The Fulcrum - Vol 76 Issue 2 - Frosh Issue

sept. 3, 2015

FROSH SPECIAL EDITION

VOL. 76 ISSUE 2

This Week Hey hungry U of O students, Sept. 17 @ 12:30 P.m. come to the BBQ on Morisset terrace Fulcrum!

IN THIS ISSUE No U of O campus in Woodstock P.5

Province shuts down plans for satellite campus in southern Ontario

Half Moon Run P.10

First ever uO show will have students running to see this lineup

First-year findings P.13 -20 A scientist’s study on freshman year

Dear Di P.27

V-cards, dorm orgies, shower sex oh my!

Panda heads home P.22 Breaking down Gee-Gees football’s big year-to-come

Newfoundland New Wave P.24 What the pronvince’s grants system means for the rest of Canada

NEWS

NEWS EDITOR

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

Ontario gives red light to U of O campus in Woodstock Province denies proposal for new French language campus in southern Ontario Eric Davidson News Editor

T

he province of Ontario decided to cut funding for a proposed University of Ottawa satellite campus in Woodstock, Ontario, in late May which had been in the works since last August

The proposal came in response to an expansion policy initiated in 2013 by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU). The policy’s stated aim is to make sure there is ample room for the growing number of post-secondary students in the province.

“It is essential to ensure that in future, the right spaces are created in the right places for Ontario’s students,” according to the outline for the initiative.

Several other expansion ideas were also put forward as a result of the policy. The U of O proposed a new health sciences building, while Carleton put forward ideas for a new health sciences building, and new headquarters for its business programs.

La Cité collégiale looked to create a French-language trades training centre in Toronto.

York University and Seneca College looked to build a 4000 student campus together, which was the only proposal that the province approved This joint campus will be

constructed in Markham, and will be the first university campus in the area.

The U of O planned to create a French and French-immersion campus that would’ve offered undergraduate programs as well as specialized trade programs in Woodstock.

Many residents of Woodstock were enthusiastic about the possibility. “Downtown Woodstock has all the necessary ingredients to quickly create a dynamic university campus and City Council is excited by this opportunity to further revitalize the downtown,” said former Woodstock mayor Pat Sobeski in a 2014 press release.

Belinda Bien, spokeswoman for Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Reza Moridi, told the Ottawa Citizen

“We’ve exposed a great potential here in the city to create a campus in the downtown.”— Brad Hammond, Woodstock’s development officer

Plans for a U of O satellite campus in Woodstock have been shut down by the province.

that the government had been prepared to accept more proposals, but only one met their criteria. In the call for proposals, the province wrote that it wanted projects that would see large growth over the next 20 years, and Bien said the Woodstock campus would not have satisfied the current requirements.

Despite the setback, all is not lost for a partnership between the U of O and Woodstock.

“Our plan is to continue to work with the University of Ottawa on a satellite campus here in Woodstock. Through this process we think we’ve exposed great potential here in the city to create a campus

Photo: CC Woodstock

in the downtown,” Brad Hammond, Woodstock’s development officer told the Woodstock Sentinel Review.

The province will be putting out another call for proposals next year.

Woodstock mayor Trevor Birtch told the Sentinel Review “2017 is still a possibility for Woodstock.”

U of O professor sues Japanese embassy Suit comes after 2013 accident where prof Collobert was doored while cycling Eric Davidson News Editor

University of Ottawa philosophy professor Catherine Collobert has filed a $1-million lawsuit against the Japanese embassy, after a 2013 cycling accident, which she says has resulted in permanent injuries.

The suit names the driver of the car that allegedly doored Collobert, Kiyohiro Saito, as well as the Japanese embassy and the nation of Japan.

Collobert said she was hit by the door of an embassy car, an incident referred to as being doored, while cycling on Glad-

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stone Avenue on Aug. 24, 2013.

“Suddenly and without warning, the defendant swung open the driver’s door of the defendant’s vehicle, immediately in front of Catherine,” says the statement of claim submitted by Collobert. “With no time to evade, Catherine violently slammed into the defendant’s car door, flipped over the top of it, and crashed into the pavement.”

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Collobert suffered several severe injuries after the alleged crash, including broken bones in her foot and a separated shoulder. She also

claims to have suffered psychological distress, including stress, anxiety, frustration, anger and irritability. In addition to this, she mentions problems at work, including the fact that she now has to teach classes sitting down.

The Japanese embassy has yet to file a statement of defence, and said they were unable to provide a comment at this time, upon request from the Fulcrum.

The City of Ottawa has recently upped the penalty for dooring cyclists, which is prohibited by the Highway Traffic Act, to try and stop the prob-

lem. The fine has increased to a maximum of $1,000 and three demerit points. Demerit points can lead to an interview to explain why the driver should keep their licence, or suspension of the licence.

There have been many other incidents of dooring in Ottawa, the most serious of which took place in 2011, when cyclist Danielle Naçu was killed after being hit by a car door into moving traffic.

In another effort to reduce the problem, one part of Wellington St. has been painted with lines marking the “dooring zone” and telling cyclists

to avoid the area. According to the City of Ottawa website, the “dooring danger zone” is up to a

meter from parked cars.

A court date for Collobert’s suit is yet to be determined.

A U of O prof sued the Japanese embassy over a cycling accident in 2013. Photo: Kim Wiens

NEWS | 5

Startup Garage grows fresh crop of U of O entrepreneurs U of O students look to create next business success story

New startups from U of O and beyond showed their products. Here co-founder of CigBins pitches her product to potential investors.

Photo: Eric Davidson.

Eric Davidson News Editor

If you think U of O students don’t use their brains much during the summer months, think again.

“Let’s say you’re a drone designer, and you have hundreds of propellers to choose from, hundreds of thousands of motors to choose from, and you don’t know how to decide,” said Charles Blouin, co-founder of a company called Tyto Robotics, one of many University of Ottawa students who spent their summer developing companies to tackle large issues in business and beyond.

Aug. 27 marked the end of a 90-day incubator program, called Startup Garage, designed to help develop new startups created by students, many of whom attend the U of O. “The program was born out of the technology transfer office at the University of Ottawa in an effort to encourage student entrepreneurship at the university,” said Nolan Beanlands, coordinator of Startup Garage and Technology Partnership Associate at the U of O. The six-year-old program

has since grown to include university students from any postsecondary institution in Ottawa, and anyone aged 18-29.

Throughout the summer participants received funding and mentorship to develop their companies. “A lot of the participants come in with a very good technical idea, but there are a lot of things that they haven’t learned in school,” said Beanlands.

“We had never learned the legal side, the accounting, the pitching, the program helped us focus and make an actual business,” said Marvin Reyes, cofounder of GameStrat, a software company that helps coaches perform in-game analysis.

On the final day of the program, the fledgling companies showed off to potential investors, displaying their products and pitching their ideas.

It was a glimpse into the minds of innovators looking to disrupt a number of industries.

These new companies are part of a wider movement of entrepreneurship in Ottawa, which has left the city with the nickname of Silicon Valley North, a title that was reinforced after the $100 million initial public offering of Ottawa-based company

“The program helped us focus and make an actual business.”—Marvin Reyes

Shopify.

It was clear that there was not only an abundance of talent at the event, but also an impressive range of ideas. Tyto Robotics marketed a tool that allows drone designers to better test their products. The company GameStrat developed a tool to improve the in-game analysis capabilities of football coaches.

But it wasn’t just high-tech innovation. One company, CigBins looks to better dispose of cigarette butts. Another, eCelery, wants to make multicultural cuisine your new favorite takeout, and in a delicious display, Oat&Mill showed off their oatbased ice cream.

One of the program’s success stories is Gymtrack, a company founded by a U of O student, Lee Silverstone, and a Carleton student, Pablo Srugo. The company provides sensors that send detailed workout data to your smartphone. Gymtrack came out of last year’s program and has recently raised $2.5 million to grow their company. They have also been featured in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

“We take pride in that we are a very diverse program,” said Beanlands, who is excited to watch these new companies grow.

“This group especially had a lot of energy, they’ve made enormous strides,” he said. “They’re learning, they’re pivoting… it’s really great to see how far they’ve come.”

6 | NEWS

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Survey says… U of O students are financially savvy Close to 90% confident in money-managing skills Danika Leminski

Associate News Editor Despite the highly publicized student debt crisis, Canadian students are feeling confident about where they stand.

A new survey by Tangerine, a Canadian bank and subsidiary of Scotiabank, found that Canadian students are already giving themselves top marks for their personal finance habits.

When asked to grade their overall ability to manage their finances, 36 per cent of 1,090 students surveyed from ten of Canada’s top universities gave themselves an A, while 46 per cent gave themselves a B. That means a whopping 82 per cent of students felt confident with their money management skills and knowledge.

“It’s encouraging to see that

many young Canadians are working hard to save their money, invest in their future, and become financially independent,” said Silvio Stroescu, Managing Director of Deposits and Investments at Tangerine.

The University of Ottawa came in third place overall in terms of student confidence in their financial habits. When asked to grade their ability to manage their finances, 43 per cent of U of O students gave themselves an A and 46 per cent gave themselves a B, beating the national average.

Most Canadian students said they were funding at least part of their education themselves, according to the survey with 49 per cent using their own personal savings. Fifty-three per cent of students work while in school, while 30 per cent work full-time in the summer and move down to part-time

when classes start.

Students at the U of O are also the most financially independent in Canada, with 42 percent saying they will fund their entire upcoming school year themselves.

According to the survey, a third of students reported that they saved as much as they possibly could for school, and 45 per cent reported that although they could have saved more, they had still saved a significant amount. Only 20 per cent said that they did not save enough or did not save anything at all.

“While it may be challenging to save money and go to school at the same time, good money habits will carry on long past graduation and help establish the discipline needed to stay on track no matter what phase of life you’re in,” said Stroescu.

This doesn’t mean that stu-

In the face of a national debt problem, many U of O students are confident in their fincances. Photo: Kim Wiens

dents don’t have debt. Sixtyfour per cent of Canadian students surveyed are carrying student debt right now, though only 27 per cent of those students reported debt figures over $10,000.

According to Statistics Canada, half of bachelor’s graduates,

U of O unveils learning centre plans Eric Davidson News Editor

University of Ottawa President Allan Rock unveiled plans for the university’s new Learning Centre, set to open in December 2017, with construction already underway.

“The way that students learn at universities has changed enormously,” said Rock at a ceremony for the new building on Aug. 14. “The Learning Centre is one of the ways we will meet the changing and contemporary needs of our 43,000 students.”

The Learning Centre will be attached to Lamoureux Hall,

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on the corner of Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur. This will put the building close to the future light rail transit’s uOttawa station.

With an $83 million price tag, the centre will contain 26 classrooms, two of which will fit 120 students, with the rest accommodating 60. It will also contain 800 round-the-clock study spaces, 350-seat lecture halls, a computer lab, and a food court.

The project was approved by the university’s Board of Governors last November as a part of Rock’s Vision 2020, which looks to improve the student experience by promoting quality of teaching

and learning and the creation of more student space, among other things.

“The Learning Centre will become the new place where students congregate on campus,” said Christian Detellier, vice-president, academic and provost.

The building is being funded by the university and the Province of Ontario, which contributed $30 million.

Reza Moridi, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, was also at the ceremony. “We need to provide our students with the learning spaces and technology to support them in a rapidly changing landscape,” he said.

44 per cent of master’s graduates and 41 per cent of doctorate graduates needed student loans to complete their degree.

Recent bachelor’s and master’s graduates carry an average debt of just over $26,000 after graduation, while doctorate graduates carry an average

of $41,100.

The issue of student debt has come to the forefront recently, as this year alone the government is writing off $300 million, either due to bankruptcy, severe financial hardship, or compromise settlement offers.

As a result, the government has settled on more aggressive objectives for the collection of student debt going forward.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, new measures could include monthly collection letters and recouping income tax refunds. Some accounts could be referred to the Attorney General, possibly leading to garnished wages or seized assets.

Eighty per cent of students surveyed agreed that they would be willing to give up anything to graduate debt-free, even giving up beer for four whole years.

New space will provide more than 800 study spaces: Rock

The U of O broke ground on the site of the new Learning Centre, which will look to enhance student experience on campus.

Photo courtesy of Caroline Millard .

NEWS | 7

8 | NEWS

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National News

Chief Electoral Officer sees heightened voter interest Election’s new fixed-date feature anticipated to be a game-changer Kyle Duggan iPolitics

Ottawa (CUP)—The election writs are being signed, sealed and delivered to all of Canada’s 338 ridings, and Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand says there’s a lot of interest already at such an early point in the campaign.

“If you asked me before whether in the first week of August we’d see 13,000 Canadians registered for the first time for an election, I would not have bet on that,” Mayrand told iPolitics in an Aug. 14 ar-

ticle.

“It is a sign out there people are paying attention. We had an average number of calls of 15,000 per day this election.

And being so early in the process, that is somewhat unusual, but it points out people are paying attention.”

In fact, 13 people have already voted, something he says few Canadians are aware they can do right now if they’ve already made their minds up. While the overall trend in turnout has been downward, he says it’s still up in the air how that will play

“If you asked me before whether in the first week of August we’d see 13,000 Canadians registered for the first time for an election, I would not have bet on that,” —Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer

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out this year.

Many critics have raised concerns over how changes to the Elections Act that affect the ease of voting will in turn affect participation.

“We’re set up to service 26 million Canadians. If only 15 show up, it’s always a bit of a disappointment, but that’s a decision for voters to take and for civil society to mobilize and be engaged and take part in the democratic life of the country.”

Mayrand says preparing for this election, Canada’s first with a fixed election date, has been like starting from scratch. There are 30 new ridings, but the riding redistribution affected almost all of them.

“For a normal election we produce 5,000 maps down to the local level. So these all have to be redone to reflect the changes in redistribution.

It takes the better part of a year, a year and a half almost,

to redo all the polls across the country.”

Elections Canada now has about 68,000 polls in roughly 18,000 locations—and Mayrand says each poll was inspected individually for accessibility.

They also need to raise an army to orchestrate it all. Elections Canada only staffs about 350 people during the normal year, but needs to staff up nearly double that, and then find 250,000 temporary workers—roughly the size of the whole public service—for just a few days.

For all those who make fun of election-speculation news stories, Elections Canada follows them just as closely as everyone else in the Ottawa bubble, adding to the complexity of preparing for an election which had a fixed date, but no fixed start.

“There was speculation in the spring so we were ready to go on March 1. Then we had to

Chief Electoral Officer, Marc Mayrand, says he’s surprised at the number of Canadians who have already registered to vote.

stand down because it’s costly to remain at the highest level of readiness and set out our next date for Sept. 1. The election was called on Aug. 2, so we of course had to accelerate our plans.”

The focus right now for Elections Canada is setting up to administer the election, sending some 80 trucks out to deliver 3,000 tonnes of election material to all of Canada’s ridings. Afterward, Mayrand

Photo: Courtesy of iPolitics.

plans to prepare a report on Canada’s first fixed-date election, noting rules that might need to be adjusted.

“The fact that we had a fixed date allowed everyone, in principle, to better plan. It seems to have been noted by third parties, political parties, so we need to see if anything out there has impacted the level playing field or not. I think it’s a bit early, we need to let the election play through.”

NATIONAL NEWS | 9

ARTS &CULTURE

A&C EDITOR Allegra Morgado arts@thefulcrum.ca

(613) 695-0062

Half Moon Run headlines inaugural uO Show Community Life Service introduces new event at Welcome Week Allegra Morgado Arts & Culture Editor

A

s summer comes to an end and students are making their way back to campus, the Community Life Service (CLS) team wants to make sure students and staff start the school year off with a bang.

They’ve put together the newest, and one of the biggest, Welcome Week events—the uO Show.

The uO Show is a free concert beginning at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10 in front of the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) building on campus. The concert will feature two Canadian acts, electropop group Misteur Valaire and indie rock band Half Moon Run. Melanie Bellefeuille is an officer for events and general programming at CLS, and the lead of the CLS programming team who put this event to-

gether for the University of Ottawa community. She said she and her team reached out to students on campus to get a feel for which acts should grace the stage at the uO Show.

“A concert with big names will get everybody hyped up for the week and definitely for the school year,” says Bellefeuille of the decision to hold the event.

Montreal-based band, Half Moon Run’s critically acclaimed debut album was released in 2012. The band has been playing the festival circuit in North America and Europe, capturing audiences around the world. Their new album, Sun Leads Me On, will be released in October.

Misteur Valaire hails from Sherbrooke, Québec, and released their first album in 2005. The electropop group has been nominated for the Polaris

Music Prize, and shortlisted for a Juno Award. The band is well-known for their hit songs like “Bellevue Avenue” and energetic stage presence, which is sure to get U of O students rallied up and excited for the coming school year.

Bellefeuille and her team are hoping that the event will be successful enough to make it a permanent fixture of future Welcome Weeks. With the acclaimed headliners and the thousands of students who have already clicked “going” on the Facebook event page, this doesn’t seem like it will be a problem.

With the campus undergoing expansion, specifically the U of O’s plans for more open space by FSS, the CLS team is also hoping to hold more concerts throughout the school year. “Concerts are definitely what the students are looking

“Concerts are definitely what the students are looking for especially when it’s free with big names, so that’s definitely a staple that we want to keep.”— Melanie Bellefeuille, CLS officer for events and general programming.

The inaugural uO Show will feature Canadian indie rockers Half Moon Run.

for especially when it’s free with big names, so that’s definitely a staple that we want to keep.”

The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) also holds a concert during 101 week called Fedstock, which this year will be

headlined by electronic dance music group, A Tribe Called Red. Bellefeuille also explains that students don’t have to worry about being bored between the two acts sets. There will be a DJ to keep the energy up while the equipment is be-

Photo: CC Kristoff Acke

ing changed over, as well as food trucks on site to make sure everyone’s satisfied.

This free event is only available for U of O staff and students to attend, so bring your student or staff card and get ready to start the year off right.

Tour La Nuit aims to light up the night

The Capital Vélo Fest invites cyclists to enjoy bike-exlusive street ride Diyyinah Jamora Fulcrum Contributor

Ottawa’s short biking season is almost over, but the Capital Vélo Fest wants to help the community go out in style.

The annual biking festival invites both seasoned and budding cyclists of all ages to come bike through Ottawa at night on bicycle-exclusive roads for Tour La Nuit 2015.

The festival brings together cyclists for a unique, bright night around town. Every cyclist receives a colourful bike light to put on his or her wheel.

The route starts at city hall, goes down the canal, through the experimental farm, and back.

Inspired by Montreal’s Tour La Nuit event, president Dick

Louch founded Capital Vélo Fest, the cycling organization that hosts the annual festival, which will be celebrating it’s fifth anniversary come September.

“Our mission is to inspire people of all ages to ride a bike more often,” says Louch, “We do that by organizing events, and activities around cycling that have elements of education and entertainment.”

Capital Vélo Fest participants are invited not only to cycle, but to enjoy the live music that will be offered at city hall to encourage people as they ride along.

Attendees are also encouraged to decorate their bikes, for example, last year, one participant turned their bike into

a giraffe, and other cyclists turned their bikes into a pirate ship.

“The view through the farm is amazing. You see this long line of bikes all lit up across the darkened fields and it’s quite a unique experience,” says Louch.

The organizers hope to demonstrate that riding a bicycle at night is not a scary activity, but a peaceful one.

“The educational component is that a lot of people feel nervous about riding at night, and so by closing the roads we hope to demonstrate to people who have that feeling that it’s not really so bad once you get out there.”

Capital Vélo Fest has partnered with the Student Fed-

eration of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) Bike Co-op to bring the event to the university community. For many students cycling is their main form of transportation.

“We share the common goal of helping individuals take control of their transportation,” said SFUO Bike Co-op coordinator, Laura Miller.

Not a bike enthusiast? Don’t worry. You don’t have to be a cyclist to get involved. Students can volunteer as part of the hype, ambassador, or road safety teams. Volunteers also get a ton of cool swag, says Louch, including SMOOCH, a bicycle-powered smoothie maker.

“It’s really fun,” says Louch.

“The people who come in come

back year after year and it’s the type of thing that once you go in it, you want to go in it again.”

Capital Vélo Fest takes place on Sept. 25, starting at city

hall. To volunteer, sign up at www.capitalvelofest.ca. Tickets are available online for $15, and are available at the SFUO Bike Co-op office at 50 per cent off for students.

Deck out your bike for Capital Vélo Fest’s Tour La Nuit.

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

Photo: CC Millenion Design

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U of O alumna’s web series is out of this world Tabitha Grove creates Mars One-inspired web series maitland shaheen Fulcrum Contributor

When the Mars One project was first announced, over 200,000 people from around the world applied with hopes of being among the first permanent residents on Mars. Tabitha Grove, a University of Ottawa alumna, wasn’t one of them, but she did create a web series imagining what it would be like to be chosen.

World Away is a six-part web series that was released this past summer, by Grove alongside two of her Sheridan College colleagues, Elias Campbell and Maxim Gertler-Jaffe. Grove acted as the producer and production designer for the series.

“I worked from casting all the way to deciding exactl

what is seen on screen,” said Grove. “One of the challenges we had with the series that combined the jobs of producer and production designer perfectly is that for being a short, five or six minute episode, it’s about making dynamic scenes and making it interesting to watch for our viewer.”

Grove did a B.Sc. in General Science at the U of O before moving on to Sheridan College and said that her time at U of O helped her find her passion for film.

“At Ottawa U it was fantastic because I did a science degree, but I had the opportunity to take tons of electives in video production, film, and communication, and that was something that I think gave me perspective in the university for a

bigger picture view of what I wanted to do.”

World Away was filmed and created in Toronto, and follows a young woman named Quinn who participates in an experimental one-way trip to Mars.

The web series follows her as she says goodbye to people close to her and confronts their contrasting opinions on her trip, which inevitably will end her life on Earth.

The six episodes in the series all clock in at about five and a half minutes, which makes every second of the show meaningful and action-packed.

“With TV series, you have a longer form to deal with.

On the web, there is so much fantastic content that the audience is consuming a lot and wanting to see a lot in a short

period of time, so you have to keep it interesting while making it quick,” says Grove, who has worked on a wide range of large and small-scale productions.

One of the most uniquely modern aspects of World Away is that it was funded entirely by an account on Indiegogo, an international crowdfunding website. The project’s goal of $7,500 was just exceeded by it’s 105 backers, who donated $7,520 to the series.

“We shot the pilot on our own, and we wanted to do the series in a similar style but we needed help”, Grove explains.

“Indiegogo provided that ability to not only bring forward our idea and show it to people, but also to grow an audience, so people were on board for the

Actress Bea Santos as Quinn in World Away.

series right from the start.”

An evidently contemporary series, World Away looks at pressing questions of the technological and highly opinionated modern age. “It’s a drama,” describes Grove, “but it’s talking about concepts that are rel-

Photo: Courtesy of Dexter Calleja.

evant.”

You can watch all six episodes at http://www.worldawayseries.com/ and follow updates at https://www.facebook.com/worldawayseries and https://twitter.com/WorldAwaySeries.

House of PainT festival celebrates neglected elements of hip hop culture Annual festival features graffiti, dance, poetry, and more Kelsey campbell Fulcrum Contributor

Graffiti artists are more often condemned than praised for their art. But at the annual House of PainT festival, which runs from Sept. 9-13 at Brewer Park, the opposite is true.

The festival began 12 years ago when a group of artists who had been lobbying for legal graffiti space were finally granted space under Dunbar Bridge in Brewer Park. This space became Ottawa’s first legal graffiti wall.

“The celebration that ensued after the success of the lobby was pretty much the first House of PainT festival,” says Patrick McCormack, general manager of the festival and

University of Ottawa alumnus.

“It was an organic reaction to the good news and after that it became an annual thing.”

Starting out as a small gettogether with a piece of cardboard to breakdance on, it has grown exponentially over the years into a festival spanning over five days, and including a huge variety of events, with an attendance of almost 10,000 people.

The festival is sponsored by the U of O’s own campus radio station, CHUO. The station manager Erin Flynn says that they partner with many grassroots events and organizations.

“We (CHUO) recognize that we have an important role to play in the growth and development of arts, culture and

Live graffiti art at a previous House of PainT festival.

education in our community,” Flynn wrote in an email.

“Working with the House of PainT festival is just one such opportunity!”

Events at this year’s festival will include live graffiti art,

Photo: Selena Chau

dance battles, DJ battles, poetry slams and more.

Friday night’s main event is a concert that takes place under the bridge, highlighting the space where the festival began. The concert will be

headlined by Black Moon, a hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York.

The weekend will be filled with workshops and activities for festival-goers to get involved with the hip hop community themselves. There will also be dancing, mural painting, and spoken word poetry workshops for anyone interested in testing out their own skills.

Saturday will be an all-day event with live graffiti art under the Dunbar Bridge, live music and DJs, and one of Canada’s largest b-boy and b-girl dance crew competitions.

“The dance competitions are always really exciting and engaging,” says McCormack, “and of course the progression of the

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giant murals over the course of the day is pretty magnificent.”

The festival will wrap up on Sunday with a conference featuring panels, workshops, and a keynote speaker, all with the purpose of building knowledge and skills, and exchanging ideas within the hip hop community.

Visit houseofpaint.ca for a full list of the festival’s events.

“It was an organic reaction to the good news and after that it became an annual thing.”—Patrick McCormack, general manager of the House of PainT.

ARTS & Culture | 11

Canadian Film Institute turns 80

CFI Anniversary at city hall celebrates Canadian film diversity Lane Ripco

Fulcrum Contributor Canada’s oldest film institute celebrated its 80-year milestone with the Ottawa community on August 27th in the Jean Pigott Place, at city hall.

The free event was facilitated by Canadian Film Institute (CFI) staff, active supporters and sponsors, local embassy partners, Canadian filmmakers and actors, alumni of Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, and local film fans.

Tom McSorley, the executive director of the CFI and a film studies professor at Carleton University, has been with the organization since 1986 and was one of the speakers at the event.

“Some people divide and conquer, but we want to unite and conquer,” McSorley said

of the organization during his speech.

The CFI’s mission to unite and conquer is apparent in their work that helps preserve and nurture Canadian cinema. By organizing public film programming, distributing a small collection of films, and being involved in the publication of books on Canadian cinema, the organization has been integral in supporting Canadian filmmakers.

CFI’s work also includes organizing festivals of different film styles and cultures including the Ottawa International Animation Festival, which begins on Sept. 16, Bright Nights: The BalticNordic Film Festival, and the 30th European Union Film Festival, which McSorely announced would be screening at the Bytowne Cinema starting on Nov. 20.

“Some people divide and conquer, but we want to unite and conquer.”— Tom McSorley, executive director of the Canadian Film Institute.

Jean-Jacques De Grange, a U of O alumnus, was one of the many passionate film fans in the audience. “(Film) allows the opportunity to truly understand other cultures, like a window into different lifestyles,” said De Grange after the presentation.

The CFI’s celebration of different cultures through their festivals echoes Canada’s own pride in being a “cultural mosaic.”

During the celebration the audience was presented with a screening of CFI’s 80th anniversary trailer, which showcased different Canadian films from the organization’s history. The projection was a retrospective montage of Canadian film, showcasing the different styles, genres, and movements that have defined Canadian film, from realism and animation, to film noir and indie avant-garde expressions.

The expansion of the Ottawa Art Gallery, which will feature a new multidisciplinary screening space for the CFI, will help keep the organization and Canadian film exciting, accessible, and diverse for the next 80 years.

Tom McSorley shared his passion for Canadian film at the 80th anniversary celebration.

Photo: Courtesy of Keltie Duncan

Why it’s famous:

Alexei Kazakof Fulcrum Contribut or

A pioneer of the black comedy film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a brilliant satire of international relations and ideological paranoia. This movie explores the hypothetical scenario of a deranged American general ordering all bomber planes under his command to execute a nuclear strike on the USSR, and the group of politicians who try to stop him.

Famous lines: President Merkin Muffley: Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.

Dr. Strangelove: Mein Fuhrer! I can walk!

Why you haven’t seen it: You read the full, strange, 13-word title and wrote it off as some dated 60s comedy. Or you took one of Dr. Michael Strangelove’s communication classes, and the movie title reminded you too much of that terrifying experience.

Why it might be tough to get through :It requires a particular sense of humour. General Ripper’s rants about communists stealing Americans’ “precious bodily fluids” near the start might get a little too weird

for your taste.

Why you should see it anyway: This film is referenced constantly in popular culture. The famous scene of Major Kong riding a nuclear bomb to oblivion, for one, has been referenced and parodied too many times to count.

But more importantly, this film allows us to, as its alternative title says, learn to stop worrying and love the bomb. Although fears of nuclear war aren’t quite as high today as they were at the time of this film’s release in 1964, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, they do still exist, and the brilliant use of satire to make us laugh in the face of death makes it easier for us to face them.

Those who enjoy television shows like BoJack Horseman and Rick and Morty, or the comedy stylings of Louis C.K., Bill Burr, and George Carlin, already understand the cathartic

effect comedy can have when exploring the parts of life that scare us the most. When it comes to mocking the idea of total nuclear annihilation, it doesn’t get any better than Dr. Strangelove.

Fun Facts: • Peter Sellers, who played three characte rs in the film, was paid $1 million, 55 per cent of the film’s budget.

• The film was originally suppose d to be a thriller based on the novel Red Alert, by Peter George.

Director Stanley Kubrick decided to make the film a satire after realizing many of the scenes he had written were actually funny.

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

12 | ARTS & CULTURE

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Greetings newly christened U of O students,

If you’re reading this, then chances are you’ve decided to dedicate the next several years of your life to post-secondary education.

Congrats! That takes metaphorical balls.

Of course, the first year of this academic roller coaster is always the most harrowing. The contrast between innocent high school tom foolery and big league university shenanigans can seem like night and day, which makes the transition a little bit difficult for some.

It certainly was for me when I was in your shoes last September.

Being totally independent for the first time in

my life was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Because of this natural high, I didn’t make the best decisions in the world during my first year.

For months my clothes went unwashed, my textbooks untouched, and my waist line expanded by several belt loops. And the less said about the neglected vegetable crisper in my dorm room fridge, the better.

But thankfully, by the end of it, I survived with my mind and liver—mostly—intact. I even retained enough common sense to document the experiences of other first year students and collect

some hard-hitting data about this tumultuous transition period.

I collected these findings in the document you are holding in your hands, in the hopes of making your first-year lives a whole lot easier, from 101 week to final exams.

So please, take a gander at the pages of this unsanctioned “Student Survival Guide” and with this information in mind you’ll be able to navigate the choppy and unpredictable waters of postsecondary education with ease.

Good luck, —Emerson King, Renegade researcher

Top eight differences between university and high school

1- No one cares

4- Money

2- The Freshmen 15

There is no quicker way to break the bank then by constantly eating out, partying, and shopping at the Rideau Centre. If you’re not careful, you’ll watch your bank account drop to zero faster than your grade point average. Financial independence is a real bitch, so spend every nickel wisely my friends.

3- Friends

With a population of over 42,000 students, campus becomes an unbridled mating ground this time of year. Not only do people discuss sex more openly and maturely (flip to Dear Di if you don’t believe us), but they’re also way less judgemental about it. Unlike high school, where sex was the “topic du jour” for everyone, now it’s only a big deal to an immature few. So many casual attitudes on sex might feel newly liberating, but always be sure to keep your experiences safe and consensual!

If you decide to slack off and not attend class, your professors and fellow classmates won’t care.

What your peers will care about is the terrible habit you’ll make of constantly asking for notes for the classes you missed.

Now that your parents aren’t around to pack you a balanced lunch with all five food groups, this horrible curse will sneak up on you like a horror movie villain. Constantly eating cafeteria food, binge drinking, ordering pizza, and mindlessly stuffing your face with shawarma at 3 Brothers will lead you to quickly pack on the pounds. This is easily avoidable; eating well and exercising are the simplest methods to keep your weight down and your mind alert.

Whether you’re moving away or attending locally, university will challenge all of the friendships you made in high school. Keeping in-touch with friends becomes hard when hectic school schedules, new friends, and gnarly hangovers get in the way. On the plus side, you’ll figure out who your real friends are during this transition period.

5- Sex

6- Partying

This can go either way. Some people come into university and experience parties that truly change their lives. Others find it juvenile and ridiculous. Finding a balance between class and drinking can become tricky when every night of the week seems like it’s a Friday. Try your best

not to classify sleep as an optional activity, and try to ensure you’ll be ready to take on class the next morning.

7- Testing

Unlike high school, university testing comes and goes with the seasons. Instead of being tested at the end of every chapter, university testing typically occurs two to four times a semester (depending on your field of study). This can get super stressful when a handful of exams that are worth 20–50 per cent fall on the same week. Make sure you plan accordingly and get lots of studying done.

8- Politics

You’re an adult now, and your vote counts. Both university politics and governmental politics greatly impact you, your future, and your bank account. It’s important to educate yourself about the issues and the topics that matter to you, and what better place to do it than in the nation’s capital? It’s easy to learn when you’ll find that most political science students on campus would love to talk politics—listen and learn. As part of the student body, you can’t complain about the local student government if you don’t vote.

14 | FEATURES

thefulcrum.ca

Gender blind drinking guide These days, it seems like some people are still hung up on arbitrary gender distinctions, even when it comes to drinking. Well, screw that! People shouldn’t refrain from exploring new alcoholic beverages simply because of the colour of a label. So, if you’re looking to get into a kind of sauce that isn’t traditionally marketed to you, please reference the following guides and help shake up our strictly gendered society, one drink at a time.

Woman’s guide to “manly” drinks

Man’s guide to “girly drinks”

Marta Kierkus

Staff Photogr apher

Zac delamont

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Fulcrum Contribu tor

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thefulcrum.ca

Whiskey

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FEATURES | 15

Point/Counterpoint: Dorm room gift registries Move over newlyweds and expecting parents, your not the only ones who get to calls dibs on cool housewarming items anymore. Now students are getting in on the action with the emergence of dorm room gift registries, a service that allows them to map out gift preferences for their first year of university.

Is this a smart and economically sound move on part of these new students, or is this another example of the entitled “Me, Me, Me” generation running wild?

A practical solution to a widespread problem Max Szyc Contributor

Gift registries have long existed for occasions like weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, and graduations. In fact, there are registries for most life changing events, so it makes sense to have one dedicated to students who are transitioning into their post-secondary lives.

Married couples who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversaries generally don’t need to be showered with gifts. On the other hand, first-time university students are usually poor as shit, so why not take advantage

of a service that caters to someone who actually needs things like food and school supplies?

The sad reality is that these dorm registries are just the latest method to combat the constantly increasing tuition rates faced by students in Canada today. As freshmen move into residence and get smacked with zillions of expenses they hadn’t anticipated, they might not be able to afford basic necessities like silverware, or even food (the latter is sadly becoming more likely since campus food bank usage has been on the rise).

Most people know how fi-

nancially draining university can be, so what’s the harm in sharing a dorm registry with your loved ones? Many of us are lucky enough to have friends and family who want to give us a parting gift as we embark for university, so we might as well be as transparent as possible with what we need.

Besides, parents would probably feel better in knowing that their son or daughter has enough loose-leaf paper to get them through the week, as opposed to giving their married friends yet another useless decorative pillow.

Find your stuff somewhere else Kyle Darbyson features editor

I’m all about getting prepared for university life ahead of time, but something about the concept of dorm room gift registries really rubs me the wrong way.

Traditionally when an incoming university student is looking to stock their new dorm room with all the basic necessities, they seek out the help of friends and family, by asking them to donate used items. Not only is this a great cost-saving measure, but it’s also a great way to reconnect with loved ones, and reinforce those personal bonds before heading off to school.

But now, instead of calling on Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack to inquire about their used toaster, students are now being encouraged to run into the arms of corporate overlords like Bed, Bath, and Beyond—who host these dorm registries online—to consume whatever cheap crap they have to offer. No thanks.

Additionally, the whole process seems rather redundant. The economic plight of new university students is widely known, so much so that gift-giving events such as “trunk parties,” are becoming more and more popular. To this end, it seems like these dorm room gift registries are only good for

giving students a better opportunity to get their mitts on luxury items that their parents would never buy them in the first place.

There is already enough anti-millennial rhetoric online about how entitled we are. We shouldn’t give ammunition to disgruntled Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers by passing off new 80-inch flat screen TVs or cotton candy machines as the “basic necessities” for campus life.

When preparing to go to university, students should always seek out used items from loved ones or discount stores first, and only use services like dorm room gift registries as a last resort.

Student transformation: before and after first year Emerson King

renegade researcher

Last year I elected to monitor a firstyear University of Ottawa student for a 12-month period, in order to properly gauge the physical toll that the university lifestyle has on students. The results may surprise— and horrify—you.

Look if you dare.

16 | FEATURES

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FEATURES | 17

SPORTS

Gee-Gees women’s soccer draws Queen’s in home opener Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

L

ast season, the Gee-Gees women’s soccer team lost to, University of Ontario Institute of Technology in their first game of the year, something that would not happen again until the national semifinals.

The team’s game against Queen’s was a learning experience.

Photo: Marta Kierkus

This season, the Queen’s Gaels came to Matt Anthony Field and instead of a loss they handed the Gees a motivating

SPORTS EDITOR Spencer Murdock sports@thefulcrum.ca

(613) 695-0062

Defending OUA champions struggle to spark offence in 1-1 tie “We have some new starters and we lost a bunch of key players but I think it was a great start.”

— Julia Francki, Midfielder

1-1 tie, arguably the next scariest thing. Last year, the team ripped off 15 straight wins after their flat-footed opener.

With some adjustments, this season can still be on path to live up to the tour de force of 2014.

The Gee-Gees heavily relied on their stars to carry them through the grinder of a game.

Julia Francki had the lone goal for the garnet and grey, while forward Pilar Khoury and goalkeeper Cynthia Leblanc kept the game in check.

Francki’s goal came in the 12’ after deflecting a kick from the Queen’s keeper with her chest causing the ball to

bounce into the net. The team held the lead for a while, giving the Gaels few opportunities, until a mess of bodies in front of the Ottawa net in the second half resulted in a Queen’s goal.

The Gee-Gees were playing somewhat hobbled, with multiple injuries stemming from last year’s lengthy playoff run.

Talent still exists in this GeeGees squad, but it’ll take time for this year’s team to click.

“I think it was a lot better than last year’s first game,” said Francki. “We have some new starters and we lost a bunch of key players but I think it was a great start. Throughout the

next week we’ll practice and improve.”

Gee-Gees head coach Steve Johnson, entering his 21st year at the helm of the team, was not as happy with the result.

“It was not really great soccer,” said Johnson. “Both teams didn’t want to lose their first game of the year. The teams tried to play really safe and I think there were a lot of mistakes because people were not getting their head up and choosing the right option.”

The evaluation and experimentation will continue in practice for the team over the coming weeks as they get slightly less stiff competition on the schedule.

The Gees will be back out on Matt Anthony Field on Sept. 5 and 6 as they take on Nipissing and Laurentian in the weekend series.

Johnny B goes pro Gees legend signs in top Estonian league After contributing to the GeeGees’ basketball program for five years, Johnny Berhanemeskel is taking his talents to Estonia. The Ottawa native nicknamed ‘Johnny Basketball’, who set numerous school records while at the U of O, has signed with the Estonian club TLÜ/Kalev based in the capital city, Tallinn.

“Doing something that you love and getting paid whether it’s professional basketball or not is a good feeling. I’ve worked my whole life to play professional basketball and now I’m finally here,” said Berhanemeskel in an interview with the Fulcrum.

Berhanemeskel averaged 23.2 points per game last year, and was named the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Player of the Year. Despite his success, Berhanemeskel understands that the slate will be wiped clean once he touch-

Moussa Sangaré-Ponce Fulcrum Contributor

es down in Tallinn. “I want to play as many games as possible my first year and show that I am able to compete with these guys at that level,” he said.

The announcement comes after months of negotiating with multiple teams across Europe.

“We had concrete interest from (teams in) Belgium and Germany, and the team he signed with in the end, said Berhanemeskel’s agent, Matthias Haufer, of Two Points Agency.

Haufer said he “had been following Johnny for most of his career,” and reached out to Berhanemeskel after his fifth and final season. It was this strong interest in Berhanemeskel’s development that ultimately led Two Points Agency to represent the Gee-Gees’ former star.

Though money was a key point during negotiations, for Haufer, the signing was all about finding the best basketball situation for his client. “Financially, everything was compara-

ble so we decided to take the most intriguing situation basketball-wise.”

Berhanemeskel will be a rookie player in two different leagues with TLÜ/Kalev. The team plays in a domestic league in Estonia as well as the Baltic league, which is composed of teams from Estonia, Russia, Lithuania, Finland, and Latvia. TLÜ/Kalev finished second in domestic play and had the sixth-best record in the Baltic league this past season.

Berhanemeskel departed for Estonia on Aug. 23 and begin his role in team activities shortly thereafter. He acknowledges that he’s bound to get homesick at some point, but he won’t have to face it alone.

thefulcrum.ca

“I’m going into a totally different culture.

I’ve spoken to some guys on the team and some guys speak English so they’ll help me integrate my way into the community and how things are done,” he said.

As for the language barrier, Berhanemeskel knows he will have to learn some Estonian and quick. “I don’t even know how to say ‘hello’ yet, but I’ll learn the basics. I’m going to embrace it,” he said.

This summer Berhanemeskel will learn how to say “tere Tallinn” as he suits up for TLÜ/Kalev, but who knows where else his talent will take him.

SPORTS | 21

Stampeding to the next level

Gee-Gees football is seeking hardware on deep playoff run Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

As fall approaches, the same feeling of anticipation strikes sports fans across North America—football season is upon us once again.

Last season was a success for the Gee-Gees football team, and a step towards once again hoisting the Vanier Cup as Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) champions.

A resilient fight in the Yates Cup semi-finals against eventual national runner-up McMaster proved the Gees’ place as one of the more dominant teams in the nation. They bounced in and out of the national Top 10 rankings, with a highest appearance at seven, and a final rank at ten.

The Gees saw breakout per-

formances from quarterback Derek Wendel, freshman running back Bryce Vieira, and defensive back Jackson Bennett.

These players will all play key roles for the 2015 Gee-Gees, and a great deal of the team’s success will bank on their performances.

Unlike many of their opponents, the Gee-Gees have an exceptional balance of youth and experience. On the offensive side of the ball, the Gees return nine of twelve starters—all three coming from the O-Line, a place where the team has great depth. All of Wendel’s weapons return this season, including fifth-year senior receiver, Ian Stewart who reeled in four touchdowns last year.

Defensively, the unit also returns nine starters. Losing All-Canadian lineman Ettore

Lattanzio to the CFL, and defensive back Randy Williams will hurt, but ultimately the team retains more talent then they lose. The linebacker core is easily one of the top three in the nation, with stars Nick Lecour returning for a fifthyear, along with younger studs Tanner Care, and Marc-Antoine Laurin.

The Gee-Gees also pulled in multiple massive recruits from the United States in defensive lineman Charles Bender, receiver Davion Johnson, and cornerback Deon Price all from Austin, Texas. Bender and Johnson will be eligible to play this season while Price is required to sit one year after a stint at Missouri Southern State University last fall. Along with this fresh talent, head coach Jamie Barresi brought

in linebacker Ryan Lipomi of Pinehurst, North Carolina.

A tough draw in scheduling will be difficult for the team as they get a first week bye and will play all of the top teams in the province, but along with this comes a stronger opportunity to prove their worth. The Ontario University Athletics preseason rankings have put the Gee-Gees fourth in the conference behind Western, Guelph, and McMaster. There’s plenty of room for the Gees to succeed and make a deep run in the playoffs, and even take a crack at the national championship.

The team sits in an interesting position where it has room to become one of the strongest in the country with everything seeming to click at once.

Despite the 15 years that have

Vieira and the Gees are ready to shock the conference.

passed since the last Vanier Cup, the Gees are optimistic that they can make history once again.

The Gee-Gees will host rival Queen’s Gaels in their home

Photo courtesy of Eliza Mitton, UWindsor

opener, with the Gaels coming off of a hard fought 34-24 win over Carleton where they dealt with multiple injury issues.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m. on Sept. 6 at Gee-Gees Field.

Gee-Gees football returns to TD Place for Panda Game revenge

Rivals to play for Pedro in 24,000-seat stadium for years to come Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi Editor-In-Chief The highly anticipated Panda Game will be back at its historic homeland as the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group announced a multi-year agreement to host the football classic at TD Place. The first Panda Game was played at Lansdowne Park in 1955, the site where TD Place now sits.

“It was great to be out on

that field last year and feel the energy from over 12,000 fans yelling and cheering on every play,” said Gee-Gees quarterback Derek Wendel, in a press release. “It was back and forth all afternoon and this year’s game is going to be just as incredible.”

“For me personally I love being able to play at TD Place. It brings another feeling to the game when there are a lot more people with their eyes on you

The hostile ending from last year’s Panda Game at TD Place.

and waiting for you to make a play,” said defensive back, and 2014 Ontario University Ath-

Photo: Marta Kierkus

letics Rookie All Star, Jackson Bennett. “Coming out of high school, there weren’t a lot of

people in the crowd so having a large amount of people watching the game is something that definitely gets you excited.”

The Panda Game was played annually from 1955 to 1998, when the Ravens football program was suspended indefinitely. It was revived in 2013 with the return of the Ravens, and was played at the newly constructed Gee-Gees Field as TD Place was under

renovations. Last year’s nail biting match saw the Ravens steal away victory with a lastminute touchdown. The game brought in a crowd of 12,500, to the 24,000-seat stadium.

The Gee-Gees still lead the 46-game Panda series 33-13.

Kickoff is on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 1:07 p.m. Tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. on Sept. 4 at capitaltickets.ca —With files from Spencer Murdock

22 | SPORTS

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Freshman Fans Deborah Sogelola Fulcrum Contributor

So you’ve just become a GeeGee and understandably, the thought fills you with excitement. But before you attend your first game, there’s a few key things you need to know about being a Gee-Gee, whether you’ve always been interested in sports or just looking to start by supporting the U of O.

Know what a Gee-Gee is: Be prepared for everyone, mostly Carleton students, to barrage you with the question “what the fuck’s a Gee-Gee?” Basically a Gee-Gee stands for two things; the first is garnet and grey (or garnet et gris, in

French) which are the official colours of the university.

A “Gee-Gee” is also a traditional term that refers to the lead horse in a race —which explains why our mascot is a horse.

ments, you can always wear whatever you have that’s garnet or grey. Above all, don’t accidentally show up in red and black or you might be an outcast in the stands.

Wear the colours:

Get involved:

Now that you know what Gee-Gee means, it would be wise to show up to a game wearing the school’s colours to represent the teams. You don’t have to buy an expensive sweater to show your school spirit, the school bookstore sells more inexpensive options such as t-shirts and tank tops.

Also if you’re suffering from the aftershocks of tuition pay-

The best way to get involved is going to a game, and with so many sports to choose from, especially in the fall, it’s easy to pick one and take your friends with you. If you’re a sports fanatic and can’t bear to miss a game, the university’s Sport Services offers a pass to join “The Stampede” for $25. Being a Stampede member gets you into every home game, and free pizza at football games.

When, where, and how to cheer on your Gee-Gees This is a great deal If you plan on attending games frequently—if you just want to check out one game, then a one-time ticket ranging from $5 to $10 might be the best for you.

When you’re at the game, be loud! Join in the chants, start a chant, and get involved in halftime games. Don’t be afraid to look silly, it’s all part of the experience.

As a new Gee-Gee, an important thing to be aware of is the vicious rivalry between the U of O and Carleton. This rivalry explains why the Panda Game and Capital Hoops are the two biggest games during

Panda Game and Capital Hoops:

the school year. No, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have friends from Carleton, it just makes things more exciting in Ottawa, plus if the Gees do well you can win some great bragging rights.

The Panda Game is the traditional rivalry game between the Gee-Gees and Ravens, and has been a huge deal for the better part of a century. The name of the game stems from the stuffed panda that was given out to the winner in the early days. Pedro the Panda is now a trophy that the winner keeps for the year until the game is held at TD Place Stadium once more on Oct. 3. Last year alone, 12,500 attended the game.

Similar to the Panda Game, the Capital Hoops Classic is a

Staying fit for the semester

huge game that hinges on the rivalry between the schools, but instead tests the skills of our Gees on the basketball court. The Gee-Gees, and Ravens have been consistently ranked the top two teams in the nation in recent memory, so the competition is always intense. Capital Hoops is held at the Canadian Tire Centre where the Senators play, with over 10,000 fans in attendance this past year. Needless to say, these rivalry games are a mustsee event every year.

As a new Gee-Gee, regardless of what games you choose to attend, there are some rules that cannot be ignored: show up, wear the colours, and be loud, bold, proud, and unafraid to get silly.

Three tips to keep in summer shape throughout the fall As the new school year quickly approaches at the University of Ottawa, many students will mourn the loss of our summers and the new healthy habits they’ve picked up. Soon the daily stresses of lectures, midterms, and exams will make that extra hour at the gym or that weekly hot yoga class seem beyond your reach. However, it’s still paramount to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle throughout the school year— for the sake of next summer at the very least. There are plenty of activities going on all the time during the school year, and with that in mind here are some key tips to staying active this upcoming semester.

David Agbaire proofreader

The Gym The University of Ottawa has two gyms, a larger one located in the Minto Sports Complex on the corner of Templeton and King Edward, and a smaller one in Montpetit Hall. Every full-time student with a student card has access to this facilities, so it would be smart to take advantage of this resource as

much as you can.

However, it’s important to mention that at certain times the gym can get packed, normally during evening hours after work or school and on weekends. If you prefer to work out in solitude and want to avoid waiting 15 minutes for a machine, try to sneak in a quick gym session in the mornings before class or mid-afternoon.

The Montpetit gym facility is much smaller. Most times it’s busy, but it’s in a slightly more convenient location.

Intramurals The U of O offers a number of different intramural leagues for a variety of sports. Currently, the university offers ball hockey, basketball, dodgeball, flag football, ultimate, hockey, soccer, and volleyball.

There are three ways to experience intramurals; you can form a team with your friends, colleagues, strangers, etc. and compete in the male or female leagues; or perhaps you may prefer the different style of gameplay that occurs in the co-ed leagues. If you’re more of a lone wolf, you can always sign up as an individual to be placed on a team.

Some sports are available in different streams according to the intensity of competition, titled “grey” for intermediate leagues and “garnet” for com-

petitive leagues. It’s worth noting that these leagues are extremely popular with students, employees and alumni—so make sure to register early!

One of the perks of being a student is the 10 per cent student discount at

Instead, go at midnight when the aisles are empty or early in the morning when the produce is being re-stocked for the day. Remember, a nutritious and balanced diet is a key ingredient to a healthy lifestyle!

Grocery Days Loblaws and Metro, both on Rideau Street, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This deal is perfect for the healthconscious type who wants to squeeze for that organic option. Just make sure to bring your student card as proof of your status!

Again, because of the popularity of this deal it can get rather crowded at the stores, so steer clear of the ‘lunch rush’ and the sometimes clogged postwork lanes.

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SPORTS | 23

OPINIONS

OPINIONS EDITOR David Campion-Smith

opinions@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062

Newfoundland’s grant policy should go national

Atlantic province becomes first to convert student loans to grants Nadia Helal

Fulcrum Contributor

C

omparing student loans and student grants can lead to confusion, especially among prospective students.

The big difference is that loans need to be paid back, while grants don’t. The point of both sources of aid is to help students who can’t afford to go to school on their own.

Many provinces and territories offer education financial support as a loan, but this summer, Newfoundland and Labrador became the first province to offer their financial aid as a grant instead.

Grants exist for students from low and middle-income families, part-time students, those with dependents, and those with disabilities. The patchwork system of financial aid offered by organizations can’t hope to reach all of those

students who need it. For example, Universities Canada and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada offer 3,500 grants a year each but that is a drop in the bucket compared to what full provincial support could offer.

With this new conversion of loans to grants by the Newfoundland and Labrador government, many students are wondering why other provinces don’t follow suit.

The Ontario loan system, the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), doesn’t charge interest while a person is studying, but requires payments to commence six months after graduation.

By providing grants, provinces make post-secondary education more accessible, which results in greater economic prosperity. According to an article published by the Economic Policy Institute “overwhelmingly, high-wage states are states with a well educated workforce. There is a clear and strong correlation between the educational

attainment of a state’s workforce and median wages in a state.”

However, money for these grants has to come from somewhere. As desirable as it would be for every student to benefit from free or a more affordable education, most provinces in Canada are unable or unwilling to oblige.

With education systems, what works in one province, isn’t necessarily good for another. Consider Quebec, which has the lowest tuition fees of any other province. The low fees mean that grants aren’t as necessary, there fore not as easy to come by in Quebec.

The situation in Newfoundland is quite different. University graduates often move away because of, job opportunities. Grants are necessary to stop the brain drain.

University fees in Ontario are amongst the highest in the country, therefore grants and loans are more sought after. In Ontario loans are more common than other forms of aid because of the reputation of plenty of high paying jobs

Students at Memorial University now receive aid as grants instead of loans

in the province available to graduates.

Should other provinces follow Newfoundland and Labrador’s lead? On the one hand, by making education less affordable we risk deterring our

best and brightest from studying and finding well-paying jobs.

On the other hand, by increasing the number of grants and bursaries, we may create academic inflation, where

more jobs require higher levels of education. One model can’t work for all provinces, and in Ontario, students will continue to payi a hefty education price for the foreseeable future.

What is university good for? Actually, a lot of things Post-secondary offers students education outside of the classroom Joshua Hands

Fulcrum Contributor With more information accumulating in the online world every day, and a seemingly constant state of debt for many students, some question what exactly universities provide that isn’t readily available for free on our laptops and smartphones.

The job market has become incredibly competitive, with 28 per cent of Canadians having some form of post-secondary education in 2013 according to University Affairs.

This increase means that when employers are looking for qualified individuals, it’s much more efficient to judge applicants by where and what they studied. Since university

24 | OPINIONS

tests your knowledge, having a degree shows you meet a certain standard of intelligence.

But this isn’t the only way to benefit from a university experience. Whether students realize it or not, at university you receive lots of guidance, as well as the freedom to develop strengths that give you the capacity to succeed. There are resources everywhere on campus that are designed to give you practical experience in your field, or to assist you in developing a skill set you can be confident in.

For example, there are an assortment of clubs and organizations available to you in whichever faculty you call home. You would be surprised at how specific these clubs

Universities are still neccesary in our society

are—instead of “business club”, you’ll be able to find your niche in a sea of marketing, accounting, entrepreneurship, or management information systems clubs. While the idea of more academic responsibility can be daunting, learning to rise above stress and simultaneously develop your interests is incredibly rewarding.

Photo: Kim Wiens

Learning is a beautiful thing, but experience is by far the best teacher. The support system you’ll build through your experiences with other students having a common passion will help you realize your potential. And that’s something you won’t find in a textbook.

While it’s clear that there’s

a lot to gain by attending university, is it worth what we ultimately lose in finances?

With tuition at the U of O reaching its tenth consecutive year of increases, it’s easy to understand the skepticism people hold about the true value of post-secondary education. While the idea of playing it financially safe is tempting, is throwing away the prospect of university really the most effective way to do this?

University is a huge investment, being prepared going in can drastically reduce your financial woes. Many people in high school feel the need to rush to post-secondary with or without a solid idea of what their career goals are.

Many students get the wrong impression of post-

secondary studies, because they haven’t been able to fully take advantage of the developmental resources on campus. Without a clear idea of your interests, finding both your niche at school and spare change becomes a challenge.

When you’ve spent most of your week at the library and eating all your meals at the campus Tim Hortons, it can be hard to remember why you chose the university life to begin with. But rest assured that if you’ve entered the U of O on your own schedule, and you’re willing to lose sleep occasionally to keep up with new friends and responsibilities, the true benefits of your degree will be far too long to list on that little parchment paper.

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Attack ads have no place in Canadian politics Voters fatigued by constant negativity Natasha Lomonossoff Fulcrum Contributor

If you’ve been paying attention to the current federal election campaign, chances are that you’ve seen the Conservative ad mocking Justin Trudeau at least once. You’ve seen the office setting, and heard the cringeworthy “Nice hair, though”. The ad ends by concluding that he’s “just not ready” to lead in the political arena.

While this particular ad seems rather tame by today’s standards, it’s indicative of a growing nastiness within Canadian politics. Attack ads in this election not only target parties’ policies, but the leaders of the parties as well. It’s one

thing to attack someone’s policies or ideas—it’s another thing entirely to directly attack their character or personality.

Consider the “just not ready” ad, where the Conservatives manage to accomplish both.

Trudeau’s policy proposals are characterized as amateur, and are depicted ase a reflection of who he is as a politician and a person—an immature rookie.

Attack ads such as these are particularly mean-spirited, in that they try to completely denigrate a candidate’s character, in addition to their political abilities. This new approach will likely serve to further alienate Canadians from participating in the political process and reinforce the stereotype of politics being a nasty,

dirty business.

In fact, it may already have helped in doing so—Voter turnout consistently reached at least 70 per cent from 1957 to 1992, but dropped all the way to 58.8 per cent in 2008, and

61.1 per cent in 2011. While there are likely a number of factors at play, the possible correlation between increases in both negative political campaign tactics and voter disengagement is hard to ignore.

It’s interesting to note that in many European countries, there are fairly strict regulations on political messaging. In the UK, Ireland, and Switzerland, there are bans on attack ads and both the UK and Ire-

land had higher voter turnout rates in their last elections than Canada. In other countries, such as Japan and Australia, electoral regulations discourage negative ads against candidates and parties.

Perhaps it’s time that Canada brought in similar regulations.

If the public were presented with fair political advertising, it would go a long way towards changing our perceptions of the political process in general.

In the mean time, all of the political parties should take a moment to think about the message they’re sending with their ads. If Canadian politicians want to inspire intelligent discussion and optimism, they would do well to drop the negativity from their campaigns.

Electoral reform could bring more parties into the mix

This election could be the last using first-past-the-post David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

The coming federal election has generated a lot of buzz around issues like Bill C-51, legalization of marijuana, and the role of the Canadian Senate. One fact that tends to get lost among all this is that two of the leading political parties, the Liberals and the NDP, have both committed to overhauling the current electoral system and replacing it with proportional representation.

This could be the last election in Canadian history to use the first past the post system, a system where all that matters is who a majority of voters in a single riding support.

Proportional representation systems are already in use in several countries around the

world, most notably Germany.

The system that the NDP are advocating is called a mixed member system, and involves voters voting both for a local candidate and then for a federal party. Candidates who win a local majority get a seat in parliament, similar to the current system, while parties are awarded additional seats based on their percentage of the vote. These additional seats are filled with candidates from official party lists.

The Liberal party has announced that they will support the creation of a committee to determine what types of electoral reforms should be made. They have promised to pass laws supporting whatever the committee’s findings are.

Proportional representa-

tion has the possibility of introducing a whole new cast of political parties to the scene.

There are over a dozen registered federal political parties in Canada outside of the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP. Many of them have never had seats in parliament and in fact remain little known to most voters.

Most voter knowledge of the political fringe is limited to the Green Party and the Bloc Québécois, but there’s a whole realm of other parties out there. From the satirical Rhino Party, which has proposed nationalizing Tim Hortons, the Pirate Party, which is focused on updating copyright law, to the more serious Bridge Party, which is committed to reforming the electoral sys-

tem.

In the 2011 election the Bloc Québécois, Green and smaller parties combined received less than 11 per cent of the vote, with the smaller parties getting less than 1 per cent.

While these parties may not be a large part of the current political landscape they very well could be under a proportional representation style of election. These parties are all able to propose more unconventional ideas and policies that more mainstream parties never would, out of fear of losing voters.

Canada needs a proportional representation system because not only is it more fair to voters, but it also helps stimulate political change.

If voters can cast a vote for both a candidate and a different party then they can have

an impact on their community as well as national issues. Under this new system the Green party could get more than one seat, even though in the last election it received over 572,000 votes. Given seats in Parliament, smaller parties could bring some of their policies into action, bring them to the forefront of politics and have a larger impact. This would also force accountability among the larger parties,

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who sometimes take their influence on Canadian society for granted.

However a possible danger of proportional representation is that it can give power to parties who don’t have the best ideas. There’s a reason why these parties are on the fringe and not currently running the country. But a new electoral system could succeed in bringing fresh and new ideas to improve the lives of Canadians.

OPINIONS | 25

Maxime Le Fulcrum

Contribu

tor

As construction continues in the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) building parking lot, more lost treasures are being unearthed. Earlier this month the construction crew found a car from the 1960s under the parking lot. Recent digging progressed slowly after the discovery of the $10,000 worth of fireworks purchased by last year’s SFUO. Workers are concerned that the fireworks might go off and therefore serve their intended purpose of providing U of O

26 | THE TOMATO

More discoveries made at FSS parking lot

students with a brief period of joy.

The crew has now also stumbled upon old Gee-Gees and Raven‘s mascots fighting, the scene beautifully preserved in amber. It was quickly removed and dusted off, then transported to a secure warehouse for anthropology and archaeology students to examine.

A joint Carleton-U of O club was meeting in FSS when they had dug the piece up.

Rachel Bing, a 4th year English student said “it was like an ancient fresco. Except this time it was the ancestor of our current mascot crushing an

annoying bird.”

Carleton philosophy student Diane Dreary reported that the bird was “pretending to be dead so it could bounce back and deliver a killing strike when the horse was turned around.”

Beside the car’s gravesite was a mechanical part that appeared familiar to workers.

Another hour of digging revealed a buried bulldozer. An archaelogical crew analyzed the preserved treadmarks and determined that one of the heavy machines had actually paved over a bulldozer as well as the previously discovered car . One foreman for the crew

said, “the bulldozer operator is still alive, although how that’s at all possible, I have no idea.”

After prying the bulldozer from the earth, workers also discovered an entranceway to a small meeting room. This room lead to a forgotten bar, pool tables and larger room full of couches and chairs.

Police officials who inspected the site said it appeared as if a secret group had been meeting there for many years.

Authorities discovered several coded documents in the room and brought in experts to decipher them. Cryptologist Diane Lima worked on the job, pronouncing it to be

Crews unearth more buried items from the FSS parking lot.

her most difficult case to date.

“This is a very tough code and I’m not sure we’ll ever know

Photo CC

what it says,” Lima said in a statement to a Tomato reporter earlier this week.

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DISTRACTIONS A note from Di,

University is a time of friskiness, exploration, and hot steamy sex. Never again in your life will you be surrounded by so many hot’n’ready singles, so enjoy your time here while it lasts. I know I sure have. But, as always, remember to stay safe.

The university practically showers you with condoms. Use them. If you run out you can pick out more at places like the Pride Centre and Health Services.

Also, never forget that consent is sexy. You should always ask your partner for consent and how far they are comfortable in going. Silence does NOT equal consent.

PS-Enjoy your frolicking; I’ll be looking forward to all the saucy stories ;)

Di Dear Di,

I’m super excited to start at the University of Ottawa, but I’m a little worried about still being a virgin. I don’t know how to approach matters concerning sex, especially since I feel most people will expect me to be “in the know”. So, should I be open about my sexual history—or lack thereof—with new friends and acquaintances, or will they think I’m weird?

-Virginia Prudence Dear VP,

The decision to disclose matters about the status of your V-card is a really personal decision. You should never feel obligated to reveal details about your sexuality if you are not comfortable.

But don’t fret about being a virgin right out of the starting gate. You’d be surprised at how many virgins will be arriving on campus with you at the beginning of September. According to a 2012 study conducted by Her Campus, the number of incoming post-secondary virgins could be—on average—as high as 43 per cent.

So while you may find yourself feeling uncomfortable or intimidated by the highly sexualized atmosphere that usually characterizes the first couple weeks of school, don’t worry!

Chances are you aren’t the only one.

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062

Dear Di

Dear 101-ers,

xoxo,

FEATURES EDITOR Kyle Darbyson

Dear Di,

I’ll be living in rez this coming year and, as much as I’m looking forward to it, I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from my siblings about stuff like floor orgies, loud roommate sex, and overly touchy floor mates.

What is acceptable college etiquette in dealing with these awkward encounters?

-Debauchery Fright Dear DF,

Ah yes, rez life can be filled with lots of sexual mishaps and awkward situations. Some can be quite humorous, and will eventually turn into great dinner party stories.

Others can just be uncomfortable and inappropriate. How you experience it will be very dependent on your boundaries, and what you’re comfortable with.

A lot of the awkwardness can be avoided by simply sitting down and having a conversation with your roommates before anything happens. For example, clearly stipulating that there should be no shower sex is a much less painful alternative than coming home to discover loud moans coming from the bathroom you just cleaned.

As for floor orgies—yes they happen —that’s more of a grey area.

For a lot of people, university is a place to experience new and exciting things, and for some, group sex is at the top of the list. Of course there’s nothing wrong with dipping your toe in that pool, but make sure it’s safe. Just like all university experiences, it’s all about consent.

However, consent starts to become an issue when alcohol comes into the equation. So, if you’re interested in a communal shag, make sure everyone is on the same page with regards to what is and isn’t cool. If you are not down to “couche” with your floor mates, then all you have to do is politely decline.

As for overly touchy roommates, that’s a black and white issue. It is never okay for someone to touch you in a way that makes you uncomfortable or without your explicit consent. Once again, communication is key, so be sure to have a conservation about boundaries and if the touchiness persists, speak to your Resident Advisor.

Love, Di

Love, Di

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DISTRACTIONS | 27

28 | DISTRACTIONS

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Sept. 3 to Sept 10, 2015

THRYLLABUS

AC/DC, TD Place—7 p.m.

Cartel Land (drug documentary), Mayfair Theatre—8:45 p.m.

Jeff Rogers, Fat Tuesdays—9:30 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 4 Mr. Holmes, Bytowne Cinema—4:45 p.m.

Malak, LIVE on Elgin—10 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 5 Saturday Morning All-You-CanEat-Cereal Cartoon Party, Mayfair Theatre—10 a.m.

Ottawa Serbian Film Festival, opening day, 1989 Prince of Wales Drive —12 p.m.

MUSIC arts

Thinking

Amy (Amy Winehouse documentary), Bytowne Cinema—9:50 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 7 Gladiators and the Colosseum (Death and Glory), Last day, Canadian War Museum—9:30 a.m.

Alex Colville-A Canadian Icon, Last day, National Gallery of Canada—10 a.m.

Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival, last day, Baie Park—8 p.m.

Ottawa Turkish Festival, opening day, 335 Michael Cowpland Dr. — 12 p.m.

Gee-Gees Women’s Rugby vs Sherbrooke, Minto Sports Complex—3 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 8

Best of India-Best of Jazz, Vijay Iyer and Dr. L Subramaniam, Shenkman Arts Centre—7 p.m.

2015 Polaris Music Prize Panel, National Arts Centre—7:30 p.m.

BEY BEY All Beyoncé dance party, Babylon Nightclub—10 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 9

Gee-Gees Men’s Football vs Queen’s, home opener, Lees Campus—1 p.m.

FUN

Niilo Sevänen, Ritual Night Club— 7:30 p.m.

Gee-Gees Women’s Soccer vs Nipissing, Minto Sports Complex—1 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 6

Sports

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Thursday, Sept. 3

One Direction, Canadian Tire Centre—7 p.m.

Lolita, Bytowne Cinema—8:40 p.m.

House of PainT Festival of Urban Arts and Culture, opening day, Dunbar Bridge—12 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 10

Gee-Gees Women’s Soccer vs Laurentian, Minto Sports Complex—1 p.m.

Kanata Ribfest and Corn Roast, opening day, free admission, Walter Baker Park —11 a.m.

Latin America Parade and Festival, Downtown Ottawa— 2 p.m.

Chameleon (documentary), One World Film Festival Benefit, Bytowne Cinema—6:30 p.m.

Fedstock, A Tribe Called Red, EY Centre, — 6 p.m.

DISTRACTIONS | 29

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The best thing you can do is connect with the campus clubs representing the different political parties, which offer many opportunities to hear various How you can make a difference this election points of view, meet local candidates, Today’s high school and university ment to become engaged and informed, and get involved with election camgraduates are facing unprecedented to read up on policies and platforms and paigns. challenges—high unemployment rates, to show up and be heard on Election crippling student debt, an inflated hous- Day, we would change the course of this Our club, the University of Ottawa ing market, and a social safety net that election, and the future of our country. Young Liberals, offers students a posino longer offers the protection that it That being said, just because we are tive and informative environment in was intended to provide. capable, that doesn’t mean that this which to learn about the Liberal platAs students, we have a say in our will be easy. Stephen Harper’s Conser- form, as well as many opportunities to representation in the House of Com- vative government has made it harder prove to local candidates that students mons, which controls and manages for young people to vote by introduc- can be an important part of a campaign many of these important issues, yet in ing their “Fair Elections Act”, which has team. Each weekend, we have a great 2011 voter turnout in the 18-24 age cat- created more hoops that aboriginals, time getting together with like-minded egory was less than 39 per cent. Young seniors, members of the homeless com- people, and talking to voters across the people are growing ever more cynical munity, and young people now need to city about the issues that are important and apathetic, and we can’t blame them. jump through in order to vote. There- to them. We would love to invite you to What they don’t know, however, is that fore, it is important to make sure you come out and meet our team and maybe change starts with us. are prepared as well as educated; start even get involved in a campaign around Young people often think that their by registering early to vote.

Ottawa; it’s one of the most fun, rewardvote won’t make a difference, but a Another issue we face as young vot- ing and impactful things you can do as a study done by the University of Ot- ers, is not knowing how or where to student in the Nation’s Capital. tawa’s Kevin Page shows that if just become involved in politics; it is easy to If you are interested in joining our 60 per cent of young people voted in feel like an outsider in political groups, club, look us up on Facebook or email us the 2011 election, the Stephen Harper or to feel that we are uninformed or not at Ottawa@campus.oyl.org.

Conservatives would not have walked taken seriously. There are many ways —Kevin Den Heijer, Vice President, away with a majority government. If you can get involved in and educated University of Ottawa Young Liberals we, as young voters, made a commit- about politics right here on campus.

check out our website at thefulcrum.ca tweet us @ the_fulcrum like us on facebook @thefulcrum follow us on instagram @ instafulcrum

30 | LETTERS

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EDITORIAL

Volume 76, Issue 2, September 3, 2015 Taking over the neighbourhood since 1942.

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

Nadia “New Wave” Drissi ElBouzaidi Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Devin “Platinum” Orsini Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Savannah “Work Less” Awde Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Eric “Excalibur” Davidson News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Allegra “Island” Morgado Arts & Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Spencer “Patrons of Industry” Murdock Sports Editor sports@thefulcrum.ca Kyle “Blue Enigma” Darbyson Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca David “Clear Grits” Campion-Smith Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Reine “Soldier” Tejares Online Editor online@thefulcrum.ca Kim “Wildrose” Wiens Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Marta “Covenant” Kierkus Staff Photographer photographer@thefulcrum.ca Zach “Vision” Verret-Borsos Multimedia Coordinator multimedia@thefulcrum.ca Danika “People’s Front” Leminski Associate News Editor associate.news@thefulcrum.ca Nicole “Natural Law” Rutkowski Associate Features Editor associate.features@thefulcrum.ca David “Independent Alliance” Agbaire Proofreader Deidre “Rock’n’Roll loony” Butters Advertising Manager ads@thefulcrum.ca Dayne “Progressive Dane” Moyer General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors

Moussa “Free Soil” Sangaré-Ponce Alexei “Dominion Labour” Kazakov Lane “Rhinoceros” Ripco Eric “Whig” Wilkinson Kelsey “Party! Party! Party!” Campbell Diyyinah “Deadly Serious” Jamora Maitland “Silver” Shaheen Deborah “The Civilian” Sogelola Chris “The Rent is too Damn High” ZapataPrado Zac “Raza Unida” Delamont Max “Happiness Realization” Szyc Janoah “Orange Alternative” Willsie Raghad”Donald Duck” Sheikh-Khalil Lindsay “McGillicuddy Serious” MacMillan Maxime “Bill and Ben” Le Natasha “New Millennium” Lomonossoff Josh “Teddy Bear” Hands Nadia “Fancy Dress” Helal

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Huffing and puffing about nothing R

ecent rumours depicting Planned Parenthood as the big bad wolf has forced the Ottawa branch’s president, Lauren Dobson-Hughes, to make a plea to the public for support.

“For 50 years, we’ve been there for you, every step of the way. Now we need your help urgently. Planned Parenthood Ottawa (PPO) is suffering,” wrote Dobson-Hughes. “You’ve heard of the recent attacks on women’s healthcare in the States, but we’re feeling the impact too.”

In her message to the public, Dobson-Hughes elaborates on the attack that has migrated north of the 49th parallel.

“Planned Parenthood is under attack by people who oppose healthcare for women and the trans community, who don’t want youth to get the education they need, and who dedicate themselves to cutting our funding every way they can. They are targeting our funders,” said Dobson-Hughes.

Several highly-edited videos of interactions with Planned Parenthood employees in the United States has prompted right-wing politicians to investigate the organization, which is accused of illegally selling fetal organs. In fact, the organization legally charges clients for shipping and handling of the delicate tissues, but does not make a profit.

However, the fault doesn’t lie solely with private groups or citizens who ideologically disagree with Planned Parenthood, but also Ottawa Public Health, which has cut funding to the organization by ten per cent for two years running. As a result, the organization has had to turn away services to women in need, said Dobson-Hughes, citing an

“Part of the reason for us going public is we want people to push back and say we are not controversial. This is mainstream, evidencebased support. I want funders or potential funders to hear this.”—Lauren Dobson-Hughes, Planned Parenthood Ottawa president.

Photo courtesy of Lauren Dobson-Hughes

example where they were not able to help a woman who was being forced into an abortion by an abusive partner.

Earlier cuts in 2011 forced the group to shut down a youth education program on STIs, when the threat of the infections was at a tenyear high. These cuts can have devastating effects on women and members of the trans community, most who come from poorer backgrounds.

The news may prompt many of us to review our personal opinions on abortion. While many provincial health care programs cover the controversial procedure financially, to this day there exists no law either banning or guaranteeing the right to an abortion in Canada.

No matter your opinion on the sensitive topic, the major problem with attacking Planned Parenthood because of your views on abortion, is that the organization’s Ottawa branch doesn’t even perform abortions.

Here are a few numbers that might make the issue clearer. Zero per cent of the zero abortions performed at Planned Parenthood Ottawa’s nonexistent abortion services were financed by Canadian tax dollars.

Let’s break it down by year. In 2012, Planned Parenthood Ottawa performed zero abortions, compared to zero in 2013, and zero in 2014.

Data has not yet been released for

2015, but it’s widely expected to rise by zero per cent to zero.

Planned Parenthood Ottawa does provide referrals for abortion, which some might feel is just as bad, but they should also know that the organization provides information on other options for expectant mothers, like adoption.

Another common excuse is how the organization is a close ally of the american Planned Parenthood, which does provide clinical services, including abortions. The procedure accounts for a whopping three per cent of Planned Parenthood in the United States’ services, with the remaining 97 per cent dedicated to breast and cervical cancer screenings, HIV tests, and contraception.

Dobson-Hughes highlighted the most disturbing part of the latest crusade against Planned Parenthood in North America. “It’s not about abortion. They oppose our health care,” she said.

“Part of the reason for us going public is we want people to push back and say we are not controversial. This is mainstream, evidencebased support. I want funders or potential funders to hear this,” said Dobson-Hughes.

We know why abortion is so controversial, but what’s so controversial about women’s health care? And more importantly, why do we treat the two interchangeably?

The way we talk about women’s health care makes it seem like every woman who steps into a sexual health clinic decides, “This place does abortions? well I was going to go through with this pregnancy, but I might as well since I’ve already made the trip, right?”

This isn’t the first time in recent memory that members of the Canadian public have spurned vital information about sex. Last year Ontario parents protested the new provincial sex ed curriculum, fearing it was too much at too young an age, despite the wide-ranging support of experts.

This comes down to an age-old stigma against sex that has propagated the idea that sexual health care, unlike other branches, is a choice that an arbitrary number of people can withhold from the rest of the population. For some reason, sexually-themed Freudian psychology holds more weight in the public’s eye despite having been mostly disapproved, than the importance of contraception and cancer screenings.

We need to start framing the situation accurately, that those who oppose organizations like Planned Parenthood aren’t against abortion, they’re against healthcare. For those of you that are huffing and puffing, hoping to bring Planned Parenthood down, make sure the wolf is actually there, before you start telling people how scary it is.

EDITORIAL | 31