Calgary Journal March-April2021

CALGARY

MARCH-APRIL 2021

JAE STERLING CREATOR, GUIDE, PROTECTOR

BLACK LIVES MATTER: from art to activism • Shetin Adams • Taylor McNallie • Shu Porter • Sydonne Warren • Dorsa Zamanpour

Journalism A DEGREE MADE FOR YOU If you’re dreaming of a career as a social media specialist, communications manager, podcast producer, reporter or multimedia journalist, get started at MRU.

mru.ca/Journalism

2

JAN/FEB 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

>In this issue

4

BLM

4-5 > Nursing student pushes for change in the healthcare system 6-7 > Activist Taylor McNallie fight against racism in rual Alberta 8-9 > Miss Calgary 2020 uses social media to suppory BIPOC 10-12 > Shu Porter’s empowers Calgary’s black women

ARTS

16-17 > Mural artist looks promotes BLM conversation 18-20 > Theatre group, Sun Ergos, confronts the pandemic

TRAVEL

8

22-23 > Ski hills wrestle with surge in users during the pandemic 24-25 > Pandemic forces travel industry workers to adapt and change careers

18

SOCIAL JUSTICE

28-29 > Budget cuts create chaos in the classroom 30-32 > Bank rolling environmental crisis 33-34 > Confronting racial discriminaiton in the workplace

COVER

14-15 > Artist Jae Sterling helps guide and protect COVER PHOTO: SIERRA STONE

10

PRINT MASTHEAD WINTER 2021 Lead Editors > MADASYN KOST & CHRISTIAN KINDRACHUK Photo and Design Editors > CHOLE MACEACHERN

24

33

Contributing Editors > CHLOE CHAPDELAINE HALEN KOOPER ANGELA LACKEY Managing Editor > ARCHIE MCLEAN: damclean@mtroyal.ca Faculty Editor > SEAN HOLMAN: sholman@mtroyal.ca Production Supervisor/Sales > BRAD SIMM: bsimm@mtroyal.ca 403-829-7424 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021 3

BLM

Calgary nursing student looks to bring activist mentality to health care system Dorsa Zamanpour seeks to fight oppression in the health care sector and beyond

STEPHANIE GABRIEL sgabriel@cjournal.ca

Zamanpour takes the stage at Calgary’s first Black Lives Matter protest, June 2020. PHOTO: COURTESY OF DORSA ZAMANPOUR

D

orsa Zamanpour immigrated to Canada from Iran at the age of two. Even though it’s known for inclusivity and diversity, the actual experience of growing up in Canada as a person of colour exposes the country’s many ongoing racist nuances.

Attending public school, Zamanpour was excluded by her peers. She endured remarks about having ‘dirty skin’ and being the ‘brown girl,’ and she noticed other children of immigrants being similarly isolated and picked on.

In an effort to fit in, she stopped playing music from her country and bringing home-cooked food to school.

“There were a lot of factors about being a newcomer

4

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

that I didn’t understand when I was younger, that I understand now, that had an effect on me that I didn’t realize,” she says. She describes losing a part of her identity to a sense of shame about her ethnicity.

However, the discrimination in her own life spurred Zamanpour to learn about the larger patterns of racism at play in the country and to speak out about these injustices.

She was later involved in founding two anti-racism activist groups and is currently attending nursing school to advocate for equality in the health care sector.

But, even before she started organizing anti-racist

actions, Zamanpour was always ready to face that problem head-on.

Once, during high school, she found herself in line at a movie theatre with four of her friends, watching as a theatre employee dodged through crowds of people to locate her group. He started talking about a missing cell phone and asked to check the pockets of one of her friends.

That friend was a young Black man. After he had turned out his pockets, Zamanpour made the group late the movie by hunting down a manager and explaining what had just happened. “[The employee] didn’t interrogate any other

BLM

“It didn’t touch you, emotionally. And you really have to feel something when it comes to these things, because these stories can’t be told without emotion.” > Dorsa Zamanpour

Zamanpour (middle) sitting with her father Kamran Zamanpour (left) and mother Parivash Enghiad (right) PHOTO: COURTESY OF DORSA ZAMANPOUR white people around us. Like, you didn’t ask to check anybody’s pockets., you’re not a police officer, so why are you asking my friend?”

The incident is only an echo of systematic discrimination across the nation. Zamanpour learned that racism in Canada manifests as an underlying bias that affects one’s perception of people belonging to ethnocultural groups, such as a teacher favouring certain students over others.

“It makes kids and even adults… develop selfesteem problems.”

Victims of racist interactions will be also frequently be left with uncertainty. It is difficult to prove and there are innumerable consequences for those who make such accusations, even when they feel they have sufficient evidence.

Zamanpour realized the importance of speaking out on the behalf of those that can’t. She says the transition to activism wasn’t a choice for her: “I’ve always been an activist. I’ve always learned to speak up when something isn’t right.”

As a result, Zamanpour co-founded two Calgarybased advocacy groups: the Black People’s Allyship Movement and Advocates Alberta.

UBPAM focuses on supporting and advocating for the livelihood of Black lives across Canada. Zamanpour isn’t as involved with UPBAM as she once was.

However, she remains one of the leaders of Advocates Alberta, which aims to target institutional racism at all its points.

This July, Zamanpour represented Advocates Alberta in an address to the Calgary City Council to propose a

16 per cent reallocation of police funds.

She outlined the ways targeting the root of socioeconomic problems would decrease crime and the need for police intervention, which she described as a “reactive” service.

Factors that statistically predispose individuals to commit crime include addiction, mental health issues, homelessness, unemployment and lack of education.

However, organizations that address these issues are allocated only a fraction of what the police service receives each year in the city budget.

“It’s going to be a long road to the goal that we want, which is to decrease crime by stabilizing people,” she says. “Abolish police and defund police are very different.”

Though Zamanpour urged the council to create a new policy after the meeting on July 7, she did not hear anything about it.

However, in November, a motion was passed to consider reallocating $20 million from the police budget in the next two years. The motion was put forward by Coun. Evan Woolley in response to protestors and documented police brutality incidents from this year.

It’s not the 16 per cent that Zamanpour and other advocacy groups asked for (it’s approximately 2.5 per cent), but the increase in community service budgets will be more substantial.

“We’re going to keep applying pressure,” she says.

After defunding the police, addressing Alberta Education school curriculum is next on Advocates Alberta’s task list.

Zamanpour would like to see social studies material revised to include perspectives of minorities in history.

“One thing that’s missing is how Canada was involved in slavery,” she says.

Canada enslaved Indigenous peoples and was involved in the transatlantic slave trade from the early 1600s. Though Canada had started make efforts to restrict slavery by 1793, it was only abolished throughout the British Empire in 1834.

Zamanpour says it’s surprising that this information isn’t included in the school curriculum: “The old textbooks are not doing anybody any favours.”

Additionally, Zamanpour and Advocates Alberta are working on an improved anti-bias training module for schools and workplaces. She says the training should lead people to acknowledge their biases so that they may be overridden, allowing them to perform their jobs without prejudice.

Zamanpour’s activism work is not confined to the work she does with Advocates Alberta.

A passion for medicine stemmed from watching her parents’ careers in healthcare and, after a year studying neuroscience and another studying psychology, Zamanpour settled on nursing as her chosen field.

She sees nursing as the perfect intersection between healthcare and activism.

“Nurses are the ones who really get to know their patients. And that’s what I like – getting to know people well enough to help them,” she says. “You get to be a part of so many important moments in peoples’ lives. It’s really such an honour to be able to do that.”

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

5

BLM

TALKING ABOUT RACISM

Calgary activist Taylor McNallie encourages conversations about racism within Canadian communities SYDNEY KLASSEN-ROSEWARN sklassen@cjournal.ca

T

aylor McNallie was 11-years old the first time she was called the N-word. The scene took place at a bush party, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of kids from Cremona, Alta., having bonfires and drinking alcohol.

Years have blurred the memory, but McNallie remembers the boy who said it. He was a few years older than her, and he was very well known and popular.

McNallie can’t remember the exact reason why the young man directed the slur at her in that moment, but she says it was commonly thrown around by kids in an attempt to look cool.

This moment stands out as McNallie’s earliest memory of racism.

Years prior, when McNallie and her young, White single mother arrived in Cremona, they immediately felt the unwelcoming embrace of some of the locals.

McNallie’s mom had grown up in Southern Alberta and it was a friend that drew them to the small village, which can be found north of Cochrane and west of Carstairs.

It was hard for McNallie’s mom to relate to the long-standing members of the community that made up Cremona’s population. And, according to McNallie, the fact she was Black didn’t help.

After all, in Cremona, there were little to no people of colour, other than newly arrived McNallie.

“It was a shit show,” McNallie remembers. “It was not fun, I definitely learned a lot and I grew up really quickly in that town.”

After living in Cremona, McNallie and her mom eventually moved to Didsbury.

When McNallie was 16, she moved away and relocated to Calgary, near Southland station, where she lived with five friends in a bungalow.

McNallie still lives in Calgary with her ten-year-old daughter and boyfriend.

Nevertheless, the experiences of racism in small-town Alberta have stuck with her — leading her to co-found the anti-racist group Inclusive Canada. But her work as an activist has led to an increase in racists targeting her and her family.

6

MARCH/APRIL 2020 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

As a well-known activist, Taylor McNallie uses her platform to shift Alberta’s communities towards being anti-racist.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TAYLOR MCNALLIE

“Why are we letting this die? This is our time, this is our moment. We want to see these changes happen and this is the time to do it.” > Taylor McNallie

BLM

Taylor McNallie is an emcee and public speaker, owner of Taylor Made Studios, co-founder of Inclusive Canada and Producer of Taylor Made Radio Entertainment Network. Photo courtesy of Taylor McNallie PHOTO COURTESY OF TAYLOR MCNALLIE McNallie’s activism started following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis Minn., and the unrest that followed.

That unrest had thousands of Calgarians in the streets protesting “because people give a shit and they want to do something or people just want to be a part of something,” McNallie says.

But, a week after a protest at Olympic Plaza, which had roughly 4,000 people, that vigour for systemic change seemed to fade.

“That time had become the biggest civil rights movement in history worldwide,” McNallie says.

“Why are we letting this die? This is our time, this is our moment. We want to see these changes happen and this is the time to do it.”

That’s one reason why McNallie created Inclusive Canada with a friend from Cremona who originally named the organization Rural Alberta Against Racism. McNallie now runs the organization with her partner who

goes by the name Miss K. Together they changed the name to more accurately represent the aim of their work to include a broader range of people geographically.

As part of that effort, the group works closely with other similar organizations such as Red Deer Against Racism, Black and Indigenous Alliance Alberta, and Fight for Equity out of Edmonton.

Inclusive Canada tries to start educational conversations about racial matters in an effort to create change, as an alternative to holding rallies or marches. In doing so, McNallie and Miss K’s objective is to inform communities about the struggles of people of colour — whether current or throughout Canada’s history.

With community conversations, Inclusive Canada seeks to hold space for people in a non-judgemental way and combat the damaging effects of keyboard warriors.

“I think that’s huge when people can listen and talk and have dialogue

between both sides or any sides,” says McNallie.

But talking about racism is not an easy task, especially when the idea of having a community conversation is met with threats.

“I’ve been told I’m going to be found hanging from a tree if I keep talking and keep doing this work,” McNallie says.

Indeed, threats, intimidation and blackmail have been a part of McNallie’s daily life since she became an activist.

It’s why McNallie has put up cameras in her home and refrains from standing on her front lawn out of fear of being recognized.

While McNallie has seen some success in dismantling the racial intolerance in small-town Alberta, where McNallie was first discriminated against, not everyone is onboard with the actions of Inclusive Canada, McNallie or BLM activists.

During an anti-racism rally that took place at Rotary Recreation Park in Red Deer on Sept. 20, an opposing group showed up to counter protest. The events of that day

have led to multiple assault charges, one being against McNallie.

McNallie found out about the charge through social media. A few counterprotestors who had shown up to the rally in Red Deer posted online about how she was being charged with assault, claiming the information came from the RCMP. McNallie immediately phoned the RCMP and they confirmed.

When contacted about McNallie’s account, a spokesperson for the RCMP’s Central Alberta District said the force “won’t respond” to inquiries about the issue and that the RCMP “would have followed a process.” The spokesperson also said, “I don’t want to argue her allegations.”

Despite violent attacks, intimidating threats and charges of assault on all sides, McNallie continues her work with Inclusive Canada to provide more opportunities for dialogue about racism.

“It brings hope to people, for sure people of colour, that they’re not being forgotten.”

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2020

7

BLM

Miss Calgary 2020 says she’s using her platform to support social justice and people of colour Being bullied for her Ghanaian culture in high school, Shetin Adams talks about her struggles and hope for new perspectives CHARLOTTE HOLMES

cholmes@cjournal.ca

W

alking home after a neighborhood water balloon fight in Calgary’s northwest community of Edgemont, Shetin Adams vividly recalls the moment she experienced what is a kind of milestone in the Black community. At the age of seven, she was called the N-word.

Two young boys, a little older than her had called Adams over to them. When she ignored them and kept walking, the boys used the racial slur.

“I knew it was a bad word, I just didn’t really know the depth of it until I got older, obviously. I think back to all the times I’ve been called the N-word in public. It’s been more than once, more than three times,” says Adams.

Reflecting back on the moment, Adams is grateful to herself that she didn’t stop walking.

“Who knows what they could have done honestly, people are crazy.”

That kind of overt racism made it harder for her to embrace her cultural background while growing up in Calgary. Despite that struggle, Adams learned to be proud of both her Ghanian and Canadian roots, winning Miss Calgary 2020. Now, she plans to use her platform to support social justice and equality movements.

Adams remembers the complexity that came growing up with a cultural background. Though she would attend social gatherings on the weekends that welcomed diversity and people all different ethnic backgrounds, it was on the weekdays in school where Adams sometimes questioned her culture and self.

Attending predominantly white, Anglo-European, Canadian schools, Adams recalls the inappropriate comments that some of her classmates would make.

“People sometimes would make very offensive and hurtful comments to me throughout my school days,” says Adams. “They really replay a lot in your subconscious mind and shape how you view yourself and how you view your own culture and just aspects of yourself that I’m still trying to unlearn today.”

Many of those comments caused Adams to feel shame about her Ghanaian roots. Remarks regarding the smell of her food embarrassed her so much that she wouldn’t bring any Ghanaian dishes to school, instead making her mom pack her sandwiches and salad for lunch.

Adams says that it wasn’t until later in high school when she began to realize what kind of woman she wanted to be.

8

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

Adams and her mother, Doris Addo, after Adams was crowned Miss Calgary 2020. PHOTO: ANSBERT MUONAH.

BLM

“In high school, one of the things that made me embrace a lot of the things that I went through was just talking to more people and severing those ties with people that continuously made jokes that were not that appropriate.”

JOURNEY TO BECOMING MISS CALGARY 2020 Graduating high school in 2017, Adams enrolled in the University of Calgary where she is currently pursuing a bachelor of arts, majoring in international relations and affairs.

Nearing the end of 2019 Adams began battling depression and anxiety.

“My mental health, it’s gone through ups and downs and I’ve definitely struggled with it. But if I’m being completely honest, I would say that the lowest point of my mental health was at the end of 2019,” says Adams. ”I was so humbled to be as depressed and anxious as I was, I’ve never experienced that.”

Reaching out, Adams started seeing a therapist who helped her in working through those problems. In Dec. 2019, Adams’ therapist challenged her to do something that she’s always really enjoyed. Adams thought about competing in a pageant. Having only participated once before in a charity pageant, she decided to apply for Miss Calgary.

After her application was accepted, Adams moved on to the orientation and training process for contestants. However, in the middle of March, the novel coronavirus flipped the pageant upside down. Alberta shutdown. All events and gatherings were cancelled the week before the pageant.

In June, the pageant was rescheduled for November.

So it came as quite the surprise to Adams when, in July, it was announced the pageant would be happening in three weeks.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m eating so much. I have a gut now because of a lockdown. I’ve been eating. I’m not feeling cute at all.’ It was just crazy.”

The interview and orientation portion of the pageant were done virtually and, when it came to the day of competition, things were quite different than normal.

Each age division only got an hour to compete, there were no more than 50 people allowed in the room and all individuals (with the exception of the contestants) had to wear masks.

“It was definitely not as fine as it has been in other years, but still very impressive that they were even able to pull it off without anyone getting sick or anything like that and still have a smooth show.”

Adams admits she had feelings of nervousness. She wanted to put her best foot forward. Just days before the pageant she was changing the way she walked and posed.

“I think it only really gets real when you’re a couple days out from it and you’re like, “Oh my God, what if I make a fool of myself? What if I sound stupid? What if I don’t know the question they’re going to ask?”

However, waking up the morning of the competition, she was ready to go.

Calm, cool and collected, it wasn’t until after the pageant was all over, when she heard her mom screaming, that Adams realized she had won Miss Calgary 2020.

“I was just so elated and so happy because I put a lot of work in it and I think it was honestly just a huge moment for me on a personal level because the month leading up to that point [was] so difficult on an emotional and mental level.”

USING HER MISS CALGARY PLATFORM Breaking down barriers and outdated beauty norms, Adams is excited to be part of the growth of inclusivity in the beauty pageant industry.

2019 saw Black women win the two most prestigious beauty competitions in the world.

Zozibini Tunzi from South Africa was crowned Miss Universe, and Toni-Ann Singh from Jamaica was crowned Miss World.

Despite these massive strides for women of colour in the beauty pageant industry, Adams says there is still much work to be done.

“The prizes that we got in the Miss Calgary gift bag, I wasn’t able to use half of them because they just did not fit my skin,” says Adams. “I couldn’t use any of it because they were all for someone who was lighter than me.

[It] probably would have worked for someone of many different races, but not my shade of brown. I was just way too dark for anything in there.”

Adams and her younger sister, Jemila Adams, around the age of the n-word encounter in her neighborhood.

PHOTO: DORIS ADDO

Changing your algorithm is good just for you on a mental health level, but then in terms of engaging with social justice and activism and that kind of thing, really try to engage with people that are not exactly like you.” > Shetin Adams Adams is excited to be part of the much needed change in the beauty pageant industry, and help the Miss Calgary organization to become more cognisant of inclusivity.

For example, when Adams was given access to the Miss Calgary Instagram, she immediately took to changing its algorithm by diversifying the content in which the page engaged with. She followed Indigenous pages, Black pages, plus-size models, LGBTQ+ pages and many more.

“The algorithm was just so messed up,” says Adams.

“Changing your algorithm is good just for you on a mental health level, but then in terms of engaging with social justice and activism and that kind of thing, really try to engage with people that are not exactly like you.”

She also has big plans to use her platform to impact the community, helping the Black Lives Matter movement grow.

“I’m hoping that just by offering people a new perspective, that they embrace it and are able to incorporate that in their everyday lives,” says Adams.

Hoping to give people a new perspective, Adams also wants to listen and invite people to tell their own stories. Having racial injustice be an ongoing discussion in government and our everyday lives. Adams plans to help bridge the gap between the people that are making or perpetuating a lot of these institutional flaws and the people that are actually experiencing the oppression.

“To hear people speak from the heart uncensored, just to talk about it, I think it’s such a great step in the right direction.”

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

9

BLM

All Things Bossy: Shu Porter’s love letter to Black women One woman’s mission to empower Calgary’s Black women LILY DUPUIS ldupuis@cjournal.ca

“Black women: do not subscribe to disrespect,” says Shu Porter, sharing a personal message and reminder for Black women everywhere.

“Do not let anybody disrespect you and get away with it by telling you, ‘Oh, but you’re supposed to be a strong Black woman.’” PHOTO: SHU PORTER

I

n 2018, at the end of a very difficult year, Shu Porter needed a break. Her mental health had taken a serious hit after being laid off from her job. With different stressors starting to pile up, she felt like she was suffocating.

Porter knew she’d sunk into a deep depression.

To restore some balance into her life, she took a trip to Jamaica. Although she was born and raised in the Caribbean, her vacation was a different experience. This time, she was soul-searching.

“I stayed at the crème-de-la-crème of resorts,” remembers Porter. “It was just luxury upon luxury… they did it all the way up for your girl.”

Sipping expensive champagne, fresh flowers delivered right to her room and seaside massages were part of Porter’s daily itinerary. As she listened to the waves crash against the beach, her worries melted into the sea like the sand from the shore. Porter’s journey was one of self-care and self-reflection.

The experience was a powerful one, and it led to Porter wanting to recreate it.

“It just made me feel so bossy.”

Wanting to share the feeling of luxury, All Things Bossy Brand was born. Developed in January 2020, Porter’s company organizes luxury events that are specifically curated towards celebrating, empowering and supporting Black women.

“I had such a great time, and it was such a good opportunity for me, that I now want to go back and bring fifty more women.”

Now, in the present day, Porter is well-known as a Black Lives Matter activist in Calgary. She hopes to intertwine activism and business, making Black prosperity her brand’s sole focus. All Things Bossy Brand is how she supports not only Black lives, but also Black livelihood.

Since childhood, Porter has had an intrinsic desire to help others. When the killing of George Floyd re-energized the Black Lives Matter movement in May, she channeled her need into creating the United Black People’s Allyship (UBPA), an organization that supports Black communities within Calgary.

This summer, Porter’s popularity skyrocketed after a video of her speaking at Calgary’s anti-racism hearing gathered over 7,400 views on the UBPA’s Instagram account. In the video, Porter directly criticizes Mayor Nenshi and the city council for the failure of Calgary’s antiracism hearing.

However, Porter explains that her experience as the face of the UBPA was challenging. Even as an activist, she was not immune to racism and misogyny. She admits being a Black woman who publicly advocates for anti-racism in a city such as Calgary eventually took its toll on her psyche.

“I don’t get shaken up easily,” says Porter. “One day it just all caught up to me.”

Her decision to step back came after a bout of anxiety and panic attacks. Constantly addressing racism in the public eye was traumatic.

“Black women are often told ‘you don’t get to be scared,’ or ‘why are you talking about trauma?’ It’s like it’s foreign for us to be worried when it comes to ourselves,” she explains.

Nevertheless, Porter sees her experience with the UBPA as an important part of her life. Now, as a supporter of the organization, she is excited to see how systemic racism is addressed in Calgary.

Her experience with the UBPA also helped her with her

BLM own activism. Porter realized that All Things Bossy Brand was already addressing racism in an unconventional way.

“All Things Bossy is an organization where I can create luxury events that really celebrate Black luxury, Black joy.

And when I say Black, I mean Black. It’s dedicated to Black women,” Porter explains.

The events create spaces that celebrate Black women through fabulous get-togethers, an elegant online presence and fostering a sense of connectivity.

Event attendees listen to Black keynote speakers, partake in supporting Black-owned businesses and are encouraged to celebrate with other women. It’s a chance for women of all different backgrounds to dress up and feel luxurious, and be part of Porter’s growing bossy community.

Porter says her business model was developed for Black women to feel a “sense of sisterhood.”

Porter also recognizes Black women are not one large and indiscriminate group. Instead, the All Things Bossy Brand strives to honour those differences, as well as their shared experiences.

Porter describes an All Things Bossy Brand event as something that all women can identify with and learn from. That being said, the company is her love-letter to young Black women everywhere.

“This is not to exclude other women, but you should know that, when you come to an All Things Bossy event, you are coming to celebrate Black women,” she said.

“If you have a problem with celebrating Black women, then All Things Bossy isn’t for you. That’s just what it is.

You’re invited to the party, but just know who the party’s for.”

Porter believes that All Things Bossy events will continuously enrich people’s lives.

“The way my activism works is that I promote young Black women,” she says. “If I can influence more people to address social injustice in a more particular, specific, intentional way, I would rather do that than just stand on a platform with a megaphone.”

That kind of promotion is especially important in Calgary. After moving here in 2008, Porter felt there was a “lack of Black culture.”

“You’re invited to the party, but just know who the party’s for.”

The Calgarian businesswoman, Shu Porter, stands between two All Things Bossy supporters. All Things Bossy Brand is one of Porter’s multiple companies. PHOTO: SHU PORTER

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2020

11

BLM “Instantly, I just didn’t feel like I fit in.”

That same feeling is why 26-year-old Femi Akinsanya attended Porter’s “All Things Bossy Brunch” in September.

Akinsanya, who says she was the “only Black girl in my grade, and one of the three Black kids in my schools,” felt plenty of emotions at that brunch.

“When I go to other events, usually I’m one of the few people of colour, let alone Black women,” says Akinsanya. “You never feel truly able to let your guard down.”

By contrast, Akinsanya explains that there was “a level of comfortability” that she had “never experienced within Calgary in [her] adult life” at the All Things Bossy Brunch.

“Coming to this environment and this event that is just filled with Black women of different walks of life, different experiences, different professions… this sounds cliché, [but] it really felt like a sisterhood.”

She describes the most influential part of her All Things Bossy Brand experience as the celebration of Black women as a whole, but also touches on the diversity among the community.

“Even though we’re Black women, we’re not a monolith.

We don’t all think, talk, speak, or do everything the same, nobody does. To see that all being represented in a single space, that there’s no one way to be and there’s no one note to success, was great. To see that, right in front of you, is a really beautiful thing.”

Akinsanya is looking forward to what the future holds for All Things Bossy Brand and hopes to be able to attend more events soon.

“Even though it seems kind of crazy in the world, there’s still some glimmer of hope for sure,” says Akinsanya.

Porter says those glimmers of hope are sometimes overshadowed by “trauma porn” - the stories of Black pain that often dominate online discussions.

Ultimately, news channels and social media accounts have capitalized off of racial trauma by constantly documenting horrific events through photos and videos.

Porter explains that she “has experienced Black pain for 29 years,” and she is well aware of racial injustice, so the online fetishization of trauma, specifically Black trauma, is a serious issue. After leaving the UBPA, she says “the minute [she] stopped posting about trauma” she lost followers on Instagram.

Nevertheless, Porter is committed to her mission to celebrate Black prosperity instead of pain, adding that Black Lives “mattering” should be the bare minimum.

“You cannot say that you are for Black lives but not for Black livelihood.”

As a result, Porter says she changed her Instagram feed so “you’re going to see happiness. You’re going to see inspiration.”

“Normalize luxury. Buy that Hermès bag, buy the Chanel bag; do it, sis. Eat the lobster, drink the champagne,” she says.

“Why should you always suffer? We’ve done it enough. Our sisters died so we could live the life that we live now.”

She explains that Black women deserve to be reminded that their livelihood is essential, and her lifestyle as a successful businesswoman is about setting an example for young girls everywhere.

“That’s how I advocate for Black women. That’s activism to me.”

In January 2021, All Things Bossy Brand celebrated its oneyear anniversary. Porter, now with a team of women, all equally as dedicated to the Brand and supporting the livelihood of Black women as she is.

12

MARCH/APRIL 2020 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

“My whole thing is, instead of trying to superficially motivate or encourage people, I want to create experiences,” says Shu Porter. “It’s like love… It’s something you can only experience.” PHOTO: SHU PORTER

DARK & DRIED FRUITS, APPLE & A PUNCH OF TART LACTIC SOURNESS. IT’S JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF BAD! ............................................................................................................................................................................................ @innercitybrew innercitybrewing.ca 820-11 ave sw innercitybrewing

COVER

Calgary’s Jae Sterling is helping guide and protect with his art CYANA ANDALIS candalis@cjournal

Jae Sterling, musician and visual artist, began showcasing his paintings to support the Black Lives Matter movement. PHOTO: SIERRA STONE

J

ae Sterling and his group “SANSFUCCS’,’ a multidisciplinary art collective, had just finished their music tour around Eastern Canada right when the pandemic hit. Like everyone else, they were on lockdown for a few months. Sterling says this situation was quite discouraging, and he felt a lack of interest in doing shows online. However, being stuck at home opened other doors for him.

While there, Sterling picked up his paintbrush and started painting again. His subjects were his family members, who were of Jamaican descent. Sterling says that he didn’t intend to turn his art into political pieces.

14

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

But, with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, art that honoured Black people took on a political meaning Sterling’s manager took notice and suggested he showcase his paintings. Amidst social distancing restrictions, Sterling’s exhibition – named “Riding Horses with White Men” – was held at NVRLD Gallery in Calgary.

It was there that Sterling was approached by Pink Flamingo, a Black-led advocacy organization that uplifts the QTBIPOC community in Calgary, to paint a Black Lives Matter mural downtown.

Earlier in the year, Pink Flamingo had received

public money to paint four BLM murals around the city. But the location of the first one — on the current Giving Wings to the Dream site — provoked backlash and hate. They put the public project on pause, but subsequently raised private funds for a new mural at a new site near the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre.

Sterling’s work, which was completed this fall, is called The Guide and Protector and features pioneering Black cowboy John Ware.

Working on the mural, Sterling said he received racist comments to the point of feeling unsafe. The level of scrutiny was alarming.

COVER

“I hope that I can just paint.

We can have a conversation about art without a huge political twist. I’m proud of what my work has done, but I really don’t want to feel that unsafe for the rest of my life, you know?” > Jae Sterling

Black history on display in Chinatown: “The Guide and Protector” mural. PHOTO: PRIYA RA “It felt like a bunch of people came into my house at once,” Sterling said. “That took a lot of getting used to — I expected press, but I didn’t expect drones, didn’t know who was sending them. Politicians started rolling through like crazy as well. It was very weird.”

Being threatened due to racism wasn’t new to Sterling. After moving from Jamaica to Canada, he found himself being mistreated because of the colour of his skin. The discrimination worsened as a result of his work on the mural. However, he continued to feel bold and empowered despite what people were saying about his art.

The choice to depict a cowboy seemed to be a natrural fit.

“This is where Stampede is. It would be weird for me to not acknowledge that in the mural. I was already imagining something western with cows and bulls,” says Sterling.

“Then I learnt about John Ware, the first black cowboy to come to Calgary, so that brought everything together for me. I added the longhorns to the bull after finding out about him.”

However, Sterling never imagined that painting a mural with good intentions behind it — such as creating awareness for The Black Lives Matter movement and honouring the BIPOC community in Calgary – would become so controversial.

“I’d be lying to you if I said hurtful words didn’t hurt me. But what helps me is to not pay attention to the negativity and just focus on the people that it helps, because at the end of the day that is more important — it is bigger than me.”

Since he and his family left their home in Jamaica when he was 19, Sterling was faced with encounters from people who target him due to his racial profile. He explains there’s been times where some co-workers who were having a bad day found it best to retaliate and project their hate and anger towards Sterling for no reason.

“A lot of people who migrate here can testify to what I’m saying: that a lot of racial discrimination happens in the workplace. Your first instinct isn’t to call racism because you might lose your job, especially when your boss is white.”

Sterling says. “So that just makes you want to be quiet, so you can keep your job, but that builds up within you.”

As a result, Sterling believes that Canada is often misunderstood as a safe country with less racial discrimination. Sterling says that he believes that people should have the courage to speak up more to draw more awareness around this issue.

“Many people are sharing, and you hear about how much people have been going through racial inequality and keeping quiet about it. For people to say that Canada doesn’t have racial discrimination — I would say, look back on that, because maybe we actually shouldn’t silence people.”

However, instead of retaliating against that racism, Sterling explains that he’d rather take the high road.

“But I hope that those who are against this see the mural, and it breaks their matrix. Then they realize how they’ve never actually had anyone challenge them before, and they start asking questions, wondering why they hate it so much.”

Now that the mural is up, Sterling hopes “The Guide and Protector” inspires the city and provokes change. Sterling also hopes that he can continue with his life, after being the artist behind Calgary’s first Black Lives Matter mural.

“I hope that I can just paint. We can have a conversation about art without a huge political twist. I’m proud of what my work has done, but I really don’t want to feel that unsafe for the rest of my life, you know?”

As the Black Lives Matter Movement grows, Sterling hopes the increased awareness of racial inequality will change that.

“You know that we’re here, meaning black people, and we are very talented, and we deserve to be able to put up art in this city without controversy, hopefully one day that will be the case as much as it means something. And it’s so powerful.”

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

15

ARTS

Mural artist keen to keep the conversation on racism going

Sydonne Warren designed her mural in Kensington, Don’t Shoot the Messenger, to encourage passersby to consider the positive intent behind the Black Lives Matter movement.

PHOTO: TINA AMINI

V

isual artist Sydonne Warren remembers being picked on in school for her hair and the colour of her skin. Growing up, her classmates told her things like “your skin looks like poo” and “you have a hell of a sunburn.” The teasing also included throwing up gang signs at her when she had her hair in braids.

But the most embarrassing moment for her happened in eighth grade during “crazy hair day” while attending Annie Gale School in Calgary. Students were allowed to come to class with their locks twisted, tied and coloured in unusual ways.

That day, she arrived at school in a traditional Jamaican hairstyle, something she would never deem crazy.

“Are you participating today?” her teacher asked.

Warren, then just a pre-teen, said no in disbelief. But her peers didn’t know that.

Afterward, some of her classmates put on fake Jamaican accents to make comments on the appearance of her hair.

“That day was hell,” she says. “I felt really awkward and different. Even now, if I get comments on my hair, I’ll remember it.”

Warren didn’t start speaking up about her own experiences with racism until this year, but her artwork has

16

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

TAMMIE SAMUEL tsamuel@cjournal.ca always centered Black people and their culture. She’s now used her self-taught skills to complete a Black Lives Matter mural in Kensington in the hopes of making an impact in the community.

Warren, who was born in May Pen Jamaica in 1992 and moved to Calgary when she was three years old, says, in the past, it was easier to act like the microaggressions she faces didn’t happen.

“I just kept it moving, kept it pushing,” she says, noting that some Black people don’t always speak out about what happens to them.

But now Warren says, “What aids the problem [of racism against Black people] is not ever addressing it.”

That’s exactly what her mural, Don’t Shoot the Messenger does. It was finished in Kensington Oct. 6 and directly addresses racism against Black people.

Warren was commissioned to do the mural as a response to the backlash that art production company Pink Flamingo faced for their plans to paint over the 1st Street and 7th Avenue S.E. mural with art condemning systemic racism.

The backlash on social media included racially-charged language and death threats to the artists, forcing Pink Flamingo to postpone the project.

“It was crazy because this is just a painting and people’s lives are getting threatened over this. It’s escalated too far,” Warren says.

Warren felt the aggressors were trying to silence the Black Lives Matter movement and designed her mural to reflect that.

“I decided to use myself to represent an artist and a Black person. [In the mural] I use my hands to make a dove symbol, which would be a call out to the other mural that they were going to cover up which also had a dove to show that we as artists are being targeted for just sharing a message.”

Warren also included in the mural the words, “Black Lives Matter,” painted boldly in yellow.

She says that’s the main message she wants to get across, and it will always spread despite any opposition.

While the mural has been well received by the broader community, some disapproving members of the public have messaged Warren on social media saying the mural should read “all lives matter”.

“They just don’t understand what Black Lives Matter means. This is not an angry thing we’re doing. It’s more of an empowerment thing,” says Warren, adding that

ARTS

some people don’t believe that there’s any discrimination against black people in Calgary.

“I have friends who have been called the N-word. They’ve been called porch monkeys. People have made derogatory jokes about black people in my presence and their presence.”

The racism goes further than verbal abuse. Warren knows Black people who weren’t allowed into bars and clubs around the city, despite following proper

“The art pieces I create have always been centered around being Black because that’s just what I identify with the most,” says Warren, who used the maternity leave she took in 2013 to explore that passion.

In addition to her mural in Kensington, she has been commissioned to do other large-scale abstract paintings including the YYC Magic Walk and YYC Block Party installation through her business SydTheArtiste.

“I really encourage people to see it as an ‘us’ problem and not a ‘them’ problem. Because it doesn’t matter if it’s on a macro level or micro level, there is still discrimination going on and it needs to end.” > Sydonne Warren dress code, or who were pulled over by cops for no reason while driving.

“I really encourage people to see it as an ‘us’ problem and not a ‘them’ problem.

Because it doesn’t matter if it’s on a macro level or micro level, there is still discrimination going on and it needs to end.”

Warren says that some Calgarians turn a blind eye to racism because they think this treatment is acceptable.

She hopes the mural will encourage people with different opinions to start conversations surrounding racism and get educated on the matter.

“The more you talk about it, the more your questions are answered. One person who might be against Black Lives Matter could talk to someone who is for it, and they could come to an understanding of what it actually means.”

Warren, who grew up with a passion for art and is now pursuing her bachelor’s degree in graphic design at Alberta University of the Arts, has not only used her art to address issues that Black people face, but to celebrate the Black experience.

Warren has not only made her mark in Calgary as an artist but she also earned the title Mrs. Calgary 2020 in the August Miss and Mrs. Calgary Pageants.

Since winning the title, Warren says that she has gotten more opportunities to engage with the community and is working on a new project with the Jamaican Canadian Association.

One of Warren’s defining moments happened in 2017 when she decided she will never work in a field that’s unrelated to art after quitting her retail job as a visual merchandiser.

“I wanted to utilize my creativity, but it was more structured than I expected.

I felt like I was heavily encouraged to micromanage people, and that’s just not my style.”

Warren says that experience coupled with her business gaining popularity and winning the pageant has gotten her interested in starting other art-focused projects that encourage community involvement.

“Once you start doing things for your community, you’ll see your life change.

Things just change for the better.”

Sydonne Warren says her identity as a Black woman has influenced her artwork ever since she started painting. PHOTO COURTESY OF SYDONNE WARREN

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

17

ARTS

SUN ERGOS

How two performing artists are making the most out of a pandemic TAYLOR HOLMES tholmes@cjournal.ca

Oedipus the King. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY SUN ERGOS

I

t was 1977. Performers Bob Greenwood and Dana Luebke had both found success in the Canadian artistic community. Greenwood was the chairman of the acting-directing program at the University of Calgary, and Luebke a dancer in the prestigious Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

However, Greenwood and Luebke were dissatisfied with their jobs and planning their leave. Greenwood had grown tired of his workplace politics and wanted to be more directly involved in performing. Luebke had grown tired of performing “crowd-pleasers” and craved more challenging choreographies and themes, such as Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table.

It was around that time when Greenwood and Luebke attended a conference at the University of Manitoba.

Although they didn’t know one another yet, Greenwood and Luebke had both taken classes from classical dancer Menaka Thakkar, who was also at the conference. And it was through her that their lives would change.

As the day’s conference proceedings turned into the evening, Greenwood and Thakkar were both wearing white as they emerged from the university’s light-red brick Georgian-style Taché Hall and descended the old concrete staircase outside to the grassy yard below. There, Greenwood and Thakkar waited for a bus to take them to dinner and a performance.

As they talked, Greenwood and Thakkar saw someone approaching. It was Luebke. Thakkar introduced the two.

ARTS On the university bus, Greenwood and Luebke began to plan launching their own theatre company. Combined, Greenwood and Luebke had three credit cards and $2,000 to their names. That meant they had to get creative to make their dreams a reality.

One of the first jobs Greenwood and Luebke took to fund their theatre company, Sun Ergos, was at Alberta College of the Arts (now ACAD), posing for art students. The two modelled nude and clothed for a variety of classes from sculpture to drawing to painting.

Greenwood says the experience “kept us very humble, when you’re naked standing in a cold cement studio let me tell you, it’s breathtaking.”

The hours-long classes took their toll. Both Luebke and Greenwood ended their sessions with black-and-blue limbs after allowing the class’ student to pose them for hours, with only a small break in between sessions.

That was just the beginning of Greenwood and Luebke’s long career of making and sharing art.

Greenwood and Luebke have travelled the world doing just that in their decades long career as a two-person theatre troupe. But the COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted their abilities to perform and do workshops live due to physical distancing restrictions.

Growing up, Greenwood accompanied his parents to see vaudeville shows, which they started attending to keep warm during the Great Depression.

When Greenwood was five years old, his father asked

him what he wanted to be when he grew up. His response: “an actor!” Despite only having a grade eight education, Greenwood’s parents did everything they could to make his dream happen.

Luebke also grew up watching plays. His father worked as a drama teacher and directed plays and musicals After moving to Minneanapolis at the age of seven, his parents took him to Guthrie Theater to watch plays by the likes Molière and Tennesse Williams.

“There was something so magical and exciting to me about going into a theatre and sitting in my seat, and the lights would dim, and having no idea what I was going to see,” Luebke explained.

Together, Luebke and Greenwood founded Sun Ergos on August 24, 1977, Luebke chose the name, which is Greek for “working together” in part to express the goal and mission of their theatre company.

Sun Ergos’ mission is to help audiences recognize similarities in one another, celebrate differences among cultures and people, and promote greater compassion through the use of theatre, dance and visual arts.

The duo explores these themes by re-telling traditional stories from around the world, as well as through the creation and telling of new stories.

One such piece that Luebke remembers fondly is titled Clever Cherries. The piece contains four traditional Japanese stories, each from a different period in the nation’s history, and each with a different moral lesson.

“I’ve learned the importance of resiliency, I am grateful to find out that I have resiliency… What COVID has given to me is a time to really practice that important skill that is accepting what is, and then finding out what I want to do in response to what is.” > Dana Luebke

Clever Cherries. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY SUN ERGOS

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

19

ARTS Greenwood and Luebke did all of the work for the play, making the costumes, masks, and sets themselves, drawing from traditional Japanese theatre styles like Kabuki and Noh for their piece.

Not only does Sun Ergos perform for audiences, they also work in communities and schools to teach performance arts, doing both in 24 countries.

The company’s hard work has earned them recognition globally and dozens of awards and scholarships for their efforts. During the Balkan wars, Greenwood and Luebke were awarded honorary Croatian citizenship, and in 2004, Croatia’s President Stjepan Mesić awarded the two the country’s highest cultural award, the Redom Danice Hrvatske s Likom Marka Marulica.

Despite the success and accolades, the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have been anything but easy to overcome, especially as performing artists.

Both Greenwood and Luebke believe in the importance of the arts in connecting and bringing people together, and the power of the arts to heal people.

“It [theatre] saved my parents’ lives during the [Great] Depression, They were able to go and think about something else, to feel something else,” Greenwood explains.

But unlike the Great Depression, COVID-19 has made it impossible for many people to attend theatres and connect with others in-person.

Venues are closed, gatherings are limited, and nobody knows how long restrictions will last. How can they plan for a future that is so unclear? Their conclusion is that they can’t, and instead must work with what they have available – the current reality.

“You have to deal with the reality, we’ve been in posh theatres where we’ve had wonderful dressing rooms with all that, but you also have the other experience, and the same thing I think has been true with COVID. Some days, everything seems, y’know, like it flows and everything seems okay, and the next minute some stupid thing happens and it’s very upsetting and you have to deal with it,” Greenwood says.

For Luebke, COVID-19 has given him the opportunity to work on making the most of whatever is thrown his way.

“I’ve learned the importance of resiliency, I am grateful to find out that I have resiliency… What COVID has given to me is a time to really practice that important skill that is accepting what is, and then finding out what I want to do in response to what is,” Luebke says.

In response to what is, Luebke currently teaches classes online, trying to make the most out of the pandemic and stay connected with others. Luebke has been using his skills and training as a dancer and performer to help people improve their mobility. By helping people manage their physical health, Luebke hopes that his students will be better able to manage other life challenges, such as COVID-19.

For his part, Greenwood has been spending his time lately with visual arts, painting, and working towards teaching online.

Greenwood and Luebke also want to put more of Sun Ergos’ stories and performances online, and share their passion with larger audiences through digital means.

Despite the pandemic, and the challenges Greenwood and Luebke have faced, they are doing everything they can to continue doing what they love, sharing their art, and connecting with people.

“If we are to survive as a species, if we are going to survive on this planet, it is by connecting with each other, connecting to our common humanity, finding common ground, being able to listen and hear each other,” Luebke says.

20

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

Dialogues for a Dead Day. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY SUN ERGOS

National Music Centre

Read

Watch

Listen

Live

Explore

Amplify is the National Music Centre’s home online. It will serve as an extension of NMC’s onsite programs, including exhibitions, artist development, performance, and education. A virtual hub for the sounds and stories of music in Canada with the aim of connecting with music fans everywhere.

Learn, explore, and enjoy from the safety of home at amplify.nmc.ca.

TRAVEL

DOWNHILL SKIING FOR MENTAL HEALTH FACES UPHILL BATTLE

Ski hills provide lots of space for exercise, which can contribute to improved mental health. PHOTO: PHILIP FORSEY and LAKE LOUISE SKI RESORT

T

o relieve pandemic stress, many Albertans are using the outdoors to exercise. This, paired with travel restrictions, has meant Alberta ski hills are booming. However, that’s also creating public health problems, despite safety measures to stop the spread.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says “it is natural to feel stress, anxiety, grief, and worry during the COVID-19 pandemic,” and that one of the most important ways to reduce stress is by taking care of your body, which includes exercise.

That’s because physical activity can make you feel better, function better and even sleep better. In fact, it only takes one session of moderate to vigorous physical activity to reduce anxiety. My Health Alberta, and the Canadian Mental Health Association are just some of the groups that encourage exercise for mental health upkeep.

22 MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

Because of public health orders closing gyms and fitness studios, finding a place to exercise can be difficult.

As a result, Dr. Kelly Burak,a physician and professor of medicine at University of Calgary, says having outdoor facilities for mental health open right now is “very important, and this is the balancing act that we have to try to find.”

“It’s important for people to have those sporting activities for mental health and wellness.”

Ski hills are one of the few facilities that allow physical activity and have continually remained open to the public in Alberta, alongside other outdoor facilities such as skating rinks and parks.

“It’s such a good thing for your mental health just to be able to come out and ski and get some activity and be outside instead of being inside, which is what a lot of this year has been so far,” says Patrick

CHLOE CHAPDELAINE cchapdelaine@cjournal.ca Hoffman, multimedia coordinator at Banff Sunshine Village.

Aaryn Secker, associate director of education and health promotion at the Canadian Mental Health Association Kelowna branch says, “We know that fresh air, sunlight, and physical activity are good for our mental health, so I genuinely commend the ski hills for thinking about the role they play in their communities and also for their staff.”

Dan Markham, director of communications at Lake Louise Ski Resort, adds, “The people are just really happy that the resorts are open and will do whatever it takes to stay that way.”

Normally, international guests make up just over 10 per cent of those resorts’ traffic. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people from out-of-country haven’t been able to enter Canada.

Indeed, air traffic arriving in Calgary and Edmonton

TRAVEL as of November 2020 is down 79.5 per cent. That’s impacted the Canadian ski industry.

However, Markham says, “Despite losing the international market, the regional market has actually grown in volume, so we’ve made up for what we may have lost in the international traffic.”

As the ski hills continue to fill with regional traffic, implementing safety protocols to keep our community safe is very important, notes Secker.

As an example, in March 2020, Burak says he attended a curling bonspiel alongside 73 other healthcare workers and physicians that resulted in an outbreak of COVID-19.

“We were being cautious. [We were] sanitizing our hands and not shaking hands, you know, the traditional handshake before and after the sporting event, and wiping down the curling rocks with disinfectant wipes. And still we had a 74% attack rate.”

This incident gave insight on how infective COVID-19 is, and why it’s important for indoor masking and other safety measures to be taken wherever people are congregating.

“We’re realizing that ventilation is an important factor in this, so I’m all for outdoor activities and sports. But, you have to be careful when you’re then following that with something indoors like dining, eating, sharing close proximity with others, where you’re not wearing a mask,” he says. “If you’re outdoors where the air is moving, there’s definitely less risk.”

“Unfortunately this is going to be very important for the next little while as we try and prevent the spread of variants which are even more infectious, and until we have vaccines in large numbers of people, that risk is going to be there,” he adds.

Ski resorts have already taken measures to reduce the “party culture” and stop public gatherings, such as special events that encourage crowds, but this isn’t an absolute fix.

“It’s important for people to have those sporting activities for mental health and wellness” > Dr. Kelly Burak Various practices and protocols have been put in place at the ski hills, such as mandatory mask wearing when at ski lifts and around the lodges.

Tents have also been added to provide additional space, along with the addition of heated outdoor bathrooms, reduced capacity in the lodges, and more.

Other things changed for individual safety includes allowing people to take the ski lifts by

themselves for social distancing. There has also been increased signage to support these and ensure people understand the changes.

Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped outbreaks from happening, with ski hills in British Columbia and Alberta being hit by COVID-19 .

In November 2020, six people, all staff members, tested positive for COVID-19 as a result of an outbreak at Lake Louise Ski Resort. At the end of March 2021, Whistler, Big White and Revelstoke closed early for the season due to a surge in cases.

“If something doesn’t go the way you wanted it to or you see some room for improvement, try to use it as a learning opportunity and coach and mentor staff,” says Secker, who encourages not only upholding safe practices, but continuing to learn from experiences to better the workplace.

“We work with the other ski resorts to make sure that we’re learning from each other,” adds Markham, in response to how ski hills are dealing with heightened tensions.

“The investment, time, energy, money and clarity that workplaces including the ski hills make now due to the pandemic is not a waste,” Secker says. “The investment and benefits in this will continue beyond the pandemic.”

“It’s a little challenging for some folks to begin with, but almost everyone has seemed to have fully embraced [protective protocols] knowing that they have to follow the rules if they want to make sure that the resorts stay open,” says Markham.

Improved signage and mandatory masking are just some of the protocols in place to protect skiers. PHOTO: DUSTIN CRESSEY and LAKE LOUISE SKI RESORT

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

23

TRAVEL

Career on standby

People working in the travel industry have had to adapt to new situations due to the pandemic shutdown, forcing some to begin new careers

A

s a result of Covid-19, countries around the world have put in place heavy travel restrictions to help stop the spread of the virus. However, these restrictions aren’t just affecting tourists. They’re also affecting people who work in the tourism-promoting industry. While some people see travelling as a luxury and non-essential, the people who devote their lives to that industry have been left jobless or hopeless - causing depression and anxiety. Keith Dobson,

a clinical psychology professor at the University of Calgary said the rates of both disorders have skyrocketed in the last year. “The psychological issue is mostly one of loss, either the loss of earnings, in some cases lost social contact, like friends that you can’t go and see and family you can’t go and see.”

Those feelings can be more acute for individuals for whom international travel is everyday part of their work. “We see people who have lost opportunities, lost experiences and the

MADASYN KOST mkost@cjournal.ca

loss of hope. In the short term, the ability to travel and the normal psychological response to losses is becoming sad and depressed,” said Dobson. This past year has also forced many of those individuals to find new jobs and branch out. The Calgary Journal sat down with several promoters to discuss what these closures have meant, not only for their careers but for their mental health and what they’ve been doing to adapt to such major changes.

Colin Dougan overlooking the Alberta landscape. PHOTO BY KEITH TANNER

24

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

TRAVEL COLIN THE CREATOR Colin Dougan, 25 has been working as a content creator for five years. After briefly attending university he decided he would rather work and, before he knew it, he was succeeding at doing something he truly loved. In March 2020, when the pandemic hit, his whole world fell apart and Dougan was forced to shift his career and try new things. Over the years, Dougan has worked for festivals, tourism boards and as an ambassador for the Canon camera company. In the days before the pandemic, Dougan was always busy. “There was always stuff going on. Because I had experience in multiple industries, I was able to not only just jump from a commercial gig to a music festival to leaving the country but also going and doing tourism,” said Dougan.

In March, Dougan moved from Ontario to Alberta. That was supposed to be just a stopover before he moved to Hawaii for work. But, when the borders closed, he decided to make Calgary his home.

“I didn’t know what to do for the first two weeks. I was really lost,” said Dougan.

“I’d already risked so much to become a creator and then for everything to just kind of fall apart right away was really devastating.” Realizing that attending shows and travelling the world was not going to be an option for a while, Dougan decided to focus his energy on new projects.

“I realized I did have the potential to still help people. I figured there’s probably a lot of people feeling the exact same way I was. After the first shutdown, I managed to pivot it into a new challenge to see if I could make the most out of things,” said Dougan.

Instead of doing promotional work for brands, he began making “how to” videos and posting them to his social media accounts - something he had started doing just before the pandemic.

His YouTube channel now contains dozens of instructional videos, which includes how to take and edit photos, how to use Adobe programs and how to get Instagram followers. Dougan spent hundreds of hours developing content for his channel in the hopes Youtube would monetize it, meaning he would get paid when people watched his videos. To do so, a creator must have 1000 subscribers within one year and at least 4000 hours of watch time ontheir channel.

It took him just over two years but Dougan finally got the pay off he’s been looking for.

“I’ve been spending hours and hours, for free, as much as I can afford, in order to get my Youtube going in order to create a passive income,” he said.

Despite that income, Dougan found himself sinking. He was making less than half his regular income and, even with the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, he was struggling to pay rent.

“Right now I’m just kind of scrambling to figure out what I can do for work, so I can make sure I pay my rent. I’m doing my best to stay afloat and create opportunities for myself,” said Dougan.

After months of being in physical pain, he went to the hospital and had X-rays done. In the end, it turned out that pain was a buildup of stress and anxiety that he’d been holding onto for so long. “It was a wake up call that I was probably storing a lot of stress that I just hadn’t come to terms with,” said Dougan. Despite not being able to travel from country to country like normal, Dougan has been exploring new places in Canada and says he’s grateful for the Alberta landscape. Most of his recent social media posts have come from exploring the mountains and lakes.

Just when he thought there was no travel in sight, Dougan was offered a job in Mexico to promote diving. While he knew there were some risks involved with travelling, he said the opportunity was too good to pass up. “As soon as I decided that I would go, the rapid testing got announced, which was amazing, such a blessing.” he said.

MISS WANDERLUST Karlie Marrazzo, 35, started her travel blog Miss Wanderlust when she was 28-years-old. After travelling for fun since she was 20, she decided to start a blog and made it her goal to visit 30 countries before she turned 30. Marrazzo quickly beat her goal, visiting 32 countries before her 29th birthday. Despite doing so, she kept her blog going, adding to it whenever she was able to take time off her from her office job. Marrazzo said she really missed travelling and having to cancel a big trip to Italy last April was a huge disappointment. “When I travel to Italy, it’s more for the ancestral pull within me. I travel there more so to explore my heritage,” said Marrazzo, whose 2016 trip there included visiting her ancestral village Donnici Superiore where her nonna was born. “I have been to Italy four times, and being in touch with, and further discovering, my heritage is very important to me,” said Marrazzo. Since she wasn’t able to travel internationally last year, Marrazzo took full advantage of her surroundings. “I’ve always been a big supporter of traveling locally in Alberta, I love taking road trips. I don’t think you have to travel across the world to find something amazing,” said Marrazzo. However, her end goal

Colin Dougan eyeing up the camera while getting some stills for his social media accounts in Jasper, Alberta.

PHOTO BY SCOTT BAKKEN

is to get back to international travel. “Traveling is a privilege so I don’t complain about it and I don’t whine about not being able to travel but it definitely sparks my soul to travel.

It’s definitely hard to not have something to look forward to,” said Marrazzo. Marrazzo said not being able to book a trip or write for her blog has affected her mental health. “I’m a bit of an anxious person and now I’m stuck in my home where I live alone,” she said. “It’s definitely hard to not have something to look forward to, or to have a very vague comprehension of when this will all end.” Marrazzo said she’s been focusing on local places to write about, just to keep her occupied while borders remain closed.

“I’ve always been a big supporter of traveling locally in Alberta, I love taking road trips. I don’t think you have to travel across the world to find something amazing,” CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

25

TRAVEL “I find that traveling you just have so much freedom, you can do so many things. I miss that so much, it’s definitely affected my mental health.”

Overlooking an iconic spot in the Faroe Islands.

PHOTO BY ANANYA RAY

THE PART TIME TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER Ananaya Ray, 30, used to spend all her vacation time traveling the world as a travel photographer. She found herself working as an ambassador for Sony’s cameras and was able to work on multiple assignments for tourism boards. But all that came to a halt when the pandemic forced almost all international borders to close.

In her day job, Ray works full-time as an accountant. She added a sidegig to that after a tourism board in Norway messaged her about doing some freelance work for them.

Not only was her photography job a great way to make a secondary income, but it also funded her passion for travel.

Before the pandemic, Ray fielded offers from many companies and chose whether to take them based on their pros and cons, such as the length of the trip and the costs to her personal expenses. Because travel photography was her side job, she had to choose carefully which opportunity was best for her. She had no idea that picking the right job wouldn’t be an issue for much longer.

Back in February 2020, Ray visited Puerto Rico to promote local hotels and said it was hard to accept the idea that it was

26

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

going to be her last trip for a while.

She had a trip booked to Kyoto, Japan for October 2020, but it was pushed back due to the pandemic. As of right now, she said she’s waiting to hear if she can go this year.

According to Ray, the inability to travel has not only affected her income but also her mental health. “I find that traveling you just have so much freedom, you can do so many things.

I miss that so much, it’s definitely affected my mental health,” said Ray. Despite the struggles and disappointments of 2020, Ray said she does see some possible good coming from the changes implemented due to Covid.

Ray said she feels airplanes and travel hubs are more likely safer now with the new rules.

“Normally, I find it to be kind of grungy (travelling on a plane). But now the fact that they sterilize everything makes you feel a little bit more comforted,” she said.

Thanks to her travels, Ray is no stranger to quarantining.

During a visit to South Africa when the Ebola outbreak was taking place Ray was required to get vaccinated and quarantine and said she appreciated the precautions.

“I honestly didn’t have a bad experience during the Ebola outbreak. They were really really cautious and I appreciated that because they were not only trying to make the citizens

safe but also the people who were landing safe,” said Ray. With that said, Ray acknowledges the challenges that accompany the new quarantine rules and said she doesn’t think it’s feasible to travel at the moment.

“If I’m traveling half the time and quarantining the other, it kind of seems like a waste of a vacation,” said Ray. Ray said she’s fearful that travelling will become even more challenging as global restrictions continue to change.

Not everyone understands the importance put on travel but, for people like Ray, it’s about living and making the most of life while they have the chance. After being able to make money off of doing something she truly loves, Ray said she feels extremely thankful and has been reflecting a lot on her past trips.

Looking back, she said she’s glad she made spontaneous decisions to travel because she has no idea when she’ll be back to doing what she loves.

Back in 2019, Ray took a last minute trip to Australia for new years and it was one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

“I wasn’t even gonna take the job because I was thinking it’s gonna suck like it was a really short job. But in the end it was so dope and like this year’s New Years (2020) I was sitting at home with people playing zoom games,” said Ray.

one meal to rule them all.

WE'RE BACK WITH OUR WEEKEND BRUNCH! Available Every Saturday & Sunday 10am-2pm at National 17th & National Westhills.

VISIT NTNL.CA TO BOOK YOUR TABLE NOW!

dailies SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOU TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. MONDAY HALF-PRICE DRINKS & $18 16” PIZZA* *Pepperoni, Hawaiian & Cheese

TUESDAY $16 FRIED CHICKEN & FANCY TOTS $5 LOCAL DRAFT

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

SUNDAY

HALF-PRICE WINES & $18 16” PIZZA*

$17.5 CLIVE BURGER & BEER

$18 16” PIZZA*

WEEKEND BRUNCH 10AM-2PM

$6.5 ALL TAPS, ALL DAY

*Pepperoni, Hawaiian & Cheese

*Pepperoni, Hawaiian & Cheese

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Budget cuts in 2020 left many classrooms without the educational assistants teachers often rely on. PHOTO: LEGACY IMAGES

Budget woes mean Alberta EA’s are MIA Millions in budget cuts and mandatotry COVID-19 restraints have caused big shifts in classroom help CHLOE MACEACHERN cmaceachern@cjournal.ca

A

shley Torpe’s most powerful memory from her career as an educational assistant is a simple one: the first time one of her students said her name. The boy had a learning disability. So Torpe worked closely with him. But, up until February of last year, he referred to her simply as “teacher.”

Torpe was at the playground when he turned to her and said, “You know I know your name, right?” It was this simple gesture that made Torpe feel fulfilled.

These kinds of connections with students make educational assistants an integral part of Albertan classrooms. But those positions are often vulnerable to budget cuts, something every school board in the province is familiar with.

The United Conservative Party has put those boards under an even greater financial strain at a time when the

28

MARCH/APRIL 2020 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

pandemic has made those assistants even more important.

Wing Li, the communications director for Support Our Students [SOS], describes the role of EA’s as giving “one to one attention and support” to students who may need it.

A 2018 thesis by a Minot State University student also found EA’s play a major role in providing all students equal and accessible education.

In that study, which focused on the Saskatoon Public School Board, one EA was quoted as saying, “Educational assistants play a vital role not only in the education of special needs students, but also the students falling through the cracks in the educational system.”

That explains why Torpe, who works in an elementary school in Wainwright, Alta., says, “The kids do have an EA in their class, you can see them going leaps and bounds [farther] than the kids that don’t have an EA to help them.”

However, despite how essential teaching assistants can be, school boards sometimes don’t have the money to pay for them.

Typically, the majority of their budget will go towards staffing, whether it’s teachers themselves or support staff like EA’s and custodians. According to Schilling, each board will have its own differences in terms of how it allocates that money.

That means, even at the best of times, schools don’t always get the number of EA’s they need or want. Torpe says in her own school, teachers are often told, “We don’t have the funds, we don’t have it in the budget, we can’t afford to bring another EA on.”

Alberta Teachers Association President Jason Schilling says situations where EA’s are lost, can be “detrimental to [students] learning.”

SOCIAL JUSTICE But 2020 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a whole new level of challenge for educators.

In a press conference on March 28, 2020, the Albertan government announced they would temporarily funnel $128 million away from educational funding to aid in COVID-19 safety measures.

This resulted in roughly 25,000 education workers being laid off, including most of the EA’s, sparking a major provincewide outcry.

Those that remain are having to do more with less.

Vicki Child, an EA working in a rural school in Killam, Alta. says she usually works with small groups of students for individualized learning but, now, her one-on-one time with students is limited due to the required social distancing measures and limits on how many students she can work with.

The introduction of these COVID-19 safety measures, such as continual sanitization and mask-wearing, have left many EA’s worrying these measures will cause disruptions, which could have long lasting effects on all students.

Torpe says, for younger students, safety measures for inperson classes such as staggering recesses and hallway times can make it challenging for them to refocus on classes.

“It’s interrupted their learning a lot…there’s a whole 20 minutes where they’re not learning, and they could have been.”

Child also notes these measures eat into time that should be spent working with students. “I’m continually moving around and assisting students around the classroom, which means I’m frequently applying hand sanitizer.”

The shuffling between in-person and online classes is another challenge.

At the beginning of the school year, teachers and EA’s had to juggle students as they shifted between learning platforms. This created gaps in education equality, which EA’s often had to fill by working with teachers to provide paper resources and adjusted learning plans.

“You can see them going leaps and bounds [farther] than the kids that don’t have an EA to help them.” > Ashley Torpe

Filling these gaps has proven to be an added strain for EA’s as they work to maintain quality of education, not only for the students they work closely with, but for every student.

Schilling says this effort from EA’s comes in many forms, including making sure “kids have paper packages to back them up” if they don’t have a reliable internet connection.

But, despite these efforts, there will still be gaps in the classroom because of fewer EA. As a result, Li says, “You’re going to see this sort of catch-up mentality. There’s going to be added pressure in the coming school year to catch back up to the people who were able to keep up… What we’re going to see is widening inequality.”

Both Li and Schilling agree the government can help by increasing funding.

“We want our schools to be open, but we want them to be safe, and we need to put the funding into the re-entry plan. But they [the government] weren’t doing that,” says Schilling.

Li agrees, saying, “I think that obviously the funding needs to be restored and it actually needs to be increased from the restoration because we were already behind for 2019.”

He adds the ATA also pushed for required reductions in class sizes which would allow for better social distancing.

This in turn would have required that all the EA’s to be hired back.

In response to these requests for funding, Justin Marshall, a spokesperson from Alberta’s education ministry, said, “School boards can also use the federal COVID-19 funds to hire additional staff.”

Ultimately, Schilling maintains that the redirection of funding was “a shock after shock after a shock in one school year [...] and it put everybody in a really bad situation and scrambling to find ways to make things work.”

Classrooms across the province look similar to this one in Killam, Alta. after the introduction of COVID-19 measures like social distancing between desks. PHOTO: LILY KENNEDY

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

29

SOCIAL JUSTICE

INVESTING IN

DISASTER Banks are boosting emissions by funding fossil fuels Canadian banks continued financing of the fossil fuels industry coincides with increased greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. PHOTO FROM PEXELS CHRISTIAN KINDRACHUK

ckindrachuk@cjournal.ca

C

ompared to banks in other countries, those in Canada have poor climate policies that result in them investing billions into greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels projects. Some of those banks are taking steps to gradually make their climate change policies better.

However, individuals can help speed that process by putting pressure on banks to change their policies and practices so they are in line with international commitments to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The poor environmental performance of Canadian banks was highlighted in a report prepared by the Rainforest Action Network, a San Francisco-based group dedicated to protecting climate and challenging corporate power.

According to that report, the 35 banks it surveyed “have together funded US$2.7 trillion into fossil fuels in the four years since the Paris Agreement was adopted” - a legally binding international treaty

30

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

that commits signatories to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius.

As a result, the report concluded “the private banking sector as a whole continues to take a position of extreme irresponsibility in the face of the climate crisis.” However, even by this low standard, Alison Kirsch, one of the report’s lead architects, said Canadian banks are lagging behind in their policies and practices, having failed to follow the climate leadership of European banks such as Crédit Agricole, RBS and UniCredit by phasing out fossil fuel financing.

As a result, Canadian banks ranked the lowest in their climate policies. Toronto Dominion (TD) got the best score out of the Canadian banks with three points out of the 200 available to be given. The other banks - Scotiabank, the Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce were even lower, being awarded just half a point.

While Canadian and United States banks are peers in the banking sector, Kirsch notes the clearest difference in their policies can

be found around coal.

“It’s just the fossil fuel that’s kind of most agreed to have no place in a climate stable future, and the Canadian banks really have very few policies on coal.”

While coal is one fossil fuel that contributes to climate change it’s not alone.

Oil and gas are also warming the planet, along with emissions from other sources such as raising livestock and logging forests.

Those emissions need to be reduced around the world to curb the impacts climate change will have, as outlined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2018 special report. Those impacts will include more flooding and droughts across Canada, as well as increased global conflicts and mass migration.

While emissions need to go down, the connection between increased investments from banks in fossil fuels and increased emissions in Canada is evidenced by a report from the Canadian Energy Regulator.

The report from 2020 highlights the

change that needs to happen in order for Canada to reach its international commitments and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. However, it shows how much oil sands emissions have gone up over the past decade instead of down.

“In 2005, the oil sands accounted for approximately five per cent of Canada’s GHG emissions. By 2018, it increased to approximately 11 per cent. Absolute oil sands emissions increased by 51 per cent from 2011 to 2018,” read the report.

The banks continued funding of oil sands projects provide little incentive for that to change, even as demand for their product declines.

“Acknowledging oil demand will not disappear overnight, most outlooks predict demand will plateau or decline within the next decade,” states a report from the environmental Pembina Institute.

“Subsequent global shifts toward lowerintensity energy options are likely to put more carbon-intense crudes — such as the bulk of oilsands products — at risk over the next decade.”

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Statistics based from the 2020 banking on climate change report, authored by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, and the Sierra Club. GRAPHIC PROVIDED BY ALISON KIRSCH SLOW PROGRESS While emissions have been increasing over the years, that’s not to say the banking sector hasn’t taken notice of the climate crisis. Kirsch says some progress is being made with banks globally.

“Every year, there continues to be policy improvement. And one thing that’s notable is the rate of policy improvement is changing,” said Kirsch.

“I’m saying it to show that whereas we used to see policies once every three years, now it’s normal for banks to update their policies once or twice in a year and so that’s good.”

This can be seen with TD, which has implemented a target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as part of their climate action plan. TD has also set a goal of not funding further development in the Arctic circle.

“They’re the first policies from Canadian banks on oil and gas. They’re the first time that the Canadian banks have set a red line and said, ‘Actually, here’s something we won’t do.’ And that’s important, both practically and

symbolically for the message that it sends to the oil and gas industry, that they won’t always just have a blank cheque from all of their favorite banks, for whatever activities they want to undertake, banks will draw lines,” said Kirsch.

The Rainforest Action Network reflects bank policies from the four years prior to 2020. However, an updated report is expected to come out at the end of March. Kirsch believes international banks are starting to feel the pressure to improve their climate policies.

“You really can see it in some of these banks, that their ambition is to be a leader on climate change, and not just to do the bare minimum and skate by with a greenwashing press release that they get credit for a second and then can go back into hiding. Some of them…have really taken that leadership step that we haven’t seen from the Canadian banks.”

She still worries their actions might not be strong enough. And even those weak actions aren’t being mirrored in Canada.

“I think [it] is both a recognition of that sort of embarrassing lack of action from the Canadian banks, as well as kicking the can down the road. Where what we feel is those 2050 visionary commitments are absolutely important, but need to be paired with those immediate 2021 commitments around what is your plan for financing fossil fuels today, tomorrow, and the day after that.”

“We have to transition off of fossil fuels and that’s just a fact,” she said. “Getting to net zero by 2050 means acting now.”

Transitioning from fossil fuels is important. The IPCC report states,if the world is able to keep warming below two degrees Celsius, the impacts of climate change will be lessened. The report also states that a transition is within reach.

“While acknowledging the challenges, and differences between the options and national circumstances, political, economic, social and technical feasibility of solar energy, wind energy and electricity storage technologies have substantially improvedover the past few years,” read the report.

BANK RESPONSES TD: “TD is committed to working with energy companies to help navigate the challenges, execute on their transition plans and capture the opportunities of the low-carbon future.”

CIBC: “Our bank is at the forefront of financing new and innovative projects that contribute to cleaner, alternative or renewable energy supplies...We are committed to being part of the solution.”

RBC: No response SCOTIABANK: No response.

BMO: No response.

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

31

SOCIAL JUSTICE “It’s both a moral failing for our banks to be so heavily invested in the natural resources sector and it’s also financially unwise.” > Joe Vipond

Aly Sumar, who is pursuing his doctorate of business administration at the University of Calgary, thinks the future could be bright with an energy transition in line with climate targets.

“It’s important for all industries to be aligned here. And I actually think there’s a lot of good business to happen in the future, if businesses do pivot.”

According to Natural Resources Canada, Canada has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. The IPCC special report notes in its key findings that “all countries are affected by global warming.”

PHOTO FROM PIXABAY

32

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

RECOGNITION AND ACTION Having banks recognize and adapt to climate change falls within their responsibility as a company to prevent further warming, according to Sumar, who is working on a thesis linking corporate social responsibility [CSR] with environmental measures.

He believes a bank’s CSR should be shown in their policies and practices that reflect their climate obligations, including what projects they might invest in.

“I’m looking forward to our economy transitioning...And I also think the CSR pressure is important, I think it’s important to keep it in the limelight, and people know that it’s important to them. And there is that tension to make sure that banks do change and regulation changes.”

While change is important, it doesn’t come without difficulties. Natural Resources Canada says we are a net exporter of oil because we produce more than we consume. The energy sector accounted for 10 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, and employed over 200,000 people in 2019.

“Canada is the fourth largest producer and third largest exporter of oil in the world,” according to Natural Resources Canada. “97 per cent of Canada’s proven oil reserves are located in the oil sands.”

“It’s no secret that we have a very resource based economy and because of that our banks are very resource focused,” said Joe Vipond, co-chair of Calgary Climate Hub. “It’s both a moral failing for our banks to be so heavily invested in the natural resources sector and it’s also financially unwise.”

Vipond has seen people become more aware of the problem over the years, as concern about the climate crisis increases.

“The main way to deal with some of the anxiety that comes along with the recognition of an existential crisis, like the climate crisis, is to get involved.”

Recognizing banking’s role in the climate emergency and taking individual action can be done by making the switch to a local credit union, which can allow money to stay within the community and offer a more transparent look as to what they invest in.

Before making the switch, Kirsch noted sending your bank a clear message as to why you are switching or leaving, such as a written letter, can go a long way in catching banks attention if your services don’t make much of a dent in the bank’s bucket.

“Being extremely clear about why you are moving your money, and that you will be convincing your friends and family to move their money unless the bank takes action. I think in that situation the banks absolutely do take notice,” said Kirsch.

“The more that these institutions are hearing from the public that this is a cause for concern, the more that they’re factoring it into their reputational risk equation, and that’s what banks do, they calculate risk all day.”

Concerns from the public are reflected in campaigns calling for banks to disinvest from fossil fuels. Examples include the Climate Pledge Collective’s bank switch challenge, For Our Kids network, which is aimed at parents looking to divest their savings, and the Fossil Banks No Thanks initiative calling on banks around the world to divest.

Vipond – who has been engaged in climate activism since 2012 – has divested his own finances into renewables and does not regret it.

“I think if you compare what’s happened in the stock markets from a carbon intensive versus carbon zero perspective, it’s been a good decade to be invested in renewables for sure.”

SOCIAL JUSTICE

THERE’S ANTI-OPPRESSION AT WORK Experts call for stronger efforts against racial discrimination in Canadian workplaces

S

ince George Floyd’s death and the activism work done by organizations such as Black Lives Matter, many workplaces have become interested in addressing their own racism. Despite that interest, many still fall back on strategies such as diversity training and hiring practices that feel more like “checking a box” than the true antioppressive change experts say is needed.

ANGELA LACKEY alackey@cjournal.ca

RACISM Mohammed Hashim, the executive director for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, said racism is everywhere, especially in workplaces.

“It plays itself in different ways. Some people don’t get promoted for certain things. Some people are promoted with lower expectations because of their race. Some people’s objectivity is questioned because of their race.

And some people face outright racism because people in positions of power or fellow coworkers just have racist tendencies,” said Hashim, whose organization is dedicated to eliminating racism and all forms of racial discrimination in Canadian society.

THE FACTS In fact, a 2019 report prepared by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with the CRRF, shows close to half surveyed reported experiencing racial discrimination themselves at some point.

It also shows 40 per cent of those surveyed witnessed racial discrimination of others in the workplace.

Another report by the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2020, references a Quebec study that found job candidates with Franco-Quebecois names were called for an interview 38.3 per cent more often than those with African names.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, these results can be explained by a tendency towards “sameness, preservation of status quo, and underlying racism,” which can lead employers to claim “lack of fit” as a justification for not hiring highly qualified racialized candidates.

“Checkmark.”

ILLUSTRATION: STEVE SARVAJC

WHERE IT’S GONE WRONG The spike in interest in a less racist, more diverse workplace followed the horrific images or George Floyd’s death, and what it represented. Whether you participated or watched, the BLM movement grew and evolved across our country and reminded Canadians that it’s time for action, and it’s time for change.

But what do action and change look like?

Marcie Hawranik, founder and president of Canadian Equity Consulting, a diversity, equity and inclusion strategy firm, warns against the “traditional” company expectations of just conducting a pre-packaged diversity training session.

“It’s more of that checking a box, you know, let’s roll out an unconscious bias training and that should be it,” she said.

It also shouldn’t be the responsibility of non-racialized human resources generalists to navigate workplace diversity without the proper know-how. Nor should a company simply allow their female or black employees to create an employee network, like an unpaid diversity

CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

MARCH/APRIL 2021

33

SOCIAL JUSTICE leadership team, that’s not supported, given money or resources.

“It just becomes a burden because it’s something that’s just the side of the desk,” she said. “Relying on their employee resource group to do this, like complex, systemic change work without actually supporting them to do it.”

However, even if corporations do put money towards workplace diversity and anti-oppression, in Hashim’s experience, the approach is more of a cut a check, commit to training, commit to hiring, process. He said it’s a start, but he’d like to see more.

DON’T START WITH HIRING Zakeana Reid, the CEO of the Canadian Centre of Diversity and Inclusion, an agency that works to address the full picture of diversity, equity and inclusion within the workplace, agrees Euro-centric businesses have been doing it all wrong.

She said many organizations spend a lot of time and money hiring a diverse workforce that doesn’t stick. This only reinforces the belief that diversity doesn’t work.

“Hiring is not where you start. And it’s funny because so many people start there,” said Reid.

She said employers shouldn’t focus on who they’re bringing in as much as they should be focussing on the flow of employees in and out of the workplace.

Think of it this way, she said. If you have 20 per cent women working at your company compared to the 50 per cent represented in the general population, yes, you should definitely hire more women. But, if you’re not looking at how women get promoted, as well as if and when they’re leaving, then you’re missing what you might need to address.

“So if 50 per cent of your hires are women, and 75 per cent of your terminations are women, your issue isn’t hiring.

It’s your environment.”

This applies to any group in which the scales of power are not in their favour, especially racialized individuals.

ANTI-OPPRESSIVE FRAMEWORKS If a company truly wants to improve their work environment for racialized employees, John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights research lead Angelica Quesada said they need to do it with an anti-oppressive lens throughout all workplace mechanisms, from hiring to remediation.

Incorporating a less oppressive worldview might include inviting the whole team to work together on a long-term equity plan that focuses on diverse and anti-oppressive practices.

Hashim said this might involve workshops, facilitators, hiring practices, promotion schedules and a diversity evaluation that looks at who’s making decisions and how those decisions are impacting racialized people.

IT STARTS AT THE TOP Although the team’s input is critical for anti-oppressive change, the driving force for organizational diversity trickles down from the attitudes and beliefs of the company’s leaders.

“If you compare it to something like safety, which is also legislatively required in various organizations, to some degree or another. There are those who comply with the legislation, and there were those for whom safety matters,” Reid said.

“And when safety matters, it becomes incorporated throughout the organization, it doesn’t live on a shelf in

34

MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA

Marcie Hawranik, founder and president of Canadian Equity Consulting. PHOTO: MARCIE HAWRANIK. a manual. Everybody understands that the company is committed to safety, and everybody understands their role in ensuring everyone goes home safe.”

However, Hashim is looking beyond company-level responsibility and fears that many won’t do it without a stronger government mandate.

“It’s very rare for organizations to say, we’re going to go above and beyond what we’ve committed to, and try to figure out a way to make this better. It’s always come from a sense of accountability. And when you create a level of accountability, you create someone who is accountable and someone who is accountable to.”

COME AS YOU ARE But, accountability can be tricky. Hawranik said, lately, she’s found organizations are scared to start. They know they have to do something, but they don’t understand or have a background in it and don’t know where to begin.

She said, most of the time, that hesitation comes out of fear. Sometimes they don’t want their actions to come off as performative. Or they have a rap sheet full of previous

discriminatory or harassment claims, and they’re scared to pop their heads up.

Other times they’re reaching out because they’ve been mandated to do so by government requirements - such as when private sector companies have to disclose their internal diversity demographics to win American contracts.

“There always seems to be this tension,” Hawranik said.

“You want everyone to do this work. You don’t want to have to explain why you have to do it either. Because it is the right thing to do.”

“There’s the ideal, and then there’s the reality, we want people to move the dial, even if it’s only an inch.

And incremental change is better than massive failure.

[With] patience and meeting people where they’re at, [we] customize our approaches so that it will be effective for them.”

Hashim said every action to address racism helps.

“I don’t think there’s a silver bullet to end it all. I think every initiative, big or small, helps towards creating better understanding. And at the end of the day, it’s about being able to create a level of respect and dignity for everybody.”

HIGH DEMAND FOR NEW SOCIAL WORK DEGREE AT MRU AS ALBERTANS COPE WITH PANDEMIC CHALLENGES

Mount Royal University is launching a four-year bachelor of social work degree this fall. A total of 60 applicants will be accepted into the program this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed cracks in our society as vulnerable populations face profound challenges involving health, grief, loss, finances, housing and child care.

In the midst of this upheaval, and as we mark World Social Work Day on March 16, Mount Royal University (MRU) is excited to announce that the Government of Alberta has approved a four-year bachelor of social work degree (BSW) at MRU. The degree has also been awarded pre-accreditation status from the Canadian Association for Social Work Education.

“Social work education has been an important part of Mount Royal for more than 60 years and we are excited to bring this degree opportunity to students,” says Dr. Stephen Price, PhD, dean of the faculty of health, community and education. “The faculty of health, community and education encompasses a wide range of disciplines but at the heart of them all is a desire to help people, families and communities.”

Community partners have shown they agree, stepping up to provide practicums to MRU social work students and recommending focuses within the degree to make sure it meets the needs of people and communities.

The new degree was built in consultation with government, non-government organizations, a program advisory committee, alumni and students. Courses in social work practice, theory, policy and research are grounded within contemporary theoretical frameworks, including decolonization, Indigenous ways of knowing, anti-oppressive practice and strengths perspectives. The BSW will prepare students for practice with individuals, children and families, groups and communities in complex social settings.

“Social workers are essential workers and this pandemic above all else has demonstrated that social workers are positioned to help develop and strengthen connections between people. The BSW degree is something our employment community and our students have all asked for,” says Dr. Yasmin Dean, PhD, chair of the department of child studies and social work at MRU. MRU’s BSW, which grew out of MRU’s two-year social work diploma, is unique in that it permits direct entry to a four-year degree program, an option that does not currently exist in Alberta. It will also be the first program in Alberta to offer a child intervention concentration, joining B.C. and Ontario that have similar specializations.

“Thousands of families a year are involved with child intervention in Alberta. Having social workers who are specifically trained to support this population, facing some of the most difficult challenges families can face, is a unique pathway and it’s one we know that there is a significant and ongoing need,” says Dr. Peter Choate, PhD, program coordinator for social work at MRU. In fall 2021, the BSW will admit 60 students into the program. Students possessing a completed social work diploma from Mount Royal University or from an accredited post-secondary institution within Alberta may apply through the postdiploma entrance option.

The BSW will allow students to participate in practical learning right away. Demand is high. Between 2015 and 2019, there were an average of 6.5 applicants for every one seat in the diploma program.

“Alberta’s always been this unusual mix of advantage and disadvantage, and social work has some unique opportunities and obligations in this province. Having another perspective, the Mount Royal BSW perspective in social work education, is a tremendous accomplishment,” says Dr. Gaye Warthe, PhD, associate dean, teaching and learning, in the

faculty of health, community and education.

“Mount Royal attracts so many non-traditional learners because of our small class sizes and our unique style of personalized learning. The learners we attract should have the opportunity to complete their education at Mount Royal where they started.”

Krista Andrews graduated from MRU in 2008 with the social work diploma and now supervises and provides support and leadership to a team of social workers.

“There is a saying amongst social workers that you don’t pick social work, social work picks you. I believe this is true for me,” says Andrews.

“Social justice, social action and community development are the foundation of what we do, and advocacy is sometimes the toughest and most fulfilling part of the role.”

Tim Hilton, a current MRU social work student, says many of the attributes of MRU as a whole also make it an excellent place to study social work.

“At MRU, the faculty know who you are,” says Hilton. “You’re not a number and you’re not another unfamiliar face. They believe in you, in your education and in your future.”

Change the tune The MRU Conservatory offers private online music lessons for almost any instrument, virtually unmatched.

No matter what level, let our world-class instructors go above and beyond to foster your love of music. Enjoy private online lessons for guitar, piano, violin and more.

Visit mru.ca/Conservatory to register today!

30

JAN/FEB 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA