9) Drag queens

Rogue and other Vancouver
drag performers weigh in on a

new age of drag. P4-5

free menstrual products. P3

Period progress

B.C. government is promising

all public buildings to provide

Silk exhibit

Artist Zhong Ren has his first
Canadian art exhibit at Sun Zen

Art Gallery. P7

PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA

NOV. 26, 2019

* VOL. 52 NO. 07 * VANCOUVER, B.C.

Stuck
by bus
strike

Langara students
have few options
to get to campus
during job action

By KRISTEN HOLLIDAY

any students who com-
mute to Langara by bus
say they would have no

alternative but to skip classes if
strike action escalates to a full bus
shutdown on Wednesday.

In an informal poll conducted by
The Voice, a quarter of commuting
students say they will be stranded
at home if strike action escalates.

Another 21 per cent of stu-
dents say they aren't sure how they
would get to class and don't have
a plan in place if the buses shut
down.

“We will have to
skip. It's really
expensive taking a
cab here. So we're
not going to do
that.”

— SONALU DHINGRA, LANGARA STUDENT

In a statement posted on Lan-
gara’s website, the college said, “we
recognize this escalation in job ac-
tion will cause disruption.”

Classes will continue as normal-
ly scheduled and students are en-
couraged to contact their instruc-
tors if they are concerned about
missing classes or arriving late.

Wendy Jimenez, a psychology
student at Langara, said she will
likely be commuting by cab to
school. Jimenez said she takes the
bus to drop her son off at daycare,
before getting back on the bus to
Langara.

“T’ll be relying on taxis, but even
that’s probably going to be chaos,”
Jimenez said. “It will be at least
$30 or more, one way; probably
more because I have to drop him
off and come back here.”

Please see STUCK BY BUS STRIKE, page 2

Prabhleen Matharu (left) and her father, Gurdial Matharu (right) pose for a photo. Matharu was an international student at Langara College. Her body was found
in a central Surrey home with one other unidentified body. PHo7o FROM MATHARU'S INSTAGRAM

An isolated incident

Not looking for further suspects after body found: [HIT

By PALAK KLAIRE

former Langara College

student who was found

dead Friday had failed to

show up for her shift at
work the day before, according to a
co-worker.

‘The body of Prabhleen Matharu,
21, was found in a Surrey home
Friday at the 14000-block of 102A
Avenue. Another body, an 18-year-
old male, was found on the scene.

The Integrated Homicide Inves-
tigation Team said in a statement
that Matharu is a homicide victim,
but did not say if the male was also
a victim of homicide. “We are not

looking for further suspects,” IHIT

said in the statement.

“Although our investigation is in
its early stages, at this time it ap-
pears as though one of the deceased
was the victim of a homicide. We
are working hard to gather evidence
to identify the events surrounding
this tragedy,” said Constable Har-
rison Mohr in the statement from
IHIT.

After which, the statement said,
"initial indications are that this was
an isolated incident with no risk to
the public."

Matharu came to Canada in 2016
and was studying business manage-
ment at Langara College according
to her co-worker.

Matharu was working full time at

DSV Solutions Inc., a global trans-

portation logistics company. The

co-worker
has asked not
to be identi-
fied because
the company
didnt autho-
rize her to
speak.

“She was al-
ways smiling,
she wouldnt
hesitate to

help others at

work, she was a very down-to-earth

person,” said the co-worker.
According to the co-worker,

Matharu had a work permit and

“She was always
smiling, she wouldn't
hesitate to help others
at work, she was avery

down-to-earth person.”

—MATHARU'S CO-WORKER

was no longer studying at Langara.

Mark Dawson, Langara Col-

lege’s manager
of public af-
fairs, said there
was a student
by the name
of Prabhleen
Kaur Matharu
studying at the

college.
“Out of
respect for

student confi-

dentiality and

the privacy of the family, we can-
not share any further information,”
Dawson said, “our deepest sympa-
thies are with her family or friends.”