Point Grey campus gets $600-million worth of buildings, technology — and a vibrant public square

Doug Ward
Sun

The University of B.C. is midway through a $600-million growth spurt, giving the campus a new social heart, new housing and shiny new academic facilities with state-of-the-art technology.

An architectural competition is underway to design the new University Boulevard neighbourhood, where a mix of cafes, restaurants, shops and public square will give UBC a more dramatic entrance and a vibrant gathering place.

Construction crews will begin digging a hole in a few months for a new underground bus loop on University Boulevard — a loop projected to handle 53,000 transit trips both ways daily.

A new neighbourhood will be developed above it — one of nine neighbourhoods of the University Town project, which will more than double the campus population by 2021.

Linda Moore, the UBC official charged with transforming University Boulevard, uses a famous observation from an American literary figure to describe the uninspiring entrance that currently exists where the boulevard intersects with Wesbrook Mall.

“We’ve been using the little saying of Gertrude Stein: ‘There is no there there’ because look: There is no ‘there’ here.”

But there will be more “there” everywhere on campus. That’s clear from the hardhats and “Construction Access Only” signs that are ubiquitous at UBC.

About 80 per cent of the construction activity has been about building a new generation of institutional buildings, including the Michael Smith Laboratories, the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the Life Sciences Centre and the Earthquake Building.

Most days, about 1,000 tradesmen, 15 cranes and convoys of dump trucks and other heavy equipment arrive on campus.

“Someone here said that UBC is the biggest construction site west of Toronto,” associate dean Douw Steyn said.

“I have no evidence if this is true, except that there is a heck of a lot of construction here.”

The pace is so constant that UBC has hired a consulting firm to coordinate road closures and signage with the seven major contractors active on campus.

“UBC gets a lot of criticism from neighbourhoods because there are only four major truck routes in and out of the campus,” said Joe Redmond, vice-president of UBC Properties Trust.

“People think the trucks are for building residential. But actually most of the trucks coming here are for institutional buildings.”

Redmond said the new Life Sciences Building, for example, required the excavation of 120,000 cubic metres of earth, an amount equal to about 10,000 truckloads.

But both the academic and institutional buildings are about attracting and retaining top students and faculty, said Moore, associate director external affairs for University Town.

“What’s key is that everything we are doing is to support our academic mission.”

Even revamping University Boulevard between Wesbrook and Main Mall.

Moore recalls arriving at UBC as a young English major about 25 years ago and “not realizing that University Boulevard was the front door to the university.”

This is because the gateway to UBC at University Boulevard and Wesbrook has all the architectural drama of a suburban business park.

“We have a sea of pavement that really doesn’t speak to the idea of place — to what we call university-ishness,” Moore said.

“I always think of the new student, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, from somewhere in small-town Canada, staring at the entrance, and going: ‘Is this it?’ “

Just what the new $100-million University Boulevard development, adjacent to the Student Union Building, will look like will be decided in an architectural competition launched recently.

Moore is confident the neighbourhood, with its public spaces and shops, will give students a “place to go” — something that has been missing from campus.

“There will be at least five new buildings,” he said. “The whole idea is to create a vibrant collection of uses.

“So that on the square and on the street there will be shops and services.”

There will be rental housing above the shops for students, faculty and staff.

Empire Pool is being relocated to the north side of War Memorial Gym. The new pool will have 50-metre lanes so that swimming competitions can be staged. UBC has asked its architects to relocate and give prominence to Empire Pool’s venerable diving tower. “It’s a UBC icon and we don’t want to lose it,” Moore said.

While UBC is preserving some if its heritage, it’s the newly minted buildings and the wizardry inside them that defines the new campus.

The new academic construction is the result of a move in the late ’90s by Ottawa and the provincial government to invest heavily in scientific research in post-secondary institutions.

Ottawa‘s funding comes through the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which has given UBC $400 million over the past five years.

UBC vice-president Dennis Pavlich said UBC has received more CFI funding than any other Canadian university. “UBC has been unbelievably successful in receiving CFI money.”

In a survey of which public universities have the best scientific research programs, added Pavlich, UBC rated second in Canada and 12th in North America.

Under the CFI grant program, Ottawa puts up 40 per cent of the infrastructure costs of projects chosen by national selection committees, made up mostly of scientists.

The provincial government, through its B.C. Knowledge Development Fund, provides a matching 40 per cent and UBC covers the remaining 20 per cent, often with money from private donors.

Almost all of the CFI funds have gone for scientific research, although UBC was successful in getting CFI money for a project at the Museum of Anthropology, which will enable collections to be accessed digitally and expand the public gallery.

Some of the new facilities are also funded by the B.C. government’s Double the Opportunity Fund, which seeks to double the number of computing science and engineering students graduating from UBC.

The largest and most expensive of new buildings is the $172-million, five-storey UBC Life Sciences Centre, new home to the UBC Medical School and a variety of teaching and research facilities for life sciences, and to the Centre for Disease Modelling and the Centre for Blood Research.

The facility is part of the provincial government’s commitment to double the number of graduating medical students to 256 per year by 2010.

The centre will provide links with tele-learning facilities at the University of Victoria and the University of Northern B.C. Cameras will allow medical students in Victoria or Prince George to listen to a lecture delivered at UBC and ask questions, and vice versa.

The outer shell of the Life Sciences Centre encloses three buildings. It has two open atriums with glass roofs. One of the atriums will house a coffee house and cafeteria. The building has 500,000 square feet with ample laboratory space.

The top four floors of the Life Sciences Centre are labs for medical research and for the life sciences, including biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, anatomy, physiology, zoology and medical genetics.

There is a morgue below ground, holding cadavers for use in medical instruction. A bio-containment facility for the handling of potentially lethal pathogens will also be underground.

“Between the Michael Smith Laboratories and the Life Sciences Centre we will really house a high percentage of researchers who do cellular and microcellular biology, which is at the cutting edge of scientific research,” said biochemistry Prof. George Mackie,

Mackie said the new buildings were needed because the existing ones “were designed for an earlier era of research and had become obsolete.”

Perhaps, the best-known of these new buildings is the Michael Smith Laboratories, the institutional legacy of Dr. Michael Smith. The $30-million lab covers 7,500 square metres adjacent to the UBC Bookstore.

In 1987, UBC established Canada‘s first interdisciplinary biotechnology unit. Smith headed it and recruited the young microbiologists and other scientists. Their offices and labs were scattered across the campus.

It was the late Nobel Laureate’s dream to create an interdisciplinary centre dedicated to genomic research — and to stem the brain drain of top Canadian scientists to the U.S. That centre now exists and bears his name.

A swirling ribbon of coloured glass stretches across its glass face, representing a DNA sequence.

The Stewart and Marilyn Blusson Education Forum is located on the ground floor and is open to the public. A teaching lab will provide outreach to about 2,000 Lower Mainland high school students annually. There is also a 100-seat lecture theatre that is electronically linked to other UBC teaching sites, and an atrium.

The second and third floors are dedicated to the research facilities of the former Biotechnology Laboratory.

The lower floor will house the UBC Bioinformatics Centre, where five researchers and about 70 students and lab workers will integrate computers, software tools, and databases to address biological issues related to genomics. The Michael Smith Laboratories represents the UBC component of the Centre for Integrated Genomics, a collaboration with the B.C. Cancer Agency.

The $68-million Irving K. Barber Learning Centre will retain the heritage core of the iconic Main Library, while adding a new building and renovated floor space. The Learning Centre and the glass-encased Koerner Library directly across from it, will make up the academic heart of the campus.

The centre — geared with wireless technology — will offer a new robotics-driven automatic storage and retrieval (ASR) system.

ASR technology has been used by a variety of industries for more than 30 years. Libraries have turned to ASR over the last 15 years to help house library collections, including print materials, microforms, videos and artifacts.

Users retrieve materials from the system by making a request through the library’s online catalogue. Using the book’s bar code as the locating device, the robotic mini-load crane identifies the bin that holds the requested item and delivers it to the circulation desk. A library worker retrieves the requested item from the bin and holds it for pickup. The entire retrieval process takes about two minutes.

The idea behind the Learning Centre is to turn the Main Library into a leading-edge, advanced distance-learning facility, accessible to online users throughout the province. People will be able to locate books and receive materials without having to physically go there.

The two wings of the Main Library will be demolished and, along with them, the stacks where generations of UBC students roamed.

Over the next decade, less than half of the library’s acquisitions will be in digital format. The library will be out of space to house print material within the next two years. But with space for more than 1.4 million volumes, ASR will provide growth area for the physical collection for at least 15 years.

The Earthquake Engineering Building will contain shake tables and test monitoring systems, and will allow engineers to assess the seismic capability of buildings and structures. Scale models of buildings will be placed on the shake table and subjected to motion. The building on the East Mall is designed so pedestrians can watch tests being conducted.

The $8.9-million Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory, expected to open next spring, conducts research on marine life and economies around the globe. It has an “immersion room” that allows researchers to examine three-dimensional computer models projected on the walls.

“When you are inside it, it’s like being immersed inside a modelling system,” Steyn said.

The models will deal with all aspects of fisheries, ranging from economic features to species, population and ecosystems.

The new surge in infrastructure investment has been accompanied by the creation of perhaps the most extensive wireless web network in North America, said David Vogt, director of Digital Learning Projects at UBC.

“UBC has taken upon itself to establish a number of wireless nodes right across campus,” Vogt said. “There is a dedication to being wireless friendly here and the UBC network is the most advanced in North America, if not beyond.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

Province

Science World is getting $9 million and a new name, courtesy of Telus.

The money will be spread over 15 years and the landmark glittering dome in Vancouver‘s False Creek will be known as “TELUSphere” in early 2005.

Science World president and CEO Bryan Tisdall says the funding agreement will allow Science World to invest in new exhibits and programs and stay on the cutting edge of science education and exploration for children.

“Without this new investment, Science World would face becoming outdated, depriving B.C.’s children of the opportunity to experience the fascinating world of science and the processes of creativity, curiosity and invention it fosters,” Tisdall said.

Once Science World becomes TELUSphere it will join a growing list of facilities and events that have names to reflect corporate sponsorship, such as GM Place, HSBC Celebration of Light and Molson Indy.

© The Vancouver Province 2004

Kim Pemberton
Sun

Going green or striving to be environmentally friendly is an approach more and more developers are taking with housing projects.

For those who aren’t fully on the “go green” bandwagon Pam Groberman, who runs a public relations company that markets many condo and housing projects in the Lower Mainland, is the person to see for inspiration.

Groberman is in the midst of creating an “eco-friendly” office in Yaletown — one that not only does little harm to the environment but is also a healthier workplace for herself and two staff.

“I’ve been told I’m probably taking it to the extreme,” said Groberman. “It’s been really hard to be green but maybe in a couple of years it will be easier.”

The main problem, she said, has been finding local products that are truly sustainable.

Sustainable or “green” materials are ones that have not been harvested so that a resource is depleted or damaged. A “green environment” is also one where energy or water consumption has been reduced, incorporates recycled materials and promotes a healthier indoor environment.

Groberman is so dedicated to the go-green cause she is trying to find material that is 100 per cent sustainable and not simply recycle older products. Take her couch, for instance. She wasn’t able to find a 100 per cent recyclable couch locally because most are made from “chemical-filled” foam or use unhealthy dyes, she said.

“I had no other choice but to get one in San Francisco, which uses hemp and rubber,” said Groberman, adding unfortunately the “trade-off” was having it delivered because of the jet fuel usage.

Asked why not recycle a second-hand couch Groberman explained the materials used in one “wouldn’t go back to the earth.” “Where would it end up once I was done with it?” she noted.

Being so strict means Groberman has had to be patient with having her 2,500 square foot office completed. She began the project in June but doesn’t expect it will be ready until November.

Interior designer Rachel Brown, of Simple, said a lot of the time has been spent trying to source sustainable materials.

And like Groberman, Brown is optimistic eco-friendly products will be more readily available locally in the future as “going green” continues to gain popularity.

“A lot of this stuff could be found in home designs,” said Brown.

But, Brown warns, anyone trying to go green at home should take care to ensure what the supplier claims is true.

As an example, she said, “carpet companies say the carpets are recyclable but there are no plants to recycle carpets.”

That means Groberman’s office will be carpet-free. The white floors, have all been painted by hand, because it’s less toxic than spray paint, said Groberman, and the product used was an eco-friendly product called EcoLogic Waterborne Eggshell.

Groberman has also chosen a mat flooring made from recycled tire rubber to be used under the office desks.

The desks and some other furniture, such as end tables and a credenza, are being made from reclaimed fir from a saw mill and an old logging bridge from the Sunshine Coast.

They are being custom-made by furniture designers Tony Millares III and his wife Amber Host, of Urthwurks Furniture Inc.

“There’s very few people doing well-designed, ecological products,” said Millares III.

“We’ve been doing quite a bit of market research and I would expect this will take off. We want to promote ecological furniture for a number of reasons – the environmental aspect and our own health.”

He said it makes more sense to use wheatboard, which is made of wheat-straw fibers bound with resin, instead of a product that uses formaldehyde, such as particleboard.

But, Millares III, noted going green isn’t cheap.

One of his desk costs anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 while a sidetable is in the $1,000 to $2,500 range, depending on the finish.

Groberman said one of her biggest splurges was deciding to buy the extremely comfortable and 96 per cent recyclable Mirra office chair from LivingSpace. Each one cost $1,000 and she needed three.

While the project has been expensive, Groberman said she’s also had some breaks. She points out after finding her new office space, on the second floor of a low-rise brick building on Homer Street, she negotiated with the landlord to change to the lights to the energy efficient compact fluorescent lighting. The lighting saves up to 75 per cent in energy costs compared to incandescent lamps, according to B.C. Hydro’s Product Incentive Program brochure.

The landlord also agreed to change the toilets to ones that used less water when flushed.

The final touches in Groberman’s green space will include a natural water feature, and a 22-foot long planter box along one wall, all with plants that have very high air cleansing properties, said Brown. These include peace lily, bamboo palm, dracaena marginata and gerbera daisies.

“Everyone loves Gerbera daisies,” said Groberman. “And they’re healthy for you.”

“Going green doesn’t have to be just about granola and Birkenstocks. It’s healthy and cool too.”

HOMEWORKS

When is something green?

– Sustainable or “green” buildings refer to building materials used so that the harvesting does not deplete or damage a resource.

– A green building is also one that incorporates salvaged or recycled materials.

– Promotes a healthier environment

To help standardize what qualifies as green architecture, the Washington, D.C.-based industry group Green Building Council created the LEED rating system. Leed stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, that provides a point-driven certification program to assess a building performance and provides a standard for what constitutes a sustainable building.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

Hundreds of jobs, millions of dollars at stake, Barbary Coast Marina says

Brian Morton
Sun

Several charter boat operators being forced to move by the expansion of the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre may have to shut down if they can’t find a new home in Coal Harbour, an operator said Wednesday.

“They certainly won’t have anywhere to go,” said James MacMillan, who operates cruises from Barbary Coast Marina near Canada Place, in an interview. “I don’t know if we’ll close. I can’t even think of that.”

MacMillan said three charter boat companies located at the Barbary Coast Marina have been given until the end of next week to stay at their current location in Coal Harbour.

He said that city hall is now mulling a proposal that would allow the boats to move part of their wharf to a water lot in front of Harbour Park, about 300 metres west of their current home. He said three of four planning advisers have recommended that the city approve the interim move, which would be for three years.

Until then, he said, they can only wait. “We’re certainly hoping to [make the move]. Hopefully, this will go quickly.”

MacMillan said they just want to get the same treatment as the float-plane companies operating out of Vancouver harbour, which were also facing eviction because of the convention centre expansion but have been allowed to temporarily relocate to a new home in Coal Harbour.

“We presumed that we’d have a place to go, but we got left out of the discussions. We were forgotten here, because everybody was concerned about the planes.”

MacMillan said the charter boats, which can carry up to 350 passengers, have supported Vancouver‘s tourism industry for decades, adding that the six boats impacted by the move also take part in the annual Carol Ships parade of ships at Christmas.

According to a news release, businesses located at Barbary Coast Marina stand to lose millions of dollars and hundreds of employees will lose jobs.

MacMillan said that whatever happens, his cruises will find a way to participate in this year’s Carol Ships parade of ships through Vancouver harbour. “We’ll find a way to be in it. But it’s difficult.”

Jim Lehto, a development consultant for Barbary Coast Marina and the charter boats, said it may be several weeks before the city approves the permit to move and that, in the meantime, operators are looking for another interim location until the permit is approved. “We’re scrambling.”

Lehto said the cruise operators hoped to be included in the permit that allowed the float planes to move, but it didn’t happen. “We’re high and dry.”

Unlike the float-plane application, Lehto doesn’t expect the same type of opposition from local residents. “A lot of the issues with the float planes is not there with the boats. We may have an open house on this.”

Norman Stowe, spokesman for the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project, said the charter boats will have to be moved by the end of next week.

“We’ve been talking to the marine people and the float-plane people for about a year,” said Stowe in an interview. “This is no surprise for them. They [charter boats] asked to stay until January, but that’s impossible. That part of the site we have to work on first and our time frame is tight. There will be no extension.”

Stowe said it’s up the city of Vancouver to find a new place for the charter boats.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

Scott Deveau
Sun

City staff say they’ll need more power over the liquor licences of downtown bars if extended bar hours are to continue in Vancouver.

In a staff policy review before city council this week, the Vancouver Police Department reported a 35 per cent increase in public disorder downtown between midnight and 5 a.m. since the hours were extended, despite a voluntary rollback by bar owners in June to 3 a.m.

Karen Hoese, policy analyst for the city, said the review precedes more specific recommendations to come before council later this month or in early November. Based on the current review, she said, in order for the later hours to continue the city will need a stronger role in enforcement.

“We don’t think we should go ahead with the extended hours, unless we have the ability to control liquor licensing,” Hoese said. “We don’t want to take away someone’s business licence if there are problems, which is the only tool we have now.”

The provincial government controls liquor licence enforcement, including licensing for extended hours. If there is a violation, Hoese said, enforcement can take several months. She said the city needs swifter penalties to be effective and suggested the city ask the province to allow city council the right to revoke extended hours for licence violations. She said the proposal has met the approval of bar owners.

“Not all operators are equal, so they see it as a way of dealing with bad operators,” Hoese said. “In our research, cities with later hours work better with better local controls.”

Barwatch president John Tetti had not seen the proposals on bar hours and did not want to comment until he did.

In July 2003, the city allowed bars downtown and in Gastown to extend operating hours to 4 a.m. In November 2003, the trial period was extended for another year while consultations with the public and research with other jurisdictions was conducted. The policy review before council this week is based on research at a series of public consultations this year and contact with 16 other cities in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The VPD will not support the continuation of the extended bar hours unless stronger enforcement measures are available.

“We are still seeing routine violence on a regular basis and extreme violence on occasion. The number of shootings in and around bars has increased significantly since the introduction of later bar hours,” reported Const. Pam Ruschke, VPD liquor coordinator, in recommendations attached to the policy review.

She noted that the problems of violence at bars have been exacerbated by bar owners continually exceeding their occupancy levels, failing to control line-ups and overserving patrons, who become aggressive out on the street. Police support a return to 2 a.m. bar closings, she wrote.

According to police, late night fights and other disturbances in the downtown area are up substantially from 2002 levels.

“The issues in this area are not all attributable to bar closing times. It is my opinion that there are now too many liquor seats in too small an area and we have reached a tipping point where public safety is going to remain an issue,” Deputy Chief Bob Rich wrote in his recommendations attached to the review. “I believe that the later bar closing hours in this area, even though it is now just 3 a.m., contribute to this trend.”

Despite staff concerns, Coun. Tim Stevenson believes the extended hours have been a success.

“I think the system is working well. Obviously there have been some concerns and the public needs to be consulted,” Stevenson said.

Sun

Mike Roberts
Province

The real David William Caldwell, a 38-year-old highrise construction worker, did not request a credit card in Tennessee, apply for loans in Toronto and Montreal or order three cellphone plans from Bell Mobility.

No, the real David William Caldwell was at home in Vancouver, kicking himself for leaving his wallet on the car seat.

Caldwell is a victim of identity theft, the fastest growing crime in North America. Last year, 13,359 Canadians fell prey to identity thieves, criminals who steal personal information to commit theft or fraud. (To the tune of $2.5 billion annually in Canada).

Fortunately, says Caldwell, he was “a poor man with $26 in my bank account” when his wallet was stolen in 2000. His monetary losses were negligible, but the time and energy he’s spent reclaiming his identity have gobbled up months of his life. “I thought everything was OK, it was a dormant volcano,” he says. “Two years later, it erupted again, it’s been going on for years.”

So common is the crime of identity theft, that the major banks and credit card companies have begun offering fee-for-service protection for consumers who don’t relish the prospect of a lifetime spent restoring reputations and credit ratings.

But some vested parties — including victim David Caldwell and the Better Business Bureau’s Valerie McLean — believe the new services are an unnecessary consumer expense, marketing ploys preying on public paranoia around identity theft.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was first out of the gate in Canada, offering a personalized, credit bureau monitoring service for $14.99 a month.

CIBC’s Credit Alert service monitors a customer’s file at Canada‘s two credit bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax. When it detects unusual activity or changes, the customer is notified by e-mail.

“The most important thing they get is the active fraud monitoring,” says Bob Atkinson, a senior manager with CIBC’s card products division. “That’s the value.”

When asked why this service is not being made freely available to bank customers already shelling out double- and triple-digit dollars each month in questionable service charges, Atkinson sites setup and operating costs.

“There are lots of people kicking the tires,” he says. “People are getting it, testing it for a while. Some are keeping it, some are cancelling it, and that’s fine.”

But McLean, manager for the B.C. Better Business Bureau, says the banks are capitalizing on the “hot issue” of identity theft.

“Businesses are always going to try to offer something that they think people want, but why pay for something you can do yourself for free?” says McLean. “You don’t need to pay.

“You can get your credit report for free in Canada, and you can do it as often as you want,” adds McLean. “You can take precautions, easy precautions, to avoid identity theft.” (See sidebar).

McLean says $15 a month is “going to add up,” and believes the Credit Alert service fosters unnecessary fear. “If you take basic, basic precautions, I’m not even going to worry about someone monitoring my account daily,” she says.

Caldwell says there’s “no way” he’d spend $15 a month on a credit-monitoring service. “If I was a complete idiot and didn’t know what to do, maybe,” he says.

Caldwell suggests consumers obtain their own credit bureau reports once every year and scrutinize their files.

“You’ve got to keep up on it, and it’s a citizen’s job to do that,” he says.

Adds McLean: “Smart consumers won’t have their identities stolen, it won’t happen.”

[email protected]

10 TIPS

1. Protect, use and change passwords and PINs wherever you can.

2. Pre-approved credit cards and blank credit company cheque mail-outs are prime pickings for identity thieves; visit the Canadian Marketing Association online at www.the-cma.org and put yourself on the Don’t Mail, Don’t Call, Don’t Fax and Don’t E-mail lists. Within six to eight weeks, virtually all addressed junk mail, telemarketing and electronic marketing will cease.

3. Invest in a $20 paper shredder for your home and be mindful of what personal information gets dumped in the trash.

4. Update computer operating and anti-virus software regularly; install a computer firewall.

5. Get a locking mailbox.

6. Clean out your glovebox.

7. Don’t respond to unsolicited phone calls or e-mails requesting card numbers, account information and/or passwords, even if they appear to originate with legitimate companies. Phone the company if you’re really unsure. Delete unsolicited e-mails; go into your “delete box” and delete them again because many contain viruses designed to worm out your personal information.

8. Photocopy the front and back of all of your debit and credit cards in case they are ever lost or stolen.

9. Don’t write your PINs on the back of cards or on bits of paper carried in your wallet.

10. Don’t carry your SIN card in your wallet, and carry only credit cards and identification you need on a daily basis.

© The Vancouver Province 2004

Mike Roberts
Province

The real David William Caldwell, a 38-year-old highrise construction worker, did not request a credit card in Tennessee, apply for loans in Toronto and Montreal or order three cellphone plans from Bell Mobility.

No, the real David William Caldwell was at home in Vancouver, kicking himself for leaving his wallet on the car seat.

Caldwell is a victim of identity theft, the fastest growing crime in North America. Last year, 13,359 Canadians fell prey to identity thieves, criminals who steal personal information to commit theft or fraud. (To the tune of $2.5 billion annually in Canada).

Fortunately, says Caldwell, he was “a poor man with $26 in my bank account” when his wallet was stolen in 2000. His monetary losses were negligible, but the time and energy he’s spent reclaiming his identity have gobbled up months of his life. “I thought everything was OK, it was a dormant volcano,” he says. “Two years later, it erupted again, it’s been going on for years.”

So common is the crime of identity theft, that the major banks and credit card companies have begun offering fee-for-service protection for consumers who don’t relish the prospect of a lifetime spent restoring reputations and credit ratings.

But some vested parties — including victim David Caldwell and the Better Business Bureau’s Valerie McLean — believe the new services are an unnecessary consumer expense, marketing ploys preying on public paranoia around identity theft.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was first out of the gate in Canada, offering a personalized, credit bureau monitoring service for $14.99 a month.

CIBC’s Credit Alert service monitors a customer’s file at Canada’s two credit bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax. When it detects unusual activity or changes, the customer is notified by e-mail.

“The most important thing they get is the active fraud monitoring,” says Bob Atkinson, a senior manager with CIBC’s card products division. “That’s the value.”

When asked why this service is not being made freely available to bank customers already shelling out double- and triple-digit dollars each month in questionable service charges, Atkinson sites setup and operating costs.

“There are lots of people kicking the tires,” he says. “People are getting it, testing it for a while. Some are keeping it, some are cancelling it, and that’s fine.”

But McLean, manager for the B.C. Better Business Bureau, says the banks are capitalizing on the “hot issue” of identity theft.

“Businesses are always going to try to offer something that they think people want, but why pay for something you can do yourself for free?” says McLean. “You don’t need to pay.

“You can get your credit report for free in Canada, and you can do it as often as you want,” adds McLean. “You can take precautions, easy precautions, to avoid identity theft.” (See sidebar).

McLean says $15 a month is “going to add up,” and believes the Credit Alert service fosters unnecessary fear. “If you take basic, basic precautions, I’m not even going to worry about someone monitoring my account daily,” she says.

Caldwell says there’s “no way” he’d spend $15 a month on a credit-monitoring service. “If I was a complete idiot and didn’t know what to do, maybe,” he says.

Caldwell suggests consumers obtain their own credit bureau reports once every year and scrutinize their files.

“You’ve got to keep up on it, and it’s a citizen’s job to do that,” he says.

Adds McLean: “Smart consumers won’t have their identities stolen, it won’t happen.”

[email protected]

10 TIPS

1. Protect, use and change passwords and PINs wherever you can.

2. Pre-approved credit cards and blank credit company cheque mail-outs are prime pickings for identity thieves; visit the Canadian Marketing Association online at www.the-cma.org and put yourself on the Don’t Mail, Don’t Call, Don’t Fax and Don’t E-mail lists. Within six to eight weeks, virtually all addressed junk mail, telemarketing and electronic marketing will cease.

3. Invest in a $20 paper shredder for your home and be mindful of what personal information gets dumped in the trash.

4. Update computer operating and anti-virus software regularly; install a computer firewall.

5. Get a locking mailbox.

6. Clean out your glovebox.

7. Don’t respond to unsolicited phone calls or e-mails requesting card numbers, account information and/or passwords, even if they appear to originate with legitimate companies. Phone the company if you’re really unsure. Delete unsolicited e-mails; go into your “delete box” and delete them again because many contain viruses designed to worm out your personal information.

8. Photocopy the front and back of all of your debit and credit cards in case they are ever lost or stolen.

9. Don’t write your PINs on the back of cards or on bits of paper carried in your wallet.

10. Don’t carry your SIN card in your wallet, and carry only credit cards and identification you need on a daily basis.

© The Vancouver Province 2004

Sun

VANCOUVER – Canada‘s new $20 bank note — bearing masterpieces by the internationally recognized late B.C. Haida artist Bill Reid on the back and incorporating anti-counterfeiting features similar to those on the recently issued $100 note — was released into circulation in a ceremony in Vancouver Wednesday.

The new note, first unveiled last month, will be available across the country within two weeks.

Its anti-counterfeiting measures include a metallic holographic stripe, a watermarked portrait, a windowed colour-shifting thread woven into the paper, and a see-through number.

The new note also incorporates such enhanced security features as raised ink (intaglio), fine-line printing, and improved red and yellow fluorescence under ultraviolet light.

A new security-enhanced $50 bill is scheduled to be released by the end of the year.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

Other

Approval has been granted to three float-plane companies to temporarily relocate their terminals to Coal Harbour.

The move was made necessary because of planned construction on the Vancouver convention centre. That expansion project is expected to take three years to complete.

The airlines insist they will not have to alter their flight paths as a result of the move, but the decision has angered many living in the area.

Residents packed a meeting of the Vancouver permit board Tuesday night.

“Those noise levels are injurious to your ears,” said one resident.

“They are unbearable when you’re in your apartment. You can’t talk, you can’t watch TV. It’s irritating, and it is mentally destructive.”

The move would position the terminal about 250 metres west of its current location near Canada Place.

After seven hours of discussion, the permit board sided with the airlines, West Coast Air, Harbour Air and Baxter Air.

© Global BC 2004