6 FRIDAY August 5, 2016 • BurnabyNOW
Opinion now OUR VIEW
Inquiry announcement is the first step
Politicians on both sides of the floor are calling it a historic day for Canada. After years of pressure from aboriginal communities, family members, advocates, human rights groups and frontline workers, the federal government finally announced details of the long-awaited inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. What worries us, though, is the commission’s lack of power to compel provinces and territories to follow
through on its recommendations. The five-person commission is well poised to succeed with the appointment of B.C.’s first female First Nations judge, Marion Buller, at its helm. It’s also been given a hefty budget ($53.8 million for the duration of the inquiry) and a reasonable amount of leeway when it comes to who it interviews or summons as witnesses and what documents it can request. It’ll also examine the roles
of institutions, including the coroners’ offices, governments and police forces. Once the commission completes its mandate, it will make recommendations to eliminate (or at the very least reduce the rate of) violence against aboriginal women and girls. But it’s up to the provinces and territories to implement the recommendations. Will change truly happen if it’s voluntary? Call us cynical, call us cold, call us what you want,
but we’re not the only ones who have concerns. The coalition on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, a group initially formed in response to B.C.’s Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, released a statement Wednesday sounding the alarm on “gaps in the framework that stand to undermine the good intentions that have led to the formation of the inquiry.” Lorelei Williams, founder of Butterflies in Spirit, an
aboriginal advocacy group that aims to draw attention to the thousands of cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, shared her fears with media at an event in Vancouver. “I don’t know if I am ready to embrace this inquiry,” she told reporters. Ain’t that the truth. However valid the concerns raised about the commission are though, we’re choosing to be optimistic – because what’s the alternative?
According to a 2014 report by Amnesty International, indigenous women in Canada – that includes First Nations, Inuit and Métis – are almost three times more likely to report being a victim of a violent crime than their non-indigenous counterparts. We could go on. So, when the commission releases its recommendations, we expect government to act on them. If they don’t, we will demand they do – and so should you.
MY VIEW MIKE KLASSEN
Demovictions are a disgrace
Looking east across Boundary Road, it has been something to watch the buck-passing lately from Burnaby city council.When questioned about the city’s rapidly diminishing rental stock by the Globe and Mail, they claim: ! Developers will not come to Burnaby if we try to negotiate rental units! ! The federal and provincial governments have not given us enough support! ! We have no controls to prevent demolitions! These cries strike me as either disingenuous or lacking empathy for people being displaced by rental building demolitions, or socalled “demovictions.” The fact is cities can incent non-market housing if they choose. From the beginning, it is Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan who has all along refused to build housing. He argues vehemently that it is the role of federal and provincial, not municipal governments, to do so. Until the recent demoviction protests began, you would be hard pressed to find someone who would be prepared to publicly challenge the mayor on this matter. So, will anything change in the face of the protests? Derek Corrigan is a selfidentified socialist, known in the region for his combative politics, if nothing else. The mayor’s wife, Kathy Corrigan, is an NDP MLA who sits prominently on the front bench of the Official
Opposition in Victoria. Ostensibly defenders of social justice, the Corrigans are Burnaby’s power couple. Though she announced her retirement from politics next year, the mayor has no obvious successor and gives no indications he will hang up the chain of office anytime soon. I like to think I know Burnaby as well as my hometown of Vancouver. I lived in Burnaby as a schoolboy with my baby sister and our single mom as we eked by on her nurse’s salary. I remember what it was like to live there on limited means. I would later get my first jobs in Burnaby, working at Sears warehouse as a shipper, then as a labourer for the Burnaby school board. I have fond memories of summers paddling in Deer Lake, bus trips to Burnaby Mountain, swims at Central Park pool, and eating soft ice cream at the former Giant Burger drive-in on Edmonds Street. Burnaby has always been a great place to live and work. Maclean’s magazine even ranked it once as Canada’s best-run city. It is the home of two of B.C.’s largest post-secondary institutions, Simon Fraser University and BCIT. Burnaby has booming industrial parks and hosts some of the region’s best recreational facilities. Unlike in Vancouver, where basic maintenance of boulevards, public gardens and street litter is a perpetual challenge, Continued on page 7
’TWAS SAID THIS WEEK ...
OUR TEAM
…figure out what you want to do in this life and go tackle it. Bill Der, see story page 3
ALVIN BROUWER Publisher
abrouwer@burnabynow.com
PAT TRACY Editor
ptracy@burnabynow.com
LARA GRAHAM Associate Publisher
lgraham@burnabynow.com
ARCHIVE 1983
Does this sound familiar? Burnaby’s right-wing, Burnaby Voters Association mayor lauded a major developer in December for plans to help the city build a downtown identity in Metrotown by 1987. “It’s pretty darn exciting.We’ll have a downtown identity where now we’ve been living on shopping centres,” said Mayor Bill Lewarne of plans proposed by Daon Development Corp. “Burnaby will finally be considered a city instead of just a corridor everybody passes through twice a day.”
201a-3430 Brighton Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5A 3H4 MAIN SWITCHBOARD 604.444.3451 DELIVERY INQUIRIES 604.398.3481 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 604.444.3000 EDITORIAL/NEWS TIP LINE 604.444.3020 FAX LINE 604.444.3460 EDITORIAL editorial@burnabynow.com ADVERTISING display@burnabynow.com CLASSIFIED DTJames@van.net
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2013
THE BURNABY NOW IS A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL, WHICH IS AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION ESTABLISHED TO DEAL WITH ACCEPTABLE JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR. IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT EDITORIAL CONTENT, PLEASE CONTACT PAT TRACY AT EDITOR@NEWWESTRECORD.CA. IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE RESPONSE AND WISH TO FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT, VISIT THE WEB SITE AT MEDIACOUNCIL.CA OR CALL TOLL-FREE 1-844-877-1163 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.