The Queen's Journal, Volume 147, Issue 9

Become a contribu tor : Wr i t e , e d i t, photograph.

the Queen’s University

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journal

Volume 147, issue 9

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Thursday, October 10, 2019

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Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.

Engineering Society wellness centre shuttered President, employees elaborate on end to 2016 pilot program C arolyn S vonkin S ydney K o R aechel H uizinga Journal Staff

R aechel H uizinga News Editor

See alcohol on page 4

traditional lands of the

since 1873

Student politicians push back against alcohol policy changes Before the public consultation period ended for Queen’s proposed alcohol policy on Tuesday, the University received overwhelming feedback from multiple student governments and faculties opposing some of its revisions.

Last updated in 2012, the alcohol policy in its proposed state seeks to usher in significant restrictions to on-campus consumption of alcohol, whether it’s at campus drinking establishments or Orientation week events.

While the AMS has had multiple meetings with the alcohol policy subcommittee since taking office in May, the Society submitted a final report to the University on Oct. 8 emphasizing its opposition to several of the changes the policy aims to implement.

Included in the report were statistics from a survey the AMS hosted, seeking input from both students and non-students about the proposed revisions.

The survey garnered more than 2,000 student and faculty responses.

Overwhelmingly, respondents criticized the policy’s proposed restrictions to alcohol consumption at campus bars and during Orientation week.

“We found that the results of this survey are consistent with our advocacy to date and reflect our current concerns with the alcohol policy,” AMS President Auston Pierce wrote in a statement to The Journal.

Though more than 2,000 students and non-students participated in the survey, varying numbers answered specific survey questions.

When asked whether respondents would feel less safe an off-campus establishments, 1,333 of 1,838 agreed, while only 461 respondents said they feel safe both on and off campus, and 44

Situated on the

Federal candidates in descending order based on national polling.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA RANKINE

Vehicle crashes into Brock Street house, damages estimated at $150,000 At approximately 2:42 p.m. on Tuesday, a vehicle crashed into a house on the corner of Brock and Frontenac St. According to an Emergency Response Activity Report by Platoon Chief David Latour, Kingston Fire & Rescue (KFR) crews and the Tech Rescue Unit were on the scene to deal with the crash, along with the Kingston Police Force (KPF) and an ambulance.

Chief Latour also reports searches of the vehicle, area, and living room of the house by KFR found no people at the scene of the accident. The car was towed from the house and Tech Rescue stabilized the building. No firefighters were injured.

Marilyn Johnson, ArtSci ’21, lives across the street from the house the vehicle crashed into.

“I heard the swerve and saw

the bang from my window and ran out,” she told The Journal in a written statement. “There were 4-5 guys fleeing the scene.”

Johnson said she stayed at the crime scene for approximately an hour to tell her story to officers.

KFR estimates damages for the building and vehicle at $150,000. ­—Carolyn Svonkin

“There were 4-5 guys fleeing the scene,” Marilyn Johnson said about Tuesday’s crash.

The Engineering Wellness Centre closed permanently on Oct. 9 after almost four years of operation due to a lack of funding and support staff.

Located in Jackson Hall, the Centre was the result of a 2016 pilot program that aimed to promote mental wellness for engineering students. It closed after a decision to reallocate the service’s resources into other programs.

“After careful assessment, it has been determined that the required resources could be better utilized, and support a broader range of engineering students, through other support services and channels,” a statement posted to the Centre’s Facebook page said.

The statement referenced embedded counsellors in the engineering faculty and Student Wellness Services as alternative support options for engineering students.

“The Engineering Society is disappointed to see the loss of a great mental wellness resource on campus,” Delaney Benoit, Engineering Society president, wrote in a statement to The Journal.

“Options for re-establishment of the centre or for an alternative resource for students is currently under investigation by the Engineering Society Director of Social Issues.”

Rebecca Bonham-Carter was one of the Centre’s assistant managers from the 2018-19 year. Aside from assisting the head manager in supporting staff, Bonham-Carter was responsible for event planning.

In an interview with The Journal, Bonham-Carter said the Faculty of Engineering wanted to take back the room the Centre was operating out of for office space.

“That was one thing, just trying to find a space on campus, and that’s still really a struggle for wellness support centres,” she said.

Aside from the Centre’s space, See wellness centre on page 4

IN THIS ISSUE: Inside Canada’s wackiest political party, p. 5, Student voices on the federal election, p. 7, Homecoming walks tightrope between tradition and safety, p. 8, Queen’s YouTubers get candid, p. 10. queensjournal.ca

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News

2 • queensjournal.ca

Andy Brooke, People's Party Carolyn Svonkin Assistant News Editor This interview has been edited for clarity.

What do you believe is the number one issue facing Canadian university and college students today?

Jobs and job security. You’re facing a changing world. We’re entering a new industrial revolution, industry 4.0. Smart cities, smart factories. The labor force is going to be changing. We don’t fear that.

But we’re going to have to be nimble and flexible as we respond to that. Our party is committed to making sure that we get government out of the way to allow the economy to expand and adjust. But if necessary, for the government to regulate only when it has to safeguard rights and freedoms to make sure there’s nobody being discriminated against. There’s all sorts of reasons why government should, and properly, enter into a situation. But there’s many more reasons when we just need to step aside and let the free market act.

In September, dozens of student unions, representing nearly a million students from universities across Canada, signed a letter addressed to the federal parties outlining their priorities.

One of those priorities is the elimination of interest on federal student loans. Do you support the elimination of interest on federal student loans? Yes or no, and why?

We don’t have a party platform on this particular question. Personally, I’m inclined to agree with that. I’d like to learn a little bit more. I’m definitely inclined to agree with that. I’m so close to saying yes on that. I just want to make sure I have a little bit more information. I’m measured when I talk. I don’t like to just say things.

What specific action can the federal

government take to advocate for low-income students? And do you support increased funding for federal grants? Yes or no, and why?

Education is a provincial matter and our party is very respectful of constitutional jurisdictions. One of the problems we have in the current campaign is a frenzy of spending announcements and promises. We’re refusing to do that kind of campaigning.

People need to pause and realize they’re not spending their money. They’re spending your money. And as we talked about the future world that you are going to inherit from us, we’re going to leave you with that debt. We have a member of provincial parliament here. I greatly respect him. Whoever is elected in Kingston and the Islands must be able to work closely with the MPP. And I know Ian Arthur and I would be able to set aside any political differences we might have and put the best interest of Kingston first.

And of course, that includes students. So where that’s his jurisdiction, maybe he has to take the lead on that. But I don’t have the baggage of the other old established parties.

I’m not in any way connected to the current provincial government. So I’m in a perfect position to help Ian in any way that I can, and bring federal resources, and figure out, as I navigate being a Member of Parliament, how to find that way to bring the resources that will help him, so we work in tandem.

On Sept. 27, millions of people around the world—including more than 500 Queen’s students, faculty, and staff—participated in a climate strike, protesting inaction on the climate crisis. According to recent polls, young Canadians view action on climate as one of their top priorities for the upcoming election. In that vein, we’re going to ask four climate-related questions. Do you support a continuously increasing federal carbon tax?

No.

News in brief University to publish report this fall addressing campus food insecurity The University has formed a working group to address food insecurity in the Queen’s community, according to Tom Harris, interim provost and vice-principal (Academic).

At the University Senate’s first meeting of the year, Harris announced the establishment of a Food Insecurity Working Group, and stated it had begun to collect data for a report to be completed this fall.

In a written statement to The Journal, Harris explained the group will seek to better understand how food insecurity is impacting Queen’s students, and how best the University can work to mitigate that impact.

“Food insecurity affects student health, wellness, and success and is an unfortunate reality for some members of the Queen’s community,” Harris stated. “This is a complex issue requiring a variety of approaches to address.”

According to Harris’ statement, the Food Insecurity Working Group will review current available data related to food insecurity at Queen’s, create an inventory of work currently done to support food-insecure students, and identify any potential gaps.

The group will then examine approaches

taken by other post-secondary institutions to address the same problem and make recommendations to raise awareness for students dealing with food insecurity.

The group is currently finalizing a report that will summarize findings and recommendations related to current and emerging practices to support food-insecure students at Queen’s.

Chaired by Corinna Fitzgerald, assistant dean of student life and learning, the group incorporates representatives from Student Wellness Services, Food Services, and Student Financial Aid. The group will also draw on representation from the student body, including a delegate from the School of Graduate Studies, a student researcher, and undergraduate and graduate students-at-large.

The AMS is also represented by Bunisha Samuels, commissioner of social issues.

Harris confirmed that students have been involved in the working group and will continue to be involved once the report is finalized.

“It is my intention to use that report as a springboard for additional dialogue,” Harris stated. “The findings and recommendations will be shared with the Queen’s community, as we will all need to be a part of solution to effectively address food insecurity.”

—Luca Dannetta

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Candice Christmas, the Green Party Luca Dannetta Assistant News Editor This interview has been edited for clarity.

What do you believe is the number one issue facing Canadian university and college students today?

That depends if you want to think about it from an existential perspective or from a practical one. I’m going to say the climate emergency, but again, I think we can talk about that in a different context. From a practical standpoint, I think standard of living and tuition costs are the number one issue. Just looking at Kingston, our rents are as high as a lot of major cities, and so it’s certainly challenging for young people coming into Kingston maybe thinking that it’s a sleepy small town, only to discover that it can cost upwards of six, seven, eight hundred dollars just for a room.

In September, dozens of student unions, representing nearly a million students from universities across Canada, signed a letter addressed to the federal parties outlining their priorities.

One of those priorities is the elimination of interest on federal student loans. Do you support the elimination of interest on federal student loans? Yes or no, and why?

Yes, we absolutely support that. In the Green platform going into this election, we have indicated that all federal portions of current debts will be forgiven. So, that could be everything from a federal tri-council grant, for example, to different funding for Indigenous youth and students with disabilities. But beyond the debt the idea is to move towards a grant system, whereby post-secondary education will no longer require tuition, that that will be funded fully by the state. We hope to get to a place where student debt, at least as it relates to tuition, will be a thing of the past.

What specific action can the federal government take to advocate for low-income students? And do you support increased funding for federal grants? Yes or no, and why?

Absolutely. Whether students are low-income or not, we feel that universal tuition is something that should be a human right. For one thing, it ensures that we have equity for all youth to reach their potential, whatever that might be. In the Green plan, it’s not just for universities, it’s also for colleges and trades. Actually, as it turns out, the job force that we’re going to need, in terms of things like construction refits, for example, for both homes but also apartment buildings and also institutions like Queen’s, we are going to need, apparently, somewhere in the neighbourhood of four million new jobs across the country. And for Kingston, that would translate probably to anywhere between 25,000 to 50,000 new jobs, which is substantive.

On Sept. 27, millions of people around the world—including more than 500 Queen’s students, faculty, and staff—participated in a climate strike, protesting inaction on the climate crisis. According to recent polls, young Canadians view action on climate as one of their top priorities for the upcoming election. In that vein, we’re going to ask four climate-related questions. Do you support a continuously increasing federal carbon tax?

Increasing? No, in the sense that I think it has to be qualified. The Greens plan on taxing the most polluters, heavily. What’s different with our plan, however, is that we plan on returning that. What we call net neutral, the dividends would go directly to Canadians through the Canada Revenue Agency, your tax returns, or as a cheque.

Which is different from any of the other programs to date, including the federal one, where you have to apply for your tax rebate after the fact.

News

Thursday, October. 10, 2019

Mark Gerretsen, the Liberal Party Raechel huizinga News Editor This interview has been edited for clarity.

What do you believe is the number one issue facing Canadian university and college students today?

The increasing debts that students are taking on as a result of the increasing costs [of education]. When my parents were younger, graduating high school was considered enough to get a good, well-paying job, but things have changed now. An undergraduate degree is often regarded as the minimum standard and then postgraduate work after that. A lot of students are taking on a lot of debt as a result of this increased level of education that is being expected on young people these days.

In September, dozens of student unions, representing nearly a million students from universities across Canada, signed a letter addressed to the federal parties outlining their priorities.

One of those priorities is the elimination of interest on federal student loans. Do you support the elimination of interest on federal student loans? Yes or no, and why?

That is something that really needs to be studied, in my opinion, before we can come to a concrete decision about removing interest completely. One of the things that our party has committed to doing, if re-elected, is on the federal portion of loans that are taken out, we won’t require students to start paying back those loans until they make at least $35,000 a year. If their income falls below this, then the payments would be put on hold. The other thing is that we’re looking to give students a longer grace period before they have to start paying back those loans right from the beginning. So, I’m not in a position to be able to answer that because I think that to answer that

Ruslan Yakovychuck, Conservative Party Rebecca lourenco Contributor

This interview has been edited for clarity.

What do you believe is the number one issue facing Canadian university and college students today?

Affordability. Life’s too expensive for students. Then, housing. Our Conservative Party will make sure we make life more affordable, and [we] will lower taxes.

What happens to students after finishing school? First of all, you have to create high paid jobs. Some people take [out a] line of credit and they have no opportunity here. They have no choice but to move to a bigger city like Toronto or Vancouver. My

Barrington Walker, the NDP

question meaningfully would require really Sydney ko understanding it. Until somebody has done Assistant News Editor and published a study, and it’s been able to be reviewed critically, it would just be me, This interview has been edited for clarity. anecdotally, kind of off-the-cuff giving an answer, and I just don’t think that that would What do you believe is the number be the best way to do that. one issue facing Canadian university and college students today?

What specific action can the federal government take to advocate for I think probably the number one concern low-income students? And do you that students have is the affordability of support increased funding for federal education and the rising cost of tuition, in grants? Yes or no, and why? particular and alongside that would be the cost of housing, which is something that Yes, and this government has increased faces a lot of Canadians as well. But I would that, and the Liberal Party is committed say, it’s been a while since I was a student, to continuing to increase grants, and but I am a professor. And I think the number in particular grants as they relate to one issue is probably affordability. low-income students. Some of the l owest-income students, demographically In September, dozens of student speaking, are Indigenous students. If they unions, representing nearly a million choose that they want to go to university, students from universities across we want to make sure that we’re there as a Canada, signed a letter addressed to the federal government to ensure that they have federal parties outlining their priorities. those opportunities.

One of those priorities is the elimination of interest on federal student loans. Do On Sept. 27, millions of people you support the elimination of interest around the world—including more on federal student loans? Yes or no, and than 500 Queen’s students, faculty and why? staff—participated in a climate strike, protesting inaction on the climate Yes, that’s part of our problem. Our party crisis. According to recent polls, young policy is to make tuition more affordable.

Canadians view action on climate as one And I can say more about that later. But of their top priorities for the upcoming certainly to take care of the fact that there’s a election. In that vein, we’re going to lot of people that are profiting from student ask four climate-related questions. Do loans. So, it’s one of our policies to make you support a continuously increasing it more difficult for lenders to profit from federal carbon tax? student loans.

I support a continually increasing price on pollution. I’m splitting hairs, but I don’t call it a tax because all of the money, the way that it’s currently set up, all of the money is being returned to people. So it’s not really a tax. It’s more of a tool to incentivize the marketplace. But to answer your question, yes, I absolutely support that.

goal is to create more high-paid jobs here, more opportunities.

In September, dozens of student unions, representing nearly a million students from universities across Canada, signed a letter addressed to the federal parties outlining their priorities.

One of those priorities is the elimination of interest on federal student loans. Do you support the elimination of interest on federal student loans? Yes or no, and why?

What I would like to propose is give a break. I believe students should have a break. I think we should introduce five years [of] no interest so students can get a job.

We will focus on helping everybody. I think

queensjournal.ca • 3

What specific action can the federal government take to advocate for low-income students? And do you support increased funding for federal grants? Yes or no, and why?

Yes, the federal government, our party rather, does support a federal grants program, because we believe that too much of the cost of paying for education has been we have to work together to make sure we make life more affordable for every student.

What specific action can the federal government take to advocate for low-income students? And do you support increased funding for federal grants? Yes or no, and why?

Education is very expensive, the rent is very expensive. The carbon tax introduced

by Mr. Trudeau does nothing to protect the environment, [it] just brings high costs [in] groceries and gas. So, the first thing is we will repeal the carbon tax. We actually will focus on [making] sure everybody gets help and be realistic. We have to be a fiscally responsible government, and I believe the Conservative government will act as a small business. Government should act like that.

On Sept. 27, millions of people around the world—including more than 500 Queen’s students, faculty and staff—participated in a climate strike, protesting inaction on the climate crisis. According to recent polls, young Canadians view action on climate as one of their top priorities for the upcoming election. In that vein, we’re going to ask four climate-related questions. Do

downloaded on to students. So that is a part of our platform. One of the things that we can do, as I said, is to bring back the grant system.

We also want to make it more difficult for lenders to profit from student loans. In the long run, what the NDP wants to do is to make the post-secondary system part of the K-through-12 system. So that’s the long-term strategy, moving towards the elimination of tuition at the post-secondary level because we’re of the belief that university degrees and undergraduate degrees become the de facto high school diploma that the demands of the job for such that if students don’t have training in a trade or a college diploma or university degree, they’re going to have a very hard time in the job market.

On Sept. 27, millions of people around the world—including more than 500 Queen’s students, faculty and staff—participated in a climate strike, protesting inaction on the climate crisis. According to recent polls, young Canadians view action on climate as one of their top priorities for the upcoming election. In that vein, we’re going to ask four climate-related questions. Do you support a continuously increasing federal carbon tax?

Yes.

Do you support the federal government’s decision to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline?

No.

Do you support a national-wide ban on fracking?

Yes, I support a national ban on fracking.

Read the full interviews online at

queensjournal.ca. you support a continuously increasing federal carbon tax?

It just punishes hard-working Canadian students like you and [does] nothing to protect and fight climate change globally.

What I believe is to invest in green technology, not taxation, not punishing Canadians. We have to be champions on the world stage, you have to drive that to everybody. The climate change is global. It’s not a national issue, it’s a global issue. And we have to take approach as a leader to fight global climate change.

Do you support the federal government’s decision to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline?

No. This just shows that we need strong leadership. It just shows you we need actually strong leaders who actually understand better what has to be done for the benefit of Canadians.

Do you support a national-wide ban on fracking?

The candidate could not answer this question at the time of the interview.

News

4 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Former volunteer says Centre compensated for long counselling appointment wait times Continued from front ...

Jackson Hall, room 208.

PHOTO BY TESSA WARBURTON

Bonham-Carter said another reason it closed was because there wasn’t a specific supervision position within the faculty to oversee the service. While the Centre received support from faculty employees, like Karen Walker, an office staff member in the area of financial assistance, Bonham-Carter said it was a “real push” to ask them to give the time they were giving.

“It was a really hard thing to have a mental health support service underneath just the faculty of engineering when there weren’t really people in the faculty whose job it was to support us,” she said.

“We were very lucky with the support we did get.”

Bonham-Carter said funding also played a role in the Centre’s closure. According to her, there’s a certain amount of money set aside in the faculty for mental health and

Societies respond to alcohol policy changes Continued from front ... respondents claimed more safety off-campus.

Of the 1,846 participants who answered a question asking whether restrictions to the number of drinks a student can consume at an on-campus pub would be effective in reducing unsafe drinking habits, only 3.90 per cent said yes.

Representing 1,774 participants, 96.10 per cent said the policy would not be effective in reducing unsafe drinking habits.

Regarding advertisements, 2,021 respondents said advertisements associated with on-campus drinking establishments have not pressured them into consuming alcohol, while only 57 respondents said advertisements have pressured them.

Of 2,024 respondents who answered a question asking whether the sale of alcohol should be banned from Newts and SGPS Orientation week events, 1,828 said no.

Despite submitting these survey results to the University, Pierce is still concerned the Society’s efforts will be futile.

“The AMS is still concerned that the University Alcohol Policy does not take into consideration the realities of drinking culture on campus, may promote a dangerous culture around alcohol consumption, will unduly restrict student autonomy, bar some of-age students from consuming alcohol during orientation week, and eliminate important NEWTS orientation week events,” he said.

Pierce also told The Journal that members of the alcohol policy

subcommittee told him they had consulted with graduate faculties and received “the okay” from them on the policy changes.

On Oct. 7, the Law Students’ Society (LSS) published a letter it had submitted to the Alcohol policy working group officially announcing its opposition the draft’s proposed changes.

Largely criticizing drinking restrictions to Orientation week, the LSS letter also alleged poor consultations between the University and student governments.

“A policy of this significance, that seeks to prohibit some actions in which adult students frequently participate in, should have been consulted in good faith for an extended period,” the letter stated.

“The policy subcommittee should have promised a transparent process that could lead to meaningful accommodation.”

After reaching out to the LSS for comment, The Journal was redirected to SGPS President Jeremy Ambraska.

“My understanding was that we were told this consultation happened, but cannot speak to the level of communication,” he wrote.

“While the SGPS participated in the [consultation] process, we do not and did not endorse the version of the policy that was put forward for public consultation.

We made this position known and look forward to the concerns of students being incorporated into a subsequent version of the policy.”

In a statement to The Journal, Tom Harris, interim provost and vice-principal (Academic) confirmed that the University received the LSS letter.

“All feedback received by the

deadline, including the letter from Queen’s Law Students’ Society, will be considered by the subcommittee of the Alcohol Working Group and provided to the Senior Leadership Team as part of the policy approval process,” he wrote.

Regarding Orientation week restrictions, Harris said graduate student feedback will be considered.

“We recognize that not everyone will agree with the practice of a dry-orientation week, and feedback was received from graduate students who feel that alcohol should be permitted for sanctioned second-entry orientation programs events.”

Harris added that, for many years, all sanctioned first-entry orientation events have been alcohol-free.

“Orientation is a critical time for new students. To ensure undergraduate and graduate Orientation activities align with the University’s mission as an academic institution, as well as the increased focus on wellness and inclusivity, the draft policy recommends that Queen’s orientation activities are dry and substance free.”

While Harris did not specifically respond to questions about the Law Students’ Society’s allegations of poor consultation, he did emphasize that the alcohol policy subcommittee did host extensive meetings with relevant stakeholders.

Read the rest online at queensjournal.ca.

wellness support services.

“Any funding they feel like is not being used to its fullest, they’re going to reallocate in a certain way,” she said.

Bonham-Carter said a service like the Centre could be revamped in the future if structured differently. For example, she said if the faculty hired more embedded counsellors, there would be more faculty members available to support the Centre.

“The piece that would be nice to preserve going forward is giving people spaces where they feel they can talk about their mental health with people who are going to really lift them to a place where they don’t have to worry about stigma.”

Pointing to the Peer Support Centre, Bonham-Carter said there are still options available to engineering students seeking support.

Juliana Brown (Sci ’21), a former

volunteer at the Engineering Wellness Centre, described its closure as a big loss for mental health support resources in an interview with The Journal.

“The community isn’t really enough to support students going through mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety,” she said.

“It’s not an issue that you should be resolving between periods.”

Brown worked at the Engineering Wellness Centre during her second and third years. She said since the service was available all weekend, it also compensated for the lack of available counselling appointment on campus.

“It was a really great place to find help right away,” she said. “Students were able to talk to people who can relate to issues brought up like academic stress. The faculty needs to compensate for the lack of the service.”

Thursday, October 10, 2019

queensjournal.ca

Features

•5

IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

The year Rhinos invaded Queen’s How a political party promising to break its promises came to campus

Samantha Fink Josh Granovsky Staff Writers Birds have, for too long, held a monopoly as political parties’ mascots. Eagles stand for nationalism, and doves for peace and democracy. It follows then, that a party whose views range from “abolishing the environment” to making the U.K. a Canadian province would choose a bird’s polar opposite as their mascot: the rhinoceros.

The Second Rhinoceros Party, as it is now officially called, is a satirical federal political party currently making itself known across Canada in the 2019 election.

Though no Rhinoceros Party member has ever successfully ascended to government, the 1980 federal election marked a golden age for getting the party’s intentionally mixed messages out.

Within the year, party members popped onto television screens across Canada, baffled countless reporters, and took the political stage by storm—even on our very own Queen’s campus. ***

The Rhinoceros Party was born in 1963, founded by Jacques Ferron, who died shortly thereafter in 1985. Ferron hoped to satirize politics—to make people laugh, while pointing out some real problems in Canada’s democracy, and lead eyes toward absurdist solutions.

Party members branded themselves as “spiritual descendants” of Cacareco, a Brazilian rhino that became an elected member of São Paulo’s city council in 1958. Rhinos, they declared, were a fitting symbol for politicians, who are naturally “thick-skinned, slow-moving, dim-witted, can move fast as hell when in danger, and have large, hairy horns growing out of the middle of their faces.”

Artists, singers, and poets joined the party in the 1970s and developed satirical platforms to contest federal elections. The Party steadily built up an array of candidates across the country and were especially popular in Quebec, where 14 people ran on the party’s ticket in 1974.

17 years after its formation, the Rhinoceros Party finally met the threshold to get their name on to federal ballots.

Heading into the 1980 election, the Rhinoceros Party had 63 candidates running in 62 ridings. They were led by official party leader Cornelius I, who was, yes, a real rhinoceros from a zoo just east of Montreal.

The Party’s national election platform contained its usual fare of outlandish promises. They proposed installing the Queen of England in Buckingham, Quebec. They set out plans to replace the post office with ponies. They reasoned since it was difficult to maintain two national tongues throughout the country, the Party would change it to two national ears.

As their policies brought attention to the party, the Rhinos entered their first candidate in the riding of Kingston and the Islands. That candidate was Ted “Not Too” Sharp, a Queen’s graduate student studying history.

Sharp wasn’t required to toe the party line. In fact, for current Rhino leader, the very human Sébastien Corriveau, this is one reason the party has always been particularly appealing.

When election day arrived, Sharp mustered 373 votes— one percent of total votes cast—against Flora MacDonald’s 18,146.

The “Even in the more Rhinoceros GRAPHIC BY JOSH GRANOVSKY left-wing parties like the Party as a whole Green Party or NDP, you get captured 110,597 stuck in saying what the party wants you to votes across Canada, placing fifth out of say,” Corriveau told The Journal in a recent 12 parties, and racking up more votes interview. With the Rhinoceros Party, each than the Communist Party of Canada, candidate has complete autonomy over his Libertarians, and all Independent or her campaign. candidates combined. “[Our party] gives you space to be Despite the loss, it seems Sharp got yourself, and not conform to what [your what he wanted out of the experience. He’d head of party] wants,” he said. promised to resign if elected anyway, since For Sharp, this freedom meant basing “Rhinos think elections are so much fun, his entire campaign around a pun [they] want to have them all the time.” about Kingston’s running incumbent, After Sharp, a new crop of students Progressive Conservative candidate vowed to keep the Rhino vision alive at Flora MacDonald. Sharp’s slogan was Queen’s. They entered into the 1980s AMS “Fauna, not Flora.” election on behalf of the Alligator-Rhino Party (AMS candidates did not, and still do not, endorse federal parties).

Rufus T. Firefly, Chicolini, and Marijuana Brownie—the “Party” candidates—intended to finance the AMS through lottery ticket sales, declare war on the Thousand Islands, and add penicillin to Queen’s water supply. When asked about how to expand OSAP, Firefly told The Journal in an interview at the time his team would “put a monkey on every back at Queen’s and a back on every chair.”

At the AMS election on Feb. 7, 1980, Firefly and his cohorts received 234 votes, coming in fourth place out of six. Marijuana Brownie aptly summed up their experience by saying, “I’m silent so you canta quote me.” No candidates from the Alligator-Rhino Rufus T. Firefly JOURNAL FILE PHOTO party ever ran in the AMS election again.

“Flora is running scared,” Sharp told The Journal in a 1980 interview. He also *** proposed annexing Antarctica and tying the value of the Canadian dollar to the price While the party gained attention back of McDonald's French fries, as “to see the in the 1970s and 1980s, it didn’t have the value of our dollar rising in real terms.” means to carry on when, in 1993, a law Sharp drummed up a decent passed stating all registered political parties amount of local support, with one must have 50 candidates running at a price former Queen’s professor calling his of $1,000 each. The Party dissipated, leaving platforms “the only sane solution,” before politics back in the hands of traditionalists. admitting his son was one of Sharp’s But in 2006, François Gourd, an campaign managers. entertainer in Montreal, noticed Quebec’s

hostility towards federal politics and sought to bring back the Rhinos. Brian Mulroney’s 50-candidate minimum had been repealed, and with the potential comedic material in politics growing, Gourd felt he had a lot to work with.

13 years later, in 2019, the Second Rhinoceros Party of Canada currently has 40 candidates running in ridings across six provinces.

Party leader Corriveau, who joined the party as a candidate at age 22, says this election is a moment of pride—though he hopes to have 100 Rhino candidates in the next election.

For him, the public’s cynicism towards politics has turned into national apathy, with the Rhino Party providing a way to bring people who don’t believe in politics back into decisions affecting their country.

“The regular people have to stay aware of what the MPs are doing in Ottawa,” Corriveau told The Journal. “Politicians only work with people who care about politics, and that’s dangerous.”

Corriveau says when people are excluded or choose not to participate in politics, equality is compromised. He claims his version of equality is not extreme, but “everybody deserves to be able to buy cheese at the grocery store.”

Today, the Rhino’s policies span from wrapping factory workers in bubble wrap to prevent accidents, to increasing the number of green cars by introducing new shades like forest and lime green. Most notably, they’ve entered a candidate named Maxime Bernier in the same riding as the People’s Party of Canada leader of the same name, who told CBC the prank was a “good joke.” ***

Beyond its fun and games, the Rhino Party—like most of satire—holds worth beyond a punchline.

“It’s a good laugh with a very deadly purpose under it,” said Queen’s historian Duncan McDowall in an interview. “It takes away the legitimacy of those in power and says [their power] won’t last.”

“The Rhinos got on the news each night because of the preposterous things they were proposing. [They] made people confront what’s wrong with the political system.”

Today, outlets like Golden Words and Queen’s Players keep satire alive on campus, poking fun at flaws in our allegedly fair system.

Although the Rhino Party is currently running fewer candidates than is possible to run a government, they hold “real” politicians accountable. While Polimeter, a political news website, claims Trudeau’s government has broken 23 per cent of the promises he made in his 2015 electoral platform, the Rhinos will always remain the most “honest” party since their chief promise is to break all of their promises.

The Rhinoceros Party’s 15 minutes of fame each election season remind us why it’s important to follow, critique, and question politics, and use our right to vote to influence it. And although Canada isn’t the Rhinos’ stomping ground, they’ve certainly made a footprint. journal_features@ams.queensu.ca

Thursday, October 10, 2019

queensjournal.ca

EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL Volume 147 Issue 9 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Millennials aren’t stingy, they’re saving for the future Saving money used to be regarded as a smart practice. Now, only when millennial saving is threatening traditional consumerism, saving is being depicted as an enemy to a successful economy.

A theory has emerged, according to CNBC, that “stingy” millennials are at fault for the economy’s slowed growth. By saving more money for their futures, some financial analysts fear millennials are contributing to the framework for the next global recession.

The practice of pinning the blame on millennials for decreasing consumer demand is hardly new.

The generation has been accused of killing just about every industry, from cereal to fabric softener.

Millennials have been reduced to stereotypes in the media, as scapegoats for undesirable economic trends facing older generations.

Caricatures of millennials either paint them as the financially irresponsible “avocado toast-loving generation,” or, now, as cheap, frugal spenders. As we begin to see an increase in the US’ personal savings rate, the latter has become an increasingly popular criticism.

But saving isn’t a bad thing. It’s a smart financial practice that looks to the future

instead of adhering to the consumerist values of the past. If millennials aren’t avid spenders, it’s for good reason.

Simply put, millennials don’t have enough money to spend their earnings on non-essentials. Rising housing costs have forced the generation to save whatever money they have left for practical spending on essentials like groceries and education. University tuition has risen 40 per cent in Canada over the last decade, far outpacing the rate of inflation.

Living is expensive. Once millennials have spent most of their money on housing, food, utilities, and an education, they don’t have the financial means to float the dying marmalade industry .

The decrease in consumerist shopping

School administrators banning books because of their authors’ past aren’t condemning the artists’ actions—they’re taking away an opportunity for students to learn and broaden their worldview.

The #MeToo movement has recently swung the spotlight toward public figures revealed to have sexually abused others in the past.

In response, many have stopped buying and streaming works by those artists accused of sexual misconduct. But when considering the literature produced by controversial authors, total banishment shouldn’t be considered the only moral solution.

A recent New York Times article explored why many educators believe changing curriculums to completely exclude the works of problematic authors isn’t a black-and-white issue.

Filtering what literature is taught in the classroom, even through the lens of #MeToo, is a form of censorship. We must consider the implications and potential missed opportunities for learning when deciding to ban certain content from academics.

Some see schools’ use of works by authors with violent pasts as those administrators legitimizing or accepting the authors’ actions.

But classrooms are spaces for learning.

Instead of condemning literature, students and teachers should use the

This issue is multifaceted, and there’s no simple way to understand the morals around it. Merely defending the accused authors or suggesting we can separate art from artists is a reductive approach.

Instead, when handling school reading lists, we should acknowledge the authors’ terrible actions in dialogue—without banning or “cancelling” the works from PHOTO BY AMELIA RANKINE the curriculum.

Furthermore, students should be given the opportunity to decide whether they feel comfortable studying the books given their contexts, and be provided with alternative works should they object. opportunity to start a conversation.

Educators should take these difficult If it weren’t for English course conversations as a chance to expand and curriculums, many students would diversify reading lists from problematic never have read Sherman Alexie’s The authors like Roald Dahl or Junot Diaz, Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time while finding alternative books that suit the Indian or D av i d Fo s t e r curriculum and promote a similar message.

Wa l l a c e ’ s satire Consider Students and educators should be the Lobsters. having conversations about the impact Both authors have been recently accused of the #MeToo movement, not refusing of past sexual misconducts. Discovering this to acknowledge it altogether by banning news left me feeling betrayed and disgusted. impacted works.

But regardless of my feelings, their works Students deserve to choose how they remain significant in forging my love engage with these books, instead of simply for literature. being told they can’t.

Without those books, I would never have had the same opportunity to discuss Sydney is The Journal’s Assistant social issues like racism and isolation in a News Editor. She’s a second-year Political classroom when I was young.

Studies student.

ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA RANKINE

trends also reflects a shift in collective values, as a younger generation begins to fill out the workforce and control disposable income. Many millennials have significant concerns about the environment, leading them to prioritize sustainability with a focus unprecedented by older generations.

Moving away from spending money on cheap, single-use, and unsustainable products doesn’t only mean saving money on non-necessities, better practice for

it’s also a the environment.

Change can be difficult to accept: a decline in spending may seem like unwelcome change to some concerned for the economy’s wellbeing.

But saving is practical, and it steers us away from a consumerist culture with negative implications for our personal finances, as well as the environment.

While it may be tempting for older generations to villainize millennials for saving their money, a small increase in the personal savings rate doesn’t spell out automatic economic downturn.

—Journal Editorial Board

Access to controversial reads should be up to students

Sydney Ko

•6

Editorial Board Editor in Chief Managing Editor Production Manager News Editor Assistant News Editors

Features Editors

Meredith Wilson-Smith Iain Sherriff-Scott Amelia Rankine Raechel Huizinga Luca Dannetta Sydney Ko Carolyn Svonkin Rachel Aiken Andrew Schjerning

Editorials Editor

Shelby Talbot

Opinions Editor

Aysha Tabassum Brittany Giliforte

Arts Editor

Pamoda Wijekoon

Assistant Arts Editor

Jack Rabb

Sports Editor

Alina Yusufzai

Assistant Sports Editor

Ally Mastanuono

Lifestyle Editor

Tegwyn Hughes

Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Tessa Warburton

Photo Editor

Jodie Grieve

Assistant Photo Editor

Jonathon Fisher

Video Editor Assistant Video Editor

Lauren Thomas

Copy Editors

Sasha Cohen Chloe Sarrazin

Contributing Staff Staff Illustrators

Hannah Willis

Staff Writers

Connor O’Neil

Contributors

Aaron Bailey Eric Flowers Samara Lijiam Rebecca Lourenco Kirstin Poulsen Kaitlin Salole Rose Vatres

Business Staff Aidan Chalmers

Business Manager

Christina Zheng

Sales Representatives

Mitch McManus

Want to contribute?

For information visit: www.queensjournal.ca/contribute or email the Editor in Chief at journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions.

The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston.

The Journal’s Editorial Board acknowledges the traditional territories our newspaper is situated on have allowed us to pursue our mandate. We recognize our responsibility to understand the truth of our history.

Editorial opinions expressed in The Journal are the sole responsibility of The Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers.

190 University Ave., Kingston, ON, K7L 3P4 Editorial Office: 613-533-2800 Business Office: 613-533-6711 Fax: 613-533-6728 Email: journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Please address complaints and grievances to the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor.

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Contents © 2019 by The Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of The Journal.

Circulation 3,000

7 • queensjournal.ca

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019

OPINIONS

Your Perspective

Talking heads

... students around campus

ILLUSTRATION BY KIRSTIN POULSEN

Who you should vote for this election

What takes less time than voting?

Three student clubs summarize the platforms of the major parties through a tricolour lens.

New Democratic

Conservative

Liberal

The New Democratic Party presents a progressive vision for Canada in their electoral program “A New Deal for People”: a roadmap to climate action, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, improved Medicare, affordable housing, better access to post-secondary education, and more.

To address the climate crisis, the NDP is committed to 100 per cent non-emitting electricity by 2050. An NDP government will end subsidies for fossil fuel producers, ban single-use plastics, and establish a Canadian Climate Bank.

To prioritize reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, the NDP has committed to implementing the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The party will address systemic inequities in Indigenous communities by providing adequate housing, clean drinking water, and other public goods.

Head-to-toe health care is another priority for Singh, who will invest in truly universal Pharmacare and publicly-funded dental care, eye care, and mental health care.

The NDP is also committed to adopting a harm reduction approach to the overdose crisis by supporting increased access to harm reduction, treatment, and mental health services.

Faced with OSAP slashes, an NDP government would bolster Canada Student Grants, eliminate interest on federal student loans, and work with provinces to envision a truly public post-secondary education system.

Young people are also feeling the effects of the housing crisis. That’s why Canada’s NDP is proposing the creation of 500,000 units of affordable housing.

The proposals of this platform reflect a courage also embodied by the robust fiscal approach the NDP has put forward to ensure these promises are kept.

The “New Deal for People” is a necessary—and long overdue—realignment of our national priorities toward ecological stewardship, social solidarity, and economic justice.

Think a New Deal for People. Think NDP.

Voting Conservative on Oct. 21 is necessary to ensure you’re represented by a government that’s both transparent and accountable. For the past four years, Canadians have had a Prime Minister that has twice violated federal ethics laws.

A Conservative government under Andrew Scheer will ensure that Canadians are able to trust their government to advocate for their needs. Practically, this means removing excessive government overreach by cutting taxes for every Canadian, and letting them use their earned income to cover their own priorities.

The Conservative Party understands there’s a need to support the efforts of working Canadians in their pursuit of economic advancement. For students, this includes increasing federal contribution to RESPs from 20 to 30 per cent for every dollar families invest into the savings program.

The Party’s interest is in ensuring that Canadians are financially capable of attaining their own goals.

All the while, Justin Trudeau and his government have consistently demonstrated their neglect for the struggles of working-class Canadians.

The current carbon tax has made life inconvenient and costly for the most financially disadvantaged. At the same time, large industrial emitters have been exempted in the process. Canadians who recycle, turn out their lights, and lack access to public transportation have been burdened with repaying the costs created by problems they didn’t cause.

When it comes to the environment, Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives realize the climate crisis is a real and serious issue that must be addressed.

Scheer has campaigned on his plan to force large industrial emitters to pay into a green investment fund in order to directly tackle the climate issues we face today.

It’s time to get ahead—on our livelihood and our planet.

With the campaign slogan “Choose Forward”, it’s clear that, if re-elected, the Liberal Party will continue to champion a progressive agenda for Canada.

Incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has kept 92 per cent of his 2015 campaign promises, fully or partially, the highest percentage of any Canadian government in the last 35 years.

Since forming government four years ago, Justin Trudeau and his Liberal team have kept Canada moving forward. Canada has the fastest-growing economy in the G7.

In that vein, the Liberal Party has a tangible plan to continue to make life more affordable for students. If re-elected, the Liberals will create flexible student loans with Canada Student Grants, and full- and part-time students will be eligible to receive an additional $1,200 a year. Students will be given two years after they graduate to start paying back their loans with no interest.

The Liberal Party has a strategy to invest in Canadians in a concrete way, and that includes students.

Trudeau is also taking action to protect our environment and fight climate change. When it comes to dealing with the climate crisis, the Liberal Party knows and understands that there’s still much work to be done. In addition to putting a price on pollution, the Liberals will ban single-use plastics by 2021, plant two billion trees, and will make sure Canada is on track to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Recently, a climate scientist and economist wrote an article for Maclean’s analyzing each of the main parties' plans for tackling climate change. After reviewing their environmental policies, the authors concluded the Liberal party has the most feasible plan for taking care of our environment.

This election, the choice is clear and the stakes are high. Let’s move forward together, and re-elect a Liberal government.

Aaron Bailey is a fourth-year Health Studies major and Political Studies minor and communications director & health advocate for Queen’s New Democratic Party.

Eric Flowers is a third-year Political Studies major with a minor in Economics and president of the Queen's University Conservative Association.

“Getting ready today."

Camilo Sebastian & Marcus Davis, ArtSci '22

“Brushing my teeth this morning."

Thomas,

Information Officer, Elections Canada

“Getting coffee from The Brew."

Fred Hook, ArtSci '21

Kaitlin Salole is a fourth-year Political Studies student and president of the Queen’s University Liberal Association.

This article was first published online on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at queensjournal.ca/opinions

“I don't know, that was really quick."

Evelyn Poole, LifeSci '21

Sports

8 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Striking a balance at Homecoming Queen’s tries to walk the line between pure chaos and chaotic good Jack Rabb Sports Editor

Whether you’re talking about school spirit or pure celebratory ecstasy, Homecoming (Hoco) is one of the most important dates of the year for the Queen's community.

This year’s iteration, to be held on Oct. 19, is hoping to strike a balance between the two.

Some schools have grown afraid of their own Hoco celebrations. The power of their partying threatens to pull them apart.

It happened at Queen’s. There aren’t any students left to tell you about it, but the borderline rioting of 2008 got Homecoming cancelled until 2013.

Since Hoco's reinstatement, it’s once again come to take on the drunken feverishness of years past.

Schools across the province have banded together in consultation to create measures that prevent things from getting out of hand.

The Council of Ontario Universities asked the OUA to cram all of the major homecoming dates into two weekends to make sure that troublesome students can’t do the grand tour,

travelling to a different university each weekend.

Since schools are allowed to make requests for when their homecomings are scheduled, they coordinated their efforts to minimize outsider participation in their festivities.

Western’s "Fauxcoming" (Foco) was on the same weekend as Guelph and Laurier’s homecoming, and Queen’s homecoming is slated for the same weekend as that of McMaster, as well as Western’s real Hoco.

Another part of reducing Homecoming bloodshed, specifically on the clogged Aberdeen artery at the heart of campus, is getting students to truck over to West Campus in the middle of the day to see the football game.

In the past, students would literally camp out in the ARC to be first in line to secure one of the approximately 5,000 free tickets allocated to the student body.

That was in 2013, when Homecoming was a novelty, having just been dusted off after five years on the shelf. That year, Homecoming was split across two weekends, each with their own football game. They were both sold out, with 9,037 in attendance.

Attendance kept steady for a couple of years, averaging nearly 8,500. The new Richardson Stadium’s inaugural Homecoming game in 2016 brought in 8,011 fans. Since then, numbers have dwindled.

7,542 were on hand for the

2017 game against York, and last year’s tight loss to Ottawa only attracted 7,055.

Curiously, in recent years, Hoco games have generally been scheduled against punching-bag opponents.

Queen’s hasn’t lost to York in decades, and they’re 9-1 in their last 10 meetings against Windsor. These two have been on hand for three of Queen’s last five Homecomings, and York is coming back for more this time around.

The sense that the big day is a foregone conclusion might be a reason why students haven’t been as inclined to come. It’s not a more general football fatigue—last season’s attendance represented a high-water mark for Queen’s, dating back to 2013.

The school has been making an effort—they provide free shuttle buses from campus to the stadium, and as many students who can fit in the stadium to see the game, not to mention the halftime pageantry, can do so for no cost.

Queen’s has also been making a concerted effort to connect with the community. Their game against Guelph will recognize emergency personnel, and their game against York will raise money for breast cancer research.

They’re wholesome ideas, and if they can attract more people, especially when seat prices are ratcheted up for Hoco by as much as $27.50, all the better for

the program.

The University is also continuing to spread the Hoco love. In the past, teams not named football were eschewed from campus for Homecoming so as to not steal any thunder.

This year, as in recent years, men’s rugby has a marquee matchup on Nixon Field on the Saturday, and women’s rugby will (pending a win against Brock) play for the OUA Championship on Nixon the night before. The

ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH WILLIS

women’s hockey team will also play games on Friday and Saturday night at Memorial Arena.

However you want to slice it, Queen’s has done an admirable job of trying to remedy the ills that caused Hoco to get cut off in 2008. With their renewed and holistic emphasis on sports and coordination with other homecoming-having universities, students and alumni alike are hoping to reclaim the golden years of Homecoming.

Two heads are better than one Dual-QB system challenges opposing defences Connor O'Neil Staff Writer Sitting with a record of 2-4, the Gaels are admirers when looking at the playoff picture. Regardless of their losing record, the team has been incredibly interesting to watch in one specific aspect: their quarterback situation.

The Gaels are the only team in the OUA who have not settled on a starting quarterback. Through the first three games of the season, James Keenan and Ryan Licandro split shifts serving under centre, although Keenan did take 71 per cent of quarterback snaps through the first three games.

Despite the overwhelming majority of the snap share going to Keenan, Licandro performed almost parallel to Keenan through the first three weeks. Licandro and Keenan both completed 51 per cent of their pass attempts, and both averaged an accuracy grade of 3 out of 5.

In Week 4 against Windsor, Keenan took every rep at quarterback and produced the first win of the season for the Gaels.

Keenan threw for 265 yards and a touchdown, completing 50

per cent of his passes with an accuracy grade of 2.95, marginally below average.

On the ground, Keenan added 50 yards rushing on five carries.

Following the win, Keenan looked to firmly cement himself as the Gaels starting quarterback for the remainder of the 2019 season.

However, the Gaels then started Licandro against the Toronto Varsity Blues. He led them to an upset win, and then got the start in a loss to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. Licandro took every snap at quarterback through these two games.

In his starts, Licandro threw for 469 yards (234.5 yards per game) and three touchdowns.

He completed 51 per cent of his passing attempts and averaged an accuracy grade of 2.9.

The scary similarity in their stats is interesting. What’s more interesting is that they seem to run two different, strategically-deployed offences.

The pattern of starts may not have been as arbitrary as it seemed on the face of it, less a feeling-out process than a concentrated effort to exploit defensive weaknesses.

When Keenan is taking reps, the Gaels kept passes shorter, threw more over the middle crossing routes and slants, and called many more run plays specific to the quarterback.

The Gaels called 17 run plays specific to his athletic ability and averaged four designed QB runs per game.

When Licandro is under centre, the Gaels are more likely to call passing plays that allow Licandro to take deeper shots downfield, and they don’t ask him to run the ball often. The only called run plays for Licandro were on short-yardage sneak plays.

The offensive game planning seems to be dependent on who is in at quarterback. When Licandro Completions from Keenan's win against Windsor (yellow) and Licandro's is in, it’s a much more downfield against the University of Toronto (red). "X" represents the line of scrimmage. attack, whereas when Keenan GRAPHIC BY JACK RABB AND AMELIA RANKINE is in, it’s a much more balanced, short-yardage passing attack, with more called run plays to favour Keenan’s athleticism.

As per custom, Head Coach Steve Snyder demurred when asked who would be starting this week against Guelph. Odds are it will be Keenan, since Guelph’s fearsome pass-rush, which leads the province in sacks with 24, isn’t likely to allow Licandro the time to drop back and heave it deep, and instead favours Keenan’s quick passing and ad hoc running.

It’s going to be tough sledding for whoever ends up starting.

Guelph has a strong secondary to complement their pass-rushing— the Gryphon’s nine interceptions are third most in the OUA. The Gaels will honour military personnel, firefighters, paramedics, and police officers at Thursday night’s game. Fans are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to contributetotheGaelsTackleHunger Food Drive.

Arts

Thursday, October 10, 2019

queensjournal.ca

•9

Aestrid returns to Kingston to play The Toucan Post-punk band from the Netherlands talks Canada’s lasting appeal Nathan Gallagher Staff Writer

Coming to Canada on tour from the Netherlands, Aestrid calls Kingston its “second home.”

This Saturday, Oct. 5, Dutch band Aestrid finished off their tour of Quebec and Ontario with a performance at The Toucan.

The three-piece band consists of Bo Menning on vocals and guitar, Jurriaan Sielcken on bass and keys, and Ray Murphy on drums.

Aestrid put on an intense twohour show over the night, featuring songs from their sixth and latest album A Lake Inside, which they recorded in Kingston in 2017.

Originally, the group only planned to record a few demos in their sound technician’s basement here in Kingston, but they were so impressed by how the sound turned out that they decided to make those recordings into an album.

“There was something about the moment when we were recording

Jurriaan Sielcken, Ray Murphy, and Bo Menning of Aestrid.

that just felt right,” Menning said.

The three of them have been to Kingston so many times now that, according to Menning, “It really feels like our second hometown.”

Menning traces his love of Canada back to when he was 15 years old.

“I saw The Tragically Hip play in Cologne, Germany when they were opening for The [Rolling] Stones,” he said.

After that concert, Menning instantly became a Hip fan. He started listening to their music more often, and through it, learned more about Canada.

One thing they didn’t know when they first came to Kingston was that this is where The Hip originated.

Menning recalls driving along

Bath Rd. by their sound technician, a Kingston local, who stopped and said, “This is where [The Tragically Hip] record all their albums.”

“I knew they were from Canada and I was a big fan of their music, but I never knew exactly where they were from. It blew my mind a bit,” Menning said.

Aestrid now returns to Canada twice every year to perform shows, but also to write and record new music.

Menning pays special attention to the places they travel to.

He describes the moment when he came up with the album title, A Lake Inside, when the band’s sound technician took them out to Ottawa Valley.

“We went out on the lake in

PHOTO BY TESS JANSSEN

a canoe in the morning, and the water was super still,” Menning said.

“You could see all these dead trees on the bottom, and it’s like a whole other world on the other side when you flip it.”

For Menning, Canada’s landscapes are a source of inspiration: they’re an opportunity for self-examination and for “thinking back to where you come from and what you’re doing right now.”

“Often on these Canadian trips, I tend to get very reflective,” Menning said. “We’ve been playing in this formation with the three of us for eight years.”

Thinking of their past and how they started, Menning says Aestrid started as nothing more than a bedroom project of his.

Then he met Sielcken through their shared love of recording music, and because they live in the same town of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Later, they added Murphy, who was previously Menning’s boss at an espresso bar.

After what was initially supposed to be Menning doing them a favour by filling in on the drums during a gig, Murphy decided to stick around.

After reflecting on Aestrid’s history, Menning has turned to the future.

“People always ask what’s the ultimate dream for this band, and I always say I just want it to never stop.”

Blur captures movement and relocation through photography

Sandra Brewster represents Black history in her work

PHOTO BY MIKE HIGHFIELD

Sandra Brewster’s Blur.

Rebecca Lourenco Contributor

Toronto-based artist Sandra Brewster chronicles movement through Blur, a photo exhibit on display in the Agnes now.

Mounted above the administration desk at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Blur will be hanging there until Sept. 6, 2021.

As Brewster’s latest project, Blur focuses on three members of the Kingston community, one of whom is featured twice.

The artist started working on the piece over a month ago, started with a photoshoot in Kingston, before returning to Toronto to work on the images. Though this particular series is only about a month old, it’s not the first Blur series Brewster has created.

“I began a couple of years ago where I would ask people to pose in front of the camera, but also to move, and when I take an image of them, I can capture the movement in their faces and sometimes in their bodies,” Brewster said in an interview.

These four images were taken at low shutter speeds to capture various stages of movement—making the photos appear blurred.

“The idea behind it was to allude to a movement from one place to another place, […] my family is from Guyana, so I always allude to the movement of them leaving Guyana and coming to Toronto,” Brewster said.

By representing other people’s physical movement through her photography, she’s able to

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

reflect the larger-scale movement of Black families and individuals in Canada.

“It’s a change of home from one place to another place. I wanted to use a bare-bones kind of method and use the actual action of movement to bring out some ideas around what happens to one’s identity when they make such a move,” she explained.

Brewster’s process involves printing out the image and then using a gel gloss medium to cover the image and the surface she’s working on.

She then holds the two together face-to-face and wipes off the paper after it’s dry, leaving the transferred ink on the surface.

Read more online at queensjournal.ca

LIFESTYLE

10 • queensjournal.ca

Lifestyle

Tegwyn Hughes Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Apart from academics and part-time jobs, most Queen’s students pursue a handful of hobbies. From joining clubs that satisfy our interests to going for runs along the waterfront, we fill our spare time with simple activities that make us happy.

For these four YouTubers who go to Queen’s, their hobbies have the potential to change their lives, influence people around the world, and even drive a profit.

Peter Kachan

“It’s sometimes weird, just whipping out a camera in Stauffer and filming myself while everyone’s around studying,” Queen’s YouTuber Peter Kachan told The Journal in an interview. “[But] it gets more natural over time.”

Peter Kachan, Comm ’20, has had almost two years to get used to filming himself on campus. The fourth-year student’s channel, KachanTV, has been active since January 2018.

With more than 3,000 subscribers, Kachan’s become a recognizable figure on campus, posting videos about Queen’s and student life on YouTube. For him, making videos and sharing his life online has always been a goal.

“I’ve always been passionate about making videos,” he said. “[In university] I spent my time studying and going to the gym—I didn’t have many hobbies. I kind of wanted to start a new project.”

In second year, Kachan decided to start vlogging his day-to-day life as a Queen’s student. He saw the need for university-focused content, after having unanswered questions as an incoming student.

YouTube can be life-changing and even drive a profit.

STUDENT LIFE

Ally Mastantuono Lifestyle Editor

This article discusses sexual assault and may be triggering for some readers. The Journal uses “survivor” to refer to those who have experienced sexual assault.

We acknowledge this term is not universal.

In 2016, BuzzFeed published the victim impact statement of a sexual violence survivor known then as either the “Stanford victim” or “Emily Doe.” The statement, which recounts the night “Doe” was assaulted behind a dumpster by Brock Turner while unconscious, and the grueling trial that followed, immediately went viral.

It was viewed more than 18 million times on BuzzFeed alone,

ILLUSTRATION BY KIRSTIN POULSEN

Gaels going viral: Four Queen’s YouTubers get candid For these students, making videos is more than a hobby “Before I came to Queen’s, when I would research Queen’s University on YouTube, there wasn’t much information about what student life was like,” Kachan said. “I saw that as an opportunity.”

With a growing fanbase, Kachan has to contend with seeing viewers around Kingston, specifically first- and second-year students who found his videos while applying to Queen’s. He says he’s been told that he influenced some students to come to Queen’s, or

CULTURAL COMMENTARY

apply to the Commerce program.

Viewers have even teared up while talking about his videos.

“It’s a lot of responsibility,” he said. “Obviously I’m not a famous person, but when people say that kind of stuff, I know I can actually make an impact.”

Abby Howard

“For some reason I don’t feel like people watch my videos, even though they do. It doesn’t register in my brain. So when somebody

Why we should know Chanel Miller’s name Former “Stanford victim” advocates for empathetic sexual violence response

Thursday, October 10, 2019

before being read out loud on CNN and in the United States Congress, and being reprinted by other major news outlets.

In September of this year, three years after her statement was released, “Doe” revealed her identity. Her name is Chanel Miller, and she’s a San Francisco-based writer and artist.

Miller identified herself in Know My Name, her memoir about the assault and its aftermath. Now, as the woman who’s been credited by some activists with helping to ignite the #MeToo movement, she’s expanding the conversation about campus

rape and empathetic sexual violence response.

Miller’s trial is globally infamous for the leniency the court gave the privileged perpetrator.

The criminal case, People v. Turner, convicted Brock Turner of three counts of felony sexual assault: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated women, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.

Turner, a then-prestigious student athlete at Stanford University, was caught sexually assaulting Miller by two Swedish male students. When they came onto the scene, the two men confronted Turner, chased after him, and held him down until police arrived.

Turner’s convictions carried a maximum sentence of 14 years in SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE prison. He was

comes up to me, that’s so cool.”

For Abby Howard, ArtSci ’20, YouTube has been an experiment in self-expression. Since launching her channel in May 2018, the fourth-year student has shared her experiences being a solo traveler, an au pair, and a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

“I had a change of heart where I decided I needed to stop caring what people thought,” Howard told The Journal. “That’s what inspired me to make the jump [to YouTube].”

Since her first video, Howard’s follower base has risen to over 6,000 subscribers, sentenced to only six months in Santa Clara County. He served three.

The brief sentence sparked vast public outrage, shining a light on rape culture, dangerous white male and class privilege, and the US criminal justice system’s failure to support vulnerable parties. The statement Miller later published with BuzzFeed is the same one she read to Turner, the judge, and jury at the sentence hearing.

The same words that impacted millions following its release failed to impact the initial ruling.

Since identifying herself, Miller has come forward about why she initially chose to stay anonymous.

“I felt that if anyone ever found out that that was me, that it would be absolutely humiliating,” she told Bill Whitaker in her September interview with 60 Minutes. “I felt dirty and embarrassed. My dream is to write children’s books. I felt no parent is going to want me as a role model if I’m just the discarded, drunk, half-naked body behind a dumpster. Nobody wants to be that.”

In the animated promotional video for her memoir, Miller shares a similar sentiment, explaining that “Nobody wants to be defined by the worst thing that’s happened to them.”

“I feared those words would follow me forever,” she says. “So I did not speak.”

thanks especially to her candid videos about being a gay woman.

“I started realizing that I was impacting not only people who were struggling, but families that were experiencing that,” she said.

“I’ve had a lot of parents reach out to me [...] Sometimes they ask for advice, which is so weird because I’m so young and still have so much to learn.”

Between her on-camera adventures, Howard is a Con-Ed student and History major at Queen’s, where she has a set schedule for her YouTube videos and her studies to avoid getting overwhelmed.

“Time-blocking certain editing hours or times to film is super important to me,” said Howard. “My [livestreams] are time-blocked as well, so Sundays at 8, I know I’m livestreaming.”

Although videos about being LGBTQ+ earn her more views, Howard doesn’t want to narrow her channel down to a niche. She said this is a conscious choice to keep her creative options open.

“My channel, for me, is made to help people understand that although I make videos about my sexuality, I have a life outside of that,” she said. “I’m a lot more than just the people I love.”

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Just as Miller is now receiving worldwide coverage for her decision to share her story, Stanford is under fire for refusing to do the same. The University is being accused of silencing Miller following their choice not to include a quote from her victim statement in the garden meant to acknowledge Turner’s crime and the plight of other sexual violence survivors.

Following the trial, Miller came to an agreement with the University: the site where she was assaulted would be transformed into a garden, and would feature a plaque with the words of Miller’s choice from her statement.

Although two years ago, Stanford followed through on their promise to build the garden, they have twice rejected the quotes Miller has chosen for the plaque.

Though the University has argued the language she chose could be triggering for victims of sexual assault, according to Miller, the rejection seemed to come from their belief that the words directly targeted Turner.

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LIFESTYLE

Thursday, October 10, 2019

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POLITICS

Why you should vote for the party, not their leader Understanding our electoral system may influence your final decision Samara Lijiam Contributor

The federal election is nearing, and many Canadians are feeling the pressure of having to make a hard moral decision when they hit the polls on Oct. 21.

Before you vote, it’s vital to fully understand our electoral system and the nature of party politics in Canada. Factoring this into your decision-making process may lessen the stress around voting, and make you focus more on which party, not which party leader, is best.

After a campaign filled with scandal, personal jabs, and what some may consider an undignified Oct. 7 federal leaders’ debate, some voters are left feeling unhappy with their options. Some Canadians even feel apathetic, and might even go as far as to not vote for lack of a more appealing choice.

Disdain for the personal shortcomings of our party leaders seems to be at the forefront of

many people’s minds as they head to, or avoid, the polls.

Although this election brings with it many hard decisions, I want to remind voters to put their issues concerning the party leaders aside and pay more attention to the substance of each party’s platform and policies.

Party leaders, if elected prime minister, are our voice on the global stage and an integral part of national politics. They’re elected with trust and under the expectation that they will follow through on their promises. But at the end of the day, leaders are only a small part of their party. Leaders come and go, but when you elect a party into government, they’re there to stay.

[A]t the end of the day, leaders are only a small part of their party.

Leaders come and go, but when you elect a party into government, they’re there to stay.

When voting, it’s important to understand our electoral system and its unique way of counting and applying our votes.

Canada currently has six federal

parties: the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democratic Party (NDP), Greens, and the lesser-known Bloc Québécois and People’s Party of Canada.

We have a firstpast-the-post electoral system, which means our federal election is really 338 simultaneous elections happening all over the country.

Canada is divided into 338 ridings, and each of these ridings has a seat in Parliament. The party that wins the most seats, or ridings, forms the government.

This means that the number of votes a party gets doesn’t directly translate into the number of seats they get in Parliament. In fact, it’s possible for a candidate to win the majority of votes, known as the popular vote, but lose the election.

Support for a party, if spread out, won’t always be reflected in their seats in Parliament. It takes concentrated support to win a riding.

This flaw in our electoral system is important to note because it means voting for whichever leader or party you want might not be the most effective way to vote.

If, for example, your first choice has little support in your riding, your local vote won't hold much weight in the grand scheme of the election—in fact, it likely won’t go past your riding. It might, instead, be more effective to vote for your second-most desirable option, if that has more local popular support. In this case, your second choice would have a fighting chance of winning your riding.

ILLUSTRATION BY ROSE VATRES

This structure is why taking a more well-rounded approach to our election and learning more about our political institutions is an integral part of being an educated and civic-minded voter.

[L]earning more about our political institutions is an integral part of being an educated and civic-minded voter.

Everyone going into an election has a different reason for voting.

But it’s vital to not let your feelings about the leaders be your sole decision criterion when it comes to voting because, in the end, your local candidate is the one who represents your interests in the House of Commons.

More importantly, don't let your disenchantment with the leaders deter you from voting at all.

LIFESTYLE

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Thursday, October 10, 2019

POSTSCRIPT

How joining Queen’s Bands changed my university experience for the better

Paige was initially hesitant to join Queen's Bands, but the experience has positively shaped her university career.

Why being part of the largest student-run marching band in Canada is incomparable Paige James Contributor

During my first year at Queen’s, I was relatively uninvolved. I was a part of Queen’s Dance Club so I could continue to dance as I had in high school, and went to socials with my residence floor.

Otherwise, I mostly hung out with my close group of friends. I spent most of the year in my bedroom, wanting to do more.

Come my second year, I knew I wanted to be more involved on campus but I didn’t know what clubs or organizations to join. As an ArtSci orientation leader, or Gael, I had the opportunity that September to revisit Queen’s in the Park and the Sidewalk Sale, orientation events promoting recruitment for clubs on campus. I had the chance to talk to representatives of different student organizations with more confidence than I’d ever had as a first-year student.

At the time, one of my closest friends was a cheerleader with Queen’s Bands, and he suggested that I join the club and play an instrument. I was interested, but initially hesitant.

I played trumpet in high school but hadn’t performed on the same level as I assumed other Queen’s students had. I also knew I’d be rusty if I tried to pick it up again.

But after grabbing dinner with that same friend one night, he suggested we go to the information session “So, you wanna be in Queen’s Bands?” to see if I liked the atmosphere.

I nervously sat through the information session feeling a little overwhelmed. The Bands’ executive standing in front of me seemed so passionate, and I didn’t think I’d ever love it as much as they did.

The Bands’ executive “standing in front of me seemed so passionate, and I didn’t think I’d ever love it as much as they did.

”

I spent the first two nights of their audition period in my room, wondering whether or not I should try out. On the last day of auditions, I finally opened the Google Doc to see if there was any room left for me that night.

I almost hoped there wouldn’t be an open slot so I could at least say I had checked, but there was space. I put my name down to audition for the Brass Band and Highland Dance.

At both auditions, I had some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. I could tell right away that the people involved in Queen’s Bands were kind, the questions they asked were the perfect level

of silly, and I felt comfortable with them the minute I walked in the room.

During my Brass audition, a member of another section of Queen’s Bands asked me if I was interested in trying out for Drum Corps. If so, he could conduct my audition on the spot. I was confused as to why he thought I’d be a fit for the drums, but agreed to do it.

In my audition, he had me wrap some strange mallets around my fingers and spin them a little too close to my face for comfort. When I finished and left the room, I was nervous, but excited to see the list of successful applicants they were posting the following day.

The next morning, I tried to play it cool as I walked up to the doors of Grant Hall to see the final list of new members. I scanned over the Brass Band and Highland Dance list and was disappointed to see I hadn’t been placed in either section. Just as I was about to turn away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw “Paige James—Tenor Drum” under the Drum Corps list.

Over the next few days, I experienced a variety of emotions—my excitement over my acceptance into Queen’s Bands quickly mixed with the stress around the busy schedule that came with it. With my first marching practice that same night, drum practice the following day, and our first home football game only two days after that, I felt overwhelmed.

Despite my initial misgivings, I quickly made friends in Drum Corps and connected with

members of other sections who I shared mutual friends with. The community of Queen’s Bands immediately made me feel like I had a family and place on campus.

Words can’t describe the pride I felt every time we marched onto the field at Richardson Stadium during halftime, or the joy I felt seeing all the smiling faces at Christmas parades.

Words can’t describe “the pride I felt every

time we marched onto the field at Richardson Stadium during halftime [...]

”

In my first year in Bands, I also had the opportunity to attend the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade. After an 11-hour bus ride to Boston and two nights in a hotel, I felt even more at home with my fellow bandmates.

Towards the end of my first year as Tenor Drum, I decided to run for Drum Sergeant, which is the section head of the Drum Corps. I was lucky enough to get the position.

My experience on the executive team throughout my second year with Queen’s Bands expanded my circle of friends, allowing me to meet and work with people from other sections of the team. It also gave me the privilege of selecting new members for the section.

The three new members I chose have since turned into some of my best friends.

The first, a charismatic Scottish exchange student, quickly bonded

PHOTO BY TESSA WARBURTON

with nearly everyone in the band.

Even though he returned to Scotland after his Study Abroad, we still talk about him all the time.

As for the other two students, I’ve had the opportunity to watch them grow into amazing role models for all of this year’s new recruits.

Currently, I’m a member of the Bands’ Operations and Finance team (also called a Band Manager) and a Quartermaster. Although both of these positions consume all of my spare time, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Whenever we’re doing recruiting events for Bands, we always tell prospective members that joining Queen’s Bands is the easiest way to make 100 new friends overnight.

Although this may be a slight exaggeration, there’s no denying the strong sense of community the team fosters.

The leadership opportunities I’ve held in Bands have also been some of my most valuable experiences during my time at Queen’s. Knowing I’m now a part of the legacy that is the largest student-run marching band in Canada is incomparable.

I’ll always look at my time in Bands fondly. As I head into my third year with the organization, I’m once again looking forward to meeting more Bands alumni at Homecoming. Listening to their stories is one of my favourite parts of the day.

I look forward to one day returning for my own Homecoming, and sharing the stories about my time in Queen’s Bands with its future members.