New Westminster Record October 4 2018 by New West Record

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Groups scramble to ﬁnd space for their meetings Theresa McManus tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca

A number of local community groups are calling on the city to address a “crisis” and help them find free meeting space. New West resident Reena Meijer Drees says her groups are “scrambling.” “The Walkers Caucus had to postpone our meeting because we couldn’t book the Buy-Low anymore because the Buy-Low is gone,” she said. “We couldn’t hold our monthly meeting in September because we didn’t know where to meet.” The situation has worsened since renovations began at the New Westminster Public Library. “If the library reinstates the meeting room and the two auditoriums that they had, that is at least a baseline,” Meijer Drees said. “Even with those spaces, it’s hard to meet.” Meijer Drees has collected signatures from representatives of some local groups that are concerned about the situation, including the Queen’s Park and West End residents’ associations, the Community Food Action Network, the New Westminster Community Gardening Society,Walkers Caucus, HUB Cycling New Westminster and two knitting groups. She’s written to city council and all council candidates outlining the “crisis” and asking the city to take action to help. “Please, at the very least, provide us with an inven-

tory of bookable space so me and every other group aren’t spending hours on the phone, scrounging for meeting space,” reads the letter. “Somebody from the city needs to do this.” In a letter to council, Meijer Drees asked the city to keep an up-to-date inventory of bookable spaces on its website, including location, size, cost, amenities such as AV access and the booking process. The letter also asks the city to provide free, bookable meeting spaces for small groups in all civic facilities and provide larger bookable, auditoriumsized, space at a nominal cost in select city facilities – including Anvil Centre, Queensborough Community Centre and Centennial Community Centre. “Community groups like mine can’t find spaces to meet anymore,” she said. “The only places we can go are people’s homes and coffee houses.” Meetings in private homes or community rooms in condos aren’t truly accessible because access is by invitation only, and coffee houses can be a challenge because people feel obligated to order something, Meijer Drees said. “If you are trying to hold a meeting with quorum and Robert’s Rules and stuff, you can’t do that at a coffee house,” she said. Cost is a major issue, Meijer Drees said, as many community groups aren’t in a position to pay to rent space for meetings.

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CHECKING OUT THE CHICKS: Elliot Preston looks at the baby birds at the Queen’s Park petting zoo, which has now wrapped up its season until spring 2019. PHOTO KEVIN HILL

NWPD won’t use drug-testing tool Cayley Dobie

cdobie@newwestrecord.ca

New Westminster police won’t be using a roadside device to detect the presence of cannabis once it becomes legal later this month. Cannabis will be legal across the country as of Oct. 17, and with that comes a number of challenges for law enforcement, including how to spot and prosecute impaired drivers. Last week, a new roadside device called the Dräger DrugTest 5000 was approved by federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-

Raybould for use by police departments in their fight against impaired driving. The Dräger is a portable device that can detect the presence of THC and cocaine in oral fluid samples, according to a press release from the ministry. The Dräger DrugTest 5000 is now available to police departments across the country, but the New Westminster Police Department told the Record it will not be using the device at this time. Instead, the department says it will rely on specially trained officers to conduct roadside sobriety tests.

“We do have a number of officers trained in standard field sobriety testing and others who are drug recognition experts.They are specially trained to detect drug impairment, and we continue to target impaired drivers,” New Westminster Sgt. Jeff Scott wrote in an email to the Record. According to Bill C-46, which officially introduced changes to Canada’s Criminal Code in June, drivers who are found to have between two and five nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood in their system could face a summary conviction along with a fine of

a maximum of $1,000. People caught with more than five nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood could face up to 120 days in prison depending on the number of previous offences and whether any other substances, including alcohol, were detected. As legalization approaches, the New Westminster Police Department is reminding drivers of the dangers of impaired driving. “Impaired driving, whether it is alcohol or marijuana or other drugs, affects everyone – don’t drink and drive, don’t drive high,” Scott said.

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