Dog discrimination
Man challenges human rights ruling on guide dogs Page A10
NEWS: Dog put down after vicious attack /A4 ARTS: Ken Lavigne brings 1940s to Victoria /A7 SPORTS: Joe Hicketts off to junior selection camp /A13
VICTORIANEWS Wednesday, December 9, 2015
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City councillor inaccurate on how McPherson is run Kendra Wong Victoria News
The Royal and McPherson Theatres Society is throwing its support behind Victoria city council’s decision to ask other municipalities to fund the McPherson Playhouse. During last week’s governance and priorities meeting, councillors Geoff Young and Ben Isitt brought forward a motion asking staff what would be required for the city to resume management of the playhouse. According to the report, attendance has been declining and despite a $750,000 contribution by taxpayers, many local groups cannot afford to use the theatre and must find other space to perform. “The thing that’s most worrisome to me about the Mac is the direction seems to be at best, stable and at worse, over long years, declining,” Young said. “The subsidy that we have now is vey high compared to the usage and the direction doesn’t seem one that is getting better.”
Council agreed to write to neighbouring municipalities of Saanich and Oak Bay asking if they’d be interested in funding the playhouse as well. “I think it’s looking to align the use of the theatres per population with the funding of the theatre by population which is an appropriate thing to be asking,” said Byron Smith, board chair and president of the society. He added they’ve also been looking into other funding models as part of their own strategic planning. “The motion that was passed was much more in line with the direction of our strategic plan in the long-run,” Smith said. However, the society believes Young has drawn assumptions about how the theatre is run that are inaccurate. Currently, the playhouse (along with the Royal Theatre, which is owned by the CRD and funded by Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay) is owned by the city and managed by the CRD and the society. PlEASE SEE: Mac important, Page A5
Don Denton/Victoria News
Angry ocean A pedestrian and his dog ignore the large waves breaking over the ocean front walkway below Dallas Road at Clover Point. High winds created some spectacular waves along the city’s beaches during the weekend.
Refugee groups waiting for answers Pamela Roth Victoria News
Jean McRae is beginning to feel a little frustrated. As thousands of Syrian refugees begin making their way to Canada, so far all she knows is that Victoria will receive 10 people who’ve been sponsored through private individuals or groups. Working as the director of the InterCultural Association of (ICA) Victoria, McRae is anxious to hear when and if the city will receive any governmentassisted refugees so staff can have a
concrete plan. It’s a question she gets asked on a daily basis and one she’d like to have an answer for soon. “I would like to be able to give you an answer,” she said. “But we won’t know of arrivals until basically once the approval is done, the transportation is arranged and we just get a notice. It can be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few days.” If the city does receive governmentassisted refugees — who often have no family here and are selected on the basis of vulnerability — McRae figures they won’t be arriving until the new year.
But when and if they do come, McRae and her staff will be ready to help them settle into their new life in Canada — a process that isn’t always easy. According to McRae, language is one of the biggest hurdles refugees have to overcome, depending on their education back home. Some have a low literacy rate and dropped out of school while others have medical degrees, but have never worked in an English speaking country. PlEASE SEE: Community response, Page A3
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