2 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCT. 5, 2015 EDITOR BRYAN MC GOVERN tlarge Childcare options fall flat B.C. receives C- in ‘Access to Childcare’ for women’s rights By SERENA PATTAR ecess to affordable childcare is a growing concern across the Lower Mainland, particularly ere in South Vancouver, be- cause of a lack of available spots. The province’s childcare ranking in- creased from a D in 2014, to a C- this year in the annual Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimina- tion Against Women (CEDAW) report card, put forth by West Coast LEAF. Waitlists are a growing reality in B.C., said Susan Judge, principal of CEFA Early Learning Burnaby-King- sway. “The waitlist for the infant/toddler [care] is almost two years long. If par- ents don’t apply literally the week they find out they are pregnant they will not get in,” Judge said. South Vancouver resident Rajwind- er Basi has a son and daughter, aged nine and five respectively. Basi has never used a daycare due to the costs. “It’s ridiculous how much _ they charge, and I don’t understand why the government lets it happen,” said Basi, whose parents babysit her children. Li- censed childcare in Vancouver can reach up to $900 or more per month. C C Basi recognized not everyone is for- tunate enough to It’s ridicu- share her childcare situation, and rec- lous how ognized the impor- tance of having af- much they fordable options. charge, “If I didn’t have andI don’t 20yone to help me, I don’t know how understand me and my hus- band could afford why the it,” Basi said. govern- West Coast ment lets it LEAF’s director of law reform, Kendra happen Milne, said that B.C. “has [the] in- RAJWINDER BASI ternational legal SOUTH VAN Obligations to con- RESIDENT tinue to take action to end discrimination against women.” The report card states “women dis- proportionately bear the work of rais- ing children.” According to Milne, this can make access to education and em- ployment difficult, because they have to stay at home with their kids. The increase in the grade is because of two programs: the newly introduced Early Childhood Tax Benefit, which provides extra funds to families with an income of up to $100,000, and the Provincial Childcare Subsidy Program aiming to support low-income parents. The CEDAW report card notes the maximum subsidy allowed has been frozen since 2005. Milne acknowledged the minor prog- ress of both programs, but said there’s still plenty work to do. “The improvement is minimal be- cause the benefit does not do anything to improve the number of licensed childcare spaces available or to cover the true costs of childcare,” Milne said. Check out langaravoice.ca for a map of all South Vancouver's daycare centre options SARA RABEY photo Jeff, Danae and A.J. Myles climbing a jungle gym. 7 Y A Local program is train- ing youth ages seven to 15 basic tools to write and de- velop computer algorithm By SEYEDMOSTAFA RAZIEI take their first steps into ‘universi- ty-level computer software coding skills with a class that puts them at the control of their favourite games. Under the GUI, which stands for graphical user interface, is a two year old program designed for children aged seven to 15. Students are placed into class groups based on their skill Cit: in South Vancouver can level, not their age. Jamie Chang, managing director of Under the GUI, said some students first need to learn how to use a mouse and keyboard. “You cannot use abstract computer concepts for them to understand the mathematical models they need to know,” Chang said. JAIMIE CHANG Despite teach- Managing direc- ing ‘university-lev- one Under the el’ practices and algorithms the program uses a familiar language for SEYEDMOSTAFA RAZIEI photo Vitor Castanheira teaches his class basic computer coding through video games at Under the GUI West Madrona off West Broadway. Class offers computer coding for kids GUI locations children: video games. “The ultimate goal is to fire up these kids to do what they love to do,” Chang said. Ivan Le and Jerry Lin are in a level one class where they create their own versions of video games. At first the two kids appear to be playing a video game, when in fact instructor Dylan Jenken is teaching them basic coding techniques through the Game Maker Language (GML) program, which shows Le and Lin the scores on the video games they’ve created. Chang created the program after seeing the film Iron Man. He wished he had learned how to write general com- puter user interface code like the one displayed in the movie. Vancouver. Key Admissions Strat- egy and Learning Enrichment. 5th Floor, 5750 Oak St. North Vancouver Columbia Aca- demic Preparatory School. #300-133 T7th St. West West Madrona. 2050 W 10th Ave Source: underthegui.com Traffic chaos for New West commuters Survey of local drivers reveals traffic complaints By ETHAN REYES from one side of tiny New West- minster to the other at rush hour because of the heavy traffic flow from neighbouring cities. Whether it’s the traffic jams or aging infrastructure, nearly half of all New West residents said in the city’s 2016 pre-budget survey that they are dissat- isfied by what council is doing to ad- dress transportation issues. “You can’t get over on that side of town when traffic is backed up on the Pattullo Bridge,” said Reid, who isn’t alone in her frustration. Reid, a long-time New West resident, said that besides traffic congestion, an- other complaint she has is about the poorly maintained streets in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood. She didn’t think the city had “paved a road in 20 years.” The transportation issue is one that’s been a longstanding thorn for New West. The pre-budget survey, done every five years to help the city set priorities for spending, showed that transporta- tion is the only issue “that has not seen any significant improvement over the past 12 years,” according to the report. Coun. Patrick Johnstone said that the city is now carrying out its master transportation plan. This year’s focus is on making sidewalks and bus stops more accessible. That plan outlines a future where New West will lobby to have the prov- ince reduce tolls for heavy trucks on the nearby Port Mann Bridge, as well as banning or restricting heavy trucks on the Pattullo Bridge. Truck traffic in- creased significantly on that bridge af- ter the new Port Mann Bridge, which is tolled, opened in 2012. Johnstone admits that New West’s location was a huge benefit when the city was founded more than a century ago, but it is suffering now from its po- sition as the heart of a region with over two million people. “We're a small city with a small bud- get, but we’ve got 40,000 people driving through [the city] each day.” Ji Reid says she can’t even get