Capilano Courier | Vol. 49, Issue 18.

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VOLUME 49 ISSUE 18

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EIGHT CRAZY DAYS

A TOUGH COURT

Film in three days. Edit in five. That's the challenge MOPA grads are facing in this year's Crazy8s competition.

As Canada awaits a verdict in the Jian Ghomeshi trial, we take a look at the difficulty of sexual assault convictions.

FEBRUARY 22 - 28 | 2016

BRINGING OUT THE BIG GUNS

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C O NTE NTS

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Cover Art

Editor's Desk

News

Cap You

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Special Feature

Columns

Arts & Culture

Humour

MEGAN COLLINSON

THE DIFFICULTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT CONVICTIONS

THE STAFF Andy Rice EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

editor@capilanocourier.com Carlo Javier EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLE EDITOR

carlo.capcourier@gmail.com Therese Guieb

STRIKING UP THE BAND

APPRECIATING KANYE IN SPITE OF HIS ACTIONS

UNIVERSITY REVENUES DOWN BY $2.2 MILLION LAST YEAR

IVAN COYOTE RETURNS FOR MAR. 3 PERFORMANCE

COLUMNISTS

Kevin Kapenda OPINIONS EDITOR

opinions.capcourier@gmail.com Gabriel Scorgie FEATURES EDITOR

specialfeatures.capcourier@gmail.com Christine Beyleveldt CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT

reporter.capcourier@gmail.com Cristian Fowlie ART DIRECTOR

artdirector.capcourier@gmail.com

THE CAPILANO COURIER

VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO. 18

Syd Danger

CAPUCHIN MONKEY TO REPLACE CAMPUS MASCOT

CONTRIBUTORS Aidan Moulliec

Aidan Mouellic is a low-key veteran in the world of student journalism. He’s written words of wisdom and of satire for Douglas College’s The Other Press and yours truly. Ever the music aficionado, Aidan will be writing his critical analysis and thoughts about the current state of music, while amalgamating ongoing musical developments with treasures from the past. What up, Pitchfork.

EXECUTIVE NEWS EDITOR

news@capilanocourier.com

WHO YOU: SISLEY KILLAM

Megan Collinson COVER ART

Kyle Papilla ART

Annie Chang ART

Pamella Pinard

Caitlin Manz This semester, CapU student Caitlin Manz will take the reins of our traditional political column. She’s an arts and sciences student with a focus on English and Biology, so naturally, she’s writing about politics. Caitlin will be discussing political issues around the globe and she’ll be sure to put the science in political science.

ART

Milana Bucan WORDS

Graeme Findlay WORDS

Keara Farnan

Mike Allen Mike Allen is our very handsome columnist writing about absurd news stories you may have missed. He’s a selfproclaimed train enthusiast and he stands firmly by his utter lack of belief of Iceland (he doesn’t think the country exists.)

Mike also has an inherent fear of long commercials, which means his columns will get straight to the point.

WORDS

Dinah Azage WORDS

Steve Tornes WORDS

PRODUCTION MANAGER

pm.capcourier@gmail.com Alva Tang COMMUNITY RELATIONS MANAGER

community.capcourier@gmail.com Tianyi Bao BUSINESS MANAGER

businessmanager.capcourier@gmail.com

Max Ley Back by popular demand, Max Ley is here to help. Much of the student population tends to live on a limited budget, which creates a hunger for cheap and accessible “student” foods and the occasional glass (or bottle) of wine. What Max will be doing is finding the perfect budget bottle to pair with your go-to snacks. Yes, we know, we should have this column every week.

Brandon Kostinuk WEB COORDINATOR

web.capcourier@gmail.com THE CAPILANO COURIER is an autonomous, democratically-run student newspaper. Literary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Capilano Courier will not publish material deemed by the collective to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. The views expressed by the contributing writers are not necessarily those of the Capilano Courier Publishing Society.

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EDI TO R 'S D E SK Striking up the band Andy Rice EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A nasty sinus cold had me in a headlock and I’d managed to forget most of our lyrics, but me and my travel-sized bottle of DayQuil had a fantastic time at band rehearsal the other night.

Since 2009, I’ve played in a seemingly-unclassifiable indie group by the name of No Island. I say this because we’ve got four-part harmonies like the Eagles, saxophone like Springsteen, drums like Zeppelin, guitar like Toto, keys like Elton and more lead singers than we know what to do with, yet its not a cover band and the music isn’t nearly as frumpy as it sounds.

We’ve changed members about as often as I change my bed linens — which is to say exactly three times in the last seven years — and every time we do it sets us back several months.

That’s why I can’t even begin to describe how good it felt to finally have a rehearsal again. After the amicable departure of our bass player in late November, I wasn’t sure we ever would.

Trying to break through the glass ceiling of “beard-rock” that dominates the Vancouver music scene is an uphill battle. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t taken its toll on all of us. At that point, we’d played upwards of 100 gigs

without seeing a dime land in our own pockets, funnelling every last cent into the debts from our recent album, Better Days. He’d had enough. His phone was ringing off the hook for paying gigs and he wanted the freedom to take them all.

We understood completely, though we were sad to see him go.

I moped around for a while, contemplating my next move. Though I briefly considered starting a BeeGees tribute band to finally showcase my piercing, seizure-inducing falsetto talents, I decided to stay put. If the other guys were willing to continue, so was I. My only stipulation was that they’d let me sing “Jive Talking” at all future performances. Needless to say, it was not a popular compromise.

We booked a gig, found a substitute bass player and convinced our drummer to learn a few of the vacant harmony parts. So far, we’ve had one rehearsal.

There’s only one more to go before we effectively end this four-month hiatus once and for all, taking the stage at Studio Records (formerly Joe’s Apartment) on Saturday, Feb. 27.

I’m scared shitless, but not for the reason you might think.

You see, I was recently assigned a media pass for this year’s Vancouver

International Wine Festival, which began this past weekend at the convention centre downtown. The flagship tasting event boasts 155 wineries from 14 countries, all crammed into several three-hour time windows scattered throughout the coming week. One of them ends just 60 minutes before our gig.

I’m positively screwed.

It doesn’t matter what sort of wine etiquette I follow, I know I’m going to be leaving there in absolutely no shape to play the piano for several hours. I can swirl, swish and spit all I want, but some of that delicious wine is going to sneak its way downward. I also have this policy that really delicious wines deserve to be swallowed, and there are a lot of really delicious wines at WineFest. I know it’s common practice in the industry, but I still have a hell of a time looking a winemaker in the eye, saying “ooh, that’s delicious” and then proceeding to dump their years of hard work into a spittoon. It seems like a terrible thing to do to somebody you don’t even know.

I’ve promised my bandmates I’ll be showing up to the gig ready to rock, but they’re currently taking bets on whether I’m going to fall down a lot

or just quietly shit myself on stage with a big grin across my face. Real vote of confidence there, eh?

I could very well be stumbling up Granville Street on Saturday night, handing out loonies to homeless people in exchange for a few sobering slaps in the face, praying to Bacchus the wine god that I’ll be in some sort of shape to perform by the time I get to the 900-block.

No matter what happens at the gig, I guarantee it’ll be one for the books.

I’m really looking forward to this next chapter with my band. I can only hope that I’ll actually remember the first few paragraphs…

THE VOICEBOX with Carlo Javier

Nice to see you guys write something about Black History in Canada, we really need more coverage around here.. I'm wondering though.. Dafuq does the graphic have white people hands?

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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What's Syd's gamertag?

GTFOH with your xbox you casual

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VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO.18

The Voicebox is back! If you have any questions, concerns or any other bitchin’ to do, text it over to our boy Carlo at 778-865-2649. “Please text me,” he says. “No one else does.”

NEWS Mind over matter CSU to host a Mental Health Forum on campus Milana Bucan CONTRIBUTOR

Mental health affects everyone, but often times many forget that it is an important part of one’s physical health as well. The Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) is hosting a Mental Health Forum on Feb. 29 from 4 to 6 pm in the CSU Maple Lounge.

Organized by the CSU’s accessibility justice coordinator, Jullian Kolstee, he hopes that the forum will bring awareness and help provide mental health strategies

Revenues down Board of Governors discuss new developments for 2016 to 2017 academic year Therese Guieb EXECUTIVE NEWS EDITOR

THE CAPILANO COURIER

VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO. 18

Capilano University’s draft budget for 2016 to 2017 was released on Feb. 17 after the Board of Governors (BOG) approved it. The highlight of the budget discussion is how the university will rise from a $2.2 million decrease in revenue which is the result of low domestic enrolment rates for the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year.

The draft budget called for the discontinuation the English Academic Purposes (EAP) Business Pathway, Scuba, Mountain Bike and Wilderness Leadership programs in the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year due to the low enrolment rates.

The Cinematography program, which is currently being revamped, will also not be offered in the coming year.

In addition, the budget also stated that the Ministry of Education will provide $575,000 to fund the faculty and staff collective agreement salary increases.

Building renovations will cost $1.7 million, which is down $550,000 from last year.

Cindy Turner, vice president of finance and administration, said it is hard to point out low areas that are causing the decline

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to students on campus.

“Mental health is not a disability issue — it’s a student issue on campus. I don’t think you have to be at the point where mental illness has become a disability in order for mental health to become a priority,” said Kolstee. Students are usually involved in other activities outside of university such as work, volunteering and other commitments which they need to balance and prioritize. As a result, many students find themselves having to deal with varying degrees of anxiety. Not having the right tools readily accessible to deal with these kinds of situations can add on to the stress that the students are already facing.

The Mental Health Forum intends to create and encourage a positive outcome

that would benefit all students on campus.

“This is an event where we could gather input and feedback from students on what they think the health strategies at Cap could look like,” he said. “We will then take that information from the forum to be submitted in a report with recommendation to the Board of Directors for the CSU to establish a mental health strategy going forward.”

In addition, there will be presentations at the forum by Healthy Minds Healthy Campuses, an organization that promotes the importance of mental health and reduction of substance abuse. Shaylyn Streatch, provincial coordinator, and Sarah Joosse, knowledge exchange and social learning coordinator from Healthy Minds Healthy Campuses, will be the

guest speakers at the forum.

Capilano University offers counselling services for various issues such as anxiety, depression, stress management and time management, just to name a few.

Counsellors can help and assist students in private sessions to ensure that it will get in the way of succeeding in school. Although these services already exist on campus, the forum aims to find out what resources CapU is still lacking. “There are people on campus who are already passionate about mental health in their own lives. They write blogs or they participate in other organizations outside of university around mental health, and I’d love to bring those people into our forum, because those would be great people to draw feedback and ideas from,” explained Kolstee.

in enrolment and to adjust the budget to cater to that. Richard Gale, vice president of academic and provost, pointed out that the Strategic Plan will help change the outcome by removing courses that are being offered in certain programs, as well as cutting back on resources for programs with low enrolment rates like non-degree programs. Gale also addressed the fact that other universities in the Lower Mainland have a decrease in domestic enrolment rates as well. “CapU had a 21 per cent decline in FTE (full-time equivalent) headcount, Emily Carr with 22 per cent, Kwantlen Polytechnic with 14 per cent, University of Fraser Valley [with] 11 per cent and Vancouver Island University [with] 23 per cent,” he stated.

Michael Fleming, BOG member and chair of the Humanities division, questioned the credibility of Gale’s data and argued that the Ministry of Education did not provide the data. Gale assured that the data came from “institutional research” but he is unsure of how they obtained the data and only knows that universities use different ways to obtain FTE headcount per year. In addition, he pointed out that CapU’s international enrolment rates are up by six per cent and expects them to go up for the next year.

Turner presented the proposal for a two per cent increase for tuition fees for both international and domestic students. She reminded the board that the Ministry of Education allows for all post-secondary institutions to increase tuition fees by two per cent every year for domestic but does not have any policies for tuition fees for international students. However, there

is a competitive market for recruiting international students. Kris Bulcroft, president of CapU commented that by increasing tuition fees, the institution is investing in its students to provide a “quality experience” and argued that students are willing to pay for the increase.

Rhita Hassar, CapU senate student representative, agreed with Bulcroft that she was for the increase for both domestic and international students as long as the quality of education at the university keeps improving. Fleming interjected that students usually disagree with the increase as it is added financial issues for them and was surprised that Hassar is pushing for the increase. Sacha Fabry, vice president of university relations for the Capilano Students Union, commented that he doesn’t approve of the increase and that it should not go through. However, most of the board members were in favour of the increase and the motion was approved.

A 5.5 per cent increase in salary for exempt employees was also approved by the board. CapU will provide employees retroactive pay only as far back as Apr. 1, 2015.

Exempt employees are classified by the school as a “staff member that may be hired for a term specific or for a continuing term.”

These individuals are not recognized by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pertaining to minimum wage and overtime provisions.

The school is waiting for approval from the Ministry of Education for them to fund retroactive pay only until Oct. 28, 2015 and will only total $45,000. Exempt employees who already left before Mar. 30, 2016 will also

receive the increase through retroactive pay. Turner said that since 2009, exempt employees haven’t had an increase in their salary. The increases will be staggered over the next year and will add $56,000 to annual exempt payroll for the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year as soon as the Ministry approves the proposal for the increase.

Bulcroft presented to the board the Strategic Plan for the Sunshine Coast campus and introduced Julia Denholm as the new dean of that campus. She stated that CapU is focusing on “serving the community of the coast” but continues to have a challenge with enrolment rates at the campus. Denholm noted that Adult Basic Education’s enrolment is rapidly decreasing but there are new opportunities through the Aboriginal bands present at the coast.

Bulcroft presented the Campus Hub idea for the Coast where the school would be under construction for a bigger campus, however, it is still under review. A new partnership of CapU with the Lil’ Wat Nation resulted in the creation of a new program at the campus.

Hassar questioned the program’s potential for a full enrolment. Gale responded that there is no guarantee that the program will have full enrolment but the school is willing to do this to help the Aboriginal bands on the Coast. Brent Leigh commended the idea since there is a huge population of Aboriginal peoples on the Coast.

The next board meeting is scheduled for March 15. For more information on the Board of Governors visit Capilanou.ca/Board-ofGovernors-new/.

@CAPILANOCOURIER

Shaping up Strategic Plan dictates numerous changes to CapU programming Therese Guieb EXECUTIVE NEWS EDITOR

It may come as a surprise to many that Capilano University is the least funded post-secondary institution in the province.

Compared to UBC, SFU and BCIT, there is no question that these institutions outnumber the students who attend CapU. The Academic Strategic Plan 2015 to 2016 was created to increase the enrolment rates at the university through restructuring programs that are offered by CapU. “One aspect of achieving that goal is to re-think our identity and what we offer our students in the way of programming,” said Richard Gale, vice president of academic and provost at CapU. The strategic plan recommends that we have the conversation about who we are and what we do.”

For the last 40 years, CapU has been known as a transfer institution where students would come to get a diploma or complete courses to obtain a degree in a different university. The Strategic Plan is aiming toward the option of creating a bachelor’s degree option for some the programs already being offered at CapU, particularly in programs that have high enrolment rates as of today. “We want to put more focus on more degree paths, and

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to help our students be able to succeed in the four years that they are here,” noted Gale.

“We want to also think about what we may have done in the past that may not be a good role for us in the future.”

Several committees were created to look over implementing elements of the Strategic Plan. The committees include: the Strategic Academic and the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SAPPAC), Cap Year Committee, General Education Committee, and the Task Force on Community Collaborations. SAPPAC is the committee who wrote the Academic and Strategic Plan and also oversees the ongoing work for its implementation. Meanwhile, the Cap Year Committee is working on the creation of a first year experience program for incoming students in 2017. The General Education Committee is developing interdisciplinary program offerings.

“These committees were appointed to gather information about a specific topic, determine whether or not there is a clear way forward for the university, and make recommendations to the community about what should be our next steps,” explained Gale.

Apart from making new programs and course offerings, the Strategic Plan has affected administration and staff positions in the university as well as current programs that are now under review. The Academic Planning Committee (APC) produced a report entitled “Senate Faculty Structure Review Committee” last year, which was submitted to the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Faculty Structure regarding recommendations for the of restructure.

Several instructors from different faculties expressed their support regarding the

/CAPILANOCOURIER

restructure while others didn’t. In the report, letters from different faculty instructors were compiled to show what they feel about the plan to restructure.

Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructor, Carol Schoen, stated in the report that “…the move to join other departments by subject area ensured that the ABE faculty no longer had a ‘voice’, as developmental concerns are not represented in their new departments.

Furthermore, the ABE faculty became very much ‘second class citizens’ in departments which are ‘forced’ to take them.”

Aurelea Mahood, Liberal Studies instructor, and Michael Fleming, chair of the Humanities division, wrote, “As a university, we need to become clear about the formal nature of a faculty as determined by the University Act… It is clear that faculties cannot make fully independent decisions, and must operate within the policies and needs of the institution as a whole.”

The faculty of Fine and Applied Arts in Motion and Picture Arts disclosed that “We do not need to exist in the same faculty for there to be synergies with other faculties/ schools/programs,” while the Music department wrote, “We are opposed to any restructuring that would give us less access to a Dean.”

As of now, the CapU Implementation Plan reported that the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee is in the process of discussing process and goals for the restructure of faculties.

The Strategic Plan has also called for the hiring of a new manager of student affairs to support students in the student services

Opening doors CapU partnering with Lil’ Wat Nation to deliver jobs training Christine Beyleveldt CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT

opportunities to get into the public sector.

With advanced jobs training, doors to fulltime employment will open to Aboriginal youth.

“One thing that I think this program has done is you guys [CapU] are coming in just with a purpose and there’s a pride in that,” said Busalacchi. “Students are very excited, it’s changing the way they see education.

“The program that we’re doing is a twoand-a-half-year program in which we’re offering different steps to assist Mt. Currie and also other nations that are interested in getting into employment or back into employment,” she continued.

There are three tiers of training and CapU is assisting with the first tier by offering courses in English, mathematics, computers, basic education and career planning. All of them are directly applicable to the workforce.

The English courses offered will focus on interpreting documents and reading comprehension. In mathematics, students are learning fractions and measurement to be applied to cooking, and in the computers course they will be taught efficient ways to search for jobs and how to create a resume and a cover letter.

“What’s most important is that it’s not just a program that’s coming from the outside, it’s actually being developed to meet the needs of First Nations that live on reserves,” said Busalacchi, “So we have facilitators that are First Nations or have worked with First Nations to ensure that the curriculum is envisioned.”

She noted that it’s important for Aboriginal youth in particular to feel pride in what they are doing, and to find jobs on or off the reserve, and that’s why the training is provided at no cost to the students. Lil’ Wat wrote up a proposal in the early years and received a grant from the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills to fund the numerous training programs.

The Lil’ Wat program began in January and will run its course over two and-a-half years before students will find themselves in the workplace. Only First Nations were eligible to apply, aged 18 years old to 55 years old. “We’re going to support the students and actually invite employers to come and do interviews with the students and get those jobs and help them retain it,” Busalacchi explained.

After students complete the program, organizers will keep tabs on students to ensure their success in the workforce.

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really good and people have learned a lot and they’re really excited, but we learned that the next step would be a bridge into employment,” said manager of trades and training for the Lil’ Wat Nation, Barbara Busalacchi. “So this year, we’re doing a camp service workers program.”

Students are training to hold down jobs in food service or janitorial duties, and they’re being trained in a camplike environment. Lil’ Wat has offered employability programs before, but this is the first time they are partnering with CapU to provide jobs training.

On. Feb. 16, the National Post wrote about the narrowing job market for Millennials, reporting that the average age of new hires in public service is 37. Nearly half of the Aboriginal population living in BC is under the age of 25, according to Wilkinson, meaning that there are very few

For more information about the Academic and Strategic Plan visit Capilanou.ca/ about/academic-strategic/.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

Capilano University and the Lil’ Wat Nation have joined forces, Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson announced on Jan. 29 when he visited CapU’s North Vancouver campus. CapU is partnering with the First Nations band to deliver jobs training to Aboriginal communities through the Lil’ Wat (Mount Currie) Sustainable Employment Program: Industry Certificate Training.

“I am delighted that Capilano University is one of the institutions selected to administer this grant to further educational and employment opportunities for Aboriginal learners,” CapU president Kris Bulcroft said in a press release.

“Increasing access for learners, building partnerships with our communities and ensuring we have a supportive learning environment are high priorities for our University. We look forward to further positive outcomes for Aboriginal learners through this initiative.”

The program is specifically designed to provide training required for most industry-based jobs. The goal is to ensure that youth will have the skills to succeed in the workforce. “We’ve done employability programs in the past and they’ve been

learning area. Peter Walsh assumed that role on Nov. 23, 2015. According to Gale, there will be an extension to Career Services and another employee there to assist in providing more services to students. CapU is also looking to hire an Aboriginal and community liaison.

In addition, the University is also aiming to change its image globally by continuing to work with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).

CapU was recognized to be the first postsecondary institution in Canada to receive accreditation from the NWCCU in 2013.

“The accreditation designates the result of a rigorous peer review process that examines institutional goals, academic accomplishments, instructional excellence, student success, assessment for ongoing improvement,” said Gale. On Oct. 2015, NWCCU evaluators visited the campus and commented that the school must align its assessment on academic and non-academic areas with the larger goals of the institution.

As of now, Gale stated that the SAPPAC is behind on projects that were called for to be completed in the first year of the Strategic Plan. However, he is positive that the committee will succeed in fulfilling all elements in the plan. “I think the good news is that we are moving ahead on some of the really important initiatives. The bad news is that there are some things we either don’t have the resources for or have to put off because changes in the university.”

CAP YOU LinkedIn, but in person Creating Connections returns for ninth year Carlo Javier EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLE EDITOR

On Mar. 10, Capilano University’s School of Business will be hosting its ninth annual Creating Connections event at the Pinnacle Hotel on Lonsdale. Creating Connections is CapU’s largest networking mixer, and this year’s iteration aims to continue the tradition.

Organized by a duo of business students, fourth-year Shelby Stefaniuk and second-year Ryan Kraushaar, Creating Connections 2016 will remain relatively

WHO YOU

Sisley Killam

Beets don't kale my vibe Keara Farnan

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CONTRIBUTOR

Sisley Killam had to make a change in her lifestyle.

Little did she know that in a short amount of time, her move towards a healthier diet would end up becoming the driving force behind her social media brand.

Killam’s The Pure Life is a health and wellness blog that grew from a simple Instagram feed into a full blog that even works and collaborates with other figures in the local health and wellness industry.

“Instagram was a good way for me to come up with recipes, connect with other like-minded foodies and post my favourite creations,” said Killam. "I played around with the idea of a blog for a while, but I’m not much of a technological person. I had a little help from YouTube tutorials.”

Although using Instagram was an effective way of disseminating her content, Killam needed a platform that would allow her to elaborate on some of the recipes she would post. “I have a passion for health and wellness so blogging was something I had to get used to,” she explained. “I wanted a space that was a little more descriptive and organized compared to Instagram where people could find my favourite specific recipes. That’s how The Pure Life was born.”

Healthy eating has gained popularity on the Internet and around Vancouver.

People are becoming more conscious of the contents of their food and how it affects

on the same track as previous iterations, but with further emphasis on bringing in figures from all sectors of business.

This year’s keynote speaker will be BlueShore Financial CEO, Chris Catliff.

“We look for people who have great speaking skills and somebody who isn’t going to bore the crowd and is going to be engaging,” Stefaniuk said. “The reason why we’re really excited about Chris is because BlueShore is our main sponsor and we’re just really happy that we got the CEO.” Since it began in 2006, Creating Connections has been the foremost forum where students from the School of Business are able to meet and link with industry professionals from all sorts of sectors of business. For Stefaniuk, this “bridge” from the educational comforts of the school to the often fast-paced and cutthroat world of business is seen as the premiere highlight of Creating Connections. Essentially, the

gathering serves as a platform where students get to meet future potential employers, without the immediate pressures that the “real world” brings.

“It’s kind of a bridge. You get to meet people in the industry that you want to be in and you’re making that connection, and starting that network that will last probably a lifetime,” she said.

With Creating Connections being the biggest annual networking event that CapU has, Stefaniuk and Kraushaar have made it a priority to ensure that third and fourth-year business students are aware of this year’s function. “We try really hard to make sure we reach out to as many students as possible,” Stefaniuk said, “because as a fourth-year student I understand how important this really is.

I kind of wish even sooner in my school career that I took the opportunity to go to these events.” However, Stefaniuk does

admit that the biggest challenge during the organizing process was ensuring that every third and fourth year business students are aware of the event.

Ultimately, Creating Connections is another one of the beneficial events that CapU provides for its students – a sentiment that Stefaniuk echoed. “I believe you need to utilize everything the school is giving you before you graduate. It’s something that students should take advantage of,” she said.

“It’s going to be a chance to branch out and prepare themselves for when they graduate and get those professional connections as soon as possible.”

Creating Connections will be held at North Vancouver’s Pinnacle Hotel on Mar. 10 at 5:30 pm. Tickets are available through the Creating Connections Eventbrite page.

Early bird tickets are $15. Tickets go up by $5 after Feb. 25.

their health. Furthermore, the aesthetic aspect of food photography that Instagram calls for is now a trend in its own right.

“Naturally, people also like to look at pretty food. I started taking decent pictures and making my food look presentable and people gravitated towards my page,” she said. “I still can’t believe that I have 12,000 followers who enjoy reading my blog. That’s the beauty of food blogging.

“Almost all of my job opportunities have stemmed from The Pure Life. I’m passionate about what I do, and think it reflects in my recipes. I’ve even made friends through the blogging community,” she added.

Currently, Killam is studying at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition (CSNN) and is aiming to be a holistic nutritionist. She’s also been in contact with Smoothie Veggies about a potential collaboration. As for the next step for The Pure Life, Killam aims to expand her media empire by entering the world of videos. “I aim to start a YouTube channel next.”

The food industry is an exciting industry and Killam hopes that one day it will become her full-time career. “That would make me the happiest person. Those in the industry are passionate about food and that helps to form a connection with others,” she said.

“It’s nice to know that my kale addiction is totally normal in the food industry.”

The Pure Life blog is essentially run to help teach and educate others how on to make healthy meals at home. Killam focuses mostly on gluten-free and plantbased recipes and hopes to share her love of food with her followers.

For more healthy recipes, visit Thepurelife. ca or follow @thepurelife_ on Instagram.

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O P I N I O NS Shifting perspectives through film Reasons behind a lack of diversity at the Oscars Dinah Azage

As surprising as it may be, the Academy Awards are still as white as ever when it comes to who wins them. No person of colour was nominated for an award in any of the major categories this year. Most movie lovers were unbothered by this, welcoming the Academy’s star-studded nominations. Many black actors and filmmakers, on the other hand, felt they had been snubbed by the Academy for a second year running.

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Feb. 28. When you consider the millions of people who will be watching this year’s event, it will be interesting to see just how many of them will be shocked by the lack of minorities nominated for awards. Humans can be compelled, inspired and even motivated to improve themselves through film, yet many people underestimate the power movies have on the human brain.

According to a January article published

by CBC News, social psychologist Phillip Atiba Goff said that the lack of racial diversity in Hollywood impacts people’s implicit biases about different races.

As people, we are always collecting information and storing it in our brains. By having these implicit biases about other groups, people begin to associate certain races with certain roles or stereotypes. This unconscious reinforcement of information then leads us to believe that only some individuals can play certain roles. For Goff, automatic associations about which race is suitable for what, often comes from what people watch on TV or in theatres.

Perception of different races in media like scripted TV and films plays a big

Young people do drugs

Gabriel Scorgie FEATURES EDITOR

either. In 2015, all the nominees in the major categories were white, save for Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu. Up again for an award this year, Inarritu is once again evidence that the Academy is failing to recognize diversity in Hollywood.

While the Academy chooses the nominees, they are not solely responsible for this problem. Typecasting and society’s acceptance of racial biases in film are just as responsible as the people who dish out Oscars.

In 2015’s Creed, leading-man Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler were deemed unworthy of honourable mention

for their work in the boxing spin-off. Sylvester Stallone, however, who reprised his role as Rocky Balboa in the film, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor this year.

Even though there has been minimal progress in the film industry, the root cause is society’s biases when it comes to media. And the Academy, the people who nominate and award Oscars, are just as guilty as anyone for typecasting minorities.

As outstanding performances from minority actors continue to increase, the real question is what it will take for the industry to change. This lack of diversity at the Oscars can’t surely go on forever. Or can it?

University (VIU) is introducing overdose prevention kits on campus due to a disturbing spike of Fentanyl — a drug 50 times more potent than 100 per cent pure heroin — being found in peoples’ drugs and causing hundreds of people to die of overdoses in the last year. News of these kits has been received as mostly positive, but there is one particularly vocal group that’s decrying the announcement under the belief that this will make more students want to try drugs. Now, sometimes it’s not enough just to call an idiot an idiot. Sometimes you have to break things down for them step-by-step as to why their reasoning is poor, and their beliefs are stupid. So here we are.

First off, let’s start by stating the obvious: no drug user is trying to overdose. News of the overdose kit isn’t going to make people start eating pills of MDMA like they’re Tic-Tacs. No matter how reliable these kits are, no student

wants to have a near death experience every weekend. Instead, what these kits represent is the peace of mind that even if a night suddenly goes sideways and everything that could go wrong does, that the end result of a poor decision isn’t making your family talk to the nice lady at First Memorial Funeral Services.

The kit comes with Naloxone, an antidote to Fentanyl that currently requires a prescription to get, though Health Canada is currently in the process of making the drug available over the counter for everyone. Naloxone blocks opiate receptors in the nervous system, counteracting the effects of drugs like Heroin which can depress the nervous and respiratory systems to the point where an overdose victim can’t breathe. It can either be injected into the vein or sprayed up someone’s nose. The drug has already been used in Halifax and Baltimore to great success.

There’s also the reality that even though your parents swear that you’re not the type to do those things and that you spend every weekend studying and doing homework with maybe the occasional beer, there’s a good chance you’re going to be around drugs or on them at some point during University. Average university students that are going to do drugs aren’t going to become addicts. They’re experimenting because they’re curious.

By providing these kits, VIU is creating a safer environment for people who might otherwise be at risk.

The overdose kits are about ensuring the safety of students who will be experimenting with drugs regardless of readily available antidotes. As a rule of thumb, things that are about preventing people from dying should generally be embraced. So think of Naloxone as the condom of drugs – if you’re going to do it, you might as well be safe about it.

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I’m sure that at some point in history there was a time where people’s safety and well-being was a primary concern.

Maybe not for everyone, since no period of time is exempt from having a few nasty genocides and wars, but at least for the safety of the children and young adults of a community. Apparently, as liberal as BC likes to think it is, we still fall short of the mark. Currently, Vancouver Island

role in how we judge and appreciate the performances of actors. A common example of those biases is the typecasting of black actors in Hollywood. In 2001’s Training Day, Denzel Washington won Best Actor in a Leading Role, for playing a stereotypical corrupt street detective and hyper-masculine character. A thug witha-badge. But when Will Smith played an intelligent doctor of African descent in the 2015’s Concussion, he got snubbed by the Academy.

Perhaps one of the other reasons why people are so outraged this year is because the Oscars weren’t very diverse last year

THE CAPILANO COURIER

VIU’s new overdose kits won’t lead to increased drug use

— ANNIE CHANG

CONTRIBUTOR

@CAPILANOCOURIER

@CAPILANOCOURIER

/CAPILANOCOURIER

Strike the ballot The case for lowering voting age to 16 Christine Beyleveldt

It’s surprising just how much responsibility we entrust to teenagers. For example, 16 is the age of consent in Canada. At that age one can also drive, and with parental permission can even get married. By the age of 17 one can enlist for military service, yet their right to vote is withheld until their 18th birthday. Preventing 16-yearolds from voting is backwards because it is one of the only things they can’t do at that age, and something that could change our country if they could.

Member of Parliament, Don Davies, who represents the riding of VancouverKingsway, tabled a private member’s bill (C-213) in Parliament on Jan. 28 to amend the Canada Elections Act by lowering the voting age from 18 to 16. “At one time only men could vote, only men with property," Davies told the House of Commons.

"Women could not vote, First Nations could not vote, and people had to be 21 years of age.” Davies argued that lowering the voting age would force politicians to be more accountable to Canadian youth while compelling them to participate in the political process.

First and foremost, many 16-yearolds are employed part-time, and some industries will employ youth as young as 15. According to the Globe and Mail, 65 per cent of teenagers are willing to work.

Even when working minimal hours, youth are still expected to pay taxes on their limited income. “Young Canadians often work, pay taxes and have a vital interest in the way they are governed. They deserve the right to have their say in the future of our country, and Canada needs their perspective,” argued Davies. If you’re old enough to get taxed and drive, you should be old enough to vote, too.

There was inevitably some backlash when news of the bill hit the airwaves.

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‘Modern Family’ budget BC fiscal plan targets young parents Kevin Kapenda OPINIONS EDITOR

On Feb. 16, BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong presented his fourth-consecutive balanced budget to the Legislature.

Provincial budgets in Canada are usually homogenous, with health and education accounting for most spending. Therefore, governments use their budgets as campaign tools, to highlight cornerstone reforms and achievements. This year, Premier Clark used her budget to change the way Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums are collected, and provide assistance to firsttime home buyers. If you’re a student that

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— PAMELLA PINARD

CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT

According to Maclean’s, much of the criticism came from the older generations who took cover behind a ‘slippery slope’ argument. “We might as well let kindergarteners vote,” suggested some seniors in a January Maclean’s article.

Many commenters were even insistent on raising the legal voting age to 21 on the argument that youth are disinterested in politics, and often manipulated into voting left wing by teachers and celebrities. Have you ever had an argument with a teenager?

They are impossibly stubborn creatures. If you can’t convince a teenager to take out the trash, what makes anyone think they can tell a teenager which way to vote? As for the left-leaning voters, it isn’t coercion; it’s generational political leanings that

fluctuate with age.

Besides, according to Elections Canada, the number of youth participating in the vote has been steadily declining over the years, and it’s not necessarily due to lack of interest. Canada’s youth would prefer not to vote than to vote for the wrong person. And shockingly, there are teenagers (granted, the supply is limited) who are politically informed and eager to vote. Party youth wings work with aspiring politicians as young as 14, and students in Quebec are protesting every second day. It may not take the form of a vote, but our youth are civically engaged one way or another. When Scotland held a referendum to separate from the United Kingdom in 2014, the voting age was lowered to 16, and the turnout was tremendous. Over

100,000 enthusiastic 16 and 17-year-olds turned out to vote, prompting the voting age to be lowered permanently.

An old saying goes that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Although the origin of this oft-cited adage is unknown, it rings true. One day, today’s youth will lead our country, yet they have no say in how it is governed now. We are on the brink of many global catastrophes, such as instability in the Middle East, climate change and economic uncertainty around housing, employment and natural resources.

Today’s youth will one day have to deal with much of the mess that is being created at the present. Why not prepare them to shoulder that responsibility by letting them elect today’s leaders now?

lives at home or by yourself, this budget won’t do much for you in the short-term.

However, Clark’s reforms, if successful, could end-up saving Millennials thousands of dollars in the near-future, as they transition to adulthood.

MSP premiums were one of those issues that just wouldn’t go away for the Liberals.

Contrary to widely-held American beliefs about Canadian health care being free, it is most certainly not. The majority of British Columbians pay for basic coverage every month through MSP premiums. These premiums are mandatory for everyone who wishes to have coverage, regardless of age.

Many critics of the government, such as Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver, have referred to the MSP as a “head-tax” because it doesn’t take the financial situations of households into account. For example, a well-to-do family of three with two parents currently pays as much in MSP premiums as a not-so-well-off single mother of two.

To fix this discrepancy, Clark and De

Jong exempted kids and reduced the cost of MSP premiums for low-income adults in this year’s budget. A single-parent with two children would see their monthly premium cost go down from $150 per month, to $78, saving $864 annually. Low-income residents who earn between $22,000 and $42,000 (up from $30,000), such as recent graduates, will see the cost of their MSP premiums dip too, depending on how much they earn. The premium for anyone who makes over $42,000 will increase by four per cent, from $75 to $78. While this budget highlight doesn’t do much for students now, it might in a few years’ time when they graduate and start working.

No longer having to pay for children will also benefit the forgotten parents who are raising families and getting a college education at the time.

One other policy that the Liberals are using to target young couples is government relief for first-time home buyers. New homes, including condos, priced up to

$750,000 will now be exempt from property transfer taxes. De Jong says that this policy could save new homebuyers $13,000. This policy won’t apply to old homes because the government is trying to increase demand for new property. Promoting development and housing affordability with evidence-based policy is not what observers expected from Clark and De Jong two weeks ago. But it’s another key highlight that could shield them from affordability critics come next year.

Of all her budgets, this is probably Clark’s strongest one. It addresses issues that people outside her base, like young families, have been struggling with for quite some time now. In politics, having the right answer to problems isn’t always the most important thing. Sometimes, winning over new voters is as simple as trying to solve an issue. Nobody likes a “sitting-duck”, and this budget proved that Rocky Clark is no longer afraid to take on touchy issues. The De Jong era of “boring, balanced, budgets” appears to be over in BC.

FE ATU R E S

A TOUGH COURT The difficulty of sexual assault convictions Graeme Findlay

For all of us in Canada, the trial of CBC Radio broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi is one of the most high profile cases in recent memory. With the trial just recently wrapping up, relief is not exactly the word one would use to describe the feeling. This case not only affects its own victims, and the victims of other sexual assault-related cases, but our country and our justice system as a whole. The result of this case will either be a step forward or backward for sexual assault victims.

One factor to consider in the trial is that the verdict is all down to the judge. Would the outcome of this trial be different if it was left in the hands of a jury as opposed to a judge?

Nikos Harris, an award winning lecturer with the University of British Columbia, specializes in Criminal Law and Procedure and the Law of Evidence.

From a lawyer’s perspective, Harris feels being before a judge can have many advantages. “As a whole, different lawyers have different theories about which may be advantageous,” said Harris. “I think some lawyers feel if another lawyer is bringing in a very complex defence, that it is better to be before a judge who is highly trained in that defence. When you explain that defence to the jury, it may seem very confusing because they’re dealing with something like this for the first time. This is where a jury could be a disadvantage.”

Harris did admit, however, that both have their advantages and disadvantages.

“Sometimes a lawyer may feel that there is a certain component of a case that will react better to a jury. I think some lawyers worry if juries really understand the threshold of reasonable doubt, but

— SYD DANGER

CONTRIBUTOR

some lawyers feel that a judge who deals with the legal system every day is very familiar with that standard, and may be more aware of how high of a standard it is.

There [are] a number of offences that you can’t have before a jury. If the case doesn’t involve a high term of imprisonment, the case may have to take place in a provincial court without a jury.”

A large factor in the Ghomeshi case is witness credibility and integrity, and whether or not one witness that is seen as not credible could affect the other ones.

Harris said that this is not something that happens in a court of law when a judge is involved. Each witness is viewed and evaluated independently and if one part of a witness’s testimony is contradicting or untrue, it may not affect the entire testimony. “A judge will approach each witness and do an independent credibility and reliability assessment. It is not just witness by witness. A judge is fully entitled to believe some parts of a witness’s evidence and not others. Just because a judge has a problem with a part of a witness’s testimony, it doesn’t mean the judge has to find the entire testimony not reliable or credible. A judge will only carry that over to another witness if the witnesses may have

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positive changes in this direction in terms of putting evidence on sexual assault cases,” Grant said. “The Ghomeshi trial makes all people working in law wonder whether the progress we thought we had made is real. This is an unusual case, because the allegations of sexual assault are not what we think of as sex. Most of us don’t think of choking or hitting as sexual.

Marie Henein, Ghomeshi’s lawyer, could not call witnesses to suggest that Lucy DeCoutere enjoyed being hit or consented to it. That is not allowed by criminal code.

Usually, in sexual assault, that is the kind of evidence that defence counsels will try and focus on. However, this one is different because the evidence is based around how they responded to this man. They weren’t protected by the Criminal Code. I think what the verdict is in this trial is incredibly important and that it could be a negative thing for victims,who are deciding whether to report sexual violence to police or decide whether or not they should deal with it themselves.”

The outcome of this trial is on the minds of many and how it will shape the country and, as Grant said, the courts and laws of Canada. “If [Ghomeshi] gets acquitted of all counts, I think it will be a huge deterrence for women to report what happens to them. It is not that the case is that different from cases that the public are aware of, it is just that people know about it so much. People who don’t work in this area don’t necessarily know how sexual assault victims are treated in other cases. I think that damage will be left seriously in the victims, but the judge has to make his decision based on whether he believes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Ghomeshi is guilty.”

Less than five per cent of sexual assaults end up with charges and court proceedings, and the conviction rate when charges do go forward is lower than any other violent crime. All we can do as a nation is sit back and hope for the best and that justice will be served for these women.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

been discussing matters and influencing each other, but as a whole a judge will never carry one over to the other.”

With a sexual assault case as high profile as this one, it is hoped that justice will be served, and as a result will influence more women who have been victims to come forward and bring a sense of hope.

Taylor Smith is the social justice coordinator for the Capilano Students Union, and she feels that attitudes and the way victims are viewed in our country is, in fact, changing. But is it the courts that are changing the way they deal with these crimes, or is it the population as a whole?

“It’s not necessarily that the courts are changing, but it is the attitudes that are changing on sexual contact,” Smith said.

“Although not many report in Canada, there has been a cultural shift on women coming forward. A lot of our sexual assault laws are based around having to prove that the assault happened. This makes it extremely difficult for victims to do that, because there is many possible ways to discredit a person’s experience.”

Convicting a public figure is a complex process. Smith believes that there are many ways Ghomeshi could have easily avoided talking to the victims. “The difficulty is, how do you reach out to a public figure and try and negotiate with them? If you were to contact a public figure with a lot of power, he could easily not reply. He could also use the crazed fan narrative. If she is asking to talk about what happened, she will be backed into that corner no matter what, even though she was trying to humanize what happened and genuinely searching for answers.”

As far as attitudes shifting in sexual matters, it is a question of whether or not the courts have changed the way these crimes are being dealt with. Isabel Grant is a law professor at UBC, who specializes in Criminal Law and Mental Health Law. She feels the government is making the necessary changes to make this possible.

“The Supreme Court of Canada and the government has made some very

LAWS AND REGULATIONS AB

Milana Bucan CONTRIBUTOR

After the most recent Canadian mass shooting on Jan. 22 that left four dead and seven wounded at a school in La Loche, Saskatchewan, gun control in the country has started to become more talked about.

Shots were fired outside and inside of the community school, leaving local residents in shock and disbelief.

Fortunately for most Canadians, according to Statistics Canada, “most violent crime[s] in Canada [do] not involve firearms.” Violent situations including firearms accounted for only two per cent of all crimes reported in 2012. While that may be surprising, our neighbours across the border face a different scenario. The United States reported a total of 8,813 murders using a firearm that same year. The laws and regulations surrounding guns in Canada differ than those of the United States, and are a lot tougher. However, laws still need to be tightened to prevent the importing of illegal firearms into Canada across the border and to ensure the safety of all citizens.

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VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO. 18

TYPES OF FIREARMS There are three types of firearms in Canada; restricted, which include handguns that are not prohibited, semi-automatic centrefire rifles and shotguns with a barrel shorter than 470 millimetres, and rifles and shotguns that can be fired after their overall length has been reduced to less than 660 millimetres. “Non-restricted guns are typically your average hunting long shotgun, lever action, old Western style rifle, hunting rifle, and these guns are considered non-restricted based on their length,” explained Patrick Osborne, a Range Officer at DVC Vancouver Gun Shooting Range. “They also include some forms of semi-automatic rifles depending on how they’re built, such as the length of the barrel.”

Lastly, prohibited firearms include handguns with a barrel length of 105mm or less, handguns that discharge 0.25 or 0.32 calibre ammunition, rifles and shotguns that have been altered so that their barrel length is less than 457 millimetres, full automatics, and converted automatics.

“Some guns which are pretty much identical can be restricted or non-restricted based on looks alone. Some types of guns that the RCMP don’t like, they choose to classify them as restricted or prohibited based on their looks alone,” said Osborne.

According to the RCMP, 191,504 out of a total 252,177 licences were issued in Dec. 2014 for a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL), the most common licence in Canada.

OBTAINING A LICENSE AND REGISTERING FIREARMS The different classes of firearms require different types of licenses. Those include

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the PAL, the Possession Only Licence (POL) and the Minor’s Licence. The PAL allows the licensed individual to possess firearms and ammunition, while the POL allows the licence holder to possess but not acquire firearms and to acquire and possess ammunition. The Minor’s Licence allows an individual under the age of 18 to use nonrestricted firearms for hunting activities and target shooting. “If an individual shows interest and applies for the un-prohibited guns, they are the most common ones, and the easiest to obtain because they are used for hunting,” said Constable Rob Hamilton the Burnaby RCMP. “The PAL licence allows you to go hunting, or travel with it, or take the gun to a gun club. Not hand guns, hand guns are a whole different ball game,” added Mark Reeve from the Vancouver Gun Club in Richmond, BC. Individuals applying for a Firearm licence have to be a Canadian citizen over the age of 18, and a BC resident, “but basically anybody can apply for one,” said Reeve. They have to go through a screening process of background criminal record check, mandatory waiting period and

have passed the required firearm courses.

“We do provide two types of courses here; there’s one for restricted and one for nonrestricted firearms. Non-restricted, being the long gun courses, is just a one-day course, whereas the course for restricted firearms is typically over a Saturday and Sunday. It’s all done with books, tapes and videos. One of the instructors here is exRCMP, and is considered one of the best here. Nobody gets out of the course not knowing what they are supposed to do.”

The firearms licences are good for five years and can be renewed thereafter.

According to the RCMP website, “in 2014, there were 411,435 licences issued, including new licences and renewals.

There were 1,989,181 firearms licence holders in Canada as of Dec 2014. In 2014, there were 805 cases of refused firearm licences due to various reasons based on individual’s assessment of potential risk for public safety, including mental health and other reasons. All other businesses and organizations are also required to obtain a licence if they possess, sell, handle and store firearms and ammunition.

Firearms registration is necessary for those handling firearms and links the licensed individual to their firearm, holding them accountable for handling, transferring and storing the firearm.

The registration process helps police investigate and track records of individuals handling firearms. Of course, individuals involved in criminal activities don’t usually follow these regulations. “Technically, someone can have a gun at home that is not registered. It was a noble idea wanting to keep it from people who would not have good intentions, but if people had good intentions, they would want to register them,” said Hamilton.

Introduced in 1993 under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean

BOUT FIREARMS IN CANADA Chrétien, the Canadian Firearms Registry was part of the Firearms Act and was managed by the Canadian Firearms Program of the RCMP. The Firearm Registry was dropped in 2012 when Bill C-19 was introduced. As stated on the Parliament of Canada website, “the summary of the bill states that it amends the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act to remove the requirement to control of firearms officers, which relate to the registration of such firearms.”

“I do see some benefit to it,” began Osborne. “For example, when a police officer is responding to a domestic disturbance at a house, the registry was beneficial because when the cop punched in the address they’re going to on their computer and it was supposed to return a record saying that so and so is licensed and has registered guns inside the house.

And at least the police officer was informed of that. But the information wasn’t always up to date, it was often incorrect, if the person had moved but didn’t update their information, it could be a false positive.

There were downsides to the systems for sure,” he said.

Hamilton, however, said the registry didn’t have much of an effect. “In terms of criminality, it really didn’t change the way people were dealing with guns in the crime world, because they were not registering them anyway. And in terms of what we wanted to accomplish, it was not doing what it was supposed to be doing.”

of force,” said Osborne. In fact, with the vast land inhabited by deer and moose, Canadians use non-restricted firearms

IN COMPARISON TO UNITED STATES “You’re more likely to be shot to death in the United States than you are to die in a car accident in Canada,” wrote Anna Mehler Paperny, senior producer at Global News, in a Dec. 2015 story on gun violence.

When compared to our neighbours to the South, per capita, Canada has one third of the firearms, and the rate of murder is one seventh to that of United States. Friendly Canadians don’t generally see firearms as weapons.

“Most Canadians don’t really feel the need to own a gun. There isn’t a properly defined right to self defence and the legality of it is very murky, where you are only allowed to use the same level

mostly for hunting. “There’s definitely a cultural difference. We don’t have a second amendment in Canada, and we don’t have a right to own or be in a possession of a gun.

The way the law is written in Canada it’s actually illegal to just be in possession of a gun. So if I let my license expire, I actually become a criminal overnight. In the United States it’s different, where you have a fundamental right to own a firearm,” he said.

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— MEGAN COLLINSON

THE CAPILANO COURIER

According to a recent article in the National Post, only five per cent of Canadians say they own firearms for protection. In the United States it’s is a shocking 60 per cent. Buying a firearm in the United States is simpler, and a background check is only required by the FBI for in-store purchases. “In the united states they have federal, state and municipal level firearms laws. For example, Chicago and New York have very strict gun laws within the city limits.

Some states have different gun laws, and then there’s the federal laws that come into effect. And in Canada, there’s just the federal laws which makes things simpler when you travel from province to province,” said Osborne.

In general, Canadians have a different approach to owning firearms than Americans, and the stricter laws definitely play a role. “In some ways the United States have better gun laws and in some ways they are worse. The whole point [of the gun laws and regulations] is to reduce crime, but criminals don’t follow the laws anyway. Other countries like Switzerland where gun ownership is almost total, every single home has a firearm in Switzerland.

It’s almost required by law because you have mandatory military service in Switzerland, and when you finish your two-year service you have to take your rifle home with you. [Overall] Switzerland does a better job at looking after their needy population — [they provide] better social programs and welfare, better education — and I think that’s probably the better answer to reducing crime, rather than trying to put more punitive gun control measures out there,” explained Osborne.

Under the new Liberal regime of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as stated on the Liberal Party of Canada’s website, changes will be made to “make it harder for criminals to get and use handguns and assault weapons.” Trudeau promises to update Bill C-42 and prohibit the transportation of weapons without a permit, provide $100 million each year to reinforce police forces to take illegal guns off the streets and reduce gang violence.

He also promised to enhance background checks for individuals when wanting to apply for a Firearm licence, support vendors to keep all records of sold firearms and keep all inventory under control, implement the imported gun marking regulations that were delayed by Stephen Harper, and lastly, invest in technological devices that will be able to detect firearm weapons imported into the country illegally.

CALENDAR

22 MONDAY

ANAL PLAY FOR WOMEN: LIVE DEMO THE ART OF LOVING

7:30 PM • $50 If you’re a regular reader of our calendar then you should already be familiar with The Art of Loving and all their kinky after-hours events. Each comes with a disclaimer (“Doors will be locked at 7:40 pm sharp”) except for this one, which involves butt stuff.

Shut the front door all you like, but the back door needs to be wide open for a live demo on anal play, dontcha think?

23 TUESDAY

10 STEPS TO GETTING PREGNANT NOW

WEDNESDAY

YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB

8 PM • $10

For everything they didn’t teach you at the anal workshop above, there’s this event at Finlandia Pharmacy and Natural Health Centre. At it, acubalance practitioners Kali MacIsaac (ND) and Lorne Brown (Dr. TCM) will tell you all the things your doctor won’t about fertility, conception and those finicky eggs of yours.

Even if you’re paranoid of getting pregnant, you should go to this.

Some of comedy’s heaviest hitters are in town for JFL Northwest Comedy Fest and Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club has invited them over to pick apart the local talent pool. The Internet wasn’t exactly crawling with details on who will be attending, so you’ll have to use your imagination. You can bet it won’t be George Carlin, Bernie Mac or Rodney Dangerfield though. (Too soon?)

KITCHEN SKILLS: ALL ABOUT BREAD THE UNCOMMON CAFÉ

6 PM • $50-$60 The Kitchen Skills series was created by the folks at Tartine and Maple as a means to demystify cooking and take away much of the jargon involved. On this night, chef and baker extraordinaire Stephen Louie will teach you how to bake your own bread from scratch. You’ll learn how to make a variety of loaves, including buttermilk, multigrain and, most importantly, pizza dough.

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VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO. 18 THE CAPILANO COURIER

5:30 PM • $25 Mount Seymour and the Take a Hike Foundation have been hosting an evening of guided moonlight snowshoeing every February for the past 10 years. For 2016, the goal is to draw 120 participants, raise $60,000 and support a worthy cause that benefits at-risk youth. Late registration is still open and can be done through an online form at Takeahikefoundation.org.

VENUE NIGHTCLUB

8 PM • $20

If the walls could talk at The Penthouse, you wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgeways. The historic strip joint has seen vice squad busts, mobsters, bootlegging, Rat Pack parties, fire and murder. Join owner Danny Filippone, author Aaron Chapman and former cop Grant McDonald for an unprecedented tour. This might just be the cheapest night you’ll ever have at a strip club!

Back in 2013, Venue Nightclub took a one-night break from EDM and installed a mini indoor skateboard ramp on their dance floor.

It was so legendary that people still talk about it to this day. On Feb. 25, the ramp returns. There will be demos and tricks, $5 beer and shot specials, plus performances by Sacramento hardcore punk band Trash Talk, Churches and Kash Honey.

LEASH OF HOPE SHOWCASE SPACEKRAFT

6:30 PM • $5-$10 Leash of Hope is a training program that allows rescue dogs and dogs from the community to be trained as service dogs for people with disabilities. This is the organization’s first public showcase and will include a practical skill-testing obstacle course and a talent show featuring several human/dog duos! There will also be appys and a cash bar, so unleash your self-control!

RICKSHAW THEATRE

SUNDAY

MOUNT SEYMOUR - THE HUT

6:30 PM • $39-$49

BOWIE TRIBUTE NIGHT

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MOONLIGHT SNOWSHOE

SKATE RAMP PARTY

THE PENTHOUSE

FRIDAY

8 PM • $40-$500 Olympic Gold Medalist, reality TV star and Transgender activist Caitlin Jenner — ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Bruce’ —is making a stop in Vancouver on Feb. 23. $40 will get you a seat, but $500 will get you into a post-show reception complete with refreshments, a meet-and-greet “and a picture taken by our photographer that will be framed by the time you depart.” Do it.

7:30 PM • $10, INCLUDES PRODUCT VOUCHER

FORBIDDEN VANCOUVER: PENTHOUSE TOUR

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ORPHEUM THEATRE

JUST FOR LAUGHS SHOWCASE

FINLANDIA PHARMACY & NATURAL HEALTH CENTRE

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CAITLYN JENNER

27 SATURDAY

CLASSIFIED (THE NOVA SCOTIA RAPPER) COMMODORE BALLROOM

8 PM • $30 + SC

Wait a minute — a Nova Scotia rapper? What would that even sound like anyways? I’s the b’y who sells the coke and I’s the b’y who snorts ‘er. I’s the b’y who caps the snitch and dumps ‘em in the river. Anyone who goes to this concert will be forever in the Courier’s good books. We’re dying to know what freestyle sounds like when you grew up in Atlantic Canada.

INTERNATIONAL SWORD SWALLOWERS DAY THE WOODS STUDIO

7 PM • $12 + SC

9 PM • $15-$20

Vancouver musicians will be coming out in droves to pay homage to the late, great David Bowie. Between 7 pm and 1 am, over 25 acts will take to the stage, including Orchard Pinkish, Pill Squad and Toxiks to name a few. All proceeds will benefit the Canadian Cancer Society and Keep a Child Alive, which was apparently Bowie’s favourite charity. Plus, there’s a prize raffle!

When it comes to swords, nobody’s swallowed more than our former sex columnist, Anna L. Beedes. But unfortunately, this gathering isn’t for courageous feats of gag suppression — or maybe it is. Apparently, there are less than 12 sword swallowers in the country. This show features three, along with other sideshow stunts like contortion, snake charming and fire-eating.

LEWIS BLACK HARD ROCK CASINO

7 PM • $34.50-$54.50 + SC Even if you think you don’t know who Lewis Black is, you do.

Trust us. He’s that gravelly-voiced American comedian who pretends to have a conniption at various points throughout his standup routines. That’s why Disney hired him to play the voice of Anger on the animated film, Inside Out. He’s just too good at ranting, raving and finger-pointing. Kind of like our editor-in-chief.

REQUEST LINE

ALEXANDER GASTOWN

9 PM • $20

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This live music show will feature the best jams of the 80s, played by the incomparable Chin Injeti, The Lifetimes and friends.

These guys aren’t your average cover band though. Operating by request only, they’ll take calls from audience members for the songs they want to hear, scrambling to pull them off live on stage. Funds raised from tickets will support Syrian refugees.

BOWIE TRIBUTE NIGHT

C O L U M NS Sip, sip, hurray!

Chinese food + Gewürztraminer Max Ley COLUMNIST

We've all been there, waking up bleary eyed and terribly hungover after a long night of celebrating or studying, finding ourselves uttering the old adage: "Screw it. Getting Chinese takeout."

We then get way too much for our own good, eat nearly the entire order and then spend the rest of the day regretting the biggest mistake of our lives. Chinese takeout is funny, because your body wants it so badly, but then after the ordeal is done, all you want to do is to curl up in a dark hole and die.

For today's tasting, I went with a full classic takeout with three different dishes.

Delivered to me were sweet and sour pork, beef and black bean sauce, and chicken chow mein packed with a variety of veggies.

Why these three? They represent the most distinct flavour profiles within the classic Chinese takeout that our western culture has grown accustomed to. Sweet and sour pork takes the meat combined with the sweet, savoury spice of its coating, the beef and black been sauce brings intense, salty flavours and the chow mein rounds it all off with the freshness of bok choy, carrots and what have you. There are many different possibilities for pairings with Chinese food, but you can commonly look at aromatic, slightly off-dry whites.

For our pairing today I chose a personal favourite, the 2014 Thornhaven Gewürztraminer from BC. Wait, what on earth was that long and absolutely terrifying word? Gewürztraminer. "Gew" as it can sometimes be shortened, is a varietal commonly found within Germany and Alsace but has found a nice little home in our lovely province. The Gew has always been one of my favourites out of BC, and it can easily be found at Liberty Wine Merchants Commercial Drive for $19.99

News you haven’t heard Local man incredibly makes it home while sober

lightened the black bean sauce, although it didn't brighten as excellently as the sweet and sour pork. The chow mein was simple enough that the wine was really able to shine, especially in regards to the vegetables it was up against. The crunchy bite of the bok choy was the true standout of this dish with the natural sweet spice of the wine.

All in all, this pairing was just brilliant and worked far better than even I had expected.

Dranford only had “maybe a beer and a half” according to fellow party-goer Tracy Giles, who herself had spent the night inventing mixed drinks and giving them increasingly strange names such as “The Alabama Chokehold,” “Drew's Fuzzy Toenails” and “Bozo's Clown Drink,” the last of which resulted in Giles passing out on the couch.

Friends of Dranford were reportedly saying that his actions were “pretty normal” and “not that crazy,” which led to many of them worrying whether the 23-year-old would make it home without incident. “Rob was so sober, there was no way he was going to get lost on the way back to his place,” said Campten. “I was looking at this guy in my living room who could hardly even walk without going in a perfectly normal straight line, and I was just thinking to myself, 'Fuck, that guy is way too sober to get lost on the way home...' which is scary, you know? You get worried for your friends.”

Other party-goers claimed Dranford could “probably do the first few letters of

the alphabet backwards, but then he would probably have to think a bit to get the rest.”

“There's a lot of bushes and ditches and stuff along the way from Drew's place to Rob’s. I don't think he fell into any of them — the guy was way too far gone,” said longtime friend, Jack Kelpner. “I know I've woken up in a bush before, and I don't want that to not happen to friends of mine, right?

But Rob, oh man, there was no way he was going to be able to get home without not falling over a few times.”

Another upset of the night occurred when the topic of ex-girlfriends came up around Dranford and a group of males attending the party. Halfway through the conversation Campten remembered realizing that Dranford had only just broken up with Beth Hallowford, his girlfriend of four months, a mere eight weeks ago. “I started getting worried that Rob wouldn't text Beth on his way home, he was way too sober to be making bad decisions like that... I watched him as long as he was at the party, worried he was going to start begging Beth to take him

back, but his phone stayed in his pocket all night... The guy was out of control.”

Local physician, Dr. Barbara White, warned against excessive lack of drinking.

“Often times in youth, the urge to not drink at parties can lead to good decision making, safe nights and happy mornings. I've seen too many cases of teens and young adults getting home safe, having a good night's rest, and it could all have been avoided if they had just drank in excess. It's a shame, really.”

The local police chief, Officer Trent Daniels, expressed his concern as well. “I really feel bad when I see a kid walking home late at night and I've got to stop him, only to find out that he hasn't had a drop to drink. What's a kid like that going to grow up to be like, you know? Who am I supposed to throw in the drunk tank if the kids aren't drinking? What would their parents say?”

Dranford could not be reached for an interview before press time as he had gone out for a morning run and then had brunch plans with his parents. No word yet as to whether he is planning to have a caesar with his meal.

Check in with me on Twitter and Instagram @sipsiphurray and give me your opinions on some of these pairings if you happen to try them!

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It was a normal Friday night for 23-yearold Rob Dranford, who was reportedly at a party in his hometown of Tilley, Alberta until it became apparent that the young man was much too sober to not make it home.

Dranford had been at the house of Drew Campten, a friend who had decided tonight was the night to get “fucked up” and “rowdy.” However, with his previous engagements going longer than expected, by the time Dranford got to the party, many of the party-goers had long since gone home or become unconscious from an excess of alcoholic beverages. As such,

similar grapes are able to match the hefty flavours of these types of dishes, and a touch of sweetness and a bit of acidity can help wipe the palate and cleanse it before it becomes too cluttered.

The Thornhaven performed magnificently.

The shining pairing of the three was the sweet and sour pork with the wine. The ginger spice and apple flavours made the sauce of the pork brighten and not seem as heavy or stomach-filling. It also gave the sauce some savoury fruit elements, which worked beautifully. The beef and black bean sauce was also improved rather well with the wine. The Gew's bright floral nature

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Mike Allen COLUMNIST

on the shelf.

Gew is known for being very floral and full of flavour and this vintage didn't disappoint. Huge aromas of spicy apricot, orange citrus and apples waft out of the glass. The palate is round and soft with a lovely, slightly sweet freshness, while flavours of peach, ginger spice and apples dominate. All in all, this is a great example of a white that we can do so very well in BC — but the question is, how does it stack up with the takeout?

Wines like our Gew today are best for big, spicy, salty Asian flavours. The plentiful aromatics of Rieslings and other

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The beat that I’m bangin’ Where does art reside?

Aidan Mouellic COLUMNIST

When I was a teenager my parents took me to visit the French town of Auvers-surOise. The town is on the outskirts of Paris and is famous for having been the last spot where Vincent Van Gogh painted. It was in the surrounding fields where Van Gogh created his legacy and also brought an end to it. He supposedly walked into a field, shot himself in the chest and meandered back to his chamber above the town’s restaurant and proceeded to die. You can go inside the room, it’s a popular tourist spot – I found it morbid.

Whenever I see a work of Van Gogh, I appreciate and marvel at the beauty – but would the art be as powerful without knowing about its creator and his missing ear? The tormented and bitter life that Van Gogh endured influences how I take in his work. Yes, the historical context of his works also bears upon his legacy – but is it possible for art to reside in a sphere that’s separate of its creator?

I wrote this while listening to the latest Kanye West album, The Life of Pablo. It’s brilliant. I have been a fan of West for just over a decade now – not always of his antics, though. It used to be easy to defend some his bizarre behaviour. He produced hits and worked hard to get to where he is.

But it’s getting hard. His Twitter rants, his support for Ben Carson and Bill Cosby – the list of his general nuttiness could go on for days but it’s starting to affect his art for me.

When I listen to him I get the media chatter entering my psyche. The music is as good as ever, but the man who made it is not.

The purpose of art is to move – to move

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Global state of affairs Zika virus spreads, as does the talk of reproductive rights Caitlin Manz COLUMNIST

Brazil has had over 4,000 cases of microcephaly reported since last October.

All of them are linked to the surge of the mosquito-spread Zika virus, which is dispersing wildly throughout South America.

Microcephaly is a condition where infants have a below-average head size due to incomplete brain development. This leads to problems including seizures, sight and hearing loss or developmental delays, as well as movement and balance issues. While Zika terrorizes families and unfortunate infants alike, it harbours potential for a strong argument for pro-choice in reproductive rights.

Zika’s quick spread, and its debilitating

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— KYLE PAPILLA

“Name one genius that ain’t crazy” – Kanye West

the receiver towards feeling something, anything. Who created it should have no bearing on the effect or quality of the piece.

People who have done heinous things have created a lot of great art. What some pop musicians are doing are rarely heinous — usually just embarrassing and strange — but their actions do influence how we view them.

I gave more thought to how the actions of the artist impact the art when I learned about the life of Bob Brozman, a musician I admire. He’s accused of doing some serious

crimes but took his own life before any proceedings could take place. I haven’t been able to experience his music the same way since I have learnt about this side of his life.

On one hand you have the brilliant music and the artistic contributions made to the world and on the other hand you have a deeply flawed person. The art world is full of dark souls who treated people poorly and abused others. It’s full of addiction and lost lives – yet the art remains present. I’ve

effects on newborns, has pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a Global State of Emergency, as well as put pressure on scientists to develop an antivirus. Brazilian scientists have paired with scientists from the University of Texas to work on the vaccine, yet the country’s health minister, Marcelo Castro, stated that it won’t be commercially available for another two years.

Furthermore, Zika has also been observed to be transmitted sexually, and appears active in the blood. The director of the United States Center for Disease and Control (CDC), Dr. Tom Frieden, told CNN, “There have been isolated cases of spread through blood transfusion or sexual contact.

The virus is in the blood for a week. How long it would remain in semen is something we're working on now.”

Women in Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia, Jamaica, as well as Puerto Rico are being warned to avoid pregnancy.

Nonetheless, abortion is illegal in these countries, and contraceptives are not widely available. In Jamaica, Colombia and Ecuador, abortions are allowed only if the

woman’s health is at risk, or if she is victim of a sexual crime. In El Salvador, abortions are illegal under any circumstances, and women can face up to 40 years in prison for aggravated homicide if they illegally terminate a pregnancy.

Monica Roa, a lawyer who helped win the Colombian court challenge in 2012, giving women the right to terminate pregnancies in cases of rape, fetal abnormality, or maternal health concerns, told the Globe and Mail that she views the epidemic as “a big crisis, a tragedy and an opportunity.”

“Given the situation in El Salvador, what are women going to do? Are we going to see an increase in the rate of unsafe abortion that leads to an increase in maternal mortality? Or an increase in prosecutions of women having illegal abortions? Or a generation of microcephalic babies?” she questioned.

So what are women to do amid such an epidemic? Governments advise simply to not get pregnant, to avoid being bitten by mosquitos and to use condoms — not easily obtained in conservative, South American countries still dominated by the Roman

heard people say that whatever actions and lifestyle choices an artist takes is necessary for their art to come to fruition – I would rather have my art free of abuse in its creation, but history may say otherwise.

Bad people have often made the masterpieces of the world. Whether they can be free of their maker is something I have yet to figure out. The fingerprints and their DNA are entwined in their creations – perhaps it’s impossible to separate the art from the artist.

Catholic Church.

Amnesty International’s director of campaigns, Juliana Cano Nieto, stated that “I don’t see the government telling men anything – they are not telling men what they can do to prevent the Zika virus.”

Men certainly need to be a part of the conversation, considering how in El Salvador, 40 per cent of babies are born to teenage girls. Across Latin America, 60 per cent of pregnancies are unplanned. The government can’t, however, order citizens to avoid the most natural type of contact between one another. Furthermore, a woman’s only defence against their unborn children’s potential disabilities cannot simply be to avoid being bitten by the mosquitos that are currently swarming South American cities.

Many lawyers, scientists and activists are preparing to face the Brazilian Supreme Court, with hopes that the government will help those plagued by Zika. The outdated, religious legislature is forcing women to take matters into their own hands. If not, they’ll end up enabling a generation of suffering children to be born.

ARTS & CULTURE Eight crazy days MOPA grads compete in filmmaking challenge Carlo Javier EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Keli A. Moore and Marena Dix had those under control while he worked closer with McCarthy. “I work with Joel the most, I kinda know how he works, I know what he needs, what he wants,” Dudsdeemaytha said. The two, along with Charles Chen, are the trio that composes This Is A Spoon Studios, a production company based in New Westminster. “What we do here is a mixture of very different things,” Dudseemaytha said. “We do everything from corporate videos, documentary work, to music videos. Most of the time it’s just the three of us — we keep everything small.”

Although the three are now making a name for themselves in the film industry, they’re not forgetful of the lessons they learned while studying in CapU’s MOPA program. Silva is quick to mention that MOPA’s focus on collaborative work across all departments of a film production resonates with his current work. “I think that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “Every department works with each other, trusting the departments to come together. Without one the whole thing kind of falls all over the place.”

Dudsdeemaytha cites MOPA’s attention to proper industry practices as an essential lesson he learned during his time at CapU, “I’ve done a lot of very bare bones and very guerrilla [style of film making]” he said. “This is a call back to

what I learned in school: following a lot of protocol, the proper paper process, the industry way to make a film, which totally took me a lot of time to get used to again.”

As for McCarthy, MOPA offered a space where mistakes are welcome, “I got to practice a lot, making films where I had a whole bunch of resources and not much consequences if the film turned out to be total shit,” he shared. “It’s kinda like being in that bubble of not quite the real world and having all these people that just want to make film and put this together – it’s a pretty magical feeling.”

Crazy8s is considered one of the best platforms for emerging filmmakers in Vancouver. The program offers tools and techniques that any young and innovative mind can use to bring their ideas to fruition. Most importantly, it’s a space where filmmakers not only get to challenge themselves, but also their audience.

McCarthy expressed his dismay about how with the current landscape of Canadian cinema, often, “safer” films tend to get the most budget while the more thoughtprovoking and boundary-pushing ideas are often relegated to the indie genre. “If I’m doing this with a full volunteer crew and we’re doing this where no one’s getting paid and I’m not getting paid then the most insulting thing we can do is to not take any big risks,” he said.

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Westin Bayshore’s International Suite for free, which would’ve cost $20,000 per day without Crazy8s.

As director and co-writer, McCarthy is involved with much of the heavy lifting for ILYSMIKT. The film is very much a comedy, one that may even push boundaries and create a clear divide among the members of the audience.

“Comedy is about a number of things,” he began. “One is about building a certain expectation for the audience and going somewhere completely different.”

McCarthy was a part of the first group of students to graduate after the MOPA program was expanded with a bachelor’s degree, and since leaving CapU in 2012, he has made a name for himself in North America’s indie movie scene with acclaimed micro budget films such as Talking Myself to Burning Man and Shooting the Musical, both of which he directed. He cites his style as a kind of dark, dude comedy, one that can either elicit laughter from an audience, or sometimes even shock them.

His philosophy very much calls for this division. “You can make audience laugh, cry, you can make them pissed off or offend them… The worst thing you can ever do is bore them,” he said.

Dudsdeemaytha handled the production aspect of I Love You.., but not the budgetary and logistical factors. His co-producers,

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Three days to film and five days to edit.

That’s the challenge that this year’s Crazy8s film contestants had to face.

Crazy8s is one of the most beloved filmmaking competitions in Vancouver.

The program supplies up-and-coming filmmakers with the funding and support needed for the production of a short film.

There are some caveats, though: your script has to be selected from hundreds of applicants and you only have so much time to translate it to screen.

For Joel Ashton McCarthy, Nach Dudsdeemaytha and Ryan Silva, three graduates of Capilano University’s Motion Picture Arts program (MOPA), the challenge was welcomed with open arms.

The CapU alumni are just a few of the filmmakers part of the six finalist films, with McCarthy and Dudsdeemaytha working on the same movie, I Love You So Much It’s Killing Them (ILYSMIKT), a film that tells the story of an office romance from the perspective of dark and twisted female serial killer, and Silva producing Grocery Store Action Movie, a flick that Silva describes as a cross between 24 and Key and Peele.

Crazy8s provides the opportunity for emerging filmmakers to write, workshop, direct and produce a film with access to a wide range of camera, lighting and grip equipment. The non-profit organization began in 1999 and has produced films that have been screened in over 280 international film festivals.

“We decided to do Crazy 8s because a lot of the stuff we were making was extremely low budget, low stakes stuff that we would shoot in our living rooms, our backyard,” McCarthy explained.

For this challenge however, the stakes were much higher, as each crew was faced with the confines of time.

Each crew was given 12-hour filming sessions per day, within the the three filming days. Unfortunately for the Grocery Store Action Movie crew, one of their days was cut short due to the restrictions at Stong’s Market, one of their filming locations. “We only had full control from 11 pm to 7 am,” Silva said, “But we made it work. The people at Stong’s were absolutely fantastic and we got what we needed.”

The filmmakers’ distinctive styles were also challenged by the format and process they went through while filming.

Dudsdeemaytha attested that both he and McCarthy come from an indie background and being able to fit in the scene they wrote within the 12-hour work-day was a test. “We wrote this film and there’s a lot of production value in it and we also had to realize that everything that we do takes time, and you know, time was a luxury on the shoot that we didn’t have much of,” he said.

According to McCarthy, without the support of the Crazy8s platform, production of ILYSMIKT would have cost about $50,000. Furthermore, the cast and crew were able to film inside the

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Everyone's new go-to guy Next stop for one-of-akind vintage clothing Milana Bucan CONTRIBUTOR

Believe it or not, clothing can sometimes follow the same principle as fine wine.

The older it is, the better. Such is the case with the demand for vintage clothing, a subsection of fashion that’s particularly popular within the streetwear culture.

Entrepreneurial soul and vintage clothing enthusiast, Julian Goto, opened up to the Courier about his journey towards starting his very own e-commerce business, The Delicatessen, an online retailer specializing in vintage streetwear

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articles. The site offers noted vintage pieces such as the Pro Player Vancouver Canucks jersey, Active Generation Oakland Raiders button up jacket and Champion Vancouver Grizzlies shooting t-shirt.

Other items include the Ingass AC Milan jersey and even something for the high-end fashionistas, the Visvim Porcella hightops in black.

Goto entered Capilano University’s Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program with hopes of transferring to either UBC or SFU. Although he realized that his creative self couldn’t be content in a highrise cubicle, he recognized the benefits of completing those business courses. “Cap’s BBA program has given me important tools that allowed for my business to have a chance at being successful. They allowed me to do my books, plan photoshoots and get the word out to potential customers without paying someone to help out,” Goto explained. “Accounting, marketing and management classes were all crucial.”

Without the knowledge of running a business, his creative personality and the will to build a place for vintage clothing lovers, his dream would not have come to fruition.

After losing his father to lung cancer in 2013, Goto realized he wanted to do something that he enjoyed doing. “As painful as it was, the experience [of losing someone] shaped the outlook on life that I hold today,” he said. “Life is too short to do things you don’t enjoy.”

Soon after, Goto knew exactly what he needed to do. “Clothing has always been an interest of mine… I was drawn to vintage [clothing] because of the story and uniqueness of each piece.”

Goto had to start believing that anything is possible, and to start shedding his own doubts as to why it wouldn’t succeed.

“Online e-commerce sites like Shopify or Big Cartel make it easy for anyone to sell things online. I worked with a few local photographers to shoot some quality

product images,” he said.

The Delicatessen launched on Jan. 19 of this year, and the name is derived from the exclusivity of products from a classic meat shop. “The Delicatessen is a play on a traditional deli — a rotating and limited inventory, where you never really know what you will find,” explained Goto.

During the early days when fashion was simply his hobby, Goto collected pieces from family members, went to the local thrift store or checked out the garage sales over the weekends. “Today, I have a network of friends that help me source vintage pieces,” he said. Currently, Goto is selling his items strictly online. However, he looks to eventually expand his brand in the future, “My interests and desires are changing all the time. I think it’s safe to say that someday I will design my own line,” he shared.

In the meantime, readers can visit his website, Thedelicatessen.ca, to scroll through pages of unique vintage clothing pieces.

society. For that, Greyson has nothing but praise. “Ivan’s been a tireless advocate for queer youth and for those who push the limits or transcend society’s gender roles,” she said. And although it may seem like an odd choice “to have a non-binary artist headlining our Women’s Day celebration,” Greyson feels it’s an important one. “We believe the movement for gender equity has room to improve the status of women and to expand our understanding of gender in society overall,” she said. In other words, to view the world in a simple binary is limiting — for everyone. Coyote’s

stories allow us to view, and momentarily be part of, a better world beyond binary.

In addition to Coyote’s presentation, CapU’s week-long International Women’s Day Celebration will include a ChatLive, two film screenings and a panel discussion, culminating in International Women’s Day itself on Mar. 8. Coyote’s book, Tomboy Survival Guide, will become available in the fall and will be published

by Arsenal Pulp Press.

Good stories are universal, and those who are interested in hearing a moving story that can cross barriers are

encouraged to attend this free event. “I by no means think this is only relevant to Queer people or Trans people,” concluded Coyote. “I think that personal narratives, one of the traits of it, is its ability to transgress all those boundaries and borders between [people].”

Celebrating International Women’s Day Transcending the binary with Ivan Coyote Steve Tornes

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CONTRIBUTOR

Ivan Coyote is an internationallyacclaimed, well-respected local storyteller and writer. On Mar. 3, they will be coming to Capilano University as the headliner of the International Women’s Day Celebration, presented by the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. The event will be called Neither, Nor: How to Circumnavigate the Gender Binary in Seven Thousand Easy Steps, and Coyote will be reading selections from their book, Gender Failure, as well as selections from their new manuscript, Tomboy Survival Guide, among other works. It will start at 5 pm at the Bosa Centre Theatre.

Storytelling is a powerful medium because it also uses the physical nature of the storyteller as part of the performance.

It uses the storyteller’s speech, expressions and very presence for greater impact.

“Who I am and what I look like and how I inhabit my physical body is a part of that performance,” said Coyote. To hear, to see, to be able to reach out and touch a person in pain or happiness allows words to have a greater, more meaningful effect on the audience. “It offers the artist, whoever they might be, the opportunity to be there and physically interpret the word, which adds a whole other element that’s lost when the word is just put on to a page.”

Devon Greyson, an instructor of Women’s and Gender Studies at CapU, says Coyote’s talk “will focus on gender and particularly expanding our understanding of gender beyond binary; men and women.”

Coyote’s stories often address gender issues in relation to intersectionality, or how gender is used in an oppressive

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For a full list of International Women's Day events at CapU, visit Capilanou.ca/ calendar.aspx.

To learn more about Coyote and their current projects, visit Ivanecoyote.com.

SHORTS

ANTI Rihanna

Cristian Fowlie ART DIRECTOR

THE LIFE OF PABLO Kanye West Carlo Javier EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Amidst his reinvigorated beef with America’s supposed sweetheart, Taylor Swift, and the fiery and hilarious barrage of self-empowering tweets (by form of public revelation of his $53 million personal debt), one thing remains a constant with the mercurial rapper Kanye West – his musical genius.

After some hiccups with the release, West’s anticipated seventh solo effort, The Life of Pablo, was released strictly through the floodgates of the maligned musicstreaming platform, Tidal. The album marks another transition in West’s everevolving sound. He eschews the industrial hip-hop and dancehall influences that served as the foundation for Yeezus and opts to coalesce the brooding, autotune-

In my mind BJ the Chicago Kid Carlo Javier EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLE EDITOR

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BJ the Chicago Kid has made a name for himself as one of hip-hop’s go-to feature vocalists, appearing in standout cuts by Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa. With his latest solo effort, In My Mind the Chicagoan crooner displays what makes him one of rap’s most sought after singers.

BJ boasts a voice that even most established figures in the R&B landscape would be jealous of. He possesses some powerful pipes that pack a wallop yet he bobs and weaves through cords and melodies with ease. Album highlight “Love Inside” has BJ at his best. The

singer has been compared to the great D’Angelo, and truthfully the comparison isn’t really a stretch.

In In My Mind BJ tiptoes around the fine line of overtly sexual, lust-filled tracks and religious, borderline-Christian soul tunes. He sings and begs for sexual desire in “The Resume,” a track that a features talented rapper in Big K.R.I.T. – who for some reason eschews rapping for some head-scratching spoken word. On the other hand, he finds himself referencing Old Testament parables in the biblical “Jeremiah/World Needs More Love.”

This duality, however, seems closer to a crisis of identity than an exercise of idiosyncrasy – which also stands as one of the weaknesses of the album. BJ’s powerful voice lends fantastically well to soulful tunes, as evidenced by the Lamarassisted, “The New Cupid.” However, the album is plagued with tracks that venture too far to the poppy side of R&B. This is his first record since signing to the storied Motown label and exploring radio-friendly sounds that may translate into a pop hit might be fuelled by company pressures.

Finding the right synergy is key, although BJ’s majestically soulful vibe keeps the album together. Overall, the lack of cohesion proves to be too heavy an anchor to drag.

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driven tunes of 808s and Heartbreak with the grandiose of his magnum opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

With Pablo, West reveals new avenues with his sound. Tracks like “Feedback” and

“Facts” have West venturing ever closer towards the trap subgenre that’s become the engine to some of the recent major releases in hip-hop and pop (i.e. Rihanna, Future). Others like “Waves” and “Fade” sound primed and ready for countless playbacks at your nearest club. West still harkens back to his roots though, still displaying the masterful ability to chop and layer soul samples with the finest beats. Evidently though, West isn’t keen on building songs off the foundation of soul samples anymore. Unlike classics like “Through the Wire” and “Gone,” Pablo veers towards sudden and unpredictable injections of soul samples.

As much as he likes to preach about helping the world, he does back it up by getting the most out of his collaborators.

You can expect killer verses from Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper – who stole the show throughout the whole production — but the rest of cast of Pablo really shines as well. Kid Cudi gives pretty much the best thing he’s done in five years, and both Post Malone and Chris Brown really excel in their appearances here. Rihanna is just as consistent as ever and the uncredited Kelly Price shows some impressive pipes.

West is the star though. “I Love Kanye” is a joke unto itself, and in it he amalgamates the humour of the old Kanye with the hubris of the current Kanye like only Kanye can. Marketing for the album was kept solely through his Twitter feed and as much as we hate Tidal, West did made damn sure it went to the top of the apps chart. Plus, he found the rock that Frank Ocean was hiding under. That alone deserves a Grammy.

ANTI was supposed to arrive in 2015.

Leading up to the release came some of Rihanna’s strongest singles: “Bitch Better Have My Money,” positioned RiRi as one of the best rappers of 2015 off of just one song, while “FourFiveSeconds” saw her collaborate with two generational greats – Kanye West and Paul McCartney – for an unexpected folk anthem.

But with each single came another delay, until 2015 had completely passed. Even the massive promotional campaign came to an uncertain halt by the start of 2016. Then on Jan. 28, the album unceremoniously dropped. ANTI was finally here.

It sounds nothing like what Rihanna has ever done, yet somehow it sounds more like the real Rihanna than her other albums – an exhibit of her powerful range, without the overwhelming EDM-heavy background.

And it actually sounds like a cohesive album.

Gone is the scattershot approach where massive EDM hits are interspersed with filler

tracks trying to hit all the popular sounds.

Gone too are all the singles originally intended for the album. ANTI is Rihanna at her most sincere and laid back. It’s a low-key affair of slow jams and R&B ballads, as evidenced by the borderline-folk song “Never Ending.”

The closest we get to a pop single is “Work” featuring Drake. It seems like an unlikely hit, with low-key production, dancehallinspired beats and a mumbled chorus, but like Drizzy’s own “Hotline Bling,” it’s weirdly infectious. The dancehall influence is a nice homage to the music that she grew up with in Barbados. The album is textured with Rihanna’s influences – fuzzy electric guitar, smoky soul and woozy trap production, with a focus always on her vocals. Rihanna explores her voice with playful inflections and charisma, but missing are the powerhouse vocals from older songs like “Stay.”

Taking control as executive producer and songwriter, ANTI is a culmination of Rihanna’s vision and influences, instead of the demands of a commercial audience. The result can be a bit underwhelming coming from a superstar. It’s not a great pop album, nor an exceptional alternative/R&B album.

Still it’s a unique collection, a pop star standing in defiance by staying true to her vision. It helps that the album was already platinum before its release. Samsung bought 2 million digital copies as part of their sponsorship, and distributed them to fans. That’s perhaps the most exciting part. ANTI is on the forefront of an evolving pop landscape. Like Beyonce’s black pride, Nicki’s body positivity and Miley’s foray into gender identity, Rihanna shows us that pop can be personal, political, challenging – and still be successful.

PRIDE WEEK FEBRUARY 22-26

COMMUNITY RESOURCE FAIR Meet organizations including HIM, Positive Living BC, Vancouver Men’s Chorus, Womyns Ware, and Youth Co. (11:30am-1:30pm, LB 195)

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Anti-Oppression (11:30am-1:30pm, LB 195) Qmunity (11:30am-1:30pm, MA 116) Drag 101 (2:00pm-4:00pm, MA 116)

OPEN MIC COMMUNITY DINNER Showcase your talent at the open mic and get to know the different members of your community.

(5:30pm-8:00pm, MA 116)

CHAT LIVE: QUEER 101

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VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO. 18

Two of Caps faculty Ki Wight and Seanna McPherson will be creating discussion around Queer 101: Intersections, Allies, leading into a Q&A. (11:30am-12:30pm, LB 188)

GLITTER EXTRAVAGANZA (Bar None, Vancouver) A night of celebrating with live DJs, drag shows, and a dessert bar.

Where all proceeds will be going back to the community. (9pm, Bar None, 1222 Hamilton St, Vancouver)

FILM SCREENINGS (all screenings take place in LB 195) Thursday, Feb 25, 11:30am Pride (2014)

22 FEB

WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, Feb 23, 11:30am The Way He Looks (2014)

FEB

Friday, February 26, 11:30am Appropriate Behavior (2014)

FEB

23 FEB

25 FEB

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HUMOUR CapU monkeys around with mascot change Primate named CapUchin to replace Jay at upcoming Blues games Andy Rice EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

At a recent Board of Governors (BOG) meeting held on Feb. 16, it was announced that Capilano University is about to embark on a visual identity and brand refresh project to coincide with its 50th anniversary in 2018.

The specifics of the project have yet to be announced, but according to a leaked email obtained by the Courier, the overhaul is set to begin with the university’s beloved mascot, Jay. After decades of faithful service as the majestic symbol of the Capilano Blues athletics department, the 42-year-old bird received notice of termination last Friday. He will be replaced by a capuchin monkey, effective Mar. 1.

In a presentation to the BOG on Feb. 16, CapU president Kris Bulcroft outlined the desire to “articulate and affirm the University’s identity both verbally and graphically” and to “create an enduring, compelling, flexible and versatile graphic identity and brand that illustrates belonging to the international university community.”

A monkey was determined to be the best choice with those goals in mind.

The idea was initially suggested by M.R. Bubbles & Associates, an advertising firm based out of New Westminster. After a competitive bid process, the company was hired in January to research and develop the university’s new mascot.

“We took a good, long look at Capilano

University’s storied history,” said Duane “Tiny” Bubbles, the firm’s president and CEO. “There were many animals considered, but we knew we needed something smart, cunning and cute — and how many animals are all that while having the University’s name built right in?”

The monkey’s name will be stylized as “CapUchin” to make the obvious pun stand out even more. A series of foam mascot suits are currently being constructed by JWB Studios in Burnaby and will soon be presented to the BOG for approval.

Students and faculty members have already begun to criticize CapU’s new choice of mascot, wondering why the blue jay, a species native to North America, was replaced by one that’s only found in Central America and the upper half of South America.

“Your university’s president came to you from south of the border, didn’t she?” said Bubbles. “What’s wrong with a monkey? We’re still pulling from the same hemisphere here.”

Capuchins are considered to be the smartest of the five classifications within the New World monkey family. They’re clever, trainable and generally non-sexist, deferring tribal dominance to both an alpha male and alpha female in their group. Aside from a nap in the middle of the day, the remainder of their time is spent in search of food.

“They’re known to live in large groups of one or two dozen within the forest, but they can easily adapt to areas that have been colonized by humans — much like a university campus,” explained Bubbles. “They can also jump up to three metres, which serves as a constant inspiration for all the talented athletes you have at your school.”

The University’s media relations department declined to comment on the matter, calling this story “a load of monkey business instigated by members of the student press.”

And they’re right — it is.

CSU to spend $20,000 on microwave efficiency study Machines deemed integral to daily operations Andy Rice EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Xiao’s findings, there will be a motion made to replace it at a future meeting. “We may just replace it regardless,” said Taylor. “It’s old as balls.”

When asked whether it was fiscally responsible for the CSU to spend $20,000 on a microwave efficiency study while other more urgent projects like a year-end yacht party and office renovations loomed ahead, Taylor had this to say: “It could be worse. This is about cooking food. At least we’re not cooking the books.”

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of bitcoins, cash and Boston Pizza vouchers.

Xiao will use quantitative measurement to determine the efficiency of each unit’s energy utilization, while also studying each of the influential factors that affect the heating and cooking process. “These include things like the heating body position within the cooking chamber, the type of heating medium being used and the output power of the machine,” said Taylor.

If the CSU’s microwave in Maple is determined to be grossly inefficient in light of

THE CAPILANO COURIER

Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) has found a way to zap some of its surplus cash, by conducting an efficiency study on the microwave ovens found in its two lounges.

“We’ve heard numerous complaints that ours don’t work as well as the ones found in the Nest at UBC or the student union building at SFU,” said Wilson Taylor, executive assistant to CSU vice president of external relations, Taylor Wilson. “We’re very concerned about that and have found it cause for investigation.”

When the University unveiled its first phase of cafeteria upgrades back in January, new microwaves were installed — three by Danby and three by RCA. “That set the bar really high,” said Taylor.

“Stainless steel construction, spacious 25 litre capacity, 900 watts of cooking power — it was an unprecedented move that came way ahead of its time.”

The CSU wasn’t about to be outdone. In response, it purchased two Royal Sovereign models for the Library Lounge and Members Centre, each holding 30 litres and boasting 1,000 watts of pure cooking power.

The machine in the its other lounge, however, has begun to show its age.

Like the microwaves in Birch, it’s also a Danby model, but smaller, older and only equipped with 700 watts of juice.

“Fuckin’ thing sucks,” said a student who asked only to be identified as “Dave” as he attempted to reheat some leftover lamb vindaloo in the Maple Lounge. “It’s about time they started looking into this. I’m going to be graduated by the time my lunch warms up.”

The CSU hired Langston Xiao, a selfdescribed “genius” they found on Reddit, to conduct a series of comparative tests.

He will examine every public microwave on campus, as well as those found at UBC, SFU, Douglas College, BCIT, Kwanten Polytechnic University and Vancouver Community College. A flat fee of $20,000 was agreed upon, to be paid using a combination

CABOOSE Q

HOROSCOPES

THINKING CAP What movie do you think should win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

IF YOUR BIRTHDAY IS THIS WEEK:

With each passing year, it becomes less and less appropriate to still be living at home with your parents.

ARIES (March 21 - April 19):

“I’d pick either Mad Max or Room.

Mad Max is this beautifully done action film and Room is this film that’s perfectly done and can be accessed by anyone.”

— Michael Powell, First year Acting for Stage and Screen

“Spotlight or Room. I would lean towards room.”

— Rachel Heath, First year Acting for Stage and Screen

This week you’ll still be getting over the fact that the only Valentine’s request you got was from PornHub.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20):

There’s nothing that you can’t handle this week — except for work, school, relationships and family

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20):

Your blossoming social life will make you realize just how much you loved not having a social life.

“All I saw was The Martian.”

— Nicco Del Rio, First year Acting for Stage and Screen

“Room. 100 per cent Room.”

— Garath Jones, First year Motion Picture Arts

LIBRA (SEPT. 22 - OCT. 23):

Whatever happens this week, you must stay calm. Seriously, keep like two bottles of Xanex on your person at all times this week.

SCORPIO (OCT. 24 - NOV. 21):

Events this week will remind you that there’s more to life than money and power. There’s also sex and drugs.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 - DEC. 21):

This week will mark the exact moment that time is no longer on your side.

CANCER (June 21 - July 22):

Your imagination is more powerful than ever this week, making it the perfect time to finish work on that Hentai you started.

LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22):

People around you will say you’re aiming too high. Ignore them. Space cowboy millionaire is a perfectly reasonable goal for a

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 - JAN. 19):

You definitely did sleep your way somewhere. Too bad it wasn’t the top.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 - FEB. 18):

Try to enjoy every moment this week. This is as good as it’s going to get for you.

grown adult.

“The Revenant.”

— Yannie Yu, First year Motion Picture Arts

“The Revenant.”

— Leonardo DiCaprio, Golden Globe winner

VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 21):

Be careful of who you share you’re outlook on life with. Not everybody believes there’s a secret elevator connecting Earth to the Moon.

PISCES (FEB. 19 - MARCH 20):

The rest of your week will be spent trying to figure out what the nearby strip club meant when they advertised their “Amateur Junior Night.”

SUDOKU

THE CAPILANO COURIER

VOLUME 49 ISSUE NO. 18

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