The Runner: Volume 8, Issue 13

VOL-08-ISS-13

Mar-23-2016

Tappin’ mana since 2009

THE KSA’S NEW DECK A new generation of KSA councillors will learn how to play the game

News Board of Governors Election Several outgoing KSA councillors to stand as candidates

Culture Slamapalooza’s Funding Renewed

Feature Seeking Arrangements Online

The monthly slam poetry event gets the final word

Online dating opportunities for aspiring sugar babies

find us online / runnermag.ca / @runnermag / facebook.com/runnerMAG / INSTAGRAM.com/RUNNERMAG

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Table of Contents

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News |nominees begin race for two BoG seats, four Senate 04 Nominations have now closed for student representatives to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Board of Governors and University Senate. The BoG is the highest governing body in a B.C. university, with two-thirds of its members appointed by the provincial government.

The Runner is student-owned and operated by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society.

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801

www.runnermag.ca Vol. 08, Issue no. 13 Mar 23, 2016 ISSN# 1916 8241

Culture |Funding renewed for Slamapalooza 07 The slam’s funding was renewed until May, partially so that they could finish the season and partially because it gives the next executive team a chance to look it over, as the newly-elected KSA council takes office in April.

The Runner recognises that our work, both in and out of the office, takes place on unceded Coast and Strait Salish territories, specifically the shared traditional territories of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Sto:lo and Tsawwassen First Nations. Our name is inspired by the hun’qumi’num meaning of Kwantlen, which is tireless hunters or tireless runners. Just as Kwantlen is adaptable and changing so is The Runner.

Feature | Get to know the incoming KSA Council 10 With the 2016 Kwantlen Student Elections now behind us, the incoming council is preparing to take their positions as of April 1. We took this opportunity to find out what, exactly, they plan on doing in their roles—perhaps you will use this opportunity to make sure they follow through on what they’re promising.

CONTRIBUTORS Aly Laube Braden Klassen Kari Michaels Kyrsten Downton Matt Bremner Preet Hundal Renée McMillan Shandis Harrison Stephanie Davies Torin Slik Yuta Anonuevo

opinions | Runner Run-Down: Carbon Taxes 16 The federal government made it known to the press last month that they intended to work with the provinces in order to establish a minimum rate of taxation on carbon emission nationwide. The federally-imposed carbon tax would consist of a minimum price of $15 per tonne, but the provinces would implement the tax themselves and use the resulting revenue in any way they see fit.

Satire | Keeping Canada Great Again 17 With poll after poll showing support for Donald Trump to become the next president of the United States, many Americans are looking to the Great White North as a possible sanctuary. However, their hopes may be for naught as Canadian officials are vowing to turn fleeing Americans away at the border, apologetically explaining that, “this isn’t the right time for Canada to be welcoming refugees.”

#BestPhoto Kwantlen’s finest featuring

“@kpuagriculture Harvesting our overwintering parsnip and incorporating some cover crop & compost. Busy day!“

Artist Bio

Danielle George is a largely erudite concept invented by peruvian anarchists in the late seventeenth century to justify the continued existence of free-from jazzercise. She wavers in and out of existence but, when called upon, will defend the legions of Kwantlen with her trust dog Skipper. Danielle is currently obsessed with Undertale which, according to our sources, is code for a habitforming drug that you, just, gotta try, man.

STAFF

Managing Editor

Coordinating Editor

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca

Executive Editor

Samantha Thompson deputy@runnermag.ca @sampthompson

Production Manager

Art Director

Danielle George art@runnermag.ca

Shandis Harrison production@runnermag.ca

Operation Manager

Web Editor

Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778.565.3801

Yaunna Sommersby web@runnermag.ca

Photo Editor

Geoffrey Nilson photo@runnermag.ca

Staff Writer

Kier-Christer Junos staff@runnermag.ca @kierjunos

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From The Editors The Age of Incivility

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Connor Doyle

MANAGING EDITOR

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A general rule we have here at The Runner is that we try not to fall into the trap of talking too much about American politics. We steer the paper towards issues relevant to you, the Kwantlen student, and away from topics you can read about almost anywhere else in print media or on the web. What could we possibly say about the American presidential election, for example, that hasn’t already been covered hundreds of times by blogs and publications the world over?

But despite ourselves, there are two bizarrely captivating stories from the States we can’t seem to turn our heads from. The first is Donald Trump, a character from The Fountainhead if Ayn Rand had suffered a massive blow to the head.

The second is the battle over the Supreme Court nomination, which is perhaps less overtly enthralling but equally as infuriating when examined closely. For the uninitiated—senate Republicans have vowed to veto any person Obama nominates, as they do not wish to see the highest federal court in the nation have a five-to-four liberal bias.

There’s little point in entertaining the notion that these Republicans genuinely believe it’s right to put off the nomination for nearly a year in order to let “the people” decide who should sit on the court via the election in November. The fact is, the people did decide—in 2012. They re-elected Obama and it’s his job to nominate someone. The Republicans simply

Danielle George want what they want—in this case, a right-leaning Supreme Court Justice to replace the old one—and they’re willing to do anything to get it.

In opposing the President so ardently on this matter, just as they have on nearly every other issue over the last eight years, American conservatives have changed the level of rhetoric in their country. Every point of contention between the parties becomes life-or-death. The talking points all get upgraded to the next level of intensity. Obama isn’t just a bad president, he’s the worst president of their lifetimes. He isn’t just wrong for America, he hates America. The people they disagree with aren’t merely incorrect, they’re malicious idiots who should be kicked and beaten and thrown out of the building.

Which brings us back to Trump.

The legions of establishment Republicans who decry Trump’s bullishness and bigotry ignore their own complicency in his rise. Trump’s 2016 presidential run is a creature bred from nearly a decade of vitriolic Republican rhetoric. It’s not like Trump didn’t explore the idea of running in past elections years—it only took till 2016 for his unique brand of xenophobic populism to find purchase in a conservative American population who’ve been told over and over that their country was being run by a Kenyan Muslim who wants to take their guns and send them away to death panels.

The other day I watch a documentary on Netflix called Mitt, about the 2012 Republican nominee for Presi-

what’s up this week (Mar 23 - Apr 5)

News Briefs dent Mitt Romney. You know, the “binders full of women” guy. The “47 per cent of the country are moochers” guy. I remember watching the American political drama four years ago and worrying about the dangers of a Romney presidency. These days, the idea of having that sort of person gain traction in the Republican field would be a return to basic civility I’m not sure is possible after the rise of The Donald.

Something that’s been shared on social media a lot in the last few weeks, as Trump seems more and more likely to win the Republican nomination, is a a video from 1964 called “Confessions of a Republican,” wherein a seemingly lifelong conservative American voter turns against his party after they nominated Barry Goldwater for president. In the span of four minutes the actor in the commercial argues that it would be irresponsible for him to vote for such a man as Goldwater, along the way perfectly describing Trump in eerily specific language.

This is the time for those who subscribe to the ideology of conservatism to denounce the man claiming their banner as his own. When liberals criticize Trump they can be written off, when conservatives do it—those who could conceivably vote for him, were he reasonable—he’s forced to change his rhetoric. Because Trump is, above all else, a populist. He says what he thinks people want to hear.

He is a mirror held up to white America’s racism, male America’s misogyny. And now that they’ve caught a glimpse of themselves in the mirror, they need to shape the fuck up.

with With Yaunna Sommersby

Wed, March 23

WED, March 30

WED, March 30

Health Unit Coordinator Information Session

Music at Midweek

KSA Annual General Meeting

The KPU Jazz Band and Jazz Combo II will be performing at this week’s event.

Go support these music students and enjoy some live music at the Langley campus.

The KSA is having their Annual General Meeting. It will be available for students on all campuses. Make your voice heard and share your concerns with the new council.

7 pm – 8 pm, Langley Campus East Building, Room 1645. Free. Register online

12 pm, Langley Campus Auditorium. Free

11 am – 4 pm, All campuses. Free

THURS, March 31

MON, April 4

TUES, APril 5

KPUAA event - Leadership Presence

KPU CSSA Consulting Event

Multiplayer Madness 3

Kwantlen’s Alumni Association and the Humphrey Group are hosting a workshop to help people learn about the intricacies of taking on a leadership position.

Want to learn more about the KPU CSSA? Stop by their consulting event to find out what they are all about and ask for some tax advice. All students are welcome.

The Kwantlen Gaming Guild is hosting another major event. Play some games and have fun with fellow gamers to celebrate the end of the semester.

6 pm – 8:30 pm, KPU Surrey, Conference Centre. Tickets: $10-$40

11 a.m. – 3:45 p.m., Richmond Campus Rotunda. Free

10 am – 7 pm, Surrey Campus - Conference Centre. Free

Find out more about the Health Unit Coordinator program by attending this information session to find out what this program can offer students.

WOOW pro-choice chalk campaign ended

by KPU Facilities

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Samantha Thompson EXECUTIVE EDITOR

“It’s pro-choice, or no choice,” read one of several messages written in Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus courtyard on March 17.

Another read, “Pro-choice, pro-disabilities, pro-your decisions.”

The messages were written in chalk by members of Women Organizing Opportunities for Women, a women’s collective on campus. They had arranged the event today in response to a series of anti-choice posters that had been put up around campus several weeks ago.

The posters depicted graphic images of fetuses.

According to Jessica Lar-Son, a spokesperson for WOOW, the goal of their March 17 event was to, “spread positive, pro-choice messages.”

“Our aim is to provide information to students, and also to create a safe space for discussion and support,” says Lar-Son. “As our group consistently focuses on being respectful and engaging students in a positive, non-threatening way, our goal is to promote the policies on diversity and inclusiveness from KPU and hope that they are followed by all groups on campus.”

Once WOOW had begun writing the chalk messages, they were approached by KPU security and asked to stop. Allegedly, security had been directed by facilities to do so.

“After speaking with our staff, I can confirm for you that two students who were drawing in chalk on the pavement in the courtyard were asked to stop,” according to Corry Anderson-Fennell, manager of KPU media and communications. “As this creates additional work for our staff tasked with keeping the area clean.”

“Chalk is a fun, easy, and environmentally friendly way to spread positive written messages for our students,” says Lar-Son. “It will also be naturally removed by the rain.”

The chalk has now been removed.

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Student nominees begin race for two BoG seats, four Senate seats Several outgoing KSA councillors to stand as candidates

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Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

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Nominations have now closed for student representatives to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Board of Governors and University Senate.

The BoG is the highest governing body in a B.C. university, with two-thirds of its members appointed by the provincial government.

The Senate is the highest governing academic body in a B.C. university, and it creates new programs and degrees, handles academic appeals, advises on budgets, and manages other items.

Two seats are available on the BoG. The five candidates include Kwantlen Student Association president Allison Gonzalez and former KSA vice-president of student life Eric Wirsching. They appear to be running as a slate, as indicated by their candidate statements on the MyKwantlen web portal.

Former KSA disabilities representative Kim McMartin is running, newly-elected Richmond campus representative Murdoch De Mooy is vying for a seat, and business admin-

istration student Clinton Cheung is also a candidate for one of the two positions.

Steven Button is the current student representative on the BoG. His term, which he says he has enjoyed, ends in August. He says that the board is, “Precisely not what most people view it as from the outside.”

He speaks about the memorandum of understanding that KPU signed with Trans Mountain last summer, which many KPU community members denounced. It was eventually rescinded.

It was interesting for Button to see both sides of that argument, and to be, “Sitting at that table instead of from across that table.”

The four seats at the Senate have eight nominees in the running, including all five BoG student nominees. McMartin is the only current student representative running for another term on the Senate.

The other Senate nominees include Sonja Kreuzkamp, who assists in the KPU learning centres, and Vikram Saggu, who works on the KSA student life and services committees. Third-year political science major Caitlyn McCutchen also has her name in the hat, as does Michael

Wong.

Former student senator Kari Michaels says she found invaluable knowledge about the processes of post-secondary institutions, but she also had the opportunity to, “Shape how the university works and how students are perceived within it.”

Michaels offers an example of a time she was able vote down a budget recommendation to the BoG that hindered ESL funding.

But there were many times when she offered criticisms and concerns and nothing changed. That, she says, is still important because it’s paramount that student senators and board members be brave when they challenge the norm.

“When you’re in those meetings, remember that you have as much a stake in that process as anyone else there,” says Michaels. “You’re there as an equal voice, vote, and value.”

She says it’s important for students on the BoG and Senate to constantly keep that reality in their minds.

Polls are open online on the MyKwantlen portal from 8 a.m. on April 5, to 4 p.m. on April 8. Final results will be released on April 11.

Samantha Thompson

KSA Hopes to Battle Climate Change

By Signing Paris Pledge

Organization has many environmentally friendly projects on the go

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Torin Slik CONTRIBUTOR

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The Paris Agreement is a global step

forward to reducing the effects of climate change. Now the Kwantlen Student Association has stepped up to the plate by signing The Paris Pledge.

Mairi Lester, the KSA sustainability coordinator, says that by signing the pledge, the KSA has made a commitment to help combat global warming. Organizations that sign the Paris Pledge aim to meet or surpass the original goal of the Paris Agreement.

As stated on the Paris Pledge for Action website, the goal is to limit the global temperature rise to under two degrees Celsius.

Lester explains that, while the original Paris Agreement is good, it’s limited to national governments.

“If you’re not a national government, you can’t sign the agreement because you have to be a member of the UN,” says Lester. “This is a way for trade unions, student associations at universities, religious organizations, service groups, any other group of people including businesses who want to sign on, to make a similar type of commitment.”

Lester says the KSA has already put several things in place. The first of which is the university’s waste diversion program.

“So the organic bins that are on campus as of last September, we’ve been supporting that. We do that in our Grassroots Cafe,” she explains.

“We also compost the organic waste behind the counter, like when we have ends of vegetables at the end of the day, or things that have to go in the compost because they’re no longer edible. We compost those on campus.”

The KSA also supports programs like Eco-Days and sustainability weeks on campus. Lester explains that these are designed to encourage students to learn more about their own personal environmental impact, and to teach them how to get involved if they choose to.

The Westerman Campus Garden on the Surrey campus, which was established in 2015, is another way for students to make an impact. Students grow their own vegetables, and learn about agriculture at the same time.

The garden is expanding this spring to include 10 more plots, so they’re currently looking for additional gardeners.

Kwantlen has held two Bike to Work challenges, encouraging students to bike to school rather than

drive. On Eco-Days, bike workshops have been held, featuring a mechanic to both repair bikes and engrave them. The engraving is useful in the unfortunate case when a bike is stolen. It’s much easier to deter theft

when the name is engraved on it, because it makes it more difficult for the thief to sell the bike .

All of these initiatives represent the work the KSA has put in to combating environmental issues. Signing

the Paris Pledge is a public declaration, a statement of accountability.

The Paris Pledge was officially signed on March 7.

Yuta Anonuevo

Candles for a good cause

Student business venture integrates local businesses with aromatherapy candles

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Matt Bremner CONTRIBUTOR

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Boost Your Mood is a company consisting of Kwantlen Polytechnic University marketing students Yuli Dhani, Jesse Kopan, Bri Livramento, Kyle Oser, Dorothy Poudel, Nina Wang, and Robyn Wheeler, who together may have come up with something truly great for their practicum project: sexy candles.

Boost Your Mood is about people feeling good, and as a business they focus on products like candles, bath bombs, body lotions, and macarons—all of which can be found online on their website.

The company received an initial $200 investment from KPU, and these seven marketing students have now been able to turn Boost Your Mood into a business that has generated an income of $10,000, according to their financial manager, Jesse Kopan.

Their most popular product is the “sexy candle,” a candle which, when melted, becomes body lotion to massage onto your romantic partner. It’s comprised of sweet orange, neroli, patchouli, and ylang ylang essential oils. With a product name like “Sexy Time” it’s pretty easy to understand

this particular candle’s purpose— however, their website does warn that you should not “lick partner after oil has been applied to body.”

All of Boost Your Mood’s products were conceptualized by brand coordinator Nina Wang, and many of the products that they produce are made in Wang’s own kitchen every Thursday, which the whole team is involved in. They have several other candles besides Sexy Time, includ-

ing Happy Time, Focus Time, and Relax Time.

Each candle sells for $15, with the exception of Sexy Time which is $20.

The most important part of the work that Boost Your Mood does, however, is their emphasis on involving local businesses in giving back to their community. After funneling funds back into KPU’s marketing program, Boost Your Mood gives its proceeds to Sophie’s Place Child Advocacy Centre, a place for abused children to find help and refuge.

Local businesses such as Langley-based bakery “Kitchening & Co” and North Vancouver’s “For the Love of Baths” provide the things that Boost Your Mood cannot, such as the macarons and bath bombs.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen next, we’re trying to figure that out,” says Kopan.

This integration of local businesses and charities serves as a great example for every student who passes through a KPU program, be it marketing or otherwise.

Business students launch charity program

Consumers purchase care packages to help

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Kyrsten Downton CONTRIBUTOR

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As part of the Bachelor’s of Business Administration program, senior students are required to do an eight-week project where they have to create their own online business.

Both Michelle Lashin and Antony Le, two of the six co-founders of Project Hastings, say their group wanted to do something different.

“Past groups have always sold things like scarves or chocolate or tea to consumers. We wanted to do something that could give back to the community,” says Le. “We felt it would suck to sell something that you’re not really passionate about.”

Their project, a company called Project Hastings, sells care packages to its buyers—but instead of going to the buyer, the packages are donated and distributed to homeless people living in the Lower Mainland. Each care package, priced at $30, contains one pair of socks and gloves, one reusable Ziploc bag, a blanket, and two tokens to the Save On Meats diner in Vancouver.

“We saw a need for this particular product because there is homelessness within our cities—not just Vancouver, but the Surrey area as well.

It’s something that we may ignore on

Kyrsten Downton a day-to-day basis,” says Lashin.

So far over 200 care packages have been sold, and all the proceeds from the Hastings Project are being donated to the Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Management Scholarship Fund.

“We are not thinking about the bottom line. We are actually thinking about how everyone can win. It’s not just about helping the homeless. It’s not just about helping students. It’s about doing both,” says Le. The students have been promoting their company through the website and through social media, and have been encouraging others to support the project, either through an actual purchase or simply through spreading the word.

“This is an easy way for people

to help the community. You’re helping the homeless, and you’re helping six students graduate. All it takes is a few clicks to order or a few clicks to share,” says Le. According to the City of Vancouver website, there are over 1,700 homeless people living in Vancouver alone. The students hope to reach their goal of selling 500 care packages by the end of the project on March 23, but they also hope to leave a legacy beyond that deadline.

“Our vision is to inspire other people. We know that we can’t actually solve homelessness, but we can help. The main thing we want to do is help individuals stay warmer and have a better day. Inspiring other people to make a change is what we want to do.”

Student Business Ideas Take Flight at KPU Eagles Den Competition Winner says most of the work was “just showing up”

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Braden Klassen CONTRIBUTOR

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Last month the annual Eagles’ Den business idea pitch competition was held in the Richmond campus conference centre. The competition pits Kwantlen Polytechnic University students against one another in a bid to present their business ideas to a judge’s panel, all in the hopes of being awarded a bit of funding for their startup venture.

The panel was comprised of a few Vancouver-based business owners and representatives, and the event was put together and hosted by members of Enactus KPU. “Enactus itself is a non-profit, student-run organization that works to create social, economic and environmental change through entrepreneurial action,” explains Enactus KPU president, Zain Askari. “Eagles’ Den is an idea pitch competition based off of Dragons’ Den on CBC. It’s a platform that gives students the opportunity to be creative and present their ideas outside of their normal educational environment.”

“A lot of students have a lot of amazing ideas, but they don’t really have the platform or the means to do it,” continues Askari. “So we decided to host Eagles’ Den in order to give students a little push—especially in terms of entrepreneurship—to help them get out there and actually start doing something that’s bigger than themselves.”

The awards were to be given out to the top three presenters in the competition, but due to low attendance there were only three competitors in total. This meant that everyone who entered the competition ended up going home with an award. Kathleen McCullogh, a first-year student in KPU’s Fashion Marketing program, received the first-place prize of one thousand dollars in startup funding, as well as a VIP pass to audition for CBC’s Dragon’s Den. “The biggest thing for me is the reassurance that it gives me, and knowing I’m on to something,” says McCullogh. “Without having a background in business, and being a semester and a half deep in school, it’s

nice to know my idea is plausible.”

McCullogh’s winning product was ethically sourced slippers, meant “to raise awareness of eating disorders through pop-up breakfast clubs.

The premise is to serve breakfast around a table, and people come in pajamas and slippers,” she explains.

“We can talk about mental health and eating disorders and all of these issues that we either forget to talk about or refuse to talk about, and kind of break down the walls of vulnerability and get into more authentic communication—as opposed to this false sense that we get through social media and online interaction.”

Judges Yukiko Nagashima and Laura Lalonde, both representatives from Coast Capital Savings, explained why they decided to get involved in the competition.

“I wanted to get an idea of what young people are thinking these days in terms of innovative ideas that impact social environmental or economic things within the community or on a global scale,” says Nagashima.

“A lot of the people I deal with are people who work for startup companies, so I was interested to hear these ideas at the very early stages of their development, rather than just seeing where those ideas end up,” says Lalonde.

Both judges admitted to being impressed by McCullogh’s presentation. “[Our] conversation was definitely around the potential she has to go far and attract attention,” says Lalonde. “Her presentation was quite strong. One of the criteria she met was that there was a fire in her belly, so she’s got the passion.”

“Oftentimes, most successful businesses are not always necessarily just about the idea, it’s the person behind it and how much they believe in it, and she exhibited that.”

“I feel really lucky that I stumbled across this,” says McCullogh. “It took me all of five minutes to fill out the application, and a couple hours of my time today. This feels like such a big prize to win for a small amount of work—the majority was just showing up. I would recommend this to anyone, I’m surprised that there weren’t as many candidates, because it’s such a great opportunity.”

Braden Klassen

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“Because it’s 2016” Pushes for Gender Parity in Vancouver Motion suggesting that the 50 per cent gender split in advisory committees is made mandatory

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Aly Laube

CONTRIBUTOR

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When Trudeau established

Canada’s first gender-balanced cabinet, he set an example for political bodies throughout the nation. Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer was one of many inspired by the Prime Minister’s decision.

“I do a lot of work on gender equality in an ongoing way, but this was a rare moment with a Canadian PM proudly declaring himself a feminist and watching the rest of Canada feel proud of that too. Having the top man in the country willing to put his weight behind gender equality makes a lot of space for everyone to have the discussion,” she says.

Councillor Reimer has put forward a motion to mandate gender parity in all city advisory committees. In honour of Trudeau’s now-fa-

mous “Because it’s 2015” quote, the motion has been named “Because it’s 2016.” If passed, it will also commit to levelling spending on subsidized housing and social policy grants between men and women.

By maintaining male-dominated committees, the city deprives aspiring young women of role models in their government, thereby discouraging them from contributing their ideas and perspectives to politics. It also means that women and their concerns are inaccurately represented, reinforcing toxic stereotypes about power relations and gender.

Mayor Gregor Robertson has already stated his support of the motion. However, some oppose Reimer’s plan to legally enforce parity rather than encourage it.

“How necessary these kinds of fixed rules are may partly depend on the level of participation and interest in civic advisory committees in Van-

Reimer/Twitter couver,” says Gregory Millard, Chair and Faculty Member of KPU’s Department of Political Science. “If interest is low across the board, then a rule like that could have the perverse effect of discouraging participation, because interested people could be turned away for having the wrong gender.”

Millard goes on to say that, he “seriously doubt[s] that this is a problem in Vancouver, but it could conceivably affect small municipalities.

Still, you could always just modify the rule to state that the 50 per cent threshold must be met where there is a sufficiently large pool of talented applicants from either gender.”

Millard says that four of the nine Poli Sci instructors who have taught at Kwantlen this year are women. He notes that “that seems like a decent ratio, although it hasn’t come about as a result of a specific policy mandating it.”

“For instance, you could prominently feature women on promotional materials inviting applications to civic committees” instead of enforcing a policy on gender parity, Millard suggests.

Another criticism which has been voiced by the public is that appointees should be hired based on merit

alone. As commenters on the CBC’s online coverage of the motion are quick to argue, movements like these are sometimes perceived as putting social equality ahead of competence.

Whether or not it passes will be announced on April 5. “I will champion it and, should it pass, oversee implementation,” says Councillor Reimer.

“When the gender equality strategy for Vancouver was written in 2005, Canada was in the top 5 countries in the world for gender equality—now we are hovering around 20th, below countries like South Africa and Rwanda,” she says. “The strategy presumed a level of support from the Feds and province that was no longer there. Equality is an important issue for me and the fact that women in the majority can be held back speaks to the need for greater efforts to remove barriers.”

Weeding them out City council strives to close hundreds of marijuana-related businesses

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Aly Laube

CONTRIBUTOR

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Over the past two years, the number

Courtesy of Jacqueline Green

City buys Arbutus Greenway from CP for $55-million

Greenway to be used as “transportation corridor” for pedestrians and cyclists

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Aly Laube

CONTRIBUTOR

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A “historic agreement” was reached between the Canadian Pacific Railway and the City of Vancouver when they settled on the purchase of the Arbutus Corridor.

The corridor was a long-unused railway which will now be converted into a pedestrian and cyclist passage connecting False Creek and Marpole.

CPR sold the nine kilometre route to the City for $55-million on March 7, after years of negotiation.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, not unlike New York’s High Line and other international examples,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson in a public statement. Like the High Line, the Arbutus Greenway will be decorated with plant life and public art near the pedestrian walkway. The City is also

leaving space for a potential light rail train in the future, although details have not been disclosed.

Negotiations between CPR and the City began in 1995 with the approval of the Greenways Plan, which included the Arbutus corridor as a future passage. Five years later, it was designated as a public thoroughfare for transportation but closed to the public until 2005, when it was used illegally as a walkway and garden space. The Transportation 2040 plan was launched in 2012 and 2013, which re-established the goal of developing the corridor.

The City offered to buy a portion of the corridor for $20-million in 2014. To their displeasure, CPR wouldn’t settle for less than $100-million, and the price of the land was hotly debated over the following years. When the $55-million settlement was agreed upon this year, the revenues gathered from the sale

of any “excess lands” were also discussed. Any monies made will be shared between the City and CPR, thereby ensuring the satisfaction of the rail company and its shareholders.

Because the corridor had previously been the site of several community gardens, there was public concern regarding what would be done with the plants during construction.

In response, the Park Board saved as many trees in their path as possible before CPR began removing rails and ties. Trees were relocated “in good condition to existing parks and new homes,” as well as along the McCleery Golf Course Greenway.

A project office is being launched “to oversee the design process and solicit public input on the final design of the transportation corridor and greenway.” Its anticipated completion date is by the end of 2018, but portions of it will be open to the public by the end of 2017.

of “marijuana-related business” in Vancouver has grown by over 200 per cent, according to Vancouver City Council. That, and a lack of strict regulations, has led them to enforce a new set of policies in an attempt to reduce the number of dispensaries and smoke shops in the city.

The requirements of the amended Zoning and Development Bylaw are listed on a twenty-five-page document released on June 24. It states that all businesses related to medical marijuana must operate in commercial zones, at least 300 metres away from schools, community centres, neighbourhood houses, youth facilities that serve vulnerable youth, and other marijuana-related businesses.

Further, they must have a business license (unless they want to receive a hefty fine), a developmental permit, and a signed good neighbour agreement.

“And anyone with a criminal record is not allowed to own or work for a dispensary,” says an anonymous dispensary employee. “That’s why EDEN is shutting down. [The owner] has a criminal record.”

EDEN, which is a “medicinal society” widely praised for its safe practices and quality products, has been a Vancouver favourite since 2011. Its closure has created mass opposition to the bylaw.

“It’s a really good industry though,” the employee continues. “It just has to be monitored properly.”

Others, who operate and buy from the businesses being shut down, disagree. Several long-standing storefronts have been ordered to close shop and been threatened with fines, court injunctions, and police involve-

ment if they do not comply. Some feel that the regulations are unrealistic, particularly the deadlines and penalties associated with meeting them.

All functioning dispensaries and smoke shops were required to file applications agreeing to the conditions before Aug. 21, 2015. Failing to submit an application or being found guilty of misconduct could result in written warnings, fines, or closure. As of Oct. 26, the city received 176 applications. Only 16 have moved onto the second stage of licensing.

In response to the backlash, the city has claimed that Vancouver only needs 20 dispensaries to meet the needs of its citizens. Considering that there are several hundreds currently open on the streets every day, it is a comparatively low number.

The primary means of reaching that goal have been closing operations that failed to present a valid license, causing a surplus of customers at the remaining locations. According to the owner of the BC Pain Society, it could have been too much for them to handle, resulting in understaffed stores struggling to maintain store upkeep and quality service.

It also would have led to an enormous increase in profits for the cityapproved businesses, but as of Feb. 24, the licensing law has been ruled unconstitutional for violating liberty and security interests. As a result, unlicensed growing operations can continue to sell to customers and dispensaries can keep their long-term suppliers.

Pro-cannabis activists are pressuring the capital to refuse the entire document in exchange for “a legalized regulatory environment similar to that for alcohol,” according to lawyer John Conroy. However, the city has yet to revise the list of regulations on their website.

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Funding renewed for Slamapalooza The monthly slam poetry event gets the final word

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Stephanie Davies CONTRIBUTOR

Slamapalooza recently had its

funding renewed by the Kwantlen Student Association after a long period where it was uncertain whether or not the event would be continued.

“In the last year, we had a bit of an enrollment drop, so with less students enrolled the KSA collects less fees,” says Simon Massey, the host and organizer of the event. “They weren’t in as good of a position money-wise so we had to go back and forth and look at the planning tool, and make sure it was really efficient before they felt comfortable passing it.”

The slam’s funding was renewed until May, partially so that they could finish the season and partially because it gives the next executive team a chance to look it over, as the newly-

elected KSA council takes office in April. “I’m very confident they’ll like it and they’ll want to approve it again,” says Massey.

Since the slam was renewed so recently, Massey is in the process of dealing with all the bookings. “Generally we book about half a year in advance but again, it’s all tentative now, so I’m just contacting all those people and confirming them.”

Slamapalooza is open to the community and has attracted students from a wide variety of faculties, as well as award-winning poets from across Canada and the U.S. As Massey points out, “Slam or spoken word poetry is very accessible to everyone. It’s not like T.S. Eliot or something where you have to study for four years before you can understand what they’re saying. This is art that should be accessible to everyone.”

When Massey took the slam on, he made the decision to have it as a monthly event and wanted to focus more on building an arts community at Kwantlen. “It’s always important to have the arts happening,” says Massey. By including events such as Slamapalooza, it allows exposure to the arts to extend well beyond the classroom and which invariably enriches the community.

For the remainder of the semester, the slam is looking into having some special guests. “I’m hopeful that, in April, we’ll have one of the people who was on a team which won the Canadian Nationals, so that’s going to be really cool,” Massey explains.

“In May, we might have an opportunity to feature someone who has been a World Individual Poetry Slam Champion [the top-level of competitive slam poetry].”

“This coming series, we’re having

finals to determine who will represent us at the Verses Festival of Words, which is a huge spoken-word festival that happens in Vancouver at the end of April,” says Massey.

Part of what makes slam poetry so coveted is its electric connection with the audience. It acts simultaneously as a focal point of energy and raw emotion.

“In May, we’re going to have finals to select the team that we’ll send to the Canadian Nationals, which will take place in October,” adds Massey.

This kind of spoken art form captures emotional depth on a scale that can swiftly move from heartbreaking to uncontrollable laughter within seconds, carving out words that impeccably resonate with our inner voices and outer realities. It’s a stripped-down, naked version of storytelling that’s as honest as it is universal.

Courtesy of Slamapalooza

Slam Holds CIPS Qualifying Match

Winner will represent KPU at the national competition in April

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Preet Hundal CONTRIBUTOR

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With the opportunity of a lifetime on the line, eight poets left it all on the stage in the Grassroots Cafe to determine who would be representing Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s slam team at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam championships. Described by organizer and host Simon Massey as, “probably the second biggest spoken word festival in Canada,” CIPS represents, for these poets and others across the nation, a chance to share their work with a wider audience than most performers will ever know.

Due to its “in-your-face” approach to a classic form of expression, slam poetry feels like an art tailored for the modern generation, an update on an old tradition. Massey considers it “one of the quickest and

most solid ways to convey emotion in a short amount of time,” and notes how versatile the form can be from poet to poet.

“It gives people easy access to be open, and it fosters a safe space where someone can share their stories,” he says.

This year the CIPS finals will be held in Vancouver from April 22 to May 1. Slam poets from around Vancouver have been known to congregate at the Kwantlen Slam, and the CIPS qualifying bout on March 10 was no exception. There was, however, at least one Kwantlen student, in amongst the hardened veterans, who was eligible to compete that night, and was ready to bare her soul in the spirit of both competition and creative expression.

Like Massey, first-year journalism student Sofia Waqar has been captivated by slam poetry, and recognizes its unique ability to form a connection

between speaker and audience.

“I feel that [in slam poetry] there’s this connection you get that you can’t find anywhere else. I feel that if I didn’t do slam I wouldn’t know what I’d do,” Waqar says. “You have all these thoughts and you ponder whether they are normal or weird.

In slam poetry, everyone sees these thoughts as art. It’s really empowering.”

Waqar claims that joining the slam community has helped her both in building confidence and finding friends. Before taking to the stage, she tended to keep her thoughts “in the dark,” in an attempt to seem normal to others. But slam poetry has since showed her she can be whomever she wants to be.

Waqar describes her mindset on the night of the CIPS qualifying bout as solid, but wary of the competition.

“I’ve been doing slam as a side thing for the last three years, on and off,”

she says, “but a lot of others are super devoted to it. I was just gonna go and give it my best shot without expecting anything.”

By the end of the night the Slamapalooza representative for the CIPS championship had been decided, and Waqar admits that even she was a bit surprised that it was her.

“I cannot believe that this happened,” she said after her victory.

“All of the poets I competed with are amazing. I’m just really excited and I hope that, from this point on, it’s a learning experience.”

Waqar will be in preparation for CIPS over the course of the next month, and hopes other Kwantlen students will take after her and compete at Slamapalooza for similar opportunities in the past. The regular Kwantlen slam is held every third Thursday in the Grassroots and is open to everyone.

International Women’s Day KPIRG event educates on gender issues

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KYRSTEN DOWNTON CONTRIBUTOR

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The Kwantlen Public Interest

Research Group hosted an International Women’s Day celebration on Monday, March 14. The celebration, free for everyone, featured a variety of presenters speaking to the audience and engaging them in workshops. The presenters included Brittany Sharma of the South Asian Women Against Male Violence organization, Grassroots Women, and the slam poet Jillian Christmas.

“We are trying to change the situation for working class women,” says Victoria Chen, one of the presenters for Grassroots Women. “We are trying to collectivize our experiences so we know what we actually need to fight against.”

The event covered many topics regarding gender issues, including male violence against women, stereotyping of women who are affected by violence, and the policing, exploitation, and under protection of working class women.

“These were things that kept coming out as we were talking with women. As we were looking at the stories and the experiences that we heard, those three themes kept coming up again and again,” says Chen.

The event focused on educating people about some of the realities that women face in Canada. However, it was also a collective learning experience for both the audience and the presenters. The audience itself was a diverse group of women and men.

While it was a smaller crowd, it was also attentive. The group seemed eager to learn and to share their own personal stories and struggles.

“We need to know about injustice to take action. But it’s also about learning from other women,” says Chen. “It’s important to us that we hear from women. We’re not trying to save women. We’re trying to work with other women to make our collective situations better.”

While the event was educational, its main focus was to be a celebration of women. The event and its presenters hoped to empower women to overcome their struggles and to promote others to take a stand.

“Once you know about injustice, you have to do something about it.

You can’t just forget that injustice exists,” says Chen.

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Surrey Campus Screens Out in Schools Career fair sets brewery Film spotlights growing up as a part of the LGBTQ community graduating class with industry professionals Langley hopping with excitement

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Aly Laube CONTRIBUTOR

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For most youth, school is about fitting in. Kids can be cruel, and any student considered abnormal by their peers may face bullying and rejection. Unfortunately, identifying as anything but cisgendered and heterosexual is sometimes wrongfully considered an abnormality in educational settings, and the effects of sexuality and gender-based discrimination are vast and concerning.

Out in Schools realizes this issue as a primary concern for the LGBTQ community. In response, they are striving to improve the conditions by bringing “fresh and relevant films into classrooms.” Their main mission is to, “compel youth to step into the challenges and the triumphs of LGBTQ youth,” and according to the organization’s website, it works. It is written that after a presentation, students “walk out with a fresh perspective and commitment to step up to stop bullying.”

Kwantlen’s Surrey Campus hosted a screening of some of these films on March 2. The event was supported by the Kwantlen Student Association and Pride Kwantlen but organized

by Tanya Boboricken, the Kwantlen

Faculty Association’s LGBTQ representative.

“Often times, the queer community is invisible, meaning people don’t think about [others] who don’t fit into the heterosexual norm,” she says, on why she felt compelled to work with Out in Schools. “I think we need to broaden what is acceptable and allow people to express themselves and love who they wish.”

Queer Representative with Kwantlen Pride, R Jey, also commented on the importance of Out in Schools’ visit.

“The screening is important because there are queer and trans students who feel that there are no other options at KPU than being closeted.

[At the screening], they can share ideas about what is working and not working at KPU,” he says. “If there was something like this when I first started coming to KPU in 2012, I think I would have been more out on campus than I was.”

On the night of the event, there was food, drink, and discussion. In fact, the majority of the presentation was led by three queer-identified representatives from Out in Schools: Brandon, Jen, and Andy. Standing at the front of the room around a projection screen, they defined key terms in the LGBTQ community and asked

for audience participation on subjects relevant to gender, sexuality, and race. A pleasantly wide variety of lesser-known topics were discussed, such as intersexuality, intersectionality, representations and stereotypes of minorities in the media, and 2-spirit folks.

As promised, three short videos were also screened. The first, titled Boys & Girls, films a man and a woman preparing for a date with anonymous love interests. The viewer assumes that they are meeting each other, but it is revealed at the end that they are in fact meeting partners of the same sex.

The third screening was of a touching music video for “The Light”

by HollySiz, which follows the journey of a young transgender girl coming to be accepted by her father despite his initial reluctance. The longest and final video, I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone, tells the story of two young men falling in love, one of whom is blind.

Overall, the films shown reflected the values of Out in Schools and their representatives: acceptance, intersectionality, and equality. The screening provided a welcoming, educational environment for open discussion for all attendees.

Renée McMillen CONTRIBUTOR

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The first-ever graduating class of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Brewing and Brewery Operations program took part in an exclusive career fair on Feb. 29 at the Langley campus.

The fair, dubbed Brewing Up Your Career, was a one-day event which linked together the first two cohorts of graduating students with experts in the brewing industry in a “speed-datingesque” interview process.

The demand for craft beer is growing as quickly as the need for quality brewers in the industry. The showcase was an opportunity for the students to showcase their knowledge to potential employers, as well as to set the bar for what’s to be expected from future classes in the program.

Among the industry experts, the Langley campus played host to Ra-

ven’s Brewing, Old Abbey Ales, Dogwood Brewery, Turning Point Brewing, Pacific Western Brewing, Big Ridge Brewing, Parallel 49 Brewing, Steel & Oak Brewing Company and more.

Brewing Operations is the only program of its kind in the province, and only one of three nationwide, so the students at KPU are as promising as a cold one after a hard day at work. There’s no shortage of opportunities after graduation. For those who don’t take easily to the brewing process there’s operations, marketing, public relations and sales. For those brewmasters that do the recipe formulations, training will sure come in handy.

The “speed-dating” interview format was a unique way for students to quickly and efficiently make connections and network with the wide variety of experts on site. If their charming personalities didn’t shine, we’re willing to bet the beers did.

Renée McMillen

Prison Justice Club event focuses on trauma, mental health during incarceration Prisoners aren’t the only ones who suffer in prison

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Torin Slik CONTRIBUTOR

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Often there are two sides to the same

story, and the Prison Justice Club exists to bring light to both.

On March 11, the club held its second annual Tom Allen memorial symposium, titled Illness Institutionalized: Trauma and Corrections. It’s mission—to help people understand that trauma from correctional facilities is a big deal in Canada, and it isn’t given as much attention as needed.

Danielle Smith, president of the Prison Justice Club, said the club was founded with the goal of bringing awareness to prison justice issues that exist under the current system.

The club itself was founded in September of 2015.

“We’re looking at how the current correctional system is not effective,” says Smith. “It’s inherently punitive right now. Basically, a rehabilitative approach might be more effective in the long run.”

A rehabilitative approach to prison would mean changing how prisoners are viewed. Instead of setting a base standard of everyone simply being thrown in jail, people would be looked at as individuals.

“A rehabilitative [system] would look at the needs of each offender, and that way we can look at healing instead,” says Smith. “In the long run, it could deter future crime.”

Of course, the prisoners aren’t the only ones to get the short end of

the stick, and that’s exactly what the Prison Justice Club hoped to highlight with the symposium. JP Phaneuf is a former corrections officer, and he was scheduled to be one of two guest speakers at the symposium.

“He was triggered in prison, and he unfortunately developed [PostTraumatic Stress Disorder],” Smith says. “So he talks about how the correctional system doesn’t see PTSD or mental illness as an illness. If you can’t see it, it’s not real.”

Warren McDougall was the second guest speaker scheduled to speak, and comes from the prisoner’s side.

He’s a prison mental health advocate serving a life sentence, and he’s been out in the community for a while now speaking about what it’s like.

“Warren hasn’t developed any

PTSD, but he’s actually a ‘lifer,’” says Smith. “He witnessed a lot of traumatic events.”

Phaneuf and McDougall hope people will understand that the entire prison system is something which needs to be looked at and reworked.

Currently, both prisoners and correctional officers suffer from inside it.

Scott Chisholm is an advocate for educating and training individuals about suicide and mental health, and hopes he can bring the very needed awareness which can save lives. Due to a last-minute change, Chisholm ended up being the speaker for the event. He spoke about the direct connection between the Criminal Justice System and PTSD. Salehah Hakik, secretary of the Prison Justice Club, says illuminating

both sides affected by the system was the main reason the symposium was held.

“We want [people] to see that the current system which is in place right now is not working,” says Hakik.

“It’s not only the prisoners that can develop PTSD, it’s also the workers that get it as well. We’re trying to say there is something wrong with the system, and it needs to be changed, looked at in greater detail.”

The symposium was held in the Surrey Conference centre on March 11. While the primary focus of the event was on trauma, Smith says, “Mental health as a broader topic is something we would like to uncover in the future.”

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A Purrfect Place to Meet a Feline Friend What it’s like at Vancouver’s famed Catfé

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Renée McMillen CONTRIBUTOR

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Nestled up on the second floor of the International Market Village in downtown Vancouver lies a serene little café which plays house to a clutter of cats in need of a home. While that might sound sort of sad at first, know that the place is so popular that patrons have been adopting the cats faster than the aptly named “Catfé” can stock them.

Every week the SPCA selects between four to 10 cats, whom they believe would transition well and benefit from what the Catfé offers, and moves them to the temporary home. According to a staff member at the Catfé, the longest a cat has ever stayed with them is two weeks.

The most notable element of the Catfé is its feline-friendly aesthetic.

Shandis Harrison As you come in the front door there’s an area to sign in, get some coffee, tea, or kitty-themed treats, and then you can go inside. The front desk orients you with some rules of etiquette and afterwards you’re welcome to spend the next hour taking in the uniqueness of the venue.

It’s quite literally a haven to all

things kitty—from the cat print upholstery on the chairs to a whole wall of shelving dedicated to climbing, resting, and surveying. There are rough surfaces for scratching and nail sharpening and many a room strategically placed for hiding and spying when you get tired of all the attention.

The space is very calming. Regard-

less of whatever past homes these cats came from, none of them seem distressed here.

The space is clean and modern, with high ceilings and exposed industrial piping that gives the room an open, urban feel. There are floor to ceiling windows on two sides of the room with a decent view of BC place, and on the far wall, a floor to ceiling structure filled with open compartments for the cats. There’s even a TV at eye level, not for humans but for cats, and during my visit it was playing Finding Nemo.

According to staff, the Catfé offers something very different from a typical shelter. It provides the cats an opportunity to thrive in a social environment, which in turn gives potential new owners the chance to see each cat’s true personality, as well as a whole hour to engage with them

and bond. People want to see how the cats are outside of the cages.

The experience also prompted the theory of how a Catfé could be applied to other animals. Do shelters really work in the way they are currently operated? Are we doing a disservice to so many animals in need of a home, or is this a new groundbreaking concept in the way we help pets find a home? The warming environment doesn’t work for everyone, and not every cat will feel more secure without a cage after abuse or trauma, but the social aspect is truly unique.

It’s an experience worth having.

Instead of going to any old coffee shop downtown, this one-of-a-kind place is worth checking out. It’s the purrfect place to make new fourlegged friends—just don’t expect them to still be there when you visit the second time around.

MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture New VAG exhibit explores how art mixes

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Geoffrey Nilson PHOTO EDITOR

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MashUp, the new multidisciplinary and collaborative exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, is dedicated to artistic techniques of remix, collage, sampling, quotation, and appropriation.

The exhibit is an architectural maze of artistic form created inside the building—the largest show in the gallery’s history occupying all four floors—and blends video, installation, painting, interactive remix stations, mixed media sculpture, collage, literature, and ready-mades with a balance of Vancouver artists and international contributions.

Around every corner is something radically different. There is too much to see in a single visit. So rather than a rambling overview, I give you some of my favourite moments from this historic and monumental exhibition.

ate a seemingly endless collage of image and text. A control box invites the viewer to trigger electric motors and spin the discs, to reorder the collage any way they choose, like an intuitive method of choose-your-own-artwork.

King Tubby’s Mixing Console MashUp highlights the significant contribution of musicians and producers to remix culture with rooms dedicated to Brian Eno and David Byrne, DJ Spooky’s Voyager remix project, and the revolutionary Dub music production of Lee “Scratch” Perry and King Tubby. The dub room is dark and filled with large speakers playing bass-heavy instrumental reggae, and Tubby’s 1970s MCI mixing console is lit from above, as it would have been in the control room of his recording studio. The console shows the physical wear of thousands of hours of human use and stands in stark contrast to contemporary digital methods of music production.

Barbara Kruger Untitled (SmashUp)

Jean Luc Godard Pierrot le Fou

Impossible to avoid, Kruger’s site-specific installation draws the patron into the space from the moment they enter the exhibit. Kruger appropriates the architectural presence of the neoclassical VAG atrium by wrapping it in huge vinyl panels of found text, setting up a relationship between source and place that is echoed in many of the other works in the show.

One of the many purpose-built screening rooms was dedicated to French new wave filmmaker Jean Luc Godard, where the viewer can watch an endless loop of his films.

This being my first experience with Godard, whom I had heard much about but not actually seen for myself, I was instantly captivated by the saturated colours and the intensity of the dialogue. I could sit all day and watch his films. I may or may not have plotted a way to return to the gallery next time with a stash of popcorn and snacks and make it a Godard marathon.

Robert Rauschenberg Revolver II Rauschenberg looked to new technologies and photographic reproduction to break down the divide between image and sculpture. In Revolver II, he uses silkscreen ink on five rotating Plexiglas discs that cre-

MashUp runs until June 12, 2016 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby Street).

Clockwise from Top Left:

Richard Prince 3 Women Revolver II robert rauschenberg King Tubby Mixing Desk Patron with Logorama by H5 Jean Luc Godard Peirrot le Fou

Geoffrey Nilson

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Features

Gotta Meet ‘em all!

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Tanvir Singh

Tristan Johnston - Coordinating Editor With the 2016 Kwantlen Student Elections now behind us, the incoming council is preparing to take their positions as of April 1. We took this opportunity to find out what, exactly, they plan on doing in their roles­—perhaps you will use this opportunity to make sure they follow through on what they’re promising.

Surrey Campus “My three biggest platforms will always be promoting student life . . . advocating for as much student space as possible . . . and making sure the KSA is running smoothly, and that the money is going to the right initiatives.”

“There’s been a couple issues lately about club funding. It’s something I want to look at over the next term.” Singh says he will be running for an executive position, specifically vice-president of student services.

Connor Griffiths

Landon Charney

Murdoch de Mooy

Langley Campus

Students with Disabilities

Richmond Campus

Griffiths acknowledged that his promise to build a ferris wheel was “just bullshit,” but was serious about getting WiFi service on the student shuttle.

“The main thing will be getting shuttle WiFi, that’s pretty much what I told everyone to get people to vote for me. I was jumping on and off the shuttle bus telling them I’d get them shuttle WiFi, which is probably a big part of why I won.”

Ryot Jey

Queer Students “I am going to work with my fellow councillors to make the KSA—and possibly, hopefully KPU—a lot more trans-friendly. As well as, hopefully, gathering wider support and more members of Pride collective.”

“I’m hoping that when the Birch building gets renovated there will be more space for student clubs, and [they will] work out of their own space.”

Charney said that he seeks to implement “whatever the students want,” though not being specific to the needs of his constituency. When asked about his surprise victory against two-time disabilities representative Kim McMartin, Charney said that he campaigned by speaking to students on Richmond campus.

“One year seems like a long time, but everyone I’ve talked to, it definitely sounds like it’s never going to be long enough. So, there’s lots of stuff I’d like to do—get more clubs going, try to get more involvement, talk to students, see what they like to do.

There’s so many things and not enough days to do it, so I’m going to do everything I possibly can.”

Navkaran Singh

Natasha Castela Lopes

International Students

Women Students

“I would like to take up suggestions from all international students, whatever kind of help they want, and if any of those things are possible, then I will do them.”

Kahlon hopes to advocate on behalf of international students who aren’t able to get a U-Pass, and claims that he will meet new students in April to find out what they want.

“I’m going to take it one day at a time and start formulating plans, and working with the women’s collective, and talking to more self-identified women students on campus and seeing what they want.”

Lopes says she will be running for the Vice President Student Life position, citing her previous work with Manpreet Bassi, the current VP of that portfolio.

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Features

Sarah Barahmeh

Orlando (Alex) Lomelino-Austin

Alex McGowan

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts

“I’d just like to utilize my skillset, and put it to use in the KSA to help better it. [I want to] take what the art students tell me, and express their concerns to me, and put it to use within meetings. “[Art Students] want more activities regarding them. I want to bring art students into the spotlight and give them a say in what happens, in things that help them move forward.”

“My whole focus point was on making the KSA more approachable, and easier to access for students. I’m definitely going to be pushing for policies at the KSA for things like more advertisement, more events that will attract students to the KSA, just whatever I can do to make it more appealing.”

“In my capacity as an arts rep I’m going to be looking at getting a student expense committee going, and making sure that arts reps, including myself, are representing art students on the arts council.

“We’ve got ongoing lobbying, and we’ve got a provincial election coming up in May 2017. If I’m re-elected VP External, right at the end of my term will be a provincial election. So part of my responsibility will be the election campaign.”

Gurkiran (Kiran) Johal

Nicholas Young

Rawan Ali

Faculty of Science and Horticulture

Faculty of Science and Horticulture

School of Business

Johal did not respond to interview requests.

Amanpreet Bir-Bhatti

School of Business Did not respond to interview requests.

Young refused an interview request, and said in a Facebook message that he feels no obligation to speak to The Runner in his capacity as a council member.

Argel Monte De Ramos

School of Business “I would like business students to have the opportunity to meet up, and to network with each other.” De Ramos also wishes to inform business students of the services provided to them by the KSA. “I know it’s hard to change the culture inside KPU, but I will try my best to change that by making them active when it comes to the events with the KSA [...] because they are the reason we’re making those events.”

“Most importantly I want to bring to council what students actually want and need, and bring to council the problems that students are actually facing. And the problems that are most important to business students. I will use my vote to reflect the needs and wants of all business students. I want to increase awareness for all KSA services that are available to business students in particular and to students in general.”

John Shkurtaj

School of Business “I hope to increase student awareness on campus, get students more involved, and just promote student culture on campus altogether.”

Shkurtaj says he is passing off the reins of the Kwantlen Gaming Guild to a new executive team in order to “focus on schooling and KSA work.” He hopes to “promote different events and activities on campus to engage students,” and inform them of the KSA’s actions.

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Pour Some Sugar on Me, Baby

Some online dating sites offer new opportunities for aspiring sugar babies

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Braden Klassen CONTRIBUTOR

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It’s 2016, and most of us are familiar

with the concept of the online dating scene. The premise is simple: you pick a site, create an online profile with a description (perhaps slightly embellished) and a picture of yourself, then you search through an index of other people’s profiles with the aim of contacting them and establishing your interest in pursuing a relationship with them. These relationships begin with people engaging in online conversations and getting to know each other over a period of time—and if the interest is mutual and everything goes well enough, you can decide to meet each other for real, outside the chatroom, and see where things go from there.

There have been scores of people who have claimed to have found their soulmate through an online dating service

like this. For those who have decided to utilize the consumer-convenience of the 21st century in their quest for love, who could pass up the possibilities and potential opportunities that these websites have to offer?

However, for those looking for a more direct and upfront approach to their online search for a relationship, there are a few websites and apps that have endeavoured to take it a step or two further.

SeekingArangement.com is a

dating site that caters to people who are looking for something more than the coy cyber-banter and romantic pleasantries that are ubiquitous to most other dating and hook-up sites.

Of course, users are quite capable of indulging in as much online-flirtation as they would like, with the commonly held objective of reaching out to someone else and establishing a relationship, romantic or not. But what separates this site from the others is that it divides users into two different categories: Sugar Daddies (or Mommies) and Sugar Babies.

The categories are named after the colloquial term for a couple wherein the younger partner relies on their an older, wealthier partner to provide funds and “gifts”, allowing the “sugar baby” the chance to live a more glamourous, high-status lifestyle. The younger partner enters the relationship with the expectation of enjoying a certain level of material compensation for their companionship, while the “sugar daddy” or “Mommy” gets to reap the fruits of a relationship with a younger, highly attractive partner. As SeekingArrangement Public Relations Manager, Brook Urick explains: “It’s a dating site just like any other dating site, but the main difference here is that people are a little more open and honest about exactly what they are looking for. So a lot of the sugar babies on the site, both male and female, are looking for someone to take care of them. Whether that means paying for university or taking them on luxurious trips and buying them Chanel bags or whatever.”

“On the converse, a lot of sugar daddies are not really looking for a traditional relationship either, because they are oftentimes businessmen, CEOs or married, so it’s sort of a place where people that are looking

for a certain kind of relationship can meet.”

The website began as the brainchild of CEO Brandon Wade, an MIT graduate who has made his fortune in the development and ownership of online dating sites like SeekingArrangement. There is a large quote from him on the front page of his website which reads, “Love is a concept invented by poor people.”

“Brandon started this site after he had this idea when he was younger,” Urick says. “He didn’t really have success with women, he was 21 and had never been kissed and had never experienced a relationship. He built the site after his mom told him, ‘Don’t worry about women. Worry about business, worry about finances, worry about success and your career and your education, and then after you have those things established the women will come to you and they’ll love you for that.’”

According to the site’s statistics, at the beginning of 2016 there were approximately 156,715 student sugar babies in Canada, and that number is steadily growing.

“There’s about eight sugar babies to every sugar daddy or sugar mommy, so there’s quite a lot of competition on the site”, says Urick.

For the sugar babies who are lucky enough to receive monthly stipends from their sugar parent counterpart, the site claims that the average recipient can expect an average of $2,600 a month.

“In any relationship there’s always going to be money involved— but people are gravitating towards this because it offers a kind of shortcut to that,” says Urick. “So they can be more open and honest about their expectations . . . most likely about the expectation of not wanting matrimony. I think that’s one of the main dif-

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ferences in these relationships—not everyone is looking to settle down and get married.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, students comprise the majority of the demographic of people who a) could use a little more money to pad their income, and b) would prefer to avoid matrimony. The site’s stats say the average age-range of student sugar babies is between 21 and 27 years old. According to Urick, there are a couple of possible reasons for this, including the fact that people needing larger loans for post-secondary education as well as increasing tuition costs and a stagnant minimum wage coupled with an increasing cost of living, especially in cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

She adds that the viability of someone using a platform like this to support their lifestyle is often underestimated.

“You can actually meet a sugar daddy who can help you to live, and afford to have your education be the main priority in your life, rather than working a dead-end job as well, which can interfere with your studies and your grades. It’s funny because a lot of the women I talk to say that they joined the site as a joke, not thinking anything of it, and then actually end up needing some money for things like university. It’s kind of an interesting phenomenon.”

Layla, a second-year student at Simon Fraser University, says that she’s been using the site for about six months, and that, although it might not be something that everyone could get on board with, she’s had some interesting experiences along the way.

“At first I was just curious. I’d heard about it and I didn’t even think it was real, and I jumped on because I was just kind of bored,” she says.

“It’s been interesting for sure. It’s been out of the box, and strange, and weird, and awesome. Not everyone is after the same thing. You can really connect with people, girls and guys who are wanting the same things as you. Once, I actually went on a date with a couple, and they were together but they wanted a third person—and that was actually one of the coolest experiences. It seemed kind of weird at first but then,” here Layla paused. “it’s interesting,” she concludes.

Much like any love story, online dating can have its ups and downs.

“The first date I went on was actually with an older guy. He was really polite, but his pictures weren’t… he wasn’t the person his pictures were of. So that one was kind of strange [experience],

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and I blocked that person after.”

Everyone gets nervous on a first date, it’s entirely natural. But when the first date is with someone whom you’ve never actually met face-toface, it can take being nervous to a whole new level.

“I was terrified,” says Layla. “I actually had one of my friends hide out in the garden outside when I met him at a restaurant, just in case anything happened. I’ll always take some kind of weird precaution like that, because you never really know until you meet them.”

This, however, has not stopped her from using the site, and she’s had better experiences with the people she agreed to meet after that first date.

“I’ve been with six separate people, and two of them have been couples,” she says. Though she hasn’t yet been explicitly given anything overt like a monthly stipend, she has been treated to some things she likely couldn’t afford otherwise.

“I went on a trip to Italy with someone, so I haven’t been paid, but I’ve been taken out, usually doing things they like to do.”

With tuition forever on the rise, it seems likely that the popularity of sites like SeekingArrangements for students will also continue to rise.

“I think a lot of university girls do it because, for them, it’s about tuition and being independent,” says Layla. “I know a lot of girls that do this, and a lot of girls who do other things like this. But I wouldn’t say it’s for everyone.”

Danielle George

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A day in the life of a KSA executive

VP Student Services discusses losing sleep and gaining confidence

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Tristan Johnston

COORDINATING EDITOR

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Allison Gonzalez needed to get special permission from the design school faculty to become a Kwantlen Student Association executive.

“I’m not a political person, I’m just a design student. And for a design student who isn’t really interested in playing politics, I just saw an opportunity to try and make the student experience better,” she says.

It was around this time last year that Gonzalez was elected to the KSA council for the first time. During that election she was the only student to receive zero “no” votes as design faculty representative. In the span of about one month Gonzalez went from having no seat to being the president of the Kwantlen Student Association.

“Last semester I only took two classes, and this semester I’m taking three, which has really limited my sleep . . . I’m usually getting up at around six and going to bed around one,” says Gonzalez. “There’s just a lot of work to do, so you just have to find more hours in the day.”

Gonzalez notes that being a KSA executive is a “40 hour per week job,” though she finds herself doing way more, believing that many of her projects need more time. “We usually work between 60 to 80 hours per week.”

“I think if I only worked 40 hours, half the things wouldn’t get done.”

Gonzalez notes that she is significantly more confident now than she was last year.

“What I’ve learned is that issues that students face, although they may

seem black and white, they’re almost always some sort of gray. Sometimes it’s just really interesting finding the balance between how to make sure you’re hearing everything properly, and advocating properly,” says Gonzalez. “Sometimes students come up with really great ideas, [like] ‘hey why don’t we do this?’, and you’re like ‘we already thought of that, but we can’t do it because of A, B, and C reasons, or we tried because of this reason.’ Sometimes that can be really disheartening.”

“It’s also pretty interesting managing different expectations and different stakeholders, because sometimes everyone’s opinion isn’t the same, so it’s just trying to find a common ground and make everyone happy.”

Gonzalez and the KSA faced some difficulties in the last year, the three standouts being the dispute with KMUN, the cuts to clubs funding, and perhaps most notably, the Kinder Morgan memorandum of understanding.

“It was definitely really difficult, we already knew that KPU has really tight budgets because of the funding cuts they’ve been receiving the last five or six years. We understand that they need funding, but we really didn’t understand the way they went about receiving this funding, or doing any community consultation.”

“We were able to speak with them, and although we were unhappy with them, they understood where we were coming from,” says Gonzalez.

The KSA was in a strange spot, while they didn’t want to support the MOU with Transmountain, they also didn’t want to hurt their relationship with the university. This led to a division within the KSA, with some

Tristan Johnston councillors taking sides and even exchanging some tense language at their meeting.

The situation was difficult for some members of the KSA at the time, as they had been working on strengthening the relationship between themselves and university administration. Gonzalez has met with KPU President Alan Davis several times to discuss various issues, with a more recent one being funding solutions, which Gonzalez says will be available “within three months.”

Though Gonzalez isn’t the first female president of the KSA, she has found the student association to be inclusive and supportive. However, she says there have been times where she felt as though she was perhaps treated differently as a woman in an authority position.

“I’ve just noticed it a lot more,” says Gonzalez, “I’ve been in meet-

ings where the person I was meeting with wouldn’t make eye contact with, wouldn’t speak to me, they’d only speak to my male counterpart, which is quite interesting, because I’ve never had that before. In my business, my best friend and I are the ones that interact with clients, and we’re both women, so I’ve never had to deal with someone only talking to my counterpart. But in terms of gender issues, I have noticed a few things here and there that I don’t know if they would have happened, had I been male. I feel that some of them definitely wouldn’t have ever happened, but I think the KSA as a whole is incredibly supportive and inclusive, and some people were so happy to have a woman as president,

and they were actually quite supportive about it.”

“A lot of people can tell you what to expect, but you will not fully understand it until you’re in it. There are so many things that people told me, like this will be difficult, you’re going to have a hard time with this, you’ll grow so much as a person. You logically understand what somebody’s telling you, but it’s not until you actually go through it.”

Gonzalez says that she was thinking about this aspect in preparation for briefing the new executive team.

For now, Gonzalez looks to the university senate as her next step, and she’s running as a candidate in the upcoming election.

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Eagle Lens

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Breaking Down the B.C. Budget

Understanding its relevance to students without having to read it yourself

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Stephanie Davies CONTRIBUTOR

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The provincial government’s “Balanced Budget 2016” sets out to present the new vision, goals, and priority actions that are predicted to take place in British Columbia in the upcoming years. The document reveals BC’s three-year fiscal plan, which includes revenues, spending, tax measures, economic outlook, and forecasting risks and assumptions.

For some students, this might seem like another conundrum, where it’s hard to place its validity in everyday life. Many of us are still sheltered from the reality of several living costs, still not officially treading on what our adult world calls “real

life.” The budget, in fact, has some relevant points to offer us when planning for the future, or even for navigating through our current student lives.

Business Time One of the most pressing subjects on many students’ minds is life after graduation.

This concern has risen in recent years, as more reports suggest a Bachelor’s degree is not worth as much as it once was. According to the provincial budget, however, by 2024 78 per cent of jobs will need some form of post-secondary training. Out of all their spending on infrastructure, 21 per cent will be spent on post-secondary, the third highest after transportation (26 per cent) and health (24 per cent).

Gimme Shelter It’s been suggested that, for our generation, owning a home someday could very much remain an unachievable dream.

This is why it’s important to look at what’s in store in terms of housing affordability. The budget states that $355-million will be allocated by the BC Housing Management Commission to support more than 2,000 units of affordable housing over a five-year period. This will be used to help people with lowmoderate incomes afford housing, which has rarely ever been offered in previous years.

Another topic that goes hand-in-hand with affordable housing is the budget’s “Helping Families with the Cost of Living.” It explains that chang-

es to the Medical Services Plan, effective Jan. 1, 2017, will help lower-income families, seniors, and individuals with the cost of living. For example, a single adult earning approximately $34,000 will save $324 per year. When you add living with another person/having children, it can save you anywhere from $480-$1,224/year. This may not seem like much, but when you take into account all of the other rising expenses such as BC Hydro, ICBC, and education, we’ll take it where we can get it.

Safety Dance A subject that’s always popular is community safety. The past few years have contributed to a dark mark over the presence of guns in schools, and gun

violence as a whole. Lockdown drills and various safety precautions have undoubtedly heightened school and community security across the board. To add to this, there will be a $5-million contribution for the Guns and Gangs strategy, which aims to reduce the gangs, drugs, and gun availability.

I Wanna Be a Billionaire The B.C. budget also created the BC Prosperity Fund, which promises a commitment of $100-million from the current forecasted surplus to help get rid of the province’s debt, make investments in health care, education, transportation, and family priorities, as well as preserve a share of our current prosperity for future generations.

What is the future of print media?

In a tech focused age, can print media stand a chance?

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Matt Bremner CONTRIBUTOR

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People still read newspapers.

I see it all the time on the SkyTrain, in coffee shops, and on park benches. There are the faithful who still, and probably will for a long time, prefer printed media to staring at a screen. But for every one person I see getting their news from a newspaper, I see 20 getting it straight to their phone.

It’s difficult to make a case for print media when you con-

sider digital media’s accessibility and speed. With more and more print outlets across the country laying off employees, it’s time we examine the real future of the newspaper.

The effects of readers switching to digital media over print was most notable in Postmedia’s layoff spree of 90 journalists a few months ago. Postmedia then merged and condensed the newsrooms of The Province and The Vancouver Sun, among others.

Both of these newspapers offer an online subscription to their news services, which essentially gives

you updates from professional journalists right to your phone.

But even with that system in place, it’s still hard to compete with writers who have their own blogs and release their articles for free. Not only that, the shaky future of job security within the newspaper industry will do nothing but dissuade talented young writers of wanting to work for a newspaper company.

But even though the newspaper is declining in popularity, it remains just as important as it’s ever been. Maybe not here in a metropolis like Vancouver, where

you can’t walk two minutes in any direction without bumping into free WiFi. No—newspapers are most important on the smaller scale.

Local newspapers are a platform for people to talk about important subjects that affect their communities, things that The Province or The Vancouver Sun don’t bother to report on. A lot of us need this type of coverage to stay informed on things that are important to us.

While newspapers and printed media hopefully won’t dissolve completely, what is clear is that

this is an industry struggling to make people care. With layoffs and cut backs happening unexpectedly it’s going to be hard to convince bright minds to write for these publications and, as a result, the quality of content will suffer.

What it comes down to is this—we need to support independent newspapers. They provide us with information and stories that you can’t get anywhere else. Luckily, if you’re reading this, you’re already doing your part.

Globally, emission reduction targets have been set and reset over the last couple of decades through treaties drafted during various climate conferences and conventions held

and attended by global leaders from several countries, beginning with the first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.

Over the past couple of decades, Canada has signed onto some of these treaties like the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, and the non-binding Copenhagen Accord in 2009, but has failed to meet the target reduction requirements.

The Kyoto Protocol gave Canada the initial goal of reducing carbon emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels by the year 2012, yet according to a 2011 UNFCCC report, by 2008, greenhouse gas emission were measured to have actually increased by 24 per cent. While the federal government did not commit to a specific target percentage of emissions reduction at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, they have reportedly vowed to do so in the next year or so.

Runner Run-Down: Carbon Taxes What the government wants

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Braden Klassen CONTRIBUTOR

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The federal government made it known to the press last month that they intended to work with the provinces in order to establish a minimum rate of taxation on carbon emission nationwide. The federally-imposed carbon tax would consist of a minimum price of $15 per tonne, but the provinces would implement the tax themselves and use the resulting revenue in any way they see fit.

BC is currently the only province in Canada that has implemented legislation which facilitates the taxing of carbon emissions from industry and transportation, though the Albertan government has promised to set a similar tax by 2018. For drivers here, this has resulted in a 6.67 cents per litre increase in gas prices at the pump, 7.67 cents per litre of diesel, and 4.62

cents per litre of propane.

For fossil fuel reliant industrial operations, the province taxes natural gas emissions at 5.7 cents per cubic metre, $62.31 per tonne of high heat yield coal, $53.31 for coal yielding low heat, and a general carbon emission tax of $30 per tonne—a value which was implemented in 2012 and has not changed since.

The provincial government has promised that the tax would remain revenue-neutral for British Columbians, which means that they should expect to see decreases in other areas of taxation, particularly in individual income tax. This is intended to minimize any adverse impacts the extra tax would make on the B.C. economy.

All of the legislation for implementing carbon taxes in B.C and other climate change initiatives was included under the umbrella of the Climate Action Plan which was passed into law in 2008 by Gordon

Campbell’s Liberal government. The Climate Action Plan was revised in 2015 by the incumbent B.C. Liberals, and with those revisions came a new title—the Climate Leadership Plan.

Yuta Anonuevo

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Greyhound killer deserves the chance to live on his own You don’t have to forgive to let someone go

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TORIN SLIK

CONTRIBUTOR

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It’s been eight years since Tim McLean’s beheading on a Greyhound bus near Portage La Prairie. This year, his killer is set to live on his own. Some believe this is an insult to McLean’s memory. However, Vince Li has gone through all the processes needed to receive his freedom. It’s the right thing to happen.

Li was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the incident, and he was declared criminally not responsible.

Since then, Li has gradually been given more and more privileges, including unescorted visits to Winnipeg in 2015.

Carol de Delley, McLean’s mother, has made her thoughts clear: Li shouldn’t be allowed to live on his own.

“At the end of the day, we do not have a legal mechanism in Canada that requires him to take his medication, treat his illness. If he decides not to, we can’t make him,” she said in an interview with Vice.

While her point about the lack of legal ability to force an individual to take medications is correct, her argument is invalid. Whether or not

Canada has such a legal mechanism in place has no bearing on whether or not Li will reoffend. He will take his medications or he won’t, regardless of legalities. What we have to consider is the likelihood of him doing so.

So far, medical professionals have stated that Li has been a “model patient.” This would imply that Li will, indeed, take his medications as required. As has been proven over and over in countless cases, people suffering from schizophrenia can lead completely normal lives if they stay on their medications—and many do.

To deprive someone of privilege just because of what might happen, which Delley seems to be arguing, is morally wrong.

Conservative MP for SelkirkInterlake-Eastman, James Bezan, argues that allowing Li to live on his own is an “insult to his victim’s family.”

“I’m very concerned about Tim McLean’s family who has yet to see justice served,” Bezan said in a CBC interview.

Now, I would be very interested in what Bezan thinks “justice” in this case would be. Does the fact that Li will be allowed to live on his own mean he hasn’t suffered enough? Perhaps what Bezan really means when he talks about justice is vengeance.

If that’s the case, it won’t help anyone. Making someone suffer only causes more negativity in the world.

The logic of punishment seems to rely on hypocriticracy. “You’re not allowed to hurt people…but we can hurt you if you do.”

The best case scenario is to try and help someone like Li with his mental

condition, which is exactly what he’s been getting for the past six years.

It’ll allow him to live a better life, and he won’t be at as much of a risk to others. Again, if we put away people for what they might do, a lot more people would be in jail right now.

Bezan’s second argument against allowing Li to live on his own is

Geoffrey Nilson

the appeal to public safety. He said that the Manitoba Criminal Review Board, which approved the decision to allow Li to live on his own, has “compromised the public safety of [his] community in its decision.”

Professional medical workers at a mental institution don’t make a decision like this lightly. They have been the ones monitoring Li’s progress, and they are the best ones to predict whether Li will reoffend or not.

It’s not as though Li just got a free pass since labeled criminally not responsible. He has spent his time since 2010 under constant psychological care. His short time living in a group home has been completely supervised. Finally, even when he can live on his own, it won’t be in complete freedom.

Li will be monitored daily. He will be required to check in regularly with medical personnel. He will be subjected to random drug tests. No, his time living alone will most certainly not be free.

Arguing for the safety of community is yet again an argument for punishment based on something that may or may not happen. Li has proven in the last eight years that he had handled his condition very well.

He deserves a second chance.

Keeping Canada Great Again Americans fleeing Trump to be

turned away at Canadian border

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Yuta Anonuevo

Kari Michaels SENIOR TRUMP CORRESPONDENT

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With poll after poll showing overwhelmingly support for Donald Trump to become the next president of the United States, many Americans are looking to the Great White North as a possible sanctuary. However, their hopes may be for naught as Canadian officials are vowing to turn fleeing Americans away at the border, apologetically explaining that, “this isn’t the right time for Canada to be welcoming refugees.”

Many Canadians agree with the decision. Some say that Americans scrambling across the borders with their guns would wreak havoc on the peace loving nation.

“I just think there are so many violent shootings where they come from, if we let them move here they are just going to bring those problems with them,” says Gina Matthews, mother of two, who is concerned about safety in schools. “We can’t let them come to our country and spread their violent ideology.”

For some officials this violent reputation isn’t a problem. In an unprecedented move, former Minister of Defense Jason Kenney said Canada

should be letting them in to aid in war efforts. Several analysts support this position, but on the expectation that Canada will eventually have to declare war on Trump.

Some Canadians are skeptical of the American refugees’ intentions, believing they are “just coming here to leech off our social welfare systems,” as stated in a popular Facebook post which has garnered hundreds of thousands of likes and shares. Others are fearful of what welcoming Americans into Canada might mean for the future of Canadian politics.

“The Trudeau-mania has barely had time to settle,” one pundit commented. “If we let them in, who’s to say in five or 10 years we don’t have someone like Trump running for Prime Minister?”

Even more Canadians are outraged that Canada is expected to open its borders to the Americans when Mexico is just to the south. “Why should we let them in here when they have other places that will welcome them?” asked one student studying political science. “I think they should have to stay where they are and deal with the mess they made.”

Talks have begun about constructing a wall.

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Columns

Going Global

Artist Spotlight

Best friends forever

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Tristan Johnston COLUMNIST

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the White House last week, as social media has likely already informed you. The affair was relaxed, with both leaders taking opportunities to joke around and enjoy themselves.

It’s obviously a meeting that would be very different if it were the leader of a Middle Eastern or Asian country making a visit, in which cases Obama would need to be briefed on the cultural norms and expected etiquette. Trudeau and Obama can afford to make hockey jokes on the PM’s first visit to the Oval Office because economically our two nations are best friends.

No two countries trade together more than the U.S. and Canada, with nine-million American-based jobs existing due to cross-border trade, according to the Government of Canada. They say that, “Canada is the number one supplier of crude oil,

refined petroleum products, natural gas, and electricity to the U.S. as well as a leading supplier of uranium.” We also purchase more goods from the U.S. than any European country.

There was something else that happened at the state visit that the media isn’t saying much about, and it’s progress on the softwood lumber dispute. Chrystia Freeland told the CBC that she was to meet with her U.S. counterpart—Michael Froman—and work towards solving the softwood lumber dispute, with a report to be delivered within 100 days.

As for this current election, Canada will likely find a way to befriend whoever the Americans choose to elect. In fact, the relationship between Harper and Obama was one of the more strained partnerships, due to Harper’s insistence on getting Keystone XL built. Trudeau has held off condemning Trump outright, but reiterated his opposition to the “politics of division.” It goes without saying that Trudeau would match up better with a Democratic president, whether it be Clinton or Sanders.

Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

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Within Rust discusses their first album

Courtesy of Within Rust

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Within Rust has spent years sifting through genres to find their current sound. Originally they aimed to be a metal band, followed by experimentation with ambient and punk music. “It never came out the way we wanted it to and we always felt like we were misrepresenting ourselves,” says Nolen Scott, frontman of the band. “Eventually, we moved further towards alternative and progressive rock and now we’re content to call ourselves an indie band. We’ve learned how to write songs without trying to show off.”

“We just stopped trying to cater to what’s hot in the local area. We just stopped trying,” shrugs guitarist Matt Gage.

“Yeah, we stopped trying! Good

job, Matt,” laughs Scott.

Nolen, Gage, and drummer Lewis Scott are the original members of Within Rust, with bassist John Waldock joining in August 2014. That year was all about touring, playing shows, and working on singles and an EP. During 2015, they recorded their first LP, Light and Shadow.

“We wanted it to be this big, progressive thing, and it is a concept album,” says Nolen. “There’s a story I was trying to tell, but at the same time, each of the songs stands alone. There are songs where it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is straight up indie rock.’

Then we have some that are a little post-hardcore, some jazz influences, odes to Rush and The Police and stuff like that.”

“We felt like we had to put out something substantial, and that’s what we see it as.”

The story he was trying to tell with Light and Shadow has themes of

“death of the creative class, complete control, class warfare, and atonement.” A character in a futuristic dystopia “becomes radicalized and embroiled in a war, and their penance is that they’re strapped into a machine where they’re meant to live a life of complete loneliness and despair over and over again.” Rather than painting his character as the good or bad guy, Nolen wants to emphasize that “they’re all generally terrible.”

“It was a real learning experience for us because it’s our first album. It’s our first time trying to develop songs at this level, and it was a long process. We’re glad it’s over now so we can focus on getting back to playing shows. We’ve already started writing other bits of things, too,” says Waldock.

consider the role played by feelings of belonging. When certain spaces are deemed to be inherently for one group of people, it automatically means that another group of people is excluded. The impact of this is particularly evident in processes of gentrification, which always have racial and class-based impacts, and often gendered ones as well.

What is somewhat unexpected, however, is the role that gender can play in the enabling of gentrification, where neoliberal policies play off of ideas of women’s freedom for the sake of generating profit.

In a 2010 article, Kern highlighted the connection between gentrification and a politics of fear—namely that condominium developers in To-

ronto began to sell an idea of feeling safe in the city as a marketable component of their residences. She notes that although revitalization ideas often show the city as an empowering place for women, it simultaneously presents the city as a source of everpresent threat.

“Through the commodification of fear and safety, of women’s freedom and women’s sexuality, neoliberal processes of privatization, securitization and capital accumulation are able to circulate with increased speed through expanding markets,” she explained. “Moreover, women’s everyday lives and urban identities are shaped by this tension, drawing middle-class and professional women into the project of the revanchist, en-

trepreneurial city.”

When Jane Jacobs launched her now-widely influential book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and subsequently received significant attention in the mid-20th century, it was one of the first times that a woman had spoken up about city planning and fought for better urban spaces. With the work of Kern and other urban geographers, it is increasingly clear that understanding the role of gender in cities is no easy task—but with 66 per cent of the world’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, it is one that we must pursue to ensure that our cities become inclusive spaces that aren’t built on policies of displacement and exclusion.

Aly Laube COLUMNIST

Taking Back History Women in the City

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Samantha Thompson COLUMNIST

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”

--Jane Jacobs Right from the beginning, cities held within them gendered constructs. As cities grew in North America and Europe, they were associated with business and labour— men would travel into the cities for work while women would stay and take care of the home. The construction of private (the home) and public

(the city) spheres continues today.

In a 2007 article, urban geographer Leslie Kern noted that in order to successfully problematize ideas of public and private space, we must “challenge oppressive ideologies and practices that arise from the notion of separate spheres.”

Evidently in a 21st century context, women now live and work in cities. But cities haven’t magically transformed themselves into ungendered places. There are many things to be considered through a gender lens—where people feel a sense of belonging, how people move through urban spaces, and where people feel safe.

When working to understand gender in cities, we must always

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Procrastination

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Horoscopes

Sudoku Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21 I

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20 just

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19 don’t

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

give

a

fuck

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23

what

you

think

Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22

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Kwintin’s (Team Spirit) Corner!

horoscopes

Photo of the week!

Great observation!

Kwantlen facilites should be open after 4pm, studying without Tim Horton’sTM can be really tough!

-Kwintin

Courtesy of KPU Student Services