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November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
The Dalhousie Gazette
5
Flawed Phoenix pay system shortchanges, frustrates students JESSICA CAPARINI
Ceilidh Bray thinks she was paid properly for her summer job, but she can’t be sure. The third-year Dalhousie University student worked as a lifeguard at Kejimkujik National Park over the summer, a job that put her into the federal government’s flawed Phoenix Pay System. As a result, she received no pay stubs for her work. It’s “excruciatingly annoying, as I’m a full-time student, I have another part-time job and I juggle a social life,” says Bray. “I’d rather not have to worry about something that the government promised me in my contract.” Federal government employees were forced to make a rocky transition to the Phoenix system earlier this year. Some 80,000 public servants reported problems with their pay. The government’s self-imposed deadline for fixing pay issues was Oct. 31, but before the end of the month it reported there were still more than 30,000 cases to sort through. University of Alberta student Keziah Lesko-Gosselin is one of these cases. She’s missing around $800 from her summer work with the Department of National Defence. Although several of her co-workers’ pay problems were resolved in early September, hers was not. “It’s annoying . . . that could cover four months of groceries. It’s a big deal as a student,” says Lesko-Gosselin. “It’s giving me a bit of anxiety too because I don’t know if I’m ever going to get it at this point.” Like Bray, she hasn’t received any pay stubs, despite requesting them in early September. Many of her inquiries have been ignored or she has been asked to repeat information she
already submitted. She can’t be sure how much the government actually owes her. “They’re not doing anything,” she says. Through its Federal Student Work Experience Program, the government hired about 9,000 students this year for casual and summer work. Because they were new hires, students were disproportionately affected by pay issues. Many were overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all. As well, those who worked seasonal positions can’t access the online Phoenix system because it’s only available on the Government of Canada’s network. In August, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa asked students who had been affected by the flawed pay system to contact them. The universities said they would work with students on a case-by-case basis to assist them until they received their payments. In Halifax, no university appears to have extended this offer. Staff at the University of King’s College didn’t discuss the issue before classes began, says Catherine Read, who works in the registrar’s office. Representatives of King’s, Mount Saint Vincent University, Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University say that no students have come forward with problems due to the Phoenix system. If King’s students are waiting to be paid for summer work, they can apply for an emergency loan or for a bursary. The application process “is pretty straightforward,” says Read. “We try to accommodate people as best we can.” Originally published on The Signal. Re-printed with the permission of the author.
‘It’s annoying . . . I don’t know if I’m ever going to get (the unpaid wages) at this point’
4
News
News
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
The Dalhousie Gazette
7
Halifax Humanities searches for new director Mary Lu Redden retiring after 11 years on the job ALEX ROSE
Her successor will need a diverse skillset to handle these This spring, Mary Lu Redden will walk away from the most I help people in their sort of intellectual journey. I’m there important thing in her life (aside from her family) when she as a support, I ask questions in class that I think will help diverse duties. “I think about it a lot. I do worry about it a bit,” Redden says with regards to the board hiring her replacement. clarify things.” retires as director of The Halifax Humanities Society. Redden is the only director in the charity’s 12-year history, Although attending class is the main focus of her job, “But I’m confident that they’ll find someone.” Whomever the board chooses to replace Redden will need which hired her after its pilot year. Over the past 11 years Redden also recruits and support students, orders books, Redden has watched the society develop and expand, its prepares reading material and classroom refreshments, and to make the most of limited assets. graduates learn and grow, and herself fall in love with her job. ITEM COST ($) CALCULATIONS Halifax Humanities is a registered charity “dedicated to enriching the lives of those living in material poverty, through Program Director 27,360 Annually, 47 weeks @25 hours per week education in the Humanities.” Its core Lecturers 1,125 Honorarium and expenses program, Halifax Humanities 101, provides Section Coordinators 2,400 Honorarium and expenses free and accessible classes to underprivBooks 6,000 At least two books per curriculum section ileged community members on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at the Halifax Papers, Pens, Binders 1,700 40 students @ $50 each North Memorial Public Library. Cultural Events 3,000 Based on 2009/2010 expenses The eight-month program has a “chronoTransportation tickets 3,500 Presumes that 20 students need bus logical curriculum focusing on “Great Childcare 1,800 Subsidies of $30 per class for 1 student Books” of Western culture.” Halifax Humanities also provides a seminar on Wednesday Refreshments 1,500 Nutritious snacks at each class afternoons available to all graduates of its Graduation Ceremony 1,500 Invitations, refreshments, certificates 101 program. Over the years, professors from Advertising 1,100 Reproduction of posters, flyers etc. eight different universities have volunteered Bookkeeping 0 Provided by volunteer treasurer to teach classes for the charity. When Redden was first hired as director Annual Audit 800 she taught some classes as well, since she Office and Administration 2,015 Computer, telephone, supplies has an academic background in English and Office Assistance 1,200 3 hours per week for 8 months the philosophy of religion. But she quickly Total 55, 000 realized she wasn’t interested in teaching, especially as her job evolved and she took on more and more duties. This table shows Halifax Humanities’ budget for the 2010/2011 academic year, for a total budget of $55,000 and an average cost per student of $2,500 per year As the only employee, Redden is responThe budget has changed somewhat in the intervening years. sible for every facet of the small charity. And on top of that purchases bus tickets. responsibility, she attends every class. She fundraises, runs media campaigns, and maintains For one thing, the director makes more money—Redden’s “The main focus of my job, I think, is to ensure that the the program’s profile. And on top of all that, she works with salary last year was $33,617. She is also the only compensated classroom setting is safe and supportive, because we do have “a number of community organizations involved in adult position at the charity. She still has an assistant to help her during the classes, but he is not on the payroll. students with a lot of vulnerabilities,” she says. “But also that education, non-profit management, and poverty advocacy. 6
The figure above shows that from 2010 to 2015, the budget increased from $55,000 to $71,237
Halifax Humanities also has more money to work with now. Susan Dodd, an original board member, says Halifax Humanities was not always this financially stable. Dodd has done almost as much for the charity as Redden: taught classes; coordinated a section; sat as vice-chair; and fundraised, which was the most unfamiliar to her but also the most necessary. “The first couple of years, as Mary Lu always reminds us, she basically was fundraising to pay her own wages. It was very financially unsteady,” says Dodd. But that was partially by design. “We don’t have government funding… and that in a way frees us to provide the curriculum that we want to provide. So we’re not bound to government legislated outcomes.” Now that Halifax Humanities is gradually increasing its revenue, it is considering expanding into other types of programming. “We’ve talked quite a bit about possibly doing something in seniors’ buildings,” says Dodd. She also mentions homeless youth and prisons as possible areas for expansion. “Anywhere that there are people hungry for intellectual life, and isolated… because of external barriers (such as poverty, mental illness, problems with housing, etc.).” Halifax Humanities is already breaking down some of those barriers. The current courses are offered to “people who live on assistance, disability, pension, or with other financial
constraints… those who seek a community beyond the isolation that can be imposed by economical, physical, and social barriers.” According to Redden, the charity hopes that its students have an income below $24,000, and in fact most students make well below that. Because it serves underprivileged community members, Halifax Humanities must make its programs accessible. One way it accomplishes this goal is by paying for transportation; in 2015 Halifax Humanities spent $3,452 on travel and vehicle expenses. Tim Blades, a student in Halifax Humanities 101 this year, says the free transportation is imperative to accessibility. “In this day and age where the department of community services is cutting transportation, that alone is immense.” Blades takes the bus to class from Dartmouth. So far, the program is living up to his lofty expectations. “I actually applied probably eight months before I should’ve. I would’ve taken it back then if I could,” he says. “It’s expanding my mind… really got my head spinning, in a good way.” As the charity has grown, so have its avenues for fundraising. Dalhousie law students hold an annual event to raise money, and the charity has done marathon readings of Homer’s Odyssey.
For its tenth anniversary Halifax Humanities self-published an anthology about the society called Each Book a Drum, and sold copies for funding. In-kind donations, though, are perhaps the most vital to the charity’s continued success. Teachers volunteer their time, libraries volunteer classrooms, and St. George’s Church volunteers office space. Dalhousie and St. Mary’s each provide $2,000 worth of books, which saves Halifax Humanities $4,000 out of the $6,000 worth of books they need. Neptune Theatre, Opera Nova Scotia, the Symphony, and other cultural institutions provide tickets for Halifax Humanities students in order to open up privileged spaces for people who wouldn’t usually have opportunities to experience them. “That keeps our budget really kind of manageable. If we paid for meeting space, paid for office space, paid for all of our books, it would be much more costly to run this,” says Redden. As her career with Halifax Humanities comes to and end, Redden reflects on how working for the charity has transformed her. “It’s made me a deeper reader… I’m a more confident public speaker… and I think it’s made me more organized.” But more than that, “nothing in my life apart from being a wife and a mother has been as important to me as this job… It’s been an incredible labour of love for me.” News
Opinions
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
The Dalhousie Gazette
9
What does free tuition look like? Is it even practical? MATT STICKLAND
In early November, students marched the streets of Halifax demanding free tuition. It was loud, there was anger, there was politicking and there were signs and chants. There was no mention of what free tuition might look like to implement. In New Brunswick, the government decided to give free tuition to students whose families made less that $60,000 a year. However, they didn’t increase the funding to students overall. That free tuition came from other student loan funds. If you didn’t qualify for free tuition, the government also couldn’t afford to give you as much in loans. In Newfoundland the government cut all student loans and made them non-repayable grants. For students this was great, but not so much for the average taxpayer. Paying for university cost the government $538 million and added considerably to the province’s debt. The government borrowed $1 billion to pay for the grants and reduced funding to Memorial University. So if those two examples didn’t work, what would? How does a province make university free? If the province promises to pay all tuition there is nothing stopping universities from raising the price of schooling.
Universities are currently for profit, so what’s their motivation to keep tuition low if the government is just going to start throwing money at them? Another option would be to build a provincial university in Nova Scotia that would offer free tuition. Perfect, what does that cost? Demand to attend would be huge. It would cost a lot to build a school today that is even similar in size to Dalhousie. The lowest ballpark estimate for this hypothetical project is hundreds of millions. Dalhousie’s operational costs this year are $404 million. Nova Scotia’s budget had a surplus of $17 million this year. Where would the money come from for this school? Would there only be one school? Would the government have to build multiple schools to make room for all potential university students? Considering how the provincial government is facing a potential teachers strike because they don’t have room to increase their education budget, the option of a provincial university is likely out from a financial standpoint. The federal government is the logical choice to create a state-funded postsecondary education system and they
could probably swing it financially. But because education is provincial, a constitutionally mandated jurisdiction to federally run postsecondary education would likely open up a constitutional challenge. So what are we to do? I don’t have a good answer for that one. It’s easy to be an armchair activist and armchair politician. Education is important, university is important. But is it important for everyone? I was in charge of a warship and submarine without having a degree. My brother is making a living as a musician having toured with Coldplay, Alessia Cara and in January is touring across the country with Matt Good. Christy Clark is the premier of B.C. None of us currently have a degree. Free education absolutely needs be available to those who need it. It should be available to those who want it. But it will likely never really be a priority because logistically it’s damn near impossible to integrate it into or replace our current system. And we already get 13 years of free education. If you can’t get a job with your degree, then that’s an article about our economy, not our tuition price.
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Free tuition: European examples Could they work in Canada? ERIN BROWN, NEWS EDITOR
While some European countries claim to have free university education, the fight to eliminate tuition fees in Canada rages on. However, the idea of free tuition may not be one that works for Canada. One of the key reasons: enrollment rates. Last year, Germany abolished tuition fees for students, and made public universities available for those who preferred a more economical education. If you are an international student, there are additional fees you have to pay, but overall it is more affordable than tuition prices for international students in Canada. In Germany, only 27 per cent of the youth population attend a post-secondary institution, compared to Canada’s 64 per cent—making Canada one of the most educated countries in the world. Because the cost of education is on the state, and the state pays per student, free public universities in Germany have a limited number of applicants they can accept. Entry to the schools are based on three main criteria: • The student's grade point average • The major subject courses they took in secondary school • Whether they have any vocational, professional or employment experience based on what they wish to study. These requirements cause waiting lists, and it can take several semesters for some students
to be accepted. Germany offers acceptance to those who have “waited the greatest number of semesters,” according to Freie Universität Berlin’s website. While Canada could adopt this German model of decreasing admission numbers in order for the state to be able to pay for tuition, it would mean cutting the number of post-secondary students in Canada nearly in half. So, Germany might not be the answer. How about Norway? Norway is one of the richest countries in the world because of its oil and gas revenues, and pays for students' education at all 20 of its accredited universities. Of the success stories of making post-secondary education accessible to students, Norway is one of the leading examples. But, 20 universities funded by one of the wealthiest countries in the world may prove to be a significantly easier task than funding Canada’s 98 universities. There are 283,115 students enrolled in university in Norway compared to Canada’s 1.7 million students. While free tuition for post-secondary institutions could be a very real possibility for Canada, there has yet to be a successful example of how Canada could implement it without significantly lowering acceptance quotas or decreasing the number of the universities across the country.
In Germany, only 27 per cent of the youth population attend a postsecondary institution, compared to Canada’s 64 per cent
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Opinions
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
The Dalhousie Gazette
11
A day, not a season in the protest machine Slacktivists unite ROB CSERNYIK
Student debt exists Even after All Out has gone silent TERI BOATES
I have a lot of student debt: $35,904 to be exact. That’s about $10,000–$14,000 a year depending on how much I work during my “pre-study period.” Because I’m the first person in my family to go to university, my parents call me their “shining light of hope.” I don’t know how I’m supposed to be prophetic when I feel guilty, worried and doubtful due to the amount of money I owe. In comes All Out: a different “shining light of hope” for students sitting on negative bank balances. It took place on Nov. 2, with students across Canada marching in protest to lower—or even eliminate—student tuition fees. I marched on Nov. 2. After a few hours of marching, shouting and waving around signs (mine was homemade Photo by Erin Brown
with my total debt scribbled along the backside of an old tattered Scott Pilgrim movie poster), the protest disbanded with many of its participants going to an after party. But for the students swimming in debt, there’s no reason to party. I find it hard not to have conflicting opinions about the event. On one hand: this is an issue where all students, university faculty and the public are welcome to share their voices. I love hearing other people’s opinions, and regardless if the issue affects them or not, they are entitled to their say. On the other hand, the protest was routine, featuring similar signs seen every year held up by a majority of people who only know the statistics shared with them—not the reality. Every year All Out is organized—thank you
to the organizers by the way, it can’t be easy—and it starts a dialogue. Unfortunately, it’s the same dialogue year after year. The police are accommodating by stopping traffic and keeping public safety, the legislature was aware of the protest weeks in advance and the universities excused students from class so they could attend. There needs to be a change—a radical change—in how we, the people, tackle student debt. Not just during All Out, but frequently, strategically and courageously. This way, all Canadians who want, and deserve, post-secondary education have the opportunity made available to them. Not just for people like me, who leave university with a degree and $40,000 in debt, but for the people who don’t get the opportunity for post-secondary education at
all. Those who live in poverty but still have a craving for knowledge. Because who knows, those people may be the ones to cure a disease, open your favourite business, start a revolutionary website, deliver your first-born or study our changing climate. Whether the answer is more grants and fewer loans, lowering tuition fees or eliminating them, I don’t have a solution. I also don’t have the answer to how we can achieve these goals. But what I will say, is that if we want to see an end to outrageous student debt, we need to do more than shout on the streets for one day before abandoning our signs on the legislature building’s fence, where they in no doubt will be thrown away by the same people causing fees in the first place.
Taking in the speeches and the atmosphere at the All Out rally, nothing in me was stirred. Perhaps this is because, having a bachelor’s degree already, I would not benefit from the promise of free tuition in the same way that many attendees could. Perhaps this is because I have yet to hear a concrete plan of how education can be made free. To date, I’ve only heard assertions that it should be and promises that it can be. Perhaps this is because I lived in Montreal during the Printemps Erable (Maple Spring) and many nights, close to 11:00 PM, I could hear the clank of pots and pans off in the distance as protestors roamed the streets. Creating a viral moment for a cause doesn’t correlate with true action or change—just ask Joseph Kony. More than a one-time protest with glossy, professionally-printed signs and a Snapchat filter, students should be focused on an ongoing dialogue about fees at their individual institutions. Protests like All Out are the offline version of slacktivism. Just as you might share a link or like something on Facebook, you can now parade through the streets with a sign, once, and feel as though you, yourself, are integral to a movement. As disheartening as the Maple Spring was—the province in turmoil, tempers flaring, Montreal often grinding to a halt— you had to admire the dedication of those involved. Even I— grudgingly—admired their victories along the way. Protestors weren’t giddy at the thought of getting “amnesty” from classes for the day to go wave around a sign. Many went on strike with a degree of recklessness—consequences be damned. One of my big concerns reappeared in the stump speeches at the rally before the All Out march on Nov. 2: the conflation of the terms “free” and “accessible.” If you listen closely to the rhetoric you’ll hear both terms used interchangeably. Free education is not necessarily accessible. A 2007 paper from Mark Frenette “Why Are Youth from Lower-income Families Less Likely to Attend University?” found 96 per cent of the reasons to be observable. How much was related to finances? A mere 12 percent. Meanwhile, 84 per cent of the gap was accounted for by differences including student marks, parental influence and the quality of high school the student attended. Accessible education is not necessarily free. Dispatching other definitions of accessible, and focusing solely on financial, I don’t believe the argument holds that getting a university degree is inaccessible in Canada. There are a variety of options for students of even the most Photo by Patrick Fulgencio
limited means. There are student loans, grants, merit and need-based scholarships. Students can work part-time while at school or full-time during summers to help defray costs. They can start their degree at a community college and transfer. They can take a gap year to work if they need to. While yes, there are trade-offs to be made, there are options for students who need them. I’m not sure why the terms free and accessible are interchangeable. I don’t want to believe that those making stump speeches on the topic haven’t drawn the distinction, but it does feel that way. It’s a convenient narrative that once education is free it will revolutionize our society. One line of thinking that came up at the rally was another variation on the old chestnut that we’re all trapped in little boxes by society. One speaker refused to buy into the narrative that “they” are trying to sell us. The narrative being “that post-secondary education is only good as a personal economic investment that only serves to oil up the cogs of this economic machine.” Oh, please. Again, the shifting sands of the narrative try to paint a picture of good (education) triumphing over evil (capitalism and an uncaring government). The protesting students are suddenly David; everyone else is Goliath. It’s important to note that the protest itself was a cog in a larger machine. Observant protestors surely noticed the
CFS—Canadian Federation of Students—logo all over their signs and swag. The CFS is a lobby group, and, as a cursory Google search will show, an organization that is subject to a lot of criticism that it’s not effective at fighting for the interest of their student members. A 2013 National Post article addressed these controversies, including the lawsuits some schools found themselves involved in when they tried to break ties with the organization. The Cape Breton University Student Union settled a lengthy court battle with CFS earlier this year. Before the out-of-court settlement, they were going to be on the hook for over $500,000 in assorted fees and damages. Perhaps this is why the CFS, an organization that is funded by students and has been in costly legal battles with other student unions looks at the concept of free tuition and thinks: “Sure, why can’t it be?” Opinions
Opinions
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
The Dalhousie Gazette
13
“(The statue) is an excellent way to make someone feel less human.”
The Cornwallis statue debate
Should this symbol of colonialism be removed? You decide. GEORDIE SUMMERS-LUBAR
Removing the statue of Edward Cornwallis from its downtown Halifax location has been the subject of debate for years. On one side, people say that the statue honours a man who took Mi’kmaq land and committed various atrocities against the Mi’kmaq people, including scalping. On the other side, people say that Cornwallis is historically significant to the founding of Halifax and that removing the statue is equivalent to erasing history. To properly understand this debate, it is important to know the context in which the statue was built. Dr. John Reid, a St. Mary’s University history professor who has studied Cornwallis, says that during the interwar period, members of the Nova Scotia elite were worried that allegiance to the British Empire was weakening. To counter this, they wanted a symbol that would renew Nova Scotia’s sense of belonging to the empire. “The idea was to rebrand Cornwallis as the founder of Halifax, and to attribute to Cornwallis heroic qualities that justified him being put on a statue,” said Reid. The statue was unveiled in 1931, on the 182nd anniversary
of the arrival of Cornwallis in Nova Scotia. Dr. Reid says that before the statue, there had only been one stray reference to Cornwallis as the founder of Halifax. The statue first became controversial in 1993, when Mi’kmaq writer Daniel Paul released the book We Were Not the Savages. Paul recounts the treatment of the Mi’kmaq people by Cornwallis and the early British settlers. Among other things, the book describes the British taking land from the Mi’kmaq people, attacking their communities with the aim to drive them out of Nova Scotia, and putting a bounty on their heads. The latter is known as the scalping proclamation. It is named after the practice of killing someone, then cutting off their scalp in order to have proof of the kill and receive compensation. While the British use of this tactic was widespread, there is also evidence of Mi’kmaq raids on Dartmouth where British people were scalped. Dr. Reid says the issue at the heart of the conflict between the British and the Mi’kmaq people was land. “The British were taking territory that had never been given to them.” Aside from his dealing with the Mi’kmaq people, Cornwallis was in charge of establishing a new British settlement that would rival the French settlement, Louisbourg. After establishing Halifax, he governed the settlement for three years before requesting to return to England. 12
So how does the statue resonate today, now that we have a better understanding of the historical context of the man? Lara Lewis, a Mi’kmaq student at King’s College, thinks the statue should be taken down. She says the statue is “an excellent way to make someone feel less human.” When asked about the idea that removing the statue could be erasing history, she countered by pointing out that the statue does not portray an accurate history of Cornwallis in the first place. Daniel Paul has a similar view. He thinks that if First Nations and white people want to have a better relationship, the statue should be removed. He says, “I don’t see much in reconciliation when you have a statue and a park named after a colonial individual that made an effort to exterminate a race of people, The Mi’kmaq people.” There is also concern about the message the statue sends about Cornwallis. Dr. Reid says, “When you have somebody on a pedestal in public place of that kind, then what you are doing essentially is validating that person.” He also says that continued presence of the Cornwallis statue normalises the colonial process. With his chest puffed out and his head held high, the statue makes Cornwallis look noble. There is no mention of scalping, taking Mi’kmaq land, or 20th century royalists framing him as the heroic founder of Halifax. Last year, in Ukraine, a heroic-looking statue of Vladimir Lenin was transformed into Darth Vader. This happened after factory workers complained about having to walk by the Soviet era leader everyday on their way to work. So far, there have been no proposals to transform the Cornwallis statue. Both Dr. Reid and Daniel Paul say the statue should be taken down and put in a museum. Dr. Reid says that doing this would not be an act of hiding history as some people suggest. A museum is a “vibrant public space, we could even put up interpretive panels for discussion and debate,” he says Currently, there are no plans to remove the statue. But the attention that this debate has garnered over the years shows the importance of public symbols and who our society chooses to honour.
Climate justice: An issue of basic human rights Understanding the necessity of divesting MONICA NELSON
When talking about climate change, we are used to hearing alarm bells like “catastrophic warming”, “global sea level rise”, and “habitat loss”. Such terms trigger thoughts to protect our environment and biodiversity. While that’s part of the concern, the reality is that the implications of climate change are further reaching than maintaining picturesque places, wild animals, and pretty plants. The climate justice movement is, at its root, concerned with the welfare of the world’s peoples, particularly the most marginalized. Time is running out. Time has already run out for millions around the world. Families are losing their homes, food and water scarcity are real threats, people are forced to stay indoors due to air pollution and tropical diseases are spreading. Inhabitants of countries like Libya and Kiribati are being displaced and even dying due to climate change; they no longer have time to debate how to implement climate mitigation measures. All the while, too many Canadians live comfortable lives, taking their social security for granted and rarely thinking twice about their role to play in the all of this mess. At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Canada committed to keeping the world well below 2°c of warming. This sounds like a success, but the Trudeau government has refused to
adopt strong emissions targets that reflect this commitment, instead adopting the same low targets as the Harper government. Trudeau continues to approve fossil fuel projects, subsidize the industry and has been considering new pipelines. While the burning of fossil fuels is not the only cause of global warming, it is the one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
“greening” our economy while continuing “business as usual”. Instead, it’s essential to start a conversation about shifting away from a fossil-fuel based economy entirely. One way to build pressure to pursue this change is through divestment. Investing in fossil fuels places a seal of approval on an industry whose profit model depends on wrecking our future. We have reached a tipping
Dalhousie University, a self-proclaimed leader in sustainability, has about $20 million invested in fossil fuels. Climate policy conversations in Canada are currently disconnected from the decisions made over the type of infrastructure that is built and the endeavours that are pursued. This is because current assessments for infrastructure are based on a “business as usual” global market economic analysis trajectory of burning fossil fuels. But a “business as usual” scenario is consistent with a 6°C warmer world. Life as we know it will not exist in such a world. How do we avoid this dire, seemingly inevitable future? We need to stop talking about
point where investment returns in renewable energy are now on the rise and green jobs have outpaced oil sands jobs in Canada. Money invested in the fossil fuel industry is money going down the drain. On the contrary, investment funds such as Genus Capital and North Growth Management are fossil free, and are reportedly doing better than funds that invest in fossil fuel companies. And yet Dalhousie University—a self-proclaimed leader in sustainability—has about $20 million is invested in fossil fuels.
Divest Dal is calling for Dalhousie to take the moral high ground and divest from these companies. It is shameful to know the reasons why the Dalhousie Board of Governors voted not to divest in November 2014. Among other things, they feared that withdrawing investment in Shell would result in a lost opportunity to play a major role in oil exploration off the Scotian Shelf. How can this possibly be a concern when we are living in a time when we cannot afford to burn all the oil we have in known reserves, let alone carry out new exploration! Divest Dal has not accepted the Board of Governors’ decision as final. The pressure is still on because the climate crisis is an issue of morality, of equity, of basic human rights. Is Dalhousie a university that puts industry over the rights of its students? A university that lets industry dictate education? A university that endorses the consumption of fossil fuels that threatens our future ability to study what we wish because we will be struggling to survive? If so, this is not a university that can be proud of its environmental status. It is time to stand up for climate justice. It is time to take responsibility for those less fortunate that are living on the frontlines of the climate crisis. It is time to divest. Opinions
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Merry Christmas? Why holiday marketing should wait until November 12th MATT STICKLAND
War is hard to think about. It’s uncomfortable to think about. As we woke up to sugar hangovers on the first of November two things were quickly apparent: chocolate was available at a very discounted price, and Christmas had arrived. All seasonal shelves had been re-stocked with untangled light chains that worked without being sworn at and inexpensive inflatable Santas for those who forget that high-powered fans take a lot of power to run. But it would have been nice if we could have just waited on Christmas until the 12th of November. November 11 is a canonized day in our society. World War I ended 98 years ago to the day. In 1945, World War II ended. It the last generation that truly appreciated that war was horrific, because no one in that generation was spared. After allowing the media full access to the horrors of war in Vietnam, governments have been quite careful to control the images that get out. We’ve romanticized peacekeeping even though many of the men and women who served in places like Kosovo and Yugoslavia are now suffering from PTSD. A total of 121 Canadians have died peacekeeping. We know that 158 members of the Canadian forces were killed in Afghanistan. We’ve all seen the pictures, the raw emotion of ramp ceremonies. The rest of the images are controlled. In a very practical way it makes sense to skip right from Halloween to Christmas. War is hard to think about. It’s uncomfortable to think about. Veterans are a very small segment of the population. They are often not comfortable talking about what they’ve experienced. Military members are often quite used to operating in secrecy. And there are also the incredibly real hardships like: what do stores even put on the seasonal shelves for those two weeks?
This issue is easy to ignore. We wear poppies and go to a cenotaph for the morning, or at least watch the ceremonies on TV if it’s raining. Maybe sometimes we forget altogether until we check the news in the afternoon. It’s not even a nationwide statutory holiday. Don’t we do enough? I get it. Sometimes I’ll even stay in bed on the 11th, trying desperately to sleep the day away so I’m not reminded of the guilt I feel about my actions in Libya. Then I drink myself into a stupor when I’m unsuccessful. It sometimes feels like young veterans don’t exist. The New Veterans Charter, passed unanimously by the House of Commons in 2005, has been largely panned by the people who have had to rely on it. Mainly because if a soldier was injured in Afghanistan on his initial three-year contract or was a reservist he does not have the 10 years required to qualify for a disability pension. The lump sum payment is woefully inadequate and poorly quantifies injuries. Former soldier Bruce Moncur received $22,000 for getting shot in the head while deployed, and was not eligible for a pension. His peers who get carpal tunnel from doing paper work in Canada got $32,500 and if they have over 10 years in the military, they also get a pension. Injuries from paperwork are worth $10,500 more than those received from combat. Soldier On, a charitable organization that provides sports gear and athletic programming to injured Canadian Forces members so they can stay fit after injury, has recently had to cut back on services offered due to lack of donations. Education benefits are not enough for injured soldiers to transition to civilian life. It’s hard to earn a four-year degree when Veterans Affairs will only cover two years of it. No. We 14
are not doing enough. Breast cancer gets a month. Men’s health gets the month of Movember, sorry I mean November. Mental health gets a day that we all tweet about. ALS got ice buckets. Is it really too much to ask for the commercialization of Christmas to fuck off for 11 days so the reality of Remembrance Day is not masked by the glitter of tinsel?
Specialist Jacob William Moore, 21, stares into the distance as he clutches the hand of a seriously wounded comrade on board a medevac air ambulance racing towards Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan, Nov 22, 2010. Photo by Jerome Starkey.
Opinions
Arts
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
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Mining for treasure at Taz Records
Gift ideas, holiday recipes and enjoying your winter break
VINYL MAKING SUBTLE RESURGENCE ON MUSIC SCENE
KAILA JEFFERD-MOORE, ARTS EDITOR
Winter break is coming
JOSH HEALEY
Taz Records is packed with mountains of undiscovered vinyl that threaten to spill onto Grafton Street. Seamus Ryan, a vinyl enthusiast and patron of Halifax’s Taz Records, considers some of his past discoveries. “There’s a great Elmore James album that I discovered there —a real blues artist. Honestly, there’s lots of treasures, even with the artists you know,” says Seamus Ryan, “You find these little known records that maybe aren’t being reissued anymore, but they’ve got them there.” Many of Taz’s customers feel this way, says Skyler Macdonald, an employee at the record shop. That feeling of discovery—of stumbling upon treasures—is what keeps Taz Records going for over 20 years. Now, they’re seeing and nurturing a resurgence of vinyl for a younger generation. “You don’t get the same feeling streaming music online,” says Macdonald. Taz Records is helping this younger generation connect to music in a way that streaming services can’t compete with. “Being able to lay your hands on it—it is like touching the past, like you’re connecting to the roots of music.” There’s a personal touch to the record shop; doing business face-to-face. This is the sense of community Taz Records strives
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for, not only with its customers but with the record industry in Halifax. “We know all the local artists and all the projects we put out. We like to support everybody around the music community. And we have customers who come back every single week just to get different records and CDs,” says Macdonald. Macdonald says by building a sense of community, it enables a positive and competitive atmosphere for the record industry in Halifax. Customers are enthusiasts who want to build their collection. It fosters a sense of ownership. “It’s just really nice to get your favourite album on a record,” Macdonald said. This is a notion that Ryan agrees with. There’s a connection. “When you buy that record, it is your edition, your copy. There may be five or six editions but this one is yours in particular,” says Ryan. Dr. Steven Baur, a professor of musicology at Dalhousie University, says that he believes record shops are offering new generations something that was lost. “I like vinyl. I like the album covers, I like the sound better, even though it wasn’t as pristine. The vinyl has a warmer sound,” says Baur. “I think that’s one of the things that this generation is 16
rediscovering. There was a trade-off.” There’s an attraction to the idea of the vinyl object itself. Enthusiasts want to build their collections and see it visibly grow, something Baur says isn’t offered by the digital recording and distribution industry. “The size of an album is wonderful. It’s almost a ritual to take the LP out of the sleeve, to remove the inner sleeve, and to place it on the turntable. You sit down for an album experience.” His favourite album? Baur grins. “Something by the Beatles—which album is always changing. Sometimes it’s Revolver, sometimes it’s Rubber Soul. It’s been a battle between the two.” With the resurgence of vinyl, there’s a new generation to discover these treasures offered by stores like Taz Records. The Greater Halifax area has an excellent selection of record stores to offer to the vinyl community. Taz Records has two locations; the main store is at 1521 Grafton St. and the second at 1270 Bedford Highway. Two other stores are: Obsolete Records at 2454 Agricola St. and Select Sounds at 1475 Bedford Highway. Collectively, these stores are helping to keep vinyl records available and are apart of a resurgence of LP seen in the last few years.
Whether the semester has gone too fast or too slow, the impending break that’s been dangling over Dal and King’s students like a treat in front of a puppy will be a sweet sigh of relief after finals are over on December 18th. It’s close. So close. When it comes through, don’t forget to enjoy it as thoroughly as possible before coming back for another semester. To start off your break, check out a playlist compiled by Grant Ruffinengo, full of smooth jazzy hip-hop tracks to help you escape the Christmas music on repeat (additional content available online at www.dalgazette.com). Even though the past semester was spent reading, there’s a subtle comfort in choosing what you want to read and having the liberty to put it down if you don’t enjoy it. And then when you’re done—you don’t have to write about it. Amazing. If you’re looking, recommend The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It’s a mysterious read about a boy involved in a tragic accident tied to his mother’s’ death and a famous, lost painting that sends him through a tumultuous childhood and full throttle into adulthood. Photo of cider by Kaila Jefferd-Moore
Gift idea 1
Wrap one of your favourite books in plain white paper or newspaper and gift it to a friend as a simple, cheap, and personable gift to share Gift idea 2
Bake a batch of cookies (additional content available online at www.dalgazette.com) A simple and sweet gift. Decorate them, pop into a cute tin, wrap in a bow and voila —a simple, thoughtful and delicious gift for someone. Or share them with your fam-jam. Quality time with your family is essential to your well-being. Between meeting up with all of your friends and “holiday cheer,” cherish some time with them before you’re off again. Don’t forget to be a slug too, though. There’s no such thing as a break without going over the internet bill because you spent a week of your break on the couch watching both seasons of Narcos. Winter break is supposed to be a break. Go ahead, enjoy the TV binging without the
guilty voice in your head saying “ummm actually, you should be writing that 10-page essay right now.” Although family time is important, sometimes experiencing the freedom of university and then going back home can be just as stressful as it is comforting. You may have a curfew again, or can’t bring someone back to your place after the bar. Maybe this isn’t the trip to let the folks know you got your first tattoo in Halifax. Remember that this break is a good time to unwind and have some chill-time to yourself (and not think about wrapping a present or what to do for New Years Eve for like, maybe five minutes.) If all else fails on the relaxation train try out this amazing Christmas Jungle Juice. Hitting up a nice pitcher of a cozy apple pie cider to warm your holiday spirit and help pull through all the “So, how’s school going? What are you studying again?” questions. Even if you don’t add the rum, this is still delicious and helpful for the questions— just keep water-falling your pitcher and never answer.
To make about 4–5 cups of hot get-me-through-this-dinner cider, here’s what you do: Pour 6 bottles of apple juice into a pot on medium heat. Chop 2 whole apples into matchsticks and add to the pot. Grate ½ an orange into pot. Add 6-7 whole cinnamon sticks; ½ tsp ginger, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon (optional. I really love cinnamon) and 1 tsp nutmeg to the pot. Adjust according to taste. Boil for 15 minutes stirring occasionally; until the apples and cinnamon sticks are soft. Add any preferred dark rum for extra kick and share with a pal.
Arts
Arts
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
Krista’s in the kitchen
Local dietician gives students advice on eating well and staying healthy with new cookbook KATLYN PETTIPAS
Mac and cheese, pizzas, burgers, fudge and cookies. Believe it or not, these foods are being featured in a local dietician’s new cookbook. Krista McLellan lives in Halifax and created a cookbook specifically for students. World food for student cooks features healthy, cheap, easy and quick recipes from around the world. “Although it is pretty healthy,” says McLellan, “I didn’t want to bog students down with a lot of health information. I just wanted them to have a wholesome holistic approach to eating well, so just eating real food.”
“When it is crunch time, like during exams, you have something nutritious and filling that makes you feel good and that you can pull out of the freezer and pop in the oven.” On a tight budget? Students trying to save money would do better to buy items that are local and in season because they’re usually cheaper. McLellan also recommends students “get really comfortable using pulses.” Pulses is a term for foods in the legume family, like beans and lentils. “They’re extremely nutritious,” she says, “high in fibre, high in protein and they are dirt cheap.” McLellan also wants to increase students’ cooking confidence. She’s hoping that her cookbook helps students feel more comfortable in the kitchen.
Eating well is beneficial to your education and your life, but as a former student McLellan has felt the pain of trying to make healthy meals in university. “It can be really stressful,” says McLellan, “when you’re trying to study and balance that with athletics and sometimes a job and volunteering and having a life. It was something that I thought I might be able to help with.” McLellan believes the two biggest barriers for students eating well are lack of time and money. Luckily, she has some advice. For the busy student, she recommends putting a few hours aside every week to cook large quantities of food that freeze well.
“By doing lots of what I call kitchen think recipes, where there’s lots of different variations for each one, both in cooking methods and ingredients, I’m hoping that it opens the door to that.” If you’re anxious about cooking in the kitchen, don’t fret. McLellan doesn’t believing eating well has to be strenuous. “My philosophy is just to eat real food,” says McLellan. “I don’t think that it needs to be overly complicated…I’d say don’t make it too hard on yourself, just try to eat real food instead of super processed junk.” Eating well is important to overall health and wellbeing. She’s hoping this cookbook will help students make healthier decisions. “Food is medicine. If I could help somebody when they’re starting out in adulthood and lay out healthy habits opposed to unhealthy habits, I might be able to help somebody prevent some diseases that are related to diet. That would be the ultimate accomplishment.”
The Dalhousie Gazette
Ramen Mac n’ Cheese
A collaboration of two classics KAILA JEFFERD-MOORE, ARTS EDITOR
Ramen. Two syllables so juicy they make the mouth water. Like many of my university peers, I too have treated my lil’ taste buds to the splendour of the classic salty noodle bowl that is ramen. Mr. Noodles, Ichiban, $0.29 Compliments ramen, Thai street vendor ramen—you name it I ate it. It’s time to take it to a new level. I was inspired when I once watched my roommate throw away the sacred, small, silver packet of salt and sauced her noodles with a spaghetti marinara. It was that moment when I realized I’d been doing my ramen all wrong. As a fan of the classics, I wanted some hearty mac and cheese for a major study session and out of a refusal to go to the grocery store for noodles—lo and behold Ramen Mac and Cheese Mac and cheese is a classic university meal. So is ramen. Why not do BOTH? Together.
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO Act like you’re going to cook ramen as per usual. Boil the water then add 3 packages of ramen noodles without the salt packages. Cook noodles for ONE MINUTE only. Trust me. Drain and rinse those baddies under cold water. Heat 1 Tbsp. butter in a large saucepan then add 1 Tbsp. flour. Cook for 1 minute.
Add 1 cup of milk and keep heating until the mixture becomes frothy and thick. Reduce the heat to LOW and gradually add 2 cups of cheese. Increase the heat to medium and stir in the ramen noodles. Cook for about 1–2 minutes and add more milk if you’d like the sauce looser.
For more punch add sriracha or other hot sauce as desired. Or try adding bread crumbs and paprika on top.
Enjoy serving this dish at any winter parties or to get you through finals season. 18
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2017 Dalhousie University Governors' Awards CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
In 1992, to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Dalhousie Student Union, and to recognize students' contribution to the quality and vitality of the University, the Board of Governors established a set of awards to be known as Governors' Awards. Up to four awards can be made each year, for exceptional contributions or leadership in the extracurricular realm in such areas as university governance, development of a sense of community on campus, community service, internationalizing the campus, visual or performing arts, minority access or athletics. To be eligible, students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 or equivalent. Otherwise, all students— undergraduate, graduate or professional faculty student, full or part-time, at any stage in their academic career—may be considered for an award. Recipients are chosen by a committee consisting of the President, three members of the Board of Governors and the Vice-Provost, Student Affairs. Nominations are invited, but the committee may consider other persons as well. Awards, in the form of a plaque, are presented annually in the spring by the Chair of the Board or designate at the annual Impact Awards Gala Evening.
What does the Dalplex do with our money?
A look into how the athletic part of student service fees is spent
Nominations should include a written description of the student nominee's contribution to the University and up to three letters of support.
NOMINATIONS OPEN: Monday, December 5, 2016 NOMINATIONS CLOSE: Monday, January 16, 2017, 4 PM To assist you in planning your submission, a nomination form can be found at: dal.ca/governorsawards. PLEASE SUBMIT NOMINATIONS TO: The Office of the Vice-Provost Student Affairs, Room 328 Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building Dalhousie University, 6299 South Street P. O. Box 15000 Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2
ALEX ROSE, SPORTS EDITOR
A full-time Dalhousie student pays $153.20 per term for so-called “student service fees.” The university’s website says those fees go to administrative, athletic, and health services, but doesn’t provide a further breakdown of how those funds are distributed. According to the Student Accounts office, $100.70 of that fee goes to “athletics” each term. They couldn’t provide a further breakdown of where that money goes, just that a portion of it goes to the Dalplex. But how does the Dalplex spend its money? Of course a bulk of the money goes to supporting general operations. But Verity Turpin, the Assistant Vice Provost of Student Affairs, says the Dalplex is working on other projects and initiatives that most students might not know about. “Because physical fitness is part of good positive health, the Dalplex is part of an integrated strategy to support our students’ health and wellness,” she says. Dalhousie is currently in year two of this five-year strategy. One component is a student outreach program to increase student use of the Dalplex in terms of both the frequency that students use it and the percentage of the student population that uses it. Roughly 78 per cent of students visited the Dalplex at least once during the 2014–15 school year, which amounted to 12,049 unique visitors. But that still means over a fifth of the student population never once entered the Dalplex. Turpin says the outreach program is designed with those students in mind. She gave the example of certain international students who Photo by Jasspreet Sahib
might be reluctant to utilize the Dalplex’s features. “If they come from a country that doesn’t have facilities like Dalplex, it could be very intimidating... [so] the outreach program will help our students become more comfortable using the facility and accessing the services, and hopefully using the facility more.” Turpin says it’s important for the school that students feel comfortable using the Dalplex because physical health is an important part of overall health. The outreach program is just one way the school is making the Dalplex more accessible for its students. “We used to charge students a certain fee to participate in for-fee fitness classes. And so what we did last year is we used the [student service] fee to offset costs for students to participate in those traditional fee-for-service activities.” The five-year strategy to support students’ health and wellness does more than just promote the Dalplex. It also investigates the ways different types of health interact with each other. Dalplex has piloted an active health project in collaboration with the School of Health and Human Performance, student health services, and counselling and psychological services. Last year, seven students participated in the project, which was run by two students and a faculty supervisor. “Essentially what that pilot project allowed is for fitness to be prescribed for low-to-moderate degrees of anxiety and depression,” says Turpin. “So what the students will be able to benefit from is they work with personal trainers. And those
trainers are students from the school of health and human performance.” It’s important for the Dalplex to broaden who uses its facilities and how they do so, but it’s also important that the facility provide for its base. The three biggest drivers of student activity at the Dalplex are strength training, cardio, and intramural and recreational sports. With that in mind, Dalhousie is building an entirely new fitness centre right next to the current Dalplex. “The purpose of that new facility being built… was the students telling us that our cardio facilities were not adequate. They wanted more,” says Turpin. “The lion’s share of this building is space for cardio, strength training, and high performance workouts.” The new fitness centre will also open up space in the current Dalplex, a necessity for a school that doesn’t have the space to accommodate a number of students who want to participate in its athletic programs. This new fitness centre will be funded largely by students through a $180 annual fee. The fee was approved during the 2011–12 school year, but it won’t come into effect until the new building is operational, which should be some time in 2018. For those students who criticise the construction of the new fitness centre and its accompanying fee, Turpin says its what students asked for. “Students really talked about our athletic facilities not being good. So we had all this primary research coming towards us saying, ‘know what, if there’s one thing you could do, we need to improve our fitness facilities.’” Sports
Sports
November 25, 2016–January 12, 2017
The Dalhousie Gazette
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Emera Oval speed limits holding back elite athletes Track needs $150,000 worth of padding DIANA FOXALL
Alex Carson wants to be a hometown hero Men’s basketball rookie is a proud Haligonian JOSH YOUNG
Rookie Alex Carson hit 5/6 three-point shots for a game-high 18 points in the first AUS regular season game of his career. In 2014, Carson was named a second team all-star in the under-17 men’s basketball nationals, helping Nova Scotia earn bronze. In the same tournament a year later, he was named a first team all-star and scored 28 points in the gold medal game to help Nova Scotia defeat Ontario at Saint Mary’s University. He also won two metro high school boys MVP awards in grade 11 and 12 for Sackville High. “He’s just a big time player,” said his 2015 under-17 and Sackville High coach Jarred Timmons. “I can honestly say in three years of coaching Alex, I can count on one hand how many times I have said ‘wow he had a bad game’.” Carson’s talent caught the attention of universities from Carleton to Princeton. His father, Bruce Carson, estimated that 25 to 30 teams were interested in his son. He said Dalhousie was one of the first teams to show interest. Rick Plato, the Tiger’s head coach, contacted Carson at the end of his grade ten year. Plato had multiple dinners with Carson and his family and organized a tour of the university. Photos by Carter Hutton
He also arranged for Carson to work at Dal’s summer basketball camp with current players such as Sven Stammberger, Ritchie Kanza Mata and Matt McVeigh, allowing Carson to get to know some of his potential teammates. Plato watched Carson play an estimated 30 or 40 times prior to Carson becoming a Tiger. The coach gave advice to Carson at the end of games even though he had not yet committed to playing for Dalhousie. “He really cared about my personal goals,” Carson said. “He just wanted to see me grow as a player before he even knew I was going to be a Tiger.” Carson is working towards a Bachelor of Science and a management degree from Dal’s recreation management program. He also believes Dalhousie is the best school for him to grow as a player “Basketball-wise it came down to where I thought the best fit was for me as a player and where I could grow as a player,” said Carson. “Defensively is where I could make a lot of improvements…and I felt this would be the best fit.” The opportunity to play at home in front of family and 22
friends was important to Carson. If he moved away from Nova Scotia, his family and friends would have to watch him play online. The opportunity to possibly win a national championship at home for a hometown team was also too good to pass up. This season, Dalhousie is hosting the U Sports Men’s Basketball Final Eight at the Scotiabank Centre, which means a guaranteed entry for the Tigers. “Winning it in your home city, it just sounded great to me and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Carson. His final decision was between the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie. Carson had a self-imposed deadline of Christmas of his senior year to make this tough choice. “It was so hard for him because everyone was nice. There were pros to every program, every school. It was difficult,” said his mother, Lisa. The Tigers are going to lose four players next season and Plato hopes Carson’s recruitment allows for more top Atlantic Canadian talent to come to Dalhousie. “I’m hoping by getting Alex, it will open the flood gates.”
The primary goal of competitive speed skaters is to be fast. Faster than their competitors, faster than their previous personal bests, and faster than the records they try to break. The sport is simple. That said, the sport is not the most accessible: facilities are harder to come by than in most sports, and there are far fewer speed skating clubs than there are hockey teams and figure skating programs. But it’s getting better, with kids flocking to rinks after every major winter sporting event, inspired by strong Canadian performances. The Emera Oval in the Halifax Commons would seem to be a solution. It’s the only long track speed skating rink not only in Nova Scotia, but in all of the Atlantic provinces. The Oval was created for the 2011 Canada Winter Games, and remains as a legacy project that benefits the community. In the winter, it hosts a free introductory speed skating program. The classes are run by Speed Skate Nova Scotia, and have been very popular in previous years. Speed Skate Nova Scotia president, Brent Thompson, says the program gets about 45 to 60 participants, with the majority being university students. “I’d like to see the skates being used all week long, not just on one day,” says Thompson. Gear is free to rent throughout the week in addition to the lessons on Saturdays. For recreational skaters, the Oval provides an easy opportunity to try out a niche sport. In contrast, it is the elite skaters who are running into red tape. What was seen as a shining beacon of hope for the development of high performance athletes is now causing problems: some of the top skaters are too fast for the rink. “We’re the only oval east of Quebec City, and—short of an extraordinary effort—we can’t get full use of it,” says Merrell Photo by Patrick Fulgencio
Moorhead, president of the Halifax Regional Speed Skating Club (HRSSC). The issue lies in the safety protection standards mandated by Speed Skating Canada. The sport’s governing body in Canada calculates the amount of necessary padding by multiplying athletes’ top speeds and their weight. For lighter skaters or those who aren’t hitting lightning fast laps, this isn’t a problem. But for heavier, speedier elite male athletes, the Oval’s current level of padding isn’t good enough. “Our officials have made the decision this year that there are certain skaters who aren’t going to be able to skate certain distances on their home oval because there’s not adequate crash protection,” says Todd Landon, high performance coach with Speed Skating Canada. Landon is also the Regional Development Mentor for the organization, and is working with the city to ensure that the facility gets up to speed. “If we’re starting to tell skaters that they’re too fast in competition, that means they’re also too fast for training,“ he says. With the nearest long track rink a ten hour drive away, he hopes that the adequate crash padding will be put in place to allow the local elite skaters to continue their development. “With the right padding, we can host national events that bring in people, that bring in attention, that showcase Halifax,” says Moorhead. “In order to maybe justify the cost, you’d want a good crop of high performance kids, but at the same time, you’re not going to get the high performance kids without the facilities, and so I think it’s a smart investment for the sport.” It’s a chicken and egg problem. The Oval is “in every way regulation” in terms of its capacity to serve as a long track rink for high level competitions, according to Thompson, who is also a speed skating coach and official in addition to his position at Speed Skate Nova Scotia. He says the national federation is
keen to see the Oval host a major event, and the city of Halifax has expressed interest in supporting that, but the issue of safety infrastructure is still a question that needs to be answered. “There needs to be a stronger push to develop long track athletes, high end athletes. They have to travel to Quebec for competitions. And if we had safety and we could have our own sanctioned meets here, that could turn the sport around,” says Kevin Goswell, HRSSC’s vice president. In terms of acquiring crash protection, the main obstacle is funding. The Oval is city property, which limits the ability to attract sponsors to help fund the padding. Emera would be an obvious choice, along with Canadian Tire. Other than that, there aren’t many options that would fit the city’s strict guidelines. Thompson estimates the cost of padding for a rink like the Oval to be in the realm of $150,000—not a small sum to fundraise. At the moment, the president of Speed Skate Nova Scotia says the Oval is holding back four to six local skaters from competing. The limitations of the rink may not seem to affect too many skaters now, but as younger athletes grow and get faster, the number of individuals hampered by the Oval’s so-called speed limit will grow. Thompson has had to scratch some of the faster male athletes from shorter sprint events, because the liability is too high should someone crash while going top speed. While not having the facility would be worse, he—and everyone else involved in the sport in Nova Scotia—hopes a solution will be found that permits top skaters to fulfill their need for speed. Moorhead is also eager to see the Oval used to its full potential, both in training and in competition. “I mean you wouldn’t build a football stadium and never play football in it—I would hope! We’d like to see it used.” Arts
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