UNITY COMES IN ALL COLOURS

Ken (Air India) Herar, back row right, and yours truly, back row left, spoke at Dasmesh Punjabi School on Tuesday about issues the students and staff seem well versed on. It was a great morning of memories and meeting awesome people.


“We may have come over on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.”
– Whitney Young, Jr.


It is a lively Tuesday morning in Matsqui Village as parents manoeuvre minivans through a bustling parking lot at Dasmesh Punjabi School.
Principal Sulochana Chand stands outside the Riverside Street school offering big smiles and greetings to everyone who makes eye contact with her.
Adrenalized students, in matching sweaters and slacks, buzz by their principal as another day of learning begins for the 580 enrolled in the kindergarten-to-Grade 10 private school.
The scheduled morning lesson is all about tolerance and diversity, and the guest speakers are Times’ columnist Ken Herar and yours truly. But the first challenge is figuring how to make a quasi-turban out of a blue kerchief, and the second to hide the small “air conditioning” holes in your socks when asked to remove footwear.
The 40-year-old Herar, a local diversity award winner and the best-ever tennis player to call Mission home, is passionate about eliminating racism, promoting diversity and making people understand that “brown and white” can thrive together.
I, on the other hand, am trying to not look like a stagecoach robber as the kerchief keeps slipping over my eyes.
School administrator Sandeep Lidder, easily mistaken for one of those Bollywood goddesses, says “everyone” has that problem at first. Methinks this is how Captain America, The Green Hornet, Robin, X-Men and Flash Gordon got started, but I digress.
There is a large sign inside the school’s Worship Room. It says “Recognize the whole human race as one.” Nobody in this gathering has a problem with me being white. And I wonder, who really needs the lesson of tolerance?
In my Caucasian, born-in-Canada world, I have watched as we “white guys” screamed about allowing turbans in the RCMP, sending gangsters “back to where they came from,” ceremonial daggers, bicycle helmets, affirmative action hiring, negative stereotypes, you name it. We have had prouder moments in this country.
Herar, embraced by many in the South Asian community for his media involvement, and nicknamed “Air India” by his basketball buddies, shares an e-mail from a family that claims to be moving away from Abbotsford because “there are too many East Indians.”
The usually cool columnist admits this makes his blood boil, especially when nobody says they’re leaving the area because of the white Bacon brothers or the white gangsters or the white drug dealers or the white pimps or the white thieves.
Dr. Dalip Singh Gill, a brilliant and kind man who founded this school in 1985 citing a need to recognize all human beings as equal, says he has seen some progress here, but notes there are many challenges ahead.
The school, which has been in Matsqui Village since expanding in 2005, now has a staff of 40 that includes a teacher from Hong Kong, several Caucasians and one Métis educator. It promotes a lifestyle free from smoking, drinking, drugs and gangs.
Their objective is to integrate Sikh studies with the B.C. education curriculum. And their successful sports teams, nicknamed the Falcons, have been praised for sportsmanship and class.
Gill proudly points to a wall of pictures filled with former students who have gone on to become lawyers, accountants or medical professionals. He says the idea behind Dasmesh is to make students better people, better adults and parents, who spread the message of equality and doing good deeds.
As you discover quickly in this facility, accomplishments have no colour. There is a lesson there, if we chose to embrace it.
Perhaps it’s time we all tried just a little bit harder.

PUTTING US HIGH ON THE MAP!

Dave Kandal, left, chair of the Abbotsford Airport Authority, and Mike Pasto, general manager at YXX, with $30 million worth of expansion plans at their fingertips.

Your shivering scribe is standing in the heart of Toronto’s financial district, braving a nippy Sunday morning, when a stranger walks over and asks: “Hey sir, do you know what the best nation in the world is?”
My tired eyes quickly light up – thanks, in part, to excessive amounts of espresso – and lock in “Canada” as the final answer.
“Nope. DONATION. Can you spare some change?”
My first thought was this slick dude dresses extremely well for a beggar, but he called me “sir” so I placed a toonie in his glove and asked: “What do you know about Abbotsford?”
“Abba what? Huh?” He walked away laughing, not appreciating he had just taken my corporate travel allowance, but that’s another column – maybe!
The comedic coin collector repeated an answer I heard many times on this two-day, pretend-I’m-Rick Mercer-fact-finding-mission.
You see, when our politicians spend your money on big-ticket items they like to throw in how the latest pet project “really puts Abbotsford on the map.”
And reporters turn stenographers and scribble that stuff down like it means something. (Melville – the armpit of Saskatchewan – is on the map. Who freakin’ cares?)
For the record, nobody in Toronto, Mississauga or Scarborough had heard of the Friendship Garden, the Heat, the Clearbrook Road interchange or Plan A, but several knew about our airshow, gangs and that pesky murder capital status thingy.
I hung out at one busy corner where a large, illuminated sports ticker flashed CFL, NFL, NHL and AHL updates. I asked a couple guys when the Heat-Rampage score flashed if they knew of Abbotsford, or if they’d go see the Heat when they played the Marlies in Toronto.
“Give us free tickets and we’ll go anywhere,” smiled one, after saying he heard of Abbotsford, but wasn’t sure what province it was in.
“Close to the Olympics, right?” offered one giggling gal, who admitted later that was an educated guess – after I provided West Coast as the clue!
The bottom line in the Centre of the Universe, where Leaf fans are already talking “next season” and Liberals are talking “next election,” is that Abbotsford could steal the CN Tower and still be a mystery to most. It’s just how they roll in Hogtown.
Heck, most folks in the Big Smoke can’t name four prime ministers, but they know the first name of everyone related to Wayne Gretzky, but I digress.
The “connection” we have to the rest of Canada is WestJet, the impressive little airline that could. When you’re at 39,000 feet above Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa or Edmonton, Abbotsford is on the “GPS map” and minds of those flying in, out and over the City in the Country.
It’s why Abbotsford International Airport is key to letting the outside world in.
When YXX receives government funding to expand and some locals complain, they fail to see the bigger picture. Perhaps they’re still seething from other suspect funding schemes (hello hot tubs!).
YXX, thanks to WestJet, has the potential to attract all kinds of businesses, conventions, sports, tourists, entertainment and industry. Yet several readers have stated they become livid when they see “airport, gem” and “economic benefit” linked in the same story.
Just ask our receptionist – she looks like that ghastly Bettle Juice character after dealing with these “critics” who often drop a few expletive deletives before slamming the receiver on her ear.
One lady returning from a weekend festival in Winnipeg offered at the YXX luggage carousel: “No matter where you fly to, this is always a great place to return and land – close to home, nice and convenient.”
Touché.

TIME FOR TALKING TURKEY

You might wonder, while staring at your thinning desk calendar, where the heck summer and September went, not to mention our so-called Tax Freedom Day.
As thoughts turn to talking turkey – yummy birds, not stuffed politico peeps trying to overspend our way to Third World status – we also wonder if the Canucks, Lions and VANOC are next to do Cialis commercials to get up for the big games ahead.
We wonder if governor-turned-author Sarah Palin will have success with Going Rogue, her new book that contains small words and big pictures. And you betcha, crayons and a map of porches where you can see Russia on a good night are optional.
Michael Moore, who had great success with Sicko, Farenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, is now filling theatres with Capitalism: A Love Story that depicts corporate greed. The popcorn and pop only costs $30 to see this flick about our profit-over-people mentality.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff wants another federal election, meaning about five people in this country now feel the same way. Come to think of it, that’s about the same number wanting more spent on bike lanes, transit studies and councillor salaries.
Anyways, by request, here is the My Two Bits freakin’ fall quiz to bring you up-to-speed on the issues that sort of matter:
* Rio de Janeiro, the home of bronzed bodies and tiny bikinis, has been awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics despite a Chicago bid that included pitches from Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama. The first thing organizers in Brazil must worry about is:
a.) When to introduce the HST.
b.) When to start chirping “On time, on budget.”
c.) When to start slashing budgets for education, health care and social programs.
* The B.C. Liberals, the “caring party” that’s breaking all the promises used to secure your vote last May, is now busy defending cuts to school sports programs while drooling over Olympic athletes. Your thoughts:
a.) Mellow Mike de Jong used to go absolutely bonkers about this flip-flop tripe before drinking the Campbell Kool-Aid.
b.) Wasn’t the Olympic “legacy” supposed to encourage youth to become involved in sports?
c.) Did Premier Gordon Campbell decide this while imitating Nickelback in Hawaii?
* With Halloween just three weeks away, your post-turkey thoughts will turn to coming up with novel costume ideas. You might consider:
a.) Dressing up as an AHL arena, so politicians throw gobs of money at you.
b.) Dressing up as David Letterman or Bill Clinton, ’cuz interns dig it.
c.) Dressing up as an Olympic “windfall” so you can turn invisible while screaming “Do you believe?”
* You’re thinking of buying a new Thanksgiving T-shirt that describes a bit of your personality. You’ve narrowed it down to:
a.) I’m not your type, I’m not inflatable.
b.) I am having an out-of-money experience.
c.) When blonds have more fun, do they know it?
* Aussie golfer Greg (The Shark) Norman and former tennis star Chris Evert have split after just 15 months into their high-profile marriage. Other ew-inducing “couples” you’d like to see split ASAP include:
a.) Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen.
b.) Michael Jackson and shameless media.
c.) The Olympics and our wallets.
* After a lengthy spell of downsizing, rightsizing, tax hikes, job losses, cutbacks, whatever, many Canadian credit cards are maxed. Your situation is best described as:
a.) My card got stolen, but the thief spent less than my spouse so I didn’t report it.
b.) Things are so bad I got a pre-declined card in the mail.
c.) I’ve got all the money I’ll ever need if I die by 4 p.m.

BIG BROTHER GETS COMPANY

The ever-cool Rob Hole of Mission Possible has a lot of neat "toys" for big kids and those who like the James Bond ("shaken, not stirred") spy-like lifestyle!

Karin Swain, one of those gung-ho gals with a smile that probably ignited global warming, sashayed into my office the other day and mischievously asked: “So, when was the last time you were buck naked in a hotel room?”
OK, wasn’t exactly sure how to answer our intrepid sales rep due to the instant tightening of my collar. Many corporate lawyers have retired young and wealthy due to indecent responses from we smart-ass types.
Do you say, for example: “Baby, thought you’d never ask?” Offer up a cheesy Wayne’s World “schwing?” Or do you choke a bit, turn different shades of red and whimper: “Are you, gulp, talking to me?”
As it turns out, Swain had just visited Rob Hole, the 20-year-old manager of Mission Possible who outlined how the sophisticated gadgetry in his new spy and surveillance equipment store works.
For example, a Sony Dream Machine clock radio in his store contains a hidden video camera that’s activated by heat or body motion. ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews was filmed naked by one of these beauties inside her hotel room and freaked out when her birthday-suit images appeared all over the Internet. Schwing, indeed!
Hole’s store appears to have everything you’ve marvelled about in those cool James Bond movies – pocket cameras, miniature listening devices, designer watches and Oakley-style sunglasses with secret video cameras. There is a nifty mail box camera, a bug and phone-tap detector, clocks and cans with hidden safes and home alarm systems with video cameras hidden inside motion detectors.
A small device called Spy Cobra can track e-mails and website surfing. Mission Possible has GPS tracking systems that will reveal where your vehicle went, where it stopped and how far it travelled. And for a few extra dollars, you can be e-mailed with location updates.
Want to keep tabs on the babysitter, the spouse, the kids, boyfriend or girlfriend? Well, Hole’s shop appears to have something for every need – with prices ranging from affordable to elaborate.
The young entrepreneur acknowledges that some folks believe his store represents yet another infringement on privacy. But on this morning, a man walks into the 1st Avenue shop looking for something to catch a lawnmower thief who has struck for the third time. And another shopper wants a listening device for his property to thwart would-be trespassers.
“Basically this is just a big kids’ toy store,” said Hole. “There’s some cool stuff in here that can be used as gifts, pranks, security, whatever.”
As a reality TV-like society, we’re getting accustomed to being recorded in public, whether we go to the bank, airport, school, the movies, the mall, on SkyTrain or toll bridges.
Asked if Big Brother has perhaps gone too far in poking his uninvited head into our personal business, Hole compared his gadgetry to the web.
“The Internet has many, many great uses, but some people use it for viewing or downloading questionable materials.
“Same with our store. A lot of what we sell is for property or personal protection, or to have some fun. The odd person may use it for things that aren’t ideal.”
Hole says consumers need to familiarize themselves with privacy laws if they are using the somewhat invasive gadgets.
“We have people coming in who are worried if their significant other is cheating. They may want to track their calls, or text messages, or travel. We have covert equipment for that.
“In fact, we have 170 items in our store and the inventory keeps growing and changing as micro-technology evolves.”
We get the picture – and thanks to Mission Possible, you can, too.

CLASS ACTS IN TRYING TIMES!

Abbotsford Mayor George Peary was a bright light as an educator and remains a class act today, even if his decisions at City Hall aren't always appreciated by local taxpayers.

My late grandfather, a weekend farmer and weekday school principal, used to enjoy fishing and sharing teaching tales that, suspiciously, often sounded similar to his “ones that got away” drivel.
He used to haul me out on his shiny aluminum boat at Madge Lake, where we would solve the world’s problems, swill a few beverages and drown Saskatchewan’s finest worms for hours.
Truth be known, I disliked fishing, but loved spending time with my Grandpa who, besides being a brilliant mentor, was an amusing character with an infectious smile.
“Hear about the teacher who got fired for having bad eyes?,” he once asked me as I shook my head. “He kept losing control of his pupils! Get it?”
Grandpa had a million of ’em, but I never forgot that one – for some strange reason. He taught his children and his students plenty over the years. And they loved him for it, even if the odd joke – and many of them were odd – didn’t garner laughs.
Grandma used to whine about going out for groceries, because what should have been a 30-minute exercise often lasted for hours once Grandpa ran into former students or colleagues.
Early next month, World Teachers’ Day will be celebrated in our neck of the woods, with each school district honouring those who spend time and shape the minds of your kids.
I’m sure Grandpa would be less of a comedian if he had to endure what teachers do in today’s classroom.
Grandpa didn’t really have to worry much about obese or latchkey kids, single-parent issues, gangs, drugs, racism, cellphones, Internet chatrooms, health pandemics, school funding and teacher cuts, job action, poverty or political interference.
Today’s classroom is much more complex and teachers, once respected by everyone, have too often been thrown under the bus and treated like Mexican piñatas by budget-slashing politicos as they impose their save-thy-hide agendas on educators, while bleating on about children being our future.
And it honestly irritates me when I hear people mutter “those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”
While there may be some poor teachers, that staffing flaw isn’t exclusive to the school system. I’m sure your office has a person or two who appears allergic to work or lacks the passion and skills he or she requires to excel.
When your scribe first moved to Abbotsford in 1982, I was homesick for the first few months until The Three Amigos – teachers Barry Stewart, Bill MacGregor and George Peary – rolled out the welcome mat and introduced me to everyone I needed to know.
Peary and MacGregor now serve as mayor and councillor and take all kinds of flak from taxpayers and certain columnists (wink, wink) over their civic priorities and decisions. Rarely are they praised for the good they do at City Hall.
Regardless of what you think about the jobs they do as front-line politicos, they are quality human beings with teaching resumes and accolades second to none.
And Stewart, who I once dubbed “Dr. Sport in red shorts” at a roast held in his honour – was the undisputed Minister of Information for scoop-starved scribes in the Fraser Valley for several decades.
Now happily retired, Stewart still drops in with sporty “gems,” words of praise for the reporters and some cheap shots for the editor (likely on behalf of Peary and MacGregor!).
World Teachers’ Day will come and go Oct. 5 without much fanfare. But given the impact of teachers on my life, the day won’t pass without thinking about their unselfish contributions – or my awesome Grandpa, who always had more success teaching from the heart than a book. That in itself is a lesson.

MANITOBA'S MUSICAL MULLETS WERE HIGHLY ENTERTAINING FROM 'GO' TO WHOA!

Dave Wasyliw earned a standing ovation for his song Barbershop, which led to a whole bunch of hair jokes and funny moments during Friday night's Doc Walker show at the ACT in Maple Ridge. (Gord Kurenoff photo)


By Gord Kurenoff
Canwest Community Newspapers

They’re calling it the Speed of Life Tour, a cross-Canada fall expedition to promote their sixth album Go, and the feel-good, chart-topping tune Coming Home.
One can only assume, after witnessing Doc Walker’s compelling Friday night show in Maple Ridge, that the moniker Manitoba’s Musical Mullets was already taken!
While the award-hogging gang from Portage la Prairie received a standing ovation for their superb cover of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline – and earlier DW hits Rocket Girl, Get Up and Beautiful Life – country music’s 2009 Group of the Year left the 300-plus audience laughing hysterically as they flashed old yearbook pictures on the Arts Centre and Theatre stage.
“This will never get old on this tour,” quipped the now clean-cut frontman Chris Thornstein, whose own school photo looked like a cross between Jay Leno and early Achy Breaky Billy Ray Cyrus.
Ironically, two songs earlier Thornstein needed a few moments to clear his teary eyes after complaining that hairspray leaked into them. Show business, eh?
On a night when Doc Walker made Stop No. 2 on a fall tour that takes them to casinos, theatres, arenas and clubs across small-town Canada, the memorable moments were the unscripted, innocent ones.
The band laughed about doing a video shoot last week in Aldergrove, B.C. – for their new song If I Fall – where “it smelled like horse poop all stinking day.”
They laughed about their new dream-pursuing song Go, and the fact they all tried to keep girlfriends from leaving them in high school by suggesting their moms could get them "good jobs at Petland" after graduation.
And they laughed that the Maple Ridge crowd was the “best-clapping audience” they have seen in a long time.
“This one at least has some rhythm,” joked Murray Pulver, who was named Guitar Player of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Association awards show in Vancouver earlier this month.
Dave Wasyliw, who found time to get married in Mexico while on the group’s Beautiful Life Beach Party Tour in Mazatlan, received a standing ovation for performing Barbershop, a fun ditty that hasn’t found its way to CD yet, but managed to be among the major hits of Friday’s show.
Joined on this tour by bassist Brent Pearen and drummer Steve Broadhurst, Doc Walker did an amazing acoustic set, played all their hits and served up some powerful message songs – Driving With the Brakes On and North Dakota Boy. They easily demonstrated why they are the poster band of what’s right in the Canadian country music industry. And why Bon Jovi referred to them as Canada's top talents after opening for the New Jersey rockers.
Friday’s low turnout was perhaps the only blemish on an otherwise enjoyable evening. Maybe it was because Doc Walker just played a free, two-hour show in front of 10,000-plus fans at the Vancouver PNE, or that the 500-seat Arts Centre and Theatre isn’t conducive to a show people would rather move and dance to than just sit and watch.
Whatever. The band made sure those who came to see and hear went home happy. And that they did – no doubt likely feeling a lot better about their current hairdos, too.
FINAL LICKS – Vancouver’s Dustin Bentall (www.dustinbentall.com), who said he used to get his butt kicked playing hockey against Fraser Valley farm kids, opened Friday night with a great Bob Dylan-esque flavour, featuring tunes from his new album Six Shooter, which was recorded in Ashcroft, B.C. . . . The hotter-than-fire High Valley (www.highvalley.ca), who played with Paul Brandt at the Langley Events Centre last week, will join Doc Walker’s tour in Edmonton on Sept. 27 for their Alberta and Saskatchewan performances . . . Thanks to a great remake on the Phil Collins’ song That’s All, Doc Walker is currently in the Top 10 on Australian music charts. The song is on their Beautiful Life album, which won a Juno Award this year. Check out Doc Walker's website and future tour dates at www.docwalker.ca.

Gord Kurenoff is Managing Editor of the Abbotsford-Mission Times and a columnist for Canwest Community Newspapers in B.C. He can be reached directly by e-mailing gkurenoff@abbotsfordtimes.com.

BEAUTIFUL LIFE IS COMING HOME!

This article was originally published in May 2008. Doc Walker, named 2009 Group of the Year, plays Friday night in Maple Ridge to launch their Speed of Life Tour and new album Go, which includes the great hit Coming Home. See their website at www.docwalker.ca.

When – or if – you think of famous Manitobans who don’t farm, hunt, curl or invent mosquito repellents, names
such as Tommy Douglas, Terry Sawchuk, Monty Hall, Doug Henning, Anna Paquin, Neil Young, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman spring to mind.
Chris Thorsteinson, Dave Wasyliw and Murray Pulver have some serious work ahead of them to join that Prairie province’s privileged few, but the friendly faces and awesome sound of award-winning country group Doc Walker are at least heading in the right direction – and having bushels of fun doing it.
On a cross-country tour to promote their album Beautiful Life, and the mega-hit by
the same name, the musicians from Portage La Prairie filled the Commodore Ballroom Thursday night and didn’t disappoint the standing room-only crowd that, for the most part, opted to leave the cowboy hats and rodeo attire at home.
Minus the gimmicks, smoke machines, dancers and flashy lights that often overshadow the performers and music at way too many overproduced concerts these days, Doc Walker relies solely on their music, their distinct voices and an uncanny ability to instantly connect with young and old, city folk or cowpoke.
They also skipped the “We love you (insert city name)” platitudes and, instead, shared the fact that, as excitable Prairie boys they are always amazed with driving through the mountains and seeing the Pacific Ocean. In fact, they decided to shoot a video in Vancouver this week to promote their next single.
The new album provided those moments too, via Phil Collins’ hit ditty That’s All and Doc Walker’s new romantic song One Last Sundown, a guaranteed hit waiting for air play, and a catchy tune Echo Road.
Doc Walker also made people scream, sing and cry when they performed Rocket Girl, their huge hit off the debut 2001 album Curve that helped them eventually capture the Group of the Year at the CCMAs in 2004 and 2005.
But it was their fresh hit Beautiful Life that really ignited the entertaining evening as cellphones with cameras began clicking and the diverse crowd, that included 20- and 60-somethings, drowned out the band by singing along word for word.
They say in country music that if you can get people to line dance to your music you’ve got it made – singing to a new single is pure gold and, no doubt, music to Doc Walker’s ears and dreams.
A beautiful life, indeed.
FINAL LICKS – Doc Walker plays in Kamloops tonight, Kelowna tomorrow, Terrace on Friday and Kitimat Saturday.