INSIDE: Safe spaces project for youth embraces rainbow
Pg. 3 T U E S D A Y
April 24, 2012
17 N E W S , SAVING THE EARTH
SPORTS,
WEATHER
&
ONE CREEK AT A TIME
Pilots take Keystone Cup
E N T E R T A I N M E N T abbotsfordtimes.com
Drug overdoses up, Hep C high
Abbotsford second only to New Westminster in overdose hospital cases ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
N
umbers in an upcoming Fraser Health report for the City of Abbotsford around injection drug use show relatively high rates of overdose hospitalizations, deaths and hepatitis C rates within the community. And those rates may be tied to the city’s lack of harm reduction services, says a Fraser Health expert. Abbotsford was second only to New Westminster for the rate of people admitted to hospital because of illegal drug overdoses in a comparison that included Surrey and Burnaby.
Between 2006/07 and 2010/11, New Westminster’s overdose hospital admission rate was 23.6 per 100,000 people. Abbotsford’s was second with a rate of 21.9, Surrey’s was 17.3 and Burnaby’s was 11.4. The rates are based on where the drugs users live, not to which hospital they were admitted. Abbotsford’s illegal drug overdose death rate was fourth out of five communities on a per capita basis from 2005 to 2009, although mortality from drugs in the city has been going down in that same time frame. Vancouver’s mortality overdose rate was first with a rate of 11.79, New Westminster’s was 11.07, Surrey’s was 9.01, Abbotsford’s was at 8.08, while Burnaby was last at 4.89. The data is in a Fraser Health report on injection drug use and a proposed harm reduction service plan for Abbotsford, which is reviewing its anti harm-reduction bylaw. see DRUGS, page A10
Teachers vote to withdraw extracurricular activities
A full strike is still a possibility for teachers ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
A – JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
Jonathan Reist, front, and Shawn Ferland of Mission Association for Community Living join other volunteers in planting native trees and bushes along the banks of Windebank Creek in Mission on Friday. The creek cleanup project was part of Earth Day activities, planned for last weekend in Abbotsford and Mission. For story and more photos, see page A7 and online at www.abbotsfordtimes.com.
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bbotsford and Mission teachers now have a formal mandate to withdraw from extracurricular activities following a province-wide vote last week. B.C. teachers voted 73 per cent in favour of protest action that includes full withdrawal from extracurricular activities and the possibility of a full strike, following another future vote. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation announced the results on Friday. Of the union’s 41,000 members, 21,625 were in favour and 7,846 were against the
action plan developed last month to resist Bill 22, the government’s back-to-work legislation that imposes a mediator and a six-month cooling-off period in their contract dispute with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. The withdrawal of extracurricular activities, which is already underway in Mission and to some extent in Abbotsford, will continue to impact sporting events and Grade 12 graduation ceremonies. BCTF president Susan Lambert said the vote was to send a message to the government that it must rethink its controversial law, listen to teachers’ concerns, respect their rights and spend more on public education. Lambert said the vote was emotional for teachers, many of whom do not want to see VOTE, page A16
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