot-ton.

”We have seen a ton of sales in our oxtails [stews] as well as winter ales and darker beers.“

Dustin Sep-kowski is the oper-ations manager at 33 Acres Brewery on West 8th Ave-nue.

He said that a lot of winter beers are quite rich and large.

“You have to take your time with them and hug them for a little bit,” Sepkowski said. “Our solution to having a dark winter beer which is also drinkable is our schwarzbier. It’s a black lager,” he said.

Sepkowski said that most kinds of dark beers, like porters and stouts, tend to overwhelm drinkers or make them full very quickly. With their schwarzbier you get all the flavour of a dark beer without the weight.

“It has the same warming charac-teristics— a little coffee, a little bit of chocolate and a nice dark colour, but it’s is light enough to be able to drink a fair amount of it.”

CHESTER CAREYBrewery Creek product portfolio manager

DUSTIN SEPKOWSKI33 Acres Breweryoperations manager

NATASHA CHANG photoLangara Café’s new owner Sean Sung thinks that self start-ing a business is a good option for young people.

“It is some-times just a labour of love. You don’t re-ally make a ton of money

ANDREA WONG

PORTAGE CO-FOUNDER

EDITOR EDRICK DUDANGTHE DAILY VOICE, DAY, NOV. 27, 20146

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viewpoints

Holding a season pass to any ski mountain is something of myth for students. Unless your parents paid

for it, a season pass carries a hefty price that most students can’t afford, especially if they are in school full-time and work part-time.

Yes, hills offer a student rate, all of which are still a large chunk of change, but you have to be a full- time student to qualify, which limits your ability to work and earn an income.

I once had a season pass to Sun Peaks Resort, about an hour north of Kamloops. I was fooled into a false sense of affordability though, because luckily my employers gave me a season pass as one of the perks of seasonal employment.

Then I got a new job and had to pay for my ticket out of my own pocket. I was employed full-time and still struggled to pull together the over $1,000 price tag. So it’s no surprise that full-time students who are financially independent can’t afford a season pass.

Locally, the price is a little less expensive for a student pass. Mt. Seymour offers a season pass to students for just under $800, and Grouse Mountain gives students a small break, offering a pass at just

over $700. Both require proof of full-time enrollment upon picking up the ticket.

But, both Seymour and Grouse have unpredictable conditions that could leave season pass holders out in the rain, literally, so is the slightly cheaper price tag even worth it?

Whistler Blackcomb offers better conditions, and a better price. The price tag for an adult season pass is over $2,000 after taxes. Students, fortunately, get quite the deal with season passes coming in $629, cheaper than both Seymour and Grouse, but further away.

In all honesty, around $700 is still a hefty bill for a part-time worker and a full-time student.

OPINIONCHARLOTTE DREWETT

Students may have to choose between college fees, food, and school supplies, to get an

education at Langara College.A proposal to increase fees set to

take effect in spring 2015 is vehe-mently opposed by the Langara Students’ Union.

Students are divided on the subject of higher fees. For example, most students are of the opinion that fees are high enough, and if they go any higher there will be a drop off in the student school population.

On the other hand, I take a different view. School fees support the school components. Funding from other sources simply places a higher financial burden on taxpayers.

“Most students can afford to pay their fees. They have jobs, or get financial help, why raise the fees,” said Kathleen Parker, a Langara student in the Peace and Conflict Program.

What a decision for youths to make at this early stage of their adult lives. It’s a difficult decision between paying higher fees today, or deferring college for a year or two because of money.

The Ministry of Education should give more autonomy to Langara’s board of directors and allow them to engage in outside investment partnerships to enhance the financial position of the school.

OPINIONORVIS NOEL

No snowboarding for meEDRICK DUDANG comic

Impark, you can do a lot more to helpImpark is having an event where you can void

your parking tickets if you donate toys with the same value to The Salvation Army.

Pretty good deal. You are not indebted to some corporate entity and you are helping a good cause by making unfortunate children happy for the holidays. Also, the holidays are coming so this event can satiate many people’s craving to give to the needy.

However, the ridiculous part of the event is that it’s being held only between only 7 to 11 a.m. today.

For some reason, Impark decided to hold its charity event at a timespan when most people are at work or at school, and on a Thursday. People

who want to participate can’t because they can’t afford wasting their precious hours to drop by and donate.

If Impark really wants its charitable event to be success-ful, the company should host it on the weekend, when people, arguably, have more spare time than the five-day deadlock.

From a marketing stand-point, the company should expand its event to the week-end because it spreads a bigger positive message that they are friendly and charitable.

This cannot be emphasized enough because institutions that charge fines obviously gets looked down upon heavily by society.

However, if Impark really wants to promote the message that it is charitable, it should, for the company’s integrity, prepare to lose more revenue for a good cause.

Also, the event was not marketed well mostly because of the timing. Many were only notified about the event yesterday through social media, even though the event happens two days later.

While Impark hosting a charitable event is noteworthy and should be given recognition, there was potential to do a lot more and sadly, Impark did not deliver.

OPINIONEDRICK DUDANG

Tuitions rise, need more autonomy

EDITOR MADELYN FORSYTH THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 27, 2014 7Issues & ideas

A brave new world for graduates

JOHN REISER/FLICKR photoA recent StatsCan report showed post-secondary grads may have a difficult time finding jobs related to their education.

Saddled with debtRecent StatsCan report finds jobs hard to land with some fields of study

No committee reps for old men

By MEL EDGAR

Flipping burgers and other part-time jobs may help keep unem-ployment worries at bay for some Langara students, however, some

are uncertain of making the right con-tacts to get a job in their field of study.

According to a recent government re-port, Canada’s college grads are sad-dled with debt and may not be working in fields related to their degrees.

“It’s not like they give you a piece of paper with your diploma saying that these are the jobs that you can get and this is where to call,” said Tesla Atkin-son, a first year Langara environmental studies stu-dent, who starts training this week for a part-time job at a fast food chain.

“I want to be a park ranger,” said Atkinson. “But with parks not being a top g ove r n m e n t priority . . . I don’t really know how the employment aspect of that is going to work out.”

A t k i n s o n said she often feels alone in her student loan worries.

“It’s a little scary . . . I am going to be about 20 grand in debt,” said Atkinson.

According to a Statistics Canada re-port released this month examining the

labour market and student debt in-comes for 2009 and 2010 graduates, around half of them are in debt, and as many as 20 per cent are not working in their chosen field.

Sciences student Diana Sora, said pa-rental help keeps her focused on her future and not on money worries.

“I don’t have the stress that most stu-dents have with loans and living on their own,” said Sora.

Many education experts think co-ops are the solution to the dilemma of mak-ing industry contacts, and this seems to

be supported by the govern-ment report, which indicates that around 69 per cent of co-op graduates have a job in their field.

“By going into co-op and pursuing co-op opportunities students are able to develop a network of e m p l oy m e n t prospects for when they graduate,” said Nicholas Pet-ryszak, co-op c o o r d i n a t o r and program head for the Centre for Wo r k p l s a c e Education at BCIT.

In contrast, Atkinson, said

she is going to try to make contacts on her own.

“I need to work on making a bit more connections, possibly volunteering more so that I can see which industries are going to be good for me.”

MADELYN FORSYTH infographShown above are the fields of study with the highest and lowest job prospects in relation

Young Workers’ Committee says “no” to having reps over the age of 30

ALICE D’EON photoYoung Workers’ Committee co-chairs Stephen Von Sychowski and Nadia Santoro are pleased with the level of commitment their delegates demonstrated at the BC Federation of Labour Convention Wednesday.

By ALICE D’EON

Young orkers in the labour move-ment rejected a proposal to raise the maximum age for young work-

ers in the committee from 30 to 35. On Nov. 26, a debate between over a

dozen Young Workers’ Committee dele-gates dealt with the issue of what should be the maximum age for young workers union members at the BC Federation of Labour Convention.

Young Workers’ Committee co-chair Nadia Santoro said she was pleased with the result of the vote and was espe-cially encouraged by the lively debate that led to the decision.

“We had young workers going up to the microphone and speaking very elo-quently on their passions,” she said.

She said creating a safe space for young workers to feel confident enough to speak their views is key to getting young people involved in the labour movement.

“Who better to mobilize and organize young workers than young workers?” Santoro said.

Advocates for the proposed resolu-tion to raise the age limit argued that the people joining today’s workforce are graduating from post-secondary educa-tion later in life than in previous years, to the effect that young workers’ union representatives are not getting enough time to gain experience in their commit-tees before being “aged out.”

Shayla Burke, a member of the Hospi-tal Employees Union is one delegate who, due to the rejection of the age limit increase, will be too old to be a member of her union’s young workers’ commit-tee in the coming year.

“After people age out of the young workers committee they hit this abyss of ten years where they don’t get to be involved in anything,” Burke said.

She is worried that the next commit-tee will not accept her because she got involved in the labour movement in her late twenties and lacks leadership expe-rience.

“How do you gain experience without someone giving [you] the chance?”

Stephen Von Sychowski, Young Workers’ Committee co-chair, said he understands the concerns of the older members of the committee.

“We recognize there are new activ-ists of all ages in the labour movement, including those over 30 who are just be-coming involved,” he said.

Von Sychowski suggested a place where young workers can transition to the next committee.

“There may be a need to create new spaces for those people just getting in-volved, we just don’t want to do it at the expense of that space that we already have for young workers,” he said.

The labour convention will continue to Nov. 28.

“Who better to mobilize and orga-nize young work-ers than young workers?

NADIA SANTORO

YOUNG WORKERS’ COMMITTEE CO-

CHAIRBy JAMES GOLDIE

As Langara focuses on attracting in-ternational students to help solve its deficit, it appears it isn’t the

only post-secondary institution with that strategy.

Numbers released by Statistics Cana-da yesterday showed in 2012 more than 2 million students were enrolled in post-secondary institutions, an increase of 1.1 per cent from the previous year. In contrast, international enrolment climbed 6.9 per cent.

In the report, B.C. showed an enrol-ment decrease along with the Mari-times provinces and the territories. This grouping might alarm some Brit-ish Columbians, given that P.E.I.’s num-bers dropped by 13 per cent from the previous year and the territories (col-lectively) by more than double that.

However, in B.C. the decline was smaller than any other part of the coun-try: only 21 fewer students in 2012 from 273,126 in 2011.

Stacey McGaghey Jones, communica-tions manager at B.C.’s Ministry of Ad-

vanced Education, said the decline in B.C.’s numbers was no cause for alarm.

“It’s insignificant,” she said. “If you actually look at the graduates by prov-ince, we’ve graduated two thousand more students from 2011 to 2012, that’s a 3.8 per cent change.”

Langara College’s total enrolment numbers fell during this period as well, but only by 9 students.

W. Larry Xiong, director of institu-tional research at Langara, had not seen the report on Wednesday and was unable to comment by press time.

The report showed women made up 56.3 per cent of total enrolments in Can-ada compared to 43.7 per cent for men.

These proportions have remained-stable over the past decade. Langara showed the same trend, only slightly more balanced in terms of male enrol-ment.

StatsCan reported business manage-ment is one of the most highly concen-trated fields of study in Canada, a statis-tic reflected by Langara’s enrolment rates in the school’s business manage-ment program.

Don’t worry about BC enrolmentWhile some provinces saw a problematic decline in post-secondary enrolment, B.C.’s is “insignificant”

8 portssTHE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014 EDITOR ASHLEY LEGASSIC

By KERA SKOCYLAS

Although local ski resorts like Whistler Blackcomb, Cypress Mountain and Grouse Mountain offer discounted rates to students

for a seasons pass, most Langara stu-dents still can’t afford it without the help of their parents.

According to their websites, Cypress Mountain, Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour all charge around $750, while Whistler Blackcomb is mar-ginally cheaper, charging $629, with an early bird price of $549 if purchased by Nov. 30.

Lauren Everest, public relations for Whistler Blackcomb, said they offer this reduced rate since students gener-ally only work part-time, resulting in a limited income. “We are really keen on growing the sport of skiing [and] snow-boarding and making it accessible to everyone,” she said.

Brandon Barton, a 27-year-old Lang-ara arts and science student, said he can’t afford to snowboard. “It doesn’t matter how much they lower the pric-es, I can hardly afford living.”

He said the student early-bird pass offered by Whistler Blackcomb sounds reasonable, but he still can’t do it.

“There are more costs than just the pass,” Barton said. “There’s travel ex-penses and food costs.”

Computer science student Oziel Guerra said he loves snowboarding and usually goes three times a week. He prefers Whistler, but was under the impression that Grouse is cheaper.

Guerra said his dad paid for the sea-son pass to Grouse Mountain, so he doesn’t know what it cost. “My pass for Grouse is unlimited and I can go any day, anytime, as much as I want – and that includes food and beverage dis-counts as well,” he said.

Guerra said with the discounts he

probably spends about $15 every time he goes up there, “so it’s cheap.”

Langara recreation student, Dustin Mackenzie, said the cost of skiing lo-cally is too expensive and that he and his family usually ski at Manning Park to avoid the high costs of local Vancou-ver mountains.

“It only has two lifts, and it’s from the 70s,” he laughed. “It’s a resort, the ski hill hasn’t been capitalized to make millions yet.” Mackenzie said his par-ents always pay for him. “We go with them, and they pay for it. It’s kind of like a bribe to hang out with them.”

To qualify for a student rate, all mountains require similar proof of stu-dent status, such as a transcript or stu-dent ID, along with government ID. Mount Seymour requires students to be enrolled in at least three courses, while Whistler Blackcomb, Cypress and Grouse all require full-time stu-dent status.

Students are finding it hard to afford season passes on some of the most popular mountains for skiing and snowboarding in B.C.

Prices as steep as the slopesKERA SKOCYLAS photo

Brandon Barton, who can’t afford a season pass, looks at a photo of friends and himself at Whistler Blackcomb from two years ago.

Counting the miles to victory

Entering the break with a 5-2 record, the men’s bas-ketball team plans to come back strong next year

Hard training replaces holiday parties for Falcons

1 Cypress is currently

sold out of its

student pass.

2 Whistler Blackcomb

offers a $629

student pass.

3 Grouse Mountain

offers a $725

student pass.

4 Mount Seymour

offers a $769

student pass.

Source: Each respective resort’s

official website.

PRICESfor passes

By JES HOVANES

From long bus rides to being away from your family, road trips can be hard on a hockey player’s perfor-

mance, and the Vancouver Giants are no stranger to this.

Trying to come back from a 6-1 loss against the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday, the Giants took on the Leth-bridge Hurricanes last night in the sec-ond of a four-game road trip.

The Giants have a record of two wins out of 11 away games this season, which is well below their home game average of seven wins out of 14 games.

Dr. Rob Roy, a psychologist special-izing in performance enhancement, said that road trips can be a “double-edged sword” for teams.

“Disruptions to routine and ritual can be quite debilitating on perfor-mance.”

However, he did offer a piece of ad-vice for players who are faced with long stretches of away games.

“With teams, we encourage them to think about what things can be predict-able and which things can’t be, and to figure out ways of coping with them,” he said.

Brendan Batchelor, the play-by-play voice and director of media relations for the Vancouver Giants, has been travelling with the team and acknowl-edges that extended travel has a physi-cal and mental impact on the team.

“When you get to the end of that road trip having played three games in the last four nights, you’re not going to be at the same peak of readiness that you were for the first game,” he said.

On the flip side, Batchelor does think that road trips can have a very positive effect on teamwork and morale.

“Teams can gain a lot [from trips] because you’re sort of out in that group mentality with everyone,” Batchelor said. “[They] can be really fun, espe-cially if you’re winning.”

Roy agrees that away games can be great for teams when done well.

“Road trips can foster team cohesion and bonding but that is really a func-tion of team culture,” he said.

In the midst of their four-game road trip, the Van-couver Giants struggle to achieve success

By KERA SKOCYLAS

The Langara Falcons men’s basket-ball team ended the year on a losing note with a 73-69 defeat to Quest

University on Nov. 22. Coach Paul Eberhardt told his play-

ers not to hang their heads after a few losses, but to use the semester break to train and work on improving communi-cation to prepare for January games.

Daniel Hobden, guard for the Fal-cons, said the coach holds a team meet-ing before the break where he tells each player what they specifically need to work on to improve. “I think the

coach will tell me I need to work on driving to the hoop and rebounding,” Hobden said.

Garrett Ling-Lee, a fifth-year player on the team, said he thinks the team has lost some games due to a lack of communication.

“The coach said he wants us to com-municate really well on the court and come together as one unit,” he said.

Hobden said he stays connected with his teammates during the holidays, and they use their time off to train.

“We have a group chat and we post when we are going to work out and usually a couple guys will show up,” he said.

Ling-Lee said the team trains at the Langara Family YMCA and in the Lan-gara gym.

“Our coach opens up the Langara gym for us and lets us play around,” he said. “We play a lot of five-on-five.”

Ling-Lee said Eberhardt also stress-

es the importance of leadership. “Most of our guys are older and I

think we have to take on the role of be-coming better leaders on the court for the younger guys,” Ling-Lee said. “Talking more on the court, making sure everyone is on the same page, re-viewing plays, having a better ap-proach to games and are things we need to do more of.”

Hobden said the coach tells the play-ers to hold themselves accountable.

“Most people are going to eat and drink around Christmas time,” Hobden said. “But make sure you hit the gym and don’t take it too far.”

Ling-Lee said Eberhardt is great and is trying the best he can.

“He’s definitely one of the greatest coaches I think we’ve all had,” he said. “Not only do we have [to] improve for ourselves, but we have to play hard for him as well because he works really, re-ally hard for us.”

NICH JOHANSEN photoGarrett Ling-Lee takes a shot at a Falcons game earlier this year.

“We have to take on the role of becoming better leaders on the court for the younger guys

GARRET LING-LEE

FALCONS PLAYER