A06 • Wednesday, December 5, 2012 • Burnaby NOW
The Burnaby NOW is a Canadian-owned community newspaper published and distributed in the city of Burnaby every Wednesday and Friday by the Burnaby Now, 201A – 3430 Brighton Avenue, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 3H4, a division of Glacier Media Group.
Brad Alden den Publisherr
So, who is going to heal our ailing hospital?
The details provided in the 141-page Forget for a moment that the Liberal report released on Friday draw a grim boosters on the Burnaby Hospital’s community consultation committee displayed picture. There is a plague of problems challenging the hospital: its inadequate an awesome lack of email due diligence electrical system is such that WorkSafe when they chatted about how they could B.C. won’t let them plug in turn the report into a political their Christmas tree; there tool. Burnaby NOW aren’t enough sinks for nurses Forget, if you can, that the and visitors to wash their lack of concern over those same hands in; the operating rooms aren’t big emails seemed particularly telling. enough to hold the equipment necessary Put all of that aside for a moment and for operations and there are four to six consider this: Burnaby Hospital, as a patients in a room sharing one bathroom. healing place, is sick.
OUR VIEW
The hospital, mostly made up of buildings 60 years old, is not earthquake safe and is in desperate need of renovations – if, indeed it is capable of being renovated. But none of this is news. Surely, the province and Fraser Health were aware of this when they reviewed plans for new hospitals and other hospital upgrades in the region. In June, then-health minister Michael de Jong announced a $750-million redevelopment of Royal Columbian Hospital. Just before that, Premier Christy Clark announced a huge upgrade
and renovation for St. Paul’s Hospital. But all Burnaby Hospital got was a community consultation committee with political baggage. Will the province and Fraser Health pledge to help heal our ailing hospital? Will the Liberal MLAs who say the report was not about politics but about fixing health care in the city, promise to rebuild the hospital? Or, for that matter, will the NDP MLAs and Adrian Dix jump on the promise wagon and steal the show? We eagerly await the next chapter.
Vigils important but not enough T
hold leaders accountable. he candlelight vigils that In September, Victoria’s take place every Dec. 6 to police department withdrew remember and honour the critical resources from a regional 14 female students murdered at domestic violence unit created École Polytechnique in Montreal as a result of recommendations are important and moving from an inquest into a horrific because they honour all those mass murder in women, and women Oak Bay in 2007. and children vicShabna Ali & Tracy Porteous This unit is being timized every year, considered a “luxeverywhere. ury,” the department said. But the day isn’t solely about In the last two years, reports remembering. It’s called the Day by the B.C. representative for of Action and Remembrance on children and youth, the Justice Violence Against Women and Institute of B.C. and others Children. found that not enough is being However, in B.C. there has done in our province to ensure been far too little action. women and their kids are kept Violence against women safe from violence. and children takes a terrible Programs in B.C. have faced toll. In B.C., almost 100 women budget cuts that prevented them were killed by their spouses from providing help that could between 2003 and 2011. (These keep women and children safe numbers don’t include the from violence and help them murdered and missing women recover. from Vancouver’s Downtown On Nov. 11, 2011, 124 transiEastside, B.C.’s Highway 16 or tion houses, second stage housthe many communities coping ing, safe home and children with the epidemic of violence who witness abuse programs against women.) participated in a one-day census Almost 60,000 women expericonducted by the B.C. Society of ence sexual and physical vioTransition Houses. lence each year in B.C. On this single day, these proHaving a day to remember grams helped 1,110 women and isn’t nearly enough. children in person and another We need committed leader1,461 via phone or email. ship. But they turned away 658 We need people who speak women, youth and children. up when they see women disOther community victim respected and people to step in when they see injustice. We need to choose the kind Women Page 7 of society we want to live in and
IN MY OPINION
PUBLISHER Brad Alden EDITOR Pat Tracy ASSISTANT EDITOR Julie MacLellan SPORTS EDITOR Tom Berridge REPORTERS Janaya Fuller-Evans, Christina Myers, Jennifer Moreau PHOTOGRAPHER Larry Wright DIRECTOR, SALES AND MARKETING Lara Graham ADVERTISING REPS Cynthia Hendrix, Cam Northcott, Veronica Wong, Jennifer Kastelein AD CONTROL Ken Wall
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Oil spill possibility is worrisome
Dear Editor:
Three words, beautiful British Columbia, are written on every license plate in the Province. This description is a testament to the extensive natural beauty that can be found in every corner of British Columbia. I believe that the government should do everything in its power to protect this diverse environment, and that means not allowing the Northern Gateway pipeline to be constructed. I believe that a pipeline would be a huge risk to the North Coast and northern interior of the province, and I would like the B.C. government to oppose it, because the pipe line would travel over
PRODUCTION MANAGER Doug McMaster PRODUCTION STAFF Ron Beamish,Kevin Behnsen, Lynne Boucher, Nola Bowling, Rona Eastman-Magee, Laura Powell, Tony Sherman GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Helen-Louise Kinton, Gary E. Slavin REGIONAL CLASSIFIED MANAGER Trixi Agrios CLASSIFIED SUPERVISOR Dawn James CLASSIFIED REPS Darla Burns, John Taylor, ACCOUNTING Judy Sharp SALES ADMINISTRATOR Janeen Williams
more than 1,000 streams and rivers, some of which are salmon-bearing. Salmon fishing has provided me with some amazing experiences in B.C., and the impact of an oil spill in such a delicate ecosystem would be absolutely detrimental for the health of not only salmon populations, but all species in the area. I think Enbridge is also a bad choice for B.C., and with almost 610 recorded spills between 1999 and 2008, it would just be a matter of time before Northern Gateway would leak some oil into the environment. I have been to Alaska and seen the pelts of dead sea otters, dead birds and seals affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Don’t Page 7
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