UBC hospice gets rubber stamp

Hospice residents are the winners

It’s been five months since the UBC put their plan to build a hospice on the Point Grey Campus on hold. After checking out 15 locations, the Board of Governors agreed yesterday to stick with the plan, despite objections raised by the mostly new-immigrant Asian community living in the high-rise condo facing the sight. They say their opposition to the 15-bed facility has nothing to do with fears that property values might decrease or the "idea" of a hospice but rather deeply held cultural convictions based on their conceptions around death.

According to Professor of Chinese Religions Paul Crowe, Chinese believe “on the assumption the world as we understand it is a unified, single place that’s inhabited by both the living and the spirits of the deceased; and there’s this deeply held concern that we need to keep the spirits of the deceased separate from the living.”

Residents of the luxury tower say the prospect of having the hospice as neighbour has already triggered sickness and stress for them and their families.

UBC delved deeper into possible concerns and did further study on the potential impact on traffic and property values. They concluded that the hospice development be ratified with additional conditions. They recommended that UBC plant trees between the two facilities, maintain outreach programs for new immigrants, and “identify other housing opportunities on campus for residents of the adjacent building who wish to move.” Also, UBC’s VP Stephen Owen stated, “An open-air courtyard in the hospice will be open-air but screened so that it is not visible to the outside.”

The $15 million hospice would be used as a place for research and education, along with providing hospice care, a sorely lacking service for dying Canadians.
Milena Katz