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Thursday April 10, 2014
Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
‘They saw our faces, we had no choice’
Surrey needs French immersion fix: Parent
Michael Le testifies his former gang cohorts admitted to Surrey Six murders
Finding school space and qualified teachers a challenge, education board chair says
by Sheila Reynolds FORMER RED Scorpion gang leader
Michael Le said he had just finished test-driving luxury cars on Oct. 19, 2007 when he received a panicked call from fellow gangster Matthew Johnston, who said he needed to meet him urgently. The pair met at a shopping plaza where Johnston revealed that the murder of a rival drug dealer in Surrey did not go as planned. “Mike, I’m sorry, but we killed Eddie,” Le said Johnston told him, referring to Eddie Narong, a friend of Le’s since middle school. Le – who struck a Haevischer plea deal in November and admitted to his role in the Surrey Six murders – began testifying against his two former co-accused on Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. Johnston Cody Haevischer and Johnston are currently on trial, each facing six counts of first-degree murder in connection with the execution-style shooting of six men in a Surrey apartment building on Oct. 19, 2007. See TRIAL / Page 3
by Sheila Reynolds SHE BEGAN dialing as soon as the phone lines opened at 5 p.m. on Jan. 15. In fact, Erin McCall and her friend were hitting redial on three separate phones – a landline and two cellphones – simultaneously, hoping someone on the other end of the Surrey School District’s “telephone lottery” for French immersion registration would pick up. Having graduated from a French immersion (FI) program herself, there was no doubt McCall wanted her daughter, Elle, to start kindergarten in the specialized language program this fall. “Why not?” she said when asked why she wanted Elle in FI. “If your child has the chance to learn one of Canada’s other official languages, why wouldn’t you do it? It’s a great benefit in terms of the job market, the learning outcomes studies have show math and sciences are a lot stronger for kids in Erin McCall French immersion. Why not give them that extra advantage?” Finally, after 40 minutes on the phone and more than 800 dial attempts, instead of the usual busy signal, one of the phones connected. McCall was then on hold another 20 minutes and when someone answered, she was number 192 in line. Like everyone before and after her, she was asked to give her first and second choice of the six Surrey elementary schools that offer early (kindergarten or Grade 1) French immersion.
“It’s really not a lottery... because a lot of parents have these telephone parties...”
EVAN SEAL / THE LEADER
Erin McCall reads a French book with her daughter Elle Miller at their home in South Surrey. McCall wants to enrol Elle in a French immersion school, but even after participating in an onerous phone-in registration system, her daughter remains on a lengthy wait list.
See SCHOOLS / Page 5
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