On November 22, 2008 the lush green lawns of Old Orchard Park, Port Moody were buzzing with impressively dressed guests awaiting the renewal of vows for Aimy Wang and Krzysztof Szczurowski. Aimy is originally from China while Chris is Polish, but the beautiful couple met in Vancouver.
Aimy and Chris on their wedding day
” It feels very globalized,” Aimy says about her marriage to Chris, ” to be together here as a couple miles away from our own countries. This is the part I enjoy about being a Canadian.”
The ceremony was graceful complete with champagne, three-tiered cake, flowers and a lavish spread of food for the guests.
As the day ended the guests left with memories of a sweet wedding and wished the couple years of happiness and togetherness.
BC Liberal Richard Stewart has become Coquitlam’s newest mayor by defeating incumbent Maxine Wilson. The new council will be joined by existing members except Neal Nicholson who was unsuccessful in holding onto his seat. This ended a twenty year streak for Nicholson who held various positions in public office including former mayor of Coquitlam.
In our neighbouring Tri-City Port Coquitlam, Scott Young failed to win his run for City Council. Young was succeeded by Greg Moore who comfortably defeated fellow councillor Mike Bowen by more than 1000 votes. Further details can be found at:
Journalists from all over Canada gathered at the Westin Bayshore on November 06, 2008 for the Jack Webster Awards to celebrate excellence in reporting and journalism.
Touted to be “the Oscars for journalists” in BC the Websters attracted a crowd of approximately one thousand people from all walks of life.
Simi Sara and David Gerry from CTV entertained the guests with light banter as the awards were handed out.
Peter Mansbridge from CBC was flown in from Toronto to motivate journalists to become actively involved in political reporting and the democratic process of voting.
I sat at the table with colleagues from UBC, a melange of sociable personnel from Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the Canadian Bar Association of British Columbia. Conversation drifted between presentations from sponsors to speeches of the award recipients.
The Websters is a great endeavour of the Jack Webster Foundation to recognize the efforts of Journalists in BC.
As Americans watched the results roll in, their Northern counterparts [us Canadians] could provide a more objective opinion on the U.S. Presidential elections.
Vancouver’s very own Alfred Hermida followed the US elections through new media technologies, a novel way of tracking election coverage.
Is this going to be a good marriage or a bad one? It remains to be seen, America has exchanged vows with the Democrat President for the next four years or more.
As President Obama said in his victory speech “At this defining moment, change has come to America.”
Canadians extend a congratulatory hand to the new President and look towards an amicably profitable future.
Andrew Ryan from the Globe and Mail called it, ” The biggest show on earth comes to a close.”
The hope remains that there are good beginnings associated with this grand closure.
Here are the two articles I wrote that got published in the NowPublic and The Ubyssey.
Environmentalists Severn Cullis-Suzuki and Stephen Lewis are calling on governments globally to “force” sustainability measures on their citizens and want action now.
Cullis- Suzuki, the daughter of renowned activist David Suzuki and Lewis, Canadian politician and diplomat, were speaking to a gathering of students at University of British Columbia (UBC). They outlined a plan of action to address global warming that includes the urgent need for government leaders to provide pragmatic solutions to climate change crisis.
Lewis called it a “desperate moment in time”. Cullis-Suzuki reiterated, “Human societies never change unless they are forced to, and the problem is that our elected leaders are not implementing them.”
His main concern was about working towards sustainability as a common goal, not for the ways governments planned on handling the issue.
“I don’t care whether the answer is a carbon tax which appeals to me more than other regiments …. I really don’t care what you use…it has to be done and political interventions are necessary.” Lewis said.
The talk was part of the Canada wide 21 university campus tour lasting 30 days. The “Students for Sustainability” tour was aimed at creating awareness about climate change and the environment among university students.
The tour came about after realizing Federal government of Canada’s inability to meet the international obligations for lowering carbon emissions. Canada had committed to reducing emissions 6% below 1990 levels during 2008-2012, instead greenhouse gas emissions had increased by 27% in 2004.
The Canadian Federation of Students and the Sierra Youth Coalition and the David Suzuki Foundation together have mobilized students across Canada to put pressure on politicians to take action on climate change and other environmental issues. The students at each campus were asked to sign a petition to support the sustainability cause which will be presented to the Parliament in November 2008.
UBC was the second to last university for the tour, launched from Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland on September 30 and ended at the University of Victoria, BC.
Cullis-Suzuki put the onus on students to recruit parents for becoming more environmentally friendly, as their challenge is far more powerful than any other person.
“Use your inter-generational power. These people [parents] are still decision makers in our society,” Cullis-Suzuki said.
Cullis-Suzuki had optimistic hopes about the future, “Each of us directs the future by what kind of difference each of us makes. How we make that difference is up to us.”
The Promenading Nomad 