ews & features

EDITOR DEREK BEDRY

THE VOICE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011 7

ALS patient fig

LYNDA CHAPPLE photo

Lawyer Sheila Tucker, left, joins client Gloria Taylor at yesterday’s press conference where
Taylor told reporters she believes she has a fundamental right to choose the manner of her death.

hts for right to die

Gloria Taylor to demand Supreme
Court grant her assisted suicide today

By LYNDA CHAPPLE

Westbank, B.C. resident has

taken her fight for the right to

die to the Supreme Court in a

trial that begins today with
hopes to overturn B.C. laws.

Gloria Taylor, 63, was diagnosed two
years ago with the terminal disease
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, com-
monly known as ALS, which slowly
causes progressive paralysis and has
no known cure or effective treatment.

Taylor’s condition has deteriorated
to the point that she requires home
care. Bound to a wheelchair, Taylor
spoke at a press conference in down-
town Vancouver the day prior to the
trial.

“T am slowly dying piece by piece,
day by day,” said Taylor. “I have strang-
ers assist me to shower, two different
strangers twice a day and I feel con-
stant unrelenting pain in my neck.”

Currently the law allows the patient
to take their own life when they are
still physically able.

But when they are no longer able, it
is illegal for another person to assist
them with their decision to die.

Luxembourg, the Netherlands and
Belgium have all passed legislation le-
galizing medically assisted deaths,
along with the U.S. states of Oregon
and Washington.

One of the other three co-plaintiffs,

Lee Carter, flew her 89-year old mother
Kathleen “Kay” Johnson to Switzer-
land in Jan 2010 to end her life.

Carter’s husband Hollis Johnson and
Victoria based doctor William Shoi-
chet are the other two plaintiffs in the
lawsuit.

Taylor says she does not want to die
more than anyone else but fears a pain-
ful death by suffocation.

“The disease impacts the ability to
chew, swallow and eventually to
breathe,” said Sheila Tucker, a lawyer
who is part of a small team represent-
ing Taylor.

“We are bringing this case so that
people like Gloria will have a choice. A
choice to have what they consider to be
a good death, including the option of
physician-assisted dying,” she said.

“This is for the people of Canada.
We're doing this for everybody. It’s
hard but it needs to be done,” said Tay-
lor.

“The majority of Canadians want
this.”

Taylor said that a lot has changed,
including prohibitive moral beliefs,
since Sue Rodriguez unsuccessfully
fought for her right to die in a similar
case 18 years ago.

Taylor said the time is right for a re-
view of the law.

The trial is expected to wrap up on
Dec. 16 with a decision expected some-
time this winter.

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MBB oto from Wikipedia

parking this Christmas

MALLS

with valets
Park Royal

West Vancouver
Brentwood

Burnaby

Capilano

North Vancouver

Vancouver malls deploy
parking assistants to
relieve one of the holiday
season’s biggest headaches

By JEN ST. DENIS

ing a place to park his sleigh at

many Vancouver-area malls dur-
ing the busy Christmas shopping sea-
son.

Park Royal has gone the furthest to
try to manage the onslaught of fren-
zied shoppers. The West Vancouver
shopping centre has introduced valet
parking and a radio station that broad-
casts live traffic information. The new
strategy will cost Park Royal around
$100,000.

“Everyone wants to be the closest to
the entrance,” said Karen Foster, mar-
keting director of Brentwood Mall.

“Even in July half the parking lot
will be half empty but people will say
‘there’s no parking.”

Foster says Brentwood sends out
memos asking mall staff to park at the
edges of the parking lot so that custom-
ers can park near the entrance.

Other shopping centres have their
own ways of managing holiday traffic.
It’s all about making the experience of

FE: Santa would have trouble find-

Christmas shopping a little less har-
ried - and encouraging customers to
walk a bit further to get from car to
mall.

Shera Allibhai, marketing director
at Capilano Mall, says shoppers often
have a favourite spot they prefer to use
every time they visit the mall.

“The customer has the perception
that they’re going to be able to access
everything they need from that specific
point,” said Allibhai.

“We try to remind our customers
that there are other easy places to park
in the mall that might not be so obvi-
ous.”

Capilano Mall uses signs and traffic
controllers to direct traffic and make
sure pedestrians can cross safely.

Metrotown is B.C.’s largest mall, and
the enormous shopping centre has an
extra-large parking lot to match.

Metrotown is also next to a major
transit hub, with Skytrain and bus
stops just steps away from the mall.

“We encourage [customers] to come
whichever way is most convenient for
them,” said Artie Chumpol, marketing
manager for Metrotown.

“During the holiday period people
do have larger packages, so if [transit]
doesn’t work for them, we do have 8,000
[parking] spots for them to choose
from.”

Eating out likely to cost
more; carts to blame

Statistics Canada report
shows growth in food
service sector, but supply
and consumer costs up

By MATT HYNDMAN

new report from Statistics Canada

A: restaurant sales in B.C. have

isen by 5 per cent in the last year,

but some restaurants say that number
may not tell the full story.

The report says that across Canada,
sales have increased by an average of 6
per cent, led by a7 per cent increase in
special food services, which includes
food carts.

“Sales are up but food prices are get-
ting way more expensive,” said a
spokesman for Acropolis, a Greek res-
taurant on West Broadway. “Everything
we're buying is costing more money.”
He said the restaurant will probably be
forced to increase menu prices starting
in January.

The Banana Leaf saw sales decrease
in the past year while costs have risen
significantly. “Our suppliers have told
us their costs have increased and
they’ve had to pass the buck to us,” said
a spokeswoman for the restaurant.

“We try not to increase the menu
prices too much, but unfortunately
we’ve had to do that and our customers
have declined.”

East is East has also had to increase
menu prices, but a spokeswoman said
their customers haven’t decreased.

The addition of 19 new food carts in
Vancouver last April likely played a role
in the large increase in sales for special
food services.

“T think the more food carts there
are, up to a point, the more people are
aware of them and the more they might
make plans to stop and give them a try,”
said Michael Kaisaris of Re-Up BBQ at

the art gallery.

He says sales have increased over the
past year, with exception to the period
in which Occupy Vancouver protestors
stationed themselves next to his cart.

Kaisaris thinks food carts are bene-
fiting from the increase in prices at res-
taurants. “It’s cheap, and it’s better
than hot dogs.”

But there are still growing pains for
some food carts, like Bun Me Baguette
on Robson, which opened in June.

Vicky Tran, who runs Bun Me, says
her cart is still working to build up a
reputation, and that the recession and
high ingredient costs are affecting her
business.

“The cost is not cheap,” says Tran.
“We make them as we would make it at
home and that cuts into our profit mar-
gins.”

She says the addition of new food
carts will hurt existing owners who are
still trying to make a name for them-
selves.

MATT HYNDMAN photo
Vicky Tran runs Bun Me food cart