Court Strikes Down BC Gov't gag law on Pre-campaign political ads

The BCCLA is pleased to report that the BC Court of Appeal unanimously rejected the BC Government’s latest attempt at gagging third parties from advertising about political issues.  The government had tried in the lead up to the 2009 election to impose restrictions on advertising for 60 days before the election campaign period.  The court struck down that law as an infringement of free speech rights.  The government pushed another set of amendments to the Elections Act through the Legislature earlier this year.  This time, they proposed restrictions for up to 40 days before the election campaign period and provided for a shorter duration of restrictions if the Legislature was in session.  The government referred the constitutionality of those amendments to the court and asked if they violated the Charter.  The court ruled that these amendments violate the Charter of Rights as well.

Mr. Justice Lowry wrote the decision of the court.  He quoted from Supreme Court of Canada decisions saying “It is difficult to imagine a guaranteed right more important to a democratic society than freedom of expression.  Indeed a democracy cannot exist without that freedom to express new ideas and to put forward opinions about the functioning of public institutions.”  He added that advertising by individuals and groups other than political parties and candidates is something that “enriches the political discourse”.  Some issues are unlikely to get attention if parties and candidates are the only ones who set the public agenda.  The court said that interfering with political expression is allowed “only where there are the clearest and most compelling reasons for doing so.”  It then found that the government had failed to show any such reason.

Robert Holmes, Q.C., counsel for the BCCLA in this case and past President of the BCCLA, said, “This is an important day for democracy in British Columbia.  Another attempt to stifle political speech, particularly from individuals and groups likely to oppose government policy, has been thwarted.  The court’s holding that the amendments pushed through the Legislature last spring are an unjust interference with the rights and freedoms of British Columbians should be taken to heart not just by this government, but by all politicians.  Twice now politicians have been reminded that they are the servants of the people.  Attempts to restrict the people’s ability to speak out are undemocratic and reflect an attitude by government that it knows best.”

Water Project for Haiti

by Kyle Adam

A typical installation inside a Haitian home with children eager to try the water and see how the BSF works

Water Project for Haiti is an Okanagan Valley organization, based in Vernon BC, with the objective of proving water management solutions to the people of Haiti from the SOURCE to the GLASS. Officially founded in 2011, this non-profit organization is made up of board members that have not only been involved with projects of this nature before, but have spent time in Haiti. They have gotten to know the culture and the people that make the country so great. With an onsite partnership at the compound of Project Help-Haiti in Borel, Haiti, we are set up and in full production. But even with all of this beauty, the people of Haiti face a great disadvantage that most of us take for granted; their ability to obtain clean, drinkable water. Before, and certainly after the wake of the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, many found themselves in a constant battle to find clean, potable water for their families. In some parts of Haiti, people still wake up every day with constant worry about whether the water they consume will make their children sick. Cholera, as well as many other diseases, still haunt the water supply more than ever. Thousands die every year due to this ongoing problem, and unless action is taken it will continue. The reasons for the spread of disease are a combination of the little infrastructure they had to start with, the lack of outside help continuing after the devastation, the treatment of local water supplies, and poor sanitary conditions that keep the cycle of disease only a glass away. Here at Water Project for Haiti we know it all starts at the household level. We can provide them with the tools they need to combat this threat. The common situation for the majority of Haiti’s populous is this; the latrines and toilets most Haitian homes can support are holes dug in the ground about 5-8’. These have walls built around them, and when they reach their capacity they are filled in, and a new latrine is build right next to the original. The problem here is, located in most cases 10-30’ away, is the 10’ well that the Haitian people get their drinking water from. In addition to this issue is the fact that ¾ of Haiti sits only 600 feet (183 m) above sea-level and many of its communities are in areas with very high water tables. Simply put, this is giving anything that sits in the ground the ability to travel quite easily, and in most cases it gives the diseases a free ride to enter the source of the well. This isn’t just a problem in Haiti; it happens all over the world, but luckily there is a very simple, affordable and proactive solution, Bio-Sand Filters (BSF). .

In our valley, water is a focal point, with Skaha, Okanagan, Kalamalka and Shuswap lakes giving visual promise of abundant fresh water. But we cannot take it for granted, even here.

Despite the planet’s vast oceans, only about 3.5 percent is fresh water and two-thirds of that is locked into what are now the melting glaciers and polar ice caps. We have no substitute for this resource, and implementing solutions to this continually challenges our ecological intelligence.
Water Project for Haiti has teamed up with The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) out of Calgary to start a project that will provide every family with clean drinking water. This will also create jobs locally, requiring resources found in Haiti to assemble the filters. Water Project tries to empower Haitians with skills that they can spread throughout Haiti’s work force. We create jobs by using all raw material from Haiti, such as the sand and rock, we contract out lids and molds from locals and hire and train Haitians to run the day to day operations. We want to try and spend every dollar donated to our project to keep the Haitian economy stimulated.

below, Blosand Filter

The biosand filter is a very simple design, and simple is what makes this project work. Its purpose is this: take contaminated well, river or canal water and filter out diseases. As illustrated in the photo, the filter is made of a concrete casing and filled with different sizes of sand and stone. Daily water is poured through the top of the filter, and the diffuser plate catches large debris. Now the magic starts. The design is to use pathogens that already sit in the first 5-6cm of the filter’s sand to eat the new pathogens that have just been poured in. Simply by controlling the speed of the flow of water, and with precise quantities of natural material (sand and stone) that make up the filter, we can eliminate most all of the diseases that currently cause sickness in Haiti. It is that easy. As well, with minimal maintenance the filters can last more than 10 years.

Three Bio-Sand Filters ready for installation (below)

As well as provide biosand filters, Water Project for Haiti has got its feet wet with receiving funding to build, in partnership with Project Help Haiti, its second composting and community toilet in Borel, Haiti. The goal of projects like these are to educate Haitians on why they are getting sick, and provide them with better sanitary conditions. The concept behind this project is to build a location where the community can go that is safe, clean and is properly designed to store human waste, while preventing it from leaching back into the water source. From there Haitians are employed to manage both the latrine and composting site where the humanure is brought and made into compost. This compost is then in turn given to the famers to grow their crops, proving a full turnkey solution. It creates jobs and allows everyone to see all the benefits of having a program like this. This project will be comprised of one community toilet located at the central church in Borel, with a composting facility design to be able to handle three toilets. The goal over the coming year is to raise enough money to build two more toilets at each end of the community and have the waste brought to the central composting site, where it can all be managed by Project Water and Project Help Haiti.

Okanaganite, Leah Riley and children in Haiti (below)

This isn’t a Band-Aid solution; the board members were there before the earthquake and will continue to be there well after the rebuilding. This project is focused on the long term, but can provide immediate results. However, in order for Water Project for Haiti to survive and continue its work, we rely 100% on private donations. With a donation of $50 dollars you can provide 10 Haitians with clean, drinkable water for 10 years.

The Water Project for Haiti work site in Borel, Haiti (below)



We are a new organization and depend on the support of the citizens of British Columbia to keep this goal moving forward. If you want to find out any more information, want to get involved with fundraising or wish to be so kind as to bless the Haitians with a donation,
please email info@waterprojectforhaiti.com or visit the website:
www.waterprojectforhaiti.com
Every family has the right to clean water and we can do this with your help, one filter at a time.

Peaceful act of civil disobedience planned for October to defend Canada's west coast from tar sands pipelines and tankers

This press release from Greenpeace, arrived on my desk this morning ...

Over 80 influential leaders from the business, First Nations, environmental, labour, academic, medical and artistic communities across Canada today announced an upcoming mass sit-in in front of the provincial legislature in Victoria, British Columbia on October 22. The sit-in will oppose tar sands pipelines and tankers and the threats they would pose to the west coast.

"There are moments in history when it's clear that our elected leaders are failing us and it is necessary to take a stand,” said prominent author and environmentalist Tzeporah Berman. “Today we are stating our intention to defend our coast and calling on others to join us. The risk of oil spills and irreversible harm to our tourism and fishing industries from these pipelines and tankers is just too great.”

 Over 80 community, union, business and First Nation leaders have endorsed the October 22 sit-in, including Stephen Lewis, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, Naomi Klein, Tom Goldtooth, David Coles, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, John O’Connor, and Tony Clarke.  You can view the full list at http://defendourcoast.ca/about-us/

 The October sit-in builds on the success of protests against tar sands expansion and pipelines that have taken place in the U.S. and Canada in recent months.  The August 2011 sit-ins in Washington D.C. that helped delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and the September 26, 2011 sit-in in Ottawa that helped put Canadian tar sands pipeline proposals in the national spotlight.

“We’re meeting in Victoria to show that you can’t gut Canada’s environmental legislation and try to put a price tag on the B.C. coast without a public response,” said Maude Barlow, Chair person for the Council of Canadians. “Canada’s iconic coast is far too valuable to risk on tar sands pipelines and tankers and we pledge to defend it.”

“This October, we pledge to defend our coast and the mountains, rivers, forests, wildlife and First Nations communities of B.C. against tar sands pipelines and tankers,” said Susan Spratt, Western Regional Director of the CAW. “We want long-term green jobs that will take us beyond fossil fuels, not short-term high risk pipelines.” 

Organizers expect people from across Canada to join British Columbians in calling on elected officials to stand up for Canada’s west coast and the rights of First Nation peoples.

 “We hope people from all walks of life and from across the country join us in Victoria and defend the natural beauty and cultural richness of the B.C. coastline,” said Chief Jackie Thomas, Saik'uz First Nation.  “We will be there to show the widespread opposition to tar sands pipelines and tanker proposals and to show the strength of the support for First Nations people’s rights to land and title and the internationally protected right to free, prior and informed consent on any development impacting our traditional territories.”

People can sign up online at www.defendourcoast.ca to participate and become a coastal defender.

We were feeling a little radical this issue.

See the whole issue online at www.northof50.com

“The Dumb Waiter” at The Hub in Vernon on September 27, 28 and 29 at 8 p.m.

“The Dumb Waiter”       Press Release Sept. 2012        Entertainment

It’s Back.

The Tragically Comic Players will present Harold Pinter’s sensational comedy of menace “The Dumb Waiter” at The Hub in Vernon on September 27, 28 and 29 at 8 p.m.  This wonderfully off-beat classic is perfect for this exciting new venue.  Tickets are $10 at the door or in advance from members of The Tragically Comic Players or at The Bean Scene across from The Hub.

 

Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter takes us into the minds of two hit men waiting for their next assignment.  Phillip Wagner, Artistic Director of The Tragically Comic Players joins with Ted Fox, actor/musician/songwriter, for this special performance.  They love it.

Rod MacDonald is Technical Director, and Annika Lauriston is stage manager.  A minimal, negative-space set design is by Wagner.  Sound effects play the part of the dumb-waiter.

When awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, the highest honour available to any writer in the world, Horace Engdahl, Chairman of the Swedish academy, said that Pinter was an artist “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms.”

 Pinter himself wrote, “There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false.  A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.  I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art.  So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot.  As a citizen I must ask:  What is true?  What is false?”

The two characters in “The Dumb Waiter” are hit men who are ostensibly not too bright, but they deal with the absurd mystery that presents itself to test them in their “waiting room” with an arduous struggle of profound intensity.  The resulting comedy is subtle and menacing.

For more information regarding this highly entertaining masterfully written play or for reservations, please call 1-250-547-6045.  Thank you.

 

 

The University of British Columbia is serving more B.C. students on its campuses than ever before, with continued growth at its Okanagan campus.

UBC’s Vancouver campus will welcome 6,324 new first-year students, of which nearly 3,800 are from B.C. high schools, up four per cent. The incoming class is the first to benefit from a new-to-Canada personalized enrolment services model, dubbed the “Names not Numbers” project. Each incoming student is assigned to a single “enrolment services professional,” who will help guide them through registration, student financial support and more, throughout their entire university career.

“UBC’s strong reputation continues to attract large numbers of students from B.C. and around the world,” said James Ridge, Associate Vice-President and Registrar. “This year we have made some major enrolment innovations. Early responses are very positive. Our peer institutions have expressed a strong interest in how these changes improve student experience.”

Overall enrolment on the Vancouver campus is projected to be 48,768 (including 38,388 undergraduates and 10,380 graduate students), remaining at the same level as last year.

UBC’s Okanagan campus welcomes 1,933 new first-year students to its campus, including 1,249 students from B.C. high schools. Overall enrolment has grown to 8,307 (including 7,652 undergraduates and 655 graduates), up from 7,932 last year.

The total number of new international first-year students at the Vancouver campus is 1,271, and at the Okanagan campus is 187.

UBC has also expanded its admissions process to include not only grades, but also personal experiences, to better select students who will engage in all aspects of university life. Broad-based admissions (BBA) was part of enrolment for all incoming Vancouver first-year undergraduate students this year. This is being implemented for incoming Okanagan campus students next year. UBC is the first large public university in Canada to implement such programs.

 

Bee in the Bonnet - An Opinion Piece by Bernie Bates

This opinion piece by native writer Bernie Bates so incensed Jim Hawkins, President Elect of the Kelowna Ogopogo Rotary Club that he sent email to North of 50 advertisers and posted comments on advertiser's Facebook timelines, asking "... do you want your business to be associated with a magazine that publishes articles so demeaning to Christianty as that on page 12 of the July/August issue." We are not amused.

 

Bernie Bates

Bee in the Bonnet
WHAT WAS LOST AND FOUND

We Natives may no longer wear feathered bonnets as part of our daily attire - but, we've gained when it comes to the knowledge in our bonnet. We may have lost sight of the sacred circle, but we've created our own path in the 'new' circle of life.

Natives of today may no longer hunt for meat on the hoof, but that's not to say we don't scour the bargain bins for the best deals to feed our families.

In the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost; what ever happened to the circle, the mighty sun and the human spirit? Natives of yesteryear believed in good ol' mother nature then along comes these religious zealots and poof there goes thousands of years of traditional history.

Natives believed in something we could experience; like the Great Sun Spirit. We traded something that we could actually feel and see for something 'up there'. Native people could witness the Great Sun Spirit grow the flowers of summer. The Sun Spirit was a real hands on kind of god.

The Circle fed the people for countless generations and we turned our backs on creation for some son of a god, who supposedly fed multitudes with a few fish and a loaf or two of bannock. Yeah, like that really happened!

And why in the name of the Great Spirit didn't this mega-Messiah ever pull off any of these so-called miracles here in North America?

Maybe he could've put a hoard of locusts down General Custer's pants or maybe part the sea of red tape. So far all he has ever done for Aboriginals across the globe is cultural devastation, child prisons and the naughty men in black.

If you get some comfort from your belief in a god then all the more power to you. If you draw strength from the word of the lord and if it has instructed you to do the right thing, then, Amen to you brother. All I'm trying to do here is shed light on the ancestral ways of the Native people. The rest of the World is finally taking a closer look at the ways of the circle. The way Natives showed their respect to the animal kingdom. We also acknowledged: plants, water, fire, family and even to the dirt under their feet.

In recent years monstrous forest fires have ravaged the forests. Only after tremendous monetary losses are the powers that be taking a closer look at the old ways.

Natives used to burn the dead grasses and under brush in the spring. The result was a carpet of lush green grass growing between trees so large that three adults couldn't reach their arms around them. Other benefits included: controllable fires, low insect infestations, larger more valuable trees and less erosion.

I've heard stories from some elders about salmon runs so massive it would take days for a single run to pass a given point on the river. Now an Indian needs a fishing licence, a big damn net and a boat full of luck just to catch sushi for two.

Native families and communities have also suffered over the loss of our traditions. Take a look around most reservations today; count how many single mothers there are. Count the number of homes that have been destroyed by firewater or the new scourge drugs. Times have changed. "Remember when?"

In my humble opinion, I think if everyone came together and took a serious look at the old ways of life. It's not too late to live in peace under the Great Sun Spirit - and live within the 'Circle'. If we use unity as a shield and education as an arrow we can all regain what was lost.

Today, Natives wear shoes, not moccasins. Ride in cars not on horses. We now learn about the old ways in modern classrooms.

Natives may no longer crap in the woods, but we should still give a sh*t about the environment.

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Bernie Bates is a writer and an artist
Please feel free to contact, B. H. Bates at: beeinthebonnet@shaw.ca