Clergy unite to fight ban

South Vancouver rabbi unhappy with Trudeau response

By JASON GILDER

embers of different religious faiths

in Vancouver are banding together

to urge the Canadian government

to allow the entry of refugees af- fected by the United States travel ban.

The Concerned Canadian Clergy for Refugees was formed in response to the travel ban ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. The multi-faith coalition was spearheaded by Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom on Oak Street and West 57th Av- enue, after he wrote an open letter urging Canada to ac- cept refugees stranded by the ban.

“I pitched the idea to the immigration lawyer we have here at the synagogue, and then I emailed the letter to various lists on Saturday af- ternoon,” Moskovitz said. “By Saturday evening, I had over 200 signatures on the letter.”

Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Muslim leaders

from across the country lent their support.

Dan Moskovitz SENIOR RABBI TEMPLE SHOLOM

The executive order signed by President Donald Trump restricted people with citizenship from the Muslim-majority countries of Syria, Iraq, Iran, So- malia, Yemen, Libya and Sudan from entering the United States. Thousands of travellers, immigrants and refugees were affected by the ban. The ban has been temporarily halted by a court in Seattle, whose ruling was upheld Thursday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Moskovitz said the group is disappointed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau initially said Canada would welcome refugees dis- placed by the ban, but the government is planning to accept thousands fewer refugees than last year.

Former Langara student Abubakar Khan, helped recruit Sikh leaders to the clergy coalition.

“They are with us, they know that this is messed up,” Khan said. “It is a beautiful thing because it is uniting everyone regardless of religion, ethnicity, culture or whatever it may be.”

In response to both the travel ban and the hor- rific shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City, thousands of Vancouverites have at- tended vigils supporting the city’s Muslim com- munity. At a Saturday vigil at the Jamia Masjid mosque on West 8th Street, Haroon Khan, a trust- ee with the mosque, urged attendees to embrace

tolerance.

“Let’s open up our mosques, let’s open up our churches, let’s open up our synagogues...and our temples so that we can all understand one another, as human beings,” he said.

A Seattle court ruling temporarily halted the ban last week.

A federal appeals court upheld the ruling on Thursday.

Should the ban be reinstated, authorities say Canadian citizens and permanent residents from the seven countries can travel to the U.S.

SOURCES: NYTIMES.COM, GLOBEANDMAIL.COM

Homeless count to rise: residents of ‘Surrey strip

City due to open new shelter in Guildford to deal with higher numbers

By STUART NEATBY

ordon Patton, who lives in a homeless ex along the notorious “Surrey strip,”

has a prediction for next month’s home- less count in the city he calls home.

“They'll be double,” he said, referring to the Metro Vancouver homeless count to be conducted over a 24-hour period on March 8. “In terms of the tent city, probably double the [number of] homeless-dependent opioid users.”

Patton made these comments outside his shelter, which overlooks what is com- monly known as the “Surrey strip,” a two-block section of 135A Street near the Gateway SkyTrain station. He knows people living in tents along the strip and believes some have remained outside because it offers a supportive community for addicts and the homeless. The trained electrician said he is more than two years clean after battling an addiction to morphine.

Homeless residents and one shelter operator say Patton’s prediction will likely be correct when vol- unteers conduct a count of homeless residents in the Lower Mainland — which occurs every three years. The last tally revealed there were 403 home- less residents in Surrey and 2,777 in the Lower Mainland.

“T would say it’s definitely increased,” said Basil Toomer, a spokesperson for the non-profit Look- out Emergency Aid Society, which operates most shelters along the strip, including Patton's.

Toomer said most of its Surrey shelters turn people away each night.

Surrey council has responded to the homeless crisis and is opening a new emergency shelter in Guildford on Friday.

Surrey Coun. Judy Villeneuve said the city is working on building more permanent housing to move people from shelters to homes. But housing prices and funding remain a challenge.

“We have to build up those support services to really help people because the gap between the rich and poor is growing,” she said.

The preliminary homeless count report will be

released March 31.

Gordon Patton ‘SURREY STRIP’ RESIDENT

Delta farmers hop on craft bandwagon

First farm craft brewery clears regulatory hurdles

By MELANIE GREEN hree Delta neighbours are one step closer to opening the first farm craft brewery in the Lower Mainland.

Over the last year, the trio has gone before the province’s Agricultural Land Commission, Delta Council and a public hearing. Last Friday, Metro Vancouver’s regional planning committee permit- ted them to present their application at the dis- trict’s sewage committee meeting Feb. 24.

Sean Buhr, David Terpsma and Ken Malenstyn are expected to get final approval later this month for their proposed 5,500 sq. ft. brewery on shared acres of Fraserland farms at 6225 60th Ave. in Delta.

“We are very ecstatic about it,” said Malenstyn, a third-generation farmer behind the brewery idea.

Buhr’s family and Malenstyn have neighbouring farms and grow organic barley and hops. Terpsma isn’t a farmer but an avid home brewer.

Their application must align with recent ALC changes to regulations of farmland use and the Metro Vancouver 2040 regional growth plan. Changes included permitting breweries as accept- able for farm use if 50 per cent of the ingredients used in their products are grown onsite.

"Allowing breweries on farms creates a new av- enue for other farmers because it’s economically viable,” said Malenstyn.

“Once you own your crops, then you control your own market,” he said.

Malenstyn said he and his partners have invest- ed a “decent chunk of money” — and will spend more than $1 million to complete the brewery.

Ken Beattie, executive director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild, said the existing land reserve re- quirements are challenging for small brewers be- cause certain crops, like hops, are low in mass. They might meet the requirement in volume but not weight.

The growth of craft breweries has doubled in the province over the last two years, according to Beattie. Many breweries on rural land have been affected by the “unintended consequence” of the policy trying to catch up to the industry’s growth spurt, he said, and current land reserve regulations need to be changed.

The proposed onsite farm brewery could open

by spring 2018.

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Wild organic hops on Crescent Island Farms, soon to be an integral part of the Lower Mainland's

first farm craft brewery. sugiiT7ED PHOTO