QUIDDITCH INVADES SWANGARD
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NOSE HOLDING WHILE MARKING BALLOT
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TRYING TO DEFINE CONGESTION
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WEDNESDAY
MARCH 25 2015 www.burnabynewsleader.com
A math mentoring program in Burnaby schools builds skills, connections. Page A4
IIOBC seeks Lougheed shooting witnesses Man shot by police expected to survive
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Eric Damer and Susan Wilkinson set up posts to support a beaver fence along Deer Lake Brook on Saturday. Volunteers supported by the Burnaby Lake Park Association and the Fraser Valley Conservancy helped clean up the brook’s shores, removed invasive blackberry bushes and planted new native shrubbery as part of an ongoing effort to preserve fragile wetlands.
MLA blames province for Riel closure Shin says funding, debt problems to blame for shutdown of residences Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
The impending closure of Louis Riel House Residence at Simon Fraser University is a direct result of provincial funding and debt policies, says Burnaby-Lougheed NDP MLA Jane Shin. The 45-year-old residence is
closing at the end of August due to ongoing concerns about its structure and indoor air quality, and the fact the mechanical systems and building envelope are coming to the end of their service life, according to an SFU statement earlier this month. Currently, only 58 per cent of the 210 units are occupied. “The closure comes after years of chronic underfunding for maintenance needs at SFU by the B.C. provincial government,” said
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Chardaye Bueckert, president of the Simon Fraser Student Society, in a letter of support for Riel residents. The society is “actively advocating for the provincial government to provide more funding to address maintenance needs and to prioritize measures that will allow for more student housing on campus,” Bueckert said. For years, the family-oriented residence has had ongoing issues with mould and other concerns,
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said Shin, whose riding includes the SFU campus. The closure will force 20 families to move and try to find new homes in a tight rental market where it will be difficult to find affordable family housing close to the Burnaby Mountain campus. Over the years, wings of the residence have had to be closed as its conditions worsened, and closing the entire building is the final step, Shin said. Please see PROVINCE, A3
Just Play!
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIOBC) wants to talk to anyone who may have been in the Lougheed area where a man was shot by Burnaby RCMP officers on Friday night. On March 20 at about 7:45 p.m., Burnaby Mounties responded to reports of a man with a gun in the 9300-block of Salish Court, say Burnaby RCMP. Officers found the suspect and his vehicle in the area. They confronted the man, who was in distress and allegedly threatened to harm first himself and then the police officers. Shots were fired and the man was hit. “He has been taken to hospital for treatment and is expected to survive,” said Burnaby RCMP. “No RCMP members or members of the public were injured during the course of the incident.” IIOBC, which investigates policeinvolved deaths or injuries, was contacted and was canvassing the neighbourhood on the weekend. Please see STORY, A9