6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016

EDITOR KATE RICHARDSON

lewpoints

Royal
rites
ready for
a reboot

eople like traditions. I like
Pi:ssisons, They hold the fabric

of our lives together. Ritual
gives us a time out of time that’s
crucial for reflection and contempla-
tion. It makes space in our busy lives
to take stock of how time passes and
how the world around us is chang-
ing everyday.

I’ve never been attached to the
role of the monarchy. The traditions
of the Commonwealth have never
spoken to me, although I spent most
of my undergrad studying the
history of England, the pomp and
circumstance, the hierarchy, the
dedication to the Anglican religion.

In the day-to-day, despite having a
governor general, watching the
Commonwealth Games and taking
my hat off when
my class drinks
at the Legion, I
hardly notice at
all.

Until I report
on crime, and
people in the

vA justice system
OPI N ION defend against

Regina, repre-
KATE sented by the
RICHARDSON Crown. Or I listen

to stories of

residential
schools, our racist histories and the
myriad ways colonial powers have
torn through the lives and traditions
of people living in this country, and
continue to, to this day.

I wonder what it would look like if
our allegiance to the British Empire
were replaced with solutions and
symbols Canadians designed to
better represent the world we live in
now, not our colonial inheritance.

And I wonder what our govern-
ment would look like if we hit delete
on our relationship with the country
whose colonial sunbeams once
‘never set’.

If we as a nation are going to
honour the recommendations of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commis-
sion, we must ask why we continue
to honour figureheads that repre-
sent everything the commission has
set out to challenge. We must ask
ourselves why these are the tradi-
tions and past we celebrate and use
to remind ourselves of how the
world has changed.

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Journalisin instructor

Erica Bulman oversees

The Voice. Email her at
ebulman@langara.be.ca

T a t a
s someone who has accumu-
lated many thousands of
dollars in student debt over
the years, it’s upsetting to
hear post seconday institutions in
B.C. have resorted to hiking service
fees for courses as a way around the
annual two per cent tuition fee cap
imposed by the government.

Using these fees as a way to
supplement their budgets was called
a “sneaky” move by the NDP, and
it’s hard to argue that it isn’t. It may
be a sneaky way of having students
pay extra tuition but it’s understand-

able.
In some cases the fee raises have

been minimal, but the reported
increase of $2,000 in fees for a
pharmacy tech
program at
Vancouver
Community
College is far
from accept-
able.

If a univer-
sity or college

needs more OPI N ION

money and they §COTT FORBES
aren’t getting it

from the

government, and can’t raise tuition
more than two per cent a year,

cap masks cost

they’re forced to find ways to raise
the money on their own.

The government pays a lot of
money to post-secondary institu-
tions to supplement the cost of
running the schools properly and
efficiently, but if the schools have to
cut corners or raise student fees,
perhaps it’s time to revisit the
funding structure between the
government and the schools.

As a student, I would like to have
basic infrastructure working and if
it’s too expensive for the school to
achieve on it’s own, it’s time for the
government to step in and help
arrange a better financial plan.

Xe s100eu FEES MAY APPLY
+4PRICE 1G SUBJECT TO CHANGE

SEAN LEE comic

Arbutus Corridor deal a coup for city

of beautiful, undeveloped green

space and community gardens
by the City of Vancouver and out of
the hands of the Canadian Pacific
Railway Ltd. is
a miracle of
negotiating.

It will boost
Vancouver’s rep-
utation as a
green, world-
class city.

cS:
) ‘a. aN
spentihelastts OPINION

years ensnared

T: purchase of nine kilometres

in a fight over NATALIE
the Arbutus DUNSMUIR
Corridor, with

CP. Just how

negotiators managed to talk the
railway company down $45 million
from its original asking price, we
may never know.

According to CP the land is worth

$400 million. Bylaws prevent it from
being rezoned for develop-
ment, however.

The city wanted to pay $20 million
for the corridor. CP would only part
with it for $100 million. Residents of
the area just wanted to garden on
the land in peace. It was a stalemate
between purchaser and seller and a
catastrophe for the gardeners. CP,
mostly as a way of shaking its fist at
the city, bulldozed the community
gardens and uprooted trees several
times over the years. Though they
claim to have done it for safety
reasons, it is unclear how gardening
could endanger anyone.

That a deal was finally reached
between the two parties is a major
accomplishment. The City of
Vancouver made a compromise,
agreeing to meet CP almost halfway.
The land will sell for $55 million and
CP is responsible for removing the
old train tracks within two years.

With the
closing of this
sale, Vancouver

66

will have

another

beautiful park. Itwasa
MayorGregor stalemate
Robertson has between
said the city

plans to turn purchaser
the corridor and sellers
into a green-

way similar to and a ca-
New York’s tastrophe
High Line, 7
a park built on f org arden
an elevated ers

strip of old

railway land in

Manhattan. This would be a tremen-
dous addition to the city, providing a
path for cyclists and walkers and
giving residents green space in
which to feel safe from CP bulldoz-
ers.

Fil fay ce)

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