The Fulcrum - Vol 76 Issue 22

VOL. 76 ISSUE 22

mar. 10, 2016

fishing for funds PG. 5, 12, 17

This Week

IN THIS ISSUE...

Fourth times the charm? P.5 Six motions up for vote at next GA Say hello to my little friend P.9 The benefits of having a little green in your apartment Financial loonie-cy P.12 How Canada’s free falling currency affects your education And 120 points to the GeeGees P.15 U of O Quidditch team flies by competition at Eastern conference finals Healthcare on the chopping block P.18 Ontario healthcare bleeds out after latest budget A stingey situation P.20 Getting tied up by no strings attached

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NEWS

NEWS EDITOR

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

GA preview: students granted academic amnesty

Second GA of academic year to be held on campus, feature six motions Eric Davidson News Editor

T

he Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) will be holding a General Assembly (GA) in Marion Auditorium on Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. where students will have the opportunity to vote on motions around accommodating students, decertificaiton of misogynist groups on campus, and tougher bilingualism standards for SFUO executives.

This is the fourth time the SFUO will be hosting a GA over the past two years, but they have yet to meet quorum.

If quorum—one per cent of the undergraduate student population—is met, the GA will feature an update from SFUO executives, a budget update, question period, reading and voting for motions, and the announcement of the ratification of the SFUO election results.

If quorum is not met, the GA will feature only an executive update and a budget update before the meeting is closed.

According to the SFUO’s constitution, the General Assembly is the highest decisionmaking body in the SFUO. For the first time, the U of O Senate ruled that students will receive academic amnesty—exemption from penalties related to missing class—to attend the GA. However, students who have tests, or assignments scheduled at that time will not receive academic amnesty.

Motions There are six motions listed on the SFUO’s website that will be discussed and voted on if the GA meets quorum. This is up from the previous GA— which took place in November of last year—which saw no motions submitted.

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The last General Assembly held in November was attended by less than 50 people.

meal plans.”

1) Adoption of a centralized policy regarding accommodations and disability:

3) Emergency student hardship fund:

This motion would obligate the SFUO to campaign and petition the Board of Administration (BOA) and Board of Governors of the university to implement a “comprehensive, centralized policy regarding disabilities and accommodations for the student body.”

This motion states that “circumstances may arise where students require emergency financial assistance.” To respond to this, it calls for the vicepresident finance of the SFUO to create an “emergency hardship fund”. It also stipulates that the money for the fund be allocated during the August meeting of the BOA.

2) Dining hall regulations: This motion calls on the SFUO to lobby Food Services and the U of O administration to “eliminate barriers to entry at the new dining hall, including but not limited to, re-entry at meal-time changes, banned bags and backpacks, and limited access to students without

from these meetings, BOA members would automatically be removed from their positions.

5) Motion for the decertification and removal of misogynist groups on campus: This motion calls on the SFUO to help “ban of male supremacist groups (including so called ‘Men’s Rights Activists’) from organizing on our campus, both as clubs recognized by the SFUO and unaffiliated clubs using campus buildings for meetings.”

It mentions one group in particular, the Canadian Association for Equality, which has been banned from the Ryerson University campus.

4) Motion for mandatory BOA attendance at General Assemblies: This motion stipulates that members of the BOA be required to attend GAs, and that an absence from the GA be treated the same as an absence from a BOA meeting. After two unexplained absences

6) Promoting bilingualism among SFUO executives:

This motion would amend the SFUO Constitution and alter the eligibility criteria for the positions of vice-president finance, vice-president equity, and vice-president social, so that the candidate must be “bilingual, that is to say, achieves a grade of three (3) out of four (4) on the reading test and five (5) out of five (5) on the oral test in both official languages.”

Currently, these positions require a two out of four on the reading test and a four out of five on the oral test.

This last motion comes after questions arose over French testing standards for SFUO executive candidates, after some candidates for executive positions had noticeable problems speaking French in the election debates.

Meeting with the Revolution

Photo: Marta Kierkus.

ary Students Movement At the end of the last GA, the SFUO said it would meet with the Revolutionary Students Movement (RSM), the group which introduced the referendum question that brought about GAs in the first place, about ways to improve the GA. According to Danik Dozet, member of the RSM, the meeting was centred on promoting the GA, though he thinks more could have been accomplished.

“I’m pretty disappointed with the amount of effort they’ve put into it considering the resources and staff they have,” he said. “GAs will only work if students bring forward motions and get involved, but for that to happen they need to know about them.”

The SFUO could not be reached for comment before publication.

NEWS | 5

University plans to use faculty surpluses to pay off $17M deficit

Admin considers suspending construction projects after four years in the red Jaclyn McRae-Sadik Associate News Editor

With the recent financial struggles of the university, posting a preliminary budget with a deficit of $17 million for 2015-16, the administration suggested some new ways to deal with this at the most recent Board of Governors (BOG) meeting on Feb. 22.

These suggestions included using faculty surpluses to pay down the university’s overall deficit, and suspending construction projects.

This first proposal received some backlash from faculty members on the BOG, saying it could harm their ability to hire new faculty members, a point that President Allan Rock disagreed with. In this same fiscal period, the university also states part of the financial recovery will come from suspended construction and renovation projects, but does not specify which ones.

Andrew Taylor, vice-dean of undergraduate studies for the Faculty of Arts and current member of the BOG, says this will not affect the Faculty of Arts because they are already running a “substantial deficit” themselves, but others will feel the effects.

“I think under the circumstances that limits what arts can say about it. The people who are going to have their surplus taken away from them will be the ones who will see the greatest disadvantages,” said Taylor.

In a statement provided to the Fulcrum by U of O media relations officer Néomie Duval, the university said it’s exploring a variety of solutions to address the deficit and confirms one of the ways it will be doing this is using faculty and services surpluses as of the second half the 2015-16 fiscal year.

Taylor says that due to funding cuts, largely provincial ones, Ontario universities as a whole face serious financial issues, and this is why the BOG is prepared to vote for tuition increases.

“I think most members of the Board of Governors are persuaded that the university does indeed face a very significant financial challenge,” he said. “If there wasn’t a real sense of financial pressure I think (tuition increases are) something there would be a lot more reluctance to do.”

In this same fiscal period, the university also states part of the financial recovery will come from suspended

construction and renovation projects, but does not specify which ones.

“The other part will be recovered from the operating fund accumulated surplus of services and faculties, where such a surplus existed. The contributions will be pro-rated and will vary depending on available funds,” the statement said.

In response to if the university felt it was appropriate to use faculty money with such reluctance from faculty members on the BOG, the statement read, “The entire university community must work together. We must all support our university to ensure that we achieve our full potential.”

In a three-year period, the university went from a $349,000 surplus in the 201213 budget to an almost $5-million deficit the next year, escalating to $19.5-million the year after and ending with a $17-million deficit for the 2015-16 preliminary budget.

The university’s statement references Rock’s message to the university community earlier this year, stating, “the university is facing serious financial pressures.”

When the 2015-16 budget was approved by the BOG in May 2015, the projected op-

Illustration: Tabetha Sheppard

erating fund deficit was $1.9 million. However, while com-

pleting the budget update, the amount grew to $7.6 million,

says the university administration.

U of O wins big for first think tank of its kind in Canada

Think tank offers practical learning in public finance, set to open this year Jaclyn McRae-Sadik Associate News Editor

The University of Ottawa is set to be the first university in Canada to open an Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) after it was announced on Feb. 25 that it would receive funding from the Ontario government.

The institute’s emphasis will be on public finance and policy, and will be led by Kevin Page, the Jean-Luc Pepin Research Chair (JLP) and previously Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer. Alongside him will be colleagues from the JLP, Heleina Gaspard, a senior research associate, and Sahir Khan, senior visiting fellow from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Khan says the most important goal of the IFSD is providing real-world experience to students, using co-op place-

6 | NEWS

ments and internships. He says he believes one of the reasons the U of O won in the bid for funding was this strategic plan that focuses on practical experience, especially at the undergraduate level.

“Working with the president’s office, this was studentcentric from the beginning.

That made it a little bit different because we weren’t asking to set up a traditional research institute. We were saying it’s a platform experiential learning, on-the-job training,” said Khan.

The IFSD will be working with the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the National Governors Association, to name a few.

“There are a lot of interesting connections, not only for our students but for data and for research, and for actual

Sahir Khan (left), Kevin Page, and Heleina Gaspard.

public policy change and public policy development, which is really exciting for us,” said Gaspard.

Page and his students worked alongside the Open Society Foundation in Myanmar last year, and he hopes to continue similar international work with the IFSD.

Photo: Jaclyn McRae-Sadik

The goal is to draw students from faculties all over the university, not just the social sciences, and work across all levels of academia in teaching, researching, advising and engaging students in the professional environment.

One of the greatest benefits the team is bringing from the

JLP is the highly developed network with large organizations, domestically and abroad.

Two students from the university are currently interning at the World Bank, working directly with its 16 affiliated client countries, says Gaspard.

In addition to that opportunity, the World Bank’s mobile app,

which is co-branded with the university, is entirely run by U of O students.

“There are opportunities to work with these international organizations—that is definitely a building capacity, fiscal capacity in other countries, and I think it would be amazing to have students involved in something like that,” said Page.

Gaspard, Khan and Page anticipate the new institution opening as soon as this summer and ready for the September 2016 student intake. A location on campus has yet to be determined.

Khan says the JLP has provided real experience students could point to with pride and the IFSD intends to exceed that.

“That’s what we figured we wanted to scale up,” he said.

“The Chair was a tremendous opportunity to do it—this institute basically gets to put that on a whole new level.”

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Social media could help assess risk of mental illness Research by U of O prof to produce new detection algorithms Jaclyn McRae-Sadik Associate News Editor

Social media could soon be put to good use when it comes to detecting possible mental illness, according to research

by University of Ottawa Engineering and Computer Science professor Diana Inkpen and her team.

The project will use data collected from social media websites to produce an algorithm that detects signs linked to possible mental illness.

Inkpen, a computer scientist and engineer, is leading a team of researchers at the U of O in collaboration with the University of Albert and Université de Montpellier in France. They will also collaborate with the company Advanced Symbolics, which offers “predictive analytics,” to collect and sample the data from social media.

While the project is still in its very early stages, Inkpen said some future applications could be to help doctors increase quality of the care provided to patients, detect cyberbullying, and for use by mental illness support services, such as help telephone lines.

“They can train some models on their data and when new

calls come in, the model can already offer something learned from the past from other users in similar situations, so more like a research tool or a help tool for the operator or a help line,” said Inkpen.

The team began their research in October 2015, after receiving the notice of the three-year grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and have begun to analyze Twitter data, which is public and easily to collect.

The project will use data mining algorithms, where the team will collect data from social media platforms, manually annotate it and then use this data to train algorithms.

These algorithms are able to pick up patterns in new data and associate those patterns with possible signs of mental illness, said Inkpen.

“This is the idea of data mining: we learn from, we train the algorithms on training data, save the prediction models and then we can use the models on new data to make predictions in this userface,” said Inkpen. The main question, she said, “is the user at risk of something?”

In addition to working with other researchers, Inkpen said

Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals put forward their new budget, which includes a number of provisions for low-income and middle-class students.

they are consulting with Dr. William Gardner of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), who specializes in pediatric mental health.

Gardner said the prospect of the possible benefits of this research “could be extraordinarily valuable,” but cautions not to overestimate the future

use of the research within medical practice.

He said while this will not be a diagnostic tool itself, it may be useful in the future to identify those who may need to see a psychiatrist or psychologist.

“You really need to have somebody diagnosed, actually

diagnosed by somebody qualified to do so in order to say this person is or is not mentally ill,” said Gardner.

Gardner also raises concerns on the ethics of using this technology in medicine, cautioning that monitoring patients’ social media without their knowledge may be

Photo: CC, Pixabay.

unethical, and questioning if getting their consent to do so would even be possible.

“I think there’s both technical and medical ethical questions that would have to be very carefully explored before we would really be able to say what are the possible applications,” he said.

Giving students a good academic environment U of O environmental standards rank second in Canada Graham Robertson Staff Contributor

The UI Green Metric World University Ranking recently placed the University of Ottawa at centre-stage among high-ranking institutions across the globe naming it the second most environmentally sustainable university in Canada.

The University of Ottawa placed 27th worldwide, below only one other Canadian institution—Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec. The University of Nottingham, in England took first place, the University of California, Davis came in second, and University of Oxford claimed third.

The criteria for this ranking is comprehensive and strict, factoring in each university’s setting and infrastructure, attention to the use of energy,

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waste disposal and recycling, water usage, transportation system, and education on environmental issues.

“Twenty-seven in the world is a tremendous accomplishment and it is certainly the result of the involvement of all those who use our campus on a daily basis,” said Giuliano Reis, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the U of O whose research interests include science and environmental education. “(Some) of the most significant changes I have seen are the bottled water ban, the strict control of the temperature inside buildings, the effective distribution of documents (electronically), installation of water-efficient toilets and hand dryers in the bathrooms, and recycling bins.”

Reis believes that this ranking is important for the U of O because it acts as a standard

for students to look up to.

“These types of actions have a rippling effect, and before we know (it) people will start living a greener life outside campus as well.”

The Green Metric ranking showed that an area in which the U of O needs to improve on is environmental education. Reis, who teaches in the Faculty of Education, has some suggestions to improve environmental education on campus.

“In my faculty, where our mandate is to work with teachers, we have created a special cohort in the B.Ed. program that is heavily oriented towards (environmental education) called ‘Developing a Global Perspective in Education,’” he said.

“At the graduate level, we too have been implementing new courses that are EE (environmental education)-orient-

The U of O was recently ranked the second most sustainable university in Canada, and 27th in the world.

ed, like the one called ‘Science, Technology, Society and Environment,’ or have been trying to infuse more environmental education into older courses.

The good news is that envi-

ronmental education is intertwined with all disciplines.”

Not only environmental education , but so too is environmental consciousness part of all aspects of life, said

Photo: Kim Wiens.

Reis. He discussed the three R’s—Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle—and how leaving behind less will help keep “our house’ habitable and healthy for generations to come.”

NEWS | 7

National News

Ryerson strategizes unique offerings for potential law school

Legal education ‘hasn’t kept up with changes in society,’ says committee advisor subject similar to humanities courses.

“The challenge with legal education is that it hasn’t kept up with changes in society,” said Chris Bentley, executive director of the Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) and Law Practice Program, and advisor to the initiative. “We prepare lawyers pretty much the way we did when I left law school decades ago.”

Anver Saloojee—politics and public administration professor, and chair of the feasibility committee—said Ryerson can address societal needs by improving outdated aspects of legal education. The chair said Ryerson’s particular mandate of “bringing theory and practice closer together” could help modernize legal education. Saloojee sits on both committees.

Levin said Ryerson’s potential law school could use practitioners, placements and simulated firms to give students practical experience. Saloojee said courses could also tackle modern law concerning privacy, big data and cybercrime.

“Many lawyers aren’t trained in that kind of technology,” Saloojee said.

Initiative members are considering adopting a social justice lens in some courses, tackling issues like high legal costs and accessibility of legal education or representation. The curriculum could also discuss alternatives to by-hour pay, which is popular among lawyers.

“I think the thing that’s more pressing is traditional legal representation is not affordable because lawyers, the way they work and the way they build up, puts them out of reach,” Levin said, stating law graduates struggle with high tuition costs. “It becomes

Al Downham The Eyeopener

Toronto (CUP)—Ryerson is bent on adopting a unique approach towards outlining its potential law school.

“It’s not just adding a new law school to the system,” said interim president Mohamed Lachemi. “But adding something that will be meaningful, and something that will differentiate Ryerson.”

A Feb. 16 release states an originating and feasibility group is assessing how Ryerson can possibly create a law school that will prepare graduates “for today’s fast-paced legal industry.”

Town halls were held Feb. 24–26 for faculty, staff and students to discuss the initiative. While a Ryerson law school is being considered, it’s not confirmed.

According to Mark Lovewell—a retired Ryerson faculty member involved in the initiative—the originating committee is writing a Letter of Intent outlining a possible curriculum, societal need and unique approach for the law school, while a feasibility study will determine its structural needs.

Darrick Heyd, a feasibility committee member and Ryerson’s senior advisor on academic space planning, said there “hasn’t been a call by the provincial government for new law schools.”

However, members supporting an on-campus law school argue traditional law schools are outdated. Law and business department chair and feasibility committee member Avner Levin said traditional law schools teach the

Université d’Ottawa

|

Ryerson University hopes to diversify legal education, with a focus on areas like social justice and cybercrime.

very expensive for people.”

According to Levin, some of these ideas have been tested in Ryerson’s law practice program and at the LIZ. Both are informally connected to the law school initiative.

In terms of feasibility, Saloojee listed three main factors in the study: space, faculty and library resources.

A 2014 statement states Heyd’s role as senior advisor on academic space planning is to be “first point of contact with academic units for their new

space needs as well as renovations and alterations.”

Regarding faculty, Levin said roughly 50 Ryerson faculty members have gone to law school.

Library resources will undoubtedly need beefing up, according to Saloojee, who said most law schools have their own libraries. The University of Ottawa’s Brian Dickson Law Library director Margo Jeske says the library received $1.5 million of a 2014–15 acquisitions budget. The Law Library

Photo: Courtesy of the Eyeopener.

of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University is the largest library of its kind nationwide with over 500,000 volumes.

The initiative is in early stages, but members said they’re considering town hall attendees’ advice in the study. Levin said the letter will be posted for community review—after further comment, a full proposal will be developed and presented to the Ryerson senate, which will continue to external stakeholders if approved.

University of Ottawa

2016 Symposium – Thursday, March 24

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Poster presentations from faculties:

Learn about research opportunities at the undergraduate level!

Education, Engineering, School of Management, Medicine, Social Sciences

1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Poster presentations from faculties:

Arts, Law (Common Law and Droit civil), Health Sciences, Science

More than 300 students will present their findings during the sixth Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Symposium.

Jock Turcot University Centre 85 University Ground floor FREE ADMISSION

For more information, visit www.research.uOttawa.ca/urop 8 | NATIONAL NEWS

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A&C EDITOR Allegra Morgado arts@thefulcrum.ca

ARTS&CULTURE

(613) 695-0062 @allietate

Workshop tackles issue of intimate partner violence in LGBTTQ+ communities

Campus Pride Week features broad spectrum from celebratory to somber events Allegra Morgado arts & culture editor

C

ampus Pride Week gives members of the LGBTTQ+ community and allies a chance to come together to celebrate pride on campus, featuring a selection of events from a board game night to a drag contest and variety show.

Amongst all the celebrations, however, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) Pride Centre included important workshops on more serious topics, such as colorism, respectability politics, and asexuality.

One of these workshops concerned the subject of intimate partner violence in the LGBTTQ+ community. Although domestic violence is a popular topic in mainstream media, people rarely take the time to think about how it can affect people differently depending on their sexuality and gender identity.

The workshop, which took place on March 4, was hosted

by Sam Whittle, a registered social worker and the owner of Venus Envy Ottawa. Whittle is a queer woman herself and has dealt with intimate partner abuse in the past, making it an issue close to her heart.

When Whittle was in this relationship, she says “it took (her) a really long time to figure out what was going on was abuse,” despite her involvement in feminism and providing support for survivors. This caused her to reflect on the information she had been taught about abusive relationships and how it simply “didn’t relate to (her) relationship” as it had been “kind of created for straight, cis folks.”

“I started giving these workshops to make more space in the queer community to talk about what abuse actually looks like in queer relationships,” says Whittle.

Whittle talked about the way in which mainstream ideas of what survivors and perpetrators look like, as well as what constitutes an abusive

relationship, can prevent some people from being able to recognize abusive elements in their relationships. Although there is no official list of what is and isn’t abuse, Whittle gave attendees a piece of advice to remember in order to try and figure out if they or their friends are in abusive relationships.

“The key thing to think about is what it’s doing in a relationship. Whose life is getting bigger as a result of this kind of thing, and whose life is getting smaller? Who’s getting more power and who is getting less power? Who is more isolated at the end of the day, and is who has more community because these things are happening?”

Whittle mentioned some of the ways in which people are abused in relationships that are not often talked about and encouraged attendees to contribute as well. She also paid special attention to “outing”, whether it is outing someone’s sexuality, gender identity, work as a sex worker, or anything else that a perpetrator may hold over a survivor’s head in order to manipulate them.

Sam Whittle, owner of Venus Envy Ottawa, discusses barriers members of the LGBTTQ+ community in abusive relationships face when trying to access services.

Photo: Allegra Morgado.

Whittle also specified that abusive relationships are not always consistently bad, and this is a reason many people have a difficult time leaving them or even recognizing that they are being abused.

“I think we have really uncomplicated views of abuse, where it’s like ‘if you were actually being abused, you would obviously hate this person, you would get out as quickly as you could’ and if that’s not exactly what you did, then that’s not

abuse. That’s the narrative that we have… but it’s not everyone’s experience.”

In the final portion of the workshop, Whittle discussed different barriers to accessing services that queer people in abusive relationships face. She focused on police, women’s shelters, hospitals, and LGBTTQ+ support centres, and how these main services for abuse victims are not accessible for everyone, whether it’s because of age, location, or simply the

fact that some forms of abuse are not technically illegal.

The workshop consistently reiterated the fact that not all abusive relationships look alike or fit stereotypes, and for this reason it’s important to remember this when evaluating our own relationships.

If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, check out the resources at http://connectingottawa.com/services/17 from Connecting Ottawa to find help.

Sometimes it is easy being green

UOHS hosts workshop on benefits of indoor plants Anchal Sharma staff contributor

If you’re a first-year student, you probably had a packing checklist back in August to make sure that you were all ready for moving into your dorm room. After picking up the essentials, like shower shoes and a laundry bin, you probably skimmed the list and absentmindedly ignored the suggestion to get an indoor plant.

Although telling a first-year student who can barely take care of themselves to get a plant may seem odd, there is

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a simple reason for it—plants have many benefits, and act as more than just cute dorm decorations. This was something that over 50 students learned about at Community Life Service’s (CLS) Green Festival Indoor Plant Workshop, run by the University of Ottawa’s Health Services (UOHS) on March 2.

The workshop was held in the University Centre Agora by the bookstore, and was put on by two of UOHS’ peer education teams, the Global Health team and the Mental Health team, along with U of O professors Liliane Dionne and

Renate Sander-Segier. Dionne also donated spider plants for students to take home afterwards and learn how to plant.

The workshop, which was part of a number of environment-related events during the Green Festival, gave students the opportunity to relieve stress in a productive way while learning about taking care of indoor plants.

“Caring for plants has been proven to give some people a sense of purpose, help fight depression and increase levels of optimism,” wrote Jennifer Keays, health promotion coordinator for the UOHS, in an

email to the Fulcrum. According to an Oct. 2015 article in the Independent, a study was done by Westminster and Essex universities that found participants who gardened even 30 minutes per week saw improved moods and selfesteem.

One of the UOHS peer educators at the event was Natasha Kienapple, a third-year health sciences student. Kienapple offered some insights as to why having an indoor plant is a good idea for students.

“It’s been found that it reduces stress and increases creativity (and) watering a plant

is also something that is a responsibility,” says Kienapple.

“When you remember to go water your plant every day, it’s like a source of happiness. It’s kind of like a pet of sorts but less maintenance.”

Kienapple also mentioned that it was especially useful for students living in dorms as plants are natural air purifiers, and fairly easy to maintain. They are also known to improve concentration, reduce fatigue, and improve problem solving skills, things that were mentioned and the workshop are all beneficial to students.

The Mental Health peer ed-

ucators also handed out smile cards and the Global Health team supplied free Fair Trade coffee, as part of the UOHS’ initiative with the Office of Campus Sustainability, making the whole event stress free and environmentally conscious.

Keays also mentioned that the UOHS was happy with the turnout for the event and that they are hoping to host it again next year. She also wanted to remind students that the UOHS hosts many free events around campus every week, from yoga to pet therapy, which can be found on their website.

ARTS & Culture | 9

Former U of O students blends female empowerment with poetry Versefest Fire and Ice spoken word event gives platform to female voices Allegra Morgado arts & culture editorw

Like many artistic fields, the spoken word community in Ottawa is dominated by male poets and has been for some time. Fortunately, Versefest’s Fire and Ice show will be showcasing some of the best female poets from all over the country, giving female voices their chance in the spotlight.

The show, which takes place on March 19, will feature four female poets—Rebecca Lea Thomas, Vanessa Rotondo (better known as V), Annie St-Jean, and former University of Ottawa student Amy Iliza—and was organized by former U of O student Artemysia Fragiskatos.

Fragiskatos says that the female show at Versefest began as a slam, with the female poets competing against each other, but that once she got involved she changed it to be a showcase instead.

“I see the function and the joy of a slam, but I think it’s important to have noncompetitive spaces, particularly when there’s not that many female spoken word artists in the Ottawa area,” says Fragiskatos. “I thought we should change it from a competitive atmosphere to one that’s more about cel-

ebrating voices.”

One of the voices that will be celebrated at the event is that of Amy Iliza, who made her spoken word debut back in Sept. 2015 at House of PainT’s OG 500 poetry slam competition, where she also met Fragiskatos. The two kept in touch after the competition, leading Fragiskatos to ask Iliza to perform at Fire and Ice when she was putting together the showcase.

“Her aura is actually so amazing, she’s actually such a nice person, so instead of just being really competitive with me, she was actually maybe my biggest supporter there,” says Iliza. “Since she is the one organizing it, she contacted me and she asked me if I wanted to do the show, and of course I accepted.”

Although Iliza has only been performing for about six months, she has already found her place in the spoken word community and loves being on stage, despite the nerves she feels before getting on.

“Just the feeling and knowing that people are listening to you, because clearly you hear the silence in the room, it’s such a great, empowering feeling.

It’s like ‘oh, my voice is being heard’,” says Iliza.

Former University of Ottawa student Amy Iliza is one of the four women set to perform at Versefest.

“You know that in in this society sometimes, especially as a women, we don’t always feel that way. So it’s always beautiful to see a vast group of people from different cultures, different age groups, different genders and they just all seem to find something that they can

relate to in your poem—that’s the best feeling ever.”

Fragiskatos echoed a similar statement about feeling empowered through poetry, saying that her favourite part of performing is “connecting with the audience.”

“Having someone come up

Photo: Courtesy of VRivera Photography.

to you after a show and saying like ‘this one line from that one poem really hit me hard’—it’s pretty empowering and gratifying,” says Fragiskatos.

Both women also shared similar sentiments about the importance of Fire and Ice as a platform for female voices in

a city where they often go unheard in the spoken word community. Iliza also noted that she is excited to hear from diverse poets “that come from different walks of life,” something both Fire and Ice and Versefest seem more than willing to offer this year.

Humour and wit shine through in The Magic Flute

U of O Opera Company’s production impresses audiences with magic and comedy Allegra Morgado arts & culture editorw

Although attending a German opera may not seem like an ideal night on campus to all, The University of Ottawa Opera Company’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute was filled with enough magical and comedic flare to keep audiences captivated from start to finish.

The U of O Opera Company’s production, which was presented by the school of music, opened on March 3 and took place at Huguette Labelle Hall in Tabaret Hall. The opera tackles the theme of achieving true love in the midst of trials and tribulations, with elements of the sublime and supernatural. It tells the story of Prince Tamino and the royal bird catcher Papageno who, in their quest to rescue Princess Pamina from the evil clutches of Sarastro, are met with multiple tests.

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

The Magic Flute was directed by Sarah Graham, a renowned mezzo-soprano who has performed in companies around the world and teaches vocal music at the U of O. The opera was conducted by Alain Trudel, music director of L’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval and former CBC Radio orchestra conductor, who has conducted major orchestras internationally, from Sweden to Japan.

You may ask how one could manage to make an 18th century Germanic opera seem funny to a 21st century audience. The answer lies in the witty English dialogue spoken alongside the German vocals, coupled with the cast’s incredible ability to evoke humour in their singing.

The first scene began with a chorus by the Three Ladies, the Queen of the Night’s attendants, helping Prince Tamino, giving the audience their first

taste of the fantastic vocals and humour.

The central comedic relief found in the opera is the character Papageno, played by Kevin Burke on March 3 and 5, and Adam Kuiack March 4 and 6, both students at the U of O’s school of music.

While the chemistry between the Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina is undeniable, the true power couple is Tamino and Papageno as the actors are perfect counterparts to each other’s personalities, with Tamino often being the voice of reason to Papageno’s hedonistic behaviour.

The concert band’s flawless rendition of the musical score worked in harmony with the cast as they demonstrated the impeccable range of the various themes of the story, smoothly transitioning from humour to

tragedy.

Audiences were also made to feel engaged and involved with the production as the choreography takes the cast to all corners of the room, keeping the crowd on their toes for

what just might happen next.

The U of O’s production of The Magic Flute was made unique through its costume design that featured Egyptian elements, which strangely yet satisfyingly worked as a

pleasing aesthetic for the German opera. The U of O took a classic and made it their own, while honouring the original in a way that left audiences in awe and laughing out of their seats.

thefulcrum.ca

Curious creatures on display at Café Nostalgica Local artist exhibit opens at GSAÉD-owned restaurant Maitland Shaheen

staff contributor

Some of the artwork on display as part of the Curious Creatures exhibit at Café Nostalgica.

white prints of the insect taking part in human activities— in one drawing he is playing a guitar, in another wearing a suit. The idea was inspired

by British street artist Banksy and the rats he includes in many of his paintings.

Ben van D’s work uses a similar graphic style, but focuses more on twisted, almost psychedelic images and portraits. Although their artistic styles may be similar, as made clear in Curious Characters, Lucie and Ben reached their

Mixes w/ Mack

The Oliver

Mackenzie Gray Fulcrum President

Café Nostalgica, the Graduate Students’ Association (GSAÉD)-owned restaurant and arts and culture hub on the University of Ottawa campus, has opened its latest exhibit of local artwork.

Curious Characters, which launched March 1, is a display of the intricate graphic drawings of Ottawa artists Lucie B. and Ben van D. Both artists are members of the Ottawa art collective, Studio LaMouche, which Lucie B. founded. The collective began as a way to print artwork on T-shirts, and now sells original work of many mediums.

“We’re getting new artists joining all the time,” says Lucie. “It’s a curated collection.

We have exhibitions around town, an online store, and pop-up shops at festivals.”

The pop-up shop also appears at the U of O in the fall in the University Centre (UCU).

Curious Characters is Studio LaMouche’s latest exhibit, and includes graphic drawings and prints that use an abstract take on anatomy. Lucie B’s pieces in the show are part of her ongoing “Fly” collection, which includes black-and-

The Oliver

1½ oz Tag No.5 Espresso Vodka ½ oz McGuinness Creme De Cacao ½ oz Frangelico ½ oz Galliano Pour into cocktail shaker with a handful of ice. Shake.

Strain into old-fashioned or martini glass.

Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla and Hazelnut? Yes please! thefulcrum.ca

current careers from very different paths.

Lucie is a U of O alumna, having completed a BSc. in biopharmaceutical science and a MSc. in organic chemistry. Ben, however, is a graphic designer by trade, and has

Photo: Maitland Shaheen.

been producing content for the House of Commons since 2010. His brightly coloured yet grotesque style creates eccentric, illustrative pieces.

Their respective approaches to visual design are combined perfectly in Curious Charac-

ters, and it’s often difficult to tell their illustrations apart.

This is Lucie’s second exhibit at Café Nostalgica, and she enjoys working with a venue she says matches her artwork’s target market.

“Students don’t often have a lot of money to spend,” she says, “so we put up prints and other lower-price pieces. Typically they’re interested in our graphic style.”

While both artists also explore mediums such as painting and collage, Ben and Lucie primarily work from digital formats to create their work, many times inspired by an initial illustration. “We work well together,” says Lucie.

Ben and Lucie’s graphic artwork is a perfect fit for Café Nostalgica, and embodies its fun and creative vibe. Their talented illustrations seem like a natural fit for the popular student-run restaurant and venue. Studio LaMouche is set to return to Café Nostalgica in the fall with more artists.

The exhibit runs until April 1, and is there is no admission fee. Prints vary in price, but many are available for under $30. Lucie and Ben’s work can be viewed at http://studio-lamouche.myshopify.com/.

What’s in the drink?

Tag No.5 Espresso Vodka– A seasonal selection from the Oakville, Ont. made Tag No.5 Vodka, the espresso edition is exceptionally smooth. Lacking the usual burn that you’d expect from a vodka, you’ll taste notes of a caramel, mocha and of course, coffee. Priced at $26.95 for 750 mL, it’s a cheap way to diversify your home bar.

McGuinness Creme De Cacao–This sweet chocolate liqueur should be a staple of any bar. I use McGuinness Creme De Cacao, but there are a number of other Creme de Cacaos that have less sugar. For a 750 mL bottle, McGuinness will cost $21.95.

Frangelico–An Italian liqueur that can best be described as Nutella in a bottle. Sweet and rich, this clear hazelnut liqueur is one of my personal favourites that can be used in a number of other cocktails, as well as with desserts. At $28.95 for a 750 mL bottle, it’s the most expensive bottle in the Oliver, but well worth the extra few dollars.

Galliano–This yellow liqueur delivers a strong aromatic punch, but don’t let that fool you, it’s super smooth with a strong vanilla flavour. Another Italian liqueur, this will be the best $17.95 (for a 375 mL bottle) you spend this year.

Pro tip: If you want to smooth the drink out, add a dash of cream to turn it into a more flavourful White Russian. These ingredients also work well in both coffee and hot chocolate, to give you an added kick when trying to warm up.

Photo: Mackenzie Gray.

ARTS & Culture | 11

If you think the grocery store is immune to the plummeting loonie, think again.

A majority of the fruits and vegetables we buy are imported from other countries—think Florida oranges— and as such are tied to the fate of the low Canadian dollar.

Fruits and vegetables are important in maintaining a healthy diet, and the last thing students need is an economic incentive to stop buying them.

But it’s not just fruits and vegetables—The Food Institute of the University of Guelph’s recent Food Price Report predicts a rise in prices in other important categories like seafood, dairy, and grains. The report also projects that meat prices will rise between 2.5 and 4.5 per cent.

In addition, the report also warns of the fact that the average Canadian household will spend $345 more on food this year.

“The wrong kind of food is cheap, and the right kind of food is still expensive,” said Diana Bronson, the executive director of Food Secure Canada, in an article for the CBC. She also went on to say that that low-and middle-income groups are most affected by the rising price of fruits and vegetables, groups that include senior citizens, the working poor, new immigrants and, of course, students.

Textbooks

Food

So how did we get here?

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When it comes to money, Canadian students have a lot to think about.

Tuition costs are rising—for 10 years straight at the University of Ottawa—while student debt continues to be a problem for many after graduation.

So it’s pretty disquieting to hear that, in addition to these considerable issues, the golden coins rattling around in our pockets are now being referred to as “American quarters”.

While our real currency exchange rate is far from that bad— a Canadian dollar is worth about three American quarters—the tumbling dollar’s effects could manifest in various aspects of student life in Canada.

Over the past 10 years, the Canadian dollar has shifted in value compared to the American greenback. In mid-2007, it was worth a little bit more than a dollar. In early 2009, after the financial crash, it hit a low point at about 77 cents. At the time of this publication, it has sunk down to 75 cents, still below its lowest point after the 2008 financial crisis.

However, it’s worth noting that this is just the exchange rate with America. The Canadian dollar has actually been tending to appreciate against some other currencies like the Euro over the last couple months.

However, since America is our largest trading partner—according to Statistics Canada they were responsible for 75 per cent of our exports and 66 per cent of our imports in 2015—it’s the American exchange rate that makes the biggest difference in the Canadian economy.

According to Patrick Leblond, an associate professor at the U of O’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, there a number of factors that led to the Canadian dollar’s decline. Chief among them are lower prices for our natural resources like oil, and an international reticence to invest in Canada.

“Oil is certainly a huge driver here,” said Leblond. “But natural resources in general are one of the main causes of the low loonie.”

He says that a drop in demand and economic slowdown around the world—especially in emerging markets like China where they have seen their high growth rates fall in recent months—is another primary cause of the dollar’s fall.

“It’s based on supply and demand, and right now the demand coming from Asia that we were used to has slowed down quite significantly,” he said.

Also, interest rates in the U.S. are going up, which means that investors make more money by putting their money into American markets rather than Canadian.

“Investors prefer to hold US dollar denominated investments rather than Canadian ones because they pay higher interest rates,” he said.

He continued that in times of economic uncertainty, which many countries are feeling right now, investors feel safer putting their money into American markets.

Add all this together, and you get the “American quarter”. But what exactly do these financial trends mean for Canadian students?

Leblond says that textbook prices— already the most common topic of complaint when new semesters roll around—could be one of the most noticeable changes in student costs.

Many large manufacturers of Canadian textbooks, like Pearson Education or Oxford University Press, are based outside of the country.

“A lot of the books that we buy come from the U.S., and it’s quite likely that publishers will start increasing their Canadian dollar prices,” said Leblond. “We should see an increase in the Canadian dollar value of (textbooks), which for students is probably the most important element.”

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada states that the average yearly price of textbooks in Canada is $800$1000 per full-time student, but says that “costs can vary a lot depending on the program you choose to study.”

If the dollar continues its decline, that back-to-school trip to the campus bookstore might hit your wallet a bit harder than it does already.

How much looni co$t

Eric Davidson News Editor

International

Making cents of the low Canadian n dollar’s impact on students

The low dollar could also have a sobering effect on beer prices.

Many beers on the Beer Store’s “most popular brands” list come from America, including Budweiser—the most popular beer in Canada by market share—Bud Light, and Coors Light.

The same logic applies for any other alcohol imported from America (or any other country that Canada’s currency is losing value against).

But before you let your spirits sink too low, there’s better news about wine prices.

According to a TD Economics report from last year, since many of the wines purchased in Canada come from European and South American countries, and since the dollar hasn’t had the same depreciation against those currencies, the price of wine should be safer from the low dollar.

There’s never been a better time to get adventurous with your liquor cabinet.

What comes next?

But wait! Gas is so cheap now, that must be better for students, right? Well, it’s not quite that simple. While prices at gas stations have been decreasing since last summer, they’re actually a bit higher than they were at this point last year, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Of course, this also means that Canada is seeing lower profits on its oil, one of its largest exports, which is bad for Canada’s economy as a whole.

Of course, there’s an argument to be made that Canada shouldn’t be relying so heavily on our oil exports in the first place, and that the structure of our economy is due for a change anyway.

Drinks

Transportation

ha ie

“Investors prefer to hold US dollar denominated investments rather than Canadian ones because they pay higher interest rates.”—Patrick Leblond, associate professor at the U of O’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Last year, the Fulcrum compared the number of international students coming to study in Canada, as opposed to Canadians going abroad, and found that the number of incoming students vastly outnumbered outgoing ones. With the low Canadian dollar, that effect will likely only multiply, as it costs less to come here, and costs way more to leave.

The effects could be compounded for French international students, as they are charged domestic tuition rates at the U of O. Leblond says that now may not be the best time for students to go abroad for any reason, scholarly or otherwise.

“If they were planning to go to places like Florida… then it would make their vacation a lot more expensive.”

Since bottoming out at 68 cents on Jan. 16, the loonie has been slowly trekking back up as of late.

Unfortunately, even with this trend, there is no certainty that value will continue to rise in the future.

Even the Bank of Canada can do little to change the dollar’s course, says Leblond.

To keep the value of their currency high, some governments use their own stash of foreign currencies to buy their own currency, raising the demand and therefore the price. But Leblond says that isn’t an option, as even the Bank of Canada can do little to change the dollar’s course.

“That would be pretty much a losing battle, because the Bank of Canada doesn’t have enough resources in terms of foreign currency.”

He added that the Bank of Canada has a policy of not intervening

in currency markets anyway.

Leblond says that there are a couple bright spots. The lower Canadian dollar will be good for non-oil Canadian exports like wood and paper, since they will be cheaper on the world market and haven’t experienced a dramatic decline in demand.

“Things can change in a matter of a few years,” he said, eluding to tools that the federal government is considering like increasing spending on infrastructure projects. “It’s better to just leave the dollar where it is and focus on how we can make the Canadian economy more competitive.”

Unfortunately for students, there’s no certain way to predict when things will change for the better.

In the meantime, lay off the imported beer and get used to learning straight off the Internet. It may save you next month’s rent.

SPORTS Gee-Gees men headed to Wilson

SPORTS EDITOR Spencer Murdock sports@thefulcrum.ca

@SpencerMurdock @FulcrumSports

Cup Final Four after playoff thriller Clutch last-second play by L’Africain keeps national championship hopes alive Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

W

ith 1.1 seconds left in the conference quarterfinal, Gee-Gees fifth-year point guard Mike L’Africain single handedly kept his team’s season alive.

He corralled an inbound pass, shook two defenders, found a lane, and drove to the net switching hands and hitting on a layup to put the Gees ahead 73-72.

The Queen’s Gaels came to Montpetit Hall off of an inspired performance against Toronto and were prepared to play spoiler to a surging GeeGees team.

The size of the Gaels posed a massive hurdle for the Gees from the opening tip. The Gaels played stingy rim-defence, allowing very few finishes in the paint.

The Gee-Gees found offensive success early in the game as they kept the Gaels attack at bay holding a 10-point lead at

halftime. L’Africain was ensuring his final game at Montpetit would be a memorable one as he racked up 12 points and four assists in the first half.

Queen’s would eventually catch the Gee-Gees off guard in the third quarter as their defence was clicking and their stars awoke.

Gaels guard Sukhpreet Singh was held to eight points in the first half, and then he was all over the court in the second scoring 11 points. Mike Shoveller also was dominant for the Gaels, scoring 11 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.

“Queen’s played a phenomenal game,” said Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin. “We couldn’t get into any rhythm offensively. They did a really good job at staying home on our shooters, they did a good job at challenging without fouling, and we weren’t finishing.”

The momentum of the game seemed to be shifting into the hands of the Gaels as the final stretch of the game approached. The only player on the Gee-Gees that had any luck offensively in the fourth quarter was L’Africain, as he

began taking over the game in the final minutes. L’Africain was clearly locked in and was dead set on leading his team to victory, scoring 12 of the team’s final 16 points.

Both squads traded blows in the fleeting seconds, Singh went to the free-throw line in hopes of making it a threepoint game with nine seconds left.

Luckily for the Gee-Gees, he missed his second, L’Africain snagged the rebound and was strategically fouled by Queen’s. The inbound pass led to L’Africain’s lay-in to ice the game for the Gee-Gees.

The fifth-year team captain led his team with 27 points and five assists, and Caleb Agada— despite struggling from beyond the arc—finished with an impressive 18 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists.

After the game, L’Africain spoke about his feelings towards his team and school that he has dedicated five years of his life to.

“I love our team, this is my school man,” he said. “I wear my team on my sleeve, it’s my heart, it’s my passion. I love

L’Africain drives to the net for the game winner,

these guys.”

Derouin thought his team played well, but there is plenty of work to do for the next stage.

“We’re going to need to be a lot better if we’re going to get to nationals next weekend,” he said. “I’m proud of our guys for winning, but it’s a lot to look over after tonight’s game.”

The Gee-Gees will now prepare for the Ontario University Athletics’ conference tourna-

Photo: Kim Wiens

ment, the Wilson Cup Final Four. Top-seeded Ryerson will host the tournament after the Gees played host last year. The team will return to the same floor where they lost the national final last year, but also where they won the Wilson Cup over Carleton two years ago.

“We have to get in the gym and get ready for Final Four.

We’re not going home yet,” said

L’Africain.

The Gees will look for their third consecutive win against their archrival Carleton Ravens in the conference semifinal at 5 p.m. on March 11.

A win guarantees the team a spot in the national Final 8 tournament—a loss would put the team’s fate in the hands of a wildcard selection.

All of the action from Toronto will be live streamed on OUA.tv.

Top-seeded Gee-Gees knock off Gryphs to earn OUA final four berth David Agbaire

Proofreader

The Gee-Gees women’s basketball team had to grind out a 55-43 win over the Guelph Gryphons to secure their place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Final Four tournament.

The Gees, who had a stellar 17-2 record in the regular season, hold the number one seed in the OUA, and have earned the advantage of hosting the newly named Critelli Cup Final Four at Montpetit Hall.

In a packed and deafening Montpetit Hall, the Gees were able to vanquish the Gry-

14 | SPORTS

phons in a hard-fought affair.

The game was a test for both teams, and required a tenacious performance by Ottawa to emerge eventual winners.

The Gryphons were playing their first second-round playoff game in eight years after defeating the Brock Badgers in their OUA preliminary round matchup. The team proved why they deserved an appearance at this point in the playoffs, with their defensive effort matching the Gees’ intensity and physicality.

The first quarter was tense as both teams employed tenacious defence, allowing just 10 points combined in the

opening frame. The game became scrappy early as both teams threw their bodies at loose balls and hustled for rebounds.

The Gees were fortunate that their 14 turnovers were outnumbered by Guelph’s 18, and the two teams combined for only eight assists the entire game.

The Gees eventually picked up their offensive effort, scoring 16 points in the second quarter and continuing that upward trend for the remainder of the game.

A major strength for the Gee-Gees was their bench contributions as they scored

12 points—but more importantly—limited the opposing bench to just one point in the game.

The high scorer for Ottawa was third-year forward Katherine Lemoine, who returned from injury with a 16-point and eight-rebound performance.

The Gees faced a worrisome moment as second-year forward Isabelle Dion went down with an ankle injury midway through the second half, and didn’t return to the game.

After the game, head coach Andy Sparks lamented Dion’s potential absence going forward.

“She had an outstanding first half, she was huge for us,” he said. “She had seven points and was really good defensively, so we’re going to miss her a lot. We’re down like five (players) again, but these kids are working hard, so this is the group.”

Veteran guard/forward Kellie Ring was also instrumental once again for the Gees, posting 13 points and nine rebounds.

“Defensively from start to finish we were pretty good,” said Sparks. “We committed too many fouls... but overall it was a real solid team defensive performance.”

The win means that the Gees will face the McMaster Marauders on March 11. The Gee-Gees squeezed out a 61-60 overtime win over Mac less than a month ago in Hamilton, so a close battle is likely between the teams. An Ottawa win would secure the squad a matchup against the victor of the Windsor versus Ryerson semifinal.

The two finalists will then represent the OUA in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Final 8 National Championship in Fredericton, NB in two weeks time.

Tickets for the Critelli Cup are available at tickets.geegees.ca.

thefulcrum.ca

It’s time to talk athletics facilities at the U of O For Gee-Gees teams to take the next step, they first need the right place to call home Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

For a school the size of the University of Ottawa, the offered athletics facilities are in desperate need of re-evaluation.

The oldest facility used by the university is Montpetit Hall, which opened in 1972 and has been the home of GeeGees basketball, volleyball, and swimming ever since.

In recent years, the men’s basketball program has catapulted itself to an elite level nationally and the women’s team has also been perennial playoff contenders. Looking at their facilities, there’s plenty to be desired.

Montpetit does have its benefits—it’s cozy and has been the site of some massive games, but after 44 years the Gees are in desperate need of a new home.

This season an entire set of bleachers was unable to be rolled out for games due to patchwork deterioration on the floor, and this slashed seating from an approximate 1,000 to 500-600, making the gym look much emptier.

The lack of seating and age of the facilities shows that there’s a finite amount of time until there is a home court hindrance instead of an advantage.

Less than appealing grey separation screens are dropped down throughout the week

to segment each of the three gyms. When they are not in use, they are bunched up and suspended from the ceiling, proving to be an eyesore for fans sitting higher in the bleachers.

Apart from the gym, the concrete-laden pool area is industrial and dated, with poor lighting and seating areas.

The school recognizes the issues Montpetit has and included “Montpetit redevelopment” in last year’s unveiling of a campus master plan. Its existence is a long-term goal more than an actual fixed timeframe, and it’s unclear whether it includes new space for varsity teams.

Montpetit is not the only athletics space in need of some overhaul. Matt Anthony Field at the Minto Sports Complex has been home to Gee-Gees soccer and rugby since 2001.

The complaints for the field are mainly the poor condition of the bleachers as they consist mostly of rusty metal with some wooden components.

They don’t provide much of a comfortable experience for viewing games, and often times are sparsely populated despite a convenient on-campus location.

Matt Anthony also was used as the football team’s practice facility prior to the completion of Gee-Gees Field at Lees.

This move has rendered the space largely underused apart

Montpetit Hall, with separation screens down, looking similar to a high school gym.

from games on weekends and intramurals for a handful of hours per week in the fall.

The university’s website calls the Sports Complex “the university’s state-of-the-art sports facility”, which may have been so 15 years ago, but is no longer true.

The hockey arena is adequate, and the second rink is more commonly used for intramurals and community games.

The gym space is too small for the growing university and is becoming quickly outdated.

The university has also “addressed” this in their master plan, as they have proposed an additional ‘sports complex’

across the street from Minto on Mann Ave. This would likely be the location of the new basketball, volleyball, and possibility swimming facilities, but like Montpetit, the timeframe of its arrival is more theoretical than realistic.

In comparison, the University of Toronto opened the new Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport in fall of 2014 after it was announced in 2011.

With a $58-million pricetag, it’s perhaps the best-looking home of any Canadian collegiate basketball team.

Despite the U of T’s $2.0-billion operating budget, the

Photo: Marta Kierkus.

Government of Ontario footed $22.5-million of the bill, while the Goldring family donated $11-million and received naming rights.

If something similar could be planned for the U of O, the campus would actually have its state-of-the-art athletics facility.

The most recent of all of the school’s facilities is Gee-Gees Field, which is suitable but is a no-frills home to a successful football team. The busy Queensway as a backdrop to games is less than ideal, and it deals with the dated Lees building as its hub for locker rooms and facilities. The school has more

ambitious plans at Lees, but expansions to the stadium seem unlikely.

Track and Cross Country teams currently have no oncampus home and are required to travel 50 minutes by bus to the Louis Riel Dome. The school has no announced plans of rectifying this.

For the university to truly support their athletes, it’s time to reconsider the facilities they’re giving them to utilize.

Bringing the campus into the future is happening one step at a time, but with this, steps need to be taken towards advancing athletics as a whole at the U of O.

Gee-Gees fly high in Canadian Eastern Regional Quidditch Tournament Top-ranked team prepares for push to national title in April Anchal Sharma Staff Contributor

On Feb. 27, the University of Ottawa’s quidditch team was crowned the champion in the annual Eastern Regional Quidditch Championship finals in Montreal beating out 13 other teams.

Teams from across Ontario and Quebec all culminated inside of the Soccerplex Catalogna in the borough of Lachine to crown the regional champion.

After going undefeated in pool play, the Gee-Gees went straight to the quarterfinals, where they beat McGill 90-30 in the semifinals, and finally the Montreal Carabins in the finals by a score of 120-30. The Gee-Gees currently hold the number one ranking in the nation, and are favourites for the

national title.

The team’s season follows the school year with the GeeGees playing two to three tournaments per semester.

The next step for the Gees is at the National Tournament in Kingston this April, where the winning teams from the Eastern and Western regionals compete against one another for national supremacy.

Much like in the Harry Potter series, real-life quidditch is a full contact sport and rigorously competitive. The ‘muggle’ version of the game follows many of the same rules as J.K. Rowling’s sport in the wizarding world, but with certain exceptions.

For one, the players don’t fly—in place of magic broomsticks, they carry regular brooms in between their legs

Gee-Gees drive on Montreal in the eastern final.

while playing.

As character Oliver Wood puts it in the first Harry Potter film, “Quidditch is easy enough to understand. Each team has seven players, three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and a seeker.”

The rules differ slightly in university quidditch however,

Photo: Ben Holland.

where instead of the snitch being worth 150 points, it’s only worth 30. The reason for the change was to be more inclusive of all the players instead of just focusing on the seeker.

Another big difference is that the golden snitch, which the seeker has to catch in order to end the game, is not a ball,

but rather a person dressed all in yellow with a tennis ball stuffed into a sock attached to them as a tail. Essentially, the seeker has to catch the snitch in a fast-paced chase where the seeker has full authority to do as they please in order not to be caught.

Though there is no specific rule on gender distribution mentioned in the books, the game is entirely co-ed and there has to be minimum twoto-four ratio of women to men on the field at any given time.

According to fourth-year beater Mathew McVeigh, quidditch is a great sport for anyone with athletic experience who’s looking to try something new.

“If you have a heavy sports background, you’ll enjoy this sport just because it’s so multi-

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faceted,” he said. He went on to highlight the game’s similarities to rugby, European handball, and dodgeball.

Quidditch is a challenging sport, and there’s no foolish wand waving or silly incantations when the Gees take to the field.

Members of the team all stress the sport’s growing popularity, and wish to see more people take up the game.

For anyone looking to join the winning team next year, they suggest new recruits train over the summer, follow the team on social media, and show up for tryouts in September.

For updates on Gee-Gees quidditch and their road to nationals, they can be found at uoquidditch.ca and on Twitter @ uo_quidditch.

Sports | 15

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

Easy green smoothie During the school year, it’s all too easy to let your eating habits slip. To help fight this, the Fulcrum has some essential recipes to keep you full and fit all year long.

Kim Wiens Visual Editor

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

FulcFit food series Everyone knows that green smoothies are healthy, but this one is delicious and filling too. The pineapple will satisfy that sweet tooth, while the greek yogurt and spinach give you enough protein and nutrients to keep you moving through your day at top speed. It only takes a few minutes to make and it’s portable, so it’s a perfect way to stay healthy and motivated through midterms.

Ingredients: 1 banana 1 handful of spinach 3/4 cup almond milk 1 cup diced frozen pineapple and/or mango 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (you can substitute the frozen fruit or almond milk with your favourite type) Directions: Step 1: Add the first three ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.

Step 2: Add the frozen fruit and greek yogurt, blending in between.

Step 3: Add more almond milk to get the right consistency (if needed) Step 4: Pour into a glass or travel mug, and enjoy!

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

Thank goodness.

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

Photo: Kim Wiens.

16 | SPORTS

thefulcrum.ca

OPINIONS The university is right to use faculty

OPINIONS EDITOR David Campion-Smith

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

surpluses to pay off deficit

Funds will do more good for students spent on projects under university control Faculties need a budget in order to maintain operations and provide what they do for students, but that doesn’t mean that they should be given the ability to not spend and then stockpile that money.

While the faculties do provide important and necessary services to the students of U of O, the reality is that sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to keep large scope projects going.

David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

I

n a recent Board of Governors (BOG) meeting university president Allan Rock announced that the university plans to take faculty surpluses to help pay off the university’s $17-million deficit. This money given to the faculties by the university to pay for their operations.

According to Andrew Taylor, vice-dean of undergraduate studies for the Faculty of Arts and BOG member, teaching money is divided out by the university while there is a possibility for individual facilities to bring in income through research and direct donations.

Some members of the BOG have been upset by this, and worry that taking these surpluses will make it harder for the faculties to hire new staff members. However, the reality is that this money will do the most good for students if it’s in the hands of the university.

Faculties are responsible for the academic success of admitted students, including creating courses, building relationships with universities abroad and hiring staff.

The university administration has the power to invest in the projects that can make a long-term difference in the lives of all students, regardless of which faculty they choose to study within.

These include all of the current construction sites on campus, for which you can thank university administration, not the closest faculty. These construction projects aren’t cheap, and in fact are some of largest expenditures for the university.

Another example is the din-

”One of the possible downsides to this plan is the fact that faculties may now feel the need to rush their budget spending to avoid major losses should the surplus strategy be used.” ing hall which was funded by the university.

These projects are important for the revitalization of the university, as much as they may be an annoyance to students on campus now. The dining hall needed to be modified and more residences are needed to keep housing as an attractive feature for incoming students.

It’s no secret that Ontario universities across the board have been facing financial difficulties, a fact that is readily acknowledged by many, including Allan Rock. In fact, some of these very projects may be put on hold to try and keep the finances in order, according to media representative Néomie Duval.

There are certainly changes that can be made to increase university revenue, including increasing enrolment, some-

thing the university has been keeping at a steady rate for years.

However the university can only let in a certain amount of students until the campus becomes crowded and it faces a shortage of numerous essential services including study spaces and housing.

Taylor, said that Ontario universities as a whole are facing serious financial issues, which is why the BOG is prepared to vote for tuition increases.

One of the possible downsides to this plan is the fact that faculties may now feel the need to rush their budget spending to avoid major losses should the surplus strategy be used.

No one is advocating that the money shouldn’t get given but rather that whatever amount is left over gets used to help the entire school.

thefulcrum.ca

Chart: David Campion-Smith.

OPINIONS | 17

GAs are an opportunity to have your voice heard—use it GAs provide a much needed chance for student engagement Nicholas Robinson Staff Contributor

Most of the time, it’s quite difficult not to be cynical about our student federation.

The General Assemblies (GAs) held by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) alone tend to raise doubts as to the SFUO’s efficacy, as they have seen consistently low turnout and failed to meet quorum on each occasion.

It’s unsurprising that barely 40 people showed up to the last GA, as it was scheduled on a Saturday morning and no motions were submitted.

Despite the lack of promotion, the terrible scheduling and the SFUO’s reluctance to adapt with student needs, we should still take the GAs seriously.

As students at this institution, we should be involved in the GAs because they’re our best shot at taking back control of our student union. We need that control.

While tuition fees keep rising, making it harder for us to buy food and pay rent without drowning in debt, the SFUO takes millions of dollars of students’ money each year and

spends it on campaigns that have varying levels of visibility and success, services, salaries and more.

In the last Board of Administration meeting, a disciplinary committee presented a report in which they found evidence “that some SFUO employees had been mistreated and used as pawns in the disagreements of others.” Why is this acceptable?

Not to mention that we have such a low rate of student engagement, with the most recent SFUO general elections garnering a humiliatingly pitiful turnout of 7.8 per cent, according to the SFUO. With these shortcomings in mind, students should think about the GA as an opportunity to drive the SFUO to be the best and most innovative student union in Canada.

The GAs are a great chance to show the university administration and the SFUO that students actually care about their money and the policies issued that affect students. If 400 students can’t even show up to something as important as the GA, why should the administration take our issues seriously?

Photo: Marta Kierkus.

Unfortunately, the trend doesn’t match this sentiment.

Attendance at the GAs has dropped from over 300 in its first installment, to 100 in the second round, to less than 50 at the most recent event. The GA is on the verge of becom-

ing just another photo-op, where the SFUO can pat itself on the back and perpetuate the illusion of a student democracy.

Now would be a good time to embrace the GA, and to stand up for ourselves. We

have this chance to get real solutions for the real problems that we face on a day-to-day basis. We have this chance and, before it’s too late, we should use it. If the GA fails, we as a student body will be the only ones that suffer.

The GA is the only significant reform the SFUO has made in years—with so much at stake, we shouldn’t let it go to waste.

The next General Assembly will be held on March 15 at 6:00 p.m. in the Marion Auditorium.

Cutting payment for healthcare is harmful to Ontario 2016 budget cuts mean future work to rebuild damaged system Kevin McIntyre Fulcrum Contributor

The recent release of the 2016 Ontario budget comes with a great deal of promise for students, with the new Ontario Student Grant to allow increased access to university for lower-income families. While the provincial government has made strides in education, they have fallen short on providing for the healthcare needs of Ontarians.

Psychiatric and addiction services have both been subject to cutbacks in the budget. The defunding of mental health is alarming, especially for young people. Many mental health disorders begin to show symptoms during adolescence and early adulthood and while most conditions are highly treatable, they do require adequate resources in order to be properly cared for.

18 | OPINIONS

Photo: CC, SimonP, edits by Kim Wiens.

Over the last year the Ontario Liberals have cut physician salaries by almost seven per cent according to the Toronto Star.

The government has also made it increasingly difficult

for graduating medical students to practice family medicine in the province by cutting fifty residency positions and imposing tight regulations on where family doctors can practice.

These policies are driving the next generation of doctors out of the province. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by Dr. Brenna Velker, only one third of medical residents in the province were committed

to practicing medicine in Ontario.

Students at the University of Ottawa should be alarmed by this, because not only is a massive shortage of family doctors and mental health professionals a serious problem that will impact thousands of lives, it’s not an issue that can be easily fixed.

The longer we ignore these serious problems the longer it will take to solve them and create a healthcare system that is once again back up to national standards.

Our generation will be left scrambling to solve this, while needing the services of these health-care professionals who have long since left the province. This lack of services is even more worrying when you take into account Canada’s aging population and the increase in services they will require.

Clearly not all of our doctors

are going to pack up and leave all at once. But these trends may encourage enough of them to do so, which means that existing underserved areas may become even more dangerously short on health services.

These communities include rural, remote, northern and Aboriginal populations, many of which are already struggling to get equal access to medical treatment.

It won’t be the current government that has to bring doctors back into Ontario while thousands are either underserved or untreated—that burden will fall on us, the leaders of the next generation.

Let’s be vocal about this issue before too much damage is done. As educated and informed citizens of Ontario, we need to stand up and tell our government to stop this systematic destruction of our healthcare.

thefulcrum.ca

Period leaves are well-intentioned, but stigmatize women more Companies’ period leaves excuses employers from fostering workplace inclusivity Zainab Al-Mehdar Staff Contributor

For as far as history goes back, once a month like clock work, women have gotten their periods. This fact shouldn’t be alarming to any educated adult, yet it’s a topic that’s constantly avoided due to the social stigma placed upon it. In many scenarios in the workplace, women must suppress their concerns about an integral biological function they deal with monthly, simply because they feel it’s socially unacceptable or embarrassing to voice them.

But when women face discomfort or pain at work, should companies give them time off—with no assurance that the manager will still act fairly towards them—or ensure that management is sensitive to women’s issues when allowing time off?

Some companies like Coexist, a company from the United Kingdom, and Nike have

implemented period leave policies that would allow female employees to take time off when suffering from menstrual pain.

While these policies might be well-intentioned, they may also create more problems for women in the workplace by focusing on what separates women and men. A period leave undermines a woman’s ability to be seen as an effective part of the office, gives an excuse for sexist managers to not hire women. Women have fought for equality in the workplace for so long, and in this situation a paid period leave could hinder the career growth of women.

Instead of dismissing it altogether or implementing misguided policies, companies should require managers to take in-house training on women’s issues in the workplace, which would open up discourse about this uncomfortable dynamic women can

face when they’re on their period at work.

This type of training would make managers aware of the variety of side effects (including cramps, nausea and vomiting) that can affect women, which will likely make them more accepting of the idea that women might take a sick day for their period. We don’t necessarily need policy changes around time-off, but women definitely need the stigma removed.

While this type of approach might require a larger time investment than imposing a new time-off rule on managers in a company, it’s desperately needed. By creating discourse on a topic that managers might be uncomfortable with, companies can slowly break down the stigma surrounding women’s issues. And when that happens, the benefits for women in the workplace won’t end with taking a sick day for your period cramps.

Illustration: Spencer Murdock.

As much as every women would want to humbly accept such a just policy that recognizes the hindrances that can come from a natural occur-

rence in the female body, let’s say “no thank you.” Instead, we should build a workforce that focuses on the equality of men and women and the bril-

liance that women can bring to the workforce. Instead, let’s take the time to talk about why such a policy was needed in the first place.

Canadian tuxedos back in fashion

Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau announces Canadian flag and denim look Hoda Egeh Fulcrum Contributor The White House State Dinner on March 10 will host a group of the most powerful people in the world, including politicians, celebrities, and guests of honour Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau. With the state dinner fast approaching, the pressure is on for Sophie to don an impeccable outfit by a Canadian designer.

Across Canada tensions are rising in the media and public, as people are recognizing the significance of this decision to Canada’s global reputation. Top fashion designers coast to coast have offered their input and designs, and after a grueling, month-long process, Sophie, along with a four-piece fashion expert panel, have narrowed

down the competition from ten finalists to one winner and two runners up.

The winning outfit is a Canadian flag-dyed tuxedo, submitted by Montreal-based designer Louis Lamontagne. The bottom half and arm portions of the outfit is red, while the inner portion of the jean jacket is white and contains the red maple leaf. The outfit is paired with red heels and a red-andwhite striped clutch. It’s a quintessential Canadian piece that not only shies away from subtlety, but also manages to portray elegance and class.

When asked about his win, Lamontagne said, “Nothing screams Canada quite like denim-on-denim and our national flag.” Luckily for him, Sophie agreed.

Second-place runner-up Lisa

thefulcrum.ca

Illustration: Kim Wiens.

Kwok from Vancouver, British Columbia, congratulated Lamontagne on his victory. “I thought Lamontagne’s design was ingenious. My creation,

a cream-coloured, sleeveless, full-length gown covered in mini beavers, maple leaves, hockey sticks, and Tim Hortons products, clearly pales in

comparison to his.”

Alison Smith, third-place winner from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was surprised that her design made it so far. “An A-line, flannel dress with a beaver-printed belt cinched at the waist seemed like a good idea at the time,” said Smith.

“But after seeing the winning and runner-up designs, I knew I could have done more. Maybe a pair of snowshoes combined with the dress might have gotten me first place.”

While Lamontagne’s design may have stood out as the clear winner, one panelist felt that the competition was a tight race between the final three.

Sara Jurić, fashion designer and editor-in-chief at classycanuckmagazine.ca, has been in the judge’s seat more than a few times with her experi-

ence in the Canadian fashion industry, but of all the competitions that she has judged she claimed that this was the most difficult.

“My vote ultimately went to Lamontagne because his design managed to encapsulate Canada as a whole, while Kwok and Smith only addressed certain areas of Canadian culture.”

From Canadian tuxedos and flannel dresses, to etched images of iconic Canadian items, one thing is clear: Sophie is determined to “out-Canadian” herself. Never mind asking Sophie her opinion about important issues affecting Canadians, when she can represent us in the clothes she wears. For the White House state dinner, a Canadian flag dyed Canadian tuxedo should suffice.

THE TOMATo | 19

DISTRACTIONS

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

Dear Di

Dear Di,

Dear Di,

My partner and I have a good sex life, but sometimes I just prefer to have solo sessions with a vibrator. It leaves me feeling guilty and questioning why I’m having these thoughts and desires in the first place. Is there something wrong with me?

I’ve been looking for “the one” for a while, but after some failed relationships I have recently considered forming a “no strings attached” partnership instead.

But how do I know if this is right for me? Can I still get hurt as easily with this kind of arrangement?

-Stringy Situation

-Vibe-O-Mania Dear VM,

Dear SS,

There’s nothing wrong with solo pleasure when you’re in a relationship. For many people, masturbation is an easier and faster way to help you get where you want to go sexually. After all, you know your body better than anyone, which gives you the ability to push your orgasms to different levels. That being said, partnered sex is pretty important to a relationship, so it can begin to take a toll on the relationship if one of you is always sneaking off for some independent fun.

Research has shown that women actually increase the amount of times they masturbate when they enter a relationship. This may be for a number of reasons, including being left all hot and bothered from an unsatisfactory love-making session, or just not having your partner available when you’re in the right mood. Regardless, masturbation is common and normal in relationships and there’s no way you should feel guilty about it.

Luckily for you, there are also a lot of ways to make your vibrator enjoyable for both you and your partner! You can introduce a vibrator into your sex play, or invite your partner to watch you masturbate. It can be incredibly sexy and arousing. It’s also a great way to tease your partner before you engage in some classic, two-person hanky panky.

No strings attached relationships can be great fun and offer a wide range of benefits, but they’re not for everyone. Having a consistent sex partner that isn’t weighted down by emotional baggage can be a great arrangement. However, you should consider a few things before you begin, since there is definitely a possibility that you will get hurt.

Sometimes people enter these casual relationships in the hopes that some deeper emotional attachment will eventually come out of it. And although this has happened for some people, it’s a rarity, so don’t hold your breath.

Another thing you may have to ask yourself is if you will be alright with the possibility of your partner sleeping with other people. If you’re not prepared for the idea that your partner could be shacking up with others, then you may want to reconsider the kind of relationship that you really want. You need to be able to be open and honest about the possibility of additional sexual partners in order for this kind of agreement to work.

Lastly, make sure you and your partner are both on the same page about safe sex. If he/she is not willing to engage in protected sex, then that should be a big red flag.

Love, Di Fun BDSM Films (besides 50 Shades of Grey)

Love, Di

1. Secretary (2002)—When a professional relationship between a secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and a lawyer (James Spader) turns into a sadomasochistic affair, things are bound to get interesting.

2. Crimes of Passion (1984)—A hard-working fashion designer (Kathleen Turner) lives a double life as a $50 hooker practicing kinky sex acts to satisfy her clients’ fantasies.

3. Preaching to the Perverted (1997)—After a moral crusading computer technician (Christien Anholt) gets caught up in the UK’s underground BDSM scene, he finds that he can’t resist the seduction of the magnetising Mistress Tanya (Guinevere Turner).

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

20 | DISTRACTIONS

FEATURES EDITOR Kyle Darbyson

thefulcrum.ca

mar. 11 to mar. 17, 2016

THRYLLABUS

MUSIC arts Sports FUN Thinking

Friday, March 11 The Sheepdogs, Bronson Centre—7 p.m.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (stage adaptation), Ottawa Little Theatre—7:30 p.m.

Classified with SonReal, Algonquin Commons Theatre—8 p.m.

Saturday, March 12

Ottawa Senators vs.

Toronto Maple Leafs, Canadian Tire Centre—7 p.m.

A Chorus Line, one of Broadway’s longest running musicals, Centrepointe Theatre—7:30 p.m.

Hocus Poke-Us: an Evening of Magical Tails and Titillations, Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts—8 p.m.

Eastern European Block Party, 1848—9 p.m.

Forever Young Roller Disco, Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park—9 p.m.

It’s All About House

Music 003 (with Victor Calderone), Barrymore’s—10 p.m.

Sunday, March 13

2016 Tim Hortons Brier, Canadian men’s curling championship, last day, TD Place—9 a.m.

The Land Before Time (Mayfair Theatre Afternoon Kids Club Presents), Mayfair Theatre—12:30 p.m.

Monday, March 14

Nerd Party Hintonburg (scientist, artist, entrepreneur networking event), Tooth and Nail Brewing Company—6 p.m.

The Tempest (performance recorded at the Globe theatre), Shakespeare 400, Bytowne Cinema—8:20 p.m.

Tuesday, March 15

Student Federation of the University of Ottawa General Assembly, Marion Auditorium—6 p.m.

Beats Beat the Police (hip hop concert commemorating the International Day to End Police Brutality), SAW Gallery—6:30 p.m.

Ottawa Senators vs. Minnesota Wild, Canadian Tire Centre—7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16 Requiem for the American Dream (Noam Chomsky documentary), Bytowne Cinema—6:35 p.m.

Thursday, March 17

Ottawa-Gatineau International Auto Show (showcase of the latest models, exotics, hybrid, and electric vehicles) Shaw Centre—10 a.m.

Popscope, public astrology night, free admission, National Gallery of Canada—5 p.m.

Voice of the Seanchai: Traditional Irish Tales, Ottawa StoryTellers, National Arts Centre—7:30 p.m.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A MASTER’S IN

PUBLIC ETHICS Explore fascinating subjects such as: • International Development

• Environmental Ethics

This is the face

• Ethics, Privacy and Information

• Ethics and Multiculturalism

of change.

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

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APPLY NOW! FOR FALL

2016

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

DISTRACTIONS | 21

The SFUO presents

Philanthropy Day 2016 On Friday March 18th, come celebrate and highlight local organizations, clubs and services and their philanthropic initiatives that contribute to supporting the Ottawa community!

There will be a tabling fair, prizes, games and a silent auction, followed by a Closing Celebration at 1848 Student Bar! To participate, e-mail philanthropic@sfuo.ca

STUDENT FEDERATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA www.sfuo.ca / info@sfuo.ca

SFUO.FEUO

22 | LETTERS

613-562-5966 85 University, room UCU 07 Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 8Z4

SFUO_FEUO

thefulcrum.ca

EDITORIAL Volume 76, Issue 22, mar. 10, 2016 Drinking irresponsibly since 1942.

Phone: (613) 695-0061 | Fax: (613) 695-9006 631 King Edward Ave. Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Recycle this paper or we’ll give you a pair of Irish sunglasses.

Things Americans moving to canada should know

Nadia “Old Thyme Sour” Drissi ElBouzaidi Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Devin “Black and Red” Orsini Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Savannah “Shamrock Shaker” Awde Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Eric “Irish Encounter” Davidson News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Allegra “Emerald Isle” Morgado Arts & Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca

Canadian politics!

Welcome to the Great White North, where our Prime Minister—which is kind of like a president, only he doesn’t get a theme song— once had a boxing match against a senator/ strip club manager. And you thought politics made sense here.

—Eric Davidson, News Editor

Spencer “Leprechaun” Murdock Sports Editor, Rap Correspondent sports@thefulcrum.ca

You better be polite No, it’s not some cliche movie trope, we Canadians really are extremely polite. So if you want to blend in, say your “pleases” and “thank yous”, don’t be rude, and hold the door open for others. Ignore this advice at your own peril—there’s a reason why our national pastime involves grown men giving each other concussions.

—Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi, Editor-In-Chief

Kyle “Pot of Gold” Darbyson Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca David “The Massey” Campion-Smith Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Reine “Emerald Rain” Tejares Webmaster online@thefulcrum.ca Kim “Irish Flag” Wiens Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Jaclyn “The Grasshopper” McRaeSadik Associate News Editor associate.news@thefulcrum.ca Marta “Misty Mint” Kierkus Staff Photographer photographer@thefulcrum.ca Zach “Gold Emerald Shooter” Verret Multimedia Coordinator multimedia@thefulcrum.ca Nicole “Jade” Rutkowski Associate Features Editor associate.features@thefulcrum.ca

Money

Compared to your paper currency, our dollar bills are shiny, new, and nigh indestructible (since they are made out of plastic). In fact, these notes are so pristine that you may want to think twice about making it rain whenever you frequent one of our many famous French Canadian strip clubs.

—Kyle Darbyson, Features Editor

Weather

Yes, the winters here suck., I’m sorry you had to find out like this but for four months of the year going outside is terrible. On the other hand, all that cold will certainly give you a great appreciation for summer, or any time when the ground isn’t covered with ice, sleet, and snowits positive outside.

Welcome to Canada, where 10 degrees in March is shorts weather!

—David Campion-Smith, Opinions Editor

David “Evergreen” Agbaire Proofreader Dayne “Irish Car Bomb” Moyer General Manager & Advertising Rep manager@thefulcrum.ca ads@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors

Rémi “The Brotherhood” Yuan Hoda “Bushmills Irish Buck” Egeh Nicholas “The Drum” Robinson Anchal “St. Paddy’s Day Punch” Sharma Dylan “Black Velvet” Yegendorf Zainab “Green Fin” Al-Mehdar Ryan “Irish Apple Sour” Pepper Kevin “Irish Julep” McIntyre Julia “The Ferguson” Miraflores Maitland “Irish Eyes” Shaheen

Board of Directors

Mackenzie “Celtic Sea Breeze” Gray, President board@thefulcrum.ca Simon “Wild Irish Rose” Gollish, Vice-President Katelyn “Poison Ivy” Murray, Chief of Staff Jonathan “Ambush” Rausseo, University Rep Lindsay “Shamrocker” MacMillan Fulcrum Staff Benjamin “Dublin Driver” Miller, Student Rep Carolyn “Emerald Crush” Mutis, Student Rep William “Green With Envy” Hume Student Rep

Canadian terminology While we may technically speak the same language, you’ll have to add a few terms to your vocabulary to fit in here. “Sorry” and “eh” are staples if you don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. No need to fret if you’re having trouble though—one of us will take you out for a double-double at Tim’s and teach you what you need to know.

—Allegra Morgado, Arts & Culture Editor

Cover: Kim Wiens.

thefulcrum.ca

Welcome to Canada. We hope your trip from California was enjoyable. It is November 9th, and we will be touching down in Winnipeg momentarily. The weather is a balmy -35 degrees Celsius. In the words of the great American philosopher DJ Khaled “Congratulations, you played yourself.”

-Spencer Murdock, Sports Editor

EDITORIAL | 23

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