The Cascade Vol. 25 Issue 18

JUNE 28 TO JULY 11, 2017

VOLUME 25 ISSUE 18

Remembering everyone’s names since 1993

THE FADING TAXI INDUSTRY pg. 8-9 Q&A with Mark UFV President Mark Evered retires July 1.

Lich professor Negative review of a spooky prof.

Cigarettes After Sex It’s a great thing.

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

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Editorial //

STAFF Editor-in-Chief Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca Business Manager Quintin Stamler quintin@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor (interim) Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca Copy Editor Cat Friesen cat@ufvcascade.ca

Production Manager Caleb Campbell caleb@ufvcascade.ca

News Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Production Assistant Satinder Dhillon satinder@ufvcascade.ca

Opinion Editor Panku Sharma panku@ufvcascade.ca

Photographer Alexandrah Pahl Alexandrah@ufvcascade.ca Illustrator Amara Gelaude amara@ufvcascade.ca

Celebrating Canada 150[00]

Culture & Events Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca

Online Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca

Ad Representative Kayla Normandeau-Cowan Kayla@ufvcascade.ca

Staff Writer Aleister Gwynne aleister@ufvcascade.ca

Distributor Griffy Vigneron distributor@ufvcascade.ca

THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Sharon Sarai Jennifer Trithard-Tufts Rachel Tait Cover: Caleb Campbell Back Cover: Renee Campbell

Illustration: Caleb Campbell

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

@UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/THE.CASCADE Volume 25 · Issue 18 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a print circulation of 1,250 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor.

Writers meetings are held every second Monday at 12:00 p.m. in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus.

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 400 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

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Ottawa is spending half a billion dollars on Canada’s sesquicentennial birthday-bash. What’s being celebrated?

It’s been 150 years since the old colonies were merged into the Dominion of Canada — though it was still ultimately subordinate to British rule until the enactment of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and even still, Canada lacked the power to change its own constitutional laws until 35 years ago. Breaking it down, the anniversary is celebrating the day a fat white lady gave land that wasn’t hers to a bunch of geezers who didn’t work for it, overseen by a drunkard.

What’s actually being celebrated? 150 years of dominion — domination. In 1867 the British North American Act was signed and the new Dominion of Canada was created — Ontario, Quebec (as the province of Canada), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick joined together. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms wasn’t created until Canada patriated its Constitution in 1982. The Constitution Act transferred the country’s highest law from British Parliament to Canada’s federal and provincial legislatures.

To some, the celebration of Canada is a celebration of a long history of abuse. Tuberculosis on Indian reserves are at an epidemic level, HIV rates are worse than many African countries, a First Nations youth is more likely to end up in jail than graduate highschool, many reservation homes don’t have sewage services. The list continues.

What’s more is archeological research suggests that parts of Canada have really been inhabited for over 15,000 years. That anniversary has long been forgotten. It’s worth remembering that Canada wouldn’t have 150 years of dominion without having cheated this land’s inhabitants out of their homes.

The #Resistance150 movement is a multimedia campaign created by Anishinaabe traditional storyteller and teacher Isaac Murdoch, Michif visual artist Christi Belcourt, Cree activist Tanya Kappo, and Métis author Maria Campbell.

They don’t like the idea of celebrating a history that ignores

and mistreated Indigenous peoples.

The project is dedicated to highlighting the many ways Indigenous peoples have historically resisted and continue to resist what they see as discriminatory Canadian policies, “such as those regarding pipeline construction, access to drinking water, and child welfare funding gaps,” according to the CBC. It’s worth noting that the Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, as it is referenced in section 25 of the 1982 Constitution Act, stipulates that any land not ceded or purchased from First Nations still belongs to them — that means most of British Columbia is illegally occupied under our own laws. You could make the argument that it has long been “won.” You could say that the world has been conquered dozens of times over by different armies and nations, what makes Canada different? Our own laws do.

The lack of enthusiasm for celebrating 150 years doesn’t stop with Indigenous issues. In terms of foreign policy, many argue that intervention in the Middle East since the Gulf War has caused more harm than good. And while Ottawa thought it useful to bring “stability” to oil-rich countries, in South Sudan, West Papua, Burma, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, genocide rages onward and civil unrest doesn’t come close to defining what’s the norm for millions of people. The DRC conflict, for example, is the deadliest since WWII, with death rates estimated at three to five million.

Like all things, it’s good to think about the reason for doing it. That stands regardless of where you do on these issues.

If you’re going to celebrate, celebrate 150 years as 150 years of trying to figure things out. Canada’s history includes slavery, racism, eugenics programs, genocide, and concentration camps. We haven’t figured it all out yet, and we’re bound to make a lot more mistakes. Don’t forget that here in the Fraser Valley, or S'ólh Téméxw, we should also celebrate a tradition of over 10,000 years — some of the things we don’t know might have once already been known, before we paved over it.

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

NEWS BRIEFS

Q&A //

In conversation with Mark Evered

KPU offering new indigenous community justice minor Kwantlen Polytechnic University will be offering an Indigenous community justice minor which was announced on National Aboriginal Day. Dr. Lisa Monchalin, program designer and criminology professor, hopes the program will be honouring, acknowledging, and respecting of Indigenous peoples. The program is set to offer an Aboriginal perspective and include partnerships with local Indigenous communities. The goal of the program is to provide students with further understanding and awareness of the cultures, justice issues, and communities of Aboriginal peoples.

-KPU News

Bike Lane for Huntington The City of Abbotsford applied for a grant to the provincial BikeBC program for 50 per cent of funding of a bike lane project that would run from Mt. Lehman Road to Bradner Road down Huntingdon Road. The application was unsuccessful, and the city has moved to modify the plans. They have shortened the distance, and the lane would follow Mt. Lehman Road to Vye Road. The original project was set to cost $400,000, despite the 2017 budget for bike lanes being a total of $200,000.

The reassessed plan will have a smaller price tag, but the city will still apply for grant money after reassessment.

-City of Abbotsford

Cascades men’s soccer program gains two more players University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer has gained two new players to the 2017 recruiting class. Darash Sandhu and Ravin Aujla are teammates with Surrey United’s top U18 squad. They’ll be eligible to play for the Cascades this fall. The addition of Sandhu and Aujla brings the Cascades’ 2017 recruiting class to 10 players.

Sandhu celebrated three consecutive provincial championships (2013-15) and helped the club win a national championship at the U16 level in 2015.

Aujla aided his high school team, Sullivan Height, to a fourth-place finish at the AAA provincial championships in 2016.

-UFV Cascades

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Dr. Mark Evered served UFV at the helm as president for the past eight years. His loving demeanour, calming presence, and sharp wit are just a few of the positive qualities he’s known for.

He brought the University College of the Fraser Valley through into university status, saw the expansion of campuses, and led the team that keeps UFV growing.

Mark is an engaging conversationalist and a great story teller. Here we do a bit of reminiscing and rambling on.

Where did you get started with your career as university faculty?

My first faculty position was at University of Western Ontario, then I got this really interesting offer from University of Saskatchewan. My wife and I had always thought we would leave London, Ontario, which is where Western is, because I had done a PhD there. I’d gone to Cambridge, and they hired me back at Western to be a faculty member. Six years in they made me an associate professor, they gave me tenure, I was settled in. But I always felt I should move beyond the place. I got a PhD, and coincidentally, early in my seventh year I got an inquiry from the University of Ottawa and the University of Saskatchewan.

My wife and I, we had our three girls at that point, thought about it and we thought, “You know, let's make an adventure of this. And if we’re going to move, why go to another place in Ontario? Let’s go out to the prairies, stay for a couple years.” We did that expecting to stay only a couple of years, and fell in love with the place. And then of course my daughters all met prairie boys and settled in; that’s why my grandkids are now in Edmonton and Saskatoon.

Was it your goal to work in that field?

No, I didn’t aspire to administrative positions, I really loved research, I love teaching, and I was beginning to pick up some teaching awards. When I went to Thompson Rivers University from Saskatchewan, one of the first things I was asked to do, the faculty approached me and they said, “We’re putting together a little symposium, a workshop in which we’re going to share with each other our

best teaching practices. Would you come and be our keynote speaker? We want you to talk to us about the characteristics of master teachers, what they are.” Well that was a challenge, because I thought first of all, like so many others, I experienced imposter syndrome. You think, “Oh man, I’m an imposter, I’m not that good of a teacher, how did I ever get this award?” So I thought, “What was it that I saw in the other master teachers I hung out with?”

I suddenly realized there were really only two things that characterized the greatest teachers I ever knew. That was, first of all, they were all passionate about their discipline; absolutely passionate about it. The second characteristic is that you couldn’t get them to shut up about it. And what made them good teachers is they loved what they did so much they wanted everybody else to love it. So they were constantly working on better ways to persuade other people to love what they loved, to see what they saw. They were trying to instill that passion in other people.

Did you ever consider presidency?

No, if you’d asked me as a young faculty member, was that my aspiration: absolutely not. In fact, I have to admit I could sometimes be a thorn in the side of administrators.

Looking back, could you say that you saw what you’ve now done coming?

Absolutely not. You know what, I’m really torn, because I do encourage people to make plans, to think strategically about their life, but at the same time I feel a little bit of a hypocrite doing that sometimes, because I’ve been an opportunist in the sense that when interesting opportunities came along, I jumped at them.

Fundamentally, I’m an introvert. But I learned a long time ago that I needed to step out of that or life was going to be rather boring. So I trained myself to say yes when I really wanted to say no. A consequence of that is interesting opportunities would come along — inside I’d be quaking and thinking “This is really scary,” but I trained myself to reflexively say yes and worry about it later. I think you reach a point early on in being able to judge the positives and negatives so you’re not doing stupid things. And I’ve never encouraged anybody to be, but if

you’re just purely opportunistic you’ll be all over the map.

If anything drove me it was recognizing that we still hadn't gotten post secondary education right, that there were still lots of things that needed fixing, and I had an opportunity to take a position that allowed me to make some changes, some improvements, or even to experiment.

When things have gotten personally tough for you and your family, what have you done to get you through it?

An example would be the death of our daughter. I hope you never experience that, we’re not meant to outlive our children. She had been ill, was getting progressively worse — liver and kidney problems — and getting that word that it was over, that she wasn’t going to make it... To have your daughter die in your arms, essentially, is a horrible thing.

That’s a really hard thing, and last year I actually spoke a little bit about this at convocation, because I spoke about resilience, and how do you build resilience, and where did I find my resilience? I found it in others. First of all, I’ve got a strong family that were all there at that moment when she died, we were there to support each other. But the UFV family was also there for me. So again it comes down to those relationships, people you can count on, people who will step up and are authentically compassionate; not just the quick card, the quick call, but people who were genuinely compassionate, who cared about what was happening in our lives, and who knew we were going to need some time to heal. I don’t believe it’s something you should ever get over, I don’t want to ever get over that loss. But it’s good to get through it.

You get through it initially being a bit of an introvert, as I say, a guy who was quite happy to spend his time on his own.

There’s this natural inclination, it’s part of the Western philosophy, especially on men, you’ve got to be the white knight, the lone hero — it’s all nonsense, don’t believe any of it, it’s never been true.

Could you get through it on your own?

Yeah, probably, but with deeper scars, with more damage. It will be two years on Canada Day, it’s still fresh, but there is no place I would have rather been than here at UFV with the colleagues I work with.

CONTINUED ON PG. 5

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Renovations //

Abbotsford campus renovations

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The UFV Abbotsford campus is undergoing a few space improvements this summer. Four mid-sized renovations are taking place in the A, B, D, and G buildings.

Mark Goudsblom, director of facilities, said the projects are all improvements that will directly affect stuE dents.

The renovations will be complete by August 31, before the fall semester.

Goudsblom said that in addition to whatever improvements need to be made, the renovations to existing buildings work towards reducing energy waste and emissions.

The projects aim to use recyclable materials, renewable sources, and environmentally friendly paints. All the projects go through an assessment by the energy manLOWER ATRIUM ager to look at how a space may be made more environmentally friendly.

A Building The changes to A building are province approved and funded renovations of the science labs. UFV applied for federal funding through a nation social innovation fund, and although they weren’t successful in receiving money from it, the province agreed to help fund the A building upgrades.

“The total project cost with UFV’s contributions — if we look at furniture and the addition of new benches and mill work, we’re currently looking at $2.4 million just for that space,” said Goudsblom.

The biology labs will see a top to bottom refurbishing.

The flooring, cabinets, utilities, and overall layout will be entirely rebuilt.

“What they’re finding is that students are working in a different way, so instead of long benches with one stu-

dent being on this side and one on that side, or four students in a row, we’re creating islands and workstations,” said Goudsblom.

The classrooms will get new A/V equipment including new monitors, projectors, and upgraded wiring.

There will also be some work done, to improve earthquake resistance, called seismic retrofitting.

B Buliding The B building lecture theatre, B101, lacked wheelchairFa F accessibility. Its stepped floor will be converted to a continuous sloped floor for better accessibility. In the new design, the top portion of the theatre has been opened up and a double entrance will be build where the single door currently is. Additionally, a wall that separates the cafeteria across from the theatre will be knocked down to create a larger foyer for gatherings before or after presentations.

FLEX The theatre will see a change ofSPACE decoration as well.

“We’re working with our senior First Nations advisor on looking at how we indigenize this space,” said Goudsblom. “We’re looking at putting Indigenous artwork in the wood feature.”

D Building In the fall, the theatre program is moving from Chilliwack North to the Abbotsford campus. The renovations in D building will create more space for practice and performance.

D105 will be set up in such a way that will allow for small performances. As a black box theatre, it is designed to have raised flooring, locations to attach performance attributes or stage props, blackout curtains on all windows, and a ceiling grid for lights and sound.

A door to the adjacent D107 will allow entrance onto the stage. That room will also be set up for for mini performances. D101, another small space on the other side of D105, will serve as a green room.

LECTURE HALL B101

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR

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Kitty-corner to D105 will be the theatre department workshop. There they’ll be able to make costumes, props, and sets.

D115 is partially set up to house classes, but will be a flexible space. It also will be used for performance media. In it will be a large green screen, a lightning grid, enhanced electrical and Wi-Fi setups, and data ports separate from the UFV network. Soundproofing will be added where it’s needed.

Ga G Building New designs for the library largely involved working with students, faculty, and staff to plan out a functional study and work space.

On the first floor, close to two-thirds of the stacks will CAFETERIA be removed.

Along the wall, student break out rooms for studying and collaborating will be built.

“The function of the library is changing,” said Goudsblom. “The quiet days of the library I think are over, and they’re recognizing that it needs a different feel, a different functionality,” The library will feature flexible seating arrangements, group-oriented workspaces, and accessible power outlets. The Wi-Fi has also been boosted.

The bottom floor will primarily be used as a work space and the second floor will hold most of the books.

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NEWS CONTINUED FROM PG. 3 You said you were an introvert, and you worked hard to become more sociable, what other kinds of things did you do to accomplish all of this?

Here’s a milestone: I was a graduate student completing my PhD — and it was typical in my field that you would do a postdoc — my PhD supervisor asked me, “Who would you like to work with?” I said I would really love to work with this guy James Fitzsimons at Cambridge, and he said, “Ah, that’s a great choice, so why don’t you do that?” And I said, “Woah woah woah, first of all, he’s the guy writing the books in my field, he’s the leading thinker in this field, and he’s at Cambridge! Are you kidding me?

A boy out of Hamilton who’s managed to get this PhD at Western University in Ontario; what's the chance?”

He said, “Look, write to this guy Fitzsimons.” And he said, “I’ll write a letter as well.” I said, “...Okay!” So I wrote a letter to this guy James Fitzsimons and explained who I was. He wrote back right away, and said, “No, I know who you are, I’ve read a couple of your papers. Let’s see if we can work something out. Are you going to be at this international meeting?” and coincidentally, my supervisor was going to pay me to go to present a paper. I said, “Yes, I’ll be there,” and he said, “Well let’s find an hour or two and we’ll chat.”

I went, we sat down, we hit it off, and an hour later it’s, “Yeah, I’ll support your application for a fellowship.

If you can get the fellowship, come on, if you can’t get the fellowship, let me know and I’ll see if I can find some milk money to get you here.”

So I went back, I applied, I got a nice Canadian Medical Research fellowship to go to Cambridge for two years. I didn’t think there was any chance of getting a fellowship, any chance of getting to go to Cambridge, or any chance of working with this guy, and next thing I know, my wife and I and our little girl are on a plane and a train into Cambridge where I got to spend two years meeting Nobel Prize winners, and working with this leader in my field.

What did you learn from that?

An interesting element of that is while I was there, working in the same laboratory was a young woman — delightful young woman, but really wasn’t a good fit.

She didn’t have the strengths or the interest for that research work, but she was doing a PhD with this leader in the field. So I said to my now buddy/supervisor, “Why did you accept her as a student? There must be people all over the world dying to come and do a PhD with you.” He said she was the only one who applied. He said, “I had an opening, and if there are all those people out there you’re talking about, I never hear from them.”

The lightbulb went on: Ah! Don’t assume that you’ll get turned down. It’s like asking a girl or fella’ out for the first time. What if they say no? Well you're gonna be awfully lonely if you don’t get yourself around that notion

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017 that they might say no. So I learned that in a professional sense.

What’s been most rewarding about being president?

I think having the opportunity to work with really exciting people at all levels. I work with a great team, we have a lot of really stimulating faculty who love what they do and they won’t shut up about it, I love that. And students. The thing I’m going to miss the most is getting to hang out with you guys.

I was invited to give a talk about UFV to a group of people — let’s just say a group of older people, seniors — who met regularly at breakfast, they wanted me to come and talk to them about the university. I went to this event and I talked passionately about the university and the future, and what we’re doing, what we need to do, what the opportunities are, and why it’s so important that we do this.

The very first question, from an old fella’, first words out of his mouth: “Back in the day…” That’s how he starts.

Lord help me, I’m in trouble about “back in the day” — those are just about the worst words you want to hear from any old guy. “Back in the day,” he said, “we only let 10 percent of people into universities. You’ve destroyed universities, you and all you other administrators, you’ve destroyed universities because you’ll let anybody in now.

When it was back in that 10 percent, we got the best and the brightest.”

Now, I try to be very diplomatic when I’m out in the community. But I was ticked and I wasn’t letting this guy get away with it, so he got both barrels. The first barrel in the shotgun response was “I’ll agree with you that there was a time only 10 per cent of the population got to university, but I’m going to challenge you that it was the ‘best and the brightest.’” I said, “It was the privileged. Their parents had gone to university, they had the wealth, they had the connections, they got to go to university. I think we can both come up with a bunch of examples of people who got that opportunity and blew it.” I said there were an awful lot of really bright people who had to make their way the tough way, and they’d been world leaders, never got to university.

I said, “And secondly, obviously you weren’t listening to me because I just presented some data to tell you about the million jobs that are going to be vacant in this province, and who knows what new kinds of jobs are going to be created. As people retire and new industries come into the province, we’re going to need to fill those, and 80 per cent of those are going to require people with post secondary education. So your 10 per cent is ridiculous, you’re not only going to destroy a bunch of lives, you’re going to destroy the province of British Columbia.” Next!

I thought okay, I’m doomed, nobody else is going to ask a question now because I beat up on this guy. But he backed right off, and then I realized there were a lot of smiles in the room. The rest of the conversation went

well, good discussion period. Nevertheless, I’m driving back to campus after this, listening to the song “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie and I’m stewing about it, because that’s what we do, and I find myself saying what my father used to say, my elderly father used to say: “Stupid old people.” Here’s an old guy driving back, 65, 66 myself looking in the rear view mirror, but I’m thinking, “Stupid old people.”

So I pull into the parking lot, jump out, I’m grumpy, going into the building and there was this small group of students. At least one of them knows me and hollers out, “Hey Mark! Come here!” So naturally it’s like a magnet, I go over there, and we’re having a conversation about some fun stuff, some stuff they learned in class, fun ideas. Suddenly I realize, geez, I better get back to the office, I’ve got somebody waiting for me. I said, “Sorry guys, I’ve got to go,” and it suddenly dawns on me: my feet are no longer touching the ground. I’ve gone from grumpy old man in a heartbeat to a guy who’s just walking on air. I’m excited, I’m rejuvenated, I’m stimulated, I’m walking into my next meeting in a really good mood.

Then it hit me: I’m like some kind of zombie or vampire. I had to eat these young brains or drink this young blood to rejuvenate me! So one of my fears of retirement is what do I do if I can’t find bright young minds to hang out with? So I’ll probably be a bit of a ghost around here, haunting the place.

What are your plans now?

I’ve got a leave at the end of my term as president because I actually have a faculty position in kinesiology, so I’m talking to a few people to see what I might do, some lectures or something. For the next year, I’m going to spend some time at our Chandigarh campus; I go there annually, but it’s usually for a five day visit. I’ll probably go for a longer period, maybe six weeks to two months.

That campus is just thriving, and they’ve asked me to come over and work with them on a little bit of planning, we’re outgrowing our facilities and our reputation is spreading.

There are a number of people in the community who have asked me if I would help them out with some projects. As long as it in some way benefits UFV, I’ll stay involved, I’ll commit to that. My wife says I’m failing retirement, but I want to stay involved in some way. Ultimately, maybe when we’re feeble we’ll move to where our kids and grandkids are, but we’re going to stay in the Valley for at least the next decade is our plan.

This interview has been edited for length and clairity.

Stories worth paying attention to

#OhDeer

New research reveals that deer plague might affect humans A recently issued federal government warning that progressive and fatal neurological disease called chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is a disease that normally affects elk, moose, and deer populations might affect humans.

The Health Products and Food Branch of Canada put out an advisory indicating that the potential for CWD being “transmitted to humans cannot be excluded.” In a statement, the branch mentioned that it is prudent to take caution by avoiding consumption of foods that are know to be infected, as well as practicing caution when handling animals from the deer family, commonly referred to as cervids.

The advisory also mentioned that the exposure risk is greater for those in rural areas, such as Canadian First Nation’s. The new concerns come from a research study involving macaques, a primate species, who showed symptoms after having a diet that included food containing chronic wasting disease.

-The Tyee

#NothingToC51

#NoConfidence

Trudeau Liberals let down open government

Liberals expect defeat

Liberals let down open government advocates Harper’s Bill C-51 was introduced in January of 2015, and was meant to aid Canada’s security agencies to prevent terrorist activity. The bill had Orwellian themes, and critics warned of the threat to Canadian rights and freedom of expression.

This week’s announcement on legislation concerning national security and access to information has generated complaints about the Liberal government failing to deliver on promises of government transparency and civil rights protection. A statement from Tim McSnorley, national coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, touches on the need for further work on bill C-51, as well as access to information and open access for media.

Since the Harper era, the media has struggled to gain access to certain events, the practice has been passed over from one government to another.

-The Tyee

After a coalition between B.C. NDP and the B.C. Green Party, the Liberal Party took action in creating two pieces of legislation designed to win over the opposition parties. The combination of forces on Monday defeated the two legislation pieces and has been one of the strongest strategic moves from the opposition parties since the coalition.

The result of the confidence vote coming up this Thursday is expected to topple the Liberal government, despite the wide-reaching bill presented on Monday which covered many of the oppositions’ demands.

Liberal Party leader Christy Clark fired back, stating that a minority leadership backed by the green party would be unstable. NDP leader John Horgan and Green Party leader Andrew Weaver have both stated they are interested in testing the confidence of the house and would prefer to do so sooner than later.

The vote of confidence is set to take place on Thursday June 29th.

-the Globe and Mail

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

SNAPSHOTS

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Aleister Gwynne

Jeff Mijo

Fickle Fake Freckles

10 reasons I don’t like lists

So apparently, freckle tattoos are a fad now. As someone who has natural freckles, I’m not sure how to feel about this.

Some commenters have pointed out that they got made fun of for having freckles when they were young, to the point that some tried to bleach them away. Isn’t this the whole rationale behind cultural appropriation? Adopting a certain appearance to be stylish, but the people who originated those things being mocked for them. But then again, you can’t really appropriate a physical feature, can you?

Regardless of whether it’s wrong or not, the result doesn’t look very convincing.

They’re too large, too regular, and too concentrated in one area. My freckles (which I never thought about until now) vary in size, shape, and distribution, and they’re pretty much everywhere that is regularly exposed to sunlight. And let’s not even get into rainbow freckles. (Yes, this is a thing too.) Personally, I believe you should be able to wear what you want without being judged. However, you should also understand that your choices may be off-putting to many people for reasons that are beyond your control. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

1. I think it’s lazy writing. It lets someone quickly push an opinion without taking the time to craft it into an enjoyable read.

2. They are often self-acknowledging.

3. I’m not sure if I should recognize the numbers as some sort of hierarchy, or linear ordering of equally important items.

4. I’m not a quick person, so abrupt changes in direction, especially in literature, really throw me for a loop.

5. I still don’t know why Mckalay Culkan doesn’t get cast anymore. And I don’t know how to spell his name either.

6. The scrolling or clicking to advance a slide show replaces narrative. We’re losing our storytelling for the sake of speed.

7. They pretty much only exist to get clicks and generate ad revenue. I don’t want to fund the people ruining journalism.

8. Lists are for groceries and laundry.

Both are chores.

9. There’s no way everything has exactly 10 reasons for being the way it is. We’re being ripped off or lied to. Either way, something’s up.

10. Does anyone even finish them?

Joel Robertson-Taylor

Close encounters of the furred kind

It’s not Russia’s fault your country is terrible

During a recent walk I noticed that every house in Tacoma has at least one cat sleeping outside of it. Most of them stared with cold, judging eyes, wondering why there was an unfamiliar, Canadian-smelling thing walking down their street. But one little black fluffy fellow had no such inhibitions. He (or she, but I choose to believe it was a cool guy named Wilfred) pranced up to me and started to follow. I pet him for a minute, but didn’t want him to get too attached — I was going to have to cross a busy street in about half a block, and didn’t want to lead him far from home. But follow he did. Wilfred trotted alongside me, keeping pace and acting like a loyal dog in a post-apocalyptic story. He followed me past four more houses, despite me trying to ignore him, eager to accompany me on whatever adventures lay ahead. Thankfully, he saw one of his cat-friends at that point, and ran off to go proudly display his belly by rolling around on the warm driveway, living up to the cat stereotype and losing interest in me as quickly as it had appeared.

It’s not important if Putin is a mastermind who somehow influenced the election.

Now, this plays regardless of the impact that he had — I’d argue there was one, but it wasn’t definitive in Trump’s victory.

First, you have to address the truth that Western empires have done nothing BUT interfere in other nations and communities for their own profit. This has often come back to bite them in the ass, commonly leading to mass murder and genocide, which is a thousand times worse than an oaf in a big house. However, more important is the fact that if we’re mad at nation state actors working in their best interests, we’ve done precious little (and I say we as in democracies across the globe) to confront or limit the influence of individuals and corporations who are more than willing to throw their money around to get what they want in order to dictate policy and discourse. Even if Trump gets impeached, we move forward with electoral reform, or Russia is sanctioned — will that be enough to justify having overt faith in the system?

Panku Sharma

I mean, if it does, will that faith last until the water wars, or President Oprah?

Illustrations: Amara Gelaude

6

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Medical //

Sick notes are a sick joke PANKU SHARMA OPINION EDITOR

There are very few compliments I am willing to concede for the provinces on the wrong side of the Rockies, but recent legislation in Ontario marks a trend that we should absolutely be following. Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government has put forward proposed workplace reform laws that in addition to promising a $15 minimum wage by 2019 would also provide 10 emergency or sick days for employees (two of which must be paid), and would also ban employers for asking for doctor’s notes for those days as long as that limit is not exceeded.

That last part may not seem like a big change, but it is incredibly influential in many sectors of our society and governance. Right now in B.C., while there is leave of absence time afforded under certain conditions (maternity, caring for family members, etc.), it is up to the employer to decide how to administer and deal with sick days.

I worked at a call centre a few years ago; it wasn’t exactly a thrilling job but the people were nice and the shifts were flexible enough considering I was taking classes. While they allowed the occasional no-show, sick days that didn’t have doctor’s notes would add up to disciplinary notes and long conversations during the frequent performance reviews. There was one occasion where I came down with a bad case of the flu, so I called in a day before my shift to give notice and I was told I would need a note.

By the next morning I was barely able to make it out of bed, but I got a ride from my mom to a nearby walk-in

clinic, and after a long wait in line (where I exchanged viruses with everyone else in the room) I was finally able to be charged a fee to have an old man scribble his name on a pad. While I was there, I decided to get a prescription for something to help with the nausea, as I didn’t want to have to take more days off. However, it turns out I’m allergic to whatever I was given (don’t remember the name, but Wikipedia told me it was also classified as an antipsychotic), as I had a dystonic reaction while I was at school and had to drive myself to the emergency room as I lost motor function above the neck (my jaw clenched, my tongue was pressing itself against the roof of my mouth, and my head wouldn’t stop shaking). Obviously that took me out of commission for the evening, but I shit you not, when I showed up to my next shift and explained the situation management shuffled around before awkwardly asking me if I had a note. Luckily I had the hospital admittance bracelet in my back pocket, but I could tell they were contemplating whether that would be enough for their records and procedure before the expression on my face likely convinced them to just end the discussion.

I mean, I can’t blame them for the reaction I had to the prescription, but there are many reasons why worker protections should cover these situations and stop employers from implementing these policies. First is the obvious fact that this doesn’t account for mental health crises or issues; a walk-in clinic can really only attest to your physical well-being, which will have its recovery stalled by being forced to go to a clinic to have someone agree with you that you have a cold. Additionally, by having so

many hoops to jump through and pressure on employees to not take time off, not only does it create resentment and sour the relationship but they are also more likely to come to work sick (with a lowered performance) and infect the rest of your staff. Also, as noted in a letter posted by the Pemberton Medical Clinic that made the rounds online this past year, the policy “puts added burden on the healthcare system” by clogging up offices and “does not support [the patient’s] recovery.” Furthermore, because providing a note is a service not covered by the provincial Medical Services Plan, the patients are burdened by the cost, which in this case, the clinic decided to invoice employers at $50 per note.

If you have issues with staff showing up, don’t offload your problem onto the rest of society and hurt honest employees. Rethink your workplace culture, invest in human resources and treat people like adults. There are costs to doing business, and high on that list should be treating your employees with dignity and respect for their well being.

Lich Professor //

Student complaints ignored and unanswered PANKU SHARMA & ALEISTER GWYNNE OPINION EDITOR & STAFF WRITER

As the price of education continues to rise, and the quality of instruction is strained under regulation, training, and funding issues, many students at UFV have taken to voicing their alarm and dissatisfaction. With appropriate administrative channels either hard to find or lacking efficacy, much of this protest has made its way online to Facebook confessional pages, Twitter threads, and ratemyprofessors.com.

A member of UFV’s tenured faculty, Professor Zuman Notlitch, holds the distinction of having a negative six rating on a website that only uses a five point scale. While he does boast a chillipepper, his page is plagued by criticism of confusing and biased lectures, unavailability, unfair marking, and what many students feel is overpriced and exploitative required readings.

While having been around since before UFV became an accredited university, Prof. Notlitch spends most of his time away for research in the fields of folklore and druidic ritual. Currently, he only teaches a single course

which is offered every other year, HIST/ENGL 888: Influences of the Great Elder Ones on World History through Neo-Postfeminist Perspectives.

Among the many complaints, one is that the required textbook for the course, The Hungarian Scholomance, is a cost obstacle for students being able to take and participate in the course.

“There’s only one physical copy, which apparently was written on the skins of a long dead Gaulish tribe and of course is long lost,” said former student Sebastian Klein. “That leaves only ebooks which are like $600, and that’s after the Amazon Prime discount. I’m pretty sure he authored the damn thing too, how is that still allowed?”

“He’s one of those old timers who is so set in his ways he can’t be bothered to even use email,” complained another former student under the condition of anomonity. “Not to mention the whole class is four hours of lecture, with him dipping into Latin without warning, and stinking up the class with the red candles he always lights at his desk. They’ve got to be a fire hazard with all those robes.”

Illustration: Caleb Campbell

When pressed for comment outside of his classroom earlier this week, professor Notlitch was critical of the concerns and became increasingly animated. Citing centuries of failed peasant revolutions and his ascendency beyond material concerns, the professor retreated to his office wherein we could hear the distant wails of souls long lost and chanting in a guttural and unfamiliar language that could not be identified. Curiously, when attempting to upload recordings of this encounter, all equipment mysteriously turned to ash.

As it stands, while incredibly unpopular, the professor’s course is a credit requirement for both of its cross-listed program. When asked if student evaluations would have any effect on training or disciplinary measures against professors in the long run, anonymous sources within UFV administration were reluctant to give details, but did direct us towards the budget items detailing the purchase of new high capacity shredders.

7

S

urrey Central station is located in downtown Surrey, with immediate access to Central City Shopping Centre and the Surrey campus of Simon Fraser University. A major transit hub, the station has a daily average ridership of over 30,000 commuters, earning its place as the busiest of the four stations located within Surrey. Over the years, the station has received a reputation as a dangerous hotspot for crime, including violence, drug trafficking, and prostitution.

As an avid commuter myself — primarily due to the increasing costs of parking in downtown Vancouver — I’ve encountered the personalities that make up Surrey Central station’s reputation. Bony men and frail women, all wearers of the same skeletal face, trapped inside hollow shells and emaciated figures. It is not uncommon to witness these disconcerting men and women shooting up drugs or engaging in sexual acts in the hidden corners of the station.

But they are not the only ones that characterize Surrey Central station. Taxi drivers spend hours parked outside the transit hub, waiting to pick up commuters off the skytrain, hoping to get the next big trip. The taxi industry is a competitive business in Vancouver, and it is only getting more crowded. As the daughter of a taxi driver, I was already well aware of the dramatic shift in the economics of the taxi industry. Once worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, taxi licences in B.C. have experienced a steep plunge because of the unpredictability ridesharing companies created within the industry. My father purchased his taxi license for $80,000 in 1998. Today, its value has plummeted to nearly zero, with few wanting to try their luck in a disappearing industry. My father’s perseverance has led him to become less reliant on the taxi industry as a means of income. Other drivers, however, have not been so lucky.

When returning home from a visit to Vancouver, I saw

the long line of taxicabs along Surrey Central station’s sidewalk. When placed together, the cabs comprise a colourful mosaic of various taxi companies, including Newton Whalley and Surdell. The painted cabs prove even more vibrant against the station’s dull infrastructure made of different variants of grey.

“Madam, where would you like to go?” the taxi driver first in line called to me, as he leaned against the passenger door with his arms folded across his chest. I looked at the lengthy line behind him, at the faces of other taxi drivers whose eyes appeared to be pleading “No here, here!”

They all looked the same: men of South Asian descent, reading newspapers or scrolling away mindlessly on their cellphones. They all appeared beat-down and tired.

The first driver reminded me of my grandfather with his heavily wrinkled face and the red turban tied perfectly atop his head. His crisp, white, half-sleeve button-up shirt was tucked neatly into his grey dress pants. As he adjusted the top of his turban, his left sleeve lifted slightly. I caught the glimpse of lighter skin on his upper arm, heavily contrasting against the rest of his deeply tanned body; the hours spent in his taxicab were painted on his skin.

I nodded to him, signaling my acceptance of his ride offer. He opened the passenger door and hurriedly got behind the wheel. It began to drizzle as I walked towards the taxi.

I kept my head down as I ran out from the protection of the station’s roof, cursing myself for forgetting my umbrella on the skytrain.

The driver was quiet, humming to the tune of Punjabi music blasting through the speakers in his taxi. Outside, my eyes fixated on an old, bony man sitting on the station’s steps — the concrete was damp from the rain, but he sat right on the steps like it was summer. I noticed the needle marks on his arms. His expression was of exhaustion and

a hint of frustration. The world seemed too cruel for this man; he had had enough. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to be filled with experience, suggesting that this man had stories to tell. And yet he stayed silent, those lifeless eyes closed tightly shut, not telling, rain falling on his skin.

“You want to listen to the radio?” asked the taxi driver.

I was so absorbed by the old man on the steps that I had forgotten where I was.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I managed to get out. As he reached out to adjust the radio tuner, I noticed his hands resembled that of a mechanics, callused and discoloured.

“Greens to support NDP in four-year government deal,” the radio host announced through the speakers.

The driver mumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t quite understand. For a second, it seemed as though a wave of relief washed over him. As quickly as this sense of comfort flooded the enclosed space of the cab, it was swept away with a look of deep concern. His hand ran up to his forehead, smoothing out his wrinkles only to scrunch them back together again.

“I wonder what this means for drivers like me,” he murmured. I got the sense that he had something to say, so I pressed him for more.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, a few months ago, the province announced that Uber would be coming to B.C.” he sighed. “I thought the outcome of this election would save us but I think I was wrong.” He opened the window, only slightly, as though to fill the awkward acceptance of defeat in the cab. Wisps of grey hair flailed out of the side of his turban, framing his oval face.

Established in San Francisco, Uber is a location-based application that markets itself as a “peer-to-peer” ride shar-

THANK-YOU

FOR YOUR BUSINESS Written by: Sharon Sarai

Illustration: Caleb Campbell

ing company, wirelessly connecting the customer to their private driver. Launched in 2012, Uber has spent the past five years expanding to over 610 cities in 77 countries across the globe. As the application spread to major Canadian cities such as Toronto and Calgary, taxi advocacies subsequently challenged Uber in court for failing to meet licensed driving regulations. The company’s defense lies in its position as a technology provider, and therefore, legally speaking, taxi coalitions cannot continue to keep Uber out of their jurisdictions.

I know this narrative well. My father had complained about Uber since the outcry from taxi coalitions in different jurisdictions such as Calgary and Toronto. He feared a similar fate for Surrey and subsequently put his taxi licence up for sale. It was too late; there were no buyers. Instead of succumbing to defeat, my father left behind his sense of comfortable familiarity in search of a manual labour job.

Now employed in a brick and block plant, he no longer lacks the comfort of job security. But what does this mean for taxicab drivers who are well over the age and ability of manual labourers?

According to a study conducted by Oxford Martin School’s Carl Benedikt Frey, the inclusion of Uber into a new jurisdiction can increase the number of self-employed drivers by 50 per cent. This statistic provides hope for taxicab drivers, as Uber appears to be positively correlated with a rise in available self-driving positions. Although these numbers are certainly interesting, the market isn’t growing by any considerable measure, which means that ridesharing companies like Uber can still significantly cut the income of licensed drivers by around 10 per cent. What’s more is the ability to significantly devalue taxicab licenses, which were once worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Have a little faith,” I reassured him. “We don’t know what the provincial decision on ride-sharing is quite like yet.” I tilted my head towards him and looked at him out of the corner of my eye. His heavily lined face and sagging skin suggested he would not fare well in a manual labour position.

“No puttar, we do know. Uber is coming. We just don’t know exactly when.”

I felt a tinge of sorrow for the man. He was so old and innocent. He didn’t deserve to have his livelihood snatched away from him. I decided to reveal my father’s experience in hopes that it would provide solace for this man.

“Your father sounds like a hardworking man,” he said.

“He is, eh? He’s spent the last 30 years working 12hour shifts, seven days a week, making just enough to get by. He doesn’t deserve this. None of you do.”

He smiled at my gratitude for his profession. His eyes

blurred for a moment. He quickly blinked them clear.

“I’m sorry, beta. I’m getting emotional,” he said as he pulled a handkerchief out of his shirt pocket and blew his nose. “We don’t have to talk about this anymore.”

I reassured him that I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to hear his story. With my gentle prompting, I discovered that he had lived a life of struggle and hardship. His name was Dalvir and he was born in the neighbouring village to my mother’s. He came to Canada shortly after starting a family with his wife, Amarjit. Faced with the horrors of the 1984 Sikh genocide, both Dalvir and Amarjit longed for a better life for their child, one free of warfare and inequality.

“Amarjit and I were staying with my cousin in Delhi at the time. We witnessed everything. Official records place the number of Sikh deaths at 2800, 2100 of which occurred in Delhi,” he shook his head slightly. “But in reality, I’ve learned that the actual death toll lies around 8000, 3000 of which occurred in Delhi.”

“I can’t imagine what that must have been like,” I mumbled, while turning to face the window. There was too much grief and sorrow in this man’s face. I couldn’t bear to look at him.

“As soon as I heard of my friend’s uncle, burned alive by a mob in front of his family, I sought refuge in temples, non-profit centres — basically any place that would take me and my family in.” He paused, as though he was overwhelmed by emotions that had been buried for years. “Even when the brutality slowed down, life was never the same.

We were all living in a constant state of fear.”

“Wow,” I whispered, completely speechless. In the past few months, I had read and heard more about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots than ever before. Previously, my only knowledge on the matter had been that the massacre followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. Although three decades have passed, justice is still being sought after for the victims of the November 1984 riots. That’s why on April 6, the Ontario legislature passed a private member’s motion — introduced by Member Parliament Province Harinder K Malhi — which called the 1984 Sikh massacre in India an act of genocide, something the National Post deemed “a politically explosive label.” Although the National Post claims that Canada-India tension is increasingly building, Canadian high commissioner Nadir Patel says that the relationship between two countries is “far more resilient to be sidetracked by a private member’s resolution.”

“I don’t know what to say…” I struggled to find the words, “that sounds —” “It sounds horrific! I know. Amarjit and I had no choice but to leave everything behind,” he said with a hint

of resentment in his voice. “But now I’ve let my family down. The little money I make now will soon trickle away.

I took out a second mortgage to afford my taxi license six years ago, now it is worth virtually nothing,” he regretfully admitted. “I just don’t know…”

Although it is undocumented how many Sikhs came to Canada following the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, many immigrated in search of a new life and to escape religious persecution by the Indian government. As shown by the recent motion by the Ontario legislature, the Canadian Sikh community remains in anguish, struggling to forgive and forge­t.

Alongside this issue grows the lack of job security amongst Indo-Canadians in Greater Vancouver. The current political impasse in B.C. has left Indo-Canadian cab drivers in a vulnerable position, unsure of their near future. Many of these men will tell you they immigrated to Canada to escape discrimination or simply to enjoy a better life. Unfortunately, now, with the risk of losing their sense of livelihood, the community is at risk of experiencing the same pressure and distress they were faced with when they first chose to immigrate to Canada, albeit in an all new form.

The data appears grim for taxi drivers, but it is evident that B.C. is committed to making a well-thought-out decision on the introduction of ride-hailing services like Uber.

Although the concern is not on the inevitable increase in unemployment or loss of income tax revenue, B.C. is dedicated to ensuring insurance and safety regulations will effectively be in place before allowing Uber to operate within the province.

An abrupt brake cut him off after his navigation system chimed that we had arrived at my destination.

“Well, this is me,” I said as I shuffled through my bag to find my wallet.

“No, beta. This one is on me,” he smiled at me gently.

I reached over to pull him into a quick hug and slip a $20 bill into his shirt pocket.

I stood outside my door and watched Dalvir drive down the hill, with his Punjabi music roaring through his speakers. I squinted at his back window, which held a slogan that read: “Thank you for your business.”

STUDY BREAK

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Crossword // ACROSS

DOWN

1. Camelot resident (two words)

1. Affectionate interaction or classic rock band

5. Battlefield doctor 7. Non-urban neighbourhood 9. _ _ _ _ _ _ the [answer to last week’s 3 across] 11. Large beer mug 12. Excessive or exaggerated (three words)

2. Authentic, not counterfeit 3. Prolific Dutch painter 4. First name of this issue’s Canada Day preview writer 6. False teeth 8. Organization that declares world heritage sites 10. “Quickly” acronym

LAST ISSUE’S ANSWERS: Across: 1. Kit 3. Hun 4. III 5. Makeshift 7. Hamburger 8. Rye 9. Ron 10. Dab

Down: 1. Knit 2. Tailor 3. Haiku 5, Madrid 6. Simon 7. Herb

Made by Jeff Mijo

Horoscope //

Astrological mysteries interpreted by Master Moji

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 Expand your horizons by trying something new this week — like a different brand of bottled water, or putting your shoes on in the opposite order. Anything more than that is incredibly dangerous, though.

Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 It’s officially summer now, and you know what that means: time to stop complaining about the rain, and start complaining about the heat! (Also, don’t forget to stay hydrated.)

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 It’s not fair that the stars always share such great wisdom with you, but you don’t return it. This week, go out one night and yell at the stars to tell them what their future holds.

(Don’t mention the whole exploding thing, though, they’re self-conscious about that.)

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 The best thing about the internet is nobody needs to know how many times you’ve looked up the same simple, basic, grammar questions.

Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 Remember that episode of The Magic Schoolbus where Arnold ate too many carrots and turned orange? That scarred me, and scared me off carrots for years.

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 You may sometimes think your ideas are bad, but remember: at least you weren’t the person who thought the biggest problem with Twitter was that its profile pictures just weren’t round enough.

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Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 Don’t look now, but there’s something crawling about three inches from your leg. If you just ignore it, it won’t get vicious.

Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 Give a pal some cheese this week.

Illustration: Caleb Campbell

Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 Fall will bring in a whole fresh crop of new students to UFV, and the current position of Mercury tells me that it would be a good idea for everyone to try to convince them that C building is haunted by an evil ghost, but D building is haunted by a friendly, though annoying, ghost.

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 It’s kind of weird how we still (by-and-large) take the summer off of school, and even if you don’t, it’s when there are less courses and activities. It’s not like we all have crops to harvest anymore. Why not take off the winter, and just stay huddled up at home?

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 How is it that cats are so picky, but their food smells so vile?

Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 Hidden somewhere in this issue of The Cascade is a secret phrase that will seem innocent to every other reader, but to you, it will hold a special, life-changing significance.

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Evered Farewell //

Saying goodbye to the Evereds JEFF MIJO CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR

After eight years at UFV’s helm, Dr. Mark Evered is set to retire as president on June 30. However, the UFV community wasn’t going to let him or his wife, Maureen Evered, leave without saying goodbye.

On June 20, students, staff, alumni, and anyone else wishing to see the Evereds off were invited to gather in — appropriately — UFV’s Evered Hall for a farewell barbecue.

The Evereds’ impact on UFV and the surrounding community was immediately apparent by the large crowd that gathered to see them off, exceeding expectations and filling the hall. Once the crowd had gathered, the event began with a welcome by Elder in Residence Terry Prest, who led a group in singing the Stó:lõ UFV song. That wasn’t the only music of the afternoon, either: Chilliwack drumline group X Corps kept the crowd excited and energized with reimagined hits from artists as varied as Ed Sheeran and White Snake.

As a barbecue, food naturally played an important role too. With the lunch catered by Dana Hospitalities, attendees were treated to chicken, salmon, and stuffed mushroom caps, served alongside salad and potatoes.

Craig Toews, UFV’s executive director of campus planning and resource development, handled emcee duties throughout the afternoon, taking time to comment on Mark Evered’s leadership as the

school transitioned from the University College of the Fraser Valley to a full-fledged university, his vital role in the building of UFV’s multiple campuses, and the construction of the Canada Education Park campus, the Agriculture Centre, and most recently, the Student Union Building. Randy Kelly, director of the School of Trades, also spoke on the great leadership Evered provided to the university as a whole, and the positive impact it had on the Trades campus. UFV’s CFO and soon-to-be interim president, Jackie Hogan, added some touching words of her own about Evered. Finally, the retiring president gave a speech, thanking the other speakers, the attendees, and the UFV community at large.

Following the speeches, attendees shared cake, and a final chance to celebrate Mark and Maureen Evered’s years of contributions to UFV. However, it was not the final event bidding farewell to Dr. Evered. On Friday, June 23, a fundraising dinner was held at the Quality Hotel and Conference Centre, offering a more formal conclusion to his legacy as president. The Evereds, along with their children and grandchildren, were celebrated with more speeches, a wide variety of food, and dancers providing entertainment. The night concluded with the announcement of a new scholarship honouring the Evereds’ legacy.

With files from Joel Robertson-Taylor & Quintin Stamler.

Photo: Facebook

Photo: Facebook

Photo: Facebook

11

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Canada Day //

Happy 150th: A commemorative birthday itinerary RACHEL TAIT CONTRIBUTOR

Canada proudly turns 150 on Saturday, July 1, 2017, and people nationwide are getting ready to partake in the festivities. British Columbia has been especially busy with an itinerary of its own, and Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission are no exception! The B.C. government has allocated funds in honour of this special birthday, so let’s take a look at what is being planned in these three cities.

In Abbotsford: there will be the annual Prospera Credit Union Canada Day parade, which takes place from 11 a.m. onwards, stretching from Ware Street/South Fraser Way to Trethewey and Maclure.

At Sevenoaks Mall from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., there will be a special ceremony followed by the digging up of an old time capsule buried 25 years ago, and a new one is set to be buried for another 25 years. Back in 1992, according to a Seven Oaks handout, the time capsule was buried to celebrate Matsqui’s Centennial Anniversary at Sevenoaks Shopping Centre. The new time capsule will be filled with pictures from the mall’s Happy Kid’s Club members.

Also in Abbotsford at Exhibition Park festivities will be a weekend-long experience, starting on June 30 from 6 – 9 p.m. and again on Canada Day, from 11 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Friday will feature performances including the Pa-

12

cific Mennonite Children’s Choir, Valley Festival Singers, the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, Sionnaine Irish Dance Academy, Korean Drummers, and so much more!

Then on July 1, there will be an Abbotsford Arts Council artisan market with community displays hosted from 1 – 5 p.m., along with hayrides, mini golf, pony rides, and play zones, as well as a food truck festival from 1 – 10 p.m., and a wide range of performances beginning at 6 p.m.

Local businesses are also celebrating the big birthday, making certain products $1.50 for the day. High Street will be hosting a free Canada Day event that includes drinks and food, ping pong, and more! As for fireworks, they’ll be launching at Rotary Stadium at 10 p.m.

In Chilliwack: a similar day is planned, mainly hosted at Townsend Park.

Starting at 8 a.m., there will be the Kiwanis Club annual pancake breakfast at Evergreen Hall. The cost is $5.00/person, and all proceeds will be used to benefit the community.

Between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Townsend Park there will be bouncy castles, children’s arts and crafts, face painting, a rotary ride-on train, and performances by local groups such as Prospera Community Stage, Excel Martial Arts, Taoist Tai Chi Society, and the Korean fan dancers, among others! A special pop up market that sells local goods hosted by That Local Market will also be there, as well as food trucks. Admission to the festivities

is free. Like Abbotsford, Chilliwack will also finish the evening with a fireworks extravaganza at 10 p.m. sharp.

Near the park, there will also be activities for all age groups to enjoy at the Landing Leisure Centre.

At 4:15 p.m., the grand opening of the Landing Spray Park will complete with greetings from the mayor and MP Mark Strahl. At 6:45 p.m., there will be a Canada Day ceremony and the unveiling of a special commemorative mosaic community arts project as well.

In Mission: celebrations on this glorious day will not go unseen, hosted at Fraser River Heritage Park from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a similar buffet of activity, such as pancake breakfasts, pony rides, face painting, magicians, dog shows, wall climbing, singing, dancing, live music, and so much more.

The admission is free and again, there will be fireworks at 10 p.m. They’ll be hosted at the Mission Raceway, which will open (with free admission) at 8:30 p.m.

With all of these amazing events taking place, no matter which city you celebrate Canada’s 150th in, let it be a day of reflection on how much our country has grown and changed from what it was to what it is today. For better or for worse, Happy Birthday, Canada! Have a wonderful Canada Day, eh?

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates: Wrestling with Leaving JENNIFER TRITHARDT-TUFTS CONTRIBUTOR

Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates is a recurring column showcasing the life of a UFV student studying abroad. Jennifer is in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts this semester, and documenting the process as she goes.

I have two more weeks left here in Switzerland, and I’m getting kind of anxious about going home. I felt a bit uncomfortable when I first arrived, mostly because I didn’t know any German, and wasn’t sure how to navigate the culture. Now I’ve started to pick up on words and am able to maneuver a bit more confidently. When people first asked me if I would stay I said no way, I couldn’t live here long term. I sing a much different tune now. Yes, things are expensive here, and yes, the culture is a bit more “cold” or impersonal than I’m used to, but if someone offered me a job I would totally come back.

The quality of life here is incredible; things are clean, and the quality of food is great. There are no waxed apples that last for 4 weeks in your pantry or prepackaged noodle and powder cheese meals. I find a lot of value here and I will try to find more valuable aspects of Canada when I return. Life is different here, I don’t know if I could properly articulate it. It’s just something you have to experience.

I’m trying to study for exams, but also cram as many last minute things in the next couple weeks as I can. Last night I did one of the most Swiss things a person could possibly do: I attended a traditional Swiss wrestling tournament called Schwingen in Swiss German. I met my Swiss friend Sam at the train station in a small town called Baar. As I waited for his train to arrive, I cracked open an Eichhof beer and bags of Zweifel chips. So Swiss. We eventually found each other and wandered around the town trying to find the match. We decided we were lost and randomly stumbled across some of his rugby friends who guided us to the right part of town.

Not all Swiss people are as coordinated as you may think.

We arrived at the pitch that was set up

with four raised wood chip circles, four sets of scorekeepers, and four referees.

This was the junior version, but the men were still very large. They wore a traditional outfit which included black dress pants and a blue button-up t-shirt, and before the match they put on a pair of shorts made of potato sacks with a builtin leather belt. There is no weight class either, so it’s possible that one wrestler could be twice as big as the other.

The goal is to flip the other wrestler onto their back. As soon as their shoulder blades hit the wood chips, the match is won. Both wrestlers must keep their hands on the opponent’s shorts at all times. Once both wrestlers have let go of each other’s shorts, they restart from the centre. The most points you can get is 10, and that’s for a perfect flip.

If the opponent is able to squirm, then the winner is awarded fewer points.

I would say it is like sumo wrestling meets strongman competition. One of the aspects I found interesting is that the winner brushes the wood chips off the loser’s shoulders. I think that demonstrated great sportsmanship and integrity.

We enjoyed some nice beers and sausages with mustard while we watched the matches. All four pitches are going at the same time so it can be kind of tough to see everything. The crowd was so excited! It’s such a fun experience to participate in something the locals put so much value in. The atmosphere was really relaxed, there was music, and everyone was having a great time socializing and enjoying the matches.

I have made some amazing friends and had some incredible experiences these past months. I can’t emphasize enough how much this experience has changed my life and helped me to find focus again. If you have the chance, you need to do this! I’m sad to be leaving this amazing country soon, but I’ll be on to the next adventure shortly! The next time you hear from me I will be in Athens, Greece.

Tchüss!

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ARTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Album Review //

Cigarettes After Sex adds more momentum to shoegaze revival CHARTS 1

Mac Demarco This Old Dog

2

The Courtneys II

3

Cheap High Subterranean Suburbia

4

Hooded Fang Dynasty House

5

MALK Single

6

Kim Gray Compulsion

7

Kristin Witko Union

8

John Welsh Vamonos Mi Chica

9

The Flaming Lips Oczy Mlody

10

Grizzly Bear Painted Ruins

11

Colin James Blue Highways

12

Bored Decor/OKGB Bored Decor/OKGB split

13

Oh Susanna A Girl In Teen City

14

Steve Kozak It’s Time

15

OKGB OKGB

SHUFFLE

AARON LEVY SPIN DOCTOR

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy wants new artists to come up and make a splash in the Valley. No matter who you are, you can succeed by taking the first step! Contact me at info@civl.ca with the subject line: “I Want To Play Shows!”

Ozma — Natalie Portman A band founded via the magic of the world wide interwebs, specifically within the sprawling labyrinth of the =w=, and one of the formative fan sites in alternative music; hosted by international nerd hero Karl Koch.

Ozma eventually opened for Weezer internationally, and penned this classic tune for Padme Amidala.

Steel Panther — Community Property Originally spending their professional days as session musicians, backup guys, and tribute acts for bands like Van Halen, this glam-rock send up of bro-metal culture did NOT take their name from the Mark-Wahlbergsings-and-has-hair vehicle Rock Star, though I like to think the band has a similarly charmed genesis story.

Marilyn Manson — The Dope Show

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This possibly not truly formerly de-ribbed goth suYellow Days perstar wasn’t always makHarmless Melodies EP ing his own name by piggy backing on the names of others. Back in the so-called Smokey & The day, he backed Trent Reznor Feeelings and Nine Inch Nails on songs Smokey & The that may have included 1996 Feeelings masterpiece The Downward Broken Social Scene Spiral’s iconic, stubborn anthem, “Piggy.”

Hug of Thunder

19

Woolworm Deserve to Die

Bruce Springsteen — Dancing in the Dark

20

Guerilla Toss GT Ultra

Perhaps no “fake it ‘til they’ve made it” story has unraveled itself directly before our eyes quite in the same way as Friends, Scream 1, 2, 3, and also 4, as well as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective star Courtney Cox has since The Boss brought her on stage to party.

16 17

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MARTIN CASTRO ARTS EDITOR

I think it’s safe to say, at the risk of over-generalizing, that most people have already made up their minds about whether or not they like shoegaze. Either that, or they haven’t listened to it. And the odds of that happening organically, given that it hasn’t already, are slim.

Regardless of your opinion about or lack of familiarity with the genre, listen to Cigarettes After Sex’s self-titled debut. Do it. I’ll tell you why.

As minimalist as it is in terms of what it immediately gives listeners (a slow ride and snare backing, and a watery haze which is not so much pierced as much as ridden by Gonzalez’ comparatively delicate vocals), the record sets the band apart in the bevy of acts that came crawling out of the post-punk revival woodwork.

And although it’s hard to place this album on a popular music spectrum that’s preoccupied with dance beats and largely escapist (as opposed to personal) themes, it’s just as infectious. Take the opening track, “K.” Slow in its build-up to what can only be described as a passive yet melancholy groove, the track reveals itself lyrically as unabashed yearning, and as compelling in its instrumental texture as it is infectious.

At 10 tracks, which for the most part retain a slower tempo, the record is surprisingly fresh in its content. That is, it doesn’t go stale while listening. Take “Sunsetz,” for example. The track serves as a slowdance anthem in the making and its picturesque description of a narrator’s feelings of nostalgia for a previous lover. Is it cliché? Yes, perhaps. But it’s not cynical in its use of a cliché, we’re not being sold emotion through what feels like an empty gesture.

Instead, taking a page out of the emo genre (or, more accurately, using the page the emo genre took out of the post-punk genre), we’re presented with intimacy without voyeurism. We accept it not because we’re told to, but because it’s earnest.

Not to keep beating the same dead metaphor over the head with itself, but the record’s primary function is that of reflection. It’s as if someone decided, this is it. Today’s the day I head out onto the streets, find a seat, and read my diary out loud for the public.

“John Wayne,” arguably one of the record’s best tracks, describes and attacks the hyper-machismo of the narrator’s romantic rival. “He’s got so much in his heart, but he doesn’t know what to do. / All he wants is her, lying inside his room.” What’s most interesting is that, thematically, we’re not that far out from the stomping grounds of modern pop. Even in his lament, the narrator connects with contemporary images. “Baby, he’s got to be crazy, living like he’s John Wayne.”

What’s not contemporary then, is Gonzalez’s choice to include content which puts him in a position of emotional vulnerability, as opposed to turning to escapism or the safety afforded by ironic distance. “Young & Dumb” does the same thing, but instead takes aim at a lover and, in turn, Gonzalez himself. Also, it’s got to be the one of the catchiest songs on the record.

Summertime sadness or not, there’s something in Cigarettes After Sex’s debut for just about anyone.

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

Soundbites //

Portugal. The Man Woodstock

Kikagaku Moya Stone Garden Kikagaku Moyo is a Japanese psychedelic band whose eclectically world-influenced music sets them apart from the recent influx of psychedelic garage rock.

According to their Bandcamp page, they formed as a music collective of Tokyo street buskers. Much of their music was written while backpacking the world — Stone Garden was recorded in a Prague basement.

I discovered the band the day after they played Vancouver (this kind of thing has become a trend) which is a shame because improvisation is a central component of their raison d’être.

I see Stone Garden as a template from which to build a live show. Yeah, it’s lacking in amplitude, especially compared to earlier works like Forest of Lost Children or House in the Tall Grass, but it offers something different. A live performance might fill in the gaps.

Taken together, this is laid back psychrock, although each song seems to build on different musical themes. “Nobakitani” is a hot summer’s day narrated by the sitar; “Backlash” lashes back against

clean production — or speakers that aren’t blown; “In a Coil” is the only song with lyrics, although they’re minimal and blend into the mix as another instrument.

My favourite part of the album: exactly five minutes into “In a Coil” the vocalist makes a “whoop” into the mic. It’s good stuff — reminiscent of a Stu Mackenzie mid-verse “whoop”, which is no surprise, as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s speedy and well-deserved rise to notoriety should have had some kind of influence on the boys in Kikagaku Moyo.

The only real gripe I have with the album is that it’s not an LP. A couple Stone Garden tracks are arguably more sparse than atmospheric psych-rock needs to be, but I still want more. Their previous album, 2016’s House in the Tall Grass is a more interesting album, and others before that displayed better composing; even still, Stone Garden isn’t a bad way to get acquainted with Kikagaku Moyo.

Portugal. The Man’s latest record plays unerringly like a free-spirited summeranthem collection. At times electronic in nature, at times bluesy, at times more rock than anything, the indie heavyhitter band’s ninth record is surprisingly forward-thinking for a mainstream indie-pop band with nine records under their belt.

At times, Woodstock’s quasi-folk, quasi-blues aesthetic overshadows the pop nature of the band, but is always brought back down to earth with tracks that remind the listener of the band’s real appeal: they’re fun.

And there’s really no better example of that than “Noise Pollution.” Throwing away all of their non-pop elements, the track focuses on giving listeners nothing less than a highly danceable track with what’s probably the best indie-pop hook of the summer so far. In an odd collaboration with Zoe Manville and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the track manages

to capture the indulgence of pop without falling prey to overused conventions or tropes.

It’s not the band’s best work, but of all the summer albums rearing their heads, Woodstock isn’t the worst.

-Martin Castro

-Joel Robertson-Taylor

Book Review //

He’s not a Hobbit, but it’s quite a journey PANKU SHARMA OPINION EDITOR

I told myself that once post-grad I would commit myself to reading all of the classics, theory, and textbooks that I faked understanding over the course of my politics degree. However, I bit off more than I could chew and found myself unable to scale the density of academia and importance in most of those works — so I took the coward’s way out and distracted myself with pleasure reading instead.

Alex Branson’s Into the Hills, Young Master tells the first person story (a biographical account first posted in the off-topic section of an Elder Scrolls forum) of a young man who sets out into the world after university to try and form the perfect opinion. In many ways I can relate to the story, if not as sharing a similar drive at academic self improvement as the main character, then at least in fully recognizing the type of guy he is. The titular “Young Master’s” journey identifies a pastoral and romantic longing for a simpler life, with admiration for philosophers and Batman-esque loners thrown into the mix.

You might know a guy like him; one who loves posting on the internet, says he values logic and reason above all things, and might be a bit socially awkward. He recounts with pride that he often took on the role of contrarian conservative during debates in his university classes, a position that is often motivated more by glee in mocking the response and reaction than a noble outcome of debate. He had “viewed liberal coddling as the ultimate weakness, one that should not be suffered by anyone” and had said anything he could to deter or distract from

positions and evidence of disagreement.

The writing presents a character that is compelling and incredibly familiar. His unflinching sense of superiority is apparent from his musings that he could “see how most never [felt] the need to have an intelligent thought in their life” or after witnessing a difficult night of interpersonal drama and conflict then coming to the conclusion that “the world can punish you for being logical.”

Compelling, and at times sympathetic, his journey of self discovery starts him at a cruel and frustrating foundation, with among his rants the assertion that street drugs justly “fetter out the weak willed” to save “good jobs for good people,” or his opinions on casual sex or racial epithets.

While the story doesn’t present itself as self-deprecating, its self-awareness is apparent under the layers of irony and weird Twitter memes. Progress charts that forward the different acts of the book mark his self-fulfilment in relation to things like talking to girls, stealing valour, and unemployment.

The prose is easy to read, aloof, and incredibly funny, while at the same time speaking on an experience and type that is incredibly prevalent in today’s age. It even features some absurdist derailments outside the main narrative; a chapter near the middle features an excerpt from his fantasy story titled “Grunlak Cares Not: A Novel,” a tried and trope-filled story that may or may not take place in a video game universe. It is then followed by a series of responses suggesting edits in the novel, which include Branson having to vehemently confirm that he has in fact “never jacked off to Blaz’thina” (the trickster fire elf mage) and that his main character is too preoccupied with honour and bloodlust — that “Grunlak will

never fuck!”

Along the way we get glimpses into his personality; the hesitation and awkwardness he has with women (he names them after League of Legends characters to protect their identities) which manifests itself in him flirting with and considering Red Pill ideas — that is of course the hyper misogynist view of dating as a game and women as a disposable prize. (His idol in the book is a guy by the name of CasanovaGalt, itself a pretty good joke.) He whines that he “had intended to take full advantage of [his] new, fit body by using it to have sex, with a woman, to completion” but that “honesty, logic, and emotional control” while “noble characteristics” were more like a “mighty hammer” that was ill-suited to “delicately fold flower petals the most apt comparison [he had] come up with in regards to talking to women.”

By the end of the book, although preceded by screeds against identity politics and campus culture, the main character settles his journey near the conclusion that empathy is in fact important, and that he has spent a long time denying himself a lens towards whatever truth is out there. Of course this takes him facing repeated obstacles in his home and love life, as well as a (justified) layoff from a job before he begins to view “hierarchy as the problem, that people in power could abuse those without it” and “leave people like [him] scrambling and begging.”

In short, this is a pleasure read in every sense of the word, even with a character that can both alarm in how real and prevalent his archetype feels and have you wanting to pull your hair out. Twitter needs to write more comedies, and we all need to read more off-topic sections of internet forums.

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