Southeast Vancouver Seniors Centre gets green light

Vancouver Park Board

News Release

September 23, 2015

Vancouver Park Board Chair John Coupar and all Commissioners are very pleased to share good news related to the construction of the long awaited Southeast Vancouver Seniors Centre at the Killarney Community Centre.

The Killarney Community Centre Association has approved the final hurdle of clarifying facility ownership, which now permits the immediate issuance of a Request for Proposal for the design and construction of the Centre. The successful company will be selected by January 2016. A full construction schedule will be released in the coming months.

The Park Board would like to thank the Killarney Community Centre Association, the Killarney Seniors Centre Society, and the Southeast Vancouver Seniors’ Arts and Cultural Society for their collective commitment and leadership in ensuring that this much needed facility gets built as soon as possible.

Chair Coupar states “this important step illustrates the benefit of the new, positive tone set by the Park Board toward a more collaborative relationship with our community partners.”

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Media contact:

Vancouver Park Board

604-257-8699

Marker of Change motion passes unanimously

Thank you to the Women's Monument Action Committee and all Commissioners for your support.

Here are my remarks from last night's Park Board meeting: 

It is my great honour and privilege to present this motion for your consideration tonight. I want to first thank the Women’s Monument Action Committee for bringing this issue to my attention and to Commissioner Kirby-Yung for seconding it.

 

The Women’s Memorial “Marker of Change” is an important and, to me, a sacred place in Vancouver. But it does not only belong to Vancouver. It is a monument of great significance to all Canadians and to people everywhere who believe violence against women must be stopped.

The murder of 14 women in Montreal touched us all. For me, as a student at Montreal’s Concordia University at the time, it has special significance. This massacre could easily have happened at Concordia or any other university. It could have happened at any school or workplace or in fact at any public place. It could have happened anywhere where women are found. It could have happened anywhere.

The significance of this event cannot be diminished, ever. It was the result of a society rife with misogyny and rooted in patriarchy. We have learned much and made many changes since then, but the Marker of Change reminds us of how far we still need to go. Violence against women is still a continuing problem in Canada. 

·       Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16

·       67% of all Canadians say they personally know at least one woman who has been sexually or physically assaulted

·       On average, every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner.  In 2011, from the 89 police reported spousal homicides, 76 of the victims (over 85%) were women

·       On any given day in Canada, more than 3 300 women (along with their 3 000 children) are forced to sleep in an emergency shelter to escape domestic violence. Every night, about 200 women are turned away because the shelters are full

·       Each year, over 40 000 arrests result from domestic violence—that’s about 12% of all violent crime in Canada. Since only 22% of all incidents are reported to the police, the real number is much higher.

·       In 2014, the RCMP released a report on their "National Operational Review" on the issue of "Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women" which amounted to 1 181 women total - 164 missing and 1 017 murdered. Both Amnesty International and the United Nations have called upon the Canadian government to take action on this issue, without success.  According to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, “if this figure were applied proportionately to the rest of the female population there would be over 18,000 missing Canadian women and girls.”

The Marker of Change is an important place of remembrance and education and it deserves our respect. Through no fault of the Park Board, a flock of geese were displaced from an area behind the Pacific Central Station. While efforts have been made to clean the monument and I want to thank our staff for their efforts, it is now time to find a permanent solution to this problem.

I have no doubt that our staff can, through the examination of best practices, find a way to dissuade the geese from occupying this park. Working together we can return this area to how it was before the geese were displaced. 

I hope you will join me in support of this motion. Thank you.

·        http://www.canadianwomen.org/facts-about-violence

·        http://www.ammsa.com/content/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls

       For your information, the Park Board meetings are live streamed and archived. You can go to: http://civic.neulion.com/vancouverparkboard/ and click on the 14th on the calendar and then Regular Board meeting to get last night stream. My motion is introduced at 5:30, my remarks at 9:10 and the vote at 20:20.

Vancouver Park Board considers raising recreational fees

by Jonathon Brown News 1130

Posted Sep 13, 2015 10:18 pm PDT

(Courtesy of City of Vancouver)

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It could soon cost you more to use recreational facilities in Vancouver.

When the Vancouver Park Board meets Monday night, it will discuss a two per cent increase in recreational fees.

Though the increase is in response to inflation, Park Board Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon is wary of this increase, considering that the previous increase was only a few months ago in the spring.

“Two per cent in the spring, two per cent in the fall, I don’t know a lot of people who have had four per cent increases in their incomes this year,” Mackinnon says. “Any kind of increase, even if it’s 50 cents or a dollar, it adds up week after week, month in and month out.”

If the vote goes through, the increase would go in to effect later in September.

“Everyone is on a restricted income of some sort. All of these fee increases mean they (people) have to make choices on whether they are going to have their kids or themselves participate in recreation or not,” he says.

Increases would see swim fees rise by ten cents for adults, youth, and seniors, while swim fees for kids will increase by five cents.

Increases to the one year flexi-pass would hike from $393 to $401 for adults, $275 to $281 for youth and from $196 to $200 for children.

Children’s fees apply to those between the ages of 3-12, which is also a concern for MacKinnon, as he puts it redefining the idea of who counts as a child.

“In Vancouver, up until about 2010, children under five got their recreation and entrance to pools for free, but that was re-defined to pre-school age, two years and under. I’m still concerned that there may be families out there with young children that may be missing out on recreational opportunities because of these fees, I will also be asking about that,” he says.

Finding solutions to desecration of the Women’s Monument

     Remember Our Sisters Everywhere
PRESS RELEASE: 8 September 2015

Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon is bringing forward a motion next Monday that will call for a long term solution to preserve Marker of Change in Thornton Park for activism against violence against women.

In 2013, a flock of Canada geese that lived north of the train station were displaced into Thornton Park by a new development. Their habitat had been turned into a gravel parking lot. The geese now use rain water in the "pool of tears" on each granite bench for drinking water and defecating. The granite benches have been in a terrible state ever since.

“Marker of Change is a circle of pink granite benches naming the fourteen women assassinated in
Montreal on December 6th, 1989. A dedication to women and girls murdered worldwide is inscribed in seven languages,” said Chris McDowell, member of the Women’s Monument Committee.

Chris continued, “The monument provides both a sombre and welcoming artwork in the park. It is a
place of action or reflection, a place that is embraced by activists, educators, and mourners, as well as
enjoyed by locals and visitors who enter and exit the nearby train station.”

“These geese have found a source of water and as a result they have all but destroyed the purpose of
Marker of Change,” said artist and creator Beth Alber. “The concept of this piece, characterized by a
shallow crevice on top of each bench that collects water, a symbol of tears and grief, cannot
accommodate the displaced wildlife. I am pleased that the Commissioners are looking into finding
permanent solutions to this aesthetically ruinous situation.”

“I do not want the family and friends of the women and girls who have been murdered to see a
memorial that is chronically covered in geese excrement,” said Alber. “I am saddened that this has been allowed.”

Hedy Fry, MP Vancouver Centre and long time supporter of Marker of Change agreed, "As Minister for Women's Equality, I supported the building of this monument, to honour the memory of the 14 women killed at L'Ecole Polytechnique. We cannot allow its desecration."

The Park Board was actively involved in the national design competition which resulted in Marker of
Change being built in Thornton Park. A great deal of care was taken to ensure the monument would be easy to maintain, but what has happened since the arrival of the geese has come as a surprise. The
benches are covered in geese feces affecting Marker of Change, and making the benches a health
hazard for anyone who uses them.

“Other municipalities like the City of Toronto take measured steps to reduce and relocate their
increasing goose population. We look forward to seeing how the Vancouver Park Board tackles this
issue in Thornton Park,” Elinor Warkentin, Women’s Monument Committee.


If you’d like more information or to schedule an interview, please contact the Women's Monument
Committee: Elinor Warkentin 778-389-4847

rememberoursisterseverywhere@gmail.com
www.rememberoursisterseverywhere.com

Opinion: VSB trustee looks forward to successful year despite constraints

Janet Fraser, Green Party of Vancouver School Trustee
 

 Children walk to their bus on the first day of school on Tuesday, Sept. 8.Photograph by: Errol McGihon , Errol McGihon/Ottawa Sun 

 My first eight months as a Vancouver School Board trustee have been an incredible experience.

As I have met and listened to many people who work in our schools — teachers, administrators and support staff — as well as our students and parents our district’s myriad complexities have revealed themselves. I wanted to become a trustee to help our students have the best education possible and I am committed to both effectively managing our district and effectively advocating for our students.
My position on our board is unique, as if Vision and NPA trustees vote as caucuses, my vote is the deciding vote. While most of the board’s votes are unanimous, there have been occasions when I was the deciding vote; a heavy responsibility that brings a great deal of public scrutiny.

Such was the case in voting for the board chair. Vancouver voters reshaped our board and I wanted to reflect that change with a new chair, even though Vision trustees did not want change. My votes for Christopher Richardson and Fraser Ballantyne were not an alignment with one party over another, but to show my respect for the electorate and consideration of the best leadership for our district. An example of this is building a better working relationship with the provincial government to complete our remaining 69 seismic projects as quickly as possible. The chair is an important role, setting style and tone, but is still only one vote among nine trustees.

Another case was the proposed four-year moratorium on school closures. Vancouver’s student enrolment continues to decline, and there are huge changes in the numbers of students in different neighbourhoods. We have just started construction of the new downtown International Village elementary school, yet we also have a school with no students enrolled next year. Trustees must also consider the commitment “to determine how to achieve 95-per-cent capacity utilization” made by the previous board to the province in the seismic upgrade agreement. The province considers our current utilization to be 83 per cent. To provide strong educational programs district-wide our board must respond to our ever-changing city. I do not want to close any schools and want to see any space not required for education used for community use.

Every B.C. school board trustee is faced with the challenge of underfunding by the provincial government. Statistics Canada’s most recent figures (2012-13) show B.C. is still the province with the second-lowest average expenditure per student, $12,113; the Canadian average is $12,377. In addition, at 1.2 per cent B.C. had the lowest growth in public K-12 education funding in the five years to 2012-13; the Canadian average was 12.8 per cent.

The inadequate provincial funding made balancing our 2015-16 VSB budget extremely challenging, especially with our $2.7-million share of the province’s “administrative savings.” I voted for a budget that found savings in benefits surplus ($1.95 million) and provincial holdback/leasing ($980,000), increased learning & technology ($520,000), added a psychologist ($80,000), and made cuts to administration ($3.51 million), facilities ($540,000 million) and education ($2.14 million). The cuts to education were very difficult as they include $1.06 million to K-12 teaching and $510,000 to adult education (to align more closely with reduced provincial funding).

The previous board’s decisions to use one-time savings to balance budgets added to our challenge as any one-time savings must be found again in the next budget cycle. For example in 2014-15 $2.5 million was taken from the local capital reserve for operating costs, leaving no funds available from this reserve until 2018-19.

Additionally, this year the education minister appointed a special advisor to review and make recommendations on our district finances. While the minister’s stated aim was to help our board balance our budget, none of the recommendations addressed the 2015-16 budget. However, our board must “read and consider” the 59 recommendations for the VSB, which I will do through the lens of student education and not an accounting spreadsheet.

With the recently passed Bill 11, the minister has increased provincial power and authority while eroding the ability of elected school boards to govern in the best interests of their students. For example, if the minister “believes it is in the public interest,” a directive can be issued to a board, and if the board does not comply they can be dismissed and replaced with an official trustee.

Despite all the challenges, I look forward to working on an ambitious VSB strategic plan that will support success for all our students, including Aboriginal students, those with special needs, and those living in poverty. I look forward to developing a VSB sustainability plan to become the greenest school district in North America. I look forward to this work as I strongly support public education and believe it will provide a bright future for our students, city and province.

Janet Fraser is a Vancouver school trustee representing the Green Party. She has three children in Vancouver’s public schools and has 10 years of PAC leadership experience.   

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Geese defiling memorial for women victimized by violence

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Scott Hurst

A parking lot was built over a nearby watershed for geese in 2013, and the birds have been migrating over to the monument ever since. (CTV).

CTV Vancouver
Published Wednesday, September 9, 2015 3:22PM PDT
Last Updated Wednesday, September 9, 2015 3:27PM PDT

A Vancouver memorial to honour women who have been victims of violence - specifically the 14 women killed at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1989 - is being desecrated by a flock of Canada geese, leaving the city scrambling for a solution.

The memorial is located in Thornton Park, near the Canadian National Railway Station at Main Street and Terminal Avenue. A parking lot was built over a nearby watershed for geese in 2013, and the birds have been migrating over to the monument ever since.

Elinor Warkentin, a volunteer with the Women’s Monument Committee, says the beautiful design of the memorial is partially responsible for attracting the birds. The monument is comprised of 14 granite benches, all with a scar in the middle to collect rain water and symbolize a pool of tears.

“It’s a beautiful thought, beautiful symbolism, but the geese only see it as water,” says Warkentin. “The geese drink the water, and while they’re here they defecate all over the benches and the site of the monument, which makes it difficult for people to reflect and enjoy the space.”

 Warkentin says the Women’s Monument Committee is currently working with the Vancouver Park Board to come up with a way to move the geese away from the monument.

“We want the park board staff to come up with a solution that’s humane [to the geese] and will honour the monument,” she says. “People come here to remember their sisters, their mothers, their aunts, women who have been murdered… and this is just not honouring the monument. It’s heartbreaking to see this.”

Park board commissioner Stuart Mackinnon says this is an issue that is very close to his heart. He was a student at Concordia University when the Montreal massacre occurred.

“It was quite an emotional time and event in Montreal, and I’ve carried that with me here,” he says. “I was very pleased to be able to help the committee.”

On Monday, commissioners will be voting on a motion for staff to come up with long-term solutions. One of the difficulties facing the board is that moving wildlife is under federal jurisdiction, Mackinnon adds, and a federal permit is needed.

“[The feds] won’t issue a permit to move wildlife until they’ve seen that you have tried various things,” he says. “So the park board needs to put together a plan of things we can do to dissuade the geese from being there. If none of those measures work, than we can apply to the federal government.”

In the meantime, crews will be cleaning the monument at least once every two weeks.

“This has become a focal point for memory, for remembering, and for action against violence against women,” says Mackinnon. “Keeping [the monument] in a form that’s clean and open to the public is very important to me, and I think also the other commissioners on the park board.”

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Scott Hurst

Geese a problem for Vancouver memorial

By Michael Mui, 24 Hours Vancouver

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 2:14:22 PDT PM

Geese at Thornton Park in Vancouver caused problems because the geese like to use the memorial's pools to drink water. Michael Mui, 24 hours

Geese are becoming a huge problem for a Vancouver memorial honouring female L’Ecole Polytechnique students killed in 1989.

Vancouver Park Board commissioner Stuart Mackinnon said on Wednesday that the birds became an issue after they moved into Thornton Park during 2013 because their former home became a parking lot.

“The geese used to be behind Pacific Central Station in an area that was unused,” he said. “The station displaced them when they created a parking lot, so they simply flew over the station and came to Thornton Park.”

Normally, geese hanging around a park memorial wouldn’t be an issue, but the unique thing about the Marker of Change memorial is that they’re made of 14 individual stone benches, each with a depression in the middle of the seat that collects water.

Those little pools are known as “pools of tears,” and each bench represents an individual victim in the Montreal massacre. Since there aren’t any other sources of water in the park, those benches became the geese’s watering holes, and are now littered with feathers and feces.

“I was a student in Concordia University in Montreal at the time of the shooting so this is something that’s actually very close to my heart,” Mackinnon said.

Dealing with the issue isn’t as easy as picking the geese up and moving them.

“If we wanted to pick them up and take them someplace else, the movement of wildlife falls under federal jurisdiction and you have to get a permit from the ministry,” he said.

“They won’t issue a permit unless they’ve seen you’ve tried everything in your power to dissuade the geese from being there.”

Mackinnon has submitted a motion with the board for staff to figure out what can be done, since geese are also a problem for other parks in Vancouver.

Geese desecrate Vancouver monument for massacred Montreal women

Vancouver’s park board is trying to do something about the geese in Thornton Park where a monument pays homage to the 14 women murdered at École Polytechnique.

Courtesy of the Women’s Monument Committee

Goose excrement has defiled a Vancouver monument dedicated to girls and women murdered around the world.

By: Emily Jackson Metro., Published on Mon Sep 07 2015

 

Vancouver’s park board is considering action to deal with a flock of geese that is desecrating a monument honouring murdered girls and women around the world.

Two years ago, the geese moved to the grass by the monument at Thornton Park when their previous home near the Vancouver Pacific Central Station was developed into a parking lot. 

Ever since, they’ve been defecating on the 14 granite benches arranged in a circle bearing the names of the 14 women massacred at Montreal’s École Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989. The benches are also engraved with a message to murdered girls and women in seven languages.  

It’s especially alarming to see the excrement atop the benches in an indent designed to be a “pool of tears,” Elinor Warkentin, a volunteer on the Women’s Monument Committee, said Tuesday.

“It’s become really, really horrible,” Warkentin said, adding some people feed the geese so seagulls have also started frequenting the area and contributing to the problem.

“It might seem silly to think what does goose poop have to do with violence against women, but the space is public art, it’s a space to come together to mourn, to act,” she said. “We want it to be a healthy, welcoming, useable space.”

 

But until recently, the committee hasn’t been able to convince the park board to do anything about the geese because Canada geese fall under federal jurisdiction. Green Party commissioner Stuart Mackinnon, however, has taken up the cause and will present a motion at next Monday’s meeting asking staff to do something.

Apparently it’s hard to convince the federal government to move geese without extensive documentation on attempts to remove the geese, Mackinnon said. (The City of Victoria, for example, uses dogs to chase geese away.) The park board has cleaned up the monument before, but his motion will ask staff to develop a plan to permanently deal with the problem.

“This is not the only place in the city where we have issues with flocks of geese, but this is a very special place,” said Mackinnon, who was a student at Montreal’s Concordia University at the time of the massacre. “We would like to have that area remain respectful and open to the public at all times.”

In an emailed statement, director of parks Bill Harding said crews will clean the benches every two weeks until, or if, the geese migrate. They will also look at long-term solutions if directed by the park board.

The committee is thrilled to have Mackinnon’s support, Warkentin said, and hopes the city will restore the monument into a public space where people can gather and hold vigils.

“This is a centerpiece for activism against violence against women,” she said. “People come here to remember.”