New BC Fer By Garth McLennan, News Editor Be Ferries has now officially unveiled its newest edition to the fleet, the 22,000 tonne Costal Renaissance. BC Ferries had a gala open house to show off the new boat, with a crowd of more than 4,000 attending to check everything out at Canada Place, and the majority of people liked what they saw. “Its huge — its amazing. I like the color of the interior,” said Delta’s Ursula Bohn. The brand new vessel, which was designed by Nanaimo’s Scott Arkell and constructed in Germany, can hold 1,650 passengers and crew members, and is the first member of the new “Super C-Class” ferry, a new type of boat of which three will ultimately be built. This one was assembled at the hefty cost of $542 million. The Coastal Renaissance will travel between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay, and was manufactured with a sleek, modern interior look. Visitors to the open house were pleased with the new interior designing. Wood-veneer walls adorn the inside, while ferry patrons can enjoy the trip from relaxing leather seats. The walls are ry Unveiled also decorated with beautiful and panoramic pictures of the rugged yet visually pleasing landscape, and some of the lounges incorporate dazzling floor-to-ceiling windows. The on-board restaurants will also be updated and sharpened up. White Spot and the Bread Garden have both supplied breakfast, lunch and dinner menus with a variety of items, ranging from cold cereal to hamburgers to baked wild salmon. The prices are reasonably affordable, and for the first time, the ferry cafeteria will be situated on the upper deck with a great view. The tour of the ferry also afforded prospective passengers the opportunity to take a look in places they aren’t usually permitted, such as the engine rooms and captain’s quarters. “Its great that we can open the bridge and the engine room, so the visitors can see the area that they cannot usually see. She’s a complicated ship, so we want to make sure everyone’s up to speed. It'll be a really great day when we get her running between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay,” said Ferry Captain Harald Stokke. January 28, 2008 Canada to Skip “Bigoted” UN Racism Conference By Siavash Rokni i a shocking announcement last Wednesday’ the federal government announced that Canada will not participate in the United Nation’s second anti- racism conference, set to be held in Durban, South Africa, next year. “The 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban highlighted divisions between the developing and developed world. It also showed the seething anger in much of the Arab world against Zionism, the international movement that helped establish Israel” CTV News reported. “Our considered judgment, having participated in the preparatory meetings, was that we were set for a replay of Durban I, and Canada has no intention of lending its good name and resources to such a systematic promotion of hatred and bigotry”, said Jason Kenny, Secretary of State for Multi- culturalism and Canadian Identity. Additionally, Maxim Bernier, the foreign affairs minister, said in a statement published on Wednesday that “Unfortunately, that [first] conference degenerated into open and divisive expressions of intolerance and anti-Semitism that undermined the principles of the United Nations and the very goals the conference sought to achieve.” While the Conservative and Liberal parties are both in support of the decision to skip the conference, the NDP opposes, stating that Canada needs to “be at the table” in Durban. “T think Canada needs to be there even if we bring a different perspective and can say something differently than other people in the world,” said British Columbia MP Bill Siksay. The United Nations has not responded to Canada’s decision to boycott the meeting. However, the UN spokeswoman Marie said that “racism is too important an issue for member states not to work out their differences.” Meanwhile, last month, according to CTV, “a prominent Israeli newspaper reported that Israeli diplomats were working behind the scenes to convince the Europeans, the US., and “like-minded” countries such as Canada, to boycott and even de-fund the conference.” The 2009 = anti-racism meeting’s chair will be Libya with Cuba as its vice-chair, according to the Globe and Mail. News Shorts DSU Offices Remain Open, Despite Controversy An internal conflict at the Douglas Students’ Union saw the union’s offices briefly closed on January 24, only to be promptly reopened the following day. At 10:38 External Relations Officer Alysia MacGrotty sent a Facebook message to all Douglas College students announcing that the DSU board had made a decision to shutdown the student union building in order to put “pressure on the Receiver-Manager to hire staff.” Later that night, however, MacGrotty briefly sent out a second message declaring that “the office is open,” returning things to normal. In addition to its elected politicians, the Douglas Students’ Union has historically relied on a permanent staff of bureaucrats to administer its various student services. Most of the union’s staff has been placed on leave or quit in recent years, however, leading to frustrations that the office can no longer operate efficiently. Under the terms of the DSU’s receivership status, only the union’s court appointed receiver manager can hire new staff, however. Governor General Harassed During Vancouver Trip A Vancouver man was tasered last week after scuffling with police during a visit by Governor General Michaelle Jean to the city’s Downtown Eastside. The event marked the climax of a series of small protests that had dogged the Governor General during her three-day tour of the poor neighborhood, intended to highlight the issue of homelessness in Canada. On Friday Ms. Jean cancelled her last scheduled appearance in Vancouver and returned early to Ottawa, though the decision was “unrelated” to any protests or controversy, according to an official spokesperson. Jean’s tour of the area was the second- ever by a sitting Governor General; in 2004 then- Governor General Adrienne Clarkson staged a similar visit, and endured similar heckling by poverty-rights activists. Abortion Friends, Foes, Commemorate 20 years of Legalization Pro-choice and pro-life activists alike commemorated the 20" anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark Morgentaler v. Queen ruling this week, in protests and celebrations that recognizedtwodecadesoflegalabortionsinCanada. Prior to the 1988 case, abortions in Canada were tightly regulated by the government and could only be performed by doctors in extreme cases, such as rape, incest, or when the life of the mother was in danger. Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a Holocaust survivor, protested the law by performing a number of illegal abortions, and was eventually taken to court where he successful argued that abortion regulations violated a woman’s right to privacy under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.