2 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2018 EDITOR JACQUELINE LANGEN Cws GAVIN FISHER photo Mohan Rakhra, (left) and Gurmit Rakhra are the owners of Mohan Cloth House on Main Street which is store is going out of business. Main’s Little India ‘is dead’ The Punjabi Market suffers from high rents, whopping property taxes and loss of customer base within the Little India community By GAVIN FISHER Ihroughout the historic Punjabi Market businesses continue to close while others remain empty due to high rent, increased prop- erty taxes and a customer base that is now largely in Surrey. Wescana Fashions and Mohan Cloth House are both currently having clos- ing-out sales after being in business for over 25 years. They are the latest busi- nesses to close in the market on Main Street between 48th and 53rd Avenue. “It’s very difficult to survive,” said Ali Rajani, who owns Wescana Fash- ions on the corner of Main Street and 49th Avenue. Rajani said he pays between $55,000 and $65,000 a year in property tax. He said the high rent and high taxes are preventing new businesses from coming into the area. His building has been up for lease the past seven months but no one is interested. “It’s a prime corner connecting to downtown. But [there’s been] no re- sponse from anybody,” said Rajani. Mohan Rakhra, owner of Mohan Cloth House, said the number of cus- tomers continues to decrease while rent goes up. Wescana Fashions and Mohan Cloth House follow on the heels of several other closures in the area over the past year. Arora Cloth House closed its doors in April this year, Guru Bazaar closed in January, and Frontier Cloth House closed in September 2012. All three businesses now have stores in Surrey. “All of our clientele has moved into the Surrey area,” said Sunny Khuruna, owner of Guru Bazaar. “We have to be where the customers are.” Many current business owners said that there needs to be a greater variety of stores to attract people to the area, and not just stores catering to the South Asian community. “First we started in the Indian com- munity so we survived,” said Haresh Shukla, who runs Mother India, an im- port store on Main Street. “Now the only way we can survive is [with a] mixed community.” Rajani from Wescana Fashions agreed. “Look at Fraser [Street], it’s booming because it’s multicultural there. Banks are there, grocery stores are there, doctors are there,” said Ra- jani. “But Main Street, what is it? There’s nothing here, not even a single bank...It’s a dead spot after six o’clock.” Simran Virk, who runs Roots Cafe on the corner of Main and 49th Avenue, said the Punjabi Market is a thing of the past. “It’s not dying, it’s dead. It’s time for a new, fresh facelift on this part of the street We want some neat places, but if it’s not affordable for people to come here it’s going to take a much longer time.” SIMRAN VIRK Owner of Roots Cafe on Main 66 It’s not dying, it’s dead. It’s time for a fresh face- lift on this side of the Street. Langara Cultural Buddies The Cultural Buddy Pro- gram helps new Canadian students better integrate into their communities By ANDREA ANTHONY les, the South Vancouver Neigh- bourhood House continues to run programs that help new students to Canada transition into their schools and communities. An important part of transitioning into a new culture is developing social connections in the community that help foster a sense of belonging, said Jessica Moerman, youth-programs di- rector at the Neighbourhood House. Langara students in the social-ser- vice worker program have been doing practicums at the South Vancouver Neighourhood House for many years, said Joseph Rosen, department chair of the social-service worker program. “Such programs are very valuable in helping young people to integrate more quickly into the community and Cana- dian culture in general,” said Rosen. Every Monday high school students from the community volunteer at Flem- ing Elementary School as part of the cultural buddy program. The high school students participate in games and community activities with elemen- tary students who are new to Canada. “They act as role models and as a link into the high schoo] for the elementary school students, many of whom are. . . feeling anxious about moving on to high school,” said Moerman. When the program started, it was funded by the federal and provincial governments and students were paired up one-to-one. However, there was no strong research that proved its effec- tiveness for students, so the funding was pulled, said Moerman. “The spe- cific activities that take place in these programs are secondary to the rela- tionship building that is a very impor- tant outcome of many voluntary pro- grams,” said Rosen. According to Moerman, the best feedback they can get is that students keep coming back. “One of the greatest things about our programs for newcomer children and youth is being able to watch them grow up and become leaders themselves.” D=: government funding chang- Burtynsky breathes life into the issues of water pollution Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky came to speak at Langara on Oct. 8 as a part of the Photography Masters Series KENDRA WONG photo Edward Burtynsky speaks at Langara with fans and signs copies of his new book Water. By KENDRA WONG Burtynsky presented photographs from one of his most recent proj- ects, Water in front of a packed Langa- ra auditorium last Tuesday. The 228-page book illustrates human affects on landscapes and water, through activities including oi] con- sumption, agriculture and mining. “Without [water] we die,” said Bur- tynsky. “It’s something that we’re using a lot of and not always understanding the consequences of either polluting it or using it.” Water is Burtynsky’s fifth book and has been years in the making. He spent five years travelling across 10 countries shooting 24,000 still images. The book features large-scale aerial colour photographs — taken from man- Roc photographer Edward lift cranes, light aircraft and helicop- ters — of places such as the Navajo Reservation in Phoenix and the Colo- rado and Yangtze rivers. He hopes the book will encourage a better understanding of how humani- ty’s need for resources is reshaping the earth’s natural landscape. “Tm hoping ... that when they think of resources and they think of water that they understand that .. . some- thing is usually suffering in that ex- change — habitats, people downstream or animals down the stream. We’re af- fecting change in a big way,” said Bur- tynsky. Jim Balderston, a photography in- structor at Langara, first met Burtyn- sky over 20 years ago when Balderston was hired to work at his photography company. Balderston described the 58-year-old photographer as a committed, humble man with a “natural photographic tal- ent.” “You look at his pictures and you’re seduced by the colours, the form, the detail, and the scale of the image,” he said. “You realize, a lot of it is man- made and it’s really disturbing. “He puts the information out there in the best way he knows how and... it’s up to viewers to make that decision,” Balderston said, adding that Burtyn- sky’s work initiates discussion. Kurtis Stewart, a teaching assistant for one of Langara’s photography pro- grams, said Burtynsky is very involved with his work. “He’s not separated from the process, which is cool,” Stew- art said. “He’s not worried about get- ting dark and dirty and all those places you have to go to get those good shots. It was real.”