Rachel Wong Peak Associate The Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) is described on its website as a “student-led organization that represents and advocates for the interests of the 26,000+ undergraduate students at SFU.” They provide food services, the U-Pass BC program, extended health and dental plans, and a legal clinic, among other things. But all these useful services aside, they certainly didn’t represent “the interests of students” when SFSS president Deepak Sharma resigned from his position last week. In a plot twist that seems akin to House of Cards, Sharma apparently did not meet the “membership eligibility status,” as The Peak recently reported. The further I read, the more upset I became. According to the SFSS Constitution, a student’s membership in the Society will be deemed invalid if they fail to register for courses for two consecutive semesters. This, allegedly, is the reason for Sharma’s leaving office. Sharma was able to run, and ultimately he won the election fair and square. But it wasn’t until May 19 that the board realized Sharma’s presidency was in question. While Sharma did not act as president from that point forward, he wasn’t officially relieved of his position until June 2 — it took nearly a month.
Further still, the SFU public wasn’t given an official notification of the issue from interim president Larissa Chen until June 3. This all begs the questions: how did Sharma not know that his presidency would be in question when the term started? And once the SFSS finally discovered the issue, why did it take so long to inform the student population? Unfortunately, we probably won't receive any potential answers or learn of further courses of action until the SFSS's next board meeting on June 16.
Former SFSS president Enoch Weng posted a public Facebook comment in response to student anger and confusion, stating that “[Sharma’s] in-eligibility [sic] this semester has nothing to do with the [Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)], as there would be no way for them to anticipate the future.” To me, this sounds a bit like he’s passing the buck. Sure, the IEC may not have a crystal ball
and predict Sharma’s fall from grace, but as one commenter responded, “No one said ‘hey make sure you take a summer class so you're eligible’?" This isn’t a high school student council where you plan one dance and have a budget of maybe $200. The SFSS is able to provide all manner of fantastic and expensive services because we, the students, are paying for them. Our Student Services fee is expected to go up another two percent for the coming school year to a total of $44.37 per semester, which sadly means we’ll be giving more of our money to the hands of a group of unorganized and unprofessional students. Beyond the many people working behind the scenes, Sharma himself should not have continued with such a prestigious and important position if he suspected, in any capacity, that his eligibility might be in question. The fact that he was obligated to resign indicates that he was unaware of his eligibility status. A responsible president would have researched the requirements of the position before taking it. For a group of students that holds so much influence over student life while managing copious amounts of money each semester, an oversight like this really makes me question the credibility and competency of the SFSS — a bunch of embarrassed undergraduates with already hectic lives as students. It’s true, we are all human and we all make mistakes. However, some mistakes have greater impacts than others, and this black mark will undoubtedly haunt the SFSS for the next while.
4 News
Jamal Dumas / Print News Editor
news@the-peak.ca
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In 2015 Dr. George Nicholas gave a presentation at TEDx Yellowknife, a symposium that focused on indigenous issues.
Prof creates guidebook for cultural appropriation Respect, sensitivity, and caution are key when borrowing from other cultures, says Dr. George Nicholas Rumneek Johal Peak Associate Borrowing pieces of other cultures has become common practice in popular culture and even in literature. This leads to an important question: what is the line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation? SFU professor of archaeology Dr. George Nicholas — in collaboration with academics, students, individuals in the community, government, and indigenous organizations — have been working over a period of a seven years to help answer this question. Their initiative, the Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) project, is an international project to tackle cultural appropriation and the imbalances of power that accompany it. One of the ways Dr. Nicholas and his colleagues are tackling this issue is by creating a guidebook on the ways to avoid cultural appropriation, called “Think Before You Appropriate.” The goals behind the guidebook and the IPinCH project are to develop ways to avoid or
appropriating it in ways that are harmful. These harms can be cultural, social, or economic. “We were not trying to curtail research or put restrictions on knowledge, but knowledge needs to be used respectfully or with confront these issues, or to erad- permission,” said Dr. Nicholas. icate them and limit their imThe guide spells out the difpact. Another main goal for the ference between appropriation, project, according to Dr. Nicho- which “means to take something las, is to develop resources that that belongs to someone else for indigenous people, policy mak- one’s own use,” and misapproers, academic researchers, and priation, which is a “one-sided the public can use to make more process where one entity beneinformed decisions to avoid fits from another group’s culture appropriation. without permission and without giving something in return.” "Not only do indigenous peoples have little control over their own affairs, but their ways of life and traditional knowledge have been largely viewed as public Dr. George Nicholas domain, free for the taking. Concerns about the One of the key messages in exploitation and appropriation the guide is how to differenti- of their culture are rampant,” Dr. ate between borrowing from Nicholas said in a TEDx Talk. a culture and respectfully apAlong with the cultural appropreciating it, or disrespectfully priation guidebook, according to
"Indigenous communities do want to share their heritage [but] they want it to be done respectfully and used appropriately."
Victoria-based Marianne Nicolson has recently put up her year-long instalment “Oh, How I Long for Home” in the Teck Gallery on Hastings St. Through a combination of found photos of her family in Vancouver during the 1940s and ‘50s, photos recently taken by Nicolson herself of Vancouver’s current neon lights, and neon text, the installation “addresses a persistent idea of the city as a conflicted promise for indigenous people.” The installation will be up until April of next year.
Dr. Nicholas, IPinCH also features a multitude of other resources, including the “Appropriation (?) of the Month” blog series. This series works to illustrate that appropriation comes in many forms, and that it is not always easy to discern cultural borrowing from appropriation, which explains the “?” in the title. For individuals looking to be aware of appropriation while shopping, Dr. Nicholas explained that “If you’re interested in buying certain objects or clothes it’s so easy to Google search and see if this design has been created with any kind of input from the native artists or indigenous community, and it’s just a matter of asking a few questions.” For those with positive intentions, there are a few precautionary steps that should be taken: “If nothing else, a lot of people want to wear or have items that have native or First Nations designs on them [. . .] Indigenous communities do want to share their heritage [but] they want it to be done respectfully and used appropriately.” In 2013, those involved with the project received the first Partnership Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for their work. They continue to spark dialogue regarding intellectual property rights and cultural appropriation.
On June 14, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., SFU will be hosting an information session: SFU NOW (Nights or Weekends) at the Surrey campus. Attendants will learn how to complete their Bachelor’s degree at SFU through evening and weekend classes at either the Vancouver or the Surrey campus.
Harbour Centre On June 15, attend Lunch Poems at SFU in the Teck Gallery. The event is co-hosted by SFU Public Square as a part of Word Vancouver, in collaboration with Lunch Poems at SFU, the Writer’s Studio, and Anvil Press at the Harbour Centre, from noon to 1 p.m. Lunch Poems is held every third Wednesday of the month, and is described as “a unique vibrant exchange of poetic ideas and cadence.”
Sarah Finley Peak Associate
News
June 13, 2016
The Vancouver Sun's Adopt-ASchool program and a private donation from Ryan Beedie and the Beedie Development Group, led by Mason Bennett. When they conducted their survey in December 2015, there was positive feedback from both the staff and the students. With the Breakfast Club in place, there was a 22 percent increase in participating students’ attendance — likely due to students arriving early for breakfast, and as a result arriving on time for class.
Janis McMath / The Peak School breakfast can offer pupils opportunities for positive social interaction.
Poverty among school-aged children remains an ongoing concern in Canada. However, positive results from a breakfast program at a local Burnaby elementary school could indicate an important step towards resolving this problem. From October 2014 until June 2015, Douglas Road Elementary in Burnaby has offered the Breakfast Club program for all students.
BC Technology for Learning Society (BC Tech), a nonprofit organization based out of Burnaby that refurbishes donated computers, networking devices, printers, and projectors, has donated its 150,000th computer. The organization, which has won multiple awards on both a national and an international level, is only 23 years old. Originally co-founded in 1993 by Industry Canada and the Telecom Pioneers, the program used to be known as Computers for Schools
During this period, 83 out of 255 students were enrolled in the program, and roughly 1,820 meals were served. Andrew Gemino, associate dean, and Ben Tan, research assistant of the SFU Beedie School, conducted a study into the costbenefit of this program. “Initially, a lot of folks were under the impression that everyone was well-fed,” said Gemino.
Unfortunately, even in Canada children are often coming to school hungry or without having eaten a proper breakfast. Canada is the only G8 country that doesn't have a national school meal program. Education is managed on a provincial level. As a result, breakfast programs are typically funded by private, corporate, and public donors, Gemino and Tan explained. The Breakfast Club program at Douglas Road Elementary was founded with the support of Mary-Ann Brown, principal of the school, and Burnaby School District 41, along with
(CFS). The name changed to BC Tech in 1995 when the company decided to expand its reach beyond just computers. After refurbishing the computers they receive, BC Tech donates the technology to schools, libraries, indigenous communities, and various non-profits around British Columbia that have applied through BC Tech’s website. SFU communication student and women’s field hockey player, Maddy Galts, began working for the company in April as an
intern through SFU’s Co-op program. According to Galts, the 150,000th computer milestone is important because it “offers a concrete measurement of the growing success of BC Tech and its programs.” The milestone also demonstrates their progress towards their company vision: “a British Columbia with universal and sustainable access to technology to facilitate lifelong learning.” Galts said that in addition to making important donations to deserving communities, BC Tech “has also effectively contributed to the bridging of the digital divide by providing lowincome learners with affordable computers.” Not only does the organization provide technological assistance
About 86 percent of staff members said they would recommend the breakfast program to new students and staff who come into the school. Many students have commented they were excited to be a part of the program, and enjoyed the fact the there was another option for food. The openness of the program for all students also meant that many students were able to bring friends to join them for breakfast.
to the province, but this process of refurbishing also ensures ethical recycling of materials that would otherwise go into landfills, mini-
mizing waste as well as impact on the environment.
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In an interview with The Peak, Gemino and Tan mentioned that the Breakfast Club was an excellent way to bring people together, get them to talk to each other, and ultimately make them feel welcome within the community. In their report, a summary of other research studies have indicated that breakfast programs offer positive effects on the students’ nutrition, cognition, and behaviour. “[But] there was more to this than just nutrition,” remarked Gemino. They found that this program has the potential of changing the way students viewed themselves and interacted socially. Furthermore, the program could help generate a more positive attitude towards the school environment, making the school seem less intimidating, and ultimately helping the students determine what school means for them. Gemino and Tan both agreed that people should be aware of and support programs such as the Breakfast Club. “There's potential for this to be greater than it is,” said Gemino. “The program is a good start and probably the best start.”
On March 13, the Honourable Navdeep Bains announced that by partnering with Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, Computers for Success Canada, and other corporations, CFS will deliver 7,500 computers to the #WelcomeRefugees initiative. MOSAIC, the Immigrant Services Society of BC, and other resettlement agencies will help with the transportation of the technology.
6 News
Jamal Dumas / Print News Editor
news@the-peak.ca
STUB OUT
University Briefs By Sarah Finley
Alexa Tarrayo / The Peak Students can check out the display in Blusson Hall to see how different countries stack up.
with files from The Ubyssey
The University of British Columbia has just released their draft of a sexual assault policy in response to the complaints by student survivors on their campus. The policy — which has been under construction since last November — is receiving criticism from survivors for its lack of a “road map.” The draft does not include a new process for reporting and investigating, though it does list support services. The committee on the draft will reconvene in October to amend the draft.
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U of Calgary email system hacked, ransom paid
with files from CBC News
When asked why she believes tobacco should be treated differently by the government than other legal harmful substances, Dr. Lee stated “you can’t smoke a cigarette safely. “Tobacco is the only legal substance that, if used as directed, will kill half of its users. You can’t say that about alcohol, and you can’t say that about unhealthy foods. "It’s a substance that if you invented it today, it would not be legalized.” An issue Dr. Lee is tackling closer to home is updating SFU’s smoking policy. The Advertising, Selling, or Smoking of Tobacco on Campus policy has not been updated since 2009. It currently states that students can smoke 10 metres away from university buildings, but Dr. Lee wishes to implement an update which would limit smoking to designated areas. “We surveyed students, faculty, staff, community members, and 75 percent of people agreed that was the way we should do it because of the forest fires, because of cigarette butts everywhere, because of secondhand smoke wafting into people’s offices and workplaces,” she said. As for the broader context of Dr. Lee’s anti-smoking efforts, she believes that Canada is doing fairly well with cigarette packaging regulations. However, there is definitely room for improvement. Canada is now considering adopting a completely plain and standardized packaging policy. “The Liberal government said they would
3 with files from The Toronto Star
If you’ve walked down Blusson Hall recently, you may have noticed a display case featuring gruesome images of what cigarettes can do to your body, and a world map with cigarette packages from around the globe pinned to their respective countries. These were collected by SFU health sciences professor, Dr. Kelley Lee. With World No Tobacco Day’s global plain packaging campaign on May 31, Dr. Lee has been drawing attention to the issue locally. “My research is around tobacco control in general, and plain packaging is one aspect of it,” she stated. The movement aims to streamline and standardize all cigarette design and marketing. Currently, about 75 percent of a cigarette package is dedicated to a graphic health warning, which still leaves some room for cigarette brands to appeal to smokers. “Companies really find that the packaging is important to them to get their branding across,” she said. “They call them ‘mini-billboards.’ So they put a lot of emphasis on them — they spend millions of dollars designing these packages to appeal to particular targets; to young women and to young people.” Dr. Lee first started collecting cigarette packages from around the world to use as teaching tools, some of which used hearts within the filters, candylike flavours, pretty colours, and novelty images to entice consumers.
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New sexual assault policy unveiled at UBC
VANCOUVER
Miranda Macfarlane Peak Associate
have a three-month consultation. That means that people — you and me, anybody — can submit about whether this is a good or bad policy.” This, however, means that tobacco companies will have ample opportunity to oppose the motion, and could potentially spread some misleading information. “Our research has also been looking into how they’ve been using third parties like think tanks to fund research that sounds independent,” said Dr. Lee. Not everyone believes that plain packaging is the best way to disincentivize smokers. According to associate dean of the faculty of development and research at the Beedie School of Business, Dr. Judy Zaichkowsky, “fooling with the packages is a side-issue, almost. It’s not the core of the motivation to start. The core of the motivation to start is to be older; more mature, to belong.” Both women touched on the significant correlation between puberty and starting to smoke. Dr. Zaichkowsky described it as a time when “you do everything you can to look and feel more mature.” Dr. Lee outlined 13 as the average age at which people start smoking, and the demographic to whom tobacco companies aim to advertise. “It’s a dirty business,” she stated. Dr. Zaichkowsky believes that though the plain packaging movement is well-intentioned, using fear tactics such as jarring imagery on packages is the wrong method. “When the fear gets too ugly or gruesome, people look away. They tune it out. [. . .] They understand it, but they don’t want to pay it any attention.” Instead, she believes that “a moderate, social fear appeal is much more effective than ‘smoking will kill you,’ because that’s too fearful. People will say, ‘not me.’”
News stories from campuses across the country
CALGARY
Dr. Kelley Lee’s collection of cigarette packages from around the world illustrates corporate marketing techniques
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TORONTO
SFU prof’s plain packaging project aims to kick cigarettes’ butts
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The University of Calgary recently paid a ransom of $20,000 to regain access to their email system. The system had been hacked via a series of cyberattacks that began in May. University vice-president of finances and services, Linda Dalgetty, said they could not risk losing such valuable data and “someone’s life work,” so while paying the ransom wasn’t ideal, it was what needed to be done. Police are now investigating the attacks, and the university is working to ensure their computer systems are more secure.
Students opt for freshly made food instead of processed The University of Toronto has ended their agreement with its food service provider, Aramark, and in the fall will produce their meals from scratch. The move is in response to student complaints of the highly processed food, and he lack of fresh food options. The university will now place more emphasis on local and seasonal produce.
Opinions
On June 1, Alison Flood published an article in The Guardian exploring a petition put forth by undergraduate students at Yale University. The petition calls for an end to the English department’s course requirement of canonical white male authors such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, and the like. The students argued that “it is unacceptable that a Yale student considering studying English literature might read only white male authors.” The article also includes a comment by Katy Waldman, a writer for Slate, who states that “you cannot profess to be a student of English literature if you have not lingered in the slipstreams of certain foundational figures, who also happen to be (alas) both white and male.” Yes, as any English major will tell you, the literary canon is dominated by white male authors, perhaps none more so than William Shakespeare. The perception of Shakespeare as a foundational literary figure can be challenged by the fact that, until the 18th century, Shakespeare was lumped together with all of the other playwrights and poets in his era; his status as “the bard” came in the 18th century through a national need to have a single author be the figure of the national poet. But this idea of a single poet
representing a nation is problematic in our current global, multicultural society, as there is a need for diverse voices in literature to reflect the diversity around us. Many Canadian universities, including SFU, have a Canadian literature requirement, and many of these schools also offer courses in aboriginal and indigenous literature. Although Canadian English departments are providing required courses outside of the white, maledominated literary canon, the course selections
are often minimal and students are often only required to take one. Meanwhile, students are required to take two courses from a list that prominently enforces the white male canon, such as English 306 on Chaucer, English 311 and 313 on early and late Shakespeare, and English 416W on Milton, among others. Lower level requirements focus on broad periods — such as medieval literature and 18th century literature — with very little emphasis on literatures outside of the white male canon. There is a demand for more diverse authorship and characters in the current literary scene, as demonstrated by the Twitter call #WeNeedDiverseBooks, in children’s literature. Although more Canadian universities are offering literature courses outside of the expected white male canon, these courses aren’t typically main English major requirements — and if they are, usually only one course is needed. I believe that English departments could shift their course requirements to focus less on the white male canon, and could provide more options for students in diverse literature, with female and non-white authors. There are many female authors in the English literary canon — Jane Austen, Margaret Cavendish, the Brontë sisters, Marie de France, to name a few — and contemporarily, many non-white authors are expanding the English literary canon. As our society becomes more global, and since Canada is a multicultural country, our literary studies need to expand beyond the historical English canon to one that is multicultural, and English major course requirements need to diversify. Though perhaps SFU should not go as far as what Yale students are suggesting and completely remove canonical authors from their course requirements, there should certainly be less emphasis on historical literature by white men.
Adam Van der Zwan / Opinions Editor
June 13, 2016 opinions@the-peak.ca
As much as it sucks, studying the works of white men in their entirety is an integral aspect of studying English — especially for those historical figures. Would I love for writers who fit outside of this narrow mould to be more prominent? Absolutely, and the classes focused on later writers (particularly here at SFU) feature a wide variety of authors with a corresponding selection of backgrounds and experiences. It would be great if that same openness could translate to the past, when most of these men were writing. Unfortunately, we can’t change the past. Regardless of their race, gender, or age, these writers have shaped and dramatically influenced modern English. Shakespeare alone contributed more than 1,700 words to the English vernacular. William Wordsworth is the poster boy of Romantic era poetry. Charles Dickens became one of the pioneering novelists of the Victorian era.
The list goes on. Every white canonical male we study is studied for a reason. To avoid studying their work would be a disservice to the styles and eras they represent. A sad truth of the matter is that many of these literary men lived in a far more patriarchal society than many of us Westerners do today. White men were the overwhelming majority of published writers.
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That’s not to say women or people of colour didn’t contribute, or weren’t integral to the formulation of the ideas that men were credited with — after all, Wordsworth’s sister, Dorothy, may have been as crucial to the development of the Lyrical Ballads as either Wordsworth or co-author Samuel Coleridge. But these events transpired at a time when non-white men were not valued for their worth, and thus were not remembered to the same degree as white men. To not focus on the inequalities of this era would discourage us from learning and reflecting on our ongoing progress as a Western society. Besides, many of the English classes I’ve taken at SFU, which are not centred around one male author, have included literature by diverse authors. Furthermore, the professors (at least, those at SFU) who teach canonical malecentred courses are also the ones who say, “Now, take this with a grain of salt. Thoreau’s view of the world was problematic because of X, Y, and Z. As we can see from Dickinson, there are vastly different experiences happening in the same era.” To not play the works of white male authors off of other literature hurts everybody involved because it contributes to a loss of knowledge and critical thought. SFU’s English department should stay as is — it’s a fair representation of the historical influences of English literature through time. In the study of English literature, it is important to present information on times of inequality. It is our duty to apply our reasoning and criticism liberally to everything we evaluate, in order to decide for ourselves what is worthy to incorporate into our own lives.
“ [BEFORE] ME.
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Opinions
I do not resent my parents for raising me Catholic. I’m sure you have all heard of the popular stereotype that the ‘religious ones are the craziest because they are oppressed.’ I’m also sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘I’m waiting until marriage,’ quickly followed by the phrase, ‘yeah, right.’ Being someone who’s attended Sunday School (but on a Wednesday), and growing up with a heavy FilipinoCatholic presence in my pre- and post-pubescent years, I can say I’ve heard my share of these comments, and have felt the guilt and self-hatred that came with them. I was a naïve teenager, and I went to a predominantly white school in the backend of Surrey, near the cows, and right smack in the middle of suburbia. Not a lot of people shared my Catholic morals, and for many years I judged those who deviated from them. I fully admit I wasn’t born ‘politically correct’ — in fact, I was quite the opposite. I wouldn’t blame
Pipelines: they’re hot ly debated, especially at SFU where major protests against the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion have occurred in recent years. So, I will provide some arguments in favour of pipeline expansion in Canada, aside from the usual ‘growth of jobs and economy’ take. W here does Canada get its oil? The National Post reports that the top source countries are the US, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Angola, and Algeria. Of these, Canada is a Western, liberal democracy with strong social programs and a commitment to human rights. When we import the $20 billion of oil, like we did in 2014, we directly support
Adam Van der Zwan / Opinions Editor
opinions@the-peak.ca
Catholicism for making me feel like a social outcast, but Catholicism enforces the ‘purity myth’ right from the get-go. I was ashamed of my body because I was taught to conceal it, and paired with being the only one in my group of friends who felt this way, I became considerably insecure and self-loathing. My grandparents even told me that “too much attention is unflattering on a woman. A man will not be able to find Jesus in you if you do not give yourself to Jesus first.” What the fuck? It wasn’t until I was 16 that I felt beautiful for the first time. By this time, I was finished with Sunday School and was starting to come into my own person. I switched to straight-cut bangs and suddenly I was Hollywood’s inaccurate image of Cleopatra. I finally started wearing makeup too; just eyeliner at first, but then lipstick and blush. After a swarm of attention — “oh my god, you look totally different, you’re, like,
trying now” — I couldn’t fuckin’ stop. I got into fashion too, and I vocally became a much louder person. I even started masturbating (something I denied the urge to do for years of personal celibacy in the name of Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour) because my friends were all doing it and I just didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t like I had finally tasted freedom or anything like that.
I never felt repressed, I never felt like I had awakened as a Catholic sinner. However, that is exactly the reason why I consider myself a fullfrontal advocate of body and sex positivity. It’s, like, not a big deal. God hadn’t come down from the high heavens to smite me, and as I grew older I began to love my body enough to separate it from being a highly sexualized figure into one that is simply my own.
The reason I’m okay with showing off my body is because Catholicism taught me to care so much, and it equally taught me not to give a shit. My body is my own — it’s not my boyfriend’s, and it’s not the next virgin bearer of Jesus Christ. It can be a sexual figure, but only when I want it to be, and only for certain people. However, at the end of the day it’s my body, and how people see it is really not that big of a deal.
these foreign countries’ ruling governments and not our own. Saudi Arabia, one of the top countries in world oil production, is a monarchy. There, women are not allowed to drive, and have to limit the amount of time spent interacting with men outside of their families. Contrast this with Alberta oil capital Fort McMurray, whose mayor, Melissa Blake, is a woman. Saudi Arabia also performs executions for crimes such as blasphemy, adultery, homosexuality, and even witchcraft and sorcery. Canada also imports Nigerian oil. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “manages the government's interests in the Nigerian oil industry,” according to
its website. The Niger Delta has seen immense environmental degradation and humanitarian crises as a result of oil production. Recent attacks on oil installations by the Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group protesting the lack of resources for inhabitants of the Niger Delta, has cut production from 2.2 million barrels a day to 1.6 million a day. Canadian oil sands are developed by private companies which, according to The National Post, are “subject to the rule of law, accountable to public shareholders, and disciplined by market forces.” Oil and gas contribute almost 11 percent to Canada’s GDP and about $20 billion in tax revenue per year. So, why don’t we reduce imports of foreign oil and move toward energy independence through projects like the Energy East Pipeline? Pipeline expansion is also good for environmental reasons — wait, I’ve got to be joking, right? This is not to say that Canadian oil development is clean
and environmentally friendly. It isn’t. But our oil development is heavily regulated, more transparent, and much safer than in other countries. W hen oil is extracted, natural gas f lares. This gas f laring contributes an estimated 400 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere yearly, and wastes about 5.5 percent of the world’s natural gas. Nigeria’s gas f laring contributes more CO2 to t he env ironment t ha n a l l of Sub-Sa ha ra n A f rica. A lber ta, BC, a nd Saskatchewa n have all implemented regulations to reduce f laring. Canada didn’t even ma ke t he top 10 for gas f laring between 2007 and 2012, even though it was fifth in the world for oil production in the latter year. How about oil spills, which are arguably the key concern for pipelines? The National Energy Board estimates Canadian pipelines move roughly 1.3 billion barrels of oil per year, and approximately
1,084 barrels were spilled each year between 2011 and 2014, meaning pipelines safely moved 99.99 percent of the oil to its final Canadian destination. The alternative to pipelines are trucks, rails, or boats, which are far from perfect themselves. Quebec’s Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in 2013 killed 47 people and spilled or burned a reported six million litres of oil. And let’s not forget the massive Ex xon Valdez spill. Pipelines aren’t perfect. Oil and gas won’t last. We need to switch to renewables and break our dependence on the carbon economy. But ideological opposition to pipelines simply doesn’t fit into current times, because pipelines are arguably the best and safest available method of transporting oil — a necessary evil, if you will. An increased Canadian share in global energy markets would be good for our economy, and could boost global environmental health and human rights.
Arts
When Kaylee Johnston walked into our interview a few days before her self-titled EP release party at the Biltmore Cabaret, she bypassed the handshake and headed straight for a hug. Johnston was in the Canadian Radio Star competition early on in her career, and released her last EP, Streetlight, in 2010. Since then, aside from a single released in 2013 (“Gone”), she’s been figuring out what she wants out of her career and honing her musical abilities. Her new release is a taste of the big things we can expect from her in the future. Johnston has known since kindergarten that music was where she was meant to be. She applied to college at her parent’s encouragement, but didn’t get in. “I knew that I was still going to do music. I remember not even feeling disappointed.” According to Johnston, she was never much of an academic. However, her best advice is, “Just be a student of life. I’ve never stopped learning or wanting to learn and that’s why . . . if I’m having a bad day, I can always turn it around. Like, OK, this is an experience that I’m going to learn from, and my life’s going to get better because of this uncomfortable moment in time.” It’s pretty solid advice. And just because she didn’t do well
Jess Whitesel / Arts Editor
June 13, 2016 arts@the-peak.ca
in a structured educational setting doesn’t mean she wasn’t educated. “I’ve done, probably, thousands of hours of voice training . . . and thousands of hours of song-writing with different people and styles. I’m conscious of where I’m putting my energy.” It’s easy to see that all of her hard work has paid off — the new EP is dynamite.
“Are You the One” is Johnston’s favourite song to perform, because of the bridge. “I kind of rap it, and it’s not really rap, but it’s really fast spoken word . . . Every time I do that I just feel so badass. I always get a good reaction from the audience. That one’s my sexy, sassy song so I always feel really good when I sing it.” Another personal favourite for Johnston is “Let’s Pretend.” It’s got a slightly different feel than her other songs, stemming from the 18-month time difference between writing the majority of her EP and writing that song.
“I felt like that was the first song I’d ever written that was truly vulnerable. All the songs have moments of vulnerability, but that whole song is just me being very accepting of a situation I was in and being honest about it.” It’s true. A lot of her other songs have a toughness to them to coat the vulnerability, and it’s great to see her expanding the realms of her emotional songwriting capacity. Johnston’s show opened with Mathew V and Windmills — two terrifically talented acts with vocal chops and great musicality. They set the tone of a fun, celebratory night and Johnston ran with that throughout her set. Her vocals were on point, her performance was captivating, and her energy was infectious. The dancing she did on stage was amplified in the crowd, following her lead. There were a few technical difficulties, but nothing major. Her cover of “Teenage Dirtbag” took everyone back to high school in the 2000s and turned into a massive singalong, with Windmills joining her on stage. She’s such a charismatic performer, regaling the audience with stories in between every couple of songs. It makes her seem like a friend, even though she’s up on that stage. All in all, the party was a fantastic launch event, with more than a few people walking away with CDs. She’ll be one to watch in the years to come.
Ryan Gosling, as famous for his abs as for his acting, can mount character-driven indies on his ripped shoulders like a nouveau Brando. He can be charming like Clooney or evoke an existential crisis with the mere words “I drive,” like a wounded, introverted De Niro. The heartthrob from The Notebook has developed into one of the best actors of his generation, actively transcending his on-screen persona and seeping so far into characters we forget that he’s a movie star. Somehow, even as his past roles have been iconized, Gosling has reinvented himself, peeling off yet another layer of skin to reveal a new one. His work in Shane Black’s The Nice Guys, where he plays a bumbling PI, is another testament to his versatility. Fermented in nostalgia, The Nice Guys gets you high on ‘70s Los Angeles’ smoky air. A porn industry party is uncannily similar to that of a corrupt automotive company later in the film; a very un-PC educational video is shown in a classroom; and a haze of paranoia from Watergate and the Cold War looms over everything. Shane Black (Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) seems to have shaped his narrative and set-pieces around the era’s weirdness, guiding us through a time when porn was in bed with politics and a hippy’s experimental porno was the only way to save the birds from a car company’s pollution. The world of shaggy carpets and open shagging is the villain, making it difficult for our very flawed and very groovy heroes to solve the case. This is the rare Hollywood comedy that is vulgar and clever, and accessible without pandering. I appreciate The Nice Guys as much for what it is as I do for what it isn’t. Here is a groovy comedy
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with an engaging plot that doesn’t rely on dick jokes to keep our attention. It’s an accessible film that is about something, and doesn’t make a big fuss. The Nice Guys is drenched in nostalgia and fantasy, but at times it feels soiled by it. In an opening vignette — which works as an effective short film on its own — a young boy steals his dad’s porno mag, only to find the naked body of the porn star he was ogling dead in the backyard moments later. What was once titillating becomes grotesque. The corpses pile up at the edge of the frame during the funny action scenes. Black’s camera takes a second longer to process what Holland March (Gosling) and Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) are actually doing. March’s tween daughter, who seems to find herself in the middle of everything, is the human character at this film’s heart, a voice of reason in a sinful cesspool. The humour is mostly performance-based. The story climaxes with a loud shoot-out that forgets the central theme. In this bleak world, even the nice guys have a rough edge. Healy and March are only heroes because they’re slightly better than everyone else. Russell Crowe — who plays the straight man — and the script by writer-director Black elevate this buddy action-comedy to a level that is respectable, yet hardly original. This is mostly a silly, entertaining film, and Gosling uses it to forge another tool for his toolbox: a mode of physical and improvisational comedy that is erratic yet calculated. With daring choices and a consistent track record, Gosling, a sex symbol with a pretty face and pretty abs, has proven to be a pretty great actor as well. He is a Hollywood stud whose films you can go to for the brawn, but stay for their brains. Although you could be deceived by what seems like dumb slapstick in The Nice Guys, it’s a film with more on its mind than your average coked-out comedy.
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Arts
The first weekend of July isn’t just reserved for Canada Day hangovers and camping trips. It is also when FVDED will return to Surrey’s Holland Park. Even though FVDED is only in its second year, the idea has been around for much longer, according to Alvaro Prol of Blueprint. “We always wanted to do something that was unique to us,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of things come and go, and what worked [or] what didn’t. We knew we wanted to do something that was more accessible, something that was a little more urban in its offering.” Wanting to have an accessible and more urban festival, location comes into play: “Once the park got refurbished for the Olympics in 2010 there was always an opportunity to do something there. When the Mumford & Sons event happened there, it was the first big kind of concert to happen [at Holland Park]. We went because our partner Live Nation was producing that show and that’s when we said, ‘OK, we are going to bring this festival here,’” said Prol. Holding FVDED in Holland Park wasn’t just about being able to use an updated space, but also using an easily accessible one. Stated Prol, “We have a festival site right in the city where people can take a SkyTrain and be at the doors of the festival without having to worry about parking or staying in a hotel or camping
Jess Whitesel / Arts Editor
arts@the-peak.ca
and all the different kinds of costs and inconveniences that it takes to get to a festival. “There really is something unique about the space and it spoke very much to what we do. We are a city, urban group. We wanted to do something that reflected us,” he said. Since so many festivals take place outside the cityscape, Prol wanted to focus on the urban landscape of Vancouver. “If you haven’t come to Vancouver and you are coming for the first time and you are in the SkyTrain going from downtown all the way to Surrey, and you see the beauty of our city all around. You don’t have to go and camp five hours away to see our beauty.
“So, from a Vancouver perspective, showcasing the [beauty of the] city at the forefront, and getting people over to Surrey from a visitor standpoint — that is one of [the]
things that we want to achieve. For Surrey and the region, it is such a positive event in the sense of chatter and social media hits. There is so much good press that I think this is a really good thing for the region.” For a major company, the importance that Blueprint and Prol — the creative forces behind this year’s lineup — place on local and Canadian artists is refreshing to see, especially when there are numerous festivals that would rather bring in multiple big-name acts than support the local ones. “We are very motivated to help develop and give situations and positions to some of the local guys that are working hard and being successful. The good thing about our local music scene is that it is very healthy right now. We have a lot of great producers. It’s been a while since we’ve had so many different kinds of acts coming out of Van that are making noise.” Prol did express some disappointment at not being able to get two Canadian artists to headline the festival like last year with the Weeknd and Deadmau5, but given that the rest of the lineup does have a Canadian focus with artists like Belly, Kaytranada, and Pomo, helping mitigate the lack of a Canadian headliner. With a local and Canadian focus, a third stage added, and tickets already 85 percent sold, it seems safe to say that Holland Park will be a home for FVDED for years to come.
A Dead Forest Index is a musical duo formed by brothers Sam and Adam Sherry. The two worked independently as solo artists, collaborating when the opportunity arose, until 2010 when they decided to officially join together. “Everything just fell into place when we chose Melbourne as a new base, and our project has been at the forefront ever since,” explained Sam in an interview with The Peak. Sam is the percussionist of the two. He fills in the rhythms, as he dances with drums and piano through the undulations of Adam's voice. Adam, the vocalist and guitarist, weaves a visual melody within the pulsing waves of Sam's rhythms. Currently, the duo is on a world tour with labelmate Chelsea Wolfe. Their recent performance at the Imperial was an amazing evening, as the two groups performed back to back. Chelsea Wolfe and her crew were a maelstrom of beats drumming through the body. A Dead Forest Index was an undulating wave of shifting sounds that ring true of their gentle and subtle voices. “It has been an amazing and incredible journey so far, and actually our first time travelling around the US and Canada,” said Sam. “It would be hard to pick one place from so many cities, but travelling through a place like Memphis really stands out — so much history. Chelsea and crew are beautiful people, and it's an honour to share the stage every night.” A Dead Forest Index revisits the traditional and the simple,
merging the techniques of looping and drones, to create a sound that evokes both thought and feeling. As Sam explained it, the key elements in the writing process are hard to define; but imagery and words form a collection, or a kind of song cycle, that all comes back to inspiration from travelling, and something ancestral. The duo released their debut album In All that Drifts from Summit Down in April 2016. Prior to that, they released two EPs: Antique (2012) and Cast of Lines (2014). Antique was an important starting point for them, and the recordings still hold a special place in their history. According to Sam, Antique carries a denser and heavier atmosphere. Certainly there seems to be a more solemn tone on the EP; however, the tracks of In All that Drifts from Summit Down are equally surreal and memorable. When asked what his favourite track from their debut album was, Sam replied with “Homage Old.” “It's a very special one for us and was written at the end of our period of living in Melbourne,” he explained. “The cello drone is played by our dear friend Nicholas Jones, and hearing that cello always brings me right back to watching him play in the studio, such an amazing style.”’ For their next steps, the duo is looking forward to working on their next album, while continuing to tour and travel as much as possible. “We really love being on the road, but also look forward to finding somewhere isolated to start finishing new ideas,” said Sam. The voices of A Dead Forest Index are clear and beautiful, but also powerful and moving like the drifting waves hinted at by their song titles. Their unique presence is sure to leave a distinctive mark in the evolving stage of contemporary music as they continue on their journey.
Humour
In a recent bid to gain listeners, SFU radio station CJSF 90.1 FM has begun broadcasting test answers. The hope is that students will finally tune in, if only to pass their next midterm. At first the CJSF used a brazen approach, simply announcing test answers at select times. However, SFU administration was quick to crack down, and they were forced to use more subversive methods. A complicated code language was created using Led Zeppelin as a base. Their songs were edited and looped so that the pitch and tempo of Robert Plant’s moaning noises would
Justin Stevens / Humour Editor
June 13, 2016 humour@the-peak.ca
indicate what the answer was. However, the administration soon caught on to this new trick and the radio station was warned to cease aiding cheaters. As a result, more extreme measures were employed. CJSF began to play edited rap songs under the guise of mixtapes in order to broadcast answers. The works of Drake, André 3000, Ice Cube, and even Meek Mill were edited together to spell out test answers, such as “Started from the bottom now the answer is muscular dystrophy,” and “Straight outta the textbook, crazy muthafucka named page 67.”
What is reality? It’s a question that keeps me up at night, although regular consumption of caffeine might also be a factor. For many, reality is merely existence in and of itself. But then again, the masses are nothing but a bunch of un-woke sheep, content to shill themselves to the secret masters who’ve enslaved their minds. Clues exist that reality is really a mere simulation — a “Matrix” if you will — of which we humans are not in control. One of the most damning pieces of evidence is the children’s book series, Curious George. You might think, “What a load of shit, they’re harmless children’s books.” But think again, sheeple. In these books lie the sinister secrets to the infuriating truth of our existence. On the always-reliable and factual forums of Godlike Productions and TinWiki, many are recording their suppressed memories of Curious George being a book about a human boy with a fully-grown ape as its owner and master.
The radio station claimed these were not test results, but rather were “unreleased and experimental collaboration tracks.” The administration caught on once again. This was the last straw, and the radio station was taken off the air. Two days later, however, the CJSF was back up, broadcasting from a bathroom at the top of the Academic Quadrangle, calling itself the true “Pirate Radio” and babbling some nonsense about "fighting the good fight." When asked about the controversy, SFU student Jordan Clemens summed up the general feeling amongst the student body, saying “I didn’t even know we had a radio station until now. Hell, I didn’t even know people still had radios. I thought they stopped making those like 80 years ago!”
This role reversal is part of a larger phenomenon known as the “Orangutan Effect.” The Effect involves memories people have of orangutans forcing them into induced sleeps through suspended animation, which naturally hints at a larger ape-takeover of the Earth. That’s right: the apes are running the zoo, people, and we’re all animals being goggled! Remember Harambe, that gorilla over whose death we all got outraged? Well, he’s probably laughing his ass off in an alternate reality while looking at our fake memories through a remote viewing device! Our minds are enslaved, people and until we all wake up, we won’t be able to do anything about it. And when we wake up...well, I’m not exactly sure what to do then. I mean, I guess we could type in “What is the Matrix” on Google and see what happens. If that doesn’t work, then we could just get really angry and go on rants on Reddit. Take that, you damn dirty apes!
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14 Humour
In the wake of a godawful and miserable loss to some nobody for SFSS president, I have decided that I, Grace N. Howl, will instead be setting my sights on something bigger. I have locked my hawk-eyes on something much more prestigious and rewarding than any silly presidential race. Why play imaginary president when you can take over the boss of your company and dominate your workplace, one measly co-worker at a time? That’s right, nerds. Eat your heart out, because Grace N. Howl is coming to your workplace, destroying the competition, and coming out on
top as queen of literally everything. I’ve decided to take a break from school this semester and work with (hopefully) mature adults who won’t complain about microscopic things like endorsements, or who go around misplacing perfectly fine newspapers as a way to vent their anger. This is child’s play, and Grace has left the playpen. Instead of flaunting myself around campus, I am currently on a co-op term with the City of Surrey. I work in this unit that focuses on Urban Planning and Community Development, but if you ask me, that sounds like a killer excuse to begin my
Justin Stevens / Humour Editor
humour@the-peak.ca
eventual takeover of the city. It’s like fate that I’m here, working in a place that deals so closely with how to make the city better. I know that I will be just the person to do it. I brought great ideas to my supervisor, like building walls around Surrey’s city borders and connecting our SkyTrain system to Coquitlam and getting them to pay for it, but she just laughed and shook her head and told me to scurry off to my little cubicle and continue my data entry. How am I supposed to thrive in this mind-numbing environment with straightforward numbers that even a raccoon can input? This is nonsense! The city won’t become great if you just keep track of how many bike parking spots we have or where we can put some stupid sculpture up.
SFU has over 100 clubs and student unions, all of which are excellent avenues for networking, gaining experience, and the occasional ego boost. However, a new study suggests these organized social gatherings might exist for more ulterior motives. According to a study produced last week by SFU, approximately 70 percent of all executive members from Departmental Student Unions (DSU) and clubs hold the position purely to pad their resumés. “We polled about 80 execs from across SFU and found that the majority felt their resumés were weak and needed some filler,” said lead researcher Dr. Doris Blankfein. Dr. Blankfein confirmed the majority of exec members “have no real responsibilities” and “don’t give a shit.”
“Our findings showed that an overwhelming majority have the position just to have the position, and don’t really do anything.” We spoke with one executive member who wished to remain anonymous. He said, “I mean, my official title is co-vice president of external relations, or something like that, I can’t remember really . . . I guess I took the job so I could pad my resumé. It also makes me feel accomplished. It’s incredible the effect this title has had on my ego. Now, when I talk to people, I have a reason to be self-righteous and snobby!” “It’s been wonderful," said another DSU member. “With my new title of co-director of marketing engagement, I can actually offload my work onto the other co-director and members of exec. “I don’t do much, but my title does the work for me!” The report concluded that about 15 percent held their position because they “actually do the majority of the work,” while another 15 percent had their position by default because nobody else wanted it.
Diversions
Maia Odegaard / Business Manager
June 13, 2016 maia@the-peak.ca
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LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
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16 Last Word
Tamara Connor / Features Editor
features@the-peak.ca