Thursday July 12, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 56)
V O I C E
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W H I T E
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S O U T H
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Gearing up: When cycling fans line the streets this weekend for the Tour de White Rock, they’ll be watching some of the world’s top riders, as the event’s field is chock full of big names and familiar faces. see page 37
Uniform switch-up
Japan left no worse for wear Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
The disappearance of five of Team Japan’s national uniforms did little to quell the returning champions’ quest for the 2012 Women’s International Division title at the Canadian Open. The Japanese women’s fastpitch squad sealed the victory Monday night with a 9-6 win over Team USA at Softball City (see page 39). But there’s no question last week’s apparent theft of the attire threw the team a bit of a curve ball. According to officials, the team reported the uniforms – four red jerseys, four shorts and two warmup jackets, along with a pair of warmup pants belonging to the team’s head coach – stolen on Wednesday, July 4. They were taken from a South Surrey laundromat, where they had been dropped off for cleaning. The laundromat owner apparently remembers taking the jerseys out of the machine and placing them on a trolley. “From the information we can get, they were put in a plastic bag,” tournament chair Greg Timm said Tuesday. “We’re still hopeful that somebody may have taken them in error from the dry cleaner, and that somebody at some point in time is going to open their laundry bag… and say, ‘whoops, I got the wrong bag.’” see page 8
Rob Newell photo
Japan beats USA 9-6 in the final.
Contributed photos
Russ Hiebert congratulates a young student at Bamboo Shoots Street Children Centre in Cambodia. Below, Hiebert meets with Burmese migrants.
MP visits southeast Asia to learn more about human trafficking
Seeing for himself ‘moving’ Nick Greenizan & Dan Ferguson Staff Reporters
Shortly after he returned from a trip to Thailand and Cambodia to study human trafficking, South Surrey-White Rock–Cloverdale MP Russ Hiebert changed the cover photo on his Facebook page. On Thursday, Hiebert replaced the carefully-lit and posed political portrait he was using with a snapshot of him smiling and high-fiving a fiveyear-old child inside the World Vision Bamboo Shoots Street Children Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The centre takes its name from the Cambodian proverb that says “Children are the bamboo shoots who replace the bamboo stalks.” It is part of the Street Children Transformation Project operated by World Vision, providing street youth with food, shelter, vaccinations and schooling. The project also aims to reintegrate street youth with their families, or if
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that is not an option, with foster families. Hiebert and four other Canadian MPs were able to see for themselves the kind of life the estimated 2,300 street children live during a trip sponsored by the charity to raise awareness about human trafficking and the worst forms of child labour. “We saw so much, and heard so many stories from people who had been trafficked,” Hiebert
told Peace Arch News Wednesday. “It was a big learning (experience) for me.” But as much as the trip was an eye-opener into some of the horrors facing the region, Hiebert said it was also inspiring to meet young children at the centre in Phnom Penh who were trying to better their lives. “It was phenomenal to see how these kids were growing, despite the serious challenges from which they were coming,” he said. “It was quite moving to see how these kids were thriving.” He noted the June 25–29 trip was at no cost to taxpayers. Hiebert – a member of the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights – added that the trip was important in light of the federal government’s June 6 announcement of a plan to combat human trafficking. see page 8
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