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Mayor aims to make cycling the norm Kendra Wong Victoria News
In some cities, it may seem unusual to see the mayor riding around on a bike — but for Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, it is the norm. Helps, an avid cyclist, travels almost everywhere in the city by bike. She often rides from her home to city hall, city hall to the legislature, and to and from daily meetings, lunches and consultations with the public — all in her everyday clothing from blazers to skirts. “I ride my bike 99.9 per cent of the time. I hike up my skirt and get on my bike,” Helps said. “You don't need to do anything different when you're getting onto a bike versus getting into a car, other than putting your helmet on or adding lights when it's dark outside. There's nothing special required.” It's a passion she
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learned at a young age. Growing up in London, Ontario, she lived a roughly half-an-hour bike ride from school. While she would often ride with her father, by Grade 7 Helps convinced her parents to let her ride her bike to school by herself. Years later, she continues to ride everywhere she goes. When she moved to Victoria in 1997, the first thing she purchased was a bike. As mayor with backto-back meetings with ministers, councillors and events, Helps said riding her bike allows her to clear her head. “It's a way to clear my head, to focus so that when I walk into that minister's office I'm bright-eyed, clearheaded and ready for a conversation. It's like a mental health, wellbeing exercise,” she said. PLEASE SEE: Cycling a way to improve well-being, Page A3
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Beached barge A barge lies aground on the beach below Dallas Road at Cook Street. Two barges under tow broke away from the tug during bad weather and ended up on the beach last week.
Support growing for physician-assisted death Kendra Wong Victoria News
On the heels of one of Canada's first physician-assisted deaths, support for the right to choose how a person wants to die is gaining momentum in Victoria. Dying with Dignity Canada, a national organization committed to improving quality of dying and expanding end-of-life
choices, recently launched its first Victoria chapter. “I'm very interested in having choice at the end of life,” said Victoria resident and chapter co-chair Ellen Agger. “If I'm hit by a car, I don't have a choice. But if I get some kind of illness that has an outcome of death, then I would like to be able to choose the manner and time that I die.” Agger first started thinking about end-
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