Choosing a University in Canada is about Choice Why Students are not choosing Vancouver Island University.
Students are concerned about environmental issues and Sex Crimes at VIU
In 1997, Malaspina University College (now renamed Vancouver Island University) was operating its Heavy Equipment Operators Curriculum program with hands on outdoor excavator activities to build a sport field. This excavation area was across the street from Jingle Pot Marsh which is the headwaters of the Cat Stream, a known fish bearing stream for Coho and Cut-throat trout. During excavation, and due to negligence, a large watery flow of harmful sediment to enter the headwaters of the Cat Stream during land clearing and puncture of an underground aquifer. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada laid formal charges and Mala pleaded guilty in provincial court on January 17, 2000 and was fined. http://www.mala.ca/mainly/page.asp?ID=618
Woman assaulted in VIU parking lot
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/local/story.html?id=5ab6299e-e27e-4db0-ab2a-a6837bc7b5d7
Students shocked by sex crimes
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=ccbd23dd-f2db-47cd-8d8c-3bfdd02f2ba1
Cops reveal string of sex crimes at university
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=d55dd8cf-fb6b-42ca-8e72-25a6c1091587
VIU loses lawsuit, appeal to foreign student
http://www.gov.mb.ca/ie/news_pdfs/2009_02_14_20.pdf
Thefts and drug crimes up 30% in 2009 http://www.timescolonist.com/news/victoria/Nanaimo+thefts+drug+crimes+2009/2485642/story.html
Crime stats reveal several key increases
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/nanaimonewsbulletin/news/82839947.html
Metro Vancouver crime gangs heading to Vancouver Island: police
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Metro+Vancouver+crime+gangs+heading+Vancouver+Island+police/2437077/story.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Indecent acts 'continue to be reported around VIU'
http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=99bba0ad-4f79-45fd-a3a4-0e764b076209
The Most Dangerous Cities in Canada: Overall crime score by rank
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/04/the-most-dangerous-cities-in-canada-overall-crime-score%E2%80%94by-rank/
Nanaimo - Nanaimo crime Stats released
http://bc.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=50&contentId=13134
Backgrounder to VIU's constant failure to observe Recommendation No. 3 (no ‘organized’ use from October 1 to February 29)
After the Malaspina University-College was fined, and due to the sensitivity of the Cat Stream's watershed, Friends of the Cat Stream created a formal mission statement:
The mission of the Friends of the Cat Stream is to restore, preserve, and promote the environmental health of the Cat Stream and its watershed. Through our community stewardship, we will ensure a pristine habitat for fish, wildlife, and future generations.
Up until 1999, the Jingle Pot Marsh area was called the Third Street property by the City of Nanaimo. At that time, it was appropriately identified as future parkland, and not for active recreational use because of its environmental sensitivity. However, the Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association had a strong lobby for a single-use, baseball complex in the area of the marsh. The City previously studied the viability of the Third Street property by commissioning JC Lee and Associates in 1997 to conduct an environmental assessment for possible recreational use. The JC Lee and Associates report identified many environmental issues and specifically stated in their report to the City that, “the greatest concerns with playfield development adjacent to the wetlands are noise and the effects of night lighting” on wildlife.
The question for the baseball associate was, how do we get past that environmental stuff?
The answer was to form a Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee. On July 26, 2000 the Parks Recreation and Culture Commission formally started the process for a steering committee to start in the fall of 2000 with the following terms of reference:
- The steering committee will develop a detailed park plan to address the long-term use and development of the lands and present recommendations to the Commission;
- The steering committee will provide the background information and local knowledge to insure that all aspects in developing the plan are addressed;
- The steering committee will develop recommendations through consensus, if it is not achieved, staff will forward options to the Commission.
Friends of the Cat Stream were denied membership on the steering committee and allowed two voting members from the Baseball Association. As the stewards for the marsh area, we had to observe the steering committees activities from the outside, so we began to research good science and how to best mitigate the impact if sports field development in the Jingle Pot Marsh area wend ahead.
Because Jingle Pot Marsh has one of the highest densities of the migratory bird known as the Virginia rail, we focused some research on that bird. To assist the steering committee, the Friends of the Cat Stream contacted Dr. Courtney Conway, foremost expert on the Virginia Rail and author of Birds of North America. After reviewing diagrams of Jingle Pot Marsh, we received the following sound science from Dr. Conway's for the creation of a natural buffer to allow Virginia Rails to have a safe home range to forage from waters edge: “If you use the 2.41 ha winter home range (perhaps more appropriate for your situation), a circular home range of 2.41 ha would have a radius of about 80m and a diameter of about 160m.” We received this information on January 11, 2001 and quickly presented to the parks manager for the steering committee's consideration because it would reduce the size of the footprint for the development — supporting only four sports fields instead of six. Using an expert's advice that an 80-metre watercourse setback was necessary because it provides contiguous natural corridor for Virginia rails, we felt it was the correct environmentally action to take. Instead, the parks manager curtly informed us that the 30-metre watercourse setback has been set and it was not going to change.
A community seminar was sponsored by Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee on February 15, 2001 to receive community input. During the seminar the park manager presented a draft report through a power-point presentation. Then the meeting went to pot. Irate steering committee members stood up and vocalized that the draft report prepared by staff included elements that did not reflect the Committee's views and that park staff were openly called upon for their undisclosed involvement in back-room discussions with Malaspina University-College about a future partnership. It was pointed out the steering committees mandate was to consider playing fields and how to protect the environment. This event led to a division between the park manager and the committee — and a request that there no longer be any direct City staff participation. The parks commission agreed and the steering committee model had to be revised.
The re-structured steering committee with the same committee members held their first meeting on April 3, 2001 with Chair J. Whiteaker outlining the ground rules. The minutes of the meeting shows that all committee members agreed that the rules were good and that they would follow them, and that they would develop a consensus recommendation so as to aid the Commission and Council in the decision-making process for the Third Street Property; Definition of consensus: General agreement in opinion; For example, ‘I can live with that’.”
The April 3, 2001 Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee meeting discussions also explored the issue that pro-fielders and naturalists have different interpretation of an appropriate footprint for the fields. Minutes show that no one brought up the concern from the Friends of the Cat Stream that they had good science that shows an 80m leave strip was needed to protect wintering Virginia Rails or that environmental consultant JC Lee and Associates had great concerns about putting noisy playfields next to the wetlands. That meeting did go on to pass the following motions:
Motion 03 - Moved by Guy Monty and seconded by Commissioner Burden that if an environmental impact study allows for development of ballfields in the western, developable portion of the property, the fields should be single use (with no us from October 1 to February 29) — the Motion Carried unanimously; and,
Motion 04 - Moved by Jack Little and seconded by Brian Chatwin that in relation to the M.C. Wright map (December 2000), that a 75 metre X 50 metre facility be designated for the southeast development area. The Motion was Defeated.
The new steering committee met again on April 17, 2001, and after strong lobbying and a great deal of discussion, a compromise was reached that nothing larger than a small field house to meet the reasonable needs of minor baseball should be developed. It was moved by Guy Monty and seconded by Jim Whiteaker “that no building of greater stature than what has been described by Nanaimo Minor Baseball for a field house be developed on this site.” Everyone supported the motion except for Brian Chatwin, Greg Entwistle, and Jack Little. It was further agree that the committee would give a written explanation and environmental warning regarding the environmental impact of an active field house when drafting the recommendation.
On April 19, 2001, the Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee submitted their report with nine specific recommendations to the Parks, Recreation & Culture Commission, with Chair Whiteaker writing:
The nine recommendations in the report accurately reflect the research, interests and concerns of the stakeholders represented by the Committee members. These recommendations are the fruits of considerable dialogue and negotiations which has occurred over the last six months leading to a number of fundamental agreements. The following are excerpts of some of the steering committee's recommendations:
Recommendation 03 - If an environmental impact study allows for the development of ballfields in the western, developable portion of the property, the fields should be single use (with no ‘organized’ use from October 1 to February 29). (Note: the area they are referring to is where the present Mariners Field is located.)
Recommendation 05 - The Steering Committee suggests that the Commission reconsider their position of multi-use fields and not include them on this site. The Committee believe that ‘multi-use’ invites a volume of year round use that is not consistent with the City's expressed intention to preserve wildlife habitat. Single use fields are recommended over multi-use fields because summer time use will have less overall impact on the environment and will especially leave the area relatively undisturbed during the winter months, which is the most sensitive time for wildlife on this property.
Recommendation 08 - No building of greater stature than what ha been described by Nanaimo Minor Baseball for a ‘field house’ should be developed on this site. Exclusion of ‘public facilities’ is recommended because of the immediate and long-term disruption to this sensitive environment associated with both construction and continuous operation. Not only does the physical impact of a building and parking lot go against the overall intention to preserve habitat, but year-round use of such facilities introduces a level of density to the property that would most certainly have a lasting and irreversibly negative impact on the sensitive wildlife habitat environment. It is not so much that the actual ground where a facility has been proposed is particularly sensitive. It is that using this relatively small area for high density activity is certain to have an adverse spill over effect on existing wildlife in the rest of the property.
The Steering Committee appreciates that if and when additional public facilities are required in the City of Nanaimo, the exclusion of this property for such a facility may require that the City purchase some other property for those purposes. However the Steering Committee feels that it is in the long-term best interest of the entire community to proactively protect this property from direct exposure to the high-density active associated with a public facility.
Recommendation 09 - It is the strong opinion of the Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee that due to the extreme environmental sensitivity of this property, which is known to be a rearing area for Coho Salmon and Cutthroat Trout, and is perhaps the most significant habitat in Canada for wintering Virginia Rails, any development should be approached conservatively, undertaken with utmost care, and managed to ensure minimal long-term impact from use.
Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee recommends that the Commission and City Council endorse the work of the Committee by accepting this Report.”
On Monday June 18, 2001 City Council received the Third Street Property Master Plan Steering Committee report and proceeded to amend it to reflect the wishes of behind-the-scenes interests. A Third Street Land Use Plan was adopted by council motion minus important community-develop provisions for protecting the environment. Steering Committee Recommendation 3 was re-written behind closed door to permit year round use of sports fields which flew in the face of environmental protection (gone was closing down the fields from October 1 to February 29 of each year to protect nature). Gone were Recommendation 5 (need for single use fields) and Recommendation 8 (ensuring only a single-use small field house should be built). It is important to point out that Malaspina University-College was always in the wings and that the amended Steering Committee/Parks and Recreation recommendation was really meeting the future needs of Malaspina's fall athletic program, because later in 2005 the Malaspina signed a field use agreement with the City to use the fields in the Fall and Winter. And, the field house has now evolved into a public facility with a concession and offices for Nanaimo's Rotary Clubs. Local environmental stewards’ cried “fowl”. It felt unethical that the minor baseball association did not voice concerns over the big changes to the land use principles they helped develop. Even today, Vancouver Island University has shown incapacity to acknowledge that VIU’s environmental issues can be resolved through meaningful collaboration with the stewards showcasing that VIU sports activities are continually disturbing sensitive wildlife habitat.
A good question to ask is which stakeholders conducted behind-the-scenes lobbying to get what they wanted?
We encourage students to boycott Vancouver Island University until the sports field and environmental issues are resolved.