DECEMBER 13, 2021 The University of Calgary’s independent student newspaper Vol. 61, Issue No. 4 THE GAUNTLET NEWS: VOICES: SPORTS: Q CENTRE SCHOLARSHIPPRIDE RESEARCH STUDENTSINTERNATIONALONINCANADA DINOS MONTANAATHLETESOCCERPROFILE:LEONARD p. 4 p. 7 p. 20
Voices Editor: Aymen voices@thegauntlet.caSherwani Voices Assistants: AnjaliJenzelleChoudharySalazar Visuals Editors: Megan Koch Valery visuals@thegauntlet.caPerez
A time to reflect, but also to rejuvinate
Online Editor: Masoud Karimi online@thegauntlet.caFatemi
As we bid adieu to 2021 and wel come in 2022, let us celebrate if only for a brief moment and be thankful for this meeting and parting.
COURTESY RON LACH FROM PEXELS
General Editors: Ava general@thegauntlet.caRachneetZardynezhadRandhawa
As yet another year draws to a close now is the time for ponder ing as you take a moment to re flect on your 2021 playbook and opt for the silver lining. We here at the Gauntlet sure will. Truth be told we could not have done it without our extraordinary editori al board and team and our amaz ing volunteers who day in and day out utilize the Gauntlet as a plat form to find their voice speaking and writing on issues that matter to them.
News Editor: Sophia Lopez Julieanne news@thegauntlet.caAcosta
News Assistants: Luis ArmandoEnobongSanchezDiazUkpong
The Golden Spatula – Riley Stovka For being a dedicated writer who seeks opinions that question our government or helps us cheer for our varsity teams. We hope to see more of you in the next semester and what new articles you have in store for us. W e’ve made it to the end of yet another mostly virtual semes ter trapped in the vortex of the cyber world. Congrats! With final exam season approaching and all the doom scrolling including the emergence of yet another COVID-19 variant and the flood gates opening next door in BC, at this point, it seems like we’re liv ing in a convoluted sequel to an Avengers superhero soap opera as the malevolence rears its head once more. It’s been almost two years since we’ve been catapulted into the world of virtual schooling from the double-dose hot vax summer to COVID passports to student pro tests galore, we’ve had to adapt like no other. At this time last year ICU units were awash with patients in critical care still recovering and those who, whilst jetting off to be with their loved ones for the hol idays, were all the more stifled by lockdown requirements, bor der restrictions and quarantine. Nonetheless, the first signs of the promise of a vaccine was on the horizon, only to be met with the controversy of anti-vaxxers and misinformation throughout the course of this year. But of course, it’s the most fes tive time of the year and a chance to celebrate so now is the most opportune time to chill-ax and do a sprinkle of self-care and a smidgen of self-love because you wholeheartedly deserve it. In the meantime now is the time to heal the trauma and rejoice as a stu dent body community as we safely and securely return to campus.
The Gauntlet is the official student newspaper of the University of Calgary, published monthly throughout the year by the GauntletPublicationsSociety an autonomous, incorporated body. Membership in the society is open to undergraduate students at the U of C, but all members of the university community are encouraged to contribute. Stories under the Opinions and Voices sections contained herein are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire Gauntlet staff. Editorials are chosen by the majority of the editorial board. The Gauntlet is a forum open to all U of C students but may refuse any submission judged to be racist, sexist, homophobic, libelous, or containing attacks of a strictly personal nature. We reserve the right to edit for brevity. Grievances regarding the Gauntlet follow a three-step process which requires written decisions from the Editor, the GPS Board of Directors, and the Ombudsboard. The complete Grievance Policy is online at: thegauntlet.ca. The Gauntlet offices are located on Treaty 7 land. The Gauntlet is printed on recycled paper and uses an ink made from the mouse droppings of Wetzel, the office mouse. Please recycle the paper and call pest control to save our poor editors who worked on elevated ground fearing a Wetzel encounter. Cover Photo by Megan Koch Twitter: @GauntletUofC Instagram: @gauntletuofc Online: www.thegauntlet.ca
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- Rachneet Randhawa Gauntlet Editorial Board
EDITORIAL
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The University of Calgary’s Students’ Union (SU) recent ly announced that the uni versity has failed to keep its promise to offer all undergraduates a Credit Granted (CG) option, in a recent Instatement.aninterview with SU President Nicole Schmidt, she discussed the work the SU had been doing over the summer with the university to en sure that all undergraduate students would have the option to not let a grade affect their GPA Since then, the university has now allowed for facilities such as the Schulich School of Engineering to restrict a CG option. Schmidt said verbal commitment was given to the SU, but the university is now failing to stay true to its word. “Despite this commitment from the administration, the Students’ Union has learned that the Faculty of En gineering and several other facul ties will completely restrict students from using the CG grading option, even on exploratory courses or those being taken to fulfill option require ments –– which we don’t think is ac ceptable in any way,” said Schmidt.
Students’ Union fights for Credit Granted option for all faculties on campus
The CG option provides students with a way to broaden their universi ty experience, while staying mindful of the metal health effects the pan demic has brought upon students academically. Schmidt explains that the SU has been advocating for this CG option because of the mental health and exploratory components of it.
“If something happens to [students] in the semester, personal wise or health wise, CG was really sort of a security blanket in the sense that they could take a CG on their tran script and not have that grade show up and impact their overall GPA,” said WhileSchmidt.Schmidt and VP Academic, Renzo Pereyra, have been making efforts since the summer to imple ment a CG option for all faculties, restrictions have been passed to pre vent students from taking advantage of this opportunity.
“Both myself and our VP academ ic have had multiple meetings with different representatives from the Faculty of Engineering to discuss our concerns. This has fallen on deaf ears and the CG policy and the CG restrictions have passed at the calen dar and curriculum subcommittee as of last week,” she said. “So our next steps are going to be looking at see ing if we can appeal or amend these policies at all to make them less re strictive for students. We’ll also be having further conversations with members of the executive leadership team at the U of C to voice our dis pleasure with the approval of these Overall,restrictions.”Schmidt said that the SU is very disappointed with the univer sity’s lack of integrity regarding the CG option, and they will continue to fight for this opportunity to be avail able for all undergraduate students.
Editors: Sophia Lopez & Julieanne news@thegauntlet.caAcosta@GauntletUofCNEWS » DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 3
“The SU will continue to call on the university to honour its word in this matter. We encourage the university and the Faculty of Engineering to reconsider its restrictive and ill-con ceived approach to CG, and instead prioritize the mental health of stu dents,” read a statement the SU made on Nov. 26.
Sophia Lopez News Editor
To read the full statement and learn about what else the SU is doing to help students, visit su.ucalgary.ca.
“Initially, the CG option was intended to be implemented for mental health purposes. It was supposed to give students that flexibility to take cred it given on a course, as opposed to having to take a lower grade on that course,” said Schmidt. “So there was that aspect of it, but also the explor atory component where students were able to potentially take a course outside of their degree or outside of their program of study to see if they enjoy the course, or to just have that option available to them.
“So there’s the mental health compo nent, but also the exploratory com ponent,” she continued. “And the university hasn’t addressed our con cerns on either one of those things with restricting the CG options, so we’re still waiting for more infor mation from them on how they’re actually going to address those con Schmidtcerns.” expanded on the point of why the CG option is so valuable for students, and that it allowed to soft en the blow of online learning.
GPA SAVER » MEGAN KOCHThe CG option offers students to receive credit for a course without their GPA being affected.
In addition to the Faculty of Engi neering, the Faculty of Nursing and the Cumming School of Medicine will entirely restrict the CG option. While there are departments such as economics in the Faculty of Arts that is looking to restrict CG as well, however, final confirmation has yet to be made.
For those looking to volunteer for the Q Centre, an application can be found as well on the SU’s page for the Q Centre.
“We’re really trying to get that sense of community back because a lot of people are feeling the absence of it this year,” said Madaan.
The Q Centre at the University of Calgary is a place where the 2SLGBTQIA+ community can have a safe and comfortable place on campus to gather together. The centre on cam pus has a library and peer support, with coordinators and volunteers present to plan events and give out resources.
“There’s been an appetite to better adjust our curriculum to the evolv ing needs of society, and I think the time is just right to do it,” said Kachra. “The fundamentals of medicine, we still have to deliver, we’re still going to deliver. It’s just we’re going to do it a little bit differently and use core medical education principles as well as identifying some of the areas for refinement that we’ve seen through our process, and we’ll hopefully be able to deliver it in a different way.”
Re-imagining Medical Education takes new approaches to undergraduate medical education at the U of C
The Gauntlet had an opportunity to sit down with Ridham Madaan, coordina tor for the Q Centre, to discuss the up coming scholarship opportunities and the Q Centre’s plans for the upcoming Madaanyear.
“When you look at the committee that accredits Canadian medical schools, the first standard involves the theme of continuous quality im provement, so we’re going to con tinue to try to improve the process,” said Kachra. “It doesn’t end once we implement, we’re just getting start ed on building out the core tenets of our curriculum, and the great thing about the methodology we’ve cho sen, but [also] the opportunity that we have, is that it doesn’t end when we start the curriculum in July 2023. We’re going to continuously evalu ate and refine the process, continu ally try to improve it, as quickly as we need to.”
“We have queer mentors who are faculty members or alumni that are queer and have different jobs and are well integrated into the commu nity. Then we have mentees that are usually undergraduate students,” said Madaan. “So we have them apply and match them. We provide basic guide lines to ensure everyone is safe and we let them go meet as many times as they like within the year but they do have a minimum quota of seven to eight hours throughout the program.”
CURRICULUM CHANGE » SCHOLARSHIP OFFER » SYLVIA LOPEZ
There has been a large body of re search highlighting the importance of physicians demonstrating social accountability in order to create healthy populations — this change starts with medical schools through initiatives like RIME RIME is based on the four main principles of spi rality, generalism, centering patients and integration. Together, these four principles encompass the skills nec essary for more socially aware phy “Isicians.seeit as an opportunity to improve the health of our society, the health of the communities in which we serve. And I think reframing medical educa tion to put the patient at the centre of everything that we do is something that we can further refine from our current curriculum and to have stu dents who are more accountable to not just the medicine, but also the so cial, structural and other contributors to a patient’s healthcare journey,” said “ItKachra.was a really exciting idea as a medical student, when I first joined the project to say, ‘Maybe we could be leaders in this field, and maybe we could make this an even better and even more successful experience, create better doctors in the long run,’” said Low, “It’s exciting to say that we can make it better for the next people coming along and make it as good as it possibly can be.”
While there is no exact date set, the Q Centre will reopen in January and will have limited hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and limited occupancy to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
In addition to the scholarship and their events, the Q Centre does pro vide a Queer Mentorship Program that runs from November to April. The program is meant to empower the mentees and give them a relation ship where they are free to ask ques tions regarding their own sexuality.
Initially, the RIME project was created in response to addressing how medi cal lectures could be improved. Much time was spent with students, faculty, course chairs, preceptors, commu nity members and administrators to better understand the undergraduate medical education experience. The project soon grew beyond its initial goal, presenting an opportunity to re fine the broader medical curriculum.
Low mentioned that although there are many goals within medical ed ucation, the main goal remains the “Medicalsame. education itself is, you can say it has many different goals, but the end of the line is a health ier population. So every improve ment we make at this step hopefully echoes down to healthy populations in the end, that’s the ultimate goal,” said Low. Any further suggestions to the proposed curriculum changes can be made through the form on the Re-imagining Medical Education (RIME) website. Kachra and Low welcome any stakeholders in the process who wish to be involved.
MACKENZIE ASHCROFTView of the Foothills Hospital. Q Centre services are available online.
The Q Centre focuses on educating the community on a variety of top ics using discussion groups and guest “Wespeakers.tryto host events that would let the community feel like a commu nity and on top of that give them an opportunity to learn more about the LGBTQA+ community,” said Madaan.
The Gauntlet interviewed Dr. Rahim Kachra, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Director of Teaching Innova tion for Undergraduate Medical Ed ucation at the Cumming School of Medicine, and Dr. Joshua Low, a sec ond-year internal medicine resident.
The SU Pride Scholarship applicants will be reviewed by Madaan herself, along with Assad Ali Bik, VP Student Life for the SU, two executives from Queers on Campus, two neutral stu dents and Colson Buchanan, coordi nator for volunteer services on cam
The SU Pride Scholarship applica tions can be found on the SU’s page for the Q Centre and will close on Feb. 25, 2022 at 4 p.m.
The
The Q Centre recently announced the Students’ Union (SU) Pride scholarship, totalling five $2,000 scholarships to be given out in the winter semester. This Quality Money project will give out these scholarships to undergraduate students who are actively dedicated to the queer community. “You’re defending people’s identity — it’s a very big task to take on. This project understands that. We want to see people that are involved in the community and that have promoted its wellbeing,” said Madaan.
Salma VolunteerZein
Q Centre launches initiative to provide scholarships dedi cated to the queer community
4 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 news@thegauntlet.ca
Julieanne Acosta News Editor
The Re-imagining Medical Edu cation (RIME) initiative through the Cumming School of Medicine, founded in 2018, aims to update the delivery of the undergraduate medi cal curriculum with the goal of creat ing more socially aware physicians to better serve communities.
Considering the COVID-19 restric tions, the Q Centre has remained closed for the Fall 2021 semester. However, the space is looking to re open this upcoming term.
The last major change to the pre-clerkship medical curriculum oc cured in 2006. The new curriculum is feasible under accreditation stan dards and is set to be implemented in July 2023, however, as Kachra says, this is only just the beginning.
said that the connections the Q Centre makes for students in the queer community creates safe spaces on “Wecampus.provide connections to resourc es within the community so that they know where to go,” said Madaan. “It’s a really big city — a really big univer sity — sometimes you just don’t know where to go for your issues so anyone can start here and venture out.”
“Itpus.feels like a full-time job. You’re constantly advocating for your own space, your friend’s space, another queer person’s space — you’re con stantly justifying someone’s identity. I think that’s why [this scholarship] is so important. Identity is such an integral part,” said Madaan. “It can be exhausting when for every small win you have, there are 10 losses that you can look at. This scholarship shows that their contributions really do make a difference and people are recognizing it,”
To find out more about the CBRC and how to support conversion therapy survivors and the 2SLGBTQIA+ com munity, visit www.cbrc.net.
The federal government has voted to pass a bill to ban conversion therapy in the country
Kwag opened up about being a survi vor himself, and that the vote to pass Bill C-4 and being in Ottawa for that moment was incredibly powerful.
Community-Based Research Centre promotes health and well-be ing of people of diverse sexualities and genders,” said Kwag. “I truly do hope that once this bill passes, that it leads to a continued conversation at all levels of government and across different sectors in our society, to push the conversation further in terms of how we can build on this important piece.”
In an interview with the Gaunt let, Michael Kwag, the director of knowledge exchange and policy de velopment at the CBRC, discussed the significance of Bill C-4 and how this is a positive effort made by the federal government.
The CBRC has been advocating for the termination of conversion therapy in Canada through their research ini tiatives, such as conducting surveys across the country and producing a policy brief to provide education on conversion therapy practices, sexual orientation, gender identity and ex pression. Kwag explains how the data collected over the years has exposed some chilling facts about the effects of conversion therapy.
“Specifically, I would say that the re moval of the consent clause which was a problematic piece in the previ ous iterations of the bill the remov al of that clause, and ensuring that there were broader protections for everyone, including adults, was real ly a significant win for survivors and advocates who have been asking for that change in this newer version of the bill,” he said.
“We’ve been primarily tackling the issue of conversion therapy through our research initiatives,” said Kwag. “Following that work, we started to get a better sense as to the extent of the problem, which basically re vealed that there were thousands of queer and trans people who have been impacted by these horrific, harmful discredited practices — we knew we needed to do something about Althoughthat.”the passing of Bill C-4 is appreciated by the 2SLGBTQIA+ com munity, Kwag believes more can still be done by the federal government and the community to support con version therapy survivors.
“This is an incredibly important step, [but] it’s going to take much more than a criminal law to not only pre vent this practice from happening, but to be able to support those that have already been impacted,” he said. “It’s about looking at multiple points in which we can ensure that the next generation of queer and trans people are able to come out, explore their true, full selves in a way that is going to be inclusive and affirming for what they’re going through.”
Sophia Lopez News Editor Canada’s House of Commons has recently voted to pass Bill C-4 — a bill that bans conversion therapy for adults and children in the country. This updated bill had no opposition and will provide a better outline for what constitutes conversion therapy.
“Being able to witness what took place on Monday, and then later in the week, seeing the bill passed unan imously in the house so quickly it was truly an encouraging experience for me,” said Kwag. “It really means the world to me, and I truly feel priv ileged to have played any part in it.”
Kwag is hopeful for the future of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and he en courages the federal government and the community to continue to show support for conversion therapy sur “Thevivors.
VALERY PEREZ
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 5thegauntlet.ca/category/news
Kwag said that in the previous bills to ban conversion therapy, there was a consent clause involved that did not allow for the proper protection of ev eryone within the community.
The ban on conversion therapy is on a national level.
Across the country, there are organi zations that help conversion therapy survivors and support those in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community such as the Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC). This non-profit charitable organization has been active for 20 years and they continue to advocate for more support from the govern ment and the community as a whole.
“The bill is definitely a significant improvement from the previous iter ations of the bill,” said Kwag. “We’re quite pleased to see that this bill will ensure stronger protections for more queer and trans people who are im pacted by conversion therapy prac tices in Canada.”
FEDERAL BAN »
THE STUDENTS’ UNION Complete listing of student events, concerts and more: www.su.ucalgary.ca/events DECEMBER 2021 YOU ARE READY. Run in the Students’ Union General Election Visit www.su.ucalgary.ca/elections for available positions and more details Nominate yourself! Packages are available online starting Jan. 24. Campaign funding is available. Nomination Days: Feb. 7 - 9, from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Please see the new nomination procedure to learn how the SU is keeping candidates and students safe during the General Election. ARESTRATEGIC MOTIVATEDYOU?AMBITIOUS 202 2 suuofc
“I know you can ask for an exten sion on your study permit — but it’s stressful and I didn’t want to deal with it, and I know a lot of other students internationally fear it too,” Vasquez said.
The implications of things such as these tuition hikes are that fewer people are interested in attend ing the university. Even worse are the implications for the actual students themselves. “One of my friends had to leave the university during the pandemic because he couldn’t afford it,” said Vasquez. “Most students are on scholarships and rely on those in order to stay in university, so I think the issue with tuition is just getting worse.”
tuition at egregious rates. Vasquez expressed his dissatisfaction with the high rates of international stu dent tuition.
Anjali Choudhary Voices Assistant I nternational students have been at the forefront of irre sponsible planning, detrimen tal tuition hikes and extraordinarily difficult situations for the past two school years. While the rest of the student body is actively trying to en sure they never hear the word “pan demic” again, international students simply do not have that luxury. The decisions made by university admin istrations — for both the University of Calgary and others across the na tion — are impacting international students now more than ever. Uni versities may be trying to return to business as usual but the priorities and desires of international students have drastically changed since 2019.
“While it is the case for some peo ple, there are many international students that struggle with finding work opportunities, particularly if they are part of the Arts Faculty,” said Vasquez.
ApplyBoard, an Ontario-based inter national study application service, released a unique report outlining key trends surrounding interna tional study following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This re port made claims of the heightened desire to study abroad, new tuition tolerances and the future of interna tional study. The highly praised nature of Can ada’s international post-secondary education draws in countless inter national students. In fact, the Uni versity of Calgary boasts hosting students from 155 different coun tries globally. The general appeal of studying abroad signals new expe riences and the promise of a better Infuture.aninterview with the Gauntlet, Sebastian Vasquez, an internation al student from Colombia, spoke to these trends and details his expe rience as an international student as well as the crucial next steps for international study in Canada. He claims that international study is all about “having different ex periences [and] becoming more independent,” adding that he has learned a lot of things in meeting different people and experiencing different cultures.
argues that the appeal of international study and applications have ex ponentially increased by 200 per cent for the fall semester.
“We pay almost triple in compari son to local students — what exact ly are we paying for? It’s not fair.”
The uncontrollable factors of both the pandemic and the unreason able tuition hikes ultimately leads to feelings of dissatisfaction and frustration with both the system and the university.
The University of Calgary needs to step up and take care of its students without hiding behind a shield of pandemic uncertainty. International students are in dire need of clear and realistic direc tion, adequate support and deci sions which genuinely consider their best interest. Otherwise, this university may become an ex tremely undesirable location for students globally.
people decided not to study during the first year of the pandemic.”
Vasquez remained skeptical about this sta tistic, however, stating that it’s “a really high percentage” and that he personally hadn’t seen that many international students. Although, he does claim that overall in Can ada “it makes sense, since a lot of
To him, many students in South America share his sentiment of hopelessness in the future of their country and said he has “decide to leave instead of dealing with it.”
Editor: Aymen voices@thegauntlet.caSherwani@GauntletUofCVOICES » DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 7
Whose experiences are ApplyBoard’s research on international study truly representing?
» MEGAN KOCHThe University of Calgary hosts international students from around 155 different countries.
The false narrative and unrealistic portrayals are especially harmful when considering the difficulty of transferring to a different universi ty or returning to a home country.
The extensive resources and men tal and emotional tolls of creating a new home is not easily reversible, thus, international students may feel obliged or trapped to continue in an academic environment that neither meets their expectations nor provides them with adequate future Nonetheless,opportunities.ApplyBoard
Hence, the rise in gap years may account for the rise in enrollments this semester. The large number of students who opted to take gap years immediately following the onset of the pandemic can likely be attributed to the constant uncer tainty and lack of direction provid ed by the university. While this was undoubtedly a tumultuous time for domestic students, international students faced a multitude of other factors which they were forced to balance in their decision-making. Unfortunately, they were often not able to make their preferred choice for the school year. While Vasquez and many others he knew consid ered taking a gap year or dropping out altogether, he was ultimately unable to make a decision based on preferences due to a difficult situa tion with his study permit.
However, despite the positives on the surface, the appeal of interna tional study does not often match the reality. Vasquez also claims that universities market programs for international students as the op portunity to gain new experiences.
Behind the surface-level facade of seeking and welcoming interna tional students, the university has planned moves which strategically disadvantage the already disad vantaged students. Over the past three years, the University of Cal gary has been consistently raising
INTERNATIOAL STUDENTS ISSUES
Studying in privileged countries like Canada allows students to ac cess otherwise exclusive opportu nities and knowledge. While there are undoubtedly a multitude of extra barriers for international students to access these privileg es, simply leaving their country is a step in the right direction for some. Often the promise of a better future internationally is an escape from a terribly unfortunate alter native. For Vasquez, leaving Co lombia was a way for him to leave a situation that he knew was going to be bad for the future, alluding to the conflict-related violence that has been rampant in the country.
Many students remain unaware of contemporary Indigenous issues because much of what is taught is projected to be issues of the past and further translates into a lack of initiative from political represen tatives to address such concerns.
Jenzelle Salazar Voices Assistant F or decades, hundreds of First Nation communities in Canada continue to suffer through modern crises regarding the abundant lack of clean drinking water available on reserves. The water that is most often used in these communities contains pollutants and radicals within the major rivers surround ing these reserves. Drinking this water has been known to cause flulike symptoms upon ingestion and has been attributed to a vast histo ry of infant-related deaths. A “do not drink water” notice is enacted when a potential risk is detected with water consumption that can not be adequately addressed by boiling alone. These instances are not uncommon for the many In digenous communities that contin ue to suffer from a lack of access to clean water. Most recently, a Calgary protest against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline highlighted such concerns about the 670 kilometre project being built through the Wet’suwet’en nation’s treaty land — potentially impacting the quality of water sources present within the Jasonnation. Black Kettle, a first-year Communications and Media Stud ies major at the University of Cal gary, is Blackfoot and a member of the Siksika Nation. In an interview with the Gauntlet, he states that “my dad would always say ‘don’t drink the water, it’s no good’ and as a kid, I never really understood what that meant — I was maybe 7 or 8 years old at that time, but even then I understood that when I was in Calgary, nobody had ever told me not to drink the water.” “I’m 23 now and looking back on that, I’m surprised at how long this issue has been going on. I mean, people say they care [and] they constantly cite the calls to action but there really is no action,” Black Kettle Reserves,adds.which are classified as under the jurisdiction of the fed eral government, can attribute this crisis to be the result of unregu
Thistem. issue reinforces the prevalence of this crisis in our modern society as hundreds of advisories are enact ed every year in Canada alone, with most of the reserves in the country being at risk of contaminated water supplies. Organizations, such as Wa ter First, advocate for social aware ness through education, training and collaboration with Indigenous communities where contributing some personal resources such as time and effort can prove to be valu able in fostering change.
WATER CRISIS
»
COURTESY HOLGER SCHUE
lated and defective water treat ment systems and have seen little to no maintenance despite years of empty promises. The reality is that non-Indigenous Canadians are simply unaware and ignorant towards the fact that Indigenous communities are continually de nied the basic human right of san itary drinking water, which can go on for prolonged periods of time — sometimes lasting years. Rare ly has the topic of clean water on reserves been discussed by the media, nor has it been formally ad dressed in classroom discussions.
NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, re sponded to a question about the issue where someone was asking him if he would just ‘give’ money to First Nations peoples. He re sponded by asking if the govern ment ‘should’ give money to Van couver if their water systems had been compromised,” said Black Singh’sKettle. response is reflective of the performative activism that plagues the Canadian House of Commons and provides a broad er commentary on the inaction of politicians when they are faced with the issues of marginalized Canadians. Not only would fixing this issue ensure the basic human rights of Indigenous peoples but it is also crucial to understand that fulfilling these promises serves as another step in reconciliation.
8 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 voices@thegauntlet.ca
“This is Canada — we should care about the health and well-being of all its citizens, especially those who originally inhabited the land. I wouldn’t want a white man to suffer without clean water as much as my people do, but that’s a reality,” Black Kettle said. “Part of me hopes they [white people] think the same way but I’m pret ty sure most of them don’t care. That’s just my opinion. A lot of people say they care but it never seemed genuine to me.” What Canada has since failed to ac knowledge is that many Indigenous cultures regard natural resources, such as land and water, with sacred ness rather than just a resource for capital consumption. Unfortunately, the demand for change has fallen on deaf ears in regards to the gov ernment of Canada’s response to the outcry for change. They have failed to impose any substantial aid measures and provide the necessary funding to maintain the water sys
Lack of clean drinking water in Indigenous communities remains a prevelent issue
Some Indigenous communities still do not have access to clean drinkning water.
“Many of us found our voices when we were in university but we contin ue to feel marginalized as interlop ers and imposters,” said Dr. Pamela Sugiman, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Ryerson. “Though some of us were introduced to readings about racialization and colonialism in the lecture hall, many still per ceive a strict divide between aca demic curriculum on the one hand, and their personal and family his tories, traditions, cultures and lived experiences on the other.” There is this notion that our heri tage cannot be intertwined with our academic lives — it is a belief that is inherently white supremacist in nature, as it implies a dominance of Western modes of thought and culture over their Eastern counter “Universitiesparts. have a moral obli gation to address racism and all systemic inequalities not only to ensure a safe and healthy learning and work environment for stu dents, faculty, staff and communi ties but also because we play a key role in shaping the future of our society,” said Post-secondarySugiman.institutions have the power to lead academic con versations and convene academ ics to lend their voices in con versations about human rights and equality. Ryerson’s National Forum on anti-Asian Racism was what I believe to be the start of a concrete framework surrounding discussions of racism on campus.
Jenzelle Salazar Voices Assistant T his past November, I attend ed the National Forum on Anti-Asian Racism to further un derstand the role anti-Asian rac ism impacts Canadians on the post-secondary level. The event was hosted by the Ryerson Univer sity’s Faculty of Arts and demon strated solidarity through discus sions of what anti-Asian racism may look like in post-secondary institutions through an academic Anti-Asianlens. racism in itself is a broad term but in the context of the academic experience, is about the hate, unequal treatment and systemic discrimination experi enced by people of Asian heritage. It is no surprise that Asian students are at risk of being ostracized due to racialized societal views, such as the idea that they are foreign ers, despite their families living in Canada for generations. On top of this, they are subject to stereo types that reduce them to a mono lith and are limited to East Asian stereotypes and caricatures — it also should not be forgotten that Asians across nationalities were collectively targeted for contrib uting to COVID-19 infection rates, despite many never even leaving the country. At the same time, the diversity of Asian cultures should also be tak en into consideration when under standing that the racialized expe riences of Asians will differ from student to student. In the early years of my post-secondary edu cation, I was racially stereotyped by a peer who told me that Filipi nos were “hoarding nursing and engineering opportunities from others” because these careers are common in the Filipino commu nity. My experience is but one perspective on what anti-Asian racism can look like, but is one of many forms of marginalization that varying ethnicities endure.
“Over the past year, it’s quite like ly more than half of the Asian and Asian Canadian students in our universities and colleges have been impacted by anti-Asian sen timent,” said Janice Fukakusa, a Chancellor and corporate direc tor at Ryerson. “It’s also likely that some of those experiences have taken place within the walls, whether real or virtual, of their post-secondary institutions.”
academia.
Similarly, Dr. Delia Douglas, the anti-racism practice lead at Ry erson, shared insight on how stu dents are failing to encourage rec ognizing the racial experiences of one another. Internalized racism among peers is an obstacle stand ing in the way of equality and is a leading factor in the behaviour di rected towards Asian students.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 9thegauntlet.ca/category/voices
“We are not encouraged to see each other as equals, we are not taught and encouraged to see our selves in each other, so those are challenges,” she said. Attending the conference made me more cognizant of my own experience as an Asian-Canadi an. I remembered when white instructors and peers would treat me, or students who were people of colour (POC), differently than our white counterparts — blatant ly with favouritism or leniency. Studying within an environment that catered to white norms and culture, I often felt at an academ ic disadvantage in my community because of something I could not Forchange.example, an institution that I had attended had banned the practice of speaking foreign lan guages and cited that white stu dents and staff felt uncomfortable with the growing use of Tagalog in the student body. This was the way that my friends and I were able to connect and communicate with each other and banning this integral part of our identity made us feel like we, as people, were un Whilewelcome.the ban ended a few years after it was introduced, the lasting impacts of it continued to affect me throughout my education, as I came to hate hearing my cultural language being spoken in school.
NO HATE » VALERY PEREZ
Unpacking anti-Asian racism in academia
There is anti-Asian sentiments in
Students who are POC often have to fend for themselves or are ex pected to perform better due to the imposed cultural stereotypes that institutions operate on. Similarly, I was conditioned to believe that my culture was a burden to others, and I felt shame in being a Filipina.
A large portion of society in the Global North, however, believes that refugees have no place in their countries. They assert that the morals of a refugee are incom patible with their ways of life — as seen by an Australian Twitter user, Jeffrey Blackman (@Baron Blacky), tweeting “No more ref ugees from a different culture or uncivilized nation.”
Many refugees from Afghanistan have lived through the trauma of the Soviet invasion, the draconian-style leadership of the Taliban and then the Western neo-imperialist occu pation of their homeland, which included the deployment of 40,000 Canadian troops and the deaths of 71,000 civilians. Being forced to live in countries like Canada serves as a constant reminder of the devas tation wreaked on their homeland in the pursuit of arbitrary notions of freedom and liberation. In the context of the current situation un folding in Afghanistan, Machacek believes “we [Canadians] personally have a humanitarian responsibili ty — a human rights responsibility — to refugees, given our role in the conflict in Afghanistan.”
The best example is that of Wais Habibzai, an Afghan refugee who fled from the country “after his house was destroyed by a rocket” in 1992. He now has a successful ca reer as a property developer in Can ada and has most recently launched a personal aid effort for those try ing to escape Kabul, providing over $50,000 in essential supplies for refugees. At the same time, refugees should not have to prove them selves to be useful to a host country for them to have the right to safety.
Anyone who clutches their pearls and paints refugees as this alien force that changes society for the worse, evidently, has proba bly never met one and is simply playing into a political narrative that scapegoats refugees to be causing pre-existing symptoms of economic inequality and national security. Machacek provides his account of such.
VALERY PEREZThere are Afghan refugees seeking asylum in Canada.
SUPPORTING REFUGEES IN CANADA »
Aymen Sherwani Voices Editor
10 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 voices@thegauntlet.ca
On Aug. 16, 2021, the Taliban began to reclaim victory over Afghanistan, sweeping across the country in the conquest of all the major towns and cities, facing lit tle resistance from Afghan security forces. The militant group’s seizure of power has caused somewhat of a mass exodus from the region and compelled thousands — foreigners and Afghans alike — to scramble for an exit out of the country. Canada, in particular, has pledged to host 40,000 — the reception to which, like Canadian winters, has been pre dictably frosty. Twitter user Chad Lewis (@chadl84625640) states “We don’t want them. We have enough foreigners who can’t speak a damn word of English.” Others have been quick to criticize the Trudeau administration’s com mitment to accept Afghan refugees, insinuating that doing so will com promise the country’s national se curity and economy as well, despite the majority of incoming refugees being families. In an interview with the Gauntlet, Mark Machacek — ses sional instructor in the University of Calgary’s Political Sciences depart ment — states that the scapegoating of refugee groups as threats to the economy and national security is not a new phenomenon. “It’s been like this since the postwar period — refugees have been increasingly politicized and secu ritized. We’ve seen refugee popu lations connected to security and economic concerns when really there’s no evidence supporting that whatsoever,” he said. “There is so much research out there in forced migration and refugee studies that get into the economics of refugees themselves in new communities — the vast majority of this research is pretty much at consensus that the ‘injection of refugees’ in an econ omy is not a zero-sum thing, it’s a Machacekcontribution.”is currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation, which is fo cused on the political economy of United Nations (UN) business part nerships. Based on his knowledge in the issue area, he argues that refu gees have been misframed as these economic vampires that steal op portunities from domestic job pools. Instead, he states that hosting refu gees allows for economic growth. “It doesn’t take anything away,” he said. “They not only are offered jobs, but they also create jobs, they’re of ten entrepreneurs — they’re also a large customer base [in the host Notcountry].”onlydo they contribute to the economy, but they also give back.
Why Canada is obligated to host Afghan refugees
“I was doing research in Uganda for my master’s thesis on tradition al authority in Africa — a friend of mine was travelling with us and he was shooting a [CBC] documentary on child soldiers, and I was taking a break from my research so I helped out with the writing,” he said. “We found a place to stay [while filming] and it happened to be a combina tion between an IDP [internally dis placed person] camp and a refugee camp and included those internally displaced from the NRA [National Resistance Army] insurgency in the north of Uganda, but also refugees from South Sudan.” “We were staying in a cement block with a prison door — we had left for a bit to Juba, South Sudan for the in dependence [in 2011] and somebody had picked our lock,” Machacek said, assuming that his belongings would be stolen due to the level of scarcity and poverty that were ram pant across the camp. Most refugees there lacked access to running wa ter, heat and electricity. Instead, “somebody had picked the lock to clean our place and our clothes for us as thank you for stay ing in the neighbourhood — orga nized our money, our books and swept up everything — it was just really cool to be welcome home.” Privileged Canadians are desensi tized to news of tragedies surround ing the issue area, despite the num bers of refugees only growing as the years go by. Regardless of their ethnicity, refugees are refugees not because they want to be, but out of “Thesenecessity.are the people that are in some of the most vulnerable sit uations of any population in the world,” Machacek concludes. “I’m not saying anything new here but exposure and proximity are key. The most I can do [as an academic] is just keep trying to spread factual infor mation, what research is showing us and also just be very open about my normative orientation.”
COURTESY MARK MACHACEK
FASHION FEARS »
All about water: This consists of both water consump tion and water pollution. For starters, it’s not surprising that the fashion in dustry is a super-soaker consumer of freshwater with textile dying being the second largest polluter of water streams globally. It takes up to 2000 gallons of water to make a single pair of jeans. And cotton requires huge swaths of water — nearly 20,000 litres worth to plant, seed and grow a mere 1kg of cotton. Of course there’s the added backlash of drying out the land, a phenomenon known as desertifica tion and soil degradation.
What better time to become more mindful of our purchas es than the most festive — and com mercialized — time of year? Why do we need to be more mindful of what we buy on a daily basis, you ask? For starters, the fashion industry is one of the top five most polluting industries in the world and is responsible for 10 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, with fast fashion being the main culprit. What is fast fashion? It can be defined as garments that are made and sold on the cheap so that the consumer is enabled to buy new clothes more frequently. The satisfaction of keep ing up with the latest fashion trend is never-ending. And let’s face it, we’ve all done it — we fantasized about buy ing that cute new top, only to give it a few wears and toss it into the deep lagoon of our closets. Take the most well-known fashion brand and retailer in the world — Zara. The company has a rapid turnaround time of 14–21 days, from inception of the garment, to the final sale of the product with at least 52 micro seasons per year. On average it churns out 450 million garments a year and 500 de signs per week. Our so-called “need to spree” and “retail therapy” needs to take a breather as our consumer obsession with needing, not wanting the latest trends is rapidly depleting our planet’s precious resources while polluting Mother Earth. Yikes!
Toxins: Microfibres
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor
When it comes to water pollution, your clothes are made in a chemical soup from fibre production, textile dying, bleaching and wetting process to finishing. It’s no wonder allergic reactions to clothing are becom ing more common. A deadly moat of toxic chemicals surrounds most garment factories. Untreated tox ic waters containing trace amounts of lead, mercury and arsenic are dumped haphazardly into rivers at production facilities around the world that eventually leech back into surrounding water streams. Waste generation: Landfills Clothing has become used, abused and tossed away — that is disposable. Our post-consumption problem in cludes how much we toss out in the garbage. The average person sends 70 pounds of textiles to the landfill each year. Plastic fibres which are non-biodegradable like polyester, spandex and nylon used in the vast majority of our clothes, can take up to 200 years to decompose.
Around 60 per cent of the clothing you wear contains plastic microfi bers, the most popular of which is polyester. Even the post-consump tion aspect is disastrous thanks to microfibers. For instance, every time you wash a synthetic garment, such as polyester or nylon, thousands of microfibres are released into the water. According to the World Eco nomic Forum, washing clothes re leases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year, which is the equivalent of 50 billion plastic Polyesterbottles. as plastic is found in an estimated 60 per cent of garments, of which producing it as a materi al releases 2–3 times more carbon emissions than cotton. Worst of all, polyester does not break down in the ocean. Small aquatic microor ganisms ingest these microfibers which are then eaten by small fish and then bigger fish and finally eat en by you during one of your daily dinners of freshly caught salmon. This phenomenon introduced to our food chain is called bioaccumulation Emissions
Fast fashion and its environmental impact
The overgrazing of pastures by goats and sheeps raised for their wool and excessive use of pesticides and herbi cides to grow cotton fields is a great example of this. It gets worse with rainforest destruction and the loss of hectares of ancient forests being slashed for wood-based fabrics like rayon, viscose and modal.
MACKENZIE ASHCROFTFast fashion is easily accessible for consumers.
As a consumer every day, you can choose to adapt your lifestyle to be more eco-conscious and opt for brands that impact the triple bottom line — people, profit and planet. Best of all, you can do convenient sus tainable swaps for your clothing like buying consigned and local, buying higher quality garments that last for years, going on a fun clothing swap or simply mending your clothes when they rip or tear rather than tossing them in the trash. You too can be the change you wish to see in the world, so choose to be your own hero.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 11 Editors: Ava Zardynezhad & Rachneet general@thegauntlet.caRandhawa@GauntletUofCOPINIONS »
Polyester is a petrochemical-based fibre that is reliant on large amounts of fossil fuels to be manufactured. Did you know that more than 330 million barrels of oil on average are used to make polyester and other manmade clothing fibres ev ery year? Let’s be real, fast fashion companies love polyester because it’s cheap, easy to manufacture at a relatively low financial cost but costs us the environment.
The fashion industry is responsible for 92 million tons or four per cent of the world’s annual solid waste. The current approach of producing, distributing and using clothes occurs in a closed-loop. From the initial mock-up design to wear that is used for a short period before being eas ily tossed in the trash, it’s an unsus tainable lifestyle. The new normal is that clothing is disposed of and un fortunately this nasty habit of ours is generating textile waste at unprece dented levels –— nearly 85 per cent of our clothing ends up in landfills.
There are three facets of fast fashion’s disastrous environmental impacts — water usage, waste generation and toxins.
12 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 general@thegauntlet.ca
For those interested in jetting off on their first study abroad excursion be sure to check out the university’s Study Abroad website and book a consultation appointment with one of the appropriate region specific global learning advisors — wheth er you choose to do it in-person or opt for one of the virtual programs.
exchange program, you can go to one of our partner universities for a summer program for a semester, either in fall or winter, or you can go for a full year,” said Packer. “We have probably about 150 plus different ex change partners around the world, many of whom are top-ranked uni Forversities.”those looking for a more inti mate approach alongside your class mates, going for a group study is the best option.
For students still struggling to save up to go abroad, there are also funding options available.
“We have a travel grant that is avail able to students and there’s a lot of different university scholarships that are specifically for study abroad,” said Packer. “It’s something that we’re re ally trying to build on as well.”
COVID-19 affected Study Abroad pro grams at U of C after March 2020 due to the last-minute cancellations of student exchanges — everything was on hiatus.
Students gain skills such as improv ing communication and results-ori ented skills by working in different cultural contexts within varying time zones by coming up with a cre ative solution to a problem. One of the best aspects of virtual travelling is the accessibility factor.
Unfortunately,appears.it’sfrustrating as stu dents self-select out because of mis conceptions that it won’t fit into their degree program or that it’s too expen sive, which is false.
Some options include the Interna tional Study Travel Grant that most students receive if they give back by volunteering to promote study abroad programs during the school year. And others include faculty-spe cific awards like the Group Study Pro gram Scholarship valued at $1,000 per grant. The Students’ Union also offers travel and conference funding for non-academic programs per aca demic year with a maximum allotted amount of $125.
It’s been nearly 20 months since Canada eased COVID-19 restric tions for non-essential travel. Recently, Canada has opened up its borders to fully vaccinated travellers with many now opting for leisurely travel. Despite the quarantine and fourth wave of the pandemic, trav elling for tourism purposes has once more ignited, especially for the hol idays. What does this mean for the many students still hoping to do an international exchange before they There’sgraduate?a good chance they should still consider pursuing it sometime shortly. The Gauntlet sat down with the Director of University of Cal garys’ Study Abroad Office, Colleen Packer, to learn more.
“We also have fantastic study abroad advisors who will help you narrow down your choices and talk about all of the different aspects of the pro grams that you’re looking into and hopefully answer all of the ques tions that you have and guide you through every step of the process as well,” said Packer. “And we also of course really strongly encourage you to connect with your academic advisor and your faculty as well to make sure you know what you need. For some students, there may be a specific time and their degree that’s better to incorporate study abroad.”
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor
Why is studying abroad important for “Travelingstudents?is so important because it opens your eyes to just how much there is out there that you’re not aware of,” said Packer. “It also really helps to dispel the myths that you might have about people or about a place. We often get a very narrow view of different countries and dif ferent cultures based on what we see in the media. Being able to travel and see things for yourself it’s just so im Thereportant.”are three formats for study abroad programming — Exchange, Group Study and lastly, Virtual. An exchange is more independent and flexible and customizable as you get to choose courses, accommodations and timelines that are suitable for “Theyou.
“A group study program is where a University of Calgary instructor is taking a group of students into the field and it’s usually for a very short period, anywhere from two to six weeks,” said Packer. “And most of these take place in the spring or summer semester. So it’s essentially taking University of Calgary courses, somewhere else in the world.”
Similar to everybody else they’ve had to adapt and remain resilient. for instance, with the launch of UCal gary Global Online last year. This program brings cross-cultural learn ing and engagement with the global community into an accessible online format. Basically, as a virtual ex change student, you have the oppor tunity to take online courses from one of U of C’s partner universities around the world for credit towards your degree.
“A lot of students are reliant on working full time or have family commitments or other issues that prevent them from being able to do traditional travel programs,” said Packer. “And so being able to do some of these virtual opportunities [where] there’s not a cost barrier because you’re just paying the tui tion, you don’t have to worry about the flight and accommodation and some of the other expenses that can make study abroad a little more ex Packerpensive.”suggested booking a consul tation appointment with one of the study abroad advisors.
For students going virtual, the UCal gary Global Learning Ambassador Award valued at $1,000 per grant is awarded to select students. And of course, you can always apply for stu dent loans as a failsafe. At the end of the day, you have to take that risk be fore the net
of
U C study abroad and exchange programs after COVID
For example, one of the new virtual exchange programs is Global Com munity Challenge YYC. This is an 8-week competition-style program with an intercultural focus in which students receive set challenges of re al-world problems and students from around the world at partner univer sities work together on the commu nity challenge in interdisciplinary Forteams.U of C, each team consists of six students and works with a local community partner organization to find solutions and give a pitch at the end of the competition in which the judges select a winner. As resourc es, students participate in a series of professional development work shops that they offer in conjunction with the Hunter Hub and Career Services and the Leadership and Student Engagement Office includ ing International Student Services.
We guarantee that this is a once-ina-lifetime opportunity that is well worth the investment and one in which you will make unforgettable memories for years to come.
For those interested in customizing their exchange, Packer suggests that it’s advised to choose within the cu rated options they offer through their many accredited partner universities as it would take too long for a student to find a different destination and university not listed.
FEATURE »
MEGAN KOCH
The university has around 150 exchange partners around the world.
“Partner universities are often iden tified through academic connections that the university has and so there could be research that’s going on or another collaboration that’s hap pening that then starts to expand in scope and eventually becomes a stu dent exchange,” said Packer. “So it of ten takes a few years to establish an exchange partnership.”
“That initial period was really hard because we were having to cancel students’ study abroad opportu nities,” said Packer. “They had no choice but to pivot and adapt so they began creating virtual opportunities that students could take with part ner universities alongside their on line courses to still gain those crucial skills on a typical exchange.”
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The 30,000 lives taken in the war on drugs are not the only lives that have been lost since Duterte’s gov ernment. Since his term began in 2016, 21 journalists have been killed and most of their killers have faced no repercussions or have never been found. The most recent jour nalist who lost his life was Orlando “Dondon” Dinoy who was shot six times in his own home after an un identified gunman broke into his apartment just last month on Oct. Whether30. or not this murder was linked directly to the government, the Philippines has become unsafe for those who go against Duterte’s rule in any way — and all these ex amples further this notion. The way that he upholds himself to the Philippines has drastically split the country into two sides — those who are for him and those who are against him.
In support, Lee has advocated alongside activists for the U.S. Con gress to pass the Philippines Hu man Rights Act. In April 2020, the U.S. granted 5.3 million dollars to the Philippines for COVID-19 aid — however many believe that the money was used rather to further militarize the country.
Protestors urged the Biden govern ment and U.S. Congress to pass the act to cut U.S. aid for the Philippines military and police. The activists laid out the tsinelas to remind the U.S. government of the nearly 30, 000 lives lost to current Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte’s, war on drugs. Each pair represents 10 lives Duringlost.the lockdowns in 2020, kill ings in the name of the drug war increased by over 50 per cent from April to July. Once lives are taken from the victims, many children are left without parents and are forced into poverty and often drop out of school because of financial reasons and bullying from their peers.
The
FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS »
It is no coincidence that 13 Karapa tan — a left-wing non-government organization — members were killed during the Duterte adminis tration. The risks of human rights work in the Philippines has become far too high for those who live there and it has become essential for those of us who aren’t in that situa tion to speak up for those who can’t.
“Iducted.canbe considered one of the for tunate ones who have survived, be cause I could’ve easily been one of the 30,000 fathers, sons, mothers and children who have been killed brutally, mercilessly, with no due process whatsoever,” said Lee in an interview with media outlet KQED in San Francisco.
World Record: Human Rights Watch, “threats and attacks, including murders, against left-wing political activists, environ mental activists, community lead ers. Indigenous peoples’ leaders, journalists, lawyers and others rose in the past year.”
In 2020, American journalist Bran don Lee was a victim of a suspect ed assassination attempt from the Philippines government after be ing shot while in the Philippines. An investigation from the Philip pines government was never con
14 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 general@thegauntlet.ca
The Committee to Protect Jour nalists (CPJ) called the Philippines National Police for a comment on the murder and was put on hold be fore the line dropped. The CPJ — to no surprise — additionally ranked the Philippines the seventh most unsafe place for journalists in the world based on the number of un solved murders of reporters. Courts convicted Nobel peace prize-winning Maria Ressa for cy ber libel for her independent digital outlet, The Rappler, that reported on thousands of extrajudicial kill ings in the war on drugs and was direct in her opinion against the Togovernment.furtherthis, in June 2016, Dute rte was quoted saying “Just because you’re a journalist you are not ex empted from assassination if you’re a son of a Accordingb*tch.”tothe
Duterte’s government has fallen in approval ratings from 62 per cent in June 2021 to 52 per cent in a recent poll done in October. The poll had a three per cent error margin and had Filipinos claiming that their quality of life got worse this past year.
That same month, Duterte ordered his military to “shoot dead” any vi olators of the quarantine mandate. This order was in direct response to citizens demanding aid from their government in the form of protests after weeks of not receiving mon ey and having no food to feed their families, let alone themselves.
VALERY PEREZ
Julieanne Acosta News Editor O n Nov. 18, 2021, 3,000 pairs of “tsinelas” — Tagalog for flipflops — were laid out near the U.S. Capitol in Washington with activ ists imploring Congress to pass the Philippines Human Rights Act.
Current Philippines president has been under attack for his human rights violations.
Passing this Human Rights Act would cut funding to the Philip pines’ security and police services with the goal of them reforming their system before funding can be restored. Despite these blatant hu man rights violations, many are un aware of the situation thus leaving Filipinos defenceless to their gov Beingernment.aFilipino who can live in a safe country away from the human rights violations enacted back in the Philippines is a privilege. This issue has gone on for years with little to no coverage. With this chance to help those back home, we must do our part in raising awareness and signing petitions to further the ac tivism that is being led. A petition can be found and signed from The Action Network titled “Cut US Aid to the Philippines”. problem of human rights in the Philippines
“If there’s an opportunity, if somebody hasn’t been to the festival, we just want to encourage people to come and check it out. And experience something different. So participate, check things out, spread the word [and] rate the films for the audience awards.”
“It’s still a challenge to get films to be willing to screen online and negotiate all the parameters,” she says. “And I think for this festival, we’re really hoping people are going to embrace coming back to cinema, because we’d like to get the audience comfortable doing that again.” For those who hope to be one of the qualifying entries for the festival, they take everything from student films to local films — although Lieberman mentioned it’s not easy and very competitive. On average they get 500 entries for the CUFF.docs festival and 1,200 for the regular CUFF festival in April. As for local films, there are about five films and 20 shorts for CUFF docs this year and nine films with 40 shorts for their main CUFF fesAstival.for how events like this shape the culture of the city, Lieberman claims that it has created a niche sense of communal belonging. “We’ve become a large cultural component of the city, that for a lot of people, it feels like there’s a sense of community and fandom with it. And people look forward to it,” says Lieberman. “It’s become one of the largest arts events in Calgary and an annual event. So for that, we feel fortunate. And that we’ve built it for the Oneaudience.”thingparticipants at these events should do to get the most out of their time is to keep an open “Imind.think the best thing to do is just to try and dive into watching a handful of films — like buying a multipack or having a chance to go with some friends if you can or solo if you can’t — and looking for if there’s a potential for people to talk about these films with others who’ve seen them.”
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor
CUFF.docs offers keynote speakers and live Q&A panels, especially for those aiming for a career in film making. However, Lieberman recommends volunteering at these events as they are always looking for ways to grow their audience.
“If the students could come and spread the word to their friends and their family and help us grow audiences that would be really amazing,” says SomeLieberman.finalshout-outs from Lieberman are to be open to trying out new things like going to a film festival.
One of the biggest challenges during COVID-19 was, and still is, reduced capacity and navigation — especially with what their most recent festival is going to look like, as there are still many unknowns.
2021
es
FILM COURTESY CUFFCUFF ran from Nov. 24 28.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 15 Editors: Ava Zardynezhad & Rachneet general@thegauntlet.caRandhawa@GauntletUofCARTS & CULTURE »
hats as she plays multiple roles doing various tasks and is involved year-round in festival programming. This is made possible by their small but strong organizing team who also hold full-time day jobs. The programming is divided between the lead programmers, Cameron McGowan and Brennan Tilley, lead publicist and marketing guru, Laura Carlson and volunteer programmers.
Calgary Underground Film Festival showcasninth-annual documentary film event
FEATURES »
The Calgary Underground Film Festival 2021 for documentaries took place Nov. 24–28 and had both in-person screenings at the Globe Cinema and virtual options.
Lieberman would define a documentary as a style of filmmaking and storytelling based on true stories that are mostly inter“Documentaryview-based. is really about honing in on a subject or a theme or topic and letting the subjects tell the Whatstory.”sets CUFF apart from other film festivals in the city? For one, they don’t always aim for the broadest and mass appeal Hollywood blockbuster’s usually gain and instead opt for target audiences with stories and genres that are a little less frequently told. “So things that push boundaries a little bit more and a little different than what you would get on mainstream media,” says Lieberman. Originally launched in 2003, CUFF emerged at a time when there weren’t a lot of film festivals in the city and they found there was a void in the film industry. “At the time when we started 20 years ago, there was really only one other major film festival in Calgary and an experimental one,” says Lieberman. “So we just felt that there were a lot of films on the festival circuit that weren’t getting a screening, so we looked at positioning ourselves in a different time of the year so that we could fill the void that we felt was needed in Lieberman’sCalgary.”
For almost two decades, the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) has been showcasing fringe essentials for the local arts and culture scene every April. Now comes the ninth annual CUFF.docs, a subsidiary event that runs from Nov. 24–28 which presents the best in non-fiction films and curates documentaries screening more than 20 full-length features and also shorts in various subjects, styles and genres. The Gauntlet sat down for an interview with one of the founders, festival director and one of the lead programmers, Brenda Lieberman, to learn more of the preview of upcoming Liebermanattractions.wearsmany
top pick from the selection of CUFF documentaries this year is To Ride — a story about a stand-up comedian, featuring Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait. It’s unique, as they don’t get very many comedy documentaries. Luchadores is another one that showcases Mexican female wrestlers and how the sport has changed their lives. And lastly, the shorts packages she recommends are quite diverse this time.
Review: The
16 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 general@thegauntlet.ca
The tone for this experience is set with the stage’s simple, grimy elegance. This tone is further reinforced through the silent but powerful addition of three non-speaking characters dressed solely in grey taking the stage before the play even starts and aimlessly wandering about TheBusStop. Wang masterfully uses the boredom of these silent characters and the anxiety of the audience watching them, waiting for something to happen to reinforce the themes of the show. This choice of starting with silence reinforces the sudden explosion of sound as the speaking members of the cast enter The Bus Stop, each member brightly colour-blocked and sparkling with energy. The cast of speaking and non-speaking characters work together as a unit throughout the show, playing off each other’s energy dynamics and creating several interesting visual moments on tableau. Additionally, the production has a few technical tricks up its sleeve in terms of special effects and sound, which I won’t spoil for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. The choice to project Mandarin subtitles over top of the stage during the production adds an interesting dimension that reminds the viewer of the play’s origin and is overall a nice stylistic touch. Even if you don’t speak Mandarin, the subtitles add another layer to the cross-cultural connection of the Whileperformance.there’s not a direct connection in the script to a pandemic or lockdowns, it’s the anxiety-inducing feeling of waiting that the audience is all too familiar with at this point, which connects the production to the last twenty months of the pandemic. Watching the cast endlessly wait in limbo for a bus that seems like it’s never going to come is the same feeling of staring at your bedroom wall, wondering when the pandemic will end and real-life will start up again. Personally, I am utterly sick of talking about COVID more than I have to but the round-about way this performance tackles the issue was quite comforting. Watching the show reaffirmed the stress and pain of what we’ve all gone through over what is almost two years of a global pandemic and united the audience for the plight of the Additionally,characters.theuniversity itself seems to have united around the Fine Arts department to bring live theatre back to campus. Both Provost and Vice President Academic Dr. Teri Balser and Faculty of Arts Dean Dr. Richard Sigurdson were notably in attendance at the opening night performance on Nov. 26. While the Performing Arts department did offer several virtual, live-streamed shows over lockdown, the excitement to have a live audience in front of the stage again was palpable from the cast and crew, so it was nice to see university administration there for Thesupport.BusStop ran until Friday, Dec. 4. Whether you are like me and have been on the edge of your seat waiting for the chance to walk through theatre doors again or have never experienced the treat that is a live performance, this is a fantastic opportunity to support the arts on campus. Bus Stop marks in-person return to theatre on campus
COURTESY TIM NGYUENPerformers in The Bus Stop on stage at the Reeve Theatre.
Megan VolunteerWilson After twenty months, live in-person theatre has finally made its return to the University of Calgary campus in the form of a production of Gao Xingjian’s The Bus Stop. With a stunning set and strong directorial choices, the opportunity to physically return to the theatre has been well worth the wait. This play, first performed in 1983 at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre was — and currently is — banned in mainland China under the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign. Nonetheless, it remains an important cultural touchstone for Chinese theatre. Regardless of whether you are a history buff, well-read on communist censorship, or simply looking for something to do in the evening this week, The Bus Stop is well worth your Directortime.Fangzheng (Nick) Wang has taken Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian’s absurdist play about a group of people stuck waiting endlessly at a bus stop and not only adapted it in a way that is visually delightful and crosses cultural boundaries, but provided stark commentary on the experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. The plot of the play follows an ensemble cast vigorously debating, both with each other and themselves, about whether or not a bus will eventually pick them up from a dingy bus stop and take them to an idealized city somewhere down the road. Not a lot happens in terms of plot, and yet the play remains an exciting, emotional experience that will have you deeply invested in the fates of these characters, and likely doing a little bit of soul-searching yourself after the performance is over.
THEATRE REVIEW »
“At a time when there’s so much transphobia in the world, if you lis ten to Tori and Casey, I can’t imag ine how you would have any of those prejudices left just listening to these two incredible women talking about their art, and talking about what they’re trying to give back to the community,” said Youngblut.
For those of you who are interest ed in learning more about Word Fest and the Imaginarium be sure to check out the year round pro gramming on their website www. beta.wordfest.com. For those in terested in learning more about the art of writing and connecting with like-minded writers on cam pus check out the Calgary Distin guished Writer’s Program.
“Calgary’s Wordfest now beams out from the Rocky Mountains to the world,” said Youngblut. “Right now 26@26 is our fall series. There were 13 shows, featuring 26 of the world’s most interesting writ ers. One of the things that we’ve learned is that there is an actual power that online programming has that live programming doesn’t. It’s almost like you’re seeing these authors in their personal spaces getting their camera.”
Another performer, Indigenous creator Drew Hayden Taylor, talks about humour, art, post-trauma and conversations about what happens after reconciliation.
Word Fest 2021 Imaginarium returns both virtually and in-person WORDSMITH SUPPORT »
As for how WordFest has shaped the culture of the city, Youngblut says that WordFest helps make space for stories and authors of different perspectives.
Some parting advice Youngblut gives to youth and new and inex perienced writers is to be open to “Everyfailure. writer will tell you this, that you have to read and then, of course, you have to write. And no body writes a perfect first draft. No one. So don’t be so hard on yourself — be willing to be bad.”
If affordability is an issue, espe cially as a student, Youbgblut men tioned to email office@wordfest. com if you are unable to afford a ticket, as they don’t want to make economic barriers for anyone.
“Listen, just come with an open mind. Listen deeply, listen gener ously. Ask questions when the Q&A portion comes,” says Youngblut. “Volunteering is another great av enue for which there are lots of opportunities. If you’re a new and budding writer don’t be afraid to show up and be present by going to as many readings, bookstore events and WordFest events as possible.”
Year-round programming can be found online for WordFest.
The biggest challenge they dealt with during the pandemic is the relentlessness and the necessary responsibility as they’ve all been to each other. “We are only as safe as the least safe people among us,” said Young blut. “I think just the burden of that responsibility and the relent lessness of the responsibility. And my team is a small team, we’ve worked really hard, but we have not been in the same room with each other. In two years, every thing is being done virtually. So it’s harder to communicate, it’s harder to collaborate, it’s harder to inno vate. You feel kind of emptied, as opposed to emptied and then re plenished. And I think that’s been the hardest thing.”
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor W ordFest is a celebration of literature, all about ideas and connecting people. It made its coveted comeback virtually again this year showcasing the hit series, 26@26, a fall virtual series, pairing the world’s best writers and making sparks fly from Sept. 7 to Nov. 30, Originally2021. launched in 1996 as a weekly festival that happened in October, it’s now in its 26th year, it has grown over the years to become year-round with the programming of up to 180 live shows per year. WordFest has two key sections — the Imaginarium, or the original word fest content, and Imagine On Air the online and virtual iteration.
“I think for local Calgarians, the idea that there isn’t an author or a conversation that they’re not part of now, that we’ve definitely placed Calgary right in the center of what’s going on,” says Young blut. “So you don’t feel isolated from the big cities or the big ideas or the big bucks with the big au thors. They’re right here for you. And they’re being presented to you by AlthoughCalgarians.”theyare nervous Word Fest is hoping to be back in person for events, as these book-oriented events are one of the few artistic experiences where you are guar anteed to meet the artist. Some examples include a show called “The Way We Come Back” com ing in January 2022 with seven Alberta-based authors including creative writing professor, Larissa Lai from the University of Calgary, and Teresa Wong, the U of C’s cur rent writer in residence.
SYLVIA LOPEZ
The Gauntlet sat down with the CEO and creative ringleader of Word Fest, Shelly Youngblut, to learn Youngblutmore. describes her role as a mullet title — being business in the front and party in the back. “I’m responsible for the vision of the organization,” says Youngblut. “All the finances, basically making sure that we have enough funding and support and a business plan and a strategy to be able to do some thing interesting and relevant. And then in my creative ringleader role I decide with the help of the team, which authors we focus on, how we focus on them, how they’re pre Youngblutsented.” describes the written word as empathic and telepathic as this perfect object that enables you to get into the blood, bones, heart and muscle of another human be ing which is the magic of it all. The original live and in-person event used to take place on the second floor of the Memorial Park library, which is the oldest library in Alber ta. Here, they transformed it into a 140 seat performance space with an open bar and included a fun and interactive trivia night. They have lively Q&As and a special storytell ing event called “The Way We” that is defined as a personal story you tell to a live audience without notes. After COVID-19 hit, they had to pivot and decided to go online and cre ate their literary streaming channel called Imagine On Air. Within the past two years, they have produced almost 200 shows featuring the world’s greatest authors and have grown their audience not just na tionally, but internationally as well.
One thing people should do at events like these, especially new bies, is truly engage by asking lots of questions.
For example, one pairing was Tory Peters and Casey Platt who are both trans authors.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 17thegauntlet.ca/category/arts
There are so many varieties of re usable period products it’s amaz ing. We’ve done a review on this be fore so we’ll stick to our top three basics. The easiest swap is to buy fluid-absorbent underwear as it’s comfy and classic. Period under wear has gone mainstream too with so many brands to choose from. Thinx is a popular one with many styles for all body and shape and sizes. This underwear works with your flow and has built-in protec tion from leaking and is super com fy in many different body shapes and styles to choose from. For easy cleaning, they can be tossed in the washer for cleaning and hung dry. Next, we have reusable pads. Sur prisingly it’s not a tree hugger thing to adopt. In fact, before the onset of Industrialism in many developing countries like India, women would use old and recycled rags and cloth before buying disposable and syn thetically made varieties from bigname brands like Always or Kotex. We recommend grabbing a Maxi Pad from Aisle, who has 90 per cent plus approval for being natural and using recycled polyester. And lastly, we have the menstrual cup. Did you know there is a cup from an organic variety? It may seem like an uncom fortable option at first, but you’ll breathe a sigh of relief at the costs as one Menstrual Cup from All Mat ters formerly known as the Organic Cup lasts for up to 12 hours per use and allows the replacement of 528 pads and tampons over two years.
ECOFRIENDLY WINTER »
Wool dryer balls leave less static and fewer wrinkles too so we rec ommend switching to 100 per cent wool dryer balls made of natural lanolin which speeds up the dry ing process, softens laundry and reduces static. This set of three hy poallergenic wool dryer balls from Grove Collaborative reduces wrin kles and are the ideal eco-friendly alternative to those flyaway dryer sheets. Best of all, as big energy savers they last up to 1,000 loads and are 100 per cent biodegradable — so no sweat if you toss them out. Get your scent on by adding a few drops of your favourite essential oil to give your load of laundry a fra grance to desire.
There are other benefits too with many of these bars containing cruelty-free and natural ingredi ents free of harmful chemicals and sulphates most drugstore sham poos contain that strip the hair of its natural oil leaving your scalp feeling dry and irritated. Also, if you are living on a budget it’s an economically savvy option — did you know most bottled shampoo has water as filler? No good! We recommend the Rocky Mountain Soap Co Shampoo Bar made locally right here in our backyard. It’s sul phate-free and is hydrating using a mix of rosemary oil castor oil and organic shea butter.
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor
N ot only is this the jolliest time of year but it’s also the most dreaded — final exam season. As you sit for the last of your tests and submit term papers, one thing that goes out the door is personal hygiene. So this month we decided to focus our sustainable swaps edi tion on self-care. So make sure to grab one of these stocking stuffers, which by the way, would make some nifty gifts for your family and friends. And as you relax by the fireside drinking hot cocoa loung ing in your PJs, rest assured that this holiday you are having a real impact on your ecofootprint.
Sustainable swaps for December 2021
And the sheer level of discarded waste from plastic toothbrushes is astounding as nearly 1 billion toothbrushes in America get tossed in the landfill every year. We rec ommend buying directly from rec ognized brands like the Humble Brush from The Humble Co. It is 100 per cent biodegradable, vegan and cruelty-free certified and made with sustainably grown bamboo made of natural vegan wax — the packaging is also made of recycled materials. Reusable wool dryer ball: These are quietly making an ap pearance at a laundromat near you. Use dryer balls instead of liquid fab ric softener and dryer sheets. What many don’t realize is that softener contains a toxic soup full of chem icals. Worse, softeners that give a wonderful lemony fresh scent and bright bombastic colours contain thousands of fragrant ingredients including pathogens that cause al lergies, skin irritations and disrupt your endocrine system. So why not opt for something au naturel and beneficial for your health?
Reusable makeup remover: We know those disposable and sin gle-use wet cloths are convenient but oftentimes they contain harsh chemicals and can even dry out your skin. Why not opt for a more eco-friendly skincare routine? There are many reusable makeup remover cloths on the market, but of course, we recommend The Orig inal MakeUp Eraser makeup re mover cloth you can get at Sephora. It’s made of 100 per cent polyester and is antibacterial as its hypoaller genic and made with sulphates.
Reusable shampoo bars: Solid shampoo bars are another growing hair trend. For one, their scents are amazing but mostly be cause they are zero waste. For exam ple, a single plastic bottle takes 450 years to decompose and of course, this doesn’t include the tiny micro plastic particles that leach into our waterways. Best of all the packing comes in FSC certified boxes that are completely biodegradable.
18 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 Editors: Ava Zardynezhad & Rachneet general@thegauntlet.caRandhawa@GauntletUofCSPORTS & LIFESTYLE »
MEGAN KOCHDon’t forget to shop sustainable this holiday season.
Reusable feminine products:
Although there are two key ma terials for dryer balls like rubber and wool, we recommend the lat ter as they can leave a softer and supply effect on your garments.
Reusable bamboo toothbrush: Bamboo has made a big green splash in so many self-care prod ucts lately, partly because it is versatile as it is a natural mate rial and 100 per cent biodegrad able and fully compostable within six months. This is a hot trend as bamboo brushes have been all the rage lately. They an eco-friendly material, compared to convention al and disposable plastic and nylon toothbrushes which contain poly propylene for the handle and nylon for the bristles, which is of course toxic for you and the environment.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 19thegauntlet.ca/category/lifestyle
It’s official — the holiday sea son is back in full swing and the last thing you want to do this time around is throw on your ugly, pan demic-era Christmas sweater be cause this time around you’re going to be partying purely to compensate for last year. When it comes to dress ing up for the holiday season, it’s go ing to be a huge transition from your typical Christian Girl Autumn vibe. We’re ditching the neutrals, cordu roys and anything that makes you look like pre-makeover Andy Sachs from The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Here’s a quick gender-neutral guide on your essentials for holiday glam.
Make a statement with gemstone colours: Think ruby red, emerald green and sapphire blue — but darker. This year, switch out your firetruck red for a rich mulled sangria, your sage green for a rustic evergreen and your slightly intense primary blue with an elegant midnight shade. Ob viously colours like black, gold, sil ver and white are always going to be an option, but why fit in when you could stand out? Go the extra mile and match your eye-makeup to your outfit or wear one of the gemstones you’re emulating to elevate your vibe.
Holiday-themed fragrances: Wearing seasonal perfumes is highly recommended because it helps you get into the ambiance of the season. So leave the spicy florals and Yves Saint Laurent’s Libre back in au tumn. For the holidays, opt for fresh citrusy scents, suede or more sen sual spices. My personal favourite is Clementine California by Atelier Cologne — a unisex scent with key notes like vetiver, clementine juni per berries and star anise. If you’re a man who likes Dior Sauvage Eau de Parfum, wear the warmer Dior Eau Sauvage instead, which has notes of oakmoss, basil, lemon and rosemary. And if you’re a woman who doesn’t like wearing unisex scents, Chloe Nomade is the warm floral scent for you that has key notes of oakmoss, freesia, mirabelle liquor.
Aymen Sherwani Voices Editor
Choosing the right fabrics: You can never go wrong with either velvet, silk or metallics. If it’s more of a dressier party that you’re going to, opt for either a silk dress or blaz er — but velvet is on the table too if you’re going for a classier look. Compliment your outfit with ele ments of metal, whether it be a gold or silver-tone clutch, a trendy metal strap watch or a set of crystal tassel earrings. If this is more of a family affair, you can never go wrong with a Chris Evans from Knives Out-esque cable-knit sweater combined with some patterned pants.
fashion
FASHION TIPS FOR THE SEASON » VALERY PEREZ
Festive staples for the 2021 holiday season Why fit in when you can stand out?
“I think Troye [Flannery] does a re ally good job of pushing us to be the best versions of ourselves,” said Leon ard of the Dinos women’s soccer head coach. “As well as just the people that I’m surrounded by in this program. There are so many great players that I have to attribute so much of my suc cess to them. We’re just a really great cohesive team and I think that has been a part of my individual success as well as our team success.”
Leonard has had one of the best track records in Canada West history. Always mak ing progress, she went from playing 13 games in her rookie year to being named Canada West Player of the Year. Before the college scene, Leonard’s ultimate goal of becoming a profes sional soccer player fueled her every step. Her time at Surrey United Soccer Club made her a fierce competitor and gave her a feel for the game. Leonard progressed so much, which made it impossible to not consider her a top contender in her division. As an early achiever, she was ready to bring her ex citement and passion to varsity soccer — an important step for any player. She became a Dino in 2016 and had her first taste of the varsity level. “It’s a pretty big change. I was nervous but also excited,” said Leonard about her first varsity game. She also recalls the difference in the level of the game during the transition to the varsity level. “It was very nerve-racking. It is quite a big change from youth soccer — every one is so much bigger, stronger, faster and you’re playing against girls that can be five or six years older than you.” Although Leonard felt the change, she couldn’t be more ready as she was in her rookie year.
COURTESY DAVID MOLL
“There’s quality players all across the country, so it was a really nice feeling for sure,” she mentioned.
“Being recognized by the Canada West league is huge,” said Leonard. She went on to acknowledge her peers and ex plain how this makes the accolade even more meaningful.
A player’s rookie season is filled with hunger, the desire to win at any cost, to prove oneself. For Leonard, it was no different. The game got more intense, but so did her mindset. Leonard talked about where her mind was in her first “Iyear.just wanted to take any opportuni ty that I was offered in my first year,“ she said, clearly showing how her fo cus was a key point for her success as a rookie. Starting on 5 of the 20 regular games, Leonard was ready to prove her abilities and get as close as possible to the professional scene. Speaking about the rookie, Leonard delivered. She had her first assist on the Winnipeg Wesmen, a thrilling game. This wasn’t her only contribu tion either. Her first varsity goal came as a game-winner against the Regina Cougars. She wouldn’t stop there, as she scored again on a win against the Lethbridge Horns, converting two goals and an assist as a rookie. Leonard finished that season with five points and set the bar for herself as a rookie and as a Leonardcompetitor.playedeven harder in 2017. Becoming an important piece for the team, she went from starting in five out of thirteen games in her rookie sea son, to starting in all of the 14 games she played. After that season, she got nominated for Second Team All-Star — a well-deserved recognition as she finished with two goals and five assists.
“Ident-athlete.thinkIjust found the right study habits for me. And it all worked out pretty well.” After the unpredictability we all faced in 2020 during COVID and the cancellation of live sports, Leonard had a chance to play the season that was lost during the pandemic. She was invited to play in 2021 as a “last dance.” This proved to be one of the best things that happened to Leon ard as she was named Canada West Player of the Year after the season wrapped up. A piece of history in the making, as she is the first woman soccer player ever to have this hon Forour. now, she will be returning to her hometown in Vancouver to spend the holidays with her family, while continuing to work out and play soccer. She hopes to inspire people to pursue all opportunities they can “Ifget. I can inspire anyone like the younger generation to continue the sport, whatever it may be, to univer sity, at whatever level, I would just encourage everyone to take all those opportunities because I’ve really met the most amazing people and it’s changed my life here.”
Athlete Profile: Dinos soccer star Montana Leonard
DINO GOALS »
COURTESY DAVID MOLL
Rodrigo Verney Volunteer Montana Leonard has always been an example of dedica tion and results. The midfielder has been playing varsity sports ever since she became a Dino in 2016.
20 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 general@thegauntlet.ca
Leonard was named CW Player of the Year.
Leonard started playing with the Dinos since 2016.
Her next season consolidated her as a star power in the league. She went on to start in all of the 20 games in the season. Leonard recorded five goals in five consecutive games. Scor ing eight goals in total and assisting on two, she was crucial for the Di nos campaign in the Canada West tournament. She was responsible for the sole goal in the U SPORTS Cham pionship quarterfinal. This amazing performance crowned her first Can ada West First All Team. Leonard attributed her success to the people that support both her and the team.
As a fourth year, Leonard kept on her amazing streak when she led the Di nos to their first Canada West title in 14 years and finished as vice-cham pions at Nationals — another season in which she surpassed her previous record by scoring twelve goals in to tal. An outstanding accomplishment that was accompanied by Academic All Canadian honours after the sea son, proving her hard work on and off the field. Leonard credited her success as a student on her abili ty to manage her time being a stu
Universiade happens every two years and the next one is set for Lake Placid, NY in January 2023. Unfortunately, the Lucerne games will not be further resched “Weuled.are certainly disappointed for the student-athletes and staff who had worked so hard to earn their place at the event,” said Matchett. “We also send our sympathies to the organizing committee in Swit zerland, which had spent more than seven years bidding and pre paring to host this event and were only a week away from welcoming the world’s best student-athletes.”
This international sporting event is held every two years and is official ly being renamed to be known as the World University Games. It is essentially an Olympic-style com petition for university students.
VALERY PEREZFISU 2022 is cancelled in light of the COVID-19 omicron variant. DAY »
FISU is the second-largest multisport winter event in the world be hind the Winter Olympics.
You must be under the age of 25 to compete, and must be a full-time university student or have graduat ed within the last year to be eligible to compete at these events.
International University Sports Federation Winter Universiade cancelled for 2022
couple of years have been the longest off-season in U of C and Dino’s athletics history, and the transition back to a regular varsity season was difficult.
Although FISU 2021 was cancelled, Matchett remains resilient and has hopes for the rest of the varsity season at the U of C, and the prom ise Dinos athletes bring with their tenacity. The winter edition of the games have now been rescheduled for January 2023. For those inter ested in learning more check out the Dinos website and updates on FISU 2023 here.
Prior to the global event being cancelled, a total of five athletes from the U of C were nominated and selected to officially represent Canada in Switzerland. The three student-athletes included Ryan Graeme and Ryan Gagnon from the men’s hockey team and Taras Dets from the alpine ski club.
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor
“It’s been a really difficult time for all of our student-athletes and coaches the same way that it’s been a difficult time for everyone since this all hit in March of 2020,” said Matchett.
“So that’s one thing that I know they were looking at in this play er selection process is to try to put together as well-rounded a team as they can, knowing it’s a very short kind of intense tournament that they have to compete in,” said TheMatchett.Winter
As for how the athletes were ap proaching training for the com petition and all game plan strate gies, they hoped to try out before the event was cancelled, Matchett said, for the sports they intended to compete in are at a really high
Forlevel.example,
“Our athletes and coach es showed tremendous resilience in being able to train to the extent that they were allowed to by the re strictions over the cancelled season in 2021. And I know that there was a significant amount of pent-up en ergy and enthusiasm to be able to come back and get back to compe tition this past fall.”
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 21thegauntlet.ca/category/sports
T he University of Calgary was originally set to send five del egates to the 2021 International University Sports Federation (FISU) Winter Universiade to Lucerne Switzerland for the 10 day global sports competition originally taking place from Jan. 21–31, 2022. This is the largest international winter multi-sport event for student-ath letes. The opening ceremonies were to be held on Dec. 11 at the Europlatz after a long delay of be ing rescheduled from early 2021. However, as this story developed, FISU 2022 was cancelled in light of the recently emerging COVID-19 omicron variant. The Gauntlet sat down for an interview with Director of Dinos Athletics at the University of Calgary, Ben Matchett, to learn Themore.past
“It’s a really unique opportunity for our student-athletes to gain some international competition experience, to have a fantastic ex perience in a different part of the world and represent their country,” said Matchett.
SNOW
The standard types of sports for competition this year would have included ice hockey, curling, alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snow boarding, biathlon and short track speed skating. How are the games specifically chosen? Every host country is a part of a bidding pro cess. Certain sports are required at each winter and summer games in which some are optional sports chosen by the country that are bid ding based on the popularity of the sports in that country. Matchett was also nominated to be Canada’s Head of Mission or Dele “I’mgation.very excited to have the op portunity to lead the Canadian team there, it’s been a goal of mine for quite a while. So it’s really excit ing to finally be this close to realiz ing it,” said Matchett. Regardless, it was still a no-go.
“The event was cancelled on Mon day, Nov. 29 as a result of the Swiss government’s reaction to the Omi cron variant,” said Matchett. “Swit zerland instituted a 10-day quar antine for anyone travelling from a country with a confirmed case of Omicron — at the time that would have impacted the United King dom, Czech Republic, Belgium and the Netherlands and since Monday, Canada and several other countries have been added to that list. As a result, based on the timing of the announcement, there was no way the participants would be able to arrive in time for the event to con tinue as scheduled, so it was unfor tunately cancelled outright.”
Alpine Skiing is more individualized and the original goal was for Dets and the rest of the Ca nadian team to get as many training runs while abroad. Because every course around the world is slightly different with subtle nuances, the best they could have done is give as many tries on the competition course given time constraints. For hockey, the Canadian team had only a couple of days of practice before playing their first game.
Opioid addiction is considered an epidemic in Alberta. The Gaunt let spoke with University of Calgary biochemistry professor and Canada Research Chair Dr. Peter Facchini who has been with the University of Calgary for 26 years and runs one of the only labs in the world dedicated to research ing opium poppies to learn more. Facchini began his research in 1992 with his research focusing on under standing the complex biosynthesis of opiate alkaloids and non-opiate alka loids in primarily an opium poppy. His research so far has accomplished clon ing not only the morphine pathway in opium poppies, but pathways leading to other non-opiate compounds like noscapine which has the potential as an anti-cancer drug and other non-nar cotic alkaloids produced in the plant. From the perspective of a plant bio chemist, Facchini would define an opi oid as a molecule that can bind to a spe cific set of receptors that we all possess causing a complex number of receptors to be triggered as an analgesic response — in other words, pain relief.
“There’s no separation anymore based on economic status, social status — it affects everybody.,” he said. “How I see my work fitting in, is specifically to be working from the beginning on target ing the production of new chemical entities, new opiates that haven’t been seen before, haven’t been tested be fore, and simply looking for something better than what we already have.”
MACKENZIE ASHCROFT
But where does the poppy plant come from and why is it specifically extract ed for opium? The use of opium pop pies originated nearly 7,000 years ago back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age period, most likely utilized for food or humanity’s very first medicines. And it extends potentially farther back, said Facchini, for example, opium poppy seeds found in the clothing of the Ice man that was discovered in the Alps dates back to approximately 5,500 BCE It’s difficult to pinpoint its exact ori gins, but they most likely emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean and Meso potamia and what would be considered modern-day Iraq.
“Probably about half of all of the illicit opiates that are produced in the world come from the cultivation of opium poppy plants in Tasmania, and one of the compounds they produce is mor
”We need to make new molecules that haven’t been tested previously, with the ideal goal [being] something as effective as morphine but not addic tive,” he said. “And even if you created something that was still effective, but a lot less addictive, we would see an Forimprovement.”theopioid crisis that is ravaging the province, the goal is not complete eradication, but rather harm reduction in the short term and eventually cre ating these new drugs to develop new tools and capacities with long-term Assolutions.forthe socio-cultural, economic and political consequences of the cur rent opioid crisis, Facchini says it’s no longer a problem restricted to those on the lowest rungs of society, but now is a middle-class problem.
A fermentation system would be able to produce thebaine at a subsidy and substantially undercut the price if you’re able to grow a high yield. How ever, growing yeast is an expensive procedure including recruiting the personnel and using the facilities to grow it — putting seeds in the ground to grow poppy plants is cheaper which is why it remains the popular method of Rightchoice.now, the biggest opportunity Facchini sees is in synthetic biology or the engineering of microorganisms as we need new drugs.
Non-synthetic compounds like heroin and synthetic compounds like fentan yl have an inherent addictiveness to them. Although fentanyl is an example of a synthetic molecule that still binds to some of the receptors and doesn’t have a natural origin, it still has the same backbone structure as morphine which is derived from the poppy plant. Yet they both trigger the same pharma cological response.
Dr. Peter Facchini is a biochemistry professor at the University of Calgary.
Opium poppy use traces back to almost 7,000 years ago.
Rachneet Randhawa General Editor
The research team Facchini is affiliat ed with has been able to transfer all of the biosynthetic genes from the poppy plant into common baker’s yeast. Two groundbreaking studies conducted by Facchini and his team in 2018 and the discovery of thebaine synthase in 2018 and neopinone isomerase (NISO) in 2019 facilitated the fermentation-based system that can make opiates. ”What is most important to note about those two enzymes and genes, is the story of how it connects to the firing up of yeast to make to make morphine or opiates,” he said.
phine and codeine,” said Facchini. “But the more valuable product is thebaine [and] can be converted to all these semi synthetics including oxycodone and naloxone and so on.”
U of C’s opium poppy research contributes to harm reduction
Facchini mentioned that there haven’t been new opiate-based drugs intro duced into our pharmacopeia for a long time and unfortunately there hasn’t been a lot of effort in trying to find an opiate that is both an effective painkill er and is less addictive.
Another popular location in which opi um poppies are cultivated is the Island of Tasmania — part of Australia. Here the excess production of thebaine is extracted from the opium poppy plant.
For those interested in learning more about how to contribute to harm re duction in the current opioids crisis, be sure to check out the latest of Dr. Peter Facchini and his team’s research developments.
22 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 Editors: Ava Zardynezhad & Rachneet general@thegauntlet.caRandhawa@GauntletUofCSCIENCE »
FACULTY RESEARCH » MACKENZIE ASHCROFT
The primary function of those two par ticular genes that were discovered is that they happen to be closely related proteins and are within the range of 60 per cent of the identical amino acids.
What many overlook is the fact that molecules such as codeine, morphine and semi-synthetic derivatives like oxycodone or naloxone, which are used to treat overdoses and save a lot of peo ple’s lives, come indirectly or partial ly from cultivating the opium poppy plant in various parts of the world.
Engineering: Figgy pudding You have an acquired taste not suit able for everyone. But those who appreciate your nuances will ben efit from being a dessert connois seur. Similar to this dessert, you are an exclusive treat — but be patient for the oh-so-delicious first bite. It’s well worth the time to bake, simi lar to your intense course of study which will give you many great re turns in leaps and bounds.
History or English: French mac arons
Education: Gingersnaps Crispy, savoury and a lovable Christmas classic, you are the goto reliable and authentic bedtime snack during the holidays. Just like the major, you are practical and know what you want. Like how the Gingerbread Man has in fluenced us all, you too will go out there and mould young minds.
You may be the most commer cialized of all the desserts but it’s okay! Much like the chocolate or ange, you can be smacked around here and there and still taste topnotch. This makes sense consid ering you’ll be mapping out the nooks and crannies of Calgary.
Business or Economics: Red velvet cake By default, for some reason, ev erybody loves you. Perhaps it’s the allure and the way you melt in the mouth on the first bite. But for some reason, there’s a seduc tive appeal to you that nobody can seem to shake off. Makes sense that you are one of the most popu lar majors for university students, as you can practically get hired anywhere after graduation.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 | 23 Editors: Ava Zardynezhad & Rachneet general@thegauntlet.caRandhawa@GauntletUofCHUMOUR »
Rachneet Randhawa Sweets Expert L et’s face it — one of the best as pects of the holiday season is the amount of tasty treats we enjoy, relaxing by the fireside on a snowy night. We love some food porn and decided to categorize our foodies by the subject you’re majoring in this festive holiday edition. We guaran tee your tummy will be growling for all these sweet treats and more!
Biological Sciences or Ecology: Shortbread Much like the key ingredients in this traditional Scottish biscuit of good quality butter and sugar, you’re practical, to the point and incredibly versatile. With your ed ucation affording you a wide range of opportunities from academic research in the lab making ground breaking discoveries, to tossing on the scrubs and going the medical route. Much like this scrumptious biscuit, the possibilities are endless.
Communications: Butter tart Tangy, peppy and sure to pack a fla vourful punch, much like the classic tart you make the big headlines as your educational background can literally apply to anything — from digital marketing to crisis commu nications, everybody needs you. You also taste best during the holi days. At the Gauntlet, we’re all just a bunch of tart lovers.
What’s your holiday dessert based on your major? SWEET SURPRISE » SYLVIA LOPEZWhat is your favourite holiday dessert and why is it eggnog?
Psychology: Hot cocoa Everybody and anybody loves you. Like seriously — who doesn’t want a hot mug full of peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows to brighten up their gloomy day? That’s why at least once in their lives everyone should sample you, as taking even one intro to psychology course will rock your world.
Sociology or Social Work: Cheese cake You are luscious and creamy, just like the subject. You are flexible and show up to any occasion with your adaptable taste and leave a tangy aftertaste that no one can quite forget. You’re popular too, and don’t tend to disappoint. You also have the ability to cheer any body up!
Urban Studies: Terry’s Chocolate Orange
Political Science or International Relations: Anything that is choco late fudge Chocolate fudge is a bold and sweet dessert, perfect for any occasion.
A fun but wholesome mix of sugar, spice and everything nice, every body seems to enjoy snacking on you. You are all but a yummy treat and so sweet as you continue to be of service to others no matter the cost.
Open Studies or Undeclared: Eggnog Nobody knows why you’re on the shelves every year and how there are vegan varieties of you galore, but there are. You’re not lost or anything, you’re just exploring your fun options that are out there just like every season’s eggnog.
Nursing: Sugar cookies
Just like your local politician who continues to “fudge” the issue by refusing to give exact figures you are “fudging it” up by being a de lectable treat for anyone who ques tions you and always enjoys a lively debate.
Everyone keeps asking you what you’re going to do with your de gree, to which you reply much like the French macaron, you have a diverse palette of taste. You aren’t bougie, but are simply passionate about a niche area that nobody else quite understands.
You’re on the nice list. You have taken charge of your most difficult tasks and got them out of the way. Your reward will be an all-inclusive staycation. (OctoberScorpio 23 - November 22) You’re on the naughty list. You have been too stubborn trying to get your way this year. Go take a walk outside and cool down.
2. The sun setting at 5 p.m. has me feeling like this mean, green holi day grump, except I’m not as fun ny as Jim Carrey.
7. Where can you spend way too much money on holiday themed coffee to power the end of semes ter grind?
9. Her seasonal smash hit makes this Christmas Queen a small for tune in royalties every year.
CELESTIAL JUDGEMENT » CROSSWORD » Megan Wilson Mrs. Claus favourite elf H appy Holidays and, more importantly, happy end of the fall semester U of C! Complete this holiday-themed crossword puzzle to get into the spirit of the season.
(DecemberCapricorn 22 - January 20)
ACROSS 4. Public indoor skating at this campus spot is a great way to use the Active Living credit we forget about every single year.
8. This spot on campus gets busy right after New Years and then de serted after everyone quits their resolutions in February.
6. It’s a plant you might find hang ing around in December and a Jus tin Bieber holiday bop.
12. You can grab a drink or a snack at this sit down campus restaurant to toast the end of semester with your pals. DOWN 1. The very first thing I’m going to do as soon as this semester is over and probably what I’m going to do the entire break.
3. If you need a cheesy holiday pick-me-up, this is the movie channel for you.
10. It is often debated whether this Bruce Willis action film counts as a Christmas movie.
puzzle
(JanuaryAquarius 21 - February 19)
You’re on the nice list. All of your manifesting for others will release good karma on you, so expect a nice recommendation letter to Santa from your spirit guides. (FebruaryPisces 20 - March 20) You’re on the naughty list. All that time spent making unrealistic sce narios in your mind, ignoring the voice of reason has caught up to you. Good luck with your work overload.
Ramiro Bustamante Torres Overworked Elf
Holly jolly crossword
13. This Will Ferrell beloved hol iday comedy taught us the four food groups are candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup!
Horoscopes: Why are the signs on the naughty or nice list?
(MayGemini21 – June 21) You’re on the nice list. You’ve made a great network of support for you and your friends. Expect a gold-plat ed coffee machine from your secret Santa. (JuneCancer22 – July 22) You’re on the naughty list. You got too crabby with your pet and now they won’t talk to you. You’ll need to apologize to them now. (JulyLeo 23 – August 21) You’re on the nice list. You have graced others with your affection and help — which everyone is ever so grateful for. Expect a few dozen gift cards as gratitude. (AugustVirgo 22 - September 22)
The stars know what you’ve done this year, time to air it out.
You’re on the naughty list. You have double-booked yourself and now you won’t get a chance to take a break. Be on the lookout for high lighters to remind yourself of your commitments in your bullet journal. (SeptemberLibra 23 - Octo ber 22)
5. A holiday romcom classic fea turing Hugh Grant, Keira Knight ley and Colin Firth.
(MarchAries 21 - April 20) You’re on the nice list. You have dealt with many issues to keep the peace around you. Be on the lookout for a soft bed to take a rest in. (AprilTaurus21 - May 20) You’re on the naughty list. Embar rassingly, you’ve found many types of excuses to get out of your respon sibilities, but they don’t add up. Now, you’ll have to explain yourself. Ask for a notebook on your wishlist so you can write down all the reasons why this is wrong.
24 | DECEMBER 13, 2021 general@thegauntlet.ca
11. We love everything about this Canadian singer’s Christmas al bum, except for “Santa Buddy”.
Answers to last month’s crossword:
(NovemberSagittarius 23 - Decem ber 21) You’re on the nice list. You’ve man aged to balance hanging out with friends and finishing your assign ments on time. You will receive a lovely photo album of all the great times you’ve had this year.
You’re on the naughty list. You’ve prioritized your five-year plan over your weekly friend hangouts. Set a few reminders to message your friends and remind them that you still care for them.
