Serving Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra since 1984
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Volunteers ready to transform more lives Jennifer McFee jmcfee@thenownews.com Last year, more than 200 volunteers worked together to transform single mom Chantal Beaudoin’s home during a 12-day makeover. They made the Port Moody bungalow wheelchair accessible by widening doorways, adding ramps and building a new master bedroom and bathroom. “I screamed when I saw it,” Beaudoin said at the time. “There were probably 500 people here. I was going around hugging everybody, saying thank you so much. The first moment, it wasn’t about the house. It was about all the people that had been involved. It was like a magic miracle.” For their efforts, the Home Team won the City of Port Moody’s 2010 Peter Hulbert Accessibility Award, which recognizes groups that remove barriers for people with disabilities. Now, the team is seeking nominations for its 2011 home repair project. Operated through the Cornerstone Seventh Day Adventist Church, the non-profit community outreach program provides a free home makeover for a local family in need. The project is open to any TriCities family with a home that needs an overhaul. These families might be facing health problems, financial hardships, unforeseen accidents or any other ongoing struggles. Volunteers will complete the repair work, with most materials donated by local businesses. Nominations can be submitted online at www. cornerstonehometeam.org. The deadline is March 5, and renovations will take place in September.
Paul vanPeenen/NOW
A small memorial to a one-year-old boy who died at an unlicensed daycare on Shaughnessy Street in Coquitlam sits in the facility’s driveway.
Boy’s death at daycare investigated Simone Blais sblais@thenownews.com
Questions abound over what happened at a Coquitlam daycare where a one-year-old boy died suddenly Monday. Coquitlam RCMP were called at 11:40 a.m. to a home-based daycare in River Springs, and the unlicensed childcare facility has since been closed for the investigation. A police cruiser remained parked outside a home in the 1300 block of Shaughnessy Street as late as Thursday. The boy’s death is automatically considered suspicious, according to RCMP Const. Kristina Biro. “The death of an infant is tragic and very serious,” she said. “Police only get one chance to conduct an investigation, so we treat everything as suspicious until we have reason not to. “We’re conducting a thorough investigation.” The B.C. Coroners Service was also called to
investigate, and an autopsy has been performed. Biro said police do not have the results of the autopsy and do not know when to anticipate the results. Integrated Homicide Investigation Team members, however, are not among those looking into the case. Biro would not say whether charges are being considered. “It’s very early in the investigation, and I’m not going to speculate outcomes,” she said. Apart from those details, Mounties remain mum. “We understand that this incident is going to raise a lot of fears for parents and a lot of questions from the public,” Biro said Thursday. “I spoke to the investigators this morning and they said no other information would be released in the next couple of days. There’s no other details to be discussed at this time.” RCMP investigators would not reveal the name of the facility, and stated that police are not investigating any other complaints related to the daycare. A search of daycares in the 1300 block of
Shaughnessy Street, however, yielded one hit: Rattle-N-Roll Daycare, a family facility run by Maria McFarren. Fraser Health spokesperson Joan Marshall said Rattle-N-Roll does not have a licence to offer childcare. However, it may not be in contravention of provincial law. Daycares are required to be licensed when they have more than two children who are not blood relatives of the person overseeing childcare. If they have two or less such children, no licence is required. Operators must also have a business licence from their home municipality in order to obtain the childcare licence. Dan McDonald, Coquitlam’s communications manager, said City Hall records indicate Rattle-NRoll does not have a business licence. “There was an application made as far back as CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, see FRASER HEALTH.