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February 12, 2010
No death knell for Bloedel!
KDHS students rally to preserve Vancouver landmark.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
With the City of Vancouver facing a huge budget shortfall, the future of Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park is uncertain. While the Park Board considers alternative uses for the facility, it will remain open, but that’s not enough for a group of King David High School students.
“Basically, me and my fellow students at King David are here to protest the closure of the bird sanctuary in Queen E.,” said Jordan Grubner, “because it’s a beautiful area where you can come to relax and it’s a spectacle of Vancouver.”
Grubner was with approximately 30 other students on a Feb. 4 field trip to the conservatory, which included a visit to the facility, as well as a show of support outside, with an artistically crafted sign that read, “Preserve, Protect + Provide for all living beings,” and two handheld signs with the protest cry of “No death knell for Bloedel!” written on them. The students were accompanied by KDHS Judaics coordinator Rabbi Daniel Siegel and art teacher Wendy Oberlander.
“It’s extracurricular and students did it on their own time,” explained Grubner about the display.
“I think, as a young person, it’s important to get our voices out there and heard, because a lot of the time, it’s thought that young people can’t really change the world, but maybe we can, maybe it just takes the right group,” said Suzy Flader.
“This place, it’s full of life,” enthused Sasha Kaye. “I mean, biotic factors aside – there’s plants, yes, birds, but ... if you’ve never been in there, you’re really missing something, the colors, the smell, the sounds and the birds, they come right up to you and they’re right there and it’s just amazing.”
When asked what message the students were trying to convey with their public presence that day, Kaye said, referring to the potential for non-educational uses of the space, “Well, we want to get out that a McDonald’s just doesn’t cut it here and if they take these birds away, where are they going to go?”
According to the conservatory’s website, more than 100 birds of various species fly freely within its dome, which was built in 1969.
“I think that it’s really important for us to have this in Vancouver because if you get rid of this, then what’s next? Getting rid of city parks? Getting rid of this, making it into New York City where it’s all condensed?” said Deborah Laban, pointing to the rest of Queen Elizabeth Park. “I just think that it’s important for us to have this for the future, as well as for now, and it’s a shame that not that many people come in here because it’s actually amazing.”
It was Laban’s first time to the conservatory and she said she would definitely be making a return trip – if the facility remains open, that is.
It was also Arie Gubenko’s first visit. When asked if the conservatory was what he imagined it would be like, he said, “Not at all. I thought it was just going to be a few trees here and there, a few plants, but it’s actually amazingly beautiful. There are some things that I have never seen in my entire life before, some animals that I’ve never seen before, some trees, some flowers, just overall an amazing place to be and experience.”
Now that he’s been here, Gubenko said he wants to do anything he can to stop it from being closed.
At KDHS, there are several tikkun olam (repairing the world) opportunities for students. This particular one was centred around the teachings of Tu b’Shevat, said Siegel, “the idea in Judaism of ba’al tashchit, you shouldn’t destroy, and tsar ba’alei chaim, caring for living beings and the pain of living animals.
“Here, I think is a beautiful place,” he said of Bloedel. “I come here often. I think it would be a shame for it to be lost, and some of our kids haven’t been here before, so I think it’s also an opportunity [for them] to see what we have and not to lose it. I think that’s important.”
About the objectives of the field trip, Siegel explained, “The first thing, obviously, is if we can make any impact to save the Bloedel Conservatory. Secondly, at least for students to know it is here ... and to raise consciousness that we can have a voice, perhaps have some effect.”
Another component of the student visit was artistic. “The other positive thing is they’re inside drawing pictures of the birds as well,” said Siegel. “Hopefully, it’s a form of preservation and also to see the beauty here. I’m hoping that we can tape those pictures together and put something up in the school so it raises the consciousness of the entire school about what’s happening.”
From Sept. 1-April 30, Bloedel Conservatory is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; from May 1-Aug. 31, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on the weekend.
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