The Voice • March 31, 2022 • Volume 55 • Issue 7

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ARTS & LIFE

Research opps

Creators together

Garden projects give students the chance to take classroom learning to the field. P3

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Roll the dice

A new support group uses Dungeons and Dragons for counselling. langaravoice.ca

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Local artists band together in collectives with the aim of finding employment. P4

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S. Van streets all fuel, no fun

Council approves $350,000 for traffic-calming infrastructure

 By KENNETH WONG

W

ith just under three kilometres of slow streets, South Vancouver lacks the walkability and transit of the rest of the city.

“There’s definitely an awareness that we could use more [walking and cycling] in the south of the city.”

— ANGIE WEDDELL, TRANSPORTATION DESIGN ENGINEER

Angie Weddell, a transportation design engineer for the City of Vancouver, said the city is aware that South Vancouver doesn’t have as much walking and cycling infrastructure as other areas of the city.

“There’s definitely an awareness that we could use more [walking and cycling] in the south of the city,” Weddell said.

Encouraging residents to walk, roll a n d cycle, known as active transportation, is intended to create a more comfortable commuting experience, getting people out of their cars and making it easier to exercise. According to a 2017 study

by Canada’s chief public health officer, a lack of active transportation is a factor in over-reliance on driving and can lead to a more sedentary lifestyle.

Slow streets, introduced in 2020 as a social distancing measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, use plastic barriers to restrict non-local traffic and limit the speeds to 30 kilometres per hour.

However, the unweighted barri-

ers are easily moved, so city council approved $350,000 to make the infrastructure permanent.

Vancouver has at least 40 kilometres of slow streets.

Claire Lee, who wrote a master’s thesis on Vancouver’s slow streets program, thinks that active transportation will increase once the infrastructure is put in place.

“There’s just a lack of infrastructure, like lack of investment,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing, having separated cycle tracks, wider sidewalks, and more access to bicycle parking, secure places to lock your bike. All these things can encourage more uptake of active transportation.”

South Vancouver’s two slow streets — one that runs along 51st Avenue from Inverness Street to Ontario Street, and the other on Inverness Street from 41st Avenue to 51st Avenue — were the least used, according to a 2020 city survey.

More popular slow streets included Lakewood Drive in GrandviewWoodland and Wall Street in Hastings-Sunrise. More than 70 per cent of those surveyed liked or really liked the slow streets program.

Sandy James is the managing director at Walk Metro Vancouver, a non-profit organization promoting walkability in the region. James thinks South Vancouver gets overlooked in terms of urban planning.

“South Vancouver’s kind of the cradle of civilization. It’s where families are still forming the rest of it in the rest of Vancouver, it’s gotten too expensive. But there’s a lot of families in that area ... there needs to be connections that need to be tied to get into commercial areas.”

Weddell thinks slow streets infrastructure is important to the city, providing connections between destinations.

“Changing the script in terms of how we talked about moving around neighbourhoods ... And again, kind of pulling that focus towards more sustainable modes of travel.”

South Vancouver resident Janice Edgar thinks the city is doing a good job with

its initiative to encourage active transportation.

“We find the walking just delightful,” Edgar said. “ We just love it. And we love the fact you can walk up and down the streets.”

MARCH 31, 2022 • VOL. 55 NO. 7 • VANCOUVER, B.C.

‘It was a scam’ Jagtar Singh Manak, a first-year computer science student at Langara, remembers the day he was contacted by a scammer. MARILYN REICHERT PHOTO

International students targeted by fraudsters to study.”

Prerna Bedi, an international bout 10 per cent of interstudent coordinator with the Langnational students are ara global office, estimates one in 10 Langara international students have targeted by fraudsters, received threatening calls or decepaccording to a Langara student coordinator. Scammers tive emails and text messages. use phone calls, deceptive The global office, a emails, and illicit offers of resource centre for Lang“They call you on higher pay to work over ara international students, the legal limit of hours. connects with students your phone and say before arrival in Canada.

Abdulla Ahmed, a firstthey are from Canada year business manage“I’ve come across very ment student, received few students who have service agency, and paid. Many of them know such a call but has not been defrauded. He warns what the scams are and they sound super others to hang up if they what they must do,” Bedi legit.” are targeted. said. “What I have seen MARILYN REICHERT PHOTO “They call you on your lately is that students are — ABDULLA AHMED, LANGARA STUDENT phone and say they are very proactive.”

Dupinder Kaur Saran, founder from Canada service agency, and involved in the Voice. “I fell into that they sound super legit,” he said. trap because I was in a new coun- of One Voice Canada, a non“They say your social insurance try and I didn’t know how things profit advocating for international number is expiring in five days or 10 worked here.” students, said the threat that causes days … ‘If you don’t go to one of our Another common scam involves the most fear is deportation. agents, you will be arrested by the rental fraudsters who convince “We have been able to alleviate RCMP and you’ll be deported.’” student visa holders to send a some of that fear and teach students Students who fall prey to scams month’s rent in advance, then block to say ‘no’ because they too have can find themselves paying out large contact after the money is sent. rights in Canada,” she said. sums of money or compromising Jagtar Singh Manak, a first-year In another scam, employers offer their personal information, which computer science student, recently extra hours under the table to avoid could create bad credit or put their received a suspicious email in paying taxes. Then they hold back student visas at risk. response to his Facebook ad looking cash salaries and make threats of While studying at Vancouver Film for a place to rent. deportation if they complain.

School, Virender Singh received a “I knew right away it was a “We teach them to just work 20 call purportedly from the govern- scam. They only wanted $750 for hours for the minimum wage,” Saran ment. The caller said Singh was a flat to rent in downtown Vancou- said. “You’re not getting exploited, facing serious criminal charges and ver,” said Manak. “The writer was and you’re not going to have a chance convinced him to empty his bank very convincing, saying he was in of deportation either.” account and hand over the money.

England and the flat was empty See langaravoice.ca for full story Singh, now in his first-year in the because his daughter went overseas  By MARILYN REICHERT

A

Langara journalism program, said the scammers used someone who spoke his language to disarm him.

“I blindly just trusted the person on the phone because they were Indian, so I felt a natural sense of familiarity,” said Singh, who is not

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THE VOICE | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2022 | EDITOR CLAIRE WILSON

Farm initiative goes beyond classrooms with practical approach  By AMIR KHAN

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Delta school program teaching children how to grow their own food hopes a recent boost from city council will help expand its reach to the entire province.

During the city council’s Jan. 10 meeting, Mike Schneider, a Delta resident who consults on urban agriculture issues presented Project Pickle, which stressed the importance of teaching children practical skills in food growing as a method to foster meaningful learning.

The presentation comes at a time when rising food prices and supply chain shortages continue to threaten food security across the Lower Mainland and elsewhere.

“I’d like to see [the children] come inspired,” Schneider said. “The most, sort of, immediately gratifying aspect is a realization that if they plant their food, there’s a 99.9 per cent chance they’re going to eat it.”

Project Pickle began in June 2012 when students from Pebble Hill Traditional Elementary in Tsawwassen, B.C., planted 200 pickling cucumbers in raised garden beds provided by the Delta school district.

The project, which works with K-12 students aims at attracting youth to potential future careers in the food

Project Pickle takes root in Delta Brooke Elementary School in North Delta is one of eight schools involved in farming project.

supply chain by teaching them how to plant, grow and harvest food.

“It is one of the positives of COVID, that I think people are doing more hobby gardens and their kids are getting involved,” said Coun.

Alicia Guichon, chair of Delta’s agricultural advisory committee.

“We’re seeing that just even in our industry, that people are eating out less and they’re maybe growing more at home and just learning and getting their kids involved.”

The project has since seen 74 classes sign up across eight schools,

numbering approximately 1,800 students. According to Schneider, he expects to work with 37 classes per week with more expected to join the project during the spring season.

“I wish there were more of me or more people like me that we could cover all the schools,” Schneider said.

“The Delta council is interested in helping me get there through discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education.”

Schneider hopes to place the Delta school district at the centre of a pilot project involving neighbouring cities

AMIR KHAN PHOTO

and their respective school districts, with Project Pickle.

Coun. Bruce McDonald, an agri-business advocate dedicated to ensure that agriculture remains as a major contributor to Delta’s economy, pointed out the similarities between Project Pickle and the rain gardens that have already been successfully established within Delta schools. “[North Delta schools] all have rain gardens and schools and the kids take incredible ownership of them, they tend them, they work

with them,” McDonald said. “Growing things is something that I think we all can relate to.”

Due to COVID-19, Schneider has been unable to deliver lessons in classrooms. However, teachers at participating schools have opted to adopt a place-based learning approach, allowing students to learn outdoors and get their hands dirty, weather permitting. “[Teachers] want to bring the kids down to the small school farm and spend a decent amount of time out there, so that’s good,” Schneider said.

Surrey school chief retires after 10 years Jordan Tinney looks back on a career in B.C.'s largest district  By LESIA POGORELO

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ven during the worst pandemic in decades, former Surrey school superintendent Jordan Tinney focused on health.

That included the health of the working environment, said Surrey district principal Daniel To, a colleague of Tinney for his entire tenure with Surrey.

“That was one of Jordan’s sort of passions to make sure that the health and wellness was seen as an important issue,” To said.

He developed ideas to support students and their families while also trying to the find best ways in working with parents.

Tinney joined the Surrey school district in 2012 as deputy superintendent, and in two years became superintendent. He had come from the Vancouver district, where he worked before, to Surrey, which has

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opinions are those of the staff and independent of the administration.

the highest enrolment of any school district in B.C. with 73,000 students.

A school superintendent has many tasks, such as overseeing district budgets, approving programs and supervising schools. In interviews with the Voice, Tinney’s colleagues noted his attentiveness to employees, students and their parents.

Tinney said he had to stay on budget, hire staff in difficult times throughout the pandemic and manage dynamics between the different types of directions given from the Ministry of Education and the Surrey school board.

He said the district went through a major revision of its goals after the 2016-2017 year. Then the COVID19 pandemic happened.

“None of us expected the

pandemic,” Tinney said. “But through the pandemic people look to Surrey as a leader in terms of how are we going to make sense of all of this and how are we going to move forward and make it work.”

One of the many problems at the time of the pandemic is that students had to study at home, many of them having to navigate issues with slow internet. Surrey school district has made sure that every student receives knowledge regardless of social and material well-being.

For students and some parents, Tinney was more than just a superintendent, he represented a mentor for them.

Rina Diaz, Surrey district parent advisory council president, worked with Tinney since 2014.

“His advice has ... provided a lot of guidance, the work that I do as a parent advocate,” Diaz said.

Diaz said Tinney could have placed more responsibility on the elected school trustees. It fell on him to answer questions from parents when they were seeking more information from the trustees.

“I’ve heard of so many parents sending emails to the trustees and never hearing anything back from them,” Diaz said.“So, what was the

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“That was one of Jordan’s sort of passions to make sure that the health and wellness was seen as an important issue.”

— DANIEL TO, SURREY DISTRICT PRINCIPAL

PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Lauren Vanderdeen PAGE 2 Claire Wilson PAGE 3 Nicolette Colosimo

point of the trustees? Right, I feel that he needed to give them more to do instead of it all himself.”

Diaz hopes the new superintendent will change the way the school district holds itself accountable.

Diaz said because Surrey is the biggest school district in the province, it faces ongoing struggles with the regular use of portables, not enough spaces for students and preschools that are over capacity.

“That’s probably going to be his challenge as well as it was for Jordan

Tinney,” Diaz said.

Tinney’s last working day for the district was March 11. He says he will miss working with students, which he said gave him the most pleasure.

“What can you say when you get … a class with kindergarten kids, how can that not be the best thing in the world,” said Tinney.

“On the other hand, when you watch students who are graduating from Grade 12, ... you see how talented they are.”

Jordan Tinney says working alongside students is one of the highlights of being a superintendent. SUBMITTED PHOTO PAGE 4 Hollie McGowan

PODCAST EDITOR Hannah Snider

WEB EDITORS Graham Abraham Lesia Pogorelo

REPORTERS Aishwarya Singh Corvin Vaski Daniel Johnston Jordan Copp

Juan Ramírez Laisa Conde Lauren Accili Marilyn Reichert Michael Su Kenneth Wong

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU Have a news tip? Write to us at thevoice@ langara.ca

Campusnews

EDITOR NICOLETTE COLOSIMO | THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2022 | THE VOICE

Student research opps growing

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Pollinator garden project gives Langara students hands-on experience  By CORVIN VASKI

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tudents who get a chance to do research in their undergraduate years have a good chance of moving on to postgraduate scholarship.

Brad Wuetherick, the associate provost of academic programs in teaching and learning at UBC Okanagan, has studied the effects of research experiences on students.

“It really supports students’ identity development as they move into a particular field,” Wuetherick said.

Wuetherick said research experience gives students the chance to do hands-on work and use classroom knowledge in practical scenarios.

Many students who have done undergraduate research go on to graduate studies.

“There is a very direct correlation between students who have undergraduate research experiences and their journey into advanced study …

The idea that these experiences kind of encourage people to dive deeper and continue into further study is well-documented,” Wuetherick said.

When Aldona Czajewska became a volunteer program coordinator at Langara College in 2021, she noticed students were increasingly looking for research opportunities.

But the pandemic made those opportunities hard to find. She looked for a way to combine volunteer positions with research.

Czajewska, who has a background in applied biology research, received a grant with the help of the biology department for a pollinator garden research project at Langara. The project has created four paid positions for students and incorporates multiple volunteer opportunities.

“It’s just a great opportunity, not

Jennifer Lin, second-year biology student at Langara College, shows off the variety of plants in the greenhouse on top of A Building at Langara.

just for science students, but literally Jennifer Lin, a second-year biolanyone, anyone can volunteer for this ogy student working on the pollinaproject if they want to and help out, tor project, said she is happy to be and I feel that part of the pollireally fills the nator research “Having this sort of gap,” she said. project. She The projhopes to someday experience will give ect is conductpursue a career in me an edge.” ing a survey of science research.

— JENNIFER LIN, BIOLOGY STUDENT campus pollina“Having this tors such as bees, sort of experience hummingbirds and butterflies, to will give me an edge, and I’m glad I get a better understanding of how was able to have that this early in my to promote on-campus pollinator education career,” Lin said. diversity and plant new gardens.

Czajewska’s co-researcher and

Langara biology instructor Ji Yong Yang said that research experience gives students an advantage over those without experience when applying for jobs.

“It essentially gives them training, gives them skills and hopefully they could use this training and skills to find jobs in the future,” Yang said.

Kelly Sveinson, director of the applied research centre at Langara, said the college has received substantially more funding for research which is critical in different fields .

“We really are trying to encourage

CORVIN VASKI PHOTO

a wide variety of types of research, diversity is really important to us, and it’s really important that all the disciplines are welcome into this area of applied research,” Sveinson said.

Over $5 million in research grants has been awarded to Langara faculty in the past five years, according to the applied research centre.

“We have to teach the young people what we understand now, but young people also have to push that boundary and have to be part of the creation of new knowledge,” Sveinson said.

As mask mandate lifts, anxieties arise

Psychologists discuss effects of unmasking  By JUAN RAMÍREZ

T

hree weeks after the provincial health officer removed the indoor mask order, the Langara College community is still anxiously debating whether or not to continue wearing a mask.

Julianne Beadle, a psychology professor at Langara, said there will no doubt be some uncertainty among students and staff.

“Especially because we’ve been wearing masks most of the time for the last two years,” Beadle said. “So, I think some people may experience some relief, other people may be experiencing a bit of nervousness or anxiety.”

She said the stress associated with mask removal can affect a person’s memory and ability to learn.

Beadle said most of her students are still wearing masks even though it is not mandatory.

“So I think that’s interesting,” she said. “Because we know that subjective norms, so what other people are doing, who we kind of look to, can influence our own behaviour.”

After moving to online learning for a year, Langara resumed faceto-face courses last fall, but masks were mandatory until March 11. A week before the mask mandate was lifted, Langara made rapid antigen tests available for all members of the Langara community. Langara has 22,000 students enrolled annually, coming from 100 countries.

Elena Nicoladis, a psychology

professor from the University of British Columbia, said masks have shielded people from contracting the COVID-19 virus.

“Masks have been very protective and have been very effective in protecting us against the wider spread of the disease. And there’s clear research backing that up,” Nicoladis said. “If people are at all nervous about taking masks off and

seeing each other in person and thinking that the rates of contagion might increase, I think there’s a grain of truth to that.”

David Shmil, a bioinformatics student at Langara, said he is accustomed to people wearing masks, so now he is anxious about studying at the campus.

“Personally, I still feel a bit on edge when I see somebody walking down

Masked and unmasked students study together in T building at Langara College. JUAN RAMÍREZ PHOTO

the hall without a mask,” Shmil said.

“I think that’s probably because I’m so used to seeing a mask, and I’m still a bit scared of everything.”

While some people are wary of removing their face coverings, others are ready to shed their masks in public settings.

Amy Flanigan, an early childhood education professor at Langara, said she supports the government in regards to the decision to lift the mask mandate.

“I trust the leaders. I trust them to make the right decisions for us, they’ve done the best that they could with all the knowledge that was coming at them in all different directions, up until this point,” Flanigan said. “I don’t think it was too early.”

Anthony Virdo, a student engagement officer, said masks provide a sense of protection and coverage, so it might take time for some people to acclimatize. For him, he found he got more comfortable not wearing a mask in certain spaces around the campus after the first day.

“But I noticed that I still wear a mask, I still keep a mask on me,” Virdo said. “So, I think it’ll be gradual, and that some people will be more comfortable in maybe a month or two months.

“And there may be some people six months or a year from now still more comfortable wearing a mask.”

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Arts&life

THE VOICE | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2022 | EDITOR HOLLIE MCGOWAN-WICKHAM

The more the merrier for artists

Creators in Vancouver are finding more opportunities when they collaborate With graduation approaching, students in various art departments at Langara will soon be looking for work in their fields.

Jade Ng, a second-year arts student at Langara, majoring in drawing, painting and ceramics, said that she’s looking to find part-time work at art studios after graduating.

“My dream is to open my own art studio,” Ng said.

Ng said she was worried about the availability Turner of a ceramics job Travis ACTOR, RAPPER, within Vancouver, CO-FOUNDER OF so she branched LOCAL CREATIVE COLLECTIVE out to painting and drawing.

Jonas Quastel, Langara film arts department coordinator, said it’s hard for students in the film arts to find high-paying work right out of post-secondary.

“Walking out of the school and automatically becoming an actor that lives off acting is pretty much impossible,” Quastel said. “It takes about 10 years to establish yourself in

 By LAUREN ACCILI

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inding work within creative industries is tough, so aspiring artists are banding together to help each other move up in their careers.

Travis Turner, a 2008 film arts graduate of Langara and now an actor, rapper and songwriter, co-created an online artist collective on March 1 of this year with musician Mathew Vetten called the Local Creative Collective.

Its purpose is to help connect artists and generate more potential employment. Turner said that it’s important to support artists and help their careers through the collective.

“It's tough when you're a full-time artist and you're working for yourself.”

— MEGAN MAJEWSKI, PAINTER

“In this day and age, where it’s very much a gig economy and living in somewhere like Vancouver, you know, the idea is to just help artists get gigs,” Turner said.

The organization says on their Instagram account that they are a “collective of artists helping artists” with new venues and features often posted on the website for creatives who are looking for work opportunities and people to collaborate with.

The importance of working collaboratively is seen in other groups such as the Arts Factory Society in Vancouver. They support local artists by providing affordable rental spaces.

Morgan Brayton, a former administrator with the Arts Factory Society, said artists need an accessible

“It takes about 10 years to establish yourself in this industry.”

— JONAS QUASTEL, FILM ARTS COORDINATOR

Ceramics students working diligently on their assignments in the A building at Langara College. LAUREN ACCILI PHOTO

place to work.

“We provide space and support for artists to have shows,” Brayton said.

“Some of them, it's their first exhibit ever because it's simply not affordable to do it otherwise, so we support the artists in that way.”

Brayton said that the Arts Factory

Society also collaborates with other collectives in the city to put on events in support of artists.

Megan Majewski, a painter and member of the Arts Factory Society, said that they have helped her progress in her work, especially since the increase in Vancouver’s cost of living.

“We're able to have a pop-up event like that and not be stressed about having to put in all this financial money,” Majewski said. “It’s tough when you’re a full-time artist and you’re working for yourself … I mean you have to be very self-motivated.”

this industry and many other industries.”

Turner said he hopes to see artists working together with their peers and other people to help themselves progress as creatives.

“Keep motivated, it’s an everyday thing,” Turner said.

Sportsnews

Russian athletes viewed as commodities As the war drags on, the debate over sports sanctions placed on Russian athletes endures  By JORDAN COPP

M

ore than a month after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian athletes find themselves being held accountable for actions they had no part in.

Christopher Yorke, philosopher of sport and instructor at Langara, says that athletes growing up in Russia will have their careers affected by this war.

“It’s tragic because the people coming up in the sports world now had no causal influence on the course of international events. They didn’t plan or participate in any offensive

manoeuvres, and so in a way they are the victims of this situation.”

Yorke says that athletes are in essence a casualty of the war as their careers are influenced by forces outside of their control. Their personal opinions can affect their career. Various international sports organizations such as the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Bejing hav e placed sanctions on Russian and Belar usian athletes and officials, banning them Aziz Rajwani from participatSCHOOL OF ing.

MANAGEMENT “ We of ten LANGARA COLLEGE say that politics have no place in sport, but sport is intertwined with politics,” said Susan Todd, a professor in the department of kinesiology at Langara.

Todd says that when players reach the professional level and are playing with athletes from other countries they must act appropriately.

Some sanctions have impacted individual athletes while others have affected entire teams. Aziz Rajwani, an instructor at the Langara school of management and member of the board of BC Sports Hall of Fame says that both levels of sanctions are of use. He says that the sports sanctions being placed in Russia should have been more severe from the beginning.

“You have to ask yourself, well are those individuals responsible for these actions? And in most cases, they are not therefore they should probably not be individual sanctions,” he said. Rajwani said that athletes are responsible for their personal influence and what they broadcast about themselves.

“But to the extent that a particular athlete comes out as pro-Putin and makes his, her or their views known, then it is quite legitimate to sanction that individual,” he said.

“I think the sports sanctions initially were kind of soft, particularly

by UEFA saying the Russian team could play but not under their own flag,” he said, referring to the Union of European Football Associations.

Rajwani says that although the

initial response was light, stricter sanctions have since come into place.

“The message has to be sent that Russia’s not going to be allowed to play in any tournaments be they FIFA or UEFA, and that’s what happened.”

He added that the Formula One racing championships cancelled an event in the Russian city of Sochi.

Ramjee Parajulee, a political science instructor at Langara, defines economic sanctions as: “Some measures imposed on a country that

doesn’t respect rules and regulations in the international community or being perceived as violated the institutional regulations.”

Norm Fennema, a history professor at University of Victoria, says that sports create legitimacy in the international arena.

“No one has spent more on the Olympics than the Russians,” said Fennema. “I do believe that sanctioning Russians has had a massive impact at a symbolic level.”

As further sanctions are placed on Russian athletes, more will be benched.

JORDAN COPP PHOTO