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MetroVanIndependent.com
April 2015
News Round-up
New alternate online support tool for domestic violence victims
By Emmy Buccat
Domestic abuse always hits closest to
where the heart is. In Filipino culture, it is a
topic we usually don’t talk about. When the
hurt is where the home is, what will you do?
Canadian researchers at the University
of British Columbia (UBC) are developing a
new website to help women trapped in an
abusive relationship.
UBC researcher and Professor Colleen
Varcoe of the School of Nursing is hoping
that the new online support tool can help
start the change.
“Less than 17 per cent of women who
are in abusive relationships actually access
support services like battered women’s
shelters. What we are trying to do is build
up a strategy for women to come out to
safety,” Varcoe said.
The upcoming website -- iCan Plan
4 Safety – a joint study by UBC, the
University of New Brunswick and the
Western University, is the online services
that will help women plan their escape from
abusive relationship.
Once the victim visits iCan Plan 4
Safety, a trained researcher will be available online to help start the process of
assessing the victim’s risk, knowing the
available resources, and forming an action
plan.
Varcoe said they are looking to enlist
about 450 women to test the effectiveness
of the website targeting those who are not
willing or cannot use community-based
services like hotlines or battered women’s
shelters.
“There are women who, because they
feel a commitment to the relationship, or
because there’s children involved, are not
ready or don’t want to leave the abusive
relationship,” Varcoe said.
“But whether or not they decide to
leave, this service will provide them a personalized strategy based on their unique
situation and preferences, plus a list of
resources and a clear idea of what they’ll
need to do.”
Interested participants can call 1–844–
264–4226 (iCan) to be part of the study.
They must be 19 years of age and with
access to a safe computer and internet.
There will be four confidential online
Justin Trudeau supports the doctor-assisted death
By Emmy Buccat
Federal Liberal Party leader Justin
Trudeau reaffirmed his position supporting
the physician assisted-suicide at a meet
and greet event with the predominantly
Catholic Filipino crowd held at the Holiday
Inn in Burnaby recently.
“I’m liberal, which means I respect and
defend people rights. I have to make sure
that society is protecting its most vulnerable. Getting it right is what the Supreme
Court has asked us to do.” Trudeau said.
“I’m liberal, which means I
respect and defend people
rights. I have to make sure that
society is protecting its most
vulner- able. Getting it right is
what the Supreme Court has
asked us to do.” Trudeau said.
Justin Trudeau at a Filipino meet and greet event.
“There are women who, because
they feel a commitment to the
relationship, or because there’s
children involved, are not ready
or don’t want to leave the abusive
relationship,” Varcoe said.
sessions over a year. No face to face meetings are required.
“If women find the tool useful, then we’ll
be looking at making it more permanent
and following up with the women after the
study,” Varcoe concluded.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court
of Canada has struck down the ban on
physician-assisted suicide last February.
It means that physician-assisted death is
no longer a criminal offense.
The Supreme Court has given the federal and provincial government 12 months
to draft a new legislation that will recognize the rights of a consenting adult patient
who have chosen to die with the help of a
doctor.
Although the Conservatives and NDP
looked like they are not ready to jump in
the bandwagon, Trudeau had already forwarded a motion to set up a parliamentary
committee to discuss the issue.
In a statement issued by the Most
R e v e r e n d P a u l - A n d r é D u r o c h e r,
Archbishop of Gatineau and President
of the Canadian Conference of Catholic
Bishops however stressed that helping
someone commit suicide is neither an act
of justice or mercy, nor is it part of palliative care.
“The decision of the Supreme Court of
Canada today does not change Catholic
teaching,” Durocher said.
BC 2022 Labour Market Outlook
Pie-in-the sky forecast present rosy picture despite unemployment gloom
By Emmy Buccat
The British Columbia 2022 Labour
Market Outlook forecasted earlier this year
over one million job openings in the province in the next seven years despite the
massive chill brought about unemployment data severely affecting full time jobs.
The forecast predicts that migrant
workers will fill some 300,000 projected
job openings or one-third of the projection
even as an altered labor policy is now causing temporary foreign workers to go home.
The labour demand, according to the
BC labour study, is largely driven by the
baby boomer retirement at 68 per cent,
while 32 per cent is due to the economic
growth.
However, the forecast looks like is a
faulty one with the string of lay-off and retail
store closure announcements in the first
quarter of the year.
The Hospital Employee’s Union (HEU)
of British Columbia announced in March
that around 1,200 healthcare workers will
be laid off in Metro Vancouver. Around
240 staff at Laurel’s Place, a long-term
care facility in Surrey had received layoff
The labour demand, according
to the BC labour study, is largely
driven by the baby boomer
retirement at 68 per cent,
while 32 per cent is due to the
economic growth. However,
the forecast looks like is a
faulty one with the string of
lay-off and retail store closure
announcements in the first
quarter of the year.
notices from the Ahmon Group. Meanwhile,
Aramark had lost its commercial contract
to clean the Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals and extended care facilities. They will
lay off about 935 staff in August.
The outlook predicted that the nursing
profession and other health occupations
would be the top three with the highest
number of job openings at 2 per cent
anticipated growth closely followed by the
trades, transport and equipment operators
and the natural and applied sciences occupations both having 1.3 per cent growth.
These top three jobs are expected to grow
rapidly than the provincial annual growth
rate.
Across Canada, the unemployment rate
will continue to fall as thousands of retail
workers braced themselves with the closure of major retail establishments. With
Target’s closure of 133 stores, around
17,600 will lose their jobs later this year.
Earlier this year, Sony had closed 14
stores and Mexx Canada closed 95 stores
nationwide.
Alberta alone lost 14,000 jobs in
February as a spate of continued closure of
oil sands project drove down the province
economy and left it with a gaping budget
short fall estimated at $5 billion.
The study advised that for those who
want to dodge this ongoing trend in B.C.,
one should highly consider getting a postsecondary education, as 78% of the one
million job openings would require it.
On the other hand, for those who are
thinking of upgrading their skills or starting
a new career, they can equip themselves
with trade and technical certificates, which
require a shorter period of training. They
can take advantage of the $4,000 grant
provided by the federal government while
completing their apprenticeship training.
The Mainland and Southwest region
remained to be the place to find the highest number of jobs with 641,500 openings
reflecting a 65 per cent share in the overall
outlook.
“The five occupations forecasted to
expand the fastest in the Mainland and
Southwest region are mine service workers and operators in oil and gas drilling (2.9
per cent annually on average); underground
miners, oil and gas drillers and related
occupations (2.8 per cent); contractors
and supervisors, mining, oil and gas (2.5
per cent); managers in natural resources
production and fishing (2.3 per cent); and
optometrists, chiropractors and other
health diagnosing and treating professionals (2.0 per cent). Over the forecast period,
strong employment growth in the Mining,
and Oil and Gas industries in northern B.C.
is expected.”
All these occupations had suffered a
downturn as oil prices hit rock bottom.
The complete list of the top 60 in
demand jobs, as BC projects it, can be
found at workbc.ca. One way to find out
how to prepare in getting the job can be
found at workbc.ca/BlueprintBuilder.