The Runner: Volume 8, Issue 16 by The Runner

VOL-08-ISS-16

May-25-2016

Boarding the Hype Train since 2009

Next Stop: NOW BOARDING: The Real World The Real World

News Grassroots Cafe Will Get a Summer Makeover

Culture Canadian Musician Provides Thoughts on CanCon Laws Column A Brief Interview with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan

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

Table of Contents

staff

04 07 08 12 15

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News | GRassroots cafeto be renovated this summer This summer, the Grassroots Cafe is getting its first makeover in 10 years. According to KSA VP student services Tanvir Singh, the goal is to make the space “more inviting” for students.

Coordinating Editor Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca

Executive Editor

Samantha Thompson deputy@runnermag.ca @sampthompson

Culture | reforming canadian content

Managing Editor

Nolen Scott, front-man of the alternative rock/pop band Within Rust, addresses CanCon’s effect on musicians, and the possibilities that could result amidst upcoming changes.

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Production Manager

Danielle George production@runnermag.ca

Feature | a stroll down kpu’s hall of fame

Art Director

Scott McLelland art@runnermag.ca

At the end of May a new class of KPU graduates will leave their institution behind. We take a look at the lives and careers of some of our school’s most notable graduates.

Photo Editor

Geoﬀrey Nilson photo@runnermag.ca

Web Editor

Opinions | Canadian woman’s face on the national bank note

Yaunna Sommersby web@runnermag.ca

After nearly a century spent with Queen Elizabeth II as the only woman to adorn the Canadian bank note, another female face will be printed on bills by 2018. Unlike the Queen, however, she will be a native-born citizen.

Staff Writer Alyssa Laube

Production Assistant

Columns | defence minister believes canada is playing its part

Kayla Frier

“We’re actually doing quite a bit. For example, we have a company right now in Poland. We have a frigate out there. We have other things we don’t talk about,” says Sajjan.

Staff Writer

Kier-Christer Junos staﬀ@runnermag.ca @kierjunos

Operations Manager Scott Boux oﬃce@runnermag.ca 778.565.3801

#BestPhoto

sasciasky The Runner First Annual Contributor Awards. Congrats to all of the winners! @runnermag #runnermag #therunner #therunnerkpu #kpu #kwantlen

#FeatureDTweets @steveleenow Steve Lee Whenever I see the initials for Kwantlen Polytechnic University my mind thinks “KPoo,” not “Kay Pee You.” #KPU #dighumKPUArts @ENGL4300

Amy Yiu, RD @LibraDietitian #nutritionmonth2016 #kpu free protein packed smoothies at KPU Cloverdale “Just for the Health of It” event Sustainable KSA @SustainableKSA Headed for lunch outside at #KPU #Surrey? You can charge your phone at the solar picnic table on the @KSAGrassRoots patio!

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801 www.runnermag.ca Vol. 08, Issue no. 16 May 25, 2016 ISSN# 1916 8241

Contributors Awais Mushtaq Kat Nekuryashcikh Kévin Paré

Kyle Prince Natalie Musell Preet Hundal

Rosa Ojeda Stephanie Davies Yuta Anonuevo

Cover

Rosaura is currently living in Vancouver, BC where she is attending the Communication Design Essentials Program at Emily Carr/BCIT after recently finishing her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Most of her work revolves around simplicity and minimalism.

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

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From The Editors

Parliament is theatre

Tristan Johnston

COORDINATING EDITOR

I follow CBC Politics on Twitter. I don’t just get the headlines, I also get real-time updates about Question Period, often typed quickly and full of Twitter shortenings. I sometimes think about turning it off, because for the last month I kept reading about how the Conservatives have been grilling the Liberals on some silly stuff, like “why are you spending money going to the U.S. to take selﬁes with Obama?” It’s as if the U.S. wasn’t our biggest trading partner. Another repetitive one is “why won’t you put electoral reform to referendum?” To which Liberal MP Maryam Monsef occasionally replies that the Conservatives didn’t put Elections Act to referendum, nor did they consult all of parliament. Question Period serves a very critical and important purpose, and I think that it’s often used properly.

When the Conservatives are on about the budget deﬁcit being greater than expected, and when the NDP are asking why the Liberals won’t decriminalize marijuana in the short term, I think they’re asking reasonable questions. Same goes for Elizabeth May when she asks about the proposed tanker ban in the Salish Sea. There have even been some great moments. QP during the parliamentary crisis in 2008-2009 when we almost had a Liberal-NDP-BQ coalition form against the Conservatives had some great exchanges which I hope become a future “Heritage Moment.” Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, and Stephen Harper were all making great points and everyone was ﬁred up about their democracy. However, QP also has a tendency to become ridiculous. I still haven’t forgotten last year when Tom Mulcair asked Paul Calandra about Canada’s military involvement in Iraq, and Calandra answered the question three times with “Canada will always support Israel!”

Last week, this ridiculousness unfortunately went to the next level. In an effort to make the June deadline for doctor-assisted suicide legislation, Liberals were considering “motion 6” to extend house sitting hours to June 23, allowing for more debate to take place. However, this would be in the form of the house speaker, Liberal MP Geoff Regan, being the one to decide when that adjournment should take place. This means that the Liberals could potentially use a legal tool to invalidate delay and ﬁlibuster tactics by the opposition parties. Afterall, only 61 per cent of voters didn’t choose the Liberal Party in October. This is a tactic that might be less surprising if done by the last government, but has ultimately yet to be used by this government. The Liberals withdrew this motion on May 19 to the pleasure of the opposition, but House Leader Dominic LeBlanc stressed the Supreme Court deadline for new legislation. In between all of this was the hashtag “eblowgate,” which is

embarrassing for everyone in the room, with exception of Elizabeth May. It also spent way too much time being talked about online. It’s no good for an institution to only become popular when something embarrassing happens. “Some members in the opposition parties realized, if we block the way here when the whips do the required walk from the back of the House to the front of the House, if we delay the vote by even three minutes, then we throw off the government’s whole C-14 schedule,” May said to CBC’s Metro Morning last Thursday. May also said in parliament that it was “unwise” for Trudeau to attempt physically guiding the whip. If you watch QP and see your party or your MP do something you don’t like, I strongly recommend that you send an email to their ofﬁce. As long as it’s written decently and cordially, someone in the ofﬁce will read it, sometimes even the member themselves.

What’s Happening this week Samantha Thompson

May 26 Charlotte diamond

As a child, one of her cassette tapes (yes) had a terrifying story about a creature with blood red eyes and I could never listen to it before bed. It’s still nightmare-worthy, but she’s awesome. May 26-28, Surrey Arts Centre. She’s performing four times! $8.

May 27 let’s talk about work

This facilitated conversation is an opportunity for workers under 35 to talk about their experience as part of the labour force, to help create a Workers’ Centre in BC. 5 p.m., Heartwood Community Cafe. Free refreshments! But reserve your spot online.

May 28 rally for education

It’s been too long since education had adequate public and government support--this is a good place to start if you want to change that. 1 p.m., Vancouver Art Gallery. Cost of poster board for your cool sign.

Jun 02

employees vs students

I’ll go if Kwintin goes, I feel like he’s had a rough time of it with all the funding cuts to sports. We have to support our local mascot! 7 p.m., KPU Surrey Sports Field. Hopefully free (refreshments).

(Makaristos/ Wikimedia Commons)

jun 03

sleepover at vancouver

KSA proposes new fitness centres

Senate student election results still not available

Kyle Prince CONTRIBUTOR

News Briefs

The Kwantlen Student Association has proposed that $150,000 be allotted for ﬁtness centers to be built on the Langley and Cloverdale campuses, the full amount split roughly between the two. The goal is to extend the amenities already available to students on other campuses to those at Langley and Cloverdale. Unlike Richmond and Surrey, these campuses do not provide easy access to a Steve Nash ﬁtness centre, for which Kwantlen

Polytechnic University students currently receive a discount through the student association. Tanvir Singh, the KSA’s vice president of services, says that, “We want to provide them with the opportunity to go [work out] on campus, and Cloverdale and Langley are the perfect opportunities for us to do that.” Singh also hopes that students will get a lot of use out of the new centers once construction has been completed. The KSA council will discuss details of the operation at their next meeting.

Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

Over a month has passed since new student representatives were elected to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Board of Governors, but the results for new student senators still remain unavailable. Zena Mitchell, KPU’s chief returning ofﬁcer, is withholding the results until they can be validated in the midst of a “potential voter irregularity.” “Unfortunately, no updates at this time,” wrote Mitchell, in an email on

Apr. 27. “We are working to ensure due diligence and due process in our exploration of the issue. As soon as we have a resolution, I will post the results to the KPU community.” Mitchell didn’t respond to any interview requests before press time.

A protest that sounds somewhat tongue-in-cheek is approaching a very serious issue: Vancouver’s housing crisis. Although an invasion of City Hall probably won’t happen, the event has grown into a protest, likely on the building’s lawn. 3 p.m., Vancouver City Hall. Cost of a pillow.

jun15

songs and stories

Featuring Luke Wallace, whose music is inﬂuenced by environmental action. Sounds like it’ll be a solid night—full of inspiration for those of you looking to launch/continue your ﬁght against Kinder Morgan. 6 p.m., 10350 University Drive, Surrey. Free.

News

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Grassroots Cafe to be renovated this summer Students can expect a more welcoming space, eﬃcient seating, and local beer

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

This summer, the Grassroots Cafe is getting its first makeover in 10 years. According to the primary organizer behind the renovations, Kwantlen Student Association vice president of student services Tanvir Singh, the goal is to make the space “more inviting” for students by sprucing up the space’s floor plan, appliances, and colour scheme. Renovations were scheduled for the summer in order “to take advantage of the fact that there’s not going to be a huge loss in revenue” during the Surrey campus’ slowest season. Although students will not be able to use the cafe between June 15 at 5 p.m. and June 20 at 12:00 p.m., free coffee will be offered outside its doors for that time. Students are also guaranteed to return to a more efficient and aesthetically pleasing space when it reopens at the end of the summer. “After ten years of 300-odd days a year of use, it’s time to update,” says Grassroots Cafe manager, Adam Rhode. “Colour-wise, it’s drab and dark. We’re going with lighter colours [because] we would rather have a little bit of a brighter environment. People will be able to come in and sit

Cafe finishes: paint, tile & bulleting board (Courtesy of Facilitates Services) and enjoy themselves.” Rhode is also looking forward to working in a kitchen that’s “easier to clean and keep organized,” as well as the installation of a more visible and accessible beer fridge. In the kitchen, there will be a new coffee maker, storage area, set of wall shelves, beer tap, and fridge. Despite the fact that the Grassroots has served alcoholic beverages for a while, have not actively promoted it to students. The beer fridge that was being used at Grassroots was “a small stainless steel fridge which you can’t really see into,” so those interested in buying a drink would have to ask a Grassroots

employee to open the fridge and describe the available options. That lack of accessibility will be ﬁxed by bringing in “a large beer fridge with a glass front,” which will proudly display local beers. “We’re hoping to have different selections of beer going on at the same time from the tap. It will be an opportunity for us to work with and show off our brewery program here at Kwantlen, and they’ll be sending us a half keg to let students purchase that as well,” says Singh. “The other beer on tap will be something local, because that’s the theme of Grassroots. We make sure that we’re using lo-

cally and ethically sourced products.” Singh feels that it is important to make alcoholic beverages easily available on campus for students, since many “tend to go off-campus, sometimes to local bars and pubs, to be able to purchase alcoholic beverages.” “We think that we have a great opportunity to really provide that to students here on campus,” he says. “With the updates, we’ll be able to really have a great aptitude for students staying on campus to celebrate the end of ﬁnals or the downfall of a bad midterm.” In the Grassroots lounge area,

the seating will be made “less awkward” and “more uniform and level.” A row of seats will be set up along the windows with charging docks for students who want to use their electronics, and ground seating will be switched out and reorganized to beneﬁt “students’ social needs,” while still providing space for those who want more privacy. Other improvements include a “more ergonomic” condiment station, bulletin boards around the cafe’s pillars to make it “easier for students to display posters and other initiatives that they might have,” and a green and white colour scheme “to emphasize the Grassroots brand.” As manager of the cafe, Rhode is excited to announce that they are “going to start using stainless steel china and silverware so that if people are eating in here, they’ll have a choice of either disposable or stainless steel,” for environmental reasons. Plans to refurbish the Grassroots have been in the works for a long time according to Singh, and the current team of executives “really hope that students are happy with our renovations and that Grassroots is a place where student culture and activity can thrive.”

KPU students’ housing struggles addressed KSA promotes oﬀ-campus housing, plans campaign for on-campus housing

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

It’s no secret that the rental market in B.C. is tough to thrive in. The entire province is in the middle of an affordability high and a vacancy low, which means that university students living on a budget can have a nearly impossible time ﬁnding room and board for a reasonable price. As a solution for students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Kwantlen Student Association is working towards promoting housing off-campus, and constructing housing on campus. Tanvir Singh, the KSA’s vicepresident of student services, currently backs Kusa.och101.com, a housing locator designed for KPU students. The site is a part of the Rent Hello Rental Network, and it allows users to search for available properties based on location, housing type, and price range. The landlords whose listings are chosen are “speciﬁcally catered towards students,” meaning

that they “know more about students’ needs,” according to Singh. “We currently don’t provide oncampus housing for students, which has obviously been a concern since we have a lot of students that need affordable housing,” he says. “We thought it would be a good service to provide students with a website that would allow them to ﬁnd it.” This year, Singh is pushing to expand the KSA’s Rent Hello site by partnering with Places for Students, another online housing locator. The difference between the two platforms is that, unlike Rent Hello, Places for Students carefully screens the applicants that apply to post listings. In addition to screenings, they “do weekly updates on scam alerts [and] give students tips on how to not get caught up in fraud when it comes to housing.” That’s something that Singh values, since most students are inexperienced renters that are more likely to be taken advantage of by scammers. At the same time, the KSA hopes to provide students with more housing options. By bringing Places for

Students on board with the KSA’s efforts to promote off-campus student housing, they will provide a greater number of rentals to choose from. The original Rent Hello website will not be taken down, since each is “hosted by external companies,” that are unable to merge. Singh sent his report to the executive committee this month, but there is not yet a set date for when the new website will be live. When it is, Singh predicts that, “the executive team will deﬁnitely work on some sort of outreach to students that require offcampus housing.” Following Singh’s comment about the lack of on-campus housing, KSA president Alex McGowan is planning a fall campaign to construct some. The campaign will be “aimed around addressing affordability in BC,” as well as the province’s low vacancy rate. “Universities aren’t allowed to build student housing [or] take on debt for that purpose,” says McGowan. “Because the B.C. government is not investing in any student

housing, that means that students are really out of luck in terms of housing options. We’re going to be running this campaign, calling on the provincial government to invest money and facilitate the building of on-campus student housing.” “It’s estimated that in the Lower Mainland alone, 16,000 students could be housed on-campus, which

would massively alleviate a lot of vacancy rate issues,” says McGowan. The housing could be available as early as 2017 for an undetermined amount of rent. However, it could take several more years. Students can expect to see a website for McGowan’s campaign sometime this autumn.

(Yuta Anonuevo)

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Online courses just got personal KPU instructor creates a “SPOC” for students with unpredictable schedules

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

Kwantlen Polytechnic University instructor David Burns is aiming to make higher education easier for fulltime workers, parents, and students travelling abroad. He created his own Small Private Online Course (SPOC) to teach his Education 1100 classes. Where most current online courses are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) that are often based on a series of video lectures, the SPOC is “tailored to students needs, applied and responsive.” “There are a whole lot of these all over the place and I’m certainly not the ﬁrst person who has done something with them, but I wanted to make sure that when we build something for educational studies at KPU. It’s more like a SPOC than a MOOC,” says Burns. “It’s much better suited for Kwantlen and it’s better for students overall […] They come to Kwantlen for instructors that respond to students, that give students time, that work side-by-side with students

in creating things and making things better, so I wanted to make an online course that was somehow much more personal than people think they are.” Burns keeps his courses personal by “making more of the course material responsive,” and using his free time to have “a lot of lectures and activities online [and] more office hours,” than he ever had while teaching in classrooms. He created all of the materials from scratch, whether they were podcasts, videos, or more traditional mediums, to make them as interesting as possible. The course has been worked on for two semesters in seven sections, and Burns has found that the biggest difference for him and his students so far is the constant correspondence that they share. “Just assume that I’m here every working day of the week in my office and I have time for you,” he says, to all current and future students. “With some people, I said, ‘look, if you’re scared or anxious about taking an online course, just come to my office every single week, because I have that flexibility when I’m teaching on-

line,’ and lots of people did.” Although the personal drop-ins do help several of his students, Burns has taught some who “did the entire course from other continents.” According to him, “the course should be ﬂexible enough that someone who wants to never be on campus can access everything just as well as someone who wants to see somebody every week.” Judging from the student survey feedback gathered at the end of the SPOC, students did ﬁnd it more personal than many of their in-class courses. He has also gotten an “extraordinary” response from KPU faculty and staff, from being given ample time to build his courses to inspiring other professors campus-wide. Despite the overwhelmingly positive reactions he has gotten, he does warn other professors of the risk of burnout. The immersive nature of the course means that “it blurs the line between teaching and preparing for teaching [so that it] permeates a lot more of your day and life than it otherwise does.” As a father of a small child, he initially had struggles

with getting used to the hundreds of emails he might receive per day, even opening them during evenings with his family. Fortunately, however, he did not burn out while teaching the course, citing considerate students and proper scheduling as solutions to the risk. “Certainly you wouldn’t want [students to be messaging with urgent requests] every night because it would change your work-life balance in an unhealthy way, but it didn’t happen every night. It happened once every week or two, and being able to text back and say, ‘I’m going to put my daughter to bed at nine and then I’ll send you a Skype message,’ is just to make sure that students don’t spend the whole night panicking,” he says. Burns encourages more faculty at KPU to adopt SPOCs as “a much better model than other kinds of online learning.” He hopes to see more of them being taught in other faculties in the future.

Open textbooks mean money saved for KPU psychology students Faculty to incorporate free resources in exchange for traditional textbooks

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

Canada’s ﬁrst open textbook project is coming to Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s psychology department this summer, enabling students to save tens of thousands of dollars on fees. For the individual student, that amounts to hundreds of dollars spared out-of-pocket every year. The project is managed by BCcampus and funded by the BC Ministry of Advanced Education. Together, they are working with post-secondary institutions to make open textbooks more widely available and accepted province-wide. The end goal is inspiring more people to seek a higher education while giving professors the option to tailor their classroom resources to relevant learning outcomes. So far, 149 open textbooks are available for free download on the BCcampus website. Each has been reviewed by over 138 post-secondary professors and deemed suitable for use in Canadian classrooms. Out of all those involved, KPU is one of the leading institutions whose faculty have contributed reviews, which can be accessed online. A KPU psychology professor and reviewer of open textbooks, Rajiv

(Ashraf Saleh/Flickr) Jhangiani, is a strong supporter of all open educational resources. Along with providing reviews, he has coauthored two open textbooks, edited several others, researched the impact of open educational resources, and advocated the potential of open textbooks to his fellow faculty members. In addition, Jhangiani has adopted them in the courses that he teaches at KPU. Jhangiani believes that the biggest obstacle to the success of open textbooks is a lack of awareness. “Many faculties still don’t know that there are high-quality open textbooks available for their courses,” he says. Jhangiani also worries that tradition plays a key role in preventing the adoption of open textbooks, as

some professors have been using traditional textbooks for years, and may ﬁnd it hard to make the switch. “In some departments, it’s a committee decision to adopt an open textbook, so faculty do not have the individual authority to do what they want,” says Jhangiani. He goes on to argue that “some [faculty members] tend to believe that what is available for free can’t possibly be high quality, but of course, that ignores the millions of dollars of funding that have been poured into open textbooks by philanthropic organizations and government.” Despite these obstacles, Jhangiani is proud of KPU “for being recognized by BCcampus as the institution in BC with the highest number

of course adoptions for open textbooks.” He recounts that “there are over 100 course adoptions, which is more than twice the number of adoptions of the second-highest adopting institution of BC.” Jhangiani believes that open textbooks improve student program completion and retention rates, thus boosting a student’s success in school. A study that he and his colleagues ran comparing the performance of students using traditional textbooks versus open textbooks last year found that “the difference actually favoured the students using the open textbook,” which he suspects has a lot to with “access, and the fact that a majority of students at this point do not purchase at least one of their course textbooks because of cost.” Other studies done by the Open Education Group have reached similar conclusions. Right now, open textbooks at KPU are only available for the highest-enrolled courses, a majority of which are in the psychology department. However, any student can visit BCcampus’ website for a free, reliable resource on a subject of their choice, where there are 33 disciplines to choose from. For those who prefer to study from the pages of a book, BCcampus has printed versions of open textbooks available at a discounted cost.

KSA Requests Vancity Loan for SUB Construction Loan will provide $15-million for the project

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

Kwantlen Polytechnic University will have a brand-new student union building on the Surrey campus by 2018, and the Kwantlen Student Association has just submitted a loan application to Vancity to fund its construction. A student referendum in 2009 led to the introduction of the Student Union Building Fund to “build and operate student-owned SUB buildings,” as stated on the KSA’s list of resolutions. However, the KSA doesn’t have the ability to ﬁnance the project independently, so they have requested a loan of approximately $15-million from Vancity. The application fee is $37,500, but it will be refunded to the KSA if they “don’t want to go ahead with taking out the loan.” “We’ll spend the course of the summer working with Vancity to determine the nitty gritty details,” says KSA president Alex McGowan. “We will have an offer put out to us, probably at the end of the summer, to actually take out the loan itself.” The details of the appearance and functionality of the SUB are yet to be determined, but it will broadly “offer services and space for students and all of their needs on campus.” McGowan predicts that it will provide expanded food services and student space. Part of the fund has been allocated towards “renovations on all campuses for the KSA spaces to expand them and make sure we’re supporting all students […] in comprehensive ways,” says McGowan.

(Rosa Ojeda)

Culture

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UBC eSports Association hosts the “Battle of BC” Super Smash Brothers Melee competition oﬀers over $1,000 in prizes

Preet Hundal CONTRIBUTOR

More than 240 eSports competitors ﬁlled the UBC Student Union Building on May 14 to attend the largest and most prestigious competitive Super Smash Brothers Melee tournament in the province. On-screen, some of the most beloved and iconic characters from their childhoods clashed like gladiators. In this context, Super Smash Brothers Melee is not the softcore party game you may have played at sleepovers and birthdays all throughout your childhood. Here the stakes mattered—more than $1,000 in prizes were on the line, more than 8,000 people had tuned in to a live stream on UBCEA’s Twitch account. The excitement had drawn several of the highest-ranked players from around the world, players so skilled at the game they’ve got their own sponsors. But competitions like this don’t just spring up organically. They are the result of meticulous planning from a core group of gamers who want to show the heights that eSports competitions—even ones based off of Nintendo characters—can achieve. “I put in a lot of work [to make] great tournaments,” says event organizer Kevin Dhir. “I micromanage a ton of the stuff beforehand so we don’t run into difﬁculties on the day. We run a tight ship and focus on

Over 200 competitors gather at the UBC Student Union Building for the Battle of BC (Preet Hundal) providing a great experience for our players.” In addition to being a UBC student, Dhir is the Director of Smash and Executive of League of Legends for the UBC eSports Association. He claims that organizations like his, in addition to providing great events for gamers, go a long way in legitimizing the efforts of serious eSports competitors. “I don’t know where BC’s Smash scene would be if UBC eSports hadn’t been supporting it,” he says. “More and more companies are recognizing eSports and that it isn’t going away [They’re] more mainstream

now for sure.” Dhir believes that a major factor in the success of UBCEA’s tournaments has been the calibre of players they’ve been able to attract. The association has consistently been able to draw top-ranked Smash players to compete their events, but not without a bit of effort. “My friend helped me house all of the top players, and I’ve been able to supply ﬂight discounts for them. I’ve tried my best to provide the top players the best experiences. That meant things like ﬂights and picking them up at the airport at night,” says Dhir.

One such top-ranked player, Sweden’s William “Leffen” Hjelte—who holds the honour of being the third best Smash player in the world—was ultimately the tournament’s champion. Leffen is sponsored by major competitive gaming corporation Team Solo Mid, as well as the energy drink company Red Bull. Despite its age—the game was released more than 15 years ago— Smash has enjoyed a consistent level of popularity among casual and competitive gamers alike. An acclaimed documentary series on YouTube entitled The Smash Brothers Chronicles the birth of the game’s ever-popular

competitive scene, and even ESPN’s website now features articles about the game and the competitions around it. “People love it because they grew up playing it as a kid,” says Dhir. He believes that, because the game lacks an online feature like most modern video games, players are incentivized to meet in person and socialize while they game. “We’ve developed [as a community] because we see each other on a regular basis,” he says. “At a Smash tournament you can bond with everyone because you all have the same passion. You’re at a tournament because you all love the same thing.” One of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s most prominent competitive Super Smash Brothers Melee players, Michael Yoon, was also in competition at the Battle of BC. Like Dhir, Yoon has a similar affection for the game. “Melee is so great to me because it’s friendly to casuals, but there is also a high skill ceiling,” says Yoon. “It captured me at youth, and Smash in general is a beloved franchise.” In competition with over 240 gamers, Yoon placed in the top 64 players at the tournament. A respectable showing, considering the level of talent at the event. “The competition was really solid, I had to play my heart out,” says Yoon. “Top 64 is nothing to sneeze at.”

“DigitaLENS” Breaks Down Stereotypes about Surrey Youth Twelve films screened at KPU Surrey’s Conference Centre

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

While it’s easy to stereotype Surrey youths as a demographic entrenched in gang-related violence, the DigitaLENS storytelling project, screened at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey conference centre on May 11, set out to prove those stereotypes wrong. The project was suggested by KPU professor Katie Warfield and directed by her, Aisha Amijee, Surya Govender, and Deepak Gill. Each of them worked directly with 12 students from Princess Margaret Secondary to help create a dozen films about their lives as residents and individuals in Surrey. After receiving a “substantial financial donation from Telus,” the directors began to design a program that “gives [Surrey youth] the cameras and lets them tell the stories, to challenge these outside cameras that often come in and tell stories about them, for them, without having the lived experience of what life in Surrey is really like,” says Warfield. “A lot of people inform their opinions about Surrey youth from what they see in the media, so it’s really important to have stories coming

from them directly and not from the top-down,” Amijee adds. “We really wanted to promote critical thinking by giving them the agency to grapple with these issues and asking them what they think.” The program was also an opportunity to give a voice to youth in general, who, according to Gill, are rarely encouraged “to share their experiences and tell their stories.” “It was really empowering for them to open up, regardless of what their age is, and get really comfortable, because they’re discussing some really mature themes,” she says. After being told about DigitaLENS, the students from Princess Margaret volunteered to join the free program on their own accord. Most of them were interested in developing their skills in digital storytelling, social justice advocacy, and journalism. Novice photographers, writers, musicians and artists aged 13 to 18 came together to create their videos, which they worked on from last fall until this May. The students say that the experience has increased their interest in digital storytelling and prepared them for their future as post-secondary students. “I was always nervous to come to university, thinking that it’s so big,”

says Meeshal, one of the student filmmakers. “Instead, now, I’ve experienced university and I won’t be that nervous when I step foot into university classes.” Meeshal also hoped to address the media’s portrayal of Surrey as a gangland city. “Honestly, I think that Surrey is a really great place. Despite the gang violence and the shootings, I don’t think it happens just in Surrey. It happens everywhere.” Her fellow classmate and filmmaker, Harleen, adds, “I feel like we start to see ourselves the way that people see us. You know, if someone says you’re stupid, you’ll start to believe it, and I feel like the way people outside of Surrey see Surrey is negative. We’re stuck with that mindset.” Another Princess Margaret student, Kinga, believes that “a lot of people focus on the bad parts and completely miss the beautiful parts of Surrey, such as parks and recreational centres,” while program participant Talla praises the municipality for its cultural diversity. Warfield, Amijee, Govender and Gill are proud of their students’ profound insight. After months of “building rapport with them, getting to know them, and touching on social justice themes,” they connected per-

sonally with each of the twelve ﬁlmmakers. Govender, who taught the students the technical skills of narrative storytelling, comments that the group represents “the wide diversity of people” and that “their voices are strong.” The ﬁlms screened covered everything from accounts of everyday life in Surrey to personal stories, comments on youth representation, and explorations of gender, body image, racism and artistic expression. Films

were presented as original songs, poems, and speeches set to footage that many of them took themselves. “They’re not just these sort of passive people that are going to absorb these representations and stereotypes,” says Warﬁeld. “In fact, they’re these active storytellers who can take the lens themselves and narrate what their experience is like here.” The program will be running again this fall with a different group of students, but it is currently uncertain which school they will be from.

KPU prof. Katie Warfield, others, directed “DigitaLENS” (Alyssa Laube)

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Reforming Canadian Content

Within Rust discusses getting in tune with today’s industry

Stephanie Davies CONTRIBUTOR

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has proposed a reform of our government’s Canadian Content laws. These laws haven’t been updated since Mulroney’s administration in 1991, so the goal is to bring them up to date with 21st Century radio and television broadcasting. Due to radical changes in technology and consumer behavior, CanCon has some catching up to do in order to stay relevant. According to Joly, “everything is on the table,” when discussing the mandatory minimums for CanCon with The Globe and Mail. Nolen Scott, front-man of the alternative rock/pop band Within Rust, addresses CanCon’s effect on musicians, and the possibilities that

(Courtesy of Within Rust) could unfold. “Personally, I think the Canadian Content laws are good for the industry, but they’re also kind of bad for the industry,” says Scott. “The reason they exist is to keep Canadian culture alive, but . . . It could be good if they got rid of some of the mandatory minimums, or at least if they changed how they’re

distributed.” An internet survey regarding the mandatory minimums was open until May 20. The goal of the survey was to gather information about how Canadians consume media, and to identify the government’s role in regards to supporting local talent. After the survey, there will be a consultations

panel, and then the actual changes will take place in 2017. Canadian Content regulations began in 1929, when the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting submitted its request to have some public ownership in Canadian broadcasting. By 1932, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Act was passed, and the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC, Canada’s ﬁrst public broadcaster) was formed. Though short-lived, its assets were transferred to CBC/Radio-Canada, which has long been the nation’s foremost public radio and television broadcaster. CanCon has been frequently criticized over the years, sometimes as a result of when the works of popular artists are denied “CanCon status,” (including Bryan Adams and Celine Dion). Another subject of scrutiny is that CanCon doesn’t currently apply

to digital technologies. “In a way [the internet] makes [CanCon regulations] partially obsolete,” says Scott. “The one thing that I feel I don’t particularly like about them is that it just creates a vacuum that’s hard to get out [of]. There are a lot of artists who are massive in Canada because of CanCon but they’re nobodies in other countries. The problem is that you can’t sustain a career just in Canada. There aren’t enough people.” CanCon laws will continue to be a subject of debate over the next few years, as new developments start to take place. The primary concern is whether or not they will ﬁt around the industry? And if so, how? “It’s not so much [about] getting an act to thrive,” says Scott, “It’s [about] getting an act to survive.”

KPU Cycles for a Cause

30-person tandem bike raises money for Heart and Stroke Foundation

Kyrsten Downton CONTRIBUTOR

On May 16, a group of 14 Kwantlen Polytechnic University students and staff members woke up early to ride a 30-person tandem bike for charity. The “Big Bike Event” took place at the Home Depot in Strawberry Hill and the riders rode the one ton bike for roughly two kilometres to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “We have 17 days of Big Bike. A lot of people have done Jump in elementary school. This is like Jump for adults. It’s a pledge-based program,” says D’Arcy Oishi, the administrator for the Heart and Stroke Foundation for the Fraser area. Groups of people, including companies, organize themselves into teams to raise money and ride the bike. KPU is just one of many groups

to raise money to ride the Big Bike. “Being a co-op student, I was given the opportunity to organize the event and encourage riders to join,” says Lisa Senger, a third-year human resources student and team captain for KPU. “This was the first time I have even heard about the Big Bike, so it was a good opportunity to be a part of the KPU community and to raise awareness.” This is the fourth year that KPU has participated in this event. However, it is the first year that a team from multiple campuses will be participating. “One of the employees had the initiative to start a team. The last three years we did it at our Langley campus but this is the first year that we have done it at three campuses. We have gotten a huge response from KPU faculty and students as well,” says Senger. The KPU team from Surrey alone

outreach the Big Bike Event has achieved to the people participating in the event, either as the bike riders or volunteers. “Nothing happens without the involvement of volunteers, of passionate people,” she says. Senger hopes that KPU continues to participate in the Big Bike Event every year and to help do their part in raising funds and awareness. “When we are waving those pom-poms and maKPU Surrey team ride the one-ton bike for charity (Kyrsten Downton) racas, that’s bringing peoraised over $1,400 this year. Last and Stroke Foundation is also an im- ple aware of the Big Bike,” she says. year, the Big Bike Event raised over portant aspect of the Big Bike Event. “It’s just so much fun. You might This year, one of the primary focuses think it is just a bike but you are hav$8-million in total. “Without the money being raised, was to raise awareness of the Call ing so much fun with your friends and the research can not be done,” says Push Restart program, an acronym colleagues. You are also doing it for a really good cause and essentially for CPR. Oishi. Oishi credits all the funds and helping save lives.” Raising awareness for the Heart

KPIRG Makes Money Available to KPU Students Grants open for applications year-round

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

Lenée Son, a Kwantlen Polytechnic University student who won a $1,000 grant from the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group last November, says that the funding has “definitely played a significant role” in the success of a documentary that she and a fellow graduate are working on. The documentary, January, pays tribute to a transgender woman of colour who was violently murdered in New Westminster four years ago, and it is set to be released this fall. “We’re filming this documentary with our own equipment, so the grant allowed us to be able to rent more

equipment [as needed],” she says. “It helped us to afford transportation and things like that.” Son heard about the grant through a KPIRG board member, but few students know that the money is available at all. Most of the applicants for the KPIRG grants are approved, as they have little competition. KPIRG gives out nine grants per year, or three every semester. According to KPIRG staffer Deanna Fasciani, the grants program is publicized on their website, newsletter, and Facebook page, but even Son admits that “there could be a bit more outreach for students.” If she had known about the grant sooner, she and her ﬁlming partner Elina Gress may have applied before raising money through

crowdfunding. However, that seems to be their only complaint about their experience with KPIRG. Son suggests that “other students reach out to KPIRG and ﬁnd out what kind of opportunities are available.” As a word of advice to applicants, she proposes having a clear idea of why the proposed initiative should be funded and making sure that the initiative “ﬁts in with KPIRG’s values of intersectionality and social and environmental justice.” “Take a look at the criteria on our website and try to gear your application towards social justice,” says Fasciani, in agreement with KPIRG board organizer Kimberley McMartin. “Tackle the very critical, urgent

issues in our community, looking in our own back yard and seeing what people are demanding . . . then listen to their needs.” The ideal grant application would also “have an explicit connection to KPU, to the student body and the KPU community, and give some sort of a beneﬁt for the students.” Generally, the KPIRG board also “prioritizes marginalized groups and those that are promoting [their] rights.” So far, KPIRG’s grant money has gone towards on-campus book fairs and murals, documentaries like Son’s, and events like the Model UN conference, the Trans Day of Remembrance, and others under Pride Kwantlen. “A lot of work would not be done

without these grants and this is work that’s important,” says Fasciani. The KPIRG board wants to remind students that they’re “there for the student body.” They urge anyone interested to drop by the KPIRG ofﬁce, share their ideas, and get feedback before applying. After all, the money is collected from student fees, which they believe should be a source of pride for the applicants. “We’re hoping that they will take us up on the offer to submit applications so we can better support them,” concludes McMartin. There are three deadlines to meet for submitting grant applications to KPIRG: June 30 for the summer, October 31 for the fall, and February 28 for the winter.

A Stroll Down KPUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hall of Fa Studying the habits of highly successful KPU graduates

ame

Stephanie Davies CONTRIBUTOR Last year, Kwantlen Polytechnic University produced 2,990 graduates. At the end of May yet another class of students will leave their institution behind. Some will be entering the workforce for perhaps the ﬁrst time, others will already be employed in their chosen ﬁelds. Many will ultimately prove successful in their pursuits, some will not.

Andrea Grant KPU alumna and all around Renaissance woman Andrea Grant, for one, has made a name for herself in the digital and publishing world. She has been based out of New York City and has now relocated to California. “My passion is mixing creative mediums, and because I always craved an extraordinary life, I took risks,” says Grant. This intro from an interview with TORO Magazine probably sums it up best: “Andrea Grant is, in no particular order, a poet, comic book creator, spoken word practitioner, fashion editor/journalist, magazine publisher, and businesswoman. I’ve left a few things out, but you get the idea. She’s possessed of what appears to be a somewhat relentless drive to express herself through art, business, and journalism.” She is the sole proprietor of Copious Amounts Press, a boutique publishing company. “In 2001, I founded Copious Amounts Press as the business umbrella to support my creative projects in Canada and the United States,” says Grant. “This began with a literary journal called Copious Magazine and expanded to include the Minx graphic novel series, ‘The Pin-Up Poet’, and also the professional digital marketing and freelance writing work that I do for various brands.” Grant’s First Nations roots have played a major part in her artistry over the years, and inspires some of the elements in her graphic novel series Minx. “Mythology inspires me. Minx is a graphic novel series that merges the classic superhero motif with traditional Nations mythology, explored through both the conscious and subconscious mediums.” “I’ve always been intrigued by the fine lines between fantasy, reality, and dreams. Native Americans believe that when we dream our soul is actually traveling to another dimension that’s as valid as this reality. I’ve explored this extensively through a series of mixed media graphic novels that are deeply informed by the cultural heritage of my tribe, the Coast Salish people from Penelakut Island. The Minx stories merge aspects of traditional storytelling with the realities of our contemporary world, unlocking the power of ancient tribal myths and re-contextualizing them into an accessible modern literary format.” Grant’s poetry, on the other hand, deals with the complexities of femininity. “My poetry is a re-invention of classic female stereotypes in a postmodern context, a visually appealing and contextually complex reflection on the cultural perception of women, the evocative exploration of how women view themselves versus how they are viewed by men,” says Grant. “The women in my poems are modern in totality—they drink too much vodka, smoke to calm their nerves, hide behind the armour of black clothing and lingerie. These women are at once lustful and neurotic, they burn cookies and they can’t sleep. They are both predators and victims, empowered by their choices to leave unhappy relationships, but lonely and haunted by the ghosts of old lovers.” “These revelations are often paired with exquisite, highly stylized images shot in collaboration with top art photographers as part of ‘The Pin-Up Poet’ project, suggesting that a woman wearing garters has a wealth of memories, secrets and love affairs hidden under her veneer of glamour—and the juxtaposition of these components is beautiful and fascinating.” While at KPU, Grant studied English literature and creative writing, and she credits the teachers she had here for giving her “the confidence to find [her] own voice.” The range of her projects only seems to grow with every passing year. “[Currently], I’m working on a memoir called Bleach, adapting the Minx graphic novel series for TV, and a new spoken word poetry album. I’ve recently relocated to California, and have been collaborating with some amazing creative talent on the West Coast.” When asked about advice for the soon-to-be graduating class of 2016—and in particular, those involved in the arts—Grant says, “Be relentless. The arts is not an easy path . . . but never let anything hold you back if that’s what speaks to your heart.”

Baltej Dhillon Another notable KPU alumnus, Baltej Singh Dhillon, is known for being the ﬁrst RCMP ofﬁcer allowed to wear a turban. “Though I had been successful in all the different requirements for the RCMP, because I wore a turban and had facial hair, which didn’t conform to the uniform at the time, I was offered conditional employment subject to me complying with the uniform policy,” says Dhillon. “[This] would have required me to remove my turban, cut my hair, and shave my beard. I chose not to do that. I refused the offer of employment, which then caused the is-

sue to be returned back to the RCMP for its own consideration. It was about that time that word got out that there was a fellow with a turban that was applying to the RCMP. As it got out into the public, there was a significant amount of debate and discussion around whether the uniform should be accommodating religious wear and religious garb.” “The debate largely swirled around this fear into thinking that, by allowing the uniform to be changed and to allow religious garb and religious wear to be included in the uniform, that somehow that would dilute our identity and lessen the symbolism and the iconic status of the uniform. That really was the crux of the debate.” “There was a sliver of people who surfaced through this debate who I think are appropriately labeled as racists. And labeled as folks that have no interest in growing their knowledge and their understanding and acceptance of anyone that does not fit into their idea of being Canadian. The adversity, for the large part, came from them.” These types of people threatened Dhillon through editorial comments and commentary through the local and national newspapers, on radio and TV shows, spewing hate wherever they could. That adversity followed Dhillon right through training, up until he got into Quesnel, B.C, where he first served, and it continued there as well. “I think over time through perseverance and support from the RCMP, many of those things were overcome,” says Dhillon. “I’m now 25 years into the force, having done all that I’ve done, and come this far. I think we’ve overcome much of that and we now have many more police officers that wear turbans and are serving.” “I think we’re becoming much more sophisticated in our understanding of and relating to people that are not traditionally fitting into our own idea of what a Canadian should be and what a Canadian is. Individuals who took a huge risk to come into this country, to start a new life for themselves and their families, they are the true heroes.” “We must be diverse in our thinking if we are going to be able to overcome and explore new opportunities as a nation,” adds Dhillon. While at KPU, Dhillon studied criminology. “I have a lot that I owe Kwantlen, as far as helping me establish my career path and entering into law enforcement and the RCMP.” When asked about advice for the upcoming grad class, Dhillon says, “My advice, very simple, is never take anything for granted, work hard at every job that you secure and find yourself at, and build your references as though they are the most important reference that you’ll ever have. “In this age of information it’s very important that you have a 360 plan to live life in integrity and with dignity.”

Calvin Tiu One member of the graduating class this year is english/counselling student Calvin Tiu, also known by his musical alias Kalvonix. Tiu is a rapper, songwriter, and producer who was born with cerebral palsy, but he has never let that stop him from going after his dreams. Now, on the cusp of a major milestone in his life, Tiu shares his thoughts on his time at KPU, and what’s in store for him after convocation. “[Graduation] feels crazy because KPU is basically my safety net, it’s all I know and it feels weird to [not] be enrolled in any classes,” says Tiu. “But it feels good that I’m entering another chapter of my life.” At convocation, Tiu will be presented with the George C Woolton award. “Luckily, I had professors at Kwantlen who were willing to take time out [of] their day to listen to me and my ideas. I got a rap album and essay published for a third-year English course,” says Tiu. “Without the English faculty and Kwantlen supporting me, I wouldn’t have gotten this award. It just shows how supportive and warm the KPU community is and that’s what I really appreciate about Kwantlen. It feels good to be recognized for everything that I’ve done and this award shows me that I’m doing something right and I’m on the right path.” Tiu’s goal is to be a post-secondary counselor—or rap star, if possible. “I plan to work on more music. I just put out an album in February called I’m me, Be you. Which is, I would say, my most personal and best work yet. I also have an LP coming out in August, in time for my birthday, called Phonograph Rap, where it basically sounds like rap if it existed in the 1960s. I kind of have this thing right now, this phase I’m going through, where I love Marilyn Monroe movies.” When asked about advice for his fellow graduating classmates, Tiu says, “I encourage everybody at Kwantlen, and anybody graduating, or [who] has yet to graduate, just to be themselves because that’s all I’ve done. I [didn’t] come into Kwantlen thinking ‘I’m going to do all this amazing stuff.’ It just kind of fell into place because I was being myself and I wasn’t afraid to be different, so I encourage people to do the same.” Lindsay Civitarese, chairperson of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Alumni Association, is constantly hoping graduates join up with them. “We have a variety of affinity partnerships with various merchants in the Lower Mainland and it’s constantly expanding,” says Civitarese. “Our alumni are welcome to take advantage of those discounts and deals and they vary [from] travel to banking services, and getting your car fixed. Other benefits alumni have are workshops that we offer. We generally try to put on four major events or seminars a year.” “Networking is really amazing because a lot of the time, especially in the career world, it’s who you know, not what you know,” she says. “The people that you meet can help you along these avenues and lead you to better success.”

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KPU alumna wins second consecutive Vancouver Slam Championship “It’s important to know the purpose of your poem”

Stephanie Davies CONTRIBUTOR

Kwantlen Polytechnic University alumna Tasha Receno is Vancouver’s Poetry Slam Champion for the second consecutive year. She is the first poet since Shane Koyczan—famous for his performance at the 2010 Olympics opening ceremony—to win the Van Slam Championship two years in a row. “I think this time around, I went in thinking a little bit differently than I did last time, because last time I was just [hoping to] make it on the team,” says Receno. “This year I was like ‘Okay, you actually have something to lose here.’” Spoken word is equal parts poetry and performance, which makes it a very accessible and engaging way to consume art. “You have been given this big opportunity to convey a message to people who probably really need it,” says Receno about performing spoken word. “You never know how you’re going to affect someone and I think if you’re going up in front of an audience and you’re sharing something, you need to know why you want them to hear that. What is the purpose of your poem?” Receno says her poems always come from a personal place. She relies on her gut feeling to guide her through her creative process, which has certainly paid off. “I had started a poem three or four days before finals and I only got maybe four lines in, but something was happening there. I knew that I needed to say something that I hadn’t said yet,” she explains. “Something in me was telling me I needed to do that and I always listen to that voice because it usually knows best.” Receno followed her gut and performed the poem she had only just finished writing for the final competition. It’s the poem that earned her a high enough score to take the championship home for a second year. “I’ve just always stuck with my gut feeling,” says Receno. “Even if it’s kind of a scary one.” During adolescence, Receno was

KPU alumna Tasha Receno holding her championship belt (Courtesy of Patrick Shannon)

still ﬁguring out how she wanted her stories to be told. It was only near the end of high school, she discovered spoken word and slam poetry. “I felt like I never ﬁt in because I always had so much to say, and I think that spoken word really clicked

with me because that’s exactly what it was about,” says Receno. “After hearing the Shane Koyczan CD Move Pen Move, I remember sitting there crying and I was like, ‘What is this? This is so beautiful.’” She soon became a student in the

creative writing department, though she had yet to find her voice in poetry or performance. “It was probably in my third year. They were starting up the poetry slam at Kwantlen. I thought it was really cool and so I would try and show up there every now and then, and I would do some poems.” Fast forward a few years and Receno is a KPU creative writing graduate who has competed at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championships, and the National Poetry Slam. “I’m working towards being able to really take this into career mode now,” says Receno. “[I’m] branching out and looking at different opportunities to see where spoken word will take me. So far, it’s been quite the journey.” As one of its former students continues to win acclaim, KPU’s creative writing department will be offering a host of new courses to better mold students into unique writers. One such course is a spoken word class, taught by Billeh Nickerson, a former teacher of Receno’s. “To see [Tasha’s] growth as an artist and as a human, but an artist first and foremost, has been wonderful to see,” says Nickerson. “We’re just so proud of her and she has such an inspiring story for students, faculty, everyone. She’s always had a voice but I think she’s finally realizing the power of [it].” Nickerson is no stranger to the spoken word scene in Vancouver. “When I go to the Spoken Word [performances], I see the excitement and the immediacy,” says Nickerson. “They get to deal with things that are topical, in the now, and I love the diversity of the audience and I love that immediacy. They’re so supportive and I wish that other literary genres and other poetries had that kind of support.” The course is still in its development stage, so a lot is still to be determined. Still, Nickerson hopes to bring many of the positive elements of the spoken word scene into his classroom. “My students will not be working in a vacuum, they’re going to be

looking at things in the now, things cross-cultures and looking at things like sound and rhythm, but also content and narrative.” The writing department at KPU is currently going through some changes so that students are able to have more flexibility and choices in the program, which is what has made the option of a spoken word course possible. Nicola Harwood, Chair of the Creative Writing department, has been conducting these changes. “I don’t think people actually get that there’s this great little program at Kwantlen,” says Harwood. “And you know, [by] Tasha representing [us] by being so talented, and Billeh being her mentor in Spoken Word, it’s fabulous. I think that hopefully it will get people to turn their heads and go, ‘oh there’s something going on down there that [we] might want to be apart of.’ I mean the program just keeps getting better.” In addition to the spoken word class, the department will also be offering special topics on young adult fiction, speculative fiction, nature writing, and a course intriguingly called “Zombies, Gods, and Monsters.” “It just seems like a really good fit to offer what Billeh has, which is professional experience, to students who really want to do this [spoken word],” says Harwood. “And some students might not see themselves as much as writers as performers, so it also could be an offering to them to come and combine those skills.”

(Courtesy of Tasha Receno)

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Canadian woman to be shown on national bank note by 2018 It’s time to cash in on the achievements of Canada’s most inspirational women

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

After more than 50 years with Queen Elizabeth II adorning the Canadian bank note, it’s been announced that another female face will be printed on bills by 2018. Unlike the Queen, however, she will be a native-born citizen. The public submitted 26,000 proposals for who should be chosen to cover the note, and of those, 12 candidates were selected. The advisory committee will review the 12 finalists with input from a relevant public opinion survey in mind before narrowing them down to three nominees. Finally, the outstanding three will be sent to Canadian Finance Minister Bill Moreau, who will make the final decision on which accomplished woman will mark the national bank note. The prerequisites are simple: each candidate must be a Canadian woman who made significant contributions within her lifetime, and that lifetime must have ended before April 15, 1991. The 12 candidates include Inuit artist Pitseolak Ashoona, artist and writer Emily Carr, activist and

Illustration of Viola Desmond (Kat Nekuryashcikh) politician Thérèse Casgrain, black businesswoman and anti-racism advocate Viola Desmond, humanitarian Lotta Hitschmanova, poet and writer E. Pauline Johnson, ﬁrst female aircraft designer and aeronautical engineer Elizabeth MacGill, author Lucy Maud Montgomery, Olympian Fanny Rosefeld, author Gabrielle Roy, journalist, educator, and feminist Idola Saint-Jean and activist, teacher, and

politician Nellie McClung. Every woman listed above is deserving of a place on Canada’s bank note, and recognition of the nation’s spectacular women ought to be wellcelebrated, but there is some irony to this milestone that should still be taken into account. First, Canadian women have, in fact, been on the nation’s currency. Once upon a time, they could be

found on one bill and a few coins. Anne of Green Gables, a ﬁctional character, was on a $200 gold coin in 1994. In 2013, war heroine Laura Secord was on a 25¢ and $4 coin. That same year, Canadian author Alice Munro could be found on a commemorative $5 silver coin, and strangely enough, the Famous Five—a group of Albertan women who fought to have women recognized lawfully as

“persons” so that they could run for senate—and Canadian feminist and politician Thérèse Casgrain were once featured on the $50 bill. That was in 2004, before the Bank of Canada switched paper bills out for polymer in 2011. With the paper went Casgrain and the Famous Five, and since then the Queen has been the only female to be displayed on Canadian bank notes at all. To this day, she is the only woman throughout Canadian history whose face has ever been shown prominently, in a similar fashion to male bill-markers Wilfrid Laurier, John A. Macdonald, William Lyon Mackenzie King, and Robert Borden. Now consider this Statistics Canada fact: a Canadian woman working full-time makes 73.5¢ to a Canadian man working full-time’s dollar, and for women who belong to a minority group, that gap becomes even wider. The point being, there is still quite a ways to go before Canadian women are as respected as Canadian men in the eyes of their government. The printing of these new bills and the recognition of remarkable women is an important step forward, but it’s equally important to remember what is left to be done.

Runner Run-Down: Dutch Disease Does Canada have it?

Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

I’m trying to keep you from the conclusion that Canada accidentally imported weaponized tulips from the Netherlands. That’s super wrong. No, Dutch Disease is something much less exciting than that. But it’s still a crucial diagnosis, especially because it’s been suggested that Canada has contracted it. The orange ailment refers to a country’s heavy reliance on one sector—usually natural resources, especially oil—to the detriment of its other non-oil sectors. Basically, after a massive energy discovery in a country, foreign money will ﬂood in to buy the energy and jump the state’s currency. That spurs the prices of non-oil goods and makes them less-traded. See, once upon a time in the 1960s, the Dutch found natural gas deposits in the North Sea and, yes. A country’s walking on stilts if they can export energy products. Oil products like gasoline have high demand inelasticity, meaning that humans will virtually binge-drink that shit no matter the price. Anyway, life got so shiny for the Dutch that they whittled their clogs into shutter shades. Countries were buying their energy, and to do that, those countries needed to buy Dutch guilders (pre-Euro currency). The guilders became more gilded because

of high demand and Dutch buying power was the rock of Gibraltar. But as the currency became more expensive for countries to buy, foreigners reduced their non-oil sector imports because of the higher exchange rate. De Nederlandsche Bank tried to combat the guilder appreciation by keeping interest rates low. Unfortunately, that reduced the proﬁtability of corporate investments, and so the investors swam towards the ladder. Pool’s closed. The Bank of Canada tries to do the same thing with its monetary policy, revising down the overnight rate most recently to 0.5 per cent in the hopes of keeping the dollar at a more agreeable value. Oil, a relatively recent staple Canadian export, is strongly tied to the Loonie and the U.S. greenback. America is our principal trade partner and we’re her Oil Force One. According to 2010 stats from National Resources Canada, about 98 per cent of our petroleum, or $71-billion, was piped southwards. We were sixth in the world for petroleum and electricity production, and third in natural gas production. Canada trades the majority of that production to the U.S. as well. This heavy propensity to trade energy with America and our dollar’s attachment to oil price seems to suggest that we’re prone to Dutch Disease. The available CAN/USD exchange rate data (2006 and onward)

shows that the Loonie rose as energy did in the ﬁrst decade of the new century. But former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney remarked in 2012 that the Dutch Disease diagnosis was “overly simplistic” and, “in the end, wrong.” If the Dutch Disease theory was to hold, we would expect that a drop in oil prices would depreciate our

currency, and as a result, boon other sectors. Within 2006-2008, Canadian commodities still increased in price despite large energy growth. Sectors like minerals and metals or agriculture still grew after all. Carney added in his remarks that the Canadian economy was simply far more diverse in its endowments. Fishing, for example, is another huge

Canadian sector, a resource exploited by vessels from European maritime powers long before confederation. Kier is not an economist. But he’s studying towards an economics minor with his journalism degree, and he hopes that can help him grip these issues. Did he get it wrong? Email k.junos@runnermag.ca and give him a piece.

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Runner Run-Down: Understanding Wildfires They have many causes, but we need better solutions

Kévin Paré CONTRIBUTOR

Earlier this month we were hit with one of the biggest wildfires in Canadian history. The fire at Fort McMurray may even become the costliest disaster in Canadian history. The Bank of Montreal has already released an evaluation suggesting that it might cost the insurer up to $9-billion, without including the different costs of moving 80,000 refugees, or the cost that the local industries have to take due to lack of business. Obviously, this was not the only wildfire this month—there was also the “little” 0.2 hectare fire near Powell River. Although this is a significant difference in scale and size, both are wildfires nonetheless. A person caused the fire at Powell River, while the cause of the fire at Fort McMurray is still undetermined. There’s a lot of speculation around whether or not someone started the Fort McMurray fire. If someone started it, it could still be

quite innocent in nature—it could be someone who threw a cigarette butt in a particularly dry area, or not containing sparks from a barbecue. As far as we know, it could have been entirely from natural causes, like a lightning strike at the wrong place at the wrong time, which is a leading cause of wildfires in Canada. It could even be due to bacterial fermentation that could trap enough heat to make some organic matter get hot enough to combust. The same process used to make alcoholic beverage could start a fire so rapidly that it is often called “spontaneous combustion.” The most important part of understanding how this could happen is to understand the conditions. All wildfires need some organic matter as a fuel, which could include wood, roots, peats, debris, grass and vines. A dry and hot climate makes an inferno easier to start because it allows the flames easier “access” to the carbon. This is why some people blame global warming for the Fort McMurray fire—long dry spells are now more frequent due to global warming and

provide exactly the kind of climate that encourages wildfire. Still, it’s not entirely accurate to say that the Fort McMuray fire was caused by global warming because this fire is only one event. It might not be dishonest, as many people confuse statistical trends and statistical variations. Paul Richard, one of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s environmental science experts, likens the idea of global warming increasing the likelihood of forrest fires to doping increasing an athlete’s performance in sports; nobody can really single out any one of the 73 home runs Barry Bonds hit in 2001 as a result of steroids, but looking at the entire set of statistics it is easy to conclude that steroids were influential to his record. If we take the metaphor that the planet is on steroids, nobody can really say that global warming causes this particular fire, but we can say that it is a factor in causing many wildfires that would not otherwise exist. A solution to preventing such fires is to use controlled burning. Controlled burning strategically set

parts of the forest on fire during the winter to avoid or reduce the number of fires in the summer. It is also done to restrict access to certain animals, create meadows, or maintain areas for crops. This is also a practice used by some First Nations, although they were banned from the practice in the 1930s when the government was apparently trying to prevent all forest fires. At that time, controlled fires were perceived to be destructive to farms, although this is not typically the case. Although many practices of different First Nations have been met by snobbery, it is clear that they have the right idea. The massive destruction at Fort McMurray has significant economic effects, and evidently we can’t afford to have such widespread, damaging wildfires on a regular basis. Global warming means that we have a greater risk of an increasing number of fires, and this ultimately means that we need to find more efficienct preventative measures.

Subsistence is Survival It’s cold out there for a seal

(Natalie Musell)

Kyle Prince CONTRIBUTOR

When it comes to seal hunting, there’s plenty of mud to sling. Two years ago Ellen DeGeneres called the seal hunt “one of the most atrocious and inhumane acts against animals allowed by any government.” While many of the arguments against the practice are largely emotional, it’s still worth considering that the Inuit rely on seal hunting to survive the harsh northern climates: both for subsistence and in economic trade. While traditionally Inuit supported themselves with hunting, after settlers came into the north hunting also took on a second purpose: economic survival. Subsistence hunting is based on trade instead of money, as a barter system that was used prior to using money as currency. Subsistence hunting doesn’t allow you to engage in commercial trade. European settlers began to enter

the Arctic in the early 18th century, largely as whalers looking to benefit from hunting these sea mammals. As the whale population began to rapidly decline, the transition to a fur trading economy began, and was significant beginning around the 1920s. Overharvesting by Europeans put important food sources for Inuit at-risk, and the transition to a fur economy “would define our Inuit way of life right up until the 1990s,” according to a history published by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. Before the European Union seal ban, profits from seal pelts could reach up to $1-million annually. Sealing in Nunavut brings in $4-million to $6-million of food each year, and the Government of Canada stated, “Those incomes allowed Inuit to buy the equipment and gas necessary to continue to hunt, thus provide them with a crucial source of food.” According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in 2006 the seal hunt reached a value of $34.1-million.

They also say that, “Seals have been harvested for food, fuel, clothing and other products for hundreds of years. In addition to their economic value, seal products hold a signiﬁcant cultural and traditional value to northern communities.” Although subsistence hunting was once key for Inuit communities, these days there’s very little of that going on. The Canadian seal hunt has an allowance of 300,000 seals, which the Inuit are exempt from. That would make sense if they went over this limit, or even close to matching it. The numbers actually reached are pretty small. About 1,000 harp seals and 10,000 ring seals are killed annually by Inuit hunters. As Liberation B.C., a Vancouver-based animal rights group, puts it, “All in all, seal pelts taken by Native people make up about three per cent of the total number in trade.” There’s no way that cutting that number down would have a large impact on a society, especially when

there’s plenty of available produce down at the local supermarket. There aren’t isolated communities out there that depend on seal trade any more. Canada’s seal hunt began more than 4,000 years ago, long before the arrival of white settlers. The economic use of seals was only established when European ﬁshermen took the trip across the pond. In an article for the University of Iowa History Corps, Sarah Lowenberg points out that, “While the seals they [non-Inuit hunters] catch during the Canadian Seal Hunt are mainly used for their fur and the rest is discarded, the Inuit people use everything from the fur to blubber as a source of clothing and food, respectively.” An argument that might be offered in defence of keeping the practice is that it’s a cultural history the Inuit want to maintain. That defeats itself though. Subsistence hunting does not allow for commercial trade. To say that they require the trade to justify the practice based on cultural history is a conﬂicting idea. Although I might make a small concession and say that if there’s no commercial trade, and it’s the main source of food for a group of people, then by all means, use what you kill. “Nevertheless, when some Inuit kill seals, especially young seals, in order to export their skins to foreign countries, they are not engaging in subsistence hunting,” says Harpseals. org. The practice is outdated to the point of being obsolete. The people do not rely on the trade for survival, the cultural practice doesn’t allow for trade, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to reconcile the two.

Co-operative education adds value to degrees

Awais Mushtaq CONTRIBUTOR

The purpose of education is a question we ask ourselves throughout our university experience. Whether you’re just starting to attend university or are already on a trajectory to finishing, it’s easy for the answer to get lost amidst the various entrance requirements, classes, clubs, work responsibilities, and the ultimate dreaded quest to determine a career path that’s right for you. Many believe education is a tool to better yourself, and a powerful one at that. But the idea that post-secondary education is not ultimately about finding employment is an impractical answer to a much bigger problem facing many graduates. While the experiences gained through college or university are important, they are nonetheless subjective. What enriches one’s soul might crush another’s. Like anything in life, higher education is a gamble. This is likely why many students explore other avenues to financial independence. One such avenue is a co-operative education. Many universities, including Kwantlen Polytechnic University, work with employers to develop program-related, paid work experience opportunities for students in distinct disciplines. Depending on how far a student is within their respective program, a co-op education allows them to alternate between study and work semesters, developing and applying skills and knowledge while gaining real life work experience. However, student expectations are a critical component to co-operative education structure. Even after meeting the entrance requirements to a co-op program and completing the required introductory course, students may still have dramatic experiences when it comes to finding job placement. As with traditional education, there are no guarantees in securing jobs—the only expectation is for students to actively apply to jobs referred to by co-op instructors. Regardless, the application of knowledge on the job invariably makes education more meaningful, whether or not it becomes applicable afterwards. Theory without some form of practice is meaningless. On some level, as a society our collective knowledge has taught us that universities are only good for ruining your credit and teaching generations of students how to work for other people. As unfortunate as this may be, it is a reality we have to deal with. Right now a beneficial strategy that remains a viable alternative, at least for the short term, is a co-operative education experience.

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The Runner Debates: Public Schools v. Private Schools

Funding increase to private schools is a symbol of elitism and ignorance

Alyssa Laube CONTRIBUTOR

Despite receiving over a half-billion taxpayer dollars in public school funding last year, the Vancouver School Board ﬁnds itself encumbered with a $24-million deﬁcit. Nearly 30 other districts are facing similar crises province-wide due to a collective funding cut of $81-million to public schools. As a result, they have been closing at an alarming rate. The closures are denying thousands of students and faculty of an accessible place to learn and work. Meanwhile, private schools were publicly funded with $341-million this year—$30 million more than last year—and they represent a fraction of all educational facilities in British Columbia. As a whole, private schools are not struggling to support themselves to the same extent. That’s why they charge for their services, and yet they are receiving nearly as much annual

funding as schools that don’t. In the midst of their struggle, public schools reached out to the province for ﬁnancial assistance. In response, Premier Christy Clark promptly increased the funding to private schools. Understandably, this has inspired an outrage in British Columbia. Citizens are asking why a system in need is being passed up for a prosperous one that beneﬁts the elite minority. The Vancouver School Board is distressed and insulted, citing the province’s budget surplus of nearly $400-million as an ideal opportunity to aid public schools. The explanation for Clark’s decision so far seems to be that private schools provide a more hands-on, personal learning experience, but it seems that she may be forgetting who makes up the majority of her province. Clark personally sends her child

to a private school that charges between $20,000 and $30,000 per student in annual tuition, but most British Columbian families can’t afford that price tag. Unlike Clark and the rest of the one per cent, they don’t have thousands of dollars to spare, and free primary and secondary education is a massive beneﬁt to living in a province that is supposed to provide it to all of its citizens, regardless of wealth or status. Right now, it isn’t doing that. It seems like common sense to help a public industry that beneﬁts the majority of British Columbian residents, particularly one that educates youth and acts as an enormous source of employment. The underfunding that Clark is supporting is not only putting hundreds of school workers out of a job, it’s also blatantly insulting to those who can’t afford to pay an extra $20,000 a year to send their children

to private facilities. Throwing some money at private schools won’t make enrollment more affordable for the average family. Even if the tuition price was halved, the majority still wouldn’t be willing or able to sacriﬁce that much cash. The price of university has been preventing people from getting a higher education for ages, and for many, the free price of primary and secondary school is the only reason why they hold a high school diploma. It will, however, thicken the wallets of the already-rich population that can afford them. The fact that Clark is a part of that population has to be more than sheer coincidence. By refusing to pull public schools out of their current rut, Clark is saying that she doesn’t value the common people enough to sacriﬁce aspects of the elite world that she and her children live in. Not to mention

that taxpayer dollars are intended to give every citizen equal opportunity to succeed here, so why is the money going to those who can already afford to lead a lavish life? In Vancouver, there is an especially prevalent wealth gap. For our many aboriginal youth and those born into underprivileged families, it means additional struggles towards receiving an education. Some families that could potentially afford to send their children to private schools may still prefer to keep them in the public education system, and that’s a choice that they should be free to make. If Clark’s funding choice is an attempt to passively bully citizens into paying more for schooling, or if it’s simple naivety, she isn’t doing her job as Premier. As a member of government, she is supposed to represent and ﬁght for the people of this province, not merely the small group of wealthy families that can pay thousands of dollars to send their kids to esteemed facilities.

Private vs Public School (Danielle George)

Private Schools Deserve the Money

Kyle Prince CONTRIBUTOR

Private schools are better, bottom line. B.C. Premier Christy Clark realized this and began giving them more government money, allocating funds meant for public schools, many of which are on the brink of closing. What people aren’t talking about is the severe lack of education among public school teachers. While it is typical for teachers to have a Bach-

elor’s degree plus an additional teaching certificate, it isn’t uncommon for teachers to have a Master’s degree in their relevant field of study. There are many benefits to attending private schools. They are traditionally harder to get into, so naturally there’s a higher level of education expected, both from the teachers and the students. There’s no overcrowding in private schools: they’re able to have a proper student-to-teacher ratio that allows for effective use of time in class.

Whether it’s due to the peer group that students are exposed to in private schools, the level of education from teachers, or simply the freedom to have more time with the instructor, a Harvard University study found that private school students tended to average higher than their public school peers in standardized tests. Funding these sorts of results is exactly the right step to take in improving the education of children, which will better prepare them for steps they will eventually have to

take later in life. Stats Canada looked into the effects of private school and found that more of them continued on to graduate high school than their public school counterparts. “The private school advantage was more evident in post-secondary outcomes (measured at age 23)— post-secondary attendance (11.6 per cent), university attendance (17.8 per cent), postsecondary graduation (16.2 per cent), university graduation (13.9 per cent), and graduate or professional studies (8.1 per cent).”

With such clear advantages all throughout post-secondary, the beneﬁts of private school are undeniable. There is also a wide variety of schools to choose from if you do not like the political or religious leanings of one private school. There’s always another school to match what you prefer. The one thing they have in common is that they better prepare students for academic achievement.

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Going Global

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan believes Canada is playing its part

Tristan Johnston

COORDINATING EDITOR

In the last few months some NATO countries—Canada included—have been criticized for not sufficiently funding their militaries. NATO recommends that signatory states spend at least two per cent of their GDP on their armies. However, only five of them actually meet this goal, with the United States and the U.K. among them. Two years ago, Canada and other state representatives met in Wales to sign an agreement with NATO, agreeing that they would meet the recommended two per cent funding level. Currently, Canada barely meets half of this, spending around one per cent of our GDP on military. Canada has even received pressure from Poland—who happens to be another one of the five states meeting the NATO recommended spending. While on a tour of all NATO states before the July summit, Andrzej Duda, president of Poland, asked Canada for military assistance in the form of placing troops along their border with Russia. We were also called out by NATO general James Stavridis recently, who agreed with Donald Trump in an interview with the CBC. Trump, as part of his “we don’t win anymore” nar-

Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan speaks with cadets (Tristan Johnston) rative, criticized European countries as well as Canada for not paying their fair share in collective security. Trump and Stavridis both argue that the United States pays a massively disproportionate amount of money in military spending. Not only do they pay the most as a percentage of GDP among NATO members, they also have the biggest GDP. Some have criticized the Americans for using their superior army to

act imperialistic on the global stage. While the U.S. has used their military to botch regime changes around the world, they more or less serve as the “big stick” of Western countries and their allies. International waters used as trade routes are patrolled by the U.S. Navy to deter piracy and maintain the security of the world economy. Having a U.S. military base in your country also makes you less likely to be invaded.

Earlier this month, Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan told The Runner that Canada was “no slouch” when it came to security matters. “We’re actually doing quite a bit. For example, we have a company right now in Poland. We have a frigate out there. We have other things we don’t talk about,” says Sajjan. “We also assist in Afghanistan.” “People are talking about what money you spend—you can talk

about money, that metric, all the time. The real value of what you bring to the table is ‘what are you actually doing? What troops are you providing? What action are you taking?’ When you compare that, we have nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, we actually lead on that, just like what we did recently on our mission in Iraq.” Sajjan suggests that it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it. Although the Canadian military isn’t quite as glamourous as the American one, our forces are currently deployed in a variety of missions, though the average Canadian may be unaware of them. We’re playing a part in the Ukraine by providing training, and have deployed a frigate in the Black Sea. And while we have indeed reduced activity in Iraq and Syria, we are hardly doing nothing. Our air force has provided 25,800,000 pounds of fuel via mid-air refueling to allied forces, and conducted 475 reconnaissance missions as of May 7. While your uncle in Alberta might be upset about the Liberals, Canada’s low funding in the military is unlikely to change in the near-term. For comparison, Harper—who you’d expect to put more money into our army than either a Liberal or an NDP government—actually had us spending only 1.4 per cent of our GDP there in 2009, and even that soon tapered off to the current level by 2015.

Artist Spotlight: The Statistics Brothers “capture the soul of old music” country-wide

Alyssa Laube STAFF WRITER

Darby and Erin Yule grew up in the in Prince George BC, where they discovered their love of playing music together. Since then, their success with The Statistics has snowballed from writing EPs to recording with celebrities, playing national festivals, and touring the country. They describe their music as “angsty, modern rock with the soul of old music.” From recent years, they’re fans of Green Day, Gaslight Anthem, and Blink-182, but they also cite classic icons Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and The Supremes as inﬂuences. “When you hear old records, there’s a certain element to it that you don’t really get anymore,” says Darby. “Our goal is to try and capture that while still pushing our genre and art forward. We don’t want to be a throwback band, but we want to capture the soul of old music, so it ends up sounding kind of Springsteen-y.” The Statistics trace the roots of their success to the release of Haunts, their most recent EP, which was re-

corded at Fader Mountain Sound Inc. in Vancouver. An especially popular song on the record is “Jealous Heart”, described by Darby as incorporating “analog warmth that was really motown-based with dance beats.” The track was well-received by thousands of fans, “tripling the number of streams [the band] had gotten in the past.” That achievement was encouraged by Sum 41 member Jason “Cone” McCaslin, who reached out to the brothers after listening to their music. The three of them have formed a close professional relationship since then, spending time recording in-studio, working on grant applications, and mixing their upcoming EP together. McCaslin will be “involved in all of the songs” on the new album, and he has already mixed “Jealous

Darby and Erin Yule of the Statistics (Courtesy of The Statistics) Heart”. “It’s proving that we’re onto something,” says Darby, about the band’s accomplishments and collaboration with McCaslin. And he must be right; the brothers played at Canadian Music Week Toronto this year as the only band from Northern BC, completed the 14-date “Jealous Heart Tour” of Western Canada, and are anticipating their fourth EP release this

fall. “Coming from Northern BC puts us in a strange position. It’s cheaper up here, we can do a lot more, and there’s great community support, but you’re still from small towns. It’s not the same,” says Darby. “For us to get opportunities like this even though we live in Northern BC is pretty phenomenal.” From a personal standpoint, Erin

and Darby’s priority as artists is to connect with their audience and “create a community of people with us where they feel included.” That determination is what has propelled them forwards despite adversity. “People are responding to it in a really deep way,” says Erin, about The Statistics’ music. “It’s interesting because I was watching a documentary on the Eagles, which is one of my favourite bands, and Glenn Frey was talking about how people did things to the Eagles, like they went on a road trip to the Eagles or got married to the Eagles. We’re starting to get those sort of reactions. Like, our song being included in people’s road trip playlists. People are connecting over it, and that’s really more than we could hope for.” Darby adds that their goal has always been “making great art,” and that they “strongly believe that great art should be shared.” “I’m not interested in writing ﬂuff music or music that’s made for any other purpose than creating something real and true,” he says, and The Statistics stick to that standard.

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Horoscopes

Sudoku SUDOKU No. 148

Medium

6 2 7 8 6 5 7 9 2 5

7 Medium

6 2 1 1 5 3 2 6 7 4 9 8 6 8 9 5 4 3 2 1 7 7 8 68 76 5 28 3 7 4 1 2 5 56 9 5 6 1 7 9 8 3 2 4 4 3 5 6 8 7 1 7 4 1 2 97 4 2 5 8 7 9 1 3 6 6 1 8 6 3 5 7 4 2 9 2 93here The solutions will be published in the next issue. 7 6 1 2 4 9 8 5 um 5Previous solution - Easy To complete Sudoku, fill the board 7 4 2 9 8 1 6 5 3 by entering numbers 1 to 9 such each row, column and 3x3 box 7 16 58 39 25 64 73 42 91 87 that contains every number uniquely. 7 4 2 9 8 1 6 5 3

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6 4 1 9 5 7 3 2

This week be on the lookout for devils, monsters, creepy-crawlies,Sudoku, and all manner To complete of greater or lesser booguns.

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To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

1 5 3 2 6 8 9 5 8 3 7 4 5 6 1 7 2 9 4 3 4 2 5 8 9 Pisces 1 8 6 Feb 20 3 7- Mar 6 201

#WinnersDon’tDoDougs

Previous solution - Easy

7Sagittarius 4 2 9 8 1 6 5 3Capricorn Nov. 23 - Dec 21 Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Previous solution - Easy

ForGemini many strategies, hints and Cancertips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org May 21 - Jun 20 Jun 21 - Jul 23 That MacGuffin is only a red herring, the To mould yourself into a new form of life, to If deus you like Sudoku you’ll really true ex machina will be the Chekhov’ s give nutrient like through the root of the tree. gun! Who would need an afterlife? ‘Str8ts’ and our other puzzles, Apps

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19 Renounce your faith, Martyr King, lest ye bring upon the wrath of Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubba.

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Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23 You must destroy these so-called “super delegates” with your mighty death ray!

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Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23 Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend somewhere along in the Riverlands and I would’ve stayed up, though the night is dark had I known How to Save a Stark

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22 Don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t