The Runner: Volume 8, Issue 12 by The Runner

VOL-08-ISS-12

Mar-02-2016

Glancing nervously southward since 2009

Japan Needs Feminism

Culture KPIRG Zine Public Interest Research Group Looking for Submissions

Feature A Day in the Life of a KSA Politician

Opinion The Liberals: Style vs Substance

Outgoing arts representative discusses life in student office

Testing the Strength of the New Government

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

Table of Contents

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News |KSA representatives meet with Conservative MP Watts 05

The Kwantlen Student Association’s latest lobbying efforts included meeting with Conservative MP for South SurreyWhite Rock, Dianne Watts. At the meeting, they discussed education funding, transit priorities, a youth council, and a number of other issues pertaining to students.

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. 12 Mar 2, 2016 ISSN# 1916 8241

Culture | KPIRG Announces New Zine Project 07

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 | A Day in the Life of a KSA Politician 10

Student councillors have several reasons for taking breaks at Kwantlen Student Association council meetings. Most of the time, the reason is lunch. Other times, the reason is head-butting.

CONTRIBUTORS Kyrsten Downton Keith Harris Shandis Harrison Joseph Keller Braden Klassen Aly Laube Renée McMillen Awais Mushtaq Kat Nekuryashcikh Rosa Ojeda Kyle Prince Aileen Tran

opinions | Testing the Strength of the New Government 12

In the modern political climate, all federal parties need to be able to invest in their public brand and propagate a culture that attracts voters. This culture includes the party’s reputation, their position on the political spectrum, and their ability to follow through on the promises they made during their election campaign.

column | Britain to hold EU referendum 15

Imagine my immediate anxiety upon hearing that a date had been set for a referendum on European Union membership. As someone who hopes to go to Scandinavia or German-speaking Europe upon completion of my degree, an exit from the EU could make finding a job in one of these places much more difficult.

#BestPhoto Kwantlen’s finest featuring

Artist Bio

Tristan Johnston was the first man to wear a Sombrero to the British Isles. His grandfather was a boxcar and his grandmother was a New Wave cinema enthusiast. On the third moon of every harvest season, Tristan wanders far from the village, into the darkest reaches of the enchanted forest, and contemplates voting for Bernie Sanders. This is his first rodeo.

STAFF

Coordinating Editor

Managing Editor

Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Executive Editor

Samantha Thompson deputy@runnermag.ca @sampthompson

Production Manager

Art Director

Danielle George art@runnermag.ca

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

Editorial

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From the editor

News Briefs

Another election, another middling turnout

Official 2016 KSA general election results

Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

The official results and vote-counts from the 2016 Kwantlen Student Association general election have been released. Corey Van’t Haff, the Kwantlen Student Association’s chief returning officer, conducted a regulated recount for the students with disabilities representative position. The recount results show that Landon Charney defeated incumbent Kim McMartin with 101 votes to 92, confirming his new position. Tristan Johnson

Tristan Johnston

COORDINATING EDITOR

One more Kwantlen Student Association election has come and gone, and we find ourselves, barring only two people, with a completely refreshed council. Alex McGowan, currently vicepresident external, has returned for his third year as an arts representative, and Tanvir Singh returns as Surrey representative from his previous position as an arts rep. Both have told me that they intend to run for an executive position this time. I need to admit that I was surprised by a few of the results, one being the loss of Kimberly McMartin, who could have returned for a third year as students with disabilities rep, but lost her race against Landon Charney. Their race was so tight that a re-

count was triggered, the final result being 101 to 92. Given the amount of work that McMartin has put into her portfolio, I am surprised to see her without a council seat. In total, 193 people voted to determine who would be representing disabled students over the next year, and that’s a little under half of the total voter turnout. Tanvir Singh’s result doesn’t surprise me in the least, given his previous high-ranking position at the Kwantlen Gaming Guild, easily the biggest club at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. And when it comes to the Richmond campus rep, I’m not surprised by who won, but by who lost the most. Incumbent Chanel Kwong had the least amount of votes out of all four who ran for the position. Most importantly, however, is the voter turnout. This year it was even

lower than last time, though admittedly not by much. A total of 452 ballots were cast, compared to the 473 which were cast last year. Not only are several positions unfilled—among them students of colour rep, mature students rep and aboriginal rep—but even fewer people have voted. Again, if you ask me, it demonstrates that people don’t care about what the KSA does. One of my political science professors, Jay Haaland, told me that perception is more important than reality. I’m under the impression that the vast majority of students at Kwantlen don’t care about anything that happens outside of their classrooms, unless it involves their friends or the Tim Hortons lineup. I happened to fit this exact description until I started writing for this newspaper.

Many of the KSA candidates this year said that they were well-aware of this problem. There’s a chance that a few of them will be able to work towards alleviating it, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m of the opinion that student life at KPU is hindered by geography, multiple campuses, and a lack of student housing. I’m definitely not the only student who needs an hour and a half to get to school. Not only that, but all of my highschool friends who came to Kwantlen transferred out as soon as they could. Almost every candidate that I called post-election told me that they will listen to students, and the way to test that is to seek them out and tell them what it is you want from the KSA. They also told me that they’re listening to students, but given the dismal turnout numbers, I’m not sure if any students even have anything to say.

what’s up this week (Mar. 2 - Mar 14, 2016)

Wed, March 2

Thurs, March 3

Yaunna Sommersby

Sat, March 5

Red Coat Diaries – Women in Policing

Women in the RCMP are sharing their stories through a new book. Corporal Donna Morse was one of the first women hired by the RCMP and is set to be the special guest speaker.

KPU Surrey Open House Come by the Open House to ask questions, meet fellow students, explore the Surrey campus and participate in activities. There will be some prizes to win so keep a look out!

5 p.m. – 7 p.m., KPU Surrey Campus – Fir 128. Free

11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., KPU Surrey Campus – Fir 124. Free

11 a.m. – 3 p.m., KPU Surrey Campus. Free

Mon, March 7

Wed, March 9

Thurs, March 10

Music Information Session Learn about KPU’s music program through this information session. With degrees, courses, and performance groups, the program provides a great learning environment for students.

Green Wednesdays: Seeds of Time The School of Horticulture and Green Ideas Network are screening another Green Wednesdays documentary. See the movie and partake in discussion.

KPIRG Annual General Meeting and Election Attend KPIRG’s second Annual General Meeting to vote and to find out what their goals are moving forward. Be prepared for a special performance by singer, songwriter Missy D. 12 p.m. – 4 p.m., Surrey Campus Conference Centre. Free

Film Screening of Out In Schools Pride Kwantlen, the KSA, and the Faculty Association are hosting a filmscreening to address the issue of inclusivity on campus. Be ready to discuss and ask your questions.

7:30 p.m., KPU Langley Campus – Room 1030. RSVP to music@kpu.ca. Free

6:30 p.m., Langley Campus – Room 1030. Register online. Admission by donation

Campus Representatives: LANGLEY CAMPUS: *Connor Griffiths, 145. Tyler Wenman, 122.

RICHMOND CAMPUS: *Murdoch de Mooy, 133. Damanpreet Garcha, 87. Beth Faszer, 56. Chanel Kwong, 39.

SURREY CAMPUS: *Tanvir Singh, 203. Arpan Checi, 160.

Faculty Representatives: FACULTY OF ARTS:

*Sarah Barahmeh, 83 YES, 22 NO. *Alex McGowan, 78 YES, 23 NO. *Orlando (Alex) Lomelino-Austin, 73 YES, 28 NO.

FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND HORTICULTURE:

*Gurkiran Johal, 57 YES, 10 NO. *Nicholas Young, 37 YES, 16 NO.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: *Rawan Ali, 84 YES, 48 NO. *Amanpreet Bir-Bhatti, 107 YES, 47 NO. *John Shkurtaj, 96 YES, 40 NO. *Argel Monte De Ramos, 76 YES, 47 NO.

Constituency Representatives:

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: *Navkaran Singh Kahlon, 156. Dilsharn (Sharn) Kaur, 70. Zubair Ahmed, 51.

QUEER STUDENTS:

*Ryot “R” Jey, 143 YES, 72 NO. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: *Landon Charney, 101. Kim McMartin, 92.

WOMEN’S REPRESENTATIVE: *Natasha Castela Lopes, 195 YES, 36 NO.

News

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KPU students raise money for single mothers in Vancouver A Night in Wonderland organized in support of Cause We Care

Aly Laube

CONTRIBUTOR

As a group of mostly women, some of whom were raised by single mothers, Kwantlen’s public relations class is proud to be raising funds for Cause We Care. According to the charity’s website, Cause We Care “was founded in 2007 for the purpose of assisting single mothers and children living in poverty in our community.” The 23 students in the PR class are working together to meet their financial goal of $10,000 for their cause. So far, they have organized pub nights, bottle drives, and other various fundraising events, but the most extravagant effort planned so far is A Night in Wonderland. The “after-dinner event” will occur on on March 1, at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver.

“Guests will be treated to different appetizers, and we’re basically going to transform the Heritage Hall into a journey for our guests,” says Kelsey Forsyth, a PR student. “There will be a fun photo booth with wacky props and a bunch of activities, plus the usual silent auction table.” There will also be live entertainment—hopefully from Kwantlen’s music department—and the founder of Cause We Care has agreed to speak at the event. All of the money raised will go directly to the charity, in hopes of funding their new after-school care centre for kids. “There are a lot of inner-city schools and programs that they work with. We want to support that so they can continue to provide hampers for single mothers and care for children who can’t necessarily be picked up after school or need some time with other kids in the community,” explains Kae-

lynn Frankish, another student in the class. Aside from their financial goal, the class is hoping to spread awareness for Cause We Care. “There was more of a personal connection to them,” says Frankish. “They were really eager to work with a group of students like us. Along the way, Cause We Care has been really helpful and quite involved with event planning.” “We’re really excited to get this going,” she adds. “We’ve been working on it since the first semester of this year, so we’re excited to see it all come together.” Tickets can be purchased for $40.00 by emailing the class at kpuwonderland@gmail.com. They cannot be purchased online or at the door, but they can be delivered. The event will take place from 7 pm to 10 pm on March 1, at the Heritage Hall.

Vancouver Aquarium/Flickr

Vancouver Aquarium Sues Documentarian

The lawsuit is over copyright infringement in aquarium-critical documentary

Courtesy of Cause We Care

Aly Laube

CONTRIBUTOR

Less than three months after filmmaker Gary Charbonneau released Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered, the aquarium has filed suit against him for copyright infringement. Charbonneau’s film criticizes the facility for keeping whales and dolphins in captivity, emphasizing the high death rate of captive cetaceans. According to a notice of civil claim filed by the aquarium on Feb. 15, images and videos included in the film were used improperly and without permission, thereby voiding a contract Charbonneau signed on the aquarium’s premises. They are attempting to obtain an injunction and

punitive damages. If they succeed, Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered will be removed from the internet and banned from public screenings. Charbonneau defends himself by claiming that he gave sufficient credit for the media and used it to educate the public. He believes that the lawsuit is merely an effort to preserve the aquarium’s reputation, and questions why they are not arguing the allegations his film made against them in court. Instead, they addressed them in a post on their official blog. “You can’t really attack the contents of the film, which is why there is no defamation suit—and it’s very frivolous and it’s disappointing they would do this, but we’ll fight it,” he said in a Feb. 18 interview with News 1130.

GradsLikeMe seeks to aid Canadian youth employment Provides tools to increase access to potential jobs

Yaunna Sommersby CONTRIBUTOR

Finding employment after graduation is a significant issue for university students. Classes within specialized programs teach them the skills they’ll need to work in their respective fields, yet most post-secondary programs lack practical employment skill training. Ashton Louie is the creative marketing director for a new Vancouverbased career network program called GradsLikeMe, a project that works to address this problem. Founders Paul Brar and Preet Dhaliwal “wanted to create a space where young people could better showcase their personal work,

while also not wasting their time just searching for jobs,” says Louie. When they launch in early March, GradsLikeMe will provide portfoliobuilding tools, job-search tools, and job postings for recent graduates and current students to access. The network will also allow companies to “target the young demographic.” “The plan is to help tackle Canadian youth unemployment, because there is really no resource for it right now.” University career or co-op service departments act as a resource, but depending on the size of the institution, the opportunities may not be the

same. “It is expensive to post (jobs) at the universities,” said Louie. “If companies are going to reach out to them, they’re going to reach out to just the main ones where they know the most students are going to see them.” Scott McLeod is the co-op office coordinator for Kwantlen Polytechnic University and he feels the program has improved and gained more student attention in recent years. “We’re still kind of in the shadows of SFU and UBC, but the number of students going through co-op that have been placed in the last couple of years has gone up.”

There are 450 students currently going through Kwantlen’s co-op program, with 70 more students expected to enter the program over the next month. Most of KPU’s co-op programs are positioned within business and accounting. There are also co-op programs in criminology and community criminal justice and a required co-op for the Environmental Protection Technology Diploma. A recent UBC graduate herself, Louie realizes it can be frustrating when applicants see “job listings that say it’s for an entry-level position, except then it asks for five-plus years of experience.” GradsLikeMe

is hoping to help students move past this aspect of applying for jobs and teach them how to market their unique skills. While job searching can get discouraging, Louie believes “students are still capable of so much” and they should keep looking for work while in school and after graduation. “Work experience of any kind is beneficial, as opposed to taking classes, doing school, and then trying to find work afterwards,” says McLeod. “Trying to incorporate some kind of work experience, whether it relates to your field or not, is always beneficial.”

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KSA representatives meet with Conservative MP Watts Discuss funding, transit, and a potential youth council

Awais Mushtaq CONTRIBUTOR

The Kwantlen Student Association’s latest lobbying efforts included meeting with Conservative MP for South Surrey-White Rock, Dianne Watts. At the meeting, they discussed education funding, transit priorities, a youth council, and a number of other issues pertaining to students. Alex McGowan, the KSA’s vice-president external, represented the organization at the meeting, which was at the end of January. “The Liberals made a promise to massively increase that program and I wanted to reiterate [its] importance, along with transit priorities, student housing/general affordability, and opportunities for students and youth, which came up more organically,” explains McGowan. Lobbying is a significant portion of the KSA’s budget. The lobbying portion of the budget covers coalitions, conferences, and meetings like the one McGowan held with Watts. The budgeted amount for all lobbying expenses in 2015 was $194,202, $162,440 of which was spent, according to unaudited financial statements. For 2016, the budget for lobbying has been reduced to $109,300.

The KSA currently lobbies for lower tuition, increased public funding for post-secondary education, and transit improvements, among other causes. McGowan is making a point of working to meet as many of the region’s MPs as possible, to allow opposition leaders to hold the current federal account for the promises made to student organizations during the election campaign last year. One such promise is the expansion of transit systems across the country was another promise made by the Liberal government, that McGowan suggests is key. “Specifically in the south of Fraser, it’s important for students to get better transit. I’ve made a point of bringing this issue up with whoever I can meet with to drive home the need to have more federal funding for the light rail and buses in the region.” Although the KSA lobbies on an ongoing basis, McGowan says, “It’s always hard to predict what will happen [as an outcome]. The big ones are student housing—the province is not letting the university build housing on campus, so we’re working to get legislation changed to allow for this. As well, upgrading transit routes [such as the 319 bus route to a B-Line], reducing interest rates on student loans, and working on a $100-million

KPU launches Snapchat account Tremendous potential for new social media platform at Kwantlen

// Courtesy of Conservative Party of Canada

needs-based grant program to support students who need it.” In the past, KSA lobbying efforts have resulted in things like the UPass (in collaboration with other student unions), the development of the 301 bus route, and the ongoing lobby for more post-secondary funding. McGowan suggests that collaborations with other lobbying groups, as was done with the U-Pass, “are a multifaceted thing, often taking the form of sit-down meetings where relationships are built. It’s important

that we are able to advocate on behalf of students, so when certain issues come up we need politicians to reach out to us in order for the government to craft good policies.” “Part of this meeting was to build that relationship,” he explains. “Lobbying is a fundamental aspect of what we do for students, and I understand that it can be hard to see the benefits, especially right now when we haven’t seen a win in this particular year. But, it’s definitely more of a long term project.”

Liberal MPs hold budget consultation at KPU Members were able to reach out to about 12 Canadians

Tristan Johnston COORDINATING EDITOR

Though the event was sparsely attended, a few local MPs visited Kwantlen Polytechnic University Surrey campus to hold consultations with Canadians on the 2016 federal budget. Only a few people were in attendance, leaving most seats in the Fir 124 auditorium empty. With the exception of two Runner staff members and Alex McGowan, Vice President External for the Kwantlen Student Association, the majority of the audience appeared to be either KPU faculty or

local citizens of Surrey. Ken Hardie (Fleetwood - Port Kells), John Aldag (Cloverdale-Langley City) and Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey - Newton) came by to ask attendees what they want the federal government to spend money on. The meeting was first prefaced by a video recording of Bill Morneau, minister of finance, talking about the state of the economy and what their campaign promises were. Among them was $20-billion for transit developments. “During the campaign we made some very clear commitments that we intend to uphold,” says Aldag. “So the Broadway line was one that we specifically committed to, we also com-

Samantha Thompson

mitted $750-million to transit south of the Fraser specifically [...]” It has been well-reported that the Liberals will bring the budget into deficit, it has just been a question as to what degree. During the election, they said that they would dip into the red, but aim for balance by the next election. However, given the nature of the global economy, they might not even be able to fulfil that goal. Many media pundits have speculated that the Liberals could make up for budget shortfalls by legalizing marijuana, as they have promised, but they haven’t assumed anything yet. “At this point, no dollars from legalization have been put into the budget,

Tristan Johnson

and part of it is that we’re still looking at the timeline, and what that tax regime would look like,” says Aldag. Other subjects brought up were funding for ESL programs, medical, and tuition. Alex McGowan told the MPs that he’d like to see the aboriginal students fund have its cap removed, as it has been set at two per cent by the previous Conservative government. He also told the MPs that he liked the Liberal promise for more money towards student loans, and wanted to make sure that it gets into the federal budget. One member of the audience wanted to see Medical Service Program premiums reduced or eliminated, to which Hardie responded by saying that MSP was a provincial matter. “I’m not nitpicking, but this actually represents one of the complications of our federation because there’re so many things… Some of them are clear cut between what’s provincial and what’s federal, others are kinda blurry.” At the very least, the Liberals appear to be delivering on their promise to create a more transparent government. Bill Morneau himself travelled to six cities last month to consult Canadians, Surrey being among them. “The prime minister says the government must be open and engaged. That is the tone he has set,” Dan Lauzon, director of communications for the finance minister, said in an interview with CBC News.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Kwantlen Polytechnic University has added another social media platform to their vast array of accounts—Snapchat. On Feb. 23, KPU announced via social media that they had launched their Snapchat account. As of publishing time, Kwantlen had posted one snap to their story, which features a photo of Surrey campus with a Kwantlen geofilter applied. KPU is one of only a few postsecondary institutions in BC to have a Snapchat account, although UBC Recreation does have their own account, and SFU has SFU Snaps, an unofficial account that screenshots snaps sent to them by SFU students and posts them on their other accounts. It is more common for student groups, such as student newspapers, to have Snapchat accounts. One of the first universities to get Snapchat was the University of Houston in 2014. Since then, many other schools have also launched an account, and use them as recruitment and promotional tools. It is widely acknowledged that geofilters are particularly useful for this, as the school is able to get promotion through wide networks when students send their geofiltered selfies to their friends. Other universities have used Snapchat for athletic recruitment, to launch scavenger hunts and contests, and to communicate with potential applicants. Although it is not yet clear what KPU will use their Snapchat for, we can only hope it’ll be filled with quirky doodles of Alan Davis as Snape, and selfies of Kwintin using the animated filters.

Culture

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Review: 4000 Miles at The Social Justice Mixer Surrey Arts Centre Making a difference is easier than you think Play boasts one brilliant standout and three bland stereotypes.

Aly Laube

CONTRIBUTOR

The plot of the play 4000 Miles is simple—an aloof, free-spirited grandson requests sanctuary with his grandmother after completing a bike tour. Stuck between being a jobless traveller and returning to an unpleasant family situation, he reluctantly stays in the old woman’s house and they bond in the process. It is a selfdescribed “uplifting story of growing up and growing old,” which explains why the set design consists largely of aging, seventies-esque furniture and dusty family portraits. 4000 Miles’ target audience is clearly between thirty and sixty years old. Like the grandmother, Vera, they understand how it feels to get older and see the world change. When she hobbles around, crankily swears, and calls her poor memory “disgusting,” empathetic laughter bursts from the crowd. Because she is representative of the audience, Vera is blessed with the most in-depth characterization. She is refreshingly progressive, not just a caricature of your typical old woman, identifying with communism and the peace movement, smoking marijuana, and openly discussing her sexuality. Yet she behaves realistically for her age, struggling to “find her words,” reminiscing about her youth, and dealing with the loneliness of getting old. Not only is Vera a well-

written character, she is remarkably well-performed by Nicola Cavendish, who masters physical acting to a tee. She moves, speaks, and behaves like an old woman would, but adds a personal flare to the trope that makes Vera loveable and fascinating. Cavendish’s performance is excellent, but it is also the play’s most notable aspect. The other characters come across as disappointingly predictable caricatures. Grandson Leo, played by Nathan Barrett, is the unemployed, nature-loving hippy. His girlfriend Bec, played by Ella Simon, is the politically correct, ever-up-inarms activist. The only other role in the play, Amanda, played by Agnes Tong, is nothing more than your typical drunk party girl. By indulging in the development of Vera, the other three roles suffer. They lack depth and therefore fail to garner any emotion but contempt from the audience. The only exception to this is in a moment of vulnerability from Leo, while he recounts losing his best friend in an accident. In that scene, Barrett seizes the opportunity to be more than a stereotype and his true prowess as an actor shines through. For the first and only time during 4000 Miles, Leo tugs at the heartstrings of his viewers. Overall, the play is clear, entertaining, and witty. It is not particularly original or touching, but it is enjoyable and deserving of a genuine laugh.

Renée McMillen

Renée McMillen CONTRIBUTOR

On Feb. 10, the Grassroots Cafe played host to the Social Justice Mixer, meant to promote discussion of social justice issues on campus. Several keynote speakers were featured at the event, including Brandon

Gabriel, Melinda Bige, Ayesha Khan and recently elected queer students representative Ryot “R” Jey. In addition to spreading awareness about social justice issues, the mixer’s purpose was to connect social justice-oriented groups on campus. Information on various issues was in abundance, and if any topic triggered an emotional response within the au-

dience, the speakers and KSA were ready and willing to escort anyone to a safe space. A clear message from the mixer was the importance of joining a community or group you feel interested or passionate in, to be present and to “get your feet wet,” as Melinda Bige mentioned. “Look for like-minded people. It opens up doorways for your career and for your ‘heart’s work.’” Ayesha Khan, the director of anti-oppression for KPIRG, says, “Find which cause is the most important to you that you’d be willing to sacrifice everything.” This way, you’d know it’s worth your skills and the cost to your time. The groups that were present at the mixer were Pride, Students of Colour Collective, Disability Action Movement Now, Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group and more. There’s plenty to “get your feet wet” with and explore what movement you want to contribute to during school, and after graduation.

Love in this Club: Muslim Student Association

New club seeks to bring people together for learning and community building

Kyle Prince CONTRIBUTOR

The Muslim Student Association is once again active at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. After a hiccup in 2011, the club has reformed and reregistered with the KSA by a new group of students. Naveen Zafar and Zainab Ibrahim, two of the four executives for the club, say they wanted to reboot the Muslim Student Association for a number of reasons. “We want to get rid of misconceptions about the religion and Muslims,” says Zafar. “Another [reason] is to build the community and create a platform to allow people to be who they are.” She speaks of having to deal with a dual life, having to balance her religion with school and work, and how this is no small task. Zafar hopes that, by bringing students together, they can help others deal with their issues and attempt to solve any problems students might have. These issues could be anything from finding a good place for meditation or prayer, to dealing with discrimination within the school or workplace. Zafar mentions that is was, “hard to find that balance,” since there were many times when she wanted to take time for prayer, but couldn’t due to external circumstances.

The club started simply enough. Zafar’s friend asked where a prayer room was, and she didn’t have a good answer. “She influenced me,” says Zafar, “you’re already on campus— you could already be doing these things.” This is what prompted Zafar to approach Ibrahim and start talking about creating a club. “It’s not just about focusing on religious activity,” Zafar continues. “A lot of it is about building a community.” Their first event, put together only two weeks after the creation of the club, was to make welcome cards for refugees. Working with students, faculty members, and anybody else who wanted to help, they made cards and sent them to the Vancouver Welcome Centre, which now hands them out along with clothes, food, and other resources for refugees arriving at the Vancouver airport. “We wanted to create a welcoming environment for them,” says Zafar. Ultimately, the Muslim Association says it’s looking to bring people

together of all creeds and beliefs. “We’re open to having anyone come to the meeting. It’s definitely not just about Muslims,” says Ibrahim. “It’s for everyone, whoever wants to learn.” It’s unfortunate, however, that not everyone thinks this way. The club has already seen some harsh words sent their way through their membership application form. The comments were not made public, as they must be approved before being posted on the page. “Our goal is to educate people,” says Zafar. Part of the reason the club was created is to avoid things like that, because those comments came from a “misinformed viewpoint.” The founding members of the club just want to show that, “at the end of the day, we’re just as human as anyone else.”

Courtesy of Muslim Student Association

Culture

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KPIRG Announces New Zine Project

Group encourages students to submit artwork for spring publication

Braden Klassen CONTRIBUTOR

Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group has announced their intention to publish a new zine for the spring semester. For the unaware, a zine is generally a grassroots publication that contains the work of various writers and artists that focusses on a specific, oftentimes niche subject. Currently dubbed the “KPIRG ZINE,” the forthcoming publication is set to showcase the projects of students across all KPU campuses, and all students are encouraged to submit something to the staff for publication. The KPIRG ZINE is being organized by Inder Johal, KPIRG’s outreach and communications coordinator. “Basically, it would be anything from an academic paper to an informal paper, poetry, artwork—whether it’s a cartoon or a drawing . . . anything really. We’re pretty open and flexible to that,” Johal explains. “We just want to get students involved and help get them published around all of the campuses, and make it relatable

to the social justice issues that they’re passionate about.” So far, the zine hasn’t received any sort of artwork submissions, but Johal says she would, “like some people to submit some cartoons or something raw. That would be awesome to put in, because we are student-funded and run by students, so I would really like the students to make the zine their own.” In terms of what KPIRG’s definition of social justice-related content is, Johal describes it as, “ anything that’s within what KPIRG believes in, socially, environmentally or economically. Whether they’re passionate about feminism or food rights or migrant justice—we’re open to all of that.” “It’s about the whole grassroots idea of social activists coming together as one and just spreading awareness through something they can touch and they can feel. I feel like it’s very important for people to be able to actually see it, and to see it in the hands of other people as well as their own,” says Johal. The zine is only in the beginning stages of its creation, and there is still a lot of work to do.

“I’m just trying to get an idea of how many people actually want to submit something and get something published,” says Johal. “It’s been hard to get students to send stuff in, whether it’s because they don’t know exactly what it is or it’s kind of new to them.” Johal said if the zine gets enough interest and submissions from students, KPIRG would like to work to publish more issues in the future. “I want to achieve having a nice publication—send it out maybe for the spring and summer semesters, and one in the fall semester. So there would be two zines, and we could make it a semesterly thing and take it from there.” If students want to get involved with this project, Johal advises that they get into contact with her specifically. “Contact me, send me an email, come to the office here and get it done. We’re very flexible about submissions as long as they fall under a social justice mandate, we’re totally open with everything. You can pop in and we can arrange a meeting.”

Keith Harris

Exploring the Colonial Problem

KPU prof’s new book discusses issues of indigenous people in criminal justice system

Kyrsten Downton CONTRIBUTOR

From the moment Lisa Monchalin’s grandmother saw her, she believed her granddaughter would be the one to help make a difference for their people. Now, Monchalin is doing her best to follow this path Monchalin, who works at Kwantlen Polytechnic University as a criminology professor, is the first indigenous woman to hold a PhD in criminology in Canada. She has also recently authored a book, entitled The Colonial Problem, which is dedicated to her grandmother. In The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada, Monchalin examines and critiques the criminal justice system, focusing on the over representation of indigenous people. “I started thinking about how can we make a difference,” she says. “How can we honestly think about making a difference to the levels of crime and victimization that affect our people in this country.” The over-representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system, both in victimization and

criminalization, has been framed both by lawmakers and the media as the “Indian problem.” Monchalin points out that the phrase puts blame on her people. “I argue in my book that as Native people, we’ve always been looked at as the Indian problem,” says Monchalin. “That term comes from Indian Affairs itself. They were seeking to try and solve this so-called Indian problem, and that has been the goal of this colonial government since the beginning.” In the book, Monchalin argues that the over representation is instead the result of a “colonial problem.” “It’s the fact that all of these institutions that were created in this country, everything from police, court, corrections, those are all colonial institutions. They were set-up to eliminate us. So what do we have right now in society? We have the same institutions operating.” Monchalin also argues that there is no way to find a solution within the systems already in place because they are inherently not designed to help solve the issue. “The problem is the fact that people are not awake to the reality that these systems and structure will never

reduce the victimization and criminalization that we are experiencing, because that is the purpose of those institutions,” says Monchalin. The Colonial Problem was specifically designed to be a textbook, which Monchalin wants to be implemented in universities across Canada. She hopes that through teaching others, people will be more culturally aware of the realities indigenous communities face, and will eventually take significant steps towards finding some solutions. “I think one of those solutions is through education, and it’s about educating people on the true realities and the histories that Native people have faced and continue to face in this country,” says Monchalin. For now, Monchalin is doing her part to help educate others through teaching in classrooms and through publishing her book. “If I can get my message and the realities across to at least one student, it feels so good,” says Monchalin. “When I go into a classroom and I can just engage the students, I really am making a difference. I really am fulfilling my grandma’s vision for me.”

WRITE FOR THE RUNNER!

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Japan needs Feminism

While quality-of-life is second to none, life isn’t easy for Japanese women

Tristan Johnston - Coordinating Editor I suppose to someone who’s never been to Japan, it might appear, at least on the surface, to be a wonderful place to live. The trains are always on time, the food is amazing regardless of the price you pay, the music is excellent. It even boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the developed world. This wasn’t my first visit to Japan, and I was well-aware of the broader problems affecting the country from the inside out. Low birthrates that weren’t being replaced by immigration, a lack of innovation in the economy, and an extremely low marriage rate were all important issues on the minds of the Japanese people. While I was there to meet family, I happened to meet Chizuko Tominaga, a professor at a university in Sendai. While she introduced herself as a historian, her business card also said “feminist.” I asked her about this while we were walking around Mitsukoshi (think Nordstrom’s), and she pointed out the salespeople. “All the floors, the persons selling goods are female. All female. But the overseer is male, because the female salary is lower than male,” she told me. “Of course, another reason could be that those girls are working parttime jobs. Because women cannot do work as a full-time worker, so it’s very easy to get this kind of job. Receptionists? All female.” I am aware that it’s harder to be a woman than a man in nearly every country in the world. However, it’s extremely difficult to name a female Japanese CEO or politician, while anyone who’s into video games can easily name the lead designer on Metal Gear or Super Mario. “I would like men to enter the female fields,” said Tominaga. “Nurse, domestic work, something like that. I think that would be better than women entering male fields. When women enter the male fields, their consciousness becomes ‘male.’” I couldn’t help but mention that I

had waited around in Sephora stores in Vancouver, and that sometimes a man who knows makeup better than you could be selling you stuff. “No way. No way would that happen in Japan,” she replied. It was the next morning that my great-uncle and Tominaga gave me several gifts. My great-uncle gave me books that he wrote, but I couldn’t read, and Tominaga giving me a pile of statistics with her English translations attached to them. In a 2014 report from the Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office of Japan, 3,000 people across various age groups, genders, and regions of Japan were polled on their attitudes towards gender roles. According to the report, 11.7 per cent of the country believes that women should stop working after giving birth, and 11.7 per cent of women aged 20 to 29 agree. When asked about how Japanese society will change after women move closer to equality, only 27.1 per cent of respondents agreed that men would participate in childcare and housework. Around 40 per cent of women aged 20 to 29 agreed, but only 29.3 per cent of all women agreed. Tominaga also introduced me to the concept of “maternity discrimination.” Japan, like many countries, has maternity leave for women in the workplace. The problem is that mothers often won’t get re-hired to the position they had before giving birth. In Japan, 70 per cent of women leave the workforce for 10 years or more after having children, compared to only 30 per cent in the United States. Because of this, women make up 70 per cent of part-time workers in Japan. Eighty per cent of Japanese women over the age of 25 have postsecondary education. In fact, women in Japan consistently perform at, or near the top of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) education rankings, and more women are exiting Japanese universi-

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Tristan Johnson

ties with degrees than men. Given the shrinking labour force of the country, some firms might need to start taking women more seriously. There is also the issue of gender roles being heavily ingrained in Japanese society. Women in Japan are still, overall, expected to stay at home and take care of the kids. This is, however, starting to change fairly rapidly. Japan is currently undergoing a demographic crisis, as not enough women are giving birth, and they don’t have high enough immigration rates to make up for the population decline. One possible explanation could be the expectations of workplace culture in Japan. Japan has the lowest levels of telecommuting in the world—most workers go overtime, and typically without pay. Given the long working hours expected, the idea of raising a child and working at the same time appears impossible. It should also be noted that Japanese women aren’t all budding feminists. There is a large portion of women who have no problem with the way things are. In addition, there are plenty of young women—and men for that matter—who simply don’t want to work at all. The Japanese have a different idea of status, a woman who works part-time at a shoe store might not attach her job to her status, especially if she’s the wife of a corporate executive. Her identity as a wife or mother could be of higher importance to her. The day after meeting Tominaga, we met again to travel around Sendai. That afternoon, she told me that they were making a quick visit to a politician. It turned out this politician was Tomiko Okazaki, who was the Minister of State for Social Affairs and Gender Equality from 2010 to 2011. In our brief conversation she brought up a rather startling statistic. Out of 120 countries studied in the Global Gender Gap Report, which was conducted by the World Economic Forum, Okazaki told me, “Ja-

pan is 101st.” She refers to various disparities, economical and political in nature. “In politics, if you look at how women are represented in elected membership, there’s the Inter-parliamentary Union, the IPU, but out of 190 countries, Japan is 155th for female representation. There are things like education, health, economics— but the one with the most difference is the field of politics. Right now, the world average is 22 per cent [for female representation] . . . but Japan is 9.5 per cent.” This contrasts sharply with Canadian parliament, which is 26 per cent female, with 50 per cent of our cabinet being female. In addition to that, of Japan’s 15 Supreme Court justices, only three are female. “If about 30 per cent of the people in assembly were female, it would be easier to get things passed. Of course, fifty-fifty would be good. But at least thirty per cent, it’d be a bit pitiful, but if there were thirty per cent women, then their opinions would get across. But Japan is still at only 9.5 percent.” While all of these statistics are dire, the main cause is likely Japanese corporate culture. It’s commonplace for Japanese firms to hire people straight out of university and keep them for the rest of their lives, and promotions are based on seniority and how much unpaid overtime you work. This cultivates an “old boys club” that effectively excludes women from breaking into the world of Japanese business. The day that Japan starts to see an improvement in its economy and overall happiness will be the day they start allowing women to take high-ranking positions in firms, and allowing a little bit more immigration. But as it always is with social progress, this will take time. This article couldn’t have been written without the help of Nuvjit Sidhho, who translated interview audio from Japanese to English.

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A Day in the Life of a KSA Politician

Outgoing arts rep Simon Massey talks life in student office, offers advice to new councillors

Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

Student councillors have several reasons for taking breaks at Kwantlen Student Association council meetings. Most of the time, the reason is lunch. Other times, the reason is head-butting. The student association and the university have a generally great relationship, great enough that they discuss many administrative processes together. But when some KSA councillors wanted to push harder against a contentious memorandum of understanding the university adopted with Kinder Morgan last summer (that has since been rescinded), there was a spark. One council member wanted the KSA executives to formally state their case against the university. The executives were wary of this, not wanting to damage their hard-earned working relationship. But that particular councillor pushed on. One executive said he was out of place. Another said his directive came in last minute—around 11 p.m. the previous night—and called the entire affair “disrespectful.” Feeling accosted, the councillor asked for council to recess. “I don’t see why we don’t finish the discussion now,” said an executive. “… Otherwise we would have to start all over again—” “Are you fucking kidding me?” said the accosted councillor. “Can we just recess?” The councillors promptly took their break. Two-time arts student representative Simon Massey—many times a slam poet, still a Creative Writing Guild vice-president—was there on that broody September afternoon. Speaking of the impasse, Massey says it’s not great when people don’t get along, but it at least means that students can be passionate, like the many people who campaigned against his in his first run for office. He was in a race against seven other people trying out for four arts representative spots, including KSA vice-president external Alex McGowan. When he realized the number of people he was up against, Massey felt a fire was lit beneath him. He campaigned hard—he didn’t know how to do it, but he ended up getting more votes than any other arts representative in his first election. Massey wears thin-framed glasses, and dons a large blue raincoat. At council he talks confidently, often playing devil’s advocate, pointing his finger up when he notes his abstention from a motion, or being the first to call to question when he’s sensed that the debate’s usefulness has petered out. And still, Massey says it’s much easier to score eight or higher at a poetry slam than it is to convince a room full of people of something they weren’t previously convinced about. KSA councillors mostly sit with their peers at the monthly council

Kier-Christer Junos meetings. That doesn’t make it any easier to be convincing, which is a practice that councillors take part in each day in their committees or at council. One way some student politicians try to convince others includes phoning fellow councillors to preface them on an upcoming idea they’re putting forward at council, hoping for their vote. Their soft-skills on the phone could be solid, but the good student politician remembers to weigh each word. In student politics, Massey says it’s most important to keep your ideas and your convictions. His leap in course selection to philosophy from political science put him into the little communities he needed to start in student politics. His rationale is that if he was to be at KPU for a while, it wouldn’t hurt to invest in student culture. But bureaucracy always hurts, and Massey says, “You’re never prepared for how much bureaucracy doesn’t work.” Massey served on the board that publishes The Runner and Pulp Magazine, and it was his days as a board member that gave him his first tastes of bureaucracy. Massey is easily critical of the publishing society’s bylaws, calling them “terrible” and written in a way that makes them incredibly difficult to change. He felt it was hard to get things done in his time there. At the KSA, for one, Massey found that the club event planning forms were unwieldy, stuck as unalterable PDFs. One of his first motions at council was to change them all into Word documents. It sounds like a small change in the short-run, but it has ramifications for future councils. It could save processing time, and subsequently create more time for everyone. That extra time is crucial. Projects at the KSA can take months to complete, often outlasting the terms

of councillors that started them in the first place. Massey put himself up for election to the KSA council because he thinks that KPU students pay a lot of student fees, he wanted to create interesting events on campus, and his previous lack of knowledge of the club funding processes drove him to learn more. Until the KSA hired a proper clubs and events coordinator, the clubs and events system wasn’t as effective during those days, he says. During his first term, Massey claims there was a lot more funding available for on-campus events, as the austerity measures of the current KSA council hadn’t been enacted. With that greater financial ability, Massey created events on campus like most prospective councillors promise to do. Every month he hosts his own brand of poetry slams called “Slamapalooza” in the Grassroots, which created a successful KPU slam poetry team that performed at other slam events around Canada. His mistakes in event organization, however, became galvanizing moments. He “accidentally” became the sole organizer for a poetry-performance at the Melville Centre for Dialogue on Richmond campus, for example. In those moments he says, “you kind of just start swearing.” But the event still took place. He was able to sit down, de-stress, and enjoy the experience he helped create for students. Besides event organization, there’s the advocacy work. Councillors typically learn more than most students about dense university processes, and it puts them in a place of responsibility. Some councillors, if given the opportunity, make themselves known as a resource for students at the beginning of a class. If a student does have concerns, then Massey or any councillor would be expected to ac-

commodate them, offer a business card, and ask for an email detailing the concerns. Naturally, the student councillor constantly refreshes their inbox for new messages. In fact, the KSA bylaws force councillors to check their emails. They can also usually expect calendar invites to a copious number of meetings. “For the love of god, put your council email calendar into your phone,” says Massey. “You will have so many meetings that will just happen.” In those meetings, Massey says

the most important thing for a councillor is to “keep your own ideas,” and not to herd vote. Massey says that others can discern when the backbenchers, those who don’t say much, are actually considering the debate happening in front of them and changing their votes. Those votes are powerful. Massey and hundreds of other KPU students were reminded of that when they ousted corrupt KSA executives in 2011, in a special general meeting that stopped multiple times because unidentified colluders ved fire alarms and even pepper-sprayed students. “I believe they disconnected G building . . . from the fire alarm grid, and students were posted in front of every fire alarm to make sure the meeting could finish,” says Massey. Massey found those days to be an inspiring display of student involvement. He says there were over 400 students in that meeting, taking loads of time out of their day, skipping classes, so they could “get the stuff they were paying into, so it could get better.” Since then, voter turnout at the KSA general elections has been declining. Massey says that could be a good or bad sign. At least it generally means that “no one’s angry at the KSA.” Still, students should rue the day it took their squandered rights to actually change something. Yes, crisis might be a great catalyst. But more often, change should come when students realize that they have power to make it happen at their university. Surely, that’s why students are still putting themselves up for election.

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Tastes of the Season

Inspiration for your Harvest Box vegetables

Renée McMillen CONTRIBUTOR

The Harvest Box program, which delivers approximately 10 pounds of produce twice a week to Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, is an excellent way to have access to healthy, local fruits and vegetables— all at a price that won’t deprive you of that coffee that gets you through the last 90 minutes of class. There are at least seven varieties of fruits and vegetables in the Harvest Box, and whenever is possible, the choice will be given to support B.C. farmers and suppliers. You simply make an order online or in-person at the Kwantlen Student Association office. There are a number of options, including the Value Box that’s only $5, the local box that’s only $10 ($15 for non-students), and a BOGO Box

that’s $10 and which gives you the Value Box and donates another to a family in need. The program has been in place, connecting local farms to families in the Fraser Valley, for over 15 years. It was developed to encourage healthy eating habits at an affordable price which may not typically be available to families in need. But you never know what you’re going to get in the Harvest Box, so is the mystery worth it? Last week it was delivered to campus with bok choy, three navel oranges, four bananas, a spaghetti squash, an onion, four russet potatoes, a cauliflower and a bag of bean sprouts. That box was heavy! The best part was opening up the box. Imagine Christmas morning without caring if it’s white outside, and shuffling through to see what the locals are “cooking up” for you out in the farms. Scratch that, the best part

was dinner the next couple of nights. Those potatoes were fantastic next to a couple of steaks, and the veggies went a long way in a fantastic chicken teriyaki stir-fry. It didn’t stop there. Saturday morning we juiced the orange juice fresh while waiting for our banana bread muffins to bake. The challenge was in trying to find something to do with every single item that comes in the box! Does anyone really know what to do with spaghetti squash? As the seasons change, so too will the offerings of the Harvest Box. It’s dependent entirely on what’s locally available, and that fluctuation keeps this program fresh and original. The limit is not in what you can make, but how well you utilize the ingredients—and as students, that may be the first obstacle. Luckily, there are some easy to follow recipes below that kept us all full days after we picked up the box at the KSA. Instructions: Mash bananas until soft and minimally lumpy. Stir in butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until mixture is smooth but not runny. Add salt, baking soda, and flour. Mixture scoops easily into muffin tins or in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 22-25 minutes for muffins, 55-65 minutes for a loaf. If you’re feeling vcrazy, go nuts and add some walnuts or chocolate chips.

banana bread:

3 bananas, ripe 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine ¾ cup of sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. baking soda Pinch of salt 1 ½ cups flour 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. baking soda Pinch of salt 1 ½ cups flour

Renée McMillen

Chicken Stir-Fry: 5 chicken thighs, or 2 chicken breasts ½ cup of broccoli, and cauliflower each ½ cup chopped onion ½ red pepper ½ carrot 2 celery stalks Handful of bean sprouts Pinch of salt 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. minced garlic Teriyaki sauce to taste v½ red pepper ½ carrot 2 celery stalks Handful of bean sprouts Pinch of salt 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. minced garlic Teriyaki sauce to taste

Instructions: Brown the chicken in a stir fry pan until cooked. Add olive oil, garlic and chopped onion and reduce heat to simmer. Chop vegetables and add to simmer for approximately 15 minutes in the teriyaki sauce. Broccoli and cauliflower should be firm and crisp but able to be “forked” out of your pan for a taste test. Enjoy!

The Black History Month Confabulation

SCC and KPIRG hold two-day event to celebrate African heritage

Aileen Tran

Aileen Tran CONTRIBUTOR

Black History Month is important to Canadian culture. It’s an observance that needs to be greatly acknowledged and taught through our

educational system. That’s why Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Students of Colour Collective, along with the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group, organized a two day-long Black History Month Confabulation on the Surrey campus. The event, which is organized

annually and was held this year on Feb. 24 and 25, was open to not only KPU students but everyone in the community. It facilitated the sharing of knowledge about the struggles of Black peoples, as well as the contributions of people of African heritage to the stock of world knowledge.

These contributions span, amongst other areas, education, literature, social sciences and humanities, music, and dance. The first day of the event saw guest speakers sharing the importance of storytelling, upbeat drumming sessions by Yoro Noukoussi, and expert panelists. There were also interactive workshops that taught about storytelling in its various forms, and highlighted its relevance to African culture. The initial day of the Confabulation concluded with Comfort Euro telling traditional African children stories through acting and dancing by African Stages. The second day opened with a video call from Canadian senator representing B.C., Mobina Jaffer, followed by more storytelling with Comfort Euro and African Stages, and a final panel discussion. The panellists shared their life experiences dealing with racism not only in Canada, but in other places in the world such as Germany and Russia, and how it has shaped them as people.

Poet Dana I.D. Matthews blew the audience away with his spoken word performance, and vice-president of the B.C. Black History Awareness Society, Ron Nicholson, gave a compelling slideshow lecture on the history of Underground Railroads. The Confabulation added more than a dash of vibrant colours with a fashion show featuring many forms of beautiful clothing that twisted modern and traditional styles together. Ndidi Cascade ended the evening with the crowd out of their seats, dancing and rapping to her funky raps and beats. “The Black History Month Confab is important because it brings into perspective the experiences of black Canadians,” says Tobekile Mpofu, vice-president of SOCC and one of the main organizers of the event. “We are a minority and it is not every day that the world is focusing on us and considering our contributions in art, culture, history.” “To have people learn about us and participate in the Confabulation is very important to us because it exposes us to the world.”

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Where have all the smart people gone? A look at the perceived “Brain Drain” in Canada

Joseph Keller CONTRIBUTOR

Where is Canadian talent going? It’s a question that has been asked in Canada for some time. The phenomenon of skilled Canadians looking abroad for better opportunity has been noticed by analysts as far back

Geoff Nilson

as the 1860s, and fear of the dreaded “brain drain” reached a fever pitch in the 1990s—only to be alleviated by a strong Canadian economy during a worldwide economic crisis in the 2000s. Now, with the dollar falling back to a ‘90s level, skilled workers once again find themselves wondering if they can find greater value for their talents south of the border. So what does this mean for Canada? Will we be able to innovate here at home if our best people can find better opportunity elsewhere? Were the fears of the ‘90s well-founded after all? It’s a common perception among Canadians that brain drain is contributing to Canada falling behind in innovation, but perception can be misleading. A recent Ipsos poll conducted for Global News found that 54 per cent of Canadians believe this to be true. However, Global also reports a strong disparity between public opinion and the findings of experts who say that Canadian industry is developing at a healthy pace, albeit quietly, leading to the current perception of stagnation. One of the most commonly

sighted causes for the supposed brain drain is income tax. Throughout Canadian political history, a connection between high income tax and the exodus of skilled workers and innovators has been touted by tax-cut-advocates. Another likely cause is the ongoing tanking of the Canadian dollar, as with the dollar predicted to drop to as low as 59 cents US in 2016 it’s difficult to argue with anyone who sees an opportunity to receive a paycheck in US currency and takes it. Perhaps the most visible industry in the brain drain debate is the tech industry. Canada’s technology industry is a third of the size of its counterpart in California and contains plenty of examples of high-profile people fleeing south and Canadian startups being bought out by American giants. However, as president of Invest Ottawa Bruce Lazenby points out in the aforementioned Global report, there is actually quite a bit happening in Canadian tech that goes largely unnoticed on the world stage and by the Canadian public. According to Lazenby, the key to fostering greater Canadian innovation is to be more vocal about these

achievements. “We don’t spend the time sort of banging the drum in Canada,” Jason Flick, Canadian CEO of Youi.tv, told Global. Returning to the ‘90s, where the spectre of brain drain was at its most prevalent, we can see perhaps Canada’s best means of mitigating any loss of homegrown talent. While StatsCan provides evidence that Canada did indeed lose a fair amount of skilled people in the ‘90s, this loss was actually more than made up for by incoming professionals from around the world, leading to an overall brain gain. It seems we have Canada’s high quality of life to thank for this. This remains true today according to a recent report by the Star which profiles just a few of the high profile professionals that Canadian organizations have snagged from around the globe. Keeping skilled people incentivized to stay in Canada should always be considered when mapping out our economic future, but overall it seems that rumors of the demise of innovation in Canada are being greatly exaggerated. Just as they have always been.

Testing the Strength of the New Government

Are the Liberals focusing too much on optics, and not enough on policy change?

Braden Klassen CONTRIBUTOR

I’m going to begin by answering the question posed in the subheading of this article—“no.” First off, this idea presents a pretty blatantly false dichotomy—it’s not like a government can’t be proficient in both maintaining their PR and facilitating concrete results. In the modern political climate, all of the federal parties, not just the Liberals, need to be able to invest in their public brand and propagate a culture that attracts voters. This culture includes the party’s reputation, their position on the political spectrum,

and most importantly, their ability to follow through on the promises they made during their election campaign. This last criterion is generally what people are referring to when they say that a party’s policymaking has “substance” as opposed to “style.” All talk of hair aside, when it comes to the first three months of Trudeau’s Liberals leading parliament, they have been successful in accomplishing a number of things they set out to do. According to Trudeaumetre.ca—a website that tracks and quantifies the Liberals’ ability to live up to their election promises—the Liberal Party of Canada has fulfilled 14 of their 215 election promises, broken four of them, and are on currently on track to completing 32 more. Some of the changes they’ve so far enacted across the country include cutting the middle income tax bracket rate

Danielle George

by 1.5 per cent, de-muzzling government scientists, filling the cabinet with an equal number of men and women, reclassifying the long form census as mandatory, and initiating a public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. The promises they failed to fulfil include the admittance of 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, their failure to kickstart a program that would mark imported firearms for easier tracking, and reneging on their promise that their middle-income tax bracket cut would have no effect on government revenue. The tax cut is actually projected to result in a loss of $1.2-billion per annum. Personally I think that’s a lot for them to have accomplished by now— three months is not a lot of time. When I was a misguided teenager, I decided I would learn how to breakdance, but after three months I still couldn’t pop n’ lock for shit. That doesn’t mean that the Liberals’ governing style is without its flaws or even some grievous hypocrisies. Their commitment to pulling CF-18 fighter jets out from ISIS occupied territory has been spun as a sign that Canada is progressively disengaging from its involvement in geopolitical militarism, yet at the same time, the government is still quietly greasing the wheels of the General Dynamics Land Systems deal—the

largest arms trading deal in Canadian history, which will result in Canada selling and exporting $14.8-billion dollars worth of military equipment to the Saudi Arabia. Fun fact: in 2015, it was reported that the Saudi Arabian government actually executed more people by beheading than ISIS did. There have been documented incidences of the Saudi Arabian government using their military equipment to assault their own citizens. This is a country which has a human-rights abuse track record that rivals North Korea, and the Canadian government is going to facilitate the sale of billions of dollars of military equipment to them. Despite the fact that Canada has committed to signing on to the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty, which would prevent this exact type of thing from happening, they have made an exception for this one last deal because they haven’t actually signed the treaty yet. Whether or not this particular political maneuver can be construed as “style over substance” is in the eye of the beholder. At least we can rest assured that the tax cut revenue shortfall will be covered, and for many, the preservation of the bottom line is substantial enough.

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The Runner Debates: The Road More Travelled

LRT is the future of transit in Surrey

Kyrsten Downton CONTRIBUTOR

Surrey is one of the largest municipalities in BC. and it is steadily rising. Many people are moving there because of its affordability, but it’s difficult to get around. To help build a stronger city, Surrey is looking into expanding the public transit system. One option that is heavily being considered is the use of a Light Rail Transit system, or LRT. LRT trains travel on ground in designated lanes, separate from the regular traffic, typically run at a high speed, and can carry passengers at a higher volume.

The proposed plan is to have three LRT lines, all connecting to Surrey Centre. There will be a line on 104 Ave to Guildford, a line on Fraser Highway to Langley, and a line on King George Highway to Newton. The Newton line is also being considered for a possible expansion to South Surrey. Many people argue that continuing to build a SkyTrain along Fraser Highway is the best option for Surrey. Supporters argue that SkyTrain is more cost-effective, travel efficient, and safer to use, but there are some things they’re not considering. Greenhouse gas emissions will lower with LRT. With the use of the

three proposed lines, bus routes on these lines will be fewer. This will cut down on gas emissions and will help promote a more environmentally friendly Surrey. LRT will promote job and economic growth within the city as well. Both sides of the LRT and SkyTrain debate argue that the other is more expensive to build. However, regardless of cost, building a LRT system in Surrey will create thousands of new jobs and help build a stronger economy. SkyTrain supporters argue that LRT will be a less reliable source of transportation. However, the SkyTrain itself has been criticized in the

past couple of years for its unreliability and system shut downs. With the higher speeds and easy accessibility that LRT will bring, travel times on routes will be shortened. The City of Surrey’s plan also proposes wait times to be as short as five minutes in peak hours. LRT’s biggest problem is its safety issues. Since the LRT travels on the ground, accidents with other vehicles are a likely risk. In the event of an accident, a vehicle could flip over and cut into the LRT lane. However, these accidents will most likely be very few and far between. The best prevention for this risk is for both LRT and vehicle users

to be aware of the road and who they share it with. Moreover, if the plan goes through, do not be surprised if a driving awareness campaign with the LRT is created. Most importantly, LRT will help build a better and stronger city of Surrey. With promoting economic and population growth, the LRT will help connect the large city and create a sense of unity. It will help with the development of the city of Surrey and make it a better place for its current and future residents.

Rosa Ojeda

SkyTrain is the better option

Kyle Prince CONTRIBUTOR

SkyTrains have been a staple of fast travel stations in Vancouver for decades, but Light Rail Transit has been trying to get in on the action in Surrey for years now. The only thing is, there’s absolutely no reason to make the change. SkyTrains cost less, they’re safer, and they get you where you want to go faster. It’s often cited in favour of LRT

that they’re cheaper to build, and that’s true. When we look at the cost of laying rail versus putting up a SkyTrain transport system, it’s 100 per cent true. If that was all we had to look at I’d stop here. But it isn’t. LRT systems need to purchase land in order to install the rails, they need to repave roads to make way for the larger trolleys, and there’s the necessary ground work that needs to be done before you can even think of laying rail down. Then of course there’s the upkeep costs—it’s almost twice as much to operate an LRT sys-

tem as it is to operate SkyTrain. One of the most important elements of this debate is safety. There’s no doubt that SkyTrains are safe. They don’t cross paths with vehicles, or anything else. They’re up above pedestrians and roadways, allowing for safe travels for all types of commuters. LRTs cut into roadways, meaning there’s risk of accidents, and pedestrians can walk onto railways which raises the risk from zero per cent to, well, not zero per cent. Not only that, but it means the trolleys are one more thing people

need to watch out for while on the roads. There’s enough distracting drivers as it is these days, we don’t need anyone else claiming, “It came out of nowhere!” Houston, Texas is by far the worst of the worst in terms of LRT, there have been 62 accidents involving the trolleys in one year. The SkyTrain is also much faster. Trolleys would be regulated by municipal speed laws, which usually limits them to 50 kilometres per hour. Considering the proposed plan is out to Langley, it may get up to 70 kilometres per hour, but the various

residential areas would slow it down frequently. Meanwhile, the SkyTrain can cruise along anywhere from 80 to 90 kilometres because it doesn’t have to worry about being on the road. With the SkyTrain, you can make it from downtown Vancouver out to Langley in 60 minutes. Or head out from Surrey Central and make it to Langley in about 20 minutes. According to Google Maps, it would take longer to drive there. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take the high road.

Opinions

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Letter to the editor

Campuses should be safe for everyone

Jessica Lar-Son

Campuses should be a place where students, staff, faculty, and community members feel welcome, or at the very least not discriminated against. Unfortunately, on Feb. 18, many Kwantlen students came to the Women Organizing Opportunities for Women community expressing major concern over some posters that appeared on bookshelves, poster boards, and even in washrooms. These unapproved posters contained graphic, anti-choice material that was triggering, and more than that—many felt they were a form of

harassment. Kwantlen Polytechnic University is moving towards a more inclusive environment with the President’s Diversity and Equity Committee, the addition of policy HR15 (C35) Diversity and Inclusiveness Policy to course syllabi, as well as efforts from the Kwantlen Student Association, its constituency representatives, and other groups like WOOW. But when a group or individual makes others on campus feel attacked, generally unsafe, or simply unwelcome, that healthy environment we’ve been working towards is compromised. This incident shows that even with our current efforts there is still a need for discourse on campus safety and

particularly on issues of oppression. I have personally had experiences where individuals have made inappropriate remarks towards me in the form of cat-calling, I’ve had more than one student follow me, and even some questionable classroom experiences. All of these are a form of harassment, and are prohibited by law. Just two weeks ago, I reported a case of harassment on the SkyTrain which led to charges of harassment being laid. The other unfortunate aspect of this phenomenon of certain individuals feeling entitled to another’s time, space, or body to the extent that harassment occurs, is that the target of harassment is often not provided with the kind of support that would make

one want to go through the process of reporting an incident. Luckily, there are avenues of support at KPU, from counselling services, student advocates, and more. If you do ever feel you need support, I implore you to contact KSA Member Services, search WOOW on Facebook, or reach out in any other way you feel comfortable. But the problem, to me, is that we shouldn’t see so many instances of harassment and unsafe environments at a university where the focus is to provide valuable teaching and learning experiences. As an active student on our campus, I know there are efforts being made. But it is simply not enough. We need to have real conversations

and participatory learning experiences so that dialogue about decreasing sexism, racism, ableism, and other forms of institutionalized oppression can help create a better learning environment for all of us. We are all entitled to our opinions—but sometimes, if your opinion comes in the form of hate speech, you are not entitled to attack others with words, physical aggression, or any form of harassment. It is my most sincere hope that whomever placed these hurtful images around our campus realizes that graphic images are not the way to have respectful dialogue around something that to me, should not even be up for debate.

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BC’s Wolf Cull nothing but A Selective Slaughter Program Society should be more concerned with removing our impact on nature

Danielle George

Runner Run-Down: Provincial versus Federal Matters Explaining Canadian power divisions

Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

Only a few seats were filled in the Fir building auditorium early February when several Liberal MPs came to Surrey campus to get public feedback on the upcoming federal budget. Because, ugh, boring—right? Despite the small audience, the MPs had many opportunities to deflect crowd questions under the guise that the audience’s inquiries tended to concern “provincial matters,” instead of federal ones. The MPs aren’t wrong. Provincial and federal powers have always been divided in Canada, and people have always debated how those divisions should be. Some say education and health care should be federal ministries, for example. As it stands, the federal government takes care of things including national defence, foreign affairs, immigration, federal taxes, energy, banking, fisheries and oceans, aboriginal law, and the post office—

just to name a few. The provincial government’s dealings include direct taxes, health care, education, marriages, property and civil rights, and prisons. Intersectionality is still possible. For example, British Columbia and Alberta have historically been endowed with resources and they manage those in part. But the federal government’s National Energy Board determines whether a pipeline can be built from the oil sands to the south coast. Speaking of endowments, provinces are sometimes categorized into “have” and “have-not.” Alberta and B.C. would fall into the “have” category, while Newfoundland, for example, wouldn’t. Who has and who hasnot has changed over the decades. The federal government tries to compensate for these provincial inequities with equalization payments, which are essentially money transfers. But this doesn’t stop premiers from complaining about being shortchanged.

Awais Mushtaq CONTRIBUTOR

The B.C. government is a firm believer in supporting the lesser of two evils. In terms of conservation in the B.C wilderness, the “lesser evil” happens to be the mass killing of wolves in support of our province’s dwindling caribou population. Saving one endangered species by removing a select number of another—almost 200 grey wolves already—is a gross misunderstanding of the goal of conservation efforts. Efforts like these merely constitute a coin flip philosophy when weighing

the true value of two species. Against the protests, petitions, and celebrity endorsements attempting to put an end to the killing of grey wolves, many cull-advocates will cite the scientifically supported merits of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources’ actions. However, the science is debatable as to whether or not the killing of wolves will have any impact on the growth of the caribou population. Some kill programs like this have actually been found to have more adverse effects on reproductive cycles and territorial migration. The cull program can also be seen as serving the interests of the logging

industry, appearing only as a means to justify not setting aside more oldgrowth forests for caribou. While we may at times lose perspective of just how well our place outside the food chain has served us, a focus on human encroachment and habitat displacement should continually remain a part of the public discourse. The collective goal should be to remove ourselves, at least at this point in our evolution, from the equation and let nature do what it has come master over time—the slow grueling process of genetic determinism that only arises out of natural selection and the struggle for life.

Shandis Harrison

Columns

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Going Global

Britain to hold EU referendum

Tristan Johnston COLUMNIST

As a holder of a British passport, imagine my immediate anxiety upon hearing that a date had been set for a referendum on European Union membership. Being someone who hopes to go to Scandinavia or German-speaking Europe upon completion of my degree, an exit from the EU could make finding a job in one of these places much more difficult. On Feb. 20, British prime minister David Cameron spoke to reporters outside of 10 Downing Street to announce June 23 as the date for a national referendum on EU membership. Cameron said in the press conference that he was personally in favour of staying inside of a “reformed” European Union, and will campaign in favour of it, but would ultimately allow the British people to decide. Cameron will be joined by several members of his Conservative party, along with the majority of UK parliament, including Labour and the Lib Dems. Cameron will be opposed by a few Conservative MPs, UKIP and London Mayor Boris Johnson, whose haircut is just as confusing as Donald Trump’s. The EU has been a political football match ever since its inception. It seems that whenever anything goes a little bit wrong for Europe, there will always be several politicians of

Kat Nekuryashcikh

whatever stripe to jump on the sceptic wagon. In fact, Britain wasn’t a big fan of the whole EU idea in the first place, but was ultimately won over by the economic prospects—a free trade area and unified rules on how to conduct business with each other. This also had the benefit of making it easier for other countries to sell their products in Europe, having to only go through one set of rules instead of dealing with one for every country. In an interview with Andrew Marr on BBC, Cameron stressed the impor-

tance of British businesses needing the EU, saying that staying inside of the EU would prevent “discrimination” against British business. By this he means that they would be hurt by EU tariffs and would suffer without EU rules, which keep the playing field more or less level. Of course there are some exceptions. Not everyone became part of the Schengen area—the Europe-wide treaty that removes border controls— nor got on board with unified currency. Britain, for instance, retained the pound sterling. Cameron is using

these points to argue that the UK is already picking and choosing what they like about the EU, and that, in addition to re-negotiating benefits, is all the reason to stay in. As for reasons to leave, many Eurosceptics like Nigel Farage will cite immigration and democracy as key concerns. In regards to democracy, Farrage believes that “Eurocrats” are trying to create a “United States of Europe,” in the sense that the EU has a degree of power over signatory states. Immigration is a particularly spicy topic as well, given the mas-

sive numbers of refugees entering the area, along with numerous amounts of economic migration from other parts of the world. Britons are increasingly concerned that the free movement of people allows those from poorer European nations to come to the UK to take their jobs and benefits. However, unemployment in the UK was at a low 5.2 per cent in November, and part of Cameron’s EU renegotiation was to make it more difficult for new immigrants to claim benefits. In an interview with The Economist last week, Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, said that a “Brexit” would be bad for Britain in the sense that they have more weight to throw around when they’re tied to the rest of Europe. The EU as a trading block is competitive with the United States and China, and were Britain to remove itself it would marginalize itself as a “second tier power,” according to Bremmer. In fact, the U.S. often sees Germany as the “key power” in the EU, instead of Britain. Furthermore, Britain isn’t the power that they used to be. At one point, the sun never set on Her Majesty’s Empire, but Britain constantly asking for concessions and opt-outs from Brussels demonstrates a lack of ambition from the country that used to own half the world.

Artist Spotlight

An interview with One and the Same

Aly Laube COLUMNIST

“You put us all together and somehow we manage without killing each other,” says One and the Same drummer, Corey Buchan. The band consists of a noise rock guitarist, a pop punk frontman, an alternative metalhead drummer, and a jazz funk bassist. Guitarist Josh MacDonald adds, “We’re capable of pulling from a lot of different genres stylistically. It makes it fun and unique.”

Their diverse tastes make for interesting songwriting, but they also create a lot of genre-related confusion for the band. After a few minutes of discussion, they decide that the closest thing to an apt genre tag for them would be either “alternative noise punk metal” or “fuzz emo thrash funk.” Identifying with eight labels doesn’t do much to narrow down the nature of their sound, but that eclectic nature is part of the group’s charm. One and the Same’s upcoming EP release, Weapons, due in February, will continue to take from genres all across the board.

“Every single song on the EP is very different,” says Buchan. “We have ‘Bad’, which is alternative metal. After that is ‘Aggressive Advertising’, which is just so silly. The song itself is about a very personal encounter, but we had no lyrics for the bridge. There’s this video game streamer online who had a video about why he hates Subway, and the rant just happened to fit in the length of that bridge, so we used it. It was supposed to be temporary but everyone loved it so we kept it,” he chuckles. “After that one is ‘Cat Lady’, which is a bluesgrass-y song about

Courtesy of Cheyenne Manning

video games.” Frontman Colin Ferreira continues, “Afterwards there’s ‘Digital’, the first song Josh ever brought to us. Our final track is ‘Grey Stations’. It’s an alternative rock song about riding the SkyTrain.” Buchan nods, “And that’s the EP.” There was a time when they were a clearly defined pop punk band, but that changed when Conor Naylor— who was unable to meet for an interview—joined the band. His introduction to the group meant a brand new name, approach, and dynamic. Since then, they’ve accepted and welcomed their differences in musical preference. It does lead to occasional bickering between the members, but they’re still together after many years of tribulations. The most notable of tribulations was likely a near-death experience that occurred during the band’s tour of the province last year. “We were driving to a gig in Calgary in the middle of the night. It was a good time. We looked at stars. We had sing-a-longs,” remembers Ferreira. “But at one point around 2 a.m., we were driving down the mountain and started feeling a rumble strip even though we were nowhere near

the side of the road. I started wondering what was happening, and we had about a five-second warning until the back right wheel flew off into the night.” “Colin managed to navigate us to the one available safe spot,” Buchan smiles. “No one was hurt. None of our gear was damaged. Nothing.” The next day, the band had the van towed, rented a U-Haul, and continued to drive to their show. They finished the tour, and with even more bravery, are planning to do another this summer. “It’s tentatively titled ‘The FourWheel Tour’,” laughs MacDonald.

Procrastination

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Horoscopes

Sudoku Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Your ideal position is “Pope,” but honestly you’d be comfortable settling for “Antipope” at this point.

Listen, we’re all very interested in hearing your position on this issue, if you’d just stop rapping Ol’ Dirty Bastard lyrics while we’re trying to conduct this meeting...

Shame is a pretty fundamental force in your life. It moves you to accomplish things. It’s really the only reason you’re sometimes proud of yourself.

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

You will find 16 Pokemon cards this week. Beedrill, every one of them.

The corporate manager in charge of inter-district sales is dead, long live the corporate manager in charge of interdistrict sales!

The 90s were forever ago. I’m not being cute, they literally exist on the other side of eternity. Some kid pumped a super soaker so much he broke time.

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23

Bad photoshop jobs are the cubist When you tell people you can still paintings of the modern day. feel your grandfather’s presence, they think you’re talking about Heaven. They don’t understand how his energy nourishes you in place of a heart. Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23

Squat down, pick up a bit of dirt, rub If you have a milkshake, and I have it between your fingers. Smell the a milkshake, then we both have air. Look back up at your friends and milkshakes. Vote Plainview, 2016. whisper with just a hint of terror, “Vampsquatches.”

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23 Devise and implement a clear line of succession for when you die, lest your empire be torn asunder by the feuding of your offspring.

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22 I don’t know if what you’re planning is, in the strictest sense, illegal, but it certainly forgoes all laws of God and nature.