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Vol. 61, Issue 220
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Local Filipinos anxious for relatives after deadly typhoon
Relief efforts getting off the ground in Cranbrook, Kimberley B A R RY CO U LT E R A N D C A R O LYN G R A N T
The Philippines is reeling after a devastating typhoon caused immense havoc on the country’s eastern shore last week. And local Filipino-Canadians are anxious and worried for family members, as communications are only just starting to come back on stream. Cranbrook resident Lourdes Roxas-Butalid, who is President of the Filipino-Canadian Association of the East Kootenay, said her hometown of Bogo was wiped out in the typhoon. Bogo is on the island province of Cebu. The northern part of Cebu, Roxas-Butalid said,
sustained damage equivalent to the scenes from neighbouring Leyte and the city of Tacloban, whose images have dominated international news coverage of the disaster. “I only just talked to my mother Monday morning,” RoxasButalid said. “There was no communication for days. “It was so depressing to see. I was just there recently. I couldn’t sleep, worrying about friends, classmates, my family … I’ve read on Facebook how some of my friends are now homeless. One of my friend’s homes is just a skeleton. Another has had the roof torn off.”
See LOCAL , Page 2
BARRY COULTER PHOTO
Katie Elder (left) and Kaitlynn Campbell, as Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb respectively, hash over the doings of the town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, in Mount Baker Secondary School’s production of “Our Town.” The famous play by Thornton Wilder tells the story of an average town’s citizens in the early 20th century as depicted through their everyday lives, and opens at the Key City Theatre tomorrow, Nov. 14. “Our Town” runs Nov. 14 - 16, starting at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov 17, at 2 p.m.
Unemployment rate stays low The Kootenay region has the fewest unemployed people in B.C., with an October rate of 3.7 per cent
S A L LY M AC D O N A L D Townsman Staff
The Kootenays’ unemployment rate remains at the lowest in the province. On Nov. 8, BC Stats released labour force statistics for October, which showed that only 3.7 per cent of the Kootenay labour force is unemployed. In B.C. as a whole, the unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent in October.
The Kootenays are well ahead of the rest of the province in employment. The next closest region is the Northeast at 4.9 per cent, followed by the Cariboo at 5.4 per cent, the North Coast at 5.5 per cent, Vancouver Island at 6 per cent, and the Lower Mainland at 6.8 per cent. Our closest neighbours in the Thompson-Okanagan have the highest unemployment
rate at 7.2 per cent. Across B.C., there are 2,465,900 people in the labour force, which represents 63.7 per cent of B.C.’s population aged older than 14. Last month, there were more part-time positions available in B.C. (up by 5,600 jobs), but fewer fulltime positions (down by 11,000 jobs). Most of the full-time positions were lost
in those aged 25 to 54 (12,900). Jobs in the public sector rose by 13,000 in October, but private sector positions dropped by 13,800. B.C.’s unemployment rate falls behind Saskatchewan (3.6 per cent), Alberta (4.4 per cent) and Manitoba (5.5 per cent). Across B.C., positions were gained in the following industries: health care
and social assistance (10,300 jobs), educational services (7,500), accommodation and food services (7,200), information, culture and recreation (7,000), construction (1,300), utilities (800), and manufacturing (200). However, there were job losses in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing (8,600 jobs), professional, scientific and technical ser-
vices (7,100), and trade (4,400). Interestingly, industries that offer the most positions in the East Kootenay lost positions, too. Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas lost 3,800 jobs, and agriculture lost 1,200 jobs. The Kootenays’ unemployment rate for October is only slightly higher than it was in September, when it dipped to a low 3 per cent.