Brains behind brothel has left town

Korean nationals barred from Canada for a year

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

The alleged brains behind a local brothel operation raided last Thursday won’t be allowed to return to Canada for at least one year.

And neither will three of the women who were allegedly working there.

Canada Border Services Agency issued an exclusion order to Korea’s Woo Sang Na, 36, this week after he was arrested by the Richmond RCMP.

Three Korean women—Mira Chu, 22, Sun Hee Lee, 32, Keun Min Shim, 27—appeared before a tribunal of the Immigration and Refugee Board in downtown Vancouver on Tuesday and Wednesday and were issued exclusion orders, barring them from Canada for one year. The hearing of a fourth woman, Yun Mi Cho, 25, was underway late Wednesday and the outcome was not available by press time.

Nancy Bray, spokesperson for the border services agency, explained that the decision to issue an exclusion order is based on the facts of the case. If someone has stayed in Canada longer than allowed, worked illegally or if he or she has committed a minor criminal offence, that might warrant an exclusion order.

A deportation order, however, which is permanent, would be considered in the case of a serious criminal offence.

But Na has not been charged with a criminal offence—as of Wednesday nobody had.

Still, Na might be red-flagged in the future should he try to return to Canada, Bray said.

“If we feel he...has demonstrated he doesn’t have a genuine intent (to be a tourist), we can turn him back.”

RCMP Const. Alex Borden, of the border integrity unit, said there was no evidence of coercion, threats or intimidation in this case, as police originally feared. There was no evidence of human trafficking either, he noted, which was the focus of the border integrity unit’s investigation.

Richmond RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said money was seized from the house, but he wouldn’t say how much. Police are still trying to determine if there is enough to support a bawdy-house related criminal charge, but so far no decision has been made or charge laid.

Melissa Anderson, spokesperson for the Immigration and Refugee Board, said she believes all of the women came to Canada as tourists.

If the women earned money during their stay, and that can be proven, that would be a breach of the terms of their entry into Canada, she said.

The tribunal could decide to issue a deportation order, which would forever bar a person from returning to Canada. An option is an exclusion order, which would permit a return after one year. In the case of a departure order, the visitor essentially voluntarily leaves.

Of the six people Richmond RCMP had in custody on the weekend, one was released and five were handed over to immigration officials.

They were all arrested following a three-month joint investigation involving the Richmond RCMP and the RCMP’s Border Integrity Unit.

In last week’s raid, police launched their investigation in July after receiving a tip about a man who was transporting women to a house on Finlayson Drive, directly across the street from Robert J. Tait Elementary.

Police allege the women were brought to the house every day to engage in acts of prostitution.

Neighbours told reporters that pricey cars of all makes would line the road near the stucco house, including limousines filled with men on occasion.

The owner of the house, Barbara Y. Lung said she’s been unable to reach her tenant since she was informed of the raid by The Richmond Review on Friday.

Asked if she plans to evict her tenant, she said: “I don’t know. I’m still in shock.”

Lung said she’s been assured by police that she’s not being investigated.

Court judgement reveals details on Chan’s murder

Greed was motivating factor in May 2003, court says

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

New details have been revealed about the gangland-style murder of Raymond Man Yuen Chan in May of 2003.

What turned into a murder was initially supposed to be a kidnapping at a fitness gym.

Maple Ridge’s Aharon Lee Campbell, 23, was sentenced last month in B.C. Supreme Court to four years in prison after he pled guilty to conspiring to commit an indictable offence and being an accessory after the fact to a murder.

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice N. Morrison’s explanation of the sentencing was not released until Wednesday and for the first time paints a precise picture of what led to Chan’s murder, and the actions of the accused, including Richmond’s Mark James Thrower and two other men.

Chan was an alleged supplier of high-level cocaine and was lured to Thrower’s Burkeville house on May 9, 2003 by Thrower and co-accused Michael Mercredi.

Chan was severely beaten with a Mag-Lite flashlight inside the house, and both his wrists and ankles were restrained. Chan’s body was eventually found three days later in the back alley behind the Richmond provincial courthouse on Elmbridge Way.

According to the judgment, the initial plan was for Mercredi, Thrower and Campbell to kidnap Chan, who was portrayed as a wealthy drug lord, and threaten him so that he would cough up some $400,000 he owed for “goods that had not been paid for.”

The plan called for the men to buy a white van and some prepaid cellular phones under false names.

“Mr. Campbell understood the plan was to kidnap Mr. Chan, quiz him, locate his cash and split the money,” Morrison said. “There was an initial attempt when Mr. Chan was at a fitness gym where the conspirators had masks, tape and handcuffs with them. The attempt failed when they seemingly lost their nerve.”

According to the court document, Campbell was unaware of the fact that the kidnapping plan changed on May 9.

While Chan was still supposed to be lured to Thrower’s house, what happened next didn’t go according to the initial plan.

“When Mr. Chan arrived, Mr. Campbell stepped out the back door of the house and remained outside for approximately five minutes. He heard noises from within the house. When he re-entered the Thrower house, he saw Mr. Chan lying motionless on the floor near the entrance.”

According to Campbell, Chan’s ankles and hands had been duct-taped and there was blood on the floors, walls and on both Thrower and Mercredi.

Campbell testified that Thrower placed a plastic bag over Chan’s head and then gave orders on getting rid of the clothes and putting them into a bag along with the cellular phones and Mag-Lite flashlight.

Campbell said Mercredi stabbed Chan with a knife 13 times and then took three Polaroid photos before the pair dumped his body.

The evidence was placed in the van and disposed of in separate locations.

Richmond RCMP investigators caught a massive break when Mercredi bragged about the murders to a third party. That person then acted as an agent for the police and wore a hidden microphone at one point. This information was sufficient for police to arrest the men on Oct. 3, 2003.

The day after the arrest, Campbell came forward and asked to talk to the police and told them everything. He took part in a police re-enactment and showed them where the murder occurred. Police found DNA evidence in Thrower’s house, along with burned fragments of evidence in a Burnaby park.

A married father of a one- and four-year-old, Campbell has signed a formal agreement with the police to testify against his co-accused despite the death threats he’s received over the course of the last year of his incarceration spent in protective custody.

Justice Morrison said she was impressed by the steps Campbell has taken to turn his life around.

“Mr. Campbell fell in with the wrong crowd. His education upgrading is impressive and the character of the accused does not fit a profile that we see too often in our criminal courts. In my view, there has been remorse shown and it is genuine.”

Morrison noted that the Chan murder changed Campbell’s life.

“After the murder...(he) was having terrible nightmares. Since his arrest and over the past year, Mr. Campbell’s wife has seen a complete change in her husband. She apparently said that he is no longer a follower, that he has taken full responsibility for what he has done.”

While Campbell has taken steps to turn his life around, Morrison pointed out that the kidnapping was based on greed and that was an aggravating factor, as was his assistance in destroying evidence.

Thrower was recently released on a $250,000 bail.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Nov. 8 for Vancouver’s Justine Nethanial Po and Burnaby’s Michael Andrew Mercredi.

The trial of Steveston secondary graduate Mark Thrower is scheduled to begin in B.C. Supreme Court on Feb. 5.

Halloween beating accused may plead guilty

Christopher Marshall is charged with assaulting Kostyantin Rogozin

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

One of four men charged with last Halloween’s beating of Kostyantin Rogozin is apparently considering a guilty plea.

Christopher Marshall, who is currently in custody on unrelated robbery charges, has indicated that he may at a future court date plead guilty. What he intends to plead guilty to is not clear.

Marshall’s lawyer, James Sherren, would not comment on the record.

Marshall is charged with assault causing bodily harm and mischief and was arrested by Richmond RCMP earlier this year along with his brother Brett and two other men, Matthew Kitts and Eduardo Medrano.

Brett Marshall admitted his part in Rogozin’s beating in a letter of apology he penned shortly after he was arrested. He is represented by lawyer David Tarnow, who did not return repeated calls.

Brett Marshall was recently taken into custody after he failed to make a court appearance in relation to the Oct. 31, 2003 beating. As of Monday, both Brett and Chris Marshall were still behind bars. Their next appearance in Richmond provincial court is scheduled for Oct. 21.

Kitts maintains his innocence and is set to return to Richmond court on Jan. 20 for his trial confirmation hearing. A trial is scheduled for April.

Kitts’ lawyer, Jim Humphrey, said his client is not considering a guilty plea because he is “completely innocent of both charges,” he said.

In June, Richmond’s Eduardo Medrano, 21, received a conditional discharge and a one-year term of probation after he pled guilty to mischief under $5,000.

Rogozin was in the passenger seat of his sedan, with his wife behind the wheel, when they were forced to pull over after their car was pelted with raw eggs.

That’s when a group of youth surrounded the vehicle and the passenger door was pulled open and Rogozin was beaten by at least two men, one of whom wore brass knuckles.

Rogozin suffered injuries to his head and face and initially suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to the letter written by Brett Marshall, he said the youth attacked the Rogozin’s vehicle because they thought it carried the person responsible for an attack on one of their female friends.

Rogozin could not be reached for comment.

Teachers are ‘getting stretched’

Trustee says working conditions need to be improved

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

Two Richmond school trustees who believe it’s time to push the government to improve working conditions for teachers had their hopes dashed this week despite a provincial budget surplus.

Trustee Annie McKitrick presented a motion to the board Monday night to send a letter to provincial Education Minister Tom Christensen demanding the government “fully fund” schools to maintain teacher librarians, reasonable class sizes, retain young teachers and provide teacher support staff.

McKitrick, supported by trustee Patricia Whittaker, said the move was a result of a decision by the board earlier this month to “salute” Richmond teachers, marking World Teachers’ Day Oct. 5.

“I didn’t think it was good enough. We needed to demonstrate to our teachers that we were hearing them loud and clear when they had talked to us over the last several years over working conditions,” she said. “They are getting stretched.”

Making the request of the minister would not only coincide with World Teachers’ Day, but also with the projected $1 billion provincial budget surplus, McKitrick said.

“I don’t believe we can do a lot within our present funding envelope to improve the conditions that teachers work under.”

But the majority of the board rejected the motion, opting instead to look internally for ways to improve working conditions for teachers. Trustees Sandra Bourque, Andy Hobbs, Linda McPhail, and Debbie Tablotney said it’s too early to call on the minister, citing a “strongly worded” letter already mailed to Christensen in April with little result.

Bourque suggested the school district could “remove any impediments” that make the jobs of district employees difficult.

“We tend to flip off letters very easily, but they are not always that effective.”

McPhail said Christensen visited the district for a “worthwhile” roundtable discussion in May, adding she hopes to meet with the minister again later this year.

McPhail said it’s too early to make demands of the government when the board doesn’t have final registration numbers.

Richmond Teachers’ Association president Al Klassen reiterated Monday the difficulties teachers face—larger class sizes, crowded physical space, lack of teaching resources and support—and urged trustees to bring that message forward to the province.

With a provincial budget surplus, Klassen said there is money now available that could be invested in classrooms.

“It’s even more important now that the current government is looking for advice on how to spend the budget surplus,” he said.

Vancouver may get tall ships

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

Richmond’s loss may become Vancouver’s gain today.

Vancouver city council will be voting this morning on a proposal to not only revive Vancouver’s popular Sea Festival, but to make it bigger by bringing in more than two dozen tall ships next July 6 to 10.

The event, which will be held all over Vancouver, is expected to draw more than 500,000 people.

Some of the brains behind the Vancouver event were those chiefly responsible for bringing the tall ships to Richmond in 2002.

Janice Podmore, chair of the organizing committee for the Steveston festival that drew an estimated 400,000 people over five days, is among those pitching this idea.

The City of Richmond declined to take on the event earlier this year because of financial obstacles and liability concerns.

Organizers are confident they will be able to bring in one or more of the massive Class A vessels that were missing from the Richmond event, including a ship from Japan and perhaps another from South America.

Corporate sponsors are also strongly supportive, sources indicate.

Before Richmond pulled out of the 2005 event, organizers had numerous corporate sponsors lined up, including the Great Canadian Casino.

While Richmond’s event had an economic impact of about $25 million, conservative estimates have SeaVancouver ringing in more than $27.5 million.

Gateway season opens under the flight path

Norm Foster comedy opens theatre’s 20th season

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

• Here on the Flight Path starring David Mackay and Jennifer Lines
• Runs until Nov. 6 at the Gateway Theatre MainStage (6500 Gilbert Rd.). For tickets, call the box office at 604-270-1812 or visit www.gatewaytheatre.com

Rachel Ditor knows the audience wants more than a few hours of eye exercises and giggles.

As a stage director, the 36-year-old believes people want to feel something. To create emotions the audience can engage in, Ditor has lain awake in bed thinking about why scenes work and why characters matter.

Not that sleep is a problem.

Her week has been chalk full of rehearsals before Thursday’s opening of Here on the Flight Path, the first play of the season at Gateway Theatre.

The play stars David Mackay as John Cummings, a divorced newspaper columnist who spends most of his time on his apartment balcony. Throughout the play, he meets three different women, all played by Jennifer Lines, who move in and out of the suite next door.

Cummings’ loveable character builds relationships with each woman under the roar of airplanes overhead—duly suited for a Richmond audience.

Here on the Flight Path is written by Canadian playwright Norm Foster (The Melville Boys), who at any one time has 30 productions of his various plays happening across North America. Ditor was drawn to the story because of its humour and compelling focus on people caught at life’s crossroads.

“There’s something very life affirming about looking at those times that are difficult and seeing them as times of growth,” she says.

Ditor, a Vancouver resident who earned her master’s in fine arts at the University of B.C., started on stage as a kid when her parents enrolled her in acting classes.

Academics drew her away from the stage in her early 20s, and directing emerged as her new love while studying at McGill University in Montreal. Along with directing, Ditor has also worked as a dramaturg, someone who works with a playwright to ready a show for the stage.

With Here on the Flight Path, Ditor has crafted the performance knowing people go to a theatre hoping for a “big experience.” That involves touching emotions, which she says is achieved through truth in acting, particularly in a comedy where laughter is often a result of actions.

The success of Ditor’s directing can be traced back to the rehearsal studio, a place she insists must be a “safe” environment for the actors.

“I honestly feel that it is my job to get the best work out of everybody else. I think that comes down to a philosophy in the rehearsal room. It’s really about having a lot of respect for your fellow artists,” she says.

“You do it by encouraging choices that are bold, and choices that are truthful. I think they’re the most important things about the work that I do in the rehearsal hall with the actors to tell an emotionally truthful story.”

Actors Mackay (who played Romeo in Gateway’s production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)) and Lines (who starred in Gateway’s Pump Boys and Dinettes) have made Ditor’s work easier, being accomplished performers who have worked together in the past. That equalled instant chemistry, but neither had performed on stage without a supporting cast.

“For them that presented a really big acting challenge, and I think they have a really good level of trust,” she says.

The two-actor play is also new for Ditor, who has come close, directing small casts of The Anger of Ernest and Earnestine and Never Swim Alone.

Lines has an additional challenge in the Gateway production—playing the roles of three women, all with different physical appearances and emotions.

What’s promised is a show that’s real where actors—who themselves live with professional and financial risks—identify with their characters.

Says Ditor: “I think you almost always do find a connection between yourself and the character, and because they’re very contemporary people, I don’t think it’s a very big stretch.”

It’s curtains for the Richmond Art Gallery

Shelley Ouellet’s work reflects on landscape paintings

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

Working with 40 high school students a few years ago, artist Shelley Ouellet crafted a large bug sculpture out of thousands of tiny rubber critters.

Since then, Ouellet has run into at least a dozen of her collaborators, who are now studying post-secondary art. She’s not taking all the credit, but having a positive impact is her art’s raison d’etre.

“All the work that I do I really try and figure out ways to bring people into the gallery space, to bring them into the work, to make them feel part of that artistic community whether they are artists or not,” the Calgary resident said in a phone interview.

Two of Ouellet’s large-scale collaborative pieces are now on display at the Richmond Art Gallery. Niagara Falls and Sunrise on the Saguenay are bead curtain sculptures that required the effort of strangers to complete.

Ouellet, 40, got help from members of the community where her work was previously exhibited. They placed thousands of beads on strings to create the curtains.

On their own, the beads look “goofy and cheap,” but 23,000 strung together is a magnificent sight.

The finished pieces reflect well-known 19th century paintings by Lucius O’Brien (Sunrise on the Saguenay, 1880) and Frederic Edwin Church (Niagara, 1857). Both represent poignant Canadian geographies: the Saguenay River in Quebec and Niagara Falls on the Ontario-New York border.

Ouellet carefully selected the images for her curtains to connect with the Canadian landscape.

“I was really interested in painters that were painting the landscape just before photography really took over,” says Ouellet, who pays the bills designing Internet sites.

Eighty people contributed to the curtains by applying beads to corresponding colours of Ouellet’s pattern, a process resembling a “giant needlepoint,” she says.

“It’s a way for me to divest some of the ownership of the piece. We all own it. We all participated in that,” she says.

“Suddenly it’s your gallery. Suddenly you belong there.”

She has also noticed people connecting quickly when assembling the artwork; a room full of strangers hanging beads for a week forces people to get to know each other quickly.

“In my own town of course, all my friends and family hide when they see my name come up on caller ID, because I’ve roped them in so many times,” she jokes.

Ouellet’s artwork is part of the exhibition Illusion of Sky—Shimmering Spectacles, which also features artist Robbin Deyo. It runs until Dec. 9 at Richmond Art Gallery (180-7700 Minoru Gate). Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Monday until Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information call 604-231-6454.

Undeclared wheat prompts product recall

Warning issued on veggie products made by Richmond-based firm

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

If you’ve recently purchased vegetarian products from Richmond-based Momo’s Veggie Kitchen, be cautious if you have a wheat allergy.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a warning Friday to people with allergies to wheat because a handful of Momo’s products contain the grain even though it isn’t listed on the label.

“Consumption of these products may cause a serious or life-threatening reaction in persons with allergies to wheat,” the inspection agency said in a press release.

There have been no reported illnesses linked to these products.

All best-before dates of the following products are currently affected by the alert:

Mo’ Beef Veggie Burger in the 170 gram size with the UPC code 6-88502-10060-4; Mo’ Chicken Veggie in the 170 gram size with the UPC code 6-88502-10070-3; Mo’ Rainbow Veggie Fish in the 250 gram size with the UPC code 6-88502-30030-1, and Mariner’s Veggie Delight in the 200 gram size with the UPC code 6-88502-30010-3.

Momo’s Veggie Kitchen is voluntarily recalling the impacted products which have been distributed across Canada.

Despite the recall, as of Tuesday, Momo’s web site at www.momoskitchen.com has not been updated with information about the impacted products.

Police bust alleged brothel

Bawdy house was operating in front of elementary school

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

The words penned on a crumpled sheet of paper in the back of a German sedan are the only hint at what was happening inside a newer stucco house on Finlayson Drive.

“How to protect the prostitutes,” one line reads.

“Some guy is ugly and pay for sex,” says another. “Serial killers. Victims. Income Taxes.”

Police say this house, at 10120 Finlayson Dr., operated as a round-the-clock brothel until they shut it down on Thursday night.

But aside from the occasional airplane flying directly overhead and the children playing across the street at Robert J. Tait Elementary School, this neighbourhood near No. 4 Road and Bridgeport is relatively quiet and the house nondescript.

Even a neighbour noted how still the house has been since an Asian tenant moved in about six months ago.

But then there were the many cars that drove up, always different makes and models, sometimes near midnight. Some were limousines, filled with men.

Four women and three men, all Asian, were arrested in the house Thursday night, all in their 20s, 30s and 40s. An eighth person, a man believed to be the brains behind the operation, was arrested elsewhere. Two people have been released, with the remaining six still in police custody as police continue their interviews.

When asked if drugs, cash or weapons were seized, RCMP Const. Alex Borden, of the border integrity unit, would only say that no weapons were found.

He wouldn’t say specifically what the people were doing when they entered the house, but did say that there were many beds in the house.

Thursday’s bust came following a three-month investigation launched in July.

Although the alleged brothel operated 24 hours per day, seven days per week, Richmond RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said there was never any danger to the general public. The fact that it is located near the elementary school simply goes to show that these types of operations can be established anywhere.

Though no charges have been laid, police are looking into whether this house was used to traffic people who have been lured to Canada and then forced against their will to work as prostitutes, Borden said.

In July, investigators became aware of a man who was transporting women to a central location and dropping them off.

The arrested women were not living in that Finlayson Drive house, but were being brought there every day to “engage in prostitution”. They were living at another location, but investigators wouldn’t say where.

Police wouldn’t say what they saw when they entered the home, other than the fact there “was no question” this was a bawdy house.

The house belongs to a Barbara Y. Lung, according to city property tax records.

When contacted Friday, Lung was surprised to learn of the RCMP raid.

“I didn’t know that. Oh my goodness.”

The tenant, whom she said worked at an automobile dealership, moved in about six months ago.

He is Malaysian but speaks Chinese and has a Japanese wife and two children. He also told Lung that he imported clothing.

About a month ago when she went to pick up the rent, Lung inspected the house, upstairs and downstairs, and saw no evidence of a brothel. She noted the children were playing there. She said she had only given them a couple of hours notice that she was coming by.

The arrests were welcomed by neighbours, Borden said.

“A lot of people out for a walk thanked us for being there.”

Police are also trying to determine how this house marketed itself to its clients.

Since the investigation is still in its infancy, police haven’t finished their follow-ups or interviews and aren’t saying whether organized crime is involved.

But they did say that in other cases, “there is a definite link between organized crime and human trafficking and smuggling.”

Neighbours rally to save ‘park’

Richmond Health Services plans to build assisted living complex

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

Steveston residents whose single-family homes surround a former elementary school site hope to block a plan to redevelop the green space as an assisted living facility.

It’s round two for the neighbourhood, which fought a previous proposal for the Austin Harris school site almost a decade ago. Today, the area is known as Austin Harris Park.

“I see the park as a real strong part of our community, and I see it as a huge loss if that park gets taken away,” said Gary Faryon, whose backyard faces the park.

Low enrollment forced the Richmond School District to close the school in 1992. The building was demolished after the Richmond Lions Long-term Care Society purchased the property a few years later with the intent on building a new facility there.

But community concerns over the project left the school-and-public-use zoning of the site—about the size of a small soccer field—intact and the lot vacant.

Since then, neighbours have used the grassy plot as a walkway, gathering place and for recreation. But a new proposal to redevelop the site is about to surface, as the land is now in the hands of Richmond Health Services.

The plan calls for a 50-unit low-rise, assisted living complex. But Faryon said even though the neighbourhood supports seniors’ housing, Austin Harris Park is not the right place.

“The biggest issue in everybody’s minds is simply regardless of the legal status of the park, it is a park (to) everybody,” he said.

Area resident Sally Breen said parkland is already at a premium in Steveston, where new higher density residential development is sprouting up. She added the park also serves as a path, linking cul-de-sacs with Moncton Street.

“If we remove it now, we’ll never get it back,” Breen said. “You can’t get parkland back; people don’t knock down houses and replace them with a park.”

Richmond Health Services held an open house in June outlining two options for the project—from two to three storeys—but has yet to submit a formal application to the city.

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority spokesperson Viviana Zanocco confirmed yesterday a non-profit partner, which should be selected by the end of the month, will apply for rezoning and will be responsible for further community consultation.

The neighbourhood already has some political support.

Coun. Bill McNulty said he’s asked staff to look into the possibility of the city obtaining the land for a park.

“I’m not against the usage of what the health board wants to do,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s the location we want to have it there.”

McNulty said there might be a better site available elsewhere in Richmond that the city can help the proponent find.

For more information, visit www.austinharrispark.com.

Transit fare increase now goes to public consultation

Second vote puts 25˘ increase back on the agenda

Julia Caranci, Regional Reporter

TransLink’s proposal to increase transit fares will go to public consultation—but the transportation authority is already feeling the heat from those opposed to the potential hike.

Friday’s board meeting was disrupted by about 10 members of the Bus Riders’ Union, a group of mostly young men and women opposed to increasing transit fares, who took over the room chanting slogans and unfurling a banner.

“Public transit is a right—all day, all night!” chanted the protesters, whose members have attended virtually every TransLink meeting over the last year and a half.

The directors sat it out for about 10 minutes before adjourning the meeting early and filing out of the room.

Most of the items on the agenda, including the fare increase proposal, had already been dealt with.

The proposed fare hike would see the one-zone and two-zone fares go up 25˘ to $2.25 and $3.25 respectively. The three-zone fare would jump 50˘ to $4.50. Child and senior rates would remain the same.

The increase represents a significant portion of the revenues required to fund the first three years of TransLink’s transportation plan, which aims to expand the region’s bus fleet, construct rapid transit to the airport and build another crossing over the Fraser River, among other projects.

The motion to send the proposal to consultation was defeated on Sept. 29, but returned to the board Friday after director Raymond Louie, who initially voted against it, asked that it be looked at again.

The motion passed.

Louie, a Vancouver councillor, defended his decision, but had to speak over heckling from members of the Bus Riders’ Union.

“Sending this out to consultation is not a decision to increase fares,” Louie insisted. “This will be the ridership’s opportunity to give voice to the proposal.”

Louie also said that freezing fares is not realistic—the system needs improvement and money is required to expand services.

After the disruption, chair Doug McCallum said the board doesn’t want to ban the group from future meetings because they have a right to attend, but he was frustrated by the outburst.

McCallum, who is mayor of Surrey, has promised there will not be another fare increase (if this one is approved) for at least three years.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, who is also a TransLink director, supported sending the proposal to public consultation.

Flu vaccines aimed at infants contain mercury

For first time, healthy kids advised to get shots too

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

B.C. health officials are recommending for the first time that healthy babies—starting at six months—get the flu shot.

Public health officials, who are convinced that a mercury-containing version of the flu shot is safe, originally planned to supply B.C. residents with only this form of the vaccine. That’s despite the fact a mercury-free version is available.

But that plan changed this week.

Two versions of the flu shot are available in Canada. At the beginning of the week, the plan was for B.C. residents to get vaccinated as part of the province’s free influenza campaign at a cost of $3 million.

This plan called for the use of the Fluviral vaccine, which contains the preservative thimerosal, a mercury-based contamination-fighting chemical that has been the subject of public controversy in the United States.

But the plan to exclusively use Fluviral changed this week, after inquiries by The Richmond Review on Monday. By Friday, a decision had been made by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to purchase 30,000 doses of a mercury-free version of the drug for B.C. infants.

“If thimerosal is a concern for a parent, we want to ensure that parents have access to a thimerosal-free product,” said Joyce Seto from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Thimerosal is a component of the flu shot and fights bacterial and fungal contamination in multi-dose vials. Thimerosal is no longer used in any Canadian vaccines, save for the flu shot, but was previously also found in the Hepatitis B shot up until 2001, when it was phased out.

One version of the flu shot goes by the brand name Vaxigrip and is produced by Aventis Pasteur. It contains only “trace amounts” of mercury, four per cent of what’s found in Fluviral. But this version is available in relatively short supply, amounting to only one quarter of Canada’s supply of the flu vaccine.

Unlike in years past, health officials are encouraging healthy young children, between six and 23 months, to also get the shot.

But critics say it is this group that is most at risk to be harmed by the mercury. They urge parents to seek out the mercury-free alternative.

Missouri resident Lujene Clark, a nurse whose husband is an emergency room surgeon, urged local residents to be wary of exposing their children to any source of mercury. Her son was recently diagnosed with a developmental disorder that she blames on a flu shot he received when he was seven.

“The flu shot was the toxic tipping point for our son.”

Since his diagnosis, tests have confirmed their son has high levels of mercury in his system. Over the past two years, that level has been reduced thanks to some medical treatments.

Clark emphasized that she is not against vaccines, but rather is fighting to make them safer by eliminating the mercury. Despite their science-based education, they were unaware of mercury’s presence in the vaccine.

Clark’s web site, at nomercury.org, points out two scientific studies that found that thimerosal isn’t even particularly good at fighting off contamination. One was written by Dr. Walter Orenstein, who was the assistant surgeon general for the U.S. Public Health Service and director of the United States’ national immunization program.

While B.C. health officials insist the level of mercury isn’t dangerous, Vancouver lawyer David Klein, who is heading a class-action lawsuit targetting vaccine companies that used thimerosal, disagrees. He said his class action case is currently in the “dormant phase” as his firm awaits the outcome of scientific studies in the next year or two. He doesn’t anticipate a court ruling on the lawsuits linking thimerosal to autism for another couple of years.

After being advised of the situation, Richmond East MLA Linda Reid, minister of state for early childhood development, said she will speak to Health Minister Colin Hansen about making the mercury-free version of the flu shot available to B.C. infants between six and 23 months.

“I think what we want is the least possible level of mercury in the flu shot we give to infants. It needs some careful monitoring.”

Late Friday, she called to confirm that the mercury-free version was ordered and will be available by Nov. 1.

Dr. William Walsh, head of the Health Research Institute outside Chicago, Illinois, said the vast majority of people won’t be adversely affected by the mercury content in the flu shot.

But some children with a genetic predisposition that hampers their ability to shed toxic chemicals, like mercury, may be placed in harm’s way. The less mercury they are exposed to, the better, he said. This applies particularly to young children who are most vulnerable because their brains are still developing.

“I like zero. It’s the best number.”

But Dr. John Blatherwick, chief medical health officer for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, disagreed and insisted there is no risk of harm to children.

“There is no problem with thimerosal. We’re not concerned about that at all. It’s not a problem. There’s a threshold at which there isn’t a problem. When it’s safe, it’s safe.”

But Dr. Boyd Haley, professor and chair of the department of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, said less is definitely better, especially for children sensitive to mercury.

“It’s a hell of a lot safer (to take the flu shot with less mercury). (But) I wouldn’t say it’s totally safe.”

Dr. Patricia Daly, director of communicable disease control for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, said the preservative is necessary to avoid contamination of the multi-dose vials. Each time a syringe is dipped into this vial, that is a potential source for contamination.

She said Canadian health officials believe the amount of thimerosal is extremely low and not dangerous.

Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization is advising that babies between six and 23 months get the flu shots because of the high rate of hospitalization in this age group, which is equivalent to that experienced by the “frail elderly,” Daly said.

Four years ago, alarm bells were sounded about the alarming increase in the incidence of autism in numerous U.S. states. Pharmaceutical companies were ordered to produce mercury-free versions of their vaccines, and Canada’s supply of the Hepatitis B vaccine became preservative-free three years ago.

While Health Canada often follows the lead of its U.S. counterparts, that hasn’t been the case with a position on thimerosal.

In a September 1999 policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the United States Public Health Service stated “because any potential risk is of concern, the U.S. Public Health Service...the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agree that thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible.”

Health Minister Colin Hansen—who could not be reached by The Richmond Review because his handlers insisted he wasn’t the person best suited to answer questions on this topic—encouraged in a press release that health care workers, seniors and others at risk receive their free flu shots.

“Every year, the flu takes its toll on workplaces, schools and hospitals. Getting the flu shot is an effective way to protect yourself and others from this illness.”

Hundreds of B.C. residents die each year from the flu and pneumonia. Seniors account for 90 per cent of the flu deaths.

Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.’s provincial health officer, said the flu can have serious consequences. “Flu shots are safe, they work and they help protect those at risk.”

The flu shot is free for seniors over 65, those with chronic illnesses and their caregivers, health care workers, first responders, for infants six to 23 months and for the household caregivers and contacts of children under 23 months. Others may also qualify.

River Rock casino earns $2.9 million for city

First quarter casino cheque tops old annual share

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

River Rock has managed to do in three months what its predecessor took an entire year to do.

Richmond has received a $2.9 million cheque from the province, its share of the net profits from the first quarter operations of the new River Rock casino facility on the waterfront, according to B.C. Lotteries Corporation spokesperson Greg Walker.

By way of comparison, during the previous fiscal year, the City of Richmond received just under $2.8 million from the smaller Great Canadian Casino.

As first reported in The Richmond Review last month, the new casino is on pace to deliver Richmond about $12 million annually.

Coun. Kiichi Kumagai, chair of the city’s finance committee, noted summer is traditionally the slowest time for casinos and he expects revenues to rise next quarter.

In fact, during the three months ending Sept. 30, the casino generated total revenues of more than $54 million.

Great Canadian Casino’s cut of the pie, along with operating costs and GST payments, amounted to about $25 million.

That means the casino, which opened June 24, earned a net profit of $29 million, which went directly to the province.

The City of Richmond, as part of its agreement with the province, received a 10 per cent share of that profit from Victoria.

Moms not too posh to push–mostly

Richmond’s C-section rate is 30%, 17% for first-time mothers

Tia Abell, Staff Reporter

When nearly 30 per cent of all expecting mothers in Richmond give birth by caesarean section, the question arises: are Richmond’s women “too posh to push?”

Maybe—and maybe not. Richmond’s rate, almost double the 15 per cent rate deemed appropriate by the World Health Organization, is due to a complex mix of issues, said Dr. Brenda Wagner, Richmond’s head of obstetrics and gynecology.

Richmond’s C-section rate of 30.5 per cent of all births for 2001/02 (by postal code) was highlighted recently in a report released by the Canadian Institute of Health Information. More up-to-date numbers from Richmond Hospital aren’t so far off: 29 per cent of all births were by C-section in 2002/03 and 2003/04.

But the C-section rate for first-time moms is lower, at 17 per cent last year and 18 per cent the year before. The rate increases for second-time mothers because many of these women have already given birth by caesarean section elsewhere, Wagner said.

“That total rate reflects primary rates from around the world. We have a very big population of repeat C-sections.”

Having a vaginal birth after a previous C-section does increase the risks—slightly—to both mom and baby. There’s a one in 3,000 chance of the scar coming apart during the birth, and a one in 10,000 risk of damaging the baby.

While these risks may seem small, any risk is often undesirable to expecting moms, she said.

“Some of these women have had a girl in China and have waited years to have another baby. They don’t want to take a one in 10,000 chance of damaging this one.”

Yet women who give birth vaginally can have faster recovery times, even if they’ve had a previous C-section. And multiple C-sections also create increased risks to women’s health.

“If we were meant to give birth through our bellies, we would have been born with zippers,” Wagner said.

“It’s all perception of risk. Some perceive the risks of V-back (vaginal birth after C-section) as higher. Sometimes, women who come to see obstetricians have had bad experiences (with vaginal birth), with lots of intervention and long hours of labour.”

The term “too posh to push” was coined for celebrities who choose C-sections for the convenience of setting their baby’s birth date and to avoid a difficult labour, not because of medical reasons. National Post columnist Rebecca Eckler is one example; she caused a stir among her readers by discussing openly why she chose to have a C-section.

Wagner said that in Brazil, 70-80 per cent of wealthy mothers choose C-sections because their medical plans will cover it.

But allowing C-sections on demand is still a hot issue in medical circles, so much so that the subject was raised at an ethical meeting of the College and Surgeons of B.C. recently.

“We have some ethical concerns in regards to women’s autonomy,” said Dr. Peter Celand, the college’s deputy registrar of ethics. “And on balance it’s not beneficial for the unborn child, not in a situation where there are no medical indications.”

Usually the college relies on specialist organizations for guidance on particular issues. In this case, he said the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada’s position was vague.

The society released a notice in March stating the society “does not promote Caesarean sections on demand,” but also that the society has “worked with women’s groups and other health care professionals to ensure that women are offered choices in obstetrics and gynecology.”

“The view is that this is still a fairly polarized argument,” Celand said.

“At the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, we don’t have a stand, but we will wait and see how the arguments evolve.”

Wagner said Canada in general has a higher C-section rate as it’s a litigious society and has consumer-driven health care. But she has a few ideas on how the local rate could be lowered, especially locally.

Better access to prenatal education would help. The classes aren’t covered by medical plans so women may get the idea they’re not necessary. Also, women with lower income may not know bursaries are available.

“We have bursaries in Richmond for prenatal education, but they’re usually unused. Maybe women are too embarrassed to use them.”

In the meantime, a year-old committee at Richmond Hospital is looking into the hospital’s rate of C-sections and the reasons for them. Richmond Hospital is also participating in a study with B.C. Women’s Hospital on elective C-sections and women’s choices.

“We support women’s decisions,” Wagner said.

Veterans to get parking break

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

The City of Richmond is proposing a week’s worth of free parking for Canadian war veterans during the week of Remembrance Day.

The move follows the provincial government’s introduction of special vehicle licence plates for veterans in June.

The $18 specialty plates, commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day, are available to veterans who served during wartime, post-war or for service during a United Nations or North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission.

Second World War veteran and Richmond resident Norman Wrigglesworth suggested the city honour local veterans by providing free parking at city meters throughout November for anyone with the new plates.

On Wednesday, a civic committee gave preliminary approval to a staff recommendation of one week’s free parking.

Wrigglesworth, who knows of only three veterans in Richmond with the new plates, was unimpressed with the city’s counter offer.

“I think it’s disgusting,” the 78-year-old said. “I can’t think of enough words in the Queen’s English to describe it. Why don’t they give it to them for the whole month?”

Coun. Linda Barnes, committee chair, said it’s better to start new programs small.

“I would hope...that this is a (really) good way to honour people who have supported their country,” she said.

Regional taxes to rise

Water and tax rates for capital projects to go up

Julia Caranci, Regional Reporter

Richmond and other Lower Mainland residents will pay more in property taxes and water rates next year to fund transportation projects and a new water filtration plant in the region.

The Greater Vancouver Regional District has released its draft budget for 2005, detailing tax and rate increases totalling $12.50 for the average homeowner (on an average property assessment of $340,000).

That’s less than the $19 increase initially predicted in June. In setting the budget, GVRD officials were mindful of the fact TransLink’s property tax increase takes effect next year—a $61 increase per average household—to fund the first three years of its $4-billion, 10-year plan to improve transit and roads in the region.

“We’ve made every effort to minimize our increases where we could,” explained GVRD chief financial officer Gordon Ruth.

The GVRD will spend $416 million next year to fund utility services like drinking water, sewage treatment, recycling and garbage disposal for more than two million people in the Lower Mainland.

The regional district also manages growth and development, monitors air quality and ensures green spaces are protected.

Infrastructure and other programs and services are predominantly paid for by Greater Vancouver taxpayers.

The 2005 budget is driven by plans to improve water quality and hire staff to design, construct and run new capital projects.

Water rates will go up 12 per cent—$12 per average household. The increase is necessary largely to fund construction of the Capilano/Seymour water filtration plant, a $600-million facility that will open in 2007, eventually filtering 80 per cent of the region’s drinking water.

While the plant won’t be operational for two years, the GVRD will begin hiring and training staff to run it next year, Ruth said.

Water rates are expected to increase by 70 per cent over the next five years, largely to fund water quality improvements.

Despite the hikes, Ruth maintains the GVRD will still have one of the lowest water rates in North America.

The budget also calls for a 1.6 per cent increase in the tax rate - 50 cents per household. Sewer and drainage rates will hold steady, with no anticipated increase.

There will be no change to the solid waste tipping fee of $65, although rates may increase by up to $4 in 2008, in part to fund the proposed Ashcroft Ranch Landfill, the future replacement site for the region’s waste, which presently goes to Cache Creek.

The budget in its final form will be voted on by the GVRD board at its Oct. 29 meeting.

Overview the GVRD

• Home to 52 per cent of B.C.’s population
• Home to 90 per cent of large, B.C.-based companies
• Features over 11,000 hectares of parkland
• Total budgeted expenditures for 2005 - $416 million

How we pay for services

• Tax requisitions - eight per cent
• Sewer levy - 30 per cent
• External revenues and reserves - 16 per cent
• User fees - 23 per cent
• Water sales - 23 per cent

MP calls for judicial inquiry on sockeye

Two million fish ‘disappeared’

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

A judicial inquiry is needed to save Fraser River sockeye salmon, Delta-Richmond East MP John Cummins said Friday.

“There will be no commercial fishery, no recreational fishery and even no Indian food fishery in 2008, that’s how bad this thing is,” he said. “The cost to British Columbia’s economy is hundreds of millions of dollars.”

In Parliament this week Cummins called for a judicial inquiry into stewardship of the sockeye fishery by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, after two million fish “disappeared” from the Fraser River between Mission and the spawning grounds this summer.

He said this year’s escapement is the lowest on record and is the third such disaster in the last 12 years. In 1992 and 1994 the government blamed fish losses on warm water, water volumes and technical problems.

Independent inquiries in both years rejected those explanations, Cummins said, suggesting illegal fishing in the Fraser River was partially to blame, but no further determinations could be made.

“They didn’t have the information. They weren’t able to subpoena these government officials to give testimony as to what happened.”

Cummins, who is releasing a 35-page report today to support his argument, conceded a judicial inquiry would cost “several million dollars,” but the loss of two million fish is more costly, he said, representing almost $60 million.

Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan invited Cummins to a meeting next Monday, but the fourth-term MP is dubious of what the minister will offer.

“There’s no indication at all that it’s going to be anything but an internal review by the department, and that’s simply not good enough.”

Phil Eidsvik of the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition said previous inquiries never required Fisheries and Oceans officials to testify under oath.

“Any thinking human being who cares about this resource will recognize that a judicial inquiry is critical if we’re going to find out what happened this year,” he said.

Low returns this year show that the “greatest sockeye river in the world” will be closed in 2008, the next year of this season’s cycle.

“If that’s not a wakeup call for anybody who cares about the resource, nothing will be,” Eidsvik said.

But the chair of the B.C. Aboriginal Fisheries Commission called Cummins’ response to the fishery’s failure “predictable.”

“Anytime he feels that his commercial fleet didn’t get enough fish, he calls for a review,” said Arnie Narcisse.

Narcisse said Fisheries and Oceans Canada did the best it could during a season of record-high river temperatures, but added officials were “a bit overly optimistic” in their forecast of run size and prematurely opened the commercial fishery.

To ensure weak and endangered salmon stocks are protected, Narcisse said he would support an overhaul of Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s wild salmon policy, but rejected calls for a judicial inquiry, saying there are enough legislative mechanisms in place to hold fisheries officials to account.

According to the Pacific Salmon Commission, Fraser River water temperatures were over 20ŢC from late July until late August, leading to a high mortality of sockeye en route to their spawning grounds.

Second-hand boat worries MP

Penac was a decommissioned British ferry

Julia Caranci, Regional Reporter

In the wake of last week’s fatal fire on a Canadian submarine purchased second-hand from the British, a local MP is questioning the capability of the Coast Guard’s newest hovercraft, a vessel he says was also decommissioned and bought in Britain.

Delta-Richmond East MP John Cummins maintains the vessel is not the safest nor most cost-efficient choice for search and rescue operations in the Pacific region. The Coast Guard discounts his claims.

Formerly known as the Liv Viking, the Penac was purchased and refurbished by the Coast Guard and went into service in July.

Cummins said the Penac is a 20-year-old British passenger ferry that was taken out of service in 1992 and “mothballed” until the Coast Guard bought it.

Its old lift engines were not replaced and Cummins fears they won’t handle well in high winds and heavy seas. He said the lack of a bow ramp on the vessel is problematic—there’s no easy way for divers or those requiring aid to get on and off. It will also be difficult to execute land evacuations or to transfer passengers to or from another boat.

“Getting out is a problem because they have to go over the side. Getting back in is an even bigger problem.”

Pacific Coast Guard regional director Terry Tebb confirmed the Penac is a former passenger ferry, but said it was stripped down to its frame and rebuilt to Coast Guard specifications. The lift engines were also rebuilt and are sufficient to do the job, he said.

Many smaller Coast Guard vessels don’t have bow ramps and in the event people need to be rescued from the water, they can be pulled up over the side of the Penac, Tebb said. The hovercraft has been performing well, and has participated in 37 search and rescue missions to date, logging 250 engine hours, he added.

The vessel’s performance will be monitored over the next year to determine whether it will be used as an interim measure, as was initially suggested, or kept permanently.

Society in catfight over SPCA

Richmond Homeless Cats wants city to halt contract

Matthew Hoekstra, Staff Reporter

Richmond Homeless Cats Society president Carol Reichert wants the city to halt plans to renew the SPCA’s shelter contract, potentially allowing her group of volunteers to seize control of the No. 5 Road pound.

Appearing before a council committee Wednesday, Reichert suggested local politicians allow time for other groups to bid for the contract after she alleged the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals euthanizes animals unnecessarily.

“The City of Richmond should strive to become a no-kill community by contracting with an organization that will bring a fresh approach to operating your shelter,” Reichert wrote in her submission to the committee.

She claimed the SPCA has become “mired in bureaucracy,” and animals with minor ailments in the society’s care are euthanized when treatable.

Reichert stated cats considered feral, elderly or aggressive were previously transferred to her sanctuary by the SPCA for rehabilitation or a permanent home, but no longer are.

Coun. Derek Dang, committee vice-chair, said it’s likely too late for Reichert to bid on the contract, saying the city has already sent it to the SPCA for approval.

“We voted as a council to continue with the SPCA for a period of another couple years. It’s in the hands of the SPCA right now,” he said.

“If they approve it, I don’t think there’s much luck in us trying to look at a new provider; however, that doesn’t preclude them from making a proposal when that contract actually expires.”

The Richmond Homeless Cats Society is a registered charity run entirely by volunteers who rescue and care for feral, stray and abandoned cats. According to financial records, it earned $220,646 in 2003 from donations and fundraising to cover operating costs.

SPCA spokesperson Lorie Chortyk confirmed negotiations of a new three-year contract between the SPCA and the city have taken place. She said the SPCA considers the contract a done deal.

Chortyk defended the SPCA’s kill record, saying animals at the Richmond shelter are only euthanized if it’s inhumane to keep them alive or if there isn’t a more appropriate shelter they can be transferred to.

“If there is a way to save an animal, we’ll do it,” she said.

Chortyk said the society stopped transferring unadoptable cats to Reichert’s sanctuary because she hadn’t filled out an application—a recently introduced SPCA policy. Chortyk added efforts to communicate with Reichert have failed.

“We would really like to have a relationship with her, but you can’t force somebody.”

According to the SPCA, 309 cats arrived at the Richmond shelter last year. Thirty-four were deemed unadoptable and euthanized. The shelter also took in 189 dogs in 2003 and euthanized 36. None were killed for space reasons, Chortyk said.

Earlier this year, council didn’t renew the SPCA’s animal enforcement contract, handing the role to bylaw enforcement officers.

Getting paid to play

Videogame testers live a dream job

Philip Raphael, Staff Reporter

Ask a gathering of your co-workers what they consider to be their ultimate dream job, and you’d likely have as many different answers as there were members in the impromptu sample group.

Some may opt for pure fantasy like a business tycoon or movie star. Others may have more noble callings, such as doing good deeds for the environment or impoverished Third World countries.

Odds are, their current workplace would not be at the top of the list.

Then ask a group of videogame testers working for cellular phone giant Nokia at the firm’s new Richmond offices what they believe to be the ultimate workday occupation and you’d get an immediate, unified response.

That’s because they are living their dream every day they come to work. And who could argue with being paid to play games? Certainly not the trio of quality assurance workers The Richmond Review spoke to recently.

Benson Nair, 32, Mike Kelly, 31, and Todd Wilson, 43, have each been in the videogame testing industry for about a decade and find it difficult to imagine doing anything else for a living.

“I never thought that something I enjoyed so much would end up being a career,” says Kelly, who vividly remembers his parents trying to convince him that long hours spent toiling away in front of a game system as a youngster would never amount to much.

Nair’s dedication to videogames goes back to the early days of the now iconic Atari 2600 and ColecoVision systems. And Wilson, a classic animator by training who got hooked on videogames, says he considers his job a dream since it provides the opportunity to work in a constantly changing, high-tech environment with a team of videogame lovers.

What the three are working on at the moment at Nokia’s local design studio are games for the new NGage QD, a hand-held cellular telephone/videogame system the Finnish company is hoping will carve out a sizable slice of the gaming market that is increasingly blurring the line between communications and video gaming.

The regular cellular phone-sized unit boasts all the conveniences of a leading-edge portable telephone, and startling high quality colour graphics you’d expect from a sophisticated game system. But what sets it apart from home console or computer-based games is the wireless phone capability that allows users to go head-to-head, playing games with opponents anywhere in the world.

Helping feed to NGage a steady diet of game titles is a host of well known producers like Burnaby’s Electronic Arts which has already turned out top sellers like EA Sports FIFA 2005, and NHL 2005.

And helping those blockbuster games make a smooth transition to the NGage is where Nair, Kelly, Wilson, and a other testers at Nokia come into the picture.

And it’s a vital process since the industry means big business today as some videogame titles produce higher financial returns than some top feature films.

In its most basic form, what testers do is play the games and report what problems, or “bugs” they encounter. Information on the “bugs” is sent back to the game producers to fix, and a new version is produced for further scrutiny.

On the average, games can take four months worth of testing before they get the approval for release. Others, which do not have annual release dates, such as EA’s line of sports games (FIFA 2005, NHL 2005), can take as long as two years to complete.

Sometimes the problems can be as simple as the wrong colour for a game character’s face, or the even wrong face or uniform on a player in a sports game, explained Kelly.

Sometimes the problems they discover are not quite so evident and require some creative approaches.

Nair said testers must think “outside the box” to see how a game reacts to unexpected conditions.

“For example, you play to see what would happen if you gave all the players red cards in a soccer game,” he said. “Or see what happens if you drive backwards on a race track, or try to cut across the grass and trees and cheat.”

He also enjoys seeing how the NGage system copes if players start using the unit’s phone features mid-play.

“It’s like what would happen if I started sending a whole bunch of text messages while I was playing?”

Also crucial to the testing phase is a strong sense of individuality in the testers themselves.

“No one wants clones testing games,” Kelly explained. “If that was the case the same problems would be missed each time the game is tested.”

And between the three testers, they possess a variety of tastes that are as unique as their backgrounds.

Wilson is partial to Puzzle Fighters, a Tetris-like game he enjoys playing with his daughter, and role playing games such as Everquest. Nair, who originally studied accounting, is partial to FIFA soccer, boxing, and is developing a liking for first-person shooter games. And Kelly, who took college courses in sociology and biology, is keen on fantasy-driven adventures such as Wind Waker.

So, do they tire of playing videogames all day?

No, is the immediate answer from all three. Some of that stems from the fact the NGage system has only been in the marketplace for a year—one million handsets were sold during that time. And it has a relatively small catalogue of games (50) tailored to its format. A handful of them are being produced by Nokia’s own programmers, and the balance are the work of the established game studios.

More games, some with features that take advantage of the cellular phone connectivity, are on the way. And that has the testers getting their digits limbered up and ready for action.

“The fun and exciting part is that the technology hasn’t peaked yet. Your mind keeps on thinking of what could come next,” Wilson said.

“Plus we get to see all the titles, right from the alpha stage, right until it goes out the door. And testers get really attached to the project and want to see something they’ve worked on do well.”

But game testing also has its physical hazards, Nair quipped, pointing to a callous on his left thumb, just below the first joint.

“That’s my game-testing callous. And when I sit down to play a game for fun I find myself trying to find ways of ’breaking’ the game.”

So, what attributes, academic or otherwise, must a good game tester have?

“There’s really no school or courses out there for people to take to become a game tester,” Wilson explained. “But what they need to be is a creative thinker, analytical, and be able to pay attention to detail. A technical, as well as art background helps, but more importantly, they just have to follow their heart and find where their particular skills take them.”

Business Notes

Nokia Canada

Location: 110-13911 Wireless Way, Richmond

No. of game testers: 24

No. of NGage game titles: 50

No. of NGage systems sold: 1 million

Avg. cost per game: $5

Container designer tests refrigeration technology on lengthy sea route

Philip Raphael, Staff Reporter

To say that Robert Dale has a pretty “cool” job would be an understatement.

In fact, keeping cool is the most important part of what the chief executive officer of Richmond’s Coldwall Inc. does for a living.

That’s because his firm is in the midst of testing new technology that increases the reliability of refrigerated containers used in the transport of perishable goods on long-haul sea trading routes.

Recently, Coldwall Inc. completed its first sea trials that shipped fruit and vegetables from New Zealand to Europe, one of the longest commercial container routes in the world. And based on the favourable results, the container shipping industry is now sitting up and taking notice of the firm which conducts its research and development here in Richmond.

The initial sea trials had the Coldwall container ship goods—Braeburn apples and other New Zealand-grown fruits and produce—from Hawkes Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, to Bruges, Belgium, where it was then sent by rail to Antwerp.

The trip, including a few stopovers along the way, took 35 days.

The trial was done in conjunction with Turners and Growers, one of the world’s largest processors of fruit and vegetable products.

Its $1 billion-plus annual business is totally reliant on refrigerated containers and served as the perfect test customer for Coldwall’s new technology.

In a press release following the trials, Dale said, “We could not be more pleased with the initial results.

“The data from the containers has all been0 downloaded and will be analyzed over the next few weeks, but the fact that our containers performed perfectly on a difficult route bodes very well for the ultimate results.”

Dale said the firm moved to Richmond from Houston, Texas in early 1998 to take advantage of the competitive Canadian dollar and the rich industrial infrastructure in the city that could supply the operation with components vital to the development of the containers, such as valve fittings and pipes.

A total of four employees work out of the Richmond facility conducting research and design duties, while its other location in Bellevue, Wash. handles corporate responsibilities.

While the technology used to keep the containers at a constant temperature is top secret and patented, Dale said his firm is very pleased with the results of the sea trials and is poised to undergo a second round of testing soon to further prove the the product’s reliability in preserving perishables on long, ocean-going sea routes.

Dale did reveal the containers, which are the industry standard sized, 40-foot-long, eight-foot-wide, and nine-foot-six inches high, can be set at just about any temperature, down to a maximum of –35ŢC. They can use shipboard power, or have a “clip-on” generator added to provide a completely independent power supply.

With some of the world’s largest container shippers taking interest in the company’s results, Dale said Coldwall has opened serious discussions with three foreign and two U.S.-based large-scale owners/shippers of perishables.

“Customers are always looking for ways to improve out-turn of their cargoes and with Coldwall they will be able to do that,” he said.

Going with the floes

Satellite contract to watch over Finnish waters

Philip Raphael, Staff Reporter

Keeping an eye on Finland’s ice floes is just one of the tasks that Richmond’s Radarsat International has been contracted to perform as part of a recently announced US$3.44 million contract with a pair of customers.

Using satellite image information collected by Radarsat 1, and the yet-to-be launched Radarsat 2, the Finnish government, through the Finnish Institute of Marine Research, has signed an agreement worth US$1.04 million for the production of ice chart maps for commercial mariners and harbour authorities.

According to the institute, between 80 to 90 per cent of Finnish import and export trade is carried out on merchant marine vessels.

And since the ice season in the northern part of the Baltic Sea lasts for six months, and two to three weeks in the central portion, all of the country’s harbours can become ice-bound during normal winters, making the need for quick and reliable data from satellites essential.

The Finnish Environmental Institute also uses Radarsat 1 for operational oil spill detection.

The contract runs from 2004 to 2008.

Also signing on with Radarsat International is Japan’s ImageOne Co. Ltd, a leading provider of satellite imagery and services, and a Radarsat 1 distributor since 2000.

ImageOne’s deal is a six-year, US$2.4 million agreement for the exclusive distribution rights to Radarsat 2 data in Japan.

When launched in late 2005, the Radarsat 2 satellite will be capable of image resolution ranging from three to 100 metres.

Tall Ships sliding in

Photographer presenting images of ships

Martin van den Hemel, Staff Reporter

Photographer and author Thad Koza, who has captured the images of the Tall Ships for more than 20 years, will be in Richmond next Wednesday to present a special slide-show.

Koza will be at the Richmond Cultural Centre’s lecture hall (7700 Minoru Gate) to present “An Evening with Tall Ships Photographer Thad Koza” on Wednesday, Oct. 20 from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

He will be showing a special preview of the tall ships visiting the west coast next year.

There is an admission fee.

A native Rhode Islander, this will be Koza’s only Lower Mainland engagement.

He is the author of the book Tall Ships: An International Guide.

To register for the show, go to www.richmond.ca, call 604-276-4300 or 604-718-8050, or visit the Britannia Heritage Shipyard National Historic Site (5180 Westwater Dr.), from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday or Sunday.