Renter union grows Vancouver-based advocacy group opens chapter in New Westminster By CLOE LOGAN ew Westminster renters will now have a chance to advocate for their rights as tenants with the Vancouver Ten- ants Union setting up a new chap- ter in the small municipality. An organizer with the tenants union said the new group wants to cater to specific needs in the city. Although the Vancouver monthly meetings in the Downtown East- side have been open to everyone, it’s a long commute for renters in New Westminster. “A lot of [tenants] are older, a lot of them have disabilities, they're on pensions, and that kind of stuff. So theyre not super- mobile,” said David Hendry, who lives in New Westminster and has “T wasn't able to pay the new rent price as it was double what I was paying before.” — MERYL HEPPNER, NEW WESTMINISTER RESIDENT been involved in the Vancouver chapter for a year. Although New Westminster is the first chapter of the tenants union outside of Vancouver, Hen- dry said the group is looking to expand further in the future. In New Westminster, several rallies outside of older buildings and information sessions orga- nized by the Vancouver-based tenants union have taken place in the past year. Renoviction, which is when landlords evict their ten- ants to do large-scale renovations and hike up rents, has been one of the predominant housing prob- lems in the city. Many renters have experienced renovictions. “I was very happy living where I was living, but new owners bought my building and issued a notice to all tenants that they would be ren- ovating the new suites,” said Mer- yl Heppner, who was renovicted from her New Westminster apart- ment in 2016. “I wasn’t able to pay the new rent price as it was double what I was paying before.” Heppner thinks a tenants union might help people like her, who were put in a tight spot with few resources and little information. ‘The Vancouver tenants group was formed in April 2017. It aims to educate tenants about their tights and advocate for them when possible. ‘The chapter in New Westmin- ster, where renters make up 44 per cent of the population, is the first outside of Vancouver. New Westminster Coun. Mary Trentadue is hopeful that the re- cently elected city council can work together to figure out what else can be done about housing af- fordability. If you're planning to use the Sungod Recreation Centre in Delta but you're coming from outside the municipality, prepare to pay more as city council ponders higher fees for non-residents. cAiMERON THOMSON PHOTO Delta plans outsider fees Residents fed up with crowded recreation centres By CAMERON THOMSON elta’s new mayor plans to set higher rates at recreation centres for people coming from outside the city. George Harvie, Delta’s newly elected mayor, told the Delta Op- timist last week that he would ensure there is a separate rate for people outside of Delta. Lois Jackson, Delta’s previous mayor of nearly 20 years who ran successfully in the recent election for a council seat, said the move to charge different fees will address a problem that has suddenly sur- faced. “What has happened in the past year and a bit is all our programs are all full and, upon analysis, there’s many people in the pro- grams that don’t live in Delta,” Jackson said. This issue is less pronounced in areas like Tsawwassen but more prominent in the part of Delta that borders Surrey. “The folks in North Delta are becoming very concerned that they arent able to get into their own facilities that they're paying for,” Jackson said. While there are no recreation centres in Tsawwassen First Na- tion, Delta has six. Surrey has sev- en recreational centres. In Delta, Surrey and Richmond, the adult drop-in fees are nearly identical, with Surrey and Delta charging $7 per person and Rich- mond charging $6.90. Nicole Okano, a resident of Richmond who uses Delta’s Sun- god Recreation Centre with her children, said she is simply choos- ing the closest option. “Sungod is the closest communi- ty centre for me, Richmond is not. I'm just going by location that’s the most convenient for my family, so obviously I don’t want to see my rates go up.” But Manav Bhardwaj, a resi- dent of North Delta, believes there should be a way to deter the per- ceived heavy use of Delta facilities by outsiders. “I don’t use any of the facilities in Delta anymore because it’s just not worth it because it’s just so busy," Bhardwaj said. “And if we are getting other people from other municipalities coming in and using the facilities then maybe we should charge them a premium.” Surrey slammed Illegal sales will grow if stores not allowed, says pot advocate By NIKITHA MARTINS prominent cannabis-rights advocate says Surrey will see an increase in black market drug dealing because of the new city council’s plan to do nothing about dispensary regula- tion. During the recent civic election campaign, Doug McCallum and his party, Safe Surrey Coalition, took the position that regulating cannabis would not be a priority. McCallum and his team said that, because they plan replace the RCMP with a municipal police force, they do not want to compli- cate things by getting the current police force to grapple with regu- lating legal cannabis storefronts in the city. But that’s a huge mistake, said Dana Larsen, who has spent much of his life advocating for cannabis reform and ending the global war on drugs. “Let’s be clear, even if [McCal- lum] does manage to shut down storefronts in Surrey, there is not going to be one gram less cannabis sold in Surrey. It’s just not going to be sold in a storefront where there is some sort of oversight and re- sponsibility and accountability to those who are running it. They are going to be sold in alleyways and living rooms and other places,” Larsen said. Surrey is one of three B.C. cities experiencing the highest number of illicit drug overdoses this year, according to 2018 B.C. coroner statistics. Larsen said one of the key ben- efits of legal stores is that canna- bis helps prevent overdose deaths from opioids. “Targeting dispensaries that provide a beneficial herbal medi- cine to people that need it in the middle of an overdose crisis is es- sentially going to kill people be- cause they'll be turning to opioids because they don’t have access to cannabis,” Larsen said. One worker from a Surrey dis- pensary also emphasized that peo- ple will be exposed to unsafe drugs if they are forced back to buying on the street. Mia, a staff member at YuYo who would not give her last name, for pot policies said the dispensary sends the product for testing to make sure it is safe to consume. Unlike McCallum, other new mayors in the region said they would work on systems for le- gal dispensaries. Burnaby, Port Moody and Vancouver politicians have indicated they will move for- ward with those plans. However, Richmond city council has op- posed legal cannabis stores. doesn't want to regulate cannabis sales. wesiey ci8Bs PHOTO VIA UNSPLASH