Historical Vimy Ridge trip strengthens patriotism in students

17 April 2017

Abhayjeet Singh Sachal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
All photos submitted

HAVING had the privilege of marking the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Abhayjeet Singh Sachal and 16 other Canadian students have returned back after spending 10 days in France and Belgium. They had been selected by the Vimy Foundation on a Vimy Pilgrimage award to visit historical World War 1 sites in France and Belgium.
The historical tour included paying homage at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge, on April 9 at the Government of Canada commemorative ceremony and Abhayjeet had the honor of meeting Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, Governor General David Johnston and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Visitor Centre.

Abhayjeet Singh Sachal meets with Prince William.

Abhayjeet also got an opportunity to present a picture of his grandfather, Brig. Mohinder Singh (retired), with Prince Philips taken at Barbados to Prince William. The students also visited tunnels and trenches used by the soldiers in the war and had a rare glimpse of the hardships faced by soldiers of the forces from all over.
Students then spent a week visiting sites from the First World War including participating in the Last Post Ceremony (laying wreaths) at the Menin Gate. Sites included the Maison Blanche, an old chalk mine that was transformed into an underground tunnel system and safe house for Canadian soldiers during the First World War. The site includes the rooms where soldiers used to stay, and the tunnel walls are covered with names and carvings, mainly of soldier regiment logos.
Students also visited Canadian, and Commonwealth cemeteries as well as German ones. They went to museums, and spent their time learning about the First World War, particularly those in the northeast of France and Belgium. Students were accompanied by their chaperones, who taught them about the historical aspects of their visits.
“It was an eye-opening experience to witness the hardships endured by the soldiers during the war and the visit has further strengthened my respect and honour for these brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for us. It is now upon us to further their dreams of a fair and just society,” says Abhayjeet about the trip.
Students were asked to do a detailed study on a soldier of the war and then they gave a presentation to their peers. Abhayjeet focused on Private Harold Bell from Manitoba. He was 23 when a hail of bullets hit him and he died fighting valiantly at Vimy Ridge on April 9.
It may be recalled that the Battle of Vimy Ridge began on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917. Vimy Ridge is still referred by many as the battle that marked Canada’s coming of age as a country, as it was the first time the four divisions of the Canadian Corps served together. Regiments from coast to coast saw action together in a distinctly Canadian victory helping create a new and stronger sense of Canadian identity.
On land granted to Canada for all time by a grateful France, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is inscribed with the names of 11,285 Canadians who were listed as “missing, presumed dead” in France during the First World War. The site encompasses 117 hectares and is the largest of eight Canadian and five Newfoundland memorial sites in France and Belgium. Designed by Canadian sculptor and architect, Walter Seymour Allward, the memorial’s two pylons represent Canada and France. The monument features 20 symbolic sculptures representing broad themes including the strength of shared ideals, the sorrow of a young nation and prayer for peace.

Contributed

ROLE MODEL: Correctional Service of Canada’s first turbaned Sikh warden, Sav Bains

17 April 2017

Sav Bains with CSC Commissioner Don Head.
All photos submitted

WHEN Sav Bains’ wife attended a local job fair, she brought him along with her. Little did Sav know that he was about to land a career in corrections that would eventually lead to him becoming the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) first turbaned Sikh warden, a highly respected executive, and a celebrated member of the Sikh community in British Columbia.

“I didn’t expect this all to happen” says Sav. “I just tagged along with my wife that day and here I am 15 years later!”

Over the course of the years, Sav has worked in a variety of positions starting as a correctional officer at Matsqui Institution. From there he has held management positions at various institutions out west, as well as positions at regional and national headquarters in Ottawa. Sav also completed CSC’s Executive Leadership Development Program, after which he was successful in an executive competitive process.

Sav is now the warden of Fraser Valley Institution in Abbottsford, British Columbia.

What is it that keeps Sav here after all these years? That’s simple, he says.

“I truly believe in the work we do here in corrections. We are contributing to public safety by preparing offenders to be reintegrated into the community. It’s important work, and work that I enjoy educating the public about.”

During his time with CSC, Sav has taken it upon himself to stay connected with the communities in which he’s worked. He enjoys talking with members of the public about what CSC does, how it does it, and why. As is the case in most areas of the country, there are a number of misconceptions about corrections and how CSC operates. Addressing those misconceptions and providing information to those interested is an ongoing responsibility that Sav is happy to have.

“Maintaining a dialogue with our communities is important,” he says. “It’s important because we need to clear up confusion and respond to the curiosity that exists about what we do.”

In fact, says Sav, the local BC communities where he works, as well as resides, are particularly interested in learning about CSC. Right now there are significant issues with a portion of Indo-Canadian youth going down the wrong path toward crime and incarceration, typically through gang affiliations. That’s why Sav has taken an active role in speaking at various forums, particularly with local youth at risk about corrections, and by showing through his own actions and presence in the community, that there are other options for young people. It’s a responsibility that Sav does not take lightly, but is happy to have if it makes a difference.

“I never saw myself as a role model per se,” says Sav. “But in my local Sikh community, people who have made their way up to important positions are very respected and celebrated, particularly if they’ve accomplished something as a ‘first’. Being the first Sikh turbaned warden in CSC is an accomplishment that I’m very proud of. I hope that in maintaining my ties with the community and setting an example for the kids at risk, I can inspire them to seek other ways of living their lives outside of crime, and concentrating on pursuing career goals and making a difference.”

Sav officially took over responsibility of Fraser Valley Institution on December 20, 2016, at a formal Change of Command Ceremony attended by the Commissioner of CSC. It was a powerful moment in Sav’s career – one that he looks forward to working in for many years to come.

“I’ve got a lot of years in corrections left but right now I’m happy being warden and learning every day.”

THE Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is the federal government agency responsible for administering sentences of a term of two years or more, as imposed by the courts. CSC is responsible for managing institutions of various security levels and supervising offenders under conditional release in the community.

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is a key partner in public safety. On a typical day, the CSC manages approximately 15,000 offenders placed within 43 institutions and more than 8,500 offenders under supervision in the community. The CSC is building a strong, vibrant, and diverse team of professionals. CSC has been widely recognized as an international leader in correctional justice.

The Pacific Region of the Correctional Service of Canada operates eight federal institutions, including one facility for women offenders, a Community Correctional Centre and five parole areas in British Columbia, including the Yukon Territory.

Liberals quick to attack Horgan on reopening facilities on Riverview lands

17 April 2017

THE Liberals on Monday attacked the NDP for claiming “they will reopen facilities on the Riverview lands,” pointing out that the NDP have not included one single penny in the costing of their so-called platform.

“This “Say Anything” act of Horgan’s is completely disingenuous. Grandiose, empty promises with zero dollars to pay for them, which can only result in higher taxes,” said Liberal candidate Rich Coleman. “The BC NDP are calling for a return to mass hospitalization using asbestos-riddled, outdated and unsafe buildings. That’s not a plan we can afford or that patients need.”

Riverview consists of four asbestos-riddled, out-dated, and unsafe buildings:

• West Lawn. “Male Chronic Wing.” Opened in 1913. The building is condemned.

• Centre Lawn. “Acute Psychopathic Wing.” Built in 1924, ward renovation in the 1970’s

• East Lawn. “Female Chronic Wing.” Built in 1929.

• Crease Clinic. Voluntary committal wing. Completed in 1949

Condition assessments on all buildings conducted in 2013 have determined building rehabilitation would require tens of millions of dollars to complete. Additional investments that are nowhere to be found in the BC NDP costing, said the Liberals.

They claimed that only Christy Clark and the Liberals have a clear plan for redeveloping the Riverview Lands, including the new 105 bed facility being built on the Riverview lands, a $101-million facility that is expected to open in 2019. As well, last month a $75-million state-of-the-art home for Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre that will provide services for youth and individuals with developmental disabilities, mental-health and/or substance-use disorders announced.

“This is an approach that develops the lands with the community and First Nations,” said Coleman. “Our plan is one that taxpayers can afford and that will benefit patients. Say Anything John’s empty, uncosted approach demonstrates he is on any side but yours.”

Note: https://mesothelioma.net/asbestos-dangers/

John Horgan says he’ll improve mental health and addictions services people count on

17 April 2017

NDP Leader John Horgan on Monday said that he will establish a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions to help people suffering from mental illness or addictions, as part of the BC NDP’s commitment to improve the services people count on.

“After years of BC Liberal neglect, we will improve BC’s mental health system by increasing access and investing in early prevention and intervention,” said Horgan. “People need to know they only have to ask for help once to get help fast.”

Horgan emphasized his commitment to reopening facilities for intensive residential care and treatment at Riverview. Residents, advocates, and local governments have all called for the lands to be used for mental health and addictions treatment.

Six in 10 people who struggle with addiction also experience other mental health challenges. John Horgan and the BC NDP will bring those services together to help those most in need by:

Creating a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions which will work with the ministries of children and families and health, the First Nations Health Authority, and the public education and justice systems, to make sure people get timely and effective treatment.
Implementing an “ask once, get help fast” approach to mental health and additions.
Re-opening facilities at Riverview in consultation with local First Nations to provide residential care for people who need it.
Supporting students in the school system with access to specially trained adolescent mental health professionals, leading to healthier lives and prevention of a lifetime of illness.
Taking meaningful action to address the overdose crisis including a province-wide strategy to distribute life-saving Naloxone kits, support for police efforts to disrupt the supply of dangerous drugs, and support for first responders suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and other work-related stress.

Christy Clark: ‘Plan to create jobs by getting to yes on resource development the B.C. way’

17 April 2017

THE Liberals on Monday claimed that only Premier Christy Clark and they have a plan to create jobs by getting to yes on resource development the B.C. way – protecting the environment to the highest standards, ensuring opportunities for First Nations, and securing benefits for all British Columbians.

“Responsible resource development is how people have lived here for thousands of years — making a good living from the abundance of our land and water, while protecting and preserving the environment for future generations,” said Clark. “From mining to forestry, to aquaculture, we are the only party with a plan to keep developing resources better, cleaner, and more responsibly than anywhere in the world.”

There’s no better example of this approach than the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, which protects an area of pristine temperate rainforest larger than Ireland forever – while ensuring economic opportunity for First Nations and forestry-dependent communities, the Liberals said.

Signed in 2016 after ten years of negotiations, the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement has since received international recognition, including the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy.

The Liberals said that Dallas Smith, their candidate in the North Island, is a key architect of the agreement.

“We have the world’s attention, because we showed that it’s possible to achieve balance,” says Smith. “We built the process from scratch, and it’s great to see other Indigenous communities starting to take this model – because it works.”

The Liberals said that their balanced B.C. approach is also reflected in:

* Legislation ensuring the cleanest LNG facilities in the world
* B.C.’s Five Conditions, now recognized around the world as the framework for how to do business in British Columbia, which have secured unprecedented environmental protection and economic benefit for the province.
* 52 million hectares of B.C. forests independently certified as sustainably managed – an area larger than Oregon and Washington state combined.
The Liberals said that their 2017 platform outlines the next steps B.C. will take.

* Create a new Centre for Salmon Research in Campbell River, and invest in aquaculture sustainability research at North Island College;
* Introduce a new Truck Logger Training Credit, to help employers with the cost of training people on the job, and create more jobs;
* Support the development of refineries and pipelines that meet our environmental assessment requirements and provide benefits and jobs for British Columbians;
* Continue to fight for B.C. to get a fair deal on softwood.
The Liberals said that this balanced approach offers a stark contrast to the BC NDP and BC Greens – the twin parties of “no.” Instead of getting to yes on responsible resource development, they will hike taxes, kill thousands of good jobs, and push families to the brink.

Horgan says he will improve access to primary health care, build urgent family care centres

17 April 2017

NDP Leader John Horgan said on Monday the NDP will build urgent care centres to improve access for people to doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, mental health workers, and many other front-line health care providers.

“Christy Clark and the BC Liberals are letting patients down. 700,000 people in BC don’t have a family doctor, forcing them to wait for hours in lines at walk-in clinics or hospital emergency rooms for care,” said Horgan.

“We’re going to make sure people get the health care services they count on. We’re going to build urgent care centres and make team-based primary care the model for primary care in BC. People who need help will get it faster, and it will relieve the pressure on emergency rooms.”

Urgent care centres take a team-based approach to health care. They are open on evenings and weekends and can handle health care needs that walk-in clinics can’t, like broken bones, burns and other non-emergency care. When visiting an urgent care centre, patients could see a doctor, nurse-practitioner, pharmacist or other health professional, depending on their needs.

Horgan’s plan to build urgent care centres will:

* Ensure faster, better access to health care to more people
* Ease the pressure on emergency rooms
* Fill the gap for the 700,000 people in BC without a family doctor
* Keep people healthy and well over the long term

Liberals dig up ‘dirt’ on NDP candidates

17 April 2017

LIBERALS have dug up ‘dirt’ on some NDP candidates. They say the collection includes people who compare police with Nazis and support anti-Israeli activism, insult the Indo-Canadian community, claim special exemption on human rights votes, and even disagree with the party’s longstanding equity policy.

“John Horgan needs to explain why he handpicked these individuals,” said Liberal candidate Todd Stone. “Does Horgan condone these kinds of comparisons, anti-Israeli activism, and insults to communities that have helped make B.C. the strong, diverse place it is today?”

In Courtenay-Comox, NDP candidate Ronna-Rae Leonard equated police officers with Adolf Hitler’s Nazis. In a post actively shared by Ronna-Rae Leonard on Facebook, Nazis are seen searching people with the caption: “Don’t disobey the law and you wont have to worry about the police. Said every Nazi just before they killed 11 million people.”

She also supports anti-Israeli activism. Leonard invited people to support Haneen Zoubi, a noted anti-Israeli politician.

In Burnaby-Lougheed, the NDP candidate has denigrated the Indo-Canadian community. Katrina Chen says Indo-Canadians only run because they want profile and don’t know much about politics.

“In the overseas community, unfortunately, sometimes you see immigrants running because they want the name. They actually don’t know the politics very well yet. And sometimes local parties support them because they need the immigrants vote. Like from the Indo-Canadian community for example,” said Chen.

Over in Columbia River-Revelstoke, NDP candidate Gerry Taft has denounced the very equity mandate that enabled him to contest and win a nomination against Spring Hawes.

“My other problem with the ‘barriers to participation’ argument- is that I don’t actually believe in Invermere, in Columbia River Revelstoke, or likely in most of BC – there are systematic barriers to political participation,” he wrote in emails earlier this year.

And in Richmond South Centre, NDP candidate Chak Au has told media that John Horgan promised him he could break with the NDP on key issues.

“I told them if these issues should arise in the future I will vote according to my conscience and I got their promise that I am able to vote according to my morals and beliefs. So because I got this guarantee, I joined the NDP,” Au told Fairchild Television.

Former white supremacist to address anti-racism forum in Surrey

17 April 2017

Date: Wednesday, April 19

Time: 6-8 p.m.

Location: Taj Park Convention Centre, 8580 132 Street, Surrey B.C.

OVER 800 participants will gather in Surrey on Wednesday, April 19th for the annual Kids Play Foundation Anti-Racism forum. The focus of the forum will be on understanding the rise of the Alt-right movement and learning strategies to promote intercultural harmony.

“We have seen a significant rise in alt-right movement globally, and we are not immune to it here in Metro Vancouver” said Kal Dosanjh of Kids Play. “Today, we saw election signs vandalized with racist graffiti, racist posters have appeared in Abbotsford, and there was a disturbance at this year’s Anti-Racism rally in Vancouver in March. We feel taking a deeper look at this issue is important.”

Tony McAleer will be the keynote speakers, who will focus on factors that give rise to the alt-right movement and anti-immigrant rhetoric, and how to combat hate. McAleer was a former organizer for the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) and is now the Executive Director of Life After Hate.

Other speakers will include sociologist Indira Prahst, Sim Sidhu with CrimeStoppers, and Harinder Mahil, former chief commissioner of the now abolished BC Human Rights Commission. Youth will have an opportunity to discuss and share their experiences with each of the speakers.

Kids Play Foundation is founded by 2012 Canadian Olympian Arjan Bhullar and law enforcement officer Kal Dosanjh. Kids Play is a community organization that aims to keep B.C. kids away from the life of crime through its various sports and education programs.

IN PHOTOS: Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan organized by Vancouver’s Khalsa Diwan Society (Ross Street Gurdwara)

16 April 2017

Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs and others on Saturday participated with joy and fervor at the annual Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan organized by Vancouver’s Khalsa Diwan Society (Ross Street Gurdwara). Premier Christy Clark, NDP Leader John Horgan, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and a slew of MPs and MLAs and other VIPS, including Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer and Vice Chief Steve Rai, attended the celebrations at the gurdwara and then along the parade’s route.
Photos by Sukhwant Dhillon

Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer and Deputy Chief Steve Rai with Vancouver Police officers.

“Horgan $10 a day childcare – come back in 10 years”: Liberals

15 April 2017

“SAY anything” NDP Leader John Horgan has struck again – this time on childcare, the Liberals said on Saturday.

After months of saying the BC NDP would roll out $10 a day childcare immediately, Horgan now says that it will take more than 10 years to become a reality.

“The dishonesty is appalling. Horgan stood on stages, used children as props to make parents believe it was a real promise, and the entire time the BC NDP knew it would take 10 years to impose,” said Steve Darling, BC Liberal candidate for Burnaby-Lougheed.

“A toddler today would be in high school by the time the BC NDP program would get off the ground. That’s not what Horgan promised. It’s just one more example of how he says one thing and does another.”

Darling noted the NDP proposal would cost taxpayers $1.5 billion, take 10 years to impose and still result in waitlists. “Horgan’s scheme is based on the Quebec model where families still experience four-year wait lists. In fact, because his scheme applies from the wealthiest one per cent to the most vulnerable families, precious dollars are given to wealthy families who don’t need the help,” he said. “A study shows that in Quebec, families in the top 25 per cent of income earnings were twice as likely to grab a daycare spot than families at the lowest income band. That doesn’t help middle class moms and dads.”

The Liberals said that Premier Christy Clark and they have the only plan to help parents now – 4,100 new licensed child care spaces and 1,000 after-school spaces will be created in the next year. These new spaces build on the government’s commitment to create 13,000 new licensed child-care spaces by 2020.

“This is a real plan, one with real targets that will create real spaces now, not in a decade,” said Darling. “The Trudeau government supports the same approach – creating spaces – and we’re going to work with them to double the 4,000 spaces next year. That’s what moms and dads need, commitments that work for them today.”

The BC Liberal commitments are in addition to a strong record which includes:

• $352.5 million in child care funding, which is a 7.6 per cent increase over 2016-17, and a 67.2 per cent increase over 2000-01.

• Helping 20,000 BC families with the cost of childcare each month through the Child Care Subsidy program, which is funded at $120 million.

• The B.C. Early Childhood Tax Benefit provides $145 million annually to approximately 180,000 families with children under the age of six (up to $55 a month per child). About 90% of families with young children are eligible.

• The BC Liberal government also introduced full-day kindergarten to British Columbia.