2004 Legislative Session: 5th Session, 37th Parliament
HANSARD
The following electronic version is for informational purposes
only.
The printed version remains the official version.
(Hansard)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2004
Morning Sitting
Volume 20, Number 5
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CONTENTS |
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Routine Proceedings |
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| Introductions by Members | 8537 | |
| Private Members' Statements | 8537 | |
| Volunteerism — the essence of community | ||
| V. Anderson | ||
| Hon. S. Hagen | ||
| Burns Bog: the end of a long journey | ||
| R. Masi | ||
| V. Roddick | ||
| "Wet housing" | ||
| J. Bray | ||
| L. Mayencourt | ||
| Crime | ||
| E. Brenzinger | ||
| Hon. R. Coleman | ||
| Motions on Notice | 8545 | |
| Role of team sports in child development (Motion 83) | ||
| B. Locke | ||
| J. Nuraney | ||
| V. Anderson | ||
| V. Roddick | ||
| L. Mayencourt | ||
| J. Bray | ||
| R. Stewart | ||
| H. Bloy | ||
| R. Hawes | ||
| B. Suffredine | ||
| D. Hayer | ||
| K. Manhas | ||
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[ Page 8537 ]
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2004
The House met at 10:04 a.m.
[J. Weisbeck in the chair.]
Prayers.
Introductions by Members
Hon. S. Hagen: It's a great privilege for me to introduce two people who are in the House today. These two worked very hard on the central coast LRMP process. In the House today are Darol Smith, who represented the IWA, and Lloyd Jahala, who represented small business and the B.C. Truck Loggers Association. Would the House please join me in making them welcome.
Private Members' Statements
VOLUNTEERISM — THE ESSENCE
OF COMMUNITY
V. Anderson: This morning I'd like to speak on the theme Volunteerism — the Essence of Community. As a child and as a youth, my life was made much richer, along with all of my playmates, by the volunteer time of the people of my community.
The volunteer church Sunday school teachers and youth leaders helped us to discover who we were and what we could contribute within the group. Their sense of values and beliefs and unselfish devotion became a model for our lives. School teachers in both elementary and high school helped us to overcome many challenges in their after-school-hours volunteer efforts. Their presence on the playground at recess, at noon, after school and into the evening helped us to understand that they not only had a job, but they had a vocation for service.
The coaches on the baseball diamond, on the hockey ice, in the curling rink, on the tennis courts, and in track and field showed us how to persevere, how to fail and how to keep going, how to respect others and how to be modest if we should succeed. These — along with the leaders of Cubs, Scouts, Brownies, clubs, school, church and community youth groups — showed us how to be followers as well as leaders and to be persons committed to goals worth having. By example, we were shown how important it is to be a team player.
Over one-quarter of the people in British Columbia — over one million people of all ages — are said to be volunteering their services in some formal volunteer organization in our community. There are some 21,000 organizations registered as non-profits in British Columbia with services from child care to youth leadership to seniors support groups, recreation, health, education, environment and whatever else. Others volunteer in community projects like food banks, Cancer Society, the Red Cross and hundreds of others too numerous to mention — not forgetting thousands who volunteer in the political processes of our democracy.
Without active volunteers in our communities, the democratic process does not exist. Our government of the people, by the people and for the people, regardless of political affiliation, would not be possible without the free-will support of volunteer community services. Therefore, at the beginning of a new legislative year it is very important to celebrate the millions of volunteers who offer their talents to make our province, our country and our world one of the best places in which to live.
I say "millions," because we have over four million people in B.C. My experience in community in over 35 years has shown me clearly that there is seldom a person who does not at some time volunteer help to their family, to their neighbour, to their community and, often, to strangers in their midst. They do so automatically, without thinking of it as volunteer activity. It's just being neighbourly.
In reality, everyone at every age is the recipient of some volunteer support from the day one is born until the day one dies. Often, though, their efforts are overlooked, and I want to recognize and celebrate how fortunate we are to live in a society that cares and shares at home, at play and at work. I am, of course, not saying we are perfect but that all our volunteer efforts have solved many of our problems by working together in a community. I am saying that we are better for the volunteer gifts which we share. We are better when we recognize the importance of volunteerism within a compassionate society. Volunteer blood donors save lives. Volunteer organ donors save lives. Volunteer firefighters save lives. Volunteers and marine rescue workers save lives — and many more.
Every day, every hour, volunteers are reaching out neighbour to neighbour to give living value and meaning for each other. In any field of community endeavour what we cannot do as a single person can be accomplished by a group of persons working in harmony, each sharing their own talents while recognizing the talents of others.
Let us remember that volunteers are very essential to community life in every community. Volunteers are essential to the betterment of any program in government: municipal, provincial, national and international. The non-government agencies at all levels make possible the human interaction, cooperation and mutual support without which no government could fulfil its mandate of service.
As a 12-year member of the Legislature in both opposition and government, I want to say thank you to the people of British Columbia who work together for the well-being of all of us. The essence of volunteering is to learn to appreciate and work cooperatively with persons of different attitudes and values. By our persistence in combining our efforts for our mutual results, obstacles are overcome and success achieved. Volunteerism is the essence of community. It is the means by
[ Page 8538 ]
which we share our strengths to overcome our weaknesses. It is the pooling of our gifts and resources so that all of us are happier and healthier in our shared community life.
Hon. S. Hagen: I, too, would like to take the opportunity to celebrate the thousands of British Columbians who volunteer. In our province people contribute more than 169 million hours of volunteer time each year. Volunteering generates about $2.7 billion worth of work every year, and that's just the beginning. In fact, it's almost impossible to put a value on the difference an individual volunteer makes to an isolated senior, a budding athlete, a lonely patient in the hospital, or to a young person that is having trouble reading but who gets excited about a book for the first time.
Volunteering builds self-confidence, creates stronger communities, provides an opportunity for people to gain work experience and gives people the satisfaction of knowing that they are indeed making a difference. Nowhere is that more evident than in these unexpected times of emergency or tragedy. Whether it's a local emergency such as an apartment fire or a regional disaster such as forest fires, a flood or an earthquake, volunteers are called upon to play a critical role; 13,000 British Columbians throughout the province volunteer their time and expertise in preparing for and responding to emergency situations.
As you may know, my ministry — the Ministry of Human Resources — is responsible for delivering the province's emergency social services, or ESS program. I am proud to say that we have over 5,000 trained ESS volunteers in 150 communities across the province who are ready to deliver essential services such as food, shelter, clothing and emotional support during an emergency. Last year ESS volunteers in Prince Rupert organized the daily delivery of meals for more than a week to Port Simpson, a neighbouring community of 1,000 residents, when they lost power and road access during a severe winter storm. This summer volunteers played an essential role in the worst fire season on record in British Columbia.
On average ESS is involved in about 250 responses each year, which affect about 2,400 British Columbians. In comparison, during Firestorm 2003, nearly 3,000 dedicated emergency social services volunteers assisted over 3,700 evacuees. These volunteers come from all walks of life, including information technologists, teachers, bus drivers and counsellors, to name a few. They were at the heart of a provincewide response to direct $20 million in provincial aid to ensure that no person evacuated from their home went without food, shelter or a helping hand.
I know that all British Columbians are grateful for and proud of the contribution of B.C.'s emergency response workers and volunteers during a challenging year. I agree with the hon. member. We need to let British Columbians know that by helping those most in need, be it a food bank, the local hospital or neighbourhood school — or, yes, in a catastrophe — volunteers are the strength in our communities and our province. Everything that underlies volunteer work is what makes the difference and holds us together as a society. Each day volunteers give their time, their skills and their knowledge to help others in their community. They personify community spirit, and they make this province proud.
V. Anderson: I want to thank the hon. Minister of Human Resources for his comments and highlighting again the effective volunteers in our lives, particularly in the disasters that came through our province during this last year. I wanted also to highlight a section of the throne speech debate presentation last week. One of the emphases there was on doing our best in British Columbia, and during that presentation the Premier put an emphasis on doing our best in sports, music, arts, culture, literacy and volunteerism — areas of our community in which volunteers are very much involved in every activity and make these gifts possible.
Also, there was created LegaciesNow. In this case, the government has put $30 million into the LegaciesNow program as a focal point for this kind of development of these activities, so there is a program within the LegaciesNow program that will be called VolunteerNow. It is an opportunity for volunteer groups throughout the province to talk about the volunteer activities in which they are engaged and a focal point about which some of the support for these programs can be undertaken.
There's an invitation for people who are in volunteer activities to put forth their ideas for VolunteerNow in order that this can become a creative rallying point for the volunteers of our province, an opportunity for them to do even more of the integrative work that they have already begun in coming together as volunteer agencies across the province and in our communities to give a focal point to support and encourage those who would volunteer.
It's to give the opportunity for children at the earliest age to learn how important it is to volunteer, to recognize that senior citizens — with all of their skills of life, professional and non-professional — have an important place in our society to volunteer so that a lifelong activity of volunteerism can be an important part of the building of our communities. It comes from the heart. It comes from the soul. It comes from the essence of wanting to share with others the opportunity of working together so that we're all a healthier, happier and more fulfilled community.
I applaud this new effort of VolunteerNow and look forward to its expansion and creation as the volunteers of our province give it their support and as we undertake together to create in our province the values that we always cherish.
BURNS BOG:
THE END OF A LONG JOURNEY
R. Masi: It's a pleasure to speak about Burns Bog, along with my colleague from Delta South. We talked
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about the end of a long journey. With the Premier's announcement of a memorandum of understanding regarding the government purchase of Burns Bog, it's my pleasure today to deliver a few remarks on Burns Bog itself, which I and many others consider an ecological gem.
Burns Bog is ten times the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park and a true haven for wildlife. Burns Bog — one of Delta's and, I may add, British Columbia's ecological treasures — offers a unique and fascinating environment. Burns Bog is situated between the Fraser River and Boundary Bay, and it occupies over 5,000 acres.
A bog is a special kind of wetland. It is a strangely beautiful wilderness where plants have adapted to extremes. Only dwarf pines, insect-eating plants, acid-producing mosses and hardy northern shrubs survive. A lodgepole pine, for example, grows naturally bonsai'd in Burns Bog. A 70-year-old tree might stand only one metre tall. This special community of bog plants has adapted to wet, acidic and nutrient-poor conditions. These plants cannot compete with vegetation in richer soils, and other vegetation cannot compete in the bog. All these factors make bogs unique and fascinating environments.
A trip to Burns Bog with binoculars will show that this gem is important to our habitat as part of this living planet. There are over 150 species of birds that make their homes in the bog. Among them is the threatened greater sandhill crane and the lower mainland's largest population of bald eagles. Thousands of waterfowl, including the trumpeter swan and other migratory birds, use the ponds in the bog as feeding grounds. Burns Bog also provides a habitat for 28 species of mammals, including black bear, black-tailed deer, red fox, bobcat, coyote and beaver. Burns Bog is indeed a unique area of the lower mainland — an area that we can all appreciate and an area that we are protecting for our children and future generations.
Burns Bog plays a functional role in maintaining the quality of life in a very rapidly growing part of our province. Burns Bog is a huge carbon sink that traps greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. Burns Bog is estimated to hold over 21.6 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. That's equivalent to the annual emission of 5.4 million cars. This bog does all of that work for us as well as acts as a filter — the kidneys of the water system — and a thermostat for the waterways in the lower mainland.
Over the last 100 years, however, human activities such as clearing, burning, diking, draining and filling have altered the bog ecosystem. The future of the bog really depends on all of us. David Suzuki, a noted biologist, stated: "Burns Bog is one of a vanishing kind. It should be left completely alone." David Bellamy, a world-renowned botanist, has stated: "Burns Bog could become the showpiece of a nation that really cares."
So this is the job and a challenge that we committed to in the New Era document and, as a government, led by the Premier and the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection, that we accepted. Burns Bog will become a showpiece, much like Stanley Park, in the future not only for the citizens of Delta but also for the citizens of the province and country.
I would also like to turn the next statements over to the member for Delta South, who I'm sure has many comments to make on the topic.
V. Roddick: Thank you, colleague from Delta North. Throughout the world B.C. is known for its spectacular scenery and incredible natural environment. Our government is working to establish a new era of environmental stewardship and management based on sound science, cleaner air, cleaner water and sustainable practices. British Columbians are uniting to find solutions to our common environmental goals and challenges.
Burns Bog is the perfect example. Pursuing a partnership to include all levels of government and private interests to work towards long-term preservation of the bog is paying off. It hasn't been easy, and it's taken much longer than anticipated. But I must, not only on behalf of my constituents but on behalf of the people of British Columbia, thank the federal, provincial and municipal governments for their unwavering commitment and hard work.
It is gratifying to see the federal government once again investing in the future of our province. This extraordinary partnership will enable the preservation of an ecological treasure which is deserving of not only national but global recognition. We have been presented with a chance to protect a contiguous, virtually roadless area of 5,000 acres in the middle of a major metropolitan area.
Burns Bog, along with Delta South's 22,000 acres of superb farmland, forms a major contribution to the Pacific joint flyway, which stretches from South America to Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic. One of the many species, as my colleague mentioned, that inhabit Burns Bog is the sandhill crane, which has become its identifiable symbol. These majestic endangered cranes use the shallow ponds and open areas of the bog to nest and raise their young. There's a wonderful mythology attached to these birds. They live for 40 years, marry for life and dance beautifully. They have become a symbol of the artistic, creative, loyal and independent side of women, which brings to mind Eliza Olson, who has worked doggedly for years to raise public awareness of the bog. She, on behalf of the Burns Bog Conservation Society, hosts an annual fundraiser called "Celebrating Women and the Spirit of the Cranes." This year it's going to be held at the Coast Inn in Tsawwassen on Saturday, March 6. Mark this date. I put out this challenge: let all players involved in the memorandum of understanding set this date, March 6, as a target for successful completion.
Upon acquisition of this incredible jewel, it is recommended that very careful consideration be given to human and animal impact should any rezoning be proposed for the portions not included in the memorandum of understanding. It is also recommended that
[ Page 8540 ]
a process be established, once public acquisition of the bog has been achieved, to design a public access and management plan for Burns Bog that is ecologically appropriate. I would like to suggest that when a management team is being constructed, the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust be brought into the mix so as to not have to reinvent the wheel and to utilize an already existing, unique local organization that has successfully combined both farmers and environmentalists to manage and deal with all manner of stewardship issues. For further information, you may wish to refer to the Burns Bog Ecosystem Review, known as the McDade report, dated March 31, 2000.
I compliment and congratulate absolutely everyone who has been involved over the many, many years in saving Burns Bog. Effective leaders must be able to not just choose sides but also bring all sides together. It is the ability to rise above partisanship and embrace all people, all points of view, and make room for them at the table. That is why we have a memorandum of understanding today. I look forward to the closing comments of my colleague from Delta North.
R. Masi: I guess I know where I'm going to be on March 6. I'd better be there.
The issue of Burns Bog has been on the table for many years, as the member for Delta South mentioned. It was an issue when I was first elected in 1996. I have worked with each ministry that's had responsibility for environment since that time.
It is with great pride that we can now say that because of the commitment and the support of the Premier and the consistent and energetic direction of the recent Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection, we are reaching our goal of preserving Burns Bog for future generations.
Many others have been extremely active and supportive, as well, in saving this great environmental asset for the community and the province. As the member for Delta South mentioned, the Burns Bog Conservation Society, led by Eliza Olson, is very, very important in the long term, and I must commend Eliza Olson on her stick-to-it-iveness. I believe she's worked at least 20 years on this project, and we're finally getting close to the mark on it.
Also, the federal Minister of Environment, David Anderson, whose support we could not have done without — a very large part of the thrust towards completion…. The cooperation of the GVRD and the solid support of the municipality of Delta in dealing with the zoning problems and holding the line on any changes to do with the bog…. All these people have worked vigorously for the protection of a great treasure, and future generations, believe me, will thank you for this great endeavour.
"WET HOUSING"
J. Bray: As members know, I have risen in this House before to talk about a concept called "wet housing." I would like to carry on a bit more about that topic, because I think it's something in my community of Victoria that's starting to get quite a bit of attention and certainly a great deal of community support. My comments are not related solely to that one concept but rather to the concept that a wet house is simply one service, one intervention in a continuum of services to help people make the transition from living on the street to participating in the mainstream community.
Just to reiterate, the concept of a wet house is a form of housing that recognizes that people who have chronic alcoholism and who are continually at risk of being homeless or in fact are homeless because of their alcoholism require a specific place to live. Most shelters and emergency shelters, for reasons of safety, don't allow people to either consume alcohol or drugs on site or if they already are under the influence. That's a logical consideration. With a large number of people and a small number of staff, safety is a key issue.
The group of people I'm talking about here are citizens who will choose a drink over a warm place to sleep. We have to recognize that that is the place these individuals are at. A wet house would be a form of shelter where alcohol would not be an impediment to them staying. It would be longer-term housing — it would certainly be several months — where it's recognized that they will, in all likelihood, drink. But the hope is that if they can have some stable housing for an extended period of time with some staffing component, the ability for other services to attach to those individuals becomes more relevant. As we know, if someone doesn't have permanent housing, the likelihood of them being able to access other services is really diminished. One of the issues that wet housing does is that it provides the opportunity for people to become connected to the services that exist in our society.
One of the other critical factors that the city of Victoria is bringing on line later on this week, in fact, is the sobering assessment centre, which is yet another service that provides support for people living on the street or at risk of living on the street. Traditionally, we are used to the concept of the drunk tank or the emergency room when somebody is found severely intoxicated on the streets and the police have some responsibility. The police traditionally either put them in jail or sent them to the hospital, but then they had to spend most of the night with them. Neither place is particularly appropriate. Neither place is really equipped, and it diverts resources from other people.
On February 19 the Victoria sobering assessment centre will open up in my community in the neighbourhood of Fernwood, which will be a place where police can bring those individuals where they can be in a staffed, safe environment to spend the night. It's not a shelter, and it's not any kind of incarceration. What it is, is a safe place for people who are under the influence and have no other option.
It is also key to note that the sobering assessment centre is next door to the existing detox centre. Again, the sobering assessment centre is not going to be for
[ Page 8541 ]
somebody who is just leaving a nightclub a little bit too late and has an apartment or a home. These are the individuals we see on the street who don't have other resources. It's a population that is not going to walk next door to the detox centre the next day or maybe not the fifth time the police take them to the sobering assessment centre — maybe not even the twentieth time. But maybe the twenty-first time they'll talk to the staff person in the morning when they wake up and say: "I want to make a change." That service is right next door for them.
That is the type of continuum of services we need to see in our large urban centres where we can take people from whatever stage they're at and move them into appropriate services with other services attached along the way. I have spoken before about the fact that wet housing in and of itself — a safe, affordable, clean place for those suffering chronic alcoholism to live — is important, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. We have in Victoria a lot of excellent services and incredible service providers. But I fear sometimes that there is a lack of coordination between those services and that as somebody accesses a service, there is not the logical next step for that person to take. The sobering assessment centre is a wonderful addition to that continuum of services, but if they don't go into detox next door, what is the logical next step? A wet house would be a wonderful asset to the community, but if there isn't the outreach to carry that person to the next step, it is only a band-aid.
What I want to talk to you about today is the need for us to not just provide the individual interventions and to think outside the box in each of those individual interventions but also to start to think outside the box in the way in which governments coordinate those services so that we take individuals through the journey they need to take in order to become full participants in our community. The question then begs: where do you begin? You begin on the streets. You begin with effective outreach. Those workers are trained and skilled to identify issues in a very light-touch outreach to people living on the street, in alcoves and in parks, and to be able to do an assessment right there on their front doorstep, so to speak, to determine what needs they have. Is it mental health? Is it addiction services? Is it a combination of both? We now are going to have the sobering assessment centre, a place for those individuals to go at least for a night where they can get assessed and get some services and some referrals. If we can bring some wet housing on line, we can bring more permanent housing for people in need of these services.
What I think we need after that is better coordination of what already exists, which is day treatment programs. We have excellent programs and excellent program providers, but we need to make sure that as people start to enter the system, they're getting the right and correct referrals to those services. I think what we're lacking after that is what I refer to, and is referred to in some circles, as second-stage housing. Second-stage housing is subsidized housing. It might be apartments; it might be townhouses — not dissimilar to what we see for low-income individuals. But it would be housing that is for these individuals as they come out from their treatment to be able to get access to additional services.
I know that the member for Vancouver-Burrard is very interested in this topic, and I look forward to hearing his comments.
L. Mayencourt: Let me begin by thanking the member for Victoria–Beacon Hill for yet another innovative suggestion for us to consider and to debate. This is a very interesting problem because many times people think these kinds of problems only occur in Vancouver or in Victoria where individuals that are on the street, very vulnerable and perhaps dealing with an alcohol or drug problem, really don't have an option to get some shelter for a night. I think this is a very important thing.
I will ask the member, when he concludes his comments, if he could speak to the issue of how that is going to affect someone that has an obligation to their church, or what have you — like, for example, the Salvation Army. Would they be required to bring in wet shelters for those individuals, or would they be able to maintain their view that the best way of handling this problem is to have people free of alcohol and drugs before they come into their centres? I think the point he is raising is very important and a valid one. In an adjacent riding, Vancouver–Mount Pleasant, we have an agency that provides housing for very hard-to-house individuals. I was able to visit with them just recently, and I actually spoke about them in my response to the throne speech. That was Jubilee House, which is run by the Lookout Emergency Aid Society with support from B.C. Housing and from other ministries of this government. At Jubilee House they have an awful lot of individuals that fit within that very hard-to-house category — people that do have an alcohol- or substance-abuse problem. I think they're trying to create a very low-level entry point for those individuals to access services.
The member raises a very excellent point that when someone is on the street and cold, perhaps drunk or stoned, shivering out in the cold is probably not the best way for society to respond to that individual. If there are some ways which we can perhaps get them to a sobering station or sobering house, if you will, or to an actual housing project like the one run by Lookout Emergency Aid Society — which is called Jubilee House, by the way — then we have a golden opportunity. As that person's head clears, as they have a cup of coffee and as they interact with other residents in that facility, they also have this wonderful opportunity to hear about other options that are available to them, whether those are daytox programs or detox programs, as the member was mentioning.
These are all valuable assets to our community that sometimes people in a drug-induced state or when they're drunk don't know about, so I think the notion
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that he is putting forward is very valid in that it says to people, "You know what? We'll meet you where you are, and we'll help you get to the next stage if you want to," but let's get them in off the street. The member talks about thinking outside the box, and he is quite known for often thinking outside of the box. In thinking outside of the box, he is thinking about getting people off the street, and I think that it's a valid concern and something we should definitely discuss and consider here.
I do hope that we can move this forward. As I say, the Jubilee House in Vancouver–Mount Pleasant is doing terrific work at bringing people in from where they are and helping them move along — access better health services, detox, treatment programs and eventually job training programs. I think it's valid to bring this to the floor. This is a good idea that maybe we should explore more openly within this government and, hopefully, for the citizens of British Columbia to think about the most humane way of offering services to those that are most vulnerable in our society. I'll await the member's comments, and I thank you very much for this opportunity to respond to his innovative idea. I wish him good success with the greater discussion in the community.
J. Bray: I would like to thank my colleague and friend the member for Vancouver-Burrard. I know we share a lot of the same passions and concerns with respect to people. He is quite correct when he talks about the journey — coordinating the services so that people are actually going from service to service where the service providers know each other, where they're case-managing somebody. The journey for somebody we see on the streets to where they are likely to be able to attach themselves in some form to employment is not a six-week journey. It's not even a six-month journey. It might be a year; it might be two years. Unless we are tying the services together with the components necessary to make that successful, then I'm afraid all we're doing is applying band-aids.
Second-stage housing could last for 12 months; it could last for 24 months. It's a subsidized form of housing away from the downtown core, away from the environment the person came from, that says: "You don't have to worry about where you live, and you don't have to worry about how you can afford it, but you do have to worry about attaining some life skills or adult basic education or your grade 12 equivalency or some job training." In other words, the social contract really starts to kick in. We'll provide the security of stable housing to allow you to access those other skills you are going to need to maximize your potential.
Second-stage housing is a common concept in issues of family violence. Often services are provided for women leaving a transition home with their children to go into second-stage housing. I think we now need to look at people who are taking a different journey — that is, one of substance abuse, disconnect and marginalization — so that they have those supports and so that they can learn the skills to survive in the world as well as to actually attach to the labour force.
I think we're poised to make that journey and make those services available now that this government has combined mental health services and addiction services and has appropriately placed that envelope into the Ministry of Health. We can deal with this as a health issue and deal with it on that human basis to actually allow individuals that have been to some extent written off by our communities to prove us all wrong and to allow them to take that journey in a coordinated, structured way for a year or two years or even three — to go from sleeping in the alcove in front of the Shoppers Drug Mart in downtown Victoria to actually being independent, earning a wage and moving through that journey of life and maximizing their potential.
I believe that wet housing is just one piece; outreach, just one piece; second-stage housing, just one piece. As we develop these pieces, as we look at new ways to provide services for people that really meet their needs, we must also look at the way in which we are coordinating those services so that service providers know where to refer and those referral agencies are talking to each other because we're dealing with human beings, not cases.
Deputy Speaker: For our final private member's statement, the member for Surrey-Whalley.
CRIME
E. Brenzinger: I rise in the House today to speak about crime, its impact on my constituency, and to address what this government is doing about crime. Last November while recognizing Crime Prevention Week, I told this House how the theme — crime — can affect us all. "Be part of the solution" was being promoted in the community, and I reminded my colleagues that we all play a role in ensuring that our children are safe and our neighbourhoods are protected.
My office continues to promote this message, which has never been more appropriate than it is today as crime issues continue to be problematic in my constituency. My constituents and, indeed, all Surrey residents continue to pay the personal price of crime's proliferation. They're constantly bombarded with media stories and talk on the street about how overwhelmed police officers are in trying to combat crime.
This morning Surrey was identified throughout the media as the car theft capital of the English-speaking world. This label and this activity are discomforting for Surrey residents, to say the least. In 2001 approximately 6,100 cars were reported stolen in Surrey, costing drivers and taxpayers more than $13 million. The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia reports that based on 2002 figures provincewide, every day a staggering 64 vehicles are stolen, 107 vehicles are vandalized and 136 vehicles are broken into. Auto theft is a costly crime. For each vehicle stolen, ICBC averages $4,000 in costs. Vehicles are often damaged when sto-
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len and used for break and entry or are totally destroyed by thieves.
In the year 2000 almost 500 criminal charges were laid because of work done by the RCMP auto crime unit, including possession of stolen property, possession of car-breaking tools, impersonation, dangerous driving, break and enter, and a variety of probation breach charges. In 2001 half of these 13,000 cases handled in the Surrey Provincial Court concerned auto theft, with 90 percent of those involving repeat offenders.
In past years there has been a concerted effort by the Surrey RCMP auto theft unit to focus on repeat offenders who are responsible for most of the vehicle thefts in Surrey. Most often, police report vehicles are stolen so thieves have transportation to commit other crimes, specifically break-ins and robberies. The Surrey RCMP auto theft unit maintains a top-40 list of active car thieves and monitors not only their activities but their court cases as well. It is worth noting that the fastest arrest by this auto theft unit, from the time a specific individual was released from Provincial Court to his committing another crime, was logged at only taking 34 minutes.
Naturally, auto theft is not limited to Surrey, and the Surrey RCMP auto theft unit has assisted other regional or provincial auto theft agencies with numerous investigations involving theft, chop shops, vehicle identity switches and other detailed lengthy investigations.
Auto theft is not the only criminal activity that is proliferating in Surrey. As outlined above, break-ins and other thefts are also on the increase. Also increasing is the crime of gun smuggling, which is one of the fastest-growing crimes in this province. Property crime is pandemic across the lower mainland, and Surrey is not immune. Much crime that occurs in Surrey is driven by drug abuse, substance addiction and homelessness.
The city of Surrey's drug and crime task force policy paper, released in December, strives to improve the quality of life in Surrey by addressing the issues of substance misuse and the related criminal activity through a coordinated plan. It proposes a four-pillar approach that involves prevention and education, treatment and enforcement.
The report identifies that while there is limited research analyzing drug use among Surrey youth, drug use is increasing and starting at an earlier age, especially with marijuana and amphetamines. This leads to another criminal issue that plagues my constituency, Surrey and B.C. as a whole. The proliferation of marijuana growing operations, and the criminal issues such as grow rips and gang activity that accompany them, is adding to the burden borne by Surrey RCMP officers. For instance, it has been said that Surrey RCMP are not able to raid and disassemble all the marijuana growing operations that are currently known about and that it would take them two years just to get to them.
Police estimate that the number of Surrey-based marijuana growing operations has increased by more than 200 percent over the last four years. It has been widely reported that more than 40 percent of the pot grown in Canada is grown in B.C., and the underground industry generates around $5 billion a year. Drugs are indeed a scourge on Surrey that has created criminal problems and ways in the area.
Recently my constituency has benefited from the targeted police resources, along with city action to control traffic patterns in the Whalley area, and it has had an immediate impact, with reduced criminal activity in the area.
Everyone in our community must be vigilant if we are to succeed in eliminating or substantially reducing crime in Surrey. Crime prevention can be as easy as becoming a block parent, joining a Neighbourhood Watch group or taking part in community events. Neighbourhood Watch is a crime prevention program that works to reduce threats to the property of people and their neighbours. The program encourages communities to be aware of their neighbours and neighbourhood activities during times when burglaries are likely to occur.
The need for block parents is becoming more pronounced to provide safe places for children to turn when sick, hurt, lost or bothered by a stranger or a bully. The British Columbia Crime Prevention Association's website outlines a number of events and activities that we can all take part in to foster relationships that will act to prevent crime.
Recently our government announced that it is taking steps to focus resources on fighting crime and helping B.C. police agencies do their jobs. It is good news that Surrey and my constituents have been waiting to hear, and the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General is to be commended for addressing these issues. I invite the minister to expand on those initiatives for the House.
Hon. R. Coleman: The member in seven minutes put on the table a number of issues — grow-ops, auto theft, theft of property and vandalism, crime prevention, and all of those — and in five minutes I have no way of actually addressing those. As my colleagues know, if you give me a platform for discussing just organized crime in the province, I could do a good hour on that alone.
However, we have taken some initiatives with an integrated municipal-provincial auto theft task force, which is a group of people out there in Surrey working with the RCMP with regard to auto theft. We have reinstituted operation Hot Wheels in Surrey, with regard to it, with that team and the Surrey RCMP to push back on auto theft.
As we've done that, we've also been experimenting with and had success with a bait car program that began in September 2002 in Vancouver. That bait car program basically has cars that are equipped with sensors, global positioning devices and hidden video cameras to catch auto thieves. The program was funded by ICBC to cost about $700,000 as we went through that
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experiment, and to date in Vancouver, 22 people have been arrested and charged with auto theft.
As we move forward, the very idea that the car is out there has actually had some impact on auto theft in Vancouver, and we are going to expand that bait car program. We're expanding it to 16 communities across the lower mainland that will be included in the program. Those communities are Abbotsford, Burnaby, Chilliwack, Coquitlam, Delta, Langley, Mission, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Port Moody, Richmond, Ridge Meadows, Surrey, the university detachment, West Vancouver and White Rock.
Funding is in place for the expansion of the bait car program, and as expected, we're launching it in early spring, again, because we're going to actually expand this thing in addition to what we're doing already. We do have bait cars out there in the lower mainland today. The program will also be run by Impact, our integrated municipal-provincial auto theft task force, which shows that integration can work with regard to policing in the province. Also, E division of the RCMP is going to be meeting with the municipal partners in the next few weeks as we actually plan this program going forward.
It's going to have great success. It's going to have success in actually catching auto thieves, and then we're going to get 45, 50 or 60 charges going into our court system. When they arrive, we would like our criminal justice branch to understand that we have a problem out there and that we would actually like our prosecutors to seek, on repeat offenders, punitive penalties, so these people aren't back out in the street doing exactly what they were doing as fast as they get out of the court system. That is a problem with regard to every level of crime in British Columbia.
We have to tell people, send the message, that crime is something that is not acceptable in British Columbia. The member mentioned marijuana grow ops, which are, frankly…. Here's the quickest example. In Washington State they recently decided that for 100 plants or more, you will get five years in jail and no parole. Now, that's not good for British Columbia. If you ask the state's Attorney General and the people down there, you know what they'll tell you? They'll tell you: "We know we can't stop all organized crime, but we can certainly make ourselves not the jurisdiction in which to do this business." Their attitude is this: "They'll go to British Columbia to do their business, because we're tough on crime in Washington State."
The message has to be to our criminal justice branch that we're tough on crime in British Columbia, and we do not want a continuation of the expansion of these types of activities in the province. That's the message that we have to send, and we will send it through initiatives by this member and other members of this House and the public actually stepping up to the plate and letting everybody know publicly that these are not acceptable standards for our communities.
We actually believe that criminals should pay. We actually believe that criminals should be off the street if they can't learn that in British Columbia, we don't accept repeat behaviour. We should also let organized crime know that as we move forward with legislation, we're going to go after their assets. We're going to find every tool we can, and we're going to continue to pressure the federal government to wake up and smell the roses and give us the assistance on the federal drug prosecutors so that we can push back on crime in our province and in every province in the country.
This member outlines a problem that exists. We hear it on our radio stations, in our newspapers, in our communities, in our constituency offices. Somebody else has to learn to hear that, and that's the criminal justice branches of Canada to start to push back on crime in this country so our police can do their job.
E. Brenzinger: I thank the Solicitor General for his response and enthusiasm and for reassuring Surrey residents and the rest of the province that this government is aware of the crime situation. His explanation of this government's commitment to making resources available for policing is good news for many Surrey residents and communities. The Solicitor General's recent announcement of police department integration will benefit many Fraser Valley communities and streamline the crime-fighting process.
The establishment and use of the PRIME information-sharing system will surely help accelerate case processing in Surrey and indeed in many B.C. communities' heavy Provincial Court caseloads.
It is also welcome news that the federal government will be urged to do its share to ensure that federal laws, penalties, sentences and policing resources are in line with the needs of this community's extraordinary situation. Only recently have auto theft specialist police officers been able to implement and operate successful programs like the bait car program and the Hot Wheels program that target repeat offenders.
As I mentioned earlier, one offender was back in police custody a mere half-hour after being released from Surrey Provincial Court. Clearly, these repeat offenders are clogging our court systems as the police continue to target their top-40 active car thieves who, in turn, enter the revolving doors at the provincial courthouse.
Urging the federal government to draw stiffer penalties or laws and convincing this country's court system that deterrent sentences are needed for law-flouting thieves and marijuana growers will discourage repeat offenders, which is of paramount concern to many of my constituents.
As was demonstrated in one Whalley neighbourhood, it takes dedicated action to affect serious change. Targeted police action in a troubled neighbourhood near my constituency office was successful in cutting down on the criminal behaviour that was taking place in a one-block stretch of road.
We have other roads to tackle now. But we all know — courts included — that targeting the drug dealers, the prostitution, the drug addiction problems of many streets in Whalley has resulted in some crimi-
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nal behaviour being displaced or spread to other neighbourhoods — some in Surrey, some elsewhere. We must remain vigilant in our attack.
Finally, as parents, educators and community leaders, we all have a responsibility to ensure that there are consequences for our children and youth. Consequences for actions not acceptable by society will contribute to a stronger value system and healthier communities overall.
Deputy Speaker: Hon. members, that concludes private members' statements.
Hon. P. Bell: I call private member's Motion 83.
Deputy Speaker: Hon. members, pursuant to standing orders, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed with Motion 83 without disturbing the priorities of motions preceding it on the order paper.
Leave granted.
Motions on Notice
ROLE OF TEAM SPORTS
IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
B. Locke: Thank you for this opportunity. I rise to speak today to Motion 83 standing in my name on the order paper, which reads:
[Be it resolved that this House recognize the positive impacts of team sports on children in developing self-esteem and in teaching life-long healthy habits.]
Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to move this motion in the House and to be part of a government that recognizes the importance of sport in a child's development.
The United Nations convention on the rights of the child declares that every child has the right to recreational opportunities. The importance of sport, particularly team sports, goes far beyond the obvious physical and health benefits. There are tremendous social and psychological benefits for children too — benefits that will last them a lifetime.
Team sports teach social skills, communication, negotiation and sharing. Sports also teach focus, determination and commitment. Sports teach children integrity and how to deal with emotions. It teaches sportsmanship. Great life lessons are learned for interpersonal relationships in school, in later years in the workplace and in family life.
Employers look for well-rounded employees — employees that understand how to work with others. Team sport is a fun, positive environment for children and youth to attain that grounding.
As a mother of children that have been and continue to be very active in team sports, I know firsthand the incredible gift that sport has given to both of them and to their teammates. The benefits of team sport not only impact the child but also engage the family in a positive way. Parental participation not only in their own children's achievement but in the entire team's fosters a sense of community and pride.
As part of the safe schools task force, I saw what the lack of self-esteem does to a child. Sports build that self-esteem, and it gives children confidence and empowerment that is recognized as a tool to protect children from being bullied. Team sports give children a sense of belonging.
The Psychology Foundation of Canada states that outside activities like sports give children a chance to make new friends, learn new skills and have fun. All of these are good for self-esteem and can be especially important to a child who is having problems in school. The success he or she has in an outside activity may help them gain confidence in tackling school projects and instil values of hard work, practice and self-discipline.
Research shows that children who are active in sports tend to have better grades and fewer behavioral problems. Team sports are a huge contributor to school pride. Very often sports can bring a school together. If the senior basketball team has a big game that evening, the science, music and art departments will generally know about it and help to promote it.
Sports teams advance school unity and confidence. Healthy competition between local schools encourages our athletes towards greater athletic excellence. Children learn skills from each other, as well as different strategies and techniques that aid them in striving towards their athletic goals. As well, many senior athletes are offered an opportunity to act as early role models for the junior athletes. This is particularly beneficial to the senior athletes who very often are thrust into their very first leadership role. Sports can bridge younger students with older ones, which builds school cohesiveness.
Sadly, the trend to team sports is declining. Video games and computers are taking up too much of children's time — a trend we must reverse. Experts have identified the couching of children as a significant problem. Coaching is addressing this issue. When I was researching this motion, I was impressed with the new emphasis and priority that coaches' training is putting on developing self-esteem, rewarding all levels of individual achievement and, most importantly, keeping the game fun.
Parents, too, have a significant role to play in encouraging their children to participate in sport. They also have a responsibility to keep the game a game — a positive experience, win or lose. I know the importance on sport that this government is placing with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the World Police and Fire Games in 2009, the 2006 world junior hockey games, the B.C. Winter Games in less than two weeks in Port Alberni and, in my own town of Surrey, the 2006 world little league games. All these events will create a new enthusiasm and will encourage children and their parents to participate. These high-profile events put a positive focus on sport, and they encourage children to dream.
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I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on this motion that is so critical to the physical and emotional health of our youth and to the future of our great province.
J. Nuraney: I rise to support Motion 83. As our member has very aptly put it, team sports is one of the more important aspects of our lives. Team sports has traditionally been a great motivator for developing human values — the spirit of generosity, objectivity or being a part of the whole and instilling that sense of modesty. The concept of playing the game is more important than winning or losing. Those aspects of lives, which are great teachers of our value system, are being lost if sport is not being encouraged.
In our modern society and with the advent of technology, particularly the introduction of computers in our lives, we are seeing more physical inactivity than before. Our youths are engaged more and more in watching either the computer screen or the television screen with absolutely no physical activity.
Apart from the benefit of sporting activity for better health, our children are denied the cultivating of team spirit and the understanding of values of developing self-esteem. We are witnessing an undesirable shift in the behaviour patterns among our youth, who are emulating violence that they watch on television. Human society over the years was developed by building the values of generosity and sharing. Team sports inculcate these values, and it is therefore important that we acknowledge and promote the positive impacts of team sports. With this, I fully support the motion that has been brought before us, and I think team sports are a great vehicle to developing self-esteem among our youth.
V. Anderson: Likewise, I join with the member for Surrey–Green Timbers in her motion: "Be it resolved that this House recognize the positive impacts of team sports on children in developing self-esteem and in teaching life-long healthy habits." There are so many facets to this particular motion that not only do we recognize, but it is important that we begin to develop and encourage the facilities and the opportunities for young people to be involved in team sports.
Having grown up in a small community in another day and time when we had no television to occupy our time, we were involved in sports on the playing fields and in the local rink. Having the privilege of growing up in a small town rather than in a city, these playing fields were easily accessible to us. The rink was easily accessible to us. A dollar would buy you a ticket for the whole year. You could skate and play hockey almost any time you wished.
It was interesting. When I looked back over one of the most important coaches that we had either on the school grounds or in the rink, I realized it was the caretaker in the rink and the janitor in the school grounds who were there whenever we were there and monitored our activities, how we behaved and acted and supported each other. But along with those were the important adults — the men and women who were there to teach us, to coach us, to guide us and to volunteer their time. The impression they made, coming out at 6 o'clock in the morning to be with us as they went on their way to work, gave us the opportunity that learning from our adults in team activities was extremely important, because we were given the opportunity to be there.
In the city it is much more difficult. I remember when my own daughter was in high school, we asked the kids one day what they would like, and they said: "We would like a place where we can be." Once they left the schoolyard, there was no place within the community, except on the street, that you could play the games that kids play with one another. It is important that we have parks and facilities that are open to young people so they can come forth and be part of these activities.
There are very significant kinds of ways that team sports can make a difference. I remember that in my hockey days as a youngster, there was one of our lads who began to smoke. Within six months he was no longer able to keep up with the rest of the youngsters in his combination in hockey. He learned the results to his health and to his contribution to the rest of the team that his smoking caused. He quit, because he found that it was more important to support the team than to support something which he had doubtful pleasure in.
It is very important in playing together that we begin to appreciate and understand each other. If you got a group of people who are building pyramids together, as we used to do in our gymnastic program, you began to realize that in order to build a pyramid you needed some big, husky persons on the bottom. In the middle you needed some people who weren't quite so heavy but still had the strength to support, and then you needed that very small person on the top who could climb up on the shoulders of other people and be up on the top and stay there. What you realized out of that experience was that everybody and every size and shape had an important place on the team and that the process could not operate unless everybody worked together.
We realize, too, that in the hockey team there are different positions you can play. One person can be a defenceman, another can be a forward, and a person can also be a goalie. Every person realizes there is a different kind of skill in each of those positions. One person may be really good in one thing and not so good in the other. You learn to evaluate your own strengths and abilities compared to other people. Team sports are very important in that regard.
One of the things that has come out of the throne speech is the legacy program that is to support sports, recreation, music, culture and volunteerism. This is a new opportunity to say together as a community: "This is an important function."
One of the realities was the competition between teams, when you could go and compete not only in
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your own community but in other communities across the province or even across the nation or around the world, in these days, with the Olympics. The opportunity to go and not only excel in your sport but meet people of different backgrounds, different languages, different cultures and different experiences and in the interaction between you to discover that there was more than one way of living together in a community…. The offshoots of recreational sports programs in teams are extremely important.
This week is Multicultural Week. One of the realities of our programs is that people of all cultural backgrounds work together in our teams. They play with each other, they worship with each other on many occasions, and they have an opportunity to grow together, so that team sports bring together a community.
One of the realities in team sports is the participation and support of the parents, who come together with the young people. The offshoot of that is that the parents get to know each other. They react with each other and support each other. Because the young people are in teams, the parents are in teams, driving them, supporting them and providing them with the resources they need. Team sports put young people in a centre place within the community. If you have a parade in a community, one of the values of the parade is that you have the teams — each in that parade — taking their place, being part of the community life, and the wholeness of community is brought together.
Hon. Speaker, I heartily endorse the motion of the member for Surrey–Green Timbers, because being in sports is not only important to the individuals involved, but it enables them to see their larger place in the community and that they have a contribution to make to the well-being of the community in which they live. They grow up with the understanding of not only gaining from those who have served them but the reality that they, in their turn, will be able to serve others. Indeed, in most sports groups, those who have become somewhat expert — say, by high school in a team — are now leading and coaching the younger people under them. They're not only learning to be team players themselves; they're also learning by coaching the younger members of their community how to be team players and giving them an opportunity to grow.
There are few things that bring together a community more than sports activities, music, the arts and drama. I encourage the motion that is before us and that we find ways as a government, as we are doing now with the LegaciesNow program, to give support and encouragement so that young people in every community will have the opportunity.
Particularly, as has been mentioned, a lot of young people get into difficulties in their life and undertake processes which are not healthy for them or for the community simply because there's a vacuum in the community and the kinds of team sports that should be available are not there. If we have words, it's important that we follow up these words with programs and activities that enable young people to be part of team activities and give them a future that many of us have had the privilege of having in the past.
I commend the member for Surrey–Green Timbers for highlighting this particular issue.
V. Roddick: Thank you, member for Surrey–Green Timbers.
Motion 83 is bringing team sports for children full circle. What must be emphasized here, however, is the word "school." In my day, which was back in the Dark Ages, PE and school teams were the norm. Keeping children physically active helps burn off extra energy, which today seems to go into excessive bullying.
Having children competing for their school — whether it be in academics or sports — builds loyalty and a true team spirit, as opposed to today's world where children play sports in the community but often on different teams each year, which doesn't always build a strong sense of camaraderie or team cohesion. My children went through a ridiculous era where no one should ever have to lose or really ever have to compete. One just sailed through to the end of school to face that sudden shock of the real world where, believe you me, it's dog eat dog.
Participation in school team sports — and there can be several levels of competency in these teams — not only gives kids the chance to burn off steam but, more importantly, offers them opportunity to learn how to interact with each other and to work with others to achieve a common goal. As children become more proficient in their sport, their self-esteem automatically increases. Lifelong healthy eating habits are virtually a by-product of participatory sports, because they play a significant part in how well an athlete performs — just like my colleague mentioned on the smoking issue.
I am a great supporter of athletics of all stripes, and I do feel strongly that there should be more of it in schools. As this House knows only too well, I am a huge supporter of healthy eating habits and agriculture, because we still have to eat to live. Bullying and obesity have become societal issues. We all need to work together to get back on track. What can we do to help our local PE teacher? Participate.
I look forward to more comments.
L. Mayencourt: It's a great pleasure to rise and speak in favour of this motion which has been put forward by the member for Surrey–Green Timbers.
I know it's particularly important to this member because she has a daughter that's very actively involved in sports — in ringette and many other things. I know that Katie is someone who's very special to the member and that she's one of those kinds of kids who really gets out there and participates in life. You know, when I look at her, I see a young, confident, self-assured, engaged young person — someone that's really living life to the very fullest.
The whole point behind this particular motion is that there is an opportunity in life to participate that
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doesn't necessarily happen unless it is taught, unless it is introduced to you as something that is of value. Team sports are an excellent way of doing that.
Actually, when I was in school, I wasn't much for team sports, and I regret that. I think I joined my first softball team back when I turned about 35. I want to tell you that joining a team and being involved in team sports was a transformation. It was really interesting, the way you changed your outlook about yourself and about other people that you were out there working with.
In our caucus we have, once in a while, played a game of basketball led by the member for Surrey–White Rock. Now, we're a pretty sorry group of basketball players, but the important thing is….
K. Stewart: Speak for yourself. Come on.
L. Mayencourt: Well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend the member behind me.
The point is that there is a wonderful thing that happens in sport. You break down a lot of barriers. You break down the differences between people. You are working towards the same kind of goal. That's an important value. Those values are something that we have the opportunity to teach our children at a very, very early age.
Lately I've seen a commercial on TV. I'm sure many others have seen it as well. They're talking about this: what if there were no points accumulated in hockey? What if there were no winners and no losers in the game of hockey or in basketball or any other sport? It brings home a really interesting thing, because team sport is often about winning a game, but it is also about a student, a youth, an adult — like myself or whatever — winning at being able to understand and be part of a team environment, to be part of a group that's working towards the same goal.
In fact, anybody that involves themselves in team sports, particularly young people, is a winner. They're individuals that are out there making something happen with a group of people. You know, we're supposed to be together with people. Human beings are social animals. We love to be together. What better way to do that than to be out there having our hearts race and our muscles ache and what have you? There is a great feeling of accomplishment.
When I look back on the opportunity I had to join that softball league and times that I have played basketball, I go: "Wow, that was fantastic." Those were wonderful times for me and wonderful times for the people that I was engaged in the sports activity with, so I'm a big supporter of team sports.
I'm also a big supporter of Katie, because Katie is a damn good kid. Excuse me for my language there, Mr. Speaker. I'm very sorry.
Katie is a darn good kid. She is a real inspiration to any kid who interacts with her that sports are fun, sports build character and sports are just a wonderful way to be a part of the community that you live in.
I'm all for Motion 83. Let's make sure that everybody supports this particular motion for Katie and for all the kids out there in the schools that need to be involved in sports. For all of those adults that should be in sports and haven't tried it yet, get to your softball league and get involved in sports.
J. Bray: I'm very pleased to rise in support of Motion 83, moved by the member for Surrey–Green Timbers. I just want to read it again, because I think the motion itself details some of the reasons why this is a critical issue: "Be it resolved that this House recognize the positive impacts of team sports on children in developing self-esteem and in teaching life-long healthy habits."
Now, many members have stood up and talked about their experiences of athleticism in their youth. I, too, have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to have played different team sports throughout my youth, so I speak from a personal perspective. I think we see in news reports and medical journals a disturbing trend in today's youth. It is a very serious trend, and that is a trend towards juvenile obesity. We now know conclusively the impacts that obesity has on the health of adults: increase in diabetes, increase in arthritis, increase in coronary heart disease and increase in links to some forms of cancer. Imagine that those problems are going to occur younger and younger as more and more of our children suffer from obesity.
At the same time, we hear that many commentators are concerned about the proliferation of solo activities like the computer terminal and video games, the proliferation of DVDs and videos. The fact is that these types of non-active situations are becoming more prevalent in our youth, and our young people and our very young people are developing, I think, very unfortunate habits that lead in many ways to issues like obesity and isolation.
I do think this motion is critical because, in fact, the solution to some of those problems exists. The solution to some of the problems exists in minor league baseball, minor league hockey, figure skating, gymnastics classes and soccer classes in our neighbourhoods, community centres and schools, as the member for Delta South rightly points out. The solution exists. It doesn't mean that all video games are bad. It doesn't mean that TV is bad or that the computer is bad. It means that the proportion in which our young people, our children, are participating has perhaps gotten out of whack. It's critical that as parents we provide the right structure for our children to participate. It's the parents' responsibility to access those programs.
We don't suffer from a lack of them around our communities. In fact, some parents will tell you that they seem to spend all their time in their minivans driving kids from activity to activity, so it is not that we don't have them. We have to provide the structure for our kids to participate, and participate in a meaningful way — not just fill up their time, their dance
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card, so to speak, but to make sure it's meaningful and that kids are participating in the team sports that they enjoy and that provide some meaning.
What are some of the positive impacts? Some other members have referred to them, but let me reiterate. The first is plain, basic physical activity — getting out and running around the baseball diamond or the soccer field, skating around the ice rink, chasing a soccer ball, kayaking or any number of the other activities and team sports that children can participate in. Being physically active has innumerable health benefits in terms of mental health, burning off the excess energy, as well as the physical attributes of building muscle, strong bones, getting the heart going, increasing your oxygen uptake — all of those types of things.
Team sports also provide some other important, critical factors in our society that you can't get from a video game or from a video, and that's socialization. As we increasingly spend more and more of our time in front of video, TV or computer screens, we're losing the important skills of how we interact with each other — how we communicate, how we problem-solve, how we map the course of social skills that allow us to survive day to day in our community, in existing situations and as we confront new situations. Team sports are all about that socialization, especially among young children. It's about being active with other kids — some of whom are your friends, some of whom you are only getting to know because you joined the team — but you are learning those critical skills of interaction with other people. It's an interaction as a team sport that is basically devoid of adults. You're on the field; you're on the pitch; you're on the ice.
Our kids need to have those skills — skills that we take for granted because we grew up in an era where we were outside all the time, where we were involved in a variety of activities in our neighbourhoods. That doesn't necessarily exist anymore, and team sports provides for many in urban settings the only viable alternative to playing the old kick-the-can or hide-and-seek in your neighbourhood, when neighbourhoods allowed for that, where we had stay-at-home parents. Team sports provide that opportunity. That socialization, I think, is one of the most important critical factors, because as you interact with your fellow teammates, your self-esteem does improve. You don't necessarily get a big head or win MVP of your team every year, but you get the satisfaction of participating.
That's the other key issue with team sports. You know, we do keep score in soccer and baseball and all those sports. Parents, coaches and umpires pay attention to that. If you ask kids who won, at the end of an eight-year-old's soccer game and you've all gone off to McDonald's to have your Happy Meal, most of them would tell you: "I don't know." But if you said, "Did you have fun?" they'll say: "Oh yeah, it was great. I scored a goal. So did Bobby, I think. So did Sheila. It was great." In other words, they're not concerned about the winning or losing; they're concerned about the participation. Team sports encourage that participation as long as the parents promote that.
Finally, as kids move through team sports, another important aspect of self-esteem is achievement. It is important to have success. It is important to achieve things, whether it's a little ribbon for participation or MVP of a midget hockey tournament. Achievement is important, and team sports provide lots of opportunities for that achievement.
Finally, I think there is no question that as the debate rages with respect to health care — and that debate, I suspect, will rage long after we all leave this place…. There is no denying that if kids become involved in team sports at a young age, develop an active lifestyle and, as the member for Delta South pointed out, the necessary nutritional components required for an active lifestyle and develop those lifelong wellness habits, that is the greatest preventive solution for our health care system that's ever been invented — along with an education. Kids don't have to be drafted in the NHL to continue to play hockey throughout their adult life. So it is an incredibly important facet in our health care prevention strategy to encourage kids to be involved in team sports, to encourage parents to provide structure and support, and to make sure that all kids are involved and have a chance.
I commend the member for Surrey–Green Timbers for bringing forward what I think is a critical motion for us to debate and to take back to our communities and ensure that people take full advantage of those important opportunities.
R. Stewart: I rise to, of course, support this motion as well. I think team sports are one of the most vital ways in which we can encourage young people's participation, encourage young people's fitness and encourage young people to learn the important lessons in life as well.
Last November I rose to make a statement in this House about soccer, which is the most-played organized sport in the country. We know that across this country about 840,000 players will participate in soccer, which is more than any other team sport in Canada. Of course, there are more widely played team sports around the world, but here in Canada there is soccer. A second place would be hockey and various other team sports. My own children play soccer, as I did when I was young. I wasn't very good at soccer, but I participated in a number of other team sports, including water polo. In that sport I was able to make it all the way to the Canada Summer Games in 1977 as a member of British Columbia's team. I know that the lessons I learned in those team sports — the lessons about the fact that I wasn't the best player on the team by any means….
Some Hon. Members: No.
R. Stewart: No, really. Okay, I might be too humble. But there were better players on both teams, and I learned from both teams. I also learned the fact that we didn't win every game. I learned to know what defeat
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was like and to know what it was to strive to be my best in a sport that I believe gave me both fitness and also a number of life's lessons.
Now I get to work with my own children. All four of my children participate in team sports. We play soccer, baseball and basketball. These sports play an important part in the life of our family, and that's an important key here. Parental support is vital to the types of team sports that we're talking about today. Parents drive their children. They, of course, watch the games. They participate in a number of events. They get the children to practices, but they also are the coaches in most cases. We find that parents participate in coaching both for the good of the young people that play the sports but also for the good of the parents. I know a great many parents who coach basketball, baseball and soccer, who tell me they get a great deal out of the enormous task they take on. But other parents can also be proud of the participation and the role that they play in amateur sport. They can also be proud when those special moments arrive on the field and off the field.
Three weeks ago, for example, my youngest daughter Amanda, a seven-year-old soccer player, scored the winning goal at Mundy Park field. The look on her face as she talked about it to grandma, the look on her face as she told mom about it — mom was at another game of one of our children, and I was the one at the soccer field for Amanda — was something to behold.
We know that children get a tremendous amount out of amateur sport and that the more we can do as a society to encourage greater participation, the better off our children will be, the better off our education system will be, the better off our health care system will be and the better off our society will be.
To Amanda's coaches — the Bohlens for example…. To all the coaches, to Cid Smythies and Dave Warren, who coach my older daughter in soccer; to my son's basketball coaches; to all of the coaches across the province who put in so much time in amateur sport: I take my hat off, and I know that this House joins in recognizing the tremendous efforts of volunteer coaches across the province in amateur sport.
We also must recognize our communities. Our communities put tremendous resources into playing fields and ice arenas, and quite often they're not enough. Quite often we hear the complaint that the soccer fields aren't good enough, that the soccer fields aren't up to par or that they're flooded with water or mud for great portions of the year. As much as we can, I think we as a society owe it to our children to make certain that we provide the kinds of environments where they can practise their sport, where they can thrive on the playing field, in these kinds of incredibly important endeavours.
I urge municipalities…. I urge governments at all levels to continue to support amateur sports — not only the ones that are often considered to be the most popular, such as soccer or hockey, but also some other ones that many communities don't see as being as valuable. I urge communities, and I urge local governments, provincial governments and governments at all levels to make certain we support amateur sports at all levels and in all sports because of the tremendous benefits they give to our communities.
When all is said and done, though, it comes down to a parent driving a student, driving a child, to probably a cold field or an ice arena at five in the morning. To those parents and those young people, I take my hat off. You're doing a tremendous amount, parents, for your children and for your community. Young people: stay with your sport. Choose a sport that really excites you. Don't worry that you're not the best, because I wasn't the best, and I think almost every player out there knows that in some of the sports he plays, he needs a lot of improvement. Strive for that improvement, but at the end of the day, recognize that the sports you play and the teams you belong to and the team spirit you learn will live with you all your life.
H. Bloy: Today I rise in support of Motion 83 and of the member for Surrey–Green Timbers, who I know personally is involved in team sports along with her family.
I would like to talk about the benefits of team sports. I personally, as an adult, was one of the founding members of the Burnaby Mountain Mantas Summer Swim Club. I have been involved with the B.C. Summer Games, and I have been involved with Burnaby minor lacrosse. As a youth I participated in many sports. At one time I thought I was going to be a goalie in the NHL, but that soon disappeared. The benefits of team sport….
An Hon. Member: Stick with it.
H. Bloy: Stick with my dream to play in the NHL. I give my age away. I was going to be Johnny Bower or Harry Lumley, but that was a long time ago.
In team sports our children learn to work together, which is something that will benefit these children for the rest of their lives, and it will also benefit our communities. Team sports can teach our children how to work harder and work at something, and they know the harder they work, the better they will get. That activity is a valuable lesson for the rest of their lives. Our children will get introduced to active lifestyles that will grant them health throughout their lives. These sports create a positive, fun environment for kids, and for adults also, to make friends. This will benefit these youth for the balance of their lives.
Team sports build stronger families. Many soccer parents build a strong relationship with their kids by helping them in their activities, by taking them to the games, by talking to them after the game about what happened in the game and how it was played. Other adults use the opportunities of team sport to coach and to develop other children, and this is something that will benefit them in their worklife, as well, in learning how to work with individuals.
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The whole community benefits by bringing volunteers, families, parents and children together in a positive, healthy environment. I would like to congratulate the government for the new initiatives in physical education for our children and hope they will continue this work, particularly in respect to team sports. In my community of Burquitlam thousands of youth are involved in team sport, and there is more interest growing in registration for team sport all the time.
I would like to encourage the Olympic spirit that this government has brought by winning the 2010 Olympics for the people of British Columbia, to continue youth sport and the active involvement in the number of areas that I have read off — how team sport benefits youth is only good for the whole community of British Columbia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity of speaking in support of Motion 83.
R. Hawes: Like my colleagues I, too, rise to speak in support of this motion.
I spent 15 years of my life coaching minor hockey and ten years coaching minor baseball. For all of the time I spent there, I really can think of very few moments that I didn't believe exactly what this motion says is very, very true. At the same time, it now gives me huge pleasure to see that the kids I was involved with coaching are now out as adults playing team sports, playing hockey, often in a beer league or in pickup games or playing ball — both fastball and slo-pitch in some cases. These are kids who would not be doing that today, I don't believe, if they hadn't been involved as youth. In fact, it gives me even greater pleasure to see one of my sons out on the ice with his son, my grandchild, as he now starts coaching and getting involved in minor hockey.
The one thing, though, that is missing from the motion and that I would like to talk about for one minute is the bad part, the sad part of team sports. That's some parents who get involved in the wrong way. I experienced that through coaching hockey. In fact, there's an ad on TV now with a young kid berating his parents. It's sort of a parody on what happens after the game, when some parents are taking their kids home and start yelling at little Johnny: "Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you do that? You should listen to me."
I can remember, once after an atom house game, the young kids' parents asking me in the lobby after the game: "Where was your head? What's wrong with you? One minute to go in the game, and it's a tie game, and you put the worst line on the team out on the ice. What's wrong with you? What were you thinking of?" The only thing I could respond was: "I was thinking it was their turn." You know? And that's the way some parents are. They don't really care about the other kids. They care about little Johnny.
Anyone who has been down to the rink has seen them. They sit there sometimes with stopwatches, and I have seen parents that have a book where they've got the time for every single kid written on a piece of paper. How could they watch the game? They're watching the stopwatch. It is the most ridiculous thing. It is so destructive. As part of this motion, I would have loved to have seen if we could just somehow educate some parents on how to behave with their kids and then teach the kids so that when they become parents, they don't duplicate that behaviour.
It is highly destructive, and we've seen it over and over lately in the news, where there have been fights between parents at the ice rink — the sorts of things that should not be happening. So it's time to start educating some parents. There are huge benefits that this motion points out. Every kid is not going to the NHL. In fact, one in 50,000 might be lucky enough to get a smell of professional hockey or baseball or whatever. Team sports are there to teach these positive aspects to kids and need to be reinforced by parents.
As part of this motion, I would urge parents to at least think about that. Stop destroying your kids' good time and positive experience. Support your kids. Don't push them down all the time. That's just to that small handful of parents.
I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to this, Mr. Speaker.
B. Suffredine: It is timely that we would see a motion on the benefits of playing team sports. The year 2010 is approaching fast, and there are many opportunities for young people if they're encouraged.
Now, as a young person, I grew up in Saskatchewan, and I played on a variety of sports teams while I was there. Candidly, I was never the best player, not even one of the good players. I spent a lot of time on the bench on the football team, but Saskatchewan football was big so everybody wanted to play football as a youth. I played bantam football that the Kiwanis Club put together, and a bunch of the local fathers came out and coached us. I played high school football and a little bit of basketball, volleyball and track and field.
The interesting part about every one of those teams was the friendships we made in the time we spent on those teams. Win or lose…. Unlike some of the other members, winning counted. We didn't like to go home losing; winning was way better than losing. That actually was part of the value of it. If we won a game, it helped make us want to work harder and harder to see that as a regular thing.
It also resulted in a general level of fitness that was good for us all. It resulted in relaxation. A lot of people don't think of going out and exerting yourself as part of relaxation, but getting rid of the nervous energy that all of us have works out — helps us to concentrate. When I was in university I played water polo and was involved in the speed swimming team. Going down and spending an hour and a half in the pool helped use up the energy or release the frustrations of the day of concentrating and helped me to go back and do more.
All of those things taught me about being a team player, as well, and about sometimes putting the interests of the team ahead of the interests of the individuals
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involved. It taught us loyalty, and it taught us a lot of personal discipline. Lifestyle choices, like being able to go and do a fitness routine and finding an exercise you can regularly do and that you can use for your entire life….
Now, adults. We talk about the benefits to kids, but what about adults going down to teach the kids, to share with them the responsibilities, or the experience as a coach? I've seen good friends of mine, for example, go down and coach the local soccer team — provide some expertise that those kids would never have from people that have long experience playing soccer.
The benefits accrued to all of us on the team. You didn't have to be the best player, and even if you were the worst, the benefits that go with playing on a team and getting a great learning experience were there for all of us. You can't always tell who's going to become that great star athlete. You may not start out thinking that it is hard to tell, but in fact when I went to university — and, candidly, I didn't know really how to swim until I virtually started university — I went from not knowing how to swim to being one of the better swimmers on the team in a period of two years. That surprised me, because I didn't think I had the ability to be an athlete at all.
I would encourage all the parents to encourage their kids and the kids to not underestimate themselves. You never know what you can do. The year 2010 is approaching fast, and I'm sure we have the ability to put kids from the Kootenays on the medal podium in 2010. I encourage all the parents and youth to participate and encourage participation on team sports.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
D. Hayer: I consider it a pleasure to speak to Motion 83 as presented by my colleague from Surrey–Green Timbers. That riding, as you know, is immediately to the west of my riding of Surrey-Tynehead, which makes her motion recognizing the positive impact of team sports on children even more significant in that many of the sports and teams she speaks of are shared between our ridings.
As a parent of four children, I know firsthand the strength of character building that team sports bring to children and youth. Partnerships in team sports mean children learn to share, learn that success or failure is based on team performers, not just on an individual. The self-esteem my colleague speaks of comes when kids realize accomplishments and success by working together, by setting goals and sharing the effort to achieve those goals. Winning is not necessarily the only success of team sports.
Success and self-esteem come when kids realize that by working together, they have done the best they could have under the circumstances, bringing the satisfaction of a job well done. The learning that comes from team sports is far-reaching. In fact, what we do here in this House every day is team sports. It is all 79 MLAs in this House working together to try to bring about the best for everyone in this province. That is what kids discover in sports. By working together, by helping each other and by sharing success, they can achieve almost anything and everything. Life is like a team sport. We all have to get along with each other if we want society to survive and to succeed. Like teams, we all need a leader, we all need a coach, and throughout life we all treasure the self-esteem that most of us have learned as children participating in team sports.
K. Manhas: I rise to support this motion. However, noting the time, I move adjournment of debate.
K. Manhas moved adjournment of debate.
Motion approved.
Hon. G. Abbott moved adjournment of the House.
Motion approved.
Deputy Speaker: The House stands adjourned until 2 o'clock this afternoon.
The House adjourned at 11:57 a.m.
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