The Runner Vol 11, Issue 15

APRIL 30, 2019 VOLUME 11, ISSUE 15 KPU’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Time is Running Out to Address Canada's Changing Climate Experts from the KPU community weigh in on what Canada's climate may look like in the future and whether or not it can be saved

NEWS

KPU Welcomes Incoming Provost Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh

CULTURE › 04

Filipinx Poetry Night Features Talent from KPU and Beyond

OPINIONS › 06

From AOC to Malala, Millennials Have Plenty of People to Look Up to

› 12

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STAFF Editor in Chief

Aly Laube editor@runnermag.ca

Managing Editor

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Associate Editor

Braden Klassen staff@runnermag.ca

Staff Writer

Cristian Hobson-Dimas writer@runnermag.ca

Production Manager

Sarah Kraft production@runnermag.ca

Graphics Editor

Kristen Frier graphics@runnermag.ca

04 06 08 12

NEWS

KPU Welcomes Incoming Provost Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh Vanderburgh will begin serving as the university’s incoming provost in May, and will be fully taking over the position when current Provost and VP Academic Sal Ferreras transitions out of it on July 1.

CULTURE

Filipinx Poetry Night Features Talent from KPU and Beyond The event featured three KPU students—Ivy Ruth, Mirth, and Mariah Negrillo-Soor—as well as three community members. All the featured poets identify as Filipinx, meaning that they and their relations have a history of migration from the Philippines.

FEATURES

Time is Running Out to Address Canada’s Changing Climate A document titled Canada’s Changing Climate Report released by Environment and Climate Change Canada has found that the climate in Canada is warming twice as fast as the global average.

OPINIONS

From AOC to Malala, Millennials Have Plenty of People to Look Up to As younger generations, our birthrights are late-stage capitalism, unaffordable housing, unprecedented species extinction, and a dying planet. The next generation will probably have even more problems, but at least finding social and political leaders willing to dedicate their lives to tackling them head-on won't be one.

Web Manager

Alex Rodriguez web@runnermag.ca

Operations Manager Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778-565-3801

CONTRIBUTORS Kiyomi Asano Lena Belova Tawahum Justin Bige Katherine Charlton Trevor Frier Lisa Hedmark Tristan Johnston Saira Kanwal Amei-lee Laboucan Nic Laube Samantha Mayes @Reslus Kayci Roy

COVER BY Samantha Mayes

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

EDITORIAL

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: #kpumusicmakenoise

A KPU music student’s opinion on what the university’s new budget means moving forward Kiyomi Asano The day that we KPU Music students and faculty members had been waiting for in fear, dread, and determination arrived at the end of March.

The KPU Board of Directors voted to pass the university’s budget plan for 2019/2020, which would scale back our program and prevent us from taking in new transfer or first year students. Before this, we as students raised awareness about the meeting by calling for signatures on our petition opposing the intake cuts and sending letters to the Dean of Arts, Vice President, and President asking them to reconsider the cuts.

At the meeting, our wonderful chair of the Music department, Jane Hayes, gave a powerful speech recommending that the board reject the proposed budget plan. She was followed by several speakers, all of whom spoke eloquently and respectfully, leaving nothing unsaid and no stone unturned.

In the end, though, the budget passed, meaning that we are ultimately unable to accept new students for the upcoming school year.

What was unique about this budget meeting?

The vote wasn’t unanimous.

Three board members decided against approving the budget for the next year. Three.

Why is this significant?

Typically, meetings like this conclude with

unanimous decisions. The fact that we, as students, were able to change some people’s minds is amazing. We made noise, and people heard it.

In the 26 years that KPU Music has existed, the program has never seen community like this. Gathering over 10,000 signatures on the KPU Music Make Noise petition? Unheard of.

Hosting a rally where the media and the Mayor of Langley were in attendance? Astounding. Widespread online and media coverage? Incredible. And throughout all of it, we remained respectful, honest, polite and civil.

Even when we were pushed and prodded, we stood firm in our intentions. We brought forth the importance of music education and demonstrated remarkable leadership and spirit. We have set the precedent for what future protests could look like when these cuts will inevitably come again. We should be nothing less than proud of all our hard work and efforts to fight for what we believe in, and no one can take that away from us.

This is not the end of KPU Music, and we are not done fighting. One way or another, the university will understand the consequences of what they have done and the message they have sent regarding their stance on the importance of music and music education in society.

Lastly, to all of the applicants who were turned away, you will always have a home and a place here at KPU regardless of what

The Borealis String Quartet and other members of KPU's faculty play at the Music Faculty Showcase on Jan. 25. (Katherine Charlton) the administration says. Even when you have doubts, and you question whether or not you belong, the friendships you make here resemble family, and you will always be welcomed with open arms. If we can’t have you this year,

we will surely be excited and ready to meet you in the future, and I personally can’t wait to call each and every one of you a part of my KPU Music family.

NEWS BRIEF

Kwantlen Student Association Elects New Executives and President David Piraquive replaced Joseph Thorpe as KSA President on April 1 Braden Klassen | Associate Editor For the first time following the KSA general election in February, the student association’s new council met on the Surrey campus to sign their oaths of office and choose their four executives for the next year. The new councillors were also briefed on meeting rules and procedures and were introduced to the executive director of the KSA, Ben Newsom.

Candidates for the executive positions were asked a variety of questions about KSA initiatives and services such as the U-Pass and the GrassRoots Cafe. Former KSA President and VP Finance and Operations Joseph Thorpe also attended the meeting, and posed questions to candidates about their past experience and knowledge of the KSA. Councillors also asked candidates about their commitment to supporting the rights and wellbeing of students with disabilities and how they will support events and initiatives for Indigenous and international students.

Afterwards, councillors voted for the candidates in a series of secret ballots.

The newly elected Vice President Finance and Operations is Business Representative Mayur Gupta, who will be responsible for maintaining and balancing the annual KSA

budget, presenting budget reports to council, and overseeing any changes voted on by council and the Standing Committee on Finance.

The new VP University Affairs is Indigenous Students Representative Sarah Strachan, who had been filling the VP Student Life position since December. Arts Representative Harkeerat Gill and Surrey Campus Representative Arashdeep Singh, who also submitted their candidacy for the position of VP University Affairs, requested a recount after Strachan was elected. The votes were recounted and the election result was ratified by council.

Strachan will be responsible for liaising with KPU administration, developing student services, and working on the KSA’s internal operations.

The new VP External Affairs is Arts Representative David Piraquive, who had also been filling the position since December. Piraquive was elected over International Students Representative Gurdial Dhindsa, who requested a recount. Council complied with the request and the result was ratified, but Dhindsa and a group of other new councillors continued to question Speaker of the Council Titus Gregory about the election rules after the ratification.

As the VP External Affairs, Piraquive is responsible for communicating and working

KSA councilors gather around Speaker of Council Titus Gregory, asking for verification of the rules after the executive election. (Braden Klassen) with outside organizations like student advocacy groups, government bodies, and media organizations. Piraquive says he is committed to working with student lobbying and advocacy groups like The Alliance of BC Students and the Canadians Alliance of Student Associations.

The new VP Student Life is Business Representative Dhruv Shahi. Shahi will be responsible

for organizing and overseeing student events, communicating with clubs, and promoting student culture and engagement at KPU. After the council meeting, during the first meeting of the new executives, David Piraquive was elected as the new KSA President as well.

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NEWS

KPU Welcomes Incoming Provost and VP Academic Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh Current provost Sal Ferreras will continue with the university until July, when Vanderburgh will replace him Braden Klassen | Associate Editor Kwantlen Polytechnic University has announced that Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh will begin serving as the university’s incoming provost in May, and will be fully taking over the position when current Provost and VP Academic Sal Ferreras transitions out of it on July 1.

After earning his PhD from SFU, Vanderburgh worked as a sessional geography instructor at KPU and in 1993 began teaching at UFV. He is currently serving as the outgoing Dean of Science and Health at Medicine Hat College in Alberta.

“I loved working at KPU,” says Vanderburgh.

“It was my first introduction to running my own classroom, and they really placed a lot of value on their students’ success and their learning, and that kind of stuck with me throughout my career.”

Vanderburgh has spent years working in academic institutions in the Lower Mainland and in Alberta. After becoming the chair of the geography program at UFV, he moved on to Douglas College in 2006 where he served as the Dean of Science and Technology. In 2008, he moved to Lethbridge College, where he worked as the Dean Applied Arts and Sciences until 2016, when he transitioned to his current position at Medicine Hat College.

Over the course of his career, Vanderburgh’s work has been focused on researching coastal erosion around Oregon and southern

Washington state—as well as different aspects of marine geology along the Columbia River— and he has authored and co-authored several academic articles focusing on these subjects.

He says that he values imparting practical knowledge and including students in handson learning experiences.

The introduction of a new provost and VP Academic to KPU is a gradual process, and Vanderburgh will be easing into the role before fully taking the reins in July.

“Probably, for the first while, my main goal is just going to be to reacquaint myself with KPU and get to know the faculty and all of the people I’ll be working with,” he says. “I want to do a lot of listening to what students have to say and see how that fits in with Vision 2023.”

Last year, the university unveiled a fiveyear plan entitled Vision 2023, which outlines the goals and strategies KPU is committed to over that period of time. As the new provost, Vanderburgh will be in charge of the overall direction and leadership of KPU’s educational program planning.

The change in leadership is occurring during a period of budget difficulties for the university, as program intake cuts and suspensions are taking place at KPU, though Vanderburgh says he has experienced similar situations in the past.

“Here in Alberta, we faced significant budget cuts,” he says. “They’re not enjoyable to go through. But I think what’s important for me is keeping the role of the institution front-

Vanderburgh is currently serving as the outgoing Dean of Science and Health at Medicine Hat College in Alberta. (Submitted) and-centre—and that, for me, has always been about providing students with excellent learning opportunities in a very safe and up-to-date learning environment.”

He continues, “I think the current adminis-

tration is working hard to address the budget shortfalls. I know they’re challenging times for everybody. They’re not fun times. I know that it’s hard on faculty and hard on administration and staff.”

The Committee of the Kwantlen People Plan Democracy-Themed Lecture Series

The series is part of a move towards “a more inclusive system” of government, says committee member Robert Jago

Amei-lee Laboucan | Contributor After sharing a petition that called upon the council and hereditary chief of the Kwantlen First Nation to begin moving towards a democratic system of government, the Committee of the Kwantlen People began planning a series of lectures about democracy to be held at the Kwantlen First Nation Cultural Centre in May. The Committee of the Kwantlen People is made up of six people from different Kwantlen families and is “equally divided between on-reserve and off-reserve members,” according to the petition’s website. The Kwantlen First Nation will also be providing input and financial support for the planned lecture series.

“They have said they are making concession,” says Robert Jago, a member of the committee who announced the lecture series on Twitter. “They have said they will bring in an outside third party to help come up with a new governance agreement.”

The third party is being hired to help with making the transition to a new governance system for the Nation, “which may or may not include a hereditary chief, but does include a more inclusive system,” according to Jago. He adds that the Kwantlen First

Nation council has informed the Elders Advisory Committee about the hiring of the third party, and that the process of adopting the new system of government can be expected to begin in the next week or two.

The Kwantlen First Nation Cultural Centre was chosen as the venue for the lecture series in order to avoid hosting the event “offsite and in secret,” says Jago.

“If we are making this change to a new governance system it needs to be right there … in the heart of the band. Everyone needs to be involved,” he explains.

The Committee of the Kwantlen People is working to bring three speakers from local bands to discuss their systems of government at the lecture series. Jago says that one of them will be a council member from the Squamish Nation who will speak about that Nation’s recently-implemented system.

Joseph Dandurand, Manager of the Kwantlen First Nation Cultural Centre, was initially a vocal critic of the petition to reform the Nation’s hereditary governance system. Dandurand—who was recently named the Vancouver Public Library’s storyteller in residence for 2019—took to Facebook to denounce Jago and the petition, though according to Jago, his stance has since changed.

The lecture series will be held at the Kwantlen First Nation Cultural Centre Longhouse on the KFN reserve.(Aldergrove Star/Black Press Media) “[Dandurand] was very positive and very supportive of, at least, the seminar series,” he says. “What I am hoping is that, together as a band, we [can] come up with a more inclusive system. We’ve got good promises and we just need to follow through.”

The Runner reached out to the Kwantlen First Nation band office and was directed to Tumia Knott, KFN councillor, who did not return our request for a comment. Joseph Dandurand also declined to comment on the lecture series as the upcoming event has not yet been booked.

NEWS

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KSA Refocuses on Environmentalism by Updating Sustainability Policies

The newly hired Sustainability Coordinator and Policy and Political Affairs Coordinator worked together to ensure that the policies also consider social justice issues

Braden Klassen | Associate Editor With the intention of ramping up its commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice, the Kwantlen Student Association has updated its sustainability policy for the first time since the document was passed in June 2014.

The sustainability policy is designed to inform the association’s decisions and operations in a way that prioritizes environmental sustainability through research, educational outreach, sustainable purchases and investments, and a focus on using renewable energy. The new policy, which was adopted at a council meeting on March 15, has added and modified a number of areas in the old policy, and will last until March 2021 when it can be reviewed or renewed.

One of the most notable changes is an overhaul of the “triple bottom line paradigm” of the old policy, through which “the environmental, social, and economic impacts of each decision are considered and weighed before a balanced conclusion is developed.”

The current policy is guided by a “nested-dependencies model,” within which the economic impact of a decision is dependent on the societal impact of that decision, which further depends on its environmental impact. According to the policy, the new model “is designed to prevent decisions with potentially harmful environmental or social consequences from being made on the basis of strong economic merit alone.”

“We wanted to take that a bit further, just with the sort of urgency that’s come up around climate change and other issues in recent months and years,” says Erin Pedersen, the KSA sustainability coordinator who worked to develop the new policy. “We really wanted to focus on the idea that these three aspects are nested within each other. You can’t have a functioning economy or society without an environment.”

There are a number of added elements to the new policy, which include encouraging KSA members to use transportation in a way that reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, to promote sustainable food options “such as student-grown, local, organic, fair trade, plant-based and/or other environmentally-certified products,” and to use natural alternatives to chemicals and synthetic products.

Pedersen is a recent graduate of KPU’s Environmental Protection Technology Program, and was hired by the KSA right before work began on the new policy. She was hired alongside Policy and Political Affairs Coordinator Jewelles Smith, who partnered with Pedersen to help with the policy’s development.

“A lot of the same factors that have caused environmental degradation and climate change are the same kind of root causes of many systems of oppression that have happened throughout history,” says Pedersen.

“We really wanted to make sure that any policies we put forward took those systems of oppression into account in a more holistic

Erin Pedersen, KSA Sustainability Coordinator. (Kristen Frier) way, and that also includes decolonization and reconciliation with Indigenous people.”

The new policy also mandates that the KSA “work with local, national and international community and non-governmental organizations, including Indigenous, Inuit, First Nations, Métis, and Aboriginal organizations, to assist in finding solutions to environmental and social problems.”

“The attitude that the Earth is something to be dominated, that humans are outside of the ecosystems on this planet—I think that atti-

tude is also present in other forms of oppression, for example, marginalized communities who are seen as lesser, [and whose] rights can be taken away because of certain groups’ dominance over them,” says Pedersen.

Students can view the old policy on the Sustainable KSA section of the student association’s website, along with a list of the KSA’s commitments and tips for how KPU students can live a more sustainable lifestyle. The new policies have yet to be made available online.

University of New Brunswick Prof. Conducts Study on Student Homelessness Eric Weissman leads a new study to learn about the nature of student homelessness and how to diminish it Kayci Roy | Contributor As post-secondary education becomes increasingly important for Canadians entering the job market, a surprisingly high number of them are being forced to choose between earning a degree and having a place to call home.

According to a 2016 report called Without a Home: The National Youth Homeless Survey conducted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, about 20 per cent of the homeless population in Canada is made up of people aged 13 to 24. In addition, nearly half of all young people who experience homelessness do so between the ages of 17 and 20, which is when most young Canadians are enrolled in college or university.

Though he dropped out of the University of Toronto due to his own struggles with homelessness and addiction, Eric Weissman is currently an assistant professor of social sciences at the University of New Brunswick. His experiences as a young man have led him to conduct his own study about homeless youth who attend post-secondary institutions, a topic which has not yet been thoroughly researched.

“Nobody ever believed it was happening to people in university because it’s considered a privileged experience,” says Weissman. “People assume that if they’re in university, they may have challenges, but they can’t be that

bad. Turns out, they are that bad.”

According to Weissman, some have already recognized this and begun taking steps towards fixing the problem of homelessness for post-secondary students. In California, universities have built shelters and established food program for students to use, for example. “[These places] talked about post-secondary student homelessness like it was a real issue,” he says. “There is nothing here.”

Weissman’s initial survey consisted of 40 questions about basic demographic information, mental health, and past or present experience with homelessness. Of the 189 respondents, 3.6 per cent of students said that they were presently homeless. When asked where they would sleep if they didn’t have a bed, 72.5 per cent of respondents said they would couch surf, while 13 per cent said they did not know where they would go. “[Students taking part in the survey] think that couch surfing or staying at a friend’s house is just part of the hardship of going to school,” explains Weissman. “When they read those different definitions that we use, they say ‘Oh my god, I didn’t realize that I may be homeless.’”

Other findings from the survey reveal that 43 per cent of respondents were diagnosed with mental illnesses, and 23.7 per cent of those illnesses are still ongoing. This result

Of the 189 respondents to Weissman's survey, 3.6 per cent said that they were presently homeless. (Kristen Frier) was double what researchers had estimated, and Weissman wants to use future research to further define what this means for students.

Other institutions are trying to educate the public about the homelessness amongst college-age people and propose solutions for the problem as well. The Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness details prevention strat-

egies and suggests that there should be legislation that supports the human right to housing.

KPU students who are dealing with financial crises should consider visiting the Awards and Financial Assistance Office. They can also make use of the Kwantlen Student Association food bank program.

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CULTURE

Creative Writing Guild’s Filipinx Poetry Night Features Talent from KPU and Beyond The event on April 24 provided a platform for poets of Filipinx heritage and nationality

Chelsea Franz As host Tawahum Bige pointed out at the beginning of the night, literary events are often dominated by white writers. There will occasionally be a few token BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) writers added to the lineup, but even then, they can end up burdened by the weight of representation.

Rather than lumping all BIPOC folks together into one demographic, the Fillipinx Poetry Night hosted by KPU’s Creative Writing Guild aimed to highlight marginalized communities as a group of diverse writers.

The event took place in Fir 128 on April 24 and featured three KPU students—Ivy Ruth, Mirth, and Mariah Negrillo-Soor—as well as three community members: Tin Lorica, Kimmortal, and Mildrid Grace German. All the featured poets identify as Filipinx, meaning that they and their relations have a history of migration from the Philippines.

Mirth, a first-time feature poet, says she “overwhelmed by the energy in the room.”

Leila Nicar, a creative writing student on exchange in Preston, England, did not want to miss out on the chance to see so many talented Filipinx poets gathered in one space, so she attended the event via video call. She said she could feel “the amount of energy

and love and support in that room” even “eight hours away and across the Atlantic.”

“It is a community-building thing,” says Mariah Negrillo-Soor. “It speaks to the shared experience [of being Filipinx]. It’s feeling seen, and people in the audience feel seen too.”

Kimmortal, a fiery MC who spits to decolonize and who just dropped a new album entitled X Marks the Swirl, is no stranger to performing. They said that, while listening to the first half of the show, the connection they felt to the other poets made them reconsider their setlist.

“I hold back sometimes with some audiences in what I choose to share. Knowing there are Filipinos in the crowd is affirming to my layered existence,” they say. “This is my community and I want to reach my community. These are the people I want to enrich with my poetry and I want to be enriched by them.”

“It hits deeper,” they continue. “Because we have so many similar experiences even though we’re so different. Even though we’re all Filipinos, I want to be in a space where we [acknowledge] we’re all very different [too].

It’s validating.”

Mariah Negrillo-Soor “wanted [her work] to be relatable but also didn’t want to overstep and speak for a whole group of people.”

From left to right: Mildred Grace German, Tin Lorica, Kimmortal, Mariah Negrillo-Soor, and Mirth in high spirits after performing. (Cristian Hobson-Dimas) Tin Lorica acknowledges the differences in each poet’s story, as not everyone had to personally go through migration but might still feel impacted by their family’s experience.

Mildrid Grace German added that being able to perform in a university setting marked a milestone for her as a poet.

“In the Filipino community, we have challenges in education. First, our parents were taken out of accreditation, so the youth now suffer the systemic barrier,” she explains.

Mirth explained that, although many of

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her childhood friends were Filipinx, she “never felt a part of the Filipino community.”

“Now, [after this event] I’m like ‘I’m Filipino and I’m fucking proud,’ and I love it,” she says. “I feel like I have a community.”

The Creative Writing Guild’s first literary event to highlight poets from marginalized groups was the South Asian Femme Poetry Night on Feb. 20. Keep an eye out for the next poetry night to be held on campus.

STUDENT SNAPSHOT

At The Show 2019, twenty-three graduating designers from the Wilson School of Design presented collections which solve niche gaps within the fashion industry. (Kristen Frier/Tristan Johnston)

In honour and memory of the victims of the Sri Lanka church and hotel bombings which took place on April 21, Ethan Vanderleek and the Multi-Faith Centre led a vigil and moment of silence.

(Kristen Frier)

Vaisakhi 2019, which took place on Saturday, April 20, drew 300,000 people to the streets of Surrey. To mark the creation of the Khalsa fraternity, the community was welcomed with delicacies from India, a parade, and a multitude of performances. (Trevor Frier)

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FEATURES

Time is Running Out to Address Canada’s Changing Climate Experts from the KPU community weigh in on what Canada’s climate may look like in the future and what is being done to try to save it Braden Klassen | Associate Editor

A document titled Canada’s Changing Climate Report released by Environment and Climate Change Canada has found that the climate in Canada is warming twice as fast as the global average. In addition, temperature increases are occurring even faster in areas of Northern B.C., the Prairies, and the Territories, and these changes are already beginning to manifest as variations in precipitation levels, higher climate extremes, and changes to freshwater availability and ocean ecosystems.

The report, which was published on April 1,

says that the country’s average annual temperature has risen by 1.7°C since 1948, which is when country-wide records of temperature became available.

For decades, climate scientists have determined that an increase in global temperature exceeding 2°C will result in changes to local climates that could catastrophically affect our day-to-day lives. In Canada, this means damage to ecological systems that support industries like forestry and food production. It also means a reduc-

(Kristen Frier)

tion of wildlife habitats and native species, which could further affect human lives in unpredictable and detrimental ways.

“Canada’s climate will warm further, with warming projected in all seasons,” the report reads The 444-page document represents a massive collaboration between climate scientists and data scientists across Canada, allowing for predictions to be made for the entire country rather than focusing on localized areas.

“The rate and magnitude of climate change under high versus low emission scenarios project two very different futures for Canada,’ it explains. “Scenarios with large and rapid warming illustrate the profound effects on Canadian climate of continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions. Scenarios with limited warming will only occur if Canada and the rest of the world reduce carbon emissions to near zero early in the second half of the century and reduce emissions of other greenhouse gases substantially.”

Dr. Kent Mullinix, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at KPU, says that climate change is deeply related to the ways in which we produce and consume food, and that moving towards a more sustainable model of production is critical for addressing emissions reduction.

“Agriculture is one of the most significant contributors to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, estimated at about 10 per cent globally, and the food system as a whole might be as much as 50 per cent, so our food system can play a tremendous role in mitigating climate change, and it should,” he says.

He adds that “sustainable agriculture involves greater diversity on farms, and systems that involve crop and animal production in an ecologically sound and functional rela-

tionship.” Humans moved away from these systems in favour of prioritizing economic growth, he explains.

“For every unit of energy we put into cultivating plants, we got about two and a half units of food energy out of it. And now for every unit of energy we put into growing crops or producing food, it takes about five units of energy. Some of the food we eat takes 50 units of energy, so [something] like hamburger takes a lot of energy to produce and put on your plate,” he explains. “That energy comes from oil primarily in the form of fuels to run machinery and fuels to process food, and pesticides and fertilizers.”

Because of this, he says, “our agricultural food system represents an energy drain instead of an energy gain.”

Mullinix worries that we will be unable to make the changes required to mitigate the effects that climate change will have on food production in Canada. He also predicts that one of the ways Canadian farmers will attempt to deal with the changes is to experiment with growing different crops, but that this is mostly uncharted territory, and that researching solutions will require more funding than what the government is currently spending to address the problem.

“We’re going to try to develop different methods for growing that are [better] adapted to the changing climatic and environmental regime, but how well that’s going to go over remains to be seen,” he says. “You can get short season crops and get them in the ground, but if you don’t have any water during the growing season to irrigate them, then what are you going to do?”

Mullinix sees the future with a steadily warming climate as nearly apocalyptic, describing it as “a hell on earth” burdened by

FEATURES

resource scarcity and subsequent conflict.

“The first thing we have to do is feed ourselves,” he says. “Everything in the human economy, the way we live, tumbles out of our ability to feed ourselves, and if we can’t figure this one out, if we can’t feed ourselves in a way that doesn’t destroy the earth, then it doesn’t make any difference what else we do.”

Since signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the Canadian government has repeatedly made promises to mitigate the impact of climate change by reducing total emissions by six per cent before the end of 2012. In 2011, under the Harper government, Canada became the first signatory to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol after a UN report found that Canada’s emissions had actually risen by 24 per cent between 1980 and 2008. Since then, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise in spite of the Trudeau government’s commitment to reducing them during the Paris Agreement in 2015.

For its part, B.C. has been trying to advance policies that will curb the effects of climate change over the past couple of decades.

According to Ellen Pond, Chair of the Policy Studies program at KPU, “B.C. as a province has been an early leader on climate change.”

Pond, who also works as a climate planning and policy consultant with local governments and organizations, adds that “some local governments have been working on it for more than 20 years.”

In late 2018, the B.C. government introduced CleanBC, a plan to reduce emissions though efforts like cutting back on fossil-fuel reliant transportation, improving green building design, encouraging clean industry, diminishing waste production, and implementing accountability measures for tracking the progress made on emissions reduction.

B.C. has also imposed a tax on carbon emissions since 2008, which increased from $10 per tonne in 2008 to $35 per tonne in 2018.

The plan is to continue to increase the cost by $5 per year until it reaches the price of $50 per tonne in 2021.

In 2018, the Canadian Senate passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, which will charge greenhouse gas emitters $20 per tonne starting in 2019, rising to $50 per tonne in 2022.

Provincial governments in Alberta and Ontario have publicly opposed implementing policy changes like carbon taxes, questioning their effectiveness at reducing emissions and saying that they will unfairly transfer costs to consumers.

“We need to stop treating climate policy as a partisan issue and we need to be working across party lines to deal with it,” says Pond.

“In the past, carbon-pricing was originally proposed by a conservative government. In the past, we had leadership from conservative parties on this issue, and I would hope that, in the future, we will see leadership instead of

9

(Kristen Frier) what we’re seeing now which is making it a partisan wedge issue in an election. We don’t need that. We need urgent action and we need to explore a full range of policy tools, and carbon pricing is one of them.”

In January, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a motion to declare a climate emergency in an effort to bring attention and a sense of urgency to recommended policies that aim to render the city carbon neutral by 2050.

This follows a similar declaration of a state of emergency by the provincial government in response to record-setting wildfires in 2018.

Many communities across Canada, including those in Ottawa and Halifax, have declared similar climate emergencies.

While Pond acknowledges the intention behind these statements, she notes that follow-through is even more crucial.

“If you only declare an emergency and don’t follow through with spending and resources

and capacity-building and a commitment to real change and understanding the urgency and the scope of the problem, then declaring a climate emergency is less useful,” she says. “It becomes more of an image-conscious choice.”

KPU programs like Environmental Protection Technology (EPT) and Urban Ecosystems strive to help prepare students to work towards dealing with the effects of climate change both locally and in provincial and federal policymaking.

“It’s a very science-based program,” says Erin Pedersen, a graduate of the EPT program who works as the sustainability coordinator for the Kwantlen Student Association.

“In terms of adaptation, [students learn about] things like flood mitigation, for example, and some people from EPT may go on to work for municipalities in that area,” she says. “On the other hand, there’s the sort of the mitigation aspect, like how we can reduce

our emissions enough to get to that more stable scenario where we keep [the rise of global temperature] below 2°C.” While Canada’s Changing Climate Report depicts Canada’s climate as subject to unprecedented turmoil in the future, Pedersen says there is still hope that changes can be made to avoid the most severe effects.

“There have been several reports like this and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that the news media have sort of taken and said, ‘We’re doomed.’ That’s just not an effective message for the public,” she says. “We don’t want people to just give up, because that’s a terrible choice. I’m glad that the report exists and I think it’s important information, but I just really hope that the result in the popular view is not to despair.”

10 FEATURES

Student-Designers from KPU Address Fashion Pet Peeves with Pre-Grad Collections The Wilson School of Design’s Fashion Design and Technology cohort presented their collections at 2019’s year-end show Kristen Frier | Graphics Editor

Nervous excitement filled the air on April 18 as professionals and soon-to-be professionals in the fashion industry took their seats along the catwalk.

The Fashion Design and Technology program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Wilson School of Design is renowned for its intensity, but at the cohort’s annual fashion show this year—fittingly titled “The Show”— 23 student designers proved that hard work pays off.

With an emphasis on sustainability and

technology, The Show—and the accompanying portfolio viewing—displayed garments ranging from minimalist to eccentric, intended for audiences of various age groups.

The atmosphere at the event captured the sense of victory that the student designers felt after four years of painstaking work, nearly living on campus, and hustling to make the grade. For many, The Show is their last hoorah in the program, making the event somewhat bittersweet.

As part of their work for The Show, these

Angela Jihea Cho, creator of Nabi Intimates, hopes to empower women with her Korean-inspired lingerie line. (Tristan Johnston)

graduates targeted and overcame niche problems within the fashion industry. Take, for example, Samantha Chio, whose line of children’s wear, Viere, is for young girls with skin disorders. According to Chio’s research, most “skin safe” clothing is only available up to a size one, but many children are affected by skin conditions until they reach the age of five or six.

“I chose the niche that I resonated with because I grew up having bad eczema,” she says.

Chio’s line uses gentle fabrics such as bamboo and tenzo, which can help minimize irritation. The clothing she creates is made with fibers which are Standard 100 Oeko-Tex approved, meaning that they are certifiably free of harmful substances and therefore safe for human use. Her playful, tagless garments have flattened seams placed strategically to avoid chafing.

Also showcased at the event was FIKA by Rebecca Burnett. Named after an element of Swedish culture in which people take a moment to enjoy a cup of coffee, FIKA is intended for a mature, relaxed audience.

“I designed my collection for a baby boomer that is kind of eccentric,” says Burnett. “Just because she’s getting older doesn’t mean that she wants to start hiding her body or hiding behind her clothes.”

Burnett chose the baby boomer demographic because, although they are the largest consumer market in Canada, she says they are “invisible in every kind of marketing.” Taking her inspiration from art, FIKA is for a sophisticated woman, but one who can also enjoy a nice cup of joe. For Burnett, the creation of her coffee-named brand was the product of having many mugs as she worked towards getting her education.

“Honestly, this whole last year I’ve been at school from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm every day,” she says. “I’ve pretty much lived here.”

Fashion Design and Technology students at the Wilson School of Design learn every aspect of how to create, market, and sell a worthwhile garment. Their hope is to create something that will be kept despite the

prominent idea that clothing is disposable.

Patricia Te is the designer of the To Me: collection, which marries femininity-based inspiration with a new trend called “modest fashion.” This up-and-coming style focuses on very simple cuts, but Te chose to make it a bit bolder to allow for greater self-expression.

Using fashion as a means of expression can be a daunting task for people with unconventional tastes. Madison Morris’s line, Mazi Streetwear, seeks to address this by empowering those who rebel against societal expectations “with the intent to transcend gender bias and stereotypes.”

“A big complaint from the market is that they wanted a lot more fit and a lot more personality,” says Morris.

She explains that the gender-free market tends to feature loose, formless, boxy silhouettes and plain colors. This is to steer away from conventional gender associations, such as dressing girls in pink or designing suits with broad shoulders for men.

Mazi Streetwear rejects that convention, using bold patterns and form-fitting shapes to allow the wearer to shine.

“I wanted for you to be able to show off your body because you are confident and you are comfortable in who you are,” says Morris.

Other Fashion Design and Technology graduates from this year also strived to solve a diverse range of everyday problems through their apparel design.

A line by Angela Jihea Cho called Nabi Intimates features lingerie inspired by Korean culture to empower women.

Road Riot, by Dayle Wilnechenko, “provides female cyclists with a safer commute in a low profile way.”

Bad Dog, a women’s rave wear collection

by Hayley Bohan, mixes texture and color to incorporate comfort into making a bold fashion statement.

Regardless of which designer and collection attendees liked the best from 2019’s The Show, this graduating class of accomplished designers did not fail to amaze.

FEATURES

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Samantha Chio's line, Verde., was created for young girls who are living with skin disorders. (Kristen Frier)

Bad Dog is a line for eccentric festival attendees by designer Hayley Bohan. (Tristan Johnston)

Mazi Streetwear by Madison Morris transcends gender bias. (Tristan Johnston)

FIKA, by Rebecca Burnett, is designed for the sophisticated baby boomer. (Tristan Johnston)

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OPINIONS

Sustainability Concerns Should Keep Students Away from Fast Fashion Saira Kanwal Fast fashion is defined by the distribution of trendy, cheap, and disposable items made available to consumers at breakneck speeds. Each season, the latest trends hit the catwalk and can be found in stores within weeks.

Cheap clothing is of great interest to students in particular, who often survive on loans and tight budgets. Although students have restricted access to funds, they are not exempt from the social pressure to look good and be trendy.

When the pressure to look good is paired with an industry that offers new “must have” looks every few months, it creates an environment where people are less likely to ruminate on their impact on humanity and the environment, and more likely to consume.

Due to the size of this financially insecure but fashion-forward audience, social media platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram are overflowing with tutorials on how to create ultra-glam looks using fast fashion items. The users who make these tutorials come across as “regular” people simply reviewing products for fun, when in fact they have millions of followers making them small-scale celebrities. They endorse brands and products and review things sent to them for free by big fashion labels—not just items they picked up at their local clothing store.

These everyday stars help keep the wheels of fast fashion turning, showcasing the latest trends and modeling how easy and cheap it is to consume them.

The impact of fast fashion on both society and the environment has been covered in detail since the 1990s, most recently with the documentary True Cost.

In short, that T-shirt you picked up from the $5 bin at Forever 21 costs a lot more than a few bucks. The cost to mass-produce that shirt and get it to you has far-reaching implications on the stability of our environment and on the lives of the factory workers who made it.

In addition, when you consider the fact that we consume more now than ever before, it's evident that the potential damage done by fast fashion is staggering.

The things that most of us buy have short shelf lives and are disposed of seasonally.

We don’t always use garments until we wear them out, just until the fashion gods tell us to replace them with new things— and they do that pretty damn regularly.

Initiatives to combat the incessant pressure to spend money have started popping up on KPU campuses. One such initiative is the KPU Femme Wardrobe Swap, a Facebook group which allows you to give away clothes to other students who want them without any monetary transaction. We need more initiatives like this one, and we need to remain mindful of our impact as consumers.

Navigating Faith and Friendship Can Be a Challenge for Religious Students

KPU offers a number of resources to help them find a community, but there are still hurdles to overcome

Katherine Charlton | Contributor Being a religious person in a post-secondary institution can sometimes be an uncomfortable experience. I was raised in a Christian household and still actively practice my faith, and when I tell people that I am often met with a variety of reactions, some more welcome than others.

In no way is this limited to the Christian experience. Students belonging to any religion will typically be met with a myriad of responses when talking about their beliefs.

Some of their peers will show them acceptance while others will offer condescending explanations as to why their faith is irrational. Still others, unfortunately, will show intolerance and hatred towards their beliefs.

Sadly, each religion comes with its own set of harmful stereotypes. For myself, I find that many people, upon learning I am religious, expect me to be judgemental or close-minded. Many religious students at KPU and elsewhere can relate to the struggle of trying to prove to our peers that, while our religion is a significant part of our lives, there is so much more to who we are.

The situation is made even more complicated when religious students attempt to find reasonable ways to practice our faith on campus. Muslim students, for example, have to work around their classes and around other on-campus activities to participate in their daily prayers. At some schools like McGill, Muslim students have even had to pray in hallways and under stairs because there is no dedicated prayer space on campus.

(@RESLUS)

There are also faiths that prohibit engagement in things such as drinking, eating certain foods, dancing, or being active on holy days. When class ends and some students get to know each other over drinks at the GrassRoots, say, those who aren’t able to join them can be left on the outside looking in. Without an adequate way for people with these sorts of restrictions to make friends, a barrier can begin to form between religious and non-religious students on campus.

That’s not to say that KPU hasn’t put effort into accommodating their religious students.

For one, the university has provided a MultiFaith Centre, where Chaplains from a number of beliefs including Christianity, Islam, and Secular Humanism are available to “to chat about personal, spiritual, or philosophical issues.”

In addition, two of KPU’s campuses have designated sacred spaces intended to give religious students an area in which to meditate or pray.

These areas can be found on the Richmond campus at R1570 and in Fir 305 on the Surrey campus. Both are open to all students and faculty.

KPU even has a numbers of clubs and organizations that focus on respective religions, such as the Kwantlen Christian Fellowship and the Muslim Student Association. These clubs not only promote religious tolerance, but also offer students a way to connect with others who share their faith. Still, there should be more of them for Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish students at KPU. Despite our different backgrounds and our different ideologies, I have found that my faith has helped me connect with students who practice different religions. We tend to bond over the shared experience of navigating our beliefs while going to university, and I hope all students at KPU also get to experience a shared sense of community, regardless of their faith.

From AOC to Malala, Millennials Have Plenty of People to Look Up to Even with distrust in public figures at an all-time high, this generation has yielded inspirational icons Cristian Hobson-Dimas | Staff Writer If one thing is certain about millennials, it’s that we’ve got issues. We’re lousy with them.

We’re up to our ears with issues. Social issues, economic issues, political issues, environmental issues, discrimination-based issues. You name it, we’re living it.

Despite what any overly critical pseudo-sociologist baby boomer will have you think, these are mostly issues that we’ve inherited.

As younger generations, our birthrights are late-stage capitalism, unaffordable housing, unprecedented species extinction, and a dying planet. The next generation will probably have even more problems, but at least finding social and political leaders willing to dedicate their lives to tackling them head-on won’t be one.

Take Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example, who in 2018 became the youngest woman to serve in the United States Congress. Ocasio-Cortez’s notable social media presence has made her one of the most recognized political figures of our day. In a viral video which quickly became one of the most shared tweets of the year, Ocasio-Cortez spoke out against systemic corruption at a congressional hearing.

A rising force to be reckoned with, Ocasio-Cortez is a passionate advocate for universal health care, affordable schooling, the Green New Deal, and higher taxes for the extremely wealthy. It

seems as though no issue is large or deeply rooted enough for her to back down from.

And, who could forget about Ol’ Bernie Sanders, especially with the 2020 elections coming up? The former Vermont Senator has shown that age can be irrelevant to progress.

Decades ago, even when democratic figures as revered as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton opposed same-sex marriage, Bernie was there for LGBTQ+ rights and voted accordingly.

And though Sanders can come off as fairly unrealistic with political platforms issues such as free tuition, the fact that the recent millionaire senator continues to go to bat for the working class speaks volumes about his character. With his trademark mission of establishing universal health-care and doing away with big pharma and private health insurance companies, the man’s heart consistently appears to be with the average American, many of whom cannot afford the basic human right of maintaining their health.

But, perhaps largely due to the influence of social media, the people we can look up to are not always older than us. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, has continually inspired and empowered women, starting at 11 years old as a BBC blogger and advocate of girls’ basic rights to access education. Her bravery in the face of cultural oppression and even attempted murder made her a human-

itarian icon and a hero to entire generations.

Yousafzai’s fearlessness and devotion to human rights is echoed by Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, both survivors of a 2018 domestic terrorism incident at Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida.

In the immediate wake of the massacre, both students helped to plan March for Our Lives. With nearly two million participants across the United States, the protest became one of the largest in American history.

In a viral speech, Gonzalez calls out politicians funded by the NRA for their lack of action to protect students from what has become routine slaughter. She is also a co-founder of Never Again MSD, a student-led political action committee that advocates for strict firearms regulation in America.

Hogg, another co-founder of Never Again MSD, authored a New York Times bestseller entitled #Neveragain: A New Generation Draws The Line.

In an age of misinformation, our generation's ability to determine truth from "alternative facts" is not only important, but a matter of survival. Politicians and public figures whose altruism isn’t for sale, and whose authenticity shines through harmful fake news rhetoric, are hard to come by, and that’s what makes them so admirable.

OPINIONS

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Legalization Won’t Stop the 4/20 Protests The event isn’t just a celebration of cannabis; it’s a protest against strict cannabis laws

Lisa Hedmark | Contributor This year's 4/20 event marked 25 years of protesting cannabis laws in Vancouver.

According to the event’s official website, the protest was first held in 1995 at Victory Square Park, but moved to the Vancouver Art Gallery just two years later. Back then, the event attracted about 1,000 protesters, but this year nearly 100,000 people took part in the first 4/20 protest and farmers market following legalization.

Hundreds of vendors purchased space for their booths, and their fees were collected by 4/20 organizers and paid to the city to cover the costs of the event. Notoriously, cannabis sold at 4/20 is significantly cheaper than cannabis sold at dispensaries throughout the rest of the year.

As you might expect, not all of the vendors at 4/20 represent licensed dispensaries. Many show up with a few pounds of cannabis and sell what they've got from a lawn chair under a pop-up tent. Although this is not legal, most entrepreneurs get away with it year after year.

This year, the police set up an intricate surveillance system to make sure vendors were not selling to minors and to document any suspicious activities.

Massive bags of joints were being passed around shortly before 4:20 pm, and attendees were instructed to throw the excess doobies backwards to spread them thoroughly

throughout the crowd. A cannabis-themed version of “Oh, Canada” was sung, and the crowd and vendors simultaneously lit up their 4/20 protest joints.

While cannabis is currently legal in Canada, what many attendees are protesting is the strict laws that still impact the drug post-legalization. Some of these laws include restrictions on the number of plants allowed per household, the sale of edibles, and criminal charges surrounding cannabis use and production. #FakeLegalization, a popular hashtag used during the protest, refers to the fact that some cannabis users and manufacturers saw the pre-legalization restrictions as more fair than the laws that are in place now. As a result, the 4/20 protests continue to be held in order to show the government just how many people use cannabis and are still unhappy with the legal frameworks that restrict the use and distribution of the plant.

This year’s protest was headlined by ‘90s California hip-hop group Cypress Hill. The group is notorious in the cannabis world due to the many references to cannabis in their songs.

According to Leafly, the city’s park board commissioner introduced an “urgent motion” to cancel the Cypress Hill performance due to the large number of people the group would draw to the event and the subsequent policing costs that the city would face. This didn’t stop the group from going ahead and per-

Thousands of people gathered on Sunset Beach in Vancouver on April 20 to partake in the annual cannabis event. (Lisa Hedmark) forming for thousands of Vancouverites with a comically large joint lit upon entering the stage, however.

The event was very well organized this year and photos of the impressive clean up were posted by The Georgia Straight. Minimal dam-

age and garbage were seen in the grassy area where the event took place at Sunset Beach.

This is a refreshing change, considering previous 4/20 protests which were criticized due to the mess left behind by vendors and attendees.

Video Games and the People Who Play Them Can Change Reality Games have much more bearing on our world than we realize Nic Laube | Contributor As an interactive medium, video games are uniquely capable of changing the player and forming their sense of self.

The Impact of Video Games on Identity Construction, a literature review by Charlie Ecenbarger of Ball State University, explores the role of video games in forming one’s identity.

In it, Ecenbarger writes that “virtual environments not only provide a space for identity exploration and construction, but a place where players can immerse themselves into a different world.”

Though made, in part, to simulate reality, video games have the ability to provide a virtual shelter for the player. Through immersion and subversion they can enable us to change as people. They require total immersion in order to hold up, so it makes sense that, while immersed, the people playing these games would undergo development.

People shape society and culture, and therefore change reality. So, if video games can change people, that means, by extension, they can change reality.

Psychology aside, gaming has had a particularly remarkable impact on society as of late.

For one, it has also led to dramatic changes in internet culture, with online personalities like Pewdiepie and Markiplier rising into prominence through video games. These internet icons, known as “let’s players”, have deeply impacted society through their contributions.

They have become idols for the current generation, as television stars were in the past.

Many of these gaming idols choose to do good with their celebrity status, too. Just

(Nic Laube) two months ago, Markiplier raised $500,000 for homeless youths through a 24-hour long charity stream. Though the stream involved no video gameplay, much of Markiplier’s reach came from the gaming community. As a result of initiatives like this, games are acting as a platform through which people can change reality for the better.

On April 15, the historical Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was damaged in a fire. People and organizations from across the world have banded together in an effort to fund

the total reconstruction of the monumental cathedral, and amongst them is the gaming company Ubisoft.

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Unity has been widely regarded for its accurate recreation of the cathedral. In response to its immolation, the company has been giving away free copies of the game as a tribute, and even donated a whopping €500,000 to reconstruction efforts.

Gamers across the world have been given a chance to go back and retrospectively experience the historical beauty of Notre Dame

through this act of charity.

Games were originally made as crude, fun representations of reality, but they have become so much more than that. Whether the exploits of a hero helped you to become who you are, the actions of let’s players have impacted your life somehow, or the Assassin’s Creed: Unity giveaway inspired you to reflect on a piece of lost history, one thing is clear: Games have the power to change reality, and so do you.

14 OPINIONS

Wilson-Raybould Reveals the Long History of Liberal Party Hypocrisy

Though the former Minister of Justice has done harm in the past, her principled stance has exposed the anti-Indigenous nature of Trudeau’s government

Tawahum Bige | Contributor Surely, it would shock most people to unknowingly have their phone calls recorded and later used against them in a public forum.

But what if they were a political leader and the person recording them was a lawyer? Perhaps they’re a federal servant being recorded by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. It is not so “unconscionable,” as Justin Trudeau describes, to imagine this in light of the threats Michael Wernick has made against the career of an Indigenous woman in politics, Jody Wilson-Raybould.

What’s unconscionable is that since 2015, 189 federal servants spied on children’s rights advocate Cindy Blackstock, according to the Aboriginal People’s Television Network. Overseeing this was that same Michael Wernick, former deputy minister and clerk of the Privy Council.

Did you know it’s perfectly legal to record any conversation that you are a part of, with or without consent from the other parties involved? It’s probably less legal, however, to follow around a children’s rights advocate, spy on her meetings, phone calls, and social media, all without a warrant, just to find a way to drop a human rights complaint that Canada discriminates and underfunds Indigenous children’s welfare.

Though the Conservatives were in power when all this began, it was Wernick who spearheaded the campaign. He remained deputy minister until days before Jody Wilson-Raybould’s resignation from Cabinet in February.

For those unaware, Wilson-Raybould refused to bend to pressures from Trudeau to offer a deferred prosecution agreement to construction contractor SNC-Lavalin for the company’s

alleged offenses in Libya. On Jan. 14, Trudeau shuffled Wilson-Raybould from her Minister of Justice and Attorney General portfolio to Veteran Affairs, and on Feb. 12 Wilson-Raybould resigned from the Cabinet and went public with the suggestions made to her to exercise prosecutorial discretion by offering a deferred prosecution agreement to SNC-Lavalin. These suggestions included veiled threats made against her career, as shown in recordings of her phone calls which she also made public.

Though the former Minister of Justice seems to have made great strides in standing against corruption, she hasn’t always been a hero. In 2012, Wilson-Raybould worked with Conservative Senator Gerry St. Germain on Bill S-212, said to provide recognition of self-governance by First Nations. Many First Nations spoke out against this bill, which did not pass, and said it was part of a longterm strategy to extinguish Aboriginal title by reducing First Nations to municipal bodies.

In addition, one of the first promises that Wilson-Raybould and the Liberal Party made when they took office was to implement the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which would require the government to obtain from Indigenous people their “free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that affect them.” Sadly it has not been implemented, and in 2016 Wilson-Raybould said it was “unworkable” in law. That’s not much follow-through for a promise that swung Indigenous voters back in 2015.

This presents an interesting conundrum for a government condemning recording, promoting Nation-to-Nation relationships, and supposedly supporting representation

(@RESLUS) from 2015 to now. On one hand, Wilson-Raybould’s time in office has contributed to the diminishment and extinguishment of Indigenous rights. On the other, this was the Liberal government’s policy throughout its term. The Liberals pushed for the development of LNG, Trans Mountain, CoastalGasLink, and the Site C dam. They denied accountability for children’s rights and medical care via Jordan’s Principle, and did so much more.

Wilson-Raybould’s principled stand is the most righteous decision she has made during her time in office. Perhaps it means she will begin down a redemptive path for her work that has done damage for Indigenous folks’ rights on Turtle Island. For the Indigenous peoples impacted, it may make little difference. But surely, it has shown the Liberal party’s anti-Indigenous colour, just in time for an upcoming federal election.

For Trudeau, Feminism is Just a Brand

The Prime Minister's commitment to gender equity is a watered-down version of feminist theory that lacks intersectionality Lena Belova | Contributor

Feminism got a serious rebranding in the early 2010s. In an attempt to demystify gender politics and dispel harmful stereotypes, there was a widespread push to redefine what being a feminist means.

This rebranding simplified feminist ideology, boiling it down to essentially one idea: the equality of the sexes. It immediately became popular—celebrities began openly calling themselves feminists after years of avoiding the question, and major companies began selling feminist-branded clothing and merchandise.

While the rebranding was effective in popularising the concept of feminism, what it ultimately promoted was a generalized version of feminism which, notably, left out the integral concept of intersectionality.

Because intersectionality didn’t get included in the re-branding, the term “feminist” could be used by anyone. Female CEOs who refuse to pay their workers a livable wage and provide them with zero benefits call themselves feminists because they are women

in positions of power. White women who only address the misogyny that they experience, but not the much more frequent, more oppressive, more violent iterations of misogyny that women of colour endure, call themselves feminists. And Prime Minister Trudeau calls himself a feminist while simultaneously engaging in environmental racism and neglecting the needs of millions of impoverished Canadians.

Trudeau began branding himself as a feminist before taking office, but perhaps never more prominently than at the UN Conference for Women’s Equality in March 2016. There, he claimed the title of feminist and declared his support for feminist issues like providing parental leave abd childcare, hiring more women into leadership positions, closing the pay-gap, and addressing violence against women.

Trudeau received international attention for his stance at the conference—almost as widespread as the news that he had formed a gender equal Cabinet when he took office in 2015. The type of adoration he gains by proclaiming himself a feminist is similar to the

adoration he receives for his looks, in that he relies on media branding for his public support rather than his actions as Prime Minister.

Oxfam Canada, an affiliate of the Oxfam Confederation, uses an online scoreboard to track Trudeau’s promises regarding feminism and compares them to the actions his government has actually taken As of 2019, the Oxfam Canada Feminist Scorecard ranks Trudeau as succeeding in the “global leadership on women’s rights” and “investing in women’s leadership” sections, but note that he’s struggling in the areas that require a more intersectional approach, such as “care work” and “climate change and extractive industries.”

A recent example of Trudeau’s failure in these categories would be his decision to purchase the Trans-Mountain Pipeline for $4.5 billion of taxpayer money—a pipeline which, months later, was deemed illegal by the Federal Court of Appeal. This was because the people responsible for planning the pipeline failed to address its environmental impacts and to properly consult the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and other First Nation bands that

would potentially be affected.

If Trudeau was truly a feminist when he claimed to be one, he would have invested that money into care work. Or he would have funded the purchase of Greyhound Canada in order to bring back the closed routes that helped mobilize people without access to cars or air travel. This could reduce the number of women hitchhiking, which in turn could help address the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls that Trudeau claims to be committed to ending.

If Trudeau was less concerned with the feminist brand, and more concerned with actually helping women, he would make intersectional decisions that dismantle the power structures of white supremacy and capitalism, because those systems are directly responsible for the oppression of women.

COLUMNS

15

Going Global: The Golan Heights

The region’s history is far more complicated than Trump would have you believe Tristan Johnston | Contributor Late last month, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the United States considers the Golan Heights—a region of Syria that was annexed by Israel during the Six-Day War— to be part of Israeli territory. This makes the United States the only country in the world that currently recognizes the area as “Israeli.”

By all accounts, Trump making this statement was a foreign policy mistake.

As the name suggests, the Six-Day War lasted only six days, and was a conflict fought in 1967 between Israel and its neighbours Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. There’s a lot to say about the background of this conflict, but it was just one in a series of wars waged by nearby Arab countries which refused to recognize Israel.

Despite being totally outnumbered, Israel launched a preemptive surgical strike against Egypt, eliminating the competitiveness of its air force, which was effectively the entire opposition, within a few hours. Israel would win the war several days later, capturing Gaza and the West Bank from Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The Sinai Peninsula would be contested territory until 1975, when it came under Egyptian control.

The Golan Heights would be fought over again during the two-front Yom Kippur War in 1973, when Israel neutralized an attempt

by Syria to take the territory back. In 1974, Syria and Israel eventually agreed to allow

Israel to control the area, while also establishing a demilitarized zone between the two countries. The UN Disengagement Observer Force remains present in the area to this day.

Israel would later pass the Golan Heights Law in 1981, extending Israeli legal jurisdiction to the area. This was, in effect, an annexation of the region, though Israel never described the action using that term.

In response, the UN Security Council—which includes the United States—unanimously declared that, under international law, the Israeli law has no legal effect.

In the current realm of international law, it’s generally accepted that a country can’t simply march its military into a new area, occupy it, and claim that it belongs to them.

The idea that Crimea should belong to Russia is generally rejected for the same reason.

Only the United States recognizes the Golan Heights as an area belonging to Israel. Israel was still asking for this recognition during Barack Obama’s presidency, but he reiterated American support for previous UN resolutions while also noting that such a political move would compromise attempts at finding Syrian allies in the conflict against ISIS. Trump, evidently, had no such reservations.

Admittedly, it has been very difficult to find a non-political explanation as to why Trump made this move. It’s indeed true that the Golan Heights can be considered a strategic territory, as it is highly mountainous and defensible in the event of armed conflict. However, even political explanations are difficult to make.

The Golan Heights' border with Syria proper. The white buildings on the right are (Nic Laube) mostly UN buildings. (Wiki.commons) Republicans only captured an estimated 17 per cent of the Jewish vote in the 2018 midterm elections, though some fundamentalist Christian voters believe that Jewish people in Israel having full control over the land there satisfies an interpretation of their scripture.

Either way, Trump’s declaration about the Golan Heights and the earlier move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem were both widely inter-

preted as electoral gifts to Benjamin Netanyahu. His Likud party opposes the idea of a Palestinian state and right of settlement to disputed areas in the region, such as the Golan, which have an estimated 20,000 Jewish settlers living among some 20,000 Syrians, as well as others.

With the Likud party gaining even more seats with the recent election, Trump’s move may have indeed paid off for him.

Artist Spotlight: Only a Visitor

For songwriter Robyn Jacob, the band’s most recent record was a means of reapproaching her cultural identity

Aly Laube | Editor in Chief At the heart of art pop group Only a Visitor, listeners will find sentimental storytelling that looks to the past for meaning-making.

Known for its uplifting three-part harmonies sung by composer Robyn Jacob and vocalists Emma Postl and Celina Kurz, the project has always been a symptom of Jacob’s self-exploration, both as an artist and the daughter of a Chinese immigrant to Canada.

The trio of singers, alongside drummer Kevin Romain and bassist Jeff Gammon, began performing as a group in 2015 and have since released three records together: an EP entitled Tower Temporary and two full-length albums, 2017’s Lines and this year’s Technicolour Education. “[Technicolour Education] is a whole concept, a story about me exploring my family’s past and my mom’s family’s immigration to this region, and a little bit more broadly, Chinese immigration to the Pacific Northwest,” says Jacob.

“I think it’s a way of re-approaching that side of myself, when I was like, ‘I’m trying to fit in because I can kind of pass,” she continues.

“I’m half-Chinese, so I feel like I can kind of oscillate between a person of colour and being kind of ambiguous or whatever, so I think this album was me embracing that side of myself.”

The title track of Technicolour Education,

which is punctuated by a chirpy synth lead and an ear-wormy vocal hook, is a strong example of the band’s sonic and lyrical style.

As she has learned more about her culture and ancestry, Jacob has woven new parts of herself and her family history into the band as she discovers them.

In tracks like “Bedroom Archaeology”, for instance, she asks, “How much of myself will be lost to my children’s grandchildren? Will they even know my name?” while uncovering belongings left in the bedroom of a loved one.

Listening to Only a Visitor feels similarly reflective and personal. Their songs are thoughtful yet playful, much like the nostalgia that lies behind what Jacob describes as the band’s “deceptively light” tone. What remains consistent in their portfolio is the polished production used to present her songwriting, as well as their signature keys, unpredictable structures, and layered vocal melodies.

Despite these reliable quirks, mixing things up artistically is crucial to Jacob, who says she is always striving to comfortably challenge herself and her bandmates. For this group, she is hoping to take a more minimalist approach to writing by “leaving more space between the sounds” in the future.

In the past, she has worked as a composer and arranger with a pop choir, and she is currently collaborating with another artist on a live performance that will explore events

From left to right: bassist Jeff Gammon, vocalists Celina Kurz, Emma Postl, and Robyn Jacob, and drummer Kevin Romain. (Submitted) and ideas related to the movement of people within and outside of China next March.

“We are developing a really large piece with another musician named Nancy Tan who has put together her own Only a Visitor,” says Jacob. “It’s the same instrumentation—it’s like a mirror band—and so she has written a whole bunch of songs that are related to [Technicolour Education] in their own way.

We’re developing it over the summer and over the next year into a concert with film and

movement and live folly.”

The members of Only a Visitor are scattered across different cities, but they will be coming together to play a show with Vancouver locals Devours and Megamall at KW Studios on May 23. Technicolour Education and Lines are both available for streaming on Spotify and Bandcamp, and they will be touring the West and East coast from May until early July.

PROCRASTINATION HOROSCOPES

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

It won’t be long before you honour the rigours of your putrid fucking nature.

You once was a bud, but now yous a C.H.U.D.

The authorities cannot legally hold you accountable for committing a crime if you have your head stuck in a honey jar the whole time.

Pisces

Aries

Taurus

Sometimes unborn great white shark fetuses cannibalize the unfertilized eggs in their mothers’ wombs. This horoscope was brought to you by an ominous sense of foreshadowing.

You will find exactly what you’re looking for and it will not be enough.

It won’t be long before the Fortnite Police are dabbing down your door, clapping back on you for three separate fleek violations, and YEETing your ass off to meme jail for not being dummy thicc.

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

When you’re feeling worthless, remember: you are God’s sweetest beef.

Whenever you see someone breaking the law, mentally prepare yourself to rip out their jugular with your teeth on the off chance that you’ve wandered into some sort of Purge situation.

Your self-hatred is a transparent attempt to convince yourself there are good reasons to avoid doing the things you need to do to be happy.

Libra

Scorpio

By reading this horoscope you have achieved the rank of “Lesser Minion” in the storied “Hobgoblin Defence League” convened in the year of our terrible Goblin King 11287, may your bones become dust before His wrath befalls the realms of men.

The seven things you can’t say on television: 1) Boner Patrol 2-7) Chickity China, the Chinese Chicken.

Nov. 23 - Dec 21

Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Feb 20 - Mar 20

Jan 21 - Feb 19

Mar 21 - Apr 19

May 21 - Jun 20

Apr 20 - May 20

Jul 24 - Aug 23

Jun 21 - Jul 23

Virgo

Aug 24 - Sept 23

If you’re hard up for cash this week you can e-transfer your organs over the dark web.

Just don't give out your password or nefarious Russian agents will bypass your immune system and hack into your butthole.

SUDOKU

Look for the answers in the next issue of The Runner.

Sept 24 - Oct 23

Oct 24 - Nov 22

CROSSWORD