Charles and Camilla visit Vancouver The Prince and his new wife tour the Olympic By Kristina Mameli, News Editor of Cornwall, stopped in Vancouver Saturday to tour Olympic venues and the athlete’s village as part of their 11-day tour of Canada. A First Nations drumming ceremony welcomed the royal couple to the Olympic Athlete’s Village, hundreds of Pr Charles and his new wife Camilla, the Duchess bystanders braving the onset of a Vancouver winter and cold rain to line-up along the seawall and meet the couple. The couple was heavily guarded by a security detail while touring the grounds, their excitement for the 2012 London Summer Games greatly amplified by the sustainable design of the village. Athlete’s Village At the Village, the royals posed for a photo op with the Olympic mascots, laughing at their antics. The couple were also presented with Olympic-themed gifts including red mitten and scarves by Premier Gordon Campbell. Several athletes, both Olympic and Paralympic, were also given the chance to meet and greet Charles and Camilla. The couple spent the rest of the day separately. Camilla at VanDusen Gardens and Charles at a cancer center then the Wosk Centre for Dialogue for a seminar on urban sustainability. This is Prince Charles’ 15" visit to Canada and his wife Camilla’s first. The royals flew back to Victoria Saturday evening before heading east. H1N1 vaccine clinics open By Tanya Colledge, Staff Reporter opening of 14 public clinics in communities in the Fraser region, due to the overwhelming demand for vaccinations at local doctors’ offices and walk-in clinics. The new public clinics, now open and running, will be available to vaccinate high-risk groups against the HIN1 virus. These high-risk groups include the following: ‘T= Fraser Health Authority has announced the * People under 65 with chronic health conditions. * Pregnant women in the second half of their pregnancy. ¢ Children six months to less than five years old. in Fraser region * ~ Household members and care providers of infants under six months. * — Household members and care providers of people with weakened immune systems. The Fraser region counts for one third of the population of B.C., and therefore has been allocated about one third of the vaccination supplies available. Health authorities are not expecting to offer vaccinations to the general public until the fourth week of November due to shipment and production delays of the vaccine. Map of vaccine clinics available at: http://www.health. gov.bc.ca/flu/ VANOC breaks the internet... The sale of 100,000 Olympic tickets postponed By Kristina Mameli, News Editor Olympics were supposed to be made available to the general public for purchase at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, but unfortunately, “technical problems” prevented the last round of tickets from going out on the market. Instead, VANOC will now postpone their sale until next Saturday. VANOC ticketing president Caley Denton said their service provider, tickets.com, ran into problems between its Virtual waiting room and its transaction site—the two were not working together. All potential ticket buyers got was a Google message saying that the link appeared to be broken. A few hundred lucky people were still able to buy tickets over the phone. The same number will be subtracted from the Olympic family pool and added to this week’s sale which starts Saturday, November 14 at 10 a.m. A pproximately 100,000 tickets to the 2010 Winter The tickets will be for all of the events taking place in the Vancouver area, including seats to gold-medal hockey and curling matches as well as the coveted opening and closing ceremonies. wT News Shorts By Kristina Mameli - Private member's bill calls for more RCMP oversight Nathan Cullen, the NDP MP of the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding in north-western B.C., introduced a private member’s bill Monday that puts forth the motion to appoint an independent investigator to look into any cases of someone dying while in RCMP custody. The RCMP’s policy of internal investigations has especially come under fire since the highly covered tasering death of Polish citizen Robert Dziekanski at YVR in 2007. Cullen said the bill, like Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, would create a “civilian investigation service,” a group that will look in to all deaths in RCMP custody. Paramedics’ strike comes to an end B.C.’s striking paramedics, on strike since April, were ordered back to work following a 13-hour legislature session Saturday. Bill 21 passed in the early morning, forcing a new contract on B.C. paramedics, who had been lobbying for a seven per cent pay increase every year for three years. Instead of reaching parity with other first responder services, the new legislation gives them a one-year, three per cent increase. Union leaders are refusing to accept the bill and promising that the fight is far from over. Though 3,500 paramedics have been on strike since April, as an essential service, they couldn’t stop working, greatly hindering their ability to pressure the government to meet their demands. Name the Vancouver Aquarium’s baby beluga The Vancouver Aquarium is asking Vancouverites to name its’ yet unnamed baby beluga. The contest is calling for submissions that reflect Arctic culture and the Inuit language and tradition. The five finalists will be announced November 9 and the winner will be selected December 2. The grand prize is a “one- of-a-kind beluga encounter” and a family aquarium membership. Stylish surgical masks make fashionable faces By Jessica Clark, the Martlet (University of Victoria) VICTORIA (CUP)—Take heed, fashionistas—no longer will you need to suffer as both pandemic and fashion victims. A remedy is now available in the form of designer surgical masks. Flavours of colourful, ironic imagery have recently replaced the sterile canvas of the traditional protective mask, making preventing the flu just another way to add style to your wardrobe. Websites such as samiraboon. com and digobrands.com are new hotbeds for the preventative products, allowing buyers to bring out their fierceness with ferocious tiger jaws, or purchase a lacy number to heat up the bedroom. Don’t let the H1N1 flu virus put a damper on wedding plans— you can now walk down the aisle in a classic ivory mask, with a matching veil. During the 2002 SARS outbreak, surgical masks were widely used in Japan as a courtesy to other members of the public. Many felt this would help to prevent the spread of the virus. However, contrary mamas to this belief, the Public Health Agency of Canada website says that masks are not effective in preventing transmission of the flu in the general public. “People often use masks incorrectly, or contaminate themselves when putting masks on and taking them off, which could actually increase the risk of infection,” says the agency’s website. “The exception is people who are ill with H1N1 flu virus or people who are exhibiting flu- like symptoms. In order to protect those in close contact, like doctors, nurses and caregivers at home, these people may be asked to wear a face mask.” Despite the advice that masks are only practical in the home or hospital, designers are moving towards branding these face coverings and making them into fashion statements. Many of the masks are priced between $5 and $15 USD. DIGO, an agency for “social change,” blends fashion, function and social awareness by donating all of the hefty $100 USD price tags for their products to charity. Their masks come with a certificate of authenticity and the assurance that you have purchased a commemorative piece of fashion and medical history.