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Author battles schizophrenia
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Your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! >> www.burnabynow.com CIVIL LIBERTIES
Are you on this list? Provincial police database may include 85 per cent of citizens Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
Burnaby MLA Kathy Corrigan is slamming a provincewide police database as “out of control,” with rising costs and no public oversight. Corrigan’s comments came after the B.C. Civil Liberties Association estimated that as many as 85 per cent of British Columbians are in PRIME-BC, a police database used to track serial killers, sex offenders and career criminals. Corrigan, the Opposition critic for Public Safety and Solicitor General, said the amount of names in the database was astonishing. “The B.C. Solicitor General doesn’t seem interested in managing it at all. The provincial government legislated its introduction, and communities across the province, who have to pay for it, have had no overMLA Kathy Corrigan sight,” she said. “When the average law-abiding citizen stands a good chance of being on a criminal database, the balance between enhancing public safety and personal freedoms and protection of privacy seems to be tipped excessively in favour of law enforcement.” Corrigan said the system was originally supposed to cost $500 per officer in a community but that doubled to $1,000 without warning, and the cost is still rising. “This is costing municipal taxpayers millions of dollars, with no accountability and no oversight,” she said, adding in Burnaby, the total cost jumped from about $150,000 per Civil liberties Page 4
Larry Wright/burnaby now
True blue: Elvin Lai contemplates a glass of water poured from a tap in Canada’s first official Blue Community. Burnaby has been recognized for recognizing water as a human right and for phasing out bottled water at municipal events.
City taps into new award Burnaby is first ‘blue’ community in Canada Janaya Fuller-Evans staff reporter
The Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) declared Burnaby Canada’s first Blue Community at Monday night’s council meeting. The declaration was made after council voted to pass a resolution brought forward by the delegation. The resolution stated that Burnaby would promote the public and non-prof-
it ownership of water and wastewater services. Burnaby had already moved ahead on the other two resolutions required by the Blue Community Project – recognizing water as a human right, and banning or phasing out bottled water at municipal events and on municipal property, according to the delegation. “I’ve lived in Burnaby for more than 40 years,” said Elizabeth Briemberg, a member of the delegation. “My family’s use of tap water has been without problems.” She went on to say the city has done a good job of promoting the use of tap water over bottled water.
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While the Canadian government has not officially recognized water as a human right, she said, municipalities can still achieve a lot in terms of protecting the rights of residents to free, clean water. Robin Roff, CUPE’s Water Watch coordinator, also spoke at the meeting. She mentioned other cities throughout the world that did not protect access to water, including Moncton, New Brunswick. Cities that allow water utilities to be privatized usually see water rates hiked beyond reasonable levels, she said. “Burnaby’s track record for ensuring Water Page 5
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