This is the second in our series of stories celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of youth in our community. These inspirational young adults are enriching our lives with their passion and commitment to the betterment of society.

Sean Waugh

Over the years, I’ve given numerous presentations at BC high schools about climate change and the question of intergenerational equity. But the email I received after my address to a Mount Douglas Secondary school wide assembly on Earth Day was unique. And that is what prompted us to contact Sean Waugh.

With about 1000 students in the room, it’s not unusual to find some who are more interested in surfing the internet or playing Candy Crush on their smart phones, frantically texting with their friends, or gossiping with their neighbour. But Sean was dumbfounded, “Do they not care about the future? There are more important things than texting every minute!” He wrote to apologize on behalf of the few inattentive students and to say thanks for “taking the time out of your day to reach out to our generation and try to guide us to make decisions long term that your generation possibly won’t be alive to see.”

After meeting Sean at our constituency office, it became clear to us that he is the kind of principled and disciplined young man that believes it is important to stand and speak up for what he believes in.

Sean moved to Victoria from Calgary with his mother in 2012 and attended Mount Douglas Secondary School for grades 11 and 12. He graduated this past June with an A average and accepted an entrance fellowship to attend the University of Victoria this September. The move from Calgary marked one of the more difficult times in his life, having to leave his friends and start afresh at a new school. But his strength of character — which he attributes to the inspiration of his mother, a single parent who raised Sean and his older brother while also taking care of her live-in elderly father afflicted with advanced Alzheimer’s disease — allowed him to thrive in his new environment.

Sports are an important part of Sean’s life and it is obvious he’s in top physical condition. He has excelled in track at the provincial level and was a star on the Mount Douglas Rams Football team and was selected to play on Team BC. This past season the Rams achieved incredible success with a third straight BC high school Triple-A championship. It was an exciting night at BC Place when the Rams pulled out a 32-27 victory over the Terry Fox Ravens from Port Coquitlam. The experience of being on the team has meant a lot to Sean. He credits it for helping him become disciplined in his academics.

Sean praised the Rams coaching staff for playing an influential role in his development. Growing up without a father figure, Sean noted that his coaches were instrumental in helping to fill that role through their mentoring and guidance. He was grateful to them for also providing him with ongoing encouragement to excel in academics as well as football.

Football coach Dave Wong described Sean as one of a very few true student-athletes — those who topped the class in both academics and sports. “Sean’s a competitor”, he told us, a “level-headed guy” with a wicked “dry sense of humour”. Coach Wong enjoyed having Sean on the team and noted that he was “very coachable” and “always listened”. He was one of only a few who spent many hours studying game videos of opposing teams to figure out what to expect in upcoming games. While Sean admits that mathematics is not his forte, English was one of his favourite subjects and he enjoys writing “Maybe I’ll write a book someday”.

Sean turned down scholarships from many Canadian and some U.S. universities in order to attend first year sciences at the University of Victoria this September. Although he doesn’t plan to play football next year, he hopes to take it up again in the future and in the meantime, “I’ll stay in shape and keep training”. As a former UVic rugby player, I spent a fair amount of time trying to convince him that his cornerback, punt return and wide receiver football skills would make him an outstanding outside back on the rugby field.

UVic appeals to Sean as he would like to become a physician and work in a hospital emergency room “where all the action is”. He’s already received his First Aid training and put that into practice as a first responder to a very serious Lochside Trail bike accident. After his undergraduate degree is complete, he hopes to enter UVic’s Island Medical Program, “established in 2004 as part of a unique provincial plan to increase the number of new physicians in British Columbia and encourage them to establish their practices in under-served areas of the province”.

Sean is passionate about life. He enjoys snowboarding, is certified in SCUBA and enjoys simple things, like playing with his dog, eating good food and being outdoors in special places like the Sooke Potholes with friends. He understands that success comes from discipline and hard work. When asked about why he wanted to go into medicine, he responded that he wanted to have an impact on people. In fact, prior to setting his sights on a career in medicine, Sean considered becoming an author, a comedian or a lawyer. It’s not surprising that Sean wants to dedicate his life to positively impacting the lives of others. After all, both his mother and his coaches have been inspirational and have had such a positive impact on him.

Sean Waugh is a competitor and a winner, in sports, in academics and in life. Thank you for enriching the lives of those around you. And thank you for the kind words you emailed me after I presented at Mount Douglas Secondary School.

On Monday I was invited to be one of the Special Guests for the Greater Victoria Public Library’s Summer Reading Club. The Summer Reading Club is a fantastic program open to all kids aged 12 and under and put on by the GVPL every summer. The self-paced program encourages kids to read, or be read to, throughout their summer vacation. Kids can collect weekly prizes by reading for a minimum of 20 minutes every day or by completing library-related challenges and activities.

As a special guest, I had the pleasure of interacting with young readers as they came in to collect their weekly prizes. Hearing about the great books they have been enjoying and seeing their enthusiasm for reading was a wonderful way to kick off my week!

This is the first in our series of stories celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of youth in our community. These inspirational young adults are enriching our lives with their passion and commitment to the betterment of society.

Alysha Rose

We knew that there was something rather remarkable about Alysha when she phoned up just before we were supposed to meet to say she would be a few minutes late. “I just rescued a crow with a broken wing and called the animal rehabilitation centre” she told us.

It was easy to spot Alysha as she approached the Broadmead Starbucks where we had arranged to have coffee. She was carrying a small yellow, cloth-covered basket containing an injured crow she’d already named “Cashew”.

At 17 years of age, Alysha’s accomplishments are impressive. Growing up in Saanichton, Alysha attended Keating Elementary, Bayside Middle and Stelly’s Secondary schools. She graduated from Stelly’s this past June and has accepted a prestigious $60,000 Schulich Leader scholarship to Dalhousie University where she will study Medical Sciences. Why medical sciences? Because in her own words “A doctor can do a lot with their hands, helping one person at a time, but they can also do a lot with their mind, pursuing scientific advancements capable of impacting entire populations”. Alysha wants to work with people in less fortunate parts of the world.

It is perhaps not surprising that she has such a clear vision of her future. Alysha spent the summer of 2013 volunteering in an orphanage in Fiji and as early as Grade 9 was recognized as one of Save-On-Foods Amazing Kids.

Alysha has made a significant and lasting contribution to her school community in starting the Best Buddies program when she was in grade 10/11 (she completed both in one year – while maintaining a 100% average). Best Buddies is a weekly lunchtime program with a goal of inclusivity and friendship for students of all abilities. “Everyone needs a community” she realized as she became aware of the isolation that students with disabilities often experience “No one deserves to be alone”. Participating in Best Buddies was “the best part of my week” at school. Working as a mentor to a younger student who will take over leadership of the program next year, Alysha told us of plans to develop Best Buddies to include activities outside of school.

Alysha’s passions include writing spoken word poetry, singing and public speaking. She finds fulfillment in helping others, and volunteering on projects that involve important work, such as fundraising for the aforementioned orphanage in Fiji.

Alysha and teacher Kate Reston co-founded the Model UN program at Stelly’s and at a conference at UVic in November 2013, Alysha was awarded “Best Delegate” and “Best Position Paper” honours for her role on the Security Council representing France. Her paper was on food scarcity and conflict. Alysha loved the Model UN experience, especially the opportunity to debate and learn valuable lessons in collaboration and cooperation with other youth. She spoke passionately about its value of assisting the participants to “learn to respect each others’ differences”.

For Alysha, human rights and social justice issues are of paramount importance. For her it is important to speak up for the “fundamental dignities for which we are all entitled” and to give everyone the opportunity to succeed. When asked what inspires her, she responded without hesitation, her teachers.

Alysha plans to become a physician and a scientist – to treat one person at a time in the developing world and conduct research in malaria and cancer. Her dream would be to be part of the development of a vaccine for malaria.

Whether it be quilting for a local hospital, running the Stelly’s Best Buddies program this summer or fundraising for the orphanage in Fiji, Alysha approaches everything she does with infectious optimism and enthusiasm.

We are inspired by Alysha and her determination to do her part to make the world a better place. We spent just one hour with her. But that hour has left its mark forever. And we are sure that Cashew the crow would also agree.

Back in March 2014,  I raised a concern about the lack of protection for Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) and Registered Education Savings Plan (RESPs). Industry Canada is now conducting a public consultation that includes these same concerns.

As a quick reminder, RDSPs are a federal, tax-deferred, long-term savings plan for people with disabilities who want to save for the future. Unfortunately, under the Court Order Enforcement Act,  RDSPs  are not listed as a registered plan in BC’s legislation and are therefore not exempt from creditor protection. Therefore, should an individual with an RDSP go into debt, their savings in the RDSP will not be protected from seizure.

To put this in context, Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) and Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRIFs) are protected. Most provinces, including British Columbia, have recognized the importance of protecting RRSPs and RRIFs from creditors in the event of personal bankruptcy.  Legislation was passed to protect these registered plans from being seized in the event of personal bankruptcy. Here in British Columbia, such seizures are governed by the 1996 Court Order Enforcement Act.

Industry Canada is currently conducting a public consultation on the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act – and in the discussion paper, a proposal has been made to exempt RDSP assets from seizure in insolvency proceedings.

Industry Canada has called for public input on the issue of creditor protection for the Registered Disability Savings Plan. Submissions will be accepted until July 15, 2014. Information about making a submission can be found here.

To read more about the concerns I raised, including my questions to the Minister of Justice, please click here.

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In an earlier post, I took a look at the math in an ad that the BC Government placed on the the front page of 24 Hours Vancouver. In the ad the government suggested that teachers were asking for an 8% increase in salary and a 6.5% increase in benefits for a total 14.5% increase. As I pointed out, you cannot add percentages and benefits that are typically closely related to salary.

What the government was not saying is that the 6.5% was not actually benefits. Rather, it was their assessment of what the costs would be to implement the BCTF proposal. The BC Public School Employers’ Association has publicly released their costing 0f the BCTF proposal. In addition, the BC government advertisement has revised their advertisement to eliminate the breakdown of the 14.5% into 8% salary and 6.5% benefits.

  Initial Advertisement                                             New Advertisement              

Let’s take a close look at the government position. First, please let me reiterate. I am dismayed at the approach that seems to be occurring with respect to negotiation via press release and media statement. That is certainly not how I would expect respectful negotiations to proceed.

The BCPSEA costed summary table is reproduced below. In it, BCPSEA present their offer to the teachers and the BCTF demands of government. Most reasonable people would read this and wonder why the government’s position is an offer and the teachers’ position is a demand. It strikes me as an unfortunate choice of words that certainly does not aid in bringing parties together.

So what’s actually in the teachers’ so-called compensation demands? Further inspection of the BCPSEA costing reveals the following:

Teachers’ Proposed Wage Increase