Vancouver IAM Daily Blog Report: Journalist's Office Ransacked, Dissent on Eagleridge, Sexual Harassment in School for Arts

by Inveslogic | December 4, 2007 at 01:41 pm

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This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from VancouverIAM where you will find the best blogs from Vancouver, BC as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring

Journalist Bill Tieleman’s Office Broken Into

Journalist and blogger Bill Tieleman’s office was broken into over the weekend and “trashed with a clear BC Legislature Raid Calling card left to make sure I knew why it had happened.” The Vancouver Police are investigating the incident, in which his files and office were ransacked, but nothing stolen. According to Tieleman, “a copy of the press kit for Ken Merkley's fiction book about the BC Legislature Raid case was carefully removed from my desk and placed on top of the broken acoustic tiles from my ceiling.”

Tieleman believes this was a direct message to do with his long time project “reporting on the case of breach of trust and fraud charges.” In 2003, Police raided the B.C. legislature offices of two ministerial aides and reported there might be links to drugs and organized crime at the highest levels of government. In his post he states that the intruders “apparently went through my files - though on first examination nothing seems missing.” It is clear that the intruders had “no interest in stealing anything of value,” only sending a message. He states that the identities of his sources are “protected and secure” and that information, “some of which has been published, some which has not” is also secure, so although distressed by the incident, he will not be intimidated.

Civil Disobedience On Eagleridge

Steve Rees posts an impassioned response to a recent meeting at SFU to “discuss the tactics used to protest the destruction of the Eagleridge Bluffs as part of the Sea to Sky Highway project.” Frances Bula of the Vancouver Sun moderated the event. Rees reminds us that the protests did not stop the construction and that “Betty [Krawzyk] and Ned [Jacobs] went to jail - as did an elder of the First Nations who died of the pneumonia she caught there.” The discussion was around what was learned and how to continue more “effective dissent against the Gateway.”

The post decries the “deeply flawed” Gateway plan and that transportation requirements over two weeks of folks travelling to Whistler every day could have been managed easily using trains, coaches and ferries. The “original ‘mulitmodal’ plan was deliberately sabotaged in order for the developers to get the road improvements they wanted for their real estate plans.” He also states that the meeting closed before there was a “decisive voice on how to organise in future.” As the network of opposition for Gateway increases, what he sees is the need to “pick the place - or places - where our peaceful acts of civil disobedience will be - and make sure we get as many people as possible to them.”

School of Sexual Harassment?

The most recent post from the Downtown Eastside Enquirer questions Premier Gordon Campbell’s announcement that SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts will receive $50 million when the department “is alleged to have an unresolved history of rampant sexual harassment.” When the announcement was made on Nov 13th, there was “not a hint” regarding the school’s rumoured nickname “School for Sexual Harassment” or the victims of this behavior, many of which dropped out of the program.

The post states that the school is allegedly allows male professors to use their classes to recruit female students into sexual relationships. “One woman who dropped out due to chronic sexual harassment says, ‘There were only three professors in my department, they were all men, and they were all trying to get laid’ and reports that one of her instructors had sex with her class-mate while his “common law wife was giving birth.”

It is believed that this behavior began back in 1970’s when the School opened.

Kits Culture Continues

A recent post from blogger Marnie over at Beyond Robson features a unique bistro in Kitsilano called Wired Monk, owned by Emily Carr graduates Leah Yin and Timothy Sokol, the only Vancouver store in a small BC franchise. The venue not only serves food and beverages, it hosts private parties. The emphasis of this store is “on building community cohesion and reclaiming the Green roots instilled in [Kitsilano] more than 30 years ago.”

“Greenpeace set its roots in Kitsilano in 1975. The first offices of the Green Party of BC were once located on Trafalgar and 6th. Even the Georgia Straight called 6th Ave. home, back in 1967,” the post reminds us. Today it continues to foster individuals with artistic and influential visions. Yin’s aim with Wired Monk is to “revitalize the live music on 4th Ave… support up-and-coming as well as professional artists/musicians… and create a cozy and open gathering place for the Kits community”

About VancouverIAM

VancouverIAM is part of a groundbreaking network of city-focused blog aggregation, user generated media and social networking websites currently rolling out across North America. Each IAM website filters and organizes blog content as well as offering video upload capabilities, social networking, blog authoring, favourites lists and rumours. The IAM Network is a division of SoMedia Networks Inc which also operates Inveslogic.com, Greenedia.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com. For more information or to register an account, visit VancouverIAM.com.