The Martlet

YAY!

Zombies invaded the Lansdowne campus of Camosun College on March 30. Student protesters disguised as zombies marched the campus grounds for the “Day of the Living Debt” to protest the rising cost of advanced education.

The event was held by the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), who chose the zombie theme to highlight that higher student fees due to a lack of funding is sentencing students to life-long debt sentences.

Christopher Gillespie, external affairs executive at the CCSS, said the government should be working with students, not against them, in these hard economic times. He emphasized that it’s time to educate the province of B.C. in becoming a hub of education.

YAY!

The University of B.C. has been ordered to pay back $4 million in unlawful parking fines.

In 2006, a class-action lawsuit was certified by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Goepel after Daniel Barbour filed against UBC.

Barbour’s car was impounded after he had left it parked legally at Westbrook Mall on campus. He was ordered to pay a $200 fine to get his car back. The university alleged the car was impounded because Barbour had violated the regulations on other occasions.

Once the trial started, UBC admitted the scheme was illegal but cited “private law justifications.”

Goepel stated that while UBC has the right to remove improperly parked vehicles and recover the costs incurred, the fines charged were far in excess of damages caused by parkers.

YAY!

An event called Lyme-Aid will be at Lucky Bar April 21 in order to raise money to support a local man with Lyme Disease.

Money raised will go to support Jean-Luc Giroux with his expensive treatment in the U.S. Before getting sick, Giroux was an active community member, canvassing for Amnesty International, UNICEF, BC SPCA and Greenpeace, tutoring English at the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre and volunteering for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Giroux’s friend, Keilih Gates, said the event is also to show Giroux that his friends are supporting him in his battle.

The event runs from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and will feature local bands Unleash the Archers, Everyone Everywhere, Skies Kill and Reaver.

Tickets for Lyme-Aid are available at Aces’n’Spades (1314 Douglas Street) and Larsen Music (1833 Cook Street) for $8 advance, and $10 at the door.

NAY!

On March 30, the Supreme Court of B.C. began hearing the appeal in the case of Robert Pickton, the man convicted of murdering of six women from downtown Vancouver’s Eastside. Picton has also been charged with 27 counts of second-degree murder.

• Kailey Willetts