VICTORIANEWS VICTORIA Intuitive action
Keys to the castle
Learning how to tap into one’s psychic ability is among the features of the Energy Expo. Community, Page A7
Craigdarroch Castle is at the centre of a new history-based documentary. Arts, Page A15
Friday, May 25, 2012
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Sub crew deals with death of senior sailor after diving accident HMCS Victoria will sail with temporary coxswain on board Erin McCracken News staff
Don Denton/News staff
Kenneth Randall sits in his studio apartment in Pembroke Mews, a new 25-unit rental building for low- to moderate-income adults, located on Government Street.
Giving a housing hand-up Pembroke Mews houses 25 lowwage earners Roszan Holmen News staff
’Tis the spring of affordable and supported housing. On Tuesday, the Greater Victoria Housing Society celebrated the completion and full occupation of its second housing project this season, with two more potentially in the works. Pembroke Mews, at the corner of Pembroke and Government streets, offers 25 bachelor and one-bedroom units to low-
income, working singles. The main floor – slated for commercial space – is owned by Knappett Projects, which constructed the building. Tenant Kenneth Randall, 24, moved into one of the bachelor pads in February, after a string of living situations which included couch surfing and a stint in the former Princess Mary restaurant in Vic West. The skateboarder works at Cabin 12, a restaurant often near the brink, whose dedicated staff put in a lot of volunteer hours to make it go, said Randall. Having a stable place to live as the restaurant went through a move made life a lot easier, he said. “When the roof is leaking (or
other things go wrong at home) you don’t realize how much it clouds your mind and affects you,” he said. He now pays $610 per month in rent. The City of Victoria contributed $250,000 to the project through its housing trust fund. At the announcement Tuesday, Mayor Dean Fortin called housing affordability the region’s biggest challenge. “We are willing to face these challenges,” he said. “It makes our city richer in so many ways.” The affordable housing project is just one in a series announced in short order. PLEASE SEE: Affordable, Page A20
The crew of Canada’s flagship submarine is feeling the loss of one of their own, who died following a recreational scuba-diving incident. Chief Petty Officer 1st class Richard Boileau, 47, who had gone diving with two friends in the Saanich Inlet near Bamberton on Saturday, is being remembered as an integral part of a very close 48-member team of submariners serving on HMCS Victoria. “We’re coping. You have to understand that we’re a very small crew, tightly knit, and therefore the loss of any of our crew members is very noticeable,” said Cmdr. Christopher Ellis, Victoria’s commanding officer. Ellis went with a military padre to Boileau’s Esquimalt home on Saturday to deliver the sad news to his wife, Brenda Lyall. They had been married for 26 years. As word spread about the tragedy, condolences have poured in from beyond submariner circles. “He had a far-reaching influence and was well-regarded,” Ellis said of his coxswain, who started in the military as a cook 28 years ago. Boileau joined HMCS Victoria last November. “It was not your typical job – that appealed to him,” Lyall said of her husband’s decision to join the submarine program. “He was not a sidelines kind of guy.” The avid diver leaves a grown son and daughter, two grandsons and a large extended family in Quebec.
The B.C. Coroners Service is working to determine the cause of death. Police do not suspect foul play. Two of Boileau’s friends, who were diving with him at the time, were taken to a decompression chamber after the dive Saturday afternoon, prompting coroner officials to consider the possibility that Boileau died from an air embolism (air bubbles in the blood stream). “What happens is, he gets into trouble while he’s on the dive, and as a result of getting into trouble, he ends up maybe rising too fast,” said Barb McLintock, spokesperson for the B.C. Coroners Service. “We still need to know what was going on that caused the problem in the first place.” Boileau’s “complex” scuba-diving gear will be examined by Canadian Coast Guard dive experts on the Lower Mainland, given that “there is always the possibility of a mechanical problem,” McLintock said. Starting next week, the coxswain of Halifax-based HMCS Corner Brook will fill in on Victoria for two months, until the position can be permanently filled. The boat is scheduled to sail for Hawaiian waters in mid-June, where it will take part in the multinational biennial Rim of the Pacific Exercise. emccracken@vicnews.com
By the numbers ■ There have been 17 scubadiving deaths in B.C. in the past five years, most of them off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. Causes of death range from diver error to faulty equipment to medical problems.
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