TMU students join pro-Palestine demonstrations in Toronto for International Day of Action
By Eyeopener staff
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students joined thousands of pro-Palestine protesters in Toronto on Saturday for an International Day of Action. The protest was in light of one year of war between the State of Israel and Hamas, which has killed thousands of civilians since it began.
The demonstrations began at King’s College Circle on the University of Toronto’s campus before connecting to Yonge-Dundas Square at around 2:30 p.m. More pro-Palestine demonstrations took place in other major cities worldwide.
The protest’s main organizer was the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians dedicated to the liberation of Palestine and its people, according to its website.
“We are here to commemorate one year since the start of this genocide in Gaza,” said Mohammed William, an organizer for the PYM.
A report published in March
2024 by Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine for the United Nations reads, “By analyzing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.”
William said PYM is demanding an arms embargo and sanctions on the State of Israel.
Protesters were also seen carrying Lebanese flags to show their solidarity with Lebanon after Israeli strikes killed thousands of civilians.
A member* of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) told The Eyeopener they joined the students contingent for this rally to show that universities across the province are connected as a unit. The member said there were 14 different schools at the demonstration.
“We are not going to stop voicing our concerns about our institution’s complicity in genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. [We are] here today to stand alongside our fellow students to say, no
City of Toronto asks students and professors for input on Housing Action Plan
By Vihaan Bhatnagar
The City of Toronto is asking the post-secondary community—students, faculty and staff—to share their thoughts and expectations surrounding Toronto’s current housing situation in a new program under the city’s Housing Action Plan for 2022 to 2026.
Since Oct. 1, city representatives have been organizing drop-in sessions at select campuses in Toronto.
more,” said the member.
According to the Legal Information Institute, apartheid is a form of racial segregation that deprives a certain group of their political and civil rights. This is a punishable crime against humanity according to article 7.1.J of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
“The Israeli apartheid regime...it’s continuing its genocide onto the Lebanese people,” they said.
The SJP member said they are demanding TMU disclose their investments, declare a boycott on institutions located on internationally recognized Palestinian land and protect Palestinian students on campus.
The member also called on TMU President Mohamed Lachemi to “make sure his administration is not lying to students and uphold their promises.”
In an interview with The Eye, Lachemi said the university is committed to transparency regarding TMU’s investments and said the school is developing a formal process to review divestment requests from the community to “ensure all concerns are addressed.”
“We are not lying. We are very transparent,” he said.
On Sept. 5, TMU announced that it “affirms that the endowment fund is invested in an ethical pooled fund where ethical filters are applied to exclude companies engaged in such activities as firearms, military contracting and more.”
At around 3 p.m., the demonstration began heading north on Yonge Street before turning west down Bloor Street, with speakers leading the group through a series of chants including, “From the river to sea, Palestine will be free” and “Palestine is our demand, no peace on stolen land.”
The Toronto Metropolitan University session was organized at the Sheldon & Tracy Levy Student Learning Centre on Oct. 2. The city said the plan was well received by the university community.
When asked whether she thinks something good will come out of the initiative, fourth-year performative dance student Meaghan Desmond said, “I hope so, but I’m not sure.”
According to the City of Toronto, the information gathered will inform the development of an Academic Housing Strategy, which is anticipated to be presented to the City Council in early 2025.
A TMU student* at the protest said they were there to show support for Palestine and to demand transparency from the Canadian government as well as universities across the country.
“We just want to show that we’re angry. It’s not gonna die out. This is not something that’s just gonna brush away. We need to do something about this,” they said.
They added many schools in Ontario “have been trying to play both sides.”
“It’s not possible to play both sides, because one of the sides is the oppressor and one of the sides is the oppressed,” they said.
The SJP member said this has been a “very emotional time” for students as many have family in Palestine who have been facing “non-stop bombardment,” both throughout the past year, but also before Oct. 7 and the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“A lot of people think this started a year ago and we’re here to remind people that this did not start a year ago,” they said.
According to Amnesty International, the occupation of Palestine began more than 50 years ago.
The TMU student attending the protest said they felt they had a responsibility to attend and show their support. They added that students should participate in these demonstrations and continue to demand dinvestments from their universities.
“We should just be standing up for humanity and what’s clearly going on.”
*These are TMU students and SJP members who have asked to stay anonymous due to concerns about personal safety. The Eye has verified these sources.
New age restrictions in place at The Met Pub
By Jasmine Makar
The Met Campus Pub announced a new 19+ age restriction on Thursdays and Fridays after 9 p.m. starting Oct. 7.
The previously all-age campus venue released an official statement outlining the new restriction and decision behind the shift. The change is meant to create a “safer and more secure environment,” specifically towards monitoring alcohol consumption and underage drinking.
The restaurant manager at the Toronto Metropolitan University Student Centre, Crystal Pettman, said there was no specific incident that caused the pub to make this
shift, rather a general concern and increase in underage drinking.
“There’s definitely been an increase in underage drinking. The trend of alcohol use with our underage crowd has definitely been on the rise,” she said. “This is more of a proactive approach so that we don’t encounter any safety issues or security concerns” Thursdays and Fridays are days when the pub typically hosts events that tend to draw in a larger underaged crowd, but keeping the rest of the days open to all ages is meant to keep an “environment that was open to our all-age crowds,” said Pettman.
The venue will continue to plan all-ages Pub Nights throughout the year with an increase in security measures as mentioned in the statement.
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
New ‘Land Back’ course launches and memorial walk held on Truth and Reconciliation Day
By Jerry Zhang
On Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Yellowhead Institute launched its new Land Back online course in an informative panel at the Centre for Urban Innovation (CUI).
The panel was followed by a memorial walk at TMU to honour the residential school survivors.
The Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led research centre at TMU, introduced the “Land Back” course. More than 1,000 students have enrolled in the course, according to Megan Scribe, education director of the Yellowhead Institute and an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” she said.
The seven-module asynchronous course is accessible online and is designed for “learners [who] have some introductory or basic understanding of Indigenous concept issues and history in Canada,” said Scribe. Participants can sign up online through the Yellowhead Institute website.
“It’s not just a standard clickthrough course,” said Hayden King, executive director of the Yellowhead Institute and associate professor and advisor to the Dean of Arts on Indigenous Education, during
the panel. “We feature a number of films, podcasts, guest speakers… [and an] interactive website. So it’s a pretty dynamic course that we hope people engage with.”
Scribe explained the challenges in transforming the 2019 Land Back Red Paper report into a multimedia course. The original report analyzes land dispossession in Canada, focusing on resource extraction, Indigenous consent and alternative Indigenous-led economies outside of government policies on land reclamation. “The process...took about a year and a half,” she said. “Modules are broken down into visual, textual and...auditory elements, so it’s an immersive experience ... rather than a text-based report.”
The seven modules, narrated by independent researcher and consultant Tara Williamson, cover topics such as consent, dispossession, recognition, strategies for land reclamation, climate action and the future of Land Back.
“Each [module is] organized into different thematics around colonial dispossession and Land Back,” Scribe said.
The course tackles issues such as consent, denial of Indigenous sovereignty and reclamation.
“How does Canada deny Indigenous sovereignty, deny histories of dispossession? How does it deny ongoing realities of systemic inequities?” Scribe added.
The course also features a short film directed by Damien Gillis and produced by the Yellowhead Institute that was presented to the panel called Return to Gale Creek
“It explores the consequences of a gasoline tanker running aground on the northern coast of [Britsh Columbia] spilling tens of thousands of litres of diesel fuel,” said King. He explained the film “is an example of Land Back in practice.”
Riley Yesno, a Yellowhead Institute research fellow, explained how Land Back challenges people to think about reconciliation more deeply.
“When you say ‘Land Back’ and people get uncomfortable, that’s what you should have been feeling when you thought of reconciliation in the first place,” she said.
After the panel, a silent memorial walk took place. According to the event website, participants were asked to “reflect on what it would feel like to attend an institution like TMU where you couldn’t speak your language or see your family,” and “consider the experience through the eyes of a young child.”
Participants could place paper orange shirts in the soil at the Normal School façade as a symbolic gesture of remembrance.
Mary Snyder, a fourth-year fashion student and member of the Cree-Métis from Michel Nation, Treaty 6, reflected on the silence. Her family attended resi-
dential schools and said awareness on campus is “crucial.”
“It’s easy to talk and to fill the space but it’s harder just to be quiet and listen and reflect in your own thoughts,” she said.
She said it’s difficult being an Indigenous student at TMU and more resources should be allocated to protect Indigenous students.
“There could be more participation from [the school], like more reaching out, more funding,” she said.
TMU President Mohamed Lachemi remarked on the university’s commitment to longterm reconciliation. “Meaningful reconciliation goes beyond just one day,” he said. “It requires a long-term commitment to addressing the historical and ongoing injustices faced by Indigenous peoples in Canada.”
Lachemi highlighted TMU’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including the release of a summary report on future steps of “Indigenization”, work by the Standing Strong Task Force and support services such as peer groups and Indigenous counseling.
To Snyder, the limited participation of non-Indigenous students in Truth and Reconciliation Day was “disappointing.”
“It made me a little sad that more people weren’t wearing an orange shirt, that more people weren’t participating and something as simple as taking 30 minutes out of your day just to sit in silence and really reflect on Canada’s history,” she said.
“Reconciliation often falls on Indigenous people but it should fall on non-Indigenous peoples who inflicted the harm.”
New TMU School of Medicine opens admissions for 2025 school year
By Dylan Marks
On Sept. 27, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) announced that their new School of Medicine would be launching online applications for its Doctor of Medicine (MD) program Oct. 9, for its first student cohort starting September 2025.
The School of Medicine will be located in Brampton, Ont. at the former Bramalea Civic Centre
which has been under construction since April 2024.
The location is set to be ready for learners in the school’s residency programs in July 2025 and for MD students in September 2025.
The School of Medicine will be home to medical students and a primary care clinic.
During its first year, the school will have 94 undergraduate and 105 post-graduate seats available, both of which will open in July 2025.
TMU’s School of Medicine has been granted preliminary accreditation for their MD program by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools. This makes it the 18th accredited medical school in Canada thus far.
“This week’s preliminary accreditation announcement is the culmination of years of work by the School of Medicine team,” said TMU President Mohamed Lachemi.
He also said this milestone moves the School of Medicine closer to welcoming future doctors and equipping them to lead innovation, challenge norms and drive change in the healthcare system.
This will be the first new medical school to open in the Greater Toronto Area in over a century, with one of the primary goals being to address the shortage of primary care physicians in Ontario.
According to the Ontario Medical Association, 2.3 million Ontarians have no family doctor, with that number set to nearly double in the next two years. They also said
that there are more than 2,500 physicians needed in Ontario currently.
The new School of Medicine plans to select students by considering both their academic performance and personal experiences. They are working to admit students from underrepresented groups and look for students who want to work in primary care.
These include applicants who identify as Indigenous, Black or other equity-deserving groups.
“We have developed intentional application and admissions processes that have the school’s mission at their core and that reflect community and societal needs,” said Dean of TMU’s School of Medicine and Vice-President of Medical Affairs, Teresa M. Chan.
Interim Assistant Dean of Recruitment & Admissions at the new School of Medicine, Dominick Shelton stated, “Our admissions pathways are designed to account for systemic bias in applicant review processes and eliminate barriers to success for these groups in the medi-
cal school admissions process.”
Shelton also said the new School of Medicine is dedicated to making sure the application process is inclusive and supportive for individuals who experience systemic bias.
Since the announcement of the new School of Medicine, TMU has made partnerships with several primary care clinics including William Osler Health System, Trillium Health Partners, Headwaters Health Care Centre and Halton Healthcare.
According to the school, “Dozens of primary care clinical sites have also indicated their intent to work with TMU’s School of Medicine with more joining every day.”
Led by architectural firm Diam -ond Schmitt, this project includes designs for simulation-based training lab spaces as well as an integrated health centre, which will give residents of Brampton access to quality medical care.
Detailed admissions information is available on the school’s website, via the Ontario Medical School Application Service.
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
Always a Bold: Men’s soccer alumni inspire
Former stars Abdallah El-Chanti and Raheem Rose lead on the sideline and practice pitch
By Noah Curitti
At Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), sports teams have found success in bringing back former players as coaches. The women’s soccer team joined that tradition this year, as previously reported by The Eyeopener, but the men’s soccer team has been reaping the benefits for some time.
The season kicked off at home against the Queen’s Gaels in a commanding 4-0 victory with some familiar players on the sidelines. Bold alumni Abdallah El-Chanti and Raheem Rose returned to head coach Filip Prostran’s staff this year—El-Chanti as an attacking coach and Rose as a striker coach.
“As long as we’re scoring goals, I feel like I’m doing my job here as a coach”
The resumes of these two alumni are significant assets for Prostran and a team seeking to redeem an underwhelming finish to the 2023 season. El-Chanti was an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) allstar selection in 2019 and won the team’s Most Valuable Player award in 2021. He also captained the Bold and made the All-Canadian First Team in 2019. Rose was named a Second-Team All-Canadian and an OUA First-Team All-Star in 2019 along with winning the Bold’s Most Valuable Player award in 2018.
When making the decision to bring the players back, Prostran knew the Bold’s top two all-time goal scorers would be “incredible” additions to the team.
“They’re great examples for the players,” said Prostran. “They raise the level of the environment as well as the intensity and quality of our practices. It was an easy choice to bring them back.”
Prostran describes that ElChanti and Rose are not only great
examples as players, they are also good people. All of this together translated to them having a lot of success as players and coaches.
“They’re just winners. In everything they do, they’re winners. They are [the] types of guys I want to give back to the team,” said Prostran.
El-Chanti joined the team after his final season in 2021. He said he knew that he could foster a strong relationship with Prostran and did not hesitate when he was offered a coaching position.
“I think it is easy to keep that relationship going as soon as you graduate,” he said.
He added that the team needed assistance in certain parts of the field, so he jumped in when asked. El-Chanti works with players on goal-scoring and technical elements of the game. When the team comes together to work on finishing against the goalkeepers at the end of practice, he takes the lead while Prostran reverts to more of a spectator role. He said it is great to see players enjoy the end of practice and leave with positive energy and amazing to see it all come together in games.
“It’s nice to see the stuff that you do in practice reflect on game days. As long as we’re scoring goals, I feel like I’m doing my job here as a coach,” said El-Chanti.
“I could identify on the pitch with them, why this person is or is not succeeding and how they can improve”
Rose was confident that he would come back to the Bold in some way when his playing days ended, and like El-Chanti, he did not hesitate to accept the offer. While El-Chanti steps in when needed to lead drills on scoring, Rose is actively involved in the drills during practice, which he enjoys.
“I wanted to continue playing, so I’d come to practices then and
now to help out. [Prostran] would say to me, ‘You need to come because it makes the practices better,’” he said.
Rose’s experience as a star for the Bold has helped him keep his dream of still playing alive while passing his knowledge down to the new players in his position. He described it as getting the best of both worlds.
“I have the luxury of actually stepping on the pitches and playing with them. So now, the most important thing is how can I build the players’ confidence as well as getting them to be the best that they can be,” said Rose. “I could identify on the pitch with them, why this person is or is not succeeding and how they can improve.”
Both El-Chanti and Rose said being out on the field during training reminded them of their own time as players on the team. ElChanti said when the Bold play big games against teams like the University of Toronto Varsity Blues or the Carleton Ravens, he wishes he could be out there on the pitch. But ultimately, he cares most about helping any way he can.
“As a player, you want to try to score and impact the game as much as possible. You don’t have that same impact as a coach…still, with that competitive spirit. I want to win so I try to cheer the guys on as much as possible and just instill confidence in them,” he said.
Throughout his five years of playing and now coaching, Rose has witnessed TMU’s men’s soccer program battle through adversity and inconsistency, including moving from Monarch Park to Downs-
view Park multiple times. Now, he is happy to take the field with the team at Downsview where TMU Bold banners and a scoreboard solidify it as their home.
“To call this our home is the boldest statement,” he said.
Prostran said the two alumni coaches are great resources and mentors for players, especially younger ones. To him, earning respect as a player leads to earning respect as a coach.
“Players look at them and there’s immediate respect because of what they’ve accomplished here individually and what they’ve done with raising our teams to the next level,” he said. ”It is a really easy transition considering who they are.”
“Players look at them and there’s immediate respect because of what they’ve accomplished here”
Prostran said players will sometimes turn to El-Chanti and Rose in times where they don’t want to go to their head coach. To him, it’s good to have mentors closer to where the players are in their lives.
“[Rose] and [El-Chanti] have been in all their shoes,” he said.
“It’s really special to have them because it’s another touching point with our players…you’ve got guys that are in their mid-20s that have been there, done that.”
Prostran said since he has had great memories with El-Chanti and Rose, it is great to now have a personal side and joke around with them. Instead of just being
their coach, they’re now even better friends.
“It’s really special to keep our relationship going beyond soccer,” he said.
“They are great leaders and are seamless to become great coaches”
At nearly 9 p.m., a tough practice for the Bold sees players and coaches push each other to bring their best. El-Chanti mentions the players did not have a great scrimmage but a shooting drill brings out laughs and boosts confidence.
Prostran said El-Chanti and Rose’s infectious energy and dedication—remnants from their playing days—shines positively on the team. They contribute to the winning formula the squad is trying to build—they want to always outwork everyone else.
“[When] they were here as players, they were always the guys that were here early. They were always the guys staying late. They were always the guys pulling other people along when the intensity’s down or if we had a tough loss,” he said of El-Chanti and Rose. “They are great leaders and are seamless to become great coaches.”
Prostran said having the alumni coaches on board is crucial to what the team wants to achieve this season. They currently boast a record of six wins, one loss and two draws and are ranked fifth in the nation as of Oct. 8. To him, El-Chanti and Rose’s experience is helping push the team to the next level.
“Having guys like Abdallah and Raheem is a blessing for our team.”
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
Bringing the ‘Latin Flair’ to TMU sports
By Daniel Carrero Ramírez
Disclaimer: All of the interviews for this story were conducted in Spanish and translated into English.
As Valentina Ceballos Jiménez warmed up before the Terpsichore University Dance Challenge, she stepped aside from her teammates. As usual, she began the same ritual she does before every competition: deep breaths, signing a Sign of the Cross, touching the floor with her right hand and saying, “God, I leave it up to you.”
She walked to the centre of the stage and lay down on her back with her arms spread and her waist slightly lifted off the ground. She waited for her solo, “Agua y Mezcal” by Guitarricadelafuente—the only Spanish song used in the whole competition—to start playing.
As the slow beat of traditional Spanish guitar crescendoed, the rhythm accompanied her silhouette and her precise shoulder, torso and hip movements. That night, the judges got a rare performance infused with Latin flair.
“I am very grateful to have this voice, a voice that can be heard as a Latina in this field,” said Ceballos Jiménez.
Raised in Tampico, a small town in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Ceballos Jiménez joined the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Dance Pak in her second year of biomedical engineering after migrating to Canada. Now the team captain, she has experienced a different relationship with the sport compared to other Dance Pak members.
“Everyone from the team comes from a very strong technical background, something I don’t have,” she said. “I feel like I have my own thing and that’s why I am where I am.”
Throughout her time with the Dance Pak, Ceballos Jiménez has been able to bring her Latin twist as the only Latin American on the team since 2017 by introducing Spanish music in training and dance routines. This allowed the team to blend in more sounds, movements and textures in their routines— something she hasn’t seen from other universities.
In the small Latin contingent on Bold teams, athletes share a common trait. The “Latin Flair” is a common expression ascribed to a Latin American when performing any sport. According to Oxford Languages, “flair” is defined as “a special or instinctive aptitude or ability for doing something well.”
While Ceballos Jiménez was brought up in a Latin environment—giving her a strong sense of belonging and pride in the sport she
performs—not all Latin American athletes are born and raised in their countries of origin. Instead, some rely on their background to mould their identities and find themselves and their heritage in sport.
Bold men’s soccer midfielder
Daniel Prieto was born and raised in Mississauga, Ont., by parents who migrated from Boyacá, Colombia. His heritage has influenced not only his pursuit of the sport he plays but also the way he plays.
After serving as a redshirt for the team last season, Prieto made his regular season for the Bold this year. While grateful for the opportunities he gets, he is hungry for more.
“I am happy with my situation, but there is more I can do,” said Prieto. “I always hold myself to high expectations.”
Prieto has yet to score his first goal in a TMU uniform but when he does, he knows how he will celebrate. He recalls the Colombian national team and their memorable celebrations.
“For some strange reason, I don’t score easy goals,” he said. “It always has to be a goal from 30 metres away. [When I score, I] celebrate it by going to the bleachers and doing a backflip.”
“I am very grateful to have this voice, a voice that can be heard as a Latina in this field”
Prieto is aware of the sacrifice his parents made for him and his family. He knows that the opportunities he’s had in soccer and academically such as attending TMU are things his parents never had.
“One thing I started doing recently is to fight more for the ball. My teammates say I run like a dog,” said Prieto. “That grit or passion also comes from my parents, for the sacrifice they made to get here to Canada…it’s fighting for what you want and that’s the best way I can express myself, it’s playing with heart.”
For Prieto, getting to the place he is now has come with lots of challenges and perseverance. Rather than being recruited, he tried out for the team at a camp where head coach Filip Prostran reviewed over 200 athletes.
Prieto joined training sessions in January and August 2023 and played in a few friendlies with the team. After he played 60 minutes against the York Lions, Prostran pulled him aside and told him he made the team.
“My case wasn’t that [Prostran] found me and gave me an offer. I wanted to play for this team,” said Prieto. “I had the most difficult route.” Prieto’s relationship with soccer
was fostered even before he was born. For other athletes, the choice of sport is fractioned by having two equal parts to their identities.
That’s the case for Santiago Rincon, a third-year pitcher for the TMU baseball team. With a Spanish mother and a Venezuelan father, he took on both soccer and baseball as hobbies growing up.
Eventually, the decision to pursue baseball was made when he was six years old and wanted to pursue a sport more seriously.
“I remember my dad telling me ‘Look at the Venezuelan national soccer team and now look at the baseball team, that’s your decision,’” said Rincon. “He said ‘With Venezuelan blood, you are a baseball player.’ So it really is part of my identity and culture.”
After the decision, Rincon went to a tryout for his first baseball club. It was one of the last tryouts for the season and the roster was almost complete. Nevertheless, he secured a spot on the team, and five years later, his coach told him the real reason why he joined the team.
That day, Rincon was wearing a shirt of the Águilas del Zulia, a professional Venezuelan baseball team based in Maracaibo—where his family is from and a Venezuelan hat. The coach admitted that because of what he was wearing, he thought he must be good.
“It’s almost like I have a responsibility with having a name like Santiago Rincon. I can’t afford to be bad,” said Rincon.
That type of pressure comes with high standards set by his family. His father migrated to Canada to complete a PhD in chemical engineering and his mother completed her degree in architecture. Rincon is used to this feeling and embraces it.
“I’ve always felt happy to have a higher standard and if it’s because
I am Latin American, then OK,” he said.
While some athletes have enjoyable experiences marrying sport and heritage, others experience uncomfortable situations where their sport can drift them apart from their culture and identity.
Regina Figueroa Bautista discovered figure skating when she was about six years old. While watching movies with her grandfather and sister back in Mexico City where she was born and raised, they stumbled across Ice Princess, a movie about following your dreams and passion for figure skating despite the expectations of others. This has inspired Bautista ever since.
While perhaps unexpected, Mexico has a sizable figure skating community. The difference from Canada’s standard is the quality of ice, as most of the rinks where Bautista trained were open to the public and in the middle of a mall.
“The one thing in Mexico is the heat. There would be times when I was basically skating in a pool,” said Bautista. “I got really used to skating in bad conditions.”
“That grit or passion also comes from my parents, for the sacrifice they made to get here to Canada”
Bautista moved to Canada at 14 years old and enrolled in Everest Academy, a sports-focused school.
When she joined in January, the school argued that she couldn’t start playing without a figure skating coach. Later, more excuses arose.
“They believed since I was Mexican, I wasn’t able to skate properly,” said Bautista. “I told them ‘Let me bring my skates and I’ll show you’ but I never really got the chance.”
Instead, the school placed her in soccer, which she hated playing. Eventually, Bautista decided to switch schools along with her sister, though Everest Academy tried to reel them back.
“We were paying international fees and obviously the school knew that was a good amount of income,” said Bautista. “They offered us the universe basically. New coach, more ice rink hours, but no, it was too late.”
Since that experience—which came when Bautista was just discovering herself and her identity through sport—she perceives and represents herself differently from what others expect from a Latina.
“I don’t hide the fact that I’m Latina but at the same time, I don’t scream it proudly,” she said.
Between moving to Canada and coming to TMU, Bautista didn’t perform. When she joined the university’s figure skating team in 2021, the sport she loved was giving her a chance for “redemption.”
Now in her fourth and final year with the team, her time in figure skating has seen ups and downs. Though she is grateful for the four years to stand out, her relationship with the sport has changed over time.
“I love the sport but it is something I wouldn’t want my daughters to practice,” said Bautista. Through all of their tribulations, successes and everything in between, Latin athletes at TMU have brought their own flavour to their sports.
For Ceballos Jiménez, that flavour has been recognized. Her solo earned her the “unexpected genius” award from the judges. For her, resilience, persistence, determination and the way of doing things can be attributed to one thing.
“It is the Latin Flair.”
From left to right: Regina Figueroa Bautista, Daniel Prieto, Santiago Rincon and Valentina Ceballos Jiménez (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: SAIF-ULLAH KHAN AND NAGEEN RIAZ/THE EYEOPENER)
As visitors file onto the Daphne Cockwell Complex (DCC) rooftop, breaking into the hazy September sunshine, a woman offers around tiny spheres, moving deftly through the crowd to share a fruit encased in teardrop-shaped, papery leaves. Encouraged to try them, visitors peel back the delicate, translucent pouches to reveal pale yellow berries, each one about the size of a grape. Exchanging smiles, several agree a pineapple-like taste, but milder, erupts over their palates after crushing the small offerings between their teeth.
On the roof of the DCC sits one of two sites for Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Urban Farm. A myriad of vegetables, legumes, herbs and fruits— like the ground cherries passed around as visitors arrived—grow alongside one another. They sprawl along soil beds, entwine with the chain link fence and coil up wooden trellises rooted in the dirt.
Since the implementation of Toronto’s Green Roof Bylaw in 2009, rooftops with an area of 2000 square metres and greater must include a greenspace that covers 20 to 60 per cent of their surface. Although the bylaw emphasizes green roofs that support biodiversity and reduce the urban heat island effect, solutions to the climate emergency have long been aligned with the pursuit of intersectional food justice.
In 2023, the percentage of Canadians living in foodinsecure households climbed to new record highs in every province, according to the University of Toronto’s research program PROOF. Disparities for marginalized communities are especially significant. A 2021 survey reported that nearly 37 per cent of Black children in Canada are food insecure compared to 12 per cent of white children according to Toronto non-profit Black Food Sovereignty Alliance (BFSA).
Although the practice of urban agriculture is nothing new, Black and Indigenous food sovereignty movements continue to apply intergenerational knowledge in tackling these ongoing challenges. The BFSA defines Black food sovereignty as “the right of people of African descent to access healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods.”
Emergency food outreach programs, like Torontobased Daily Bread Food Bank, have seen a stark rise in the cost of living and food insecurity, particularly among Canada’s marginalized communities. Green roofs and other forms of urban agriculture provide opportunities for localized solutions, bridging gaps in food education and access.
Weaving between rows of rust-orange marigolds and broad-leafed nasturtiums, Nicole Austin, founder of the Harvest Collective and Learning Circle at TMU, identifies each plant and herb on the DCC rooftop in a language of distinct tastes, colours and sensations.
Austin held her final workshop of the season at the DCC rooftop farm on Sept. 20. The Learning Circle is a Black food sovereignty initiative dedicated to empowering students in the African diaspora with the skills to grow culturally-significant foods and the knowledge to define their own agriculture systems.
Surrounded by a semicircle of visitors, she passes around tangy, fragrant stems of lemongrass—or “fever grass”—and encourages everyone to rub licoricescented Thai basil between their fingertips. She points to a flowering bush with deep burgundy stems, fivepronged leaves and spiky, star-shaped buds. Austin asks if anyone can identify it. Several visitors quickly chime in with the correct answer: “Sorrel!”
Sorrel, or roselle, is one of the numerous plants growing on the DCC rooftop that holds significance for the African diaspora. Though the plant species originated in West Africa, it has become naturalized in the Caribbean and West Indies. Alongside the sorrel and its mallow family cousin, okra, Austin grows chayote, or “cho-cho” squash and long beans, or “yard-
long beans,” as they’re known in Jamaica.
She describes the buttery, mustard-like taste of Ethiopian kale, shows off bright, multicoloured buena mulata peppers and points out the deep plum shade of purple hyacinth beans which indicates their rich anthocyanin content. Austin’s vivid descriptions introduce some of the critical elements in her practice: food literacy and community healing.
Sovereign soil: A Torontonians embracing urban
In the midst of a food affordability crisis, nutritious, accessible and homegrown
Words by Grace Henkel
“Not only are they companion plants as they grow, if you make a meal with all of them—all the proteins, nutrients, minerals—it’s a complete meal,” Austin explains.
The Learning Circle’s emphasis on environmental stewardship—another critical aspect of Austin’s approach—means participants can pick and eat produce straight from the soil. The DCC rooftop operates without pesticides or spraying to eradicate weeds.
With the Learning Circle, she not only hopes to encourage participants to “try something they’ve never tried before,” but to seek comfort and share cross-cultural ties in deeply familiar foods, “regardless of where they’re from across the African diaspora.”
In a previous workshop that hosted a group of graduate students in social work, Austin met a student from Ghana who immediately recognized some of the crops she was growing.
gramming going for years without official support from the city.
In October 2021, the City of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism (CABR) Unit put the Black Food Sovereignty Plan in motion. The program is designed “to address chronic food insecurity, antiBlack racism and structural inequity in Toronto’s local food system,” according to the BFSA.
“It is part of my personal family history, but also cultural history”
“She started getting emotional,” says Austin. “She [said], ‘I don’t know what’s happening to me right now, but it’s just so amazing to be in this space and see my culture represented.’”
Awa Dembele-Yeno, a final-year image arts photography student at TMU and longtime volunteer at the Urban Farm, spoke on how deeply the Learning Circle and the Black food sovereignty movement resonate with her.
Structuring gardens and cultivating food is “all about our relationship or perspective on our environment, whether it is [the] natural or built environment,” says Dembele-Yeno. “It reflects a lot how we think.”
She adds, “the food I eat, the things I’m attracted to, the things that even bring me comfort, it is part of my personal family history but also cultural history.”
Still, Austin acknowledges that keeping traction for the movement—one largely driven forward and maintained by community members—can be challenging. “People burn out because they’re usually volunteering,” she says.
Volunteering is heavily emphasized, as “often, there’s not money to amplify” the grassroots initiatives that promote Black food sovereignty in Toronto, she explains.
The question of shifting to publicly-funded initiatives has also been met with skepticism from some advocates and volunteers, who have kept food pro-
“There was a little pushback by some of the older community members that have been doing this for a long time,” says Austin. “They don’t trust the institutions because of the past systemic racism.”
Still, Austin stresses the need for Black communities to feel “represented” and “prioritized” in the spaces that have historically excluded them. In this way, public support opens up new opportunities to further mobilize food justice.
“Because these are days of reckoning, I think that we all recognize that spaces need to be intentionally created for marginalized groups,” says Austin. With municipal support and a “three B” approach—Black-led, Black-mandated and Black-serving—Austin says communities of colour “can keep building capacity and not keep starting from scratch again, or burning out.”
Adwoa Toku, senior urban agriculture coordinator at Toronto-based initiative The Stop, has also seen the gradual increase in municipal support for Black food sovereignty. Helping to operate community gardens and collective kitchens, she’s witnessing first-hand the rise in public funding following the most challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I just hope that there’s longevity, because a lot of these people who are involved in these initiatives have given their life to it—over 20 years of farming experience, food knowledge, food systems,” she says. “People who are elders in the community and people who have dedicated their life to the future so that everyone will be able to eat well.”
Alongside Austin’s Harvest Collective and Learning Circle workshop, Indigenous engagement coordinator Samantha Williams-Barrantes leads a tour of the Indigenous Foodways Medicine and Three Sisters Gardens, which expanded to the DCC rooftop in 2022.
A new generation of urban gardens for food justice
crisis, community-led solutions aim to bring homegrown produce from concrete to kitchen.
The “Three Sisters” is the practice of cultivating corn, beans and squash in harmony with one another.
This symbiotic relationship—a deeply significant tradition among several Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region—enables corn stalks to provide structural support for the beans, low-lying squash leaves to act as a ground cover to deter weeds and beans to release nitrates that act as a naturally-occurring fertilizer.
According to Williams-Barrantes, approximately 48 species of Indigenous medicinal herbs—like the wound-binding coagulant yarrow, anti-inflammatory goldenrod or stomach-settling bearberries—grow on the DCC rooftop. Several European varieties—dispersed by colonial settlement in what is now Canada— also grow communally with the native plants.
This coexistence, says Williams-Barrantes, is a powerful microcosm of Indigenous-settler reconciliation and a symbol of healing from the legacies of colonial violence and cultural genocide. In the spirit of this example, settler descendants and Indigenous peoples may “continue reciprocal relationships based on good intentions and respect.”
Ever Palma, a graduate student in environmental studies at York University, attended the Indigenous Foodways workshop to supplement his thesis research, which examines “what Indigenous—specifically urban Indigenous people—want and need, trying to see if planning in some way can be restructured to address those.”
Palma, who is Tzotzil Mayan from Chiapas, Mexico, notes several parallels between his ancestral perspectives on food sovereignty and those emerging in Canada.
“My father is Raramuri, which is in northern Mexico,” says Palma. “So they are more of the ‘persistent hunters’ on my father’s side, while my mother and grandmother’s side is more of what we are seeing here with the mounds, like the Three Sisters, but agrarian in the mountainous terrain.”
Visuals
by Saif-Ullah Khan
of La Via Campesina in South and Central America reflects many of the same principles of the Land Back and Truth and Reconciliation movements in Canada.
“In Mexico, I’ve noticed that Indigenous people don’t have the same role or viewpoint as Indigenous people here in Canada, mainly because of how colonization impacted them. It varies, but [many] traditions and practices are very similar,” he says.
Palma has also worked as an ecological programming instructor with the City of Toronto and says the structure of municipal gardens varies considerably from those that are “more community driven.”
“It’s a lot more culturally tied to food using this space rather than my city work.” In his job, Palma says he was left asking “how can we maximize the space and create more produce?” As opposed to “what is meeting the needs of the people?”
A s well as feeding communities, urban gardens can spring up as individual passion projects and a chance to seek out self-sufficiency in preparing fresh, costeffective food. Livia Whynott, a second-year urban planning student at TMU, converted her backyard into a thriving garden at her Mississauga, Ont. home last year.
Although they previously “dabbled a bit” with knowledge from their father and family friends, Whynott’s setup grew exponentially this past summer. After building homemade trellises with bamboo, fashioning a protective cage for their strawberries and adjusting plant placement to optimize sun exposure, Whynott’s garden now supports a long list of berries, herbs and vegetables.
“It’s so rewarding to have pasta with your own tomato sauce”
Palma’s research also explores international food sovereignty movements like La Via Campesina, an agroecological justice collective comprised of “millions of peasants, landless workers, Indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth.” The movement advocates for a decentralized world food distribution system. Palma says the emergence
Her phone’s camera roll is filled to the brim with photos of her garden—bushes dripping with scarlet currants, tomatoes ripening in vibrant blushes of red and piles of pearl onions speckled with soil.
Looking back on the past summer, their focus “wasn’t particularly [on] the gardening itself, but what to do after.” Having grown and accumulated more cucumbers than they could possibly use on their own, Whynott utilized the wisdom from a Ukrainian co-worker with expertise in canning and pickling.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do with these,’ and she taught me how to pickle [them] with just salt,” recalls Whynott.
Even as prime gardening weather draws to a close, the fruits—as well as the herbs and vegetables of Whynott’s labour—remain something they can adopt
into everyday meal prep. Whynott brought pickles seasoned with her own dill and peppers to her friends on the first day of school and gave her mother homegrown rosemary to make tea. A salad—prepared and garnished entirely from their own produce—and tortellini with homemade marinara, stood out to Whynott as the best meals she had eaten all summer.
“It’s so rewarding to have pasta with your own tomato sauce,” she says.
With a garden tailored to her own tastes and preferences, Whynott says she has saved money on groceries and reduced the amount of produce she might have otherwise wasted.
“This year, learning [to] grow what you actually eat really did actually make an impact on [me], and now I’m very critical of the vegetables I see at the stores.”
Despite the often high-maintenance realities of growing a garden, including regular weed and pest removal, fertilizing, watering and structural repairs, Whynott feels the cost-effectiveness of growing your own food can be worthwhile.
The 2024 Food Price Report from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab anticipated a spike in food prices related to “rising costs of inputs, heightened transportation expenses and the detrimental effects of climate change on crop yields.” The report also projected that a family of four would spend $16,297.20 on food in 2024 on average, an increase of up to $701.79 from 2023.
Whynott says that having a level of self-reliance and trust in her garden, with a “laissez-faire” approach, has taken off some of the pressures of purchasing from larger grocery retailers.
“You use it more when you know that you have it in your backyard, so you’re enhancing your own meals just by having it and saving money,” says Whynott.
Toku, alongside her work in community gardens, also grows her own food and has been vegan for the past 12 years. Cultivating produce in her backyard has allowed her to retrieve precious childhood recipes and nurture communal food preparation with friends, she says.
“My family’s from Ghana and I was born here, so there’s obviously this kind of bridging of diasporic palates that happens. I really love the foods my mom made when I was growing up and now, living on my own, that’s not as easily accessible,” says Toku.
“But because of my growing practice, I play around with the food—the veggies that I use to recreate these meals.”
Recalling the “star” of her garden this year, bitter melon, Toku experimented with the fruit, a staple in many African, Asian and Caribbean cuisines. Having incorporated it into plant-based stir fries, fried rice and stews, Toku says “I feel like I know it so intimately, in a way. It’s burned into my brain—the smell is so potent. I’ll recognize it everywhere.”
For Toku, urban gardening means embracing the “beautifully joyful practice of [preparing] whole foods and ‘fun food.’”
As Austin’s last workshop wraps up, participants step down from the soil beds, arms laden with scotch bonnets, basil and buena mulata peppers. Moving effortlessly through the crowd of visitors, Austin passes around thick bunches of collard greens, ensuring each participant takes a piece of the garden home with them.
“I’m not going to solve the food insecurity problem in this space,” says Austin, when the final visitor has left the rooftop. “I’m not going to feed all the hungry people from this space, but what I can do is try to engage with as many people as I can.”
Building on her work over the last four years, Austin continues to empower her students, merging tastes and traditions to foster diasporic knowledge and healing.
“Hopefully, [I can] inspire them to become part of the food sovereignty movement in their own communities, and advocate for policy and spaces for access to healthy, affordable food that’s culturally significant for them.”
New HSA spotlights education, inclusivity
Former TMSU executive takes initiative to jumpstart a new Hindu Students’ Association
By Khushy Vashisht
Some students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) are banding together to form a new Hindu Students’ Association (HSA), a space for students to reconnect since the COVID-19 pandemic when the prior group closed down.
Hetu Patel, a third-year computer science student as well as the HSA’s president and founder, said she first thought of forming the group while working for the Toronto Metropolitan University Students’ Union (TMSU) as the vice president of education.
“I got the opportunity to learn more about all the student groups,” she said. “During the first week of March, I realized we didn’t have a Hindu [students’] association.”
Hetu decided to wait until the next academic year in order to take founding steps and try to register the association with TMSU.
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Hinduism is considered one of the oldest religions in the world, with over a billion followers as of 2024. Its long and rich history fuelled part of Hetu’s desire to form the group as she wanted an open learning—as well as teaching—environment for Hinduism.
“[We’re] different nations but are the same communities, same feelings, everything is the same”
“The main motive of the HSA is to spread awareness about why those [religious] festivals take place,” said Hetu. “Hindu culture has so much depth to it and it explains everything around us.”
Ananya Nair, a first-year business management student, hopes the group can help tackle common
and ignorant misconceptions surrounding the religion.
“People think that we actually worship like 300 million gods, that we worship cows and all that incorrect crap,” said Nair. “What annoys me is there’s very few people spreading awareness about what it actually is…I hope [the HSA] works to deter the stigma.”
Kruti Patel, a third-year law and business student, echoed Nair’s sentiment.
One instance of ignorance she shared was a 2017 post on X from the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Jagmeet Singh, that said “Raksha Bandhan has always bothered me because of the very overt sexist message it sends to women: they are powerless & need protection.”
“What annoys me is there’s very few people spreading awareness about what [Hinduism] actually is”
An article by the British Broadcasting Corporation describes Raksha Bandhan to be a “festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters” stemming from a tale in Hindu mythology.
“There’s little things like that which people often overlook or think in a different way but I think it’s a lack of us actually sharing what our religion is about,” said Kruti. “I feel this kind of platform [the HSA] seems to be educating people, so it would definitely help tackle the misconceptions.”
Aside from educating the TMU community, another one of the HSA’s goals is to provide students of diverse backgrounds with access to a central campus community.
Hetavi Shah, a first-year business technology management student
and a marketing associate for the group, shares the same objective.
“There’s a lot of international students and a lot of people who don’t have access to the culture and everything firsthand in Canada right now,” said Shah. “It’s about bringing them together.”
“Yes, days are getting darker, but we can still see the light and see through it, and we’re gonna get through it together”
Divisha Shardha, a second-year fashion student, is an international student and a Pakistani Hindu.
According to the World Population Review, Hindus only make up about two per cent of the total population in Pakistan.
Although a part of a minority group in Pakistan, Shardha said different nationalities don’t matter in the broader community.
“Here, I got to meet so many people from the same community. They’re from India, but they are Hindu and they’re all Desi,” she said. “I feel there’s no big difference. [We’re] different nations but are the same communities, same feelings, everything is the same.”
Hetu said she would want to make the HSA “a comfortable environment” for Hindus from all over the world, regardless of their nationality. Hinduism is often associated with India as around 80 per cent of the country’s population follows the religion.
However, Hinduism expands beyond the borders of India.
“We have Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and Caribbean Hindus,” she said. “I want to bring everyone together under one roof and make sure they all are comfortable sharing their beliefs
and be curious to learn more.”
Shardha hopes to see initiatives within the HSA follow through on Hetu’s words.
“I hope they have gatherings for everyone regardless of coming from different nations or being international or domestic [students],” said Shardha. “It feels nice when you see people from the same society getting to know each other and exchanging different conversations.”
“Hindu culture has so much depth to it and it explains everything around us”
After they become officially registered with the TMSU as a student group, the HSA plans on hosting an event of some kind dedicated to Diwali—one of the largest Hindu festivals that takes place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 this year.
According to a PBS report, the festival is considered the Hindu
New Year. Despite varying origin stories—that are dependent on which region one is from—the theme of good triumphing evil remains constant. During Diwali, many in Northern India celebrate the return of Lord Ram to his kingdom after a 14-year exile.
“We want Diwali in an authentic way where we understand why we celebrate [Lord Ram’s] homecoming,” said Hetu. “We want to spread the whole message of Diwali.”
Celebrated by over a billion people, the festival is a significant component of many Hindu homes. For many students, Diwali symbolizes a great deal of community—something they’d want reflected in the HSA’s initiative.
“It’s important to take a step back and celebrate all the joys in life,” said Kruti about Diwali. “Be like, yes days are getting darker, but we can still see the light and see through it, and we’re gonna get through it together.”
Hetu Patel, president and founder of the Hindu Students’ Association pictured here (NAGEEN RIAZ/THE EYEOPENER)
Student exhibit captures healing on historic mountainside
Trâm Anh Nguyên documented Karate-do trainees on a former colonial retreat and battleground in Vietnam
By Teresa Valenton
Out on the wondrous terrains of the Bạch Mã mountains, over 280 karate-do students embarked on their final journey to complete their training. Mostly between 13- and 25-year-olds, the annual summit of survival is a testament to their skills and spiritual relationship with the land.
Following a 20-kilometre trail, each student proudly marched, barring heavy bags on their backs. Surrounded by lush greenery and waterfalls that flow through the crevices of the land, a photographer followed to document each fleeting moment. What began as following his father’s past transformed into an act of healing, exploration and decolonization.
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) fourth-year image arts film studies student Trâm Anh Nguyễn’s first off-campus solo exhibition Black Belts on Bach Ma Mountain (Đai Đen trên Núi Bạch Mã) captures the students’ journey into the Bạch Mã mountains of Central Vietnam. The exhibit is on display at ArtSpace TMU between Sept. 23 and Nov. 2.
Silently commanding attention to each work displayed, Trâm Anh’s works speak to those whose nations have been greatly impacted by colonial powers. Each component of the exhibition visually transports viewers to the Vietnamese mountainside that has long felt the effects of intense warfare and collective trauma of the Vietnamese people.
Trâm Anh said the journey and process was meaningful for him because it represented so much of Vietnamese history in one mountain space.
“A lot of traditional Indigenous knowledge and philosophies have always treated nature as their kin. Even in Vietnam, it was
really the Western colonizers that made us believe that we are separate from nature, that humans are different,” he explained.
Trâm Anh followed the trip along with his father, who was once a student at the school and earned a black belt.
With two cameras on his side and nearly no electricity outlets, getting the shots proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. Since there was only one opportunity to charge the cameras, each frame needed to be intentional.
On the journey upwards, Trâm Anh said they rarely came across buildings. At the sites where they settled, the journey downwards to reach a charger would have been a long way down.
Draped in ethereal clouds and flourishing biodiversity, the landscape represents life beyond bloodshed. Named for the white, horse-like clouds that have covered their peak, these mountains have been silent witnesses to the aftermath of colonial powers.
“Resilience in your life and the happiness and love of nature will keep you positive”
The site the students trained on was also used as a retreat from the nearby city of Huế during the French colonial period in Vietnam. The country was invaded in July 1857 at the command of Napoleon III and was the result of missionary propaganda, an upsurge in French capitalism and a desire for overseas markets.
In the decades that followed, the mountains became a base for the American military during a two-decade-long war. Referred to as the American War or the Vietnam War depending on the speaker, the armed con-
flict was triggered primarily by the United States (U.S.) interfering with the Vietnamese people’s right to self-govern in an effort to stop the spread of communism.
The Nghĩa Dũng Karate-do school was founded by Nguyễn Văn Dũng—also known as Thầy (Master) Dũng. The over-80-yearold man established the school in 1978, nearly three years after the American War, to share the sense of freedom and peace he found in the mountains.
In a recorded interview, Thầy Dũng told Trâm Anh that Bạch Mã was once reduced to only reeds. The landscape still bears the scars of fighting, including undetonated bombs and chemical defoliants.
During the war, the U.S. dropped three times more bombs in Vietnam than every country in Europe during World War II. They also bombed surrounding neutral countries such as Laos—which made it the most bombed country per capita.
Vy Nguyễn, Thầy Dũng’s daughter and a former student, said the mountains also create a space where some can heal from the trauma.
“Resilience in your life and the happiness and love of nature will keep you positive even in negative times,” she said.
As one of three girls on the trip 20 years ago, she described the journey as “wonderful.” Though it has become a distant memory, Vy said her youth is intertwined with the Bạch Mã mountains.
“The dream is to be there with my dad, carrying my backpack, singing and reading poems very happily,” she said.
Yung Tran, Thầy Dũng’s son-in-law said the audience sees black belts, uniforms and fighting but not the depth behind the students.
“What made them want to follow or to learn,” he asked. “Though what you are see-
ing here is a lot of karate martial arts, knowing my father-in-law, the training is not just karate. It is not just teaching people how to fight, but rather how to become a good person and to live.”
What is shown in Trâm Anh’s photos is a glimpse into the karate-do training on the Bạch Mã mountains. However, the viewers are highly encouraged to think beyond.
Katy McCormick, associate chair at the School of Image Arts said she is thrilled by Trâm Anh’s exhibit.
“The work in this gallery tonight talks about the way in which images speak to one another across media,” she said. “Still and moving images have always been in very traditional circles, a separate thing, but they are beautifully integrated in this show.”
“These mountains have been silent witnesses to the aftermath of colonial powers”
Coming out of his gap year before his fourth year, Trâm Anh sees this show as a testament to two years of hard work.
“Sometimes when you have time to slow down, it is actually where you grow the most,” he explained. “It was probably one of the best decisions of my life and made me realize that I need more balance in mine as well.”
In observing the ever-changing landscape of the Bạch Mã mountains, Trâm Anh compared the slow but inevitable lessons from the summit to his own work. Sitting down on a white seat along the corner of his first off-campus solo exhibition space, he finally had the opportunity to reflect.
“All of those trees in the forest do not grow overnight,” he said. “But at the end, they still get to where they are.”
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
New minimum wage increase isn’t enough
Students find new minimum wage doesn’t close the gap between pay and affordability
By Anthony Lippa-Hardy
Effective Oct. 1, the Ontario government raised the minimum wage by $0.65 to $17.20.
However, some students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) find the increase isn’t enough to combat the high cost of living.
The increase is based on the fluctuation of current consumer price index (CPI), raising Ontario’s minimum wage to the second highest in Canada, behind British Columbia.
According to David Piccini, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the wage increase was implemented to help people offset the large increase in cost of living.
“Our government is helping nearly one million workers earn more money for themselves and their families,” said Piccini in a March press release.
The press releases also said those earning general minimum wage and working 40 hours per week “will see an annual pay increase of up to $1,355.”
However, the increase isn’t enough for some students. Niyati Jain, a second-year business management student at TMU said she
doesn’t see any benefit to the increase because being a commuter student “is really expensive.”
“I went to the nearby Metro to buy one packet of chips and a bottle of Sprite, and I ended up paying almost $10 even after the student discount,” she said.
“I still don’t think that it’s a living wage with this increase”
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, students paid 2.4 per cent more for food purchases from stores in August.
Jain said she doesn’t think the increase makes being a student more affordable. She wants to work more but said hours are sparse at her workplace, making the 3.9 per cent increase barely noticeable on a part-time minimum wage. Riga, a fourth-year graphic communications management student at TMU, said the increase does not meet a living wage.
“I still don’t think that it’s a living wage with this increase. But you know, any more money is good money,” she said.
According to Ontario Living Wage Network, in the Greater Toronto Area, an adequate living wage is $25.05 per hour. Nearly
eight dollars more than the provincial minimum wage.
Although she appreciated the slight raise, she said that even working full-time, as she did in the summer, wouldn’t be enough to cover her expenses without financial support from her family.
Both Jain and Riga said additional financial support from their families helps to compensate for their low income.
The need for additional financial support is not uncommon with minimum wage workers.
According to Anil Verma, a professor emeritus at The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, minimum wage is meant to help
people break into the labour market as it alone is not enough to live on.
“Asking someone to work on minimum wage for the rest of their lives is a very cruel thing, and it’s a poverty trap out of which people can’t get out,” he said.
“It is not enough to live a middle class Canadian life on minimum wage”
Minimum wage should be used as a stepping stone to get into higher paying positions, whether that means going back to school, doing an apprenticeship, learn-
ing new skills, or getting adequate training, said Verma.
“As things stand, it is not enough to live a middle class Canadian life on minimum wage,” he said.
In order to live and attend university in Toronto, students like Riga find themselves working with a strict budget, splitting their income up to meet their personal expenses.
Riga said saving the majority of her paycheques has helped her get by with her low income pay.
“What I do every time I get paid is keep [spending money] in my chequing [account], and then everything else goes into savings,” she said.
The Eye’s guide to being a freelancing creative
By Emerson Williams
Perhaps you have an amazing knack for baby names, you’re a wiz at editing photos or you’re willing to join studies where you have to sleep soundly for prolonged periods of time. These are real ways people all over the world make money.
Business ventures like these are considered different ways of ‘freelancing.’ According to the media
financial advice resource Investopedia, “a freelancer is an independent contractor who earns wages on a per-job or per-task basis, typically for short-term work.”
This unique path has a hold on many Canadians, as nearly half a million have taken on a ‘freelancer’ label as of 2023, according to Statistics Canada.
Considering the opportunity for flexible hours and unique work opportunities, freelancing
can be a dream for some students. However, without consistent schedules and stability of full-time work, freelancing holds some curveballs to prepare for.
The Eyeopener has you covered with a few tips for anyone looking to launch their freelance career.
Maintaining connections
Building and maintaining a professional network plays a vital role in finding new freelancing
opportunities in your field.
According to a study by America’s National Library of Medicine, “networking behaviors can be seen as a proactive way of creating access to career-related social resources.” Networking is particularly important for freelancers as they often “cannot depend on an organizational career system supporting their further development.”
Finding a new opportunity may be as simple as staying connected with your current and past networks through check-ins and conversations. That’s how secondyear animation student at Ontario College of Art and Design and freelancer, Mar Noble got her job as a media editor for her high school’s concert orchestra.
“I’ve played trombone since I was nine,” she said. “[When I started university], they reached out and asked if I could edit just one thing.” From there, Noble was able to leverage more opportunities and work consistently with the organization.
Noble said working within your
network can be quite the balancing act. She didn’t anticipate her casual and friendly relationships with former mentors and acquaintances to become so rigid. Noble advises new freelancers to prepare for the same if they choose to work with peers.
“I’ve known them for years, so it’s not super polarizing,” she said. “A lot of what I’ve learned is the management side, how to market myself and how to [advocate] for my work.”
Setting your rate
With freelancing, setting an appropriate rate for the quantity and quality of the work you do is important. Finding a rate that covers your expenses, labour and end product— while still meeting your customers budget—is key to longevity in your respected field.
According to Creative Ladder, a nonprofit organization for diverse creatives, an effective method to set your rate is by using full-time salaries as a base and increasing from there.
Read more at theeyeopener.com
EVAN PERRY/THE EYEOPENER
NAGEEN RIAZ/THE EYEOPENER
Frankie pardons the first turkey of Thanksgiving TMU Bold mascot Frankie the Falcon hatches new ‘bird-mance’ with Gary the Turkey
By Dylan Marks
Disclaimer: Much like your average car windshield, this story is full of shit. It also features bird-brained satire and ‘tall tails’ so don’t let it ruffle your feathers!
After taking five weeks off the job for his mandatory anger management training following anotherbirdly altercation, Frankie the Falcon is back on campus!
As a result of his attack on a small group of pigeons over a Metro whiskey chicken wrap, the trial held at the Superior Court of Justice’s ruling really helped Frankie begin to put things in perspective.
“I flocked up, what can I say? I let a lot of people down with the way I acted,” said Frankie in an apology video posted to YouTube. “I’m doing a lot better now. My anger is under control and it’s time I spread my wings and fly.”
Now that he’s back, Frankie has been delegated the first-ever presidential task of pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
When asked why Frankie was chosen to pardon the Thanksgiving turkey this year, TMU President Mohamed Lachemi stated, “I’ve gone through more ups and downs with that bird than anyone else in my life.
Frankie may be a falcon but he’s a damn good man.”
When informed that Frankie is in fact not a falcon but a person in an oversized bird costume, Lachemi responded, “Da-fuh?”
The turkey chosen for the ceremony has been identified as Gary the Turkey, a broad breasted white male who loves margaritas and long walks on the beach—though he has never experienced either because he is a turkey.
“I flocked up, what can I say? I let a lot of people down with the way I acted”
“I was hatching a plan to go back in time to the first Thanksgiving to get turkeys off the menu,” said Gary. “Then the next thing I knew,
I’m being flown to a university campus in a helicopter.”
Although Frankie was initially hesitant to pardon Gary after some exchanges of fowl language, the two realized they weren’t so different after all.
“We’re basically the same guy. His favourite band is The Eagles, I love The Eagles. He likes the Orioles, I’m a Jays guy but I mean we both love baseball. He likes sitting on phone lines and pooping on cars and I also do that,” Frankie said.
What began as a meaningless ceremony developed into a budding “bird-mance” as the two discovered that a pardoned turkey and a guy in a falcon costume could get up to some serious tomfoolery in this town.
“At first I was afraid, I was petrified, but it turns out Frankie’s a chill guy, I mean he saved my life,” said Gary. “He’s taking me out to all his favourite TMU hangouts, the Met Campus Pub, Zanzibar and Metro’s back alley.”
When commenting on why Frankie and Gary’s relationship
seemed to work so effortlessly, aviary specialist, Billy Eyelash suggested, “birds of a feather, they stick together.”
“I was in a really bad place before I met Gary,” Frankie stated. “I may have pardoned him but that dude saved my life. I was ready to start going to kids birthday parties and take off my head for the thrill.”
When asked what their plans are to keep their friendship blooming, Gary responded, “We’re thinking of going south for the winter, maybe watching Top Gun with only jeans
and shades on, passing around a volleyball and selling shower curtain rings.”
“He likes sitting on phone lines and pooping on cars, and I also do that”
The two are currently planning on starting a band with their focus now being on workshopping potential names. These include Fleetwood Macaw, The Cranbirdies, The Beastie Birds and The Fowl Flighters.
Egg Man spotted on campus eating bananas
Students gathered around Lake Devo to watch a
By Tia Harish
Disclaimer: Unlike most satire news stories, this one actually happened.
Looking onto a crowd of adoring fans from atop the largest rock at Lake Devo on Oct. 3, the Egg Man ate a banana while wearing an egg costume. This is the second banana he’d eaten during his act and certainly not his last.
Piero Alvarado, commonly re-
ferred to as the Egg Man by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students, is a first-year business technology management student at TMU.
Several posters appeared around campus depicting a cartoon egg inviting student to watch him eat bananas on Thursday. Alvarado even purchased two pizzas to entice hungry students to stick around for his performance.
At 2 p.m., a small group of
first-year
students had begun to hover around the rocks at Lake Devo, anticipating the Egg Man’s arrival. He finally showed up a few minutes later to the cheers of a crowd that grew larger as the act went on.
Emilee Luong, a first-year fashion student, got exactly what she expected. “I came solely for the sight of a person eating bananas…great execution.”
Despite having a class at 2 p.m.,
in an egg costume eat bananas
third-year environment and urban sustainability student Grant Flinn, stuck around to watch the show.
“There was a poster that our friend sent to us,” he said. “It looked entertaining.”
The Egg Man began with his first banana on the ground, taking his time and enjoying the cheers of the audience. With his second banana, he disappeared briefly behind the large rock, only to reappear on top to resounding applause.
“I came solely for the sight of a person eating bananas”
Marwan Al Kharrat, a firstyear engineering student, cheered the Egg Man on. “I’m glad he ended up going up on the rock, like a Lion King moment.”
The Egg Man ate a total of three bananas before sliding off the rock into the arms of Al Kharrat and four other fans in the crowd, who then proceeded to carry him down Gould Street.
“I felt euphoric, it was very fun to be a part of it,” said Al Kharrat. “[It was] a fun experience all around and [the Egg Man was] a really cool guy.”
The Egg Man was not the first to pull off a stunt like this. Alvarado said he took inspiration from a similar event at York University.
“I saw a guy at York dressed up as a banana and he ate a [single] egg,” he said. “And as an egg, I cannot let that happen, you know? I had to reciprocate that.”
York’s “Banana Man” had also put posters up around the York campus, encouraging people to watch him eat eggs on Sept. 16.
Video footage uploaded to YouTube showed the Banana Man at the water fountain across from Vari Hall. He ran around a large crowd of students before taking an egg out of a Tupperware and eating it whole, to resounding applause and cheers.
For those who couldn’t catch the show, Alvarado noted that the Egg Man’s journey is not over.
“I’ll probably come after midterms and gather here again,” he said. “Maybe this time I’ll eat five bananas, maybe this time I’ll eat something else. Or maybe I’ll be the one eating the pizza and you guys will be eating the bananas!”
In advance of his next appearance, the Egg Man encouraged students to “always stay silly” in spite of university studies stress.
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER
Visuals by Vanessa Kauk | Words by Shreya Basu
The Eyeopener is giving away five single-swipe meal entries for the International Living/Learning Center (ILC) and Pitman Hall dining halls in collaboration with TMU Eats. Find the giveaway rules through the link in our Instagram bio.
DOWN
1. What can non-residents purchase at TMU’s dining halls for affordable all-you-care-to-eat meals?
4. The Hub Café offers visitors this high quality and reusable alternative to traditional single-use takeout containers. (HINT: It’s a Canadian, female-owned company)
6. The musician of whom the September birthday event at Pitman Dining Hall is based on! (HINT: Called the “Pink Pitman Club”)
8. Instagram handle where you can find all the information about events, free food on campus, giveaways and much more!
10. Famous Free Soup Day this month is being held on October __ at The Hub Café!
13. ILC Dining Hall has a ceramic ____ oven for made-to-order pies.
ACROSS
2. The Footnote is located on the bridge between the Library and
3. Every Monday of October TMU Eats is giving out free ____ with any purchase at The Footnote!
5. Which TMU Eats eatery sells TMU giftware items along with delicious on-the-go food?
7. The brand of the freshly roasted coffee sold at TMU eateries is called?
8. The famous market-style eatery in Jorgenson Hall that serves hot and fresh meals every day!
9. What’s the $5 option at The Hub Café called?
11. A menu TMU Eats caters every month for the students to “experience the world through food.”
12. The most popular topping at the bubble tea café Palgong Tea.
