The Runner Volume 9, Issue 16

Volume 09 // Issue 16

News

may 30 2017

KPU Releases Sexual Assault and Misconduct Policies

Culture

New Student Space Opens on Surrey Campus

Opinion

Become a Member of a Political Party

R

THE RUNNER

The Expanding Role of Safe Injection Sites

In the midst of the opiod epidemic, the harm reduction approach gains ground in Metro Vancouver

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

02 Table of contents

staff

05 08

News| Birch Building Renovations Offer New Student Space The newly renovated Birch building now features facilities to be used exclusively for student life. Construction barriers in the building have been taken down, and the KSA is expected to announce an opening party and open house soon.

Coordinating Editor Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca

Managing Editor

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

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features|Safe Injection Sites in Metro Vancouver

Production Manager

Melanie Tan production@runnermag.ca

Art Director

Nicole Kwit art@runnermag.ca

Today, in the midst of the most serious public health crisis in the history of the community, the safe injection site method looks poised to grow into the Lower Mainland and beyond.

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13 14

opinions| Consider Joining a Political Party

Photo Editor

Tommy Nguyen photos@runnermag.ca

To the shock of most of my left-leaning friends, I purchased a $15 one-year membership to the Conservative Party of Canada, despite the fact that there’s no guarantee that I’ll vote for them.

Associate Editor

Alyssa Laube staff@runnermag.ca

Web Editor

columns|The Fatigue of Cultural Appropriation

Joseph Keller web@runnermag.ca

In the past year alone, cultural appropriation has been made visible to the Canadian public in incidents with notable artists, photographers, writers, and more...The reaction to this appropriation is lightning-fast.

Operations Manager Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778.565.3801

#FeatureTweets

#BestPhoto

Summer Semester 2017 Hours: 10 - 5 Monday to Friday.

Phone: 778-565-3801 Email: office@runnermag.ca

Student Publication Fee Opt-Outs available in person May 8-June 5.

Student ID & Proof of registration and payment required.

PIPS Office: Arbutus 3710, Surrey Campus.

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801 www.runnermag.ca Vol. 09, Issue no. 16 May 30 2017 ISSN# 1916 8241

Contributors Neil Bassan Justin Bige Kyrsten Downton Stephanie Davies

Yuta Anonuevo Nat Mussell

Cover

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

Editorial 03

From The Editors Will this government last?

With one loud, mostly-unified voice, voters of B.C. said, “We dunno.” (Bahai.us/Flickr)

Tristan Johnston |Coordinating Editor With a 0.08 per cent difference in popular vote between the Liberals and NDP, B.C. shouted “we don’t know!” into their ballot boxes.

As absentee votes are finally being counted, it looks like we’re going to form the legislature we got on the evening of May, that is, a Liberal minority with the Greens holding a balance of power. No matter what happens, at least two parties will need to agree on something in order for bills to be passed.

“I don’t think British Columbians

want to go back to the polls any time soon,” Green Party leader Andrew Weaver told CBC on May 24, after the final vote counts were announced.

“We have said to both parties we want to negotiate in the long term. There is nothing magical about two years.

There is nothing magical about three.

There is nothing stopping us for looking for four.”

This will be the first time we’ve had a minority government since the 1950’s. I for one hope that this doesn’t make like most minority governments in Canada and head straight for another election.

That’s what makes this situation so unpredictable. It feels like the near future of our government rests on the ability of these three leaders to come to an agreement during their private discussions.

Even if it’s easy to be cynical about them, I actually like minority governments in theory. I think all three parties working together and compromising would be the best and most representative way of governing in our province. It was a minority government at the federal level in the 1960’s with Lester B. Pearson and Tommy Douglas that gave us univer-

sal healthcare in Canada.

In practice, however, I remember what federal politics in Canada looked like between 2006 and 2011, with three elections in a relatively short period of time, each time the Conservatives eking out more and more seats until they finally formed a majority.

Still, if everything works out for the eventual government, it will be a fragile one. All it could take is the wrong person to be out of parliament on one particular day, or for someone to cross the floor to make a mess of things. NDP MLA’s surely see their votes whipped far less often than Liberals, and even more so for the Greens. And it’s not like floor crossings never happen in B.C. politics.

As of the writing of this article, Andrew Weaver has still said that an agreement has not been reached with any party, but what we know for sure is that the Liberals will get the first go at governing. Christy Clark does have a big red button—calling a new election right away—but since this is the lowest seat count the Liberals have had in decades, it could be a very unwise move for a party that finds its popularity waning. The Liberals will need confidence from either the Greens or the NDP. The biggest question mark on this legislature is something that will be observed across the country, and that’s the Green Party. Never has it been so good to be a third party in Canada, especially with many watching to see what they’ll be able to do with just a few seats in a minority legislature.

What’s Happening this week

May 30 Science World Series

Michael Bomford with the Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at KPU will discuss how city slickers can make decisions about their food that won’t harm the environment.

6 - 8:30, Science World, free.

May 31 Free Guitar Lessons

The Kwantlen Student Association’s START program is offering all students the chance to become Rock Gods through free guitar lessons on the Surrey campus.

11 - 3, KPU Surrey Fir 204, free.

jun 3

Vancouver Bike Tour

Join Active KSA in celebrating Bike to Work Week with a leisurely tour around Vancouver. The ride begins and ends at the seawall with a quick stop over onto Granville Island for lunch.

10 - 3, Seawall, free ($5 for bike rental).

jun 6

Kwantlen St. Market

KPU’s new Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures raises concerns about Specificity

News Briefs

alyssa laube | associate editor Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures were passed last November, although Tanvir Singh of the Kwantlen Student Association expressed concerns about it lacking specificity prior to it being approved.

The policy came into effect on May 1, 2017, and now applies to all students at KPU. At the Nov. 21 Senate meeting that the policy was passed at, Singh, who is President of the KSA, “questioned the lack of specificity in time limits for certain procedural steps and allowable interventions by an appellant’s support person,” according to the meeting minutes. “Senate was satisfied with the responses.”

Although Singh believes that the new policy is “significantly better” than the university’s last, he explains that the Kwantlen Student Associa-

tion was concerned about a lack of clarity and specificity in the document. The three main recommendations that the Association made to Senate were that timelines for KPU be defined as clearly as they are for students, that students be able to appeal the fairness of the policy, and that the term “support person” be more clearly defined. None of those changes were made, and the policy was passed as presented at the Nov. 21 meeting.

“I think that Senate made this decision with the best information they had at the time,” says Singh. “I believe that legal counsel was taken into consideration when they passed this policy. I think that they didn’t agree with our stance for the ability for the policy to be appealed on its own fairness…[and] they were a little bit more strict on what a support person is and what a support person’s duties are.”

Singh’s argument for why the policy should be appealable is that, “in the future, there might be things we haven’t seen and haven’t thought about or looked at before that might arise, or very unique situations that might arise, and the policy in place currently might not be fair, but appealing a policy on its own fairness, I think, is a good way to get past that.”

In an email sent on May 25, KPU Manager of Media & Communications Corry Anderson-Fennell wrote, “As far as KPU is concerned, we have a respectful and collegial relationship with the KSA executive, and communications between us are frank, cordial and productive. Policy development is often complex and a great deal of input is sought and received from stakeholders, including the KSA. The KSA’s input is valuable and always welcome, and in fact the Senate has four student representatives.”

Every summer the Kwantlen St Market attracts dozens of vendors to show off their wares to the public.

The Market takes place every Tuesday until the end of October.

12 - 4, KPU Richmond Front Plaza, free.

jun 8 Alumni Brew Night

The Alumni Association is hosting its second annual Alumni Brew Night, which will offer a chance to tour the Brew Lab, sample KPU brews, and walk away with a KPUAA logoed growler.

12 - 4, KPU Richmond Front Plaza, free.

jun 11 Pancakes not Pipelines

Come help the Kwantlen Nation raise funding for the defense of its land and water by stuffing yourself absolutely silly with pancakes. Pancakes are by donation so give, and eat, generously.

9 - 11, Kwantlen Cultural Centre, free.

04 News

Services for Students with Disabilities Office Revises Approach to Accommodation SSD will adopt a more holistic attitude, thanks to new director Joseph Keller | Web Editor Kwantlen Polytechnic University is overhauling its policies for services for students with disabilities. The university hired a new Director for Services for Students with Disabilities, Ruth Fraser, to oversee changes that will help the institution better serve students who require special accommodations. These changes come after student groups reported negative experiences with the SSD office, as The Runner reported on Oct. 12.

Kwantlen Student Association Students with Disabilities Representative and Co-founder of Disability Action Movement Now, Kimberley McMartin, says that under the old system, the SSD office was not responsive to the individual needs of the various students who came to the office seeking accommodation.

She says that students were given very little input regarding the specific accommodations that they felt they needed, and that overall, there was a lack of transparency in regards to how the office operated.

“I wouldn’t say there was a lack of communication, but you felt like there was a lot of attitude and barriers,” says McMartin. “It was almost uncomfortable to go there.”

The administration evidently agreed that change was necessary. In December, KPU hired Ruth Fraser as the new SSD director with the task of changing the model used for the office to be more inclusive and in line with modern practices. “[The SSD office] is a unit that,

The Services for Students with Disabilities office at KPU has faced criticism for creating barriers for students who need accommodation. (Tristan Johnston) like many at universities across the country, needed to catch up with the times,” says KPU Vice Provost Jane Fee. “It’s not unusual at all. There’s been a very major shift in everyone’s thinking away from the notion of disability to the notion of inclusiveness, and I think it’s safe to say that our Services for Students with Disabilities unit needed to undertake some change.”

The shift in policy comes from a medical model to a social model of student accommodation. The traditional medical model includes set of policies for how and when special accommodations are provided to students who need them, whereas the social model includes more of a

dialogue between the recipient of accommodation and the SSD office, along with the student’s physician.

In this way, the social model is able to provide more customized accommodation to better suit each student’s needs.

Other changes to the SSD office include a more holistic approach to accommodation. According to Fee, the office now works closely with the rest of the university’s staff and faculty to ensure that accommodations are properly implemented. Students who reach out to the SSD office can now expect to receive an intake meeting within one week of contact and accommodation plans within two weeks.

“We can’t do everything with a tiny little team in Services for Students With Disabilities, but we can get the whole university to help us support students with disabilities,” says Fee. Fee also says that new additions to KPU infrastructure, such as the currently under construction Civic Plaza campus, are being planned with recommendations from the SSD office in mind.

Fraser was hired partially because of her previous experience with helping Nova Scotia Community College use the social model of accommodation. Since then, both Fee and McMartin have noticed great im-

provements to the way the SSD office operates.

“She’s young and energetic and has lot’s of great ideas,” says Fee. “She’s ready and able to begin and help us in this important work. I’m thrilled to bits with Ruth. I think she’s absolutely been the right hire for KPU at this time.”

“She’s pulled back the curtain,” adds McMartin. “She’s really getting her hands dirty, checking in with everyone, making sure that students and staff are fully aware of what’s going on. It’s amazing.”

The Runner was not able to interview Ruth Fraser before press time.

KPU Releases Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Policy will address the prevention of and response to sexual misconduct at the university Alyssa Laube| Associate editor As mandated by the provincial government, Kwantlen Polytechnic University published an official sexual violence and misconduct policy for all members of the university community in late April.

The document is designed to “support the University’s commitment to establishing a safe and respectful learning and working environment,” taking into account the existence, prevention, and response to sexual misconduct on-campus or online, if relevant to university business.

Students, employees, and board members are all included within the scope of the policy, which focuses heavily on how cases will be handled by the university, and and also how to prevent them. There are nine principles that guide it, many of which place an unprecedented amount of

responsibility on KPU. For instance, campuses must be an environment “where Sexual Violence and Misconduct is not tolerated, and where members of the University community feel safe to report possible violations of this Policy.” That includes providing support services and confidentiality for survivors and respondents in a timely manner, conducting fair investigations of violations of the policy, investing in “ongoing sexual violence education, awareness and prevention programming” that is inclusive, and reviewing the policy once every three years—or at the will of the Minister of Advanced Education—including consultations with students and employees.

The policy marks an enormous step forward for KPU as a safe space for those who depend on it for a career, education, and community. Prior to its release, drafts of the document

were posted online for comment

by KPU students and employees.

On-campus groups such as feminist collective Women Organising Opportunities for Women also contributed to making it more comprehensive.

A list of procedures for dealing with sexual violence and misconduct—including a list of definitions, a more detailed account of university responsibilities and how to report incidents of sexual violence and misconduct, and victim and respondent protection and confidentiality—was also released. It specifies that KPU President Alan Davis must “report to the Board on the implementation of the Policy” every year, and that “The President’s Advisory Committee on Sexual Violence and Misconduct will remain active to provide ongoing oversight of the Policy and Procedures for one year following approval.”

Jane Fee, KPU Deputy Provost &

Vice Provost Students, says that the University was already working on a sexual violence misconduct policy in 2015, before the province made it mandatory. For that reason, the Board was “in a good position to be ready.”

That being said, there was still considerable consulting and revising done for the policy leading up to its publication.

“A lot of the changes were related to the definitions,” says Fee. “There was a great deal of input on those, and there was a good deal of change relating to how much information actually went into the procedures, vis-a-vis how much of it will be information that’s available on the website. I guess a third type of change was in trying to be very, very clear on the difference between a disclosure, a complaint, and a report.”

As for implementation of the policy, Fee says that the university will be working with the Kwantlen Student

Association on an annual consent campaign, and is “looking towards mapping out” bystander training for KPU community members. They will also be hiring a sexual violence prevention and programs manager “that will really be a person who will be at KPU full-time to work on education and training programs” sometime in the fall.

“A policy is just a policy, as far as I’m concerned,” says Fee. “The real work around the policy is the implementation of all of the elements that come after the approval process. Really that’s the heavy lifting. Towards that end, our president’s advisory group is going to stay together for at least one year to continue in that important work of ensuring that the implementation of that policy goes smoothly.”

Birch Building Renovations Offer New Student Space on Surrey Campus

News 05

Following several pushed deadlines, work is finally finished on space renovations joseph keller | Web Editor After more than a year of planning, and following several delays, the Kwantlen Student Association has finished work on renovations to a student space on the Surrey campus.

The newly renovated Birch building now features facilities to be used exclusively for student life. Construction barriers in the building have recently been taken down, allowing students to access to the space, and the KSA is expected to announce an opening party and open house soon.

“This is the first stand-alone student space on the Surrey campus, which we’re very excited about,” says KSA General Manager Jeremy McElroy. “There will be no classes organised in here, no university faculty or staff offices. It’s exclusively space for student use.”

The space, located on the north wing of the Birch building’s second floor, features dedicated accommodation for several student advocacy organizations, such as Pride Kwantlen and the Student Rights Centre, as well as multi-purpose rooms for various clubs and student-organized activities. A large multipurpose room is furnished with tables and chairs to be used as a conference room, or can be cleared out for more physical activities such as yoga or improv.

A student lounge featuring comfortable seating and wall-mounted televisions was designed with groups like the Kwantlen Gaming Guild in mind, but can be used for a variety of purposes. These multipurpose spaces can be booked four weeks in advance for planned functions and will otherwise remained unlocked, to be used on a first-come-first-serve basis. McElroy says that the process of booking space for events will be simple. A Google calendar will be available on the KSA website for students to submit requests for time slots.

“We’ve kept it pretty basic,” he says. “We made sure that there is comfortable, useable furniture in here and they have all the things that they’ll need. Once we move the groups in here they’ll be able to further design and customize the space to their liking.”

The renovations come at a time when available space on the Surrey campus is in high demand. Student groups have reported difficulty finding locations for various functions for quite some time, and it’s the hope of the KSA that this new space will alleviate some of that pressure. In addition, they hope the space will encourage students to plan more events on campus, leading to an improvement in student life.

“We know that right now the number one issue for our student groups is finding available space for their events, for meetings, for just

The Birch Space common room will be used for KSA Council meetings at well as student club meetings. It can also be used freely by students when not booked. (Joseph Keller)

The Birch Space lounge will be used for for club events and as a general student gathering space. (Joseph Keller) hanging out,” says McElroy. “So our hope is that this will increase the visibility, number, and success of the types of events that will happen on campus.”

Currently, the rooms have a modern but simple feel to them, with clean white walls and lime green furniture, but that could very well change. Student groups like Pride Kwantlen who will be moving into their new homes are encouraged to customize and decorate their spaces to their liking, and the KSA is considering plans to seek the help of KPU’s graphic design program to create more interesting design work for the multipurpose student spaces.

“There’s definitely plans [for

unique design work]. We don’t have anything drawn up yet. We kind of want to leave that up to students and to public feedback,” says McElroy.

Unfortunately, the KSA was not able to provide space in the new Birch building to every student organization that wanted it. The Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group had requested to be made a stakeholder early on in the process, but were denied.

KPIRG has been seeking office space on campus for years but have been unsuccessful, resulting in them being forced to rent space off-campus. Former KSA President Alex McGowan told The Runner in March that the KSA’s reasoning for the decision

was that KPIRG’s funding allows them to rent space off campus, so the KSA opted to grant that space to organisations that receive less funding.

The process of making the new student space a reality was not without its challenges. The KSA had originally hoped to have the space ready

by Sept. 1 of last year, in time for the fall semester. Due to issues with building permits, the KSA was forced to push back the tentative deadline to late October/early November. This new deadline had to be pushed back further due to logistical issues.

Throughout the process of planning and building the space, the KSA has simply referred to it as the Birch Space, but McElroy says this will

most likely not be the final name, and that the KSA is in the process of coming up with something catchier for the university’s newest student space.

After a long process and several setbacks, McElroy says that everyone in the KSA involved with the project is pleased and relieved to have it completed.

“It feels really good [to have the project finished,]” he says. “It’ll feel better once we have the space full of people, but for right now it feels really good to be able to point to something that was sort of a student driven initiative from the beginning.”

06 news

City of Langley, kpu Collaborate to Develop Urban Agriculture beneath BC Hydro Lines

South Langley power corridor to be used as farmland thanks in part to Institute for Sustainable Food Systems joseph keller| web editor KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems is working with the City of Langley and Metro Vancouver regional authority to develop an underutilised powerline corridor into the first urban agriculture project of its kind.

Project organisers have recently wrapped up the first steps of a planning process that will see the 23 acres of land below the South Langley powerlines transformed into a fully functional urban farm to act as a sustainable food source for the community. The Institute for Sustainable Food Systems was contracted and funded by Metro Vancouver to oversee the planning process, for which the City of Langley will be considered the primary benefactor.

“We think that there’s good potential for food production because

it’s a space that it’s underutilized right now, but is also not a place where other development can happen,” says Emily Hansen, a research associate for the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems.

In addition to providing the community with a source of local food production, Hansen says the project will also help enhance the land’s ecological capacity by creating wildlife habitats.

While the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems has been looking at other examples of urban farms for lessons that can be applied to their project, the idea of putting a farm under a powerline corridor has never been tried before. This presents a series of unique problems to be worked out. Since the land would primarily be purposed for hydro infrastructure, there would be limits on the types of vegetation that could be planted and

infrastructure that could be built to grow food. Maintaining access to the hydro equipment would be a constant priority.

Hansen says that getting water and electricity to the farming equipment without interfering with the power lines is possible, but carries some inherent limitations.

“We’re still working on figuring out … exactly what kind of scale of production can fit into that space given the restrictions that we face, but that’s all part of the process,” she says.

While the farms present a clear opportunity for KPU agriculture students to learn while working on such a facility, project organisers have not yet created such a partnership. In addition to KPU, several other educational institutions in the area have expressed interest in using the site for educational opportunities.

“With educational organisations like Kwantlen, we want to know if there are any groups or programs that could benefit from having access to the site,” says Hansen. “So during the planning process we’ll be reaching out to and engaging with those partners.”

The first few months of the project’s planning phase have been spent consulting with local stakeholders.

In addition to the City of Langley and Metro Vancouver, project organizers have been in contact with BC Hydro, the company operating the power lines. Other stakeholders include the Langley School Board, Fraser Health, and the Agricultural Land Commission.

Another key stakeholder that needed to be consulted is the local public. To that end, the Institute held a community open house to educate residents about the project and to

seek feedback. Hansen says that there were initially worries from locals who already use the space as a park

and walkway that the space would no longer be accessible for such purpos-

es. Fortunately, the area will still be open and accessible to the public.

“Those are some of the things

that we’ll really be looking at going forward—how to address those concerns and make sure that it’s not

a project that will have any negative impact on the community that it’s imbedded in,” says Hansen. “I think

there’s a challenge to face in keeping the community involved and making

sure that we address concerns along

the way, because in the end, community buy-in is the only way that the project is going to fly.”

The land beneath the West Langley power lines will be turned into an urban farm with plans from KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Agriculture.

(Photo courtesy of the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture)

KPU Institute Researches Food Self-Reliance in B.C.

Institute for Sustainable Food Systems helps imagine the province’s ability to feed itself alyssa laube | associate editor Food production in Southwest B.C. is a rapidly evolving industry. Amid environmental concerns regarding the province’s population growth, the B.C. government is considering what the future of food production here should look like in the coming years.

A research project by KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems is helping to imagine these possibilities, with a refined focus on increasing food production while benefiting the economy, environment, and job market for British Columbians. Their findings have already been endorsed by 23 municipal and regional governments and organizations since being published.

“We spend about $8.5 billion on

food every year,” says Kent Mullinix, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems. “It’s a huge part of our economy, and very little of the economic activity of food benefits our local economies because it’s controlled by transnational corporate entities.”

The Institute’s project covers Southwest B.C. as a bioregion, or an area defined by its common topography, wildlife, and culture. One baseline—which represents the state of the food system in 2011—and four future scenarios for localizing the bioregion’s food system by 2050 were modelled in order to explore options for systemic reform.

The first scenario, Business-as-Usual Food Production, sees crop and livestock production remaining unchanged while population

rises. This would barely improve the economy, while also failing to serve the environment or demand for food in Southwest B.C. The second, Increase Food Self-Reliance, sees “strategic reallocation of crop and livestock production to meet local food needs and increase food self-reliance,” without using more land. This method would improve food production and self-reliance, economic performance, and food imports, but wouldn’t impact carbon stocks and habitat connectivity, nor would it help the environment.

The third, Mitigate Environmental Impacts from Agriculture, is similar to the prior method, with the added benefit of enhancing environments and nutrient levels in food systems. It would put a cap on land availability and livestock production and have

both positive and negative environmental effects, but food production and self-reliance would boom slightly, as would the economy.

The final scenario, Expand Agricultural Land in Production, calls for using more land for food production on top of the demands of the Mitigate Environmental Impacts from Agriculture plan. This would result in a hike in food production and self-reliance as well as economic indicators, but would ultimately do little good in an environmental sense.

While the research team working on the project did not recommend any one scenario in their summary, they do suggest that governments, business people, and other invested individuals use their findings as a jumping-off point for further research.

They acknowledge that the project

is the first of its kind, as far as they know, and there is still much work to be done.

“We need to effectively bring about regional food systems, and by that, I really mean community-focused food systems,” says Mullinix, “from production to processing, distribution, sales, and consumption that are focused on our communities and how they can contribute to us achieving what we need to achieve in terms of economic activity, environmental stewardship, and society.”

He adds that eliminating the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes is also key to making progress in food sustainability and self-reliance in Southwest B.C..

news 07

Addressing Student Poverty and Homelessness at KPU The university and student association offer services to students in need joseph keller | web editor There are more post-secondary students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and beyond who are at risk of homelessness than one might think.

The ever increasing cost associated with gaining a post-secondary education can put many students in a precarious position where they might suddenly find themselves without a roof over their heads.

This reality has driven student organisations and university administration to search for ways to provide at-risk students with the means to meet their basic needs while they work on their education.

Kwantlen Student Association business representative John Shkurtaj has made learning more about the issue of student poverty and homelessness a focus of his recent work with the KSA. He’s been researching the facts of the issue and speaking to students who are struggling with their financial situations, and says that he personally knows a few students at KPU who have dealt with homelessness or have been at risk of becoming homeless.

“There’s an increasing number of students who are experiencing troubles financially because of the increasing cost of tuition and textbooks, and as the new semester starts, students have to spend money on these,” says Shkurtaj. “That’s a whole lot of their savings and income that just disappears from them.”

Homelessness is not always visible. Shkurtaj says that homeless and and at-risk people do not necessar-

ily resemble the commonly associated stereotypes, particularly when it comes to student homelessness.

Someone enrolled at KPU may well have a classmate who is homeless and never know it. Many students without a permanent place to live manage to avoid sleeping on the streets by couchsurfing with friends and relatives, while some resort to living out of homeless shelters. These situations are not sustainable, however, and simply because a student is able to find shelter for one night doesn’t necessarily mean they will have it for the next night.

Shkurtaj also says that many students find themselves in unreliable renting situations, moving rapidly from place to place. Through his research, he has found that anyone who is unable to maintain a consistent address for one year is typically at risk of becoming homeless, and that “there are a good number of students who are at risk of homelessness.”

The KSA offers services to students in need, and regularly holds events such as food and clothing drives. Perhaps the most elaborate student-led initiative is the KSA’s food hamper program, through which students are able to anonymously apply for up to two hampers each month through the KSA website. Recipients are then set up with a locker number and combination where they can pick up their food rations. Shkurtaj says that 20 to 25 students receive this aid each month.

There are resources offered by the university and the federal and provincial governments as well. The Awards

Although student homelessness likely exists at KPU, the university has support measures in place for those who need it. (Yuta Anonuevo) and Financial Assistance Office deals regularly with students in financial crisis and works to help these students make ends meet while studying. KPU Senior Director of Student Affairs Josh Mitchell oversees these efforts.

“We do regularly see students coming in enquiring about the availability of emergency funding,” says Mitchell. “It’s something that we see happening weekly in our offices.”

Mitchell says students find themselves coming to the office for help under a variety of circumstances.

It could be the sudden loss of a job, difficulty adjusting to the cost of living in Metro Vancouver after a recent move to the region, or hardship associated with living on their own for the first time.

“We certainly do see more ex-

treme situations as well, whether it’s spousal abuse or other life circumstances that come out of the blue, [such as] a sudden accident that now prevents them from working,” says Mitchell.

Students seeking emergency assistance can file a self-declaration of need and sit down with a KPU financial aid officer who will assess the student’s needs measured against income resources. In the most extreme cases of student need, assistance can sometimes be offered on the same day the student files the declaration.

In other cases the Awards and Financial Assistance Office will guide students in applying for outside awards and bursaries. Mitchell says that, on a yearly basis, KPU students access around $22 million in government funding and grants.

There are also KPU awards, as well as hundreds of scholarships available from outside donors to help mitigate the cost of tuition, although these are often program-specific and tied to academic achievement.

These resources are some of the best options for students struggling financially. The Awards and Financial Assistance Office encourages students who are at risk of homelessness to explore their options with a financial aid officer.

“We’re looking at income sources coming in and what the student is facing in terms of regular and ongoing expenses as part of their monthly budget and the difference between those two things,” says Mitchell.

“When there is a case of unmet need we’re doing our best to try to fulfil as much of that as we can.”

Student Survey Finds Most KPU Students with Mental Health Issues Don’t Make Use of University Resources Psychology student Raman Dhaliwal surveyed 263 students before releasing the April report Neil Bassan | Contributor A Kwantlen Polytechnic University student has concluded a study that determines how, why, and to what degree students in need have accessed KPU’s on-campus mental health services.

Under the supervision of Professor Jocelyn Lymburner, psychology student Raman Dhaliwal concluded a needs assessment study of KPU’s student population to map barriers to accessing mental health services on campus. In particular, Dhaliwal wanted to explore why “students did not access services when they showed a need for it.”

Dhaliwal, who analyzed data from 263 KPU students, concluded that over 85 per cent of students reported experiencing feelings of hopelessness, exhaustion, sadness, depression, and/or being overwhelmed.

She surveyed students online and in

person by asking them five questions related to both the prevalence of mental wellness issues as well as access to university services, which include personal counseling, peer support, services for students with disabilities, and the prayer and meditation rooms.

“53 per cent of students reported experiencing mental health issues that significantly affected their relationships or personal lives,” says Dhaliwal, who also found that nearly

the same percentage of students reported that their mental health issues had significantly affected their academic life.

More than half of students surveyed also reported that they had considered seeking help from a professional in order to treat their mental health issues. Just over 20 per cent of students surveyed considered “leaving Kwantlen because of their emotional or personal concerns.”

Honours student Raman Dhaliwal (left) presenting her study alongside professor and clinical psychologist Dr. Jocelyn Lymburner. (Submitted)

In term of access, only 19 per cent of students surveyed had accessed personal counselling, 6.1 per cent of students accessed the prayer and meditation room, 4.2 per cent accessed peer support services, and 3 per cent applied for disability services.

While Dhaliwal acknowledges that universities play a significant role in validating and accommodating student mental health concerns, she argues that the promotion of their services can be underwhelming.

“Many students are not aware of where these services are located, if they are offered, or if they charge a fee, or if the waitlists are too long,” she says.

To encourage student input and participation, Dhaliwal also included a wish-list section as part of her survey. Here, “students could suggest things they would like to see, and a lot of students suggested having extended hours for counselling and peer

support.”

Other students recommended having regularly scheduled mandatory workshops or orientations throughout the year, rather than just at welcome week. Some also suggested distributing pamphlets and flyers amongst the student body to spread awareness of initiatives and events looking to discuss mental wellness.

“Education for faculty members” was also point of emphasis from students, says Dhaliwal, being that instructors are often students’ first point of contact at the university. If professors are not aware of where to refer students in need of support, these support systems may continue to go underutilized.

“We can all do a bit more, as members of the university, to help reduce the stigma around mental health and spread awareness so it is not so tricky for students to access services,” says Dhaliwal.

(Nat Mussell)

The Expanding Role of Safe Injection Sites in Metro Vancouver For years Insite operated under heavy political opposition. Now the safe injection site approach is being adopted elsewhere.

Joseph Keller | Web Editor It’s been 14 years since Insite, the first supervised safe injection location in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, opened its doors as an experiment in a radical new approach to harm reduction.

The concept of a safe injection site—where drug users are provided with a clean place, sterile needles, and medical supervision while they use opiates—has obvious humanitarian benefit as it helps to keep addicts alive, but the approach has been seen as a form of enablement by critics.

Throughout its early years, Insite faced intense political opposition and scrutiny, which continues to this day.

But mental and physical health experts, along with advocates for those using the facilities, say that now is a better time than ever to expand the harm reduction service.

Today, in the midst of the most serious public health crisis in the history of the community, the safe injection site method looks poised to grow into the Lower Mainland and beyond.

The Harm Reduction Method Over the past few years, fentanyl has taken a serious toll on the Metro Vancouver community. Throughout British Columbia there were 922 overdose deaths connected to the potent and deadly opiate in 2017, according to an April report by The Vancouver Sun. The substance was found in four out of every five drug samples collected by Vancouver Coastal Health.

Insite, currently the province’s only sanctioned safe injection site, has been overwhelmed by the influx of addicts who would otherwise be left to try their luck with no medical supervision. Advocates say that the harm reduction method of having supervised safe injection sites staffed by medical attendants and equipped with the means to respond to overdoses is among the most effective tools at a municipal government’s disposal to prevent loss of life.

Among Insite’s advocates is the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), which aims to be a voice for the marginalized community of addicts in Metro Vancouver.

The organization has been a vocal supporter of safe injection sites since before Insite first opened its doors.

Karen Ward, a board member for VANDU, says that the one government sanctioned site is not enough to serve the entire Lower Mainland and that it’s time for expansion of these services.

“The [Downtown Eastside] com-

munity is incredibly strong and resilient but we’re suffering right now because the burden of constant death is overwhelming,” says Ward.

Ward says that the battle being fought by safe injection site advocates is one for public understanding of harm reduction as a technique for keeping addicts alive so that they might have a hope of recovery. This approach stands in direct opposition to the zero tolerance stance that has traditionally been characteristic of mainstream drug enforcement.

“What we’re up against is the entire history of the war on drugs, which has been proven again and again to be an abject failure. The war on drugs is actually a war on the poor and a war on other marginalized communities.”

Now, 14 years after Insite broke new ground with the safe injection site harm reduction model, neighbouring communities are looking to what has been done with the goal of saving lives in the Downtown Eastside and applying those lessons in their own troubled areas. Still, the move towards implementation is slow and political reluctance and even outright opposition continues to exist.

Injection Sites Coming to Surrey The situation unfolding in the Downtown Eastside is by no means unique. Troubled areas across the Lower Mainland are struggling to keep people alive through the fentanyl crisis. Following the lead of Insite, plans are well underway for two supervised safe injection sites in Surrey.

Two locations have been selected for the sites by Fraser Health, but the project has yet to gain approval from Health Canada. The final steps in the approval process were submitted to Health Canada by Fraser Health in mid-February. Throughout the establishment process, Fraser Health has been careful to maintain support for the sites from the surrounding community and local government. ‘’We’ve been very encouraged by the response that we’ve received, and generally speaking people are very supportive of supervised consumption services, especially when they understand the big picture and how that can support the neighborhood,” says Jacqueline Blackwell, senior consultant for Fraser Health.

“At Fraser Health, we look at supervised consumption services as being an evidence-based solution.

Everything that we’ve pursued on that front as far as supervised con-

sumption services has been based on evidence and based on research, and that’s how we’re going to continue moving forward.”

Throughout the process of establishing the Surrey sites, Fraser Health has not had to face the same political opposition faced by Insite in its early years, but the initiative was still met with some skepticism by the municipal government. Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner told reporters late last year that the city could not support the supervised injection sites unless they were offered alongside a clinical treatment plan for addicts.

“When we initially started out it was about a safe injection site or a consumption site and we were very adamant that as mayor and council we wanted to see a fully integrated response plan for the entire continuum of care relative to that,” said Hepner.

Throughout January, Fraser Health has been busy consulting with the City of Surrey and other stakeholders, outlining their plans for not only the safe consumption services but also a treatment-based approach, including opioid agonist treatment and recovery services that will be available at the sites. Hepner says that city officials have a defined set of expectations that include data at the end of a two-year period of operation showing that Fraser Health’s services have resulted in more addicts moving into treatment and recovery. The mayor is optimistic that Fraser Health will be able to present such data.

“Frankly, my early concerns with the consumption site have now been addressed with the plans and policies that they have now put in place,” says Hepner.

While Ward recognizes the necessity of offering users a chance at treatment, she says that the city’s insistence that a clinical treatment program be fully integrated before it can give its support puts priorities in the wrong order. She believes the government’s main concern should be getting the sites operational as soon as possible in order to save lives now, so that drug users can have a chance of recovery in the future.

“The point of these sites in this kind of emergency is to keep people alive to the point where they can have options,” says Ward. “We believe that everyone, including every drug user, is a competent human being who’s able to make their own choices.”

According to Blackwell, the key to maintaining support for the facilities in the community and from government officials has been the consultation process. In addition to the City

of Surrey, Fraser Health has identified the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association, the Whalley Community Association, and the Surrey School District as stakeholders, and has been collaborating and consulting with all of these groups about their public health approach.

Additionally, Fraser Health has held two public information sessions to address the concerns of residents in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

“It’s really all about having those conversations and hearing from people who are in the neighborhood, hearing what their concerns are and how we can address them better,” says Blackwell.

Ward says that her hope for Fraser Health, as they go through this consultation process, is that drug users will be included in the conversation, as research shows that users need to be sure they can trust the people running the site or they will not use them.

Ward argues that users should be considered the primary stakeholders.

“It’s very important to put the users first and to include the users in the development of these places. Ask, ‘What would work for you? Would you come here? If you come here you’ll be safer, so would you come here?’ Lets ask them,” says Ward.

“Let’s take the voices of the people who are at risk here most seriously.”

Walking The Road Paved by Insite When Insite opened in 2003 it was able to receive an exemption from the government under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. But in 2006 the Conservatives came to power, bringing with them a strong ideological opposition to safe injection sites and the very philosophy of harm reduction.

Under Prime Minister Harper, the federal government took a hard-line stance against drug use and attempted to legislate against the safe injection site, arguing that such a facility was dangerous to the community. The Tories attempted to withdraw the exemption that allows Insite to operate, but the move was struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The court argued that since the data is on the side of of the harm reduction method—according to research done by sources like the Canadian Medical Association—the federal government’s decision to withdraw the exemption and close the sites was counter to public health and safety.

Today, with a federal Liberal government more friendly to the supervised injection site approach to

combating opioid related deaths, Fraser Health’s political task becomes maintaining support for its services on a local level.

The Last Gasps of Opposition While the results shown by Insite have been enough to quell much of the criticism of the harm reduction approach, political opposition is still very much alive.

As the Conservative Party decides its path forward, there is debate among leadership hopefuls as to whether the it should continue the opposition to safe injection sites and the concept of harm reduction that was maintained under the leadership of Stephen Harper.

At the February leadership debate in Vancouver, several Conservative candidates expressed the opinion that safe injection sites are the wrong approach to dealing with the crisis.

“We need to invest in addiction and health recovery programs, not safe injection sites,” said candidate Andrew Scheer at the forum. “Not making it easier to get to the drugs, but a program that actually shows compassion to the people that are trapped in a cycle of addiction.”

This opinion was mirrored by other candidates such as Steven Blaney and Erin O’Toole.

“The fentanyl crisis is a national healthcare emergency and British Columbia is on the front lines of that emergency,” said O’Toole. “There needs to be acute healthcare funding dollars for frontline work, not just with harm reduction, but for mental health.”

Opinions like these from prospective national leaders are unacceptable to harm reduction advocates like Ward, who feel that keeping addicts safe should be the government’s immediate concern.

“We need people to be alive so they can get the treatment when they choose to. They need to be alive first,” says Ward. “Opposing basic harm reduction is killing people.”

Opposition to safe injection sites is far from unanimous in the Conservative Party. At the Vancouver forum, candidate Rick Peterson expressed open support for Insite to the applause of the largely conservative audience. Peterson is joined by other top Conservative candidates such as Michael Chong. It seems that even in right-leaning circles, Canadian opposition to the once highly controversial harm reduction approach is waning.

10 culture

Kwantlen Music Students Association Coming This Fall New club will be open to all music-loving students Kyrsten Downton | contributor Despite the small size of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Music Department, students enrolled in the program will soon be able to connect with each other in a big way.

Earlier this month the Kwantlen Students Association approved the formation of the Kwantlen Music Students Association, a club which hopes to bring music students at KPU together starting in the fall semester.

“Like any faculty-focused clubs, it [will be] a really good way to network,” says Jay Reedy, Vice President Student Life for the KSA. “As far as I know, there hasn’t been a music students-focused club and it’s never really been an engaged part of the KSA, so to have this avenue for student participation in that faculty [is] great.”

While some members of the Music Department at KPU have been trying to form the club for years, it was Emma Dotto, a first year student, who started to push things forward.

Soon KPU students interested in music will be able to join the new Kwantlen Music Students Association. (Nicole Kwit) The urge to form a club for the music students came to her when she was struggling with back pain in her first semester.

“It sparked me on the issue of musician’s health,” says Dotto. “I started researching the kind of things

that musicians go through that are not just music-related. Through this research, I discovered that the University of McGill has a Musician’s Health Club. I saw that and wondered why we didn’t have that at Kwantlen.”

Dotto, the president of the club,

along with treasurer Amy Wack and vice-president Jeremy Laity, brought the idea of the Kwantlen Music Students Association to the KSA, who approved the creation of the club at a meeting of the executive committee on April 20. Dotto says that one of the early goals of the club is to provide a support system for students in the music program at KPU. “It is a very hard program,” she says. “There are a lot of demands and the students need as much support as they can get.”

In addition to helping foster connections amongst the student body, Dotto and her team want to use the club to provide funding for musicians who would otherwise not be able to attend certain events, such as concerts or festivals.

Another important aspect of the club will be to help tend to the mental and physical health of students. Dotto says that issues relating to musicians’ health are not often talked about, and that she wants the association to be able to provide that knowledge to its

members.

“We take theory classes. We take lessons on our instruments. But we don’t learn so much about who we are as musicians, and a big important part of that is just learning how to take care of yourself,” says Dotto. “Athletes have physiotherapists on hand and will get that kind of attention. It is not so much noticed in music, but it’s there.”

While the club does focus on music students, it will be open to all students at KPU who have a passion for musical performance.

“You don’t have to be in the music program to be a passionate musician,” says Dotto. “The idea [for the club] stemmed from the music department needing a student-led voice to support the issues that are not necessarily talked about.”

Indigenous Students Attend Gathering of Nations Pow Wow Conference for Indigenous students offers them greater understanding of their backgrounds justin bige| contributor Five Kwantlen Polytechnic University students were granted the opportunity to go to the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow thanks to funding from the Kwantlen Student Association.

The Gathering of Nations, which was held from April 27 to 30, is a cultural conference and the largest Pow Wow in North America, operating since 1983 with over 500 different Tribes. It takes place every year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “[This] experience made me feel whole, [and] as the Medicine Wheel teaches us, something integral to my success as a student at Kwantlen and as a member of my community,” says Alanna Edwards, a Fine Arts student of mixed Mi’kmaw and settler descent who attended the event.

Highlights from the Gathering of Nations included the Miss Indian World pageant, which selects the representative of all Indigenous peoples in North America for a year.

This year saw more than 30 contestants compete for the honour. After a heated competition, Raven Swamp, a Kahnawake Mohawk of turtle clan

from Quebec, was made Miss Indian 2017-18.

There was also the Pow Wow competition, where dancers were split into different age groups with categories ranging from Men and Women’s Fancy to Traditional and Grass. All of the music for the competition was provided by Indigenous musicians.

On both days of the event, the Grand Entry took place, where a procession of dancers was led onto the floor of the New Mexico Expo Fairgrounds. The arena was packed as the eagle staff holder led the flag-keepers, followed by the dignitaries and dancers. They wore rainbow feathers with appliques and sequins reflecting brilliant lights. Others were in earthen colours with eagle feathers, leather, and buckskin garments.

“As an artist, seeing the colors, textures, and movement of the countless pieces of regalia against the beautiful backdrop of Albuquerque only made me wish we had more time to explore and soak in all that New Mexico has to offer,” says Edwards.

Eventually, the precession came full circle around the stadium floor

Grand Entry, the ceremony introducing all dancers to the pow wow space for Gathering of Nations.

(Justin Bige) and moved toward the centre, dancing in place to the noise of resounding drums and high-pitched voices.

Quickly, the whole floor became a sea of some 3000 dancers and drummers.

It took almost an entire hour for the Grand Entry to get everyone onto the floor.

Unlike last year, the Gathering of Nations also saw a police presence at the Expo Fairground, possibly as a result of the protests at Standing Rock.

“The ever-present law enforcement officials reminded me of the power, strength, and resiliency of our Gathering, and how important it is to continue traditions and ceremonies for the survival of our People,” says Edwards.

She describes the overall experience of attending the Gathering as “overwhelming and positive,” specifically citing a teaching from an Elder on Indigenous People’s “sixth sense” with nature and the planet as a high

point.

“It was a whirlwind trip that I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of,” she says.

Although it might be a while before KPU students are given another opportunity to attend the Gathering of Nations, Alanna believes that it is her “responsibility to carry on and share with others all that we learned and experienced” at the event.

Write for the runner! contact: editor@runnermag.ca

EAGLE LENS RADIANT: A group of students enjoying performances at the Open Mic & Karaoke Night at the Grassroots Cafe on May 25.

(Yuta Anonuevo)

CREEPY-CRAWLER: A close-up shot of the Extatosoma tiaratum or the spiny leaf insect. The horticulture bug lab at the Science Rendevouz introduces kids and their parents to the wonderful world of bugs. (Yuta Anonuevo)

FOCUS: Parents and kids learning about biology by observing various plant cells at the microscope station during the Science Rendevouz event on May 12. (Yuta Anonuevo)

UNITED: The Voices of Muslim Women film festival is about

Exhibition: Parents and kids learning about insect entomology at the horticulture bug lab. (Yuta Anonuevo)

individuality, strength, and courage. The audience is shown a series of “digital stories� which are personalized messages of the participants of the program. (Yuta Anonuevo)

DESIGN: Tommy Nguyen

13 opinions

Voter Turnout for B.C. Election Remains Disappointing At 57 per cent, we have to ask ourselves what’s going wrong alyssa laube| associate editor This year’s provincial election was a hot one. Some citizens called for the ousting of Premier Christy Clark while others fought to keep her at the head of the B.C. government. The Green Party enjoyed its biggest following yet, and the New Democratic Party found itself neck-and-neck with the Liberals at the polls.

But it’s not just the people in power that drew interest in 2017—it’s the issues we’re facing. Each of the three major parties used their platforms to address health care, education, environmental sustainability, and how to improve the economy. Many of these subjects evoke a sense of urgency in those looking for solutions.

Despite this, voter turnout on May 9 was a disappointing 57.24 per cent. This number, however, is larger than the 55.32 per cent that the province saw in 2013 and sits rather comfortably between the highest and lowest estimates for turnout: 56.94

and 57.46 per cent.

Oddly, advance voter turnout— the number of voters who cast their ballots before May 9—was almost double what it was in 2013. While a staggering number of registered voters in B.C. voted in advance, generally speaking it didn’t significantly raise the total number of British Columbians who made it to the polls.

These numbers could be distorted. Absentee ballots have not been counted, and recounts are likely in several swing ridings. A more likely culprit behind the low turnout is what’s hindered political action for as long as I can remember: frustration and apathy.

There was a simmering sense of hopelessness in voting against the Liberals. While I always knew I would vote either Green or NDP, I also understood that many others in my province don’t share with me the fear of environmental destruction and growing income inequality. Keeping the economy safe for the middle-upper and elite class is what makes the

(Stock Photo) Liberals strong, and people afraid of losing their jobs and livelihoods will vote them in to maintain their quality of life. Certainly people of all ages, identities, and mindsets could vote for any of the three parties for their

own reasons. However, as a young voter petrified by the notion of continuing to travel the path we’re on in B.C., the possibility of losing a progressive House of Commons is disheartening, as is the thought that my

voting demographic will likely be overwhelmed by the demographic that almost always votes Liberal.

I hardly made it out to cast my ballot on May 9. It took over an hour of convincing myself that my vote really would matter, and that I could make change rather than having my voice swallowed up by Liberal support base. Figuring out whether or not to vote strategically or from the heart was exhausting, and the amount of research I had to do to feel comfortable with my decision was enormous. Fortunately for me, I was a 10 minute walk from a voting place, but I’m sure there were many others who didn’t couldn’t afford to spend considerable time or resources to cast a ballot.

From that perspective, I can see why people stay home on voting day, but I cannot support it. Apathy is always an excuse. It’s just not a good one.

The Living Wage in Fraser Valley is Still Too High

Nuclear and non-nuclear families struggling to make ends meet stephanie davies| Contributor A report published by The Abbotsford News reveals that the 2017 living wage in the Fraser Valley is $15.90— a 38-cent difference from last year’s wage of $16.28. $15.90 is the hourly wage that a family of four—two working parents with two children—needs to earn in order to meet basic costs. These basic costs are determined after credit, government taxes, deductions, and subsidies have been added up. Rent, child care, food, and transportation are all included in the living wage. A 38-cent reduction doesn’t seem like it would make much of a difference, considering that the Fraser Valley is currently one of the hottest real estate markets in B.C and most families are living paycheque-to-paycheque.

One of the most popular conversation pieces for folks in the Fraser Valley is how expensive everything is, even for one person. For a young family, this is an entirely different kind of struggle.

Langley, for example, is Metro Vancouver’s fastest growing municipality. It has gone from a sleepy farm town to an area that young families are drawn to. Because of this, the market is booming and prices are generally on the rise, which would prove to be challenging for most families, especially if a parent wants to stay at home or work part-time. The lifestyle options there have expanded in many ways, but they’ve also had to shrink to cope with economic growth.

The living wage is designed to

(Nicole Kwit) provide a basic level of economic security, but it doesn’t seem to have made much of an impact overall. The living wage doesn’t factor in families of, say, single parents, or parents who work part-time. Even though a two-parent family with two children is the most common family unit in B.C., how can the living wage provide a decent level of economic security when there are so many other families who don’t fit into this mold?

Most two-parent, two-children

families find it hard to make ends meet, so it comes as no surprise that, according to the “2016 BC Child Poverty Report Card”, “one in every two B.C. children of single parents were poor in 2014.” The numbers haven’t seen much improvement over the past few years.

One of the greatest obstacles for lone-parent families is finding affordable child care. Many single parents are forced to work part-time because of the lack of child care options,

which leaves them to care for their children in poverty, since they’re lacking a full-time income. It’s hard enough trying to pay bills with a common family-unit, let alone one without the support of a second income.

The 2017 living wage decrease has been set in place due to the Canada Child Benefit, which was introduced last year. The CCB is a monthly payment made to families who meet a certain requirement determined by the household’s net in-

come, which helps with the expense of raising children under eighteen.

This is a positive change for families who make an average or below-average income, since the higher the income, the less a family receives.

With the CCB and the new Fraser Valley living wage, it will be interesting to see what the statistics tell us over the next few years.

(Yuta Anonuevo)

opinions 13

New Gun Regulations in the Fraser Valley Don’t Go Far Enough Legislation targeting recreational shooters is a start, but hunters should also face greater restriction stephanie davies | Contributor The Fraser Valley region is home to a great number of rural areas, but its wild and free nature has been greatly abused by certain residents. It’s become a popular spot for gun owners to use as a recreational shooting range, and there have been several cases of recklessness documented in recent years.

In response to an increase in potentially dangerous gun use, B.C. has initiated new gun regulations in the Fraser Valley. While these regulations are moving in the right direction, the province still has a long way to go in terms of dealing with risks to the environment and public safety. The government needs to look at enforcing new regulations in other areas, so that little room is left for potential abuse.

The new regulations will see the creation of “no shooting zones” within 400 metres of popular forest service roads in the Fraser Valley, largely meaning they’ll be enforced around backcountry areas near Chilliwack, Mission, Hope, and Kent.

These zones are set close enough to the municipalities so that the regulations are relevant to those who live or visit there, but are still far enough away to have an impact on the envi-

New gun regulations in the Fraser Valley are a step in the right direction, but more is still needed. (Yuta Anonuevo) ronment of the rural areas.

The fine for recreational shooters failing to obey these new regulations is $50,000 and a six-month jail sentence for a first time offence. The fine can be as high as $100,000 and a year-long jail sentence for those with more than one strike on their record.

The province has made it clear that these new regulations are meant for recreational shooters only—licensed

hunters and First Nations are exempt.

This seems fair, as First Nations’ traditional rights won’t be affected and licensed hunters can carry on in accordance with the regulations.

However, one of the major concerns that led to the proposal of the new regulations was damage to the environment. This makes me question whether there should also be more restrictions put on licensed hunters.

Out of concern for the environment, shouldn’t there be more “no hunting zones”? Because the focus for the new regulations is recreational shooters, half of the problem—the damage to wildlife—is still left open.

B.C. and Alberta are the only two provinces that have no provincial endangered species law. Even though B.C. is the country’s most biologically diverse province, there is no specif-

ic law in place to protect its diversity.

There are provincial and federal laws in place to govern how habitats are being managed, but there is no standalone legislation in B.C. directly connected to endangered species and at-risk ecosystems, which are plenty.

While public safety is always the first thing that’s brought up when discussing gun regulations, remember that it’s only half of the equation.

Consider Joining a Political Party Becoming a “card-carrying” member of a political party can help the direction of your country tristan johnston| Coordinating editor To the shock of most of my left-leaning friends, I purchased a $15 oneyear membership to the Conservative Party of Canada, despite the fact that there’s no guarantee that I’ll vote for them.

I’m under the impression that when someone says they’re “liberal,” it’s unlikely that there will be much of a reaction in the room. When they say they’re a “card-carrying, capital ‘L’ Liberal,” people react like they’re part of a cult.

I’ve seen posts on social media suggesting that people who join a party can’t think for themselves, blindly follow the party and support absolutely everything they do, and are impervious to other ideas. This is nonsense. You can be a life-long NDP voter and still think the party

was better when Layton was around.

When the Conservative leadership race was getting started, I found myself revolted by Kellie Leitch due to her positions on immigration, as well as the idea of Kevin O’Leary, a reality TV star, becoming a major party leader in my country.

The bigger reason why I joined the Conservative Party was to vote for Michael Chong. Even if I don’t vote Conservative in the next election, if the right-leaning party of Canada is offering to do something about climate change, it alters the political landscape. Chong probably won’t win the leadership race, but I hope to communicate to the party that climate change needs to be taken seriously, and multiculturalism needs to remain integral to Canada.

Unlike in the United States, it’s actually much easier and more

convenient to influence party leadership races as a private citizen. In the States, they have primaries with different states going first, and some having votes and some having caucuses. Some parties have superdelegates, some candidates spend hundreds of millions of dollars, and it’s a huge headache.

As a Canadian, all I had to do was fill out a form mailed to me with my preferences for party leader. I got to rank my preference, not tick off one box, which admittedly is a bit strange coming from a party that likes firstpast-the-post. Party members also have the option of going to an office to vote if there’s one nearby. You get to have more impact since there’s a barrier to entry to participate in some political parties. Since the Liberals recently made membership free, my vote will be one of 250,000 members.

While the leadership candidates have travelled around the country a lot to speak in debates and at press events, it’s nothing like in the U.S. where the voting process is complicated and stretched out for more than a year. Candidates have a $2.5 million dollar spending limit and we have none of that SuperPAC stuff. All the votes come in at the same time from across the country. It’s not like Quebec gets to vote for leader two weeks before Ontario does, having an effect on what Albertan Conservatives might be thinking.

This obviously goes for other parties as well. The NDP is also having a leadership race, and while their rules are likely different from the Conservatives, you, as a voting-age Canadian citizen, have the ability and responsibility to make sure the next NDP leader is quality.

That’s not just for the sake of the NDP, but for all Canadians. When every party has the best and most palatable ideas and leadership, our democracy is healthier and more representative.

DRAW for the runner!

Contact: Art@Runnermag.ca

For just $15 you could have helped, or hindered, Andrew Scheer in his bid to become leader of the Conservative Party. (Creative Commons)

14 columns

Decolonial Discourse

The fatigue of cultural appropriation justin bige| Contributor

Indigenous people, especially artists, don’t have the time to educate and listen to repetitive commentary while dealing with the actual impact of cultural appropriation.

In the past year alone, cultural appropriation has been made visible to the Canadian public in incidents with notable artists, photographers, writers, and more. For Indigenous people, and with recent advances in social media, the reaction to this appropriation is lightning-fast.

Write magazine editor Hal Niedzviecki resigned after publishing an article called “Winning the Appropriation Prize” in which he states that he does not believe in cultural appropriation and, in fact, thinks there should be a prize awarded to the author who is most articulately appropriative. This issue of Write was an Indigenous-focused issue, and he used works by Indigenous writers such as Helen Knott to hammer in his arguments.

Following the publication of Niedzviecki’s article, several members of the writing and publishing community in Canada showed interest in endorsing such appropriative ideas. The Managing Editor of CBC’s The National, Steve Ladurantaye, was one of many CanLit executives across the country actually pledging dollar support for an appropriation prize, should it be created.

CBC interviewed an Ojibwe pop culture critic, Jesse Wente, who listed the names of Indigenous writers published in Write’s last issue: Joshua Whitehead, Richard Van Camp, Tanya Roach, Louise Bernice Halfe, Elaine Wagner, Gord Grisenthwaite, Alicia Elliott, Shannon Webb-Campbell, Helen Knott, and Gloria Mehlmann. These names bear repeating, as when stories like this arise, the ones who have their art and repute attacked by appropriation often are pushed out of the spotlight.

My point isn’t to explain that cultural appropriation is wrong. It’s to bring to light that it happens and will continue to happen, because colonization and appropriation go handin-hand. Jesse Wente said in his CBC interview, “We have to understand that cultural appropriation is institutionalized. It is the very foundation of what Canada is built on, and not just cultural appropriation, but appropriation of all things Indigenous—our lives, our lands.”

Recently, the conversation has turned towards practicing our cultures proactively so we no longer waste energy on being reactive. If we can make a slight change to our goals and intent, sustainable ways of life that honour our ancestors are just around the corner.

artist spotlight: willolux

Kristina Emmott Shows Vulnerability on New EP alyssa laube | associate editor “I feel like everything is changing, but I still feel the same,” sings Kristina Emmott in the chorus to dreamy folk ballad “I Remain”.

The track is the first song on Willolux’s new record, and its lyrics sum up the essence of the EP. Travelling the world, getting engaged, dealing with past traumas, and otherwise easing into adulthood led singer-songwriter Kristina Emmott to “crack [herself] open” and reflect on her identity and happiness on her most recent record, Thread & Tape.

It’s a collection of songs about personal transformation, doubt, and discovery that aims to pull at the heartstrings of its audience. More clearly, it was a medium for healing for Emmott in a time of change and resolution.

Listen closely to the EP and you will find hints of Heatmiser, Sara Bareilles, and Ingrid Michaelson, but Willolux maintains a youthful folkpop style. There is a subtle theatricality to Emmott’s songwriting, which is both delicate and intimate in its sound and lyrical content.

Emmott returned to Vancouver to record a five-song EP entitled This Fire, It Only Grows in 2015, after spending time busking in Australia.

“I’m proud of that EP, but I felt like I had to go deeper,” says Emmott.

“It really inspired me to do something from the inside … I wanted to do a project that was a lot more personal and intimate, which is what this album is. And I’m so happy that it came to fruition, because it’s hard to be vulnerable. You have to be vulnerable to yourself sometimes.”

Thread & Tape was created in Producer Jon Anderson’s small studio in Maple Ridge, where he and Emmott spent a year perfecting and laying down nine tracks. The process of putting the EP together was long, personal, and reflective for Emmott, who struggled to come to terms with past hardships she had not yet accepted. “Losing friends, losing love, and having a broken home” are some of the issues tackled within its lyrics, with the end goal of “finally being okay, and embracing the fact that we’re flawed.”

“I had to break myself open and stitch myself back up, and hopefully not become a Frankenstein of who I used to be,” she says. Now, she is proud to have accomplished that goal.

Tracks like “Modern Day Maestro” are more objective than introspective, focusing on the dissonance between how people represent themselves on social media and the

Kristina Emmott’s most recent EP, Thread & Tape, is a testament to vulnerability, change, and healing. (Submitted) reality of who they are. Others are deeply personal and specific to Emmott’s lived experience. For instance, “Something Blue” explores the feeling of having cold feet leading up to getting married, and what it meant for her to start a new chapter in life.

The amount of time and patience it took to complete the EP determined to its title, according to Emmott.

“It’s called Thread & Tape be-

cause it’s a thread of time and the songs were just slowly stitched into this album. Also, tape because it was recorded over a year of my life,” she says.

Thread & Tape will be released digitally on June 23. The release show is scheduled for June 24 at the St. James Hall, where Willolux will be performing with a full choir.

going global: south korea

Will President Moon be more assertive, yet diplomatic? tristan johnston | coordinating editor Earlier this month, South Korea elected Moon Jae-in to presidency after a turbulent period of impeachment and corruption with the last president, Park Geun-hye. South Korea went six months without a president before Moon was elected. He has promised many left-leaning changes for South Korea, but many more to the country’s relationships with North Korea and the United States.

Former president Park’s administration was tougher on North Korea, offering relatively little diplomatic or economic cooperation. This contrasts sharply with Moon, who has expressed interest in meeting with Kim Jong-un, re-opening the Kaesong industrial park and possibly re-adapting the Sunshine Policy.

The Sunshine Policy was curated by then-president Kim Dae-jung, and outlined a strategy for being friendly with the North to avoid confrontation. This isn’t to say that the policy encouraged being a doormat. Military provocation was still considered intolerable, but the South wouldn’t make any attempts to absorb the North, and would seek cooperation.

Kim would have received a Nobel Peace Prize for this by 2000.

Another big challenge for Moon will be South Korea’s relationship with the United States. While they

have generally had a good relationship for decades, President Trump has made the U.S. appear more hawkish than usual. Among other U.S. “problems” is the deployment of the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) missile defense system in South Korea for protection from North Korea, deployed shortly after a succession of missile tests into the peninsula. China has been furious over the ordeal, claiming that it nullifies their nuclear arsenal and thus the protection nukes offer, but this outrage is more likely to be politically motivated than militarily.

Furthermore, while it was considered a “controversy” during the South Korean election, President Moon said he would “review” THAAD, though a Gallup Korea poll suggested only 3 per cent of voters considered THAAD to be an issue, with economics ranking highest.

As we can expect, the biggest elephant in the room is the increasing frequency of North Korea’s missile tests. Although their behaviour as a state might appear bizarre, North Korea’s goal is self-preservation, at least for the elite, and in that respect they’re highly rational.

North Korea isn’t a group of terrorist wingnuts. They ascribe to a realistic, Cold War-era view of geopol-

South Korean President Moon was voted in with a plurality vote of 41.1 per cent, and favours peaceful diplomacy with North Korea. He would prefer South Korea to take the lead with matters relating to the peninsula. (Republic of Korea/Flickr) itics. If North Korea did have nukes, they would only want to use them as a deterrent. There’s also the additional problem of their military hardware slowly losing viability over time, as much of it is left-over from the Soviet era. If the country was invaded or attacked by any nearby power, they certainly wouldn’t last very long, and they are aware of this.

Released intelligence has found that the North Korean regime closely observed what happened in Iraq as the Americans bulldozed the country.

Like Iraq, a collapse of the Kim dynasty would likely result in hundreds of thousands of displaced and angry armed men roaming the land. It might result in a Korean ISIS. The United States has been pon-

dering this situation for months now, with surgical strikes on North Korean missile platforms being considered.

But as it has been for the last few decades of North Korean brinkmanship, a major conflict is extremely unlikely to happen. The North will always prioritize self-preservation over anything else, and a war would eliminate that. If President Moon seeks more diplomacy, it could bring more peace to the region.

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Sudoku

Horoscopes Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21 Those people don’t hate you, they just like you as an enemy.

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20 Two is company. Three’s a crowd. Four’s a tidy not-for-profit out of Calgary. Five is a threat to the government and must be eradicated. Six is company again.

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20 Warning! Moon Alert!

Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23 Bury that shit in the citations, motherfuckers won’t find it for years.

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20 A transmuter can’t learn spells from the schools of abjuration and necromancy, idiot.

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19 Life hack: fall to your knees and turn your maimed palms skyward crying out to a God long dead for an end to your piteous suffering. Your lucky numbers are: 0.

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23 You grind down the skin till it shines like freshly varnished wood. Your father was a craftsman, you’ve been told. You are a crafter of men.

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23 What you witnessed this morning was not a sign from God.

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19 Your infatuation is based on physical attraction.

Talk to the woman and you’ll realize that you have nothing in common.

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20 For some reason today you might be feeling bad about something, or someone, or nothing at all and actually you’re feeling pretty good. I don’t know. I’ll level with you, I’m really bad at this.

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23 ”First of all how dare you” is not an acceptable way to being an apology letter.

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22 Guess what?