The Runner: Volume 8, Issue 8

VOL-08-ISS-8

Dec-4-2015

Comin’ for you, Hogan, since 2009

NEWS

KPIG Appoints New Anti-Oppression Officer

Nida Valiani says she is ready to work for the benefit of students

CULTURE

KPU Beer for Sale

Student brews now available for purchase on Langley campus

FEATURE

The Perks of Joining a Club Having a support network can be beneficial for mental health

The Plight of Refugees

Around the world and right here at KPU

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

Table of Contents

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News |KPIRG appoints new Anti-Oppression Officer 4

Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group has recently appointed a new member to their board of directors. With the title of anti-oppression officer, Nida Valiani is ready to work hard to make sure Kwantlen is an open and safe place for students.

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

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801

Culture | Secular Students Debate Trinity Western, Find Common Ground 5

www.runnermag.ca Vol. 08, Issue no.8 Dec 8, 2015 ISSN# 1916 8241

Representatives from the Kwantlen Secular Student Alliance met with Trinity Western students from the Philosophy 390 class to participate in a “conversational exercise.” Their goals—to discuss existentialism, morality and the afterlife.

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.

FEATURES | KPU Student Gathers Feminine Hygiene Products for Refugees 9

When we think of necessities, we first bring to mind food, water, and shelter. We don’t often consider pads or tampons, as they don’t apply to a full percentage of the population. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t absolutely critical to those who are in need of them, such as the population of Syrian refugees who the city of Surrey will be welcoming before the end of the year.

CONTRIBUTORS

OPINIONS | Could carbon taxes improve Canadian influence on the international stage? 12 Environmental concerns were amongst the most hotly debated topics during Canada’s 2015 national election. Canadi-

Aida Garcia Alyssa Laube Danica Johnston Hailey Logan Keith Harris Kyle Prince Louis Marta-Widjaja Monica Mah Preet Hundal Rosa Ojeda Scott McLelland Torin Slik

ans have shown a proactive interest in maintaining responsible environmental policies, and in the case of BC we have proven ourselves capable of shouldering the burden of carbon taxes, regardless of the economy.

COLUMNS | Artist Spotlight: An Interview with Destructive Interference 14 Rock n’ roll and physics don’t usually collide—but they did for Destructive Interference, a four-piece band living on the North Shore. The group got the idea for their name while at practice, thanks to frontman Derek Lionas’ extensive scientific knowledge.

COVER ARTIST

ROSAURA OJEDA is currently living in Vancouver, BC where she recently finished her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She is currently attending the Communication Design Essentials program at Emily Carr and BCIT. Most of her work revolves around simplicity and minimalism, but at times it can also include intricate patterns and repetition depending on the project at hand and how specific the design and its purpose work together.

She believes context and process are really important, which is why traces of these are usually found in her work.”

STAFF

Coordinating Editor

Photo Editor

Managing Editor

Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Executive Editor

Samantha Thompson deputy@runnermag.ca @sampthompson

Art Director

Charis Au art@runnermag.ca

Operation Manager

Staff Writer

Geoffrey Nilson photo@runnermag.ca

Web Editor

Yaunna Sommersby web@runnermag.ca

Kier-Christer Junos staff@runnermag.ca @kierjunos

Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778.565.3801

Staff Illustrator

Danielle George

Editorial

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03 Tristan Johnston

News Briefs

From the editor Polarized People

Tristan Johnston

COORDINATING EDITOR

There’s a growing concern that, as a society, we are slowly but surely becoming more and more polarized. We can see it politically and socially. I’m not sure if it’s a fact or not, but it’s something I have noticed.

The great thing about the internet is that it allows us to read and hear the thoughts of people from all over the world—regardless of what they look like, or to a certain degree, their income level.

The problem is, while anyone can use the internet and share their thoughts, we now have the power to filter. I took a class with Mark Hamilton some time ago, and at some point in the class, he went into detail about the way Google will figure out what you like, and give it to you.

Unless you browse anonymously, Google will slowly figure out what sort of political leanings you have, and what sorts of

things you’re interested in. Some think the heavy tracking that Google does is nefarious, but in reality, they just want to sell you stuff and increase your enjoyment of the internet.

The problem with this is that if you’re, say, left-leaning politically, you’re unlikely to see stuff that strongly conflicts with your views. Why would an NDP voter ever go to Fox News or Rebel Media? Google knows you won’t click on it, so why bother showing it to you?

Maybe it doesn’t sound like a problem, but this means that some people are less likely to hear something they don’t like. The less you hear of the other spectrum of opinion, the less likely you are to sympathize with them.

This goes for other websites as well. Facebook allows you to “unfollow” if de-friending is too abrasive for you. Twitter allows something similar. Reddit is probably the more obvious in this sense. On Reddit, you can find

the precise subreddit that directly matches your exact ideologies and opinions.

4chan was once absolved of this problem, the site where you can still technically post whatever you want anonymously, so long as it’s not illegal. However, it has slowly added tons of new boards over the years, making it easier to find your exact niche.

When I was in high school, I was one of “those kids.” I touted my atheism more than your uncle touts his conservatism. I knew someone back then who didn’t tout his Christianity, per se, but he had arguments to counter mine.

Being full of myself, I would debate him almost daily.

By grade 12 our arguments had developed considerably, and “Does god exist?” grew into “Is religion good for the world?” My point here is that my exposure to intelligent pro-religion arguments made me much more educated on the matter, and it’s because of my relationship with him that I don’t

have a negative view of religion anymore.

This sort of thing is less likely these days. If you surround yourself with people who think exactly like you for too long, you might develop a different idea of what the other group is like. It’s easy for us to think that most Conservative voters in Canada are straw men who believe immigration is bad, despite a large base of them being immigrants themselves.

So how do we avoid this? It might be hard on the internet.

Dessent too much, and you’ll get either downvoted or banned.

What about in real life? Consider who you hang out with.

Consider that their opinions are often more complex than what they might tick at the ballot. I can vote Liberal while being troubled by their C-51 vote. Your neighbour can vote Conservative and take no issue with gay marriage or abortion. Your friend can vote NDP but disagree with the marijuana policy.

what’s up this week (Dec. 9 – Jan. 5, 2015)

U-Pass Survives, According to Preliminary Results Kier- Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

The U-Pass BC program will continue for the next two years, according to preliminary results from the referendum held on Nov. 24 and 25.

The early results show that 2,048 students voted in favour of continuing the U-Pass, and 259 students voted no. The other referendum question, which asked to index core Kwantlen Student Association fees to the Consumer Price Index, also succeeded with 1,487 ‘yes’ votes to 660 ‘no’ votes.

The U-Pass service continues at $39.50 per month of study beginning in May 2016, and $41 per month of study beginning in May 2017.

Chief returning officer Corey Van’t Haaff expects the final numbers by the end of the week after any complaints or appeals are resolved, and the KSA council will ratify the official numbers at the next council meeting.

with Yaunna Sommersby

weds, DEC. 9

FRI, DEC. 11

Mon, Dec.14- Thurs, Dec.17

KPU Green Wednesdays

Vancouver Education and Career Fair

Kwantlen Pride Collective

The School of Horticulture and the Green Ideas Network will be screening an environmental documentary and holding an open discussion with guest speakers.

The Faculty of Science and Horticulture will have a booth at the Vancouver Education and Career Fair so you can learn more about their programs.

Members of the Kwantlen Pride Collective will be handing out free coffee all week to help students get through exams.

Stop by, grab some coffee and learn more about the Pride Collective.

6:30 p.m., KPU Langley Campus, Room 1030, West Building. Free

9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Vancouver Convention Centre.

Tickets: $5

12 p.m. – 4 p.m., Surrey Main Atrium. Free

fri, DEC. 18

weds, dec. 30

Mon, Jan. 4 – Tues, Jan. 5

KPU Brewing Lab Beer Sales

Kwantlen Toastmasters

Spring New Student Orientation

1 p.m. – 5 p.m., KPU Brewing Lab, Langley Campus. $6-$10

7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., KPU Surrey – Fir Building,

Langley and Richmond campuses: Jan. 4, 4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m., Surrey campus: Jan. 5, 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Register online. Free

Students from the KPU Brewing program will be hosting the final beer sale of the semester during exams. Go support them and buy a growler or two. May just help relieve some of that exam stress.

Want to improve your public speaking skills? Join the Kwantlen Toastmasters in their final session of the semester.

Room 132. Free

Know some new students coming to KPU? Make sure they sign up for an on-campus orientation so they can ask questions, meet new people and have a good time.

News

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Kwantlen Focus Week celebrates student exchange Tai Chi, anime, and other events promote program Torin Slik

CONTRIBUTOR From Nov. 16 to 20, Kwantlen Polytechnic University hosted a variety of activities and information booths as a part of International Focus Week, the purpose of which was to demonstrate the institution’s commitment to valuing international cooperation of study.

According to the KPU website, “International Focus Week is [KPU’s] biggest line up of events each year, designed to showcase the value that Canadians place

on connecting with the world through studying abroad, internationalized curricula, and international service, and on opening the world to Canada by welcoming international elementary, secondary, and post-secondary students, promoting international exchanges, and encouraging qualified foreign students to make Canada their new home.”

Kwantlen provided various activities during the week, from Tai Chi classes to anime screening and information booths for studying abroad.

One of the information booths, which was stationed each day during the week, was the Amazon exchange booth. Here, students could hear all about past students’ experiences when they went on this adventure.

Connell Green, a creative writing student at Kwantlen, and Lisa King, a recent Kwantlen graduate from the general studies program offered their insights as to what going to the Amazon was like for them.

“We’ve got our university here,” says Green, “And it’s great

Torin Slik

because we’ve got different people from all over the world here …

Going abroad is an opportunity to enter a whole new world.”

Studying abroad in places like the Amazon gives students an opportunity to really immerse themselves into cultures outside of our own.

“It’s a chance to step outside of this identity, this knowledge, that we’ve cultivated over our lifetime,” says Green. “It’s like living in a valley and then going up on this mountain and looking out to see all these different valleys, and then we have a different map inside your head of how we fit into the huge picture of life, really.”

Going to another country in the first place is a unique experience for those who have never done it.

Going to another country as part of a university program is quite different. There are a lot of opportunities a student can experience through a study abroad program that would not be possible just as a tourist.

“You’re learning together and get to do things that you wouldn’t necessarily get to do travelling even in a group or on your own,” says King. “We were able to meet contacts there that were exclusive to us. I think that’s the difference

between travelling and learning about the stuff yourself or in a group and learning in an educational manner.”

It’s easy to imagine how close one would become with their school partners when living together for two weeks straight in another country, even if they didn’t know each other in the beginning. Studying abroad is a great opportunity to become close friends with fellow students.

“I didn’t know anybody when I went down in the group that we went with,” says King, “But now, I know everyone intimately.”

Of course, the Amazon trip is not the only study abroad program that KPU offers. There are a variety of different locations students can choose to study in, and they are all for different periods of time. While the Amazon trip is two weeks, other places can go up to six months to nearly a year where you study in another institution.

Studying abroad in unfamiliar places can be a daunting idea at first, but what better way to conquer your fears?

“I was very afraid of spiders,” says King. “But I became friends with them when I left.”

KPIRG appoints new Anti-Oppression Officer Valiani is ready to work for the benefit of students Torin Slik

CONTRIBUTOR Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group has recently appointed a new member to their board of directors. With the title of antioppression officer, Nida Valiani is ready to work hard to make sure Kwantlen is an open and safe place for students.

Valiani will be responsible for providing, “overall leadership, engagement, and resourcing on anti-oppression initiatives in consultation with the KPIRG Board,” according to KPIRG’s documents about director policies and procedures.

One of the main roles for the antioppression officer is to be a liaison between KPIRG and a variety of groups, such as the Kwantlen Student Association or other external groups that operate at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

“A big part of what I do right now is attend all these meetings . . . see what the needs are and help in any way I can,” says Valiani.

In addition, her role of liaison extends to the general student population at KPU. There are many different issues that students face, and it can be helpful to have someone to talk and listen to.

“I’m also available for any stu-

dent to come in and talk to if they feel they have any issues at school, at their campus, or classroom, or whatever it is,” says Valiani.

Valiani wants to start up a committee of her own, the anti-oppression committee. This committee would be open to all students and is aimed to create a more positive environment on campus.

“I would bring in student volunteers, and students who would want to be active participants,” says Valiani. On what she would be looking for from student volunteers, Valiani says she wants them to be “very open.”

“You can’t be biased,” she says.

“You can’t think that one race or colour or class is better than another.

Take everything from an intersectional point of view.”

The concept of intersectionality is an important one when dealing with anti-oppression. Intersectionality refers to the concept that there are different layers of systematic oppression in society, and people can be affected by one or more layers at the same time, for example, a woman of colour.

“Some people may not just be oppressed by their skin colour, there could be a few different things,” says Valiani. “This can cause a different type of oppression than someone else of the same skin colour might experience.”

As with any new position, there are a lot of things Valiani needs to learn before she can make informed decisions on what to implement.

“I have ideas, but I’m not so much trying to implement these ideas yet,” says Valiani. “I’m trying to figure out what’s happening at KPU right now already. If I don’t know the situation well, the ideas I have might not address the problem at hand.”

Currently, there are some things Valiani has seen already that she would like to change. She’s noticed that not all students are getting the proper support she believes they are entitled to.

Disabilities is something Valiani believes needs to be addressed more as well. Recognizing there are many different types of disabilities is important, and not all of them are obvious or visible. Valiani has been working with the Disability Action Movement Now a lot recently.

“I’m seeing that a lot of students who do need help aren’t getting the proper assistance they need,” says Valiani. “Whether it’s lack of funding or lack of care. It’s not fair that they are paying the same amount as I am or anybody else is but they’re not receive the same type of education or the same standard.”

Even on the board of directors for KPIRG, Valiani can only do so much herself. One of the best ways

to make KPU a better place is for more students to get involved.

“I would like to see more student involvement in KPIRG because the students are paying for it, and they’re all automatically a part of it,” says Valiani.

Courtesy of KPIRG

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Secular Students Debate Trinity Western, Find Common Ground

Discussants engage in conversational exercise on existentialism, morality and the afterlife Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER If you found yourself on the third floor of Trinity Western University’s Fraser Hall on Dec. 1, you would’ve seen a group of people occupying cream-coloured couches and vinyl sofas arranged into comfortable circles, all asking themselves why they were there.

Not why they were there in that common room, per se, but more why they’re here—why we’re all here—on this Earth, man.

Representatives from the Kwantlen Secular Student Alliance met with Trinity Western students from the Philosophy 390 class to participate in a “conversational exercise.” Their goals—to discuss existentialism, morality and the afterlife. The “exercise” aspect meant that, rather than trying to “win” the debate, both sides were more interested in creating meaningful, integral, openminded discussion, building common ground and refraining from dominating conversations.

TWU masters student Jesse Rintoul is the Phil 390 class’s “existentialism leader,” and it is

partly his responsibility to create events like this at TWU. KPU student Aaron Philip and KSSA president Parabjot Singh helped create the concept for the event with Rintoul, and Rintoul says the event served as something “above and beyond where a regular class would get you.”

Representatives of the KSSA also brought Dr. Martin “Marty” Shoemaker, a humanist chaplain from the KPU Richmond campus multi-faith centre. Shoemaker is a former clinical psychologist and was a Christian for 25 years before his “de-conversion.” Since leaving the religion, he has had a professional interest in expanding the secular worldview of the humanist movement as an alternative to religion, according to his bio on the SFU website.

Speaking of humanists, the KSSA is actually indexed on the B.C. Humanist Association website, which defines humanism simply as the idea that one can be “good without god.” Shoemaker explains that the term was in part derived from the genesis of the school of humanities, back in the days of the Ancient Greeks.

No Greeks, however, sat on

the third floor common area in the grand circle of couches. The majority were students from the humanities. After some introductions, co-organizer Philip explained the topics that everyone would discuss that day.

“What constitutes a meaningful life?” he asks. “What is your source of morality? Is there an afterlife? How would you know?”

From there, the assembly rearranged all the available seating into cozy circles for smaller group discussions.

The room buzzed without pause. They talked about heaven and hell. They talked about their religious background, or their absence of one, or their relinquishment of one. They talked about feeling disenfranchised by religion or feeling saved by it. They talked about formal logic. They talked about love.

This continued for over an hour and, every so often, Rintoul nodded to Philip to prompt a rotation of the groups, changing the dynamics.

“People’s personalities come out in these kinds of activities,” says Shoemaker, “And their style of learning and whether or not

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they are competitive with ideas.”

Though he maintains it was a good exercise that challenged him, he recalls a student in one of the small groups that he found to be more confrontational.

“I think most people are not as intelligent as they are,” he says, “And so they are operating from a premise that ‘I have to tell you how wrong you are.’”

After the exercise ended, Philip probed the other members of the KSSA about their takeaways. For one, the students found that their fellow discussants were honest about their answers and refrained from deflecting questions. No one felt like they were being attacked, either. Some of the KSSA members expressed their pleasant surprise at the open-mindedness of their TWU counterparts.

“We’re not here to find a winner,” says one, “And the other brings out a white flag and goes, ‘We’re converting! We’re converting!’”

“That’s how we learn too, right?” says Singh. “It’s about being curious and wanting to understand the other person. It’s not about, ‘I’m right, and that’s it.’”

Likewise, Rintoul found that everyone was fair to each other, and accommodating to each other’s perspectives. He also learned about Kwantlen life, and “what fundamentalism looks like” outside of his own institution.

“I really like the idea of killing the us-and-them mentality in a Christian sphere,” says Rintoul.

“I think we had a lot in common with the people we were talking to, and more similarities than differences.”

Student beers now available for your growlers KPU brews pourin’ hard Kier-Christer Junos STAFF WRITER

Brewmaster Tim Brown tries to play it down, but it’s clear that the first-years’ pale ale is kind of his favourite right now.

“I didn’t say that,” says Brown.

Of course, it was but one of four student beers on tap. The brewing program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has started selling craft beer on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the KPU Langley brewing facility, at only $10 per growler.

“I think we started around October for growler sales and we’ve been selling every week,” says Brown. “This is coming towards the tail end of our brewing semester, so next week’s beers that are going on will be the last until January.”

An oatmeal stout was also available for sampling on Nov. 27, which tasted similar to a chocolate porter, and a Belgian Dubbel. But who knows what will be available next time—the varieties change on a weekly basis. They’ve poured golden lagers, India session ales and dark ales in the past.

All sorts of Kwantlenites came

by to fill up their cups, even some KSA council members and staff visited after their meetings. In front of the facility at about 2 p.m. were three jolly bio instructors, chuckling and brandishing newly filled growlers.

“Ten bucks,” says Brennen Coristine, a biology lab instructor.

“Ten bucks for a growler. That’s like, what…” He eyes his growler.

“How many do you think, that’s two litres?”

“Yeah, it’s about, one point eight three, something…” says

Nick Inglis, a biology instructor.

“One point eight nine, c’mon!” says his colleague Roger Abrahamsen, also of biology.

Coristine laughs. “Yeah, it’s actually a pretty good deal and the beer’s pretty good.”

Later in the next week, a firstyear class was just finishing up in the brewing facility. Students were putting away their equipment, for they had just finished brewing a pale ale, the one that Brown implied was a crowd favourite.

“Really?” says Alex Perris. “Oh wow, that’s great! That’s good to hear, a little surprising but…”

His mind fresh from a class quiz and the end of a brewing day, Perris explains the process. There are really five simple ingredients to making beer—malt, barley, water, hops and yeast. Perris says that with those ingredients, you can make, “almost a limitless range of beers, in different styles, colours, flavours—anything.”

“So the pale ale,” says Perris, “It’s just one type of malt—the

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pale malt variety—and two different types of hops and water. And basically you mix the grains…”

He points to the rows of smaller metal kettles nearby, all of them like oversized chrome Crock-Pots.

“We have three kettles,” he continues. “Basically, in one of them, the grains and water go in. It’s almost like an oatmeal. You kind of stir it around until you get out the sugars and the colour, minerals and things, and from there on it’s just about boiling it, cooling it.”

According to Perris, that’s about a three-hour process, but “more like five or six when you add in all the cleaning,” he laughs.

Brown says there’s a steady clientele for beer because of all the faculty and students, and that it’s ultimately a lot of fun. He’s been in the business for 17 years—he’s the owner of Surlie Brewing—but despite his brewmaster status, he says that you can’t really win at beer.

“You can be really good, but you can never beat it,” says Brown. “You can’t master beer.”

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Krispy Kreme fundraiser raises money for prison mental health conference Prison Justice Club advocates for better prisoner care Torin Slik

CONTRIBUTOR Hoping to raise enough funds to attend the Correctional Mental Health Care conference in Boston this coming July, members of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Prison Justice club decided to sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the main atrium of the Surrey campus.

Some might wonder why a school club is dedicated to improving the wellbeing of people inside the correctional system, but the Prison Justice club members remind us that, even though these people have done things against the law, they are still human beings. They still have rights as people, and it’s not up to us to judge them as being less deserving of justice.

“Generally, the club promotes awareness of issues that happen in prison,” says Kira Hogarth-

Davis, a criminology student and member of the Prison Justice club. “[Prisons] are closed institutions, so people don’t see a lot of what’s going on. It’s good to help create some transparency for human rights.”

There are a variety of problems that prisoners have, which the club is trying to bring awareness to. “Mental health is a huge thing,” says Hogarth-Davis.

“There’s a lot of drugs and stuff that get in prisons.”

Hogarth-Davis claims that the purpose of prisons is turning out to be more about punishing inmates rather than rehabilitating them into society. “There’s been a lot of issues around it being more punitive than rehabilitative,” she says.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is that a lot of prisoners end up back out in the community.

What we’re doing is locking them up and punishing them. They’re coming back into the community

and they’re not exactly the people we want them to be.”

This increasing perception of prisoners as people who deserves to be punished rather than rehabilitated reinforces the mindset of prisoners being less than human.

“People are human beings,” says Veronica Goodwin, a psychology student and the secretary of the Prison Justice club. “We treat them as if they’re sub-human. I know that we’re having a fun fundraiser, but that’s the core point.”

The Prison Justice club has even noticed a shift in focus for Kwantlen’s criminology department, and it’s not something the club is happy about.

“Our entire program is changing into pretty much a job training facility now,” says Goodwin. “We don’t even learn about critical theories. Everything is about how to become a police officer, how to become a corrections guard. You’re priming people for jobs and in-

stitutions without telling them about the injustices that go on.”

The Prison Justice club wants there to be more of a focus on the human connection side of the criminology department. If you want to be a police officer or lawyer, you’ll certainly learn how to pass your exams. However, they believe there should be more options for people who really want to help others.

“There are one or two good classes, but the majority is focused on the people who want to

be police officers or lawyers and that sort of thing,” says Nicole Regnier, a criminology student.

“You really need to learn more about human connection and that sort of thing.”

The Prison Justice club spent a good portion of the day selling Krispy Kreme donuts to students in order to raise money for the conference. They were happy with the support they received— some students donated money without even buying anything for themselves.

Torin Slik

Why Vancouver’s Still “No Fun” Vancouver just can’t shake its 15-year-old nickname, so it hosts a big party.

Alyssa Laube CONTRIBUTOR

George Affleck, Vancouver’s NonPartisan Association city councillor, believes his city is suffering from a “negative brand.” For years Vancouver has been saddled with the perception of being a “no-fun” city, trading its nightlife for a high quality of living.

“Right now, we don’t have any kind of strategy to change that attitude in Vancouver, around Vancouver, or internationally,” says Affleck. “We just kind of live with it, but we need an approach to show that we can have fun and organize good, positive, safe events.”

In order to change this perception of Vancouver, Affleck has instituted an official New Year’s Eve celebration for the city, something Vancouver hasn’t had for years.

“We are well-known around the world and I think that there’s an assumption that a city of our size and profile would be holding a New Year’s Eve event,” he says. “It was frustrating to watch CNN because you’d see London, Toronto, Sydney . . . and when they cut to Vancouver, it’d just be darkness. That’s why I suggested that we have staff look into it and they finally gave out some startup money to make [the celebration] happen.” This New Year’s Eve, there will be food trucks and two fireworks shows near Canada Place.

Affleck’s idea to allow craft beer rooms and distilleries to sell alcoholic beverages during ex-

panded hours of operation was also approved. Previously, they could only hold limited tastings, which minimized profits and crowd sizes. “It really opened up the floodgates for a lot of these small places to succeed and create new, vibrant neighbourhoods,” says Affleck.

The Non-Partisan Association has helped the city shake its grim title with Affleck as a representative, but there’s still considerable work to be done. General manager of the Commodore Ballroom, Gord Knights, agrees.

“The real hinging factor is an economic one,” says Knight.

“All music venues are constantly fighting the same sort of battle, which is that rent is an extraordinary part of your expenses as a business. If you can’t afford rent, you’re not open.”

As any concert-goer in Vancouver will tell you, the high cost of living is similarly discouraging.

Paying $10 for cover at the door, on top of a drink and transportation, might be repelling enough to convince you to spend the night in. This is particularly true of university students—the primary demographic in a thriving nightlife scene—who don’t normally have a considerable or steady stream of income. They also often rely on transit to get to and from events, which in Vancouver leaves much to be desired.

“Translink does a good job of operating the main bus routes, but it’s certainly not easy for people to get around the city late at night.

I think that that’s a big deterrent to the downtown core,” Knights

argues. “If we want to see those improvements in terms of cultural diversity, having more fun late in the evening, and a safer environment for people downtown, we need better transit options during late hours. Then you’d really see growth in terms of nightlife.”

Affleck describes the NPA as a group that “represents Vancouver citizens who are passionate about building a dynamic, global city,” and he believes the NPA is the big push behind these changes.

The NPA is one of Vancouver’s municipal political parties, and in the last election went up against other parties like the Coalition of Progressive Electors and Vision Vancouver. Right now, there are three NPA councillors. According to Affleck, they are the only ones striving to make Vancouver a “fun city.”

When the motion to put $125,000 towards the New Year’s Eve party was put forward at council, Vision Vancouver Coun-

Danielle George

cillor Kerry Jang asked if the money would be better spent on something else. “Somehow a New Year’s Eve celebration doesn’t seem to me to be very important compared to the issues we have facing us, particularly in areas like the Downtown Eastside and other places with mental illness and addictions are - what? - being shortshrifted $125,000 for a party,” according to the Globe and Mail.

“Generally, it’s been me and my party,” he explains. “The council is so focused on the big picture and the world-changing things they can be doing that they’ve forgotten the basics of what a city needs. We should be making decisions and moving fast, but I only have so much say in the council.

They control the agenda and have said that they think Vancouver is fine. They think that there are no problems. I think that the problem lies in the refusal to loosen up the rules.”

Affleck cites an idea he put

forward that would allow grocery stores to sell wine, something that the province has already condoned, though the council shot the idea down. “I don’t know why we’re waiting on this stuff. To me, it’s all moving very slowly.”

He suggests that citizens and business owners who want to make Vancouver “more fun” should contact a councillor directly.

“We’ve proven how well we can organize events with the Olympics,” he says. “The no-fun city moniker—that terrible name that was given about 15 years ago—has been really hard to get rid of. The city itself really needs to encourage and support organizations in the private sector to do things that make it more fun and vibrant . . . and if there are any ways I can look into our policies to see how they could be restricting people and the ideas that they have, there are a lot of things that we, as councillors, can do.”

Culture

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Silent Auction Allows Community to Patronize KPU Fine Arts Students Proceeds help fund next year’s grad show

Alyssa Laube CONTRIBUTOR

Last week provided an opportunity for local art enthusiasts to pay it forward at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus. On Nov. 27, KPU’s fine arts graduates hosted a silent auction, featuring works from students and faculty members alike. Reserved bids started at $50 and were increased by increments of $5, with the highest bidder receiving their artwork at the closing reception.

“It was very successful,” says Aksha Suri, one of five graduating students who contributed to the auction. “We had 26 pieces up and we sold 20 of them!”

All of the proceeds from the artwork will go towards the annual fine arts grad show, which is taking place on April 8. “We’ll have more solid details about the show’s time and location in January,” Suri promises. For now, the date is secured, and the show will be open to the public. All five of 2016’s graduating students—Olivia Richardson, Alison Law, Harpreet Mandher, Natalie Mussel, and Suri—will be showcasing their work there. Suri outlined

what was sold at the auction as well as what attendees can expect to see at April’s grad show.

“Two of us have an Indian background, and we have cultural art based around that. One of us is basing her work on photography and she created her own light boxes, which is extremely expensive and difficult to do. It’s amazing to look at and it’s something that you’d expect from an actual art gallery, by artists who are more emerged into their art.”

“There’s [another] woman who’s dealing with issues of the body, the expansion of it and how she’s glorifying it from a unique perspective,” continues Suri.

“Then another artist is into photography—she’s looking at microscopic detail and nature, and she’s not presenting it traditionally.

She’s showing it as a film strip.”

The five graduating students contributed to the silent auction, as well as artists from second and third year. The artwork size was limited to 11 inches by 14 inches, so instead of originals some artists took photos of their work, if they typically paint on larger canvases.

Art included drawings, sculpture, photography, images of paintings and prints.

The auction was entirely anon-

ymous so bidders wouldn’t know whose work they were bidding on, or whether the artist was a student or a faculty member. This was done in order to avoid biased purchasing and make the auction fair for everyone involved.

“Bidders tend to gear towards certain people if they know them,” Suri explains. “It becomes less about the artwork and more about the people themselves.

Maybe you’ll look at their work from a different perspective.

That’s why it was important for us to keep everything anonymous.”

The auction was one of many fundraisers that the fine arts grads have hosted this year. It was the most profitable yet, potentially because, “It’s close to Christmas, and people are looking to buy presents.” In any case, Suri and her classmates are pleased with the results and hope they continue to wield similar ones in the future.

“It was a great turnout for us, and I think it’s good for people to explore more art and not to see it from face value,” says Suri. “It’s just another way for us to help people be more aware of art instead of just taking it as a pretty picture.”

Keith Harris

Fine Arts Students Square Off in an “Art Battle” of Epic Proportions Kwantlen Art Collective event sees artists go head-to-head, canvas to canvas Preet Hundal CONTRIBUTOR

According to president Keith Harris and vice-president Eric Berg of the Kwantlen Art Collective, the idea of artists dueling each other on opposing canvases came from hearing about similar events occurring on the mean streets of Vancouver.

“Hopefully we don’t get sued,” Harris jokes.

He went on to mention that, when the time came for participants to ready their brushes, a few of the warrior-artists were evidently “nervous at first, but ended up having a blast,” after facing off and seeing each other’s work come to life. In the end, Berg explains that each participant learned that, “it is possible to get artwork done if you just do it,” which is a “good lesson for generally procrastinating art students.”

In facing off, one-versus-one, artist-to-artist, participants were given the chance to be, “creative under pressure and tap into a creative realm of expression,” says Berg. According to the organizers, there were no outright victors in this conflict, in that every participant of the event “won” because they all ultimately achieved the

victory of creating good art. But that didn’t stop the Art Collective from at the very least “award[ing] gift cards from DeSerres to the person whose picture received the most votes.”

Organized in 2013, the Kwantlen Art Collective’s main purpose, according to Harris, is to “help students interested in art connect with each other.” The Collective hopes to aid in “creating a community among Kwantlen students that will facilitate a growing art movement within Surrey, as well as supporting student work and art in the city.” It also allows for artists to “get good feedback on [their] work and meet more art students at Kwantlen.”

“Members of our club have received Kwantlen scholarships for their work as well as awards from outside organizations,” says Harris.

“Some members already sell work as well,” adds Berg. “The Collective currently has approximately 40 members, 10 of whom are actively involved in event planning.”

The Kwantlen Art Collective also held an artist talk last week in Surrey’s painting studio, and are hoping there will be another artist talk, a gallery visit, and even

another art battle occurring sometime next semester. For general meetings, the club meets “once every two weeks on alternating days to give most people a chance to attend” explains Berg. With regards to what actually goes on during meetings, Berg states that “during meetings [the KAC] discusses and plans possible activities, which always includes an open floor for suggestions from anyone there.”

For any aspiring artists at KPU, Harris recommends that they begin by joining the Art Collective, but also constantly try to “make art, look at art, connect with people who do the same.”

He also believes that student artists should “not be afraid to take risks and even fail sometimes.”

Berg agrees, claiming that an artist should “never put themselves down and always make goals to constantly expand their art.” “[Art] makes sense of understanding the human experience in ways that language doesn’t,” says Berg. “[It’s] a distilled form of communication that presents different ideas, feelings and points of view in a direct way.”

Courtesy of Kwantlen Art Collective

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Providing Refuge Volunteers in Austria step up to help refugees Samantha Thompson EXECUTIVE EDITOR

With files from Tristan Johnston and Louis Marta-Widjaja There’s a little boy in Vienna who wants to be a lawyer when he grows up, because he wants to help people.

Unfortunately, he’s going to face significant barriers, because he’s in Vienna as a Syrian refugee.

“It’s great to see him having these big plans, but knowing that he’s missed school for a year already, and you don’t know when he’ll go back

to school,” says Jennifer Hofmarcher, who lives in Austria and studies political science at the University of Vienna. “You know this little child has so many hopes and dreams, and you encourage him to keep fighting for his dreams, but you know he’s going to face so many problems—so many more than I would have if I wanted to be a lawyer,” She met the boy at one of Vienna’s main train stations, which was receiving 1,000 to 1,500 refugees a day before Hungary closed their borders in an attempt to keep the refugees out. Most of the refugees stay at the

train station, which has been converted into a refugee camp, for less than 24 hours. Some make their way into Austria, while many others go on to seek asylum in Germany and Sweden.

Hofmarcher has been volunteering at the train station since August, which is when Austria began experiencing a wave of refugees. That month, Germany announced that their borders were open to asylum seekers, and any refugees mak-

ing their way there must first pass through Austria. Hofmarcher references an event in late August where a truck was found in one of Austria’s eastern provinces with 71 dead people inside as a moment that put the plight of refugees in the mind of many Austrians, herself included.

The people in the truck were travelling from Hungary to Austria, suggesting that it occurred as a consequence of human trafficking.

“That was eye-opening,” she says. “It’s so hard to see these pictures, read these articles every day … knowing that this is something you could’ve prevented, and if politi-

cians would have been smarter, these people wouldn’t have died.”

“That’s when it started to become a big issue in Austria, because it was like, ‘Okay, people are actually dying on our streets, in our country, because we don’t do anything.’”

Her role each time she goes to the train station changes, as has the station itself. She notes that the set-up is more professional now than when it first began, because it’s had time to become better organized.

Hofmarcher has spent days looking after children whose parents were in the medical centre, she has cut vegetables and made sandwiches to give to refugees, and she has organized clothing donations. It was while looking after children that she met the boy who wants to be a lawyer.

“I don’t speak Arabic, and these kids don’t speak English or German, so you try to entertain them as well as you can with body language, or drawing,” she says. “Now there are professional kindergarten teachers and elementary school teachers there who take care of them, who also have the educational background and knowledge on how to work with these kids who are very traumatized.”

“I just did what I thought was the best for them. You try to do your best, but you know it will not be good enough at the end.”

There is also psychological support available at the train station, specifically for the volunteers, because they’re faced with new situations in hearing people’s stories that can be difficult to deal with. Many of the volunteers are university students, and Hofmarcher knows of several people who have taken leave from their jobs, or taken a year off of university, to continue volunteering for the refugees.

“Every time you’re there you do something different, but it’s nice to get to know the people, and talk to them, and although it’s hard on you, it’s nice to know that these people are safe now, and that they do not have to suffer anymore.”

No Middle Ground During the summer and early fall, Hofmarcher believes that there was mostly positive support for refugees in Austria. The main newspapers were discussing refugees positively, and one publication printed their newspaper in Arabic with information for refugees. The Austrian government also distributed letters, welcoming people to the country.

Now, however, things have begun to change. The positive support isn’t as overwhelming, and there are two clear opinions: “Either you’re for refugees, or you’re against refugees,” says Hofmarcher. “There’s no middle ground anymore.”

Since September, 600,000 refugees have arrived in, or passed through Austria, a country with a population of eight million people. The Austrian government has also stated that around 100,000 people will seek asylum in Austria this year, and another 120,000 people next year. According to the Red Cross in Austria, so far around 1.5 million portions of food have been given out, 70,000 people have needed medical assistance, and there are altogether about 70,000 volunteers active in Austria.

Conversely, Canada has a population of around 35.2 million people, and the Canadian government has committed to resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees by February 2016, which includes both privately sponsored and government-assisted refugees. The goal is to have 10,000 Syrian refugees in Canada by the end of 2015, according to Theodora Jean, media relations for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The refugee program in Canada works closely with the United Nations Refugee Agency, which identifies refugees for resettlement. Refugees coming into Canada have to undergo a screening process, which includes a medical examination, that scans for communicable diseases like tuberculosis, as well as biometrics and biographical information. If the decision is made to accept the refugee, the visa officer will approve and the case will proceed, with obtaining

travel documents, flight arrangements, and other necessities. If the decision is negative, the visa office contacts the refugee and the UNHCR. One of the biggest problems for refugees is being able to get official documents, as so many city halls have been destroyed, says Mario Ayala, the Refugee Services Director at the Inland Refugee Society of British Columbia. He doesn’t have a solid answer for what the solution is, but he does point out that there are refugee lawyers looking to bring ideas to the Canadian government that could assist with this problem.

He also suggests that there are actually very few private sponsorships for refugees in Canada, although those looking to sponsor can receive training and support from various organizations. While government sponsored refugees get welfare and support immediately, asylum seekers and those who enter Canada in non-legal ways often have nothing while they’re seeking protection.

Ayala argues that they still need a place to stay, access to food, clothing and transportation, while they wait to receive proper documentation, and the Refugee Society offers those services. Obtaining documents can take two to three months, or even longer.

The Government of Canada has announced they will invest up to $678 million over six years in resettlement and support for Syrian refugees. “This amount is an estimation of the work required of the Government of Canada and our partners to fulfill this commitment, and includes amounts for partners such as the Canadian Red Cross,” says Jean.

“The federal government is making a significant investment in bringing these refugees here, and much of this is in settlement and resettlement funding that will follow refugees to their communities.”

“Protecting the safety, security and health of Canadians and refugees is a key factor in guiding the Government of Canada’s actions throughout this initiative,” adds Jean.

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KPU Student Gathers Feminine Hygiene Products for Refugees Come January, people will be able to make Impact of Volunteers

their donations at the Social Justice Space

Although governments throughout the world are beginning to make announcements regarding Syrian refugees, Hofmarcher remains critical. “In Austria it’s only been working out that well because of volunteers,” she explains. “Our government completely failed in helping them.”

She argues that most European countries don’t know what to do about the refugees within their own borders, and they also don’t know how to react on a European level through the Union. “Volunteers, we don’t have the time to think about, ‘Do I want to help this person or not?

We have to help this person right now. And if I see someone standing in front of me … I have to help them, otherwise they would freeze to death … [We] don’t have time to think about it.”

On days when she planned on going to the station for three or four hours, she’d typically end up putting in 12 or 13.

“I know it sounds cheesy, but seeing these people smile just by giving them a sandwich and a bottle of water, it’s life-changing.”

“I know I’m doing it for them,” she says. “I have such a good life here, and I’ve literally done nothing to get it.” Both her parents have good jobs, and she counts herself lucky to be born in Austria, into her family, and to have access to food, clothing and shelter. “I feel like I don’t deserve so much luck, and then I see someone suffer in front of me, literally dying in our country, I feel like I have to give away some of all that luck in my life.”

“I have to give it back to them,” she says. “It just doesn’t feel right for me to feel so fortunate, and to have so many good things going on in my life, while there are people suffering in my country because of war, because of terrorism. I just don’t think it’s right. And that’s why I’m there.”

Aida Garcia CONTRIBUTOR

Rosa Ojeda

When we think of necessities, we first bring to mind food, water, and shelter. We don’t often consider pads or tampons, as they don’t apply to a full percentage of the population.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t absolutely critical to those who are in need of them, such as the population of Syrian refugees who the city of Surrey will be welcoming before the end of the year.

There will be those amongst the Surrey-bound refugees who will require feminine hygiene products.

In anticipation of this, RK Dhadwal, a third-year fine arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, has taken it upon herself to raise donations towards making these products available to the incoming refugees.

“It’s easier to satisfy a necessity that people can see,” says Dhadwal.

“For example, most of the refugees will be families with kids, so it makes sense for people to think of providing products that will help out the kids, because they can see the kids.”

In the days following the government’s official refugee decision, Dhadwal realized that the bulk of the people Canada would be welcoming were women. “The first thing that came to my mind was, what are they going to do when their time of the month comes? I mean some women are bed-ridden when this happens. I can’t imagine how much harder not having these products would make their already bad situation.”

Access to feminine hygiene products in Canada received significant attention over the past year, with people advocating for the removal of the “tampon tax,” which charged GST on items like pads and tampons.

Those arguing for the removal of the tax suggested that these products should be perceived as fundamentally necessary, and the government announced that on July 1 the “tampon tax” would be removed. It’s a similar argument for realizing that these products are also needed for refugees.

Dhadwal believes that it is part of our responsibility as Canadian citizens, then, that the people we are offering shelter to have similar access to the necessity of pads and tampons.

She argues that women in particular should speak up about these needs, and not be afraid to raise awareness towards the topic of periods.

“Women understand each other,” she says. “We know first-hand how uncomfortable bringing this up could make some of us. it’s up to the rest of us to reach out and do something about it.”

Though Dhadwal is still working out the logistics of how she is going to carry out her project, she says that students should be able to expect a donation box sometime in the next month. Once available, people will able to make either a cash or product deposit.

“It would be great if the donations could be actual boxes, as those will be easier to transfer than individual pads or tampons,” says Dhadwal. “After all the donations are collected, I’ll go to the Muslim Friendship Center off of King George Avenue and give it all to them. The people that work or volunteer there are extremely involved with the Syrian refugee efforts.”

The complete effort will involve promoting Dhadwal’s initiative via social media campaigning, as well as flyer distribution, crowdfunding, and postering on all four of Kwantlen’s campuses.

Dhadwal believes that part of living in a community means giving back to those who less privileged than you. “I feel like it’s important because you create a connection with people who are different from you.

For example, when I go to give the refugees these products, I could interact with them and see what is happening in the real world in real time,” she says.

Students looking to follow Dhadwal’s example and help ensure that the needs of the incoming refugees are met can begin by making similar donations to the recently founded Muslim Student Association, or by talking to the KSA about how to give back to the community.

“A lot of people just don’t know where to start, or how to help a cause that matters to them,” says Dhadwal. “The easiest way is to help is to find someone who’s already doing something about that cause and join them.”

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The Perks of Joining a Club Potential for support network beneficial for mental health Kyle Prince & Monica Mah CONTRIBUTORS

Humans are, at heart, social animals.

It comes as no surprise that we tend to gather in groups, that we seek communities and use them to help define who we are. The Kwantlen Gaming Guild, Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s largest student club in terms of membership, provides this sense of belonging for its members, allowing them to congregate over their shared affiliation for gaming.

As Tanvir Singh, the KGG’s vicepresident, puts it, “We’ve noticed that a lot of people in the club have come for a community to be themselves.” He also speaks to the stigma that surrounds gaming culture, and those who indulge in it.

On the Richmond campus, for example, there wasn’t a specific space for gamers, so the KGG would gather wherever they could find room. Unfortunately, this led to confrontations with other students who would try to force people to relocate through intimidation, or attempt to demean the gamers as they walked by. This could, in part, explain how the group became so tight-knit—by joining an open and accepting community, one that, rather than judging them for their interests, actually embraced their love of gaming, members could feel a sense of nurturing

within the Guild.

According to Singh, there are some members of the Guild who came to them feeling like outcasts, and even a few who admitted to feeling suicidal before joining. “It’s not the club in and of itself, it’s the community. These people are able to use their common thing—the one thing that brought everyone together was gaming—and help [those with suicidal thoughts] get through their depression, or whatever it was at the time.”

While no one in the Gaming Guild has the qualifications to offer serious psychological help to people suffering from depression, the community they offer can help bolster a depressed person’s spirits, or offer them a respite from an otherwise stress-filled environment.

“We’ve kind of evolved into a group that really cares about each other,” says Singh.

Richard LeGrand, a psychology instructor at KPU, thinks the social connections people make in the Gaming Guild, as well as other oncampus groups, are a great resource for students, whether they’re suffering from depression or not. “There’s a lot of research to suggest that whenever it comes to mental health, one of the most important things is a strong social network and communication,” he says.

LeGrand does caution, though, that a sense of community alone is not enough to disregard professional help. “There’s nothing wrong

with talking to people about your problems—my concern would be if people are offering advice when they don’t have the proper background.”

There are resources available where students can seek professional help with a plethora of issues they might be facing. There are counsellors right here at Kwantlen who can be a tremendous help in either working through a problem themselves or refer you to someone with a proper background in your area. “It’s one thing to be talking about it with other people, but you should probably be going to see a doctor about it [if it’s serious],” says LeGrand.

Jennifer Lingbaoan, one of the coordinators for the Peer Support program, a group dedicated to offering Kwantlen students access to support and community resources, also agrees that the Guild’s social connections can be a real benefit for students going through a difficult period in their lives. “The KGG provides that sort of space where, at least right now, the individuals involved know that there is a safe space they can go to,” she says.

While the Peer Support program hopes to be able to work with groups such as the Gaming Guild and other organizations across Kwantlen, the end goal is to have those groups approach them, and let them know about student members who might need their help.

Singh provides a specific example of how his club has helped at least one student through some troubled times, though he withholds the student’s name for privacy. Singh claims that this student had a difficult time throughout high school, ostracized by most, which Singh believes is common amongst gamers. Since joining the Gaming Guild, however, this student has “opened up,” and bonded with other Guild members over their love of gaming, which has helped lower his anxiety and overall sadness.

“A lot of the people in the room don’t have classes today,” says Singh, referring to the other gamers occupying the clubs/social justice room in the Birch building. “They just come in on their days off and they come whenever they can because they know this is a place where they can go to play video games and not get yelled at for being home all day.”

Members of the Gaming Guild have discussed the idea of referring students to the Peer Support program if someone in their club is open about their mental illness, or if they simply have a problem they don’t feel they can contend with. The Peer Support program, for their part, are also open to sending students who seek their help to a club like the Gaming Guild if they believe that person

would benefit from a supportive social atmosphere.

“We would love that,” says Singh.

“Problem is, none of us are experts on it. I’m actually a psychology student so I know that the requirements of that individual would need to be quite high.”

LeGrand also cites the Kwantlen Psychology Society as another student-led resource for anyone looking to talk with someone about their problems. As the KPS is largely made up of upper-level psychology students, they are more likely to have experience in helping people or, at least, assisting people in finding the help they need.

While joining a student club and finding friends is only one small step in addressing your social or mental health, LeGrand reaffirms the notion that this small step could still be greatly beneficial. “Imagine someone is suffering from depression or anxiety disorder,” she says, “Joining in the Gaming Guild would be fantastic in terms of interacting with others, getting a social network, and learning to talk about their feelings. I think that’s really important.”

Scott McLelland

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Are Trudeau’s refugee numbers for 2015 reasonable?

Refugee assistance money is less than you think Aida Garcia

CONTRIBUTOR Before this year’s election, the Liberal’s political campaign was already stirring the country. Between promises of legalizing of marijuana, new laws on doctorassisted suicide, and the possible repealing of Bill C-51, anyone would agree that Trudeau had his work cut out for him. Not everyone knew about Trudeau’s ambitious refugee plan, much less the scale of it, but November’s terror attacks in Paris changed that forever. The attacks were picked up by news channels across the world, and social media channels—especially Twitter—gave the world’s audiences the first glimpses of the destruction that ensued that fateful Friday night.

By the end of the night, France’s President François Hollande, along with other key heads of state, were in the process of delivering mournful speeches to the masses.

In Canada, Justin Trudeau addressed “our French cousins” and provided words of reassurance,

hope, and a promise to Canadians that our government would do anything it could to guarantee us our safety. Unsurprisingly, a cloud of concern began to emerge shortly afterwards, and citizens from all around Canada wondered whether, in light of these recent events, Trudeau’s plan still stood.

According to an interview with Trudeau from CTV News, there are no plans to slow down the refugee plan, which involves the resettlement of 25,000 war refugees. According to Chris Friesen, a member of the Canadian Immigration Settlement Services, most Canadians would agree that while our PM’s intentions are good, the timing poses a safety concern. On that same note, Canada’s former chair of the Immigration Board states that only five per cent of refugees qualify for resettlement in Canada after our current screening programs are completed. Not only that, but lone, desperate refugees are the perfect targets for extremist groups, and the more we hold out on receiving them, the fainter their hopes for a

peaceful alternative become. We must remember that the Syrian war has been affecting thousands of people for over four years now, and the Middle East has been a hotbed for violence and political instability for much longer.

Aside from safety concerns, there is the argument that bringing over Trudeau’s current refugee numbers will translate into a larger amount of taxpayer money not being invested in much needed services for Canadians. A common thread in social media that illustrates this worry speaks to the unfairness with regards to the amount of public aid that Canadian refugees get in contrast to Canadian retirees.

According to the Government of Canada’s website, claiming that retirees receive substantially less public aid than refugees is not only false but also an argument without factual consideration.

The initial thread, according to a blog by Canadian Business, reads: “The federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890, as well as $580 in social assistance...

Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!” The problem with this statement is that it mistakenly assumes that the cumulative $2,560 will be given out to refugees each month. The government’s website however clarifies that this sum of money is meant to be a “startup, one-time payment.”

Furthermore, the amount of money that refugees will be able to expect is based on provincial social assistance rates.

The reality is that Canada still struggles with a variety of different issues, from an increasing amount of homelessness to the dreadful situation regarding the unresolved murders of indigenous women—however, as Canadians we must not forget that a lot of what makes our country so successful and well received

in the global community is directly related to our values of acceptance, tolerance and equality across cultures.

Trudeau’s promise of bringing over 25,000 refugees will absolutely need to be based on our government’s abilities to meet this goal—not just on a campaign-led promise. However, it is important to highlight that these mostly Syrian refugees have been seeking asylum since the war started. We need to demand that our government have the safety of Canadians as their primary objective. As for us, we need to consider that every single human being deserves to have a secure place to live, and that there’s nothing wrong with helping one another when we’re in a time of need.

Patrick Marioné

Alberta NDP government seeks to lead in green initiatives Could carbon taxes improve Canadian influence on the international stage?

Louis Marta-Widjaja CONTRIBUTOR

Danielle George

Environmental concerns were amongst the most hotly debated topics amidst Canada’s 2015 national election, and in the end the Conservatives’ monotonous defense fell on deaf ears. Canadians have shown a proactive interest in maintaining responsible environmental policies, and in the case of BC we have proven ourselves capable of shouldering the burden of carbon taxes, regardless of the economy. On Nov. 22, Alberta implemented its own carbon taxes, with ambitious goals to start leading in clean energy initiatives.

The carbon tax plan is not, however, without criticism. Albertabased Wildrose party leader Brian Jean claims that the NDP’s decision to shut down 18 coal-based power plants in Alberta could lead to “the most dramatic power price spike in Alberta history.” In doubt of the Alberta carbon tax plan, Jean adds that in BC the carbon tax plan had worked because the Government levied lower income taxes, offsetting the increasing costs of gasoline and heating.

The carbon tax plan is set to cost Alberta citizens $500 extra annually to acquire gas for heating or transportation, the figure does not account for electricity or effects of the carbon tax on other goods.

Though the NDP has created an adjustment fund from what mon-

ey is collected from the tax, there is concern that the money will not flow back to Alberta households.

In announcing the plan last month, Premier of Alberta Rachel Notley confirms that, further down the road, the government may consider using portions of the carbon tax to pay portions of the provincial debt—though not right away, as the economy is currently in a fragile position. Notley adds that “low and middle-income Albertans will experience not that much pain,” adding further that those who act in anticipation of the tax could even experience gain when rebates are mailed out.

The provincial government of Alberta has chosen not to introduce income tax cuts like those seen in BC because they believe revenue neutrality doesn’t encourage people to lower their use of gas or electricity. There are a lot of prices to pay to set an example in leadership, and Alberta might just have their plates full. As the province leading the oil and gas industry in Canada, this demands a drastic and sudden change, perhaps undeservedly to the average family household.

As unrelenting as the tax may be—at least, in comparison to BC’s—a portion of the tax proceeds will be funding clean energy technology and research, as well as public transit and programs to reduce Alberta’s energy usage. The stakes are high, but is the reward?

Besides helping to improve the

environment, on the international stage it just might be a recuperating element in Canada’s global influence.

During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Justin Trudeau held his first formal meeting since becoming Prime Minister with President Obama. Canada’s international influence in clean energy received a second wind because of the ambitious standards we have set for ourselves. Obama refers to Trudeau with a regard seemingly higher than Harper’s, saying, “The fact is we now have a very strong partner in Canada.”

Obama’s refusal of the Keystone XL pipeline project was rooted in environmental concerns, expressing doubt in the transport of “dirty” oil from Alberta across the United States. A dedication to clean environmental policy in today’s world could be essential to large trade agreements with our allies and neighbors. Harper’s Government sought the situation from the eyes of a shrewd businessman, calling the deal a “nobrainer.” Now, with a new Canadian government to work with, it’s clear that President Obama was not just looking for a good deal— he was looking for an environmentally responsible deal as well.

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Going Global Burma/Myanmar and the Rohingya Tristan Johnston COLUMNIST

Burma is a country with two names, calling it by one or the other can be a political statement in itself. Its other name is Myanmar, which it took after a military coup back in 1962. The military continues to rule the country to this day, but its grip may be loosening.

Burma has a troubled history.

From the mid-1800’s to 1948, the country was a colony of Great Britain, and during WWII, the country was seized by the Japanese for its strategic position. Soon after the war, Burma gained its independence from the British, which was negotiated by Aung San, the founder of the modern Burmese military and father of Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma’s real troubles began in 1962, when the Burmese army, led by Ne Win, seized the country’s parliament and dissolved it, as well as suspended the constitution. He claimed that Burma wasn’t yet suited to parliamentary democracy, and installed his own party, the Burma Socialist Program Party.

Many of the rules and laws enforced were bizarre. Ne Win and

the other generals being superstitious, ordered the state mint to only make bank notes that were divisible by nine. This meant that bank notes with values of 50 and 100 kyat were rendered useless overnight, which ruined the savings of millions. New 45 and 90 kyat banknotes were introduced.

This ruined the economy even further, culminating with a U.N. designation of Burma as a “least developed country.” Ne Win was so superstitious that he would trample on meat in the mirror, then shoot his reflection believing that it would prevent an assassination attempt.

These are minor issues, compared to the low standard of living and lack of civil liberties in the country, but this could be changing. Burma held an election in November, with Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, winning an outright majority. Unfortunately, due to the remaining paranoia of the military, they still retain 25 per cent of seats by law, and conveniently, a law passed by the military government bars Aung San from being the actual president, as she was once married to a non-Burmese man and has non-Burmese children.

Many of these issues are some-

what well known on the world stage. What many often forget is that an internal conflict has been taking place in Burma ever since the British left. And while the Syrian Civil War has produced millions of refugees, there are hundreds of thousands as a result of the various internal problems in Burma.

According to the CIA World Factbook, only 68 per cent of Burma’s population is ethnically Burmese. The remainder are Karen, Shan, Mon, and other ethnicities, and many of them are being persecuted by the military government at any given time.

As you might expect, many of these minority groups are culturally and linguistically unique and follow different religions. While the Burmese majority follow Theravada Buddhism, the Rohingya, for instance, are Muslim, and are also among the most persecuted by the Burmese military.

For them, trouble started in the 1940’s, as the Rohingya were loyal to the British, and this came back to bite them after Burma was granted independence from the British. Along with India splitting up, many Muslims fled India to Burma, which wasn’t liked by the new Burmese leadership.

The Burmese government doesn’t consider them to be citizens, and they’re forbidden by law from having more than two children, receiving an education, owning property, or travelling.

Some have described the Rohingya as the “world’s most unwanted people,” as some countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand, have turned their boats away.

Danielle George

Runner Run-Down: The Kurds Who are the Kurds in the Syrian Civil War? Alyssa Laube CONTRIBUTOR

The Kurds are a Middle Eastern ethnic group that descended from the Iranian people. They are not united by a specific language or religion—though many follow Sunni Islam—but they do share a race and culture. Indigenous to the plains and highlands of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Armenia, the Kurds mainly live in an unofficial state by the name of Kurdistan today.

Their efforts to actualize Kurdistan as an autonomous state have been ongoing for generations, with considerable turmoil and

bloodshed to show for it. They have been repressed and attacked by various governments for decades, particularly after rallying for autonomy.

The idea of Kurds having their own state arose in the early twentieth century. Western allies agreed to the official establishment of Kurdistan in the post-WWI treaty, the Treaty of Sevres, but it was never formed due to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The latter failed to acknowledge Kurdistan and the Kurds, and therefore they were separated as minorities into other countries.

The Kurds been fighting for their state ever since, but there

is only one semi-autonomous region to-date: Iraqi Kurdistan, which borders Iran, Turkey, and Syria and is run by the Kurdistan Regional Government. More independence is desired by Kurds across the Middle East.

So where do they come into the Syrian Civil War? The Kurds, for the most part, are battling ISIS in the ongoing conflict in Syria. The armed conflict between ISIS and the Kurds began in 2012, when the two sides started fighting over ownership of the Syrian city, Ras al-Ayn. The conflict stretched on without a definite winner until July, when the Kurds expelled ISIS and took control of the border

crossing to Turkey.

Since then, similar battles have been taking place between the two forces. Like most wars, they are competing for power and territory.

On an international scale, the Syrian Kurds have received weapons and air support from the U.S., Canada, Britain, and France. Of course, Iraqi Kurdistan and the Turkish Kurds have also provided assistance. The U.S. is helping the Kurds solely in their fight against ISIS, but will likely withdraw if they attempt to recede from the Iraqi state. This is because a Kurdish autonomous state would mean that America’s long-developed relationship to Iraq would be split.

It’s somewhat of a paradox, seeing as part of the reason why the Kurds are fighting ISIS is for land and control, which they could then use to gain autonomy. In any case, for now they will continue to receive American military support.

It is impossible to say who has the upper hand in the Syrian Civil War, but the Kurds have reclaimed most of the territory that ISIS took from them. While they also oppose the horrific crimes committed by Assad and his regime, they are only in active combat with the jihadists.

Black Sea

ARMENIA Caspian Sea

TURKEY

SYRIA

Kurdish-inhabited Area

IRAN IRAQ Percy Yeung

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Artist Spotlight Rock, Physics, and Butt Touches: An Interview with Destructive Interference Alyssa Laube CONTRIBUTOR

Rock n’ roll and physics don’t usually collide—but they did for Destructive Interference, a fourpiece band living on the North Shore. The group got the idea for their name while at practice, thanks to frontman Derek Lionas’ extensive scientific knowledge.

“One day we were jamming and the note I was playing sound-

ed super weird with what Charlie [Cole, guitarist and vocalist] was doing,” says Lionas. “There was a lot of dissonance and then it got quieter even though our amps were super loud. Charlie was like, ‘That was weird,’ but it was just destructive interference. It’s a physics term I learned in university. If two waves come at each other at opposite and equal wavelengths and frequencies, they’ll cancel out.”

Cole chuckles. “One time I told my buddy about the name and he

Courtesy of Destructive Interference

was like, ‘So what, you go up onstage and don’t make any noise?”

Lionas and Cole both cover guitar and lead vocals, splitting the latter depending on who wrote the lyrics to the song being performed. Bassist Adam Rosenberg, who’s been there from the beginning, picked up his instrument for the first time just to join the band.

A year into their existence, Trevor Stockdale became the fourth drummer to play for Destructive Interference.

“Hopefully he’s here to stay. We definitely connect on a friendship level,” says Lionas.

For Lionas, Cole, Rosie and Stockdale, “This is everyone’s first official, solid band.” They’re finished recording their first EP, Touch my Butt, but have yet to complete the mixing and mastering. In any case, it will be released sometime within the next year, proudly bearing its absurd title.

“Across from the alley behind the studio where we recorded it, there was graffiti on the wall. One of them said ‘Touch my butt.’ And that was that,” states Lionas.

“Parents will be outraged.

Teachers will be offended. It’ll be great,” Stockdale predicts.

The EP will contain four originals and two covers. “Calgary”, “Greece”, “Your Fellow Man” and

Courtesy of Destructive Interference “Shitty Hair” are those written by the band, and their renditions of “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” by Queens of the Stone Age and “Gimme the Loot” by Biggie Smalls will also be making the tracklist.

Destructive Interference describes their sound as “hard blues grunge rock.” Their hesitance to stick to one genre can be attributed to their diverse and eclectic sound, which makes every song stylistically different from the rest. An example would be the bluesy melodic rhythm of “Greece” as compared to the fast-paced punk feel of songs like “Calgary”. Similarly, on an unreleased “jazz punk” track titled “Hey”, the band discloses that there’s a “crazy ska, reggae-style breakdown” at the end.

“You’re never going to get the same song out of us twice,” says Lionas, and it’s true—subscribing

to no particular label means that the band’s not afraid to experiment. In fact, they spend the entire month of November writing brand new material. If all goes according to plan, those songs will make up their eventual debut LP, which could potentially lead to a tour.

That’s the goal, but for now, Destructive Interference is working on writing, practicing, and getting their EP out They’re also looking to play more house shows to appeal to an all-ages audience. “Plus, you can really connect to the audience when you’re partying with them,” says Rosenberg.

Cole continues, “Kids love live shows, too. I mean, what else are you going to do when you’re 16 on a weekend? For us, it’s less about the money and more about getting the name out.”

cess that involves injecting water into the Earth’s surface at a high pressure to acquire natural gas.

It’s a process that is thought to use massive amounts of water; statistics show 300 to 500 billion litres used annually. In comparison, cattle are consuming 170 billion litres in water resources every day, and this is not including the water that is used to produce their crops.

To produce one pound of beef, it takes a whopping 9,500 litres of water.

As water runs low, the environment begins to dry up, leading to an increase in the number of forest fires. As the planet warms up, the polar ice caps begin to melt, leading to loss in landmass.

As farm animals are gorging themselves on 50 per cent of the Earth’s grains and legumes, impoverished nations continue to face devastating famine.

Most discussions surrounding climate change propose the solution of converting from oil and gas to wind and solar power, but the full transition would take over 20 years and would cost over $40 trillion. Although the transition will be a great investment for the planet, by reducing meat and dairy consumption, we can make a significant impact more efficiently, and more economically.

Science Explained Food for thought: unsustainable agriculture Danica Johnston CONTRIBUTOR

When we think of climate change we tend to think about wasting power, taking long showers, landfills, oil drilling, fracking, and greenhouse gas emissions produced by transportation. There is a misconception that these practices constitute the most significant contributions to our warming planet.

Animal agriculture is a controversial topic—the meat and dairy industries are easily some of the most powerful on Earth. As their unsustainable and unethical practices gain widespread attention, their profits become prone to negative public backlash, and since they are so powerful, they can easily go to great lengths to portray a deceptive view of their operations.

Animal agriculture is the mass production of animals, primarily cows, pigs, chickens, and fish, for animal-products such as meat, dairy, and eggs. Its dramatic impacts include greenhouse gas emissions, ocean dead zones, deforestation, habitat destruction, habitat extinction, and heavy water usage.

The average cow lives approx-

imately two years of its 25 to 30 year life span before slaughter. In this time, it consumes a lot of food and water, and produces a lot of GHGs and excrement, which continues to burden the planet even after the cow is slaughtered.

Specifically, in the USA, farm animals for food produce 3-million kilograms of excrement a minute. Their excrement causes dead zones, meanwhile, their GHGs contribute to global warming.

Dead zones are regions in the ocean that have very low oxygen concentration, which causes all marine life to suffocate. Dead zones can occur naturally, but cattle excrement is the leading cause. Cattle are producing three times as much waste as humans, and typically when it rains, the excrement moves into the ocean, causing these dead zones.

When we talk about climate change, we often think of global warming. Greenhouse gases have the ability to trap the sun’s energy in the form of heat in the atmosphere, thus increasing the overall temperature. The global temperature is increasing, and the arctic is warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world. The repercussions include species extinction, and will eventually lead to a loss of Earth’s landmass. In the

same way that the liquid in a glass of ice water increases in height as the ice melts, the water levels on Earth will also rise. Landmass will gradually perish if global warming continues to increase at its current rate.

Farm animals take up a lot of space, and so do their food crops – together, they take up 45 per cent of the Earth’s land mass. The lush Amazon rainforest is quickly disappearing as one to two acres are destroyed every second – over 90 per cent of this destruction is for animal agriculture grazing. Once known for its biodiversity, thousands of plant and animal species are going extinct every month due to loss of habitat.

As the human population continues to grow, so does the need to feed people. Meanwhile, there are 70 billion farm animals to feed, and they are consuming 60 billion kilograms of food a day. To put this into perspective, humans consume nine billion kilograms of food worldwide everyday.

As if the vast resources required to produce a relatively small yield of animal products are not already astounding, animal agriculture may also be a contributing factor to the world water crisis. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a pro-

Hailey Logan

Procrastination

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Horoscopes

SUDOKU Medium

6 3 9 9 4 6 3 7 9 1 7 5 4 8 1 5 5 8 7 2 1 9 5 3 5 6

Previous solution - Easy

4 9 8 6 3 5 2 1 7

© 2011 Syndicated Puzzles, Inc.

No. 136

1 7 6 8 4 2 3 9 5

2 3 5 7 9 1 6 4 8

3 1 2 9 5 8 4 7 6

6 5 4 3 1 7 8 2 9

7 8 9 4 2 6 5 3 1

5 4 1 2 8 9 7 6 3

9 2 7 5 6 3 1 8 4

8 6 3 1 7 4 9 5 2

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

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org

Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec21

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19

It’s 3 a.m. and you’re looking up videos of people yawning on YouTube.

Congratulations on the super sweet life you’re living.

Randomly punctuate whatever you’re talking about by shouting “BEES?!!?” after every third word. That is how to win friends and influence people.

When the police finally break down your door they’ll find nothing but a photograph of the Pope shaking hands with Drake and the word “Illuminati???” scribbled in lipstick beneath.

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

Your humbling will be biblical.

You are an unstoppable, Twinkieeating goblin and I challenge anyone in this Wal-Mart to question that assertion.

Give a man a Phish and he’ll have music for a day. Teach a man to Phish and he’ll have weed and shitty jam sessions that go on for like, ever, man.

If you like Sudoku you’ll really like ‘Str8ts’ and our other puzzles, Apps and books. Visit www.str8ts.com

The solutions will be published here in the next issue.

CROSSWORD

Down

1. Fine-tune 2. Muslim leader 3. Action word 4. Shut in 5. Droop, sink 6. Ask for divine guidance 7. Leaves out 8. Bicycle built for two 9. Pardon

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23

Ma’am, you’ve got to get out of there! The flies are all part of the ritual, their The call is coming from inside the baby! familiar hum swirling around you as the smell permeates your clothes, hair, your very skin.

Across

1. Busy place 5. Dick and Jane’s dog 9. Gillette brand 13. Predictive sign 14. Destiny 15. Golda of Israel 16. Bust maker 17. Encore!

18. Dresden denial 19. Symbol 21. Pay stub abbr.

22. “___ quam videri” (North Carolina’s motto) 23. “My fault!”

25. Hardens 27. Greek dish 31. Fingerless hand cover 35. Novel ending 36. Bell-shaped flower 38. Checking out 39. Frat letter 40. ___ once 42. Shooting marble 43. String quartet instrument 46. Currency of Turkey, and formerly of Italy 47. Ornamental fabric 48. Ring of color 50. Pregnant 52. Concert halls 54. WWII battle site 55. Prepare a stamp 58. Monopoly quartet: Abbr.

60. Complete 64. How sweet ___!

65. Old French expression meaning “goodbye” 67. Actress McClurg 68. Evening, informally 69. Bottom line 70. Close with force 71. Child support?

72. Formerly, formerly 73. Big rig

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

God is a hard man to find.

Aug 24 - Sept 23

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22

If your birthday is today: You are the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. Just, not the Genghis Khan you’re thinking of.

Your spirit animal: A viking-level metal head who, instead of using “Stayin’ Alive” to keep the beat in hands-only CPR, throat-sings “Master of Puppets”.

You live in that terrible moment of confusion when you can’t tell which phrase is the band’s name and which is the title of their album.

Virgo

10. Driving aids 11. Reformer Jacob 12. “Judith” composer 14. Capital of Uganda 20. Goddess of dawn in Greek mythology 24. Dexterity 26. No-win situation 27. Birthplace of Muhammad 28. Alternate 29. Functional 30. Kate & ___ 32. Saturn’s largest moon 33. Put into law 34. Monetary unit of Zambia 37. Tall tales 41. Diplomatic 44. Quick visual inspection 45. Ancient 47. Pride woman 49. Add fizz 51. Actor Wallach 53. Zeal 55. Chain piece 56. Pack ___ (quit) 57. Quote 59. Poses 61. Twiddling one’s thumbs 62. Former name of Thailand 63. Prefix with sphere 66. Chow down

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23