The Sheaf 01/03/12 - Volume 103 Issue 24

March 1, 2012

The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper since 1912

volume 103 • issue 25 • thesheaf.com

Sheaf the

Health

With HIV on the rise in SK, a patient and doctor offer insight.

Page 3

Protest

Montreal police intervene in student protest.

Page 5

Porn

CanadaWest

Hardcore pornography is everywhere and it’s awful.

UBC leads effort to split Canadian university sports into different tiers.

Page 15

Page 7

Science

Releasing a virus blueprint is unwise.

Page 9

Music

Ominocity blog celebrates one year with concert.

Page 19

New Year’s Eve assault triggers reform Almost a decade after notorious assaults, U of S lacks clear response protocols DARYL HOFMANN Associate News Editor A six-week delay in notifying the campus community about a reported sexual assault has stirred up questions over the university’s policy when responding to violent attacks.

The incident, which is said to have happened in the McEown Park high-rise residences during the early morning hours of Jan. 1, was announced in a mass email sent out to students, faculty and staff at the University of Saskatchewan on Feb. 17.

The message said university officials were notified of the assault in early January, that drugs were likely involved and that the investigation was being conducted by the Saskatoon Police Service.

Saskatoon police spokesperson Alyson Edwards said police were sent to hospital on Jan. 1 to interview the victim, where she was being treated for sexual assault-related injuries. A suspect has not been named.

However, Edwards said the perpetrator was not a stranger to the victim.

The StarPhoenix reported Feb. 28 that the victim is not a current U of S student.

Scott Hitchings, president of the U of S students’ union, said the delayed timing of the announcement was an oversight by administration and feels the university has not treated the incident with “the weight it deserves.” Students need to know when a violent act occurs on campus, he said.

“The university needs to carve out a policy and make it strict, where if there is a very serious incident — such as a sexual assault — the university community is made aware of it as soon as possible,” Hitchings said.

In an email to the Sheaf, David Hannah, associate vice-president of student affairs, said the incident did not set-off an immediate campus-wide alert because based on the initial details, the university did not think there was a continuing threat to the community.

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Victim of recent attack said she was taken to the residences at McEown Park after being drugged at a nightclub.

“After meeting with the victim’s family, and reviewing the changing standard for such warnings at other institutions, we had second thoughts about this, and decided to send a notice out even if we weren’t sure there was an imminent risk to the campus community, in the interest of erring on the side of safety,” he wrote.

Following two high-profile sexual assaults on campus in 2003 and 2004, the university called for an external review of safety policies on campus. The ensuing report offered dozens of recommendations, including increased foot patrols by

Campus Safety, more cameras in central locations and a 24-hour SafeWalk program.

Additionally, the report recommended posting “alerts electronically via email within 24 hours of the incident being reported to security.”

“The university’s response after the two reported incidents of assault was considered slow and somewhat disorganized,” the report summary said. “The campus community was not made aware of the assaults. The university has a duty to inform its community of incidents on campus that may have an impact on public

safety.”

The victim of the 2003 attack, which happened inside the Little Stone School House, says she is upset with the university’s decision to wait several weeks to announce details of the recent sexual assault.

5

Campus Assault cont. on

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2• News

thesheaf.com/news • the sheaf •March 1, 2012

The start of a radio empire

Editor-in-Chief: Ishmael N. Daro, editor@thesheaf. com Production Manager: Matthew Stefanson, layout@thesheaf. com Senior News Editor: Tannara Yelland, news@thesheaf. com Associate News Editor: Daryl Hofmann, news@thesheaf. com Photography Editor: Raisa Pezderic, photo@thesheaf. com Graphics Editor: Brianna Whitmore, graphics@ thesheaf.com Arts Editor: Aren Bergstrom, arts@thesheaf. com

Sports Editor: Kevin Menz, sports@thesheaf. com Opinions Editor: Michael Cuthbertson, opinions@ thesheaf.com Copy Editor: Holly Culp, copy@thesheaf. com Web Editor: Bryn Becker, web@thesheaf. com Ad & Business Manager: Shantelle Hrytsak, ads@thesheaf. com

Board of Directors: Victoria Martinez, Andrew Roebuck, Ashleigh Mattern, Blair Woynarski, Peter Yee Office Numbers: General 966-8688 Advertising 966-8688 Editorial 966-8689 Corporation Number #204724 GST Registration Number 104824891 Second Class Mailing Registration. #330336 The Sheaf is printed at Transcontinental Printing Ltd. 838 56th St. Saskatoon, SK Circulation this issue: 6,000

The Sheaf is a non-profit incorporated and student-body funded by way of a direct levy paid by all part- and full-time undergraduate students at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S). Membership in the Society is open to undergraduate students at the U of S, but all members of the U of S community are encouraged to contribute to the newpaper. Opinions expressed in The Sheaf do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheaf Publishing Society Inc. The Sheaf reserves the right to refuse to accept or print any material deemed unfit for publication, as determined by the Editor-in-Chief. The Sheaf is published weekly during the academic year and monthly from May through August. The Editor-in-Chief has the right to veto any submission deemed unfit for the Society newspaper. In determining this, he/she will decide if the article or artwork would be of interest to a significant portion of the Society and benefit the welfare of Sheaf readers.

The Sheaf will not publish any racist, sexist, homophobic, or libelous material.

U of S student hopes to challenge C95 and Wired for your listening loyalty

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

He may not be on your FM dial, but Leejay Schmidt has technology and time on his side in building an audience.

ISHMAEL N. DARO Editor-in-Chief It’s a bold move for a radio station to claim to play “the best music of all time.” It’s even gutsier for that radio station to be run out of your bedroom.

Third-year engineering student Leejay Schmidt is doing just that. He started an online radio station, the Mix, which went live in August and has a growing worldwide listenership.

“We currently log about 5,000 unique listeners, and they come from all over the globe,” he said.

Schmidt first fell in love with radio in his hometown of Melfort, where he worked part-time at a radio station before moving for university. In Saskatoon, he says he noticed a distinct lack of variety from the pop stations, whose playlists often repeat a small number of songs throughout the day.

“We try to play as much variety and as few repeats as possible.

We have a minimum of 50 tracks

before there’s any repeats, so definitely more variety than what gets played on C95 or Wired 96.3,” said Schmidt, who places his station’s musical choices somewhere between the two Top 40 stations and Magic 98.3.

In fact, the programming is not that different from what you might hear on traditional, terrestrial radio. In addition to a fairly recognizable roster of pop artists, you’ll hear news and weather updates and even celebrity gossip. Schmidt and Cassandra Grisdale — a recent University of Saskatchewan grad — host mornings and afternoons, and the rest of the schedule is rounded out by syndicated shows from Vancouver, the U.K. and elsewhere.

But the real question isn’t whether the Mix is good radio.

Rather, it is whether an online radio station even has a chance to succeed. After all, most people listen to radio out of convenience, at work or in the car, or they simply load up their mp3 players

with their own music.

Schmidt argues that radio is still relevant in helping people discover new music, and although the Mix isn’t on the airwaves, it’s available almost everywhere else: on the Mix website at themixrocks.com, on the iTunes radio directory and on iPhones, Androids and BlackBerrys through the popular TuneIn app.

“There’s lots of different ways for people to listen, and a lot of people who do listen to Wired or C95 actually listen to the webstream anyway, so basically it’s no different,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt says that because the number of smartphones and the availability of unlimited data plans are only going to increase, the Mix might actually hold the technological advantage. After all, he only needs to worry about his Mac while his terrestrial radio competitors have much more expensive infrastructure to maintain. And despite the Mix’s global reach, Schmidt really is gunning for the local market.

Running an online station also lets Schmidt and his co-hosts avoid getting in hot water for playing uncensored songs or not playing enough Canadian content — although he says the Mix still voluntarily adheres to the 35 per cent minimum set by CanCon regulations. The station also pays royalties for all the music it plays.

Although there are many steps to getting the music to listeners, Schmidt’s basic equipment is a professional-grade microphone, a Mac Mini server and the RadioLogic DJ software. He sends the audio to a Quebecbased company which then serves the webstream to computers and smartphones around the globe.

Schmidt already has plans to expand, with a rock station and an advertising business in the works, although he insists the motivation is to engage the Saskatoon community and give local listeners another option for music.

“We’re not out to make a ton of money with this,” he said.

News

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/news

•3

Loneliness and isolation still a problem for HIV patients Education vital to curbing Saskatchewan’s rise in infections: doctor

D

espite the fact that new cases of HIV have largely levelled off across Canada, Saskatchewan has a surging infection rate. Over the past few weeks, the Sheaf has examined why this is the case and what can be done about it from the perspective of people dealing with the situation. This week is the final installment of the series, in which the Sheaf talks to both a doctor treating HIVpositive patients and someone who has been diagnosed with HIV. TANNARA YELLAND Senior News Editor While the recent HIV epidemic in Saskatchewan has made headlines, people on the front lines attribute the startling rate of infections to larger and more systemic problems such as poverty.

When Ken Ward was diagnosed with HIV in 1989, he initially told everyone that he had cancer because “it seemed a lot more acceptable.”

“Being an addict, we deal with loneliness no matter what,” said Ward, who is from the Enoch Cree Nation west of Edmonton, Alta. “But also being double-impacted with the diagnosis, I knew that I had to keep this secret quiet because of fear. Fear of not being accepted, or [of being] targeted.... Trusting has always been a big issue with me, ever since I was molested in a residential school and raped at 13.”

However, after his mother accidentally leaked his HIV-positive status to organizers of a rally in 1990, Ward went public with his diagnosis. He has spent the last 20 years doing advocacy work for HIV and AIDS patients in Canada, and was one of the first aboriginal men in Canada to go public about his diagnosis.

Struggling with addiction for almost 20 years, as well as being molested and bouncing through various foster homes, Ward has lived through many of the experiences that are disturbingly common among Canada’s First Nations population.

“I think three quarters of my family were dysfunctional, mostly alcoholics,” Ward said.

As with so many others in Canada and especially in Saskatchewan, drug use led directly to Ward’s HIV diagnosis: he was infected by a shared dirty needle. This is fairly typical of Saskatchewan’s infection trends, says Dr. Stephen Helliar, who has worked at the Westside Community Clinic in Saskatoon for 31 years.

“There is some sexual transmission,” he said, “but by far the largest number [of those infected] are injection drug users.”

Working among Saskatoon’s poor and homeless communities for three decades, Helliar has seen the current epidemic develop firsthand. And while he confirmed that the vast majority of new cases are among drug users, he says the larger community should be aware of the high infection rates around them.

“In 2007 we had roughly maybe 30 people who were HIV positive at the Westside [Clinic]; we now have somewhere around about 340 to 350,” he said. Helliar personally sees about 100 of those patients.

When asked about what he sees as the causes of Saskatchewan’s HIV problem,

An HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence but it still often means a long, lonely life.

“

almostsummersky/Flickr

You can create that open understanding and that sense of compassion, but if you don’t understand why we’re angry or why we’re suicidal, how are you going to get across and provide a quality of service?”

Helliar stressed the fact that HIV “has become a disease of poverty” and other similar social determinants of health, such as housing and addiction. Thus while it is true that there are a disproportionately high number of aboriginal people in Saskatchewan being infected, this is due to the fact that aboriginal people are disproportionately affected by poverty.

“I think the first thing [the government] needs to do is work on the whole issue of poverty and try to relieve that,” said Helliar, “and the housing situation and relieve that, as well as putting in more human resources to deal with HIV.” The provincial government is in the process of implementing a four-year strategy to deal with HIV; its four focal points are education, prevention and harm reduction, research and clinical management. The main goals of the strategy include improving life and housing for current HIV-positive people; working to prevent both addictions and new HIV cases; and to reduce the stigma and isolation HIV-positive people experience, both in life and, importantly, in the medical community.

“They’ve certainly increased the number of health workers that are working with this issue,” Helliar said. “And so in that way it’s

Ken Ward HIV/AIDS Activist helped, but we are still being overwhelmed by this problem. Yes, there has been an improvement, but it’s certainly not enough.”

Both Ward and Helliar acknowledged the prejudice that many members of the medical community still hold toward HIV patients.

Ward says loneliness and isolation are among the most difficult things for people to deal with when they are diagnosed.

“I’m really pleased that the nurses are now coming to the forefront and wanting to understand, because they’re usually the welcome mats of anybody who’s diagnosed,” said Ward.

Still, he says, more needs to be done. Child and family services, correctional workers and more medical professionals all need to receive thorough education to combat their prejudices.

Helliar echoed Ward’s concerns. Many health care workers, he says, either don’t want to treat HIV-positive patients who are addicted to drugs or don’t put forth the effort to make the patients feel welcome.

“They’re certainly made to feel that they’re not wanted there.”

The key to changing this, Helliar says, is education.

“Try and get people [in the medical profession] to understand why people

become addicted, and that people, even if they have an addiction problem, are human beings and need to be treated with the same respect that you would treat any person.”

Another key problem that goes hand in hand with both injection drug use and the over-arching problem of poverty is homelessness. Ward hinted at having led a very transient lifestyle earlier in his life, saying he had been “what you might call a ‘gypsy.’ ” From residential schools and foster homes to his younger adulthood, “I just migrated from city to city most of my life.”

Helliar says this is also typical of many patients he sees, and is a huge impediment to treating patients properly. Whether it be diabetes or HIV, chronic illnesses are significantly harder to treat when the patient does not have a stable, consistent home to return to.

“HIV in general has become a disease of poverty,” Helliar said, “and the vast majority of the people that live in poverty are more likely to get HIV. Our aboriginal community lives in poverty, and therefore First Nations people are certainly a large percentage of the people that we see that are HIV positive.”

4• NEws

thesheaf.com/news • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

Standardized nursing exam causes controversy Nursing students opposed to US company producing new exam

Carnival of Solidarity returns to praise diversity and social justice NICOLE BARRINGTON

albertogp123/Flickr

Canadian nursing students are concerned their licensing test will lose its cultural relevance if created by Americans.

TANNARA YELLAND Senior News Editor Controversy has broken out in nursing colleges across Canada as preparations are made to move to a single, continent-wide standardized exam for licensing registered nurses.

“The main thing is that nursing students across the country, since this announcement, have been voicing a lot of discontent and upset with the decision,” said Maggie Danko, western regional director of the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association and a thirdyear nursing student at the University of Alberta.

On Dec. 1, most provincial nursing regulatory bodies in Canada announced that they had selected the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, an American company, to create a new licensing exam for registered nurses. The regulatory bodies of Quebec and the Yukon have not signed on.

The new exam will be written online rather than on paper, which will allow prospective nurses to write whenever they want and for a lower fee than the current Canadian

Registered Nurses’ Exam costs. The CRNE can only be written on three days out of the year. These dates are chosen by the Canadian Nursing Association, which provides the CRNE. “We’re also concerned that this decision to switch to the American company has been made without proper consultation of some of the relevant stakeholders, such as students, who are the ones that write the exam,” Danko said.

It’s true that students were not included in the selection process for the new exam creator, says College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta CEO MaryAnne Robinson.

“This is a licensing exam and typically those decisions are made by the licensing bodies or the regulators.”

Robinson maintained that it is “not at all” standard practice to solicit input from those who will be taking such a test, and expressed surprise that the CNSA has opposed the change.

“One of the considerations that the regulators had when we went out to an open bidding process for this exam was that we

JOURNALISM PRIZE THE MCGEACHY PRIZE IS AWARDED ANNUALLY BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FOR EXAMPLES OF JOURNALISM PUBLISHED IN ANY FORM (IN THE PRESS, ON RADIO, OR ON TELEVISION) DURING THE PAST YEAR. THE PRIZE IS WORTH $500.00 TO BE SPENT FURTHERING A CAREER IN JOURNALISM, SUCH AS TOWARD TUITION IN A SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM OR IN THE PURCHASE OF EQUIPMENT USEFUL IN JOURNALISM. Applicants must submit scripts, DVDs, CDs, or three or four articles (of at least 500 words each) along with a covering letter to the Department of English, Arts 320. All work will be returned.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 30 March, 2012

were looking for an exam that would improve accessibility for new graduates,” Robinson said. “So we thought that being able to write at their convenience… would be something that students would really appreciate.”

For Danko, however, convenience did not seem to be an important factor; rather, she was much more worried about the possible problems posed by an American company writing and profiting from the Canadian licensing exam for RNs. Danko listed several complaints she says nursing students have brought to her and her organization’s attention, including the fact that an American corporation will profit from Canadian students; a worry that students’ information will be available to American authorities; and a lack of cultural sensitivity.

“Some of our concerns as well are that as it’s a Canadian-developed exam, [the current exam creators] do consider the unique cultural needs of Canada in the drafting of the exam. They really focus a lot on cultural competency, and also the bilingual aspect of our country, and not just simply translation between French and English.”

Robinson was emphatic in her response to these concerns, saying that the licensing exam for new nurses is not intended to test for cultural differences.

“Canadian culture is really made up of several subcultures,” she said, “as is the U.S. Clearly we can’t be creating an exam in either country that would bias one culture over another.

“In fact, studies that have been done comparing the current Canadian RN exam to the current U.S. exam show that they’re 93.1 per cent similar, and the differences are only related to [differences in legislation]. That whole notion that it’s not sensitive to cultural differences is actually nothing to do with the

Social justice groups will be celebrating at Louis’ Pub for the Carnival of Solidarity on March 2. The annual event consists of dance performances from various cultures, ethnic cuisine and presentations from local advocacy organizations.

In addition to a celebration of diversity at the University of Saskatchewan, the carnival is a networking opportunity for students and social justice groups as well as a fundraiser for Iskwewuk Ewichiwitochik (Women Walking Together), which is a local community organization that raises awareness and supports families of missing Aboriginal women.

According to the carnival’s main organizer, Global Connections Student Coordinator Sasha Hanson-Pastran, the multipurpose event was planned as part of International Research and Development Month. The U of S observed this month from Jan. 30 to Mar. 2.

The entertainment will consist of live performances from various multicultural groups, including Chinese, Aboriginal, Indian and Latin American representatives, while the dinner will feature an international buffet rather than traditional Louis’ fare. Attendees are encouraged to wear their “traditional cultural attire, in order to show and celebrate this diversity.”

Hanson-Pastran hopes the carnival will encourage connections between international students — a group that she feels lacks representation on campus.

“Considering that there hasn't been an international student representative on student council for the entire year, I would say yes, there is a lack of international student representation, at least on the student governance level,” said Hanson-Pastran.

The issue of international and indigenous student representation has dogged University Students’ Council for most of the school year, and elections are currently planned to fix the imbalance.

Iskwewuk Ewichiwitochik focuses on community awareness and support for families of missing Aboriginal women. This group will be the recipient of donations from the carnival.

According to one of the core members, Darlene Okemaysim-Sicotte, donations from the Carnival of Solidarity will “go towards awareness and remembrance activities throughout Saskatoon.”

Activists and academics in Saskatchewan, who have since branched out nationally and internationally with the goal of dismantling systemic violence against aboriginal women and children founded the non-profit organization in 2005. The organization has recently been working with the U of S College of Law on multiple projects, which will be showcased at the event Friday evening.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. at Louis’/dinner tickets $15 for students, $25 for nonstudents/$5 for after party (8:30 p.m.)/Tickets can be bought at ISSAC (lower place)--

Write for the news section.

Do it. (news@thesheaf.com)

News

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/news

•5

Riot police break up Montreal tuition protest 15,000 Quebec students storm the city’s downtown to kick off strike HENRY GASS The McGill Daily (McGill University) MONTREAL (CUP) — The Quebec student movement’s general strike kicked off with a day of action on Feb. 24. Thousands of students gathered in Montreal’s Philips Square and marched through downtown protesting tuition increases set to begin in September.

The march at times numbered up to 15,000 students. CLASSE, the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, organized the demonstration, and spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said he was “totally surprised” by the turnout.

“I think we were waiting for a few thousand people and we’ve got thousands and thousands of people,” said Nadeau-Dubois.

As of 2:45 p.m. the demonstration was trailed by between 17 and 20 police vehicles, including a van of riot police, an ambulance and a van labelled “Support logistique.”

At a downtown metro station, the demonstration splintered and about 1,500 demonstrators continued marching toward Jacques Cartier Bridge.

“The protest technically ended at Berri-UQAM station,” said a student who wished to remain anonymous.

The student said that some demonstrators wanted to continue the march.

Many of those taking part in the splinter demonstration encountered riot police near Papineau metro station. Most demonstrators marched away when the riot police appeared.

“We just came to the conclusion that there was no point in getting pepper sprayed,” said the student.

According to the student, about 50 to 75 riot police surrounded the remaining demonstrators leading them into a public sqare next to the metro. Between 5 and 5:30 p.m. the number of demonstrators had “fizzled” to 500, the student added.

The police began to bang their

1

Campus Assault cont. from

“Now, nine years later, the university has forgotten these [recommendations]. In neglecting to inform the students and employees of this recent assault in a timely manner, the [administration] put the campus community at risk,” the former student wrote in an email to the Sheaf. She wished to remain anonymous.

Following the 2004 safety review, Hannah said, the university chose to instead send email notifications only when there was an ongoing or continuing threat to the public. But “this incident has caused us to go back and review that policy,” he said in a subsequent interview.

“We didn’t want to desensitize the campus community with notices coming out all the time; then people stop paying attention,” said Hannah.

“But after further thought, maybe that is the better risk to take. We send the notifications out and let the

shields despite the demonstration being peaceful, the student said.

However, some reports state that some demonstrators blocked access to the Jacques Cartier Bridge just before rush hour at around 4 p.m.

After a standoff, police dispersed the blockade with shields and pepper spray.

Demonstrators “were asked to leave, and were then removed by the riot squad,” said Montreal police spokesperson Anie Lemieux.

According to Lemieux, the blockade ended at 5 p.m. Lemieux said there were no injuries and there was only one arrest for disturbing the peace, although it is unclear if the arrest was related to the blockade.

No demonstrators who remained when riot police intervened at Jacques Cartier Bridge were available to comment.

The Quebec government announced in March 2011 tuition hikes of $325 per year for five years starting this September. The increase will raise average Quebec tuition to $3,793 by 2017 but will still be among the lowest in Canada.

CLASSE’s Nadeau-Dubois said the demonstrations would only continue to grow.

“I think now this government has no choice: it has to listen to us, and it has to stop increasing tuition fees,” he said.

According to the CBC, a nonconfidence motion on the proposed hikes will be debated in the Quebec National Assembly on Feb. 28.

Nadeau-Dubois said Premier Jean Charest and the provincial government had yet to engage in any kind of negotiations.

“I think if [Charest] wants to ignore us he can do it now, but from next week on we’re going to be more and more thousands of people in the streets. Very soon there’s going to be a point from which he cannot stop us from protesting,” said NadeauDubois. “He will have to negotiate with us; soon he won’t have the choice.”

Nadeau-Dubois said he hoped public make the call on what actions to take.”

Hannah said a new formal policy will clearly outline what events will result in a campus-wide notice and how quickly those notifications will go out. The university has also recently purchased an emergency text messaging system that students voluntarily subscribe to their mobile numbers and then receive a text message if an emergency situation arises on campus. The system is expected to launch by the end of the semester.

Meanwhile, the victim of the McEown Park attack has recently come forward, frustrated with the pace of the police investigation.

She told the StarPhoenix she has provided the police with the names of witnesses, the dorm number where the attack took place and the phone number of the suspect, but still no progress has been made.

The police said two investigators have been assigned to the case and they are working on interviewing witnesses and building a strong case before making an arrest.

According to the StarPhoenix

Henry Gass/The McGill Daily

During a Feb. 24 protest, Montreal police dispersed students with pepper spray and shields. students from McGill and other nonparticipating schools would soon join the strike.

“I think with the protest today we have the proof that everyone in Quebec can mobilize,” he said.

National Assembly member JeanMartin Aussant filed a petition on Feb. 17 to call on the government report, the victim, only referred to as Sara, said she met a group of people through a friend at a Saskatoon nightclub on New Year’s Eve. Sometime before closing, one of the men in the group bought Sara a shot of alcohol, which she believes was laced with some sort of drug.

Surveillance footage shows the group entering the McEown residences at approximately 4 a.m., where Sara was “violently sexually assaulted for hours.” During those hours, she would periodically wake up paralyzed and see a man sexually assault her before losing consciousness again. At 10 a.m., as the assault continued, she escaped and attempted to find a ride home.

Sara said she feels no shame and has nothing to hide. She went public with her story, she said, to inform the community that sexual assaults such as this are happening in Saskatoon and victims are not receiving justice.

“It should be up to the public to decide what is a threat,” Sara told the StarPhoenix. “I met him once and he did this? People meet every day.”

to back down on tuition hikes in response to pressure from a Quebec student lobby group that represents 65,000 students at three universities.

The petition is available for students to sign until May 16, and had collected 19,049 signatures at press time.

“At the point we are at now, I

think a petition is not what is going to convince this government,” said Nadeau-Dubois, “but maybe it can help, and if it can help we’re going to sign it.”

— With files from Erin Hudson

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6•

thesheaf.com/hiring • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

Are you interested in journalism?

Do you have an aptitude for design?

Can you draw or take a photograph?

Well then why not work for

?

If you are interested in covering student issues at the U of S, or thinking of a career in journalism (radio, print or television), photography or graphic design, journalism schools look more favourably upon those who have dedicated time working on a student newspaper. Apply for one of the 11 paid staff positions.

Editorial Staff positions include:

Editor-in-Chief, News Editor, Associate News Editor, Arts Editor, Opinions Editor, Sports Editor, Photography Editor, Graphics Editor, Graphic Designer, Copy Editor and Web Editor.

Submit your résumé and cover letter together in a sealed envelope to: Hiring Committee The Sheaf Publishing Society Room 108 Memorial Union Building 93 Campus Drive Saskatoon, SK S7N5B2

Editor-in-Chief applications must be received by Tuesday, March 1st @ 3:00 pm Applications for all other positions must be received by Tuesday, March 15th @ 3:00 pm

Any undergraduate student may apply for an editorial position. All positions are term positions running from May 1, 2012 until April 30, 2012*.

Remuneration for most will start in September of 2012**. * Some may be asked to volunteer time from May 1, 2011 until August 31, 2011 ** Determined by the Board of Directors

Opinions •7

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/opinions

Modern porn is awful and I can’t stop watching It’s free, it’s violent, and it’s all too popular ISHMAEL N. DARO Editor-in-Chief “Anal sex is for pussies. Ass stretching and double anal are for amateurs. The real pros go triple.”

This was the description of a pornographic video depicting triple anal penetration. And as I watched three penises entering the same woman’s anus, I felt overwhelming shame and disgust — feelings that are hard to avoid when watching most Internet porn.

Titillating images and other erotica have been around almost as long as civilization. Frescoes uncovered in Pompeii depict all sorts of sexual behaviour, from threesomes to cunnilingus.

Painting, sculpture and pottery celebrating fertility and sex have been found in many parts of the world, from India to Australia to South America. It’s clear that we, as a species, like seeing and thinking about sex almost as much as engaging in it.

The days of being handed a Playboy by your father when you reach puberty are long gone.

Children today usually discover the Internet’s pornographic potential by age 11, and the relationship with porn is one that outlasts most others in men’s lives.

Smut is so inescapable that when University of Montreal researchers wanted to study its effects on sexuality and needed a control group of men who did not watch porn, they couldn’t find any.

Despite its seeming ubiquity and variety, however, there is an inescapable truth about the erotic entertainment that comprises so much of the web: almost all porn available online is utterly wretched. Anyone who has spent any time looking at porn — and statistically, that’s almost all men and about a third of women — can’t help but notice its narrow scope. It is overwhelmingly about men fucking the living daylights out of women who are in various states of discomfort.

A 2010 analysis of 50 popular porn titles found that nearly half of the 304 scenes contained some form of verbal abuse, and over 88 per cent showed some form of physical aggression. The women in the films overwhelmingly responded positively or didn’t react at all to such sustained humiliation.

It didn’t need to be this way. When Playboy and other pioneering magazines first came out, they were snatched up by men in a much more sexually-repressed culture. The magazines not only pushed the boundaries of sexuality, but also of free speech. Before the 1970s, for example, oral sex was mostly a shameful and rarely acknowledged subject. The famous film Deep Throat helped to destroy the stigma around oral sex, but not without facing a series of legal hurdles.

Samantha Braun

Ultimately, those court challenges helped further entrench free speech rights, even when the speech protected was pornographic. The idea that the government can enforce morality and punish citizens for their tastes is abhorrent, and we have rightly limited the state’s power in this realm.

As former prime minister Pierre Trudeau famously said, the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation — and it should have no place in the porn collections of the nation either.

With the cost of producing and distributing porn at an all-time low, there is an everescalating intensity to the porn available online.

How else to explain the seeming popularity of gagging porn? Or rape porn? Or the category of “extreme hardcore” — as though hardcore doesn’t already imply extreme?

There are, of course, safe and consensual ways to explore power, domination, aggression and humiliation in sex. Porn has always acted as a fantasy outlet for men, and there is nothing

wrong with videos that depict such behaviour, but it’s the fact that such aggressive porn is virtually inescapable that should be of concern.

I came of age with the Internet, and I have spent hundreds of hours watching porn. Any other male in his 20s who won’t admit to the same is either a liar or a eunuch.

Whatever silliness or sense of fun once existed in porn is surely dead by now. Even Deep Throat was based on the ridiculous conceit that the main character had a clitoris in the back of her throat, and therefore needed to deep-throat a penis in order to achieve orgasm.

There are no pizza delivery men who accept sex as payment anymore, and the female orgasm doesn’t exist unless it’s to serve a bizarre “squirting” fetish for men. Instead, most scenes go from “Hi my name is...” to hardcore fucking in less than a few minutes. Anything that resembles real sex is buried so deep that it’s almost not worth seeking it out.

As difficult as it may be for my generation to

pay for music, it may be even harder to accept the idea of paying for porn. But that may be the only solution to the dearth of decent adult entertainment.

If we want to move away from the misogyny, the racism and the reduction of human beings to mere body parts — and that includes men — we need to be willing to pay for people to make the good stuff, porn that depicts pleasure rather than plumbing. Such entertainment does exist, and is sometimes perversely called “feminist porn.”

There are also hundreds of websites where real amateurs have great sex for the camera and the money actually goes to them and not some shady porn producers.

As piracy continues to hurt the big pornographers, there’s a chance to actually pay for the good stuff and help it grow. Otherwise, porn will continue to sink into deeper and deeper levels of depravity. Sometimes, three dicks is just too many.

Why legalizing prostitution won’t work David Swanson The Link (B.C. Institute of Technology) BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) — The conversation surrounding sex work has certainly changed in recent years.

Many people have realized Canada’s laws surrounding the procurement of sex have not been successful in its prevention. Currently, the sale of sexual services for money is legal, but many of the attendant activities (advertising it, setting up brothels etc.) are not. Sex work has cemented its reputation as “society’s oldest profession” and, for those pursuing its legalization, that’s a justification for ending its prohibition.

They believe the sex trade will exist regardless of its lawfulness and should therefore be made legal, as regulation will bring it within

government control, helping to minimize the negative effects of sex work like exploitation, drug addiction and physical abuse.

In most circumstances, this logic is sound.

If the illegality of something does not curb behaviour, the effective harm-reduction strategy may be to integrate that behaviour into the legal system. However, with regards to sex work, this could produce more harm than good.

Alexandra Mackenzie, a Vancouver advocate for the abolition of prostitution and co-founder of the organization Our Lives To Fight For, produced a powerful documentary of the same name outlining the pitfalls of legalized prostitution. In order to get a more complete understanding of the issue, Mackenzie interviewed academics, concerned community members and former prostitutes.

In doing so, she discovered that “no country

has successfully legalized prostitution without substantial growth of human trafficking, organized crime and underage prostitution.” She writes on Simon Fraser University’s Journalists for Human Rights blog that, “In 2007, the mayor of Amsterdam called the legalization of prostitution an ‘abysmal failure’ due to a significant increases in organized crime, human trafficking and drug trafficking.” She adds that, a year later, the National Dutch Police estimated that between 50 and 90 per cent of women in the legal brothels in Holland were “working involuntarily.”

The sex trade is a very lucrative industry that perpetuates gender inequalities that will not be solved if prostitution is legalized. The sex trade will not become safer or easier to regulate. Legalization will only validate women (primarily) as commodities.

Furthermore, legalization could perpetuate socio-economic inequalities. For example, people applying for welfare are usually expected to complete an in-depth job search before they will be awarded government aid.

In 2002, the German government legalized prostitution as a legitimate profession; in 2005, the Telegraph reported that women applying for welfare in Germany who were having difficulty finding work in traditional industries were being advised to apply to brothels. If they refused, benefits could be denied.

8

Prostitution cont. on

8• Opinions

thesheaf.com/opinions • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

Giving victims a voice University’s handling of New Year’s Eve assault too little, too late Vic M. There is something disturbing about the University of Saskatchewan's treatment of reported sexual assault on campus.

Only one case of sexual assault has been reported on campus since the new year.

That's hardly an accurate representation of what's happening to university students.

On Feb. 17, students were notified of the most recent reported rape case on campus, an acquaintance rape with signs of violence.

The report is vague, solemn and couches a request for information in insistence that, somehow, this message is for our own good.

The timing of the release is its most damning detail. Not only were all details of this affair withheld for two months, they were released on the Friday that began Reading Week.

That timing effectively muted the possibility for conversation about this issue. Students were on a break, and the majority were pretty evidently not engaged in campus issues. The Sheaf and the Star Phoenix both immediately released stories, which provided little more information, and were necessarily subject to the same problem.

The suggested treatment of the release seemed to be: read it, forget it, move on.

Why notify the community at all, if only to mute the message?

“Our initial judgement was that, based on the information we did have, we didn’t think there was an imminent threat to other members of the university community, which is the criteria we have normally used to trigger such notices,” a university spokesperson told the Sheaf on Feb. 18.

A fair sentiment, but I'm not so convinced that notifying us of an isolated assault contributes in any way to our safety. Nor do I believe that threat to the community is a useful criterion for diffusion of this kind of information.

The message contains no information about the assailant or the assault, beyond the ominous suggestion that "alcohol and other drugs may have been involved in the assault," and the occasion, New Year’s Eve in a campus residence.

Whatever the university is bound to keep private by law or duty, this particular set of facts provides no new information that could somehow protect the rest of the

Matthew Stefanson

nebulous "university community."

Grave cases of sexual assault — the ones we think of as rape — occur with disturbing regularity, and this particular story is all too familiar. An acquaintance. A party. Drugs and alcohol. It isn't — unfortunately — news.

What is news, or at least worth drawing attention to, is the number of sexual abuse cases that go unreported, or, worse, are treated as entirely normal.

And if there's a serious question as to why victims don't report, there are a variety

of reasons.

This release is an exemplary sample of some of those reasons. It has sensationalized sexual violence, downplaying the real prevalence of sexual abuse.

The shock-value approach to sexual assault encourages treating victims as helpless, rare, pitiable cases, which — again, unfortunately — only serves to encourage acquaintance-rape culture.

With so few cases reported, men and women forced into sexual acts against their will become almost as afraid of the reaction their friends and the community might have to the news as to the actual act.

It is often easier to keep mum, and make excuses ("But we were friends!" "It was

Prostitution cont. from

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In this circumstance, legalized prostitution could actually result in an influx of impoverished women participating in the sex trade. Of course, this would be contrary to the objectives of most legalization proponents, which is to minimize women’s non-consensual participation in the industry. Sadly, the probability that financially disadvantaged women will be forced to sell sex as a means for providing for themselves and their families will likely increase.

So what is the solution? If prostitution isn’t legalized and regulated, then sex trade workers will be more susceptible to violence, disease and drug addiction.

If it is legalized, on the other hand, the government is responsible for propagating inequity with little evidence the policy will be socially beneficial.

probably my fault — I was way too drunk") for the assaulter, than to be subjected to pity, misunderstanding and disgust. And, in large part, this is because we still don't accept just how prevalent rape is in our culture.

To be raped, in short, is to be permanently victimized. We (largely) consider moving on from sexual abuse impossible, and victimization permanent.

This doesn't have to be the case.

If victims were free to acknowledge their experience, work through it and move on, then perhaps they would be more willing to disclose. Instead, we treat all sexual assault as tantamount to rape, and thereby sensationalize sexual violence to an impossibly daunting degree.

Sexual victims are people, many of whom have silently worked through their experiences in positive ways. Dramatic press releases only serve to undermine the experiences of those individuals.

The odd space the release fills between providing information and providing statistics is also disturbing. Were we provided with only statistics, we would at least be armed with empirical knowledge.

Were we to have details, then the actual perpetrator, conditions and risks associated with this particular instance might be of some use.

Rather, we have a request for information that could only be provided by someone intimately aware of the rape's details, vague and useless to the rest of the campus community.

As one small consolation, the release included advice on how to "increase your safety against sexual assault."

The thing is, most of us already know the basics of personal safety. And while getting that information out to students who don't is nice, it's far from enough.

The university should be doing more to identify cases of sexual assault — from forced handjobs to forced penetrative sex — so that we can have a more accurate sketch of risk on campus. Knowledge is power, after all.

All of this begs the question: to what end was this information released?

If it was for our safety, then it has failed to provide us with any useful information.

If it was for the victim's peace of mind, then it was merely a nod at due process. If it was for information, then it was utterly futile.

Fortunately, there is a third option: the Nordic model, which decriminalizes the sale of sex but criminalizes the act of buying sex.

Countries including Sweden, Norway and Iceland have implemented this policy and seen positive results. By making the demand for paid sex illegal without punishing sex workers, the law recognizes prostitution as a form of exploitation and places the participation risk of hefty fines, incarceration and public shame on the buyer, not the seller, of sex. This legislation, in tandem with subsidized housing, job training programs and drug rehabilitation, has helped many women exit the industry.

Mackenzie writes, “Since the law was implemented in 1999, street prostitution [in Sweden] has decreased by 50 per cent with no increase in indoor prostitution.” She adds that there has been a “considerable decline of human trafficking into Sweden.”

In the ongoing debate about prostitution, those numbers are hard to ignore.

Opinions

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/opinions

How to make a deadly virus

•9

Scientists fail to treat H5N1 like the WMD that it is

Brianna Whitmore/Graphics Editor

Michael Cuthbertson Opinions Editor Western media love hyping the threat posed by the various nuclear programs of “evil” nations like North Korea and Iran. And although the reporting is sensational at times, history proves that nuclear weapons can produce megadeath and that every measure should be taken to prevent their use. So I find it strange that a weapon even more lethal than the nuclear bomb is being developed and has yet to garner much attention.

Scientists in the U.S. and Netherlands have recently created a mutation of the H5N1 virus that, if unleashed, could kill hundreds of millions of people.

The virus as it occurs in nature has so far only killed about 340 humans since 2003 — though it has resulted in the death of hundreds of millions of birds. The human-manipulated version is far more dangerous, having the unique ability to be transmitted between mammals, as well as through the air.

Disregarding the cataclysmic nature of their creation, lead researchers are now trying to publish a sort of “how to create our virus” article in the journal Nature — which is written primarily for scientists, but will prove a useful read for bioterrorists as well.

Granted, a terrorist would need a team of skilled scientists and a state-of-the-art lab to create this biological weapon, but given how communicable this virus is, it’s possible even a benevolent scientist could mistakenly unleash it.

Because the virus has lethal potential on par with a nuclear bomb, its development ought to proceed with the same caution we’d expect from any nuclear weapons program.

We must recall that when America first developed the atom bomb, they didn’t divulge “how to enrich uranium to weaponsgrade standards” in a magazine. Instead, the Manhattan Project maintained a thick veil of secrecy among the thousands of workers it employed.

Today, some watchdog groups, like the National Science Advisory Board, correctly acknowledge H5N1 must be researched in an equally closed-door environment.

Recently the NSAB asked researchers to redact the “how-to” portions of their Nature article, suggesting instead they only release this information to scientists who first pass background checks.

But a meeting in Geneva on Feb 16. saw the World Health Organization recommend this research be published in full. This appears to be the route Nature will take.

Hearing this foolhardy ruling by the WHO, I suggest that Frankenstein be made required reading for all undergrads in the sciences.

These H5N1 researchers are so enraptured by their apparently miraculous creation that they completely overlook its pitfalls — like its potential to kill human beings.

But the debate over H5N1 research is ethically hazier than creating a zombie, or a nuclear weapon for that matter. Unlike a nuke, humans need not a detonate this virus to be destroyed by it. Even the natural form of H5N1 could mutate into something with pandemic potential, but research is helping to put such self-destructive power into human hands.

Regardless of how it spreads, if H5N1 gets out we may all be doomed.

According to the WHO, the case-fatality ratio for H5N1 is somewhere between 30 and 80 per cent. By comparison, the Spanish Influenza of 1918 — which killed somewhere between 20 and 100 million people — had a case-fatality ratio of just two per cent.

Researchers argue that it’s precisely the virus’s high threat-level that makes the transparent and prompt distribution of their work so imperative.

Leading H5N1 researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka recently defended the release of his work in an article titled “H5N1: Flu transmission work is urgent.” He argues his research must be shared freely if scientists are to develop vaccines before an outbreak occurs. He depicts his field of study as a kind of biological arms race; where humanity must think faster than the virus does.

It’s true: we must prepare for an outbreak before it comes. But we mustn’t be so hasty that we inadvertently cause that outbreak. The public may like to believe this is sophisticated science and therefore nothing could go wrong. But the possibility of a laboratory mishap is not so remote.

The possibility of accidents is especially relevant since Kawaoka, like many scientists, is prepared to cut dangerous corners just to win his place in science history. From 2005 to 2006, Kawaoka and researchers at the University of Wisconsin were manipulating the Ebola virus genome in a lab they knew was not permitted to do such research —

which is permissible only in ultra-secure “Biosafety Level Four” laboratories. When the U.S. National Institute of Health got wind of Kawaoka’s sketchy lab, they halted his research, declaring his studies should never have been conducted in such an environment.

This is the man who flippantly suggests his research go public.

And all it would take is one careless lab making one safety slip for the human-made strain of H5N1 to spark a pandemic. As if to assuage the public’s fears, Kawaoka says the research might as well be shared because “there is already enough information publicly available to allow someone to make

a transmissible [H5N1 virus].”

Even with the careless distribution of their work, well-intentioned scientists probably will not trigger the end of the world. But the stakes — the survival of our species — seem a smidgen high to not pursue this research in the most cautious manner possible. As science like this shows, humans have an ever-accelerating ability to perform feats once unimaginable. Whether these feats are miraculously good or unspeakably bad is our choice to make.

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10• Opinions

thesheaf.com/opinions • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

The more the merrier?

Polygamists may have the solution to romantic satisfaction Natahna Bargen Polygamy is not something that one would expect to come up in an everyday conversation, but if it does, some of the subsequent sub-topics often include the notorious Warren Jeffs, sexual abuse of minors and brainwashing on various levels Yet with other exposure of polygamists in the media — such as TLC’s Sister Wives or Lisa Ling’s Spotlight on a Young Polygamist Family recently on the O Network — lines become blurred and one must consider that the extreme stories seen on the news may be the exception instead of the experience of the majority of polygamists.

Many ancient cultures practiced polygamy to the extent where it was accepted as a regular part of society; can we as citizens of the modern world really be so conceited as to think we have come up with all the “right and wrong” norms for civilization?

Should any of us even have a say in what a person believes is a meaningful romantic relationship as long as it abstains from the abuse of others? The overwhelming voice of today’s society cries out for equality and neutrality in opinions ranging from religion to politics to interpersonal relationships, and there’s no reason to exclude polygamous relationships from such consideration.

Nevertheless, a wise person once told me that everyone has a bias — even if that bias is to uphold the belief that they themselves are unbiased.

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Polygamy’s all fun and games. Until you meet the in-laws!

My bias towards polygamy is that, since many modern polygamists only practice polygyny —the practice of having more than one wife at one time — I immediately associate it with the oppression of women. If I take a step back from that opinion, however, I can see some of the benefits of not having to settle on finding one significant other, but

being open to finding several.

In an alternate universe, we might be able to handpick all the specific qualities desired in a significant other, where we don’t have to settle for getting some of the good qualities we want along with all of the bad we had hoped to avoid. If this were the case, I would choose a man stretching above six feet, with kind eyes

and an electric smile. He would give good advice, love spur of the moment adventures and always be respectful and generous to those around him (and if not that, something along the lines of Zac Efron would do).

But maybe it is impossible to find all the characteristics matching one’s ideal romantic partner in one single, flawed

Bill C-30 is needlessly invasive The government should not spy on our online lives Ashley Hyshka Free and unfettered access to the Internet is a no-brainer for our generation. Maybe not for our parents or grandparents, but at least for us.

With Bill C-30, currently before Parliament, the federal government means to stick its nose in our web browsers and violate Canadians’ privacy online.

In the first draft of the bill, the government has failed to find a solution that both protects children from online predators and prohibits the government from watching our online behaviour without a warrant. And apparently Bill C-30 would allow law enforcement to record our online activities as well.

To put it bluntly, Canadians are pissed.

The bill is purportedly about protecting children from online predators. It’s even called the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. The extra powers

given to police, however, would allow for anyone to be spied on — even if there is no reasonable cause for suspicion.

If the government wants to stop online predators from preying on children, they should monitor their IP addresses, and then throw the book at them. Bring in the goddamn SWAT team if you have to. But law enforcement should first have probable cause before spying on Canadians, and when they have established probable cause they should still have to get a judge to a sign off on a warrant. Only after all that should police be allowed to start their surveillance.

Unless the government suspects wrongdoing, and unless they have evidence that what we’re doing is illegal, they shouldn’t monitor what we do online.

Asking the government to only target suspected criminals seems like a reasonable position, but according to Vic Toews, the Minister of Public Safety, anyone

who opposes federal plans to make electronic surveillance easier for police is siding “with child pornographers.”

Nice try. As it turns out, a lot of Canadians still object to the bill on the grounds that it invades their privacy for no good reason.

And if Minister Toews wants to access what I’m viewing online, then I should be able to see what he‘s doing behind the computer screen. Why can’t I see what music he’s downloading, what YouTube videos he’s watching and who he’s talking with online?

Maybe I should see his emails and bank records too, while I’m at it.

The fact is, most Canadians are not child pornographers, they’re not threatening people online or trying to scam others out of their hard-earned cash.

Instead, they’re talking to friends on Facebook, watching YouTube videos and sometimes (reluctantly) doing research for school assignments.

Privacy is a right of all Canadians, but apparently the Canadian government doesn’t appreciate this right. It’s about time they got their heads out of their collective asses, and go back to the drawing board. This bill, as it was first drafted, is not a fool-proof solution to online crime.

human being. It’s unlikely that we will all find that the tall, dark and handsome Prince Charming, or the sexy, smart and cool Cinderella somewhere in the massive abyss that is our unknown future. How many of us have settled (what a disappointing word) for the realistic versions of our fantasies?

Maybe there is something to the logic of a polygamist when they pick, say, wife No. 1 for her sense of humor and skill at WoW, wife No. 2 for her love of cats and her cherry pie recipe, wife No. 3 for her fun-loving nature and her — ahem — lovely lady lumps and so on. We all deserve to find the true love of our lives. So what if that true love is only found in packs of 12?

I suppose the deeper issue in all of this is that if and when we start introducing multiple partners into this private alcove called “commitment,” it would seem to devalue the worth of existing partners with each subsequent person added to the arrangement.

Unfortunately, we’re all flawed, often selfish and occasionally miserable human beings. The good news to go along with this sobering truth is that we are all still worthy of true love and respect — perhaps not from a “perfect person,” but from that incredible person who happens to be perfect for us. And while I could flippantly argue the benefits of multiple lovers in my life, I speak for myself when I say that, for the sake of simplicity if nothing else, I would rather deal with the shortcomings of only one person rather than those of several.

•11

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/advertise

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12•

thesheaf.com/advertise • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

Applications to be on The Sheaf’s editorial board for the 2012-13 school year are due by 3:00 pm, Tues. March 15.

Applicants can apply with a resume, cover letter, and, if applicable, clippings to The Sheaf office.

Room #108 Memorial Union Building (above Louis’) Or go to thesheaf.com/hiring for more information.

Board of Governors’

Annual Public Reporting

You are invited to attend the University of Saskatchewan Board of Governors’ sixth annual public reporting. Meet the members of the board and engage in discussion about university issues.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at noon Convocation Hall

Everyone is welcome.

Nancy Hopkins, Chair of board

Art Dumont Susan Milburn, Vice-chair of board

Linda Ferguson

Scott Hitchings

Peter MacKinnon

Grit McCreath

Vera Pezer

Greg Smith

Garry Standing

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•13

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/advertise

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14•Sports

thesheaf.com/sports • the sheaf • March 1, 2012

Huskies hockey advances with 10-3 win Dogs sweep Pronghorns in first round of playoffs, ready for Golden Bears

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Saskatchewan captain Kyle Ross carries the puck out of his defensive zone.

Travis Brisebois of the Huskies is tripped up by a Lethbridge defender.

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“Mission accomplished,” said Huskies head coach Dave Adolph. “That’s all it was.”

His squad’s 10-3 stomping of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Feb. 25 at Rutherford Rink in Saskatoon not only swept the ’Horns out of the best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series, but also silenced a team that had caused the Dogs trouble all season long.

The ’Horns finished the regular season in second-last place after winning only seven games and sporting three overtime losses in their 28 matches. Two of those wins and two of those overtime losses came against Saskatchewan.

Lethbridge earned six of their season-total 17 points in meetings with the Huskies, which is more points than they earned against any other Canada West team.

Saskatchewan captain Kyle Ross said his squad wasn't fretting about the statistics going into the series, though.

“We wanted to change our focus and stop paying too much attention to who we were playing and start focusing a little more on what we have to do to be successful,” said the fifth-year forward. “We did a good job of doing that. We focused on how we have to play and we came out and executed. It resulted in two wins.”

Ross opened the scoring for the Huskies just 36 seconds into the game. He one-timed a shot from just outside the Lethbridge crease after receiving a pass from teammate Derek Hulak, who was set up behind the net.

Eight minutes later, the Huskies’ Brett Ward patiently held on to the puck, forcing two Lethbridge shot blockers to slide out of position. He fed a pass across to Craig McCallum, who faked the shot before feeding the puck to the wide-open Matthew Spafford.

Spafford buried it and the floodgates opened. The Huskies added two more goals within five minutes of Spafford's marker and, with only one second left in the opening frame, Ross tallied Saskatchewan’s fifth goal of the period.

“We put ourselves in a position where we had to play in the first round by losing four in a row,” said Adolph of his squad’s four-game losing streak in early February

that eliminated their chances of a first-round playoff bye.

For him, the game not only silenced the relentless Pronghorns, but also was a sign that the Huskies were back to the top form they had shown in the first half of the season.

“Our intensity in the first two periods today was indicative of how much our guys want to get to the next round. We were on every puck. We never lost a battle. That’s how you have to play in this league,” said Adolph. “That’s the way we play. It’s back.”

The Huskies top line of Ross, Hulak and Kyle Bortis led the charge, tallying five goals and ten assists as a whole. Spafford and Ward each added one goal and one assist to Saskatchewan’s total while McCallum, who was forced to leave the game early after taking a check to the head, put up two assists.

It is unknown whether McCallum will play this upcoming weekend against the Alberta Golden Bears.

The Pronghorns’ Taylor Gal, who put up Lethbridge’s first goal midway through the second period, and Dustin Moore, who scored twice in the third, each recorded three points on the night.

Saskatchewan netminder Ryan Holfeld stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced while ’Horns goaltender Scott Bowles was pulled early in the second frame after letting in six Huskies’ goals.

Rookie Dylan Tait stopped six of eight shots in relief of the Lethbridge netminder but did not start the third period as the fifthyear Bowles was put back in to start the final frame of his CIS-hockey career.

Bowles recorded 20 saves on the 28 total shots he faced.

In the first game of the series on Feb. 24, three first period goals from the Huskies’ Andrew Bailey, Bortis and McCallum jumped Saskatchewan to a 3-0 lead.

Strong goaltending from the Huskies David Reekie, who stopped 29 of the 31 Lethbridge shots, secured the Dogs’ 4-2 victory.

Bowles stopped 27 of 31 shots in the game.

The Huskies men’s hockey team will be in Edmonton Mar. 2, 3 and, if needed, 4 to take on the Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West semi-final.

Sports

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/sports

•15

UBC leading charge to rethink varsity sport University presidents in Canada West push for high performance division

by Kevin Menz

T

he University of British Columbia has taken the reins in an initiative amongst Canada West universities to reconsider how the conference divides its 16 teams.

Last April, UBC announced it would no longer seek membership into the National Collegiate Athletic Association and would remain a member of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. The school felt it could be at the forefront of changing Canada’s university athletics.

According to Canadian University Press, UBC president Stephen Toope “cited the CIS’s willingness to reform on a variety of fronts, including proposed changes to governance and tiering, as a reason to stay within the organization.”

His desire for change was backed by fellow university presidents from within the conference.

A letter signed by Toope and four other presidents was sent to the Canada West administration around the same time as UBC’s announcement. It not only informed the conference of UBC’s decision to remain in Canada, but also stated a need for change in the conference’s competitive structure, which included a demand for tiering — though it wasn’t made clear what exactly was meant by tiering.

When the Canada West was formed in 1971, it consisted of UBC and the universities of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Saskatchewan and Victoria.

Over the last 14 years, the number has increased to 16 member schools, with 14 currently competing and the University of Northern British Columbia and Mount Royal University scheduled to begin competition in the fall of 2012.

Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton recently submitted an application to join the conference but, as concern amongst Canada West schools grows over the quality of competition within the conference, the league is reluctant to accept new members.

According to Richard Price, the senior advisor to Toope, many schools are concerned that the skill-level of the average Canada West athlete has decreased as the number of roster spots within the conference has increased, and that too many Canadian studentathletes are leaving to play higher quality sport in the NCAA as opposed to staying in Canada.

One “concern is that there has been the dilution of the talent level and that’s simply because of the increased numbers. There are simply more teams and more kids have to fill out those

Brianna Whitmore/Graphics Editor

teams,” said Price over the phone from Vancouver. “The continuing exodus of student athletes to the NCAA greatly magnifies that problem, and that problem has been getting worse and worse.”

To add to this, in certain sports where the number of teams competing is very high, the conference has divided regionally. In men’s and women’s basketball, for example, the Prairie division consists of schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba while the Pacific division consists of schools in British Columbia. The two divisions most often play within their own regions, rarely crossing over to compete against each other.

For schools like UBC and Victoria, this means playing predominantly smaller schools within British

Columbia. For schools in the Prairie division, it means not playing often more competitive teams from UBC and Victoria.

“We’re not even in the same division as our traditional rivals: Saskatchewan, Calgary, Alberta,” said Price. ”We like those traditional rivalries. They generate the most fan interest and we’ve always had excellent competition.”

The Canada West’s response to these concerns was to form a committee of university presidents and athletic directors from schools throughout the league. The committee was tasked with finding new ways to divide or tier the conference’s 16 teams and to make it “more attractive to top Canadian student-athletes to stay in Canada rather than go to the NCAA,” said Price.

Currently, presidents from the

universities of Trinity Western, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Lethbridge sit alongside Toope on the committee. The athletic directors are from the universities of Manitoba, Regina, Alberta and Victoria, as well as Thompson Rivers University.

The committee, also referred to as the Canada West Task Force, released its first preliminary report at the conference’s most recent meeting Feb. 7-8 in Calgary, Alta.

The proposal no longer focuses on the language of tiering but on the idea of a “sport by sport consideration of a high performance division,” said Price.

This means that rather than following a system much like the NCAA in which different schools are declared division one, two or three based on their size and their ability to offer scholarships, the Canada West would allow each school to select which sport or sports they want to perform in a more elite division of competition.

“One school may be committed to high performance competition in basketball and to a more recreational level of competition in hockey,” wrote the University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon in an email to the Sheaf.

In order to classify as a high performance team, added Price, the team would have “to make the full commitment to full-ride scholarships, full-time head and assistant coaches, integrated sports medicine” or whatever else the Canada West deems necessary.

“The interesting thing about the proposal and the principles that exist in the preliminary report is that all the members of the Task Force — big schools, small schools, newer schools and older schools — have all embraced this approach,” said Price.

“Personally, I favour an approach that sees universities compete according to their levels of commitment to particular sports,” wrote MacKinnon.

“The Canada West Task Force is simply trying to develop sensible ways of preserving historical patterns of competition to the extent possible while accommodating newer institutions that may wish to compete in one or two sports, or in several.”

The committee is currently waiting for feedback from the Canada West membership in order to refine its proposal and, eventually, take it to the CIS to see if the system could be implemented nation-wide.

16• Sports

thesheaf.com/sports • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

Siemens tops podium with three golds Huskies women’s track wins third CanWest title in four years, set for CIS title KEVIN MENZ Sports Editor Sharai Siemens led the way as the Huskies women’s track and field team topped the Canada West podium last weekend at the Saskatoon Field House.

It was the third time in the last four years that the University of Saskatchewan women’s squad has won the championship — they took the title in 2009 and 2010 but finished third last season.

Their 111 points easily beat out the second-place Calgary Dinos’ 80 points as well as the third-place Alberta Pandas’ 79.

Siemens, who was awarded the Canada West female track athlete of the year award following the meet, led all competitors with three gold medals and one silver. Two of her first-place finishes came in the relay events as she helped the Huskies take the 4x200-metre and 4x400-metre races. She earned silver in the 600-metre run.

The third gold medal came with a strong 39.31-second run in the 300-metre dash — an event in which the gold medal has eluded her in her last two championships.

“I wanted to finish with a bang in my last year with the Huskies,” said Siemens. “In three years as a Huskie, I’ve only had silver in the 300. It was nice to actually get gold.”

Siemens, who is only in her fourth year of Canadian Interuniversity Sport eligibility but who will finish school this spring, said that this will likely be her last year competing.

“I want to end on a high note.”

Fourth-year Huskie Karla JohnsonGabruch also won multiple gold medals for Saskatchewan. She topped both the weight throw and shot put events with throws of 16.48 and 13.12 metres, respectively.

It was her first time at the Canada West championship in 11 years.

Johnson-Gabruch was the 2001 CIS gold medalist in the weight throw and was named the Huskies female athlete of the year that season. She stopped competing because the university’s track and field team lacked a coach for its throwing athletes.

“I couldn’t do any better than that season in 2001. I was undefeated,” said JohnsonGabruch. “There was nothing I could do to improve on that and I didn’t have a throwing coach. I quit out of frustration.”

She rejoined the team this season both to rekindle her love for the sport and to finish

her English degree.

“I tried other activities. I tried rowing. I tried martial arts. I tried a lot of different stuff but there was nothing that hit me in the same spot” that track had, said JohnsonGabruch. “I thought, ‘I’ve been meaning to finish my education. I might as well. I’m not getting any younger.’ ” Johnson-Gabruch’s 2001 Huskies were the national champions and she believes that this year’s team also has what it takes to win the CIS title.

“This team reminds me a lot of our championship team from 2001,” she said.

“These girls are amazing. They have good hearts and good minds. I’m really proud to be on the team.”

Other Huskies women who won gold medals were Jodi Souter in the 3,000-metre run and Siemens’ teammates in the relays — Morgan Sawatsky, Katrin Ritchie and Veronika Smits in the 4x200-metre and Elecktra Charles, Amanda Banks and Ritchie in the 4x400-metre.

The fifth-year Souter, who also won a silver medal in the 1,500-metre run, was given the Canada West’s female Student Athlete Community Award following the championship. She has not only received several scholarships throughout her years as an agriculture student at the university, but also volunteers at the Canadian Cancer Society, on the Huskies’ Athletic Council and as a motivational speaker with the Go Girl program.

Saskatchewan’s head coach Joanne McTaggart was named women’s coach of the year.

On the men’s side, Saskatchewan finished in fourth with 66.5 points. The Calgary Dinos, the Regina Cougars and the Victoria Vikes topped the podium at first, second and third, respectively.

Pentathlon competitor Keegan Sharp, triple-jumper Cossy Nachilobe, pole-vaulter Lane Britnell and high-jumper Lincoln Crooks were the Huskies men who won gold.

Saskatchewan’s men’s and women’s track and field teams will head to the University of Manitoba March 8 to 10 where they will try to capture their first CIS titles since 2005.

“

This team reminds me a lot of our championship team from 2001.

Karla Johnson-Gabruch Gold Medalist in weight throw and shot put

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Two of Sharai Siemens’ golds came in the 4x200- and 4x400-metre relays.

JOIN THE RCMP

CAREER PRESENTATION March 6 at 6 PM SIAST, Kelsey Campus, Room 149/150, Idylwyld and 33rd Street, Main Building Saskatoon, SK

DEVENEZ MEMBRE DE LA GRC PRÉSENTATION SUR LES CARRIÈRES 6 mars à 18 h SIAST, campus Kelsey, salle 149/150, Immeuble principal, Idylwyld et rue 33 Saskatoon (SK) Attendance at a career presentation is now the mandatory first step in the application process. / Assister à une séance d’information sur les carrières est maintenant la première étape obligatoire du processus de recrutement.

1-877-RCMP-GRC (1-877-726-7472)

sports

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/sports

•17

Huskies basketball to host Final Four ISHMAEL N. DARO Editor-in-Chief Jamelle Barrett leads Huskies to win against Spartans The No. 3 ranked Huskies men are set to host the Canada West Final Four for the first time ever following two wins against the Trinity Western Spartans at the Physical Activity Complex Feb. 24 and 25.

The men played a close first game against the Spartans on Feb. 24, but pulled ahead in the final quarter to win 98-83. Fourth-year guard Jamelle Barrett scored 36 points for the Huskies — more than a third of the team’s total.

The Spartans proved just as difficult the following night, as the two sides were again neck-and-neck, staying within three points of one another for almost the entire game.

However, another late push by Barrett, the Canada West MVP, made the Huskies’ win all but inevitable. The No. 7 jersey was seemingly everywhere in the final frame with Barrett sinking three-pointers, muscling his way to the basket and collecting free throws at an astounding work rate. Barrett ended the game with 41 points.

The final score was 111-97 between the teams.

“It was going into halftime, I knew I was going to have to come out and be a little more aggressive, looking for my shot and getting my team involved,” an exhausted-looking Barrett said after the match.

Barrett agreed the games had been close, but he wasn’t surprised.

“They’re a really good team and they have good players,” he said. “They came out and played hard, and gave us a run for our money — but we found a way to win.”

Although Barrett was undoubtedly the architect of the Huskies win, it was also a team effort. Rookie forward Matthew Forbes had an impressive game with a season-high 23 points, while Duncan Jones added another 16.

Michael Lieffers recorded a double-double with 14 points and an impressive 19 rebounds while Peter Lomuro added 11 points to the scoresheet.

With the Spartans defeated, the Huskies now focus on hosting the Final Four March 2 and 3 at the PAC. Head coach Barry Rawlyk says he’s looking for full support from the fans on the weekend.

“These guys have worked so hard all year for this,” said Rawlyk. “This was an objective they set for themselves at the start of the year and it’s now happening, and it would be great to see a full house here to really support them.”

Women sweep Thompson Rivers in twogame series

Despite a wobbly start on the first night of a two-game series against the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack, the No. 3 ranked Huskies women’s basketball team ended the weekend by sweeping their opponents.

On Feb. 24, Saskatchewan trailed the Wolfpack 33-28 at halftime. A strong performance in the second half, however, let the women come out on top with a 66-59 win.

The Huskies win was driven by fifth-year guard Amy Lackie’s 13 points, including a three-pointer in the fourth quarter that essentially clinched the game.

Dalyce Emmerson, Katie Miyazaki and Kiera Lyons each recorded double-digit scores with 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Things were less shaky the following night as the Huskies dominated all quarters, never falling behind in points and finishing with a comfortable 13-point lead in the 56-43 victory over the Wolfpack.

Head coach Lisa Thomaidis knew exactly what made the difference the second night.

“Definitely our defensive execution,” she said. “Things that hurt us yesterday we did a much better job of defending tonight.”

The only cause for concern came when fifthyear guard Miyazaki briefly left the court in the third quarter with a charley horse. Although Miyazaki is usually the engine of the team, it was Emmerson and second-year guard Kabree Howard who led the charge, collecting 12 and 17 points, respectively.

The win propels the team into the Canada West Final Four on March 2 to 3, hosted by the University of Regina Cougars.

Pete Yee

Forward Michael Lieffers scored 26 points in the Huskies sweep of the Spartans.

Wrestler Ryan Myrfield wins third men’s title Huskies women put up best-ever CIS finish KEVIN MENZ Sports Editor Ryan Myrfield is three-for-three at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling championships.

The fourth-year Huskies captain won his third national gold medal Feb. 24 and 25 at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. after defeating Concordia University’s Scott Schiller in the men’s 72-kilogram final.

Myrfield won the same weight category last season and, in 2008-09, he won the 68-kilogram title as a rookie with the Huskies. He did not compete in 2009-10 due to injury.

“I put in a lot of hard work this year and it’s really showing that it’s paid off,” said Myrfield, who was honoured by the Canada West with the R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award for his outstanding sportsmanship at the tournament.

For him, the award signifies not only his hard work on the mat, but also that his strong ability to lead has not gone unnoticed.

“It just really lets me know that I’ve been a role model for the team and that other people have noticed that,” he said.

“He’s so strong and can prove that

at every nationals he goes to,” added Myrfield’s teammate on the women’s squad, Koren Pitkethly. “I think he inspires everyone on our team with the way he can stay focused and so determined.”

Myrfield was happy with his team’s showing on the weekend, as the young Huskies men finished seventh of the 12 competing schools.

“It’s kind of a rebuilding year after losing some of our top veterans last year, but everyone came up very strong. We had a really good showing,” said Myrfield. “All the rookies stepped up and gave everything they had while our seniors all placed high and got points for the team.”

Fourth-year Landon Squires, who received the Student Athlete Community Service Award for his work with numerous youth organizations throughout Saskatoon, was the only other Huskie to medal. He won silver in the 90-kilogram category.

On the women’s side, the Huskies put up their strongest showing ever — a third place finish.

Led by Pitkethly, who won silver in the 59-kilogram class for the second-straight year, Saskatchewan finished with four medal performances.

Fourth-year Natasha Kramble, rookie Hannah Franson and third-year Kathleen

Ryan Myrfield in action earlier this season.

Kent each took bronze in the 48-, 55- and 63-kilogram categories, respectively.

“I was super proud of our girls. They left it all out on the mat and they couldn’t have done any better,” said Pitkethly, unable to hide her own disappointment at not winning gold.

“I was very proud of myself with how I wrestled and for making it to the finals,

file photo Josh Schaefer/Huskie Athletics

but it was a heartbreak not being able to actually win,” she said.

Pitkethly will have one more year to win the gold as she will enter her fifth-year of CIS eligibility next season.

18•Arts

thesheaf.com/arts • the sheaf • March 1, 2012

Five movies people used to love But now inexplicably hate

images supplied

COLIN GIBBINGS Ever liked a movie that most people seem to hate? Everyone has at least one. Some have several.

Ever hated a movie everyone else seems to love? Again, of course you do. Even Star Wars has its detractors — weird, mole-like detractors with acne who smell like bantha poodoo. Pity them.

These occurrences are in no way weird. But have you ever brought up a movie to friends that you were sure they liked? In fact, you were sure everyone liked?

That’s when it gets weird. But the fact is that sometimes, for usually no good reason, popular movies lose their support over a matter of a few years, leaving you to wonder where the fans, who used to be so vocal, disappeared to. And who are these malicious detractors who have taken their place?

Here are five examples of movies that lost their fanbase suddenly and unexpectedly.

Borat: Cultural Learns of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) OK, I know what you’re thinking: you can sort of chalk this one up to the relentless overquoting of lines like, “Very nice!” and “Great success!” (I’m cringing as I type this). However, that doesn’t take away the fact that this is one hell of a funny movie or that it was so freaking popular in its day that it actually won major

awards and led to said over-quoting.

However, it’s worth pointing out that despite the tremendous popularity of it, I haven’t encountered a single fan of this movie in years.

And when I ask them why they hate it, never does the over-quoting come up. The fans have simply disappeared! On two occasions people have listed this as the worst movie they have ever seen, and the usual response to Borat these days seems to be eye-rolling (which I’m sure had nothing to do with my “my other shirt is on your wife” T-shirt).

The Departed (2006) This one really bugs me, in a unique way.

The film has a great and growing number of people who dislike it intensely. But it’s not the detractors who bug me; you’re free to dislike whatever you want, you strange, art-hating degenerates. What bugs me are the people I know who happen to like this movie. For one reason, even they seem to have gone out of their way to find fault with it. Whenever I mention this movie to someone who I know likes it, they almost always say, “Oh yeah! That was like on my Top 10 favourite movies, it’s so good.” Then I always follow up with, “Yeah. Did you know Scorsese won the Oscar for that?” To which they always respond, “Oh really? Yeah, I hate career wins.”

Why? You like the movie, so why is it that Scorsese’s win has to be a career win? If he was really handed this award because of his career, he would have won for The Aviator or Gangs

of New York when the chatter about him being overdue was just as loud. This time he actually earned it. Give him his due. You like the movie, so why are you putting his win down?

Shrek 2 (2004) What a strange fate befell this movie. When it came out, people were calling it the funniest movie in a long time, a sequel that was even better than the original. I went to it in theatres and will never forget the laughter — it was deafening. Now, just mentioning it makes people groan and say, “Really?” in that long and snobby tone that boils me up inside. What happened?

My theory is that it’s been lumped in with the other sequels. They were failures and people have just decided to somehow forget all the fun they had with Shrek 2 and assume it was just as bad. In fact, you might even be able to add the original Shrek to the mix as I haven’t heard anything positive about that one in a while.

Please give this movie another try. It really is beautifully funny and smartly written.

Knocked Up (2007) Where did the love go? When this film came out the response was overwhelmingly positive: “It’s so smart!” they said. “The dialogue is so natural and real,” they cried. “It’s the funniest movie in so long.”

Judd Apatow’s rom-com about a guy who knocks up a girl and, through a series of humorous self-discoveries, comes to better

himself and grow up is without a doubt the best Apatow movie.

People at one time agreed, and this movie seemed destined to be added to the list of comedy classics. Nowadays you can ask anyone and they’ll tell you how much they hate it, how much they have always hated it. And if you point out to a close friend that they at one time loved it, they’ll shrug and say, “Eh, I really secretly didn’t like it.” My theory? People developed Apatow-fatigue and for some reason took it out solely on this movie.

Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005) Admit it. Do me a favour and just admit it. When this came out, you liked it. Most everyone did. “It redeems the franchise!” and “Runner-up to Empire Strikes Back!” were both things I heard more than once (more than 20 times actually). Now people just lump it in with the other two prequels, quietly hoping no one remembers their gushing over how dark and awesome it was — and is.

Well not me!

I’m proudly stating that I liked it when it came out and that I like it now. Sure, it has its corny moments, but so do the original three movies. Especially Return of the Jedi, and no one craps on that. Well, actually I’ve been hearing a lot of crapping on that movie lately. I might have to compile another list.

The Artist will charm your socks off Silent Best Picture winner is delightful entertainment AREN BERGSTROM Arts Editor

After all the hoopla and awards handed out to The Artist, it’s worth asking, “Is the film any good?” Yes, it is, and while it may lack the dramatic weight that we expect in a Best Picture winner, The Artist is certainly a dazzling film.

In the truest sense, The Artist is a comedy.

Winner of Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards, the film is light, it’s charming, its story ends happily and by the time the final credits roll, we’re completely wrapped up in the whole enterprise. Perhaps the film’s greatest strength is that it can charm audiences who have never seen a silent film and were hesitant to ever do so. This makes it far more than a one-note gimmick of a film. While being black and white and silent are some of its main draws, the story, the performances and the way French director Michel Hazanavicius spins together a classic film using old Hollywood techniques is really quite marvelous.

The story works as a pastiche of classic Hollywood fare. It follows a famous silent

film actor, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), during the decline of silent film and the birth of talkies. After his last successful film premiere, he bumps into Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), an up-and-coming dancer with aspirations in the movies. Her chance-encounter with George lands her an extra role on his picture and it just so happens she fits the bill for the studio’s transition to sound. George, being the kind of actor used to hamming it up for the camera, is against the idea of sound in film and leaves the studio, thinking he can be a great artist on his own, but his decision bodes ill for his career.

As George’s star falls, Peppy’s rises. George stages a comeback with a personally financed adventure epic, but the film is a commercial and artistic failure. He is out of luck. He loses his wife, his mansion. A few years later he finds himself living out of a one-room apartment with no one but his trusty chauffeur (James Cromwell) and dog Uggie to keep him company. The world of silent film is dead. Or so we think.

The beauty of The Artist is that it demonstrates just how effective the techniques of silent film were. Although nothing about the film is original, from its story to its characters to

the ways in which it charms the viewer, it really captures the vitality and power of silent film.

Silent films didn’t need words to convey the story. They had images. As Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) says in Billy Wilder’s classic noir, Sunset Boulevard, “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!” In this way, they were universal, cutting across all language barriers and immersing the viewer in a world that was truly unique and magical.

Jean Dujardin, who won Best Actor for his performance, channels silent film stars like Douglas Fairbanks to play the immensely charming if egotistical George Valentin.

Dujardin is a physical actor, with an expressive and charismatic face that is perfectly suited to silent film. Silent performances are often criticized for being overblown, and while Dujardin definitely plays it large in certain scenes, he also draws attention to the subtlety of silent performances. He has a face you can read, which is essential for silent film actors because they have nothing more than an expression to play a scene with and the expression has to be just right for the whole thing to work.

Luckily, Dujardin is a real winner. He carries the film and will charm the socks right off your

feet. Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller is also very good. Her character is the film’s heart and her spunk is infectious.

The film has a few gaffes here and there.

The decision to use large chunks of Bernard Herrmann’s score for Vertigo in a key scene was unwise, making its Best Score win a little perplexing. Also, the fact that the plot is overwhelmingly similar to Singin’ in the Rain, even including a climactic dance, leaves you wondering just how powerful the film could have been if it had told an original story with the tried-and-true techniques of silent Hollywood.

But these points are nitpicks. The film works a spell on you while you watch it. Silent films couldn’t be improved by sound. They were the pure embodiment of what motion pictures were meant to be.

The Artist is a tribute to the apex of filmmaking at the end of the silent era. More importantly, it shows us that what is past is not defunct. The magic of the Golden Age of cinema is still alive and well. All you need to move an audience is a good story and the right images to tell it.

arts

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/arts

•19

Ominocity celebrates first birthday Music blog founders discuss their past and the road ahead TANNARA YELLAND Senior News Editor Despite all the great music made in town, bands can still often be better-known elsewhere in the country than within Saskatoon. It took two veterans of the local music scene to start to get the word out to other Saskatonians about what they weren’t hearing.

On March 1, Ryan Smith and Chris Morin will celebrate the first anniversary of their music blog Ominocity with a site redesign and a concert at Louis’ showcasing eight different Saskatoon bands.

The collaboration began with Smith approaching Morin, a personal friend, to work on “a project in general,” though the end result makes perfect sense for the pair.

Smith, who was a member of hardcore emo collective Set Aside until its demise, ran a website called 306.org about 10 years ago that functioned primarily as a forum for local musicians and fans, which he says “pretty much got killed off when Facebook became popular.” Still, the website led to Smith starting his own web hosting company and working in the tech industry.

Meanwhile, Morin is both a writer and a member of local bands Slow Down, Molasses and the Eyebats.

Because of their interest in music and their many connections to Saskatoon musicians, Morin and Smith say local music was a natural focal point, as well as other things related to either Saskatoon or music as they saw fit. For instance, Morin said they were eager to write a piece on

Saskatoon Dog, the popular meme about local life featuring a prairie dog.

“I do really like writing about Saskatoon,” said Morin, “because obviously, we’re in a position where we’re ‘on the grow.’ ” But even as Morin — who does the bulk of the writing for Ominocity— ventures into new topics, the writing overwhelmingly focuses on music.

“It seemed like even a year ago there were a lot of websites in Saskatoon but there wasn’t really anything catering to” local music, Morin said.

Now, though, he thinks others in town have improved their coverage, filling the void he and Smith saw a year ago.

“So I don’t really know why we exist anymore,” he said, laughing.

“By being involved in [the local scene] it made a quick audience for us to capture,” Smith said, offering a clue to the pair’s success. “We don’t have to do a lot of work trying to get our name out there, because we can just bug all our friends to click our links.”

While the local network of musicians Smith and Morin know may have provided them with a ready-made audience, those musicians alone are not enough to keep a successful blog afloat. Luckily, Morin and Smith say the response in the larger local community has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We receive compliments all the time,” Smith said.

Morin added that Ominocity has developed into a much different type of website than Smith’s last local music venture, 306. On 306 people would converse with each other and could network to

meet up with others in the local music scene, whereas Ominocity is a more traditional, news-andreviews blog.

“I think it’s maybe become another stop on the Internet that people go to in their daily browsing,” he said, “which is fine with me.”

For Ominocity’s first anniversary, the blog will see a revamp in both design and content.

Smith has redesigned both the site and the apps — there is an app for iPhone and Android — and will launch the redesigns on March 1. There will also be a new, automated event system that Smith and Morin promise will be much more comprehensive than the current event listings, which Smith manually updates each week.

The changes on the content side of the site are still up in the air, though Morin says he wants to refine the types of articles and features they run. Where possible, he plans to expand beyond straightforward music coverage while still maintaining that as the basis for his writing.

As an example of this possible new direction, Morin cited a friend who plays in a band but who also runs an internationally popular motorcycle blog.

“It would be trying to draw in that musical connection without actually saying, ‘Here’s his band.’ ” Smith and Morin’s anniversary concert, dubbed Omfest, will feature eight local bands that Morin and Smith say offer a cross-section of local talent that spans genres and that one is likely to see covered on the website.

“We wanted something rowdy,”

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Dan Smolinski of Lady Deathstryke tears it up on stage. said Smith, noting that the lineup leans more toward punk and hardcore than many local shows.

“Something to smash beer bottles to,” Morin chimed in, though he quickly added that this is not actually a good idea as it might lead to trouble with Louis’ management.

Omfest is March 3 at Louis’.

Featured bands are Quitters Club, Seahags, Arms Up, Reform Party, Lady Deathstryke, DFA, We Were Lovers and Shooting Guns.

The pre-show party begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 at ominocity.com or at Louis’.

Saskatoon Blues Festival bringing great music to town Talking to blues musicians Rita Chiarelli and Tracy Nelson HELANA ROSALES For a relatively new attraction, the Saskatoon Blues Festival is drawing some pretty big names.

From Feb. 23 to 26, the Saskatoon Blues Society brought more than a dozen remarkable blues artists to the Odeon Events Centre and the Hilton Garden Inn to provide some soulful entertainment to the masses.

Rita Chiarelli, one of Canada’s most poignant blues artists, performed at the Hilton Garden on Feb. 24, and has been dubbed the “Goddess of the Blues.” Her powerful, three-octave voice rings out with soul and passion.

Chiarelli talked about her most recent project, Music from the Big House, a documentary film that took her to the Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison. The prison is infamous for being one of the most corrupt and violent prisons in America — and also the birthplace of

the blues.

“The unique thing about this prison is that there was incredible music coming from there,” Chiarelli said, “and I performed there — not for the inmates, but with them, which is something that has never been done.”

The film is a look into the prison-musical subculture rarely explored since Johnny Cash’s prison performances in the 1960s, and shows the unlikely artistic bonds between disparate people.

The documentary had its first screening in Saskatoon to a packed Roxy Theatre on Feb. 22. Chiarelli will be touring Canada, the United States and Europe to promote the film.

“In March, we’ll be playing in Zurich, Vienna and London,” Chiarelli said. “It’s very exciting.”

Headlining at the Odeon’s Electric Room was blues artist Tracy Nelson, a commanding vocalist and two-time nominee for the 2012 Blues Music Awards.

During the late ’60s Nelson dropped out of college and moved to San Francisco to pursue her music career. Luckily, the music industry of the Joplin Era was booming and had a lot of space for emerging artists like Nelson.

“Bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane would headline at the Fillmore, and then other [lesser known] bands would be brought in to open for them,” Nelson said. “And the bands who played onstage at the Fillmore would have [recognition] in the industry.”

It was during this time that Nelson got her first big break almost immediately after moving to the Bay Area.

Nelson’s next project takes her to New York in April, where she will collaborate with Dorothy Morrison, Annie Sampson, Angela Strehli and Deanna Bogart — honoured blues musicians within the industry. Their band, the Blues Broads, will perform this summer in Edmonton at the city’s

Rita Chiarelli visits with the inmates of Angola Prison. blues festival.

“It’s sort of a gospel-y thing and I’m loving that,” Nelson said.

While it’s easy to ignore music that doesn’t get the Top 40 treatment, there are plenty of deserving artists worth recognizing, and the Saskatoon

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Blues Society will continue to highlight these musicians and bring their great musical acts to town.

20• Arts

thesheaf.com/arts • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012

If you like the Beatles, you might like these bands Picking up where the Fabulous Four left off Michael Cuthbertson Opinions Editor Given the pop-culture spectacle the Beatles became, it’s easy to forget the band’s real legacy: creating a musical style (often labeled power-pop) that has forever changed pop music. The Beatles additionally inspired numerous bands that, while partially being Beatles knockoffs, are remarkable talents in their own right.

Whether you’re only into the Beatles’ radio hits or their druggier songs, you’re bound to love something on this list of Beatles-esque bands.

(I highly recommend looking for these bands on vinyl. Given most of this music was recorded on analog, it makes a world a difference when you play it back that way.)

While the Beatles are basically a sunshine-pop band, Big Star is a more haunting and visceral take on the power-pop sound. If you dig Big Star, check out the solo album I am the Cosmos by original member Chris Bell. Big Star and Chris Bell are probably what the Beatles would have sounded like if they — instead of becoming the biggest band on the planet — had to juggle their music career with a managerial position at a fast food joint (like Chris Bell did).

The Pretty Things — S.F. Sorrow, Parachute

Big Star — #1 Record, Radio City

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They may only be known for the theme of That ’70s Show, but when Big Star is on (particularly with #1 Record), they truly surpass the Beatles’ greatness.

Big Star seem to share many of the Beatles’ musical tricks, only the vocals and lyrics have an earnestness one rarely hears on the Beatles’ albums.

www.saskcancer.ca

These guys are a heavier, substantially more psychedelic version of the Beatles. Indeed, their masterpiece S.F. Sorrow was recorded in Abbey Road Studios at the same time Sgt. Pepper’s was. S.F. Sorrow’s fuzzy guitars, creepy vocal effects and lush studio production are the perfect complement for that joint you were rolling.

I recall discovering the Pretty Things — and marijuana — one glorious summer in high school.

And on many a warm night those months, I would bike home stoned, listening to the Pretty Things, thinking to myself, “This is amazing, but why does the music seem to be taking so long?”

research treatment prevention early detection

School of Radiation Therapy The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency invites you to consider a career in radiation therapy.

Radiation therapists are important members of the healthcare team in treating cancer. They plan, deliver and provide treatment and education to people receiving radiation therapy.

If you are interested in building a career that combines patient-focused care with leading-edge technology, the Saskatchewan School of Radiation Therapy invites you to apply to become a part of this exciting and rewarding field. The next class will begin on August 13, 2012.

The Saskatchewan School of Radiation Therapy offers selected candidates a 2 year Radiation Therapist diploma program. This includes a didactic affiliation with CancerCare Manitoba and Red River College that requires students to attend two four-month terms in Winnipeg. Clinical competency is attained at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre and the Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina.

Minimum requirements: Successful completion of 30 credits of undergraduate university classes including: English – 3 credits, Psychology or Sociology – 6 credits, Physics – 6 credits, Anatomy & Physiology – 6 credits and Statistics – 3 credits. For specific course requirements please visit our website at www.saskcancer.ca/rtschool.

Successful applicants will have a good background in the sciences, strong technical skills and the ability to work with care and precision. Patience, tolerance as well as strong interpersonal and teamwork skills are important to have.

If you are interested in applying please submit a resume, a covering letter indicating which clinical site is preferred and original transcripts of post-secondary education, no later than March 30, 2012 to: School of Radiation Therapy, Cheryle Thompson, Human Resources Consultant, Allan Blair Cancer Centre, 4101 Dewdney Avenue, Regina, Saskatchewan S4T 7T1 For more information visit our website at www.saskcancer.ca/rtschool or contact one of the program/site coordinators: Regina: 306-766-2220 Saskatoon: 306-655-2715

The Byrds — Turn!

Turn! Turn!, Younger than Yesterday

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The Byrds are mellower and folkier than the Fab Four. While the Byrds’ individual voices are rather gentle, together they make some of the richest, most powerful harmonies heard in pop music. For some reason, they did countless Bob Dylan covers, which gives the listener a good idea what Dylan’s songs would sound like if the Beatles had recorded them.

Sloan — Never Hear the

End of It, The Double Cross

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Power-pop was making a comeback in the ’90s and the Canadian rock band Sloan was hoping to become a modern-day Beatles. Then the genre slid back underground. Fortunately, after 20

years, Sloan has remained.

While Sloan never strays too far from the three-minute power-pop of the Beatles, they have an instantly recognizable sound all their own. Partly influenced by shoegaze and hardcore punk, Sloan is noisier and more aggressive than the Beatles. And all three of Sloan’s main songwriters have voices as memorable and idiosyncratic as those of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.

Yes — Close to the Edge, The Yes Album

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What would the Beatles sound like if they were classicallytrained musicians? Something like Yes, I imagine. The title track of Yes’s Close to the Edge is, to my ears, the high point of the ill-fated genre now dubbed progressiverock. In their prime, Yes was completely beyond the awkward and aimless musical rants their prog-rock peers were spewing out.

The nearly 20-minute epic “Close to the Edge” is a shining example of what progressiverock should have been. On this track, Yes seamlessly ties the fluid structures of pop with the wildly imaginative ideas of prog.

Just try to ignore the lyrics.

Badfinger — Straight Up,

No Dice

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Signed to Apple Records, and occasionally being produced by George Harrison, it’s no wonder Badfinger has a Beatles vibe.

Playing in the ’70s, Badfinger basically picked up where the Beatles left off: grittier guitars and heavier drumming, while generally sticking to the Beatles songwriting blueprints.

Badfinger albums are a superb mixture of testosterone filled rock ’n’ roll and sentimental make-out ballads. And if you like the rockin’ love songs of Badfinger, check out their saccharine musical relatives, the Raspberries, whose frontman Eric Carmen went on to record the unbelievably self-pitying hit “All

by Myself.”

Zachary Lucky sticks close to home Local songwriter writes a love letter to Saskatchewan Ishmael DARO Editor-in-Chief

If there is a distinct genre of Canadiana, Zachary Lucky surely falls within it.

The Saskatoon singersongwriter’s plaintive melodies about “the open road” and other folk themes are hardly new territory, but Lucky pulls it off without coming off as derivative.

Armed with an acoustic guitar and a plaid shirt, the 23-year-old’s songs are more about the storytelling than about orchestral flourishes.

Having crisscrossed the continent for his previous four releases, Lucky’s latest album Saskatchewan is a brief eight-song meditation on his home province. Perhaps by design, or perhaps out of necessity,

the album is a mere 20 minutes long, but any more would likely have ruined what is a cohesive collection of wistful songs about the wheat province.

This is Lucky’s first album since 2010’s Come and Gone, which got a fair amount of radio play across the country and earned him praise for his piercing songwriting.

Having seen what worked, Lucky has narrowed Saskatchewan down even further, in sound and in subject matter.

While sentimental and sometimes bordering on sappy, Saskatchewan is nevertheless earnest and sincere.

Lucky sings without a hint of irony: “Saskatchewan, my prairie home, you call to me wherever I roam.

Saskatchewan, from prairie to pine, the home I’ll always call mine.”

On other tracks, Saskatchewan stands in for friends and lovers.

On “Leaving Pt. 1” Lucky croons, “Oh Saskatchewan, tell me what happened. Did you grow, did your head turn grey? Your true love has turned away.”

The album is the perfect way to spend a snowy afternoon on the prairies. In fact, the winter release date may work in the album’s favour; Lucky’s melancholy notes just wouldn’t sound the same in the bright sunshine of summer. And as long as we all have to endure the bitter cold that comes with living through a Saskatchewan winter, we may as well take a moment to reflect on the vastness, the emptiness, as well as the warmth and the beauty of the place we call home.

The album release party for Saskatchewan takes place March 2 at Christ Church Anglican

travel

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/arts

•21

Cuba is trapped in the past Learning the facts about this Caribbean communist nation

Jenna Mann

This driver looks like he’s from Mad Men, not the 21st century.

Jenna Mann

American cars in Cuba are from the ’50s and ’60s due to the trade embargo.

Jenna Mann

Dancers from Havana’s Tropicana Cabaret perform for tourists.

JENNA MANN HAVANA, Cuba — Travelling to Cuba is a lot like going back to the 1960s. Time seems to have stalled in this era, as seen in the bright paint jobs and classic builds of the cars on the street.

Even the prices seem from a previous decade. A 26-ounce bottle of white Havana Club Rum costs 3.80 Cuban pesos, roughly $4. People could drink the bottle — the entire bottle — and get behind the wheel, facing only a ticket for impaired driving and a slap on the wrist.

The DUI ticket would amount to less than the cost of the bottle of rum.

The $3 fine would even be reduced to $1.50 if paid within three days.

Though drinking and driving carries light legal consequences in Cuba, laws on gun possession, pornography and prostitution are more strictly enforced than in Canada. Being caught dealing marijuana is punishable with a 20-year prison sentence.

The government’s $40 monthly allowance is not enough for most Cubans to survive on, so many choose to busk in tourist areas, work jobs in the service industry where

tipping is encouraged, or barter in the marketplace to supplement working full-time jobs for governmentcontrolled salaries.

On the streets, you will notice children standing and waving at passing tourists, sometimes alone and sometimes with a parent.

Walking around Havana you will be approached by traditionallydressed women who will attach themselves to you and encourage a picture to be taken, or men following tourists around with pads of paper drawing quick portraits for a peso or two. They might earn 10 bucks in two hours, while full-time work would earn them no more than their government allowance.

However, Cubans do not have to worry about paying for health care, education or rent. While they do have to purchase their homes, it is a onetime cost. Cubans are responsible for maintaining their own properties. For approximately a month’s salary, they may purchase their own apartment or house, but may only have one home in Cuba. They cannot, for instance, have one property in Varadero and another in Havana.

In six months the government, under new leadership, will begin

handing out work visas for Cubans to travel to other countries for job opportunities in order to bring more money into the country and better support their families.

From a tourist’s point of view, it’s hard to say how the locals feel about their circumstances. Although their way of living may not be understood by tourists, on the surface there seems to be a fierce sense of loyalty and pride toward the government.

Revolutionary imagery lionizing Fidel Castro and Che Guevara still lines the streets, and our tour guide insisted that they were still beloved by the people — symbols of strength..

Taking the chance to visit Cuba, despite being a Canadian citizen, may still have consequences. Cuban border officials give you a separate visa on a sheet of paper instead of stamping your passport. With a stamp from Cuba you will be denied access into the United States for six months or be required to pay a fine. The United States has enforced a strict embargo and travel ban against Cuba since the 1962 missile crisis, although Cuba still welcomes American tourists who can circumvent the ban.

A trip to Cuba is only worth taking if you’re interested in the culture and history of the country. Cuba does not compare with other vacation locations such as the Bahamas, Hawaii or Mexico in terms of scenery, food or entertainment.

The food in Cuba is less than spectacular. If you choose to visit, staying at an all-inclusive resort is your best option for a safe vacation.

You’ll likely spend your week

lining up in the buffet queue for mass quantities of vinegar-soaked vegetables, cold side-dishes and meats.

In terms of entertainment, many of the sites visited were overcrowded with competing tour companies.

Though Havana’s Tropicana Cabaret was upbeat and visually stimulating, the dance routines lacked variety and story and were unable to hold the audience’s attention for the full twohour performance.

Organized tours are a good option

to safely explore the country, but they also provide locals with an excess of opportunity to capitalize on foreign sympathy. During the vacation we spent more tipping buskers and peddlers than on food, drinks or souvenirs.

A good idea for visiting Cuba, if you plan to go, is to bring gifts for the locals or cleaning staff. Items such as Tylenol, toothbrushes, clothing and toys are hard to come by and are appreciated when left on the hotel room pillows.

Determined.

Like you.

Have any old books you don’t want?

Donate them to the Sheaf!

We’d really appreciate it. thesheaf.com/bookdrive

Whether you’re trying to pick up a prerequisite or fulfill a requirement, Athabasca University has more than 800 online courses that can transfer to your degree at your home university. Talk with your advisor to find out if AU is an option for you.

Learn more at explore.athabascau.ca.

22• comics

thesheaf.com • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012 Across

1- Accumulate 6- Blind as _ 10- Dirty Harry’s org.

14- Smooth transition 15- Lecherous look 16- “…countrymen, lend me your _ “ 17- Common person of ancient Rome 18- Ethereal Prefix 19- Civil disturbance 20- Swagger 21- Norm 23- Aussie hopper 25- Thrice, in prescriptions 26- Swedish auto 29- Thick cord 32- Bridge positions 37- FedEx rival 38- Insult 39- Capital of Zimbabwe 40- Hallucinatory

43- Land, as a fish 44- Ages and ages 45- Aardvark morsel 46- John of “The Addams Family” 47- Diary of _ Housewife 48- Black cuckoos 49- “As if!”

51- Family card game 53- Carved female figure used as a column 58- Regular course 62- Celebrity 63- Norse god of thunder 64- Author Calvino 65- Not much 66- Mandlikova of tennis 67- Glossy fabric 68- London district 69- Bouillabaisse, e.g.

70- First name in cosmetics

Down

1- Cairo cobras 2- Dissolve 3- Antiquing agent 4- District adjacent to a city 5- Handle 6- Exclamation to express sorrow 7- Sugar source 8- Add fizz 9- Triple 10- Antitoxins 11- Free from bias 12- Goad 13- Summer hrs.

22- Visions 24- Synthetic fiber 26- Above 27- Church areas 28- So far 30- Escape 31- Introduction 33- 100 square meters 34- Old Nick 35- Singer Lopez 36- Religious

offshoots 38- Simple variety of hockey 39- Caste member 41- Second-century date 42- Extinct bird once found in New Zealand 47- Besides 48- Main arteries 50- Vows 52- Racket 53- Roman censor 54- Eastern nanny 55- Fix up 56- Actress Skye 57- No-win situation 59- Inner layer of a quilt 60- Netman Nastase 61- Accent 62- Scale notes

Puzzle provided by BestCrosswords.com. Used with permission. For a daily electronic crossword, go to thesheaf.com/crossword.

Give Brianna comics.

Finding them is the most boring part of her job.

Snowy Bear

comics@thesheaf.com

whiteninjacomics.com

ALICE KUIPERS

UPCOMING EVENTS

®

run March 1, 12.indd 1

Launching 40 Things I Want to Tell You Thursday, March 1, 7:30 PM

GLEN SORESTAD Reading & Signing A Thief Of Impeccable Taste Tuesday, March 6, 7:30 PM

02/19/12 3:30:01 PM

xkcd.org

•23

March 1, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/advertise

CAMPUS CHAT

What’s your best curling pick-up line?

“I like your broom handling, baby.”

“I can hurry hard more places than the ice.” *wink*

“You can slam your rock in mine all day.”

“Would you mind if I stuck it in the 4 foot and maybe hit the button?”

Justin Pelam

Kiera Lyons

Kelsey Trulsrud

Peter Henderson

Did you turn the paper or tilt your head to read this?

witch & ave Save up to $200 when you switch to SaskTel! Now is the time to get on the largest and fastest 4G network.

Bring in your current provider’s bill and receive a $200 credit when you sign a three-year contract for voice and data service with your unlocked 4G smartphone on SaskTel’s 4G network, or purchase a new 4G smartphone from SaskTel to receive a $100 credit!

Plus, there is no activation fee.

BlackBerry ® Torch™ 9810 Smartphone

Bundle & Save | Visit a SaskTel Authorized Dealer or SaskTel Store | 1-800-SASKTEL | sasktel.com

Available to new 4G customers signing a voice and data contract on a three-year term. Offer expires March 31, 2012. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Customers who bring in a current competitors invoice and an unlocked 4G smartphone to activate will receive a $200.00 credit. Customers who bring in a current competitors invoice and purchase a new 4G smartphone from SaskTel will receive a $100.00 credit. Fastest claim is based on comparing SaskTel 4G network service to Rogers HSPA+ network service, based on SaskTel test of average upload and download speeds in large Saskatchewan centers. Mobile internet access speed provided by the network operator may vary due to the device being used, network congestion, distance from the cell site, topography, environmental conditions and other factors. Speed on the Internet is beyond the wireless network operator’s control and may vary with your configuration, Internet traffic, website server and management policies, and other factors. 4G not available in all areas. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion® and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. Used under license from Research In Motion Limited.

11STEL563_Switch & Save Print U of S – The Sheaf, U of R – Carillon, Kelsey – The Scanner 4 columns x 154 lines (8” x 12”) INSERTION: March 1

24•

thesheaf.com/advertise • the Sheaf • March 1, 2012