The Fulcrum - Vol 76 Issue 17

VOL. 76 ISSUE 17

jan. 28, 2016

You can’t sit with us

u of o introduces new restrictions on 24/7 dining hall PG. 5

This is the face of change.

Apply now FoR FAll 2016!

Discover our Graduate Studies: • Canon Law • Conflict Studies

• Counselling and Psychotherapy

ustpaul.ca | 223 Main, Ottawa ON 613-236-1393 | 1-800-637-6859

• Public Ethics • Theology

Saint Paul University is the founding college of the University of Ottawa (1848), with which it has been academically federated since 1965.

This Week

IN THIS ISSUE...

And none for students without meal plans P.5 U of O lays out new restrictions for 24/7 dining hall And put your hands together for... P.9 U of O students put on production of Tonynominated musical Canadian TV’s all tied up P.12 How the changing TVlandscape is killing Canadian channels An olympian on campus P.15 U of O students joined Jeannie for a skate Adding insult to injury P.18 Media outlets sensationializes Canada “snubbing” Rubbing it raw P.20 When a little self love becomes a little too much

I WILL

ELECTIONS 2016

FEBRUARY 9, 10 & 11 Make informed decision!

Read up on these 3 important

REFERENDUM QUESTIONS Health and Dental Plan:

Do you agree to give the SFUO the ability to maintain current benefit levels of the Health and Dental plan, and to ensure financial sustainability of the plan, by increasing the Health and Dental Plan levy by $29 for the upcoming fiscal year, while maintaining the option to opt-out with full reimbursement and authorizing the SFUO Board of Administration to increase the fee up to 8% per subsequent year?

Summer U-Pass

Do you agree that each student registered full-time in a summer session contribute $192.70 with a maximum increase of 2.5% / year, for a summer U-Pass, which will be valid from May 1st to August 31st, beginning on May 1st 2016?

Refugee Student (WUSC)

Do you support each undergraduate student contributing an additional $0.50 per semester to the student-run World University Services of Canada (WUSC) local committee so as to sponsor a third refugee student to resettle and attend uOttawa annually?

Campaign Period: January 31st - February 11th Debates: February 3rd, 5-8PM, UCU Terminus and February 4th 3-6PM, SITE ground floor Voting Days: February 9th, 10th, and 11th

elections.sfuo.ca SFUO.FEUO

@SFUOElxnFEUO

elections@sfuo.ca | elections.sfuo.ca UCU-309 | 613-562-5800 x2625

NEWS

NEWS EDITOR

Eric Davidson news@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0061 @Eric_Davidson93

U of O files defence alleging men’s hockey team members had sex while other players watched University’s statement says some players ‘played a role in the activity’ eric davidson news editor

T

he University of Ottawa has filed a statement of defence in response to a $6-million lawsuit, filed last January, by former players of the 2014 men’s hockey team.

The university is alleging that three members of the team had sex with a woman, while several other players were present in the room, watched, played a role in the activity, or touched the woman.

The suit came after the university suspended the team in March, 2014, following an alleged sexual assault during a road trip in Thunder Bay on Feb. 1-2, 2014. Two players, former team captain Guillaume Donovan and former assistant captain David Foucher, were charged with sexual assault.

The suit, led by Andrew Creppin, alleges the university tarnished the reputations of the rest of the players who weren’t charged.

The university’s statement of defence tells a very different story, suggesting that many players besides Donovan and Foucher may have seen or participated in the alleged sexual assault.

The statement says that “several other team members, in various states of undress, watched while Foucher and Donovan engaged in sexual activity with (the woman), or were present in the room while the activity was occurring.”

It continues, “some of these players may have played a role in the activity or touched (the woman). Other players overheard the sexual activity through the open connecting door to the adjoining hotel room.”

The statement also alleges that many players were very inebriated at the time of the incident, to the point that one

player, Stephen Blunden, was sent to hospital. After hearing about it, Head Coach Réal Paiement sent Creppin and teammates Patrick Burns, Austin Krahenbil and Matt White to assist Blundin. Foucher claimed to have no memory of the night’s event.

The statement goes on to allege that Paiement knew about the “alleged sexual assault” and “alleged incidents” and failed to report it, and that he acknowledged this fact in a meeting with university officials. According to the statement, “Coach Paiement chose to treat the events in Thunder Bay as an internal Team discipline issue.”

None of the university’s claims have been proven in court. Charges against Donovan and Foucher have also not been proven. Their next court date in Thunder Bay is scheduled for Feb. 2.

The university received much of its information from an independent investigator, whom they sent to Lakehead

University, where the alleged sexual assault took place, and who interviewed 10 of the players.

The investigator also interviewed coach Paiement and those staff members who agreed to be interviewed, a Lakehead student who was a friend of the victim (and who originally reported the incident), and RCMP constable Jean Juneau. At the request of the RCMP, the investigator did not interview the victim.

The investigator determined that the sexual activity between the victim and a rookie player was consensual, but was unable to determine if intercourse with Donovan and Foucher was consensual.

The statement says the university suspended the whole program as opposed to individual players because “the suspension was consistent with past practices at other post-secondary institutions, and in any case the team’s overall conduct contravened the university’s expectations of appropriate

Andrew Creppin (centre) sits with his lawyer Lawrence Greenspon (left)

Photo: Marta Kierkus

behaviour by student athletes.”

The statement denies any negligence on the part of the university, and that its actions were “fully within the university’s discretion and authority to manage its own affairs in a manner it deemed necessary and advisable under the circumstances.

Accordingly, the plaintiff’s action is an abuse of process and should be struck.” It also states that the university does not owe these players “a duty of care.”

The university did not wish to comment further, stating in an email that the the statement of defence “speaks for itself”.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Creppin’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon filed a reply with the court. The university’s statement “effectively clears” his client and other members of the team who weren’t on the trip or were at the hospital, reads Greenspon’s reply, but it carries on damaging the reputations of the remaining members of the team.

The limit does exist at U of O’s new dining hall University restricts access to non-meal plan students Jaclyn McRae-Sadik Associate News Editor

While the University of Ottawa isn’t asking students to wear pink on Wednesdays, it is restricting access to its new 24/7 dining hall for students who don’t have a meal plan.

“Everyone is welcome—anyone can eat at the Dining Hall: students, professors, staff, even guests,” according to the Food Services’ website. However students without meal plans will no longer be welcomed so readily.

Food Services’ customer service has confirmed additional restrictions that came into effect Jan 9., which are not limited to higher traffic periods

thefulcrum.ca

such as exams.

Myriam Hugron, Marketing, Communications and Special Projects Officer for Food Services, said in an email that people were turned away due to fire safety regulations. “The Dining Hall has a 680-seat capacity, when we reach that number, fire safety regulations prevent us from exceeding that capacity and allowing more students in the dining hall until more space is created as students leave.”

Now, during mealtime changes customers could be asked to leave the dining hall and re-enter in order to pay for the next meal session if they wish to continue eating or sitting. Breakfast goes from 6-9:30 a.m., lunch from 9:30

a.m.-4p.m., and dinner from 4-9 p.m.

Hugron said that while as of yet no students have been asked to leave for this reason, that it could happen. “We are evaluating different possibilities but no policy has been adopted yet or set in place yet.”

Bags and backpacks are also no longer allowed in the cafeteria, there are cubby holes for students to leave them in.

The dining hall was opened in September 2015 amid some controversy among student groups due to the mandatory meal plans for most first-year students living in residence.

Restriction began during the previous exam session.

However some students only became aware of these restric-

tions in the midst of exams upon attempting entry.

Anassi Manitou, a secondyear French literature student who does not have a meal plan, was among the students on campus refused entry.

“I love this cafeteria, it’s a great change, I come here all the time. It was the beginning of the exams time and they wouldn’t let us come in because we didn’t have a meal plan,” he said.

“I had cash on hand and I had my student card in the other, and I’m like ‘I’m a student here, I have cash, I’m willing to pay and enter and you’re really going to turn me away?’ and they said ‘no, you need a card’. There was no explanation for it.”

“It did affect me and I didn’t come back here for a while. I was pissed off that this was the case,” said Manitou.

“In situations where demand far exceeds number of seats, we prioritize meal plan holders (5-day and 7-day) because the Dining Hall is the only location where they can use their meal plan,” said Hugron. “This is not a permanent policy. We have to be flexible according to the demand.”

Third-year international studies and modern languages student Amen Momodu, who also doesn’t have a meal plan, said she stopped going to the dining hall for a while when she heard students were being told to leave.

“Me and my friend lived

here until they started kicking people out,” she said.

Momodu acknowledges that first-year students may have more of a need to eat at the cafeteria, but all students contributed to its construction.

“I guess I get it because firstyears don’t have the option of going to cook the way upperyears would, but at the same time our tuition paid for it, so it’s annoying. I just feel like there’s a better way to go about it instead of denying people access,” she said.

Hugron said there will be more room to eat once the university’s new Learning Centre is constructed in 2017. She said there would be another food court there, with approximately 400 seats.

NEWS | 5

BOG meeting covers bilingualism, fossil fuel divestment, and grad rates

Board wants improvement in French course offering, sets date for divestment talk eric davidson news editor

The University of Ottawa’s Board of Governors (BOG) convened for their first meeting of the year on Monday, Jan. 25.

On the agenda was the university’s overall performance, as well as updates on fossil fuel divestment, bilingualism, and the ombudsperson’s report.

Fossil fuel divestment Near the outset of the meeting, Rock introduced plans that could lead to the university divesting from fossil fuels.

Rock said the university has commissioned an external expert report on the subject, as well as a report by U of O professor Stewart Elgie. He said there will also be a divestment-centred event held by the university on March 22. This event will feature an academic roundtable, an expert panel on divestment, as well as an event organized by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and the Graduate

Students Association (GSAÉD).

He said he hopes these steps can “pave the way to a BOG discussion on divestment by the end of April.”

Scoreboard The board examined the presentation of a “scoreboard”, examining the university’s performance last year. BOG chair Robert Giroux said the goal of this “detailed scoreboard” is “progress in all areas for our vision 2020 plan.”

Early on, the presentation showed a focus on the graduation rate, which has increased only slightly. “The key word for faculties will be retention,” said Michel Laurier, vice-president academic and provost. “We are still far from our goal,” he said.

The retention rates at both undergraduate and graduate level were of concern, since they didn’t increase as much as expected.

Laurier also announced that the university finalized the hiring process for 60 more professors in the 2014-15 school year to improve the studentteacher ratio. Rock had men-

tioned in a previous meeting that the university had scaled back admissions partly in order to maintain a stable teacherstudent ratio.

Another focus of the presentation was bilingualism.

The scoreboard showed that 40 per cent of students enrolled last year were Francophone, which Laurier said is higher than previous years.

The report also indicates that the number of international Francophone students is increasing, largely due to the university’s policy of charging international Francophone students the domestic tuition rate.

As for course availability, Giroux said he believes the university can do more to ensure all of its courses are available in both official languages. This comes soon after the U of O made French-language studies a right with legislation that came into effect in January 2016.

The university’s Board of Governors convened for its first meeting of the year on Jan. 25

dent Allan Rock announced that the university’s new chancellor, Calin Rovinescu, will be officially installed in a ceremony on the morning of Feb. 5. No further details were given.

He also said he was proud of the U of O’s economic impact, citing the recent Conference Board of Canada’s Impact of the University of Ottawa report, commissioned by the university, which found that the U of O contributes up to $7.4 billion

President’s report Outgoing university presi-

per year to the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

Rock ended his report by announcing that the university had filed its statement of defence in the lawsuit by former hockey players, led by Andrew Creppin (see page 5).

Ombudsperson’s report Lucie Allaire, the university’s ombudsperson, spoke and

Photo: Jacklyn McRae-Sadik

outlined the main points of her recently released fifth annual report.

Her report flagged five areas of concern brought by students—academic sanctions for non-academic conduct, examination of formal complaints of discrimination made by students, delays in the implementation of the accommodation and accessibility policies, and inconsistent information on the right to appeal.

U of O alumnus takes on COO role at Shopify Savannah Awde Managing Editor

Canadian tech giant Shopify has a new Chief Operating Officer (COO)—and it’s a University of Ottawa grad.

Harley Finkelstein graduated from the MBA-JD program at the U of O, entered the Dragon’s Den as a judge on the CBC’s Next Gen Den, and on Jan. 13, 2016, he moved into a new role as COO. The Telfer School of Management ‘09 graduate made the transition after holding the role of Chief Platform Officer since 2010.

“The (COO) title reflects the work that I was already doing, as opposed to the title dictating the work I do,” he said. Finkelstein believes that employees and their organizations should adopt this mindset as standard, in addition to the entrepreneurial mindset— a perspective on business that Finkelstein credits for his success, and one he said is fundamentally resourceful.

“It’s a 1 + 1 = 3 mentality,” said Finkelstein. “If I’m running a business and you’re running a business that would be a 1 + 1 = 2, and if the two of us get together, we actually have the opportunity to create this force multiplier, where

6 | NEWS

the 1 + 1 actually equals 3, and I think that’s really unique.”

This entrepreneurial mindset of Canada’s tech industry is something Finkelstein called “democratizing, disruptive,” and completely different from what past generations have had. “Creativity, and passion, and hustle are way more important than having money,” said Finkelstein.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, it doesn’t matter if you have a famous last name, it doesn’t matter if your mom and dad are rich, what matters is what you are doing,” he said of modern-day entrepreneur success stories. “That makes for a better society.”

In addition to an improved society, the entrepreneurial mindset driving Finkelstein’s success story also results in a stronger economy, said Stephen Daze, professor and entrepreneur-in-residence at the Telfer School of Management.

“It’s the entrepreneurs that are creating the bulk of new jobs in North America,” said Daze. “The more entrepreneurs we’re helping create, and the more we’re helping them to grow their business, the more people are being employed.”

It’s not surprising that Finkelstein has brought the startup mindset to his work

at Shopify, as the U of O, Finkelstein’s alma mater, works across all faculties to foster entrepreneurial skills. According to Daze, there are many ongoing incubator projects that the university is involved in, including the Makerspace, the Telfer Traction Business Challenge, the Entrepreneurship Hub, and Startup Garage.

“Innovation skills can be applied anywhere, not just simply to a startup venture, but to any company, non-profit, government organization, anywhere,” said Daze.

Finkelstein is a strong advocate for using all resources on campus to foster the startup mindset, and used his experience at the U of O primarily to attain the skills needed for success as an entrepreneur— not just to achieve straight As. Finkelstein says he took a different approach towards university. “Your professors are these brilliant minds who can act as a board of directors for you informally, your classmates… can act as beta testers for your product.”

“Some of the most iconic, most incredible companies have come out of some student’s idea they had while they were in school… you can actually do incredible things with the community and the people around you.”

WORK YOUR DEGREE WITH A POSTGRAD Our postgraduate certificates help you accelerate your career by providing specialized training that builds on your previous degree or diploma combined with the opportunity to gain practical experience taking on real-world challenges.

business.humber.ca/postgrad

thefulcrum.ca

You don’t have to sit in school to stand among greatness.

Andrew Pelling’s ‘unconventional’ mentality to be showcased eric davidson news Editor

A University of Ottawa professor’s unorthodox style and original projects have caught the attention of the organizers of TED, who have designated him as a TED fellow.

Every year, TED chooses 21 people from across the globe who they consider to be potential innovators. “They just find these quirky people,” said Andrew Pelling, a professor in U of O’s departments of physics and biology. “It’s interesting to know what it is that makes these people tick.”

Pelling runs a lab at the U of O that conducts research that most of us would’ve never even imagined, like how to grow human cells in an apple.

As a fellow, he will attend and speak at the major TED

conference in Vancouver on Feb. 15. “It’s a lot of exposure for the work that you do,” he said. “It’s a little bit nervewracking to be honest, it’s such a big platform.”

The exact nature of the talk is kept secret until the event.

“My approach to science is a bit unconventional,” said Pelling.

“I’ll talk about why I work the way I do.”

Pelling doesn’t run your average science lab. Researchers work side by side with artists and social scientists. “It’s great because you get all these perspectives in the room,” he said.

“It’s just like an incubator for creativity.”

Pelling himself takes a very creative approach. “I like collecting garbage and dead equipment and just taking it apart and building new things.”

Take gene editing for exam-

ple. A recent advance in gene editing technology called Crispr has received widespread media coverage for its ability to modify our genetic code. It’s cutting-edge technology, and it’s the opposite of what Pelling is working on.

Pelling says his lab asked, “can we control and make living things without actually touching any DNA?” According to Pelling, it turns out that in some cases you can.

Using what Pelling jokingly calls “stone-age” methods, the lab was able to grow human cells inside of an apple.

Pelling said he likes to aim for simplicity. “How cheap can I be and still do really complicated science?”

It might sound like a throwaway comment, but it can have big implications—complicated gene editing like Crispr is expensive. “Let’s say this becomes

standard practice, only people of a certain economic bracket will be able to afford it.”

One thing is certain—Pelling’s science is different. “If the majority of people are going along one particular route, my instinct has always been to just make a right-hand turn,” he said. “It forces you to be a bit more creative and approach problems in a more unconventional way.”

Pelling says he’s also trying to pass this mindset on to the younger generation.

“I hope I’ve been able to create a space where students can try things in a place that’s safe,” said Pelling. “They can take a chance, they can take that risk because you never know, the payoff might be amazing.”

More information on the talks can be found at https://conferences.ted.com/TED2016/program/guide.php

By Levin C. Handy (per http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpbh.04326) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

U of O’s renegade researcher will take the TED stage in Vancouver

“They just find these quirky people, it’s interesting to know what it is that makes these people tick.” —Andrew Pelling, U of O Professor and newly-minted TED fellow

› Thomas Edison: The world’s most extraordinary failure never gave up.

Thank goodness.

Andrew Pelling will take to the TED stage on February 15.

thefulcrum.ca

open. online. everywhere. go.athabascau.ca/online-courses

Photo: Kim Wiens

NEWS | 7

U of O Heart Institute celebrates 40th anniversary with 7 transplants in 8 days

Heart Institute begins expansion in 2016, following milestone year Eric Davidson News Editor

The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), which provides training and research opportunities for students as well as medical care to Ottawa residents, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Starting their anniversary off on an ambitious note, the UOHI, which is affiliated with both the Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa, performed seven heart transplants in eight days, from Dec. 31 to Jan. 7.

“The entire team got together to make sure these patients received excellent care,” said Vincent Lamontagne, director of corporate communications at the UOHI. Lamontagne said that the process to prepare for and perform the surgery takes about 24 hours—which made for a very busy week.

Lamontagne says the UOHI has come a long way since it was founded in 1976 by a cardiac surgeon named Dr. Wilbert Keon. “He decided that Ottawa needed a centre of excellence for cardiovascular health,” said

Lamontagne. “He instilled a model where you have education, research, and clinical care under one roof.”

According to its website, the UOHI currently handles just over 100,000 patient visits per year. They also train over 280 students—medical, doctoral, and post-doctoral—per year.

The UOHI is also in the middle of expanding, with a new building slated to be completed in the winter of 2017, followed by renovations to the existing building.

The expansion has not been without controversy—The Ottawa Hospital has been accused of breaking procurement laws for sourcing materials for the expansion to only one company, at a cost of $1 million to taxpayers. The Heart Institute operates independently from the Hospital, but leases its space.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The updates will reflect the changing demographics in healthcare, with the average age of patients increasing. Statistics Canada predicts that by 2056, people over the age of 65 will make up 25-30 per cent of

The University of Ottawa Heart Institute is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Canada’s population, up from 13.7 per cent in 2006.

“We’re going to have the very latest technology when it comes to our operating rooms and our labs,” said Lamontagne.

“The expansion really brings

the past to the future.”

He continued that the community has played a big role in the centre’s development as well. “If we were able to perform seven transplants in eight days, it’s because of the support

Photo: CC Eric Schmuttenmaer

of the Ottawa community,” said Lamontagne. “We feel, and we witness every day tremendous support from patients and families.”

Lamontagne says he doesn’t want this year to get over-

looked. “We’re going to celebrate our staff, our research excellence, our clinical tier… and we’re going to celebrate everything we’ve done with education,” he said. “Everybody here is very excited to celebrate.”

UOSERT begins operating 24/7 after semester delay Student-lead response team providing 24-hour assistance “They operated during 101 week, which went spectacularly; it was really awesome. We had a lot of good feedback from Protection Services,” —Roméo Ahimakin, vice-president communications of the SFUO.

Jaclyn McRae-Sadik Associate News Editor

The University of Ottawa Student Emergency Response Team (UOSERT) has begun operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as of this semester, after a semester’s delay.

UOSERT is a team of student first responders who attend to medical emergencies on campus. It’s a levy-funded service provided by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO). The service previously only covered events, but they will now be on call all the time.

The services were originally meant to begin operating 24 hours a day when they were first implemented, but this plan experienced delays.

“The reason for delaying the start of (24-hour) opera-

8 | NEWS

and communications. “They operated during 101 week, which went spectacularly, it was really awesome. We had a lot of good feedback from Protection Services,” he said.

Ahimakin said that at the time they were still working out the details of UOSERT. He said UOSERT used to only work at particular events, but would talk to Protection Services about expanding their role in the future.

Horsfall said UOSERT needed explicit permissions from Protection Services before tak-

(left to right) UOSERT members Abbey Horsfall, Jessica Gill, Peter Kerrivan and Emily Mrozinski.

Photo: Jacklyn McRae-Sadik

tions during the last semester was to provide an opportunity for proper documentation and agreements to be completed,” said Steve Bernique, assistant director of Protection Services.

The teams, which usually work in groups of two or three at a time, operate in collaboration with the university’s Pro-

tection Services and receive dispatch calls for a range of different emergencies. UOSERT is modelled after similar post-secondary teams throughout the province, explained Bernique.

However UOSERT had been active working at events, according to Roméo Ahimakin, SFUO vice-president of services

ing on new responsibilities due to liability issues.

Emily Mrozinski, a fourthyear human kinetics student, began her first shift this January after completing her training in August 2015. “It definitely helps Protection because they have to call an ambulance if anything ever goes wrong, so it makes it a lot easier for them.

If it’s something that can be managed by someone without calling an ambulance it saves a lot of time and effort,” said Mrozinski about the new 24hour operation.

The members are comprised of students from different academic disciplines who work on a volunteer basis. As part of their training, they go through a 40-hour first responders training course, certified by the Red Cross. Their office, located in The Jock Turcot University Centre (UCU), is complete with beds to sleep in during long shifts.

Team members Abbey Horsfall, Jessica Gill and Mrozinski all say the most common types of calls they’ve received so far are from intoxicated students needing assistance.

The student levy-funded service was established after the October 2014 by-election referendum question, passing with 85% yes to 15% no vote. Fulltime undergraduate students contribute 75 cents per year for this service, while part-time

thefulcrum.ca

A&C EDITOR Allegra Morgado arts@thefulcrum.ca

ARTS&CULTURE #OscarsSoWhite...again

(613) 695-0062 @allietate

A look into the Oscar snubs and the bigger problems they represent Allegra Morgado arts & culture editor

A

ccording to the calendar it’s officially 2016, but with the overwhelmingly white Oscar nominations, it feels as if we are right back in 2015 when the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag originally took over Twitter and other social media sites.

Similar to last year, everyone seems to have an opinion on whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is purposefully snubbing nonwhite actors, or if it truly is a coincidence that there are no non-white actors in any of the acting categories this year.

Numerous public figures have weighed in on the debate since the Jan. 14 announcement of the nominations.

Saturday Night Live did a brilliant sketch on their Jan.

23 show where “all the white guys” win at the fake Screen Guild Awards (not to be confused with the real Screen Actors Guild Awards). Celebrities such as Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee are showing their outrage by boycotting the award show completely.

However, others were less sympathetic of the plight of actors of colour. Michael Caine said during a BBC Radio 4 interview that black actors should “be patient” and that they will, eventually, have their time to shine.

The Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a woman of colour, announced through a statement on Twitter that the Academy would be working to diversify the voters, which is, according to a 2013 L.A. Times article, still 94 per cent white— and this was after a move to bring in new voting members in attempts to “diversify.” #OscarsSoWhite should be more of a call for bigger change—diversifying Holly-

wood itself.

According to the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) “2015 Hollywood Diversity Report”, which analyzed the top 200 film releases and all of broadcast, cable, and digital television programming from 2012-2013, nearly 40 per cent of the U.S. population was non-white in 2013, yet made up only 16.7 per cent of lead roles in theatrical films and 6.5 per cent of lead roles in broadcast scripted television.

On the other hand, the amount of non-white actors is actually impressive in comparison to the rates of people of colour appearing in some of the behind-the-scenes roles in Hollywood. For theatrical films, only 11.8 per cent of writers were non-white, 17.8 per cent of directors were non-white, and film studio heads were 100 per cent male and only 6 per cent non-white.

Although these numbers

have likely improved over the past few years since the 2013 data appeared in this study, as they steadily seemed to from 2011-2013, they are clearly not improving fast enough.

There must be active, ongoing attempts to make this industry more diverse. It’s clear that non-white actors are immensely talented and draw big audiences—Idris Elba from Beasts of No Nation and Michael B. Jordan from Creed were both named as two of the Oscars’ biggest snubs this year. Popular television and Netflix shows, such as How to Get Away With Murder, Empire, and Master of None all feature diverse casts and dominated headlines in 2015.

With the lack of diversity in Hollywood, it’s easy to see how nonwhite actors could be snubbed at the Oscars—there are less of them to choose from, which makes it

easier to argue “perhaps black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” as Charlotte Rampling told Europe 1 Radio (though she did later apologize for her statement).

When Viola Davis won an Emmy for best actress in a

t h at

drama for her role in How to Get Away With Murder, being the first African-American to do so, she gave a moving speech about this diversity that is important for everyone to hear. She told the audience, presumably filled with white actors, that “the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

Davis’ words ring true not just for the Emmys, or the Oscars, but for every awards show. In order to diversify award nominations in the coming years, Hollywood must be diversified first.

Illustration: Kim Wiens.

Get your hands on tickets for Hands on a Hardbody UOMTS puts on Tony-nominated musical

“This is the first time a truck’s been brought into the theatre ever, and this is the oldest performance space in the National Capital Region.”—Mathieu Roy, fourth-year theatre major and president of the University of Ottawa’s Musical Theatre Society.

Allegra Morgado arts & culture editor

The University of Ottawa’s Musical Theatre Society (UOMTS) will be performing the Broadway production, Hands on a Hardbody on Jan. 29. And no, it has nothing to do with the type of hard body you’re thinking of.

Based on a 1997 documentary film, the musical follows the ten contestants participating in a competition to win a “hardbody” pickup truck by holding onto it for as long as possible.

While waiting to see who will be the last person with their hand on the car, the contestants get to know each other better than expected as they perform a collection of country music numbers written by Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio.

The cast has only been rehearsing since November, but

thefulcrum.ca

was the large prop required for the production—the hardbody itself. The truck being used comes in at approximately 900 lbs, and had to be carried in pieces up the stairs of Academic Hall to the stage, the largest piece being around 600 lbs.

“This is the first time a truck’s been brought into the theatre ever, and this is the oldest performance space in the National Capital Region,” says Roy. “Being in the theatre department for four years now, it’s the first time I’ve seen something this ridiculous. But I’m happy to be the one that brings

The “hardbody” itself, which is currently being painted red for the production.

Photo: Allegra Morgado.

Mathieu Roy, a fourth-year theatre major and the president of the club says they began planning the show in August and that they “tapped every single resource (they could)” in order to acquire the rights to the show, which was a lengthy and expensive process.

“We’ve relied heavily on

original creations the past two years, and it’s done great for us, but this year we decided to take that jump and buy rights for a show, take that jump and try for something bigger,” says Roy. “It’s been, so far, I think anyways, it’s been a great success.”

One of the biggest hurdles of putting on this specific show

something this ridiculous into the department. I’m happy to be remembered as the guy who brought the truck into the theatre,” he said.

Although the UOMTS is an independent club, and is not directly affiliated with any department, Andrea MacWilliams, a fourth-year music major and the show’s musical director believes that Roy’s connections with the theatre department have helped make this production one of the club’s best.

“In past years, the presidents and directors have just been theatre enthusiasts and not ac-

tually (theatre) students, so his connections to the department have opened a lot of doors for us,” says MacWilliams.

For those coming to see the production, Roy has some words of advice to have the best experience possible—see the matinée.

“It’s a more intimate setting, often, because not too many people want to come early Saturday afternoon. My theatre viewing experience tells me that a more intimate setting, 99 per cent of the time, is so much cooler.”

Tickets are $15 each and are available through the show’s Eventbrite page at https://www. eventbrite.ca/e/hands-on-ahardbody-tickets-19959162392, from cast and crew members, or at the door. The show runs from Jan. 29-31, with two performances on Jan. 30.

ARTS & Culture | 9

Finding life’s meaning in A Little Fire

U of O alumna stars in play about search for meaning in dark places series, Aithne, played by Emily Bozik, lands behind bars after her life takes an unexpected turn, where she meets Roy, played by Johnny Wideman, a twenty-something frat boy.

As the story takes audiences back into the past, we meet Jem, played by U of O alumna Carol Sinclair, and her father John, a fame-obsessed drunkard. Throughout the play, audiences watch as each character’s past unfolds, and how they struggle to find true meaning and faith in life.

One of the benefits of performances at the Arts Court Theatre is its size, as the smaller venue creates an intimacy between the audience and the actors. This venue allows you to get lost in the story, and engulfs you in the production.

The closeness of the stage also allows audiences to watch the emotions in the actor’s faces up close, something that is often lost in flashier productions in

Zainab Al-mehdar staff contributor

A Little Fire, the latest play from Ottawa-based production company, TACTICS, is full of brilliant actors who are brimming with talent and burning with passion for their craft.

The story begins with Aithne, a teenager who is given a gift from God as a child, in the form of messages she receives from him that she then paints.

But when she turns 16 and stops receiving these messages, she loses her sense of self and her life begins to spiral out of control.

A Little Fire was written, directed, and produced by Megan Piercey Monafu, which premiered at the Arts Court Theatre on Jan. 22.

TACTICS, which is in its second season, is a series of independent theatre productions curated by University of Ottawa alumna Bronwyn Steinberg. In the newest play of the

larger theatres.

A Little Fire takes advantage of this intimacy, showcasing a certain rawness that only a smaller production can display.

It’s stripped down from fancy backdrops and props, depicting sheer, honest emotions and truly demonstrating the talent of its actors.

The play doesn’t hit you all at once—it slowly unravels, shifting from past to present, leaving you constantly on edge as you connect the dots. Although it depicts a serious tone about religion with Aithne’s plight to hear God again, the play adds a humorous twist with its witty banter between the characters, and the dark comedy portrayed in many scenes.

This play will resonate with anyone who has ever wrestled with finding meaning or purpose in their life. Between the tormented soul Roy, the anguished teen Aithne, and the faithless and confused Jem, it’s easy to find at least one char-

Emily Bozik (left) and Carol Sinclair (right) in character for a promotional shoot for A Little Fire.

Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Alexander.

acter that reflects one’s own struggle in the search for the meaning of life.

Sinclair, who also played three other characters in A Little Fire, is a graduate from the U of O’s theatre program and has been working in the Ottawa theatre scene for a number of years. While playing one character can be difficult enough, Sinclair says that playing four

Discover a new world of cuisine at the U of O’s Festival of Flavours

required “very intensive rehearsals,” but that Monafu “really took the time to delve into every character individually to make sure that they were all full, complex characters.”

This time and attention to detail is apparent in all of Sinclair’s characters, as well as the emotional range and sincere performances of all the actors.

The play, which is showing

until Jan. 30, is a great addition to the TACTICS series, and a perfect example of the inventiveness of the Ottawa local theatre scene.

A Little Fire will be showing at the Arts Court Theatre until Jan. 30. Student tickets are $20, and can be purchased online at http:// artscourt.ca/events/a-little-fire/, or at the Arts Court box office.

CLS bringing variety of vendors to campus for inaugural food fest Bethsaïda Georges fulcrum contributor

On top of all of the other work and activities students have going on, exploring Ottawa’s culinary scene is probably one of the last things to do on their list. Luckily, the University of Ottawa’s Community Life Service (CLS) is bringing some of the biggest names in the Ottawa food industry to campus for two days of food from all around the city.

The event, dubbed the Festival of Flavours, is a new creation of CLS, and will include approximately 15 different vendors from around the city, from Smoque Shack to Petit Peru.

Isabelle Décarie, the manager of Socialcultural and Educational Programming at CLS, wanted “something new” to offer students, and this event is sure to garner the attention of low-budget, hungry students.

The festival will be held on Feb. 3-4 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the lobby of Desma-

rais, and will offer a selection of diverse cuisine, from Italian to African. The vendors that have been announced thus far include Fettucinies, Smoque Shack, Perfection-Satisfaction-Promise, Petit Peru, and Taste of Africa.

“When you want variety, you have to think of international flavours,” says Décarie.

“That being said, there will be a variety of vendors internationally.”

Perfection-SatisfactionPromise, a vegetarian restaurant located on Laurier Avenue, across the street from the U of O campus, features a variety of vegetarian dishes, many of them with an Indian flare. Smoque Shack, for the meat eaters among us, pays homage to its BBQ roots by offering Montreal-smoked meat and Jamaican jerk-inspired dishes.

The variety of vendors participating in the festival all bring something different to the table, allowing students to explore the vast and unique food scene in Ottawa without

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

having to leave campus.

Vendors will also be sampling their popular dishes, and serving smaller plates because “we want the price to be low for students,” says Décarie.

Décarie says that she wanted the vendors to keep in mind that they are “catering to lowbudget university students,” and ensures that the prices will be affordable for even the most budget-conscious among us.

The main goal of CLS is “participation and satisfaction,” says Décarie, and they are aiming for students to “take advantage of all these vendors,” that will be located under one roof for two days, making them accessible for all.

The festival benefits not only students, but also the vendors involved. With students being able to try food from all over the city, it will hopefully encourage them to step outside of the bubble of the U of O campus and explore all that Canada’s Capital has to offer.

thefulcrum.ca

Five podcasts to help you get through your Making a Murderer withdrawal

The Fulcrum gives you five series to feed your obsession after finishing the Netflix hit Allegra Morgado arts & culture editor

Now that you’ve binge watched every episode of Making a Murderer, most likely in the span of a day, and have exhausted yourself reading every conspiracy theory that the Internet has come up with about what really happened in Manitowoc County back in 2005, it’s time to move on to a new case to obsess over.

Since school is now in full swing, and you don’t have the time that you did over the break to binge watch a show, podcasts are a great alternative that you can listen to between classes and during study breaks. Here is a list of five podcasts to entertain you while we wait for more news on the Steven Avery case. You’re welcome.

Serial Serial, the podcast that took the Internet by storm in Oct. 2014, is currently on its second season. The two seasons focus on different cases, with the first being the most similar to Making a Murderer, as it also concerns a man, Adnan Syed,

with witnesses, victims, interrogation tapes, and more. The episodes, of which there are 58 and counting, tend to come in at just under an hour, but are worth it if you have the time to invest.

who may or may not have been wrongfully convicted of murder of his girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999.

The episodes range in length, and are filled with a gripping narrative by journalist and producer Sarah Koenig, as well as interviews with people involved in the case. This podcast will definitely help fill that void Making a Murderer has left, and probably have you up all night reading theories about a different case than the Avery one.

This is Actually Happening

Criminal Criminal, although less popular than Serial, it’s equally as interesting. This podcast, which deals with different cases in each episode, covers everything from husbands being (possibly) wrongfully convicted for their wives’ murders, to the creation of counterfeit money. With shorter episodes, most being under 20 minutes, Criminal is perfect for taking a break from readings or walking to and from class.

THE GENERATION WHY The Generation Why is a dif-

Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

“This podcast will definitely help fill that void Making a Murderer has left, and probably have you up all night reading theories about a different case than the Avery one.” ferent type of podcast than Criminal and Serial, but still concerns true crime stories.

Aaron and Justin, the hosts of the show, discuss murders, controversies, and a range of other conspiracies related to crime.

Their latest episode, coming in at over an hour long, is actually about the Steven Avery case, after many requests from their fans, so it’s a good place to start if you want to test it out.

Sword and Scale Sword and Scale is similar to Serial and Criminal, with true crime stories, narrated by host Mike Boudet, and featuring a collection of interviews

This is Actually Happening is different from the other podcasts on the list, as it deals with a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, waking up in a morgue, being falsely accused of pedophillia, and oral sex triggering a near death experience.

There are five seasons of under-30-minute episodes, so if you get hooked on the interesting stories of strange experiences people have had, there are more than enough to keep you occupied for a while.

Even though they may not be the same as Making a Murderer, these podcasts are sure to keep you satisfied without the hit series for a while. Well, at least until we find out what really happened to Teresa Halbach.

Why it’s famous:

Elora McAuley Fulcrum Contribut or

The chemistry between the bright and lively presence of Ruth Gordon, who plays Maude, and the dark and innocent presence of Bud Cort, who plays Harold, has ensured the place of Harold and Maude as a cult classic, and perhaps one of the greatest love stories of our modern age.

It’s the story of young and death-obsessed Harold who meets, at a funeral, the life-loving and spritely 79-year-old Maude. Its dark humour, contrasting soundtrack, and the undeniable love of its two protagonists has earned the film numerous awards, and has made it one that has stuck with audiences and filmmakers alike.

Why you haven’t seen it:

much of the film, Harold and Maude remind audiences what true love really is.

Maude is “life”—throughout the movie she continues to surprise, shock, and please almost anyone who is watching with her philosophies and sometimes unbelievable antics, both of which can only have come from a person who has lived fully and completely and has never passed up opportunities.

In truth, Maude can be the wake-up for anyone who is feeling like life has turned into the same routine and drudgery day after day. Both Harold and Maude manage to find their way into your heart, and can’t help but be loved by almost anyone who gets to know them. The film also illustrates a truth that is often forgotten—that love and connection are not subject to age.

Unless you were a teen in the early 1970s, or are a big fan of There’s Something About Mary, which has Mary mentioning the film as her favourite to another character, chances are you have not had the pleasure of viewing this insightful and beautiful film. Upon its release a lot of audiences were also offended by the dark humour, and were uncomfortable with the age difference between the lovers. Critics also panned the film’s overall feel as “waxy” and pairing of Harold and Maude as too obvious when compared to its other characters.

Why it might be tough to get through:

Famous lines:

There are times when the film moves a little slowly and when you’re used to action or romance-packed moments throughout, it can be what some might describe as boring. The dark humour is also not for everyone and can sometimes be a little off-putting— so if watching someone commit several different styles of fake suicide seems like it might turn your stomach, then this film is probably not for you.

Maude: “Vice, virtue. It’s best not to be too moral. You can cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then you’re bound to live fully.”

Maude: “Let’s play something together!”

Harold: “I don’t play anything.”

Maude: “Nothing? Dear me, everybody should be able to make some music.

That’s the cosmic dance.”

-

Why you should watch it anyways:

Aside from the fun and upbeat music that sets the tone for

Maude: “Reach out! Take a chance! Get hurt even.

But play as well as you can.”

Harold: (to Maude) “I love you” Maude: “Oh, Harold. That is wonderful. Go and love some more.”

Fun facts:

Harold “kills” himself eight times in the film.

The film was originally written as a master’s thesis

by Colin Higgins. It was subsequently turned into a film, novel, and well-received play.

The original writer, Colin Higgins, also considered doing both a prequel and sequel to the film.

Throughout the film Maude drives several different types of cars, but her portrayer, Ruth Gordon, had never learned to drive, so all of the cars had to be towed.

Most of the movies mentioned in Movies You Should Have Seen are available for loan at the Morisset

thefulcrum.ca

Library!

ARTS & Culture | 11

Pulling plugs and cutting cords The dysfunctional state of

Canada’s television industry Kyle Darbyson Features Editor

L

ike most shy kids without any real, close friends, television used to be one of my only sources of companionship growing up.

And, believe it or not, a big chunk of the TV programs that kept me entertained and educated in those days were Canadian. So much so that I could plan my entire day around these homegrown productions.

Mornings were reserved for my science and science-fiction fix, which was satisfied by the likes of Popular Mechanics for Kids (Global) and Beast Wars (YTV) respectively.

Afternoons called for more of a zany touch, a need that was quickly answered by comedy staples such as Corner Gas (CTV) and re-runs of The Kids in the Hall (The Comedy Network).

And when my parents weren’t watching me like a hawk in the evenings, I’d indulge in some bad language and general debauchery on the boob tube thanks to Trailer Park Boys and Kenny vs.

Spenny (Showcase). Heck, if I stayed up late enough,

I usually got to see some nudity on that same channel—does anybody else remember Webdreams?

Unfortunately, this kind of daring, boundary pushing content has been virtually erased from today’s Canadian television landscape.

Outside of the CBC’s lineup, what passes for original content these days is pretty suspect and mostly involves re-branding popular American reality TV with the word “Canada” at the end of it (think The Amazing Race, Master Chef, Big Brother etc.).

And this creative wasteland is potentially going to get worse in 2016.

Starting in March, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is going to force our country’s cable providers to offer their customers a bare bones “skinny package”, a move that threatens to eliminate specialty channels that have been supported by the bundling system for years.

So, what does this mean for the modern Canadian television landscape and,

more importantly, what is it going to look like ten years from now?

Jumping ship Of course, one of the reasons why the industry looks so different today is that its viewers have been abandoning it by the thousands.

According to Boon Dog Professional Services—a local research and consulting firm—cable and satellite providers such as Bell, Rogers, Shaw, and Telus lost a record 153,000 subscribers in Canada by the third quarter of 2015, a rate that’s increased seven fold from the previous year.

Boon Dog’s co-founder Mario Mota believes that this number of lost subscribers could easily surpass 200,000 when the remainder of the year is taken into account.

“There’s a lot more choices for people to consume TV content,” said Mota, when asked why people are leaving their cable subscriptions in droves. “With streaming media services like Netflix, and now we have in Canada Shomi and Crave

TV, there are lots of ways to consume content beyond just streaming and the traditional TV system.”

This growing demographic—dubbed “cordcutters”—is becoming so prevalent in the market that some have even made a living based on catering to their entertainment needs specifically.

Sean Whitehead definitely had this market in mind when he founded Kutko Canada in 2013, a Toronto-based media concierge service that is designed to help viewers make the transition from traditional TV to Internet streaming services.

“For the most part, a lot of people really, really do not have good experiences with the cable companies,” said Whitehead, claiming that these organizations are completely out of touch in terms of what the public wants, especially when it comes to factors like convenience and choice.

“When you’re locked into a cable deal, you’re paying the same amount for 12 months of the year, but you’re not necessar-

ily consuming the same amount of content for those 12 months because most of the channels that you watch are re-broadcasting a lot of (the same) stuff.”

Whitehead goes on to explain that this outdated mentality extends beyond customer service and is embedded into the core of their business model.

“If you buy a Roku or an Apple TV in Canada and you set it up as a Canadian version, there is not one Canadian media app on those platforms, still. And the Apple TV has been around in Canada for almost seven years.”

“So there’s no Global app, no City TV app… any of the major media companies, they have not moved onto these platforms, and these are the same companies that say that they are starved for more eyeballs and more advertising revenue.”

This need for cable companies to update their business models is especially dire, based on the fact that “cord-nevers”—the name given to viewers who have never subscribed to any form of

cable or satellite packages—are even more prevalent than the cord cutters that Whitehead services.

Groups like Forrester Research even predict that this demographic will accumulate 35 per cent of the TV-watching audience (aged 18 to 31) by 2025.

“These are people who have grown up with smart phones, tablets, computers, and have taken to the digital platforms very easily and, as a result, that’s one of the things that the cable companies… are most worried about.”

Suffice it to say, if Canadian cable providers and the CRTC can’t adapt to these changes in demographics and technology, there likely isn’t going to be any meaningful platform for them to showcase genuine Canadian art in the future.

Genre dilution An outdated business model and increasingly shrinking audience isn’t the only unsavoury part of the Canadian television industry in 2016.

Once these new CRTC

“There’s a whole bunch of different places where money is going in to make shows, but Kids in the Hall, yeah, I’m not sure that a variety show like that would get made again.”—Greg O’Brien, editor for Cartt.ca. regulations are put in place, specialty channels will no longer be protected by the bundling system and must be selected on a pick-and-pay basis instead.

As Mota points out, this is concerning since the vast majority of the most challenging and critically acclaimed programing from the United States doesn’t originate from the network television stations that are available through any basic cable package (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox).

“Usually it’s the cable networks and the specialty channels and the premier paid channels that tend to take a greater amount of risk,” he said, echoing networks such as HBO, Showtime, FX, and AMC, whose smaller subscriber base allows them a little more leeway in terms of favouring quality over ratings.

Mota uses the AMC period drama Mad Men to illustrate his point, stating that such a project wouldn’t have survived in the network system, despite its critical acclaim, prominent online buzz, and a loyal water cooler following.

“It may never have been made and it may never have gone beyond one or two seasons, just because the larger networks need to have the larger audiences,” he said, reflecting on how the ratings for this drama’s series finale in May of 2015

still can’t hold a candle to network reruns of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, in the wake of the CRTC’s plans to unbundle certain channels and eliminate genre protection, safe and predictable network television on Global, CTV, and City might be the only options we have left.

Over the last couple years, specialty channels like Showcase and Much (no longer being known as MuchMusic) have been gutted of their original, genre-specific content, and their programming has been replaced with hit American shows or reruns from their past glory days.

Greg O’Brien—an editor for the Canadian television news website Cartt.ca—states that perhaps the worst example of this trend is Book Television, whose programming line-up no longer consists of distinct literary properties.

“If you want to binge watch the 70s sitcom One Day at a Time, you can sit in front of Book TV and watch it all night long. I think it airs from 12 to 6 a.m. non-stop every day.”

Still, despite the fact that this channel doesn’t have any real employees or new genre-specific content to offer, O’Brien reveals that it will be kept alive in its current state as long as it still makes money.

“Bell is not going to actively kill it off because

why would you kill off $4.8 million a year in revenue? That’s how much that channel makes and I remember it because that’s the channel that everyone holds up as ‘Here’s what’s wrong with the system.’”

“So they’re just going to continue to cash the cheque for this channel until it peters out to zero.”

With such an emphasis on empty profit instead of quality content, O’Brien remains skeptical that anything remotely edgy or boundary pushing could even make it to the development stage in this current climate.

“There’s a whole bunch of different places where money is going in to make shows, but Kids in the Hall, yeah, I’m not sure that a variety show like that would get made again.”

CanCon quota But if our country’s genre-specific programs can’t get off the ground, what does that mean for content that’s supposed to represent our national identity?

Of course, the CRTC already has Canadian content (or CanCon) requirements in place, although some of those parameters have been severely loosened for every time slot except prime time.

However, Whitehead believes that cable companies are following these CanCon rules just to fill a quota.

“I personally find that the Canadian cable companies hide behind the CanCon rules,” he said, stating that advertising dollars mostly go towards producing Canadianized versions of American reality TV, which is evident when you realize that they are the only Canadians programs that are guaranteed to crack one million viewers.

“If you look at any kind of advertising push by any of the major networks owned by the Canadian media companies, they’re not pushing Canadian content. They’re pushing the American shows that they license.

So, I mean, they are doing the minimal amount of work to contribute to the Canadian identity.”

Some might suggest that this situation could be remedied by committing to a different distribution system, since Canadian classics like Trailer Park Boys and Degrassi have found a second life after being picked up by Netflix.

But O’Brien believes that it isn’t that easy, especially when the Canadian Media Fund is one of the only ways that projects can get off the ground.

“Approximately five per cent of everybody’s cable bill flows into that fund, or some other fund so that they can spend it on… making Canadian content. So if fewer and fewer people pay for

cable, or if they start paying less for cable, that amount of money in that fund is going to drop and that will cause less Canadian content to get made.”

And even though Rogers, Shaw, and Bell are breaking ground with new streaming services like Shomi and Crave TV, they still have an uphill battle to contend with Netflix as the dominant nation-wide streaming service, which doesn’t bode well for the development of new intellectual properties.

“Because Netflix, they don’t employ anybody here in Canada, at all.

They do buy Canadian shows, so some money will flow to the producers of Trailer Park Boys, or some of the other Canadian shows that they have… but as far as brand new TV shows, or future TV shows, there’s going to be less money available for that because people are opting out of the system.”

Growing pains While there’s a variety of unique theories about how this dysfunctional period in Canadian television will play itself out, critics aren’t sure about what the future will hold.

Mota remains more optimistic about the prospect of Canadian show runners pumping out “some pretty popular original shows” while garnering “some pretty

good critical acclaim and audience following,” which isn’t totally out of the question now that homegrown entertainments like Orphan Black, Vikings, and Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays will be returning to Canadian airwaves this year.

True to the nature of his business, Whitehead believes that the future of Canadian TV lies exclusively in online distribution, claiming that many of his clients have even said that “they would pay $5 to $8 a month if there was a CBC service like Netflix that allows them to access all of CBC’s shows.”

O’Brien takes more of a global-minded approach, stating that “the media world in general, it’s all becoming one big global mishmash,” a sentiment that will hopefully bear fruit once the internationally focused, Canadian-produced channel Viceland launches on Feb. 29.

As for me, I just want the industry to resolve these technological, logistical, and artistic growing pains soon, in the hopes that some other little Canadian kid growing up can organize his entire day around native televised content.

But hopefully the solution they come up with isn’t producing a dark, gritty reboot of The Littlest Hobo. That would suck.

Art: Kim Wiens

SPORTS Struggles of a sprained superstar SPORTS EDITOR Spencer Murdock sports@thefulcrum.ca

@SpencerMurdock @FulcrumSports

Gee-Gees show two sides of dealing with a missing star in Toronto road trip

spencer murdock sports editor

In the fleeting seconds of the Gee-Gees men’s basketball team’s statement win over the Carleton Ravens, the Gees suffered their biggest blow of the season so far.

Canadian basketball website North Pole Hoops recently ranked Gee-Gees forward Caleb Agada as the best player in the nation. While driving to the hoop, Agada suffered a severely sprained ankle.

For James Derouin and the Gee-Gees coaching staff, the loss of Agada for a big road trip at a key time in the season could be difficult to deal with.

Agada has not dealt with any serious injuries in his time at the U of O, particularly not since his team’s ascent into the nation’s elite.

On the floor, Agada is an absolute monstrous all-around player, he averages 16 points, nearly 10 rebounds, and three assists per game, all while being perhaps the best on-ball defender in the country.

Snatching him from the

lineup is killer, even on a team as deep as the Gee-Gees. In the team’s game against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Jan. 22, the team powered to a 87-61 win over a mediocre opponent.

The Gees simply outsmarted and outscored the Blues, and point guard Mike L’Africain took over the game in the second half propelling the Ottawa squad to a hefty victory.

With even scoring and solid use of bigs, the Gees were able to flex their muscles on the smaller Toronto team. What Agada could have brought to the game was not missed as much, his duties taken over by committee and spread throughout the team.

The Gee-Gees implemented sophomore Mackenzie Morrison into the starting lineup in Agada’s place. In the early stages of the season, Morrison has seen limited minutes as he rebuilts strength and confidence after beginning the year battling injuries.

Morrison gave an adequate performance with five points and six rebounds in the game, clearly not statistically replac-

ing Agada.

The following evening, the Gee-Gees faced perhaps their toughest competition of the year against an inspired Ryerson Rams team.

Let’s not mince words, the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Ryerson Rams do not like one another— and they never really have.

Ryerson have been the victim of the Gee-Gees multiple times over the past four years and they haven’t forgotten getting their dreams stampeded time-and-time again.

For the Rams, they had one shot to beat their arguably most hated rival. Before Agada’s injury their outlook seemed grim, but after they romped the Carleton Ravens the night before, it seemed destiny was on Ryerson’s side this weekend.

For once in their history, the overshadowed stepchild of Ontario collegiate basketball defeated the Ravens and GeeGees in succession. The 87-80 victory took until the final minutes of the fourth quarter to secure, and as they celebrated there was a sense of informed ignorance that this win didn’t

which do naturally implement those conventional statistics.

Much like the controversy surrounding the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s football bowl-game postseason format—in which the National Championship game participants are decided by coach and media-polling—the CIS Top-10 rankings present a similar concern regarding internal validity.

In several unexplained instances, a team’s record and place in the standings has not reflected their relative position in the rankings.

In men’s basketball, for example, Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Central division-leading McMaster (92) are ranked three spots be-

low their division adversary Brock (8-2) in the rankings, in spite of their edge in win-percentage and in the standings.

The Gee-Gees men’s basketball team faced similar discrimination in the contentious CIS Top 10 rankings, after being inexcusably dropped to No. 3 despite their perfect record in the standings.

After last week’s stunning victory over their cross-city rival, the powerhouse Carleton Ravens, the Gees were rightfully rewarded in the rankings, claiming first place in the nation.

While the league-wide respect is surely satisfying, GeeGees men’s basketball head coach James Derouin knows his No. 1-ranked team places little importance on those

Agada adds much more to the Gee-Gees than expected.

mean quite as much with Agada’s absence.

There is something to be said when a team can beat another at their best, but with the best player in the nation on the bench in street clothes, the victory is somewhat hollow.

Without Agada, the Rams were able to exploit the defensive holes in guard/forward spots and rack up points on shots that would normally

Photo: Remi Yuan

be contested. This is all to say that the Gee-Gees should have beaten the Rams regardless of Agada’s absence, but instead of an excuse it’s perhaps an explanation.

Leading scorer Ammanuel Diressa and physical force Adika Peter-McNeilly likely could have been slowed if the Gee-Gees were employing their regular lineup, but in this case hindsight is 20/20.

Agada doesn’t have a scheduled return date but it would be optimistic to assume he will be ready to take on Queen’s and York as they pay visit to Montpetit Hall on Jan. 29 and 30. It would be more likely that he is given time to mend while the Gee-Gees do battle with middle of the pack teams, allowing him to make his return on Feb. 5 at Capital Hoops against Carleton.

CIS Top 10 rankings raise questions Dylan Yegendorf

Staff Contributor

Inconsequential at the surface, the subjective Top 10 rankings carry more influence on members of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) than expected.

The rankings are for the most part a coaches poll, a list of the top ten teams in the nation for each sport—across all leagues and their divisions— put together from votes by coaches across the CIS. Without the use of conventional win-loss, head-to-head, and strength of schedule statistics, the rankings are compiled in a totally subjective manner—at the coaches’ discretion. They are also separate from the league standings,

14 | SPORTS

rankings.

“They don’t care about the #1 or #3 in January, it’s a coaches-poll,” he said, following their win last weekend against the Ravens. “When the program was coming up, getting recognized by a number-one ranking was great, but these guys know it’s about getting better and winning a championship at the end of the season.”

Leading in the OUA North standings at 9-1, Derouin and his team’s lack of concern for their ranking seems merited— particularly because the CIS Top 10 rankings don’t officially carry any influence on playoff seeding, which is based entirely on league standings.

However, a snubbing in the rankings could mean more

than a deflated ego. While not directly used in determining the playoff picture, the rankings could affect the wildcard spot for championship tournaments by influencing decision makers.

Such a prospect could potentially be a reality for the Gee-Gees women’s basketball team (9-1), who are comfortably in first place atop the OUA North standings yet are questionably ranked No. 10 in the CIS Top 10. This ranking comes despite the team’s better win-percentage than four of the nine teams ranked ahead of them.

When Gee-Gees women’s basketball head coach Andy Sparks was asked about his team climbing the national rankings, he jokingly alluded

to the fact that his team being atop their division standings hardly helps their chances, compared to the influence of their place in the rankings.

“If we get up to number one in the (Top 10 rankings) at the end of the year because we win every game, they’ll probably have to consider us for the wildcard.”

It is without a doubt that the Top 10 rankings mean something, it’s just whether or not they are truly executed properly and to their full potential. For now, the rankings are not much more than a glorified coaches’ poll, something that lacks validity from the fan perspective. The people watching the sport should decide, not those participating in it.

thefulcrum.ca

Sandy Hill Winter Classic takes over community for third year Student-run charity hockey tournament raises funds for cancer Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

The Sandy Hill Winter Classic Charity Tournament has become a yearly winter tradition for the Sandy Hill student community to rally together for a good cause.

The public outdoor skating rink at the Sandy Hill Community Centre is typically a fairly quiet place, but for one Saturday over the last three years it has been the site of some mustsee hockey.

The Sandy Hill Winter Classic Charity Tournament is an event where teams filled with members of the university community come together to raise money for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and face-off in some pickup hockey.

Fourth-year biomedical science student Evan Trofimchuk is the founder and organizer of the tournament and is incredibly proud of its success and growth.

“I’ve heard this year we’ve raised around $10,000,” said Tromfimchuk. “The event started as a way to bring together students for a common cause that we’ve all been touched by.”

With this year’s event gaining close to 200 registered participants, the total funds raised for Princess Margaret’s is in the area of $20,000.

“It’s turned into so much more having local businesses being involved with the tournament and incorporating them into it,” said Matthew Speyer, a fourth-year commerce student also involved with the event’s planning.

The tournament has been able to grow by gaining sponsorship across the local community. There were a number of giveaways including Ottawa Senators tickets and various donated prize packs from businesses across the city.

The main corporate sponsorship came from Red Bull for the third consecutive year, and The Draft Pub at Minto Sports Complex played host for a reception and awards ceremony.

There has long been a territory struggle between older members of the Sandy Hill community and U of O students. Luckily, the tournament has been able to get support and see no backlash but rather gain encouragement from others in the community.

“We’ve been helping shovel

Participants brave the cold for a good cause.

the rink and they’ve been telling us their stories about being students here,” said Tromfimchuk. “They’re super happy

that we’re helping out raising money and being respectful in the community.”

Tromfimchuk had previ-

ously been uneasy about the future of the event after his graduation this year. However, in the planning stages of this

Photo: Marta Kierkus

year’s event, a committee was formed to ensure the tournament would continue in years to come.

Canadian Olympian pays visit to U of O

Bronze medalist figure skater Joannie Rochette speaks and skates with students “Her bronze medal win was exceedingly emotional, as she received the news of her mother’s death just days before and still managed to enthrall a nation and earn a podium finish.”

Marta Kierkus

Staff Photographer As part of the Snow Festival celebrations, students at the University of Ottawa had the opportunity to meet a Canadian Olympian on Jan. 21.

Figure skater Joannie Rochette was invited to give a talk in French, as well as to participate in a skate-around with students.

In case you need a refresher, Rochette is a highly decorated skater, she’s a six-time Canadian Champion, a World silver medalist, but is most commemorated for her bronze medal win at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Her bronze medal win was exceedingly emotional, as she received the news of her mother’s death just days before but still managed to enthrall a nation and earn a podium finish.

Rochette, among a room of about 100 students in the Faculty of Social Sciences building, discussed many of the

Rochette shows off for the onlooking students.

key moments throughout her career and some of the lessons she learned that helped her succeed on a world level.

At the age of 10, Rochette mastered the double axel and successfully performed it in competition, a skill many 17- and 18-year-old girls were

performing at her small town club.

Despite her kind demeanor and undeniable skill, as a young athlete Rochette was dropped by coaches twice due to her stubborn nature and bad attitude.

Rochette described being

Photo: Marta Kierkus

dropped for the first time as a “catastrophe at the time, that brought an opportunity that was possibly the best thing to happen to me and my career.”

Afterwards, she started working with Manon Perron, the coach that would eventually help her realize her Olym-

pic dream.

Rochette prepared for 20 years of her life to reach the pinnacle of competition, and highlighted meticulously planning her schedule and visualizing the lead up to Vancouver.

She said there was no preparation for the shock of her mother’s death, and that she decided to still skate because it was a goal they shared closely together.

“No matter how much you control and plan in your life, you need to be flexible, since you can’t think of everything,”

thefulcrum.ca

said Rochette.

It is this ability to be flexible that she believes is the difference between a good or bad competition, or even a result on an exam.

Following her inspiring talk about her skating career, students had the opportunity to meet and skate with Rochette at the Minto Sports Complex.

She not only took the time to speak with everyone, but also showed off some of her skills, evoking the presence that made her a champion and Canadian hero on the ice.

Sports | 15

Gee-Gees women’s hoops conquers tough competition on road Ring, Sorriano roll through the ‘6’ grabbing key wins David Agbaire Proofreader

The Gee-Gees women’s basketball team had a busy road weekend, as they traveled to Toronto and earned hardfought, back-to-back victories over the University of Toronto and Ryerson.

The team’s impressive performance in both games is a testament to the current strength of the program, and further performances against worthy opponents will solidify the return of elite-level women’s basketball at the U of O. The Garnet and Grey are currently the tenth-ranked team in the nation, with an impressive 9-1 record on the season.

On Jan. 22, the Gees squared up against the Toronto Varsity Blues in their brand-new digs at the multi-million dollar Goldring Centre on the U of T campus.

Despite the Blues’ mediocre 3-5 record, they stormed out early and hung with the Gees throughout the game. Toronto

even held a halftime lead before the Gee-Gees cranked up the defence resulting in a 6962 victory.

Fourth-year guard/forward Kellie Ring was the best player for the Gees, as she paced the team with 13 points and a game-high seven rebounds. A standout performer for Blues was guard Rashida Atkinson, who finished with a gamehigh 15 points, while adding three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

The next night, the GeeGees played in what proved to be an even more grueling match against a more formidable opponent. The Gees needed a late overtime buzzer beater to upset the fourth-ranked Ryerson Rams by a score of 76-73.

Point guard Julia Soriano had the hot hand for the GeeGees, as she scored eight of Ottawa’s 12 overtime points, including a clutch three pointer with just 5.1 seconds left in OT. Ring was also great in the game as she recorded a monstrous 20 points, nine re-

The Gee-Gees women’s basketball team is coming together at the perfect time.

bounds, and seven assists.

Next up for the team is a pair of home games against Queen’s

Photo: Remi Yuan

and York on Jan. 29 and 30.

Queen’s is currently ranked just above the Gee-Gees at

ninth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport rankings. The matchup will provide another

key opportunity to prove the team’s place among the top in the country.

Quick Hits

Gees volleyball splits weekend series in Southern Ontario

The Gee-Gees women’s volleyball team closed out the first half of their season with two wins to rally from a four-match losing streak.

A busy break of training paid off for the team in the first of two matches on Jan. 22 and 23. While on the road at Guelph, the Gees swept the Gryphons 3-0 in an impressive start to the second half of the season.

The win was led by fifthyear senior Alix Durivage, who tallied 15.5 points on the

night, followed by Kaly Soro with 12.5.

Adding another win to the team’s record helped for confidence but this version of the Gee-Gees are fundamentally different than in the past. After years of being a dominant team on a national level, the Gee-Gees are still adjusting to being a mediocre team with a 7-5 record.

The following evening, the Gees faced a huge test in the sixth-ranked McMaster Marauders.

The Marauders manhandled the Gee-Gees in three consecutive sets, with Ottawa trailing significantly in each.

Durivage continued her excellent play, but as a whole the team struggled to score.

The Gees were unable to gain traction on the elite McMaster team in the 3-0 loss.

The Gee-Gees return home on Jan. 30 and 31 to take on the Nippising Lakers and York Lions at Montpetit Hall.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE

Behind Bouchards, Gee-Gees down #3 McGill at home Game by game, the GeeGees women’s hockey team is getting better and proving that they may not be many steps away from a chase for a national championship.

After a tough shootout loss against Montreal on the road last weekend, the Gees welcomed third-ranked McGill Martlets to the Minto Sports Complex by handing them a 5-3 loss.

Emilie and Melodie

16 | SPORTS

Bouchard led the Garnet and Grey, as the two combined for two goals and two assists.

Team captain Camille PauckTherrien also had a stellar game with a goal and two assists.

The Gees stormed back in the third period with three power play goals to secure the win over one of the best teams in the nation.

In the standings, the Gees have pulled even with the

From arbitration to community outreach, this program offers the unique skills you will need to launch your career as an arbitrator, conciliator, employee relations officer, mediator and many other exciting career options.

Martlets at nine wins and four losses. There are six remaining games in the regular season, three of which come against Montreal and McGill, with the others against easier opponents in Carleton and Concordia.

The Gees will hit the ice at the Minto Sports Complex again on Jan. 29 when the Concordia Stingers come to town.

—Spencer Murdock

business.humber.ca/postgrad

thefulcrum.ca

OPINIONS

OPINIONS EDITOR David Campion-Smith

opinions@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @davidcs96

Taking a stance on the referendum questions

O

n February 9-11 the SFUO will be holding an Increased fee to help WUSC election for various unfilled positions as well sponsor a third refugee student as a referendum asking students to vote on three different issues. There’ll be polling there are still just over 18,000 Agbaire refugees who have either been stations set up where students can vote on the price David Proofreader approved for refugee status and of a summer U-Pass, if the price of the dental and “Do you support each have not yet travelled to Canahealth plan will be increased and if students should undergraduate student da, or have been fully processed make a larger contribution to help a third refugee contributing an additional and have settled in Canada. student study U of O. We’ve broken down the issues $0.50 per semester to the It is a privilege to attend a student-run World Uniaround each question to give you ourInsight on this school that cares about both versity Services of Canada the local and global communireferendum.

The price of the summer U-Pass David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

“Do you agree that each student registered full time in a summer session contribute $192.70 with a maximum increase of 2.5 per cent/year for a summer U-Pass, which will be valid from May 1-August 31, beginning on May 1 2016?”

The first Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) referendum question tackles the issue of a summer bus pass for full-time students.

This offer would save students in the summer from paying more than they’d pay for passes through OC Transpo.

The price the pass is being offered at is significantly lower than students would pay if they had to cover the period using month passes from OC Transpo. The OC Transpo onemonth pass is $103.25 a month

for adults or $82.25 a month for students, (although you’re only eligible for that rate if you’re under 19.)

One problem with the summer U-Pass plan is that it only applies to students registered as full-time, while most students take a lighter load in the summer. This means that the 7,215 part-time students enrolled in 2014 were unable to take advantage of the U-Pass and made to pay more for transportation than their full-time peers. This will render many students who are taking classes and need a U-Pass ineligible to acquire one.

While the plan has its drawbacks it’s certainly a start for something U of O students have wanted for several years.

Students should vote “yes” on this motion so that full-time students have a cheaper transportation option in the summer.

(WUSC) local committee so as to sponsor a third refugee student to resettle and attend uOttawa annually?”

For the last year and a half, everyone has been keenly tuned in to the travesties that face Syrian refugees attempting to flee their country in search of a better life, and the opportunity to receive a higher education.

The SFUO’s proposed referendum would allow a third refugee student to attend the University of Ottawa. Currently, undergraduate students pay $1.38 to help sponsor two refugee students; the proposed increase would bring that levy to $1.88.

This comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada fell below its target for admitting refugees, and

ties, and to study among people who feel obligated to extend the privilege of higher education to refugees. Despite large tuition hikes and increasing incidental fees, a 50 cent increase will barely be noticeable to most people. Many students probably didn’t even realize that they were sponsoring two refugee students at the moment—such is the relative insignificance of the fee.

Here at the U of O, we should be proud to support such a progressive proposal in a time when some refugees face intense discrimination and harassment from their new host countries. Contributing to this scholarship fund shows that despite our different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and life circumstances, we can still rally together to help our fellow human beings.

Increasing the price for the health and dental plan David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

“Do you agree to allow the SFUO the ability to maintain current benefit levels of the Health and Dental plan, and to ensure financial sustainability of the plan, by increasing the Health and Dental Plan levy by $29 for the upcoming fiscal year, while maintaining the option to opt-out with full reimbursement and authorizing the SFUO Board of Administration to increase the fee up to 8% per subsequent year?”

The third question pertains to increases to the SFUO health and dental plan. A similar question was asked earlier in the year and was defeated by a narrow margin. The question has been reworded since then to be made more clear to students about the possible ramifications of voting “no”.

This increase is needed to

maintain the current levels of services available to students, which includes coverage for common prescriptions, such as birth control and anti-depressants, and examinations by campus doctors.

It’s not easy voting to increase prices, but this is still a cheaper service than you’d be paying if you had to get these prescriptions or services with the SFUO’s insurance. Even with an increase to $209 U of O students would continue to pay the second lowest health insurance in the province according to a previous edition of The Fulcrum.

Students who feel this service won’t benefit them during their studies can opt out entirely, while those that need these important services can still access them. This referendum is an opportunity for people to vote “yes”, and ensure healthcare is accessible on campus, even if its slightly pricier.

Phot

Phot

o: Phot

Mar

t a K ie

o: K im

W ie

o: J e

nnife

r Vo

ns

r kus

thefulcrum.ca

OPINIONS | 17

Uproar over ISIS meeting ‘snubbing’ is unfounded Taking a smaller role means fewer invites to be expected Mackenzie Powell Fulcrum Contributor

On Jan. 20, a meeting was held in Paris that brought world leaders together to discuss plans to combat ISIS. The United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Australia, were all invited to the meeting, but not Canada.

Since then, various media outlets have made sensationalist proclamations to the public that we’ve been “snubbed” by the other nations at the meeting for our lack of commitment or our potentially shortsighted foreign policy, and how we deserved a seat at the table.

Looking back to last year’s federal election, one of Prime Minister Trudeau’s campaign promises was to withdraw the CF-18 fighter planes from the Middle East, which he doubled down on after election.

When Canada made the decision to withdraw our planes, something that has yet to happen, we took a step back from

combat in the Middle East, and thus are no longer playing as large a role as other Western countries. The agenda for the meeting was to discuss how to best combat ISIS. A major portion of the meeting was dedicated specifically to the necessity for air warfare, accompanied by discussions surrounding the recapture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi and special operations forces.

While many media outlets took this as a personal affront to Canada, our government has no reason to discuss a military mission we aren’t involved in.

There is currently no concrete plan for how Canada will replace the air support that has been implemented over the past few years in Syria and Iraq. Presently, all that has been released to the public is the commitment to train troops and local police to effectively fight against ISIS. This will be extremely important, but isn’t enough to warrant a

Photo: Marta Kierkus

seat at the table in an international meeting that will strategize for larger, military interventions.

Working without benefits

While other countries like the United States are doubling their support, we have not yet unveiled our plan for interna-

tional involvement. As a country we need to evaluate our priorities, and not be left with hurt feelings after we have

made an active decision to be less involved in something that is of significant priority to other countries.

Millennials are facing a job market with more freedom to move David Agbaire Proofreader

While “not being able to hold down a job” would be seen as a character flaw for any Baby Boomer, switching jobs—and even fields—has become commonplace, and even a positive experience for many Millenials. Far from being a simple case of generational itchy feet, this pattern reflects a larger trend in Canada’s job market.

Unlike previous eras, staying with one employer for your whole career is now not only unlikely but also discouraged. Despite the divergence from previous eras, according to Laurie Lopez, partner and senior general manager at WinterWyman, in Forbes it’s better for Millennials to be in this situation because “it allows... the opportunity to gain valuable technical knowledge in different environments and cultures.” Transitioning into new roles and disciplines at our convenience could even lead to higher job satisfaction overall.

With less job security, new job openings and a global demand for specialists and profes-

18 | OPINIONS

sionals in certain fields, many young workers are being hired on shorter term contracts.

The increasing prevalence of contract-type jobs creates ideal conditions for young professionals to move between jobs and explore a wider of fields than would not have been possible in the past.

One issue is how this changing trend will affect the postemployment benefits of Canadian workers in the future, from healthcare to retirement.

Workers in the U.S. are increasingly less able to rely on one employer to attain their pension and other post-employment benefits according to Forbes.

With low job security workers are less incentivized to funnel large percentages of their paycheck into pension plans at companies they’ll only work at for a short time. A report by Benefits Canada showed that in Ontario, many companies aren’t even in a position to fulfil their long-term pension commitments to employees.

A contractor relationship doesn’t require the same benefits to be provided, according

to a publication by the Alberta government, since none of the benefits paid to an employee are available to a contractor.

Employees shouldn’t have to go without important benefits, and people will increasingly have to look into alternative financial options such as government bonds, tax free-savings accounts and RRSPs. One thing is for sure, with the fluctuating economy and changing hiring patterns, it would be wise to consider the effect of switching jobs on one’s long-term financial future.

From 2002-2012, 500,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared in Canada, according to the Huffington Post. The once lucrative oil fields have lost at least 40,000 jobs last year according to the Financial Post.

These examples show that even if you can snag the generic 9-5 job, you might not be able to hold it for long. The shift to contract work as the norm has created an environment that provides less security for workers, while giving them more freedom as well as reducing the commitment needed from an employer.

EVENT MANAGEMENT POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE

From trade shows to weddings to cultural festivals, this program offers the unique skills you will need to launch your career as an event coordinator, special events organizer, account representative, corporate meeting planner and many other exciting career options.

business.humber.ca/postgrad

thefulcrum.ca

City officially turns Sandy Hill into a skating rink

NeighbourhoodtobecomelocalalternativetoRideauCanal

David Agbaire Proofreader

In an unprecedented move, the Ottawa City Council has decided to convert Sandy Hill into a giant outdoor skating rink, after mounting frustrations about the Rideau Canal opening late. The City has taken the controversial decision to convert one of Ottawa’s most well-known neighbourhoods into a full-fledged skating rink, after noticing that it was actually cheaper to create a neighbourhood wide ice rink than to remove the ice.

The new community-wide rink will be complete with ski lifts to help people navigate the icy, hilly streets. The City hopes the move will generate much-needed income from the admittance fees they’ll charge, as well as making the most of the perennial issue of Sandy Hill’s icy streets.

The decision comes as the council recently reported an avalanche of complaints and

“Residents of the neighbourhood said they had felt the council was giving their complaints the cold shoulder, and hoped that the council would take action before things reached a boiling point.”

lawsuits from University of Ottawa students, who have been constantly slipping on the rink-like streets of Sandy Hill this year.

“It’s such a challenge gliding through Sandy Hill during the winter that I just wear my skates to class,” said secondyear English student, Paul LaRice.

Indeed many residents of the Ottawa’s prime student locale had been falling over themselves trying to get the proper changes made. Residents of the neighbourhood said they had felt the council was giving their complaints

the cold shoulder, and hoped that the council would take action before things reached a boiling point.

There are some naysayers of course, with critics calling this kind of extravagant government spending the first step on a slippery slope and the “polar opposite” of what Sandy Hill residents really need.

Some observers are more skeptical about the council’s motives and reliability. Political science professor Mel Tice said “Our icy roads are getting fixed? I’ll have to see it to believe it. Although, with the way certain councillors have

Photo: Kim Wiens

seen themselves slide in the latest opinion polls, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just doing it for a photo-op.”

“We understood the high costs involved with this move, but this was no time to be frigid with the purse strings,”

said Councillor Sandra Hills, who first introduced the motion. “It’s going to be an uphill battlefixing everything, but we’re ready to make a serious commitment.”

As Hills pointed out, the new skating rink might make

it easier for people living in the area to get around, since they’ll be able to skate over all of it, and stop hitting random patches of pavement. Downtown Ottawa will also benefit from another tourist attraction .

Academy reveals plan to increase diversity using octopus

Paulinapicksmorediversenomineelistthanactualacademy Nadia Helal

Fulcrum Contributor The Academy Awards are just around the corner and, in response to the criticism the Academy’s received for its lack of diverse choices for its acting nominations, it has decided to enlist the help of a mollusk medium.

Paulina the Octopus has been brought onto the process to select a more diverse list of nominees for next year’s Oscars.

Paul the Octopus was famous for accurately predicting the winners for seven of Germany’s World Cup matches in the 2010 World Cup. Since his death in 2010, German scientists have been voraciously testing all of his 200,000 offspring to see if

any of them carry the same ingenious forecasting genes.

In 2013 they discovered that indeed one of them, Paulina, was so precise they began referring to her as the “oracle of oracles”.

“To prove her legitimacy, Paulina was given tests ranging from Canadian election predictions to NHL playoff games,” wrote Academy Award president Cheryl Boone Isaacs to several members of the voting committee.

Adding, “she presently has a 94 per cent success rate, so it seems logical to rely on her expert opinion rather than force ourselves to watch long, drama-filled films every year.”

When faced with more than a few skeptical Academy members, Isaacs revealed the true reason for Paulina’s in-

thefulcrum.ca

Art; CC, Tilla

volvement.

“The public seems to be very worried about our lack of diversity and hopefully Paulina can change that. We don’t even watch many of the movies, let alone those showcasing people of colour, and Paulina certainly beats our current method of picking a winner.”

An investigation by the Tomato was able to unearth the specific procedures that yield Paulina’s results. She is first presented with laminated photographs of potential nominees. Within five minutes, most are splattered with ink.

The photograph with the least amount of ink is the official winner of the award.

While it might be an unusual addition, at least this new member of the Academy isn’t another old white guy.

THE TOMATo | 19

DISTRACTIONS

Dear Di,

I know every guy masturbates and that it’s totally healthy. But when is it too much? I masturbate several times a day and sometimes the urge is so strong that I need to leave class or work to jack off in the bathroom. Is there something wrong with me?

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @KyleDarbyson

Dear Di

-Jacking John

Dear JJ, You’re right that everyone masturbates and that it is healthy, particularly as a way to release tension and stress.

But you’re also right when you say that there is a point where too much is too much. Usually that point is reached when a sexual act begins to interfere with your everyday life.

If you’re finding that you have to abandon your work or school responsibilities, then it becomes a real concern. The urge to masturbate should never be strong enough to make you halt what you’re doing, and if this inference is also causing you serious distress then it might be time to take some preventative measures.

The answer to decreasing your masturbation habit may be as simple as redirecting your energy and time into different outlets, like exercise or sports for example.

It’s also important to be patient and disciplined, traits that, if you make them habits, will help you gradually resist the strong urges to pleasure yourself during inconvenient times.

If you still experience significant distress after taking these steps, then it may be a good idea to seek some counseling services. It’s difficult to admit when you need help, but some battles are impossible to win by yourself, so don’t be afraid to speak with an expert to take back control of your life.

Love, Di

Fun sex toys for women to try in 2016 1.The Rabbit: If you’re a Sex and the City fan you’ll know exactly what the Rabbit is. This is a great beginner’s sex toy, so if you’re in the market for a “Lady’s First Vibrator” you can’t go wrong here, since the shaft on this model has little rotating balls that help you hit that G-spot every time!

2.Vibrating Rock Chick: Once you feel you’ve mastered the Rabbit, be sure to try out this powerful toy. It’ll feel like someone’s doing the “come hither” motion inside of you while also thumbing on your clit. What more can a women ask for?

3.Heart shaped nipple massagers: Always wanted to try nipple clamps, but were a little freaked out that they may be too painful? Well, these heart shaped nipple massagers are much less intimidating and provide an endless stream of vibration on your breasts so that your man is free to use his hands elsewhere.

20 | DISTRACTIONS

FEATURES EDITOR Kyle Darbyson

Dear Di, I’ve been in a relationship for the past three years and I love my boyfriend… so much so that I’m not sure I can manage on my own. But a few days ago he admitted to sleeping around with someone else. I’m not sure how to process the information or what to do. Is it even possible to put this behind us now that the trust between us has been shattered? I want to make it work, but I’m not sure where to even start. What should I do?

-Once a Cheater…

Dear OC, First of all, I’m sorry to hear about this. I imagine this must be a difficult time for you. Trust is the foundation of all relationships, so when your partner violates that trust it’s very difficult to build it back up. That being said, this process is not impossible and many couples do get through it, although many don’t.

The best way to approach this ugliness is to openly discuss what happened, and why your partner did what he did.

Usually, individuals will cheat because of a breakdown of communication in the relationship. Sometimes it’s easier to get something from a stranger than to bring it up with a loved one. This is not to say you’re at fault in any way, but this stage is a good opportunity to communicate about your relationship and put everything on the table.

Once everything is out in the open, you can both work on putting it in the past and moving forward. The hard part is not bringing it up in arguments later on or harbouring any resentment in the long term.

The journey to forgiveness and trust is a long and challenging one, which requires work from both parties. So if you’re both committed to making it work, and putting in the effort, then it’s better to try than always wondering “what if”. But if you think you won’t be able to move past this bump in the road, then unfortunately this is where your relationship ends.

Love, Di

To get all your sexy and saucy questions answered, email Di at deardi@thefulcrum.ca ;)

thefulcrum.ca

jan. 29 to feb. 4, 2015

THRYLLABUS

MUSIC

Friday, Jan. 29 Forged in Fire: The Building and Burning of Parliament (exhibition), opening day, Bytown Museum—11 a.m.

Gee-Gees Women’s Basketball vs. Queen’s, Montpetit Hall—6 p.m.

Winterlude kick-off, Confederation Park—7 p.m.

Gee-Gees Women’s Hockey vs. Concordia, Minto Sports Complex—7 p.m.

Gee-Gees Men’s Basketball vs. Queen’s, Montpetit Hall—8 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 30

arts

Gee-Gees Women’s Volleyball vs. Nipissing, Montpetit Hall—2 p.m.

Sports

Gee-Gees Women’s Basketball vs. York, Montpetit Hall—6 p.m.

FUN Thinking

Gatineau Winter Beerfest, last day, Canadian Museum of History—6 p.m.

A Tribe Called Red, Winterlude’s SubZero Concert Series, Confederation Park— 7:30 p.m.

Gee-Gees Men’s Basketball vs. York, Montpetit Hall—8 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 31

Guinness World Record attempt: Most snowmen built in one hour, free admission, TD Place—10 a.m.

Gee-Gees Women’s Volleyball vs. York, Montpetit Hall—2 p.m.

So You Think You’re Bilingual (Anglophones vs. Francophones), Cracking Up the Capital Festival, hosted by Derek Seguin, Mayfair Theatre—7 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 1

Much Ado About Nothing (Joss Whedon film), Shakespeare 400, Bytowne Cinema—8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 2 Overcoming the Winter Blues, complimentary workshop, Hampton Wellness Centre—6:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 3

Son of Saul (winner of the 2015 Cannes Festival’s Grand Prix), Bytowne Cinema—4:30 p.m.

Cracking-Up the Capital Comedy Festival, competition finals, Yuk Yuks—8:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 4

Historical Tavern Tour, Ottawa Free Tours, Waller Street Brewery—7 p.m.

Petr Cancura, TD Ottawa Winter Jazz Fest, National Arts Centre —7:30 p.m.

Best of the Second City, Cracking up the Capital Comedy Festival, Algonquin Commons Theatre—8 p.m.

thefulcrum.ca

DISTRACTIONS | 21

Dear EDITOR

I write to invite introspection by sharing some of my personal life.

Recently, one of my parents died. This was just before Christmas, which had the effect of complicating an already complicated season, giving me cause for serious soul searching.

Reflecting on the loss of my father, I was sad to think that he would not see my PhD graduation. I know he was proud of the successes I have had as a student, given that I went back to school later in life.

My first degree was a McGill BA in the 1980’s. As a 48 yr old mature adult, I returned to school - teachers college in the USA. After that, I went into a Master’s program in Education at uOttawa, where I continue in my PhD. My experiences at uOttawa as a mature adult student have been mostly positive, regardless of a French student newspaper suggesting my “age mur” status made me irrelevant (I was pretty offended). Especially as a graduate student, where diverse ages are well represent-

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear EDITOR ed. I appreciate the enthusiasm of youth, as well as the benefit of experience.

Moving past grieving, I see 2016 as an opportunity to continue to earn the same appreciation for my efforts as a student from my spouse, family, and colleagues. And, perhaps, others.

What does it mean to be a doctoral student? It means investing your time and intellect into a significant project of inquiry, guided by your university. It is a commitment of several years. It will not likely increase your earnings post-graduation; it will take away from the time you have for your family; and it will probably age you faster than most high-stress jobs could ever hope to do.

And – it is worth it.

It informs you as a person – challenging and enriching you intellectually, academically and societally.

My anticipated graduation date is 2020. I’ll be 57 years old.

That still leaves me with a few years to contribute to the world post-doctorally. My mother will be 84 – she reminds me

often – “Hurry up and graduate while I am still living!”

The experience of being a full-time student in your fifties is different. I do not go to the pubs. Sometimes, I have childcare considerations. How do I finance my studies? Like any other student….perhaps with more financial responsibilities to take care of than most much younger university students have accumulated. It is a juggling act. Oh, and I work fulltime. My story is typical for graduate students.

I am involved in student political life, in an elected and nominated position. Why get involved? Because I feel I have something to contribute…my goals are to give meaningful service to my community. Perhaps this is an extension of my masonic beliefs…

My dad was unable to live to see me graduate, but he will be in my thoughts when I cross that stage. The journeys we undertake as students are not individual – they are shared.

Have a great semester!

- Robert M. Head MA Ed. PhD1Ed. Student

Academic colleagues have recently shared with me that some student politicians from within the SFUO, GSAED, and labour groups on campus are resolutely opposed to changes in student voting formats because this will “change the face of voting”; whereby cliques who currently control elections, deciding who gets to run in them, will be pushed aside by a broader and more democratic demographic of the student population.

I have heard it is a running joke with employees from such groups that student elections should just be done away with and the employees in charge tasked with appointing representatives. Indeed, as a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa, I was upset to hear this disregard for student democracy.

In a situation where [I am told by student peers] union locals are defacto controlling our student governments, I worry.

When I read that the current Executive Director at the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, Jesse Root, who is a former Ryerson Student

Union VP (Education), deleted the entirety of his RSU emails, reportedly breaking provincial privacy laws under the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and regulations defining not-for-profit organizations, I am concerned about just who is running our student government [http://theeyeopener. com/2015/09/prof-emails-wereillegally-deleted/].

Students need to think about the fact that the SFUO and GSAED and CUPE are businesses, with big budgets in the millions of dollars. They pay considerable salaries to employees who have vested interests in controlling what happens to them, and that can translate into subverting student democracy. This concerns me as a graduate student.

Most Ontario universities and colleges have switched over to electronic voting formats to increase student voter turnout – the University of Toronto student voter turnouts are about 30%, compared to less than 1% at uOttawa. Other Ontario colleges and universities enjoy greater student voter turnouts and much greater student engagement in elections – more students run for positions, from

much broader demographic spectrums of their populations.

Having more students run from more diverse groups and more faculties means that students actually get to vote for their peers, and elections are not just charades played to get a handful of friends elected by a handful of friends.

Electronic voting formats are easy to implement and save huge sums of money. Disunity and political turmoil benefit those who are on campus longterm, in student labour and student government, misrepresenting and re-writing organizational memory, seeking to rule by manipulating transient student populations.

We need more good people running things in student government. It is time to think about changing the system – it is broken. For students thinking about running for student government – there are many perks that are not advertised by those in office – very generous salaries, honoraria, social benefits, and advantages. On top of student loans and bursaries. It is high time to decolonise student government at uOttawa.

- Robert M. Head MA Ed. PhD1 Ed. Student (rmhead62@gmail. com)

Cheer Up … For God’s Sake

A

s you go through college, take comfort in the fact that there is nothing new under the sun.

While there is never going to be anyone with identical genes who will experience life exactly as you do, your feelings, good and bad, emotions, good and bad, are universal. Life as you know, comes in phases, getting a college education is one phase. This is around the time in which your prefrontal cortex is fully developed and when you become more aware, emotionally, that your behaviour affects others. It is a time of greater self-awareness, particularly awareness of a moral conscience. Up to this point your behaviour has been mostly shaped by fear of punishment, or what you can get away with.

With a moral appreciation of consequences, your behaviour should be shaped by a desire to pursue goodness, for goodness’ sake. This is a narrow road, but it brings peace of mind, success and happiness. It is also the surest road to wisdom. So try not to despair when the day seems dreary or the task seems impossible. Bad times never last, and you will adjust like you’ve always done. Don’t be hard on yourself, after all, you did not make yourself and you are not responsible for the factors that shaped you up to this point. Never forget that we live in our minds and so just as negative thoughts bring you down, positive thoughts will lift you up. And so it is important to control your thoughts.

This, by the way is one of the triumphs in life – the control of what we allow our mind to dwell on.

No one knows where thoughts come from, but thank God that we can shut out the bad ones and nurture the good ones. Work hard, and try to remain honest, so you can keep growing in your ability. You are capable of much more than you realize. Learn self-discipline and organisation so that work doesn’t spill into play, and your play is not spoiled by guilt from work left undone. Try never to panic. Better to seek help and buy yourself precious time to recover from trouble. Offer good advice and don’t hesitate to seek counsel. We are all in this together. Don’t be embarrassed to embrace faith but do not become self-righteous or a hypocrite. Your friends may not tell you so, but they will respect and admire you as a spiritual person. After all, true spirituality is about learning to love others. You will find that the more you pray, the better you know yourself and the less mistakes you make. Pray for those you don’t like and forgive others so that it is easier to forgive yourself.

Overcome your shyness, not by heavy drinking or by using drugs, but by reminding yourself that we are all shy more or less. In fact, shyness tends to be a function of self-awareness. You are about to come into your own so learn to pick up after yourself and hang in there. You have yet to taste the best that life has to offer.

– Compassionate Listening Society of Alberta

WeDareToListen.com 22 | LETTERS

thefulcrum.ca

Volume 76, Issue 17, jan. 28, 2016 Unhappy with the nominations since 1942.

Phone: (613) 695-0061 | Fax: (613) 695-9006 631 King Edward Ave. Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Recycle this paper or we’ll boycott.

EDITORIAL The problem with the Toronto police’s latest purchase

Nadia “de la Renta” Drissi El-Bouzaidi Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Devin “Nunez” Orsini Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Savannah “Bluth” Awde Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Eric “Wilde” Davidson News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Allegra “Isaac” Morgado Arts & Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Spencer “Robertson” Murdock Sports Editor, Rap Correspondent sports@thefulcrum.ca Kyle “Mayer” Darbyson Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca David “Hammerstein” Campion-Smith Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Reine “De La Hoya” Tejares Online Editor online@thefulcrum.ca Kim “Stanton De Priest” Wiens Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Jaclyn “Hijuelos” McRae-Sadik Associate News Editor associate.news@thefulcrum.ca Marta “Micheaux” Kierkus Staff Photographer photographer@thefulcrum.ca Zach “Charleston” Verret Multimedia Coordinator multimedia@thefulcrum.ca Nicole “Niemeyer” Rutkowski Associate Features Editor associate.features@thefulcrum.ca David “Peterson” Agbaire Proofreader Deidre “Dickson” Butters Advertising Manager ads@thefulcrum.ca Dayne “the Grouch” Moyer General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors

Andrea “Bonavena” Zehr Zainab “Levant” Al-Mehdar Elora “Gutierrez” McAuley Bethsaïda “Sanchez” Georges Nadia “Scalfaro” Helal Dylan “Dronjak” Yegendorf Rémi “Gamble” Yuan Mackenzie “Klefbom” Powell

Board of Directors

Mackenzie “Browning” Gray, President, board@thefulcrum.ca Sabrina “Arias” Nemis, Vice-President Katelyn “Albarado” Murray, Chief of Staff Simon “Swahn” Gollish, Continuity Rep Jonathan “Wirkkala” Rausseo, University Rep Lindsay “Alende” MacMillan, Fulcrum Staff Benjamin “Villarreal” Miller, Student Rep Carolyn “Muscarella” Mutis, Student Rep William “ Mathisen” Hume , Student Rep Cover Photo: Jaclyn McRae-Sadik Edits: Kim Wiens

The 51 C8 patrol carbines will be distributed among Toronto’s 17 police divisions.

P

olice forces across the continent have been under intense public scrutiny after numerous high profile shootings of people of colour by police officers in questionable circumstances. The senseless deaths of many unarmed civilians including, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice—as well as the hostile response from police officers—has many concerned about the militarization of local police forces.

However the latest news coming from the Toronto Police Service seems to be moving in the opposite direction, with the purchase of new high-powered machinery.

The police force has bought 51 patrol carbines, high-powered rifles—military type semi-automatic guns—that will be dispersed among each of Toronto’s 17 police divisions.

Toronto police have tried to soften the news by stating that the C8 patrol carbines would be paired with sockguns, a “less lethal” type of shotgun loaded with rounds that inflict pain but do not penetrate the body.

thefulcrum.ca

Each division will have access to three patrol carbines, and three sock guns, 24 hours a day, in the same car. The patrol carbines have already been in use in the military and across several different police agencies. ß The reason behind the new haul? Increased accuracy, says Toronto police spokesperson, Mark Pugash, according to the Toronto Star.

The rifles are more accurate and can be used from a further distance. They also can penetrate soft-body armour, which police officers are increasingly seeing. The carbines can also be fired repeatedly without needing to be reloaded.

As noted above, the new purchases definitely have some benefits, but if you considered the numerous cases of police officers shooting unarmed people of colour, accuracy hasn’t been the issue, but a lack of due process.

“I think anyone who is working in a civil police service needs to be very concerned about a loss of that civil component,” said Robert Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser Uni-

versity (SFU), and former police officer, according to the Toronto Star. Adding such an arm to a police force’s arsenal could exacerbate this issue, making cops more triggerhappy, knowing the type of firepower they’re wielding.

In the eyes of Ottawabased criminal defence lawyer Michael Spratt in a VICE article, “these aren’t weapons that should be (used) on civilians.”

“By arming them, bulletproofing them, and making them seem like a military invasion strike force, that (creates) a public perception problem,” he said.

Think of what effects these types of weapons have on the general public. Imagine how you’d feel when your friendly neighbourhood police officer begins to resemble a Navy S.E.A.L. Now imagine how much worse that would be if, coming from an ethnic minority or a poorer neighbourhood, you already believed that police officer had no interest in protecting you.

“This increase of armament—whether it be armoured vehicles, riot gear, or deadly automatic weap-

ons that distances the police from the citizenry which it should be engaging with and protecting — it does nothing for relations,” said Spratt, according to the Huffington Post Canada.

“Weapons, when they’re accessible to police, tend to be used,” he said. “We’ve seen this in the Yatim case.”

On July 27, 2013, 18-yearold Sammy Yatim armed with a knife was shot eight times by Toronto Police officer James Forcillo. He later died from his injuries. Several days following the news of the Toronto Police’s latest purchase, Forcillo was found guilty of attempted murder, but not second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders has defended the recent purchase, insisting that there will be “rigid rules” regarding the use of the assault rifles, according to the CBC. Saunders said militarystyle assault rifles have been necessary, citing the 1991 Rainbow Motel shootout as an example for the need for better weapons. The 2013 Moncton, New Brunswick

Photo: CC, Chris Huggins

shooting of three police officers by Justin Bourque has also been used to justify the new arsenal.

An independent review into the Moncton shootings found that arming police officers with higher firepower would have made a difference. The officers, armed with handguns and three shotguns, were no match for Bourque’s M305 semi-automatic rifle.

However all one has to do to see the effects of gun culture is to look at our neighbour to the South. In the U.S. the “Good-Guy-With-A-Gun” argument has been frequently used, yet they still experienced hundreds of mass shootings in 2015.

“Clearly what is needed is an operational shift in how police think about the most basic aspects of their job.

More guns don’t make us safer,” said Spratt.

No amount of weaponry will be able to resolve the current disconnect between the public and the police. Police forces in Canada and the U.S. need to put the guns aside and focus their efforts on restoring the trust of the public.

EDITORIAL | 23