The Fulcrum - Vol 76 Issue 4

VOL. 76 ISSUE 4

sept. 17, 2015

Pg. 12

This Week

IN THIS ISSUE

Going without with a bang P.5 SFUO fireworks remain unused during 101 week

Join us for our journalism crash course!

Thurs. Sept. 24, A scary good show P.9 1 p.m.

U of O grad organizes Ottawa film festival

Legal Limbo P.12 How an Ottawa man is fighting to prove he’s Canadian Going for gold P.15 Special Olympics hopeful trains at U of O The issue at hand P.18 What U of O students should consider on election day All the single ladies P.20 Di’s tips on doing it alone

NEWS

NEWS EDITOR

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

Fuse runs out on SFUO fireworks $10,000 of fireworks remain unused Eric Davidson News Editor

F

or a second year in a row, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) plans to use $10,000 worth of fireworks have fizzled out.

The fireworks were bought on a non-refundable credit from B.E.M fireworks last summer. The fireworks were set to be used on Sept. 12, as part of the closing ceremonies of the U of O’s 101 week at Mooney’s Bay. However, the event was cancelled due to poor weather conditions, and the fireworks remained unused.

In a Facebook post, the SFUO stated, “in coordination with the VP Socials of Federated Bodies we decided to cancel (the event). However, rest assured that we will have many events throughout the year in which you will be able to participate.”

Last year, the fireworks were supposed to be used as part of the 101 week’s closing ceremonies at Strathcona Park, but the City refused to al-

SFUO-bought fireworks have not been used for the second year running.

low use of the fireworks because of a capacity limit.

Former vice-president social of the SFUO, Ikram Hamoud, said she then

inquired with the National Capital Commission but all the proposed locations were “too far”, in a previous edition of the Fulcrum.

Photo: Creative Commons Fieldington

Vice-president social Hadi Wess, and vice-president of communications, and interim president, Roméo Ahimakin, did not respond to the Fulcrum’s

request for comment in time for publication. Wess did say in a Facebook comment that students who bought tickets can be reimbursed.

Deconstructing U of O’s construction Eric Davidson News Editor

Last week, students at the University of Ottawa flooded back onto campus—or at least most of campus. Construction projects taking place at the university have left the campus

looking somewhat scarred, and some students aren’t impressed.

One project, the future Learning Centre, is currently under construction behind the Lamoureux building, on the corner of Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur.

The building is set to be

completed in December 2017, which means construction will continue for some time.

Another project is the former parking lot near the Faculty of Social Sciences building, which is being turned into a campus green space.

“Construction on the Uni-

versity Square did indeed start on time and is expected to be completed by December of this year,” Néomie Duval, acting manager of media relations at the university, said in an email to the Fulcrum.

These developments come after the recent completion of

its master plan last year, detailing all the major projects it plans to undertake in the next few decades.

The City of Ottawa’s Light Rail Transit system, will also be coming to the U of O, guaranteeing noisy frosh weeks for several years to come.

Construction continues for the planned Learning Centre.

Edits: Kim Wiens

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other construction projects, including the lawn in front of Tabaret hall, and the new Advanced Research Complex (by the Minto Sports Complex), which is home to the university’s Photonics and Earth Sciences departments.

The university also released

Photo: Marta Kierkus

NEWS | 5

Ottawa universities host human rights lawyer fleeing persecution U of O joins first Scholars at Risk program Eric Davidson News Editor

Students at the University of Ottawa are hitting the books, catching up with friends, and nursing their hangovers, but for one student, the new semester is a start of a whole new chapter.

Thanks to the U of O, which is working in partnership with Carleton University and a network called Scholars at Risk (SAR), back to school carries a different meaning for Hossein Raeesi. Raeesi is a human rights lawyer who was forced to flee his home countryof Iran.

SAR looks to protect threatened scholars around the world, “Scholars at Risk protects scholars suffering grave threats to their lives, liberty and well-being, primarily by arranging positions of sanctuary at institutions in our network,” according to the organization’s website.

6 | NEWS

The organization was started in the United States, and has spread across the US as well as Canada, and includes partner organizations throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Raeesi was selected to be hosted by the two universities, which is also the U of O’s first partnership with SAR. “In this case, which I think is a bit poetic, the first scholar we host is actually a human rights lawyer,” said John Packer, an associate professor of Law and director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the U of O. Raeesi began his career as a lawyer in Shiraz, Iran in 1991. He took on a number of human rights cases, often pro bono, including cases where he represented women, children, and minorities. He also worked with local NGOs to promote human rights.

As the head of the Bar Association in Fars province, Raeesi said he encouraged other lawyers to work on hu-

man rights cases as well. This provoked a negative response from the government.

“The intelligence service and judiciary were very sensitive after that,” he said. “In 2008, they opened a case against me.”

“I tried to practice more in Iran,” he said, “but after the 2009 presidential election, I had some clients involved in demonstrations against the government.”

Because of this Raeesi fled the country in 2012 and came to Canada.

Raeesi said he chose Canada because of its reputation for supporting human rights, and for welcoming immigrants.

Since arriving in Canada, Raeesi has worked as a teacher, but hasn’t been able to practice law.

One reason for this is that Iran uses a combination of civil law and Shariah (Islamic) law, while Canada, with the exception of Quebec, uses common law.

Although there are many

Hossein Raeesi was forced to leave his law practicie in Iran and come to Canada.

stories of immigrants coming to this country and being unable to practice their previous professions, Raeesi is confident that he will be a lawyer here soon.

At Carleton, he plans to use his experience to teach a class on human rights, Shariah Law, and the Islamic legal system.

At the U of O, he will take law courses to go towards his legal accreditation in Ontario, starting in the winter. “We thought, instead of teaching a course, how about he takes a couple courses that he needs to take in order to get his licence,” said Packer.

Raeesi will also be taking part in a number of seminars

Photo: Eric Davidson

and talks at U of O. The first, a panel on the death penalty, will take place on Oct. 21 at 11:30 a.m. in Fauteux 147.

If anything, Raeesi’s story goes to show that no matter what your situation, back to school season signals the beginning of something new and exciting.

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Taking Matters into your own hands this election

U of O student looks to demystify our democracy’s finances eric davidson news editor

Olivia Dorey, former parliamentary page, founder of Matters, and third-year public administration student at the University of Ottawa is working on a platform to make Canada’s financial data more clear.

Leading up to the federal election on Oct. 19, voters are bombarded with a lot of information. But too often, the numbers are incomplete or impossible to decipher.

Dorey is looking to change that.

“I decided that I wanted to build a website where people could go to find out how their taxes are being spent, and how it impacts them as individuals,ß” she said.

The website itself won’t be

here for a while. “It’s probably ten years down the road,” said Dorey, but that doesn’t mean Dorey is sitting on her hands.

“Our organization is going on Parliament hill, talking to all three levels of government to try and get them to change the way they account for finances,” she said, “It’s dorky, very dorky.”

It’s also very important.

For the upcoming election, it can be hard for voters to figure out what’s really going on with our country’s finances, especially since every party tells a different story.

For example, in September it was announced that Canada was in a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP. The different parties all had very different takes on what this meant for Canadians.

After analyzing what politi-

cal party leaders talked about most in speeches and press releases, the CBC found that the economy trounced all other issues.

“One interesting thing about Matters is that we’re non-partisan,” said Dorey. “What we’re looking to encourage is critical thought and transparency in discourse about politics.”

“If people are interested in getting involved but they haven’t really started with politics before, I recommend that they try out Vote Compass,” Dorey said, an online tool that shows voters how their views align with candidates running for election.

Dorey believes this is a good starting point for someone trying to see where they fit into the political spectrum.“Once it gives you your recommendation, then you can go look up

Photo: Eric Davidson

the party platforms,” she said.

Dorey will also be participating in a CBC panel following the next leader’s debate on Sept.

24.

“There’s a small panel of us that will be discussing it from a non-partisan perspective,” she said. “We’ll be saying ‘here’s what this means to you.’”

With the confusion around numbers in this election, it’s not hard to see why Dorey’s mission to decipher our country’s financial data really matters.

Brief blackout hits campus Eric Davidson News Editor

The University of Ottawa lost power to several buildings shortly on Sept. 14 at 5 p.m., including SImard, Morisset, Fauteux, the Arts building, and Thompson.

The blackout caused some minor inconveniences on campus, including knocking out Protection Service’s phone system, and forcing students

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to leave the library and their classrooms.

Not to be deterred, professor Miles Tittle took his children’s literature class outdoors, lecturing on stories like “Goldilocks” and “Red Riding Hood” from the grass in front of the Morisset building.

“I couldn’t think of what else to do,” he said.

Several students took to social media to lament the power outage. One student said

their lecture was still ongoing while the lights were down in the Arts building. Another student joked that the power was out because the university forgot to pay the electricity bill.

The blackout didn’t last long. Just before 7 p.m., acting manager of Media Relations Néomie Duval stated that the university and Hydro Ottawa had restored power to the buildings.

Photo: Creative Commons, Rafael Castillo

NEWS | 7

A&C EDITOR Allegra Morgado arts@thefulcrum.ca

ARTS&CULTURE

(613) 695-0062

Ottawa pigs out at Baconpalooza Inaugural pork-themed fest draws bacon fans from all over the Capital Carolyn mutis

fulcrum contributor

B

acon tacos, bacon pizza, bacon doughnuts, bacon poutine, bacon peanut butter and jelly sandwiches… is your mouth watering yet?

Fesital attendees’ definitely were as they attended the inaugural Baconpalooza Sept. 12 at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum.

Despite the sweater weather and rain, the outdoor festival attracted thousands of bacon lovers, who were like kids in a candy shop.

Cooking demonstrations were hosted by top Canadian chefs, including Lynn Crawford and Michael Blackie. Renowned food vendors such as Meatings BBQ Catering, OCCO Kitchen and The Works served up bacon-centric treats from special menus made just for the festival. Meatings bacon-filled menu featured a bacon donut with whiskey maple syrup, and a grilled peanut butter and jam sandwich stuffed with maple bacon.

Festival-goers browsed the Meat Market’s bacon-inspired wares, explored museum exhibitions, met farm animals and enjoyed live entertainment from Ottawa-based performers MonkeyJunk and Drew Nelson.

University of Ottawa alumna, Kristen Abraham, was the project manager for Baconpalooza. Abraham graduated from the U of O in 2004 with a BA in Communications, and now works as an event coordinator at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum.

“I think Baconpalooza went really well,” she said. “We didn’t really know what to expect, as it was the first event of its kind at the museum.”

“Normally, our target audience is small children and families. With Baconpalooza, we were trying to target a new audience. We wanted to bring in more adults, and we want to do more events that are centered around food and drink. This is just the beginning.”

The roasting of a 70 lb. pig, the festival’s first cooking demonstration, was led by chefs Michael Blackie and Mike McKenzie.

Blackie is best known for hosting Chef Off!, a Food Network show that aired in 2010, and for co-founding NeXT, a Stittsville restaurant that offers casual dining, events, catering and take-out.

McKenzie, who is one of Canada’s top artisanal food producers, has won many culinary awards and coowns Seed to Sausage, an artisanal cured meat and gourmet food shop in Ottawa.

“We’re not making health food

here today,” declared McKenzie, as he injected a suckling pig with apple juice concentrate, salt, sugar and ample amounts of beer.

After their demonstration, Blackie and McKenzie distributed samples of their dish: roast pig featuring Mexican spices, kale, corn, barbecue sauce and balsamic vinegar-soaked watermelon, to hundreds of hungry and inspired onlookers. Unsurprisingly, it was a hit.

Lynn Crawford, celebrated cookbook author and star of the popular Food Network Canada Show Pitchin’ In, was also among the chefs who showed off their bacon cooking prowess at Saturday’s event.

Crawford whipped up a pear upside-down cake covered in bacon caramel sauce. “To be truly Canadian, you have to eat twenty-six strips of bacon a day,” she said.

Die-hard bacon fans weren’t the only ones to attend Baconpalooza.

Animal rights activists also showed up to the festival, protesting the consumption of pork.

Abraham said she was fine with having the protesters attend the event; “They weren’t disruptive to our event, and everyone has the right to their own opinion,” she said.

Despite the activists and the rainy weather, the first Baconpalooza went off without a hitch. Abraham believes that the success of this festival

Bacon fans went all out for the inaugural festival.

will show promise for many more adult-focused food and drink festi-

Photo: Allegra Morgado

vals in Ottawa, such as cheese or local craft beer, in the future.

Local film festival showcases Ottawa’s indie horrors

Film fest features horror, sci-fi, and cult classics madison mcsweeney fulcrum contributor

“Get ready to be scared and/or disgusted,” warned Brett Kelly before playing the first film of the first annual Ottawa Spookshow and Fantastic Film Fest.

These words were more of an enticement than a warning for the room of avid horror fans on Sept. 12 at LIVE! on Elgin. The festival, organized by local filmmaker and University of Ottawa alumnus Brett Kelly, featured eight straight hours of independent horror and cult films from Ottawa and around the world.

Kelly and a team of judges selected 26 shorts and 2 feature-length films from a pool of approximately 200 submissions, endeavouring to include

entries from a variety of genres.

“We have Lovecraftian films, we have zombie comedies, we have creature features, we have slasher films,” Kelly explained. “A whole variety of stuff that’ll give people the willies.”

During his time in the U of O’s theatre program “many moons ago,” Kelly ran the Ottawa Student and Independent Film Festival. He founded the Fantastic Film Fest to “give something back to the younger filmmakers.”

In addition to films from Japan, the U.S., Australia, and Europe, the festival featured quite a bit of local fare, including a short by sixteen-year-old Cantebury High student Morgana Mackenzie, who casted from Cantebury’s drama program. Mackenzie used Kickstarter to fund her latest

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film, Ellie, raising $2,275 more than her original goal of $3,000 and found that an advantage of using crowdfunding was the supporters and fans that you gain before your film has even been released.

Other filmmakers also spoke of budgetary limitations as incentives for increased resourcefulness. Violet in Red Silk director Kyle Martellaci’s “microbudget” required him to get creative using practical effects and consulting YouTube tutorials for tips.

Kelly, who has himself made 26 genre films, believes that indie filmmaking allows directors to push boundaries and go farther than bigbudget studios are willing to risk.

“There’s no restrictions, anything goes. Whatever’s in your imagination ends up on screen, and this is certain-

ly an anything goes festival.”

Ranging in tone from straight horror to the intentionally campy, the movies didn’t shy away from cringeinducing violence, graphic nudity, experimental plots, and outright bizarre content.

The films were also often smarter and more inventive than the average studio horror flick. Take, for instance, the Italian short Leaning, which appears to depict a woman defending her child against a psychotic killer, deliberately misleading the viewer as to the identity of the villain until a shocking role reversal at the end. Or the clever mock trailer for The Hunter, which casts Looney Toons’ Elmer Fudd as a deranged slasher villain.

Other highlights of the festival included the Halloween-esque Tickle,

the man-eating plant throwback It Grows, and the twisted anthology Late Night Double Feature. The night wrapped up with a screening of grindhouse parody She Kills, followed by an after-party featuring Alice Cooper tribute band, Generation Landslide Ottawa has a vibrant horror scene, which Kelly attributes to our place in the political bubble. “We’re such a political town that a lot of people are looking for a venue of escape, and horror certainly does provide that.”

Kelly hopes to make the Spookshow and Fantastic Film Fest an annual event. Given Ottawa’s thriving horror community and the variety of exciting indie content to screen, it’s guaranteed to be a welcome tradition.

ARTS & CULTURE | 9

Ready, set, whoa: A Gee-Gee’s guide to France Ch. 1: Which way is north? raghad sheikh-khalil Fulcrum Contributor

“Je suis un peu perdue.. pourriez-vous m’aider?”

That basically sums up the start of every conversation that I’ve had my first week here. Paris is huge. “A bit lost” is definitely an understatement.

For someone who considers Google Maps to be the second coming of Christ, navigating my first week in a new country with no Internet access anywhere outside my apartment has been rough, to say the least.

But I guess that’s why I decided to come to France—to get a bit lost. Last year I decided to apply to do a semester-long exchange to Paris. And last week, I moved to Paris and began my adventure.

I feel like I’m Lizzie Mcguire in The Lizzie McGuire Movie,

the cars themselves. Everyone here is thin and beautiful. It’s almost perplexing how skinny all of inhabitants manage to stay, despite how rich the food is. I say almost because there are stairs about every 100 metres, so it’s not really that perplexing. Come to France if you want to lose weight eating strictly butter.

People actually go for walks.

Children play in parks. “Le foot” or soccer is so popular that they feel the need to put up “no football” signs in parks to keep the peace.

My attempts at not looking like a foreigner have been futile thus far. If my style choices and perpetually confused look didn’t give me away, my phone does. The second I take out my

except with a lot less singing, shady (but cute) European musical sensations, and runways.

As you can imagine, Paris is quite different from Ottawa.

My lack of directional sense aside, this first week has been spent attempting to adjust to a variety of new surroundings.

The architecture is incredible. Design is clearly a source of pride for the French. Imagine Tabaret-type buildings everywhere, except much bigger and without the seemingly endless sidewalk construction.

The roads are clean, the greenery is always trim and tidy, and stone-cobbled paths are at every turn. In the streets the cars are all very sleek. Only European vehicles are driven, with BMWs and Mercedes appearing to be a common choice.

The people who drive the cars are just about as fancy as

Illustration: Kim Wiens

phone in public, they know I’m not a local. The only time people have their phone out here is on the train, and even then the other half of the commuters are reading.

There is a “joie de vivre” here that you just don’t feel in Canada. Life’s not about work.

It’s a curious thought for the government lifestyle in Ottawa. Alcohol is not reserved for weekends—not when the wine is €2 a bottle and drinking outdoors is legal.

Although I’ve already experienced a lot this first week, I’m excited to fully embrace the Parisian culture over the next four months. At least once I learn to find my way back to my apartment.

Come to France if you want to lose weight eating strictly butter.

U of O alumni and profs honoured with Prix Rideau Awards nods Award ceremony celebrates locally produced theatre

Bronwyn Steinberg is one of many U of O alumni nominees.

Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Alexander

You’ve heard of the Tony Awards, and maybe even the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, but it would be a mistake to forget about Ottawa’s very own celebration of professional theatre.

The evening of Sept. 27 marks the eighth annual Prix Rideau Awards (PRA). Founded in 2006, its aim is to bring together local actors, directors, producers, and playwrights to celebrate the National Capital Region’s vibrant theatre community.

The PRA recognizes all aspects of

local theatre, from writing to managing and design, in both national languages. They are also the only bilingual theatre awards in Canada.

Kyle Ahluwalia, the president of PRA, and a University of Ottawa alumnus and part-time professor in the theatre department, says the tradition began “as a way to celebrate professional theatre in Ottawa.”

And the U of O has a lot to celebrate this year.

U of O alumni and professors dominate almost every category, and exclusively fill the “Nouvelle création de l’année,” “Mise en scène de l’année,”

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

maitland shaheen Fulcrum Contributor

Steinberg’s time in the Ottawa theatre community, she’s been involved in 12 PRA-nominated works and received three nominations herself.

“I’m happy to see that the PRA really does consider work by younger and emerging artists,” said Steinberg. “Our theatre community is so welcoming and supportive, and that’s what you see at the Rideau Awards—an outpour of support for the whole community.”

The theme for this year’s awards is “La Vie en Rose,” which Ahluwalia says “was chosen to represent the passion displayed in theatre.”

Many of the PRA’s past winners, such as Nancy Kenny of Roller Derby Saved My Soul fame, have gone on to

“Interprétation féminine de l’année,” and “Prix ‘Artiste en émergence’” categories.

With over 20 alumni and professors nominated, U of O nominees are sure to bring home at least a few awards.

One of these nominees is Bronwyn Steinberg, the founder of the new Tactics Theatre Group and a M.F.A. theatre graduate from the U of O. “It’s great to see the Rideau Awards bringing the theatre community together, whether emerging or established artists,” says Steinberg. This year her play Corpus, which she directed and produced, is nominated for “New Outstanding Work.”

Corpus is a Holocaust-themed play that revolves around a genocide scholar who, during her research, discovers a secret relationship between the wife of a Nazi officer and a PolishJewish prisoner in Auschwitz.

The story alternates between mo de r n- d ay Berlin, Canada, and Auschwitz during wartime.

Throughout

be nationally recognized. Ahluwalia says that this year’s awards boast a diverse group of nominees, from larger theatre companies like the Great Canadian Theatre Company to smaller ones like Steinberg’s Tactics, that represents the variety in Ottawa’s theatre community.

“That range and diversity speaks of the wealth of talent in Ottawa, and that’s true both in English and French.”

The evening of the awards will be held at the Maison du Citoyen in Gatineau. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.prixrideauawards.ca for $30 or at the door for $35.

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CAMPUS STYLE

U of O students show this week that school is no excuse for lack of style.

Photos: Remi Yuan

Mandek Abdourahman

Program: Visual Arts,

Program: Psychology,

first year

Kiana and Briana have both gone for relaxed, simple looks with dark colours to soak up the heat during the last few days of summer. Briana’s clubmaster and Kiana’s classic rounded sunglasses finish the look and show that casual can still be fashionable with the right accessories.

first year

Mandek’s easygoing style is perfect for lounging around with friends before schoolwork starts to pile up. Her outfit is completed by a trendy brimmed hat—an accessory that is sure to be everywhere this fall.

Raymon d

aham Jeff Gr

Program: Finance, third

Internatio nal dev global elopme nt and tion, t Anthroizpa hird ye ar (Ng ology, uy Politica s f cience stourth year (Green) and fashionl is udent en)

She pairs not always aboNeve proves th an amaz a simple summ ut the clothes. at messenging vintage insp er dress with elevates er bag. This sig ired leather na her entire oufit. ture accessory Marcus allen

Program: Psychology,

Bello

year

year

Jeff’s simple but stylish outfit demonstrates how one unique piece, like his dark patterned shirt, can be enough to grab people’s attention without becoming an eyesore. He has kept the rest of his outfit simple to make the one piece truly stand out.

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Program: Engineering,

first year

first

Marcus has read our minds and knows exactly how to impress professors and students alike with this outfit. He has opted for a classic look with a plaid shirt and perfectly cuffed pants. His earrings, watch, and simple black Vans sneakers complete his polished and timeless look.

Raymond shows that engineers can build outfits just as well as they can build anything else. The ribbing on his pants prove jeans can be fashion-forward, and he finishes the outfit off with a gold watch and a well-kept pair of sneakers. .

Linh Nguyen (L) and Melissa Green (R)

Kiana Darvish (L) and Briana Vanular (R)

Allegra Morgado, Arts & Culture Editor

ARTS & Culture | 11

No country for young Deepan

A

fter a day of t finally met De on Parliament The location was cho geographical convenie parking spaces availab to the University of Otta week—but our meet up nificant as well.

For the last five years ing to regain his Canadia that the government str 2010. To make matters of being deported to In he’s never been to Indi doesn’t recognize him as With this in mind, I s Parliament, in the sh er, and listened to th story, anticipating reaucratic fuck-up th of legal limbo.

And while Budlak up to that quality, I bigger in its implications crocosm of our governm towards citizenship stat tion, and humanitarian a

While Deepan Budlakoti’s struggle for citizenship is the first of its kind in Canadian history, his current predicament is emblematic of the topics dominating today’s political discourse.

Kyle Darbyson Features Editor

Falling throu

Deepan Budlakoti was 17, 1989, but his parents’ e ally where this confusing As Indian immigrants w 1985, they worked as hou bassador of India leadin While federal law autom ship to those who are bo same doesn’t apply to dipl dren.

However, since Budla have stopped working f before their son’s birth, t tion was a non-issue.

As such, Budlakoti nev tion the status of his citiz he always considered him “I was born and raised birth certificate, I was go thing,” he said. “I even go 2003).”

The validity of Budlako er called into question u he was serving time beh and entering charge. Onc system”, this drew the at Border Service Agency, w larities in his parents’ his in his case came to him a nadian citizen, said Budla “I told him that of cours and raised in Canada. I sh birth certificate and a c said.

Those two pieces of dered null and void two w Ever since then, Budla ery high-level judicial bo this decision overruled, i

“Deepan ha debt to socie medieval pun and democratic and General C

talking over the phone, I eepan Budlakoti in person t Hill. osen partly because of its ence—there were more ble downtown compared awa campus during frosh p spot is symbolically sig-

Budlakoti has been fightan citizenship, something ripped away from him in worse, he is also at risk ndia, despite the fact that ia and their government s a citizen either. sat down on the steps of hadow of the Peace Towhis “stateless” man tell his a tale of an unusual buhat has left him in a state

koti’s story certainly lived found out that it’s much s—because it acts as a miment’s changing attitudes tus, criminal rehabilitaaid.

ugh the cracks

s born in Ottawa on Oct. employment history is reg saga begins. who arrived in Canada in usehold staff for the Amng up to their son’s birth. matically grants citizenorn on Canadian soil, the lomatic staff or their chil-

akoti’s parents claim to for the embassy months they felt that this stipula-

ver felt the need to queszenship growing up, since mself to be a Canadian. d here, I got a Canadian oing to school and everyot a Canadian passport (in

oti’s nationality was nevuntil May of 2010, when hind bars on a breaking ce Budlakoti was “in the ttention of the Canadian who noticed some irregustory. An officer involved and told him he’s not a Caakoti. se I’m a citizen. I was born howed him a copy of my copy of my passport,” he

identification were renweeks later. akoti has appealed to evody in the country to get including the Ontario Su-

perior Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Canada.

However, waiting for these appeals to come through hasn’t been easy, since his access to housing, health care, and employment opportunities is severely limited without citizenship.

“It’s very hard to get a job based on the fact that my case is so well known in Ottawa,” he said, revealing that he works odd construction jobs and paid speaking gigs to get by. “So when an employer finds out ‘Oh wait, aren’t you that guy that’s dealing with his citizenship? Oh, we don’t want any problems here’.”

Budlakoti’s supporters—including the University of Ottawa’s branch of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)—have criticized the government for their handling of this case, and feel that the idea of deporting someone due to bureaucratic discrepancies is completely lacking in compassion and common sense.

But according to some this case has nothing to do with bureaucratic rigmarole, and everything to do with politics.

*

I am Canadian

Of course, Budlakoti’s campaign to prove that he is a native of Canada has come at an inopportune time, since the sitting government is currently enforcing tighter legal stipulations for Canadian citizenship.

Professor Joel Westheimer—a citizenship education expert from the U of O—explains that in the past Budlakoti’s case would have been considered a “no-brainer,” as it would have been for anyone else who has lived all of their life in this country.

“What people are disputing is the letter of the law. Was he a citizen or was he not? Were his parents employed as diplomats or were they not at the moment he was born? But it doesn’t pass the sniff test,” he said.

Most government officials only seem concerned with bureaucratic minutae instead of practical reality, according to Westheimer.

“By any common sense he was obviously a Canadian citizen and had he not been his parents would have applied for citizenship.”

Unfortunately, complex cases of this nature have to contend with new legislation like the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, also known as Bill C-24.

Under this new law, the stipulations for citizenship have been escalated, including a longer required physical presence in Canada and increased security measures.

However, the most contested part of Bill C-24 has to do with the fact that it gives government officials more avenues to revoke people’s citizenship. For example, the majority of the revocation cases are now handled by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, as opposed to a federal court judge.

“This idea of stripping citizenship from people is a fairly new one,” remarks Westheimer. “It’s a post9/11 phenomenon (that) trickles down from 9/11 into all kinds of civilized society, like Bill C-51.”

Certain groups, including the British Columbiabased Civil Liberties Association, are worried that these increased powers puts dual citizens—and

as committed crimes, but he’s also paid his ety. To try and banish him for these crimes is nishment that has no place in a modern, free, c Canada.”—Sukanya Pillay, Executive Director Counsel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association.“

“This idea of stripping citizenship from people is a fairly new one. It’s a post-9/11 phenomenon (that) trickles down from 9/11 into all kinds of civilized society.”—Joel Westheimer, citizenship education expert, University of Ottawa. people like Budlakoti who don’t fit into the “traditional” mold—at risk, and creates a two-tiered system that categorizes certain Canadians as secondclass citizens.

What’s more, others are worried that this new law even has the potential to make our universities less attractive to international students, since no-one wants to buckle down and study with the looming threat of deportation hanging over their heads.

These concerns are shared by Budlakoti, who believes that he and others in similar situations are test cases to help the government appraise the resilience of this new nation-wide standard.

“I think the Conservative government is trying to essentially bully me and make me an example.

All these policies they’re putting in, it essentially has a sense of racism all across the board. Bill C-24, Bill C-51, all these bills are what? To target people that have migrated to Canada.”

Crime and punishment But since this is an election year, the political parallels don’t stop there.

This dynamic hasn’t been lost on Westheimer, who believes that it’s no coincidence that Budlakoti’s case coincides with another hot button issue.

“I think it is political,” he said. “It’s a ‘tough on crime’ stance which will appeal to some voters.”

Indeed, Budlakoti’s criminal past—which includes breaking and entering, drug dealing, and the illegal transfer of a hunting rifle—is a major sticking point for many of his critics.

In a National Post article, Alexis Pavlich—a spokesperson for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration—said, “This convicted criminal has never been a Canadian citizen. He should not have chosen a life of crime if he did not want to be deported from Canada.”

The Minister’s office did not respond to our calls for further comment.

While this hard-line stance perfectly falls in line with the Conservative government’s trademark tough-on-crime policies, Westheimer points out that this attitude should not apply to someone with Budlakoti’s history.

“We can talk about (deportation) with regards to people who are going overseas to plan terrorist acts,” he said, referring to new amendments that were made to the Citizenship Act thanks to Bill C-24. “But, my God…he’s a petty criminal and he’s had trouble growing up.”

Sukanya Pillay—the Executive Director and General Counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association—similarly believes that the government’s proposed punishment for Budlakoti is disproportionate to his past misdeeds.

“Deepan has committed crimes, but he’s also paid his debt to society. To try and banish him for these crimes is medieval punishment that has no place in a modern, free, and democratic Canada.”

While Budlakoti says he reformed during his years in prison, and is looking to put his troubled youth behind him now that he is no longer incarcerated, he’s worried that his case sets a dangerous precedent for aspiring Canadians.

Stateless at home and abroad The one wrinkle in this case that government officials are not so keen about highlighting is In-

dia’s reluctance to accept Budlakoti as a citizen, which effectively renders him stateless.

Not only does this make the whole scenario much more complicated for everyone involved, but it also draws attention towards Canada’s international humanitarian obligations.

“There’s the treaty that Canada has signed about the reduction of statelessness,” said Westheimer, referring to the United Nations’ official Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. “I don’t think India is a signator to that treaty, but Canada is, which gives us even more obligations to (help Budlakoti).”

Outside of being a violation of international law, Pillay remarks that the government’s failure to provide a home-grown stateless person with protection echoes their treatment of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing their countries civil war.

Similar to Budlakoti’s case, Canada’s response to the thousands of fleeing asylum seekers has been criticized for being hampered by impractical government planning and bureaucratic red tape.

“Traditionally, Canada has extended its arms to refugees,” said Pillay, echoing historical events such as Canada’s resettlement of thousands of South-East Asians who fled following the Vietnam War. “But in recent years we have made amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that fails to fulfill our obligations to refugees.”

Budlakoti reciprocates this feeling of disappointment, saying these recent developments don’t live up to his conception of Canada growing up.

“Canada is supposed to be the most humane country in the world, and welcoming to immigrants and so forth, right? But yet we have this Conservative government that’s destroying that policy completely. We lost a seat in the UN. Deportations have increased tremendously. Longer detentions have even commenced (for refugees).”

The waiting game Ironically, while Canada’s current reputation in the international community might be taking a dive, it might be Budlakoti’s salvation.

In April the Canadian government finally submitted its findings on Budlakoti’s case to the United Nations for review, with its decision set to be revealed at an unspecified date.

Since virtually all of his various applications are currently in a process of review, the only thing Budlakoti can do is wait and hope for the best.

Combined with the fact that no opposing political party is going to touch this volatile topic in the lead up to election day, Budlakoti is left in a state of limbo that no Canadian has likely experienced before.

After some nostalgic small talk about SpiderMan toy web shooters, I bid goodbye to him near the Centennial Flame, feeling exhausted.

Up until that day, I had never considered what my own Canada citizenship really meant, and the idea that it could intersect with so many complex political issues made we want to lie down.

Maybe I had taken it for granted? Heck, maybe we all do?

But I do know one thing for sure—the one person in the country who doesn’t take the issue of citizenship lightly is Deepan Budlakoti.

SPORTS

SPORTS EDITOR Spencer Murdock sports@thefulcrum.ca

(613) 695-0062

Shootout in the Steel City gives football team first loss No. 7 McMaster’s massive second half performance evens Gee-Gees record 1-1 Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

T

he Gee-Gees football team took a small step backward in their hunt for a national championship.

For the first half of their matchup with the McMaster Marauders, the Gees looked primed to down the seventhranked team in Canada.

Unfortunately the team couldn’t pull off the upset in Hamilton, falling 57-42 to last year’s Vanier Cup runner up.

This game reaffirmed the growing rivalry between the Marauders and Gee-Gees.

Over the last handful of years, these two teams are destined to meet in games that will shift the tides of a season.

Both teams are fighting to establish themselves as elite in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference. McMaster has established their place after two impressive wins, however the Gee-Gees will have to address some issues before proving how elite they are.

The game quickly turned into a shootout with Gee-Gees quarterback Derek Wendel

Photo: Remi Yuan

spreading the ball and commanding the offence. The Gees found the endzone four times in the first half, and at one point held a 32-17 lead.

In similar fashion to the their opening game against Toronto, the Marauders stormed back in the second half to put

the Gee-Gees on the ropes. In a momentum-shifting turn, a McMaster player claimed a Gee-Gees player punched him in the groin.

There was no penalty called, which caused Mac’s head coach to throw a tantrum at the referee. McMas-

ter became motivated by that non-call and would not let up on the Gees.

Despite the loss, Wendel improved his resumé, boasting 301 passing yards and four all-purpose touchdowns for the second consecutive game.

The McMaster defence had

running back Bryce Vieira’s number all game, limiting him to only 41 yards rushing.

McMaster quarterback Asher Hastings and Ottawa’s Derek Wendel are two names sitting atop multiple passing statistics in the country.

The teams don’t appear to be slowing their aerial assault anytime`soon, so their battle will be one to watch for the remainder of the year.

The Gee-Gees will need to grow from this loss as the Marauders didn’t necessarily expose the Gees’ playbook. It was more of a situation where the Gees beat themselves by not making plays and leaving too much pressure on their defence.

“It was more on us. Give (McMaster) credit,” Gee-Gees coach Jamie Barresi told the

Ottawa Citizen. “They’re a good team and were able to put pressure on the quarterback, but there were things that we left on the field and our best defence is to keep our defence off the field. It was all on us.”

These lessons will be immensely useful when taking on other top-tier opponents like Guelph and Western later in the season.

The Gee-Gees will be coming back home to take on the Windsor Lancersß in a reunion game for the 2000 Vanier Cup Championship winning team. The Lancers enter the game with an 0-3 record and have only scored 30 points all season, meanwhile giving up 146.

Kickoff against Windsor will be at 1 p.m. on Sept. 19 at Gee-Gees Field.

Gee-Gees women’s rugby passes hardest test at Laval

Rouge et Or no match for the Gees powerful attack Gee-Gees left Quebec City with a much stronger 33-17 win.

However the game wasn’t always in their favour as the Gee-Gees traded penalty kicks with the Rouge et Or for the majority of the first half. The Gees worked to fight off Laval’s attack while the game was tied 3-3 until a late try forced the team to wake up, heading into the half down 10-6.

Gee-Gees head coach Jen Boyd told Sports Services that “the talk at halftime was about discipline,” and that the team “had a chance to refocus and

Spencer Murdock Sports Editor

Photo: Marta Kierkus

14 | SPORTS

After earning their first win in a massive blowout victory over Sherbrooke in their home opener, the Gee-Gees women’s rugby team had their first test against serious competition on Sept. 12.

The Laval Rouge et Or are the only team in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RESQ) to give the Gee-Gees a real challenge last year. In an incredibly close match, the Gees came away victorious by a score of 15-14. This season the

that was really the turning point in the game.”

It appeared that a fire was lit under the Gee-Gees as they stormed back from half with three consecutive tries, two of which came from star centre, Dria Bennett.

The match then fell into the grips of the Gee-Gees’ defensive prowess, which allowed the team to survive the best Laval could muster and hold onto a convincing win.

The 2-0 Gees look primed to repeat their perfect record from the previous season, with

potential for another conference victory on the horizon.

Their next test will be the least taxing road game, as it comes against the U of O’s archrival Carleton Ravens at the newly named MNP Park. The Ravens are 0-2, coming off of a massive opening loss to Concordia and a slightly closer loss to Université de Montréal. The game kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. Following their matchup with Carleton the team will head to Sherbrooke to take on the 0-3 Bishop’s Gaiters on Sept.

20.

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Special Olympian uses campus rec to boost her shot at a gold medal

Despite not being a student, this gymnast and skier finds inclusive environment at U of O Veronika Cencen Fulcrum Contributor

The University of Ottawa offers expansive sports recreation programs for all University of Ottawa students, however, the diverse selection of membership benefits sometimes attracts external visitors. Sophie Anne Lacourse recently began to use the services available at the U of O, and is a member of the Canadian Special Olympics team in rhythmic gymnastics and skiing.

The 18-year-old is working towards the Provincial-National-Worlds cycle of competition for rhythmic gymnastics, and is qualified for the Special Olympic National 2016 Winter Games that will take place in Newfoundland nextMarch.

While she still practices at

Ottawa Rhythmic Gymnastics Club, she finds it difficult to keep up with the strict regular training hours as she is faced with new obligations at work and school. A U of O student and fellow team member introduced the Gee-Gees recreation group fitness classes to Lacourse, and she quickly found interest in classes like Zumba and Piloxing.

“The instructors are great and I love the music, it’s a great workout! The best part is, I also get to use the gym to practice my routines.” said Lacourse.

She was also happy to learn she can add some diversity to her workout with access to the swimming pool and fitness centres.

The frequent and diverse offering of group fitness sessions is convenient, and is structured in a way to suit a

Lacourse (left) medaling at the Special Olympics.

Photo: courtsey of Sophie Anne Lacourse

variety of levels and goals.

This allows her to maintain and even gradually improve her fitness, as needed for the next Special Olympic World Games in 2019 where Lacourse hopes to compete in the highest level for the first time.

Catherine Zeiba is one of the group Piloxing instruc-

tors, and acted as a welcoming hand in Lacourse’s experience at classes held by the U of O. “I try to teach my classes in a fun manner, keeping everyone engaged and really pushing them to their limits,” said Zieba, who is a fourth-year political science student at the U of O. “Everyone’s physical abil-

FulcFit food series: Delicious dal

the Fulcrum has some essential recipes to keep you full and fit all year long.

Trying new recipes can be scary, but there are plenty of ways to make delicious, healthy, and cheap meals that satisfies even the pickiest eaters.

As the cold days of fall approach, this recipe will leave you with a protein packed warm bowl of dal, which is a stew enjoyed across many Middle Eastern and Asian countries.

Protein packed and delicious, dal is an ideal meal. Photo: CC, South of India The recipe is vegan, and with a $10 to $15 cost for ingrediRemi Yuan ents, it won’t break your student budget.

Fulcrum Contributor It makes about 3-4 servings, so share with During the school year, it’s all too easy to your friends, roommates, or freeze some let your eating habits slip. To help fight this, for a quick dinner after class or a workout.

Ingredients:

ities range on different levels, therefore I try to adapt the difficulty of the workout to the students: if I notice that most students are really struggling, then I’ll suggest alternatives or a smaller number of reps.”

There is a small catch to using the various programs.

The recreation team isn’t responsible for any changes or cancellations in the group fitness or gym availability, and unfortunately these are not uncommon. While the online calendar system attempts to solve this issue, the information is still sometimes missing or incorrect. During her first visit, Lacourse had intended to try the Zumba class, but ended up enjoying the Piloxing just as much.

Gee-Gees rec is promising a major improvement in providing correct information on the

1 cup of split peas or red lentils 2 cups of water 1 cup of vegetable broth 2 plum tomatoes, diced 1 medium yellow onion, diced 1 green chili (optional), finely chopped 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced Thumb sized piece of ginger, minced 1 tsps. all spice powder 2 tsps. curry powder or turmeric powder Salt and pepper to taste Step 1: Rinse lentils or split peas and soak overnight or for 2-3 hours beforehand.

Step 2: Add the lentils or split peas to the broth and water in a pot. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower to simmer and cover for about 15 minutes, or until soft.

Step 3: In a separate saucepan, set the heat to medium high, add vegetable or canola oil and

new calendar in the coming year. A representative from Gee-Gees rec said that “soon enough (within the week) we will also be putting out daily Instagram and Twitter schedules that will allow for updates on subs and cancellations.”

If anything, Lacourse’s experience with the U of O’s recreation programs have been nothing but helpful to her training. Fostering an inclusive environment for all members of the community on campus is important, and it seems to be paying off for at least one Special Olympics medal hopeful.

Non-student members of the community can sign up to use the University’s recreation services by paying for a monthly membership. More info can be found at geegees.ca/en/rec/ memberships

add in onion, garlic, ginger, chilies and spices.

Step 4: Once the onions have turned translucent, after about 3-4 minutes, add the tomatoes. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 5: Add the cooked lentils to the onion mix, stir and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Step 6: Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve alone or with rice, preferably basmati.

Enjoy!

Basmati rice recipe:

1 cup of dried rice 2 cups of water Step 1: Pour water into pot and bring to a boil.

Step 2: Once boiling, add rice and lower to simmer, then cover.

Step 3: Cook for about 30 minutes, until the rice is tender.

Step 4: If there is excess water, drain rice.

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Sports | 15

Gee-Gees club teams guide

Find out how to join a team during your time at the U of O Tima Hacini

Fulcrum Contributor Staying fit on your own during the semester can be a challenge, but luckily there are various sports programs you can be a part of during your time as a student at the University of Ottawa.

The varsity sports competing in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) are at one end of the spectrum, as they are highly competitive teams competing for provincial and national championships with funding from the university. Among these are the Gee-Gees women’s soccer team, which was ranked first in the nation last season, men’s basketball team— ranked first or second all year—

and the football team.

However, there are many other teams that take part in their own competitive associations. These teams include rowing, women’s fastball, men’s soccer, men’s rugby, water polo, among a long list of others.

If you missed out on varsity club tryouts, the bad news is that you will have to wait until next year as the majority of the tryouts and registration start mid-August and end during the second week of September. But fear not, there are still some great competitive sports teams with later tryouts and registrations that you can join!

Competitive Club teams Men’s water polo welcomes new players all year round.

The team trains from September to April, typically compet-

ing in four to five tournaments in addition to the National Capital Water Polo League (NCWPL), the OUA Championship in November, and a few scrimmage games with the Ottawa Titans Water Polo Club. Team training occurs twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30-10:30 p.m. at the Montpetit Hall pool.

The women’s water polo team—also free to newcomers—competes in three to five tournaments per year, including the Carleton University Invitational, the ‘Back from the Back’ tournament at McMaster University, and Penn State University’s Behrend College Invitational. Practice occurs three times a week on Monday and Wednesday at 7:30-9:30 p.m. and Friday from 2-4 p.m. at the Montpetit Hall swimming

pool. Throughout the team’s history, the roster has included players coming from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels.

The women’s ringette team is also offering a final set of tryouts, to be held during an Exhibition game against Carleton University on Sunday Sept. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Minto Sports Complex. They are in their 12th season, competing in the A division, with three gold medals under their belt from the previous season.

Their team holds two practices per week and typically plays one game a week, allowing any student to balance academics and athletics.

Intramurals and Drop-Ins Intramurals are another popular way to get involved in sports on campus, if you missed the deadline on Sept. 17 be sure

Take advantage and join or root for some great club teams.

to look out for registration for the winter semester.

If joining a team seems too overwhelming or doesn’t fit in your busy schedule, the university also has a lot of drop-in sports students can join that

OUA Football:

Ottawa 33 Laval 17 Montreal 24 Carleton 5 McGill 38 Sherbrooke 18 Concordia 80 Bishop’s 7

Ottawa 9 Trent 1 Toronto 1 Laurentian 0 Nipissing 3 Ryerson1 Queen’s 10 RMC 0 UOIT 1 Carleton 0 Ryerson 3 Laurentian 3 Nipissing 2 Toronto 1 Carleton 6 Trent 1 Ottawa 1 UOIT 0

“Check up on all the out of town scores from the past weekend between Sept. 11-13”

RSEQ women’s rugby:

are available at more convenient times without registration.

Check out the Gee-Gees website for contact information on how you can be part of these thriving and competitive teams.

OUA East Women’s Soccer:

McMaster 57 Ottawa 42 Queen’s 47 Waterloo 24 Carleton 62 Windsor 16 Guelph 49 York 22 Western 59 Laurier 9

16 | SPORTS

Illustration: Reine Tejares

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OPINIONS Forum: What’s the most important OPINIONS EDITOR David Campion-Smith

opinions@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062

election issue for students?

W

ith the federal election only a month away, many students have begun to form their own ideas of what the most important election issues are. The Fulcrum asked its contributors what issues they’ll be pondering at the ballot box.

Cassandra Richards

Manuela Haemmerli

Fulcrum Contributor

Fulcrum Contributor

Student Debt

Pensions

The Green Party has recently released a 44-page election platform insisting they will ensure tuition-free education by 2020. This may seem ambitious considering the current standard of increasing tuition fees among most Canadian universities, with the exception of Newfoundland and Labrador, which only recently converted all provincial student loans to grants.

With the current unpromising labour market and state of youth unemployment, student voters should prioritize student debt in the upcoming elections. Student debt means that many are forced to pay back large amounts of debt when they should be focusing on getting their life started. According to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), “in 2010, the total amount of student loans owed to the government reached $15 billion, the legislated ceiling set by the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act.” The current government has also stepped up its collection of debts rather than continuing to pay off student debt according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC).

The issue of student debt is particularly concerning to students in Ontario, who have the highest average debt load upon graduation, $28,000 according to the CFS. Although students should be considering the attention each party is giving to the eradication of student debt, they must also pay attention to how that will be achieved. A grants-based, rather than loan-based, education may seem overly ambitious, but increasing the limit of the current federal student loan debt only poses more problems for university students by allowing the creation of more student debt.

David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

Security Whichever party wins the election will have to carefully navigate the line between providing security in a digital and global age, and respecting the rights of all their citizens. The hotly debated Bill C-51 is a prime example of the need for clarity.

Introduced by the Conservatives and supported by the Liberals (who

Nicholas Robinson Fulcrum Contributor

Science There has never been a question about science at a federal leader’s debate, and all parties have less than stellar records on science, be it the Conservatives ruthlessly attacking public science, the Green Party’s policy on Canada’s biotechnology, or the NDP and the Liberals almost ignoring the issue entirely. All of this hurts students the most.

It hurts students because we

say they’ll amend the bill to include more government oversight), this piece of legislation aims to enhance different forms of law enforcements’ abilities to combat terrorism. It allows the arrest of subjects if authorities believe the arrest is likely to prevent an attack, rather than be necessary to stop an attack. The new bill also allows the arrest of people who advocate that terrorist acts be carried out, but doesn’t define what constitutes a

have our whole future ahead of us, and we want a future that is an improvement on today. This can’t be accomplished without innovation and discovery. We need technology to keep the environment clean, as well as make our consumption of resources more efficient and renewable.

We need a government that will embrace the potential that technology offers in changing government outreach and policy. Technology can help our society deal with the burden of terrorist act. Bill C-51 also gives judges the power to have anything they feel fits the definition of terrorist propaganda removed from the Internet.

Bill C-51 garnered international and domestic criticism with Amnesty International saying that parts of the anti-terror law are so vague that they could be used to target Aboriginal or environmental protesters in Canada.

Other political parties in Canada have expressed support for the creation of a

Photo: K im Wiens

an aging population, while also creating new jobs and boosting the economy.

Public universities serve as important contributors to advancements in science because they employ so many scientists and researchers. Science is a prime field for students to shine, since technological change is driven by younger people with new ideas. Students need a government that will focus on promoting and implementing scientific growth.

The issue of Canada Pension Plan (CPP) reform is on the table during this year’s election campaign as parties try to court votes from seniors.

The Conservatives stand on one side, rejecting reform because they believe that an expanded CPP would be unsustainable. On the other side stand the New Democrats, the Liberals, and the Greens. The NDP support a lowering of the retirement age from 67 back to 65 years old, while the Liberals have also supported lowering of the retirement age as well as increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement by ten per cent.

Most students are a long way from cashing in our CPPs, so why should we care about pensions in this election?

First of all, if you’re over the age of 18, living outside of Quebec, and earning more than $3,500 per year, you’re contributing to the CPP. Based on your income you’re contributing between $175 and $2,500 per year.

Changes to the CPP may affect how much you contribute, and how your money is put to use.

Pensions not only impact our taxes, but also our employment opportunities. If the CPP and other benefits don’t provide enough incentive to retire, Canadian seniors may continue to work past 65 in order to earn more. For younger generations, this may mean even less access to unionized positions that operate on seniority, as workers stay with an organization for more time.

We may not be the target audience for pension platforms, but it is our issue as much as any other, and we shouldn’t ignore it when we go to the polls this October.

government committee to oversee the work being done by security agencies to ensure they’re not infringing on the rights of Canadians.

The current government not only increased the powers of security agencies but is also planning on pushing through a travel ban that would limit the countries that Canadians are able to travel to. Canadians who travel to some regions in certain countries where terrorist groups are “recruit-

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ing and training followers” according to the Conservative Party website, would be asked to prove they have a legitimate reason for the trip, meaning they would be guilty until proven innocent.

While there is clearly a risk of people travelling to certain countries rife with violence this approach is so broad that it’s bound to affect more innocent Canadians than catch criminals.

OPINIONS | 17

Stop giving assignments in September

Why students should have a month before they’re marked David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

Most professors give some sort of assignment in September but they shouldn’t.

Many of these September assignments are referred to as midterms, yet they often seem to occur only a week or so after students have purchased their textbooks. A professor should only schedule a midterm if they intend to hold it when about half of the course material has been covered. Using “midterm” when referring to a test that covers only two weeks of material is misleading and unnecessarily stressful.

Semantics aside, students simply haven’t covered enough course information to necessitate an evaluation in September. Not only have you not had enough time to cover course information, but you’re also missing interactions with the

professor and chances to understand what professors may be looking for in assignments.

This situation can be especially tough on first-years, who likely just learned how to effectively attend a lecture, never mind effectively take a test. While most people need to write university midterms before feeling confident about how best to tackle them, there are better ways to transition students into the world of university evaluations.

Professors would be wise to give fresh students at least a month of lectures and small study-aid assignments before forcing them to attempt an evaluation that could decide as much as 15-25 per cent of their final mark.

While professors must return a sufficient amount of marking to students before the deadline to drop a class, professors can easily evaluate in Oc-

tober and be able to meet all of those requirements.

The idea of having a specific date that profs can’t schedule midterms before is one that the university should consider.

Spacing course evaluations out better also helps with student mental health. Mental health has recently become a much discussed issue on campuses and an issue that is affecting more students than before. In one study by the Canadian Association of College and University Students 40 per cent of people surveyed said they “felt so depressed it was difficult” at some point within the last 12 months, 57 per cent “felt overwhelming anxiety” and 10.9 per cent had “seriously considered suicide”.

It would help most students to have more time to gain confidence in their new academic environment before the pressure of a midterm is added to

LRT worth the setbacks

Stressing out in September

the stress of adapting to university life.

Giving students more time before assignments would also be good for professors since

it enables them to have more time with their classes, and potentially more time to mark if assignments are spaced out to a greater extent.

Photo:Kim Wiens

Holding back on testing students until after the first month of classes is a good strategy that could benefit students in a variety of ways.

Delays aside Ottawa needs the LRT

David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor

Ottawa is on its way to joining the ranks of cities like Montreal and Toronto, and to do that is needs fast, efficient public transit like the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system.

The City and its population has a large price to pay for this introduction though. Construction of the LRT has caused multiple traffic delays, shut down roads, and has caused bottlenecks in OC Transpo bus routes. The second phase of construction is expected to cost $3 billion and be completed by 2018.

Rideau Street is being closed from Sussex to Dalhousie, for three years while construction of an LRT tunnel and stop is completed. The City has also begun directing buses onto the highway so they can close parts of the transit way for construction. This resulted in the backup on Sept. 8 that measured a distance of almost three kilometres of buses from Hurdman station, one of the largest in the city, to Campus station.

Needless to say, three kilometres of bumper-to-bumper

18 | OPINIONS

buses didn’t garner any good will from passengers. It also didn’t help that Sept. 8 was the first day back to school with a higher than normal number of commuters on transit ways.

With such setbacks in mind, do we really need a new train system? The reality is that Ottawa is only going to get bigger and a train system will be needed at some point to augment our well-used transit system.

An LRT is an investment in Ottawa’s infrastructure that will make it easier and quicker for people to get from the suburbs to work downtown. Adding more buses to the current system is only going to cause greater congestion, while the LRT would relieve the congestion by getting vehicles off the road. Ottawa’s transit system is already large, with 144 routes covering a total of 5,500 km according to the OC Transpo website but that system will have to adapt to meet the City’s growing population. Between 2006 and 2011 Ottawa’s population increased by 71,262. This compares to growth charts released in 2007 that expect Ot-

tawa’s population to continue growing with the highest estimates projecting a population of 1, 207,000 in 2031 compared to 985,000 in 2014, according to World Population Review.

Creation of a light rail system can help meet the growing demand.

The closures and reroutes that LRT construction has caused could have been handled better by the City, which has had since 2008, when the Transportation Master Plan was approved, to organize all of this.

They should have better anticipated the problems that would come from all of these closures and had systems in place to handle them better than the band-aid solutions such as having a few people with flags handling a three kilometre backup.

Despite all the short-term problems it causes, Ottawa needs to grin-and-bear it until the LRT system is completely.

This is a new step forward for public transportation in the City, and one that’s desperately needed.

Map of the LRT map Photo: CC Pikto Chart

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Canadian government to beat U.S. in building border wall Construction to begin on GOT style ice wall along 49th parallel David Campion-Smith Opinions Editor The Canadian government is set to unveil a new form of border protection after Republican candidates’ Scott Walker’s comments about possible terrorist threats entering the United States through Canada, and Donald Trump’s idea of a wall on the United States’ southern border. Walker said that building some sort of barrier on the border “is a legitimate issue for us to look at.” Trump has made his entire political career by saying outrageous things.

In an unprecedented move, the Canadian government will build a massive ice wall, and make the United States pay for it. “We clearly need some way to keep out American political and social ideas.

Americans don’t even use the metric system. Combine that with the massive portion sizes and the crazy things some of their presidential candidates say,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson to the Tomato. “We don’t want any of that in Canada. A wall seems to be the best way to keep all that out,” Nicholson concluded.

Construction on the wall is set to begin in the October and will hopefully be completed by the end of January. Initial plans to construct the wall out of concrete and steel beams were reportedly abandoned early in the design phase and replaced with ice to reduce costs.

“We decided that concrete wouldn’t cut it for what the wall is expected to do, you know, to keep American views

out,” said project architect Frank Navy. “Ice just seemed a natural option because of American views that Canada is a frigid, lifeless landscape,” he said.

Plans for what’s being called, “The Great Northern Wall” have it running along the entire 8,891 km long border with the United States.

There will also be tunnels and gates cut into the wall to allow Americans with proper paperwork, who some sources assume are good people, to cross through.

The wall is going to be an almost inconceivable kilometre tall, and 200-metres thick.

Critics of the wall have noted that it may harm trade and relations between the two countries. “Will it harm trade? Maybe a little bit but the customers are still going

“We clearly need some way to keep out American political and social ideas. Americans don’t even use the metric system. Combine that with the massive portion sizes and the crazy things some of their presidential candidates say.” —Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson

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The Wall to divde North America

to be there, and it’s not like Canada and the US are big trading partners or anything,” said Nicholson. “As for the relations; if America can build a wall with Mexico and still

expect to have good relations with them then why shouldn’t Canada expect the same?”

There’s no word yet on what will happen to the wall during the summer, which

Photo:Kim Wiens

many officials involved in the process view as an oversight.

“Yes, the ice may be a bit of problem in the summer but I believe we can handle that when we need to,” said Navy.

THE TOMATo | 19

DISTRACTIONS Dear Di,

FEATURES EDITOR Kyle Darbyson

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062

Dear Di

I’ve been intimate with a few guys now and university has really opened my eyes to new experiences. But I have one question that I can’t get out of my mind: is it normal that one of my partners has a curved penis? The sex is great, but I’m always afraid I’ll break his love stick!

- Bent Billytastic

Dear Di,

The other night I was lying in bed with my boyfriend of two years, and we were searching things on his phone when a suggested past search appeared in Google. The search result was “looking for local hookups”. It was hurtful and distressing to see. Does this mean my boyfriend is seriously considering cheating on me or is this just a thought he had while bored, as he explains it?

- Google Exposure Dear BB, If you get to experience the joys of a curved penis then you’re a lucky girl. A bent member can hit all the right places—especially a woman’s G-spot—and hurl you into cosmic orgasm space, leaving you longing for more of those rare curved delicacies.

Penises come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and each one is beautiful in its own way. However, if your partner is in pain during sex then they could be suffering from what’s called Peyronie’s disease, which can make sex a very painful ordeal for him. If that’s the case, then your partner needs to get to a doctor ASAP! Otherwise, curved penises are perfectly normal, fun, and can result in an extremely pleasurable experience.

A note to my male readers: Love your penis no matter what, but please don’t hesitate about seeing a doctor if you notice any drastic changes in your little friend’s colour or shape.

Love, Di Sex position of the week: The Solo Woman

With school starting up and the stress of living away from home slowly sinking in, I’m sure there are a lot of us who could use a night of self-loving to release some of the built up stress.

And what’s more relaxing then taking a nice long hot shower?!

While you lather yourself up, slowly run a removable shower head down your body. Spread your legs and gently move the shower head in circles. The rushing water and heat will leave you feeling euphoric! Enjoy your shower, ladies ;) Pro tip: Make sure the water isn’t too hot; you don’t want to burn your lovely lady lips! Ouch.

20 | DISTRACTIONS

Dear GE,

Many people fantasize about sleeping with others, or imagine what it could be like. It could be something private they do to add another level of excitement to their sexual endeavours.

We’re only human, and these thoughts occasionally pop into our heads. However that doesn’t mean that we always act upon them or fall out of love with our significant other.

Unfortunately, many people correlate being sexually attracted to others as a sign that they are no longer fully in love with their partner. This is a load of BS! According to Dr. Robert Sternberg’s triangular theory of love, every relationship follows a similar trajectory, where the first year is often defined by high levels of passion (this is where you can’t get your hands off each other). But this kind of passion drastically declines after the first year or two, and feelings of intimacy and commitment eventually come into play.

So I would at least give your boyfriend the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s ready for this next stage in your relationship.

If you’re still concerned that your boyfriend isn’t being satisfied sexually anymore, I would recommend having a frank chat with him instead of flying off the handle.

Ask your partner why he’s having these thoughts; is it something you can change by spicing up your sex life?

Or does he feel like he hasn’t fully explored his sexual freedom yet? In which case, you can also talk about introducing a third party to the bedroom, if that would be something you’re down to try.

This Google search result is probably just a thought he hasn’t acted upon, and I think the best thing you can do is have this conversation and move forward as a mature couple (and maybe ask him to clear his browsing history more often)!

Love, Di

thefulcrum.ca

THRYLLABUS Sept. 18 to Sept 24, 2015 MUSIC arts Sports FUN Thinking

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Friday, Sept. 18 Gee-Gees Women’s Hockey vs University of Manitoba Exhibition Game, Minto Sports Complex—5:30 p.m.

Andy Brown, the Daily Grind Cafe—8 p.m.

Ellen King, City Folk Music Festival, Lansdowne Park—8:15 p.m.

Van Morrison, City Folk Music Festival, Lansdowne Park—8:30 p.m.

Epic Journey: How to Enjoy Reading James Joyce’s Ulysses, Centre for Continuing Education—7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 19 Gee-Gees Football vs Windsor University, Lees Campus—1 p.m.

Back to the Future trilogy, Mayfair Theatre—11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Nuit Blanche, Arts Festival, Downtown

Ottawa and Gatineau—6 p.m.

Last Day, Lansdowne Park—7 p.m.

Gala and concert, Lana Lang and Alexander Shelley, National Arts Centre— 5:30 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 21

Chinatown Remixed Arts Festival, Free Admission, Chinatown —2 p.m.

The Sheepdogs, City Folk Music Festival, Lansdowne Park—6:45 p.m.

Buffy Sainte-Marie, Centretown United Church—7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 20 Canada Army Run, Rideau Canal—7:20 a.m.

Body Works: Animals Inside Out, Last Day, Canadian Museum of Nature—9 a.m.

Ottawa International Animation Festival, Last Day, Bytowne Cinema—11 a.m. to 9:15 p.m.

City Folk Music Festival,

Ottawa Senators vs Toronto Maple Leafs, preseason Game, Canadian Tire Centre—7:30 p.m.

Playwright’s Circle, Meet and Greet, Ottawa Little Theatre—7 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 22 Madame Bovary, Bytowne Cinema—4:30 p.m.

Open Mic TUNESday, Free Admission, LIVE on Elgin—8 p.m.

Toonie Tuesday, 1848 —9 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 23 Jazz Night, Free Admission, LIVE on Elgin—7 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 24 Launch in the Park, United Way fundraiser, live music

by Jeremy Fisher, City Hall—11 a.m.

DISTRACTIONS | 21

LETTER to THE EDITOR Dear Colleagues, I am in receipt of my e-bill from the University of Ottawa, which I will share: My bill for this semester is $3410,77, including $925,40 for things I have no interest in supporting. This is a substantial amount for a Canadian student. Tuition is reasonable.

The fees being grabbed for programs supported by GSAED and SFUO are not.

Almost 30 per cent of my fees are for unwanted things

thanks to GSAED/SFUO. At $385,40, there is a U-Pass (Useless-Pass), which I do not want, will never use, and is money I view as coerced from me to subsidize the bus passes of a minority of students on campus. Of course, I am not alone here—students living in residence and within walking distance to campus are also being forced to pay for these Useless-Passes. Quebec students, who have not even been properly consulted on this process, are also being forced to pay for

the Useless-Pass now. The summer presented a great opportunity to formalize this arrangement. I cannot even donate this Useless-Pass to a person in need—it is non-transferrable. I do not think this is a “fair” expense—it is a small number of students who benefit from a greater reduction in their bus pass costs based on the numbers of students forced to pay.

On my e-bill, I see a Student Health Insurance fee of $239.37. I have health insurance (OHIP). I cannot opt out of

the student plan unless I prove I have a comparable insurance plan that is deemed “acceptable” by someone whose mandate is likely to minimize the success rate of applications to opt-out.

Then there is a $219.28 Dental Insurance fee. Again, for insurance I do not need. It does not cover what needs to be paid, in my previous experience, and what it does cover I do not need done. Again, to optout, I must pass through / jump difficult hoops and hurdles.

There is a modest Grad House fee of $24.32, which I can accept…

There is a student federation fee of $81.35. I have no interest in belonging to the Federation Local 94…feels like being forced to join a political party!

Where is the democracy in being coerced to subscribe to services or groups I have no use for, benefit from, or political affiliation with?

I feel we are being gouged, that our pockets are being figuratively picked, and that our best interests are being disserved for the benefit of a small number of students.

Tuition fees are not the problem. Excessive billing for mandatory – and unwanted –

22 | LETTERS

services are the problem. We deserve the right to opt out. Period. A substantial reduction in university costs will result from getting rid of mandatory insurances and the UselessPass on our e-bills.

—Robert M. Head is a PhD student in Education, is a member of the GSAED Board of Directors (ex-officio) and Graduate Student Council of GSAED (exofficio), and is a graduate student representative on the University of Ottawa’s Board of Governors.

The letter provided presents an expression of personal opinion, and not that of the university or the Board of Governors.

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EDITORIAL Volume 76, Issue 4, September 17, 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 “Dead Ringers” Drissi El-Bouzaidi Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Devin “Hellraiser” Orsini Production Manager production@thefulcrum. ca Savannah “Inferno” Awde Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Eric “The Fog” Davidson News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Allegra “Black Cat” Morgado Arts & Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Spencer “Mist” Murdock Sports Editor sports@thefulcrum.ca Kyle “Re-Animator” Darbyson Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca David “Cronos” CampionSmith Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Reine “Threads” Tejares Online Editor online@thefulcrum.ca Kim “Phantasm” Wiens Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Marta “Poltergeist” Kierkus Staff Photographer photographer@ thefulcrum.ca Zach “Wolf Creek” VerretBorsos Multimedia Coordinator multimedia@thefulcrum. ca Nicole “Pulse” Rutkowski Associate Features Editor associate.features@ thefulcrum.ca David “Angel Heart” Agbaire Proofreader Deidre “Switchblade Romance” Butters Advertising Manager ads@thefulcrum.ca Dayne “Deep Red” Moyer General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors

Maitland “Cat People” Shaheen Raghad “Suspiria” Sheikh-Khalil Madison “Night of the Living Dead” McSweeney Carolyn “Carrie” Mutis Tima “Audition” Hacini Veronika “Videodrome” Cencen Remi “Alien” Yuan Cassandra “The Changeling” Richards Manuela “Jaws” Hammerli Nicholas “Nosferatu” Robinson Chris “Don’t Look Now” Blakeney

Free to Disagree

M

ost of us in university have probably sat in a classroom at one time or another and pondered the question: to what extent does an individual have the right to freedoms such as speech, and religion, until it affects other people?

Recent stories across North America have brought that question out of the classroom, and into the mainstream.

The most well-known religious freedom advocate, Kim Davis, is a Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licences to gay couples despite the Supreme court ruling legalizing gay marriage across the land. Davis was temporarily jailed, which has only fuelled her following’s fervour.

Meanwhile in Atlanta, a Muslim flight attendant, Charee Stanley, says she was suspended from her job because she refuses to sell alcohol, which her religion forbids her from consuming. Her attorney said the Atlanta-based airline ExpressJet initially agreed to a religious accommodation, according to the Globe and Mail, telling her another flight attendant could handle passenger requests for alcohol.

Another employee filed a com-

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plaint against Stanley claiming she wasn’t doing her job by not serving alcohol. ExpressJet decided to put her on leave after the incident, to be terminated after a 12-month period.

In Calgary a Christian bus driver was fired from his job because he refused to drive the city’s rainbow Pride bus. “I believe we’re losing our freedoms in the West,” said the former driver, Jesse Rau, according to the Globe and Mail.

To clarify, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees every person fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of religion. All these cases have been fought waving the banner of religious freedom, which has forced us to consider what freedom of religion really means.

Religious freedom is an important part of democracy that should be celebrated and defended. But at a certain point, the loose definition of freedom means an individual’s freedoms will inevitably infringe on those of another person.

The question becomes more complicated when you factor in a job, and how those different responsibilities intersect.

In the Calgary bus driver’s case, officials said in their termination letter that Rau, who was still on probation

for several other offences, was losing his job for breaching the city’s code of conduct and media relations policy.

“To be clear you are entitled to your religious beliefs and to express them freely,” read the letter. “However, you went beyond that and made false and misleading comments during various media interviews, which resulted in undue controversy and put the reputation of the city at risk.”

Rau claimed in previous media appearances that he felt “threatened”

by Calgary Transit, and that the company was attempting to silence him, according to the CBC. By running rainbow-coloured buses leading up to Calgary’s Gay Pride Parade, the City declared their support for gay rights, clear and simple.

Similarly, in the United States, the American government declared their belief of marriage equality with the June 26th Supreme Court ruling.

Both public and private enterprises are entitled to the same fundamental freedoms that Davis, Stanley, Rau and others benefit from. This means that no one should be forced to employ someone who doesn’t abide by their code of ethics—religious or otherwise.

If, hypothetically speaking, Davis’ boss was gay, why should they ac-

commodate someone who doesn’t recognize their identity? A gay person’s sense of self is just as deserving of protection from persecution, as a religious person’s desire to discriminate against them.

In Canada you can believe whatever you want, but does that mean you should get paid for it no matter what?

If your beliefs inhibit you from doing your job, then maybe you shouldn’t be doing your job.

This doesn’t mean that employers should never accommodate the religious needs of their employees, for example in Stanley’s case, at first she said the accommodation was effective and her job didn’t suffer. But an employer should be free to let go an employee in a case like Davis’ where the Kentucky county clerk has stopped providing marriage licences entirely.

We need clearer guidelines on what religious freedom means in Canada today, to prevent these situations from arising.

A workplace shouldn’t be able to deny you a service because of any part of your identity, whether it’s religion, sexual or gender identity, or race, but a workplace isn’t required to give you employment if you aren’t willing to do the work.

EDITORIAL | 23