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SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2010
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INSIDE FEATURE: Grandmothers reach out ◗P13
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FIRST GAY PRIDE CELEBRATION SET FOR ROYAL CITY
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Shatner supports fish bill Actor helps city MP fight to have fish farms moved onto land BY JOHN KURUCZ REPORTER special to The Record
Hollywood Bill, meet federal bill. Legendary Canadian actor William Shatner lent his support Thursday to a private member’s bill put forth by New WestminsterCoquitlam MP Fin Donnelly, one that would force all fish farm operators off the B.C. coast to move to closed containment within five years. “My rage is against companies that have no conscience about what they’re doing and that the bottom line is the only thing they think of,” Shatner said via a telephone conference from Los Angeles. “What we must do is ensure that the farmed salmon do not destroy the wild salmon.” Introduced in early May, Donnelly’s bill aims to amend the Fisheries Act by requiring fish farm operators to transition to closed-containment systems within five years of the bill becoming law. The bill also calls on Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea to develop a transition plan to make that switch within 18 months and to ensure that those working in the industry are protected during that transitional period. ◗Fish Page 10
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Community celebration: Vance McFadyen, Tory Inglis and Guy Dubé are organizers of the first Gay Pride Day in New Westminster. Pride Day celebrations in the Royal City will happen on Aug. 7.
Finding acceptance and allies BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
W
hen Vance McFadyen came out of the closet in 1968, the word “gay” didn’t even exist as a way to describe what
he felt. “There were all sorts of other words,” he says. It’s not that McFadyen didn’t try to keep the closet door locked by leading a “normal” life. He got married at 18, had two children, the white picket fence and all of the other trappings of family life. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t change what he felt. “Your real feelings come to the surface
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20-year-old who stole the then 34-year-old every now and then, and, of course, you McFadyen’s heart. explore them,” he said. “I figured if I got marCurt Higham walked into his world, and ried, I figured that would solve all my other together they built a life in New Westminster. urges in the other direction. Of course, that In the ’80s, they bought a Craftsmandidn’t work.” style home on 10th Street and settled When he finally made the in to domestic bliss. announcement about his sexual oriIN THE Seven years ago, after same-sex entation, those closest to him barely marriage was legally recognized in blinked an eye. British Columbia and after almost “When I told my dad and stepmom I was gay, they said, ‘Well, A SPECIAL SERIES three decades together, McFadyen married Higham. we’ve been waiting for you to tell Today, McFadyen, 67, lives the life us.’ My mom, when I told her, she said, ‘I knew all along,’” McFadyen says. “So, I of a typical New Westminster retiree. He owns a heritage home in Moody Park, was only fooling myself.” ◗Pride Page 4 In the 1970s, McFadyen met a fresh-faced
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