Humans of Burnaby

The Holes in our System (2 of 3)

"I was born in Vancouver but moved to Burnaby when I was about 2 years old. My father built his house on the hill above Deer Lake, where I learned to swim. The neighbourhood children played in the large forest area which is now called Buckingham Heights. I learned to ride horses where the freeway is. There was a ranch at the corner of Canada Way and Burris, where we rented horses and took riding lessons for about $1 for a 30 minute lesson.

To say the least, Burnaby has changed a lot in my lifetime. My wife Susan and I have raised our two children here, and they both attended Burnaby Central, as I did, and my daughter attended SFU, as I did. Other than this continuity I am sometimes shocked at the huge changes to Burnaby and the massive growth of high rise buildings which seem to be creating walls across the city. Sometimes I get the feeling that these walls are dividing us.

It’s important for Burnaby residents to realize that we all benefit from welcoming and inclusive communities. That’s the challenge; people think it’s a competition for resources; it’s either “them” or “us.” People feel threatened. The status quo feels threatened.

I try to work at being compassionate. One of the things that helps me be compassionate is children. When I see somebody who is a hardened criminal, I think: You know, they were a little baby once. Innocent. What happened to them? And usually there’s a reason for it, some form of trauma in their early years. For me the greater future hope is that over time, in cities like Burnaby, all the children from diverse families will grow up speaking the same language, they’ll communicate, they’ll be growing up knowing each other, they’ll be friends."

"After studying Psychology at SFU, I started working as a youth counsellor in the emerging movement of the alternative education system. Ron Pearson recruited me. He was a well-known special counsellor and avid hiker and he was the coolest guy. I donated to your Camping Bureau in his memory. Between 1974 and 1986, I worked with Ron on the “Challenge Program” that he had developed where we worked with schools to identify kids who were at risk.

We would pick up the students in our cars and eventually got a bus. We would take them swimming or hiking in the North Shore mountains, go cross country skiing, and even snow camping. Every Spring, we would go out to, camp in Golden Ears Park (usually in the rain) and do some heavy duty hiking. This was an outward bound model of character development where we would challenge the students to push their limits. Some would even volunteer to do a solo bivouacovernight without a tent, on their own.

They were up to 12 years old. This was almost 50 years ago, so I don’t think this would be allowed now (laughs). But we never lost anybody and when I meet some of these students’ years later; they tell me it was one of the biggest adventures of their lives."

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