Virtual campus explores safety issues Pg. 4
The Omega Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 23, Issue 17 January 29, 2014
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News
Editorial & Opinion
Life & Community
Arts & Entertainment
Sports
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Pages 3, 9
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Pages 6, 7
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Trouble with the law? TRU’s law school to provide free tenancy, employment and human rights knowledge Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor The TRU law school is opening its first legal information service on Jan. 31. The free service will run from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Friday and is available to anyone in the community. Thirty law students have volunteered to answer legal questions and provide legal information, including residential and tenancy law, criminal law, human rights, employment legalities and international or immigration concerns. Students will not offer legal advice or representation, but will assist clients in understanding legal implications or processes and lead them in the right direction for further assistance. Around six students will be on deck each Friday. “Access to justice can be a huge issue and going to see a lawyer can be very expensive,” said law professor Ruby Dhand. “Our students are very keen to be involved. They want to help in any capacity they can.” Dhand and fellow law faculty
Margaret Hall have spearheaded this initiative to introduce law students to the community. This is the first service TRU’s law school will provide since its inception in 2011. “We want to be a very general legal information service,” Dhand said. “We want people to come in with any
appeals, which can include a tribunal process, law students can assist clients in submitting written and oral submissions. Because appeals aren’t legal proceedings, law students will be able to help represent the student’s best interest and form the best argument possible. “It’s nice to talk through those issues because, for us, we are often trained to think of counter arguments and we know the process very well,” Dhand said. The service will connect clients with all legal resources available to them in the community and beyond. Hall and Dhand have worked closely with Legal Aid BC in designing an information service model and to gather information to distribute. Hall has also connected with the Tenancy —Margaret Hall, Resource and Advisory Centre in Vancouver as well as the TRU law professor Human Rights Commission. “Sometimes just being handed a pamphlet or a booklet and told problem, even if it’s not within that ‘hey read this, the information is all area, like Aboriginal law or property in there’ – sometimes that’s not really issues, small claims, whatever it may enough,” Hall said. “Sometimes it’s not completely self-evident what this be.” Law students will also offer pamphlet or booklet says.” assistance to any student going through academic appeals. For grade See ACCESS Pg.
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Ruby Dhand has collected many educational legal brochures and pamphlets for the legal information service, all of which is available to the public. The law school’s legal information service will open Jan. 31 and run every Friday from 2:30 to 4:30. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)
TRUSU has met its goal of 3,000 student signatures to support TRU joining the Worker Rights Consortium. The goal is to replace sweatshopsourced attire for sale on campus. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)
Students support sweatshop-free campus campaign Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor The student body has spoken: 3,000 signatures have been collected in support of TRUSU’s sweatshop-free campus campaign. The notice will be presented to the Board of Governors on Feb. 14, at which point the decision will be in the hands of administrators. TRUSU is lobbying to have TRU sign on with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), “an independent labour rights monitoring organization, conducting investigations of working conditions in factories around the globe,” according to their website. TRUSU set an internal goal of 3,000 signatures for the campaign, which it felt was an adequate representation of the student body. There were 180 universities and six high schools affiliated with the WRC as of Dec. 3, 2013, seven of those are Canadian universities. TRU would be the first university in Western Canada to be affiliated with the WRC. After collecting 3,000 signatures back in late November, TRUSU began reaching out to member universities, such as the University of Toronto and Queens, to gain support and letters of reference to present to the board. “It was interesting because all of them we called were positive and supportive,” said Leif Douglass, TRUSU vice president external, “but it was challenging to get them to write a letter.”
TRUSU hasn’t received any letters from member universities, but Douglass said it wasn’t a necessity to the campaign and they are moving forward with preparing the board presentation. “Regardless of the status of the letters, we will be presenting to the Board of Governors on February 14,” he said. “There is clearly a lot of campus support.” Back in September when the campaign was introduced, TRU’s bookstore manager Glenn Read spoke in support of a sweat-shop free campus stance, agreeing that the university does not want to be affiliated with merchandise made under poor labour conditions, despite it being difficult to know if that is even the case. Douglass said that has been the only conversation between Read and TRUSU regarding the campaign. An evaluation of clothing suppliers and alternative options will occur if the board votes in favour of joining the WRC. “We talked to the coordinators from the WRC as well as other universities and unless the company is specifically being monitored, they said stuff is coming from places where labour laws aren’t being respected,” Douglass said. “Now I’m sure, depending on what comes out of the board meeting, if we are going to join there will be more – then we will disclose a list of factories [and] put in a purchasing code of conduct. “There will be certain steps that have to go in place.”