The Runner: Volume 8, Issue 18

15¢

VOL-08-ISS-18

July-05-2016

Fleeing the mainland since 2009

INSIDE News

Funding for Bible Studies Club

Culture

KPU’s New Film Studies Journal

Opinion

The Case Against Christy Clark

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02 Table of contents

staff

04 08 11 13 14

News | Bible Studies Club will receive their $1,000 prize after all

The Bible Studies @ Kwantlen group won $1,000 in a raffle at the Kwantlen Student Association’s annual general meeting in March—which they wanted to put towards a Christian students’ conference.

Coordinating Editor Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca Executive Editor Samantha Thompson deputy@runnermag.ca @sampthompson

Feature |The Shocking! The Strange! The WEIRDEST COURSES AT KPU

Kwantlen Polytechnic University is anything but an “ordinary University.” And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Managing Editor Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.

Art Director Scott McLelland art@runnermag.ca

Culture | New film-studies journal challenges perceptions of field

Production Editor Danielle George

Operating out of the English department, the official film-studies journal of KPU is named Mise-en-scène: The Journal of Film and Visual Narration.

production@runnermag.ca

Photo editor Kier-Christer Junos staff@runnermag.ca @kierjunos

Opinions | The Case Against Christy Clark

Web editor Yaunna Sommersby web@runnermag.ca

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark has been getting a lot of flack lately, and rightfully so.

Production Assistant Kayla Frier

production@runnermag.ca

Staff Writer Alyssa Laube staff@runnermag.ca

Columns | You win, you Gits

In one night, my British passport loses the majority of its value. I’m mad as hell.

Operations Manager Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778.565.3801

#BestPhoto

Electric Bopeep @sheepofqueens @Runnermag #Surrey #Newton

#FeatureTweets ES AA Kwantlen @SAAKwantlen Constitution is ready to go! We’ll be sending it to the @KSAcouncil this week! #kpu #kwantlen #sustainability Daniella Javier @DaniellaMarie94 That proud moment when you try to promote “Data Visualization” to another student #psychologyclass #KPU @chadskelton SURREY @DailySURREY #Weather Monday: Light Rain, Maximum Temperature: 20°C (68°F) Minimum Temperature: 14°C (57°F) #Surrey

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801 www.runnermag.ca Vol. 08, Issue no. 18 July 5, 2016 ISSN# 1916 8241

Contributors Yuta Anonuevo Neil Bassan Stephanie Davies

Keith Harris Shandis Harrison Nicole Kwit

Cover

Scott McLelland spends most of his time hoping he doesnt suck at videogames. When he’s not doing that he’s creating works of art for The Runner and bossing people around.

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

Editorial 03

From The Editors

Democracy hurts, sometimes

What’s Happening this week

Tristan Johnson | Coordinating Editor In most democracies, we elect politicians to make tough decisions on our behalf. Said politicians are—hopefully—elected due to them being of sound mind, and hold an ideology that matches that of the people who elect them. These people are paid a high sum to speak to their constituents and conduct research to make decisions that are in the best interests of the people. This is why I think referendums tend to be stupid.

I’m obviously referring to the recent vote in the United Kingdom, one which some are calling a “protest vote.” The idea that this was a protest vote is baffling to me. The “bankers and politicians” will, at the end of the day, keep their jobs and their money, for the most part. A millionaire who loses a bunch of money on the stock market is in all likelihood still a millionaire. The people who’ll suffer the most from the European Union exit vote are the people who voted in favour of it: poor, working class Britons who are going to be worse off without EU protections. Wales voted to leave, despite the fact that Wales is a very, very poor area that benefits heavily from EU structural funds.

Regardless, I have seen two bad referendums in B.C., the recent vote on transit funding and Harmonized Sales Tax. Voters in the Lower Mainland thought they were “punishing” TransLink by voting against the tax increase, yet almost everyone at TransLink kept their job.

Voters also thought they were doing the same to the BC Liberals in 2011, but they were re-elected anyway. In both cases the people voted against their best interest—more transit funding would have taken more cars off the road and increased livability, and HST made better economic sense in the long run.

In all three cases, the decisions

Connor Doyle

July 08

ASK Ice Cream Social

Accounting Society of Kwantlen will be cooling down the summer heat with an ice cream social. Representatives from multiple accounting firms will be there to make connections and socialize.

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Surrey campus, Cedar courtyard. Free.

should have just been made by politicians. Sometimes, I feel that things only go to referendum when politicians don’t have the cojones to make a tough decision themselves, who are otherwise afraid of getting unelected next time voters go to the polls. Sure didn’t work out for Cameron. Don’t put something to referendum if you can’t handle the result you don’t like.

In Canada, members of parliament are paid at least $170,400 per year to conduct huge amounts of research by talking to people in their ridings, talking to experts, and sitting in on boring committees. Their sole purpose in life, as long as they’re a member, is to make tough decisions that ultimately benefit Canadians in the long term.

In this sense, there’s a lot of talk right now over whether or not a change in our voting system should go

to referendum. Now, given that this is a university newspaper, you likely already have a university degree or are in the process of earning one. I’m very confident that our readership would prefer mixed-member proportional, given the fact that young, educated people in Canada are a little more likely to vote Green or NDP than the rest of the population.

As of 2011, only 53 per cent of Canadians have a post-secondary education, and given the way our single-transferrable vote referendum went several years ago, I have a feeling that a referendum would result in us keeping first-past-the-post. Even though MMP is more democratic, explaining the system isn’t terribly easy.

Another problems with referendums is “tyranny by majority,” in the sense that the majority might want

something which is harmful for a minority. In the case of the UK-EU vote, that would be the million-plus EU citizens who’ve made a life for themselves there, and the hundreds of thousands of Britons living throughout Europe.

Yes, I’m arguing that there’s a huge part of the population that isn’t sufficiently well-informed or educated enough to make good decisions, and that’s fine. Most people don’t have the time to sit down and read through the legalese of a proposed bill, or to run around their city and ask random citizens what they think. Some people work two part-time jobs and have hectic lives at home, and politicians should be cognizant of the fact that they go to Ottawa or Washington or Westminster to help people like them.

KSA Executives seek to reform roles Tristan Johnson | Coordinating Editor Executives of the Kwantlen Student Association have sought to tweak their roles since their annual general meeting in March. However, current KSA bylaws state that quorum for general meetings is 200 people, and as they’ve had trouble meeting quorum in the past they’re looking for a way to make the changes without it. The most noticeable change would be the introduction of a “University Affairs” role.

“If you saw our bylaw changes from our last AGM, you might see that there are a lot of sections that are crossed out,” says Tanvir Singh, vice-president of student services at the KSA. “Essentially, VP Services has always been doing traditionally a university affairs role. A lot of other student associations use the term ‘VP

News Briefs

july11

History Society Movie Night

(Samantha Thompson)

Academics,’ ‘VP Internal,’ ‘VP University Relations,’[but] we decided to use ‘university affairs’ to encompass all those roles together.”

The KSA sought to make several changes to their bylaws during their Mar. 30 annual general meeting, but were unable to get 200 students in the room, the minimum required to make bylaw changes.

However, Singh suggests that there might be ways to make changes to their roles without a bylaw change.

“Traditionally, my role has been doing a lot of the university affairs stuff,” says Singh. “It’s not strictly said in the bylaws who does university affairs, and even then, just because VP Services is directly in charge of certain things, doesn’t mean VP Services can’t delegate to VP Finance. At the end, I’m in charge of things, and it’s my responsibility to get it done, but if

I delegate it to the VP Finance, if that’s the way we want to do things, then our bylaws allow for it as well.”

Other student associations have similar roles. Simon Fraser Student Society has a vice-president of university relations, and UBC’s Alma Mater Society has a vice-president of academic and university affairs role.

Singh and Rawan Ali, the KSA’s vice-president of finance, still need to go to the governance committee to make these changes. As of June 30, the executive committee are still in discussions.

“Up till then, we can conduct ourselves in whatever matter as we see fit, as long as the work gets done and we have people that our responsible to do it,” says Singh.

History students are holding a movie night to raise some money for their scholarship fund! Grab a drink and some popcorn and delve into the past.

5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Surrey campus, Fir 128. Price: TBD.

july12

Family Orientation

This event is designed for parents of university students, to help them discover the resources available to their kids. They’ll talk about how to best give support with keynote speakers.

July 12 - 14. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., all campuses. Free.

july 16 Cultus Lake Waterslides

Bring your swimsuit and prepare to get soaked! Register by July 10 to make sure you get to have some fun in the sun!

11 a.m. to 4 pm, Cultus Lake, $15 for students and $40 for non-students.

july 19 Prison Justice Club Meeting

The Prison Justice Club is holding its monthly meeting. Drop by to find out what they’re all about and how you can get involved.

4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Surrey campus Fir 3412, Free.

july 19 BEAM ME UP! Star Trek

The third movie marathon from the KSA will follow the Star Trek films over three days in the Grassroots. Argue about which captain is best and dress as your favourite character!

July 19 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., July 20 and 21, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Grassroots Cafe. Free.

04 News

Bible Studies Club to receive $1,000 prize after all “Let there be cash,” said KSA Council, and there was cash Kier-Christer Junos| Photo Editor The Bible Studies @ Kwantlen group won $1,000 in a raffle at the Kwantlen Student Association’s annual general meeting in March—which they wanted to put towards a Christian students’ conference.

But because of a KSA regulation that implicates the religion-based nature of the conference, student councillors debated the appropriateness of granting the prize.

The KSA regulations state that grant applications related to social, political, and religious opinions or causes—except those which are consistent with and reflect the Policies of the Society—shall not be considered or approved.

If KSA council were to allow the remittance of those funds, they would have to break that regulation, which only council can do with a two-thirds resolution.

KSA President Alex McGowan’s view on the regulation is that, “It’s not about saying yes or no to any religion, but about a desire to not be seen endorsing one or the other.”

When asked for comment, BS@K events coordinator Richard Hsia said in an email from June 10 that they were still in the process of obtaining the funds, and that “Whether or not we will actually be able to obtain them still remains to be seen.”

“We feel that it would not be appropriate at this time for us to speak with you regarding this topic,” wrote Hsia.

BS@K didn’t respond to further interview requests before press time,

During council’s extended discussion on the topic on May 20, Langley campus representative Connor Griffiths said that, “It’s just letting them spend their money,” and that it’s not necessarily endorsement.

However, Naveen Zafar, the president of the Muslim Students Association, says “When you give funding for a religious or political event, you are technically en(Keith Harris) dorsing them.”

Zafar has worked but McGowan says that the club will with the KSA in the past and is familindeed receive their funds, for in the iar with their policies. She agrees with end, council did vote to override the the KSA’s regulation on grants for soregulation and remit the promised cial, political, or religious opinions or prize. causes.

“They wanted to go to a confer“If you support one religious ence that was very clearly a religious event, and then another religious organization, and that violated the group, it may get a little bit touchy,” regulation,” says McGowan. “But the says Zafar. “What if one gets a little reason why I was leaning towards sup- more funding than the other? Then it porting it was because we didn’t make makes it seem like the KSA is sort of it clear in the initial prize draw and en- favouring that group.”

Zafar says that if the MSA planned try that this might be a problem.”

to organize their own religion-based event, the MSA would fundraise on their own to acquire any needed funding.

Zafar says the KSA’s regulation promotes inclusivity and student diversity. But Ethan Vanderleek, the Christian chaplain at the Surrey MultiFaith Centre, thinks there is a different ideal that could be reached if the KSA were to abandon its current stance.

“I’m also of the opinion that religious neutrality is something of a myth,” says Vanderleek. “All of our fundamental commitments don’t come out of a pure, neutral standpoint.

There’s prejudice at work in all of our positions.”

He says that there could be a conversation about why a Christian students’ conference could be an important part of what it means to be a Christian club at KPU. “If there are students who are explicitly religious and that’s an important part of who they are,” says Vanderleek, “And they want to be a present part of the university community, it shouldn’t be shut down as far as I can tell.”

KPU students hold vigil for LGBTQ+ community Over 80 students, faculty gather to pay respects Tristan Johnston| Coordinating Editor Kwantlen Polytechnic University students gathered, Thursday, to pay respects to the 49 dead and 53 injured in at LGBTQ-friendly nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida.

Pride Kwantlen, in association with the Kwantlen Student Association, had organized the vigil in the Cedar courtyard, where many students and faculty had gathered in solidarity.

“We remember the terrible things that go on in the world. There is no country that is immune from terrorism,” said Lekeyten, Elder-in-Resident of KPU, in a 15-minute speech to the crowd. “We’re here for a very short time. What happens in the United States will always affect Canadians.

What happens in Canada will always affect all the countries that surround Canada and the world.”

“We must learn how to always treat people with a lot of respect. No matter where we go, what country we walk in, what country we hear about, your grandfather’s breath will always be there to bless the day.”

“Let this day never, ever be forgotten,” Lekeyten said as he began smudging, as part of the memorial.

Kimberly McMartin, board organizer of the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group, gave a brief summary of Sunday’s events, and notified the

crowd that peer support, KSA representation, and campus security was available for anyone who needed it.

“As June is pride month, in this month, and continuing into every month, and with every year that passes, we must remember Orlando. We must remember all the lives lost,” said Natasha Lopes, vice-president of student life with the KSA, to mourners.

“This hate crime does not define the LGBT community, or any community.

This hate crime will not get us down.

Our fire and resilience will not be extinguished. The solidarity shown today across the world proves that hate will never win.”

When the statements were over, mourners were offered flowers and candles to lay along the memorial garden as Lopes read aloud the names of all who were killed in Sunday’s attack.

After playing part of “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, Ryot “R” Jey made a statement regarding the effect the attack was having on Muslims, and KPU. “Personally, I feel like I kinda forced the university and student association to do this and to be in solidarity with us,” said Jey, “because I publicly shamed them on social media for not doing something on their own, and not taking the initiative to be like, ‘hey, we’re here in solidarity with our faculty, staff and student who’re impacted by this.’”

While Jey acknowledged that KPU president Alan Davis has walked with KPU students in the Vancouver Pride Parade in 2014 and 2015, he said that, “As a queer and trans student of colour, when I came to [KPU] it was hard to be here and be out. Are you really an ally if I had to go and out you on social media on your poor allyship?”

Jey further elaborated that he had been feeling extensive anxiety after Sunday’s attack, and expressed solidarity with the Muslim community, who are experiencing racism in the wake of the attack.

When asked for comment, The Runner was provided with a statement from KPU President Alan Davis via email: “We were in communication with faculty, staff and students on Monday and Tuesday regarding an appropriate response to the shootings in Orlando.

I salute the KSA and Pride Kwantlen for their initiative in responding to the tragedy and for organizing the vigil.

KPU is highly visible in the community in its support of LGBTQ rights and inclusion, and will continue to be so.”

Should students need assistance, they are encouraged to contact: queer@kusa.ca pridekwantlencollective@gmail.com peersupport@kusa.ca. multifatih@kpu.ca

Kwantlen Polytechnic University community members pay their respects to shooting victims in Orlando, Florida, during a vigil in the Cedar building courtyard on June 16 (Tristan Johnston)

News 05

The Drawbacks of Bill 23

Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act’s negative aspects Alyssa Laube| Staff Writer With the passing of Bill 23—BC Legislature’s Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act—comes several comparisons between it and Ontario’s anti-sexual violence policy. The province’s “action plan to stop sexual violence and harassment” is admirably comprehensive, designed with consultation between government and students over a long period of time and with great attention to detail.

Although BC’s swiftly-passed bill has sparked mass celebration on university campuses, criticisms have also been put forward in reference to its flaws.

As mentioned by BC MLA Kathy Corrigan in a debate about Bill 23 with The Honourable Andrew Wilkinson, there has been very little dialogue between students, organizations, and government during its drafting and passing. Therefore, meaningful and educated perspectives have been lost, and several solutions designed to target the root of the program rather than solely the aftermath of sexual violence went with them.

“Many of the student groups and others talked about the process that happened in Ontario, whereby a sexual violence plan with funding of around $41-million was put in place prior to the piece of legislation requiring sexual violence policies in post-secondary institutions,” says Corrigan, in the de-

The Legislature building in Victoria, B.C. (Ryan C/Flickr) bate.

Kathleen Simpson, the vice-president of external affairs for the AMS, the student society at UBC, lists three key issues with Bill 23 that deserve attention: the terminology used in it, the exclusivity of non-students that experience sexual violence, and a lack of supplementary resources.

To begin with, “The bill is called ‘Sexual Violence and Misconduct’ but the word ‘violence’ only appears in the title. The rest of the time it is only referred to as sexual misconduct,” she explains. “I think that when you think

of misconduct, the first thing that you think of is academic misconduct, like plagiarizing, and in some ways, that doesn’t lend itself to the gravity of sexual assault.” Because of that, she recommends getting rid of the word “misconduct” altogether.

Simpson also suggests that the policy “includes the larger university community,” instead of just students, while addressing sexual violence on campuses. Faculty, staff, visitors, and contractors also have a right to support and resources, she argues.

Her final point is one that she

shares with Kwantlen Student Association president Alex McGowan—that “combatting sexual violence on-campus is larger than just policy.” Some examples of additional resources that UBC has recently implemented include a sexual support centre, bystander training, and awareness campaigns, all of which “could be considered the first draft of a province-wide policy that would reflect best practices,” as said by Wilkinson, in his debate with Corrigan.

KSA women’s representative and vice-president of student life Natasha

Lopes’ only concern and issue with the bill “is the fact that it only talks about post-secondary institutions,” instead of high school or elementary school.

In her opinion, “the way that you really nip rape culture in the bud is by teaching kids and high schoolers about what it is,” a tactic that is already in use with Ontario’s policy.

“I think it’s a really important step in combatting rape culture and especially combatting the amount of rapes that do happen on campuses. If you tell a child that tickling is okay but when they say no you stop, and that child stops, that’s fine. That’s consent,” says Lopes. “So it needs to start with younger kids.”

Lopes also believes that the lack of specificity in the bill for who will make up the committees that handle sexual violence cases could be potentially problematic.

“If you look at the rape cases that go through UBC and the fact that a lot of those cases get turned down, you need to make sure that there are safe people who actually understand the process and actually understand what it’s like [to experience sexual violence] on those committees.”

She concludes, summarizing the points of many criticizing Bill 23, “The policy itself is quite vague.

Vagueness can be good and it can also

New KPU course offers support for students with disabilities Including All Citizens features a “diverse range of learners” Alyssa Laube| Staff Writer Thanks to Teresa Morishita and Fiona Whittington-Walsh, KPU’s Langley campus has now successfully brought 28 unimpaired university students, two high school students, and five students with intellectual disabilities together to successfully teach all of them the same curriculum. Unlike the university’s Access Programs for People with Disabilities, which are zero-credit and adapted for those with disabilities, Including All Citizens gave “a diverse range of learners” three credits each for completing the first-year sociology course.

Morishita, chair of the APPD, and Whittington-Walsh both organized and instructed the course, and together they have been trying to make learning more inclusive for students with disabilities over the past two years.

“Introduction to Society: Processes and Structures” is a pre-existing course, but Whittington-Walsh “trans-

formed her teaching using the principles of universal design” to make the content “more accessible to a diverse range of learners.” She does so by generally shifting the focus of academia off of traditional essay-writing and instead “having a wide range of ways that students can demonstrate their knowledge of issues.”

The universal design for learning “is an educational framework and set of principles that maximizes learning opportunities for all learners,” as defined on Durham College’s website.

Because it doesn’t specifically favour any certain kind of student, it will serve all who learn under its framework, leading Whittington-Walsh and Morishita to suggest it as a style for more courses in the future.

“My approach is that universal design is for all learners. It really opens it up so that you can have a diverse range of learning styles and learning abilities in the same classroom,” she says.

KPU’s vision statement for 2018 echoes that belief, championing all sorts of knowledge and open access to university.

Last year, KPU became the first university to become an affiliate member of the Inclusion BC federation, of which Whittington-Walsh is the vice-president. The organization “strives to advocate for people with intellectual disabilities, making sure that they’re fully included in all aspects of social life,” and the university’s community partnership with them made a statement about its dedication to inclusivity for those with disabilities.

Although there is still room for improvement—by making more courses and parts of the campus increasingly accessible—KPU’s dean of the faculty of arts, dean of career and academic advancement, as well as KPU President Alan Davis all supported the course. For that reason, Whittington-Walsh “figured that KPU was really ready for this type of big step.”

“In this [class], they’re actually

Last year KPU became the first university to become an affiliate member of the Inclusion B.C. federation (Tristan Johnston)

doing the same work, and they’re being graded on the same rubric as their peers in the classroom,” she says of the five students who enrolled in the course. “They really loved being included.”

The five students are graduates of the APPD program and research collaborators in one of Whittington-Walsh’s research projects. They

are working towards receiving their 30-credit faculty of arts certificates, and the course pilot will continue to be a part of their academic careers until they achieve them.

Landon Charney, KPU’s Students with Disabilities Constituency Representative, was unable to be reached for an interview.

06 News

Vancouver Island’s Separatist Movement Why the Island’s itching to ditch BC and how they’re planning to do it Alyssa Laube| Staff Writer It appears that Vancouver Island may have taken some inspiration from the Quebec sovereignty movement, judging by the recently announced aims of the Vancouver Island Party. The newly-established party is led by former Conservative MP Robin Richardson, and despite the fact that they’re just getting the ball rolling, they’ve come

forward with a bold proposition to make Vancouver Island a province of its own.

More specifically, they will be requesting that the provincial government hold a referendum in 2021 for the island’s population to vote on whether or not they support the split.

Unexpectedly, 2016 isn’t the first year that Vancouver Islanders have banded together to leave British Columbia. Back in 2013 a petition was

(Samantha Thompson)

created for the same reason, but it didn’t collect enough support to produce a solid outcome. That could be because the party didn’t exist yet; it formed in 2014 and therefore no MLAs were elected to support or represent their goals.

Even now, it could be a long path to province-hood for the island, as the Vancouver Island Party puts it.

First, they have to elect at least three or four MLAs, with plans to put more into action. After that comes the referendum, and if the majority vote is “yes,” a constitution has to be prepared. Then there’s the redistribution of “the existing 14 provincial electoral districts to as many as 50 smaller electoral districts in line with the 49 electoral districts in New Brunswick,” as written on their website, along with the election of a provincial government and negotiation of the Provincial Terms of Confederation.

Top it off with a stamp of approval by the federal government and twothirds of the provinces—which add up to half of Canada’s population— and Vancouver Island can finally call itself an independent province.

An important fact to keep in mind while considering the party’s separatist goals is that the merger of the Island with BC was forced to begin with. It had already exist-

ed for 17 years when it was decided by then-governor Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy that the union was a good idea, despite opposition from the people and MLAs. More than anything else, the joining of the two colonies was a way to save the island’s collapsing budget, not a historic moment that the islanders were looking forward to.

The Vancouver Island Party reminds Canadians of that merger, as well as the possible benefits of being self-sufficient. Because they have such an enormous population, they could practice more control over their affairs. Allegedly, that’s appealing because of their long past of being ignored by the provincial and federal government. Instead, their goal is to be “Island-first” and focus on what’s relevant to them: social progressiveness, environmental justice, a vibrant culture and thriving economy.

Economically, they are looking to breathe life into the Island by encouraging the hiring of Vancouver Island Residents, buying and growing locally, investing in public transportation and renewable energy programs, and potentially offering a minimum guaranteed income. The protection and ownership of their natural resources is also a source of inspiration for the party.

Additional plans include building a bridge between the Island and mainland, bringing down or abolishing rates for ferries, creating a seawall as water levels rise, and constructing a new light-rail system, highway, and shipping hub.

The party shares their goals with the VIprovince Initiative, a nonpartisan group. Spokesperson for the Initiative, Laurie Gourlay, stresses that they have no affiliation with the party but supports their efforts.

“From what I’ve seen in the media, it seems to reflect a lot of the material that we have on our website and the aspirations that we were speaking to,” says Gourlay, adding that they are not politically affiliated like the Vancouver Island Party. “We’re simply trying to attend to the opportunity that was there 150 years ago for two provinces and revisit that question.”

“Why not look at Vancouver Island and BC’s history—the way we’ve worked together over 150 odd years—and consider the opportunity now for each of us to govern ourselves to our mutual interest, but so we attain all we can be? We’re not upset with BC or anything of that sort.

We’re just saying that there’s a good opportunity for a greater future if we both are provinces,” he says.

Liberals reform electoral reform committee Members are still in research stage, says Aldag Tristan Johnston| Coordinating Editor During last year’s federal election campaign, both the NDP and the Liberals promised that it would be the last time the outcome was decided via first-past-the-post.

Earlier this month, the Liberals altered the way they’re going about making changes to the voting system.

The committee first had a Liberal majority, but it’s now comprised of five Liberal MPs, three Conservatives, two NDP members, a Bloc Quebecois MP, and Green party leader Elizabeth May. John Aldag, a first-time MP for the riding of Cloverdale—Langley City, is one of the recent appointees to the committee. He’s not alone in being new, and other than Elizabeth May it’s unlikely that you’ve heard of anyone else on the committee.

“They were looking for people with non-expressed or [without] strong positions one way or the other on any outcomes,” he says. “They’re also looking for people who can go into discussions with Canadians and experts on electoral reform without a preconceived notion.”

Anyone who watches Question

Period on CPAC will know that for the last several question periods, Conservative MPs have been asking Maryam Monsef, Minister of Democratic Institutions, whether or not an electoral reform change will go to referendum.

“As a committee, we haven’t been given any clear direction from the minister’s office,” says Aldag. “The role of committees are to be independent from the executive structure of government. The role of committees is to do research, to ask questions, hear from witnesses, gather testimony and then make recommendations back to ministers of legislations.”

In parliament, Rona Ambrose and other Conservatives have been using question period to ask the Liberals whether or not election reform will go to referendum. In this regard, Aldag brings up the recent failed transit referendum in B.C. “In my opinion, what ended up being voted on was the effectiveness of TransLink as an administrative body. Not on whether or not transit or a new funding mechanism for transit was needed in the Lower Mainland.”

Aldag further stated that he would like to hear from experts on whether or not a referendum would be the

right option.

As for what options are being considered, whether it be single-transferrable vote, or mixed-member proportional, Aldag says that he’s “still in the research stage. I get the sense, talking to my colleagues, that they’re very much at the same point.”

Aldag also mentions that both the Green and NDP MPs suggested bringing social media into the committee stage.

Aldag reiterated that during the 2015 election campaign, the Liberals said that this would be the last election under first-past-the-post, “but we don’t know what the best outcome would be.”

“I would say the best outcome for reflecting the desires of Canadians, a diversity of Canadians in civil engagement, I want to hear about a wide range of options used internationally, and see what benefits they reap, what the pitfalls are, and ultimately I need to be convinced that changing the system upon which our whole democratic system has been based is great for our country at this point in time.”

Illustration of John Aldag (Shandis Harrison)

Kwantlen Street Market June 14

Tristan Johnston

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Kwantlen Polytechnic University is anything bu versity.” And we wouldn’t have it any other way KPU is known for its industry-ready prog for those meeting the demands of “niche” indus same level of training a student receives here found anywhere else in the province.

One of the programs that has received the m globally, is the Professional Management of Ma Purposes in Canada program.

“The program has put KPU on the map bot as internationally,” says Deepak Anand, execu Canadian National Medical Marijuana Associa of the Management of Marijuana program at KP tensively covered in both national and internati CNN, Time Magazine, and BBC London.”

“What I saw was a real need in this nascent i and education. The federal government has de plex, specific regulations from an industry pers to see that KPU is the first university to take educating Canadians about this.”

The two courses that Anand teaches are so with two modules each.

“The first [course] is plant production and fa [It’s] more about the growing aspect,” explain very specific requirements around the regulatio terms of how it’s grown and produced federally dents on that.”

“The second [module] talks about legalities how to become a licensed producer in Canada. the challenges and regulations that you need to contains marketing, sales, and drug developmen a controlled drug, there is a lot of criteria that n Health Canada’s perspective.”

“There’s a lot that, more importantly, you marketing perspective, so we teach students abo [students] about medical conditions [that are bis],” says Anand.

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U P K T A S E S R U O TC With

Stephanie Davies And art By

Scott McLelland

becoming a licensed producer, graduates work in a variety of other areas including the legal industry and the software industry.

With some online courses, it can be common for students to feel like they’re not being heard. Anand, however, provides a platform where student engagement is welcomed.

“Students engage in discussions. What we’ve done with this course is kept discussions open because a lot of students perhaps have experience in growing the product but not really complying with the regulations. We have them open up and discuss all their unique experiences and backgrounds and guide them through the regulations.”

Anand’s program is unique to KPU, but it’s not this school’s only unique offering. Another one of the institution’s most esteemed programs, the farrier training program, is also the only program of its kind in B.C. Gerard Laverty, instructor of the program, is originally from Ireland, and his international expertise has helped craft this program into its one-of-a-kind status today.

“It connects us to our past, as well as to our future,” Laverty says of the program. “ It’s still a niche market that most people are not aware of, if they’re not involved [with] horses.”

“One of the things that’s most attractive about it, is you’re going to be self-employed. If you have the right personality for it, it can be a wonderful way to make a living. You have a truck with your tools in the back and you’ll spend the day driving around, from one rural property to another, taking care of horses’ hoof and shoe needs,” says Laverty.

He explains that students spend anywhere between two to six hours per week in the classroom covering things such as anatomy, physiology, disease and lameness. The rest of the time is spent in the shop.

“The shop is run more as a functioning farrier business, but of course it’s not-for-profit, it’s for education,” says Laverty. “We have a steady clientele of horses that come to the shop Monday through Thursday. Typically, the horses will spend about six to seven hours in the shop with the students.”

According to Laverty, part of the students’ day working in the shop involves trimming hooves in preparation for shoes being put on the horse. The other part involves a forging station where students either are adapting a pair of shoes that are already made or making a pair of shoes straight from bar stock.

“Since I started [teaching the program], I recognized that one of the challenges students have today is that it’s a very physical-

ly demanding job. To help with that, I incorporated a fitness component into the program. For the past five years, I’ve been bringing a fitness instructor into the shop and we’ve turned the shop into a gym for two hours Tuesday and Thursday mornings and we work out.”

Many students choose, as Laverty did, to go abroad to further explore the farrier career.

“A graduate that came into the shop [recently] had just come back from a year in Australia working on stations and ranches there. The farrier community is small but it’s very well-connected.”

While Laverty’s students get to work with majestic stallions, another one-of-a-kind program at KPU sees students working like, and alongside, busy bees. Just like the marijuana management and farrier programs, KPU’s commercial beekeeping program is the only one of its kind in North America.

“We need beekeepers badly because there’s a shortage of honeybees,” says instructor John Gibeau, who is also president of the Honeybee Centre in Cloverdale. “There’s not enough honey produced locally to satisfy the demands, so people shop at Safeway and Costco [and] buy their honey from [other parts of] the world because B.C. can’t produce enough of it.”

“The program is designed to teach a family to be a beekeeping family,” Gibeau explains. “It will support a family.

The program is not designed to teach you to go and work for somebody else. It’s there to teach you to raise a family on the income from beekeeping.”

Gibeau has noticed a real gap in the B.C beekeeping industry over the years.

“My main business is renting bees, and I’m short every year by 1,000 to 1,500 colonies. We need local beekeepers and many of them—probably hundreds—to satisfy the demand for pollination.”

During the course of the program there are five months spent in the classroom and four months where students are placed in a paid-practicum.

“In the first three months they learn theory [which includes] biology, pest management, [identifying] poisoning, and how to deal with all the maladies that affect the hive,” explains Gibeau. “Then they go on for four months working with a commercial beekeeper in B.C., Alberta, or Saskatchewan.”

According to Gibeau, the most important part of the last

two-and-a-half months of the program is for students to identify their business model.

“Once they refine their business model, they’re matched with a professional beekeeping mentor for the next three years, and they’re introduced to bankers [and] insurance companies, so all those professionals are there at their fingertips.”

While all of the above programs are unique in the sense that they teach a very specific subject to students, KPU’s interdisciplinary expressive arts, or IDEA, classes stand out because they don’t teach any one specific thing at all.

“It’s not easy to put into few words, because it’s a very broad-ranging program,” says Zuzana Vasko, instructor for IDEA 1100. “There’s a great deal of emphasis on personal growth, on collaboration with others, [and] a lot of emphasis on empathy in terms of working with others.”

“Rather than the traditional method of the instructors lecturing and students sitting and absorbing information, there’s a lot of learning that goes on through creative means. We’ve done different things like drawing, creative writing, creative movement . . . just exploring through different creative modalities.”

“The actual content that I focus on in my class [involves] two projects,” explains Vasko.

“One is based on self-awareness, so it’s looking inward and it’s very individualized. The other one is looking outward to a concern out in the world, and there’s more emphasis on a group project there. There’s a lot of collaborative work that goes on.”

Students from various faculties choose to take IDEA courses because, while they’re different from anything else, they also compliment the other courses. “[The courses] offer a different avenue to students. I think it can compliment all the other courses in several ways. The learning that we’re looking at in IDEA [involves] emotions, the body, the spirit, the whole being, so it’s very holistic that way. [It’s] a nice break from the more traditional learning.”

10 Culture

KPU has a new Poetry Slam Team

New Slamapalooza team discuss the poems that got them where they are Stephanie Davies| Contributor The monthly slam poetry event at Kwantlen Polytechnic University— Slamapalooza—has produced a new team that will compete this October at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Winnipeg.

“We start counting points in September, that’s when our season begins,” explains Simon Massey, host of Slamapalooza and coach of the new slam team. “We assign a number value to each place someone comes in, so [for example], if they come in first they get 16 points, [and] if they come in second, they get 9 points.”

“At the end of May we total up all the points every person has and the 12 people with the highest points get to compete to be on the team.”

According to Massey, similar teams from around the country will be competing in Winnipeg, each with four or five members. There will be an estimated 24 teams in total, and four teams will go against each other in single bouts. “[There] will be [approx.] four rounds, he says. “For each round, a team sends up one of their poets, or they send up a team piece. Our team will be practicing stuff together, trying to write pieces together, and figuring out fun and interesting things to do.”

From left to right, Jessie Read, Maritna Aspen, Dana I.D. Matthews, Leslie Stark, Julia Pilegetti (Tristan Johnston) The team will be getting together this summer to start collaborating.

“I’m honoured to pursue my passion at the national level,” says Jessie Read, one of the team members. “I feel like that will be really eye-opening, and really exciting, so I’m stoked. I couldn’t be more enthused.”

Read is a gender studies major at Queen’s University. To qualify for the team, she performed three poems.

“One of them was entitled “Miracles”, and it was just my interpretation of how the world should be and ideologies that I live my life by. It

was just perpetuating them into my poetry.”

Read describes another one of her poems, “Recovery”, as “kind of like an uplifting poem that symbolizes how it’s really difficult to get through hardships in life, but we should all keep pursuing our dreams and keep doing things to further better ourselves and others.” “[The last poem] is called ‘Selfish’. It’s about suicide, talking about how there’s really nothing selfish about it.”

Read says that she’s most looking

forward to collaborating with other like-minded artists and being able to express herself.

New to the slam poetry scene in the Lower Mainland is fellow team member Julia Pileggi, who moved to the city just last fall.

“It feels good, it’s nice to have a community that I can be a part of like this,” says Pileggi on being selected for the team.

“The first poem I did was called “Hungry”. It’s about people in relationships. It’s like, if you waste food, what does that mean for what you

might waste in the actual relationship, or what you might not get to know about the other person because of a tendency to throw things away.”

Another of her pieces was a “resteraunt rap,” which recalls her time as a server. Pileggi says that family and food are what she mainly talks about in her poems.

“It’s really surreal and amazing,” says Martina Aspen, another team member. “I’ve been wanting to be on a team for about two years now, and this is the first one I’ve been on, so that’s really cool.”

Aspen’s first poem was a gender piece called “Time bombs”.

“I’m transgender, I’m non-binary, so I don’t identify as a girl or a boy,” says Aspen. “That poem was sort of about that and about transphobia, and also how it’s society that shapes girls to be a certain way.”

Aspen is most looking forward to meeting the wider slam community, and hearing the wide-range of poetry.

“I really want to travel around and go to the international slams. I know a lot of the slam poets in the scene here but not many of the ones from other parts of the country, or the world. I think that [it’s] really cool that we’ll get to meet a whole bunch of them.”

Creative Writing Guild finds new ways to tell stories Guild’s podcast series offers platform for student writers Connor Doyle| Managing Editor In August of last year, the Kwantlen Creative Writing Guild released the first episode of a new podcast/YouTube series called Comma Splice.

The series is made up of short plays, prose pieces, and poetry from Kwantlen Polytechnic University writing students.

Each episode revolves around a single concept that the stories can explore and interpret as the writers see fit. The first installment of the series was based on the concept of “Outsiders,” and in the fall they followed that up with an episode about “Generations.” This month, the Creative Writing Guild release their third episode of Comma Splice, which takes a look at the multiple meanings of the word “asylum.”

“Asylum is such a fractured term,” says Winston Le, president of the Kwantlen Creative Writing Guild.

“Our last two themes … were very character-driven. For this one I wanted to focus on setting.”

This particular episode is comprised of two stories and three poems.

(Courtesy of The Kwantlen Creative Writing Guild)

Shay Kennedy, a first-year writing student who joined the Guild last fall, is the author of “Truth be Told”, the episode’s first piece. The story follows two girls, Emma and Madison, who break into an abandoned insane asylum and discover something shocking.

“In society, we don’t take care of people who are elderly or who have mental health issues,” says Kennedy, about how she chose to interpret the episode’s theme in her writing. “A lot of the time we just lock them away, not wanting to think about them. And we don’t think about what that can do to them.”

After Kennedy’s piece is another prose narrative, this time by fellow Guild newcomer Alice Coonce,

whose story—“Seeking and Escaping”—is also set around an insane asylum.

The episode’s poems were written

by Guild veteran Nina Mosall, who chose to examine the other side of the “Asylum” coin. Her contribution uses the backdrop of the current refugee crisis to depict those who seek asylum, who long for safety when beset on all sides by fear and danger.

Each episode of Comma Splice ends with a short discussion amongst the authors and the show’s host, where they share their thoughts on the central theme. Le explains that in the discussion for episode three, he and the writers focused on how the dichotomy of the word “asylum” led to such different takes on the concept.

“We talk about how asylum can be an institution to rehabilitate people with mental illness, but it can also mean people seeking safety, or a place to call home,” says Le. “In the show, the ideas of rehabilitation and sanctuary are melded together, so it’s kind of a reconciliation of both terms.”

In attendance for every Comma Splice reading and discussion thus far is Kimberley McMartin, who both records and edits the episodes as the series’ unofficial audio engineer.

Her interest in the show began when the idea of a Creative Writing Guild podcast was floating around Guild meetings. McMartin saw it as a good opportunity to both promote student writing and begin laying a foundation

for a potential radio station at KPU. “I’m working on starting up Radio Free Kwantlen,” she explains. “I wanted to do a proof of the concept to help get funding, such as microphones and software for editing.”

Back in 2009, the students of KPU voted in referendum to establish a 13 cents-per-credit fee that would go towards the creation of a university-based radio station. After a few years, the KSA voted to stop collecting the fee, as the radio initiative never moved forward. However, the funds are still waiting to be put to use.

McMartin hopes to work with other clubs like the Creative Writing Guild to create content that could potentially form the basis of a radio program.

“If people are interested, they could have any shows, anything that they want. We can hash it out and I can record it,” says McMartin. “I’m also trying to create standardized forms to help get programs fleshed out, programs written, and even promotional material. But I’m also in school, and I’m basically the only one doing it.”

Culture 11

OFFICIAL FILM STUDIES JOURNAL EMBOLDENS PUBLIC HUMANITIES at KPU

Accessibility and mentorship help Mise-en-scène reinvigorate cinema discourse Neil Bassan

Though high-level scholarship is traditionally thought to be a solitary affair, Kwantlen Polytechnic University english instructor Greg Chan is breaking the mold with a new film-studies journal that promotes the study of film as a collegial, interdisciplinary art form “grounded in the visual narrative.”

Operating out of the English department, the official film-studies journal of KPU is named Mise-enscène: The Journal of Film and Visual Narration. The publication features a fully-online, multi-format, open-review and an “open-access model [which] makes all of our research available to the community” without subscription fees, says Chan, who is also the editor-in-chief.

The artistry of filmmaking [and] of cinematography, as well as how artistic elements such as architecture and design contribute to filmic storytelling “one frame at a time,” are central to the mandate of the journal.

The publication is accompanied by a new internship program launching in the fall that—unlike the journal’s articles, which feature M.A. and Ph.D.-level scholarship—encourages undergraduate student participation.

Ultimately the journal will fuse this internship work with scholarship from graduate-level film studies academics and film industry professionals concerned with mise-en-scène analysis. The titular analysis is an interdisciplinary aesthetic concept that Chan argues “is enigmatic because it almost defies definition,” though is generally understood to be the arrangement of scenery and props up on the stage or big screen, as well as how these things contribute to the visual narrative and storytelling technique.

The internship will begin in the English department, and then expand to other departments in the faculty of arts. In some cases the students could earn full or partial credits for particular courses, and would work as assistant copy editors, assistant layout specialists, and assistant proofreaders.

“They would gain valuable experience working on an academic publication that is fully online,” says Chan.The journal’s international advisory board, meanwhile, is represented by independent scholars in the field, practitioners, and innovative researchers.

“We are fortunate to have a wide range of expertise on our board,” says Chan.

This board would include UBC screenplay specialist Miguel Mota, queer theorist David Gerstner from City University of New York, African-American film historian Allyson Nadia Field from the University of Chicago, film noir expert from Ball State University Richard L. Edwards, and Shakespearean and Indian cinema scholar Poonam Trivedi of the University of Delhi, just to name a few.

Beyond his work with the digital humanities and Mise-en-scène, Chan teaches composition, literature, and film studies in the English department at KPU, and in June was awarded a Recognition of Achievement for 20

(Courtesy of Mise-en-scène)

years of service to the KPU community. He is also currently working with colleagues to design a new minor in film studies program, which at this time features English courses at the second to fourth-year levels, though more courses will be added in the coming year.

“Mise-en-scène will be the anchor of that program. We are anticipating

that our students will be interns for the publication,” he says. “We are ex-

cited about these brand new offerings in the Faculty of Arts.”

Chan expects the film studies mi-

nor program will be open and available to KPU students sometime next year.

KPU celebrates National Aboriginal Day

Event aims to bring awareness to Aboriginal issues Tristan Johnston| Coordinating Editor The courtyard at Surrey campus was crowded for much of Tuesday afternoon for the second-annual Kwantlen Polytechnic University celebration of National Aboriginal Day. The June 21 event saw presentations by Lekeyten, KPU’s Elder-in-Residence, basket weaving

by Patricia Stewart, hoop dancing by Petie Chalifoux, and a dance presentation by Butterflies in Spirit, with a focus on the missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

Lekeyten believes that there are lessons to be learned from the event.

“I think, just realizing that the coexistence of the healing process that the First Nations are going through every day,” he says.

“The truth and reconciliation things are out there right now. I think that one document for truth and reconciliation is 157 pages long. So, in order for you to go through that whole thing, it will probably take five years to understand what was intended.”

“When we look across Canada as the peoples of Canada in the early history, it affects everybody’s history,” says Lekeyten. “History books can be cruel, but at the same time it’s still a learning tool.”

Lekeyten also said that he was happy to see many students and fac-

ulty coming out to the event, noting that many of them were international students.

While there has been criticism of KPU’s relationship with First Nations groups in the past, particularly with last year’s memorandum of understanding with Transmountain­— which has since­been rescinded Lekeyten views the university more positively.

“Every time they mention the Kwantlen First Nation name in events, they always explain why they carry Kwantlen’s name, and that’s all we asked,” says Lekeyten. “If you explain that in all your grad ceremonies and teachings, that’s all we need.

That’s all we need to do.”

“This is the second year we’ve helped celebrate National Aboriginal Day at KPU,” says Jane Fee, Vice Provost Students. “It’s part of who

we are, it’s part of our name, and we thought it was time that we started putting [something on.] We’ve attended other events, but we thought it was time that we started celebrating on our campuses.”

“We are, as far as I’m aware, the only Canadian university that’s named after a First Nations group.

We have the same responsibility that any other post-secondary institution does to recognize the territory that we live and work in. We also have an additional responsibility to ensure we’re paying heed to our name, and make sure our connection to First Nations groups is understood and respected.”

Leykeyten, KPU’s elder-in-residence, addresses the crowd at the National Aboriginal Day events in the Surrey campus courtyard on June 21 (Tristan Johnston)

12 Culture

Return of the Kwantlen Street Farmers Market Where chic meets the street Neil Bassan In the shadows of humming foodtruck fryers, a cast of vendors offer you all things artisanal and green.

This is the Kwantlen Street Market, a community and student-led initiative showcasing a grand selection of local products—including Okanagan cherries, kohlrabi, and lemon-aide—from all corners of the Lower Mainland.

Beyond temporary henna tattooing and Eli’s Serious Sausage, visitors can indulge themselves in fresh and sustainable, student-grown fruits and vegetables, as well as homemade wool dryer balls. Janelle Laycock from Mountain Naturals, is concerned largely with the latter.

Standing firmly in opposition to the corporate monsters who spike our toiletries with synthetics and dyes with names too long to read, Laycock creates luxury-quality soaps, face oils, stain sticks, as well as the abovementioned wool dryer balls and lip balm—sans the allergens and chemicals, of course.

“Everything is as natural as it can possibly be,” she says. “The oils are non-GMO, and mechanically-pressed,” without the use of solvents.

After trying her own handmade, all-natural soap in the shower, Laycock, for the first time, experienced

bathing itch-free. Such experiences led her to begin creating her own laundry detergents and shampoos from natural ingredients. She has found that her own products are gentler and more effective than their commercial counterparts.

As she has no “duty to her shareholders,” Laycock is able to strictly limit her ingredients to include essential oils, herbs, and spices. This differentiates her, she believes, from larger soap and cosmetic manufacturers who cut corners where quality and safety are concerned by using abrasive dyes and artificial fragrances.

Mere metres away from the shampoo-bar and soap stand sits Caroline Chiu, coordinator at the student-led Tsawwassen and Richmond Farm Schools, part of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s research and extension unit: the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems.

The Farm School programs— which are non-accredited, 10-monthlong practical training programs operating on a full cost-recovery basis, meaning that the schools are not profit-generating endeavours—work closely with the Sustainable Agriculture program, an undergraduate degree program at KPU. Challenging the idea that all farmers are old men, KPU students are engaged on campus in vibrant, small-scale farming and all-around

The Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems program sell produce at the Kwantlen Street Farmers Market (Tristan Johnston)

green living.

“Just outside the terrace,” says Chiu, “students grow the vegetables [on Richmond] campus.”

Re-stabilizing the long-forgotten human connection to vegetation, as well as the connection between land and self, ultimately, is an underlying philosophy of the institute—a claim endorsed by both Chiu and student Stafford Richter. “[It’s about] making old [farming] techniques new again,” says Richter. This is achieved by moving away from chemicals and in general making young people take more critical stances toward their food.

According to Chiu, students in the agriculture and food systems programs at KPU go on to become farmers, policy makers, educators, community activists, and outreach workers. Still, the bulk of students’ work begins on the farms and in the Kwantlen St. Market.

“Education and access,” and more specifically, “helping people to access local, seasonal, healthy food,” is what Mairi Lester, sustainability coordinator at the Kwantlen Student Association, deems one primary objective of the Market. The KSA is one of the primary organizers of the event. It’s for “students who have

small businesses,” who “make jewellery, design their own clothing.”

The Market targets the student demographic and is a worthwhile opportunity for grassroots, student-run businesses, says Lester.

For those curious about the origins of their soap, or perhaps those intrigued by community-building, or getting their hands dirty by spreading the green message—even for those who come only for the kettle corn—the Market runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., each Tuesday until Oct. 18, in the parking lot neighbouring the bookstore at the Richmond campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Seventeenth Surrey Pride Unites Queer Community Meeting in Holland Park a sign of solidarity after Orlando shooting Alyssa Laube| Staff Writer The Orlando shooting at Pulse Nightclub has left queer communities around the world shaken but still strong. During this time of adversity, Pride events have brought the community together to heal, advocate, and celebrate their identities in safe spaces. Right here in the Fraser Valley, Surrey Pride kicked off its seventeenth year on June 26. This year’s events began with Surrey’s first-ever Pride Parade, a one-kilometre march down University Boulevard.

“With an actual parade, even if it’s a short one, it’s still there and the way it will impact the community is that those who are a part of it can know they’re not the only people within the city who are queer and/or trans,” says Ryot “R” Jey, queer students representative for the Kwantlen Student Association. “It allows individuals to come together instead of having to go to Vancouver and access the services out there.”

Jey views Surrey Pride as a sign that the city’s queer community is de-

People congregate at Holland Park for Surrey Pride on June 26 (Alyssa Laube)

veloping and resilient, which is particularly needed as it recovers from the tragedy at Pulse. He believes that the event “will have more meaning” in light of the massacre, comparing it to the 1969 backlash in New York, when “The NYPD decided to raid Stonewall, a popular gay and queer place where folks would gather,” and incited riots as a result.

“With Surrey Pride, we’re able to march and speak up for them, because those who have passed are not

able to do it,” says Jey. “I feel like Surrey Pride will bring that memory back, that we’re still here, and we’re not going to stay silent. We’re not going to allow you to try and destroy our only safe place.”

That opinion is seconded by Sam Larkhem, Clinic Manager with the organization, Health Initiative for Men. HIM is a returning sponsor to Surrey Pride, and they have had a presence at the event for several years.

“If we can stand together, it will

strengthen that resolve that has been knocked from us with the Orlando shooting,” says Larkhem. “There usually is a really good feeling of community at Surrey Pride, so I’m anticipating even more of a community feeling because in times like this, we need to stand up, be strong, see one another and feel proud of being who we are.”

He adds that with a small queer community such as Surrey’s, pride events are even more crucial to “making people feel more included and seen.”

The mood at Holland Park on Sunday was welcoming, as anticipated by Jey and Larkhem. The crowd consisted mostly of families and their children, but many were dressed boldly: people in kaleidoscopic costumes were visible in every direction, with the exception being several professionally-dressed MPs and Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner. In front of an enormous rainbow flag, Mayor Hepner made a statement of support while John Aldag, Randeep Sarai, and others looked on.

Bilal Cheema, president for the

electoral district association of Fleetwood-Port Kells, is one of many attendees at Surrey Pride, where he lounged under the Liberal’s tent.

Proudly, he remarks that the Liberal Party of Canada has “been a proud supporter of pride and pride-related events for many years,” and “had a really large contingent” at both the parade and meeting in Holland Park.

“The Liberals are all about inclusivity [and] making sure there’s a place for everyone in society,” he says. “Love is love. It doesn’t matter, right?”

Opinions 13

The study of Dead White Men

Nikki Ashton’s Honest Intentions

English literature focuses too heavily on one demographic Neil Bassan English literature at Kwantlen Polytechnic University does not unreasonably favour white, male authors.

But in order to be well-versed in the history of poetry, drama, and philosophical musings in a university setting, one must navigate the sometimes murky waters of the eurocentric, male-dominated past.

One cannot—nor ought one be able to—complete a Bachelor of Arts degree specializing in English at KPU having exclusively consumed literature written by white males. This is a good thing—it is embarrassing even to write such a blatantly obvious fact.

Even taking a full course load of English literature at KPU without hearing a single word from a non-white scholar or writer, or a non-heterosexual cis-gendered male, is profoundly unlikely. In my experience, not only do instructors tend to provide optional reading lists that supplement the course material, but the obligatory course material is often representative of our contemporary, globalized society.

And yet, this is not necessarily the case at other institutions. In the wake of English students at Yale University petitioning for the removal of a mandatory course which requires them to study the canonical writers

Even MPs“Feel the Bern” Neil Bassan

(Yuta Anonuevo)

(including but not limited to Chaucer, Wordsworth, and of course, Shakespeare), new dialogues concerning the ethical implications of studying exclusively or overwhelmingly “dead white men” have sprung forth.

One English student at the prestigious university, Adriana Miele, told the Yale Daily News “many students do not read a single female author in the two foundational courses for the major. This department actively contributes to the erasure of history.”

KPU alumnus Adam Vincent, who has most recently been accepted into the University of British Columbia’s Ph.D. program in Language and Literacy Education, somewhat shares Miele’s sentiment, though he also shows appreciation for the inclusivity and diversity that can be found in our English department’s upper-level

offerings.

“I don’t know if students know it is a problem when they come into their introductory classes,” he says.

Vincent believes that, for 1100 level English classes, reliance on white, male authors is the “status quo.”

On the other hand, “what KPU offers […] in the 1200 level,” says Vincent, is a broader perspective with respect to the necessary female, queer, and ethnic minority voices.

Having completed a Bachelor of Arts, with a major in English at KPU in 2010, Vincent notes that there are some world literature courses at KPU which explore “foreign” and often times silenced narratives from around the globe. Canadian literature in general, he says, has a strong Aboriginal focus in its poetry and short stories.

While he admits the introductory

The Case Against Christy Clark

Premier still deserves public criticism Alyssa Laube| Staff Writer British Columbia Premier Christy Clark has been getting a lot of flack lately, and rightfully so.

In May she travelled to Asia to promote provincial trade deals but brought two real estate companies with her, leading to suspicions that she aims to drive up the provincial housing market even further by attracting foreign investment.

That same month, she received high criticism in the media for her decision to give funding to private

(Nicole Kwit)

schools instead of public schools, although only the latter are shutting down due to financial struggles. It was also revealed that dinners featuring Clark charge attendees up to $20,000 simply to eat and mingle with the Premier, with one hosted by SFU chancellor Anne Giardini taking $10,000 from each guest and another in Kelowna accepting $5,000 for them to attend a private reception.

The list goes on. See “YogaGate,” Clark’s failed idea to shut down the Burrard Bridge so that a free yoga class could be taught there which wasted $150,000, or the $42-million in taxpayer money that was lost when she sold land to Liberal party donors for a fraction of the listed price as a means of balancing her budget for the 2013/2014 fiscal year.

Chair of fundraising for the BC Liberals Bob Rennie says that he has helped the Liberals raise nearly $5-million over four years, which has allowed the party to dig themselves out of election debt and save for the upcoming campaign. He calls the their pricey networking dinners “business as usual,” saying, “It costs money for those Vote for Me signs

and it costs money to get the message across,” in an article in The Globe and Mail.

If paying $20,000 in dinner and “Vote for Me signs” is what Liberal money is going to, Clark and her government need to set their priorities straight. And that’s not even considering the offensively high amount that she invests in personal spending.

Considering that Clark has received over $277,000 from the BC Liberals over the past five years, as a top-up to her $195,000 salary, including $50,000 just since 2015, it’s understandable that she can be reckless with her cash. That’s a lot of money to have in-pocket, and it has to go somewhere.

One of Clark’s preferred areas of choice is private flights, which she has unloaded over half a million dollars on over five years, and other payments that racked up her $475,015 credit card bill. In the bill, it is written that $2,279 was spent at an oyster bar and $433 at Capilano Suspension Bridge, so at least the money is going somewhere productive.

She also sends her son to Vancouver’s most prestigious private school for boys, with tuition falling between $18,995 and $21,355 per year.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government has seen courthouses, jails, schools, emergency rooms, and legal aid offices close, as well as eight

English courses at KPU still features the same cast of canonical dead white guys, Vincent argues that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. One reason they’re used is that they’re standardized and traditional, and they prepare students for the critical thinking and analyses to come.

So let there be no confusion: white, male, English literature is not the literature of oppression. It rather just so happens that literature written in English by white, male authors constitutes the very foundation of, not surprisingly, what we know to be English literature.

Besides, scholarship does not begin and end in the classroom—in other words, if you are intent on bucking what Vincent deems an established “hierarchy” inherent to “the system,” then, by all means, read more.

health ministry researchers mysteriously fired without any proof of an RCMP probe being conducted and no reasonable excuse offered from the Premier or her party.

All things considered, it appears that Clark is unabashedly biased towards the wealthy and unwilling to offer transparency in her government. What’s worse, in the midst of being criticized for such actions, her supporters have taken to playing the woman card instead of addressing her mistakes.

An ally of Clark’s, former Liberal MLA Judi Tyabij, recently wrote a biography about the Premier, describing Clark as “a highly charismatic, very attractive, very effective woman in politics.” The book, Christy Clark: Behind the Smile, alleges that she is criticized not for her political folly, but because she is a woman.

The host behind Vancouver’s fundraising dinner for the Liberals, Anne Giardini, says that Clark was criticized for the event because she is female, adding that women are “particularly targeted” in politics for spending.

While that may be true, it is not the case for Christy Clark. Making errors as a politician is one thing.

Repeatedly committing wrongdoings without giving clear cause, looking to amend the situation, or accepting due responsibility is another.

Last month Nikki Ashton, the NDP MP for the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, took her door-knocking talents south to Fargo, North Dakota to support American presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

By aligning herself with Sanders, a social democrat who is the farthest left-leaning candidate in the presidential race, Ashton has made no secrets about where her loyalties lie. And in the public eye, such a simple display of honesty is a surprising and potentially redeeming quality rarely seen manifest in politics.

If what she is doing is merely furthering the democratic cause, we ought to be encouraging Ashton’s honest political participation. Is not open dialogue on all matters what we expect of our representatives?

However, if she is playing the more regressive political game, she’s only following our former Prime Minister’s lead.

Let us not forget that when Stephen Harper speaks to top Republican donors at a private, Republican Jewish Coalition dinner in Vegas, he does so strictly to express his unyielding support of Israel. Harper, of course, could in no way be involved in any fundraising or campaigning for the Republicans—he has duties to fulfill and a salary to earn.

Let us not, as well, allow Harper to pull any political wool over our eyes. His way of denying campaigning for the Republican Party, says Michael Harris of ipolitics.ca, is to “[tell] multiple stories on how people should view his activities before finally settling on the most self-serving explanation.”

I would argued that those ordinary stiffs who are said to represent our values ought to take a page out of Ashton’s book by taking similar risks, openly displaying their flags, and engaging in actions truly representative of their values. Instead of veiled, highly-politicized, and thinskinned performances, wouldn’t you rather elect politicians who openly signal their inspirations and engage in activities that align with confessed principles beyond those of their constituents?

Nikki Ashton (Courtesy of Nikki Ashton)

14 Columns

Going Global You win, you gits Tristan Johnston| Coordinating Editor In one night, my British passport loses the majority of its value. I’m mad as hell.

For once, a world event has directly and concretely had an affect on my life, and in a very bad way. I’ve had the hope of living and working in Europe after my graduation for a long time, but depending on how the next several months play out, my hopes could go down the drain.

The benefits of having an European Union passport are huge—you are granted the legal right to live and work in any other EU state, as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland to a degree. You’re also protected under the various EU laws concerning workers’ rights and other human rights.

Something that should be noted about this situation is the way the EU is treating the UK in the hours after the vote. In Canada, we worked hard to keep Quebec from separating because we realized the federation would be weaker without them.

The UK tried to keep Scotland from leaving because they realized that the union would be weaker. The EU is making no attempt to keep the UK from leaving. In fact, they’re trying to speed things along.

Since the EU is cognizant that they don’t need the UK—which is definitely now a second-tier power—instead of trying to coax them

Pictured: Brexit (Danielle George) back, they will punish them with le-

of Europe,” which makes a lot of

interest to keep the union united, and

that make up the EU have everything

gal impunity. It’s in their geopolitical to make exits look as unappealing as possible.

What this obviously communi-

cates is the fact that the ultimate goal of the EU is to create a “United States

sense. All of the individual countries to gain by being part of the single

market, and while some countries likely get more out of it than others,

everyone gains a tremendous amount.

This is most clear when observing the

disastrous market reaction to the vote result. Consider the United States-would they have ever become a superpower if they didn’t have the economic strength of the west? Or the oil from the south?

What happens next? You’ve likely read by now that there’s still a lot of uncertainty. I’m honestly hoping that the Queen steps in and invokes her powers to reverse it, but unfortunately that’s not happening.

What’s more likely, and what I personally hope for, is that the UK will go the way of Switzerland or Norway, and get a special deal with the EU. A deal that, like these two countries, would give them some of the benefits along with some of the costs. The British government needs to consider the million or so British citizens that live in other European countries for their livelihood. Over 100,000 of those live and work in France alone.

Most worrisome is that Leave campaigners have seemingly vanished. Nigel Farage admitted on television that the “350 million pounds to NHS upon leave” was bullshit, and the rest of the Leave camp seemingly has no actual plan on how to leave the union. More and more people seem to be coming to the understanding that a lower immigration isn’t guaranteed by an exit from the EU. Boris Johnson was seen as the next potential PM, but he has promptly vanished and ruled himself out of the race.

Good riddance.

Even worse, the current political elites in parliament are falling apart at the seams. Cameron won’t be Prime Minister after October, and the alternatives aren’t great. Michael Gove is an utter embarrassment to the intellectual history of his nation, but hopefully the UK will get female Prime Minister #2 by way of Theresa May, but she also has her flaws As I write this, 20 shadow cabinet ministers (their term for “critic of …” in Canadian parliament) of the Labour party have quit their posts and held a vote of non-confidence against Corbyn. This makes Labour look even worse, considering their poor performance as part of the Remain campaign.

June 23 will get its own chapter in the next edition of your political science textbooks. This is a massive international event, on the same scale of the 2008 credit crunch. David Cameron will go down in history for possibly the biggest political fuck-up in British history. He gave the country a completely unnecessary referendum, which only a handful of wingnuts were asking for, and it didn’t go the way he expected. As a result, Scotland might call another independence referendum and actually leave, undoing a 300-year-old union, and the British economy as a whole has been thrown into uncertainty.

Artist Spotlight: Kaylee Johnston

Pop artist aspires to empower her listeners with new album Alyssa Laube| Staff Writer After a whirlwind breakup, pop artist Kaylee Johnston began her journey to self-healing with the conception of a boisterous six-song EP. The self-titled record, which came out on June 3, was nearly three years in the making and formed in the midst of a time of both emotional growth and hardship for Johnston.

Now that it’s out, with two of her viral singles on its track list, Johnston calls the record an “all-encompassing” representation of her identity as a person and musician. Listening to the album, it does feel like it’s an homage to conquering a challenge; each track has a punchy, emotional backbone while still sticking to the danceable nature of pop music.

“I just realized more and more that I’m a humanitarian and I want to empower people, and so I think that’s why it feels so all-encompassing,” says Johnston. “I want to empower my listeners to empower themselves in whatever area they feel they need to, whether that means getting an education, pursuing something you’re passionate about, ending a relation-

ship that’s not serving you, or working on parts of yourself that maybe you shy away from but that’ll help you in the long run. I think that’s where I see myself going.”

Specifically, she hopes to give a voice to teenage girls, who she connects with because of her own rocky adolescence.

“I remember that time as being very challenging, constantly feeling a struggle, and always finding my release in music,” says Johnston. “I’ve noticed that the people reacting to the songs and reaching out on social media are all quite a bit younger than me and I love that, because I feel like I kind of get to relive a part of my life that wasn’t necessarily a pleasant experience and make it better or more fun or happy for them.”

Artistically and personally, she looks up to strong women in her life such as Stevie Nicks, the members of Heart, Robyn, Taylor Swift, and Marina and The Diamonds. What’s more, Johnston aims to follow in their footsteps as one of the many women “who step out of their comfort zone and do something special.”

Before writing the self-titled album, Johnston released a five-song

(Courtesy of Kaylee Johnston)

EP that she describes as “disjointed” in comparison to her most recent work. Regardless of fluidity, the common thread throughout all of her music is an ultra-poppy sound, created with “a combination or organic and synthetic instruments.” Every composition is written by Johnston on her acoustic guitar and then brought

to producers and bands for collaboration and finishing, with the result being her consistent “upbeat and honest” tunes.

The generally quick-paced, bubbly style contradicts the conceptual and lyrical content of the EP, which explores feelings of loneliness, insecurity, and isolation. What’s more im-

portant, however, is the overarching theme of surpassing that weakness in exchange for greater self-confidence, thereby stringing a narrative throughout the record that is dear to the artist’s heart.

“When I’m really honest and vulnerable with how I’m feeling, there’s a release,” she says. “I think that’s why the songs kind of still have that energy to them, because while I was writing them there was something being released and there was something being owned, and even though lyrically and melodically it might not be saying that, you can still feel it.”

On July 23, she will be playing her first show in Surrey at Surrey Fusion Fest, an all-ages festival. That lines up with her primary goal for the future, which is “to reach as many people as [she] can.”

“When I play live, I feel so connected to the room and I feel like they feel connect to me and it’s a really balanced, healthy exchange. It fills me up and I think it leaves everyone else feeling full, so just to do that,” she says, with a grin. “As long as I’m connecting, I’m happy.”

Procrastination 15

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Horoscopes

SUDOKUSudoku No. 150

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© 2016 Syndicated Puzzles

3

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