February 7, 2013 by The Newspaper

HELENE GODERIS

Inside U of T’s greenhouse grow- op p7

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VOL XXXV Issue 20 • February 7, 2013

UTSU hosts especially long Special General Meeting (Part I) Four-hour marathon session ends in middle of electoral debate, to be continued Isaac Thornley Tuesday’s Univeristy of Toronto Students’ Union Special General Meeting (SGM), a highly anticipated event meant to serve, among other things, as the place to have a complete and balanced discussion about electoral reform, resulted in the exact opposite. The meeting came to a premature halt midway through a debate on item 16 of the meeting’s agenda, the item that proposed that the UTSU board and executive implement the recommendations of the Non-Partisan Declaration on UTSU Electoral Reform. Stressing the importance of accessibility, accuracy, and accountability, the Declaration recommends three main changes to the current electoral system: a move to online voting, a change from first-past-the-post to preferential voting, and a reassessment of the authority of the Chief Returning Officer, the appointed elections overseer.

Corey Scott, UTSU Vice-President Internal and the chair of the Elections and Referenda Committee, outlined many of his concerns with the Declaration and with online voting in particular when speaking at the meeting. “With regards to online voting, there is not substantial evidence to prove that it does any number of the things that [the Declaration] says it does.” He added, “Giving myself and the Elections and Referenda Committee three days to figure out how to do all of this going in to nominations, is going to be a bit difficult… A two page paper is not going to convince me.” The three days Corey Scott is referring to would be the three days between the end of next week’s general meeting, and the beginning of the 2013 nominations period, and thus the beginning of this year’s elections season. Before the nominations period begins, all of the rules need to be set in stone, after which any debate on electoral

reform will refer only to the 2014 elections season and beyond. After over four hours, the meeting ended when it was brought to the chair’s attention that because a large number of voting members had left the building, some of whom left to go home on a bus back to UTM, that quorum (the minimum number of present voting members required to continue the meeting) had been lost. Fervent activity ensued after a recess of

10 minutes was decided upon, as voting members rushed out of the Medical Science Building, running across Front Campus in search of any students they could find in the various residences to register as voters and fulfil the quorum. Despite the rounding up of several students, the quorum requirement of 150 voting members was never met. After considerable deliberation, the remaining items, including the unfinished debate concerning

electoral reform, were rescheduled for a partial General Meeting next Tuesday, February 12, where the meeting will reconvene exactly where it left off. Frustrations arose from all sides as UTSU executives cringed at the idea of organizing and promoting yet another General Meeting, especially with only one week to do so. Many of the UTSU’s primary critics and the most outspoken advocates

cont’d page 2

THE NEWS

from “SGM”

for implementing electoral reform, the executives of the Engineering Society and college student leaders, took Tuesday’s events as yet another sign of the UTSU’s unwillingness to have a meaningful debate about these issues. Some accused several members of the UTSU of leaving with the intention of breaking quorum and ending the debate on electoral reform. Sam Greene, head of Trinity College, commented, “Some people had to go. But, I know that some people did leave the meeting in order to get rid of quorum and I think that is a disgusting trick to try to shut down the democratic debate that needs to happen on this campus.” UTSU President Shaun Sheppard responded that the accusation was a “conspiracy theory.” Although it remains unclear whether voting members did in fact leave the meeting early

to break quorum and end the debate on electoral reform, it is certain that a bus full of UTM students departed for Mississauga around 10pm, about forty minutes before the meeting was finally adjourned. If the motion endorsing the Declaration passes on Tuesday, it will have only a symbolic effect to encourage the UTSU to implement the reforms, rather than binding them to do so. Furthermore, the UTSU board and executive do not have the power to affect the type of reforms proposed in the document; rather, that power rests in the hands of the Elections and Referenda Committee. Although the saga of electoral reform is still far from over, it will be the first item discussed next week. “I don’t frankly know that if we come back here that that motion will pass, but I do know that it will debated, which didn’t happen tonight,” commented Rishi Maharaj president of the Engineering Society.

Department of Corrections: the January 31 edition of the newspaper ran a version of this article referring to co-captain Patrick Oatway as Patrick Conway. Please forgive the error.

the newspaper the newspaper is the University of Toronto’s independent weekly paper, published since 1978. VOL XXXV No. 20 Editor-in-Chief Cara Sabatini

Copy Editor Sydney Gautreau

Managing Editor Helene Goderis

Web Editor Joe Howell

News Editor Yukon Damov

Comment Editor Dylan Hornby

Associate News Editors Sebastian Greenholtz Emerson Vandenberg

Contributors

Associate Art Editor Carissa Ainslie Photo Editor Bodi Bold Illustrations Editor Nick Ragetli

Spencer Afonso, Bodi Bold, Samantha Del Frate, Sinead Doherty-Grant, Lou Doyon, Sydney Gautreau, Sebastian Greenholtz, Jack Grobe, Dylan Hornby, Joe Howell, Geraldine Hu, Jane Alice Keachie, Odessa Kelebay, Lauren Mansfield, Zach Morgenstern, Nick Ragetli, Kaleena Stasiak, David Stokes, Isaac Thornley, Emerson Vandenberg, Rhiannon White

the newspaper is published by Planet Publications Inc., a nonprofit corporation. All U of T community members, including students, staff and faculty, are encouraged to contribute to the newspaper.

February 7, 2013

Town hall to further CCR development Part resume, part transcript, co-curricular record gets students involved Sebastian Greenholtz Over the past two years the Office of Student Life has worked to create a Co-Curricular Record, an official document that will record students’ campus involvement in a similar but separate manner to an academic transcript. On Friday, February 1 they took the next step: presenting the idea in a town hall meeting. In 2010, the Council of Student Experience, a committee chaired by the Vice-Provost, met with students across U of T for input on how to improve the campus experience. Their focus groups discovered a desire for official documentation of involvement in campus clubs and student governments. Many colleges and universities across Canada already offer such a record. Since 2011, an advisory committee made up of representatives from the Student Life Office, different academic faculties, and each of the residential colleges has collaborated with students and staff in working groups to outline what activities will be included in the CCR, the process for having activities recognized,

and what information to include on the record. Kimberly Elias, program director for the CCR, was somewhat disappointed by the turnout at Friday’s meeting. She told the newspaper, “We heavily publicized the town hall through listservs, digital signage, posters, websites, newspapers, and social media. … In the end, there were about fifty individuals who attended the town hall.” However, students have been part of each step of the development process, from sitting in the working groups to testing the proposed systems for usability. Friday’s town hall was one of three, held on each of U of T’s campuses. The feedback from the fifty who attended will also be used in the development process. Elias explained, “At the town hall, there were some valuable questions that were raised about validation process. We will take these questions and comments, and use it when we conduct further consultation with students over the upcoming months.” Past student contributions have led to the inclusion of information on

the time and financial costs for participation in different activities. Another contribution came from commuter students; in the focus groups they described the difficulty of getting involved based on the time constraints of a commuting lifestyle. The working groups incorporated these concerns into the plans, as Elias said, “Students will have more information on the opportunities available to them, and find activities that fit with their commuting lifestyle. For instance, students will be able to find opportunities during the daytime/evening, weekday/weekend, months, level of time commitment, cost, and activities that offer compensation.” The CCR website explains that integrating an improved search database for activities and an official record of engagement will help students make contacts and friendships, learn skills helpful in future careers or for graduate school, and augment a future resume. Starting September 2013, all students can show where they have shined.

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THE NEWS

Mulcair awakens the separatist beast the briefs

NDP leader picks up the old Bloc’s mantel

Richard III skeleton confirmed

side over the top.” Conversely, keeping the bar high would consolidate the ‘yes’ camp, ensuring any mildly nationalist voters got out to the polls to support their cause. The Premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois, has ambitions of a similar nature to Mulcair’s. Marois was in Scotland this past week, where she met with nationalists who will soon seek a referendum decision on whether to secede from Great Britain. Cameron, in assessment of the interest Marois may have in Mulcair’s politics, stated that “anything that stirs conflict between French and English [parts of Canada] is good from Marois’ point of view.”

In what became the longest running game of hideand-seek in world history, former King of England, Richard III’s bodily remains have been found. Under a parking lot in Leicester, the monarch’s burial site was uncovered, putting to bed ancient rumours about his mysterious disappearance two years after taking the throne in 1485. Found with multiple lacerations to the skull, historians are already concluding, as was long thought, that he was killed by jealous nobles who were vying for the throne.

New wireless legislation faces public scrutiny

Only weeks after sending a monkey into space for the first time, the Iranian space agency may have found its next candidate for space exploration: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran’s controversial leader has expressed his interest in being the first Iranian to test the outer limits of the country’s space program. Westerners are fearful that these rocket technologies could be used to launch nuclear warheads.

Emerson Vandenberg In a move that has surprised many Canadian politicians, Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the NDP, has proposed changes to the 1999 Clarity Act that will potentially make it easier for Quebec to secede. The original bill was spearheaded by Stéphane Dion in the late 1990s, with the intent to give a clearer picture of separatist ambitions within Canada. Among its principal policies, the Clarity Act gave local MPs the power to judge whether a clear majority of Quebecers actually wanted to separate, raising the bar above fifty per cent plus one to some unknown threshold. Mulcair,

having picked up the separatist mantel, has vowed to try and revert the approval bar back to this original base majority. Among the act’s various prognosticating policies, it has further demanded that separatists pose a clearly worded question to voters. According to the National Post, the 1980 Quebec referendum question was 114 words in length, with vague and romanced rhetoric. The 1995 poll was shortened to thirty-six words, but still contained confusing vagaries. The Post went on to compare these antics with Scotland’s upcoming 2014 referendum question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

According to U of T Politics Professor David Cameron, who specializes in Quebec nationalism, the NDP’s decision to champion the separatist agenda is because Mulcair “does not want to be outflanked on the nationalist front... he believes he can consolidate his position if he can make some changes along the lines he has proposed.” Cameron went on to question whether this change would actually make it easier to secede because “if Quebecers knew that the bar was that low, it would affect their voting behaviour, driving the uncertain and the hesitant into the ‘no’ camp, for fear of inadvertently putting the ‘yes’

Three-year contracts expected to be hot topic in online The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission has invited Canadians to join an online discussion about a new wireless code that will be used to govern wireless telecomm carriers and services throughout the country. The forum is running in conjunction with a public hearing that will take place in Gatineau, Quebec from February 11-15. However, the new code has already received criti-

cism for falling short of some of the public’s main concerns. The proposed new wireless code was developed in response to customer complaints, including confusing contracts, limited “unlimited” contracts and loan shark-like cancellation fees. These have become common in a hegemonic Canadian market dominated by only a few major carriers. Canadians have also dealt with rising prices; according to a study done by the Organi-

zation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2009 that examined comparable cell phone packages worldwide, Canada has the third highest rates in the developed world. In the past week, the topic that has received the most attention on the online forums has been the issue of threeyear contracts. They are uncommon globally -- in most countries two years is the maximum term allowed. Although shorter, one-year contracts are available in Canada they

SPENCER AFONSO

Lauren Mansfield

are generally accompanied by hefty initial fees. The most ‘liked’ comment on the online discussion, posted by “scottk04”, sums up the problem: “The ‘three year standard’ is ridiculous and costs Canadians hundreds of dollars in the event a device is damaged. Insurance for accidental damage is sky high with large deductibles. Three years is a long time in the current technology industry and only providing Canadians with this option is unjust.” Many who participated in the forum agree that this is the key problem plaguing the industry in Canada; they believe it should be the most fundamental policy brought in by the code, but at the present time it is not included. The CRTC declined to comment in a call with the newspaper due to the fact that the creation of the code is still in progress. It is unclear whether the the legislation will help to open up the market in Canada or what its effects will be. The results will depend upon what developments are made between the first draft and the finalized document. However, the proposed code does signify progress in the regulation of mobile telecom carriers in Canada. Ideally, this is the first step of renewal in a system that has left many consumers frustrated.

Ahmadinejad prepares for liftoff

A productive UTSU General Meeting

Although Tuesday’s fourhour marathon UTSU Special Meeting was cut short, a slew of items were carried, including motions to: examine winter residence fees, wherein students currently pay $400 to stay in residence over the winter break and other, less expensive avenues might be available; investigate the creation of additional multi-faith space on campus, especially at Gerstein Library and University college; to host a UTSU clubs town hall and create a UTSU box office, rather than have student clubs sell tickets through UofTtix; to eliminate the use of styrofoam on campus; to lobby for increased student representation in university governance; and, to lobby for international student representation on Governing Council. - EMERSON VANDENBERG & YUKON DAMOV

THE COMMENT

February 7, 2013

Jumping the gun on firearm control Janie’s got a job? Guns don’t kill people, unemployment does Questions of gun control and gun violence have once again covered media outlets since the December school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and the Obama Administration’s push for greater gun control laws. However people of even contrastic political views continue to question the solvency of gun registry and restriction laws. Gun control legislation comes from the idea that if we restrict the number of guns people have, or the type of gun available (like banning military-grade weapons for civilians), gun violence will be significantly reduced. While this may reduce the number of guns purchased legally, however, legislation does nothing to address the large number of illegally-obtained guns, nor does it solve the root problem behind gun violence: economic inequality. Harry Moroz, writer for cityfocused nonprofit news source New City, examined crime data in the United States and found, “The correlation between city unemployment at the overall rate of gun deaths is considerable (.55), and the correlation between it and gun-related murders is even higher (.72).” Steve Bogira from Chicago Reader used data from the Chicago Department of Public Health to conclude, “If the ho-

micide rates in the poor black areas were twice the rates in the better-off white areas, that would be significant. The differences above, averaging about 13 to one, are staggering.” If President Obama, or anyone else for that matter, wants to get serious about reducing gun violence, the emphasis should be on lessening poverty, es-

tion as a whole and increasing incentives, including salaries, for teachers. Primary and secondary school should engage students in learning, focus on critical thinking and explora-

skills essential for higher education. Post-secondary school should also be a reality - not a distant dream - for motivated youth from low-income families. Jeff Deeney, a social worker from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who works with youth in the criminal justice system, told New Cities, “A lot of the kids I work

KALEENA STASIAK

Sebastian Greenholtz

pecially in cities. One potential avenue for increasing possibility for upward mobility is making higher education more accessible for low-income families. This starts at the primary and secondary school level, investing in public educa-

tion of ideas, as well as teaching basics like math and writing

with are on the cusp of whether or not they are going to pick up a gun. The thing that would draw them out of that would be to … start building some job skills, and get some employment.” This means that tuition for

both universities and technical school needs to be much lower. Many students leave university in the United States with upwards of $40 000 in debt because of college loans. Compared to a competitive university in the United States, Canadian universities cost as much as ten times less per year; relatedly, Canada’s homicide rate is seven times less than that of the US. That economic factors lead to a much lower gun violence rate in Canada than the US is affirmed by Ottawa criminal defense lawyer Solomon Friedman, an expert on gun laws. He told Global News that “the United States has more inequality and gang culture than other industrialized countries, and these are likely factors behind higher rates of gun violence there.” There is no single solution to end gun violence, outside of a radical redistribution of wealth and ownership of private property throughout the world. But any effort focused on reducing guns, rather than reducing the causes of violence, are sure to fail. Only through opening up new opportunities for employment to those disadvantaged socioeconomically can we move towards a safer world.

Opinion: Parliament should carry the abortion debate to term Dylan Hornby Following the 25th anniversary of the landmark R v. Morgentaler ruling, Canada’s pro-life movement has been especially inspired to speak out. Last week, three Conservative MPs wrote a controversial letter to the RCMP requesting that all abortions performed in Canada after 20 weeks be investigated as homicide cases. The letter may not have any legal backing, but it has once again opened the possibility of abortion being debated in the House of Commons. While supporters of abortion would logically be against debating the topic, Canada’s pro-choice movement may actually benefit from bringing this issue back to Parliament. First of all, let’s clarify what

Canada’s law on abortion is or more accurately, what it isn’t. Ever since Brian Mulroney’s second attempt to re-criminalize abortion in 1989 failed in the Senate, there have been no forcible criminal laws on abortion. That’s the way it should stay. Abortion is simply not an issue that can be settled through a criminal sentence. There are not only moral, but physical and emotional aspects to such an issue that cannot be avoided. What we can be sure of is that according to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the liberty, life and security of the person in question must always take preference, especially over a fetus that is dependant on that person. In other words, a Canadian woman’s decision regarding her own

body can only be fairly determined by herself. Not by the government, not by a board of doctors and especially not by anyone on the pulpit. For Parliament to re-criminalize abortion, there would first have to be a massive moral outcry from pro-life Canadians. Yet, it is doubtful that Canada’s pro-life community has this capacity. For the past 10 years, a plethora of polls show the same trend- Canadians support a woman’s right to access abortion in most cases. The most recent poll, by EKOS research in 2010 even shows a majority (52%) of Canadians identify as pro-choice. Only about half of that number (27%) consider themselves pro-life. On top of this, the threat of such a vote would galvanize nearly every left-

leaning political party, labour union, and women’s rights group in the country against it. The fail-safe mechanism for pro-choice supporters is found within Parliament itself. Besides the recent letter to the RCMP, the latest attempt to challenge abortion was known as Motion 312. This private member’s bill simply challenged the government to define where human life begins. The motion faced widespread opposition across the country last year and failed 203-91. It’s worth mentioning that Stephen Harper, and nearly half of Conservative MPs voted against it. If Canada’s rightwing party can’t even fully agree to ask when life begins, it’s extremely unlikely that any actual laws on abortion will get past the House of Com-

mons. Perhaps the strongest legal argument of the pro-life movement is that abortion has not been debated in nearly 25 years. While they are not everyone’s views, it’s important for us to understand and respect the moral views of prolife Canadians, and to let them have their say. An actual vote will put this issue to rest for decades to come. The day an abortion bill fails miserably in the House of Commons, pro-lifers will have nothing to legally fight for. On the other hand, it would be a tremendous symbolic victory for women’s rights and for a growing majority of pro-choice Canadians.

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THE DEBATE

Attack of the drones?

Motion: Ontario’s use of drones for police surveillance is a violation of privacy Jack Grobe In less than ten years, a new evocative word has entered the popular English lexicon: “drone”. The word conjures up images of futuristic military power; o f death and

fire being rained down from above. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles has changed the face of warfare, especially the face of the “forever war” currently being waged in the Middle East against Islamic extremists. It has saved

PRO

^ ^

This week, the Ontario

Provincial Police approved

a plan to use unmanned “drones” in Ontario for surveillance purposes. Similar

OPP and the RCMP can remotely monitor locations to access a situation and gather information. Drones have been used to access traffic, the location of accidents, and even to inspect the wreckage of the Elliot

t h e lives of hundreds of soldiers and has kept Al Qaeda on the run. However, the use of drones in the Middle East is a debate for another place. More and more, we are seeing the introduction of drones in North America as a means of law enforcement. The

Lake Mall. Imagine, if you will, how the work done by dozens of officers on the ground could be done in less time by a machine and cost the same as a police cruiser. In more tense situations, drones have been used to sweep an area before an arrest or raid to look for weapons or suspects, thereby saving officers on the ground from having to go in blind. It prevents them from walking into possibly dangerous ambush situations and saves the innocents who might be caught in the crossfire. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if drones had been used to examine Rainbow Farm or Ruby Ridge before the ATF and FBI stormed in. The program of the OPP and RCMP to use drones will

save time, money, and possibly lives. So what is the issue? Well, government control. There are those who are “uncomfortable” with the use of former military technology on homeland soil. Increasingly, some trod out the flogged-to-death argument of the “slippery slope”. Like select members of the House of Lords in Great Britain and Congressional Republicans in the United States, there are those would throw away this step forward, because it looks a little too much like Orwell’s 1984. We always have and always will see abuses by police, but in the end they are answerable to the people and when they overstep, they are held accountable. Let’s be reasonable and not throw away savings because of a dystopian novel.

technology has been used

overseas by the US to spy on and attack terrorist groups

without risking the lives of American soldiers. Are drones on Canadian soil a

massive invasion of our priway for technological ad-

CON

vances in policing?

Zach Morgenstern

The use of drones has caused an uproar in the anti-war community, both because of the amount of the civilian deaths they’ve led to, and because they are unpiloted. Drones allow countries to go against the principles of “just war” as defined by Michael Waltzer; they allow governments to kill without risking deaths on their own side. Furthermore, drones allow people to kill without seeing their victims, making it harder for psychological obstructions (ie. guilt) to prevent violent actions.

While the program does not appear to have the violent intentions of the American model, this is no reason to support it. A danger inherent in the employment of surveillance systems is that if they are used long enough, people will grow accustomed to them and thus forget about the potential threats to privacy they pose. If the OPP drone program is not challenged now -- when the machines are still seen as terrifying killing devices -- people may eventually learn to tolerate their omnipresence, allowing them to be used in increasing violations of privacy. Further, drones could eventually be employed for purposes other than surveillance. The American Civil Liberties Union has raised concerns about the potential that the

marijuana growop in Ontario. However, for a growing majority of Canadians who do not see marijuana use as an offense worth prosecuting, this hardly abates worries. The introduction of drones into Ontario policing will not, of course, mark an instant turn towards a dystopian society. It does, however, represent an unnecessary breach of privacy that could evolve into something far worse. If Ontario/Canada is serious about preventing crime it should address its root causes by avoiding austerity policies and investing more of its prison budget in rehabilitation programs. It should not invent new ways to spy on petty criminals in the drug industry, while simultaneously violating the privacy of millions of innocent NICK RAGETLI

vacy? Or should we make

American police drones may be armed with rubber bullets. There is no reason to think that the Ontario program might not follow a similar trajectory. A question worth asking is whether such a program is needed. Alongside Harper’s policy to increasingly invest in prisons, this drone program represents a

move t o wards fighting crime that does not exist -- Canada’s crime rate has been steadily falling for over twenty years and Ontario’s crime rate is on the decline as well. Defenders of the police drones may argue that one of their devices was used to find a

THE INSIDE

February 7, 2013

Interning: it doesn’t pay

Are unpaid internships replacing entry-level positions? Students and recent graduates hungry for relevant work experience are increasingly subjected to the burgeoning class of unpaid internships. Armed with the desire to get their foot in the door, network industry contacts and learn on-the-job knowledge, these young professionals are largely doing it all without pay. While the Employment Standards Act of Ontario protects ‘employees,’ granting them minimum wage as well as a host of other benefits, interns are shafted out of virtually any provincially mandated guarantees. As quoted in the Huffington Post, Andrew Langville, a Toronto-based employment lawyer said “upwards of 95% of unpaid internships (in Ontario) are illegal, because interns are doing work typically performed by paid employees.”

In 2012, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the United States against the Hearst Corporation on behalf of a former intern who claims she regularly worked 55 hour weeks with no compensation or overtime. Although the case has not yet been ruled upon, preliminary hearings have lambasted the magazine-owner for not fully informing interns of the duties they would be performing. The latter’s importance is crucial, as it forms the basis of the “misclassification of employees as interns” cited by Langville. If one is there to learn relevant information about the industry, then it is an internship, but if you’re getting coffee and performing employee-like tasks, then you should be considered an employee, according to Langville. Ella Henry, Law Director at the UTSU, said in an interview with the newspaper that the increase in unpaid internships

is increasing inequality. She stated that “people take these roles out of desperation, they want something on their resume.” Henry hopes that in the future, at a bare minimum, the Ontario government at least enforces minimum wage for ‘interns’ who she says are basically employees. Henry, who helped pass a motion to start an awareness campaign regarding unpaid internships at UTSU’s general meeting on Tuesday Feb 5, believes that by targeting the legislative branches of provincial government, her efforts could help enforce the Employment Standards Act by including interns as employees. Noor Baig, VP Equity on UTSU, noted at the meeting however, that the students’ union does not have the power to stop unpaid internships. Baig further cites “specific situations where not-for-profit organizations, especially charity

and volunteer organizations, do need folks to support them and don’t have the resources to do so because of the nature of their organizations.” Roles with these kinds of groups cannot be expected to pay. The UTSU’s conclusion in passing the motion seemed to be that their future role will simply be to advocate and raise awareness. Informed students will continue to have to make their own decisions about whether they believe an unpaid internship is worth their time. However, stuck with enormous student loans in addition to monthly bills, recent grads have a difficult time working full-time for free, performing dubious tasks which may not even amount to an eventual employment opportunity. Unpaid internships are replacing entry-level jobs, as recession racked corporations are seeking ways to cut costs and still

manage a decent young talent pool. The issue remains a provincial matter, one which needs to be addressed through an expansion of the Employment Standards Act. Langville says that the current situation is “very exploitative.” Furthermore, many school programs demand that students complete some manner of internship in order to graduate. U of T engineering’s ‘Practical Experience Requirement’ has students complete 600 hours of job training in order to graduate. While the program does not dictate whether or not the position has to be paid, the requirement has many local engineering firms rolling in a sea of cheap, relatively qualified labour. Such a counter-incentive may roadblock any efforts at institutional change towards these positions.

BODI BOLD

Emerson Vandenberg

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THE INSIDE

What’s growing on campus?

HELENE GODERIS

All is leaf: inside and beneath U of T’s greenhouse grow-op

Bruce Hall is the Chief Horticulturist at the U of T Earth Sciences Centre. David Stokes “I wanted to work outside; I knew I wasn’t destined for the law or medicine. I was like, yup, I like being outside,” Bruce Hall says with a smile. Bruce is the Chief Horticulturist at the U of T Earth Sciences Center (E.S.C.), at the corner of Russell and Huron streets. In a job that straddles a wide variety of roles, he works right at the boundary where the outside meets the indoors. This is an account of a tour he gave me last week. I’m here to see the rooftop greenhouses, but we start in the basement where a large portion of the growing facilities are located, far from any sunlight. Like plants themselves, the tour begins below ground. We emerge into a long and dimly lit hallway. A maintenance crew is repairing pipes

and students rove by pushing carts of soil and plants. The hallway has a series of huge doors, each with a fancy computer blinking beside it. A breathy sound like a respirator indicates there’s something in there that needs air. Bruce opens a little porthole on one of them. Through the window I see a white room filled with shelves of plants. Each shelf has its own row of fluorescent lights and the large number of lights gives the room a stark radiance that contrasts strongly with the living green of the plants and the black, moist earth they are potted in. Bruce tells me that this is a walk-in growth room. Other than a few tobacco plants, all the plants I see are small. Some are just green confetti specks sprouting in little pots. These small plants are Arabi-

dopsis, the plant equivalent of the lab mouse. In other contexts, Arabidopsis might be considered a weed. But they are ideal for research because they are easy to grow and the genome is wellknown. Changes are easily observed and they grow fast. Arabidopsis is the most common plant grown at the E.S.C. (about two-thirds of the total volume) and it’s the most common plant used in research. Bruce takes me into a series of other rooms where rows and rows of growth chambers --smaller than the walk-in ones and about the size of large fridges--are crammed together. Bruce tells me there are about 90 different growth chambers. Walking through the tight passages between them, the air is hot and the room buzzes with the steady white noise of machinery. Computers beside

each chamber blink and display information on the status of their insides. They circulate recycled air cooled in central chillers. All the conditions inside a chamber are regulated and a user can independently manipulate variables -- temperature, light, and dryness -- which would be linked outside. It’s like having a garden where there are no unexpected frosts, hails, or poorly sunned corners. Some plants are given 24-hour light (under which Arabidopsis thrives; while some plants just won’t grow). There are carbon dioxide tanks that, for certain experiments, can increase the level of this gas that plants depend on for growth. The conditions inside a chamber depend on what a researcher wants to accomplish, such as encouraging bigger leaf tissue, or limiting it.

Often the plants are genetically modified. It is required that any genetically engineered material be destroyed-they do this through autoclaving, i.e. being blasted with high pressure steam--to avoid outside contamination. A researcher stops Bruce to tell him she has discovered an insect contamination in one of the chambers. Bruce promises to look into it and tells me that these insects, a species known as thrips, are a continual nuisance, spreading viruses and eating plants. Bruce eradicates them through cleaning and releasing biological control insects, which eat all the thrips and then die. (It is illegal to spray insecticides in the basement; releasing insects themselves is the best option). Bruce takes me up and into the newer research-driven greenhouses built on the roof-

THE INSIDE

from “grow-op”

top of the east wing. It’s a sharp transition from the huge chugging machines of the basement to this place filled with light: only a thin sheet of glass separates us from the outside and there is the sweet summery smell of wet dirt. Bruce is as close to working outside as you can be while inside. The science up here tends to be on a more macro scale. There are tall grasses grown as alternate biofuel sources, wild radishes used for a study on climate change, and dense tangles of water hyacinths floating in a pool for a study on this highly invasive plant which Bruce considers “the world’s worst weed.” While the scientists are the ones who pot and use the plants, Bruce’s job is to make sure the conditions are right. Each greenhouse is controlled independently, via a wallmounted computer board. High pressure sodium lights are programed to go on automatically when it gets cloudy. The lights stay on during the night. Every five minutes he gets another data point. “I’ve got millions of data points I’ve collected here.” He can use his phone to remotely check on the greenhouses and he often adjusts things from home. Bruce will be 56 this week, though he looks a lot younger and has the heady enthusiasm of a person who loves his job. “It’s hard to find a completely typical day.” On a wall outside his office is a broken shovel with a little gold plaque. “One of my predecessor’s,” Bruce says, and he encourages me to put my finger on the back of the wooden handle. I feel a soft groove. “He wore the handle out of this thing.” Bruce has a timeline of biological history on his door, where he eagerly shows me when plants first evolved. “Alles ist Blatt [all is leaf],” he says, quoting Goethe in German. Plants evolved by creating leaves to capture sunlight. Bruce shows me the final row of greenhouses, and the ones with the most romantic set of functions and plants. These are the display greenhouses that house plants of botanical and human significance. The first house is jungle-hot, humid, filled with orchids, ferns, and an interlocking mass of other plants--each with their own strange arrangement of spots and shapes, revealing plants’ near-endless expression of a similar program (stem, leaf, flower)--which in

concert creates a lush horizon exploding with every shade of green. You almost expect to hear bird calls. Growing from above are pitcher plants, whose large and long shapely red flowers hang like delicate cups. These flowers trap insects. “But in this case it looks like it would even take a mouse down,” Bruce says. Lured in by a ring of sugars, an insect will slip and fall down into a pit a few inches below, where digestive enzymes will slowly digest it. Bruce instinctively plucks off a dead leaf. Ducking under banana trees with huge leaves, we come to a tree with spikes all over its trunk, called “Monkey’s Dinner Bell”, so named for its explosive fruit. “When it goes off it just goes ‘Phshoo!’ and shoots through the canopy,” waking up monkeys. Below is a “touch-me-not” plant, which protects itself not with spikes but by instantly closing up its leaves if you touch it. On tours, everyone touches it. In the same room are cocoa and black pepper--plants that have changed history. “A lot of these have different stories. Here’s a coffee plant--you could tell a hundred stories about these plants.” A little potted tree, a Lignum Vitae, has the densest wood of any tree; it’s trunk will sink in water. In Jamaica, they use it to make pipes. In England, it’s the wood used in police batons. Another greenhouse mimics Mediterranean conditions. In the relative cool, flowers develop more slowly and stay around longer, so there’s an abundance of flowering plants. Across from the flowers, in a tub, as totally still as the rock they enjoy sitting on, are two bearded dragons, Socrates and Bernard. The final greenhouse holds succulents, which are plants that live in dry climates and retain water. It’s cold and dry in here. There are spikes everywhere and I accidentally impale myself on a Spanish Bayonet cactus. Cacti used to have leaves but after living for so long in harsh conditions these transformed into spikes. Bruce has a cactus species that still possesses leaves; it’s like watching evolution at hyperspeed to see its small and withered leaves beside the fearsome barbs of its relatives. A lot of the display plants travel to classrooms, and a tray of mosses was being moved to a lab exercise. Supporting research is the facility’s biggest function. Since 2001, the growing facilities have re-

February 7, 2013

HELENE GODERIS

ceived about $13 million in grants, hosted about 200 grad students, and seen 350 papers come out of it--all of which speaks to the strength of the work. Humans depend on plants for virtually every basic need. “This information is really essential and since there’s only gonna be more of us, it will only get more important.”

The U of T greenhouses are located at the Department of Earth Sciences Earth Sciences Centre 22 Russell Street Toronto.

www.thenewspaper.ca

THE ARTS

Slam and the city Exploring the evolution of spoken word in Toronto It’s Thursday night, January 31, at The Boat in Kensington market. The wood paneled room with its signature portholes is packed with a diverse array of audience members, as women of all ages take to the stage to compete in an allfemale slam. These performances have the ability to make the listeners cry and laugh, often simultaneously, as each poet draws the audience into her own story and message. Toronto Poetry Project events are just some of the many slams and open mic nights happening all over the city. Rooms packed with a diverse range of performers and listeners act as evidence against the idea that spoken word is still some underground subculture. TPP is a collective of ten poets who strive to bring slam poetry “out from the underground and into the public eye.” TPP presents events hosted at well-known venues like the The Drake Underground, TPP’s home venue. TPP also produces Bam! Youth Slam, a monthly event held at The Central where poets as young as twelve perform. These events draw a crowd of both regular and new audience members, mirroring the ratio of competitors; a mix of veteran poets and, often nervous, first-time performers. Founder of TPP, David Silverberg, said in an interview with the newspaper, “we always have newcomers at every slam and we love that […] when [people] have the courage to go up in front of the lights it’s a positive sign that we’re giving them a welcoming stage.” Silverberg also remarked that there are “always veterans ready to hone new pieces,” making for an inspiring dynamic among performers. Andrea Thompson, a spoken word poet and founding member of the Spoken Word Arts Network, has been active

within Canada’s scene for the past twenty years. Thompson is also an educator, frequenting postsecondary institutions and working

From this origin, spoken word continued to change and adapt. “In the early 90s, spoken word experi-

enced a growth spurt (…) a new wave of artists burst onto the scene,” said Thompson. Today, Thompson sees the contemporary scene

as poswith youth across Canada. In her preface to Dwanye Morgan’s book of poems Le Making of d’un Homme, she describes spoken word as “one of the oldest forms of creative human expression on the planet.” The evolution of spoken word within Canada has strong roots within Toronto’s own poetry scene, beginning in the 1960s and 70s. T h i s w a s t h e time

when Yo r kville w a s not the gentrif i e d , high-end shopping district it is known as today, but a center for artistic experimentation housed in its numerous coffee houses.

RHIANNON WHITE

Jane Alice Keachie

itive a n d collective. “What I love about Toronto is how the scene organizers crosspollinate and support each other. I also find the SW scene in Toronto incredibly welcoming, with hosts and organizers f o c u s e d on creating a conscious, respectful and supportive environment for both practitioners and audience.” Such support echos the cathartic qualities inherent in slam poetry. Up and coming poet on Toronto’s s l a m scene, Jess i c a Goldman w a s first exposed to spoken word

after a friend showed her a YouTube video of poet and author Boonaa Mohammed performing. “I was so impressed, [that] one day soon after when I felt shitty about something, I just began to write a spoken word poem about it,” said Goldman. While she had written poetry before, Goldman found spoken word to be more straightforward than other forms of poetry. She added, “You can literally shout out your anger on stage!” The remarkable thing about Toronto’s spoken word scene is that many of the events maintain that cool, underground feel (e.g. the aptly named Drake Underground) and yet it has spawned some of the most inclusive spaces you will encounter in this city. There are events geared specifically for female poets, poets of color, youth poets, queer poets, comedic poetry, geek poetry, poetry surrounding mental disability, politics, sex & love. Goldman commented, “the slam/spoken word scene in Toronto is great and very varied: small crowds, big crowds, at bars, at community centers, at bookstores (…) it’s its own scene with it’s own culture.” Needless to say, if you’re looking for a niche, this scene likely has one just for you. Spoken word has undoubtedly grown within Toronto, evolving into events in venues all over this city. In this case, however, evolution does not mean the type of growth that requires you to move away from where you’ve started. Spoken word is a tool to be used in classrooms and public spaces all over our city but its one true home will always be the dark, small, and crowded venue. It is these spaces that empower and support these artists who, as Thompson described, are “the town criers of the world.” Jessica Goldman can be seen frequenting R.I.S.E. (Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere), an open mic night happening every Monday in Scarborough.

THE ARTS

February 7, 2013

Human Rights Human Wrongs opens at Ryerson Contemporary photography exhibit examines worldwide human rights of the 20th century of the first room are engulfed in black and white photographs, magazines and books. The ceiling of the room is outlined with quotations from the Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 1 through Article 30. In the center of the room are over 100 photo archive boxes, which are labelled beginning with “Life 001” and follow accordingly. It is evident that the black and white photographs have been removed from the archive boxes for a very specific purpose -- to understand them as personal memories of the people who fought, struggled, suffered, and sometimes triumphed -- not to be be simply left in storage as history from the past. Venturing further into the gallery the viewer passes through white and purple

walls covered with over 300 photographs displaying events from across the 20th century. These photographs include images of independence movements in African countries (including Algeria, Chad, Congo, and Kenya), brutal protests (in Argentina, Chile, and the US), wars (Vietnam and the Rwandan Genocide), and portraits of Nobel Peace Prize winners (Yasser Arafat, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, and Lester B. Pearson to name a few). Echoing through the intertwining gallery walls is the powerful and iconic “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, followed by twelve unrelated speeches by Che Guevara, Sacheen Littlefeather (in place of Marlon Brando at the 45th Academy Awards), President John F. Kennedy, and

Bishop Oscar Romero on loop in the center of room. Although curator Sealy’s exhibit can be criticized for image fatigue and information overload, there is a powerful and valuable message present in HRHW that will remain with the viewer. The 20th century events, represented in these 316 photographs and thirteen videos, each have the commonality of human rights attached to them. No matter how contextually different events may appear, human rights is always the common denominator. Visit Human Rights Human Wrongs at Ryerson Image Center from January 23 - April 14, 2013. Admission is free.

GERALDINE HU

Human Rights Human Wrongs, a contemporary photo exhibit on from January 25 - April 14 at the Ryerson Image Center (RIC), examines images portraying worldwide political struggles, suffering, and victims of violence throughout the 20th century. Organized by guest curator Mark Sealy of London, England, HRHW exhibits 316 original black and white photographs from the Black Star Collection, magazines and books from the RIC collection, and a complete transcript of over thirty articles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the entrance of HRHW the viewer is greeted by a small sample of works by Bob Fitch and Matt Herron. The eight photographs feature iconic

leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King. Another photo, “Students from Mileston Freedom School” (1964), reveals a group of carefree young African American female students arm-in-arm with a white American student -- clearly a small triumph in 1960s Mileston, Mississipi. This photograph is juxtaposed with an earlier photo, “Segregationists and Her Daughters Watch Marchers” (1960), where an American woman and her daughters stand in protest holding a hate sign in one hand and the Klu Klux Klan flag in the other. The contrast grabs the viewers attention and sets the the stage for the images that await the viewer in the the main gallery of the exhibit. In the main gallery the walls

BODI BOLD

Samantha Del Frate

www.thenewspaper.ca

THE ARTS

Change of art: from Rorschach to Rembrandt Sinead Doherty-Grant â&#x20AC;&#x153;All art is quite useless,â&#x20AC;? wrote Oscar Wilde, but a growing number of therapists would disagree. Art therapy was first recognized as a legitimate form of therapy in the 1940s. Since then, it has increasingly become a popular approach to psychological healing. Art therapy can be approached in two ways: the patient either heals through the process of creating art, or a psychotherapist facilitates therapy in and through various art forms. It encompasses a vast area of techniques, art forms, and levels of professional experience. In a clinical setting it has very specific methods and aims. Art therapy is often marginalized as only useful to people

who have previous knowledge of or experience with art. However, art therapy can benefit people of all ages and abilities. It emphasizes the importance of introspection as clients are encouraged to analyze their own work. Therapists also use their patientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; creations as tools to gain personal insight into a their condition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art therapy works particularly well for the person who finds verbal communication inadequate, such as someone who is young, who has had a stroke or a dementia-related challenge, someone on the autistic spectrum, with ADHD, or other learning difficulties, and has trouble with attention or focusing,â&#x20AC;? says Esther Zeller, a registered Toronto art therapist.

Zeller explained that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the client uses whatever medium they want, depending on the amount of time and [materials] availableâ&#x20AC;Ś Some people find a blank canvas, paper, or a mound of clay inviting.â&#x20AC;? She elaborated that the role of the therapist is â&#x20AC;&#x153;to help the client communicate his or her thoughts visually and verbally. At times certain mediums are suggested to help the client become more focused, or less controlling.â&#x20AC;? Many clients find art therapy offers them a more immediate access to their subconscious thoughts and emotions, freeing them of the more regimented approaches of traditional

ODESSA KELEBAY

Art therapy: side effects may include sanity and paint under fingernails

psychology. Ideas, feelings, and emotions that cannot be expressed in words are expressed more fluidly through colours, painting, and sometimes even dramatic scenarios. While there is no code of analysis for the final artistic product, client and therapist work together to find meaning in the artwork. The Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA) was founded by Martin A. Fischer in 1977. The CATA website, www.catainfo.ca, defines standards of

practice and provides information on how to find an art therapist in a convenient location. Conventions are held each autumn and a biannual journal and tri-annual publication of a newsletter are released. Students can study at various locations around the country to become art therapists. Art Therapy can be studied at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute at 66 Portland Street, Suite 103. Visit www.tati.on.ca for more details.

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THE END

blotters

February 7, 2013

the video

WTF TO DO

Occurrence Type: Mischief Location: 1 Spadina Avenue Date: 2013‐02‐03 Details: A person reported broken windows inside the building.

THE FILM What? The 8 FestWhite Where? WORKMAN ARTS THEATRE | 651 Dufferin St When? Feb 8 – 10 *More info at the8fest.com TED RAWSON

Occurrence Type: Mischief Location: 1 Spadina Avenue Date: 2013‐02‐03 Details: A person was issued a Form 9 for mischief under $5000. Occurrence Type: Theft Location: 1 Spadina Crescent Date: 2013‐02‐04 Details: A person reported stolen cash.

the newspaper moves into the twentieth century We rustled up a camera crew and brought it to the UTSU Special General Meeting on Tuesday to capture the campus’ student political leaders discuss hot-button topics. Don’t worry: we edited the four-hour long meeting into two threeminute segments. Thanks to everyone who attended our office eviction party! Well, except for one person. You know who you are. We are now located at 256 McCaul Street, suite 106. Drop by for weekly open meetings at 7pm. Same shit. Different place.

“

Watch UTSU executives and student college leaders express their opinions on two motions: to throw the weight of UTSU’s 47000 membership behind the Idle No More movement and to condemn A Voice for Men (a men’s issues website) and the Canadian Association for Equality for their “promotion of rape culture, misogyny and the continued societal oppression of women under the guise of ‘men’s rights’.” Visit thenewspaper.ca for the video coverage of this week’s SGM. And stay tuned for next week’s episode.

THE EXHIBIT What? Deze Daze Vol. 2 | Zine Launch Where? MILK GLASS CO. |1247 Dundas St W When? Thurs Jan 7 from 7pm – 11pm | Gallery hours Fri, Sat, Sun from 12-5pm Free THE LECTURE What? The Paradox of Choice: Neoliberal Urbanism and the 1990s Reform Movement in Iran *Lecture by Azam Khatam, York University Where? Bancroft Hall 200B | 4 Bancroft Ave When? Fri, Feb 8 from 4-6pm FREE THE EVENT What? Life of a Craphead present: DOORED *Monthly performance show featuring Toronto artists and comedians Where? AGO |317 Dundas St W When? Sun, Feb 10 at 8:30pm Public $5 | Members $4.50

“

- Kelsey Stasiak

the campus comment

the newspaper asked: What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

FELICIA 1st year, Life Science “The job I have right now is the only job I’ve had. Working in a shoe store can be tough sometimes.”

CHRISTIAN Computer Science and Economics alumn “I used to sell saran wrap and garbage bags door-to-door for a company that pretended it was for Student Jobs for Canada. In reality, my boss just pocketed the money the whole time.”

JAI 4th year, Mathematics “Last summer I was canvassing door-to-door, raising money for a non-profit. People turn you down a lot and you never know when someone is barenaked answering their door.”

SONIA 1st year, Political Science “Working as an au pair when I lived with a family with really bratty kids and I had to be their bitch for a few months.”

ADRIANA 1st year, Life Science “Filing papers at an office because the paper cuts are kind of vicious to be honest.”

JACKSON 2nd year, Economics and English “Roofing. It was a summer job and it was extremely hot. The worst part was that it wasn’t even well paid.”