Feb. 1, 2017 by The Omega

ACTIVE VOICE

REPORTING IN

REPRESENT

David Suzuki to speak at TRU

Student union annual report: the highlights

Student calls for disabilities rep.

Anti-Ajax mine group Kamloops Code Blue to host speak Feb. 8 • Page 2

At its AGM, TRUSU looks back on what it did and didn't do in 2015-16 • Page 4

TRUSU has multitude of other reps, but none for students with disabilities • Page 2

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VOLUME 26

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

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The time that I... hiked next to a volcano

'Mockus' to feature TRU alum actors

TRU welcomes Paralympic athlete

Our study abroad experiences series looks at a student who hiked volcanoes in Belize • Page 5

Stage play featuring a number of TRU alumni will start showing Feb. 8 • Page 5

Paralympic swimmer Tyler Mrak is making waves at TRU • Page 7

NEWS

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Special resolutions passed at student union AGM Changes made to student caucus, creation of VP services, VP equity, visible minorities rep Diana Igumnova

CONTRIBUTOR Ω TRUSU’s annual general meeting took place on Thursday, Jan. 26, giving students an opportunity to hear a summary of the union’s activities and reports that have been accomplished in the previous year. Unlike last year, the AGM successfully met the quorum standards set out in TRUSU’s bylaws, as approximately 109 people were in attendance. The bylaws require at least 50 members of the student union (or five per cent of the membership) be present in order for special resolutions to be voted on. The first resolution proposed to have student caucus meetings formally recognized in the bylaws of the student union. The resolution passed. The second resolution

proposed to eliminate the policy committee of the student union, specifically, the motion sought to make committee representatives in charge of writing policies for the work they do. TRUSU executive director Nathan Lane explained it this way: “Let’s say, if we are writing the policy about entertainment, then the same entertainment committee should write it and serve it to the board of directors.” The student caucus body includes approximately 50 members who participate in its actions, consequently, it takes a lot of work to coordinate such amount of people. The third resolution proposed that the student caucus steering committee be recognized in the same way as any other union’s committees. Special resolution four proposed adding a vice-president

equity and a vice-president services and eliminating the vice-president finance position. Lane called this one “monumental” for the union. Standing committee memberships were addressed in the last resolution for the night and it proposed replacing the four elected director-at-large positions with nine others. The new elected positions would be two campaigns committee representatives, two entertainment representatives, two services representatives, two student caucus steering committee representatives and a visible minority students’ representative. In his explanation of the change, Lane said that the director-at-large position doesn’t work, since electors have to vote for them without knowing which committee they’ll eventually sit on. All special resolutions

TRUSU Executive Director Nathan Lane (right) and President Brian Chiduuro at the 2017 TRUSU annual general meeting. (Marcela Arévalo/Ω) successfully carried with a vast majority, with only a few votes in opposition throughout the night. According to one of the representatives, all of the bylaw amendments are coming into effect before May 1, and TRUSU

members will be updating the bylaws on the official TRUSU website. TRUSU’s website will allow student members to follow the recent adjustments and resolutions that will change between now and May.

Disability representation questioned at TRUSU AGM Martin McFarlane STAFF WRITER Ω

While going over the equity section of the annual report at TRUSU’s annual general meeting, a student presented a question to the executive: Why does the union not have a students with disabilities representative, and are there plans to include representation in the future? Matthew Brown, a second-year computing science student who has a disability, raised the concern to members and executives that the board of directors currently does not have representation for students with disabilities. What TRUSU does have is five advocacy representatives, for Aboriginal students, graduate students, international students,

women and members of the LGBTQ community. And after passing their special resolutions at the annual general meeting, the list now also includes a visible minorities representative. Dylan Robinson, equity coordinator for TRUSU, responded to Brown by saying there has been no proposal to include a representative for students with disabilities. Robinson also said that TRU has an obligation to provide accommodation for those students and that from what he has heard, students are generally satisfied with Disability Services. Brown, expressing his personal opinions after the meeting, agrees with Robinson that students are satisfied by the efforts of the disability services office. However, he believes that the student union should consider a representative

for students with disabilities and commit to spreading awareness in the community on disabilities in order to reduce the stigma around them. “I just think that TRUSU should have people representing people with disabilities. Even if it’s not to actually make changes with the university itself, at least to actually raise awareness for disabilities so that people don’t view it with as much of a negative stigma anymore,” Brown said. By speaking publicly at the annual general meeting, Brown hoped that he could “get the initial rocks flowing for the landslide” in representing students with disabilities in the student union. In addition to being able to advocate on issues surrounding disabilities on campus, Brown thinks that having a disabilities representative

Computing science student Matthew Brown feels TRUSU should advocate and spread more awareness on disability issues. (Martin McFarlane/Ω) on the board would provide a positive role model to students with disabilities and publicly illustrate that students with disabilities are just as capable of being successful as their counterparts. “Though it’s still not as common because of the century we are in, people still tend to have some sort of bias against, or for, people with disabilities,” Brown said, adding that he usually does not reveal his

disability until people get to know him in order to avoid judgment. Brown, who is a member of the Computing Science Club and Kappa Sigma fraternity, hopes that all students with disabilities register with Disability Services to get accommodation and consider joining one of many clubs on campus to make connections and get support.

David Suzuki to speak at TRU on Feb. 8 Kamloops Code Blue, a group opposed to the Ajax mine, will host environmental speaker Diana Igumnova

CONTRIBUTOR Ω On Wednesday, Feb. 8, acclaimed scientist, environmentalist, broadcaster and author David Suzuki will be sharing his presentation “Setting the bottom line for the 21st Century” in the TRU Grand Hall. Suzuki will be presenting on topics such as our interconnectedness with the earth as well as strategic steps that need to be taken collectively in order to work on the planet’s sustainability.

Helen Newmarch, spokesperson for the Kamloops Code Blue organizing committee said, “In terms of environment, every step we take has a consequences, and if we won’t take responsibility for our environment, we are in trouble.” Suzuki is also globally famous for his environmental conservation activism. He is also a co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, an organization concerned with contemporary environmental issues such as climate change, environment pollution and freshwater

conservation. According to Suzuki, we all as individuals are interconnected and each action we do towards environment will affect us in the foreseeable future. “Our choices at all levels – individual, community, corporate and government – affect nature. And they affect us,” Suzuki has said. When it comes to the topic of climate change, all individuals need to work collectively rather than have separate interests. Suzuki’s event is hosted by Kamloops Cold Blue, an organization that aims to bring

awareness to a variety of environmental issues that affect Kamloops, most notably the proposed Ajax mine. Additionally, Model UN students will also collaborate with Kamloops Cold Blue on addressing social, political and economic issues. “Locally and globally there are a lot of environmental issues that need to be addressed and it’s important to hear such an educated, well-known person speaking to these points,” said Shawna-Rae McLean, the cochair of the TRU Model UN and

spokesperson for the upcoming event. According to Newmarch, the event is set to accommodate approximately 700 people. Suzuki doesn’t necessarily want to reach a huge audience, but instead an audience of scientists. Suzuki’s presentation will have a live video-link feed, which will allow attendees to view the environmentalist’s presentation in the Terrace Room. The event begins at 7 p.m. Those interested in the event can still buy tickets online at Evenbrite.ca.

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The time that I… hiked next to an exploding volcano Veronica Kos

STAFF WRITER Ω One year ago, Chelsea Chirico, a fourth-year Natural Resource Science student, escaped Canada’s frigid winters and headed to Belize for a semester abroad. She spent her days on a private research island used by the University of Belize, learning about the coral reef and snorkelling with sharks, rays, manatees and eels. Every day was a new experience for Chirico but her most unforgettable memory was on a trip to Antigua, a little town southwest of Guatemala city. Antigua is an older town deeply connected to the Catholic church’s beliefs and practices. Every year the town hosts an elaborate two-week celebration for Easter holidays, which first enticed Chirico and her friends. On top of being renowned for its stunning Spanish architecture and elaborate celebrations, Antigua is also surrounded by three volcanos. Although two of the three are now dormant, the third, Volcan de Fuego is still active. When Chirico arrived in Antigua, she was given the opportunity to hike up to the top of one of the dormant

volcanos, Volcan de Acatenango, for an incredibly reduced price, as the excursion is normally quite expensive. Knowing it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Chirico and her friends rented some backpacks, jackets, tents and set out to the volcano. “Everyone was telling us it’s not too bad of a hike,” Chirico said. “It was probably one of the hardest hikes I’ve done in my entire life.” Just two days prior, Chirico was at sea level, and the top of the volcano sits at 3,976 meters. “We were higher than Machu Picchu. I was really surprised we didn’t get altitude sickness. The first day we hiked for seven hours, and the second we hiked two hours. It was a total of 2,443 elevation gain,” Chirico said. As Chirico reached halfway up the mountain, she described hearing a sudden rumbling explosion, “it sounded like a deep muffled thunder.” At this point, the hiking group were now in view of the neighbouring volcano, Volcan de Fuego. “I just see this huge plume of smoke coming out the top of the volcano. It was incredible,” Chirico said.

As the group kept hiking, the volcano continued oozing smoke. Once they reached base camp the group set up their tents for the night. Suddenly, another huge explosion ruptured. “I look up and see red lava spewing out of the top. Huge fireballs are going up and then travelling down the mountain,” Chirico said. The rumbling continued through the night, until around four in the morning when the hiking group set out to hike to the peak of the mountain in order to watch the sunrise. “It was so surreal just being able to sit on top of one of the highest volcanoes in Guatemala and watch the sunrise by an exploding volcano,” Chirico said. She later found out that the eruptions they witnessed were the biggest the town of Antigua had experienced in over a year. The town was even close to an evacuation warning. Thankfully, the volcano eventually calmed down but left Chirico with one of the most memorable experiences in her life. “It was something that wasn’t on my bucket list until after I experienced it, but I’m so glad I did,” Chirico said.

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NEWS

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Why TRUSU fights for $15 while it pays $11 Wade Tomko

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Ω To Nathan Lane, executive director of TRUSU, last Thursday’s annual general meeting met his expectations. While he admitted that the turnout could have been better, TRUSU’s AGM met quorum and most importantly encouraged discussion within its membership. One of the questions that sparked discussion at the AGM had to do with why the students’ union pays their board members an honorarium of $11 per hour, while also supporting the Fight for $15 campaign to raise B.C.’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. Lane, who spoke with the Omega on the Friday after the AGM, explained the reasoning behind this being simply a difference of definitions. “The definition of honoraria is basically a gift in kind for the work that you do,” Lane said. “So in many organizations for example, if you received an honoraria, it might be for speaking, it might be for just being a board member. It is just a fixed amount.” Staff at TRUSU, such as the

front-desk receptionist and Common Grounds barista, are paid hourly for the work that they do as per B.C. labour laws. These employees are guaranteed to be paid the province’s minimum wage, and as such any increase to the current minimum wage will result in wage increases for these employees. Unlike union staff, however, elected representatives are all volunteers who are governed by TRUSU’s honorarium policy. The policy, which can be found on TRUSU’s website, sets out the remuneration to be paid to members of the board of directors. While all members are paid the same amount, $11 per hour, your position in the union determines how many hours you can be paid for. Executive members can be paid $11 per hour up to fifty hours in a bi-weekly period, while advocacy representatives and directors-at-large are paid $11 per hour up to 20 hours in a bi-weekly period. The reason why the honorarium policy works this way has to do with member availability, according to Lane. “We have a sliding scale,” Lane said. “In September, in January, during different times for different

programs people commit 15 to 20 hours a week. But if you have three midterms in a week, you are probably not going to be working for the students’ union. We slide the scale based on people’s availability in a week.” TRUSU is still committed to the Fight for $15 campaign, Lane said, and if the minimum wage is increased, board members will likely see increases in their honorariums as well. However, any changes to the current honorarium policy can only be ratified at an annual general meeting. “It is basically the political precedent that you would never change the wage rate for yourself,” Lane said. “So a board would propose a new honoraria policy, but they would propose that policy and it would take effect the next year. So no one could give themselves a pay raise.” While there is no requirement that TRUSU’s honoraria be equivalent to the province’s minimum wage, Lane believes that the board of directors will want the honorarium to stay close to the whatever the current minimum wage may be. “The board is not going to want

TRUSU Executive Director Nathan Lane says the union pays an honorarium for rep positions, and will likely scale with min. wage. (Marcela Arévalo/Ω) to have a situation where the minimum wage is $13 per hour and

they are only making $11 per hour,” Lane said.

TRUSU’s annual report: the highlights Greater student representation and grants, but less clubs and setbacks in campaigns TRUSU continued to advocate for the elimination of staff-only parking lots in competition with another proposal by CUPE, the staff union. Students were able to have a motion passed to restructure parking on campus to make lots available to all users and have passes available for specific lots, pricing them either in a premium, general or economy cohort, depending on convenience. The final decision is up to the university’s vice-president of administration and finance, Matt Milovick. The rollout of the new course evaluation system, advocated for by the student caucus, saw over 14,000 evaluations covering 90 per cent of course sections. However, due to a restriction on valid responses to a 48-hour window made by TRUFA, the faculty’s union, 282 evaluations were invalidated.

Campaigns Governance Coordinator Alex McLellan, President Brian Chiduuro and Executive Director Nathan Lane at the TRUSU AGM. (Marcela Arévalo/Ω)

Martin McFarlane STAFF WRITER Ω

At TRUSU’s 2017 annual general meeting, the annual report on the union’s activities was released. The following, are the highlights of this year's report.

University Governance This year, the student caucus had 46 students representatives

across 51 available positions in university governance. This is an increase of two representatives and four available student positions. In the 2016 Student Budget Consultation, the union presented 23 recommendations to the university. Of those recommendations, 12 were addressed in various degrees, four were confirmed to not be addressed and seven have yet to be responded to.

TRUSU’s Fund the Future Campaign, which addresses underfunding issues from provincial grants, saw recommendations on operational grants and the implementation of a needsbased student grant system including in the government’s budget report from the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. It also saw CUPE and TRUFA co-sign a community letter advocating for more university funding and hopes to have TRU’s Board of Governors also co-sign the letter. The union also sent a

20-student delegation to provide input on the municipal budget. During the Fight for 15 Campaign, aimed to persuade the provincial government to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, 300 signatures of support were collected.

Equity The 2016 Storytellers Gala, which focused on the issue of Aboriginal youth in government care, saw 112 in attendance, many of which later said in a survey that the event was informative about issues with Aboriginal youth in care. TRUSU also participated in UN Women’s HeForShe campaign on International Women’s Day, raising awareness about violence against women. According to TRUSU the campaign engage with “several hundred participants.” The 2016 Pride Parade had over 250 participants. Work by the President’s Task Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response was completed in August 2016, with 14 recommendations submitted to the president. The task force had four TRUSU student representatives. The union also advocated for trans-inclusive forms that accommodate students that do not identify as man or woman. However, the movement is restricted by enrolment systems for the Ministry of Advanced Education and TRU’s student data system. TRUSU approached the career

education department to develop co-op offerings for post-baccalaureate and graduate students. Career Education instead partnered with with the deans of students as well as business and economics to offer co-op to post-bacc SOBE students, while committing to expand to other post-bacc and graduate programs.

Services The Students’ Union Building saw traffic increase in 2016 by 2,204 hour to a total of 9,880 hours for the year. Commons Grounds also continued to break even or make a profit. Clubs, however, saw a decrease from 98 total clubs to 88, with the number of new clubs decreasing from 26 in 2015 to 19 in 2016. TRUSU also gave away $59,418.65 more in grants than in 2015, totalling $163,693 in 2016 in conference grants, general event grants, educational event grants and guest lecture grants. With the extended health and dental plan now open to international students after a referendum, membership increased by 1,573 people to a total of 4,577. The usage of the union’s food bank service increased from 82 members in 2015 to 105 members in 2016. The Emergency Bursary Program, which provides students with funding in emergencies, saw less usage, giving $6,540 to 11 students as opposed to $9,750 to 15 students in 2015.

ARTS

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TRU alumni to feature in new local play Jennifer Will

ARTS EDITOR Ω Mockus is a new play being put on for Chimera Theatre this February, featuring various TRU alumni and current students. George Johnson, the chair of the English and Modern Languages department is the playwright behind Mockus. The play focuses on a politician who finds creative ways to tackle serious problems. The inspiration for this production came after Johnson heard activist Mary Wynne Ashford give a speech on Antanas Mockus, the real-life mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. “The way she described him made me think ‘Wow he’s a really amazing, cool person. He took a city that was crime-ridden, drug-ridden and transformed it in very few years and he used clown antics. He replaced corrupt traffic cops with mimes,’” Johnson said. The play uses magic realism as a commentary on this character and his sanity. “This clown... you’re never sure if it’s a projection of the mayor’s psyche or if the clown actually exists,” Johnson said. Andrew G. Cooper, a TRU alumni and the play’s director said the play is inventive and a lot of fun, but is also dealing with some serious issues. “It is about a mayor who has recently come into his mayorship, in the fictional city of Gobota. He’s trying to

find a way to fix all of the problems in this city that’s plagued with corruption, pollution, drug use, murder and just terrible, terrible things. He meets this clown named Mockus who inspires him to use playful and imaginative measures to fix the city’s problems,” Cooper said. Cooper was a student in one of Johnson’s playwriting classes before graduating from TRU. Then when Cooper’s company Chimera theatre put on a new play series inviting playwrights to submit scripts for a workshop, Johnson submitted his script for Mockus. They liked it so much they decided to produce it for an audience. “We’ve been working for a year and it’s been really splendid working with him in so many different capacities. It’s really exciting producing his work locally,” Cooper said. Although not intentionally planned, Cooper said the timing of this play corresponds nicely with the political tension happening in the United States. “The play’s theme is about using the arts and using the imagination, specifically from someone in a government position. With everything that’s happening in the United States right now, it seems like a really timely piece to be offering to Kamloops. It really speaks about why the arts are important and what a government can do for its people,” Cooper said. Cooper adds that everyone in the production is local and that TRU is

Todd Sullivan (as Juan Antonio) and Brittany McCarthy (as Mockus Aurelius). (Diana Igumnova/Ω) well represented in this production. “Almost everyone is either a TRU student or graduated from TRU. We’re all local, we’re all Kamloops-based artists,” Cooper said. Mockus runs for one week from Feb. 8 to 11 at the Pavilion Theatre. The shows start at 7:30 p.m. and student tickets are $15 each. At 2 p.m. on Feb. 11 there will be a pay-what-you-can matinee. Tickets for the show are available through the Kamloops Live! Box Office at www.kamloopslive.ca or 250-374-5483.

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COMICS & PUZZLES

6 Puzzle of the Week #14 — Kara-Ashi Fluffy the cat is minding his own business walking down a walled alley when he is set upon by three dogs. There is no way out. He will have to fight. Fortunately, Fluffy is a master of kara-ashi (Japanese for “empty paw”). By the way, “karate” means “empty hand”. A favourite kara-ashi maneuver of Fluffy’s is Dog’s Nightmare where he spins on one hind leg and lashes out with the other three paws hitting up to three times.

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Name: C R O S S W O R D Ω

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The dogs will panic and break if they are hit a total of six or more times. What is the probability that Fluffy will accomplish this in three or fewer uses of Dog’s Nightmare? This contest is sponsored by the Mathematics and Statistics department. The full-time student with the best score at the end of the year will win a prize. Please submit your solution (not just the answer but also why) by noon next Wednesday to Gene Wirchenko (<genew@telus.net>). Submissions by others are also welcome. The solution will be posted the Wednesday after that in my blog (http://genew.ca/). Come visit the Math Centre (HL304): we are friendly.

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TRU welcomes Paralympic swimmer Tyler Mrak Veronica Kos

STAFF WRITER Ω Paralympic swimmer Tyler Mrak is settling into his new life in Kamloops as he starts TRU’s business program while swimming for the Kamloops swim team and training with the Wolfpack. The 18-year-old is originally from Surrey and has been swimming for eight years. When choosing a university, his dedication to the sport of swimming was a big factor, but Mrak mainly chose TRU because of how close all the facilities are to each other. Mrak is unable to drive due to a vision impairment called achromatopsia, which affects depth of field, sensitivity to light and causes colour blindness. “Everything is so convenient here. I walk five minutes to the pool or five minutes to my classes,” Mrak said. This January was the first month Mrak dived back into training full-time after taking a four-month break following the Summer Paralympics in Rio last summer. “Getting back into swimming

for the first two weeks was kind of hard since I haven’t been training much,” Mrak said. Although getting back into training was difficult, Mrak isn’t finding too much trouble balancing school with swimming. By taking a lighter course load of three classes, he says it creates a healthy balance. This doesn’t mean he isn’t busy, however, as he trains eight times a week for two hours, often twice in one day. “I think one of the bigger challenges was getting used to cooking all my own meals and actually living on my own,” Mrak said. Training for Mrak is a bit different, of course. Swimmers often use pace clocks on the walls of the TCC to time themselves when trying to improve their speed. However, these clocks are too far away for Mrak to see. Instead, Mrak uses the black lines on the bottom of the pool as well as counting his strokes to navigate his way. Mrak’s coach, Brad Dalke, helps him as well. “It’s been a learning process,” Dalke said. Being more descriptive and specific are important habits

WolfPack swim team head coach Brad Dalke with Paralympic swimmer Tyler Mrak, who is attending TRU's business program while also swimming with the Kamloops swim team and the WolfPack. (Marcela Arévalo/The Omega)

Dalke has been trying to implement while he is coaching, he said, since his usual methods of pointing or showing swimmers directions visually doesn’t work for Mrak. Dalke says he also has the other swimmers help Mrak

as well with directions or pace counts, encouraging a team dynamic. “It’s been good for the kids, and he is a very talented swimmer,” Dalke said Mrak sees more competition

in his future and will continue to train and compete. “The 2020 Paralympic Games is the long-term goal but in the meantime, we have world championships and other swim meets,” said the athlete.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL 8–8–0

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL 2 – 14 – 0

Next game: Feb. 3, Winnipeg

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 2 – 14 – 0

MEN’S BASKETBALL 8–8–0

Next game: Feb. 3, TCC

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