Friday
March 4, 2016 (Vol. 41 No. 18)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
Goode reviews: White Rock film director Jason R. Goode is receiving unexpected attention for his first feature project, the wilderness treasure-hunt thriller Numb. i see page 17
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Semiahmoo House supporters hope to get premier’s attention
Transit users take protest to Victoria Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
If a decision to charge people with disabilities $52 per month for transit passes isn’t reversed, Craig Muirhead says he’ll be forced “to scrape and think about my next meal.” “If it doesn’t change… I won’t be able to go to work,” Muirhead, a custodial engineer at South Surrey’s Semiahmoo House Society, told Peace Arch News from Victoria, follow-
ing a rally protesting the move that was held Wednesday outside the B.C. legislature. “It’s just going to make it so difficult for us.” Semiahmoo House provides support for people with developmental disabilities. Muirhead, 45, was among hundreds to gather in Victoria for the noon-hour ‘Raise the rates, leave our bus passes alone’ event. Fellow Self-Advocates of Semiahmoo members Victoria Drake and John Barlow also participated,
alongside SAS adviser Jill Glennie. Glennie said word that the transportation cost would be clawed back from a $77-permonth increase to disability-assistance payments – the first boost since 2007 – came about two weeks ago. It was accompanied by news that the annual bus-pass program – costing people with disabilities just $45 per year – was being cancelled. i see page 4
Contributed photo
John Barlow, Victoria Drake, Jill Glennie and Craig Muirhead protest in Victoria.
MP hosts forum
Legislators face death head on Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Tracy Holmes photo
An overnight fire destroyed a suite and reduced the DJ Auto Market and Super Suds Car Wash to little more than a building frame Wednesday.
26 firefighters battle overnight fire on King George Boulevard
Two escape as blaze claims dealership Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
A South Surrey car dealership and auto wash was reduced to little more than a frame Wednesday morning, in a blaze that collapsed a floor and forced firefighters to retreat. The fire at DJ Auto Market and Super Suds Car Wash, at 2377 King George Blvd., broke out just before 2 a.m., and at its height, 26 firefighters were working to bring it under control. Damage was such that as of mid-morning
Wednesday, crews had not been able to thoroughly search the building – which had an upstairs suite – however, injuries were not suspected. “We believe the tenants are all out… and accounted for,” battalion Chief Gary McHarg told Peace Arch News at the scene. “At this point, we don’t believe there’s anybody inside.” Officials confirmed Thursday that two people were in the suite when the fire broke out; both escaped unharmed before firefighters
arrived. McHarg said crews were alerted to the blaze by a Surrey RCMP officer who was in the area, heard a noise and found the fire. When firefighters arrived, a vehicle was on fire at the front of the building and flames were extending up into the building. It’s unclear if the fire started in the building and spread to the vehicle, or vice versa, McHarg said. i see page 4
Talking about death – particularly his own – hasn’t exactly been a comfortable thing for John Aldag. But the Liberal MP for Cloverdale-Langley City said he has realized its importance, through his work on the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying. “I like to pretend that it’s not going to affect me, ever,” Aldag said Thursday, the morning after hosting a forum on physicianassisted dying in Ocean Park. The committee work “just really opened up that need to talk.” A chance to ask questions of Aldag about the 21 recommendations the joint committee submitted last week around legislation mandated by the Supreme Court drew an estimated 80 people to Ocean Park Community Hall Wednesday. Attendees were “very engaged, (with) lots of very difficult questions that are not easy to answer,” according to Aldag. Questions ranged from how the medical community will ensure criteria around physician-assisted dying are met, to who would have the ability to request an alternate decision-maker and if the option would apply only to people with a terminal illness. i see page 4
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