The McGill Tribune Vol. 29 Issue 23

THE TRIBUNE’S BRACKET, PAGES 18 & 19

A REFUGEE STORY, PAGES 10. & 11

M c G i l l I I L T r ib u n e Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University

w ww.mcgill tribune .com

Vol. 29 Issue 23 • 16 March 2010

Police arrest 100 during M arch Against Police Brutality

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT; ADAM SCOTT1, ALICE WALKER AND EVELYNE BEDARD Protestors clashed with Montreal Police at a demonstration on Monday evening. Some launched fireworks at officers on horseback. See story on page 2.

W ith ad revenue down, the M cGill Daily seeks a fee hike Non-opt-outable fee would be raised to $6 per semester LAUREN HUDAK Contributor

In response to declining advertising rev­ enue and rising production costs, today marks the first day of campaigning for a referendum question initiated by the independent Daily Publications Society. The society, which pub­ lishes the McGill Daily and Le Délit, has put forward a referendum question aiming to in­ crease its current, non-opt-outable fee by $1 per semester.

While members of the Post-Graduate Students’ Society currently pay $3.50 and Stu­ dents’ Society members pay $5 per semester,

McGill ATHLETICS & RECREATION

this increase would only affect SSMU mem­ bers. This marks the first potential increase in the DPS fees since the 2002-03 year, when the fee was raised from $2.50 to $5.

The DPS’s bylaws stipulate that if the DPS does not appoint a chief electoral officer, then SSMU’s CEO is automatically appointed to coordinate the election. While normally co­ inciding with the regular SSMU referendum period, Mike Vallo, Elections McGill CEO, stated that this year’s campaign period is oc­ curring a week later out of fairness to refer­ enda following Elections McGill bylaws.

"They wanted to originally run their ref­ erendum at the same time [as SSMU referemda] and follow their own electoral by-laws, but I did not feel that it was appropriate for them to be running on one set of rules while the rest

Congratulations to the o 2010 OUA Queen’s Cup Champion McGill Redmen Hockey Team!

of the referenda were running on a different set of rules. So, I requested that they take two separate dates,” said Vallo.

Max Halparin, chair of the Daily Publica­ tions Society, stated that the Board of Directors set both “a legitimate and achievable quorum” at five per cent of the SSMU population.

“We are going to try to come out as strongly as we can,” added Stephen Davis, co­ ordinating editor of the Daily. “We are going to stress that, above all, the Daily Publica­ tions Society is not just a student newspaper.

The DPS answers to students and gives them something tangible. It gives them three news­ papers a week, one of which is in French, the only French newspaper on campus. But above all, we are also a student service.”

Additionally, a No Committee has been

formed by a coalition of engineering students who feel that the money could be better spent in other under-funded programs, such as engi­ neering design teams.

“Students aren’t benefiting from what the Daily does. Students don’t read the Daily because it doesn’t speak to them—it speaks to a small group of students,” said Allan Cyril, newly elected EUS vice-president internal and chair of the No Committee. Cyril has called the proposed fee increase “hypocritical.”

“The Daily takes a strong stand on free education. How can they be talking about tu­ ition hikes when they are increasing their own fees by charging students? So, the one thing that they control, they are increasing,” said Cyril.

See CYRIL on page 3

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2 • 16 March 2010

NEWS

mcgilltribune.com

C IT Y

P ro testo rs, jo u r n a lists d etain ed at p o lice b ru ta lity m arch Protestors, journalists detained fo r hours on STM buses

test into two groups. Police charged demon­ strators from both ends of Hochelaga Street, scattering demonstrators into separate groups and leading many involved to abandon the protest.

Police began making mass arrests mo­ ments later, as the larger protest group headed up Prefontaine Street and clashed with officers who had blocked off the road near the Prefon­ taine metro station. Riot police charged the crowd after protestors hurled objects at them.

The police then detained dozens of people on city buses.

MATT CHESSER Opinion Editor

The 14th annual March Against Police Brutality was declared unlawful shortly after beginning yesterday evening, as police used mass arrests to quell the demonstration in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neigh­ bourhood.

The Montreal Police Department (SPVM) arrested 100 ‘ protestors. Seventeen were charged with criminal offences, while 83 were apprehended for violating municipal bylaws, detained for three to four hours, given a ticket, and then released at random locations across the city. Police began making mass arrests of protestors and journalists—for participating in an unlawful protest—around an hour after the march began.

“We declared the protest illegal after some protestors started shooting fireworks at police,” said Sergeant lan Lafrenière, media relations supervisor for the SPVM. “Two times, before any arrests were made, we read a statement in English and in French saying that the protest was illegal and that people had to leave.”

The Montreal police would not confirm the number of officers deployed to manage the march, but there appeared to be well over 100.

The SPVM also used at least a dozen under­ cover police officers who posed as protestors, wearing black scarves, goggles, and large win­ ter jackets to conceal body armour. These of­ ficers made a number of individual arrests and were involved in a brief fight about 15 minutes into the march, when they were identified as undercover police officers by a group of dem­ onstrators.

Unlike last year’s march, in which protes­ tors caused over $200,000 in property damage, demonstrators did little harm to the mostly residential area. Aside from tipping over mail­ boxes, dragging garbage cans into the street, and throwing paint, the only major incident

Demonstrators invoke Villanueva

occurred when protestors set a dumpster on fire on St. Germain Street.

“The outcome was generally a positive one,” Lafrenière said. “No one was injured on either side, and the total amount of dam­ age was not nearly as bad as it was last year.

I would have preferred a peaceful protest, but that might be dreaming.”

Protest declared unlawful

Approximately 900 people attended the march, which began just after 5:30 p.m. near the Pie-IX metro station at Olympic Stadium.

The crowd made their way southeast on Bou­ levard Pie-IX and into a residential area along Ontario Street, though the marchers changed direction repeatedly, presumably in order to disorient police.

The Collective Opposed to Police Bru­ tality, the Montreal group who planned the event, refused to inform the police of the pro­ test route before the demonstration began. Ac­ cording to the SPVM, there are approximately

1,500 protests in Montreal every year, and the March Against Police Brutality is the only one in which organizers refuse to inform the police of their demonstration route beforehand. “[Most protest groups] want to make sure that we close streets, and they want to make sure that no one gets injured,” Lafrenière said.

“This is the same problem we have every year [with the Collective], though. They don’t want to share the route—they say that legally they don't have any obligation to do so.”

Police declared the protest an unlaw­ ful assembly at 6:05 p.m. after demonstra­ tors clashed with riot police at the comer of Ontario Street and Valois Avenue. Protestors threw paint bombs and food at officers with riot shields and shot fireworks at those on horseback. Riot police responded by shooting offenders with a paintball gun in an attempt to mark them for future arrest.

Moments later a similar confrontation oc­ curred at Raymond-Prefontaine Park as police executed a pincer manoeuvre that split the pro­

The march coincided with the Interna­ tional Day Against Police Brutality as well as a coroner’s inquest into the fatal shooting of Fredy Villanueva by a Montreal police of­ ficer in August 2008. Protestors could be heard chanting “Lapointe, murderer” early in the march, in reference to the police officer who killed Villanueva.

“We need to take back our streets,” said Sara, a protestor who declined to provide her last name. “[The police] get away with too much ... [we need to] show them that they can’t get away with whatever they want.”

Others had less principled reasons for at­ tending the event.

“I just want to see things get fucked up,” said Renaud, a protestor who also declined to provide his last name. “Fuck the police.”

Protestors began gathering around 4:45 p.m. and were supervised by at least 50 riot police. Many demonstrators carried signs with slogans such as “60 dead since 1987. Disarm the Montreal police.” and “Justice and truth for all the victims.”

According to the Montreal Gazette, po­ lice stopped metro service to the Pie-IX sta­ tion on the city’s green line around 5 p.m. in an attempt to delay the arrival of more protest­ ers. At least four protestors were arrested as the march began when they were discovered to have the ingredients for a Molotov cocktail.

ADAM SCOTTI AND ALICE WALKER

Curiosity Delivers.

16 March 2010*3

CAMPUS

M ore young people lack vitam in D than previously thought McGill researcher’s findings linked to obesity MARIA FLORES Contributor

A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism has revealed that many young adults are lacking vitamin D, which is linked to increased body fat. Due to the inverse relationship between muscle fat and strength, the study is being ap­ proached as a plausible explanation for weak­ ness symptoms.

“The levels of vitamin D are inversely related to the weight of the subjects, so fatter people have lower levels of vitamin D,” said Dr. Vicente Gilsanz, professor of radiology and pediatrics at USC and co-investigator in the study.

The study, led by McGill researcher Dr. Richard Kremer, was performed on otherwise healthy women in California. However, despite their relative health, a vitamin D deficiency was evident in the majority of the subjects.

“We found that 60 per cent of these young women lacked vitamin D in their system and this was associated with too much fat—mainly in the abdomen and in skeletal muscle tissue,” said Kremer, the study’s principal investigator and co-director of the Musculoskeletal Axis of the Research Institute of the McGill Univer­ sity Health Centre.

Sources of vitamin D include exposure to sunlight and foods such as salmon, broc­ coli, and enriched foods, like milk. However, Kremer said the deficiency is in large part an unintended consequence of growing efforts to protect ourselves from health problems associ­ ated with exposure to too much sunlight. “[The risk] is very widespread and the reason for this is because we tend to protect ourselves from the sun and the effect of sun­

shine is a lot less than what it used to be,” said Kremer.

“It is very, very common everywhere, un­ fortunately, even in sunny California,” added Gilsanz.

Although people lack vitamin D every­ where in the world, countries with reduced sunlight, like Canada, are particularly at risk.

"This is exemplified in Canada because basically from November to March there is no sunshine effect, which inhibits the production of vitamin D,” said Kremer.

Benefits of vitamin D include calcium absorption in the bones, regulation of the im­ mune system, and the combat of infectious dis­ eases. Kremer said that a lack of vitamin D is associated with increased incidences of breast cancer and other conditions such as diabetes and other endocrine disorders.

In addition, Gilsanz speculated that wide­ spread viatmin D deficiencies may play a part in the continent’s growing obesity epidemic.

“It may be associated with the fact that we are becoming a population of fatter people and indeed some studies have shown that vita­ min D is trapped by the fat cells,” he said.

John White, a professor in the McGill de­ partment of physiology who previously con­

ducted a study on vitamin D, found that the active form of vitamin D directly stimulates the body’s capacity to fight microbial infec­ tion. He agreed that the insufficiency is farreaching.

“It is very widespread in many popula­ tions, 50 per cent or more of a given popula­ tion may be deficient in vitamin D,” he said.

According to Professor White, the conse­ quences of the deficiency differ between chil­ dren and adults.

“For children, or somebody with a grow­ ing skeleton, severe vitamin D deficiency over a relatively short period of time will lead to a condition called Rickets, which develops in children because they have a greater need for calcium during their growth,” he said. “Adult’s overtime can get a condition called osteomalazia, which basically means soft or weakened bones.”

In addition, while new studies on vitamin D are constantly being published, White em­ phasized that this is not a new issue.

“This is a problem that is widely spread, it probably has been for a number of years, and we are only really beginning to recognize the extent of the problem,” he said.

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Cyril heads No Com m ittee Continued from COVER

Patrick Diez, VP communications of EUS, said that the “No” Committee is not af­ filiated with the EUS, but encouraged students to consider what they are voting for.

“I think that a good analogy is that the Daily is to newspapers as Gert’s is to bars,” Diez said. “Students just kind of dismiss it, don’t bother to take a closer look and realize that they are paying.”

If the referendum does not pass, Davis suggested that the DPS would have to try again in the near future, or be obligated to make changes in terms of the paper’s aesthetic layout.

“If the fee did not pass, it might also mean that we have to think about the way that we do advertisements in the newspaper,” he said. “I think that the sort of freedom that we have means that we can put out a paper that is aesthetically very beautiful.”

Davis also fears that without the addition­ al funding, the DPS may have to answer to ad­ vertisers in the future as opposed to students.

“We are a democratically run organiza­ tion,” Davis said. “We answer to students. We don’t answer to advertisers, and I would hate

for that to have to change.”

According to Stéphanie Dufresne, Le Délit’s editor-in-chief, the additional money that the referendum question would provide would also make a significant difference for Le Délit.

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“We answer to students. We don’t answer to advertisers, and I would hate for that to have to change.”

—Stephen Davis, M cGill Daily coordinating editor “Many people assume that the Le Délit is a French translation of the Daily, which is not the case at all. We are two different teams. We produce different content,” Dufresne said. “It is important that we get these resources so that we can continue to do our job.”

After an intense week of SSMU elections, Vallo is worried about the role of voter fatigue in this election.

“The burden is on the Yes and No Com­ mittees to get people energized,” he said.

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4 • 16 March 2010

CITY

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi talks human rights at Concordia Speech highlights Iranian laws that disciminate against women EMMA QUAIL Contributor

Shirin Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote human rights in Iran, spoke about the Iranian women’s movement at Concordia last Wednes­ day as part of International Women’s Week.

The Concordia Student Union and the Concordia Women’s Caucus organized the event, which was part of the CSU’s Speaker Series.

Ebadi studied law at the University of Tehran and graduated in 1965. She became a judge five years later, and in 1975, she was ap­ pointed the president of the Tehran city court— the first woman ever to hold the position.

After the Iranian Revolution, however, she and many other Iranian women were forced to resign under to the new laws. Ebadi was unable to practice law until 1992. In the meantime, she became a strong advocate for women’s and children’s rights in the country.

In one of the opening speeches, McGill law professor Payam Akhavan, a friend and colleague of Ebadi’s, reflected upon the hope and opportunity for a democratic and free Iran that exists thanks to the sacrifices made by Ebadi and other women like her.

“Mrs. Ebadi is an exponent of the power of women who struggle for justice in the face of seemingly impossible odds and who have prevailed and I’m sure will, in the end, tri­ umph,” he said.

In her talk, Ebadi noted the historically high status of women in Iran.

“We have many women serving as en­ gineers, physicians, lawyers, and holding se­ nior managerial positions,” she said. “Women in Iran gained the right to vote over 50 years ago—in fact, before women in Switzerland had the right to vote—and since then Iranian

ARVIND EYUNNI

Shirin Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, addressed students on Wednesday.

women have been members of the parlia­ ment.”

In her speech, Ebadi described certain laws established by the Islamic republic that claim the value of a woman to be half that of a

man, as well as legislation that enables a man to take up to four wives.

“These laws go against the very grains of the Iranian woman, given their high social and cultural status in society,’! she said.

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Ebadi explained that while women hold high managerial positions and serve as mem­ bers of parliament, they need their husbands’ permission to leave the house. She discussed how women and men in Iran are opposed to the laws.

“That is precisely why the educated men and enlightened Iranian women are absolutely opposed to the discriminatory laws against them and why the women’s movement in Iran is the strongest in the Middle East today,” Ebadi said.

Ebadi described the structure of the wom­ en’s movement—which started alongside the more general movement for freedom, known today at the Green Movement—as a horizontal network.

“The women’s movement does not have a leader, nor a central office,” she said. “Rather, it is the movement that rests in the hearts and minds of every Iranian family that believes in gender equality. It is a movement that has ex­ panded as a horizontal network.”

She stated that both the women’s move­ ment and the Green Movement are not based on an ideology, but instead on pragmatism. “[Iran’s freedom movement] is based on the need to promote democracy and human rights and this need has brought together peo­ ple who hold different ideologies,” she said.

Ebadi explained that both men and women support the women’s movement in Iran, which she argued will eventually lead to democracy.

“Men fully understand and appreciate that women’s rights and democracy represent two sides of the same scale and it is through the advancement of women’s rights that Iran will achieve democracy,” Ebadi said.

Many students who attended the presen­ tation were supportive of Ebadi’s arguments.

“She did a very good job outlining some of the problems of the Islamic republic,” said Khalil Jessa, U2 political science and Middle East studies. “She made a good case for human rights and for women’s rights in Iran.”

NEWS IN BRIEF Dooley to bring Senate question

Students’ Society Vice-President Univer­ sity Affairs Rebecca Dooley will ask a question at the next university Senate meeting about student leaves of absence. Policies currently vary between faculties, and Dooley hopes that the question will help move the university to­ wards more standardized regulations. “Some faculties have a withdraw and re-apply policy like the faculty of arts, while other faculties have a more flexible policy, like the faculty of nursing that allows students to take time off,” she said.

While the question is not in response to any specific problem, Dooley said that many students have had “bad experiences” with the existing structures.

“A student losing their student status, es­ pecially one who’s going through disturbing health or family issues would [have] a bur­ den,” she said.

The project is still in its infancy, but ac­ cording to Dooley, Dean of Students Jane Ev­ erett has expressed enthusiasm.

Curiosity Delivers.

EDUCATION

C aravaggio vs. M ichelangelo U o f T art historian describes “Caravaggiomania ” STEVEN HOFFER N ew s Editor

Although art historians and casual tour­ ists probably won't stop peering up at the bril­ liance of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, the 16th-century Italian Renaissance man may find himself looking up at another art world rival as the top Italian artist in history, accord­ ing to one renowned art historian.

Phillip Sohm, an art history professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in the Italian Renaissance and the Baroque pe­ riod, believes that Caravaggio has surpassed Michelangelo in scholarly discourse. Sohm recently presented his findings at the annual College Art Association conference in Chi­ cago.

Sohm’s research tracks the frequency of scholarly publications concentrating on each of the two artists over the last 50 years. The research demonstrates a widening gap around 1996, with Caravaggio gamering over 55 scholarly documents.

Sohm described the phenomenon as “Caravaggiomania.”

"Caravaggiomania appealed to me for its suggestion of obsession and psychological imbalance, thus knitting Caravaggio and his fans together,” Sohm wrote in an email to the Tribune.

Caravaggio is known not only for his ar­ tistic ability, but also for his reputation as a recalcitrant rascal.

On May 26, 1606, Caravaggio killed a man named Rannucio Tomassoni over a tennis match and gambling debt. Although historians

believe that the murder may have been unin­ tentional, Caravaggio nevertheless fled to Na­ ples. Before he passed away, it was reported in Rome that Carravagio had already died, while in fact he had merely been attacked, leaving him significantly disfigured in the face.

“Would we have Caravaggiomania if Caravaggio had not thrown artichokes at a waiter, swaggered with a sword, trashed his landlady’s place, killed an acquaintance, es­ caped from prison, and died on a beach?”

Sohm asked in his CAA lecture.

Some scholars believe that after Michel­ angelo’s 500-year reign at the top, art history doctoral candidates are simply struggling to generate original readings of his catalogue.

But Sohm does not completely agree with this sentiment.

“Actually, I think that fresh readings of Michelangelo’s work are still possible, but at times areas of study become exhausted, per­ haps from the grueling and dispiriting effort required by piles of complicated and incom­ patible theories,” Sohm said. “This happens in other fields of art history—19th-century French art studies is now in hiatus after lead­ ing the discipline with innovative studies dur­ ing the 1980s and 1990s.”

So why the extended period of “neglect” and recent emergence?

“Fashions change,” Sohm said. “Those artistic values that Caravaggio challenged, those that took complex compositions with classical references, clarity of expression, and a privileging of the idealized human body as the height of artistic achievement, never dis­ appeared in the 17th century and reasserted themselves as art academies became more dominant.”

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H o ste d by the O ffice o f In tern a tio n a l Education O ffice o f the D eputy P ro v o st (S tu d e n t L ife and L e a rn in g I Ja m e s A d m in istra tio n B u ildin g, Room 621 Tel: 514-398-3109 E m a il: p re d e p a rtu re @ m c g ill.c a

M cG ill Caravaggio's Saint Gerome in Meditation (1605).

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YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME? V

The Tribune is accepting applications for nextyear's editorial board until this Thursday.

The available positions are: Managing Editor (2), Production Manager (1), News Editor (3), Opinion Editor, Features Editor (2), Arts & Entertainment Editor (2), Sports Editor (2), Photo Editor (2),

Design Editor (3), Copy Editor, and Online Editor.

If you would like to apply for any of the positions, please drop o ff a cover letter addressed to Editor-in-Chief Thomas Quail, a CV, and three relevant w riting samples at the Tribune Office, Suite 110, in the Shatner Building. The deadline

for applications is March 18 at 5 p.m. Late applications w ill not be accepted.

If you have any questions, contact editor@mcgilltribune.com or the relevant section editor (their email addresses can be found in the masthead, located on page seven.)

Good luck to all applicants.

J

Opinion

6 • 16 March 2010

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KNOW t h y s e l f : h o w h o t ARE YOU REALLY? I don’t know what sparked celebrity doppelgânger week on Facebook, but I loved it.

I had to keep enlarging people’s pictures to make sure they hadn’t suddenly gotten a lot more attractive.

It’s hilarious that everyone’s idea of a doppelgânger is someone who has the same complexion, but is a few points more attrac­ tive on a 10-point scale. I’m not immune to this phenomenon. A friend recently showed me a picture of some little-known actress and crowed “Twins!” I immediately started point­ ing out our differences instead of seeing the obvious similarities. This was largely because the actress was a decent “six” and I like to think that I’m a Spinal Tap-style “ 11.” Yes, this makes me insufferably vain, but it also leads me to an interesting thought: no one can see themselves objectively.

Doppelgângers are a great example of how no one has any idea what they are really like, both in looks and in personality. At this point in our lives, we are mixtures of mysterious bad habits, prejudices, and various hairstyles. Our looks and our personalities are mutable and in flux, so it’s not surprising that they’re hard to get a grip on. Obviously, people with eating or body dysmorphic disorders are extreme and terrifying examples, but everyone has a touch of funhouse mirror in their self-conception.

Surely some of the warped ideas about how we look comes from the media and its incessant hum of “thinner, fitter, smoother,

M

id p t a

NATIONAL INSECURITY A culture that refuses to allow Canada’s intelligence service to do its job is putting the safety of Canadian citizens at risk.

Canada’s state intelligence agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, has come under attack for defending national interests abroad. Our civilian security appara­ tus has gone from a defender of human rights to its worst threat, at least in the public eye.

This rhetoric typically comes from journal­ ists and civilians with little understanding of CSIS’s mandate or policies.

Richard Fadden, the director of CSIS, highlighted this disturbing national trend in a speech to the Canadian Association for Se­ curity and Intelligence Studies. Fadden noted that “almost any attempt to fight terrorism by

younger.” On a smaller scale, though, McGill’s a scary measuring stick for girls and an okay one for boys. On average, girls are pretty high “sevens” and guys are decent “sixes.” A peer group this hot totally skews self-perception.

Context matters, too—for example, outside of McGill your Coupe Bizzare haircut may drop

Everyone’s idea of a doppelgânger is someone who has the same complexion, but is a few points more attractive on a 10-point scale. you down a few points.

While it’s relatively easy to get people to deem you “hot or not,” it’s much harder to have them gauge your temperament (positive traits are notoriously biased towards attrac­ tive people, as social scientists will tell you).

At least some of our delusions about our per­ sonalities must come from our coping mecha­ nisms. For example, I know a couple of people who, after having been mocked or reprimand­ ed many times for their fatness, meanness, or loudness, decided to champion that trait in an anti-authoritarian assertion of their individual­ ity. This only compounds a bad trait. If other people comment on your flaws enough for you to have to defend them so flamboyantly, you may want to rethink how you’re acting. I guar­ antee no one wants to have an unapologetically fat, mean, and loud friend give a toast at their wedding. (Particularly if they think they’re funny, as they so often do.)

So, basically, I’m copping the Greeks: it pays to know thyself. It’s hard to do, but the initial steps are easy. Acknowledge your flaws instead of championing them, and knock yourself up a point—the McGill milieu is way more fly than the real world.

the government is portrayed as an overreaction or an assault on liberty.”

Fadden stated that the media have trans­ formed suspected terrorists into “quasi- folk heroes ... photographed with their children, given tender-hearted profiles, and more or less taken at their word when they accuse CSIS or other government agencies of abusing them.”

The horrible truth is that Fadden is largely cor­ rect.

The myth that Canada cannot suffer from terrorism is preposterous. America is the real target, we reason to ourselves, so why should we be concerned? We forget that Canadian cit­ izens lost their lives in the attacks on the Twin Towers; that the Air India bombing of 1985 killed 280 Canadians; and that the infamous “Toronto 18” plot, foiled in 2006, could have led to one of Canada’s worst political crimes.

Canada remains a hotbed for terrorist front corporations, according to CSIS. Yet this is all brushed aside if we portray terror suspects as victims of government gone wrong. Security is a human right, and we lose it by denying that our lives are at risk. We need to treat terrorism like the monstrous crime that it is, and fight it with every legitimate means available to us.

MISS MANNERS FOR FACEBOOK The embarrassing number of hours I’ve spent trolling Facebook profiles have con­ vinced me we need a Facebook etiquette handbook. You know, the sort of pamphlet that would’ve circulated in the 19th century: an al­ manac of do’s and dont’s for ladies and gentle­ men who wish to participate in civil society.

It all started when a Facebook friend up­ dated her status to inform me—and anyone else who had the privilege of seeing her up­ dates—that she had recovered from a urinary tract infection. Her status received a number of comments cheering her recovery. And, in­ deed, what’s not to celebrate about regaining your ability to pee with pleasure?

But I’m not sure it’s a good idea to leave behind all vestiges of Victorian propriety.

Don’t get me wrong, I'm not the type of per­ son who balks when any of my close friends share too much information about their bodily functions. But I know very little about this individual. We once had a meaningful con­ versation that was lovely enough to justify Facebook friendship. Now, alongside some snippets about her career and ambitions that I had gathered, I have this odd piece of informa­ tion about her medical history that’s demand­ ing way too much attention and threatening to thrust aside everything else I know about her.

In truth, oversharing likely won’t hurt anyone, despite the awkwardness it can lead to. However, there are other things people do on Facebook that can cause problems. For ex­ ample, posting sexual innuendos on a friend’s

While suspected terrorists must retain the right to presumption of innocence, balanced perspective is often lost in media obsessed with faulting security policy. The Toronto 18 plotters were characterized as misguided youths, even though their plotting would have killed dozens. Security certificates, which allow CSIS to detain non-Canadians deemed serious security threats, are demonized—even as CSIS has enacted civilian oversight of the security certificate system.

Even Parliament seems to have lost re­ spect for CSIS. A parliamentary motion has re­ cently called for uncensored documents relat­ ing to the Afghan detainee controversy. While abuse should be revealed and condemned, the detainee controversy is not as black-andwhite as the official opposition makes it out to be. The motion demanding the documents could violate the Security of Information Act, which mandates that CSIS employees are “permanently bound to secrecy.” That act pre­ vents CSIS from saying anything—no matter how much Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton complains about it. As the Conservative gov­ ernment has rightfully noted, releasing these documents uncensored Could seriously harm national security and the safety of Canadians.

mcgilltribune.com

wall, which someone did to a friend of mine.

From what I understand, it was done as an attempt to display wit, not cause discomfort.

While my friend herself didn’t care, she was concerned about the family members who could see her Facebook wall as well.

I don’t mean to be the Facebook police here, but we need to be careful. This isn’t a chat room where we can swap playful innuen­ dos without risk of being overheard. Facebook is a public forum.

And I’m not that adept at the Facebook do’s and dont’s myself. I learned a hard les­ son about presenting your political views on Facebook when I decided to post an article about Roman Polanski, along with my cursory views on the subject in the accompanying sta­ tus update.

I learned that Facebook is a great forum for sharing news, but it is not an appropriate place to have a thorough discussion about controversial topics. My pithy statement about Polanski’s wrongdoings, presented without an appropriate amount of substantiation, sparked a flame war in my comments section that still makes me cringe. Things ended well, but since then I’ve wondered: what are the rules about posting on controversial subjects on Facebook?

These concerns could be mediated if we limited our Facebook profiles to close friends, not acquaintances. But, in reality, many of us use Facebook as a networking site—I have several “friends” that are actually acquain­ tances from high school who I don’t talk to anymore. So maybe, in a way, that’s my fault.

But, still, I’m not suggesting we need strict guidelines—or to censor certain status updates or whatnot—but I think a guide might help us avoid uncomfortable situations in the future.

Facebook etiquette also means that I probably need to stop creeping on people’s pages like a modern-day peeping Tom. I’ll work on that.

Despite this legitimate concern, the oppo­ sition (led by Liberal Member of Parliament Derek Lee) has pondered passing a motion holding the government in contempt of Par­ liament. However, the appointment of Justice Frank Iacobucci to review government docu­ ments related to Afghan detainees has some­ what quieted outspoken critics.

When did it become out of vogue to cher­ ish national security? Was it when Congress passed the Patriot Act, or after the Guantan­ amo Bay controversy? The push for national security was a priority of the Bush administra­ tion, and perhaps his methods for pursuing it put a foul taste in our mouths. Even so, activ­ ists, journalists, and NGOs often seem to for­ get that CSIS saves lives. It operates in legal gray zones, but it operates with the intention of protecting our country, and always does so with oversight from civilian agencies and the Ministry of Defence.

Stephen Harper and his government con­ tinue to increase financing for the Canadian armed forces while consistently lengthening the penalties for crime. It is those actions that make Canada safer, not the politics of national insecurity.

Curiosity Delivers.

16 March 2010 • 7

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----— -----— EDITORIAL -----—---- — Jean (Charest) and Kate plus 8: Quebec funds in-vitro Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc an­ nounced last week that the Quebec government will fully fund up to three cycles of in-vitro treatment for infertile couples. This announce­ ment, which fulfills a pre-election promise made by Jean Charest in 2008, makes Quebec the first province to adopt such a policy. It is a program, however, that all other provinces should seek to emulate.

This move makes sense on many levels.

Infertility is a medical condition that affects many Canadians. However, despite our system of universal health care, in-vitro fertility treat­ ments are privately funded, and cost $10,000 to $20,000 per round of treatment. Because of this high cost, many couples opt to transfer large numbers of embryos in one cycle—dras­ tically increasing the risk of multiple births.

This option makes sense for many cou­ ples given the prohibitive costs associated with the procedure. However, in many cases-

of multiple embryo transfers, instead of one baby, women often find themselves pregnant with multiples.

Any pregnancy that involves more than two foetuses is dangerous. As the number of foetuses increases, so does the risk of prema­ ture delivery, cesarean sections, intensive neo­ natal care, cerebral palsy, and other complica­ tions.

By funding in-vitro, the Quebec govern­ ment will be able to regulate the procedure.

The government will limit the number of em­ bryos that can be transferred during any one cycle to three. This regulation should greatly reduce the number of multiple births in the province—something that is important in a country that is on the way to having one of the highest multiple birth rates on the planet.

Even for those who believe medical costs should be borne by private individuals instead of governments, this announcement has some

economic benefits. Right now, the medical costs associated with complications resulting from multiple births are paid by the province.

By funding in-vitro, the Quebec government anticipates that it will save up to $30 million in health care costs per year. These savings will help to partially offset the estimated $80-million-per-year cost of the in-vitro program.

Provincial governments in Ontario and Alberta have promised in the past few years to explore the possibility of funding in-vitro fertility programs. Hopefully Bolduc’s an­ nouncement will provide a further incentive for their governments as well as those of the other provinces.

While government funding for in-vitro will not entirely solve Canada’s low birth rates—as the in-vitro funding lobby would have us believe—Quebec’s move is an impor­ tant step for the health of individual Canadi­ ans.

Let us do our jobs; Mr. Neilson tear down this bylaw!

Last week, 10 McGill Tribune editors were forced to take leaves of absence in order to cam­ paign for the creation of a $3 fee to support an independent Tribune. And while we’re ecstatic that students voted “yes” to the fee, the bylaw that required half of our editorial board to resign needs to be changed.

The Students’ Society bylaws require any person campaigning on a referendum question to forgo all editorial duties, including writing

ONLINE EDITOR

articles, during the weeklong campaign period.

This undermines campus media during election week—arguably the busiest week of the year.

An additional bylaw (16.3) prohibits campus media from endorsing a “yes” or “no” vote on referenda with which they are directly involved, so the practice of forcing editors to resign is unnecessary. Since media are already prohibited from taking a position on their own referenda, what harm can come from allowing

editors to remain in contact with contributors, design the paper, and write stories?

Thanks to a university regulation that re­ quires student fees to be renewed at least once every five years, this bylaw will continue to af­ fect future editorial boards. Give media a fair chance to campaign for our existence and put out a quality newspaper during election periodotherwise we’ll just have to start using pseud­ onyms.

sity publication and from intelligent people of my generation, I expect more.

—Darrah Teitel

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Cornett hits the big screen at McGill.

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The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper pub­

Emotion is a loaded word.

Re: “Presidential endorsement: Sarah W o o lf (9.3.10)

The Tribune sounds downright patroniz­ ing when they tell a female political candidate to control her emotions. It is as stupid and con­ descending to tell a woman so accomplished as Sarah to “control her emotions” as it is to assume that emotionality might hinder anyone as “forceful and rational” as she. Of all the campaigns I have watched throughout my life, I have never seen a woman run for office with­ out watching her suffer subtly insidious lan­ guage aimed at her gender. The Tribune may be entirely unconscious of how loaded the words “too emotional” are in this context, or perhaps it is intentionally trying to load its en­ dorsement with a back-handed warning: “Just to remind you, she’s a woman. And you know what that means...” Either way, from a univer­

Students of Dr. Norman Cornett have obviously made quite a splash in the McGill/ Montreal community over the last couple of years. This professor has given us an oppor­ tunity to use methodology that breaks through the limitations of our expectations and preju­ dices. Having professors like Dr. Cornett gives universities the methodological “edge” to ap­ proach knowledge and experiences in an open and unhindered way. For this reason, I strongly recommend that Montrealers concerned with the state of our universities—and particularly McGill students—come and watch the screen­ ing of Alanis Obomsawin documentary on Dr. Cornett (at 7 p.m. on March 22 in Leacock 132). Even though exams are just around the comer, I believe we should always uphold truth and knowledge in our fair institution and doing so means participating actively and pro-actively. Therefore, I invite you to come, watch, and listen.

— Giancarlo Maiolo

The headline of the article “Chang­ es to Frosh will eliminate daytime drinking by leaders” incorrectly stated that changes to Frosh will definitely eliminate daytime drinking by Frosh leaders. In fact, possible changes to Frosh have not yet been finalized, and the banning of daytime drinking for Frosh leaders is only one possibility under discussion.

The online article “Newburgh wins SSMU presidency” included an incor­ rect quote that claimed Arts Senatorelect Tyler Lawson was going into his fourth year of study. In fact, he is going into his second year. The article also misspelled Education Senator-elect Catherine Ready’s name as Catherine Reed.

The Tribune regrets the errors.

lished by the Students’ Society o f McGill University in collabora­ tion with the Tribune Publication Society. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Students’ Society or McGill Uni­ versity. Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@mcgilltribune.

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com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and

THE TRIBUNE PUBLICATION SOCIETY WILL HOLD ITS FIRST-EVER ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AT 4 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY,

submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune

MARCH 31. THE AGENDA WILL INCLUDE AMENDING AND APPROVING THE CONSTITUION AND BYLAWS OF THE TPS,

Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or sole­

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ticle is that Daniels sees the Olympics in the wrong light. She writes as if the Olympics are Commentary held purely to battle for international superior­ ity and “short-lived patriotism that gets stirred David Konkin up by the medal count.” The Olympics are so much more than a pointless burst of pride in one’s country. In a world where obesity is a great concern of Western nations, encouraging z o e w a s w r o n g : t h e w in t e r sport is of vital importance—a raison d ’être OLYMPICS WERE AWESOME of the Games, according to their charter. As for the Winter Games being pointless, as a I am of the exact opposite opinion of Zoe citizen of a northern nation, am I supposed Daniels in her article “The Over-Hyped Olym­ to sit indoors and do nothing during the win­ pics” (2.3.10). Right off the bat, she got my ter months? What makes the Summer Games blood pounding by claiming that the Olym­ more relevant, or does Daniels believe all the pics “feature sports that are generally boring summer athletes should just be sent to Mexico to watch.” I don’t see where she gets the idea in February? The impact of the Winter Games that the incredible TV ratings that the Winter in terms of youth participation in athletics is Olympics generate, be it for cross-country easy to measure. A recent article in the Globe skiing or for the gold-medal hockey game— and Mail recounted the wonders the Olym­ which had 10.6 million Canadian viewers, pics do for sport in this country—encouraging 59 per cent more than the most recent Super many children and youth to get involved with Bowl—indicate that the Games are boring. I sports like ski and snowboard cross because of don’t own a TV, but that didn’t stop me from Vancouver 2010. Jennifer Heil and Alexandre doing my best not to miss a single event. I Bilodeau have given kids something to dream tuned in on the CTV website, sometimes with about and to strive towards.

Having the Olympics in your home coun­ all three English-language Olympic channels playing so that I could switch back and forth try is a monumental event that is to be cele­ between events that were happening at the brated, which is what Canadians all across this same time. The worst part about the Olympics country have done—especially the citizens for me was that I was away from home, un­ of Vancouver. There was some opposition to able to enjoy the Games with my family as we the Games being held in Vancouver, but in the end most citizens embraced the Games. Many faithfully do every two years.

One of the greatest problems with the ar­ volunteered, and in the coming years, they, as

f ----------------------------------------------YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME?

well as athletes across the country, are the ones that will benefit from the facilities that were built.

The Olympics do an amazing job of bringing a country together. It didn’t matter whether the athletes were from Quebec or Al­ berta—they all competed under the same flag, and Canadians cheered them on. The torch relay was also a great success as it brought the Olympic spirit to parts of the country far from Vancouver, letting Canadians who were unable to travel to Vancouver be a part of the Games.

For those who were lucky enough to at­ tend, the Olympics were about much more than bragging rights. Going to the events gives one the privilege of seeing the best in the world compete. One of the beautiful things about the Olympics is that they bring the world to one city. The energy at events was report­ edly amazing, with the spectators cheering for athletes from all countries. Even curling, which isn’t typically a sport favoured by the young, had wildly cheering crowds.

The 2010 Winter Olympics were amaz­ ing, and it’s a pity Daniels was too busy miss­ ing “superior” NHL regular season hockey to enjoy them properly.

The Tribune is accepting ap­ plications for next year’s editorial board until this Thursday.

The available positions are: Managing Editor (2), Production Manager, News Editor (3), Opin­ ion Editor, Features Editor (2), Arts & Entertainment Editor (2), Sports Editor (2), Photo Editor (2), Design Editor (3), Copy Editor, and Online Editor If you would like to apply for any (or all) of the positions, please drop off a cover letter addressed to Editor-in-Chief Thomas Quail, a CV, and three relevant writing samples at the Tribune Office, Suite 110, in the Shatner Building. The deadline for applications is March 18 at 5 p.m. Late applications will not be accepted.

If you have any questions, contact editor@mcgilltribune.com or the relevant section editor (their email addresses can be found in the masthead, located on page seven.)

Good luck to all applicants.

David Konkin is a U0 Engineering stu­ dent and a huge fa n o f the song “I Believe. ”

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Curiosity Delivers.

Student Living

16 March 2010*9

FOOD GURU

Tofu vegetable stir-fry at the drop of a hat CAROLYN YATES M anaging Editor

Stir-frying random ingredients is a sim­ ple way to cook an impressive meal without culinary skill or expertise. I lack all three, but I can still make a passable tofu stir-fry without setting something on fire.

The following recipe takes 10-30 minutes to prepare, depending on how many vegeta­ bles you use, and about 10 minutes to actually

cook. Remember not to overcook the vegeta­ bles: they should be crunchy, not mushy.

Ingredients (choose several of these vegetables):

• • • •

1 red, green, or yellow bell pepper 1 medium carrot (or a handful of baby carrots) 1 cup of snow peas 6 medium-sized mushrooms

• • • • • •

2celery stalks 1small zucchini 1small onion 5ears of baby com (canned) 1broccoli stalk 1 cup of bean sprouts*

3.

And add these:

• • • •

1/2 pkg. firm or extra-firm tofu 2 tbsp. sesame oil (preferred), vegetable oil, or olive oil 1tbsp.soy sauce 1tbsp. orange juice

2.

TRAVEL

A weekend in Munich While abroad, take a weekend to explore this charming city FRANCESCA FERENCZI C ontributor

I should know better than to order any­ thing off a German menu when the only Ger­ man phrase I know is “beer, please.”

Clearly this wasn’t the case after I found myself at the Haufbrauhaus in Munich, staring down at a plate of something that looked more or less like pig ankle (although I imagine it could have been an elbow or knee). Curious, and fearing retribution for wasting, I dug in, but not before a friend reminded me to take the furry skin off. I got through it unscathed, and it wasn’t so bad—it actually tasted like ham.

After this somewhat dramatic start to my weekend in Munich, things did improve. Sat­ urday morning we woke up early and picked up some brezel (soft, salted pretzels), senf (spicy German mustard), and apfelschorle (a sparkling apple cider). These classic treats tided us over during our drive through the Ba­ varian countryside on our way to Neuschwanstein Castle, the most photographed building in Germany and the inspiration for Disney­ land’s Sleeping Beauty castle.

Ludwig II commissioned Neuschwanstien, but he died before he ever got to live there. Although the castle is a little far from Munich, the history and beautiful views make the trek well worth it. Also, although we drove, Neuschwanstein is accessible by public transportation.

After a groggy drive back into Munich, we thankfully found ourselves at the Viktualienmarkt, a beautiful outdoor market filled

with family-run stalls selling everything from flowers and honey to cheese and milk. We had our dinner at the market, capping a wonderful day full of architectural delights, spectacular vistas, and a whole lot of food.

On Sunday, we visited central Munich.

First we went to the Residenz Museum, which was originally built in 1385 and was used by the Wittelsbach rulers as a residence and seat of government until 1918. Make sure to splurge on audio tours—they were crucial to making sense of this sprawling palace.

After some time indoors, we headed to the Nymphenburg Palace and Park. The Nymphenburg Gardens, which were influenced by French artists and architects, have a distinctly Versailles-like layout. When we arrived, we sat outside and ate Bavarian sausages, spatzle (a German version of gnocchi), and kaiserschmarm (a large, lightly caramelized pan­ cake that is shredded into strips and topped with powdered sugar). This delicious lunch gave us the energy we needed to explore the sprawling gardens.

We could have wandered aimlessly for hours, but our weekend was drawing to a close.

We were sad to leave this friendly town with its stunning architecture, but I have no doubt that I will return to Munich the next chance I get. In the meantime I will just have to brush up on my German. Bier bitte!

5.

6.

7.

Directions

1.

4.

Prepare the vegetables by washing them, removing any stems and seeds, and dry­ ing them lightly. Cut into approximately 3-centimetre long pieces, leaving the snow peas, baby com, and bean sprouts whole.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, orange juice, and 1 tbsp. oil. Pat tofu dry and cut into 2-cm cubes. Add to bowl.

8.

9.

Ideally, let it marinate for several hours, but realistically, 30 seconds will do.

Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, remove the tofu from the marinade, and stir-fry for one to five minutes, according to taste.

The tofu should feel slightly under­ cooked. Remove from frying pan and set aside.

Add the onion, bell peppers, broccoli, and carrots. Stir-fry for about two minutes.

Add the celery, mushrooms, and zucchi­ ni. Stir-fry for about two minutes.

Add the snow peas, bean sprouts, and baby com. Stir-fry for about one minute.

Add the leftover soy sauce and orange juice; stir thoroughly.

Add tofu; stir-fry for one minute.

Serve warm.

*Note: Other things I have successfully added to a stir-fry include slivered almonds, pecans, red apples, lemon juice, red cabbage, green cabbage, ginger, and hearts o f palm. I d o n ’t suggest trying them all at once, however, and the same goes fo r these vegetables.

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10* 16 March 2010

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Resettling and rebuilding A refugee's story: from Bhutan to Quebec In 1991, Nandu Bastola left his home in Bhutan—a tiny kingdom sandwiched between India and Chinese-controlled Tibet—as a refugee. Today, he is working to build a new life on the other side of the world.

By Ja m es G ilm an, Managing E d ito r

One would be hard-pressed to find two places with less in common than southern Bhutan and the town of Saint-Jérôme. In the south of Bhutan, the soaring peaks of the Hi­ malayas descend into subtropical plains and fields of rice. Bhutan is primarily Buddhist and shares many cultural ties with its northern neighbour, Tibet. It was one of the last coun­ tries in the world to open itself up to outside influence, remaining isolated until well into the 20th century. TV and the Internet were banned there until 1999.

Saint-Jérôme, too, is at the gateway to a mountain range —albeit the slightly more humble Laurentians. The similarities, how­ ever, stop there. Saint-Jérôme is in many ways a typical Quebec town, blending the old— Catholic churches and traditional limestone buildings —with the new—Wal-Mart, fast -food restaurants, and modem housing devel­ opments. Both geographically and culturally, it’s about as far as you can get from Bhutan.

Vet Saint-Jérôme is exactly where Nandu Bastola, a refugee from southern Bhutan, has

found himself. Just over a year ago, he and his family were resettled by the Canadian govern­ ment after almost 17 years in a refugee camp in Nepal.

The plight of refugees from Bhutan is not well known, but Bastola’s story is all too com­ mon: more than 25,000 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in the last few years. As it became clearer that their govern­ ment didn’t want them back and their chances of returning home almost completely disap­ peared, Bastola and others like him decided to accept the offer of resettlement and start new lives in a foreign land.

Fleeing Bhutan When Bastola fled his home in 1991, eth­ nic tensions and government crackdowns on opposition groups were rampant across the south of the country.

“I was a student at the time—only 15 years old,” Bastola says. “When I left Bhutan I didn’t know much about the political issues,

Signs in a Bhutanese refuge camp in eastern Nepal.

p r a k a s s . w o r d p r e s s .c o m

but I understood [some of the situation] from my parents.

“My whole family left for Nepal, and we went to the Jhapa district [in southeastern Nepal],” where they ended up in a refugee camp, Bastola says. “In the beginning we were living on the bank of a river in Jhapa. We had very little food; we didn’t have enough of any­ thing. The situation was bad. Many people got sick with dysentery. But after that the UNHCR [the U.N.’s refugee agency] began to improve the situation in the camp: they provided food rations, education, and health facilities.”

Bastola comes from the Nepali-speaking ethnic minority that makes up the bulk of the population in Bhutan’s southern districts.

These Nepali Bhutanese share not only their language, but also their religion—Hinduism, as opposed to Buddhism, the official state religion in Bhutan—and many cultural prac­ tices with Nepali speakers in northern India and Nepal itself. They are the descendants of migrant workers brought to Bhutan to work the land hundreds of years ago. For Bastola and the other refugees, though, Bhutan is still their homeland. Despite spending more than half his life in a Nepalese refugee camp, Bas­ tola, like almost all of the refugees, was never given the opportunity to apply for Nepalese citizenship.

The rest of the Bhutanese population is much closer—ethnically, linguistically, and culturally—to their neighbours to the north, the Tibetans. The king and most of the gov­ ernment and civil service are members of this group, and they have, understandably, always been keen to protect their culture from outside influences. This sentiment has guided Bhuta­ nese policy toward their sizable Nepali minor­ ity, which by some accounts makes up close

St. Jerome, QC.

to half the population. Many within the ruling elite saw this large minority as a threat, and thus created policies aimed at “Bhutanizing” citizens like Bastola.

Many Nepali speakers, however, saw the government as trying to marginalize them and force them to give up their language and culture. Tensions came to a head in the late 1980s and early 1990s when more and more Nepali Bhutanese protested these policies and the government responded by cracking down.

Labelling the protestors as anti-nationals, the government threw thousands in jail, torturing many activists along the way. Some Nepali Bhutanese fled the country, and others were effectively stripped of their citizenship and kicked out of Bhutan regardless of whether they were involved in anti-government activ­ ity.

By 1993, over 80,000 people had left Bhutan, with most of them ending up in U.N.administered refugee camps in eastern Nepal.

Bastola was one of these migrants. After he left his home he was brought to the refugee camp, where he spent the next 17 years.

“We had Bhutanese citizenship,” he says. “We had the papers and the tax receipts in Bhutan, but when I came to Nepal we had nothing.”

Bhutan would not allow him to re-enter, and Nepal would not allow him to settle out­ side of the camp. Bastola was living in the stateless purgatory that characterizes the life of a refugee.

A chance to start over By the early 2000s, the number of refu­ gees languishing in camps in Nepal had swol­ len to just under 110,000. Considering the total number of Bhutanese is estimated at

WIKIMEDIA

Curiosity Delivers.

16 March 2010 *11

fewer than 700,000, these refugees constitute a sizable chunk of the population. In 2006, with neither Bhutan nor Nepal willing to re­ integrate them, the United States and a num­ ber of other nations stepped forward with a plan to resettle the refugees in third countries.

The U.S. offered to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese refugees, while Canada offered to take 5,000.

The plan was controversial within the camps, and many refugees believed it would end their hopes of returning home. Yet many others saw third-country resettlement as an opportunity to build a new life and accepted that they would not be able to return to Bhu­ tan. Bastola was among the latter.

“We arrived in Canada on December 8, 2008, and the resettlement process began in the beginning of 2008. Representatives of the Canadian government interviewed us [at the time] about coming to Canada,” and later worked with them throughout the process, he says.

In 2008, Bastola arrived in Montreal with his wife and their two children. Soon after that they were settled in an apartment in SaintJérôme, their new home. The Bastolas were among the first Bhutanese refugees to be re­ settled in Canada. By the end of 2009, more than 850 had been resettled in towns and cit­ ies across the country, from Vancouver to St. John’s.

The adjustment to the country was dif­ ficult, admits Bastola. Almost everything about Canada was alien, from the harsh winter

weather to the unfamiliar food. Bastola strug­ gled especially with language. Before coming to Quebec he spoke very little English and no French. Now, learning the language of his ad­ opted land is a top priority.

“When we came here we knew no French,” Bastola says. “In the other prov­ inces, English is the [main language], but we understand that here French is very important, almost compulsory. The language is very dif­ ficult. In the beginning it was hard even to go shopping ... but we’re learning.”

Along with his wife and the other adults among the refugee population in Saint-Jérôme, Bastola attends full-time French language classes. However, communication in anything but his native Nepali is still difficult. The chil­ dren are enrolled in the local public school, and are working hard to learn French as well.

While the government provides his fam­ ily with financial help, the long-term goal for Bastola is to move into the workforce and es­ tablish a degree of self-sufficiency. Perhaps the most important thing for Bastola is that his children have an opportunity to improve their future, an opportunity they never would have had if they’d continued to grow up in the refugee camp.

“When we had the chance to come to Canada,” he says, “We hoped it would mean a better future for us.”

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RESTAURANTS

For Anglo-Montrealers, Super Sandwich is the place for lunch Subs that are cheaper, faster and better than Subway’s THEO MEYER N ew s Editor

Though downtown Montreal is filled with dépanneurs, the small establishment in the basement of the Cartier Building on Peel and Sherbrooke Streets is the only one that has several hundred loaves of bread delivered fresh every morning.

That dépanneur, known as Super Sand­ wich because of the red-and-blue neon sign advertising “Super Sandwiches” mounted in the window, needs the loaves in order to make the hundreds of sandwiches it sells each after­ noon. The dépanneur is a popular lunch spot for professionals downtown as well as stu­ dents and staff at McGill, most of whom order in English.

“I would say maybe 80 per cent are An­ glophones and 20 per cent are Francophones,” said Mathis Lo, 31, who runs the dépanneur with his sister.

Lo’s parents, originally from Mauritius, a tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean, im­ migrated to Canada from Norway, where Lo was bom, in the late 1980s. They purchased the basement dépanneur shortly after arriving in Montreal, which Lo estimated sold only about 50 sandwiches per day under the pre­ vious owners. As Lo’s parents expanded the menu, however, adding items such as chicken salad, sandwiches became a more important part of the business.

According to Lo, sales increased dramat­ ically when he and his sister began running the dépanneur after his father suffered a stroke four years ago. He now sells 200 to 300 sand­ wiches per day. Though the dépanneur still stocks the typical assortment of canned goods,

batteries and cigarettes, sandwiches now make up about 70 per cent of its sales when school is in session.

A large portion of Super Sandwich’s business comes from the dépanneur’s loyal customers, many of whom buy several sand­ wiches per week.

“We have a lot of regulars who come three or four times a week,” Lo said. “There's one McGill student who buys two sandwiches a day and has been coming for the past four or five years.”

One of those regulars is Jonathan Pol­ lack, a third-year mechanical engineering stu­ dent at McGill who has been coming to the dépanneur for the past two years and usually orders the chicken salad.

“It’s truly a super sandwich,” Pollack said with a laugh.

Because the dépanneur’s prices are fairly low—the most expensive sandwiches cost

four dollars, Lo said—business has not been affected by the recession. Raymond, a Fran­ cophone regular who declined to give his last name, called the prices cheap enough to be “a joke.” And Lo noted that Super Sandwich’s closest competitors, the three or four Subway restaurants within several blocks of the Cartier building, charge significantly more for their sandwiches.

Despite all the regulars, Super Sandwich doesn’t offer a discount for customers who buy a certain number of sandwiches, which Lo said he couldn’t afford. This has proved frustrating to James Shubin, a staff member at McGill’s School of Computer Science who visits Super Sandwich twice a week and habit­ ually requests receipts with his sandwiches.

“One day I’ll have a thousand Super Sandwich receipts and I’ll get a free sand­ wich,” joked Shubin, who usually orders brie or egg salad.

GIZMOS & GADGETS

Car-puccino British researchers use coffee to fu el a car IAIN MACDONALD C ontributor

Many people drink coffee to wake themselves up in the morning or stay fo­ cussed throughout their day. But a team of scientists from BBC’s Bang Goes the Theo­ ry have taken the term “running on coffee” to another extreme: they have built a car that runs on coffee rather than gasoline.

The modified 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco, aptly named the Car-puccino, func­ tions just like a normal car, but instead of guzzling gas, it chugs coffee. Even though coffee might be cheaper than gasoline, it contains far less chemical energy, so the car is actually 25 times more expensive to drive than a conventional car. On average, the Car-puccino consumes more than 50 espresso’s worth of coffee beans per mile.

In order to make it run on such un­ conventional fuel, the car had to be heav­ ily modified. It now features a large brown pipe running down the side, and a canister for fuel on the back. When running, the car bums the coffee to break it down to hydro­ gen and carbon monoxide, which are used to run the engine. The gases are liquefied before being filtered for any solid, or oth­ erwise harmful parts. The resulting fuel is sent to the engine for burning. Unlike for humans, the caffeine in the coffee is not the most important part.

The car will be driven the 210 miles from London to Manchester for presenta­ tion at the Big Bang Science Fair. During the journey, it’s expected to use about 70 ki­ lograms of coffee, not counting the drivers.

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A & E

Curiosity Delivers.

16 March 2010 • 13

THEATRE T h e

B

a l d

S o p r a n o

Absurdity delights some, loses others in TN C’s anti-play ALEX HAMILTON C ontributor

Director Julien Naggar’s production of The Bald Soprano transports the audience

into an absurd world that nonetheless seems strangely familiar. Playing this week at the TNC Theatre in Morrice Hall, The Bald So­ prano brings TNC’s 2009-2010 season to a climactic finish with its parlour-room mad­ ness, reshaping expectations and challenging presumptions. For theatre lovers especially, seeing The Bald Soprano is a necessity— whether or not you like the play.

La Cantatrice Chauve— translated from French as The Bald Soprano— is an absurd­ ist play written by Romanian-born Eugène Io­ nesco, first performed in 1950 in Paris, where it continues to enjoy consistent success. The play depicts the interactions of the Smiths, a typical English couple from London; their houseguests the Martins; their maid Marie; and the local fire chief.

has some playgoers scratching their heads

While the premise is banal, the play is anything but. Ionesco’s piece explores social norms, revealing their absurdity through the interactions of the characters, as well as the use of repetition and non-sequiturs. Though the play’s message is unclear, the superficial­ ity and contradictions present in the charac­ ters’ lives reveal the meaninglessness of their existence.

The historical context of the play cannot be ignored, either. Written in the 1950s, Iones­ co’s presentation of modernity can be read as a response to the societal apathy in the wake of World War Two. The Bald Soprano is an anti-play. It chal­ lenges the conventional structure of theatre and lacks a coherent, sequential narrative. The play begins and ends with a scene of English domestic life, but between these two moments is a bizarre and otherworldly descent into an alternate universe carefully crafted by the cast and crew.

When you enter the theatre at Mor­ rice Hall, the walls are covered with clocks all showing different times, highlighting the play’s subjective perception of time. Watch­

ing the performance, time seems to speed up and slow down intermittently. The play starts with awkward, stilted dialogue between the Smiths that makes time drag on relentlessly for the audience. But as more characters enter the scene, the lines begin to lose their coher­ ence and the play becomes more fast-paced, even difficult to follow at times. However, it isn’t the dialogue that captures your attention in this production, but rather the physicality of the cast.

Though the character’s lines are often in­ terchangeable, each cast member has a distinct way of speaking and moving about the stage.

In a play where the replaceability of the char­ acters is so crucial, the actors are to be com­ mended for finding a way to make their char­ acters distinguishable. In fact, the first few weeks of rehearsal were devoted to “prancing around,” in order to capture the essence of Io­ nesco’s madcap personas.

Michael Ruderman, playing Mr. Smith, was the actor that made his presence felt most. The sexual chemistry between the fire chief (Danji Buck-Moore) and Marie the maid (Lara Oundjian) was also enjoyable, though

In TNC’s hilarious production, the word “absurdity” is definitely an understatement.

it may be a bit too much for some people to handle. Finally, James Thorton’s portrayal of Mrs. Smith is worth noting, as there was some ambiguity as to whether he was playing a gay man or a woman, which made the role more interesting to watch.

Although this production remains faith­ ful to Ionesco’s script, many aspects of the show have been developed or modified. The staging of the play is minimalistic, using mod­ em furniture and props appropriately suited to the piece’s postmodern themes. Modifi­ cations aside, The Bald Soprano delivers an incomprehensible yet dedicated performance.

Uncontrollable laughter is really the only pos­ sible reaction to the absurdity of the cast’s onstage antics. The commitment to Ionesco’s revolutionary vision is indisputable, but the play is sure to polarize viewers into “love it” and “hate it” camps.

The Bald Soprano plays at Morrice Hall, March 17-20.

JU LIA W EBSTER

Pop Iffieforic BURTON’S FORMULA Tim Burton has a distinct, dark, and quirky style that puts him in a cinematic class apart from any other director. The problem is that after creating so many suc­ cessful films, his new projects are always going to be compared to his earlier “glory days.” The empire he has created is subject to unwarranted, faulty criticism merely be­ cause of the expectations that he’s planted in viewers’ minds. It’s no longer a question of how good his new movie will be, but rather how Burton-esque it will be.

I realized this after seeing Alice in Wonderland. My initial reaction was that the film was okay, but it wasn’t Burtonesque enough. Most people I spoke to held

similar opinions. But after further consid­ eration, I realized this was an unfair judge­ ment. My critique was not based on the quality of the movie—it was based on my comparison of the movie to Burton’s other work, and this type of reasoning doesn't make sense. When we see an actor play a certain role in a movie, we shouldn’t base our analysis of their acting on comparisons to other roles that the actor has played. This phenomenon seems to happen all the time with Burton’s work. His remake of Planet o f the Apes was criticized at the time for stylistic departure, but in retrospect, the film was a great success.

The question is, what exactly makes a Burton movie a true Burton movie? A hi­ larious College Humor parody sums it up perfectly. They poke fun at the fact that

his “secret formula”—including spirals, an outcast with daddy issues, and a recycled Danny Elfman score—is becoming less secret and more expected in each movie he makes. Furthermore, he decides to take an already odd classic story and make it a whole lot creepier, while incorporating bits and pieces of his own crazy ideas as well as some not-so-original ones. Case in point: the original Alice wasn’t bizarre enough, so he added his own twists and turns, which showed similarities to at least five other fantasy movies (including Harry Potter, Lord o f the Rings, The Wizard o f Oz, and The Chronicles o f Narnia). Next, Burton seems to use the same people in his mov­ ies, most notably Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, while musician Danny Elf­ man composes the scores for all his films,

which usually end up sounding the same.

Throw in some spiral staircases, striped costumes, white make-up, and mad-sci­ entist-like hair, and we’ve got ourselves a new Burton movie!

The point is this: just because Burton applies the same not-so-secret formula to his movies doesn’t mean we need to com­ pare them in order to criticize or praise them. There’s no question that Burton is clearly a creative genius who makes cre­ ative and memorable movies. And follow­ ing his own formula has never made him boring—because, let’s be honest, who could have done a better job reincarnating Willy Wonka and the Mad Hatter?

—Alex Knoll A & E Contributor

mcgilltribune.com

14 • 16 March 2010

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BOOKS

Sex, violence, and more violence Gratuitous action isn ’t enough to save Fielding’s latest novel CAROLYN YATES M anaging Editor

Joy Fielding’s The Wild Zone begins when a personal trainer, a dishonourably dis­ charged Afghanistan war veteran, and a Princ­ eton philosophy Ph.D. walk into a bar and make a bet over who can sleep with the pretty, quiet girl alone with her martini. Suzy Big­ elow, naturally, has secrets and an agenda of her own, and she leads them all on a wild and deadly ride which, though two-dimensional, is remarkably compelling.

Although the plot is fast-paced, the char­ acters are flatter than a set of popped breast implants.

Jeff is bachelor number one: a moderately well-dressed guy who always gets the girl, or at least gets into her pants. He’s dating Kris­ tin, a hot bartender who lets him sleep around, and whom he treats like crap. While he has a momentary lapse of character development, by the end of the novel he seems to have gone down an all-too-expected path.

Bachelor number two is a quiet, insecure grad student writing a dissertation on Heide­ gger. Unlike Jeff, his half-brother, Will never gets the girl and is bad at even trying. The most likeable of the trio, Will’s opportunity to shine is nonetheless tarnished by the indecisiveness that plagues him throughout the novel.

Bachelor number three isn’t a bachelor at all—at least, not until his wife’s divorce pa­ pers go through. Tom was dishonourably dis­ charged from the Army after raping a young

Afghan girl, and falls into an ex-army-guy mould in the worst way. He’s angry, he’s a mi­ sogynist, and he works at the Gap. Everything is everyone else’s fault.

And where the male characters are shal­ low and abusive, the women are too submis­ sive, too stereotyped, and too neurotic to induce reader interest. Every single one is abused— in most cases several times—by page 48.

The men have their own troubled childhoods fraught with mommy issues, daddy issues—or both. But the women are exposed to a world of horror that Fielding seems to excuse almost completely until the very end. And even that isn’t enough to make readers care about what happens to them.

Surprisingly, The Wild Zone is listed under the Gay & Lesbian fiction category—a listing that doesn’t become relevant until 98.9 per cent of the way through the book. In an ending that reads more like a sensationalized, ratings-boosting cop-out than a genuinely re­ warding conclusion, readers are left wonder­ ing what just happened. For a novel filled with stereotypes, this one is the worst—and while the ending is a welcome relief in some ways and a shock in others, it is too little, too late when it comes to saving the rest of the novel.

The Wild Zone presents a world in which people are judged by the colour of their pome­ granate martinis. A world where people are described by height and hair colour, not per­ sonality. A world where women are merely the punch lines to jokes by slightly drunk, very desperate men. And while Fielding seems all too familiar with this world, it’s time she grew out of it.

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Curiosity Delivers.

16 March 2010* 15

FILM

The White Stripes trade stage lights for Northern lights Documentary charts the rock duo’s tour to every province LAURA TINDAL A & E Editor

Jack White is a busy guy. Playing in three successful bands (The White Stripes, The Ra­ conteurs, and The Dead Weather), taking on small roles in feature films, and running a pro­ duction company in Tennessee doesn’t seem to be enough. White claims he likes to make things difficult for himself, so within a single year he signed on for two documentary films; It Might Get Loud was released at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, and Em­ mett Malloy’s The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights—filmed during the band’s tour across Canada in 2007 —premiered there last year. The latter is being released on DVD on March 16.

Under Great White Northern Lights docu­ ments a tour that deserved to be recorded. The band set out to hit every province and territory in Canada—something most Canadian bands haven’t managed—and not just the big cities, either. The White Stripes not only wanted to play towns off the beaten path, but “venues” a big band like themselves wouldn’t normally play. What follows is the ultimate tour doc, mixing band interviews, concert footage, and footage of secret, intimate performances the duo put on for fans in the far reaches of the Canadian North.

Most of the film focusses on the Northern part of the tour, when the band was playing in Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit; these re­ mote locations—far more than surprise shows in urban centres—are what make the tour so unique. Malloy skillfully captures the unique Northern Canadian moments, such as Jack and Meg playing for square-dancing Inuit elders in Nunavut, and leaving a late-night show with the sun still out.

Above all, this is a tour video. Unlike It Might Get Loud, which included an outsider’s exploration of Jack White as a musician, this is an insider’s depiction of one of the world’s biggest bands. The interviews are interesting but sparse, and the majority of the film is of the band putting on amazing shows. White Stripes fans will soak in the music and be inclined to clap after performances, but non­ fans will feel out of place. While the music is great, the exchanges and encounters amusing, and the footage beautifully shot, Under Great White Northern Lights is for fans who wish they could have been on the bus Jack and Meg played on in Winnipeg, or the bowling alley they surprised in Saskatoon.

Emmett does explore the dynamics of the duo, but he raises more questions than an­ swers. It’s always a treat to listen to the tal­ ented enigma that is Jack White speak about his work, but Meg speaks only occasionally in the film, and her quiet words are often subtitled. In a very funny scene, Jack tries to convince the interviewer that Meg is just quiet

COA XIAL/FLICKR.COM

The White Stripes may have chosen Canada for our flag’s colours (sorry, Switzerland).

and it’s not because he speaks over her that she doesn’t talk in interviews. He says this while talking over her, drowning out whatever she wanted to say.

The film ends with an out-of-place scene, with Jack playing “Little Ghost” on piano next to Meg, bringing Meg to tears and Jack close.

The scene is touching, but it’s a sharp divide from the rest of the film and leaves the audi­ ence unclear as to what the filmmaker is trying to say.

Under Great White Northern Lights is an amazing and entertaining tour documentary, but do not expect an investigative look at the White Stripes. The film upholds the illusion that Jack and Meg White are brother and sis­ ter instead of divorced, and as usual, it’s never clear when Mr. White is being sincere on cam­ era, or just adding to the act that is the White Stripes But as the documentary shows, maybe the act is all that matters.

FILM

John le Carré: the spy who loved fiction Doc featured this month in Festival o f Films on Art KYLE CARPENTER A & E Editor

The 2010 International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal kicks off on March 18, featuring 230 films from 23 countries.

Shortlisted from this group are a competitive selection of 43 films from 14 countries (in­ cluding eight entries from Quebec). Buzzed films from the competitive group include Je M ’Appelle Denis Gagnon, a documentary about the Quebec fashion designer who made quite an impression at Montreal Fashion Week; The Real World o f Peter Gabriel, on the Gen­ esis lead singer; and perhaps most intriguing, King o f Spies: John le Carre', a documentary about the life’s work of a spy-tumed-fiction writer.

John le Carré is one of the most celebrated spy fiction authors, with a career spanning the past 50 years. Our generation would recognize him as the author of The Constant Gardener, which led to an Academy Award-nominated film in 2005. However, le Carré is best known for his Cold War novels from the 1960s, most notably The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

Le Carré is a former agent for MI5 and MI6 (now known as the Secret Intelligence Service), but unfortunately that’s about as much detail as anyone can give you, as le Carré is unwilling to discuss his involvement in the British government. And rightfully so—as he says in the documentary, there are two reasons why he does not reveal his past: he would never allow himself to put anyone he knows in danger, and nobody would believe what he

told them anyway. While it’s understandable that we don’t get to leam about le Carré’s ex­ periences as an agent, it’s still disappointing.

Instead, the documentary is chiefly about his writing career, which is almost inseparable from the politics of the Cold War. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold marks a trend in le Carré’s work: the jaded, overworked agent who is anything but a James Bond-esque hero.

The key difference, as explained by a former KGB agent, is that Ian Fleming’s novels pro­ vided readers with a form of escapism, while le Carré’s showed the gritty reality of the Cold War. The bulk of the documentary is made up of various interviews with le Carré, as well as with former politicians, ex-agents, and aca­ demics who discuss both le Carré’s legacy and the politics of the era. Le Carré is an interesting speaker: he is both charming and well-versed in the art of fiction. Some of the film’s most interesting moments are le Carré’s anecdotes about famous figures: when describing his love of subtext in literature, he quotes Alfred Hitchcock, who was once asked how long he could film a kissing scene, to which Hitchcock replied “20 to 25 minutes ... but I would put a bomb under the bed first.”

The film incorporates more than just in­ terviews, splicing in footage from films based on le Carré’s novels, and many scenes made up of grainy footage of England with the nar­ rator reading passages from le Carré’s work.

These scenes are far too numerous, and it feels as though the directors were trying to lengthen the film rather than strengthen it.

The portrait of le Carré that the docu­ mentary paints is a man who has seen it all.

The viewer gets the impression that there’s an

authenticity to le Carré’s writing, because he seems to have seen the world he represents on paper first-hand. From his youth at a board­ ing school, where there were “different types of beatings for different imaginary offences,” to his career during the Cold War, the viewer begins to wonder if the hardboiled, cynical secret agents that he creates are really just a reflection of himself.

As the Cold War came to a close, many expected that le Carré’s writing career would end with it. He has gone on to write many Sub­ sequent novels, however, after switching his focus from the Cold War to globalization, a concept he is very critical of. However, just because the war has ended does not mean that its effects are not felt today: “When you travel the world a bit, you’ll find that victims have a terribly long memory,” says le Carré, making the viewer once again question just how fic­ tional the king of spies’ fiction really is.

King of Spies: John le Carré is playing as a part o f FIFA, which runs from March 18 to 28 at nine theatres: the Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec, the Canadian Centre fo r Architec­ ture, the National Film Board Cinema, the Ci­ némathèque québécoise, the Goethe-Institut, the Musée d ’Art Contemporain, the Montreal Museum o f Fine Arts, Place des Arts and Con­ cordia University. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased on-line at www.artfifa.com or at any o f the nine theatres on the day o f the screening, one hour before the film begins.

M ARCH

16-22

Friday. Music. Ghostkeeper.

You probably already know that Alice In Chains and Henry Rollins are in town this week. That said, we always like to mention Canadian underdogs, and nothing says Canadian underdog like an indie folk/blues band from northern Al­ berta. Ghostkeeper have a frenzied sound, mixing male and female vocals over blues guitar and steady rock drum beats. Their sophomore album was released March 9, and they will be in town on the 19th. @ Le Cagilbi.

Friday. Film. The Runaways.

Sometimes entries in the Could Be Good section require a heavy empha­ sis on the word “could”—the release of this film is one of those occasions. The Runaways is a film about the 1970s all­ girl rock group of the same name. Star­ ring Kristen “ Twilight gave me a career” Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota “holy shit she’s not a little kid anymore” Fanning as Cherie Currie. The casting seems strange, but sometime what makes a film work is the actors’ chemistry, not their spot on the A-list.

mcgilltribune.com

16 • 16 March 2010

? McGill T he F aculty o f Law is p le a se d to p re s e n t th e A n n u a l L ecture in J u ris p ru d e n c e a n d Public Policy, to b e d eliv ered by

George Triantis Eli Goldston Professor, Harvard Law School Prof. Triantis is a le a d in g sc h o la r in th e field o f law a n d e c o n o m ic s fo c u sin g principally o n b an k ru p tcy , co m m ercial tra n sa c tio n s, c o n tra c ts a n d c o r p o ra te fin an ce. H e h a s re cen tly w ritte n o n E v i d e n c e A r b itr a g e : T h e F a b r ic a tio n o f E v i d e n c e a n d t h e V e rifia b ility o f C o n t r a c t P e r fo r m a n c e : C o m p l e t i n g C o n tr a c ts in t h e S h a d o w o f C o s tly V e rific a tio n : T h e E c o n o m i c a n d L e g a l B o u n d a r i e s o f F irm s.

T h e E c o n o m ic s , M o ra lity a n d P r a c tic e o f C o n tr a c ts Monday, March 2 2 , 5:00 pm Faculty of Law 3644 Peel, N ew Chancellor Day Hall Maxwell-Cohen M oot Court (Room 100) (Enter via 3660 Peel) For more information, please contact Prof. Richard Janda: richard.janda@mcgill.ca The public is welcome. Admission is free. / Conférence publique. L'entrée est gratuite.

This lecture is made possible by a grant from the Beatty Memorial Lectures Committee.

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Notice of Referendum All regular PGSS members - Graduate Students and Post-docs

Referendum Question: Are you in tion o f Students?

favour o f continued membership in the Canadian Fede

The campaign period will be from March 15th to April 1st, and voting will take place on March 29,30,31 and April 1st.

For more details: http://pgss.mcgill.ca/cfsreferendum

PG SS

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Curiosity Delivers.

Sports

16 March 2010* 17

HOCKEY

Mixed results: Martlets take silver, Redmen hoist Queen’s Cup Alberta plays spoiler, ends Martlets streak at 86 games ADAM SADINSKY & JOHN HUI C ontributors

Four years ago, the McGill men’s hockey team travelled to the western shores of Lake Superior and came home empty-handed. On Saturday night, the Redmen reversed history, capturing the OUA Queen’s Cup with a 3-1 victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves.

The win marked McGill’s second Queen’s Cup in the last three years, and the team’s 15th since winning the inaugural competition in 1903.

Playing before a sold-out Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario., the Red­ men opened the scoring early in the first period with a goal from Andrew Wright, assisted by sophomore linemates Francis Verreault-Paul and Alexandre Picard-Hooper. On the powerplay, the Thunderwolves answered back, tying the game just two minutes later. Before the pe­ riod was out, Wright scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal, picking up a Verreault-Paul shot off the wing and slipping it into the back of the net.

In the second period, McGill’s penalty kill was the difference, absorbing the pres­ sure of Lakehead’s OUA-leading power-play.

Redmen goaltender Hubert Morin was out­ standing, robbing Thunderwolves forward Matt Dias on three separate occasions to keep the lead intact. Third-year left-winger Evan Vossen scored his fifth goal of the playoffs towards the end of the frame, giving McGill some added insurance.

The Redmen and Thunderwolves could meet again in two weeks, as the best of the CIS will gather in Thunder Bay for the CIS National Championships. With a victory last week over the Western Ontario Mustangs, fel­ low OUA East affiliate Trois-Rivières secured

ADAM SCOTTI

While the M artlets’ spectacular win-streak finally came to an end, the Redmen are still alive and aiming for gold at Nationals.

the final National Championships’ slot. The Redmen have never won the University Cup, but could enter this year’s tournament as the top seed. The tournament runs from March 25 to March 28.

Meanwhile, the women’s hockey team found itself on the wrong side of the scoreboard for the first time in 86 games, as McGill’s hopes of a third consecutive CIS champion­ ship were dashed by the third-ranked Alberta Pandas, who claimed gold with a 2-0 victory over the Martlets on Sunday.

For the fifth consecutive year, McGill captured the Quebec crown, sweeping the Montreal Carabins in their best-of-three se­ ries. The Martlets faced Montreal yet again in their first game at Nationals, and this time, the outcome was decidedly closer.

“They definitely stepped up their game,” said forward Victoria Wells. “We traded some good chances with them and they were a good test to warm us up for the tournament.”

Unfortunately, the Martlets couldn’t get warm enough. After winning 2-1 against the Carabins in overtime, McGill moved on to dismantle the St. Mary’s Huskies 7-2 to prog­ ress to the gold medal match. McGill played a solid game against Alberta, but couldn’t clear the puck out of the defensive zone. A rebound goal by Pandas forward Melody Howard at the six-minute mark of the first frame held up as the winning tally. McGill Head Coach Amey Doyle, while disappointed with the loss, gave Alberta full credit for the win.

“It was definitely a bit disappointing when you don’t come back with what you had

hoped to achieve,” she said. “They had a re­ ally quick start, were really pumped, and were in our face the whole game. They didn’t allow us to set up in the offensive zone and they re­ ally limited our speed.”

While in the short term the Martlets must cope with disappointment and the loss of se­ niors Vanessa Davidson, Amy Soberano, and Rebecca Martindale to graduation, the team has plenty to be optimistic about. Quebec player-of-the-year Cathy Chartrand is ready to reprise her role on the team, as is Olympic gold medalist Charline Labonté, who took the year off to train with Team Canada. Expect the Martlets to remain a powerhouse team, and contend for the CIS championship again next season.

TIIIU1) MAX IX CAPLESS, NOT HAPLESS

It’s official. There will be no sal­ cap in the NFL next season.

At first glance, it would appear that richer, more successful teams will start spending more money on the players they want to keep, and the league’s average sala­ ries and team payrolls will undoubtedly rise.

This was viewed as a worst-case scenario a few years ago when it was thrown into the Collective Bargaining Agreement as a way to put pressure on the NFL to get a new deal done before the 2010-11 season. But this new rule is far from a worst-case sce­ nario. The Byzantine salary structure of the league is about to get a whole lot simpler.

Here’s why the capless year may be ary

a stroke of genius: the NFL—and all of its teams—are rich enough that this is a good idea. The league is pulling in more money than ever, and their revenue-sharing poli­ cies are stricter and more inclusive than any other professional sports league.

Teams share television deals, and every­ one gets an enormous payout from the league office for merchandise, TV rights, and more. There are 1,800 players in the NFL, each making an average of $1.4 mil­ lion, and teams are still worth an average of $1 billion dollars. That’s insane money.

This is a testament to the NFL’s finan­ cial strength: everyone can afford to pay ev­ eryone else whatever they want. Also, unlike other leagues, the bad teams are still rich enough to make serious moves. Take the De­ troit Lions, for example: they’ve gone 1-31 over the last two seasons, but have made

some tremendous acquisitions this offsea­ son. They’ll likely compete for the playoffs.

Predictably, though, there is a darker side to all this money. There is little finan­ cial security for most players—as many large contracts are non-guaranteed—and no matter how much money a team has, good players don’t want to play for bad teams.

The NBA, on the other hand, doesn’t have the luxury of large, short-term contracts, and their product is tanking quickly as a re­ sult. The NBA will lose almost half a billion dollars this year. How can the owners possi­ bly keep paying both their stars and a luxury tax when each team loses tens of millions of dollars a year? In contrast to the NFL, where bad teams frequently sell out, good clubs in the NBA struggle to reach three-quarter capacity. The Atlanta Hawks are an exciting team on the rise, yet they play every home

game with a quarter of their arena empty.

One of their best players, Josh Smith, is even from Atlanta, and still nobody shows up.

The NBA has four teams that average a sellout every game. The NFL has eight. Only six teams in the NFL sell less than 90 per cent of tickets every game. The NBA has 15.

Just to compare, the NHL has 12 teams that average sellouts and 10 that don’t hit 90 per cent—cities are polarized. We’re about to see the NFL reap the benefits of putting out a great product out week after week. Here’s the lesson: when it’s about the game, people show up. When it’s about the stars, they don’t.

— G.L. Pulver Contributor

mcgilltribune.com

18* 16 March 2010

SWEET 16

FINAL 4

ELITE 8

Preview: The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in the toughest of the four re­ gions and will have to rely on their experience and leadership if they want to make it to the Final Four for the second time in three years.

Headlined by Big East finalist Georgetown and second-seeded Ohio State, the Midwest promises to provide some serious excite­ ment in the early rounds. Evan Turner and the Buckeyes are Kansas’s biggest obstacle, and come into the tournament with plenty of mo­ mentum after winning the Big 10 tournament last weekend. Arguably the most intriguing first round match-up will come when Hous­ ton takes on Maryland—both teams are offen­ sively minded and have players who can score at will. Look for Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez and NCAA leading scorer Aubrey Coleman to put up big numbers in a game that should come down to the wire.

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Indy Bound: It’s hard to bet against Bill Self’s Jayhawks to make it to Indianapolis.

The talent and veteran presence of guard Sherron Collins and big man Cole Aldrich will be too much to handle for any other team.

Dark Horse: Georgia Tech, a young team led by freshman standout Derrick Favors, was streaky throughout the season and has been living on the bubble since February. However, after barely making it into the Big Dance, the Yellow Jackets could heat up and pull off an upset or two.

Preview: The West is potentially the easiest region to predict in the entire tournament, but could just as well prove the most surprising.

Kansas State and Syracuse seem locked on a collision course and will likely meet up in the Elite Eight, but the West also features a num­ ber of strong upset possibilities. A double­ digit seed will almost certainly make it to the second weekend, with the likes of No. 11 Min­ nesota, No. 12 UTEP or even the Ohio Val­ ley champion No. 13 Murray State Racers as probable candidates. A Cinderella story could be in the making in Salt Lake City.

Indy Bound: Syracuse. Coming into the tournament on a two-game losing streak, the Orange are poised to bounce back just in time.

Head Coach Jim Boeheim knows what it takes to get a team to the Final Four, and this could be the best Syracuse group since the 2003 title-team featuring Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick. If Akinze Onuaku is healthy, Syracuse will be there at the end.

Dark Horse: Gonzaga. For years, the Zags have flown under the radar, but no one doubts their legitimacy any more. If they can take down Syracuse in the second round, this talented squad could be cutting down nets en route to the Final Four.

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This could end up being a championship game for the ages. ‘Cuse has the shoot­ ing, the size, and the veteran savvy. Kentucky counters with soon-to-be NBA superstar John Wall and a host of

NATIONAL

SYRACUSE

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KANSAS ST.

Curiosity Delivers.

16 March 2010* 19

CO M PILED BY: JON COHEN, KA ILA N LEUNG, JA M ES M ACN EIL & ADAM SADINSKY

FINAL 4

ELITE 8

SWEET 16 Preview: Top-seeded Kentucky and fresh­

CORN ELL

man sensation John Wall cast a long shadow over the East bracket, though they’ll need to play better than they did against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament Final in order to advance. West Virginia, the No. 2 seed, has the most momentum after winning the Big East title in dramatic fashion over the weekend.

The East is a top-heavy bracket, with a signifi­ cant gap in talent between the top two seeds, No. 3 New Mexico and No. 4 Wisconsin.

M ARQ U ETTE

Indy Bound: Kentucky remains the clear favourite, though West Virginia may be the strongest No. 2 seed in the tournament. If both teams make it to the Elite Eight, an upset is definitely not out of the question.

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Dther talented youngsters.

Both teams are well-coached, but this will end up going the Wildcats’ way, with Wall being named MOP.

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Dark Horse: Earlier this season, Texas held the top spot in the rankings, but now sit in the No. 8 spot, playing a dangerous No. 9 in Wake Forest. Whichever of these teams survives the first round might be a serious threat to Kentucky in the second round. The No. 5 vs. No. 12 is always prime territory for an upset, and Ivy League champion Cornell might just have the skills needed to surprise Temple’s stingy defense.

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Preview: Mike Krzyzewski’s team finds Kentucky 68, Syracuse 62

CHAMPIONS

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itself with the top seed in the South after a tremendous team effort propelled Duke to its 18th ACC title this past weekend. The Blue Devils have shown that they can be absolutely dominant at times, but they lack a go-to player in the post. Second-seeded Villanova is com­ ing off agonizing losses to West Virginia and Marquette, but have the depth and athleticism to make a deep run in the tournament. Baylor will advance to the Sweet 16, and may go fur­ ther if LaceDarius Dunn gets hot. This region might not look the most dramatic on paper, but will be extremely competitive once the second round is in the books.

Indy Bound: Villanova. The biggest thing that the Wildcats have struggled with this sea­ son is consistency: if Scottie Reynolds gets off to a good start in the tournament and the two Coreys (Stokes and Fisher) can complement him on the wings, Nova has a legitimate shot at making noise in Indianapolis.

Dark Horse: Baylor. Ekpe Udoh has come into his own, and his versatility at the forward spot makes the Bears hard to match up with. Backcourt mates LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter can light it up, and if Bay­ lor’s defence remains as impressive as its been all season, the Bears could find themselves in an enviable position in the first week of April.

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