Burnaby Now June 13 2012

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Delivery 604-942-3081 • Wednesday, June 13, 2012

City racer takes trophy

Snakehead fish will end up in museum

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Your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! >> www.burnabynow.com DISTRICT LEGAL ACTION

Fraud alleged in civil claim Jennifer Moreau staff reporter

The Burnaby school district has filed a civil claim with the Supreme Court of B.C., alleging a former bookkeeper at Alpha Secondary defrauded the district of $100,000 over a period of three years. The district’s secretary-treasurer Greg Frank could not speak to the specifics of the case. “I can say most of these types of instances are caught through internal audit processes,” he said. According to the claim, the bookkeeper, Jodi Fingarsen, was responsible for Alpha’s financial transactions and some clerical duties, including co-signing cheques, maintaining petty cash, reconciling bank statements and calculating rebates. She was also tracking school expenses, preparing financial statements and handling money from students fees, vending machines and fundraising. In the claim, the school district alleges that Fingarsen defrauded the district of more than $100,000, mainly by fraudulently cashing cheques. The claim also alleges that Fingarsen “fraudulently converted, for her own use and for her own benefit, various amounts of cash received from numerous sources as a result of fundraising activities, donations, student fees and fees for field trips, etc.” School Page 4

File photo/burnaby now

Golden years: Recent census data shows that Canada’s population is aging, with an increasing percentage of Canadians over age 65. At the same time, a “baby boomlet” has been identified, with a growing number of children under the age of four.

Population aging but adapting Marelle Reid staff reporter

We’re getting older and living longer. There were 5,825 people aged 100 years or older in Canada last year, according to recent data from the last census. The number of centenarians increased 25.7 per cent between 2006 and 2011. While the census data shows Canada’s population is indeed aging, there’s no reason to panic about a gray-haired tidal wave of burden soon to come crashing down upon us, according to one local expert. Andrew Wister, chair of the gerontology department at Simon Fraser University, says some people are overly concerned that

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a population with an increasing number of people over 65 will slow the economy or put too much pressure on health care or pension programs. The issues related to age are more complicated than simple numbers because of the way populations adapt, he said. “I think we should look very carefully at some other countries and see how they’ve adapted to population aging because I think they’ve done so very successfully; Denmark and Sweden being two (examples).” Wister says the real focus on aging should be on those over the age of 75 or even 85, who are most likely to need medical services. Of course, changes don’t happen over-

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night, and Wister says we should start now to make improvements to the health-care system, as well as help seniors and even younger generations improve their lifestyle habits, such as quitting smoking, exercising more and eating a more balanced diet. Concerns about excess pressure on younger generations having to compensate for a mass wave of retirement is also likely unwarranted, Wister suggests. “A lot of people are crying the blues about an effect on pensions, but in fact, older people are working longer, so work life expectancy is on the increase. The push of government is actually to increase opportunities for older workers. Immigration seems Census Page 5

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