CAMPUS
Indigenization
Langara College has difficulty recruiting and maintaining critical Indigenous staff. P2
SOCCER SPECIAL
CCAA kicks off
Langara Falcons men's soccer team hosting a national championship. P3
ONLINE SPECIAL
Fresh takeaway
Students facing inflation seek fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet. langaravoice.ca
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PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA
NOVEMBER 10, 2022 • VOL. 56 NO. 2 • VANCOUVER, B.C.
Papers, please Toilet paper mess not going away soon By TOM ELEY
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Pedro Soriano Ribeiro, an international student from Brazil, welcomed the news about the lifting of work hours for international students with some concern.
New jobs but also stress HANNAH ROWENA MONDIWA PHOTO
Cheers and fears meet work policy for international students By HANNAH ROWENA MONDIWA
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usinesses in British Columbia see the new international student work policy as an opportunity to fill vacant job postings. The food and restaurant industry has experienced a large labour shortage. Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the British Columbia Restaurant and Food Services Association, welcomes the news of the federal government’s decision to remove off-campus work restrictions for international students. “Our industry is about 30 to 35,000 people short in all positions in our restaurant industry throughout British Columbia, so this is going to help. It's not going to alleviate the problem, but it's certainly going to allow us to schedule in more students to help us out, and we could solve the major labour shortage we have right now.” According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate in Canada is 5.2 per cent while the latest figures for B.C.’s unemployment rate is 4.2 per cent. There are currently 169,280 job vacancies in B.C. and over one million in Canada.
Tostenson said that although the 2022 to Dec. 31, 2023, international pandemic exacerbated the labour students will have unlimited work shortage in the restaurant and food hours during school. industry, the main reason for a lack Teresa Brooks, associate director, of workers is a change in demo- international services at Langara graphics. Global, said that as the new policy “We've had a lot of people leav- removing work restrictions has ing the industry just because they're yet to come into effect, it’s not yet getting older, especially in kitch- clear how it will affect international ens where people are retiring. We students. have an aging population in British “However, it is important to Columbia,” Tostenson said. note that while the opportunity Statisto gain valuable tics from Canadian work “Sometimes I work 20 the 2021 experience can census be an effective hours a week, and I'm shows that component of a 19 per cent student's study devastated.” of Canaabroad experi— PEDRO SORIANO RIBEIRO, LANGARA dians are ence, focusing INTERNATIONAL STUDENT aged 65 on academic and older. This represents a 2.1 achievement must be the priority,” per cent increase in the 2016-2021 said Brooks. period. According to Studyinbc.com, The Ministry of Immigra- British Columbia is home to nearly tion, Refugees and Citizenship 188,000 post-secondary internaannounced the policy change to deal tional students. with an on-going labour shortage in Pedro Soriano Ribeiro, a first-year Canada. marketing management student On Oct. 7, the Ministry of Immi- from Brazil, welcomed the news gration, Refugees and Citizenship about the new policy with caution. announced a temporary lift on off“Sometimes I work 20 hours a campus work restrictions for inter- week, and I’m devastated. I have five national students. From Nov. 15, courses and I know how brutal that
can be,” Soriano Ribeiro said. Gokul Babu, a first-year post degree student in business administration from India, also said he was concerned about the new policy. “In one case, it’s all good to have a full-time job but for some students, I guess… it feels hard to cope with both the job as well as the studies,” Babu said. Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament for East Vancouver and the NDP critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, said the lifting of restrictions is long overdue. “It’s a tiny step forward in terms of opening up more recognition of students’ needs. But I think the policy was determined, not so much to meet the needs of the students, but rather to meet the needs of, you know, the industry and Canada’s economic needs.” Kwan said that despite the new policy there is still a lot of work to be done, including making the temporary initiative permanent. Babu said he plans to increase his work hours but warns students to be careful about work and school balance. “I would suggest, students should not like compromise with their studies,” he said.
lthough students at Langara say campus washrooms are often littered with toilet paper, school washrooms are unlikely to dispense with paper products anytime soon. Collin Mills, an instructor in the department of geography and geology, was part of a project with student researchers tackling public washroom issues in Vancouver. According to his project, toilet paper remains a complicated issue when it comes to sustainability. “It is pretty hard to get rid of toilet paper. Someone once said that the paperless office is about as likely as the paperless bathroom,” Mills said. “Which means not very likely at all.” Students said they frequently find urine-stained seats and toilet paper over the floors in campus washrooms. Many blamed their fellow students for the mess. “They are not picking up the paper and putting it in the garbage,” said Harshpreet Kaur, a second-year science student. Kaur said the toilets can be clean at the start of the day, but as the day goes on, they can become dirty. Kevin Wang, a third-year biology student, said students are causing the issues. “People never flush the toilet. It is gross,” Wang said. Mills's students looked at what people in other parts of the world use in washrooms and found that water often replaces toilet paper for bathroom hygiene. “In Thailand ... the publicly accessible washrooms have what they call the ‘bum gun,’” said Mills. The “bum-gun” is a spray used to wash and clean up after going to the bathroom. Installing bidets in Langara’s washrooms was one of the suggestions outlined in a report by Langara’s Sustainability Club. According to the report, the average person consumes 384 trees of bathroom paper and spends about $8,400 on toilet paper in a lifetime. Installing a bidet could help reduce costs. But toilet paper isn’t going anywhere. “A commercial bidet can be expensive, and that, too, for every toilet seat on campus,” said Ishan Malhotra, a member of the Sustainability Club. See langaravoice.ca for full story
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Campusnews
THE VOICE | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022 | EDITOR KENNETH WONG
College needs Indigenous staff Langara continuing to work on 2025 Indigenization strategy By MARCO SHUM
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alfway through Langara’s five-year strategic plan, the college still faces challenges retaining Indigenous staff. Under the Indigenization section of the plan, which was unveiled in 2020, there were three main goals: implement an Indigenization strategy, maintain and deepen the college’s relations with the Musqueam First Nation and recruit and retain staff from the Indigenous community. Graeme Joseph, executive director of Indigenous initiatives and services, said the college is still working to launch the Indigenous strategic plan and is engaging in more consultation with the Musqueam. "Once the Indigenous strategic plan is launched, it'll be much more detailed and focused: goals and mileposts for the college to work towards in terms of supporting indigenization reconciliation, and of course, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and how the college can implement that,” Joseph said. Joseph said he has made rebuilding the Indigenous education services team one of his main priorities. “Of course, there's been some changes to staff ing here within Indigenous education and services. And that, of course, has been challenging.” Wasé Young, an Indigenous student at Langara who was at
The Welcome Figure, carved by Musqueam artist Brent Sparrow Jr. The post honours the passing of Si?em Henry Charles who led the January 2016 ceremony in which Langara recieved its Musqueam name, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm [snuh-way-uh-th-huh-leh-lum]. MARCO SHUM PHOTO
the Indigenous Gathering Space last week, said he has seen a lot of Indigenous staff leave Langara. “I’ve seen a lot of good people leave the Indigenous student services centre. I’d just appreciate it if they could work on retaining the talented and educated staff they currently have,” Young said. “If those people [Indigenous staff]
leave, a big portion of the support for Indigenous students goes with them and the relationship they had.” Langara Indigenous carving instructor Aaron Nelson-Moody, also known as Splash, a name derived from his Squamish name, Taw x'sin Yex w ulla, meaning Splashing Eagle, works part time
as an instructor for four different colleges, but focuses his work within the Squamish Nation. Nelson-Moody said Indigenous staff can get a lot of good job offers. “There’s way more demand [for Indigenous staff] than there are people to fill the positions,” said Nelson-Moody. But he added that a college “can
still be a bit of a colonial institution,” and can be an awkward fit for Indigenous people. “It’s not the first way we would like to teach. We would like to teach more in our own cultural approach, and this is not our cultural approach, so we have to adjust.” Nelson-Moody said one of his biggest challenges as an instructor is a lack of resources. “I’m having to invent things from scratch, very primary research. I’m talking to other carvers, how to teach carving I’m having to write my own resources, I’m having to write my own rubrics for grading the class.” Young wants students to be more understanding of generational trauma. “Like residential schools, people think it happened a long time ago, but my grandparents went to it.” He said that this trauma can “trickle down the generation ... it’s not as impactful as the first generation that went ... but the issues are still real and the trauma’s still there.” Nelson-Moody said he liked how the college dealt with receiving its Musqueam name, snəeyəɬ lelə [snuh-way-uh-th-huh-leh-lum]. “They wrestled with how to carry that name. What does that mean? Was it just a gift or is it a responsibility? You know, is it just a gesture or are they now connected to community? And they really tried to study it,” he said. “And they're still wrestling with, which I like. I like that they don't think they know exactly what that means yet.”
Langara levels up More infrastructure can make Vancouver a global esports hub By KALVIN MOSES
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fter a change in leadership and rebound in membership, the Langara Esports Association is looking beyond campus to the wider world. Since the summer, the association has gained 500 new members with an estimated 100 monthly active members. The club meets in room T001 at Langara College, every Friday for students to play at a competitive level or unwind among like-minded people. “I think it’s a nice meeting ground to meet other people who might have similar interests,” said science student Melvin Liu. “Nowadays, around this age demographic, I feel like most people definitely are into video games, to some capacity,” he said. Derian Chow, vice president of the club, said there is still a stigma around esports being an activity
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enjoyed by unhygienic nerds in their basements. “But realistically, I think through esports, I’ve met a lot of good people, I don’t think I’ve really met too many people that actually fit that stereotype at all,” said Chow. This year the association is collaborating with The Home Key to host a screening of the League of Legends World Championship, a major esports event. The Home Key is a startup in downtown Vancouver providing a space for esports professionals to train, network, and host events. Chow said the partnership with The Home Key is good for the club as it provides necessary infrastructure and support for it to grow. “There needs to be more government support towards gaming,” said Jonathan Kim, chief executive officer of The Home Key. He said there will be more global gaming events, but governments WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
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Members of the Langara Esports Association watch the League of Legends World Championship live at The Home Key. KALVIN MOSES PHOTO
need to give out grants to people who want to organize those events. The future of esports seems promising, says Marius Adomnica, partner of Segev LLP, a Vancouver law firm that provides legal services to esports players. “In a couple of years, esports is going to take over and be on par with traditional sports,” said Adomnica. Chow is hoping for more support
from schools for esports. “What I hope for Langara to look at is with how Langara esports has grown over the years, and how we can easily become one of, if not the biggest clubs at Langara, if not already. A lot of other schools in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and the U.S., they’ve adopted esport as an activity.” According to the Vancouver
Economic Forum the esport industry globally generates US $1.1 billion in revenue which is expected to double within the next four years. Liu said the Langara Esports Association will prosper as long as esports continue to flourish. “For as long as there’s like genuine interest, I think it definitely has a future.” said Liu.
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Soccerspecial
EDITOR JUAN RAMÍREZ AND JORDAN COPP | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022 | THE VOICE
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Falcon squad in high spirits Close bonds give Langara men's soccer strong resolve
Rizzardo lauded the team’s diversity, which includes players from Brazil, Nigeria, Peru and Japan. “They bring in different cultures and different style of play,” said Rizzardo. Both Rodriguez and midfielder Takumi Ota brought up the necessary adaption to Canadian soccer, which is more physical than By NICHOLAS NAYLOR in many other countries. The team atmosphere has been a he Langara men’s soccer large factor in the Falcons’ success team is feeling confident for this season, something Rizzardo the 2022 Canadian Colle- praised. “They go out together, giate Athletic Association Nation- study together, they do lots of things als, even after a disheartening loss to together.” Rizzardo said academic the Vancouver Island University success is important and that he Mariners. wants players to “maintain a Not even heavy raingood GPA.” fall could damper the Thompson described spirits of the Langara the team as a “family.” Follow the action Falcons while at their “Everybody likes last practice before langaravoice.ca each other so much the Pacific Western and we all get along,” Athletic Association said Thompson, who finals, with laughter and thinks the great comradcheering echoing at the ery off the field helps with light-hearted practice. chemistry on the field. Though the Falcons are excited Ota, one of the four Japafor the CCAA Nationals, coach nese players on the team, won the Marc Rizzardo said they were fully PACWEST player of the year focused on the Oct. 30 PACWEST award. “I wouldn’t be able to get it finals, which they lost 2-0 to the without my teammates,” said Ota. Mariners. Midfielder David RodriBeing a student athlete makes guez Zegarra said the team is now life quite busy, as players must focus focused on winning gold at Nation- both on the team and their studals, something Langara has not done ies. Thompson said being a student since 2000. athlete is challenging, though he T h e Fa l c o n s s w e p t t h e enjoys representing Langara. RodriPACWEST individual awards this guez agreed, saying he can only take season, with the Falcons winning three courses because of his soccer coach of the commitments. year, rookie of On the field, “No other teams have the year and the Falcons player of the have been been able to shut us year, as well as impenetrable four of the 11 in defence, down.” PA C W E S T with the — MARC RIZZARDO, FALCON'S COACH all-stars. fewest goals Although the conceded in Falcons have been very success- the league. Rookie Noah Holmes ful this season, they will face stiff has been a stalwart in defence, with competition at Nationals. Rizzardo a strong ariel presence and assurance said the Falcons “can’t afford to have on the ball. any times where we lose focus.” Rizzardo was quick to praise the While the Falcons fell short in attack, which led the league in scorthe final of this year’s PACWEST ing. “No other teams have been able finals, they automatically qualify for to shut us down,” said Rizzardo. Nationals as hosts. However, the The Falcons play a possession-based loss to the Mariners means they will game with a strong midfield three. be seeded lower and face difficult The entire team is excellent on the competition early in the tournament. ball, and they rarely give it away.
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A Humber College player attempts to defend a Douglas College header in last year's CCAA gold medal game hosted by SAIT in Calgary. BEN HAMES/SAIT TROJANS PHOTO
National soccer returns to Langara
Weather no barrier to full roster of games By RIVER KERO
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he Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association kicks off the men’s soccer championship this week with eight teams from across the country – all hoping the recent atmospheric rivers, high winds and an unseasonable forecast of snow flurries remain at bay. The national championship kicks off from Nov. 9-12 in Langley, B.C., with defending champion Humber College of Toronto the top favourite. Undefeated this season with 56 goals, the Hawks have won four of the last six national championships. Host Langara College, consistently among the top-ranked teams in the CCAA all season, is another favourite, despite losing the PACWEST final to the Vancouver Island University Mariners. Falcons coach Marc Rizzardo is hoping for good weather for the games and is confident in his team’s abilities.
“I'm looking for my players to play their best soccer of the season,” he said. “Teams will be very competitive. My players are looking forward to the challenge and I'm expecting us to do well.” But the competition is still open, thanks to the tournament format which has what is called a “backdoor bronze,” according to Brandon Stone, manager of marketing and sponsorship for the league. This means that even if a team loses its first match, they still have a chance at a medal later on. After the first day, it’s still anyone’s game. “I don't know if I want to make predictions on the teams,” said Stone. “You never know. That's the reason we play the games … anybody could come out on top.” The games will take place at the Langley Events Centre, starting Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. with Holland Hurricanes and the Vancouver Island University Mariners kicking off the play. Next up will be Seneca Sting vs. the Nomades de Montmo-
rency. In the afternoon, the Hawks will face off against Les Rouges de Saint-Boniface, and at 5:30 p.m. the Falcons will play the Trojans from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. The energy is high this year, as the teams can participate in social activities that were previously closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “CCAA student athletes will be able to live the full national championships experience this season,” said CEO of the league Sandra MurrayMacDonell in an email to the Voice. “Those that have never been to the west coast will have an opportunity to take in some sights and hospitality during their down time.” Hopefully, snow-free. Stone said one of the things they liked about hosting in British Columbia is that it’s usually “wet rather than snowing.” The CCAA has dealt with snow before, even ploughing the field mid-competition.
Langara Falcons midfielder David Rodriguez Zegarra holds the ball during a 2-0 loss to Douglas College in Coquitlam in October. SETH FORWARD PHOTO
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Soccerspecial
THE VOICE | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022 | EDITOR JORDAN COPP AND CORVIN VASKI
Voice students report from the field Journalism students get experience covering national soccer tournament By SAMANTHA HOLOMAY
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he Langara journalism and athletics departments have formed a partnership to bring coverage of the upcoming Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Soccer National Championships that Langara is hosting. Langara was chosen to host the soccer tournament that will bring eight teams from across the country to compete for four days in November at the Langley Event Centre. Jake McCallum, Langara director of student engagement and athletics, said the tournament offers many opportunities for anyone interested in writing or sports.
“When the journalism students are there, they're going to see these student-athletes, the elation, the excitement, the pain, the loss, and emotion,” he said. “It’s an excellent opportunity for students to get involved.” This partnership will deliver stories, photos, and other forms of media to the CCAA and for the Langara Voice to use in publishing. The association also gives students new opportunities on a national level of media coverage and unique learning experiences. The Langara Falcons have some advantages by hosting, such as a short travel distance and staying in the same time zone. Erica Bulman of Langara’s journalism department
says it's a great opportunity to learn the basics of covering live sports. “Their stories are going to be posted nationwide,” she said. “It’s a very rare experience where they get to cover a national sporting event and be part of that and experiencing it first hand.” Wade Kolmel, director of athletics at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, also hosted the CCAA Men’s Tournament coming out of the pandemic. He says the most challenging part about hosting a tournament is for the students. “You're dealing with your own home environment, your own fans, your own friends, and balancing a school schedule while you’re hosting your own tournament.”
CCAA SOCCER SCHEDULE LOCATION
CCAA Championship matches will take place at the Langley Events Centre on the North West Synthetic Field at Willoughby Community Park in the Langley Township. Langley Events Centre Willoughby Community Park 7888 - 200 St. , Langley
(604) 882-8800
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022
10:00 PT 12:30 PT 15:00 PT 17:30 PT
Match 5 - Bronze Quarterfinal Match 6 - Bronze Quarterfinal Match 7 - Semifinal Match 8 - Semifinal
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2022
9:30 PT 12:00 PT 15:00 PT
Match 9 - 7/8 Placement Match Match 10 - Bronze Semifinal Match 11 - Bronze Semifinal
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2022R
9:30 PT 12:00 PT 15:00 PT 17:00 PT
Match 9 - 5/6 Placement Match Match 11 - Bronze Medal Match 12 - Gold Medal Closing Ceremonies
CCAA PLAYER PROFILES
VIU MARINERS
SAIT TROJANS
HOLLAND HURRICANES
SENECA STING
Billy Bagiopoulos, forward
Senay Haile, midfield
Mohammad Alhaj Ali, forward
Atif Ali, defence
The Mariner’s head coach Kevin Lindo describes Vasilis Bagiopoulos as the team’s “danger man”. As the team’s top goal scorer Bagiopoulos was picked for the PACWEST all-star team. Lindo says Bagiopoulos “demands high expectations of himself and others.” Bagiopoulos proved to the league he can perform at a high level in big games, scoring three goals in the two conference championship games winning gold for the Mariners.
Head coach Connor Brady describes Haile’s playing style as “fluid.” He makes things look easy, disguises passes’ and takes quick breaks on the ball. Haile is the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference south division player of the year, south Alberta championship tournament allstar, and was selected for the south division all-conference team. Haile scored 11 goals in 10 games making him the season's top scorer in the south Alberta division.
This year Ali was selected as the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association conference player of the year, Atlantic championship tournament all-star, and picked for the Atlantic conference all-star team. Teammate Clay Kelly says Ali is a “special” player who can put the ball wherever his teammates need, to create goal scoring chances.
Ali’s accolades stacked up this year, he was named OCAA conference championship tournament all-star, OCAA east-division all-star, and OCAA eastdivision player of the year. The Sting’s head coach, Patrice Gheisar, says Ali could be described in one word, “consistent.” Ali’s leadership provides an example for Seneca’s young attacking front. Ali’s playing style is composed, he's able to keep consistent possession, and has the “vision to open the game up or keep the ball moving,” says Gheisar.
NOMADES DE MONTMORENCY
LANGARA FALCONS
LES ROUGES DE SAINT-BONIFACE
HUMBER HAWKS
Franck Oumar N’Dia, forward
Luca Uccello, midfield
Ibrahim Chami, defence, midfield
Takumi Ota, midfield
Assistant coach for the Rouges, Yahia Chihab, says N’dia grew up playing on the streets of the Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, where he integrated into an academy system as an eight-year-old. N’dia is “clinical in front of the net,” says Chihab. It seemed the clinic was open during the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference gold medal game, with N’dia scoring two goals in a 4-3 upset over the previously number one seeded Brandon University.
Uccello has multiple appearances for the under-18 and under-20 Canadian national team. He signed with the Humber Hawks in 2021 from the semi-pro-team, TCF II. Uccello has been dominant in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association conference this year. Head Coach Michael Aquino says at the midfield, Uccello can create and score goals in attacking and defensive phases. Uccello was named player of the year in the OCAA and led the Hawks to a conference first-place finish this year.
Chami’s work ethic is described as “unmatchable” by head coach Francisco Vela. In 2021 Chami was called-up to play for the Lebanon national under-20 team. Vela says Chami has a natural left foot, great range on a shot or long ball, and is a great defender. As captain of the team, he “doesn't hesitate to bring back order,” said Vela.
Ota, star of the host team, Langara College, has been named the best player in the Pacific Western Athletic Association conference this year. Coming from a possession-based game in Japan, Ota adjusted well to the more physical game in Canada, scoring nine goals in the regular season for the Falcons, which ties for first in the conference. Ota is known for his speed and ball control, with ability to control the pace of the game.