Ryerson Free Press: May 2010

m ay 2010

S.T.F.U.?

G8. G20.

IMMIGRANT RIGHTS. WORKERS’ RIGHTS. FAIR DRUG COSTS. Canadians refuse to listen to Senator Nancy Ruth’s advice

NEWS

Community and Labour Groups in Halifax Mobilize Against the G8

By Suzanne MacNeil

While the G8 Development Ministers prepared to meet in Halifax, the Halifax grassroots mobilized.

As the ministers prepared for meetings and discussions behind closed doors, a colourful, festive community-based opposition to the G8 rallied in their city’s public spaces.

Had it not been for the speeches in the public parks, the large Sunday afternoon march in Halifax’s downtown streets, and an early Monday morning picket, the G8 Development Ministers’ meeting in Nova Scotia would have gone largely undetected by the public.

The “G8 Welcoming Committee,” as the protesting coalition named itself, included representation from organized labour unions, First Nations groups, student organizations, women’s groups, and environmental networks.

In a letter to Halifax newspaper the Chronicle Herald, Canada’s development minister Bev Oda wrote enthusiastically about Canada’s role among the world’s most powerful countries: “Canada has always stood for providing the opportunity for a better life to people from other parts of the world.” While Oda and the other G8 Development Ministers will be addressing the theme of maternal health at the urging of Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper, a local women’s group criticized the handling of the issue.

Kaley Kennedy, a representative for the newly-formed group Feminist League for Agitation and Propaganda (FLAP), criticized the G8 and Harper for their narrowly focused approach to maternal health. “Where are the G8 leaders when women, many of them mothers, are raped, tortured, and/or killed at work, whether they’re working in Maquiladoras in Mexico or doing sex work in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside?” asked Kennedy.

Kennedy also reprimanded Harper and the other G8 leaders for not considering family planning and abortion as part of the maternal health framework. She cited Canada’s funding cut to the International Planned Parenthood Federation as an example.

The Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council called attention to the overall role the G8 plays in determining the fate of the global economy. Kyle Buott, President of the Labour Council, addressed the protesters with a statement on behalf of the 26,000 affiliated member workers: “The G8 countries are responsible, through the economic policies they pushed on the rest of the world, for the recession that is wrecking the lives of billions of people on this planet.

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“The economic and social policies of the G8 are directly responsible for reducing the standard of living for millions of workers in Canada, and for causing the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us.”

The Labour Council’s current campaign, Capitalism isn’t Working for Workers, was formed in response to the global economic crisis. The march of several hundred participants on the afternoon of Sunday April 25 ended in Halifax’s Cornwallis Park, named after the infamous first Governor of Halifax, Edward Cornwallis, who issued a bounty in 1749 for each Mi’kmaq scalp collected. As the rally participants arrived at the destination, two protesters covered the statue with a sheet fastened with electrical tape. At the base of the monument, they posted a makeshift sign reading “Halifax Peace and Freedom Park,” with “Cornwallis Genocide Park” in crossed-out red letters.

The first three speeches under the sheathed monument included First Nations representatives, who each spoke about how colonial notions of development have harmed both people and the environment. Jada Voyageur from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation talked about how the community at Fort Chipewyan was impacted by the Tar Sands operation.

The community, she said, suffers from rare cancers. The nearby tailings ponds leak into the Athabasca River. “But it’s difficult,” she said, “when the only jobs available for the people are in the Tar Sands project…It limits people in how they can speak out.”

A smaller information picket was held Monday, April 21 at 7 am. A group of about 50 participants marched along Marginal Road towards Pier 21 (where the G8 development ministers were beginning their meetings) before being stopped by police lines. Despite the smaller size of the early morning group, a heavy police presence descended upon the picketers and the surrounding streets. Toni McAfee, Atlantic Region Education and Organization Officer with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), was arrested as the police herded protesters onto a small stretch of sidewalk shortly after 8 am. MacAfee was released from police custody in the late afternoon.

The Halifax chapter of Food Not Bombs was on site at both the Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning events to serve sandwiches, soup, and snacks to the demonstrators.

Despite the arrest, protesters remained in good spirits and felt the demonstrations, rallies and marches were successful.

Ryerson Free Press The monthly newspaper for continuing education, distance education and part-time students at Ryerson Address Suite SCC-301 Ryerson Student Centre 55 Gould Street Toronto, ON CANADA M5B 1E9

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Fixing the TTC

By Michael Hiscock

Email ryersonfreepress@gmail. com

Website WWW.ryersonfreepress.ca

Editor-In-Chief Nora Loreto

News Editor James burrows

Features and Opinions Editor The dead-eyed collector turns his gaze away from his newspaper to watch a token fall into its box. Riders force their way through a turnstile and race onto the platform where a screeching subway grinds into the station. The door chimes sound and the people flood into the already crowded subway. The feeble and weak are pushed aside and left behind, unable to compete. The train doesn’t get very far before it suddenly stops sending several riders toppling over. An inaudible announcement with intermittent static interruptions comes on to explain the problem.

For a lot of Torontonians, this is their average morning; the freefor-all jungle of the TTC during rush hour. Riders and transit employees have held a silent tension that has only cranked its volume since employees were photographed or videotaped misbehaving on the job. The public finally got the chance to vent their rush-hour stresses to the TTC in a series of meetings that are aimed at bringing the staff and riders together to ease the tension. The final of the three meetings took place in Ryerson’s library building.

“I think both the public and the [transit] operators need to stop taking their frustrations out on each other,” said Bob Kinnear, president of ATU local 113. “We have more in common than we don’t.”

A lot of the problems that bother riders, it turns out, also bother the transit employees. Besides Kinnear, there were four panellists representing the different spectrums of front-line employees within the TTC. That nails on chalkboard sound of a subway pulling into the station?

That drives subway operators nuts. Janet Weller, who has been a subway operator for the last ten years, became so bothered by the sound she decided to find out what causes it. Turns out that awful sound is caused by temperature change combined with small microscopic fibres being rubbed off the break pads.

“I hear that squeaking twelve hours a day,” she said.

Toronto has the least subsidized transit system in the world and it is beginning to show. Employees are coming to work ready to start their route and are given no vehicle to operate because it is broken or on another route. The employees stressed throughout the meeting that they are trying to do their jobs effectively but lack the supplies and equipment to do so.

Ron Ishmael, who has worked as a bus driver for 13 years, has been a frequent victim of these problems. The panel of employees unanimously stated that their transit fleet is aging and not being replaced, while Toronto’s population only continues to grow.

“We’re picking up more people with less vehicles,” said Brian Howard, who has been a bus driver for 11 years.

There are fewer street-cars on Toronto roads now than there were 20 years ago.

While transit operators become angry about a lack of, well, transit, 40 per cent of the people who showed up to the meeting voted through an automated poll that they felt mistreated by a front-line employee “often.” That portion of the audience made themselves known. When it came down to the last few question cards to be drawn (to speak at the meeting, you must put your name on a card that will be drawn from a hat) people began to holler at the stage.

While the panel was taking a question, a man yelled “you’re hogging the whole meeting! You did it at the last two, too!” This man was Mark Tilley, 74, and it was only two minutes after hollering that line that his name was drawn.

“I’m not here to be friendly, let’s just get that out of the way now,” he said when it came to his turn. His comment compared the current fare to 1969 when it was four-for-a dollar and he said the service should be PHOTO: Buddahbless/FLICKR

better now that it costs three dollars for one fare. He probably forgot to consider inflation in his equation.

Another man in the same age group rose up to ask his question starting it out at: “Do you bus drivers know how to read English?” Even after they had tried answering his question he continued to point and yell from his seat. A final woman stood up demanding she show the panel pictures she took and the crowd yelled at her to sit down.

Despite the few outbursts, the meeting conducted itself well on both ends. I have to say, being a bit of a TTC hater myself, the employees behaved perfectly. Kinnear promised that there will be new programs to train customer service to a higher degree to transit staff. One consideration to promote communication is to place suggestion boxes at TTC stations.

According to the participants of the meeting, overcrowding and a lack of communication about delays and problems are the highest priority, non-employee issues. The overcrowding should be somewhat relieved due to the new Metrolinx street-cars that will be accompanying what is left of Transit City. When it comes to communication, the panel said they are often uninformed of what exactly is going on either other than what they inform the passengers.

While fare has not been a significant concern at these meetings, it is responsible for 90 per cent of passenger/employee conflict.

“The TTC is the only place where people think they can walk into a business without the correct amount of money to purchase its products to ride the train - and still get them,” said Ishmael.

Anyone who takes public transit regularly has certainly seen at least one fare dispute taking place between a rider and an employee. Weller said a good solution would be to replace the collector with a gate or machine. If a gate asks for three-dollars and someone puts in two-fifty, there is no compromise, she said. It then becomes the rider’s fault for not having enough fare instead of the collector’s for not compromising.

The ultimate goal is to lower fares, however, said Kinnear. He said that AMU local 113 advocates for lower fares all the time and will continue to.

“We see it everyday, people scrounging up change to ride the train,” he said.

Kinnear criticized transit as being labelled a “cost” by Ontario and municipal politicians. He said transit is an investment, it generates revenue.

If this meeting proved anything, it’s that the tension between riders and workers is being caused by the same things. For a rider, the streetcar can be frustratingly late while the operator doesn’t even have one to take out. A “track-level problem” can shut down a subway station and force people on a shuttle bus, while in the meantime a subway operator might have just seen someone jump in front of their train. The lack of washrooms and their unsanitary conditions are another problem that both riders and employees deal with.

“We have to use some of the same washrooms as you do,” Weller said.

Toronto’s Transit Commission needs more transit and ultimately more money, that‘s where the real problem lies. Riders and workers need to stop bickering over student cards, nickels and dimes and start treating each other like human beings. The panel concluded by stating which routes they operated and advocated to continue communication even after the meeting. This will hopefully be a step in the right direction for the TTC to truly live up to its slogan and become “The better way.”

“I think it is important we have a system everyone can utilize and afford,” Kinnear said.

James Clark

Layout Editor Andrea Yeomans

Culture Editor amanda connon-unda

Photo Editor Dan Rios

Contributors joseph allchin nicole brewer james burrows Stephen carlick elizabeth chiang michael chu Amanda connon-unda michael hiscock Priyanka Jain graeme z. johnson Gursevak Kasbia suzanne macneil lian novak norman (Otis) richmond lakshine sathiyanathan CODI WILSON

Cover Photo EDWARD F. WONG c/o NO ONE IS ILLEGAL.CA

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Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 3

Black skin, yellow sun and red blood Lana Leslie discusses role of Indigenous Academics in Australia

By Elizabeth Chiang The colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag signify the skin, the sun, and, while some say the dirt, others say the blood that was spilled during colonization.

There is an inescapable undercurrent of racism and violence that saturates Australia’s history and it is only within the last few decades

that the academic world has turned its eye towards the ongoing repercussions of colonialism.

On April 21, the School of Social Work welcomed Lana Leslie to speak about the role of Indigenous academics in Australia. She is a Kamilaroi woman, an academic, a daughter, an aunt, a girlfriend, a

friend and, in the words of Ryerson professor Lynn Lavallée, “a huge fan of [the cereal] Cheerios.” A doctoral candidate in the Department of Indigenous Studies at McQuarrie University, Leslie specializes in the ongoing history of sport, recreation, and fitness in Indigenous communities. The lecture was well attended by several Master’s and PhD students and many School of Social Work faculty members.

The interactive talk featured a slideshow of images, maps, and quotes that helped bring Leslie’s message across. She stressed that all academics, Indigenous and nonIndigenous alike, needed to reflect on what motivates and drives oneself to continue to research in specialized fields. As a researcher and lecturer who studies Indigenous culture and is Indigenous by birthright, Leslie stated that the identity of “Indigenous teacher” is often assigned at the expense of all other identities that she holds.

According to a 2008 census, there were 237 Aboriginal/ Indigenous academics across all of Australia, compared to 29,957 non-Aboriginal/non-Indigenous academics. Professor Martin Nakata, the director of the Aboriginal Research Institute at the University of South Australia, stated that “thick skin and secure identities are essential job requirements,” because the challenges that Indigenous academics face not only come from fellow academics and students, but also from within the Indigenous community itself.

“The community challenges your relevance, your commitment and your reasons for doing what

you do,” said Leslie, who used the term ‘coconut’ to describe what Indigenous academics are often accused of: appearing dark-skinned on the outside, but having subscribed to the white academy on the inside.

Leslie’s father is Aboriginal and her mother is White; although she no longer lives in Kamilaroi country, she was “brought up as an Aboriginal person with Aboriginal world views. Funny enough, I’ve never been brought up to talk about my non-aboriginal side.”

She relates the story of how her parents met in their teens, but were prevented from seeing each other by extremely racist maternal grandparents.

This history of racism is something she cannot escape. “The Indigenous people of Australia, and other parts of the world, carry the historic trauma within themselves,” she said.

This responsibility to her history and culture is something Leslie feels is missing in contemporary society because “when the Elders put the call out for the next generation to step up, people in contemporary society say ‘oh, that’s not me’.”

Leslie was inspired by one of her students: a sixty nine year old community Elder who underwent a triple bypass during the school year, yet still handed in all assignments on time and graduated with honours. This woman persevered to get the education she was denied as a youth because she wanted young people of this generation to see that if she could do it, they could do it.

Leslie continues to teach and to re-

search because “I hear the call from my Elders and I want to provide for the upcoming generation.”

During the interactive portion of the presentation, participants were split into smaller groups and each group read about actual situations where Leslie faced censure from her peers because of her “Indigenousness.” The ensuing discussion generated a vigorous debate over whether subtle or brazen racism in academic settings is more prevalent. Oftentimes, culture becomes a silencer in an academic setting. The tension between “academic” and “Indigenous” is particularly evident in the face of direct and indirect forms of racist language and prejudices that are often encountered and ingrained within the accepted canon of university level study.

Several faculty members expressed frustration with the constant education that is needed to be done and asked whether there would ever be a time when “we would be allowed to just do our stuff?”

Leslie ended the lecture with a music video by Aboriginal artist Yothu Yindi. Indigenous groups have been lobbying since 1988, the bi-centennial of British settlement in Australia, for the Australian government to recognise the rights of Indigenous land owners and to formalise a treaty.

Yindi’s song “Treaty” was composed in protest of the failure of the Australian government to honour past promises. It’s over two decades since the promise of a treaty was broken and “we have no treaty yet,” said Leslie.

U of O spied on Activist students in 2007

By Joseph Allchin, Courtesy of Democratic Voice of Burma Ka Hsaw Wa is a Karen refugee. In Canada, a nation with some of the most stringent sanctions on Burma’s ruling generals, it has now been revealed that he and others were spied on by a university for having a meeting about his homeland.

Ka Hsaw Wa, one of the founding members of the USbased EarthRights International (ERI), was due to speak at the University of Ottawa, along with members of the Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB), about the French oil giant Total and its business activities in Burma, which include the Yadana pipeline project.

Rights groups have said that human rights violations have surrounded the project, accusations which landed Total in court, although the case was eventually settled out-ofcourt. The 5 December 2007 meeting was called ‘Burma Blood Profits: was Ottawa U’s Desmarais building paid for with cash tainted by the blood of innocent Burmese citizens?’

However, the university had other ideas. In an email dated 30 November 2007 circulated to colleagues by Victor Simon, University of Ottawa vice president for resources, he cautioned that “we should prohibit the use of our facilities for this event, on the grounds that the program material includes allegations and accusations that may be libelous . . .I know that this kind of action thinking flies in the face of many principles we hold dear in the University world, but I think we have others interests at stake here.”

The university was concerned because the building Ka Hsaw Wa was going to talk in, the new $15 million Desmarais building named after the family of the same name, was bankrolled by Paul G. Desmarais, who sat on the board of Total.

The information, disclosed to CFOB through a freedom

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of information request, “implicates a corporate interest at the university,” according to former Ottawa University student and now-prominent human rights lawyer, Yavar Hameed.

However, the release of this information was delayed for more than ten months as the university sought to prevent disclosure of their relationship and bias towards a benefactor.

“They tried everything they could to delay and prevent us from getting the documents. They said we couldn’t see the documents because of an attorney client privilege, but we eventually got that disclosed,” says Kevin McCleod, on the board of directors of CFOB. Despite Simon’s feeling that the action “flies in the face of many principles,” the university president, Giles Patry, as a result of the ‘other interests’ that Simon speaks of, suggests in the emails that “We should monitor to see if they [Ka Hsaw Wa et al] are exposing themselves with libelous comments.”

Indeed after the event, CFOB were suspicious of a number of members of the audience who, according to McCleod, “were acting rather strange…like writing down everything that was said – they really weirded people out.”

This prompted CFOB to request the access to information and, through multiple appeals and a previous case in which a professor was sacked based on evidence from a student spy from the university’s newspaper, they realised that the activities of discussing the impacts of large corporations on Burma was, as Hameed puts it, a “sore spot for the university administration”.

On receiving, drip by drip, the transcripts of the emails that senior university staff sent between each other, some with redacted areas, CFOB also came to learn that as re-

quested, the social networking site Facebook had been used to find out which students were attending the meeting. One message, sent on 30 November 2007 by Steve Bernique, assistant director of operations at the university, said “I love this programme [Facebook]! Now we know who is going to attend.”

A screen shot of the list was distributed amongst the higher echelons of the university as they discussed possible ways of blocking the event, including making use of university facilities out of the financial reach of groups such as ERI and CFOB. “I think it’s quite incomprehensible; I don’t understand the actions of any academic institution spying on students and the community expressing their academic right and freedom; it’s preposterous,” says Hameed. “It wasn’t clear to me who the spies were but all the same it was quite distressing that students could be induced or paid to spy on fellow students and human rights activities.”

One member of the audience had deeper reasons for feeling distressed: octogenarian Harvey Su is the oldest Karen refugee in Canada. He was “appalled” by the surveillance, a phenomenon he thought he had fled.

“Who are these University of Ottawa presidents, vice presidents and security staff working for exactly? The people of Ontario? Or are they working for the Desmarais family, the oil companies and the Burmese military regime? This I really want to know.”

He has since forbidden his grandchildren from attending the University of Ottawa and called for the resignation of the chancellor of ‘Canada’s university,’ as their slogan goes.

The University of Ottawa was unavailable for comment.

PHOTO: ELIZABETH CHIANG

May Day protesters fight for migrant rights

By James Burrows, News Editor

On May 1 people across Canada and the world took to the streets to protest government programs, a lack of adequate and sustainable jobs, and unfair wage and immigration schemes that have resulted in the growing gap between the rich and the poor.

The most reported May Day protests were held in Greece, where a controversial IMF bailout package is calling for increased consumer taxes and cuts to social services and government jobs, and in over 70 U.S. cities where Arizona’s new xenophobic immigration laws are being compared to an apartheid system.

Receiving less attention by much of the mainstream Canadian press but with much more local importance and relevance was Toronto’s May Day rallies. The larger of the two had the theme of Status for All, primarily organized by No One Is Illegal, comprised of immigrants, refugees, and their allies who “fight for the rights of all migrants to live with dignity and respect.”

No One is Illegal’s Status For All campaign is described as “the struggle for freedom of movement, good jobs, food, healthcare, education, housing, justice and dignity for all people, irrespective of immigration status.”

The No One Is Illegal website states that “granting citizenship to a privileged few is part of racist immigration and border policies designed to exploit and marginalize migrants.”

May Day has its roots in 1880s Chicago and the fight for the eight hour work day and has been celebrated globally ever since, as a way to raise awareness and promote solidarity between the working and marginalized people of the world.

Last year’s rally saw giant banners reading, “stop the raids” dropped on buildings outside the Eaton’s Centre along Yonge street.

This year’s protest follows a year that has seen the Conservative government continue to target the refugee system and cut refugee quotas by 60 per cent, from 29,000 to 12,000, as well as designate countries from which refugee status can not be claimed. The government claims this is to ease the backlog of refugee claims that are currently clogging the system.

But No One Is Illegal believes that this backlog was entirely manufactured by the government, noting that many positions needed to process the refugee claims were simply not filled for several years. Refugee claimants can now wait as long as 19 months for their claims to be processed. In 2005 there was no wait time.

Mohan Mishra, a No One Is Illegal organizer has noted that “Since 2005, the number of refugee applicants denied by Canada has gone up 56 per cent.”

“The only thing [that is] bogus,” continues Mishra, “is the Kenney and Harper lies about migrants – not the applicants who are suddenly and arbitrarily being denied.”

The Canadian Border Service Agency has also conducted raids on shelters that have seen women fleeing from domestic violence arrested. Many are concerned that this will deter people from seeking much needed help.

Also in attendance were the Rainforest Action Network Toronto and Community Solidarity Response Toronto. These organizations were present to highlight how Canada’s enormous mining sector is creating refugees through displacement and environmental degradation.

“The tar sands and mining industry exploits temporary workers from all over the world,” noted one press release. “Canada is itself complicit in policies of displacement and dispossession through its leadership in the international mining industry…Canadian mining companies are displacing communities and causing environmental refugees to lose their homes and lives.”

These groups believe that Canadian mining companies are responsible for “cultural genocides and environmental diasporas,” noting, “In Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador this year, human rights advocates who spoke out against Canadian mining companies were assassinated. In Canada and in countries throughout the world communities suffer from the health affects of poisoned water and contaminated land, for projects in which they were not consulted.”

Indigenous representatives from Papua New Guinea, where forced displacement has recently occurred, and Chile, where communities are fighting to preserve their culture and access to water, were also present.

Youth instrumental in achieving new billboard tax for the arts

By Lakshine Sathiyanathan The arts will be receiving an increase in funding from the city’s new billboard tax revenue after council released its operating budget for this year.

Council approved the tax last December but where the money would go was left to the budget process this year.

For the remainder of the year, the tax is expected to bring in an estimated $3.5 million. The budget proposed $1.8 million in start-up funds to enforce the new bylaw.

The result is $1.58 million invested in the arts that includes a two per cent increase to the Community Partnerships and Investments Program (CPIP), which allocates arts and culture grants funding through the budget process and additional funding dedicated to TIFF and Luminato for a yearly installation that features local art, Councillor Shelley Carroll wrote on her website.

The billboard tax is expected to bring in $10-million per year starting in 2011. But Councillor Carroll did not direct this revenue to fund the arts. It will, however, be considered to help meet the $25 per capita spending objective, as outlined in the 2003 Culture Plan.

Toronto currently spends $18 per capita.

This increase is the product of years of advocacy work and mobilization predominately by young people.

PHOTOS: EDWARD F. WONG

“With this increase, we will be getting closer to where other cities are at,” Che Kothari, executive director of Manifesto, a member of Beautiful City, the group behind the tax said.

Beautiful City, co-founded by Devon Ostrom, is a coalition of 60 arts and youth organizations that proposed the billboard tax in 2002 to improve public spaces and to fund local arts in the public sphere, in particular, funding for marginalized communities and youth art project.

Over 4,500 people signed a petition that supported the introduction of the tax when its revenues went towards funding arts and city beautification.

“The arts are important. It’s a way people can connect with each other, it’s a way for people to learn about themselves, it’s a way that people can have pride in their communities,” Ostrom said.

According to Ostrom, billboards are the strongest and loudest voice in the public sphere. “[The billboard companies] were speaking too much in public spaces. And some people didn’t have the same sort of opportunities for freedom of expression. So this is a way of almost making who has the ability to communicate in public spaces more balanced,” Ostrom said.

The project encouraged young people to take a greater

role in the way their city is shaped.

Ostrom wanted to make sure that their efforts were not wasted, even if the tax was not approved and the arts did not receive its revenue.

“We wanted the process to match the outcome,” Ostrom said.

“At a lot of our town hall and work sessions, we were passing on different advocacy tools so young people could then go on and use them in their own advocacy projects.”

The group held workshops for young people on the advocacy process, the budget process and how the tax revenue was divided. They were also given the opportunity to speak with councillors.

“We had great turn outs at all of the town hall meetings, which were very informative for a lot of people who weren’t engaged with the budget process and the process of how decisions get made at City Hall,” Kothari said.

“As I was learning, I was also sharing.”

Ostrom credits the success of the project to the young people who kept pushing for increased investment in the arts.

“It’s important that the youth effort is recognized. It would’ve been impossible without that kind of enthusiasm,” he said.

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 5

“We will not allow Barrick to destroy our lands and our culture” Protesters demand justice at gold mining giant’s AGM

By Graeme Z. Johnson On April 28, more than 60 people gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the site of Barrick Gold’s Annual General Meeting, to protest the Canadian mining giant’s environmental and human rights abuses worldwide.

Barrick Gold, currently the largest gold mining company in the world, has been implicated in a number of illegal actions including the forced relocation of Indigenous villages, violence against union organizers, and gross environmental devestation.

A report published by Amnesty International on Barrick’s operations in Papua New Guinea states that “[t]he spread and severity of the human rights abuses reported in relation to mining, oil and gas (“extractive industries”) operations are disproportionately high compared to other industries ... the largest single sector involved in corporate abuses was the extractive industries – 28 per cent of all cases.”

“This industry is huge. 75 per cent of the world’s mining and exploration companies are based in Canada,” said Sakura Saunders, one of the protest organizers, “just one company [Barrick], I can profile them in nine different countries and see not only strong, organized resistance, but devastation – environmental devastation and human rights abuses all over the world.”

In Chile, Barrick’s explorations have led to the degradation of the glaciers near the Pascua-Lama project. In 2005, the water authority in Chile issued a report that blames the company for the loss of 50 to 75 per cent of the glaciers in the area.

In addition, Barrick has also used heavily armed police forces to harass and intimidate local populations near mining sites. According to eyewitnesses in Papua New Guinea, a police force housed on Barrick’s Porgera gold mine site surrounded the village of Wuangima and burned residents’ houses and crops, even attempting to trap uncooperative villagers inside the burning buildings, while Barrick and PJV [Porgera Joint Venture] personnel watched.

According to residents, the officers wore uniforms with no markings to prevent identification by villagers. Residents who returned in an attempt to rebuild had new dwellings burnt as well.

According to Amnesty International, “Barrick, whose subsidiaries operate the Porgera mine as part of PJV, has strongly denied that police carried out any forced evictions or other human rights abuses” though they later reversed this position, instead maintaining that they were “not aware of the police actions in destroying buildings until the fires were already burning.” In addition, Barrick has refused to compensate any residents for the loss of their homes, crops, or possessions.

Though the company told Amnesty International that it “intended to promptly ask the authorities to investigate,” the human rights group has received no response to follow-up inquiries as to whether the company has actually requested any investigative action.

Many of these abuses are perpetrated by companies that receive direct investment from the Canadian government. Unfortunately, attempts to provide greater government regulation over Canada’s titanic extractive industry have met with fierce opposition from this country’s

mineral and oil producers, notably Barrick Gold itself.

Bill C-300, An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries, a private member’s bill introduced by Liberal MP John McKay, is attempting to address many of the illegal and unethical operations conducted by the Canadian mining industry, it has been referred to by Barrick as “part of a deliberate campaign to tarnish the reputation of the Canadian mining industry and Barrick.”

“It merely provides a withdrawal of Canadian taxpayers and pensioners money ... in the event that a company is found to be outside CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] or environmental standards,” McKay told a conference of industry leaders in mid-April. “Now to listen to some, you’d think this was the end of western civilization as we know it.”

After the shareholders’ meeting dispersed, protesters marched to Barrick’s Bay Street offices where they were joined by a delegation representing the Diaguita people, the Indigenous group, which occupies the valley near Chile’s border with Argentina, where Barrick’s Pascua-Lama open-pit mining project is located. The Diaguita delegation, with the aid of a translator, presented a statement that they had made to shareholders during the meeting, which read: “We have inhabited this land since time immemorial ... Barrick Gold, without respect for our traditions, our plans, and our right to self-determination, wants to force us to accept the mega-mining in our reserve ... they have denied that we are an Indigenous people, they have raised false community leaders and they have brought professionals to teach us about our own culture. What right do you have to come to teach us about our own traditions? What right do you have to manipulate our traditions, inventing dances, forms of weaving and pottery that are not our own? With this, the company has divided and confused the identity of our people, has caused us great damage.

“We will not allow Barrick to destroy our lands and our culture, we will not allow you to appropriate the legacy left by our ancestors, today we come to you to order the closure of Pascua-Lama. Shareholders, if you continue to mine in our lands, you will remain complicit in the pollution and destruction of our people and you will be enriched in return for the death of our culture. We are here to tell you again that we do not need your money to develop and we are not seeking for compensation, because there is no fair compensation for the death of our valley. We just want you to leave our lands and allow us to live in peace, as we have done for the last 500 years.”

In addition to the protest, organizers are planning a series of actions in opposition to the illegal and unethical operations of Barrick and other extractive corporations.

“We’re throwing a conference next weekend [May 7-9] where we’re bringing all sorts of impacted communities, impacted by the Canadian mining industry,” Saunders told the crowd outside Barrick’s headquarters, “the reason that we throw this conference every year around this time is because this is shareholder season and shareholder season for Toronto means that’s an opportunity for communities all around the world to come here and say what these companies are doing on their lands.”

Working poor struggle to stay indoors Documentary highlights Toronto’s housing problems

By Michael Hiscock Are housing and adequate income a human right?

According to the Housing Network of Ontario, 260,000 people have to choose between spending their paycheque on rent or food in this province.

After the recession plagued the manufacturing sector and left thousands without a job, homelessness is becoming more of a spotlight issue in Canada.

According to the documentary Home Safe Toronto, which was screened at the North York Central library on April 19, homelessness does not only apply to the people visible on the street. The homeless of today are working multiple jobs with their children in the same schools as all other children; they are the “working poor.”

“Homelessness starts way before you have no home. You can feel it coming, you feel like you are falling into a pit,” said Scott Taylor, a father of three featured in the film.

The documentary, by Laura Sky, featured families on the economic edge; families that do not make enough to sustain an adequate standard of living, but make too much to qualify for welfare. It is presented by Skyworks Charitable Foundation, a non-profit documentary organization established in 1983. Their documentaries travel right alongside of families, hearing their stresses right from them.

Taylor expressed frustration about how he relied on a manufacturing job with Chrysler, his “gravy train.” Making just around $20 an hour, he was able to keep the house stocked with food, give the kids access to any sports they wanted to play, and so forth. But one day, he said, it was all gone.

“How do you tell the kids?” He asked, looking down so the front of his baseball cap would hide his face. “How do you tell them?”

The teenagers and children featured in the documentary expressed mature concerns that would generally not be on the mind of someone their age. The kids admitted they hesitated to ask their parents for money and worried about their dad getting a full-time job or paying rent for the following month. Some of the teenagers have taken on jobs so they can lend their parents money and ease the financial tension a little.

Children feel just as much shame as the adults in these situations. They point the finger in their own direction, blaming themselves for the poverty. Having parents continually tell the child that their expenses come first can make them think it is their fault.

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“Mom, I don’t really want to eat that much because I know we can’t afford it,” a mother quoted her daughter saying.

At the Daily Bread Food Bank an entire section is devoted to infant supplies. The film showed stacks of baby formula and a staff member spoke about how diapers are a very popular item. In Toronto, a quarter of the population lives in poverty, infants included.

“I’m afraid to leave the house. I’m scared if I leave, I wont have a house when I come back,” Ms. Taylor said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty received extensive criticism for his policies on poverty.

In 2009, the social housing waiting list stood at 71,000 homes, which is enough to keep someone waiting for years. Ontario’s unemployment is hovering at around nine per cent and while the government claims new jobs are being created, Home Safe Toronto shows that they are in the service industry and provide inadequate pay to sustain a living.

The homes people can end up in as a result are often no better than a grimy motel room. A woman only identified as “Rose” in the documentary, lives in a shelter. The washroom ceiling has a hole in it above the showerhead and three beds and a dinner table are crammed into one room.

“You’re just in this room I feel like I go crazy. I swear,” she said.

Rose’s financial situation is sometimes so desperate that she has to skip on medication she is supposed to take every day to make it last. She worries about her health but has no benefits. She talked about how she came from Jamaica seeking opportunity to be “the best“ she could be.

“But I think I was wrong,” she said. “It did not turn out that way.”

Homelessness was labeled a “national disaster” and one look at the numbers makes this label hard to dispute. 5,000 of the people who accessed Toronto’s emergency shelters were children in 2008; the city’s rents rose 31 per cent within a five-year period, and the 2009 Vital Signs Report called Toronto “seriously unaffordable.”

Sky says low-income jobs are becoming the new norm and this means that many people cannot sustain a proper living.

“Homelessness is not about having a roof over your head. Homelessness is about once the home is there, having the security to keep it,” she said.

MARXISM 2010

A PLANET TO SAVE A WORLD TO WIN

War, oppression, poverty and climate change have defined the first decade of the 21st century.

But so too has resistance. As the global economic system moves from crisis to crisis, ordinary people all over the world are looking for alternatives, and ways to fight back.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. We’re not just fighting to save jobs and pensions, or to bring the troops home now. Faced with the growing threat of climate change, we’re fighting for the future and survival of the planet.

Marxism 2010 is a three-day conference of over 40 talks and panel discussions, where hundreds will discuss and debate how to build a better world. Join us: we have a planet to save, and a world to win!

HIGHTLIGHTS CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER joins ANDREA HARDEN & other climate campaigners to discuss the fight for climate justice KOSTAS KATARAHIAS reports from the frontlines of workers’ resistance in Greece Palestine solidarity activists KHALED MOUAMMAR, DIANA RALPH, TIM McCASKELL & RAFEEF ZIADAH speak on the new McCarthyism: Harper’s attack on Palestine solidarity

CAROLYN EGAN & other trade union activists assess the state of the workers’ movement in Canada VIRGINIA RODINO, US-based socialist & anti-war activist, assesses Obama’s first year in power JUDITH ORR & SALMAAN KHAN talk about Afghanistan & Pakistan: imperialism’s new fault line ELLEN GABRIEL & VALERIE LANNON on 20 years since Oka: the fight for indigenous sovereignty

SEDEF ARAT-KOÇ & GILARY MASSA discuss feminism, secularism & Islam

ABDI DIRSHE & ALI AWALI discuss the new ‘scramble for Africa’

BENOIT RENAUD & MONIQUE MOISAN, editor, À bâbord !, talk about building a bigger left: lessons from Québec solidaire

STEVE CRAIG, leader, Cadillac-Fairview 61, on building solidarity across struggles CLARE O’CONNOR & JOE KELLY on South Africa to Israel: histories of Apartheid

JOHN RIDDELL, co-editor, Socialist Voice, talks about Clara Zetkin & the Communist Women’s International SHANAAZ GOKOOL, MOHAMED HARKAT & other civil liberties activists talk about Canada’s ‘war on terror’ – from secret trials to torture

JOHN BELL pays tribute to Howard Zinn readings from People’s History of the United States and performance of excerpts from Marx in Soho & MUCH MORE!

May 28 - 30 | Toronto | Ryerson Student Centre | 55 Gould St

WWW.MARXISMCONFERENCE.CA Organized by the International Socialists

* Ryerson Student Centre is a fully accessible space

The Legacy of the FEATURES Bandung Conference

By Norman (Otis) Richmond

It has been 55 years since so-called Third World nations from Asia and Africa came together in Bandung, Indonesia to promote economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism. History will record two Bandung Conferences: In 2005, a conference marking the golden jubilee of the first; and the one held in April 1955, at which 29 African and Asian nations met.

Africans in North America paid close attention to this historic event. In Toronto, Daniel Braithwaite’s organization, which had a relationship with the U.S.-based Council on African Affairs (CAA), sent a message of support. Braithwaite was so impressed by CAA co-founder Paul Robeson that he not only started a CAA chapter in Toronto, he also named his own son Paul, currently a lawyer, in tribute to Robeson.

Other Africanists like W.E.B. DuBois, Alphaeus and Dorothy Hunton, along with Robeson, were members of the Council on African Affairs.

The idea of the Bandung Conference came from Ahmed Sukarno of Indonesia. It was conceived in Colombo, Indonesia, where the Colombo Powers: India, Pakistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Burma (now Myanmar) and Indonesia (the host country) met in April 1954. The Bandung Conference led to the 1961 creation of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The first head of state to arrive at the 2005 Conference was former South African President Thabo Mbeki. Ironically, South Africa, along with Israel, Taiwan, and North and South Korea were all barred from the 1955 conference. In light of tragic events of 2005, Mbeki visited the tsunami-stricken province of Aceh before he proceeded to the Conference.

I first heard about the Bandung Conference in the mid1960s while listening to a speech by El-Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X), titled “Message to the Grassroots,” which was first delivered at the King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit on November 10, 1963. Malcolm talked about places and faces I had never heard of, however, he didn’t get it completely correct. There were White people at the Bandung conference. Marshal Tito represented Yugoslavia, and there

were American, Australian and numerous members of the European press at the Conference. In fact, African American journalist Ethel Payne, who was at Bandung, pointed out, “The British had sent just hordes of correspondents, and the Dutch and the Germans and all the European countries.”

At the time of the first Bandung Conference, the North American left, in general, and the African American liberation movement, in particular, were under attack. Senator Joseph McCarthy was looking for a “red under every bed.”

Robeson, “the Tallest Tree in Our Forest,” wanted to attend the Conference but couldn’t because the U.S. government had taken his passport. Ditto for DuBois. However, several African American politicians and journalists found themselves in Indonesia from April 18-25, 1955. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Carl T. Rowan, Dr. Marguerite Cartwright, journalist Ethyl Payne and Richard Wright all were there.

Powell, the Congressman from Harlem, went to the Conference on a dare. He wanted to attend the event to represent the interests of U.S. imperialism by talking about the progress the Negro in America was making. “It will mark the first time in history that the world’s non-White people have held such a gathering,” he told reporters in Washington, D.C., “and it could be the most important of this century.” Powell, no matter what we think of him, knew what time it was. His appeals to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and others in the State Department were ignored. The flamboyant Powell was told the U.S. government saw no need to send an official observer to Bandung. However, he got there compliments of the African American weekly newspaper, New York AgeDefender.

Karl Evanzz pointed out in his brilliant book, The Judas Factor, “There was at least one unofficial observer: at the request of John Foster Dulles’ brother, CIA Director Allen Dulles, a young African American journalist named Carl T. Rowan covered the conference.”

Rowan went on to become the Director of the United States Information Agency. He also went on to alienate him-

Gedung Merdeka, the museum of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia.

PHOTO: JAGAWANA/WIKIPEDIA

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self from a generation of African Americans after the February 21, 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Rowan’s statement after Malcolm’s death was, “All this about an ex-convict, ex-dope peddler who became a racial fanatic.”

Of the two women African American journalists at the Conference, the well-connected Dr. Cartwright represented a chain of White dailies and the United Nations. The lesserknown Payne was the new kid on the block and represented the Chicago Defender, which was part of John Sengstacke’s chain of Black weeklies.

Payne, who went on to be crowned “The First Lady of the Black Press,” said she had little or no contact in Indonesia with Dr. Cartwright. Of Cartwright, Payne said, “She had a desk at the U.N. and so she had quite a lot of access that I didn’t have.” However, Payne did network with writer Richard Wright, a one-time member of the Communist Party U.S.A. After he had left the Party, Wright wrote the book, Color Curtain, about The Bandung Conference. Color Curtain was first published by University Press of Mississippi in 1956, and in it Wright wrote about the faces and places in 1955 Indonesia. In reading his book, one can feel him learning about what would come to be called “The Third World.”

The first Bandung Conference was attended by 21 Asian, seven African and one Eastern European country. The second was attended by 54 Asian and 52 African nations. The Asian-African Conference has been transformed into the Asia-Africa Summit. A recent re-reading of Robeson’s Here I Stand made me realize how important these two Conferences are to humanity. At both, questions of world peace, SouthSouth cooperation, nuclear weapons and Palestine were discussed.

Toronto-based journalist and radio producer Norman (Otis) Richmond a.k.a. Jalali, can be heard on Diasporic Music on Uhuru Radio, every other Sunday from 2pm to 4pm on the net http://uhurunews.com/ He can be reached by e-mail Norman.o.richmond@gmail.com

From high school to Ghana

By Nicole Brewer

While all of her classmates were applying for university, Blaire Smith was getting ready to give up everything.

18-year-old Smith is a small-town girl from Nelson, B.C., and right after graduating from high school, she spent five months volunteering abroad at an all-girls school in Ghana. Her first week was spent with 18 other volunteers in Ghana’s capital, Accra, learning about what would become their lifestyles.

“All of the volunteers thought we had it tough in Accra. I was in a room with eight other girls, the shower was freezing cold and dribbled out, and the food was rice or beans almost every day. But once Lucy, my roommate, and I arrived in Senya Beraku, we realized how good we had it.”

The 19 volunteers were spent at Henry’s house, a representative for Lattitude Canada, the organisation with which Smith volunteered. For one week as they become accustomed to Africa, the volunteers toured Accra, participated in teaching courses, and attended talks on safety and security. Then Smith and her roommate Lucy Mason moved on to their real destination, a small fishing town on Ghana’s coast called Senya Beraku.

“There is electricity and a fan in our room, but the power tends to go out a few times daily. Our room is two single beds and three shelves for each of us. We have three plastic chairs as well. Then there’s our bathroom: There is no running water, so we have a big garbage can full of water from a local well. To flush the toilet we pour a bucket of water down the toilet. To ‘shower,’ we use a smaller bucket to wash ourselves,” Smith says in her blog, “Blaire in Africa.”

Humanitarian activism is becoming increasingly popular, and internationally, youth have taken it upon themselves to volunteer, donate, and create community activist groups. L.V. Rogers, Nelson’s only high school, is home to many an activist group: Pura Vida, an organisation to save young girls from prostitution; Keep the Beat, which raises money for War Child Canada; and Celebrate Africa, which fundraises for the Adopt-a-Village program in Sierra Leone, among others.

Although these groups are filled with passionate young people, Nelson’s size and location – small and nestled in the West Kootenays British Columbia – limits the influence of its activism. Smith chose to take matters further than Nelson could when she applied to be a volunteer with Lattitude Canada. After graduation, she wanted to travel while she decided what to do at university. She started researching volunteer opportunities, and that’s when she found Lattitude Canada.

“I figured, why not do something good while I’m travelling, and have fun at the same time?” says Smith.

During her time in Senya, Smith taught at the Mother Theresa School for Girls. Raggie Johansen, in an article for the United Nations, wrote that most child trafficking in Ghana happens so that fishermen can make more profit to support their families. As a fishing town, Senya has an incredibly high rate of child trafficking, and the school was started for the girls most in need. Now it has expanded

to more than 600 girls, most of whom have been trafficked or are orphans. Still, the girls are happy and grateful for the education. “They try so hard at school,” Smith says, “and it’s so backwards how the kids here [at home] don’t want to be at school at all.”

Smith was a good student in high school, liked by almost everyone, involved in extra-curricular sports, and helped out with community fundraisers. When the time came to raise money for her journey, Nelson helped her to fundraise almost $2,500. She wrote for and was written about by the town’s newspaper, the Nelson Daily News, and by the time she left there were many who were sad to see her go.

“My dad was my biggest supporter,” she says of her father, Wes Smith. “Right from the get-go, he wanted me to do it.”

Her mother, Annette Smith, sister Baily, and boyfriend Cody Lees also supported her by helping with planning and fundraising.

Her mom, said Blaire, seemed more openly worried about Blaire going to Africa. Nor was she alone in questioning her daughter’s destination: “Many people I told were sort of worried about Africa, and would ask why on Earth I wanted to go there when I could go somewhere else, like Australia, with the same program,” Blaire confessed. In fact, she could have been paid to do the same work if she had chosen a different location, but Smith’s heart was set on Ghana, and after researching the country she decided it was the best place for her to go.

She travelled to Africa in hopes of figuring out what she wanted to do with her future, and the experience yielded desired results. “The most fulfilling part was just becoming friends with all the girls,” she says. “I had such an unreal time, and met some truly inspirational people. It changed every aspect of life.” Smith is now applying for a Global Stewardship program, and wants to continue to work overseas, possibly with international development organizations.

Going from a comfort-filled town in B.C. to a small fishing town in Ghana caused a huge shift in Smith’s thinking. “I now realise how little everything here matters... People work hard at their jobs to save up for material things, but the people I lived with in Africa save up for their food that day.”

It’s young people like Blaire Smith that will be the catalysts for future humanitarian activism. Organizations offer placements from one week to one year, and when volunteers like Smith come back with hearts full of compassion and heads full of ideas, they are the ones who can inspire the rest of us.

“I have different priorities now. That’s the biggest change I see in myself. I don’t just go out to shop. I’m planning another volunteer trip possibly to Madagascar or China, and can’t imagine wasting money on things that I don’t need anymore.”

Above: Four girls from Blaire Smith’s preschool class. Right: Smith with a group of children from the school and town.

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 9

G8: Welcome to Halifax In the lead-up to the G8/G20 meetings in Ontario, activists in Halifax welcomed the G8 development ministers.

Suzanne MacNeil captured the cops, the banners and even a Yeti at the Halifax protest.

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Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 11

OPINION The Misunderstanding of Mr. Singh

By Gursevak Kasbia

While many would view Sikhism as a religion, I have the opportunity as a student here at Ryerson to share with you why it is not but rather a way of life which incorporates principles of truth, justice, kindness and the general well being of human kind.

A famous quote points out that a “Sikh is never to be feared, or be afraid of anything”.

While this article may be biased, I would like to point out that it has been written because of the gross misunderstanding of our article of faith known as the Kirpan: a small dagger that poses no greater threat than a pencil or a hot cup of starbucks tea. All can be used as weapons, yet there is one truth about the Kirpan that makes it different. Sikhism has a rich history, and it helps to explain how the Kirpan came to be. Sikhs have faced many struggles and the significance of the Kirpan to the Sikh way of life is rooted in these struggles.

A Sikh can be defined as a “One who Learns” as the word Sikh means “Learn” in the Punjabi language. The Sikhs hold three tenets at the core of their everyday living, which include earning an honest day’s wage (kirt karna), meditating on the creator (naam japna) and sharing wealth with others (vand chakna) whereby they are required to donate ten percent of earnings to charity. The founder of the faith was Guru Nanak Dev ji one of ten prophets to contribute in the form of writings which were compiled by the tenth master Guru Gobind Singh into the “Guru Granth Sahib.” This is the holy book of the Sikhs, and what differentiates the Sikh faith from many other religions, as its writings are directly from its founders.

During this time, Mughal tyrants imposed Islam on all peasants ithin the state of Punjab and India. Widespread persecution and human rights violations occurred with a small group of Sikhs trying to resist this. The Sikhs were the resistance that were asked by many minority groups to fight oppression. Many were tortured, raped and sawed alive while their children watched. Even Gurus were not spared as the fifth and ninth masters were both tortured and killed by Mughals. Some Sikhs also had their scalps removed with a butchers knife and had parts of their children placed in their mouths.

Under the demise of great oppression the tenth master of the Sikhs Guru Gobind Singh saw the opportunity to unite all Sikhs and created the Khalsa for which five items were given and included short breaches to protect chastity, unshorn hair, a wooden comb (kanga) to keep the unshorn hair clean and tidy, an iron bangle (Kara) to symbolise truthful actions, and the Kirpan a small dagger as a blessing.

Sikhs never gave up, and persevered to win over a majority of Northern India under which the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh built what is now the great “Golden Temple.” Under British Colonial rule, the Sikhs were allowed to wear their Kirpan and turban, and that continues today within the British and Canadian Armed Forces.

Since our arrival in Canada over 100 years ago, Sikhs faced an uphill battle against the predominantly White, colonized Canada, who resented their settlement as pointed out in the great Komagata Maru Incident. This incident was the first time the Canadian Navy was deployed, and it was done so to send a group of visible minority Sikhs home.

Canada with its beautiful rocky mountains had no place for Sikhs or “Hindhus” as they were called. Yet this fact is continuously ignored in textbooks and historical articles on minorities, in favour of the bravery of Chinese workers on the railroad. The Chinese on the other hand did not have any articles of faith, and have faced relatively fewer problems with mainstream media in Canada’s more recent past.

Sikhs however, were again the target of mainstream media in the early 1990s when a young Baltej Dhillon asked to join the RCMP with then commissioner Norm Ingster encouraging it. A group of BC nuns along with some very prominent politicians including Stephen Harper were among those who did not want to see the RCMP change its uniform to “accommodate” Sikhs. That was not the only case involving the turban in the 1990s, and now we are faced with the Kirpan issue of the twenty-first century.

Gurbaj Singh Multani was told by his principle to remove his Kirpan or he would be banned from his Montreal-area high school. So he did what any Sikh would do, and fought back. He fought not using a Kirpan but with the help of the legal system and other faith organizations instead. The French have always wanted to have a separation of church and state, yet this was the first time this case was taken to the supreme court of Canada. The court ruled eight to one in favour of allowing Multani to wear his Kirpan in school.

The Kirpan literally is not only an article of faith but a blessing given to us by the tenth master of our faith. The Kirpan truly never became an issue until Sikhs came to the west, and it was relatively unknown that they even wore them. Recently, a man at a Brampton temple used his Kirpan to injure someone. The incident which was recently reported, was very shocking to the entire community. No one expected a Kirpan would ever be used with malice or mens rea.

Thus, the media seized on the opportunity to showcase the Kirpan in a negative light, without knowing anything about the issue at hand. The true issue had to do with a difference of opinion between two religious parties that escalated into a full out physical intervention.

Truthfully speaking, it is the fault of our own community that this happened as for many years discourse has often resulted in high ten-

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sions and hostility. Still the Kirpan should never have been used in the manner that occurred a few short weeks ago at the Sikh Lehar Centre.

Some will argue that a compromise will have to be made as to the size and location that the Kirpan can be worn. Yet if the Kirpan was that much of an issue, why did the Vancouver Olympic Committee allow Sikhs to wear them? Some would argue political appeasement as the 150,000 Sikhs living in British Columbia might be inclined not to vote for a particular political party had the Kirpan become a major issue. Yet this probably was not the case as the RCMP and other police agencies understand that the threat of using the Kirpan poses less of a risk than someone using a taser.

The events that took place at the Guru Nanak Sikh temple, had nothing to do with that which happened at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple. This event had more to do with the democratic deficit which has occurred with temples across Canada. It had more to do with greed and ego than anything, and was a shameful event at that.

These events happen in other communities as well, yet for mainstream media it is so easy to pick on a group that has been painted as being violent for many years. In any case Sikhs are a consistently misunderstood population. While media will often describe the Sikhs as violent they seldom highlight the positive contributions we make to society. People like Dr. Narinder Kapany, the father of fiberoptics, and the late astronaut Kalplana Chawla contributed much, billionaire Chiranjeev Kathuria, MP Navdeep Bains and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Hotel of Horror: Best Western Primrose Ryerson supports the worst for-profit residence money can buy

By Gursevak Kasbia

The fact that Ryerson University would affiliate itself with a for-profit hotel was initially quite disturbing to me, yet I had no choice.

When I received my letter of acceptance from Ryerson, there was no help for me to look for accommodation.

When I phoned the Ryerson residence halls, I was told that I had to be placed on a waiting list even though I was a first-year fast track student.

I thought what could be the worse? The Best Western has a standard to uphold. Little did I realize that the Primrose Student Residence Program is run separate from the hotel itself.

Not only could I not get help from hotel staff, when

PHOTO: MINPING/PICASA

my toilet flooded I had to call my “Don” so that I could have the on-call superintendant to fix it. Luckily the superintendant for this building is a nice older immigrant who actually cares about the welfare of students. He even dropped by to see if I was okay the next day. Of course he was probably the only non-unionized employee at the hotel.

Luckily my positive nature allowed for some employees to say the occasional “hello,” in this relatively cold city of Toronto. What I didn’t realize was that the area around Jarvis and Carlton was filled with cold people. I didn’t realize that Allen Gardens was not actually a place where you could walk, but rather looked at from your room as

drug addicts sat on benches high during the day and night.

When I first saw that the internet and meal plan were included I felt a sense of relief as I thought I would not have to worry about cooking for myself or trying to watch TV with my antenna. A mandatory meal plan was what the contract indicated and that was quite strange.

At the university you could choose which meal plan you liked or cook for yourself. When I saw the apartment on my brief visit to Ryerson to register it didn’t seem to be too bad, with exception to the stove which reminded me of when I would go to friends houses as a child and see a mock “Betty Crocker” hot plate stove. Yet little did I realize that stove would be a life saver many times.

The meal plan was absolutely terrible with the same menu items served time and again. Breakfast and dinner were the only included meals, and while three hundred plus dollars does not seem like much to some, had I had this money in cash I would have visited my nearest supermarket where I could have gotten healthier foods at cheaper prices.

In fact, this is what I eventually had to do, as the food reached a point of such terrible quality that I had twice to seek the help of Immodium.

Each night we were required to eat food which was almost unfit for human consumption as chicken was constantly under cooked and the salad bar was not on ice or sneeze guard protected. I had to fight with management for this, and still it did not get across to them that I was a public health student capable of calling public health on their establishment. The establishment did not meet health codes, as it served buffet items for long periods in under heated containers. Sometimes these were left open for bacteria to crawl in and cause food poisoning which I had quite a few times. Lunches were the only thing where I received adequate nutrition thanks to Subway sandwiches and other off-campus eateries Bed bugs were an issue. If I had known that the Jarvis and Wellesley area were at frequent attack from bed bugs, I would not have rented at the Primrose. Further to this, loud partying during exams, and Internet that never seemed to work on a consistent basis made studying even harder. The Ryerson wi-fi provided a better more stable internet than did the primrose.

The laundry room had machines dated from the 1960s, and it made me cringe as I had to spend almost nine dollars per load just to get clothes clean and dry.

The worst aspect was the fact that I could have gotten a single one bedroom apartment near the entertainment district for cheaper than what I pay currently, and probably have fed myself healthier food.

Luckily the lease was for eight months, and I wouldn’t pay for a single day more. Seventeen-hundred and ninety -nine dollars per month wasted continuously.

The characters that came into the building were as dodgy as the building itself, with leather fetish conventions and crack cocaine addiction groups meeting on a consistent basis. As one of my closest friends put it “I’m not sure why you’re not depressed living in this hell hole.”

I gave so many suggestions to management, including volunteering to help kitchen staff cook, and even suggesting energy saving programs to bring in new washers and driers. To no avail, management shrugged off any suggestions. I finally did get my suggestion of a salad bar with a sneeze guard and food placed on ice accepted, but only with the threat that I would call the public health department.

Loud parties, nasty food and Internet that is worse than dial-up define this hotel of horror. To any students looking for a place next year, look elsewhere then the hotel de Horror.

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 13

A HEARTFELT MESSAGE TO THE MOTHERS AROUND THE WORLD

By Priyanka Jain

“Mother: A female person who is pregnant with or gives birth to a child.”

This is how the dictionary defines the word ‘mother’.

However, that female person eagerly anticipated the birth of her child. She carried her child for nine months; nine months of morning sickness, nine months of body pains, and not to mention the nine months of untimely mood swings. Yet in the midst of it all, she was willing to tolerate these side effects for the life of her child. And when she held her child for the first time, tears of joy streamed down her face.

Although she was tired from hours of labor, none of that mattered anymore, for her baby was born. She had waited her whole life for this day, and now she had someone to devote all her time to, who she would raise to be an intelligent, caring, beautiful person one day.

Weeks turned into months; months turned into years, and before she knew it, her precious little baby was growing up.

She was the one who cradled her baby back to sleep every night; she was the one who reassured her child that they would survive their first day at school. She was also the one who took ‘sick days’ off to care for her unwell child. She yelled at her teenager for being inconsiderate, and constantly found herself using the line “But I’m your mother, and this is what I expect.” She was front and centre taking photos at her child’s graduation, and of course, she cried the first day they left for university.

Yet despite how much of a pain we were as toddlers, or how much we upset our mothers as teenagers, no matter how old we are, our mother will still sacrifice those ‘sick days’, and stressful times for us.

A mother is more than just a female person who gives birth to a child. She is a very special human being who has all the traits of a wonderful person as defined in the English dictionary.

As a daughter, I can honestly say that my mother is like no other. She is the best mother

any child could ask for, and I would not trade her for the world. Then again, that would be selfish of me to say. There are millions of people around the world who would say the same thing, and like myself, truly believe that their mother is the greatest. There is nothing I can say to make my mother sound better than anyone else, for all mothers are the universal healers for their children.

As a teenager, I think I speak on behalf of the majority of us by saying that despite the amount of stress, heartache, and sleepless nights we have put you through, your love and persistence has not gone unnoticed. We might have learned the hard way, but we definitely learned. You have molded us into the human beings we are today, and we continue to grow under your guidance. So to all the mothers around the world, Happy Mother’s Day!

Ontario’s New Drug Wars

By Michael Chu

Remember when Shoppers Drug Mart, the more than 1,100 growing and strong, used the tagline “Everything you want in a drug store and more?”

Shoppers has done a great job living up to that tagline for almost the last two decades, as they have trumpeted their successful entry into the grocery, cosmetics, general merchandise, and electronics.

Now, they and other pharmacies are crying foul with the Ontario Government’s plans to cut back on funding for what are essentially allowances on the handling of generic drugs.

These new legislation would theoretically drop the price of generic drugs by up to 50 per cent, should pharmacists decide not to tack on any additional fees for their lost profits.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Health, makers of generic drugs paid $750 million in professional allowances to pharmacies to subsidize the cost of such services as: consultation on usage and dosage requirements, home-delivery to seniors, and in-store clinic and information sessions, which was all legislated under the Ontario Drug Benefit Act and the Drug Interchangeability and Dispensing Fee act.

Additional requirements state that generic drug manufacturers must report twice a year, the amount paid out to pharmacies, how these allowances are spent in correlation to patient care, all to ensure that these allowances do not end up becoming rebates, which are considered illegal.

Ontario’s Ministry of Health, in an audit done exactly on year ago, uncovered a scheme involving drug manufacturers, wholesalers, and a number of pharmacists purchasing more generic drugs than required, claiming the allowances, and returning the drugs while keeping the allowances.

But it didn’t stop there, as the wholesaler would re-sell the generic drugs back to the pharmacy, inflating the allowances, padding the coffers of non-compliant pharmacies.

Shoppers Drug Mart has become the most vocal against the recently introduced measure by the Ontario Government to halt the $750 million in what critics call “kickbacks to the pharmacies.” But their vocal outcry seems questionable at best and their strategies to counter this legislation are unfairly affecting customers.

According to Statistics Canada, pharmacies hold 7.5 per

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cent of all retail sales in Canada, and Shoppers holds a large chunk of that pie. The day this legislation was introduced, Shoppers Drug Mart voiced their concerns, threatening closures and cutting back on service. Shareholders responded by selling off the stock in droves, dropping the stock down 10 per cent in a single day.

All the while, Shoppers Drug Mart has continued to announce record profits, each quarter, bolstered by their success in the cosmetics and fragrance categories. Shareholders have questioned what is really going on behind the scenes at Canada’s largest pharmacy chain, as this should really only be a minor blip in the otherwise insanely profitable operations, or shareholders realize that by lashing back against what will amount to lower prices for the consumer, customers will be turned off by this and stay away from droves.

This particular stance uncovers the fact that prescription drugs – 5 to 10 per cent of total store revenues – are still the main profit driver for Shoppers Drug Mart.

Shoppers Drug Mart has just exploited that they live off of gauging customers, and that they truly have little afterthought for their customers (let alone their employees) by threatening to lay off staff, close stores, raise prices and even halt servicing them altogether. Not coincidentally, Shoppers started to cut store hours and halt home delivery in the very same London riding as Ontario Health Minister, Deb Matthews.

In the United States, generic prescriptions are the lifeline for millions of Americans living below the poverty line, and while brand-name prescription drugs are more costly in the United States, generic drugs are significantly cheaper there. Most health and drug plans available to Canadians require the purchasing the generic drugs over their brandname equivalents. The legislation introduced would ultimately save not only consumer’s money, but also of health insurance, which is the main argument of Ontario’s OHIP, and private insurers.

“I buy the generic drugs because they are cheaper and they work the same,” says Kristen Kennedy, a third-year full-time Hospitality and Tourism major at the Ted Rogers School of Management. Spending almost $100 dollars

a month, she would welcome additional discounts to her monthly prescriptions.

“I would avoid Shoppers if I’m not going to save anything. There would really be no point to go there,” she adds.

While Kennedy does not rely on Shoppers Drug Mart for her prescriptions, their strategy to cut services has also made her reconsider taking her cosmetics business elsewhere.

Should the price of generic prices go down, it is more than likely that pharmacies will regain some their lost allowances anyway, in the form of additional dispensing fees, not including the almost $1 billion in support pharmacies receive from the Ontario provincial government in the form of dispensing fees, mark-up costs and the MedsCheck program.

In an open-letter addressed to Shoppers Drug Mart, Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), Ryan has called upon members of the OFL in the London area to refrain from continuing their business with Shoppers.

“Despite profits that spiked from more than $300 million to $585 million over the past three years, [this] is a disgraceful way to treat your own employees that are no doubt under extreme stress at this point,” says Ryan. “It is truly a sad statement…that you would hold ransom your own staff and the most vulnerable people in your community in your fight with the government.”

Ontario’s Smoke Free Act prohibited pharmacies to vend tobacco products back in 1993, as pharmacies decried an end to their business. Just one year later, while 50 pharmacies closed, an additional 120 opened, negating the unfound fears of pharmacies. While this recent legislation does dig into the core business model of pharmacists, strategizing how to overcome any shortfalls to benefit every party involved should be the road taken. This is not the end of the world as Shoppers Drug Mart so amazingly has decried.

Hopefully Shoppers Drug Mart, and other pharmacies take a dose of their own medicine and realize that this unnecessary “first in a series” of threats will only hurt themselves in the long run, especially when others such as Metro, Costco and Wal-Mart are waiting to convert customers with open hands.

PHOTO: Elessar/FLICKR

CULTURE Intersections: Art and Fashion Talk by Dr. Potvin at AGO added life and humour to Tissot’s prints

By Lian Novak

Intersections: Art and Fashion is the latest of a fourpart lecture series at the AGO. The series by the name of Close Encounters brings experts from a variety of backgrounds to shine a light on some of the AGOs treasured works on paper.

Several treasures are found amongst the prints of nineteenth century French painter and printmaker James J. Tissot. At 165 prints, the AGO has the second largest collection of Tissot outside of France, thanks to a gift from Allan and Sondra Gotlieb

in 1994.

Dr. John Potvin, Assistant Professor in the School of Fine Art and Music at University of Guelph led the talk on Tissot. Dr. Potvin, who looks like a hip young professor with the clothes to prove it, is the perfect fit to discuss art and fashion.

He has funny anecdotes sprinkled throughout the talk and adds his own (sometimes sassy) interpretations of the women depicted in Tissot’s prints.

According to Brenda Rix, who oversees the Close Encounters series, Tissot, whose work has been primarily known as a fashion plate, has been re-investigated in the last 20 years due to his depictions of gender roles.

Tissot was born in Nantes, France 1836 and moved to Paris in 1856. Tissot, unlike many artists who achieved fame late in life or after death, was popular and successful right from the get-go. Well, he was successful in terms of selling his art, but not in terms of impressing the critics who dismissed his work as populist. Their opinion however, did not discourage Tissot, nor did he cease hanging around some of the most avant-garde artists of the time, like Manet and Degas.

The prints that Dr. Potvin discussed were divided into two sections: during his time with his one great love, Kathleen Kelly Newton, and the time after she passed. One of the first prints that Dr. Potvin discussed was Portico of the National Gallery, London 1878. In this etching, Tissot takes a pre-existing work and inserts Kathleen at the forefront of the picture. She is depicted at the bottom of the steps of the National Gallery as an art student. In fact, she was not an art student, but he wanted to illustrate that, through her role as his muse, she was an artist. He also included her church, St. Martin’s of the Fields, in the background as another tribute to her.

After Kathleen passed away at the tragically tender age of 28 due to ‘consumption’ (which we now know as tuberculosis), Tissot became distraught and could not imagine life in London without her. Within five days of her passing, he fled to Paris, never to return to their London home again. He never really got over Kathleen and his Paris etchings show a marked departure from scenes of domestic bliss to scenes of high society women out in public life.

While undoubtedly a talented artist with an eye to detail, Tissot was also a storyteller and knew how to capture certain moments in time. This is especially seen in his series of 15 paintings of the different Parisian women archetypes that he did between the years of 1883-1885. Though his work was often published with an accompanying story; they were not necessary. Many of Tissot’s prints told a story through the facial expressions and placements of his subjects. La Femme a Paris: Political Woman 1885 (shown left) is a good example of this. It shows a woman from the back with her ruffled train cascading behind her, looking over her shoulder.

She is with an older suitor and all the men around her are not too discreetly looking and gossiping. This print is about a woman who is dressed to the nines to impress her rich suitor and thus improve her position in society but also to help her suitor improve his position in society as men were judged on their success by how expensively the women they were with were dressed.

Dr. Potvin had some interesting revelations about the women in the prints. In those days, the most fashionable and trendy women were usually prostitutes as they wanted to attract the most attention. The richer the woman, usually the less fashionable she was. She probably had an arranged marriage from birth and therefore did not need to attract a whole flurry of attention. Dr. Potvin joked that rich married women did start getting dressed up after they discovered that their husbands had mistresses and they wanted to get some action of their own.

Some of Tissot’s main influences are Baron Hausmann, who was charged by Napoleon III to redesign Paris into the Paris known today and Baudelaire whose main premise was that art should be ephemeral and fleeting, yet at the same time lasting and eternal. If one looks at Tissot’s work, this holds true. His prints are of his time: they depict particular archetypes of women in specific scenes, yet the universality is also shown because we still love looking at beautiful fashion and many of the archetypal roles of women then, still exist today.

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A Beautiful Woman with Deadly Words

By Elizabeth Chiang

Toronto playwright, emcee, poet, musician, and director Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is a multi-talented artist with a very packed schedule. She is a recipient of Toronto City Summit Alliance/Maytree Foundations’ DiverseCity Fellows 2010 and performed in the twenty-fifth annual Mayworks Festival, a yearly celebration of working people and their art. The festival seeks to bring together artists, social movements, community groups, organized labour and nonunionized workers in support of each other’s struggles and issues through the arts.

The Mayworks Festival hosted various events throughout the city until May 2. Donna-Michelle, also known by her stage name, Belladonna, is performing at an event called From Margin to Centre, where “marginal” identities – adopted, queer, female, sex worker, of colour, missing, HIV positive, poor – are explored. She is performing spoken word poetry from her repertoire and also reading from Oh Sudanah, her new play in development. Ryerson Free Press snagged a chance to sit down with Donna-Michelle to talk about her practice schedule, her upcoming projects, her wish-list of collaborators, and three things she would take onto a desert island: RFP: Events like the Mayworks Festival are planned in advance. Do you do practice runs before your performances?

DM: Nope. I do not like practicing. I used to do improv, but I don’t have the skill of keeping the same lines fresh every day, which is why I don’t act. My rule is to write things that are true every time I say them. I get up there and watch the clock; I have a terror of losing my immediacy.

RFP: Could you describe your writing process?

DM: Typically, I get really mad about something and I don’t know where to put those feelings. The feeling that I’m having can usually be expressed in the form of a question, frequently “Why?” or “What the?” In theatre, I try to find the human impact of an issue and use writing as a way of understanding things. I try to make it about one person and focus on the face that comes to mind. I try to create characters… so that I can actually ask him or her something, and hopefully they can answer back.

RFP: Have you ever written a character you don’t like?

DM: No. If I assign a villain to a piece, it doesn’t always bring clarity so I have to write characters that I love and who believe in what they are doing, whether I agree with them or not. If I don’t seek to understand my characters, I can’t write

them. I can’t hate my characters otherwise they turn into cartoon characters with handlebar moustaches tying girls to railroad tracks.

RFP: What are your thoughts on the role of diplomagranting theatre programs at the university/college level?

DM: I would like to say that I especially don’t understand how theatre training programs engage with people of colour, which is hardly. Conventional theatre training is bad for good egos and good for dangerous egos. My caveat would be that I have a lot of respect for people who get through that training because I admire their courage on making it through what I consider a harrowing attack on the psyche. I’ve heard endless stories about the way people are spoken to in these programs and this is something I don’t agree with; I don’t want people to be uncomfortable if it’s unproductive.

RFP: Do you feel tension between race and the other facets of your identity?

DM: I think about the burden of representation a lot because I’m of mixed heritage; my family is from Grenada but I’m Black in Canada, and not Black in Grenada. I find I have to constantly speak about diversity. An upcoming project at the SummerWorks Festival involves setting up a booth at where different individuals will represent their people as a whole – it’s very tongue in cheek, there’s an Ambassador of the Nation of Blackness – and the audience will be invited to come and ask questions. I want to make it provocative and also make it very clear how ridiculous it is to expect any individual to represent on behalf of any group of which they happen to be a member.

RFP: Do you have a ‘future collaborators’ wish list?

DM: Autorickshaw, Measha Brueggergosman, The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and since it’s a wish list, Mos Def. RFP: Your stage name Belladonna is Italian for beautiful woman and also refers to the deadly nightshade plant.

Why did you choose this name?

DM: I wanted to have a name that my mother wouldn’t be embarrassed by! Belladonna plants can have beautiful flowers – they can be beautiful and deadly. The danger of the plant is through accident or intentional malice; the therapeutic properties are to improve vision. It’s all about duality: I’ve got a real mean streak and it is intentional so I need to constantly court the therapeutic aspects of my personality – aspects that improve my vision – and try to stay constantly self corrective because words are powerful.

RFP: Is there anything this generation is missing, if anything?

DM: I’m going to say something maybe in dangerous words: I think that the cult of youth and the cult of individualism that North America seems to revolve around right now has robbed young people of the sense of tribalism, not in a nationalistic way, but in the sense of being part of a larger thing and being responsible to something greater. The younger generation has a different connection to their elders; the feeling I have towards my grandparents to do honourable things because I carry the family name is something I don’t see a lot of.

RFP: One final question: if you could only take three things onto a desert island, what would they be?

DM: A Bible, music – if I had to narrow it down, it’d be my GreenTaRAcd – and my mom.

Sikhs Celebrate Vaisakhi Hot Docs Preview

By Gursevak Kasbia

Every April marks the New Year for Sikhs around the world. It is the day that the tenth master of the Sikhs created the Khalsa or “Pure Ones” as translated into English. Spring for many is synonymous with rebirth and new beginnings, and as the snow melts in Canada across the world, in India the harvest begins. For Sikhs this is a very sacred time, as Vaisakhi represents the creation of a new order by Guru Gobind Singh.

On a large hill in Anandpur Sahib India, Guru Gobind Singh demanded the heads of five people, amongst a crowd of thousands. Five men from completely different paths and castes made the call to sacrifice and followed Singh into a tent. He gave them “Amrit” which was sugar pellets mixed in water, while reciting prayers which he commanded Sikhs to follow. He also gave five gifts to the Sikhs which included a wooden comb (kanga), an iron bracelet (kara), a small dagger (kirpan), short breaches (kachera) and told them to keep their hair unshorn (kesh) and removed all caste from those who followed the new order. His goal was to create a unified faith, whereby these five symbols must be worn and helps Sikhs lead an enriched spiritual/disciplined way of life.

The Khalsa deliberately defied the Mughal leadership of the time who demanded all forcibly convert to Islam, and promoted religious intolerance. The oath that Sikhs are to follow as laid down by the Guru include only acting in violence when all other means fail, giving generously to those less fortunate, meditating to the greater power that created us and earning an honest living. It was this truthful form of living that contributed to a great respect of Sikhs within the Punjab, even to the point where both Hindhus and Muslims who valued tolerance fought with Guru Gobind Singh against the create oppression of the times. It just happens that Vaisakhi also is a time culturally for Sikhs and Punjabis to celebrate the harvest. Punjab being one of the leaders in grain and agricultural production in India has vast festivities, and these carry on in other countries including the GTA. In fact, on April 25, a Nagar Keertan, when Sikhs travel in a parade, concluded at Nathan Phillips Square.

All were welcome and free food was provided as the concept of langar (soup kitchen) is one which Sikhs follow devoutly.

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Stand out films: Babies and Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage

By Amanda Connon-Unda, Culture Editor Toronto’s Hot Docs festival is back this year with a selection of over 170 documentaries. Since it was founded in 1993 it has been an annual go-to event for many film industry delegates - last year attracting over 2000 of them.

This year Hot Docs runs from April 29 to May 9. Students and seniors are in luck if they’re wanting to check out film screenings before 6 PM. At that time tickets are free and available with a valid photo ID at venue box offices.

Below is a preview of two films that are likely to gain wide appeal at the festival.

Babies, a film directed by Thomas Balmès of France, makes its debut in Toronto as part of Hot Docs special presentations.

Whether you’re into babies or not, this film is visually awe-inspiring. From the fields and mountains of Mongolia, to the red earth plains of Namibia, to the busier city-scapes of San Francisco and Tokyo, Babies takes you on a trip around the world in its pursuit of examining the precious and challenging moments of life during the first year.

This film is sure to appeal to those who like National Geographic films or anthropology, or even those who are interested in child development.

At 79 minutes long, you’ll see universal human

emotion, including sibling rivalry – and all to an exquisite soundtrack.

RUSH: Beyond The Lighted Stage is sure to gain a lot of hype at Hot Docs when it makes its Canadian premiere. But it would also be nice to see it released in theatres afterward too. This film is sure to please Rush fans and should be required viewing for anyone who thinks of themselves as ‘up’ on Canadian music.

This lively film recounts the history of the Rush band members, and also accounts for the way the rock music industry worked over the last 40 years.

With the rise of Rush as a modern rock band, we can see the influx of other newer popular bands, who then are interviewed in the film. A serious and astute Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, and comedic actor Jack Black are among the irreverent personages to testify about Rush’s rightful place in musical history. The film does a good job to explain why Rush was previously dismissed and often pushed aside by critics until recently.

Archival footage with Rush’s costumes and music from the 1970’s right up to their present day tour ignites the film with visceral energy like that which can be experienced in a live concert.

Reviews

MUSIC

Indie psychedelic duo trade atmosphere for bare-bones pop complexity MGMT – Congratulations

K

udos to MGMT for not simply cashing in one more on the Oracular Spectacular sound.

To have done so would have meant another heap of money, sure. But to keep things musically fresh, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser have switched it up, and followed their flight of fancy somewhere new and infinitely more intriguing. Congratulations is musically varied where their last was doggedly persistent. It’s complex, where Oracular relied too heavily on sky-reaching simplicity. Listeners thrown off by their genre-hopping first single “Flash De-

lirium” shouldn’t write the song off until they’ve heard it in the context of Congratulations. In the dizzying entirety of the album the song works perfectly. The success of the album lies largely in the band’s choice of production. Pete Kember’s relatively clean, spacious production allows a glimpse of MGMT’s true songwriting potential, rather than hiding it behind layers of reverb fuzz. Oracular may have had the hippie-themed artwork, but it’s on Congratulations that the band finally lets down their hair. Rating: B+ —Stephen Carlick

Upstart quintet makes fist-pumping cool again Fang Island – Fang Island

D

espite being released in February, this little gem trickled under the radar until Rhode Island power-pop quintet Fang Island took the SXSW stage in late March.

Following the performance, the band quickly became the buzz-band du jour, but not without just cause.

The band’s myspace refers to their sound as “everyone high-fiving everyone,” and the heap of infectious melody and triumphant riffage that is their self-titled debut does nothing to contradict that description. The band has received a number of comparisons to Animal

Collective, but the comparison is lazy, relying too much on the single fact that the band members sing mainly as a group. To sound like Fang Island, AC would have to lose all pretence, pick up two more guitarists, and engage in a three-way guitar battle to see whose anthemic, pop-punk-infused riff would outawesome whose. So while Fang Island is no masterpiece, I’ll be damned if it isn’t the most fun a band have had on record yet in 2010. Don’t miss this album, especially if the band ends up at this year’s NXNE. Rating: A- —SC

Dan Snaith gets moody and reflective on his fifth studio album Caribou – Swim

Y

ou’ll never quite get a finger on Caribou’s Dan Snaith. The man hops genre on every album, so while those expecting Andorra 2.0 are in for a bit of a letdown, the rest of us have nine tracks of chilled-out, electronic warmth. Befitting its title, most of Swim sounds like it was recorded underwater. The rippling of his reverb-drenched voice on “Sun,” the lo-fi speaker-pan of the bells on “Bowls,” and the melancholy warble of some kind of synthesized accordion on “Lalibela” all contribute to the warm comfortable atmosphere of Swim. The album suggests balmy

summer nights by a lake more than it does robotic coldness or a sweaty nightclub. In that way, Swim is a sensible follow-up to Snaith’s 2008 Polaris Prize-grabbing Andorra.

Where the latter frolicked at the beach under the midday sun, the former sits in a hammock at dusk, fondly recalling times gone by.

Those engaging closely with the album might find the longer tracks just a little arduous.

It may not be perfect, but Swim is the sound of Snaith stopping to smell the roses. So, enjoy it while you can.

He won’t be there for long. Rating: B —SC

Californian band Sleepy Sun give you Fever

A

nybody familiar with the movie “Lords Of Dogtown” starring Emilie Hircsh and the late-Heath Ledger, will probably remember a key supporting player, the majestic soundtrack. The soundtrack so ably augmented the mood and atmosphere of southern California in the sixties and early seventies. It was psychedelic, melodic and acidic, featuring the likes of Ted Nugent.

So what better way to start your summer than by adding the latest album from San Francisco’s Sleepy Sun? While Fever is not necessarily a verbatim sonic tribute to classic southern bluesy Californian rock, the influences are definitely present, as they continue to bring listeners a sound that’s reminiscent of more carefree, free-spirited times.

Sleepy Sun will be playing a show at the Horseshoe Tavern on June 22. Originally known as Mania, Sleepy Sun consists of the shared vocals of Bret Constantino and Rachel Williams, Matt Holliman and Evan Reiss on guitar, Hubert Guy on bass and Brian Tice on drums.

The lead single on their new album, “Open Eyes”, starts with a guitar riff and invokes a feeling of translucent bluesy harmony as you watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. The laid-back track seems to move the listener back and forth through the salt-water tides.

“Desert God” features a bluesy harmonica solo, with a melancholy guitar loop that captures the feeling of the loneliness and barrenness of the hot desert sun. But as the track progresses, the urgency of vengeance takes the song into a different path.

Sleepy Sun’s distinctly melodic Californian brand of alterna-rock will probably invoke the interests of other artists, such as MGMT, who recently went back to their more melodic roots for their latest release, Congratulations. With increased exposure thanks to their spring tour with the Arctic Monkeys, and increasing publicity thanks to their appearance at SXSW, this could be the record that throws them into critic’s year-end lists.

Their sound is a refreshing change from the synth-pop so prevalent in every facet of today’s music genres. Meanwhile, their mellow grooves are a welcome addition to any playlist for music lovers looking to add some relaxing sounds to their lazy summer.

Fever is available on June 1 on iTunes, and most music retailers through ATP Recordings. —Michael Chu

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 17

ON THE HUNT

PHOTO ESSAY: Improv in Toronto’s scavenger hunt

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3

4 1. The crowd awaiting instruction outside Nathan Phillips Square.

2. The scavenger list.

3. Find an “Art Matters” pin.

4. Collect pennies from the years 1990 to 2010.

5. Wear boxers over top of pants 6. Get a fast-food job application.

7. Recreate the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

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7 PHOTOS: CODI WILSON

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2010 19

The

G8 and G20

Summits are taking place Huntsville and Toronto June 25 to 27, 2010

graphic: Beehive Design Collective

in

TORONT

O RESI ST G8/2 0 A peoples’ convergence

for Indigenous Sovereignty and Self-Determination; for Migrant Justice and an End to War and Occupation; for Climate Justice; for Income Equity and Community Control Over Resources

Join us!

w w w . a t t a c kt he ro o t s. n e t