Et Cetera Vol.67 No.10/ April 11, 2024

Sounds of music ring at Lakeshore

Ciara Lalor-Lindo Senior Reporter

Humber College’s Lakeshore campus celebrated students with its biannual Performance Week.

Each student in the Bachelor of Music and Introduction to Commerical Jazz programs displayed a semester’s worth of their work in a single performance between April 9 and 12.

Students are placed in ensembles led by faculty implementing lessons taught in class practically, said Humber alumni turned faculty member and adjudicator, Larnell Lewis.

Shalom Murray, in the Introduction to Commerical Jazz program, said her knowledge of music has grown since joining the program.

“You think you know so much about music, but you don’t know as much until you’re in music school,” Murray said.

Murray said she has been singing since the age of three, demonstrating her vocal abilities in the Salsa ensemble.

“I’m feeling good, but I’m nervous about my next performance,” Murray said.

The performance in question was the Introduction to Commerical Jazz where she played the trumpet.

Like others in the program, Murray plays other instruments, though she said she prefers singing with trumpet as her secondary instrument.

Faculty member and adjudicator Alex Dean spoke with students following the Latin Jazz ensemble regarding the importance of being a jack of all trades.

Wearing several hats is important in the Music program and workforce, Dean said.

Dean also said that eagerness to learn and take on new opportunities often prompts students to go to the next level in their music careers.

Larnell Lewis seconded that statement referencing the value of learning as you go.

“You only learn how to catch what is thrown at you,” Lewis said. “So put yourself in a position to catch.” As a Humber College alumni, Lewis knows better than anyone how important Performance Week is to students.

“It teaches students how to arrange, in some cases compose, and level up their playing,” Lewis said. Alongside the practicality of Performance Week, Lewis said it is also a way to gauge student’s improvement over the school year.

“These performances are full-

circle events where you get to see where everyone is at,” Lewis said. “You get to see the development from class to performance week and the evolution from the first semester to now.”

On the other side of the adjudicator’s table was Jacob Eisen, a fourth-year Bachelor of Music student. Completing his final ensemble in Big Band, Eisen reflected on his four years at Humber College.

“Working on year-end performances is a lot of fun, and there’s a wide array of music that we offer here so we’re exposed to a lot,” Eisen said.

This reigns true as Performance Week ensembles displayed genres ranging from salsa to gospel choir.

Although Eisen prefers jazz music, he, like Lewis, said there is a usefulness in working with his peers and curating a showpiece.

When asked about his future,

Eisen said he hopes to be judging students one day. “I’m hoping to get my master’s next and eventually become a faculty member here,” said Eisen.

While Performance Week is a singular week composed of 20-minute ensembles, the work that goes into it is not for the faint of heart, according to Andres Mendivelso, an Introduction to Commerical Jazz student.

“There’s a certain toughness to it, but I do feel like the program is preparing me for a career in music,” Mendivelso said.

This week gives audience members a glimpse of the hard work those in the varying sectors of the Music program go through, Larnell Lewis said. While it is hard work, students like Shalom Murray continue to express joy in performing with their peers.

“I think coming here was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made,” Murray said.

Music students at Humber College’s Lakeshore campus organized their biannual Performance Week with 36 ensembles of 20-minutes each.

LALOR-LINDO

The Performance Week at Humber’s Lakeshore campus had students perform several music ensembles.

CIARA LALOR-LINDO

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: CREATING ART WITH GRAPHIC DESIGN

What started as a hobby became a passion and budding career opportunity for Saiyam Shah.

“Graphic designing appealed to me because it allows me to blend my passion for art with technology,” Shah said.

Shah, 22, hails from Gujarat, India, and is enrolled in Humber’s Advance Diploma in Graphic Designing program.

He said graphic designing has always caught his attention.

“It always captivated me since I was young, I found myself drawn to visual arts and design, experimenting with drawing, painting and digital art,” he said.

He said he also looks forward to exploring the field of marketing and advertising.

“As I grew older, I became increasingly fascinated by the impact of design on our daily lives, from branding and advertising to web and mobile interfaces,” Shah said.

He said the idea of post and pre-production entices him because of the process involved and the product that is produced and how this will help him with his goals.

“While I’m immersed in my studies, I’m also striving towards my goal of setting up a production house,” he said.

He said he is striving hard to achieve his life goals.

While I may not achieve this dream entirely while in school, I am actively working every day to set myself up for future success,” he said.

This article is written by General Reporter Kritika.

Cloudy with a chance of eclipse

Santiago Helou Quintero Senior Reporter

The crowds gathered at the edge of Lake Ontario looked up at the sky anxiously, watching the clouds as the light around them dimmed.

Monday’s solar eclipse was close to reaching its peak at 3:19 p.m. and the sun had been hidden behind the clouds for more than 40 minutes.

Toronto wasn’t on the path of totality and although the waterfront was close -99.95 per cent obscuration- that .05 made for a noticeable difference.

“It was a little underwhelming until it got dark, I thought we would miss it entirely,” Maddi Mcknight said. “Then it got really climactic when it got dark all of a sudden it just popped out at that right moment.

The clouds parted just in time for the peak obscuration on the shores of Marilyn Bell Park.

Even before the sun broke through the clouds, Madeleine Hackborn was enjoying the experience

“The light quality in the sky was so interesting,” Hackborn said. “You look into the horizon and you see this like rainbow gradient like this dark, dark blue in the horizon going from blue to pink and to like this dark red colour and the and green and yellow and the other side.”

She said the moment the eclipse became visible felt like it was choreographed.

“It was super dark and you look around, everything is so desaturated and in the middle of the day it’s kind of a jarring experience and then all of a sudden the clouds part and then there’s this beautiful little sliver that’s covered by cloud and it

was like just the whitest light and around it the clouds were like sort of streaking and so there’s just like really like beautiful like halo kind of effect,” Hackborn said.

Many animals may appear to behave strangely during the eclipse.

Studies have shown they engage in nighttime behaviour as the eclipse approaches its totality.

“They were very active and the geese were flying all around and they were calling to each other,” Hackborn said. “There were seagulls and ducks and during the eclipse, it seems like they all left the water and then they came back when the light gradually started to come back.”

Hackborn said the eclipse was a more impactful experience than she was expecting

“There was just a strong feeling,

It’s hard to even describe it. There’s just like a strong feeling in the air.

I wasn’t expecting it to experience this like... night-to-day transition and the feelings that come with that, you know? It’s not just the light changing, it didn’t just look like the morning, it felt like a morning.”

While most people brought ISO 12312-2 solar eclipse glasses, Anna Khalizeva had a DIY method to watch the eclipse.

“I’m using basically a lid from one of my pots that I sooted up over a candle. This is my father’s system of watching the eclipse and it actually works.”

She was worried in the morning about the clouds but that did not dull her excitement about watching the eclipse.

“I’ve always liked astronomy, and this is actually the second eclipse

in my life that I’m watching,” Khalizeva said. “The first one was a partial eclipse in 1997 when I was a kid so this is the second one I’m watching and I don’t want to miss because the next one neither of us is going to be here.”

Krish Silins brought their film camera to try and capture the moment.

“So we’re gonna find out what happens,” Silins said. The challenge I’m having is that there’s such a high angle”

Shooting the eclipse without filters can cause permanent damage to cameras.

“I have a polarized filter on that I’ve had for years,” he said. “This is actually my dad’s equipment.”

Silins said he wasn’t worried about the cloud coverage and that it added an interesting depth to the pictures.

Toronto was mostly covered with clouds when the solar eclipse took place, only for the clouds to part just in time for the eclipse’s near totality.

SANTIAGO HELOU QUINTERO

Many eclipse enthusiasts gathered at Lake Ontario to catch the spectacular astronomical phenomenon.

SANTIAGO HELOU QUINTERO

Canada to invest $2.4 billion in AI sector

Divya Sinha Senior Reporter

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on April 7 that Canada will allot $2.4 billion in the upcoming Budget 2024 into the artificial intelligence sector.

“This investment aims to accelerate job growth in Canada’s AI sector and enhance productivity by helping researchers and businesses develop and adopt AI,” Trudeau said.

The media release stated that $2 billion will be allocated towards building and providing access to computing capabilities and technological infrastructure.

An additional $200 million will support AI start-ups, particularly in sectors like agriculture, health care and clean technology, the release said.

“AI has the potential to transform the economy. And our potential lies in capitalizing on the undeniable Canadian advantage,” Trudeau said.

He said this funding aims to harness the full potential of AI by providing Canadians to access good-paying jobs while increasing

productivity, and growing the economy.

Aniket Sengar, a business analyst at Scotiabank, said AL will significantly impact the job market and its future trends.

“Slowly and steadily, AI is becoming more involved in IT, and it has both pros and cons,” Sengar said.

“AI products that are delivered to the market will have fewer defects, as AI will be giving an additional

hand to test the product before it gets delivered to the market,” he said.

“However, on the other side of the pond, most of the things will get automated” and there will be fewer manual IT jobs, Sengar said.

“Anybody who is planning to get into IT or these kinds of jobs, technical jobs, has to have the know-how of how they and artificial intelligence work,” he said.

Sengar said AI will soon be

involved in every aspect of our life.

“Every day from the moment you wake up, take your brush, till the time you sleep. Everywhere. AI is everywhere nowadays, it’s just that it will be more and more advanced,” he said.

“With this kind of investment from the government, I believe Canada is heading for a quicker way of advancing the economy and increasing the jobs in the future,” Sengar said.

However, he said jobs would be affected shortly, meaning the market would take its time to adapt to AI.

Katherine Cuplinskas, senior communications spokesperson for Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, told Humber News the investment in AI is absolutely central to the economic plan to unlock the promise of Canada for young Canadians.

“Because to become more prosperous, we as a country need to become more productive. And AI is a powerful tool to do just that,” she said.

Cuplinskas emphasized the significance of this investment in addressing productivity challenges while leveraging Canada’s existing strengths in AI.

She said the main renewed focus is unlocking the door to the middle class for millions of younger Canadians.

“In all we do, we dedicate ourselves to making a better life within reach for our younger generations,” she said.

RCAF celebrates a century of excellence

Aditya Kapoor Senior Reporter

Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) celebrates 100 years of service with statements from the Federal Government to commemorative coins from the Royal Canadian Mint.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Air Force members dedicated their lives to defending Canada’s peace, freedom, and prosperity in a statement on April 1, 2024.

“In times of war and peace, members of the RCAF have shown unwavering courage. The Second World War marked the first significant challenge for the RCAF, with over 200,000 Canadians joining the Air Force to fight against tyranny and fascism,” Trudeau said.

He said the RCAF contributed to ensuring stability worldwide.

“Since the Second World War generation after generation of Canadians have served – from Afghanistan to the Arctic. The RCAF’s contributions to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Canadian Space Program, and United Nations peacekeeping operations demonstrate its enduring commitment to service,” the prime minister said.

“At home, the RCAF has sup-

ported Canadians by delivering disaster relief, including during last year’s devastating wildfire season,” he said.

As the world continues to face threats to global stability, the RCAF is more important than ever, Trudeau said.

“The Government of Canada has invested $44 billion over the past 16 months to provide the RCAF

with 138 new or refurbished aircraft – from a new fleet of fighter jets to new multi-mission aircraft,” he said.

In a statement, NDP critic Lindsay Mathyssen said the Air Force is experiencing an unprecedented recruitment and retention crisis.

“The government must provide adequate housing and support to

our women who serve, their families, and those who do the thankless work of supporting our military members through cooking, cleaning, and repairing on bases,” she said.

The Royal Canadian Mint also paid tribute to the RCAF, launching the $20 fine silver coin this year, called the Royal Canadian Air Force Centennial, according to a

press release on April 2.

A media release said the coin was designed by Edmonton artist David Moore.

“The coin’s reverse design features iconic aircraft that open windows on the celebrated past and promising future of the RCAF,” the press release said.

According to the release, the coin is 99.99 per cent pure silver, with a limited mintage of 12,000 and will be sold at a retail price of $109.95.

King Charles III paid tribute to the RCAF and talked about a visit to an RCAF wing, in a message shared by Governor General Mary Simon.

“Over the years, my family and I have had opportunities to meet many dedicated RCAF members,” the King said.

“My wife and I remember with great fondness our visit to an RCAF Wing in 2017, to meet those whose tireless efforts to search for and rescue those in distress have saved countless lives,” he said.

“I honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country, as well as extending my deepest appreciation to all RCAF members, both past and present, and their families,” the King said.

$2.4 billion investment aims to accelerate job growth in Canada’s AI sector as well as enhance productivity.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/RYAN REMIORZ

Indigenous protesters rally for environment

Ally Sheedy Senior Reporter

Advocacy group Indigenous Climate Action rallied support with a Water Walk on April 10, urging solidarity for communities impacted by the Royal Bank of Canada’s funded projects that threaten the climate.

The walk was organized in collaboration with Free Grassy, a community organization for Grassy Narrows First Nation, which is fighting for justice in the ongoing mercury crisis.

Grassy Narrows faced a grave environmental crisis in the ‘60s and ‘70s as industrial pollution tainted its water with mercury, which a study by McGill University described it “as a devastating blow to Grassy Narrows.” An area mill leaked about 9,000 kilograms of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system over eight years beginning in 1962, the study said.

Fish, their main source of food, contained extremely high levels of mercury from toxic dumping by the Dryden Chemicals pulp and paper mill upstream

The contamination has spanned three generations, leaving a profound and enduring impact on the community.

Indigenous delegates and allies

gathered at Harbour Square Park to walk up Bay Street, hand-inhand as they chanted for justice.

“What do we want? Justice,” the group shouted. “If we don’t get it? Shut it down.” The rally was arranged in preparation for RBC’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 11, where common shareholders and registered proxy holders can raise questions about RBC’s operations and vote on resolutions.

Eve Saint, Wet’suwet’en land defender and daughter of Hereditary Chief Woos, wrote in the National Observer that she experienced segregation during RBC’s 2023 AGM.

In her piece for the National

Observer, she wrote how the Indigenous, Black, People of Colour (IBPOC) delegation to RBC’s AGM were considered registered proxy holders and were authorized to be present during the meeting.

“The IBPOC delegation was never allowed to set foot in the AGM conference room,” she said. “Instead, we were shunted to another room, our only attendance at the AGM watching it unfold on a television screen.”

Alongside Saint at the water walk was Chief Na’Moks, Hereditary Chief of Wet’suwet’en, who stood in front of the RBC building to voice his concern about the trajectory of Canadian banks and their funding of fossil fuel projects.

“The Royal Bank of Canada, your future cannot continue,” Na’Moks said. “You come to our lives and say that our water is nothing, our children are nothing, and we are nothing. We have a right to say they are wrong.”

RBC, Canada’s largest bank, is one of the world’s most significant fossil fuel financiers.

Environmental coalitions and climate activists have actively pushed for RBC to get rid of fossil fuel funding in hopes of making it more difficult to build new oil and gas projects.

Banking on Climate Chaos, a 2022 study published by a coalition of environmental groups, found since 2016, RBC has provided a total of $252.5 billion to the fossil fuel industry.

“The truth is, this very bank is killing this planet,” Na’Moks said.

At the end of the walk, just outside the St. Regis Hotel, Cedar George Parker of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation urged the rally to continue to fight.

“They can’t keep making us criminals for standing up for what we believe in,” Parker said. “That’s why we’re here, to push back. To say no more oppression.”

Jason Crazy Bear Keck, the co-founder of 7 Directions of Ser-

vice, additionally shared his experience with the rally.

“Although we deal with this white supremacy that poisoned our cultures, we will always come back and support our original cultures,” Keck said.

An advocacy group, 7 Directions of Service was founded by Keck and his wife Crystal Cavalier-Keck, an organization that actively fights against the construction of pipelines and mobilizes grassroots resistance.

In an email response, RBC said it is committed to supporting its clients and communities in the journey to become a greener economy. “RBC strives to be a leading financial institution in Canada to work with Indigenous people and communities towards reconciliation, supporting economic development, community endeavours and educational opportunities,” the statement said.

RBC said its goal is to “grow its low-carbon energy lending to $35 billion” and allocate “$1 billion to support the development and scaling of innovative climate solutions” by 2030.

In the wake of the Water Walk for RBC, advocates remain resolute, ready to amplify their voices at RBC’s 2024 AGM.

Ontario unveils highest school funding

Kritika Senior Reporter

Ontario to invest $1.3 billion in building or expanding 60 schools across the province, including the GTA, education minister Stephen Lecce said at a press conference in Oakville.

The funding, present in the 2024 budget, will target both classrooms and child-care spaces.

“This $1.3 billion in funding represents the single largest investment in school building in Ontario’s history,” Lecce said. “This historic investment today, this year alone, will help us create 27,000 new student spaces for modern learning and more than 1,700 child-care spaces across the province within our schools.”

Lecce said plans for speeding up the construction process, potentially cutting the time in half, will be implemented to speed up the process.

Barrie Barrell, a professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and expert in the integration of technology in education, said in an e-mail response that results are needed if this much

money is being spent.

Barrell attended the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto and still has close ties to the province.

“I find it hard to believe my province is spending this amount of money on schools, but if they are I expect great results,” Barrell said.

Finance Minister of Ontario,

Peter Bethlenfalvy, said at the press conference the funding is aimed at addressing overcrowding and looking after the increasing population of Ontario.

“Over the next 10 years we’ve put forward a budget of $190 billion of capital to build things like these schools so that we can accommodate our population growth,” Bethlenfalvy said. He said they are

working towards building strong and much-needed infrastructure and assets that will prove beneficial for Ontario in the long run.

Rob Burton, mayor of Oakville, said at the press conference the move to create more schools was much needed for the province. He said $1.3 billion put into new schools is a great leap forward.

“Our growing province needs

the 60 new and expanded schools that this investment will create. I’m grateful for the support for new schools and good education for our kids,” Burton said.

He said Ontario is a province where people can grow and this step towards building more schools is a step forward to building future generations.

Patrick Daly, president of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association, said at the press conference this move is going to help in promoting 21st-century learning.

“A truly historic occasion, it holds out the promise in rapidly growing areas and indeed throughout our province of transforming the learning environments in which young people learn and grow, particularly in terms of technology and promoting 21st-century learning school facilities,” Daly said.

Zoya McGroarty, communications officer for the Toronto District School Board in an e-mail response said they are still waiting for final decisions from the government before commenting

PEXELS/ARTHUR KRIJGSMAN

The $1.3 billion investment will help create 27,000 new student spaces for modern learning across Ontario.

Protesters standing outside of the RBC building in Toronto, Ontario.

ALLY SHEEDY

Feds fund $1B national school food plan

Kritika Senior Reporter

The federal government is set to launch a nationwide school food program, promising to distribute meals to more than 400,000 children annually.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the National School Food Program initiative on April 1, 2024, during a press conference in Scarborough ahead of the federal budget for April 16.

The program is budgeted at $1 billion over five years and begins in the 2024-2025 school year.

“We all want kids to have the best start in life, including the most vulnerable,” Trudeau said at the media conference.

The announcement was made alongside finance minister, Chrystia Freeland and was the latest one of the government’s prebudget announcements.

Ritu Walia, mother of an 11-year-old, said this move by the government is something she appreciates as it will help parents like her who work.

“This initiative will be of great assistance to parents like me who work and sometimes are not able to do enough when it comes to the

The Federal government announced its plan to grant $1 billion in funding for a national school food program starting in the 2024-2025 school year.

children as our timings clash in the morning,” she said.

“I have myself experienced sometimes not providing the best of nutritious food to my child when I am in a hurry to go to work in the morning.”

Trudeau said the program targets children not currently fed by the existing school meal initiatives and programs.

“The National School Food Program, with an investment of $1 billion over five years, the Pro-

gram, included in Budget 2024, will launch with a target of providing meals to 400,000 more kids every year, beyond those served by existing school food programs,” Trudeau said.

“The lack of access to food disproportionately impacts children from lower-income families and from racialized and Indigenous communities,” he said.

Trudeau said initiatives will also be taken in the communities with the highest ratio of food insecu-

rity in Canada, including First Nations, Inuit, Métis communities and Self-Governing and Modern Treaty partners.

This initiative by the federal government aims at provinces, territories and Indigenous partners to broaden the scope of their current food programs and policies so more children can have a healthy and nourishing meal.

The Breakfast Club of Canada, an organization working with volunteers from various sectors to

provide high-quality national food programs, welcomed the initiative by the federal government. It said this will work towards the wellbeing of the children.

“The creation of a National School Food Program is a major step forward for the well-being of children, especially after a few difficult years due to inflation and the pandemic,” the organization said in a media release after the announcement by the federal government.

Critics slam Canada’s new defence policy

Adrian Olivier Op-Ed Editor

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of National Defence Bill Blair presented Canada’s new defence policy on April 9.

The policy, titled Our North, Strong and Free, details Canada’s commitment to increase defence spending to reach 1.76 per cent of GDP in 2029-30 and breaks down military expenditures in the face of foreign threats and climate change.

This is still short of Canada’s NATO commitment to spend two per cent of GDP on defence.

The defence plan acknowledges the “aerospace threats that can outpace our defences, as Russia and China are rapidly fielding advanced weapons specifically designed to threaten North America.”

Over the next five years, Canada will increase spending by $8.1 billion and $73 billion over the next 20 years on national defence under the plan.

Sean Maloney, a professor of Canadian military history at the Royal Military College of Canada, said this spending is too little too late.

“I’m kind of shrugging at this

document. Okay, it’s nice. It should have come out maybe two years ago,” Maloney said.

According to the document, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) “has been the cornerstone of North American defence since it was established in 1958.”

The policy prioritizes NORAD requirements, with Canada spending $6.9 billion in new technologies to modernize surveillance systems to detect threats earlier and $4.13 billion on upgrading

command, control and communications systems.

Michel Drapeau, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and the former executive secretary of the National Defence Headquarters, said the military’s greatest concern must be addressed.

“Our biggest problem is recruiting, and we know we need to drill down and say, ‘why is it that we cannot recruit?’” Drapeau said.

“At the end of the day, you can have all the equipment you want, ships and aircraft and tanks and so

on, but you got to need people to run them.”

The policy document states the Department of National Defence will modernize its recruitment processes to rebuild the military by 2032.

Our North, Strong and Free details the naval threats Canada faces.

According to the document, Canada will “explore options for renewing and expanding our submarine fleet,” for the Royal Canadian Navy.

These submarines will take years to procure and build, and no money has been committed yet, the policy document says.

“Back in the 1980s, we pursued [the] possible acquisition of the killer nuclear submarines, SSNs and if we continued with that program, we would have them now,” Maloney said.

“If you’re gonna build subs, you’re gonna have to basically have a program that’s 100 years to do that and maintain to build it, ramp up, train, maintain, sustain,” he said.

“And people can’t get their heads around that kind of time.”

Maloney said there is a lack of political will or understanding of how much time these projects require to come to fruition.

“One of the main problems that Canada has is it can’t see beyond the horizon of the election cycle. So, this document will essentially be meaningless if the Liberals are unseated in the next election and want to start all over again,” he said.

“This is the constant problem. There’s no long-term ability. It’s sort of, you lurch from crisis to crisis,” Maloney said.

PEXELS/YAN KRUKAU

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ RANDY WREN

Canada’s new national defence policy is set to increase defence spending by $8.1 billion over next five years.

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Provincial budget for autism does not tally

More than half of the registered children in the Ontario Autism Program (OAP) will not receive the care they need despite increased funding.

Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that requires occupational, behavioural, speech and language therapy and medication, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

The government had previously announced a $120 million increase but later said that included a $60 million one-time addition to last year’s fund, which will not meet the requirements.

Currently, around 50,000 of 67,000 children registered have no access to core clinical services, a media release by the Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) said.

“We need greater clarity about how and when the government will get more kids into core services,” the OAC said.

“We still have a long way to go, and our families deserve full information in order to plan for their children’s future.”

Documents obtained through a freedom-of-information request by The Canadian Press showed the funds falling short of the requirements at the end of 2023.

Many of the children in the OAP have received support through one-time funding or an entry-to-school program at most when they required core clinical services like applied behaviour analysis.

The increase in OAP’s 2024 funding is still grossly insufficient to tackle the demand.

Autism Ontario, a charitable organization representing people on the autism spectrum for over 50 years said the increase in funds looks promising but is lacking in detail in a press release.

“It does not address how the gaps in staffing and educational needs for students on the autism spectrum will be met by individual boards,” Autism Ontario said.

After multiple attempts at cost-cutting and age limits, the program is overwhelmingly underfunded.

After the announcement of the OAP in 2016, the then-Liberal government limited intensive services till the age of five.

Pressure from families forced them to reconsider their course.

Premier Doug Ford’s drastic funding cuts led to a massive autism rally in Ontario, the OAC said.

The OAP’s care is necessary but expensive in some cases, where it could cost up to $100,000 per year individually, Unifor said in a media release.

EDITORIAL

The Progressive Conservatives tried to restrict costs for children under six years to $20,000 and for those between six and 18 to $5,000.

To rectify the issue, Ford’s government appointed a 20-person Autism Advisory Panel.

Despite the panel recommendations, the government failed to administer core services for the autistic in the wake of the restrictions posed.

In 2022, the list rose to 53,000 children from 23,000 in 2018, when Ford’s government came into power.

According to a 2019 report by the PHAC, around one in every 50, or two per cent of Canadian children are autistic.

The provincial budget said the $120 million “will support the government’s commitment to enrol 20,000 children and youth in core clinical services.”

Twenty thousand of the approximate 60,000 children are currently enrolled in the OAP, with more additions each day.

Thousands of children are still waiting for proper treatment due to the lack of necessary funding for autism management in Ontario.

Feds leashing AI is a positive step forward

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $2.4 billion in federal spending to develop Canada’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure on April 7.

“These investments in Budget 2024 will help harness the full potential of AI so Canadians, and especially young Canadians, can get good-paying jobs while raising our productivity, and growing our economy,” Trudeau said.

With rapid transformations in the AI sector, this announcement could pave the way for a legal roadmap for AI development and regulation.

Trudeau’s office, through the official website, broke down how the funding package will be used. One of the points mentioned “risks of advanced or nefarious AI systems.”

To this end, $50 million is set aside to develop the Canadian AI Safety Institute which will help in the “safe development and deployment of AI.”

This amounts to a small fraction of $2.4 billion but it’s a start even if it doesn’t seem proportionate for now.

With the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) tabled in 2022, Canada acknowledged the uncertainty regarding AI regulation. The problem with AIDA, at the time, was that it provided little clarity as to the scope of its regulatory measures.

At the World Governments Summit held in Dubai in February, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he was concerned about the

“subtle societal misalignments” that AI potentially presents that could cause harm.

Last month saw two major developments in the domain of AI regulation.

Beijing hosted the second International Dialogue on AI Safety (IDAIS-Beijing) where AI scientists and governance experts convened to discuss a roadmap for international AI safety.

The European Parliament approved the Artificial Intelligence Act after the European Commission proposed a regulatory framework for AI in 2021.

With the funding boost and other world governments being cognizant of regulation in AI, it is now time that Canada enforces a legal framework.

In this post-digital age, where human-like interfaces and machine learning are merging to create a lucid reality, the importance of safe AI cannot be ignored.

AI dominates a major portion of our daily functioning.

Unlocking our phones with facial recognition, telling Siri to play our favourite music and talking to chatbots programmed as customer care executives are only a handful of examples of how machine-enabled programming has impacted our lives.

More specific to journalism, AI is being used for text and voice translation, transcription and turning text into audio.

Across the globe, broadcasters are introducing AI news presenters. Zae-In for South

AI is present in our daily lives and it’s time a regulatory framework is put in place.

Korean broadcaster SBS, Sana for Indian broadcaster Aaj Tak and Fedha for Kuwait News are some examples of AI news presenters.

While AI presents problem-solving, cost-cutting and time-saving acumen, it should also make us tread with caution. Are we giving it more power than we would be able to monitor?

In its nascent stage usage, are we enabling it to steal those very jobs that we seek assistance with?

It is a helpful ally or will it bite the hand

that’s coding it?

As far as governments are concerned, are countries playing Frankenstein by giving machines so much control?

On the other hand, if we don’t stay ahead of the curve, someone else will, leaving us at a disadvantage.

AI’s scope cannot be neglected, but what is needed is a regulatory legal framework that will keep its use in check.

It remains to be seen if Canada will step up and revise AIDA to tame the ever-changing AI landscape.

PEXELS/ TARA WINSTEAD

PEXELS/ TARA WINSTEAD

Insufficient funding means that the Ontario Autism Program cannot provide core services.

Every single school child deserves lunch

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a fantastic choice in investing in the health of Canadian children through the new National School Food Program. The welcome initiative aims to allocate one billion Canadian dollars towards schools and students, providing over 400,000 children with meals annually. However, this marks only the beginning of Canada’s efforts to tackle food insecurity.

Catherine Parsonage, CEO of the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, said the Liberal gov-

OPINION

ernment initiative is one step in the right direction.

“Without a doubt, student nutrition programs and access to healthy food at school is a key support if we want Canadian children to thrive,” she said.

Parsonage said many steps still must be taken to reach a larger community.

“No one government will be able to nourish Canadian children alone,” she said. “We need our provincial government participation, we need our municipalities, we need our private sector, we need our donors, we need our parents.”

Parsonage said the country cannot leave any child out of the picture and there is still lots of work to be done to ensure no child goes hungry.

I agree with her. We must take more action to ensure that no child is left wondering whether or not they will have food throughout their day.

I was privileged enough always to have lunch at school, whether my parents had packed it for me or my lunch account had funds

readily available. This is not every child’s reality.

Statistics Canada reported in a November 2023 study, that 18 per cent of Canadian families experienced food insecurity in the previous 12 months, up from 16 per cent in 2021.

With the CPI rising each year, families have to sacrifice to make ends meet.

Statistics Canada said there was the largest increase in food inflation in more than 40 years in 2022,

“The year-over-year inflation rate jumped from 1.0 per cent in January 2021 to 4.8 per cent in December 2021,” the organization reported.

“Meanwhile, the annual rate of food inflation increased from 1.0 per cent to 5.2 per cent over the same time period. Prices continued to rise and in June 2022, the overall inflation rate was 8.1 per cent and food inflation, in particular, was 8.8 per cent.”

Gail Kardish, a registered dietitian in Toronto, said many young Canadians have developed an eating disorder through food inse-

curity. She said she worked with one woman in particular who grew up with food insecurity, and it impacted her relationship with food long after her childhood.

“It became a very complicated relationship,” she said. “It was just like you ate what you can when you could kind of thing.”

Kardish said she believes with a proper relationship with food, children would have a better relationship with themselves and work smarter and harder academically.

Parsonage said she hopes the National School Food Program offers healthy and nutritious alternatives and paves the way for more work to be done for student health and well-being.

“I think we have a long way to go and there’s lots to work with. to be done, but I do know that there are people and advocates and organizations right across the country that are standing ready, willing, and able to work alongside our provinces and our territories as they implement the National School Food Program,” she said.

“It’s not just from an eating disorder perspective, but in school, they won’t be hungry, they’ll feel hopefully more confident with themselves,” she said.

National service will create national unity

Iqbal Alibhai Culture Editor

Canada is strained by a crisis of intolerance and foreign machinations and national service is the answer.

Even though it may be difficult to agree to, as it requires sacrificing your time and energy, national service will combat the rise of hate crime and foreign influence.

Hate crime has risen in Toronto alone by 93 per cent in 2023, the Toronto Police Service said in a March 18 news release.

Climate change is melting the arctic and destroying the North American landscape and is leaving the world with water shortages. The World Wildlife Foundation

states Canada currently holds 20 per cent of the world’s water.

With these and other northern resources becoming more easily available, other nations like Russia and Norway will be looking to take control.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of being linked to the assassination of a Sikh separatist within Canada in a September 2023 speech.

A Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) 2021 report said Russia has attempted to influence Canadians through disinformation campaigns.

Member of Parliament Ken Hardie’s 2023 committee report said China’s secret police are present in Canada.

All these attacks erode Canada’s unity and the strength of Canada’s multicultural society.

National service has been successfully implemented in South Korea, Switzerland, and Singapore.

South Korea has a mandatory military national service for men that lasts for 18 to 24 months, women can voluntarily enlist as well.

Canada does not have manda-

tory national service currently because historically conscription has been heavily criticized by many Canadians.

Unfortunately, conscription led to some of the most decisive political debates in the history of Canadian politics.

French Canadians criticized the Borden government for forcing them to enlist during the First World War.

During the Vietnam War, French Canadians, progressives and activists sided with American draft dodgers and pacifists, said David S. Churchill in his article, American Expatriates and the Building of Alternative Social Space in Toronto, 1965-1977.

However, to combat the realities Canada currently faces, a national service policy could be the only option.

However, national service does not have to be military service, it could be a civic service like in Switzerland, where conscientious objectors can contribute.

Critics will argue that national service is only capable in homogenous nations like South Korea or Switzerland, but Singapore is

a prime example of a nation with a diverse population that also has national service.

Singapore’s population is 75 per cent Chinese, 15 Malaysian, 7.5 Indian and 1.6 others, according to a 2020 report from the Singapore Department of Statistics, yet it is still able to create and foster unity through national service.

Singapore Defence Ministry’s mission statement said they were “committed to forging the unity and resilience of [their] nation.”

This is reflected in the attitudes of the different Singaporean groups. Statistica stated most Singaporeans view racial and religious amiability to be moderately high.

Statistica also said acceptance and comfort with people of other ethnicities in their social circles was relatively high across different ethnic groups.

A Canadian national service should offer three branches, military, civic and exemplary.

The first, military service, would be two to four months of basic training and then two years of active duty or 10 years as a reserve with four to six refresher courses.

The second would be civic ser-

vice, where an individual can complete simple tasks, such as landscaping, administrative work, charity work or other tasks like cleaning roads.

Third would be exemplary service, if an individual already works to further Canadian identity or a Canadian cause, they can pursue said work as part of their national service.

This would include athletes who compete nationally or internationally, researchers whose work could be recognized nationally or internationally and individuals already working in the military or the government.

As an incentive, the government could offer a stipend to cover the loss of payment from regular employment or to cover educational expenses or debts.

National service would be difficult to implement and Canadians will need to be convinced this is to their benefit, however, to combat hate crimes and foreign interference, it is necessary.

If Canada waits it will be too late. It needs to act now, while foreign influence has not yet completely sown chaos in its society.

A good relationship with food could help with academic performance.

Zoe Pierson Editor-in-Chief

RAWPIXEL/ CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

Downtown Brampton flush with businesses

Leshae Barret General Reporter

The COVID-19 pandemic had long-lasting effects on small businesses and the owner of Dress People, Rehana Khan, is feeling them.

“We love our community. We love dressing up all the lovely girls from their first communion to their Grade 8 grad, to their prom, and then to their wedding dresses,” Khan said.

Downtown Brampton is filled with many activities, with Gage Park being a frequently discussed and used place for the community.

Four Corners is a well-known name among the residents as a place where locals can experience the small-town feel while surrounded by the Greater Toronto Area.

An abundance of stores line the sides of the streets with various products for sale and owners ready to greet you.

“You have to stay inventive. You have to think about new things because the world is changing. So, your store and what you have in your store has to change as well,” said Ebby O’Malley, a co-owner of ReStyle Beauty Boutique.

She said having a store that caters to customers’ needs rather than just sticking to the same thing is important for small businesses. “So, we always look forward to new things,” O’Malley said.

Some of these stores have been there for more than a few years while others are younger and just starting.

The owner of Stephan’s Fur, Irene Ongaro, has been in downtown Brampton for more than 40 years and has seen this community grow in many ways.

“Businesses come and go. It’s nice to see some of the young people starting up businesses,” she said.

Ongaro said she appreciates the community around her and their support, especially during trying times like during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 restrictions were a big challenge for many businesses, especially small ones that never got much foot traffic like larger stores.

According to a Statistics Canada report, the employment per person rate was at a negative 15.9 per cent in April 2020.

Retail trade sales were also at their lowest around that time, at minus 31.6 per cent.

But even surviving the lockdown period, businesses are closing their doors.

Overall, Brampton has been doing well since the pandemic based on Geo hub Brampton’s total number of business chart which the City of Brampton is keeping track of.

During the years that COVID-19

was prominent, the number of businesses increased slowly but the jump from 2021 to 2022 is much larger.

There were 81,494 businesses open in 2021 compared to the count of 92,159 businesses that were documented in 2022.

In total, that is a 10,665 increase in one year as businesses started to pop up more as lockdown restrictions started to decrease.

Stores like the ReStyle Beauty Boutique, run by a mother-and-

daughter duo, Ebby and Emma O’Malley, have been around for eight years.

With no intention of slowing down, these two put their all into keeping their business going and providing for their customers and community.

“We definitely love to bring new events and life to our boutique,” Emma O’Malley said. “We don’t just sell clothes. We sell an experience.”

Dress People is closing after many years of selling dresses for

special occasions.

Khan said sticking to it as an owner of a store is important, especially if what is being done is wellloved. She was a little misty-eyed as she said she would miss running her store which has been in downtown Brampton for years and has served many.

“I think it is time for us to branch out, and maybe retire,” she said. “So, that’s where we are kinda headed. But we will definitely miss our community.”

Students feel the heat as the term ends

heavy, and he finds it hard to balance.

Abdul Rehman Kasim, a first-year Humber web development student from the Middle East, is juggling to finish multiple assignments but with very little time.

“Honestly, if I could buy time, I would because I’m running out of time,” he said. His coursework is

However, Kasim always looks forward to weekly Lego building sessions in the Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation, which are part of his classes. It’s a stress reliever, he said.

During this busy and stressful time of the year, Stephanie Kersta,

a registered psychotherapist, said there needs to be a balance between people’s sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The sympathetic nervous system is an alert and aware feeling people have, while the parasympathetic nervous system restores the body to a state of relaxation, Kersta said.

When there is an unbalance

within the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, depending on the student, they can experience more irritability or be prone to burnout, sleep issues, mental health, and a low immune system, she said.

Some activities that tap into the parasympathetic nervous system are doing simple, enjoyable things, including going for a walk, dancing or yoga, Kersta said.

Other activities include deep breathing exercises and mindfulness meditation, she said.

“I like box breathing,” Kersta said. It involves four steps, each of four seconds: inhaling, holding the breath, exhaling and holding again.

Students like Racquel Echeverria, a final year cosmetic management student, said her stress looks different depending on the situation.

“Sometimes I just need a break, and I need to breathe so I can focus on what I am doing,” she said.

“Other times, the stress helps and motivates me to do my work.”

A couple of stress-relieving activities have been listening to music or hanging out with friends, Echeverria said.

Other students, like Giulia De Almada Guerini, cope with their stress differently once the anxiety starts to rise.

De Almada Guerini, a freshman in the graphic design program, said overthinking about the heavy workload causes her to get very overwhelmed.

“I start making lists so I can organize everything that I’m doing,” she said.

“I feel like I’m at peace of mind when I start making lists and organizing myself, so I know that I’ll be able to finish everything on time.”

Taking a walk in the park, reading for a few minutes and watching a show are other ways to decompress, De Almada Guerini said.

Ebby (Left) and her daughter Emma are co-owners of the ReStyle Beauty Boutique in downtown Brampton.

LESHAE BARRET

Eleanor Kate-Iglesia General Reporter

ELEANOR KATE-IGLESIA

Abdul Rehman Kasim, a first-year Web Development student from the Middle East is building a Lego house.

Toronto’s STEPS public art program gives life to graffiti

Zoe Pierson Editor-in-Chief

Toronto is home to some of Canada’s most spectacular street murals, including those found in Graffiti Alley, the Ossington laneway, and along Queen Street West.

The STEPS Public Art program in Toronto supports artists and the creation of murals and graffiti throughout Toronto, adding culture, colour and connection to the streets.

Anjuli Solanki, program director of STEPS Toronto, said she enjoys how the work the program produces brings communities together throughout Toronto.

She said one particular memory stands out to her, a 23-story mural painted on the side of Parkside Student Residence in downtown Toronto.

“You create these projects and you know, you’re so embedded in them and then you kind of like let them fly and you don’t always know the impact that they’re going to have,” she said.

STEPS Toronto is a community service program offering artists a way to connect with commission projects and have their art legally displayed throughout the city.

STEPS’ official website said it partners with different local and government initiatives to allow these murals to be painted.

“We kind of bring communities together and really use art as a way in which to reflect the different needs of the community and also

reflect the communities that are in different areas,” Solanki said. “In many ways, we’re really committed to bringing underrepresented voices, residents and artists to the floor.”

Solanki said she had seen the impact of their work firsthand while she was interviewing a current employee for their position on the team.

She said he told her after seeing one of their LGBTQ+ murals, he said he wanted to work at STEPS.

“He felt that he had moved to a city and a country where he was allowed to be himself,” Solanki said.

“You don’t always know the impact of the projects and what aspect will stand out and move somebody.”

Natasha Dichpan, a mural artist in Toronto, said her work with STEPS has been transformative.

“I’ve worked with the people that organized the mural jams, which is when they get 10 to 12 artists to transform a laneway in Toronto,” she said.

Dichpan said mural jams are a way for artists to connect with the help of STEPS, to work together and transform a tagged laneway on the Toronto streets.

Dichpan said she would describe her style as bold, she loves to use vibrant colours, such as red and blue, to bring her work alive.

“I like portraying animals and humans because there’s a lot of similarities,” she said.

“I love to do portraits and colours that are very striking.”

Natasha is one of many artists that STEPS has worked with in Toronto.

Solanki said STEPS has worked with more than 350 artists across the country in 2023 alone.

Graffiti and murals have not always been legal in Toronto, but following a government initiative in 2012, the StreetARToronto (StART) program allowed for new pieces to be commissioned through government and community funding.

The city said StreetARToronto (StART) successfully reduced graffiti vandalism and replaced it with vibrant, colourful, community-engaged street art.

Toronto said the StART program strives to deter vandalism by allowing murals in spots prone to graffiti tagging and crime-related art.

Programs like StART and STEPS work to showcase the talent of Toronto artists and allow respectful and welcoming graffiti and murals.

Growing up in both Russia and Israel, Dichpan said she honours the artistic opportunities she has had in Toronto.

“There’s more ways to make a living as an artist, whether it’s in traditional arts, or I worked in animation as well,” she said.

“I just find there’s way more opportunities here than I was presented with.”

Price shift in thrift causes shoppers’ loyalties to drift

Shopping at thrift stores is meant to be an accessible alternative for those who might not be able to afford regular retail prices, but at some big thrift store chains, customers are wondering if maybe they’re no longer getting a bargain.

Savers — known in Canada as Value Village — is one of the largest thrift store chains in North America. They have over 300 locations, with 140 of those locations in Canada, and 74 in Ontario.

Value Village operates on a donation-based model, accepting second-hand goods from consumers, and some from local non-profit organizations.

The organizations are paid a flat rate for their goods, which Value Village then turns and sells for profit. This is unlike other thrift chains, like Goodwill and Salvation Army, where a bulk of profit goes to supporting local charities and nonprofit organizations.

Value Village is a publicly traded, for-profit model business, with U.S. private equity firm Ares Management as a majority shareholder. With the rise in popularity of thrifting in recent years, Value Village has seen an overwhelming increase in profit. From 2020 to 2021, the Savers company saw an almost 45 per cent increase in gross profits.

Meanwhile, competitors like Goodwill circulate the bulk of their profits back into the company and local community. A financial report from Forbes says that in 2022, Goodwill Industries International saw $7.6 billion in total revenue. However, around 74 per cent of that revenue went to charitable services, with the remaining 26 percent going to management of the company, fundraising, and surplus. One of the biggest changes that consumers have been noticing recently is a significant increase

in prices. With the increase in popularity, and with Savers operating on a for-profit model, it’s not surprising that the company has increased prices to increase profit based on demand. But still, these price hikes have caused outrage among consumers at one local Etobicoke location.

Mika Soetaert is a fashion student studying at Toronto Metropolitan University, and she is also an avid thrifter who often commutes out of the city to shop at larger locations. She is a frequent customer of the Value Village location at Islington Avenue and Titan Road, and she’s not too happy about the recent increases.

“The more charitable thrift stores have raised their prices less so than Value Village, places like Salvation Army and Goodwill, I have found they haven’t raised their prices as much,” Soetaert said.

“I’m not sure how much of that is to compete with inflation, versus how much of that is tied to the whole gentrification of thrifting. It’s more Value Village that I have a bone to pick with,” Soetaert said.

She said she started thrifting the majority of her wardrobe in the winter of 2018. As a fashion student who focuses on sustainability, she does this to avoid buying fast fashion first-hand to lower her ecological footprint

But she said this likely isn’t the same for everyone and that major chains like Value Village have caught on to this.

“Now [that] there’s a lot of young people that don’t thrift out of price necessity and thrift because it’s cool, that does increase demand,” Soetaert said. “So then they increase the prices, but it’s more so that they’re increasing the prices because they know people will come thrifting regardless of if garments cost $7 on average, or if they cost $14 on average,” she said. “So, they will charge 14 [dollars] because they can.”

Adrien Glazer Skedline Reporter

Manglal-Lan takes her talent to int’l level

Toni Canyameras Sports Editor

Humber Hawks’ point guard Hope Manglal-Lan was meant to hoop since her name sounds so close to “hoop”.

“I’ve been told I had to end up playing basketball for my name growing up, it’s awesome,” she said.

“Sometimes everything falls into place. I’m grateful, that’s a beautiful thing,” Manglal-Lan said.

When the college basketball season finished in February, she eagerly started to look for places to play and express the meaning of her name.

“I need to play basketball, so I’m going around Toronto to try to find courts,” said the point guard, who struggled to encounter courts as indoor ones are expensive and the weather didn’t allow to take some hoops outdoors yet.

But it turns out she could relieve her eagerness to the eyes of the world instead of doing it anonymously on a random local court while enduring the inclement weather.

The Filipino Canadian team called Manglal-Lan to participate in the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) Tournament, an international competition in Manila in March.

The Hawks’ point guard was part of a roster comprised of players born in Canada but with Filipino roots.

The Filipino-Canadians got knocked out in the first round of the tournament, which reunited 10 teams with Australia and different teams representing different states from the U.S.

Manglal-Lan, who has just finished her rookie year in College basketball, said being part of this international stage experience means a lot to her.

“It was very important for me,” said the Mississauga native, who

also trained with a mix of players of the U19 and the senior Filipino national teams in the summer.

“This is the first time the Filipino-Canadian team has had the opportunity to participate in this tournament.

“Talent comes from everywhere, but it’s growing in Canada,” Manglal-Lan said. “I had the opportunity to be part of this platform for Filipino women and I’m very happy for it.

“It was a memorable experience. I was the oldest player in the team and it was good to see young talent and kind of pave the way for them,” she said. “A lot of them were a little bit nervous and now they are committed and I’m very excited to encourage that.”

Manglal-Lan’s teammates at Humber couldn’t keep their eyes off her and the quickness and the astuteness that define the 5-foot-4 point guard as a player.

With the indoor sports season done, there was a buzz among the women’s basketball team as they cheered Manglal-Lan while watching her on TV.

Peyton Moore, one of Manglal-Lan’s Humber teammates, said it was memorable for the team.

“For Hope to go overseas to play in a tournament like this just was a special moment for us to be able to sit and watch her do her thing,” Moore said.

“It really showcases our talents and abilities here at Humber,” she said.

Ceejay Nofuente, one of the assistant coaches of Humber women’s basketball and a rumoured candidate to become the next head

coach, said this international experience proved the progression of Manglal-Lan.

“I’m so proud of Hope, seeing her compete in the Philippines was amazing, she’s always trying to evolve her game and having these opportunities show it,” said Nofuente.

Besides the emotion of playing on an international scale, Manglal-lan said this experience allowed her to taste a different type of game.

“I was used to playing against local players and I had to get used

to a more intense and faster game,” she said. “I expanded my knowledge and I could understand the game more in different ways.”

While Manglal-Lan said it’s still early to set a goal for Humber ahead of the next season in a team with many changes, she said she wants to step up.

“My name has committed my life to the game more. It shows the leadership role I’ve played in every single team I’ve played,” she said. “I want to be this kind of leader next season,” she said. “I hope to live up to my name.”

COURTESY OF MATT PINDOY PHOTOGRAPHY

COURTESY OF MATT PINDOY PHOTOGRAPHY

COURTESY OF MATT PINDOY PHOTOGRAPHY

Hawks point-guard Hope Manglal-Lan (back row, second from right) was a part of the Filipino-Canadian team that entered March’s NBTC Tournament.

Hope Manglal-Lan (second from right) is preparing for the next season.

Hope Manglal-Lan wants to be a leader for the Hawks next season.

Fair play equals higher pay for female athletes

David Lynch Sports Reporter

This year, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) started its inaugural season.

Since the league’s first game on New Year’s Day, they have set four records for attendance at a professional women’s hockey game.

Concurrently, women’s basketball has seen a rise in popularity in recent years.

With college stars like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese, women’s collegiate basketball may be more popular than men’s.

OPINION

This season, for the first time, the women’s March Madness final had more viewers than the men’s, ESPN said.

The women’s game had 18.7 million viewers, while the men’s game drew 14.8 million viewers.

And, the final four matchup between Iowa and UConn was the second most-watched game in ESPN history, not including football.

With North American Women’s sports viewership at an all-time high, it’s time to address the issue that has plagued professional women’s sports since its start. Pay.

In the PWHL, the average yearly salary for a player is US$55,000 a year, according to the PWHL collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

In the National Hockey League (NHL) CBA, the minimum salary for an NHL player is $750,000 a year.

When the two numbers are compared, it’s clear that there is a problem.

When the highest-paid PWHL player makes just under 10 per

cent of the lowest NHL contract, per year, that’s not a good look.

But, the PWHL is only in its inaugural season. There is plenty of time for contracts to increase.

A league that may give hope for significant salary increases in the PWHL is the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

While their salaries also don’t compare well to the men’s National Basketball Association (NBA), recent salary increases give hope to women’s sports.

Spotrac, a website tracking

sports salaries said in the WNBA, the highest salary this season is $241,984. That’s a major increase even from 2019, when the highest salary was $127,500.

But it still looks bad compared to the NBA, where the league minimum annual salary in the CBA is US$1.1 million.

Even with the major increases, many top female athletes are staying the full four years in college before turning pro.

This is an effect of the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal in

U.S. college sports, signed in June of 2021.

This deal means that college athletes can make money while in college and often make more than if they were professional athletes.

Clark, arguably one of the greatest college basketball players in history, was making an estimated $3.1 million from her NIL deals a Business Insider article said.

In the WNBA CBA, rookies picked in the top four of the draft this off-season will be able to make $76,535 in their first pro season. Clark is highly expected to be the first overall pick in the draft.

But, there may be some promise.

Rap star Ice-Cube’s basketball league Big3 offered Clark a $5 million contract to play for them, while also letting her play in the WNBA, he confirmed in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Even though it may be more of a stunt, it shows interest in women’s sports is rising, and leagues need to get serious about paying female athletes like the stars they are.

Women’s hockey community needs more respect

Andre Leal Sports Reporter

The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has existed for just about four months and surpassed many expectations, including mine.

It’s the first women’s hockey league showcasing the best the sport offers.

In the past, several leagues — including the Canadian Women’s Hockey League — have failed because of a lack of viewers, players, talent and investors.

However, the PWHL has come to life in this inaugural season, and now these players are getting the spotlight.

I think it’s time they get the respect they deserve.

There is this narrative around

women’s sports about how it’s not entertaining, that no one cares or watches.

This may have been the case several years ago, but certainly not now.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few PWHL Toronto games. I can comfortably say the women’s hockey community is a powerful one.

One of the biggest storylines about this league so far is the attendance record and how it’s been broken on multiple occasions this year.

Let’s begin with every single PWHL Toronto home game being sold out this season. The iconic “Battle on Bay Street” at the Scotiabank Centre game against Montreal set the record for the highest attendance in women’s hockey history with 19,285 fans.

During this game, the crowd was electric.

I’ve been to many Toronto Maple Leafs games and I’ve never heard the crowd that loud.

A decibel metre clocked the crowd at 120 dB at one point during the occasion, which Decibel Pro says is the equivalent of an aircraft taking off.

This shows how strong the

PWHL fanbase is and that there are fans who indeed care about women’s hockey.

The Bay Street attendance record will be broken at a sold-out Bell Centre game in Montreal against Toronto on April 20. The Bell Centre holds more than 20,000 spectators.

The PWHL has been continuously breaking attendance records. The previous pre-PWHL record was 5,938 at the Bell Centre when Les Canadiennes de Montréal of the now defunct CWHL played the Calgary Inferno on Dec. 10, 2106.

The quality of players and teams is another aspect of women’s hockey that isn’t appreciated enough.

I’ve watched thousands of hockey games, including the NHL, AHL, OHL and youth hockey. I understand the fundamentals of the game and what makes great players and teams.

Once I gave the PWHL a chance, I could see that in terms of skill, speed, knowledge and other aspects of hockey, it isn’t much different from other hockey I’ve seen.

At the 2019 NHL all-star weekend, forward for PWHL Minnesota, Kendall Coyne Schofield participated in the fastest skater competition with superstar Connor McDavid.

She showed she could compete

with NHL-level speed, finishing with a faster time than Arizona’s Clayton Keller, one of the fastest and most skilled players in the NHL today.

It’s not just hockey where we can make these comparisons. We saw it at the NBA all-star weekend in February.

WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu fired three-pointers against Steph Curry, who holds the most threepointers in NBA history. He narrowly won, 29-26.

However, Ionescu’s score was good enough to match Damian Lillard’s tally in the traditional three-point contest earlier that evening, and he ended up winning the competition.

Another stand-out player in the PWHL I find impressive is Natalie Spooner of Toronto. She takes over the game every shift and is a dominant force on the ice, a similar style to Nathan MacKinnon.

It’s no surprise that she leads the league in points and goals.

Physically, the PWHL has had its fair share of hits, and the ladies don’t shy away from post-whistle scrums.

I encourage hockey fans to give the PWHL a fair chance to see that hockey truly is for everyone.

HUMBER HAWKS/DIEGO GUILLEN

U.S. college athletes stay longer due to money from possible NIL deals.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/JUSTIN TANG

Toronto’s PWHL team has sold out all of their home games this season.

Menzies had a remarkable performance taking the reins of the Hawks as point

and

Menzies stands out in a great debut season

Nicholas Endrizzi Sports Reporter

It’s been a banner year for Humber’s Jalen Menzies, both literally and figuratively.

The fourth-year point guard, who joined Humber via transfer from Holland College in Charlottetown this past summer, was a force all season in guiding the Hawks to their 16th provincial title.

Along the way, he set the single-season record for steals and finished with the fourth-most single-season points in team history.

His performance earned him the honour of being one of the Humber Male Athletes of the Year.

“I know there are hundreds of great athletes at this school, and they all put in work to be the best possible, so it was an honour and a privilege,” Menzies said.

Head coach Omar Miles, who witnessed how Menzies carried himself on and off the court, said none of this success came as a surprise.

Before the year, Miles said he outlined everything Menzies needed to do to become an All-Canadian.

He said it was a tall order, but if anyone was going to follow through on it, it was Menzies, who

is the team’s 15th member of the 300-point club.

“I told him, ‘You need to do all the right things. You need to defend and you need to be efficient in your scoring,’ and he did both,” Miles said.

He said Menzies took to this advice right away, displaying a strong work ethic and leadership skills that put him in a great position to succeed.

It was something that Miles had rarely seen in a player in his time coaching, he said.

“I never had to worry about him bringing the energy to practice. Whether that meant showing up on time or making sure he held his teammates accountable for working hard,” Miles said.

Kameron David, a teammate and lifelong friend of Menzies, said this approach rubbed off on the team in a very positive manner.

He said it gave everyone else on the team the opportunity to showcase their leadership traits, whether through constructive verbal criticism or leading by example.

“Everybody had a voice and was comfortable by the end of the season to say their piece, and everybody knew it wasn’t personal,” he said.

The consistent drive to be better has been something that’s been inside him since a young age, David said.

He said he’s had a front-row seat in watching his development and watching him morph into the confident player he is today.

A big part of that confidence comes as a result of having played at Holland College for two years, Menzies said.

It was there that he learned to manage the stressful situations

that come in a game while playing at the national level, he said.

Menzies averaged 17.4 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game and 2.6 assists per game at Holland College. Before playing in Prince Edward Island, he played two seasons with Central Arizona of the National Junior College Athletic Association. He said he wanted to achieve certain goals that necessitated his transfer to Humber.

The day before school started, he

said he set three personal and team goals to keep himself motivated as the year went on.

“I accomplished some of the goals I’ve set this year. But there are still some that need to be checked off. So they’ll be back on the list next year,” Menzies said.

He said a couple of these include shooting the ball better, particularly from three-point range, and getting his teammates involved at a higher rate.

This will be a focal point of his off-season training as he tirelessly works to improve his game, he said.

While this work ethic is the biggest hallmark of his game, Menzies said he gives a lot of credit to his teammates and the coaching staff for his success.

“I wouldn’t have been able to win Athlete of the Year if not for them. They all welcomed me with open arms and allowed me to play the style of play that I’m accustomed to,” he said.

Menzies will serve as an integral part of the program moving forward and someone that many young players can use as a role model, Miles said.

“You want high-character guys leading your program, and that’s what he is,” he said.

HUMBER ATHLETICS/DIEGO GUILLÉN

Jalen

guard

won the Humber Athlete of the Year after his first year competing with Humber College.

Jalen Menzies received his individual trophy at Humber’s athletic banquet.

Women’s volleyball preparing to win again

The Humber women’s volleyball team finished the 2023-2024 season as one of the top teams in the country, but already have their sights set on more next year.

Head coach Chris Wilkins said despite winning Ontario College Athletic Association (OCAA) gold, and finishing fourth in the national championship, there’s motivation from the team to be better.

“We know that we can compete with any team in the country and we know that we can win,” he said.

A major obstacle the team faced at Nationals was losing Erika Dodd, an All-Canadian player and Humber Female Athlete of the Year, to injury.

But despite that, Wilkins said he felt the team did well at competing, and their success despite Dodd’s injury showed their depth, something not every team has.

“I think you look at any other team in the league and if they were to lose their arguably best player, their All-Canadian, they probably don’t even make playoffs,” he said.

“For us, it was just another tribute to how deep we are.”

At the end of the season, Wilkins said they will lose some key players to graduation.

“We lose some pieces, through graduation, some real good leaders, some real good people,” he said.

But, along with bringing back Dodd, as well as other key players from this season, Wilkins is already recruiting players to join the program.

Kopinak said that recruiting has already started, and will keep going throughout the off-season.

“I fully expect they’re doing a lot of recruiting,” he said.

Wilkins said that the recruiting class coming in is promising, partly due to the success of the program in the last two decades.

“When you win as much as we do, you end up getting a lot of really good, talented players that want to come and be a part of the program,” he said.

“So I’m really excited about the recruiting class that we have coming in.”

With the hopes to get better for next year, Wilkins and the team are already working with the Humber Athletic Department to improve for next season.

Associate Director for Athletics and Recreation Michael Kopinak said that the athletic department has lots of resources for the athletes to use in the offseason.

“Our high-performance center is open, our therapy office department is open so, if they live local, then they can use our high-performance center and we can help monitor them and ensure that they’re fit for coming into the season,” Kopinak said.

Along with their off-season program, Wilkins said he encourages the players to get away from volleyball.

He said it helps them come back ready to play the sport.

“I encourage them to sort of step away from the game as well, they don’t want to do too much,” he said.

“Go do other sports, play some baseball, go swimming, do all those kinds of things so that when you come back in September, you’re hungry to play the sport you love.”

Kopinak said he is looking forward to next year and wouldn’t be shocked if they make a run at the national championship.

Women’s volleyball team lifted the OCAA championship last season.

Sports Reporter

Head coach Chris Wilkins said the Women’s volleyball tam has to set high goals ahead of the next year despite all the important pieces the squad is going to lose through graduation.

David Lynch

HUMBER ATHLETICS/DIEGO GUILLÉN HUMBER