Travel costs drop as fear grows

Students looking for sun and sand on a budget may be in luck this winter, but they shouldn’t forget to wash their hands.

“Southern destinations are always popular over the holiday season. Even this year, with the H1N1 scare, ticket sales are still very strong,” said Kyko Purvis, a travel agent with Merlin Travel. “It has a lot to do with the great deals available.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada posted a level one advisory for travel globally because of the H1N1 flu, but has not specifically listed any country as an area of higher risk. The level one advisory is the lowest of three issued by the organization.

As a result of the H1N1 virus outbreak, most airlines, hotels and travel agents have sweetened their deals in an attempt to cash in on the lucrative holiday travel season. Room upgrades, seat upgrades, travel vouchers that cover the cost of your airfare when you book for a week-long stay at a resort, and transfers that will get you from the airport to your hotel for free are all perks being offered for those who are willing to ignore the travel advisories.

“People are weighing the risks to their health against the savings in their pocket-books,” said Purvis, “and booking their tickets, for most, is an easy choice.”

Dr. Sarah Thrasher, of the Travel Medicine and Vaccination Centre, has seen an increase in people inquiring about the safety of travel to many destinations.
“I’ve been advising people the risk of travelling this year is relatively
no different then that of previous years,” said Thrasher.

Regular hand washing, using hand sanitizers, avoiding people with signs of respiratory illness and being vaccinated – once the vaccine is available to Canadians – are all ways of protecting yourself against H1N1 infection, said Thrasher. Canada has just over 50 million doses of the vaccine on order, and they should be available in early to mid-November. That’s enough for everyone in Canada who wants one to be vaccinated.

“H1N1 causes relatively moderate symptoms in those infected, so people don’t need to feel afraid to travel,” said Thrasher.

A tough road for Kenny: In the face of adversity, he doesn’t see his disability as a challenge

Ken Gabour grimaces slightly as he lifts the dumbbell at Richmond’s Water Mania training facility. He then curls it up to his chest just as he’s done time and time again during his 20-year athletic career.

The winner of more than 30 B.C. Special Olympic medals has competed in nearly every sport, reaching the pinnacle in figure skating in 1996 by winning the World Special Olympic gold medal. Listening to Gabour tell the story, you’ll never hear the word special, just Olympic.

Gabour was born with Down Syndrome, Sept. 3, 1972 in Vancouver General Hospital. Down Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of an extra 21st chromosome, resulting in a flat face and mental retardation.
He was also born partially deaf and with a hole in his heart that may have required open-heart surgery to fix. By the time he turned one, the hole had grown over and his life – growing up in a typical suburban Richmond family – could begin.

“Ken has never seen himself as different,” said Gabour’s mother, Dorothy, “and to tell you the truth, he doesn’t even like to hang out with other handicapped people.”

What he does like to do is work out, hang out with friends and family, volunteer with many community programs, play all types of sports. And work at his long-time job with McDonald’s.

Gabour lives a full and rewarding life with his mother in a basement suite in Richmond, but it wasn’t always so easy. There was very little help for B.C. parents of children with developmental delays prior to the establishment of the Infant Development Program in 1972.

“We were really lucky,” Gabour’s mother said. “When Ken was born, it was obvious he was going to be delayed, and we were fortunate enough to have great timing. Ken was the first baby accepted into the province’s new Infant Development Program.”

Dorothy credits the program with allowing Ken to integrate into the community successfully and progress through elementary school without falling behind. During his time with the IDP, he improved his speech, coordination, and muscle strength, ensuring he would be ready to attend school with other kids his age. The program helps children up to the age of three, who have – or are at risk of having – developmental delays due to biological or psychological issues. Since Gabour was accepted, and helped by the IDP, the program has helped more than 65,000 children in the province. About 61 B.C. children with Down Syndrome are referred to the program every year.

Gabour’s elder sister Colleen Wright smirks slightly as she recalls growing up with him. It was not easy. “It was hard growing up with him,” Wright said. “Despite his disability, he was always the one who accomplished everything and had everyone’s attention. As simply Ken’s older sister, I just kind of got pushed to the side a lot.”

Gabour graduated from Richmond Senior Secondary School in 1990 before going to Kwantlen College for two years, graduating with a diploma from the restaurant-services program. He turned that diploma into a career that he wouldn’t change for the world. Since graduating from Kwantlen, Gabour has worked at McDonald’s, performing various duties from cooking to cleaning, and assisting customer-service representatives with the taking and filling of orders.

When he’s not working, Gabour can be found training for or competing in one of the many sports he enjoys. He has won medals in both the British Columbia Special Olympics and World Special Olympics in many sports, including floor hockey, swimming, cross-country skiing, softball. The sport he excelled at more than any other is figure skating.

“At an early age Ken set goals for himself, and when he puts his mind to something he wants, there is nothing that can hold him back,” said his mother. “I remember one time when he had won a bronze medal in swimming and he just refused to take it. He had become so used to winning gold that anything less just wasn’t good enough.”

Ken’s mom, who lost her husband to lung cancer 16 years ago, credits one of the only remaining male influences in his life for much of his success.

Mark Walsner is a one-to-one life-skills worker with the Mainstream Association for Proactive Community Living, and has worked with Gabour for 17 years. He specializes in assisting people with mental handicaps to better understand the community they live in and feel more comfortable with their day-to-day activities.

“We work together to try to reach goals that Ken has set out for himself,” said Walsner, who spends 12 hours a week working closely with him. They do many activities together, such as going to the gym, swimming, watching movies and going to the beach in the summer.

“Over the time I’ve worked with Ken the biggest change I’ve seen in him is in the way he carries himself,” said Walsner. “The increase in his self-confidence and self-esteem is what has allowed him to get to where he is today, and accomplish all the things he has both in sport and life.”

Walsner’s work has turned into friendship. He and his girlfriend now regularly attend gatherings with Gabour and his family.

Most people with Down Syndrome will never live alone. If something were to happen to Gabour’s mother, he would live in a government-funded group home or with another family member. His sister said she is more than willing to take him in, if that time should come.

“The hardest thing for Ken is change,” said his mother. “He really doesn’t adapt well when things in his life are different then he’s used to.”

His sister lives in Richmond, so the community that he has spent his entire life growing up in is most likely where he will spend the rest of his life.

“I like Richmond,” said Gabour. “I got my workout, I got my work, and my mom is here.”

That’s his world.

Homeless find refuge in Surrey suburbs

Every night, in the parking lot of a low-rise Whalley building off King George Highway, dozens of workers distribute food and clothing to the homeless at the home base of NightShift Ministries.

Located at 10759 135 St., the outreach program serves the home- less 364 nights a year, providing hot meals, blankets and clothing for the cold and wet with the help of nearly 40 churches.

“We provide for those that don’t have a nourishing meal, that don’t have a fixed address,” said MaryAnne Connor, who founded NightShift in January 2004.

As well as NightShift Ministries, Connor runs a thrift store, located next door, called Sister’s Marketplace, and just down the street is the Surrey Food Bank. She said that residents are quite giving to the homeless and have helped her ministry over the years.

“Ninety-five per cent of our people are volunteers,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to do it without the generosity of the community.”

Dane Watson of Peace Portal Alliance Church gets to see NightShift make a difference first-hand. He leads a group of Peace Portal volunteers two Saturdays a month, and on those nights, he’s always moved by the people he meets as they come in off the streets.

He recalled a night last fall when he was working in the clothing truck and a man asked for a button-up dress shirt. When he found one, the man’s eyes lit up and he showed much gratitude to Watson.

“He said to me, ‘Bless you, sir. You’ve now made it possible for me to go out tomorrow for a job interview,’” Watson said.

Watson said he knows that other volunteers have had similar experiences, and though some are initially apprehensive about meeting the homeless, he assures them it’s safe and controlled by the ministry.

“In the year and a half that I’ve been doing it, I think I had to call 9-1-1 twice,” said Watson, who acknowledged incidents have happened, but the ministry deals with them and moves on.

Homelessness is less visible here than it is in Vancouver, and compared to the Downtown Eastside, Connor said it’s harder to notice the homeless because Surrey is more geographically spread out.

“It depends on the time of night,” she said. “We serve between 100 and 150 people every night.”

A 2008 report by the Tyee counted 2,592 homeless people in Metro Vancouver, 402 of whom were in Surrey.

“Anyone telling me there’s 400, that’s the actual number of homeless, I would definitely beg to differ,” said Peter Fedos, program manager of Hyland House in Surrey. “If I count just between the three shelters in the area, there’s close to 2,000 different individuals that are seen every year, and I’m turning away 500 per month ’cause I’m full.”

Homelessness in Surrey suburbs such as Fleetwood, Newton and Guildford is hard for local shelters to handle. All of the 35 beds at Hyland’s Surrey location (6595 King George Hwy.) and the 10 beds at the Cloverdale location (17910 Cole- brook Rd.) are full every night.

“Everyone has a different situation that caused them to become homeless,” said Andrea Dodd, assistant program manager of the Cloverdale Hyland House. “Whether it’s mental health, addiction, losing their job, having no support system…. It’s not all just one group or one stereotype of homeless.”

Fedos added that the only thing in common these people have is that they’re homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.”

“A homeless person told me, ‘Don’t confuse someone being homeless with street people,’” said Fedos, who clarified that “street-entrenched” people choose to live on the street and have trouble getting out of the lifestyle.

The street-entrenched are familiar with the street and prefer to be there, according to Fedos.

The flat-screen rock ‘n’ roll revival

Parents who remember hearing bands such as the Rolling Stones for the first time when they were kids are now showing their kids these artists for that same experience.

“[My dad] sits in his room, rockin’ out to all that stuff,” said Blake Gervais, 18, a first-year saxophonist in Kwantlen’s music program. “You’re exposed to it ’cause your parents listen to it.”

Gillian White, 18, also a first year saxophonist, added that her parents have control of the radio in the car. “Most of the time, it’s better than the new stuff. They don’t have to fix their voices or anything when they record.”

According to Nielsen SoundScan’s 2008 top-10 list, AC/DC was the second-best selling artist in the United States that year with 3.42 million albums sold. Of those albums, 1.92 million were the band’s 2008 release, Black Ice.

AC/DC, whose members are now aged 54 to 62, released their first album in 1975.

In 2007, the Eagles were the third-best selling artist with 3.6 million albums sold, of which 2.6 million were their 2007 album, Long Road out of Eden, the band’s first album since 1979.

The Eagles, whose members are aged 61 to 62, released their first album in 1972.

In both 2007 and 2008, the rest of the musicians on those top-10 lists were modern artists with high rotation on radio.

Joey Moore, a sociology professor at Vancouver Island University, explained why older music appeals to younger people.

Moore said that some parents force their children to listen to the groups they grew up with, and some teens like the music their parents listened to.

“It’s music their parents pissed off their parents with and they can do the same thing by playing it really loud,” said Moore.

Rebellion through music is associated with youth, and has been for many generations, but Kwantlen guitar teacher Don Hlus said that’s less true today.

“Parents for the most part want to nurture an interest in music, especially in music that the parents understand,” Hlus said. “There’s always these generational gaps and the fact that those are being bridged I think is quite appealing.”

The use of music in video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero has also introduced new audiences to older music.

Natascia Dell’erba, 18, a first-year vocalist, said she is surprised to hear her eight-year-old sister singing the Doors and Jimi Hendrix songs featured in these video games.

By releasing games on consoles offered by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, game design companies aim to reach a larger market of gamers than if the games were released on one console.

“You have every single side of the video-game world covered,” said Jessica McLaughlin, 18, a first-year saxophonist.

Sales of the 1974 single “Same Old Song and Dance” by Aerosmith increased 400 per cent with the release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock in the 2007 Christmas season, according to an MSNBC article.

“Many artists are very shrewd businessmen,” said Hlus. “They’re going, ‘Hey, this is a generation that doesn’t know our music,’ and they feel there is a universal appeal that’s kind of timeless.’

This music has become a common interest not only between youth and parents, but among youth in different social circles. Moore said that despite differing musical tastes, teens in all cliques tend to enjoy ’60s and ’70s bands.

With the re-emergence of older bands in video games, biographic films and reunion tours, today’s musicians don’t put as much effort into their music.

“[There used to be] more of a focus on the musical ability of the artists rather than how good you look on stage and how much money you can throw at a recording studio,” said Gervais.

Music students interviewed also said that cover versions of old songs can’t match up to the original recordings they were based on.

Eats and entertainment on the cheap all over the Lower Mainland

Finding good inexpensive meals isn’t as easy as reading the McDonald’s dollar menu, but there are restaurants in the Lower Mainland with live music and affordable entrées that won’t wallop your wallet.

The Cellar – 3611 West Broadway, Vancouver Price: 2/5; Service: 4/5; Food: 3/5; Atmosphere: 5/5; Music: 5/5.

The Cellar offers live jazz Tuesdays through Sundays. The music lineup changes, with some acts playing on a frequent basis. All acts include quality jazz musicians, such as Doug Towle, performing Oct. 29, and the Matthew Smith Quartet, performing Nov. 1.

The bar’s design is classy, with elegant paintings on maroon walls complementing the dark booths. The dim lighting sets the mood for a relaxing night of jazz and drinks. Depending on the day of the week, talking during performances is often discouraged, but the atmosphere on Tuesdays is more easygoing and quiet chatter is permitted.

The food is a bit pricey (appetizers such as edamame and yam fries start at $9), but according to staff, students do frequent the below-ground bar.

“A lot of UBC students come here,” said waitress Sarah Hawkins, adding that students tend to buy appetizers and alcohol.

There’s no cover charge on Tuesdays, but there is a $10 minimum charge for food or drinks. If you go with friends, you can share a plate of nachos for $14.56.

Carman J. Price and company play Oct. 25 and Zapata Negro, an AfroCuban jazz group, plays Oct. 28.

The Landing Pub & Grill – 5449 Ladner Trunk Rd., Ladner
Price: 4/5; Service: 3/5; Food: 4/5; Atmosphere: 3/5; Music: 4/5.

For a less expensive musical experience, the Landing Pub & Grill has a blues band and $3 off appetizers every Thursday night. With the discount, you can get bruschetta for $4.99 or steak bites for $6.49.

Rick Dalgarno and Ted Tosoff of Blue Voodoo pick their guitar strings every Thursday beneath multicoloured lights. They play original and cover songs for the audience, which they say is getting younger.
“College crowds seem to be catching on more to blues and how blues used to be,” said Dalgarno.

“The future of music anyways is the next generation,” added Tosoff.

At times, the music is hard to hear, but there’s plenty of seating to find a good view with better sound. The pub has two pool tables and free Wi-Fi.

Dishes such as fish tacos and potato skins are basic bar food, but surprisingly tasty. An order of three cheeseburger sliders, after taxes and with the $3 discount, totals at $6.29.

Dublin’s Crossing – 18789 Fraser Hwy., Surrey
Price: 2/5; Service: 3/5; Food: 4/5; Atmosphere: 4/5; Music: 4/5.

The Irish-themed Dublin’s Crossing pub in Surrey offers live music Tuesday through Sunday nights, and occasionally on Mondays.

On the first Monday of October, guitarist Jason Bonnell covered a blend of modern rock (“Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon), Top 40 (“Umbrella” by Rihanna) and bar favourites (“Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash).

There’s a lot of seating, including tables on a mezzanine. But the music tends to get stuck in the background while patrons socialize at the bar or eat dinner, hardly noticing the person on stage.

The service is a bit spotty, but the food at Dublin’s Crossing is better than average bar food. The best deal for Monday nights is 35cent chicken wings, which comes to $3.91 with taxes if you order the minimum of 10 wings.

Dublin’s Crossing also hosts Geoff Gibbons on Oct. 27, James Moore on Oct. 28 and the Pat Chessell Band on Oct. 30 and 31.

The Foggy Dew Irish Pub – 7331 Westminster Hwy., Richmond
Price: 4/5; Service: 3/5; Food: 4/5; Atmosphere: 4/5; Music: 3/5.

The Foggy Dew Irish Pub in Richmond has live rock and R&B on Friday and Saturday nights, starting at 10 p.m.

Though the restaurant is small, it’s a comfortable place to dine out on a budget. You can share a basket of onion rings with friends for $5.59 after taxes.

Other menu items are moderately priced and of good quality; the priciest entree is a New York steak at $17.99. Hamburgers are a deal, priced from $8.99 to $11.99.

There’s something on the menu to fit everyone’s tastes, but the entertainment may not fit everyone’s musical tastes.

The bands and DJs change weekly, playing a variety of genres, but often sticking with modern hits and memorable songs.

There’s no entertainment on Halloween weekend, but DJ Jeff plays the following weekend and the Undercovers play Nov. 13 and 14.

Washington Avenue Grill – 15782 Marine Dr., White Rock
Price: 2/5; Service: 3/5; Food: 5/5; Atmosphere: 4/5; Music: 4/5.

The Washington Avenue Grill isn’t a place for inexpensive dishes, but that’s the price you pay for good live music, free parking and no cover charge.

Parking is limited, but once you’ve found a spot, you can walk up the stairs to a candlelit table near the band.

Outside is a Statue of Liberty wearing a Canucks jersey, but this is not a sports bar. There’s talented live entertainment Wednesday to Sunday, and the line-up changes regularly.

The prices are a little steep, but the desserts are worth your money. For the price of the cheapest appetizer (yam fries), you can get homemade tiramisu or New York cheesecake at $7.34 a slice.

Phil Dixon plays guitar on Oct. 25 and Jani Jakovac plays piano on Oct. 28.

Eighteen 27 – 9185 Glover Rd., Fort Langley
Price: 2/5; Service: 5/5; Food: 5/5; Atmosphere: 4/5; Music: 4/5.

If you’d like to spend $7.34 somewhere else, you can get triple chocolate paté at Eighteen 27 in Fort Langley while listening to Kurt Thys, the restaurant’s personal piano man. Thys bears some resemblance to Billy Joel, but counters that with a pair of white Elton John–style glasses, making his piano playing that much more entertaining.

The restaurant’s a bit dark, but it’s supposed to be, for this swanky joint. Expect to spend a bit more for a bit less. The portions are small and the prices are big, but the food is amazing and items such as fondue aren’t readily available elsewhere.

Entree’s go from $12.99 (sirloin burger) to $23.99 (12-ounce steak), but you can’t put a price on quality. Just try to save a nice tip for Thys, which he collects in a brandy glass at the end of the piano.

The Wired Monk – 12219 Beecher St., Crescent Beach
Price: 4/5; Service: 5/5; Food: 2/5; Atmosphere: 4/5; Music: 3/5.

If you enjoy a walk on the beach before seeing live entertainment, try the Wired Monk at Crescent Beach, which has an open-mic night on Wednesdays.

It’s a small coffee shop where an variety of local talent perform easy listening, blues and soft rock. The performances draw some local regulars, so seating is limited, but there are often enough chairs for everybody and parking is free.

The shop has a very organic, earthy feel to it with shades of brown and green on the walls. It’s a comfortable place to sit down and relax with a cup of coffee. For $5.61, you can get a blended coffee (mocha, espresso, etc.) and a cookie. Their coffee is considerably better than their baked goods.

Junior hockey rivals NHL with more than dollars

The National Hockey League is not the only place you can find good-quality, competitive hockey in the Lower Mainland, but it is the game that could empty your wallet.

“I would definitely say I come to the Giants games over Canuck games because it’s so much more affordable,” said Mike Pitre, a season-ticket holder since the Giants inaugural Western Hockey League (WHL) season in 2002. “I can still afford to go for dinner before the game and, more importantly, beers after it. It’s so much more fun to be able to make a night of it.”

Pitre is not wrong in believing he’s saving lots of money by choosing Giants games over those of their professional counterparts. For the price of one regular-season game ticket to GM Place to watch the Canucks – about $130 – you get this: two tickets to a Giants game at the Pacific Coliseum, parking, two beer, two hotdogs, one Giants team Tshirt, one Giants hat, plus $7 and change back in your pocket.

There are three junior hockey leagues in B.C.: the WHL, the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), and the Pacific International Junior Hockey League (PIJHL).

The most local and community-based of these is the PIJHL, which has its entire conference of teams located within the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. For a long time the PIJHL was considered a league riddled with violence, fights and little skill, but all that’s changing.

“The league has really cleaned its act up in the last few years,” said Mas Morimoto, public relations manager for the Richmond Sockeyes. “It used to be that the players playing in the league were older and at the end of their playing careers. Nowadays we are much more of a developmental league for younger players on their way up.”

Play quality in all of B.C.’s junior leagues is high. Players are routinely drafted by NHL teams when they turn 18. The good thing for fans of junior teams is that it’s not impossible to get tickets. Unlike Canuck games, for which single-seat tickets are pretty much all that’s available for good games, junior games have plenty of good tickets available for walk-up customers on game days.

The Giants average just under 10,000 fans a game in the Coliseum, which seats 16,281. The Sockeyes play in a much smaller venue at Minoru Arenas, which seats about 1,100. This season, they have averaged about 400 fans a game. Minoru Arenas is a first-come-first-seat facility, so all tickets are general admission. The Canucks have sold all 18,630 tickets to the Garage for every game since Nov. 14, 2002.

Lower-level junior hockey clubs appeal to a sense of community and families, according to Morimoto. Supporting local programs such as Thomas Cook Elementary School breakfast program, which supplies a hot breakfast to kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford one, and raising money for a local firefighter who was injured on the job, leaving him a quadriplegic, are examples of how the Sockeyes have become involved with the community. The Sockeyes support such charities by donating a portion of ticket sales.

Tickets to the Sockeyes games are only $8 for adults and free for any kid wearing a minor-hockey jersey. For roughly the same price as one ticket to a Canuck game plus parking, a father and son could get a season-ticket package and attend all 25 home games of the team of their choice in the PIJHL.

Depression hits youth hardest, doctors encourage youth to explore alternatives to psychotropic drugs

Canadians under 20 report the higher level of depression, and people between 20 and 29 years of age have the highest levels of anxiety, according to report issued in September by the Canadian Mood Disorders Society.

The most alarming statistics to come out of the report are that 90 per cent of people who commit suicide have a diagnosable mental illness, and that suicide is the cause of death for 24 per cent of Canadians between 15 and 24 years of age, and 16 per cent of those between the ages of 20 and 29.

Women are twice as likely as men to experience depression, and although 80 per cent of people with depression respond well to treatment, 90 per cent of those with depression don’t seek treatment.

“Depression, sometimes it’s a blessing,” said Dr. Hamdy El-Rayes, director of the H.R. Mental Wellness Centre, “because it stops you in your tracks and makes you reflect on the way you’re going and what you need to do.

“Medication does not solve the underlying issues that caused the depression or anxiety.”

El-Rayes said he feels that Canadian youth should explore all options before turning to medication.

He believes that empowering those who have depression or anxiety, and encouraging them to take charge,, is the only successful way to heal someone. El-Rayes said that being younger is an advantage for people, because they have more time to work out issues and aren’t as set in their ways.

Growing up with the Internet and easy access to information has made this generation more open to new ideas, but at the same time has inundated them with too much information.

“Everything is new, and so younger people are willing to accept anything that will help them,” El-Rayes said. From what he sees in his practice, he feels that younger people ask more questions, hesitate to take something just because they’re doctor said to, and are more aware of medication side effects than previous generations were.

Canadians turn to medication more often than not. According to the Mood Disorders Society of Canada, Canadians are the largest users, on aper-capita basis, of psychiatric medications in the world. Canadians are also the secondlargest users of sedatives and the fourth-largest users of prescription narcotics in the world, according to the society. In 2006, there were 51 million prescriptions for psychiatric medications dispensed by Canadian pharmacies, a 32 per cent increase over the previous four years.

“You expect to be able to medicate yourself out of any problem,” said Paul Swingle, a Vancouver psycholo-gist, who argues that simply medicating a problem doesn’t address what caused it in the first place.

“That’s the alcoholic mentality, that you can avoid everything by getting plastered,” he said.

Swingle has seen the consequence of treating depression on the surface rather than at its source.

He has seen many women between the ages of 25 and 40 with a previously undiagnosed form of ADD known as High Frontal Alpha ADD. These women struggled in school, often couldn’t hold a job and, after becoming depressed, were put on a roster of medication to treat their depression. They went undiagnosed because the behaviour associated with the condition are talkativeness and flightiness.

“Since that fit our cultural stereotypes, these unfortunate young girls went undiagnosed,” said Swingle. “So they weren’t treated for the ADD, which created a reactive depression because of failure.”

The perception of drugs being the answer to emotional problems has been spread effectively by pharmaceutical advertising, which is legal in the U.S and Australia. But because American programing is prevalent on Canadian television, it’s common on our airwaves. A local therapist, Cindy Trevitt, said she feels that this is the greatest threat on the mental landscape for today’s youth.

“The implicit message is don’t feel bad ever, you should feel happy always and not experience life,” said Trevitt, a Vancouver counsellor. “It takes away from our ability to experience life. If I can feel sadness to its great depths I can also feel joy to its great heights.”

Trevitt argued that although today’s generation may be bombarded by this advertising, it is less influenced by it than previous generations.

Old news sparks new views

Avian flu and the West Nile virus may have dropped off the media radar with all the attention on H1N1, but they have not dropped off the map.

“Because [avian flu is] not spread effectively between bird and human, it’s not a huge concern for most people,” said Roy Wadia, director of communications for the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. “If it were to become of pandemic size, it could cause a catastrophic pandemic on a scale that would epically dwarf the current H1N1 pandemic.”

“Everything is ultimately local,” said Wadia. “If it’s happening in your neck of the woods, it’s a big story,” said Wadia. “If it’s happening in another country thousands of miles away, or even two or three countries away from you, it’s not a concern.”

Wadia, who was working in China during the original outbreak of avian flu in 2003, recalled that although it was a big concern in that area, it was of minimal concern in the West.It was not until the virus resurfaced in 2008 on Western farms and began having a direct affect on farmers and citizens that it received widespread attention. Since then, media focus has shifted again, but Wadia still sees avian flu as a huge public-health issue.

According the World Health Organization, there have been 442 documented cases of avian flu infection among people, with 262 of those cases proving fatal. Direct contact with diseased birds is believed to be the cause of most of these infections, and transfer from human to human has been rare. However, the potential for the disease to mutate or evolve and become more efficient in transferring is the largest concern for public-health officials.

West Nile virus is another infection endemic to various parts of the world. The virus first appeared in North America in 1999, but how it came to New York remains a mystery. Until then, the virus was found in Africa, Eastern Europe, parts of the Northern Mediterranean, Egypt, Israel, Romania and the Czech Republic. Upon its arrival in North America, it became the most widely spread vector-borne disease (spread by the bite of an insect or animal) on the continent, according to the BCCDC. To date, seven Canadians have reportedly contract the virus, two in B.C., two in Alberta and one each in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. None of those people died.

A senior environmental health specialist for the BCCDC, Ken Cooper, noted that the original North American form of West Nile, designated NY99, has mutated, is virtually extinct and has been replaced by WN02, a closely related variation.

According to the BCCDC, only one in 150 people infected with the disease will respond strongly to it; others can carry it without ever knowing they had it. The centre reports that there were 4,511 cases of WNV reported in Canada between 2002 to 2008.

“There are serious side effects for those who become ill with neurological symptoms,” said Cooper an email interview. “Even those who get milder symptoms can still be quite ill and have an impact on health care and on economics.”

The economic cost of responding to avian flu has been felt by farmers around the world, who have had to slaughter their birds, including geese, ducks and chicken, to stave possible spread of the infection. In 1997, Hong-Kong destroyed 1.4 million chickens when a portion tested positive for the infection, according to reports from CBC. In 2007, a commercial duck farm in Regina executed 50,000 birds after some of them tested positive for H7N1, a variation of avian flu that does not kill people.

“Avian flu has a strong economic impact on people who are poultry farmers and [who] work in the agriculture field,” said Wadia. “From Vancouver’s perspective it’s no big deal right now, but if you see it from the perspective of a farmer in China, or a very large poultry processor in Thailand, it’s a huge deal.”

Wadia added he is confident the Canadian health community is well-prepared for H1N1.

Online anonymity results in less privacy

The explosion of personal information on the Internet is leading to “Facebook creeping,” new reasons for being fired, and, according to a Kwantlen sociology instructor, public humiliation.

“[Young people are] more inclined to invade other people’s privacy without feeling invasive about it,” said Annette Reynolds.

“There’s a tendency to feel like you can cross social barriers because there’s an anonymity. That’s a kind of cyber-bullying,” Reynolds said, remembering a time when she read hurtful comments on the teacher-rating web site RateMyProfessors. com.

Cyber-bullying is a rising trend, according to a Microsoft Canada Youthography Internet Safety survey released in February. The survey of people from nine to 17 years old found that 40 per cent of Canadian youth had been bullied online, up from 25 per cent in 2004. It also reported that 60 per cent of youth believe people bully because it is “cool.” More than half of the 16 per cent who said they have cyber-bullied another youth said there were no consequences to their bullying.

“Public humiliation is a form of entertainment,” said Reynolds.

Bullying is one of the side effects of an information free-for-all that includes blogs about people’s personal lives, YouTube videos featuring friends, and Facebook pages full of personal info. Privacy has a different meaning than it used to.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say kids today don’t care about their privacy,” said Micheal Vonn, B.C. Civil Liberties Association policy director. “Previous generations never had to think about this stuff because the system was so different.”

In the past, privacy was provided by default before technological advances introduced a plethora of information databases. Now that personal information is required in order to access many Internet services, people must choose between those services and privacy. “What we really want is control,” said Vonn.

The government hasn’t hesitated to take advantage of the new opportunities for control, either. Technology-based surveillance, called dataveillance, is increasing as a form of policing and is a worrisome opportunity for state control, she said.

“The new policing philosophy is, ‘Why don’t we just know a whole lot about everybody all the time. Then we’ll be able to do a risk assessment.’”

Knowing a lot about everybody all the time applies to personal relationships, too. A University of Guelph study released in August indicated that the more time a person spends on Facebook, the more likely they are to become jealous of their significant other because of overexposure to triggers. A person may become alarmed by a comment from someone saying “It was great to see you,” become jealous, and begin “Facebook creeping” that commentator’s profile for more information.

This trend in “Facebook creeping” leads to suspicions, just as government dataveillance does.

“[Data] starts to take on a reality and a life of its own… regardless of if you’ve done anything wrong,” said Vonn.

Employers are pursuing control too, said Michael Cox, who believes he was fired from a probationary bus-driver position with Coast Mountain Bus Company in January because of his blog.

“The company was sensitive to any kind of criticism and certainly sensitive to internal criticism,” Cox said. His blog included information about transit troubles during last winter’s snowstorms. “I think part of it was they wanted to make an example of me.”

He advised bloggers and social media users to speak their minds but remember that their words could affect them professionally. “There is no such thing as true freedom of the press or true freedom of expression. There’s always going to be a limit.”

The costs of censoring personal information that is being published online, such as reduced freedom of speech, need to be weighed against the benefits, which include retaining a job. In today’s digital age, the ability to avoid having personal details on the Internet isn’t always there. “The only way to remain a truly private individual would be to only purchase using cash and to be an electronic hermit,” said Cox.

It’s difficult to remain an electronic hermit, and one result is identity theft. Equifax Canada fraud specialist Vanessas Guillani told the Globe and Mail in June that identity theft went up 500 per cent from 1998 to 2003.

Identity theft is a big problem, but personal problems with identity itself are also on the rise. People can take on various identities through social media, which can result in a loss of self, according to Vonn. Internet game Second Life, which mimics real-world activities, including earning income and building relationships, has been featured in the news as a harbinger of real-life problems. A number of game users have adopted their character and attempted to create a perfect life, only to lose their jobs, friends and family. Some have fallen in love with virtual characters only to learn that the real person was not what they expected.

Sidebar: How to protect yourself

• Read privacy contracts, particularly those regarding health, credit-card and banking information.
• Ask questions or refuse to sign things that don’t seem worth it.
• Consider the implications of your pictures, thoughts and videos before you post them.
• Know your employer’s policies concerning social media.
• Remember that once you publish something online, you can never get it back.

Cloverdale: Growing community uses events to retain identity

Cloverdale streets were decked out with Christmas lights, crammed with people and covered in decorated semi tractor-trailers and trucks on Dec. 6 at Hawthorne Square.

The Santa’s Parade of Lights, put on by the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association (BIA) in partnership with the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce, is one of five annual events held in the area to maintain Cloverdale’s historic small-town identity and strengthen the sense of community.

The Cloverdale BIA was expecting a crowd of 7,000 people to line the streets for the parade, out of a population of only 55,000 people in the small section of Surrey. The area was once entirely farmland, and is still sustained by blueberry crops, but is now considered a peri-urban community (an area adjoining an urban space), because of its location at the centre of a rapidly growing city.

The growth has caused the Cloverdale BIA to create guidelines and larger-scale plans of action to promote the area’s historical western identity, which is the foundation for the local economy. Cloverdale does not have any above-ground parking, parking meters or big-box businesses, which helps maintain the small-town culture.

“[Cloverdale] is filling in and growing at an unbelievable rate, unmatched about anywhere in B.C.,” said Paul Orazietti, executive director of the Cloverdale BIA.

One way that the BIA is responding to urbanization is by adding a social-responsibility aspect to the parades and festivals. This is the third year that the holiday parade was collecting donations for the Surrey Christmas Bureau and the Surrey Food Bank, with a goal of collecting $5,000 and two-and-a-half tons of food for the food bank.

“Charity has taken a much higher profile,” said Orazietti, adding that homelessness is a growing problem in Cloverdale. At one point, over 50 people were living in the town centre, he said.

The events serve to bring locals together and promote opportunities to give back, but they also exemplify Cloverdale’s identity to nonresidents.

Stores are decorated, businesses are welcoming – it’s all part of a plan to encourage outsiders to feel like they are a part of the community, too.

Economically, Cloverdale is challenged by its avoidance of large stores such as Safeway, whose nearest location is in Langley. But small-town values have led the BIA to resist the introduction of such businesses, preferring to support local businesses instead. These steps aim to protect the community’s assets while events build sustainability, he said.

Cloverdale is on a path that may head towards transformed economy and increased symbolism, as small-town community features become replaced with modern infrastructure, according to Jacqueline Mulcahy, member of the Maple Ridge Community Heritage Commission and a post-graduate urban-studies student at Simon Fraser University.

The community may find itself using street signage and banner programs as a reminder of the original identity, as was done in North Vancouver, if the rapid population growth continues, said Mulcahy.

“It’s impossible for communities to resist [change],” she said. “A sense of identity is necessary in any community.

“You have to have some means of a discourse,” Mulcahy said. “If you don’t have a sense of collective identity, it’s very difficult to have political engagement and it’s difficult to have a consensus.”

Individuals in the area are also realizing that parades and festivals are a good way to help the younger generation plug into Cloverdale’s traditional values and history. Rick Hughes, the vice-president of Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School, is trying to encourage youth to get involved in organizing parades, sports camps and other local events.

“It’s up to my generation to make sure that we’re passing all this into succeeding generations,” said Hughes. “There’s a lot of young folks out there that think, ‘Well, I’ll do it if there’s an immediate payoff’ instead of ‘I’ll do it if it’s helping somebody out.’”

Hughes has lived in Cloverdale his entire life, and has helped organize parades, the rodeo and the creation of Surrey Museum over the last half-century. When he was a child, all of his neighbours knew each other, but that is not the case anymore, though there are still some core families that remain. He welcomes different ideas and lifestyles, but added, “It’s important to remember the things that got you where you are.”

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