Burnaby’s first and favourite information source
Grading Gordon Campbell: City activists weigh in PAGE 3
Delivery 604-942-3081 • Saturday, October 30, 2010
Central in the driver’s seat
PAGE 29
Your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! >> www.burnabynow.com THE CHANGING CITY
No potty place for pooches City bylaw puts doggie daycare owner in a bind Janaya Fuller-Evans staff reporter
While doing one’s business, indoors is the best option for humans, but the same is not the case for canines. That is the message doggie daycare owner Kathleen Dickie has been trying to get through to the City of Burnaby. Dickie, who owns Canine Corner Doggie Day Care on Goring Street, has been struggling to address the problem of where her charges should poop since opening six-and-a-half years ago, she said. “It’s an ongoing issue.” The problem is that Burnaby’s current bylaw requires kennels and dog daycares to keep the animals in an enclosed building, with no allowance for the pups to poop outside. They don’t allow dog daycares to have outdoor areas to go to the bathroom in, she said. Bylaw 11271 comes under the kennel regulation bylaw enacted in 1960, and states: “No person shall operate or carry on or permit to be operated any animal training or daycare facilities except … completely within an enclosed building.” Dickie pointed out that, at the time of the bylaw’s creation, dog daycares were not as prevalent as today. “It’s never been revised,” she said. In 1997, city council adopted a Dogs Page 9 D DE EN V 7 T EX N O TO
Larry Wright/burnaby now
Raising concerns: Sandra Wong is one of the parents from St. Francis de Sales parish who have started a petition over their concerns about the future of a parish preschool. They’re worried about how it could be affected by plans for full-day kindergarten.
Parish parents start petition Andrew Fleming staff reporter
The B.C. government’s decision to implement full-day kindergarten in 2011 is creating trouble at a Burnaby parish. Parents with preschool-aged children currently enrolled at St. Francis de Sales, a private Catholic school affiliated with the church of the same name, are worried about the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the program and have started a petition asking the Archdiocese of Vancouver to force the parish to address it. “Two years ago, the govern-
ment said that kindergarten would go full-time in 2011,” said Sandra Wong, one of over a dozen parents who have already written a letter to the parish priest, Father Thomas Smith, expressing their frustration with the lack of progress. “So the school has known for two years that this was going to happen. We want to put a bit of pressure on them so that they realize this is really important to people.” The Balmoral Street independent school currently offers two separate preschool options for parents. Preschool 3 is offered Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. for three-year-olds, while
preschool 4 is offered for kids a year older at the same time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. “It is the preschool 3’s that are in jeopardy of not having a spot next year, and it is the preschool 3 parents that are driving the ‘save the preschool’ campaign,” Wong explained, saying it would be difficult to try and enrol children into other preschool programs at neighbouring parishes, as preference is given to kids already in their systems. She said that parents were only informed at a meeting in mid-September that the preschool program could be closed
FALL DECORATING EVENT Get your home ready for holiday entertaining with FALLing prices on our huge selection of
In-stock RED TAG decorating fabrics • Hunter Douglas blinds• Area rugs • And more! It’s the perfect event to create your made-to-measure drapes and roman shades, upholstered headboards or ottomans, re-upholstered sofas and arm chairs, and slipcovered dining chairs and love seats. Come see us today.
next year due to increased need for kindergarten space. One of the possible options presented by the parish at the meeting would require $500,000 to be raised by December. “Why was this option not communicated to both parents and parishioners well in advance, so as to provide a reasonable opportunity to raise the funds?” asked Wong, who said her family moved to the area specifically to be close to St. Francis de Sales. “They haven’t been asked to participate, they haven’t been asked to do anything.” Preschool Page 9
perfect fit. perfect fabric. perfectly fabulous.
BURNABY 2282 Holdom Ave 604-291-6922
www.arlenes.com