Issue 14 - March 18, 2015

Laurier cuts 22 staff positions

A cog in a capitalist machine

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Page 5

Songide’ewin Ojibwe Narratives Art Exhibit Page 7

Issue 14 | Wednesday, March 18, 2015 | www.thesputnik.ca

BATTLING

PROTESTORS GATHERED ACROSS CANADA FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST THE ANTI-TERRORISM ACT

BILL C-51 Taylor Berzins News Editor

Saturday March 14 marked National Day of Action against Bill C-51, and thousands of protestors gathered in cities across Canada to speak out against the bill.

Stephanie Dearing organized the “snap-action” protest against Bill C-51 for the community of Brant.

“I’ve never organized a protest before,” explained Dearing, who had spent years working as a journalist in which she had to be careful to adhere to the ethics of objective reporting.

While researching Bill C-51, which is tiled the ‘Anti-terrorism Act’, it became apparent to Dearing that she was uncomfortable with the legislation. In a press email, Dearing explained, “the Conservative party has ignored the need for resources in favour of legislation that grants sweeping new powers to police and spy agencies to the detriment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.”

After signing a lead.ca petition against Bill C-51, the site emailed Dearing to ask if she would host a demonstration in her community on National Day of Action, “it was a no brainer,” Dearing explained. Dearing began planning the protest on March 5, sending out emails, contacting local politicians and unions, as well as creating social media pages.

“Exercise your franchise. If you don’t, it will be gone.” says Dearing.

The event drew a crowd of over 60 protesters to the sidewalk out front of Brant’s Conservative M.P. Phil McColeman’s St. George Street office.

Gathering with colourful placards, protestors filled the street with music from Jon’Gordon Odegaard’s violin and chants of, “no rights is

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wrong”.

“This is the issue, especially because it’s preventing us from talking about any other [issues],” explained protestor and Laurier student, Jennie Rideout. “[At] Laurier Brantford we’re a liberal arts campus and these are the people who are going to be affected the most, the activists, the people who are involved with social rights essentially because [Bill C-51] is in the beginning phases of making protest illegal and activism illegal.”

Dianne Wallis of Paris Ontario and Cathy Courtingly explained that Saturday’s protest was their first demonstration.

“I’m thinking about my granddaughter. I’m thinking about her life without the Charter as it is now and how it’s going to affect her,” says Wallis.

“I think that we’ve been too passive… I think that its time for us to stand up and say it’s enough.”

“It’s a very scary world we live in right now,” Courtingly added. “You’re just fed BS and people are in a fog. We’re all worried about what Kim [Kardashian] is doing and who cares? We really should be worried about a hell of a lot more things, more important things, things that will affect us greatly.”

Deanna Bell and her family drove to the Brantford protest from Niagara Falls, as it was the closest demonstration in Ontario.

Concerned by the broad definition of terrorism within the bill, Bell explained, “There’s no other. There’s only us and then the folks that are trying to take us away from one another and that’s the key.”

“It’s really a shame. We are a nation of immigrants and I don’t think that vilifying a particular section of our society is the way to go. Fear is not an appropriate response if you perceive terrorism, that gives them their weapon!” says Marci Weston, who also attended the demonstration from Niagara Falls.

Bill C-51 is currently sitting in the committee phase of the House of Commons.

The Anti-terrorism Act can be broken down into five sections. The bill aims to firstly establish the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act. Secondly, the bill will create the Secure Air Travel Act. Bill C-15 furthermore aims to amend the Criminal Code, amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, and finally make amendments to divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In a news release, M.P. Steven Blaney who serves as minister of Public Safety Canada stated, “Our new legislation will give police and security forces the tools and flexibility they need to deal with evolving threats and better protect Canadians- at home and abroad.”

In statement called Life Means Life made to an audience in Scarborough on March 4, Prime Minister Harper said, “We cannot take that risk with criminals who so despise our values and way of life that they carry out deadly acts of terrorism and high treason.”

M.P. Phil McColeman did not respond to The Sputnik’s request for comment concerning Saturday’s protests, but in a statement made to The Expositor claimed that “80 to 90 per cent” of Canadians support Bill C-51.

Amnesty International Canada has been vocal in the past months concerning potential human rights violations that linger within the bill.

According to Hilary Homes of Amnesty International Canada, the organization is asking that the bill be withdrawn in its entirety.

“We did ask ourselves if a few amendments here or there would be enough, but in the end we simply felt that there are too many problems with the bill that are too interconnected,” says Homes.

According to Homes, Bill C-51 seeks to establish several new acts as well as amend existing frameworks. The bill is designed around broad definitions, “In fact threats to security of Canada does not even expressively refer to terrorism, for example in several places it just says the phrase ‘detrimental to the interest of Canada’”,

explained Homes.

Homes cited the expanded power Bill C-51 seeks to give to police and security agencies as being a concern for Amnesty International Canada.

“I think that one of the central [concerns] is that the bill doesn’t specify what CSIS agents are allowed to do ... it does say what they can’t do.

So they can’t kill, they can’t commit bodily harm, they can’t pervert justice or violate sexual integrity and when we look at that, there’s just a really wide range of human rights violations that aren’t on that no go list,” says Homes. “What’s really striking to me about what isn’t on there though, is torture. It does say “bodily harm”, but torture also deals with not just physical integrity but mental integrity.”

Amnesty International Canada would like to see Canada establish a “legislated human rights framework for the National Security programming.”

“As part of that, what we’d like to see is a full assessment of past cases and existing laws, tool and resources in the area of national security… before considering expanding powers and other reforms,” says Homes.

During Saturday’s protests, Homes met a lot of demonstrators who cited the National Day of Action as their first protest.

“I actually went up to a guy who was holding a sign that said “Farenheit C-51” which I thought was quite a good sign, and I went to talk to him and he said that he’d never been to a protest before,” says Homes. “A lot of people at the protests are concerned about the general framework that the bill puts out there. And how it does compromise their national human rights obligations.

They feel affected because of that. They don’t like where the government is going in terms of jeopardizing those obligations.”

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News

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Taylor Berzins | news@thesputnik.ca | @sputnik_news

Several new businesses developing in Brantford’s downtown Davis Vallesi

Staff With spring fast approaching, there are many new businesses for Laurier students to check out in downtown Brantford.

The newest addition within the downtown community is the Rose and Thistle Pub, which opened its doors last week.

Through the City of Brantford’s Business Performance Grant Program, the Rose and Thistle’s building recently underwent renovations and opened at 48 Dalhousie Street, the former home of the John Peel Room restaurant, which closed in 2012.

City council called the business proposal an “excellent reuse” of the building, although the pub opened much later then its originally anticipated date of August 2014.

The group that oversees the development of businesses in Brantford’s downtown is Downtown Brantford’s Business Improvement Area (BIA), of which all commercial organizations within the city’s downtown are paying members.

A number of new businesses have opened downtown in 2015, while quite a few are still in the processing of opening.

“Sacred Fire, which is beside the Bell Stage at Harmony Square, is very holistic, with yoga and jewelry – if you can’t find what you’re looking for there I’m not sure anyone has it… it’s very Zen,” said Annette Wawzonek, the executive director of Brantford’s BIA. “Another new one is the Crawford Collective, which is an art gallery that just opened at 4 King Street.”said Wawzonek, “I believe there’s nine artists displaying and selling their work there. There are paintings, stained glass, jewelry, a whole array of art there.”

Wawzonek also mentioned that a new gallery café called the Starving Artist Café is sched-

uled to open next month and will be located at 42 Dalhousie Street. Also set to open this April is a new Tim Horton’s restaurant, moving into the former Brown Dog Café site.

Some of the main responsibilities of the BIA include marketing, business recruitment, streetscape improvement and other amenities, seasonal decorations and planning special events. The BIA has also lobbied for various causes in the city including pay-and-display parking and two way traffic. Brantford City Council has the option of appointing members to the BIA’s Board of Management, which currently includes two members of council and Mayor Chris Friel.

There are also many external committees that the BIA’s Board of Management is involved with, such as the Economic Development Advisory Committee, Tourism Advisory Committee, Brantford Heritage Committee, and the Downtown Action Committee.

Wawzonek, who has spent 15 years working in Brantford and has lived here since she

was 12 years old, explained that she has witnessed a revitalization in the city’s downtown after it was declared “the worst downtown in Canada.”

“I think the first step in that was bringing the casino here, because that was a source of funding that we wouldn’t have had otherwise to bring Laurier here. I always say that it was the casino and Laurier, if those two things didn’t happen then I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Wawzonek said.

Wawzonek also explained that many local businesses still struggle and that there is a considerable lull from May to August when a lot of university students leave the downtown core.

Overall, Wawzonek still feels that Brantford is moving in a productive direction in terms of their businesses.

“I think that we have really turned a corner and that we’re growing,” Wawzonek said.

Green’s a go: Preparing for second annual 420 rally Taylor Berzins

News Editor The Brantford Cannabis Club is a month away from hosting their second annual 420 Rally.

According to a press release, the rally will take place in Victoria Park from 1 p.m. - 6 p.m., and will include a number of musical acts, speakers, and a moment of silence for those “who have been victimized by cannabis prohibition including those who have been needlessly charged or imprisoned for possession, medical users who have faced stigma and those who could have received benefits from cannabis but declined due to the criminalization of the substance in Canada.”

According to Brittni Mitchell, event coordinator for the Brantford Cannabis Club, this

year’s rally is also working to raise awareness for Brantford’s Self-Help Addiction Resource Centre (SHARC) and the stigma attached to people living with addiction.

“The Brantford Cannabis Club enjoys helping the Brantford community,” explained Mitchell. “SHARC is a new self help drug rehabilitation centre and we want to give it all the help it deserves. SHARC believes in harm reduction and this is one of the many reasons that we support them. We love the energy and the love they have for this community.”

According to Mitchell, The Brantford Cannabis Club is focused on combating stigmas, like being lazy, associated with the use of marijuana.

“The Brantford Cannabis Club takes part in many community events as well as our own.

Last year many of our members attended the Men In Heels Walk for Nova Vita, Gay Pride, the Grand River Clean Up and more,” says Mitchell. “The group has also helped shovel driveways at no cost to the person in need,”

she says. “This past October we organized the Brantford Warm Up, where we collected warm clothing for Nova Vita and Out Of The Cold and food for the Brantford food Bank.”

Mitchell explained that last year’s rally saw over 500 participants. “Last year there was police presence but none that spoke to us. They were parked a block away from the park and were just making sure that everything was under control,” Mitchell says. “My advice for anyone attending the rally is to be respectable and we will be respected. Section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is what gives us the ability to assemble peacefully. Peacefully is the only way we will assemble.”

The Brantford Cannabis Club is also looking to expand conversations surrounding the 2015 Federal Election. “The upcoming election could change a lot for this group. If cannabis is legalized, we will have more freedom and this will allow us to be more accepted in other social aspects,” says Mitchell. “Even though this group has many legal patients, we are still

judged sometimes in a negative way.”

In a video titled Smart on Cannabis, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau outlines his plan to decriminalize marijuana in Canada.

As outlined in section 3.9 D of the NDP policy book, the party explains that they intend to “Decriminalizing marijuana possession with the goal of removing its production and distribution from the control of organized crime.”

Brantford’s federal NDP candidate Marc Laferriere is billed to speak at the 420 Rally according to the event’s press release.

“We are currently gathering the final giveaways from various sponsors and putting together gift bags and picking up a few more items for set up,” Mitchell says in regards to the rally. “We are also waiting for the Green Party to choose a candidate, so that we can contact them and invite them to the rally to speak among the other federal candidates.”

Brantford ranked fourth best city to buy real estate Taylor Berzins

News Editor According to MoneySense magazine, Brantford is the forth-best city in Canada to buy real estate.

In a study that tracked communities’ GDP and homes’ ability to appreciate in value, Brantford beat out cities like Hamilton, Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo.

According to the article, the average price of a house in Brantford is $275,622 and the best time to buy is within the next 3.4 years.

Brantford Ward 5 councilor Brian Van-

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Layla Bozich eic@thesputnik.ca MANAGER OF OPERATIONS Nathanael Lewis nathanael.lewis@wlusp.com PHOTO EDITOR Cody Hoffman photography@thesputnik.ca ART EDITOR Neha Sekhon visual@thesputnik.ca WEB EDITOR Dylan Kellendonk web@thesputnik.ca

Tilborg says that good real estate is the “little secret” people purchasing homes in Brantford have known for years.

VanTilborg explains that the MoneySense article will likely not impact peoples’ decision to buy a home in Brantford. “A home is the largest purchase a person is going to make in their lifetime and for many the purchasing of a home is out of reach,” VanTilborg says. “So while making us feel good that we have a competitive advantage the article is not going to dramatically impact Brantford.”

During his campaign for a seat on city council this past fall, VanTilborg outlined that student housing was amongst his concerns for Ward 5.

“This ranking may also bring to the atten-

tion of entrepreneurial students to group together and invest in a home while they continue their studies,” says VanTilborg. “The property could then be sold to help pay off student debt.

The [MoneySense] article opens the mind to creative possibilities.”

Despite Brantford’s MoneySense ranking, affordable housing remains an issue locally.

“The housing situation of students has affected rental properties and affordable housing,” explains VanTilborg, stating that Brantford has an affordable housing shortage.

According to VanTilborg, Brantford needs a “system to keep track of landlords renting to students who may not be providing responsible services and repairs. While this is an issue for many tenants, the difference for students

is that they are here for short periods until the next group of student tenants arrive. After 5 to 10 years of constant student transition, a landlord who doesn’t maintain their property drives down everyone’s quality of life, making these rental locations less desirable.”

“I don’t believe there will be a direct impact on Laurier grads,” says VanTilborg. “There will be some goodwill gained from the article for those who want to come to Brantford and know there is positive economic action happening. However, to be clear, Brantford’s housing Market remained strong throughout the 2008 to 2012 recession.”

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On Campus

Josh Adesina | oncampus@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikoncampus

WLU president, WLUFA disagree on financial situation Josh Adesina On Campus Editor

Karly Rath

Features Editor Wilfrid Laurier University has made the recent decision to let go of 22 staffing positions between both campuses. Three of these positions were from the Brantford campus.

On Tuesday, March 10, Laurier students and faculty members received an email about the news of staffing cuts as well as the announcement that work hours are being reduced in five other positions. In addition, the email provided details about reducing faculty positions for the sake of a voluntary retirement program, alongside the reduction of teaching assignments that contract academic staff will be receiving. The 22 positions make up for about two per cent of Laurier’s support staff and management.

Max Blouw, preisdent and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Lauier University, expressed his sympathy in the email, and mentioned that the action was part of a process to reduce financial issues and a budget deficit. Pension costs, provincial age demographics and tuition limitations are some of the long-term issues Blouw mentioned.

Laurier would have to deal with a $25-million deficit in the coming year unless action is taken.

“My preference, always, will be to increase revenues,” said Blouw. “We will be taking steps to increase revenues, but that doesn’t guarantee that we won’t have to make more cuts in the future.”

Blouw has described the staffing cut decisions as “distressing” and “challenging” but ensures that the university will continue to provide high-class post-secondary education.

“The reductions are unavoidable,” he said.

“The decisions were very difficult, and have a real and regrettable impact on those who are directly affected. I know that, and I feel very unhappy that we’re in this circumstance, but the days of growth are now over.”

Despite Blouw’s claims of a dire financial situation and declining revenues, Wilfrid Lau-

rier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) believes revenues have been increasing steadily since 2012. In fact, Laurier’s audited financial statements verify this belief.

WLUFA points out that budget reports are not a comprehensive financial picture.

WLUFA’s Negotiation Newsletter of Feb. 4, 2015, states total revenue has increased $16,257,000 from 2013 to 2014. However, this number cannot be verified since Laurier’s 2014 financial statements have been removed from Laurier’s website, and are allegedly being changed, though there is no explanation on the website as to why the document hyperlink no longer works. The increases in revenue are higher than inflation—WLUFA simply does not understand how Blouw can claim revenues have decreased.

According to Human Resources Annual Report, management positions, which include deans, vice-presidents and the president, have increased 114 per cent from 2005 to 2013.

WLUFA’s official response to the position cuts states, “We have distributed hundreds of black square fabric swatches that faculty are wearing to mourn their lost colleagues; created 300 posters with images of offices without staff … and WLUFA is supporting faculty who have

called a university-wide meeting of fulltime and contract members to consider further action.”

Laurier’s Milton campus, among other capital investments, is still forging ahead unaffected, and Blouw has confirmed this since the layoffs. Waterloo campus renovations and marketing campaigns are among other costs Laurier is maintaining despite cutting faculty. In Laurier Communications, Public Affairs and Marketing (CPAM)’s Q & A on Position Reductions, the reason for these investments is that “the Ontario Government is requiring each PSE institution to identify priorities and to differentiate itself from other PSE institutions.

CPAM goes on to state, “Demographics are changing and will require Laurier to be very focused on its value proposition for prospective students who will be looking for excellence and clear reasons to choose one school over another.”

With contrasting claims and an uncertain future, students and staff are left wondering about the decisions Laurier has made and will continue to make, in the wake of a change that affects so many.

search and something they’re proud of. It makes students aware of what their peers are working on and since Criminology is the largest population program on campus, it’s something students can bond over.” The conference featured a variety of presentations about the inequalities of Aboriginal Peoples, the stigmatization of mental illnesses, drugs and the controversial issues of prostitution and criminal harassment in the workplace. It offered students a chance to learn about a range of issues affecting their world.

“I think the conference helps students educate others about important issues happening in the world which they can understand and relate to more, once they hear their peer’s thoughts and ideas,” said Fitesa Osdautaj, an attendee at the event. Students also listened to keynote speaker, Jennifer Lucking, an advocate for Human Trafficking Victims who shared her knowledge on the sex trade.

During the course of the conference, presenters were judged by faculty members who selected three winners and were awarded monetary prizes, ranging from $250 to $1000. “The awards come out of the $15 fee that Criminology students pay each year, which pays for ev-

erything in the swag bags, shirts and food for the day. We want to give students their money’s worth of what they are paying for,” explained Irene. It was evident that the event gave back to students who contributed to the CSA, and rewarded them for their hard work throughout the years.

The conference attracted a great number of attendees who were there to support students and take advantage of the opportunity to learn about valuable topics, as well as interact with members of their program. The crowd of students and faculty members who attended dis-

played the importance of allowing students to share and be recognized for their work hard work. Students were given the opportunity to be taught by peers who were dedicated to sharing their knowledge. “The most memorable part of the event was the way students presented themselves. I didn’t see them as my peers but almost as professors, and it was interesting to see how educated they were. I think they did really well,” said Osdautaj. The CSA are looking forward to holding their next conference next year, and hope for another successful outcome.

Laurier Brantford’s CSA hosts annual conference Arnisa Morina

Staff Laurier’s Criminology Student Association (CSA) recently hosted its fourth Annual Criminology Conference. It was once again successful in attracting a large number of attendees, and was an enjoyable event for all. The Conference was significantly successful in giving students the opportunity to present their research findings and showcase criminological expertise at Laurier. Opening ceremonies began on March 4 and presentations were held on March 5 in SCJ, which started off with a presentation about International Women’s Day by faculty member, Professor P. O’Reilly. Attendees were given newly branded swag bags and shirts, and were also provided with breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner throughout the day.

CSA Vice-President Irene Elatrash touched on what the conference had to offer. “The Conference is a way for students to present their re-

The Sputnik

4

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

On Campus Josh Adesina | oncampus@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikoncampus

Game on, Laurier Brantford!

Melissa Weaver

Staff Despite the negative news surrounding the recent 22 job cuts and Nipissing’s departure, some good news regarding Laurier Brantford’s progression and expansion can help bring positivity.

After several years of planning and waiting, Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, have approved the Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts in partnership with Conestoga College. Current and incoming students are ecstatic about the news.

Mike Kykov, a second year student and avid gamer commented, “I do believe it may be successful and it may even create new dreams. If Laurier is about inspiring lives, then why shouldn’t it have this program?”

Dr. Kathryn Carter, Inter-faculty Associate Dean: Academic Coordination of Human & Social Sciences, remarked, “I am thrilled, beyond words that it finally happened. It was a miserable long process at the end. The government dragged its feet for a while in February, when they promised us an answer. They didn’t give us an answer and I was starting to freak out.”

Carter spoke about the process of the four year Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts (BFAA). “In the first year, students will have to design a board game to learn the principles of why people want to play. What makes people keep playing? Why do people get addicted to Candy Crush? Once you are able to answer those questions, you are able to figure out how to get employees to stay committed to their job and how to engage children in their work.”

Students will have to take four required

After several years of planning and waiting, Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, have approved the Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts in partnership with Conestoga College. Neha Sekhon

courses dealing with programming and storytelling. Their second year will be a continuation of building the foundation. In their third year, students will have the opportunity to write the Project Manager certification exam. In their fourth and final year, students are matched up with a local group, which can range from a not-for-profit organization to an industry partner. Programming, storytelling, project management, entrepreneurship and game design are all included which makes the program quite broad.

Carter talked about how her expectations were blown away when she budgeted the program for 18 incoming students, and ended up with 175 applicants, and will be talking to more students at the March 18th Open House.

Carter explained what could be done with the degree after university, which were

relatively the same options as most students.

Graduates can go into graduate research in games and games culture at MIT or U of W. They can also become programmers, game developers, project managers, sound developers or game testers. The possibilities are endless in the expanding gaming industry.

Currently a student at Laurier Brantford but interested in transferring into the program? Not to worry, you are still able to as Carter pointed out, “There are only 4 required courses, so if you are in your second or third year, you would have to complete those before progressing into the program. It would be very difficult to complete in four years, as we are rolling out programs as we go and as the students need them.”

In relationship to the Game Development program, Carter hopes to see a ‘game culture’

emerge in the university and that students that are not in the program would take an interest in one of the courses. Imagine if a Con-Ed student took a course and got interesting ideas on how to engage children in the classrooms, or if students would get together for game nights?

It would provide more social experiences, at the very least.

While this seems to be a radical change for Brantford, it’s the way that the culture is evolving. The idea came to Carter when she realized that Brantford is home to the largest video game collection in North America.

There are also game jams and game nights popping up all over the city.

Laurier Brantford looks forward to adding another successful program to its campus, and bringing in more students.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Features

5

The Sputnik

Karly Rath | features@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikfeatures

The Canadian obsession with the face veil Aaleya Waslat

Staff Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands against the notion of Canadian women wearing a face veil during the oath of citizenship. His comments on the niqab have triggered a social media storm.

Harper’s recent infamous claim that the niqab represents an anti-women culture raises racial concerns, states Dr. Shahnaz Khan, Laurier professor of women and gender studies, who has researched and given lectures on Islam Culture and Society in Waterloo.

Many Canadians, Muslim and non-Muslim, are posting pictures and mocking Harper’s offensive comments with the hashtag #DressCodePM. “Why are they so obsessed with the veil?”

Prof. Khan asks, appalled at Harper’s comments. “It’s awful,” she said, explaining how the stereotypes on the Muslim culture have created an “Islamophobic environment” in Canada.

There are several different reasons as to why Muslim women wear a face veil.

“Out of a hundred women that wear a face veil, only a few are actually forced to wear it,” she said. She believes that Canadian women will not take off their veil because that stands against their faith.

As a matter of fact, after their daughter has her first period, some Muslim parents tell them to cover their hair in a hijab or cover their face and hair, only leaving their eyes revealed, in a niqab.

“This is religiously mandated,” Prof. Khan confirmed. She believes that some Muslim women feel like “they need to wear” it, while others simply choose to.

Many Canadians struggle to understand why people wear a hijab or niqab, especially when makeup and “Western” clothing styles come into play. Kim Dietsche

A common way to motivate Muslim women to wear a face veil is to compare them to objects that need to be hidden in order to stay worthy.

Safa Youness, a first-year Laurier Brantford student, states that candy is one of them.

“In a bowl full of wrapped candy, you’ll find one that is unwrapped, which one will you choose to eat?” she asked, feeling upset about the comparison used by many in her culture.

“Are they really equating women to candy, saying that the uncovered woman is dirty?”

Youness started wearing a hijab when she turned 11 because her mother told her to.

“The scarf stands as a token, showing everyone that you are Muslim,” Youness said, explaining that it comes with the assumption that women with hijab or niqab do not drink, smoke or have sex before marriage.

“You are not doing what everyone else does,” she said, adding that she has thought of taking her hijab off which she says is common for some of the women who feel societal burdens.

“There is too much pressure,” she said, explaining that she puts on makeup and dresses like a “Canadian”.

Laurier Brantford student Ayiah Yassin chooses to cover herself. She believes that it stands for “modesty”. It does not hinder Yassin from living a normal life but she notices that the scarf makes her stand out.

“People look at me,” she said. She seeks support from her family when it becomes too hard.

Youness is aware that it is a very “controversial topic” but asking a woman to take her hijab off “isn’t right”. Every Muslim woman has her own personal reasons as to why she is wearing a hijab or niqab.

Both Youness and Yassin represent two different groups of women: one who are expected to wear the hijab and another who choose to.

Canadian women who wear a niqab or hijab have more options, said Prof. Khan, who believes this country’s “economic status” allows Muslim women to become independent. She points out that this clearly does mean that they will turn their back on their religion.

Prof. Khan said that the belief that if “you removed the veil, you would see a naked woman” is very common in Muslim communities.

Part of the reason why Canada is known for its free and open culture is because everyone can technically choose for themselves whether or not they want to wear a niqab or hijab.

“Who is to decide what Muslim guidelines are?” Prof. Khan asked. She said that people need to focus on the consequences of the “obsession with the veil” rather than asking women to simply take it off.

A cog in a capitalist machine: How Laurier is run like a business Karly Rath

Staff With the recent job cuts and contract academic staff speaking out about unfairness, Laurier’s finances are under a microscope. But as staff, students and the community are trying to understand the decisions Laurier has recently made, it is important to zoom out too: Laurier is just one piece of a complex, daunting, capitalist puzzle.

The fact of the matter is that Laurier is run like a business. In Laurier’s Integrated Planning and Resource Management (IPRM) Report of 2014, faculties (such as liberal arts or education) are referred to as “revenue generating units”. Laurier has ad campaigns, specific brand standards and call centres to get donations. Even enhancing Laurier’s school spirit is a strategy used to keep its enrolment up, so it gets funding to continue its growth.

And funding it gets.

Laurier Vice-President of Development and Alumni Relations Rob Donelson said his department raises about $10 million each year from private companies and alumni.

These funds are used in many ways, one of which is to host social events in order to build relationships with alumni.

“That’s where the programming comes in.

If we keep [alumni] involved with the university, and then we ask them for financial support, there’s a better chance they’re going to give us some,” he said. “If we weren’t finding ways to bring alumni back to campus such as Homecoming and other things, I think donations would drop off.”

“We have to be business-like,” Donelson said, explaining the importance of balancing revenues and expenditures. “We always look at our operations and say, ‘How can we do this differently? How might we be more effective?

How can we reduce costs but be more efficient?’”

Because Laurier is part of a capitalist society, it is forced to be run like a business. Christina Manocchio

Laurier Professor Charles Wells wishes he could somehow provide people with university education without the commercialization.

“I sometimes fantasize about becoming a version of Robert De Niro’s renegade-air-conditioner-repairman character from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil,” Prof. Wells said in an email. “I could slip into people’s houses under the cover of darkness and lay a little university education on them free of charge, perhaps receiving some leftovers in thanks, and then depart into the night before the authorities caught up with me.”

Prof. Wells states that because universities, like everything else, are commercialized, education is not simply a commodity to be bought and sold—it is an investment for the wealthy.

Donelson said that the way Laurier is perceived by external audiences such as prospective students or investors is important for success.

“Our reputation is critical and our brand is critical, no question about it,” Donelson said. “[Alumni are] our best ambassadors to promote Laurier. We very actively encourage alumni to promote the university to prospective students.”

Some alumni, still intoxicated with the school spirit of their past, encourage their children to attend the same university they did. In-

stilling this intense loyalty, like by strengthening the sacredness of the Golden Hawk on the floor at the Waterloo Campus, is just one of the strategies Laurier uses to recruit its students.

High enrolment is essential because students’ tuition money is a huge portion of Laurier’s revenue. Laurier’s Statements of Operations state that its total revenue in 2014 was $333,149,000, though the document that directly states this is currently not available on Laurier’s website for unconfirmed reasons.

Prof. Wells believes, “What is actually happening is that a pool of money is being invested in a production process that is designed, through the exploitation of labour, to return even more money to the investor at the end of the day.”

He said this is why there is an “inexplicable need for perpetual growth, a need to sell more education to more people at higher prices while reducing the amount of money spent on producing it.”

This end goal of making more money is the reason universities employ so many contract academic staff and why Laurier recently cut 22 faculty positions. President Max Blouw has recently confirmed Laurier’s Milton campus is still to move ahead, regardless of the apparent financial struggle.

Prof. Wells emphasizes that the way Laurier is run like a business is not due to the “indi-

vidual greed” of management, the government or business people but instead is representative of the globe’s capitalist system of competition and growth.

According to Laurier Communications, Public Affairs and Marketing’s (CPAM) recent Position Reduction Q & A, the reason faculty positions were cut but Laurier is still investing in areas like marketing and real estate is because “Laurier is at a challenging point in its evolution and faces stiff competition from other PSE institutions for students and funding.”

Prof Wells expands on this by saying, “If we don’t build a campus in Milton, someone else will, and then we will lose even more of our market share and have to make even more drastic cuts.”

Laurier needs to know whether its research is garnering profits and how many graduates are being employed which is why they hire more administration. According to Laurier’s 2012-2013 Human Resources report, management positions have gone up 114 per cent since 2005.

Prof. Wells says that his specialty, critical interdisciplinary liberal arts, is endangered.

“I teach philosophy, political theory, social theory, and cultural theory, all of which primarily aim to get students to ask big, abstract questions about the world, rather than teaching them to do a task that fits a particular job description,” he said, explaining how his areas of interest directly challenge everything commercialized education stands for.

“Regardless of our specific positions, we are all caught in this web of social and economic relations beyond our direct control,” he said.

Prof. Wells mediates his qualms with the system by doing the best he can within the constraints. “If I can, De Niro-like, sneak some of this kind of thinking and problem-solving into the tight, efficient package of employable skills that I dearly hope will keep my students above the poverty line and out of debt, then I’ll feel pretty good about myself. I’ll feel like I’ve lived up to my duties, not just as an employee of WLU, but as a human being.”

6

Features

The Sputnik

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Karly Rath | features@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikfeatures March 1st – World Compliment Day March 2nd – Old Stuff Day March 3rd – What If Cats and Dogs Had Opposite Thumbs Day March 4th – International Scrapbooking Industry Day March 5th – Name Tag Day March 6th – White Chocolate Cheesecake Day March 7th – Cereal Day March 8th – Women’s Day March 9th – False Teeth Day March 10th – Mario Day March 11th – World Plumbing Day March 12th – World Kidney Day March 13th – Open an Umbrella Indoors Day March 14th – Steak and BJ Day March 15th – Brutus Day Every day of the year is filled with celebratory days - some ridiculous, some serious. Neha Sekhon

There’s a day for everything Nadine Saba Staff It’s March. For some, this month is about melting snow and St. Patty’s day. But March is also the month when you can celebrate proof reading, the scrapbooking industry or even false teeth. Some days, like the International Day of Happiness created by the UN, are quite legitimate and purposeful. “What If Cats and Dogs Had Opposite Thumbs Day” may not be as important to humanity.

March also celebrates another form of Valentine’s Day: Steak and BJ Day. Yes, this is a real day that is celebrated every March 14, exactly one month after February 14.

The holiday’s website states that Steak and BJ Day was created as a Valentine’s Day for men, as “men do not want candy.

Men have no need for flowers or teddy bears. There are two things men want: steak and a blowjob.”

Krista Gaskell, a third-year concurrent education student, said she had never heard of Steak and BJ Day and said she believes it is a product of modern culture’s focus on sex. “It’s stereotyping what guys want and what girls want,” she said. “The Steak and Blowjob Day is not only kind of gross but it’s also demeaning and degrading.”

Another website, called DaysOfTheYear.com includes lists of holidays for every month. Some days include multiple, potentially ridiculous, holidays celebrated on the same day.

The site gathers information on each celebrated day. Some holidays are local while others are international. To be placed on the website, each holiday must have a relatively strong following.

Fourth-year Laurier student Emily De

Vega said she did not know that many of the ‘crazy’ days included on the website existed, but does know of the Steak and BJ Day. “I do think while some of them are relevant and some of them should be embraced or celebrated, there are some that are over the top and may be a bit too crazy,” she said.

Last month, World Nutella Day was celebrated in Brantford at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre.

“I don’t think there should be one day to just eat Nutella or celebrate the creation of Nutella,” De Vega said. “I find if I eat Nutella on a daily basis it’s not going to change

“March 24 is both Tuberculosis Day and Chocolate Covered Raisins Day ... It seems like just as many people talk about chocolate-covered raisins on March 24 as they do the deadly disease.” if I eat it on a regular day or on the actual day.”

Laurier student Talia Lanzarotta finds the idea of Nutella Day exciting but did not celebrate it.

“I just found out about it this year because I was at the Wayne Gretzky Centre and they had a whole setup for Nutella Day,” Lanzarotta said. “But to be honest that doesn’t seem that important. I thought it was really cool but I didn’t understand the purpose.”

Laurier student Kaitlin Brunetti believes the crazier celebratory days take attention away from days that try to raise awareness for serious causes such as Down syndrome

and tuberculosis.

She said she does not participate in the sillier days but gets involved in more serious issues. “I participated in Women’s Day that just passed,” Brunetti said.

Lanzarotta said she feels some of the celebratory days that do not aim to raise awareness do not serve a purpose. “I feel like for those events we are trying to promote something and advertise something,” she said. “If you want to fundraise, you want it to be for a good cause.”

March 24 is both Tuberculosis Day and Chocolate Covered Raisins Day. Tuberculosis Day first began in 1982 and aims to raise awareness of the disease. Chocolate Covered Raisins Day celebrates the taste of the snack. After scanning social media, it seems like just as many people talk about chocolate-covered raisins on March 24 as they do the deadly disease.

“Many of the not so important days or events or objects that get celebrated do take away from those that are more serious [which] should be embraced,” De Vega said. “It seems like every little thing is just getting turned into a day.”

“When it comes to the days that are serious [which] should be promoted, I find that even if they’re taken more seriously, they’re not as special because we have all these other little days that are being celebrated as well,” De Vega said.

Gaskell said she does not celebrate some of the more eccentric days but always hears about them afterwards. “Someone always asks, ‘Oh, did year hear about national this or that day?’ and I say, ‘Who cares?’” she said. “I think they could make better use of these national days by raising awareness for important causes.”

March 16th – Lips Appreciation Day March 17th – Submarine Day March 18th – Forgive Mom and Dad Day March 19th – Deskfast Day March 20th – International Day of Happiness March 21st – World Down Syndrome Day March 22nd – World Water Day March 23rd – Near Miss Day March 24th – Tuberculosis Day March 25th – Manatee Appreciation Day March 26th – Makeup Your Own Holiday Day March 27th – Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day March 28th – Something on a Stick Day March 29th – Niagara Falls Runs Dry Day March 30th – Pencil Day March 31st – World Backup Day

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

7

The Sputnik

Arts & Culture

Dillon Giancola | arts@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikarts

Songide’ewin: A Yellow Brick Wall exhibit Shelby Do Staff Rene Meshake is the latest artist to have an exhibit featured on the Yellow Brick Wall, located right here on the Laurier campus. This exhibit is called Songide’ewin: Ojibwe Narratives Art Exhibit.

Meshake is a Canadian artist who draws his inspiration from his Ojibwe culture. He expresses himself through a myriad of art forms, including story-telling, poetry, and painting.

Drawing on his experience of surviving life in a residential school, Meshake exhibits 13 paintings in hopes of sharing his experiences with others. He writes about being silenced in his artist’s statements, reflecting on people in his past, “who told me that my Ojibwe arts and culture were ‘Pagan!’, ‘Dirty!’ and ‘Evil!’”

Songide’ewin is a cathartic way for Meshake to break through those feelings and express the culture he was taught to keep quiet through residential school.

Meshake described his painting style as, “alternative portraiture in a semi-abstract style”. His art is the perfect way to express the complex, confusing and overwhelming emotions that came with surviving life in a residential school.

Despite these paintings being created with an idea in mind, Meshake hopes

Meshake is a Canadian artist who draws his inspiration from his Ojibwe culture. Jamaal Owusu-Ansah

that, like many other forms of art, people will interpret something different from his paintings. He says, “If you try to view all the paintings at once, they will appear the same or you don’t see anything at all. But, one painting among them will speak to you. And any story that you hear or interpret is valid.”

When describing his process, Meshake recalls, “I paint in a series of 10 or more

Art mirrors Russia Dillon Giancola

A&C Editor Russia, the famous red machine. The Soviet Empire, The Cold War, The Berlin Wall. Shady politics, strict nationalism, censored media.

Russia has always fascinated us in North America, if not the entire world. It isn’t just the Americans that have been tied to them, with their near-miss wars and their political and economic differences. But in Canada we had the 1972 Summit Series that pitted the hearts of two nations pitted against each other. They also watched a generation of hockey players, among them Pavel Bure and Sergei Federov, defect from the motherland to come play our national game.

While most people can agree that the Russia we know today is nowhere near as dark and mysterious as it was mid-20th century, it can also be agreed that the recent actions of Russia have started to raise suspicion and call to mind thoughts of days gone by.

This trend seems to have risen to the forefront during the controversial Sochi Olympics and Ukraine invasion, and culminated with the recent assassination of Boris Nemtsov, the Opposition Leader, just a couple hundred metres away from the Kremlin.

At the same time, this increase of news coverage has coincided with an increase of Russian themes in American entertainment.

The Americans, possibly the best show that you have never seen, is in its third season on AMC, and is primarily about two Russian spies disguised as an American couple in the early 80’s. The third season of House of Cards, which was just released on Net-

flix, features a strong Russian-based storyline. The character of Russian President Victor Petrov is so obviously based off of real-life leader Vladmir Putin – he has been in power forever, his foreign policies are full of half-truths, and he even kind of looks like him – that it is alarming, as well as extremely effective.

A lesser known medium for this message that I have come across is the book Edge of Eternity, the newest and final instalment of Ken Follett’s best-selling trilogy The Century. A work of historical fiction, the book takes place mainly during the ‘60s, and along with the black civil rights movement in America, the Cuban-missile crises, and rule of Kruschev and Brezhnev is a very prominent focus of the novel.

Although all three examples that I have listed are clear works of fiction, they all get their inspiration from real life. It is a fascinating experience, to find, as you read up and watch portrayals of the past, the CNN ticker seems to be following suit. It would be akin to watching movies based on the First World War, if they had existed, in 1939. American Sniper, however biased in its portrayal, might be a more recent example of watching a work of fiction as the events seem to be repeating themselves in present time. However, the events of that movie take place just over ten years ago, not 50.

I can’t judge how accurate these pieces of fiction are, but they are certainly relevant. Just the fact that they exist alone is worth noting, let alone trying to decipher what the trend means. I cannot ignore the coincidence of reading a fictional account of the former USSR’s censorship of anticommunist opposition and reading the real life details of the murder of an outspoken Putin-critic in the same month. It’s just creepy. Along with the examples I have given, I encourage you to check out the

paintings at once. Too many images crowd out or compete with each other if I did a single painting, so I do a series to edit the images.” His process helps him express all of his different emotions at one time, while also creating a connection between each individual painting, making them a perfect set for an exhibit.

As both a historical and artistic experience, Songide’ewin is an excellent way to

get in touch with local art culture, support Canadian artists, and see work made by an artist whose paintings are honest, unique and breath-taking.

The exhibit can be viewed at the Yellow Brick Wall from March 1 until April 15 at 97 Dalhousie St.

Russia has always fascinated us in North America. Neha Sekhon

video of Nemtsov appearing on CBC’s Power and Politics in 2012. Yes, it is three years old, but it does not appear that too much has changed, and his words ring truer in his death.

Nobody knows who killed Nemtsov – the theories of a Putin-ordered assassination and a separate operation with the purpose of making the Putin administration look bad both seem equally plausible – but that does not matter as much as the fact that it did indeed happen. It is easy to look past the over-spending and incompetent infrastructure of the Olympics to watch some great hockey, and it is convenient to ignore

whatever it is that is happening in Ukraine to hold on to a delusion of peace. But it is impossible to ignore the fact that, unfortunately, corruption abounds in Russia.

My guess is that this trend of Russianthemed American entertainment will continue in the next couple years, and political assassinations only make that more likely.

I don’t know if Putin is killing civilians in Ukraine or gunning down his rivals in cold blood, but somebody is. After all, nobody’s trying to assassinate Justin Trudeau, much less make a television show about it.

8

Arts & Culture

The Sputnik

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Dillon Giancola | arts@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikarts

The moment the media turns to the meme Miles Smith

Staff The Internet is a wonderful place. It has a wide variety of knowledge and things to occupy yourself with. When you get many people in one place, they create inside jokes among themselves. The Internet is no exception to this rule, (in fact, it has many rules, look them up if you have a strong stomach). “Memes” are the Internet’s inside jokes – people outside looking in don’t get it, and the people from inside looking out don’t get why everyone doesn’t get it. Now I can’t go into every meme on the Internet in detail, as that would produce a much longer article and half the fun is learning each meme as you go along.

What is so interesting is that every day, memes are created and memes die, and the Internet goes on. If someone uses a meme that has died, it will usually be taken down, or voted out of existence. Memes can only be resurrected if there is a large influx of new posters, which happens very rarely. Some memes are immortal and loved by all (Success Kid, Insanity Wolf, Socially Awkward Penguin), while others are often forgotten (In Soviet Russia, Drop The Bass).

Memes on the whole don’t have a very long lifespan, however. Lately, memes that have “broken the Internet” (a media coined term I assure you) have had a very short lifespan – shorter than the average meme. For example, Kim Kardashian’s pictures that were meant to break the Internet had a very short lifespan, but it was still prominent in many reaches of the Internet. In a very similar stream is the American Sniper baby, the whole video business with Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and John Stewart, and of course most recently The Dress.

“Memes” are the Internet’s inside jokes – people outside looking in don’t get it, and the people from inside looking out don’t get why everyone doesn’t get it. Neha Sekhon

“You can leave that image with someone, and come back to it in 10 or 20 years, and find there are some things you just can’t unsee.

You can tell a story with it. For me right now I have small kids, so any photos of children being abused or exploited really sticks with me.” says Duncan Finnigan, a Digital Arts teacher at Laurier Brantford. “I don’t really know about [memes]…usually you look at subtext, but that’s really straightforward text, so it’s just a

joke or whatever it may be.”

For those who are wondering, the colour of the dress looks different due to the way the light enters your eyes. Your brain actively filters out colors and tweaks your eyes to adjust.

Your eyes and brain focus less on the light itself, and extract more information on the thing the light is reflecting off of. It is what you are focusing on at that time that differentiates the colour of the dress. That’s where I’m leaving

that.

These memes, that burn out as quickly as they pop up, I like to call them “supernovas”.

They burn brightly for a very short time, then ultimately disappear forever. The reason these supernovas burn out so quickly? They are forced, fabricated memes and therefore fail right out of the gate. As the media gains more and more understanding of the Internet, they will try to use it to their advantage, but they do not grasp the full nature of the Internet. Whenever someone attempts to fabricate a meme to “break the internet” it will fail. The mass media is essentially that kid who comes in late to the group and tries to fit in with all of the inside jokes they weren’t there for. Not really harming anyone, but not leaving it alone and paving their own path - their own inside jokes.

Mass media tries to take memes and use them in advertising, to try and connect with us on a fundamental level. As almost to say “We’re one of you”, they use success kid to promote a phone, and grumpy cat to promote products. The worst part is that often times the advertisers will not do their research and use the meme wrong, therefore sucking all of the humour out of it. Once in a blue moon an advertiser will do what feels natural to them and will spawn a meme. For example, the original Old Spice man turned into a meme, not a supernova. The Old Spice man was an excellent meme until Old Spice tried to get into the joke and brought along Terry Crews, or unveiled the “my boy smells like a man” advertising line.

The Internet is a living, breathing thing.

It is made up of dedicated users and without them it would crumble. It cannot be restrained, not by a bill, not by a company, not by a single person. What the Internet wants, it does, and it cannot be forced to do anything else. Now, the mass media does have its place in the Internet, it just has to find it, and stop forcing it. Good things come to those who let it happen. If only the media could be this patient.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

9

The Sputnik

Sports

Kyle Morrison | sports@thesputnik.ca | @sputniksports

Ronda Rousey: A true role model and champion Anthony Fusco

Staff The arena is humming with nervous excitement. Flags and posters are dotted among the crowd. The lights go dark and people begin to cheer. Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” blares over the speakers as “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey begins her walk to the octagon.

When people think of UFC fighters, they typically picture huge, burly men with tattoos and beards beating each other bloody in a cage. Most people today know the big names of the most feared fighters like the now retired Georges St. Pierre or Anderson Silva.

Now what if I told you that arguably the most chilling and talented fighter currently in the UFC stands at a mere 5’6 and weighs 135 pounds? Her name is Ronda Rousey. Yes, she is a woman. She’s also the best female fighter in the world today as well as one of the top mixed martial artists on the planet.

Rousey owns a perfect record, which in the realm of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), is extraordinarily hard to attain. It stands at a pristine 11 wins with zero losses.

Before Rousey was a UFC champion, she was an Olympic athlete. She competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and took home a bronze in Judo. With that win, she became the first American woman to medal in Judo.

Her judoka background has translated directly into her success as an MMA fighter. She even has her own signature move that she uses to finish her opponents. The basic premise of an arm bar is to catch your opponent’s arm or shoulder joint and hyperextend it to the point where they have

Ronda Rousey continues to revolutionize women’s Mixed Martial Arts. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

no choice but to tap out.

Rousey’s arm bar is especially lethal.

If you don’t believe me, check out her record. She has finished nine of her eleven

opponents with that limb crunching submission.

In a day and age when men dominate the sporting world, Rousey is a breath of

fresh air. She’s out-spoken, charismatic and talented. The former Judo champion knows how to market herself and isn’t afraid to generate some controversy with her words. But there’s a key to all of this.

Whatever Rousey says, you can almost guarantee that she will back it up.

She’s also tough as nails and in the world of male dominated MMA, she needs to be. In her quest to build both her repertoire as a champion and public ambassador profile for the UFC, she has clearly faced challenges that her male counterparts did not.

Many fans didn’t believe women should ever fight in the UFC. They thought it was barbaric and that the women were not as talented as the men. Rousey is not only fighting her opponents in the cage, she is fighting the stigma that women can’t compete in the same octagon as men.

Rousey wants to help make women’s MMA more established. In order for her to do that, she only needs to continue the path she’s on. The brash fighter has already had so much success; it’s amazing to think that people still doubt her.

She has won the Female Fighter of the Year award the last three years running, she is the only woman ranked in the UFC’s top ten fighters and Rousey has translated her success into sponsorships and movie roles as well.

Ronda Rousey should be a role model for women and men across the world.

She’s tenacious, confident and has a willingness to fight for what she believes. Despite constant criticism and judgement, she hasn’t let any of the talk phase her. She will continue to fight because her battle is never over, both literally and figuratively.

That willingness to continue moving forward is what makes her a true role model and champion.

#Tradecentre: Social media’s impact on the Toronto Maple Leafs Luc Daviau

Staff On Monday March 2, 2015 TSN aired a controversial tweet during the NHL trade deadline show. Every year, TSN has made attempts to establish a long and eventful day for sports fans as they cover an entire day of trades. Some years are more entertaining than others and this year appeared to be one of the less exciting, until the tweet aired. One avid Toronto Maple Leafs fan’s tweet, which began as a joke, quickly turned catastrophic.

AdragnaA21 tweet, “I want the leafs to keep lupul solely based upon the fact that he banged phaneufs wife #TradeCentre” aired across the country to millions of people. Almost immediately, AdragnaA21’s tweet caught the attention of Maple Leafs players Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phaneuf, as well as Phaneuf’s wife Elisha Cuthburt.

Law firms, Galle Legge Grant and Munroe LLP, issued a statement for Phaneuf, Cuthbert and Lupul, “demanding that TSN issue a formal apology and pay a significant amount of damages to each of our clients for broadcasting a false and defamatory tweet during their trade deadline show yesterday”. They also sent a similar demand to the original author of the tweet Anthony Adragna.

James Duthie, a sportscaster for TSN, made this statement the following day:

“In spite of TSN’s protocol to prevent unfounded and inappropriate tweets from making it to air, a false and inappropriate tweet was allowed to run. There was no basis for the false allegations made in this tweet and TSN unreservedly apologizes to Joffrey Lupul, to Dion Phaneuf, and Elisha Cuthbert and regrets any embarrassment this unfortunate incident has caused to them.”

Wilfrid Laurier University student and Maple Leafs fan, Matthew Lalingo, had a few words to say about these recent events.

Lalingo thought the whole scenario “was dumb” and that it is “typical Toronto media trying to get something started and then they go too far.” It is quite clear that fans are more frustrated with the fact that there is so much coverage over this tweet. After this tweet several stories were written spreading and exploiting the embarrassing situation that Phaneuf, Lupul, and Cuthbert were facing because quite frankly, not much else happened during the trade deadline.

Lalingo explains that “you’ve got to censor yourself” in social media because the moral lines can be so easily crossed.

“This is what happens in social media, you say one thing and it’s going to be traveling around.” He believes the fault is on TSN but people need to realize the damages of words and that “you need to censor yourself” because you don’t know who will see what you say.

Fans and professional players alike are clearly annoyed with the entire situation.

As Lalingo says “Toronto sports have not been doing well … there is so much hype, and I think a lot of fans are disappointed.”

The insulting tweet that made the air is obviously not the first or the last of tweets to attack the players in Toronto.

Lupul was unable to keep quiet on social media, as hecklers made an appearance on his Instgram. A user, york51, made offensive remarks and continued to antagonize the Leafs forward until Lupul lashed back. Lupul asked if they could “handle it like men and step outside.”

Ultimately, this conversation hit the newspapers as well, which left Lupul making himself look bad in the public eye.

However, many fans are still in support for Lupul and his remarks against this heckler.

One comment by itsdavit, said, “you’re all class pal, love your composure.”

The fan base has been spending so much time listening to professional hockey players fight legal and cyber battles, that they have forgotten about the sport. Despite being a team that has not even a glimpse of a playoff spot, a true fan should still be supportive. Lalingo is frustrated with the extent of the malicious tweets, and heckling responses because “it’s a distraction for [Lupul and Phaneuf]” as they try to go out every night and do their job.

Throughout the entire season the media and fans have been constantly disappointed with the Leafs. They started the season strong, but their hopes of reaching the playoffs has dwindled away. As the losses began to pile up and the Leafs fell drasti-

cally in the standings, the fans and media outlets began lashing out at the players.

The media has played a major role in the deterioration of the Leafs team year. Hyping up the Toronto Maple Leafs to the fans began to grow old as the Leafs started to struggle. Rumours of the players have been going around for quite some time, and the effects appeared to test many of the players’ frustrations. Phil Kessel, top-line forward, expressed his frustrations of all the hateful coverage and insults the media and fans have thrown on the Leafs, and mostly targeting the Captain, Dion Phaneuf.

Kessel stood up for Phaneuf in an interview: “I am disappointed today. The way the media treats Dion Phaneuf in this city it’s embarrassing.” Kessel expressed his frustrations to the media and described the fact that Phaneuf is the hardest working player on the team, and doesn’t get any respect for his hard work. Kessel repeated that he was “embarrassed” because Phaneuf is a person, and the media and Leafs fan base has focused on making him the joke of the city.

TSN decided to remove the Twitter ticker for any foreseeable future of the trade deadline. This is assures themselves as well as everyone else that the defamatory tweets will never see the air on their show again. As much as TSN’s protocol can try to draw a line of what is acceptable and what is not for television, according to Lalingo, when it comes to what people say on Twitter, “there is no line.”

10

The Sputnik

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Sports

Kyle Morrison | sports@thesputnik.ca | @sputniksports

Referee! What kind of a call is that?

Robert Belardi

Staff In sports a player can’t blame the referee entirely for making a bad call, but it is the leagues themselves that should cater to having fewer rules to get more out of games.

The MLB saw six new rules enter the game to make it faster, however historically baseball is a slow and long game to play that requires a lot of mental and physical talent. The league has stated that a batter must maintain a foot in the batter’s box, the manager only has three mound visits a game and a pitcher must throw within 20 seconds of receiving the ball. I can’t help but to acknowledge that these rules may speed up the game, but what exactly happens to the player if they don’t follow these rules? How is an umpire supposed to keep track of these times during an MLB game?

I’ll tell you. According to The Atlantic players will receive a fine of up to $500 dollars for breaking the rules after spring training so players can adjust to the new game.

That my friends, is unenforceable, a ruling that would make officiating of this game 10x more difficult than other restrictions and most importantly, players probably won’t care about them too much to throw the ball within the time zone. $500 fines are nothing for MLB players like Alex Rodriguez for instance, who make millions per year. Are these really rules to speed up the game or are they there for money? I guess we’ll never know.

In the NHL, hockey goaltenders used to have the ability to play the puck wherever they wanted and skate with it for how long they wanted to. Let’s not forget one of the greatest moments when Patrick Roy took the puck to centre ice and juked out the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. That was a sight we will never be able to watch again now that the league enforces a new rule to restrict goalies to a 22 foot trapezoid to play the puck.

My question is why is it such a problem if the goalie wants to travel up ice with the puck and try to score a goal? It would be their fault but the goalie is a player on the ice and should be able to do what he pleases; even if he wants to join the power play, so what. Another rule that is bizarre is lifting the puck over the glass as a penalty for supposedly “delaying the game.” Are you kidding me? I can understand if this rule applies during a powerplay or when there is two minutes left to go in the third period and your team wants to hold on to a lead. However, has anyone ever thought about something called an accident? It happens and its incredible how a two minute penalty is applied to the player that puts it out of play.

And then there’s the NFL, where there’s a rule that is going to make things difficult for the officiating crew and something that is completely pointless to the game. On NFL.com they speak of a new rule that is set to open up. The field goal posts are as wide as 18 feet and will remain that way for normal field goals. But when an extra point kick is to be taken, the league wants to squeeze the posts by four feet for the PAT (Point After Touchdown) kick and move it from the two yard line

Too many rules can get in the way of fans’ enjoyment. Neha Sekhon

to the 15 yard line, essentially making it more difficult to attain a point following your touchdown. Why? This is ridiculous to implement such an unnecessary rule for the game of football. If it’s one thing that’s easy in the game it is the PAT and why not give the players something simple about the most physical game in North America.

Their lives are going to be more difficult just to get a point once they’ve worked so hard for a touchdown and let’s not forget the difficulty of field goals to begin with.

Whether it is football, hockey or baseball, forget all of these new rules and just let the players play the game and let the fans enjoy it!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Opinion

Brittany Bennett | opinion@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikopinion

Anti-terrorist act is a great start to protecting our country Brittany Bennett

Opinion Editor A couple Mondays ago Brant MP and member of the Harper Government, Phil McColeman spoke to my political journalism class for our weekly assignment. He brought up a topic that caught my attention, one that has been a continuous debate reported across Canada’s media over the past few months: Bill C-51.

Now, before McColeman briefly touched on this, I had not known too much about the act besides the negative reactions it has received in respect to going against civil liberties such as a loss of personal freedom. McColeman spoke of this bill as a way of giving the proper tools to authorities such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the RCMP to be able to prevent terrorist events from happening such as the recent attack on Parliament Hill in October.

During this specific instance McColeman explained, “As police usually do, they had them pegged as dangerous people but they could not do anything about that. They had no powers to do anything about that.

The fact that they had records of what their activity was, the fact that they were being watched didn’t matter; they could not do anything about it.” This fact is exactly what McColeman said sparked the government’s direction in preventing future terrorist attacks.

The Walrus outlines “the good, the bad… And the truly ugly” of Bill C-51 in a February article. The bad outlines the possibility of aggressive interrogation, which I completely agree with and believe it is something that should and could be added to Bill C-51. It also outlines the possibility of detaining an innocent person, which yes is likely to happen from time to time, but also still happens in our legal system today outside of terrorism activities. This is a risk we are willing to take in order to ensure the proper safety of our country. The last point of bad is the new information-sharing regime between government institutions.

They feel the category of “activities that undermine the security of Canada” to be dangerously broad, I wonder how?

“The ugly” The Walrus touches on is the power this bill gives to police and prosecutors. But as McColeman explained, “There’s two layers of oversight you could say. One, civilian, one judicial.” McColeman noted that all branches of CISIS and RCMP have civilian oversight sitting on

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The Sputnik

the board, even at the national level. On top of that, these extension of Bill C-51 have to first be presented and reviewed by a judicial court before the process can be put in to effect. The Walrus explains the worry of censoring and seizing “terrorist propaganda” because the term is again so broad. But is it really? They are worrying about citizens posting material that may be distantly linked to terrorist violence. But, why would anybody be posting anything distantly related to terrorist violence in the first place? The main radical “ugly” of Bill C-51 is outlined as the changes to CSIS that go against our personal freedoms and privacy. Honestly, what are you people hiding? Get over yourselves. The government doesn’t care about your kinky porn sites, they are looking for people who want to explode buildings. Jesus.

McColeman said “many of the things in Bill C-51 today – if you were to read them and to understand the bill – most Canadians would react [by] saying, ‘I thought that was already being done. I thought the police already had these powers.’” So I thought I would go through it and see if this were true.

people that fall under this category. Again, I thought, and do believe there was already a list like this. According to the “good” reported by The Walrus, there was a “no fly list” but it was not adequately put into place with proper checks and balances as this act now does. The act even outlines the proper recourse process for a person that does try flying and is on this list that includes appeal procedures.

The third part amends the Criminal Code with respect to recognizances that keep the peace relating to terrorist activities or offenses. This extends their duration, provides new thresholds and gives judges the authorization to include recognizance conditions regarding passports and specified areas. Again, something one would assume has already been put forward in law, and exactly what restricted authorities from preventing the attack on Parliament Hill. But this part also amends the Criminal Code by adding the offense of knowingly advocating or promoting terrorism offenses, which I would have totally thought was a law already as well, and it provides judges with the authority to shut down propaganda involving terrorist activities. All I see this

“If you were to read and to understand the bill – most Canadians would react [by] saying, ‘I thought that was already being done. I thought the police already had these powers.’”

This bill has five specific parts that enact the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act and the Secure Air Travel Act, and amend the Criminal code, the CSIS Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The first enacts the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act, this authorizes government institutions to disclose information to other government institutions that have jurisdiction or responsibilities involving the security of Canada. It also makes amendments to other acts that are related to this same outcome. McColeman is correct, this is something that I would have assumed the government already has jurisdiction to do. I had no idea different government institutions were keeping information from one another before this.

Part two enacts the Secure Air Travel Act, which is a new legislative framework for identifying and responding to people that may pose a threat to transportation security, or who travel for the purpose of committing possible terrorist related offenses. This gives the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness the authorization to create a list of suspected

doing is help stop the manipulation of recruitment to terrorism organizations. Lastly, this amendment provides an increased protection for witnesses. Obviously, this is a great addition.

Part four amends the CSIS Act, which permits them to take measures inside and outside of Canada to reduce national security offenses. I am not quite sure what these measurements are, so this is a moment where I may not be able to continue my argument without further information.

But this amendment also gives the Federal Court the authority to give effect to warrants issued under this act, and new reporting requirements of the Security Intelligence Review Committee. Which actually sounds more beneficial for our civilian surveillance as long as we are able to see what these requirements are, and know that they are being properly followed.

The final part amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This defines obligations related to the provision of information in proceedings, authorizes judges with the request of the Minister to exempt the Minister from having to provide special advocate for relevant information that has not been first filed with the Federal Court, and allows the Minister to appeal or apply for judicial reviews if the disclosure of information could affect national security or the safety of that person. Which seems to be a better safe than sorry type of situation in my opinion. I know this may go against the personal freedoms of refugees and immigrants, but knowing who exactly we are bringing into our country is kind of a big deal, and otherwise overrules that right.

I can completely see where people are coming from with their opposing views to this legislation, but I can also see the reasons behind the legislation overruling those views. There are always going to be two sides to a story, but it is the most important that should be followed. Maybe this legislation is missing some key points, but it is a great start and I am happy that our government is taking security issues in Canada seriously.

RANTIN’ & RAVIN’ A column by Opinion Editor Brittany Bennett on the mind blowing occasions that really make her question her faith in humanity.

Brantford locals After crossing Colborne headed out from GRH the other day an older gentleman in a wheel chair happened to say “good morning,” while I passed. As I always do, I responded “good morning sir,” with a smile and went on my way. From behind I heard him say, “See? That was all I was looking for from that other girl,” to his friend beside him, than mumble about how rude Laurier students can be. And I agree. For some reason Laurier Brantford students have put up this wall between us, and the Brantford locals. Well, I walk right on over that wall on a regular basis.

I have watched Laurier students give dirty looks, bluntly ignore, and whisper mean things about Brantford locals right in front of them on multiple occasions. Seriously guys? Who do you think you are? Yeah, the majority of Brantford locals are out spoken, but not at all in a bad way. I absolutely love it. I soak that shit in, think they are the nicest people. You may think I’m gullible, well I do think you are arrogant. All they are looking for is to make a person smile, actually I have had multiple people say exactly that to me to prove it. Sure, I get hoot and hollered at from time-to-time, but more often I find locals just want to have a conversation. I probably have at least one person hanging out in the downtown area say at least something to me on a daily bases.

But it is almost always some form of, “how are you today?” Or, “you’re beautiful.” Or surprisingly often, “I like your shirt.” To put this into better context, I am almost always wearing a band shirt, so it is not at all in a sexual way. So take that stick out of your backside and say hello back for once.

Stop being so judgmental and treat Brantford locals like actually human beings.

So much for receptionists Stupid me managed to pay OSAP when I was trying to pay my tuition this summer before school, I added the wrong payee while doing it online. Which is funny because at that point I had my loans all paid off from the previous year, and had yet to receive my loans for the next semester, so I literally paid my loans off before I even got them. Great. Then it was time to call around and figure out what I do about it. I kid you not, it took me HOURS to find a human being to talk on the phone with. I called OSAP itself, I called Service Laurier, and I called my bank. All of which resulted in me screaming at their automatic messages, “CAN I PLEASE TALK TO A REAL PERSON?!” So, so frustrating. The worst part is, their automatic messages take so much time to cover the simplest of things that could easily be found on their website, or said in one sentence if someone picked up the damn phone for a second. I hate how technological advances are taking away jobs, but when they make things more inconvenient? This makes no sense to me. So companies, please, for the sake of god hire your receptionists back.

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Opinion

The Sputnik

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Brittany Bennett | opinion@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikopinion

No harm in curriculum changes to protect children, advocate equality Brittany Bennett

Opinion Editor Ontario’s health curriculum has not been updated since 1998. Guess what else happened in 1998? Google. One of the biggest online search engines. It put the whole wide world in hands reach, and that could be a child’s hands, and that reach could stretch out to the world of sex and sexuality. The following year introduced the first Blackberry, quickly turning into a new trend that everyone had to have.

Since 1998 we have attained wireless internet, social media outlets such as MSN, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, updates in processors, servers, formatting and more.

Finally, a new sex education curriculum was unveiled in late February, a date far overdue. Many parents instantly shared their opposing views. CTV News reported that a few hundred people, most of which parents, protested outside of Queen’s Park the day after the unveiling. The amount of protestors was estimated to be 2,000 the day before, so why did only a few hundred come out? Maybe some of them came to their senses.

Parents are arguing that they were not consulted enough, that these new curriculums take away their right as a parent and are too extreme. They held signs that read “protect our children from sex ed” and “stop imposing your views on our children”. Seriously? Yea sure, let’s protect your children from a curriculum that is put in place to protect them. That really makes sense. Protect them from what?

Knowledge? Imposing views? Do you mean imposing facts? These are not opinions they are real-life things that your children need to know to protect themselves in the real world.

Thank god Premier Kathleen Wynne is holding her ground, unlike the similar situation in 2010 where former Premier Dalton McGuinty let these ignorant oppositions shelve the necessary curriculum.

CTV News sums up the new changes to the curriculum nicely: “Grade 2 students will learn the concept of ‘no means no.’ Grade 3 students will learn about same-sex relationships, while Grade 4s will learn about the dangers of cyberbullying and posting and sharing sexual images. Grade 6 students will be taught about masturbation, while Grade 7 and 8 students will learn about contraception, oral sex,

preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Students in Grade 7 will learn about the dangers of sexting. Grade 8s will be taught there are six genders: male, female, two-spirited, transgender, transsexual and intersex.”

“No means no”: how could there be any extremities in this? I do not believe I even have to argue this one.

Same-sex relationships: I actually think grade 3 is almost not early enough. We live in Canada, we accept same-sex marriage and more and more same-sex couples are adopting. This means children are going to see one of their friends coming to school with two daddies, or two mommies, as early as junior kindergarten. They are going to have questions. And to be honest, a lot of parents out there are going to give them the wrong answers. Whether it’s culturally influenced, or the fear that educating your child of homosexuals will somehow turn them homosexual, these negative conceptions are wrong. Canada is a law-based country, the law legally lets same-sex relationships marry and the law legally restricts discrimination against homosexuals. We live in a democratic country, the majority has had their say and gay rights are human rights. Deal with it.

The dangers of cyberbullying: as noted above, technologies are steadily advancing and there are so many outlets where cyberbullying is possible I cannot even count them.

This is a real problem, and so is child luring.

Statistics Canada outlined that about 1 in 10 adults reported cyberbullying against at least one child in their household in 2009. That was six years ago, with the advancements since then it has only gotten easier for cyberbullying and child luring to occur. Sharing sexual images: maybe grade three is not the time where your child will be thinking of sharing sexual images, but that does not mean they should not know about it. What if they have an older sibling they catch sharing sexual images? I for one know that as a younger sibling, you want to be just like your older sibling at that age. If they do not know it is not okay, you will find a “monkey see monkey do” scenario that could be prevented with the proper education.

Masturbation: yeah, grade 6 is about that time. Let’s be real, who wants to have this conversation with their parents? Or, what parent wants to have this conversation with their child? At least you won’t have to see your teacher for the rest of your life. But this is probably one of “the talks” that is the easi-

A new sexual education curriculum is causing some parents to argue the changes are too extreme. Cody Hoffman

est to skip by. Parents may think that because masturbation does not lead to pregnancy or STIs it is not something they need to talk with their children about. But come on, all those hormones and changes? Your child is in a pretty crazy time in their life in grade 6, a little confirmation that what is going on in their life is normal could make a big difference.

I honestly thought learning about contraception, oral sex, preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections was already in the grade 7 and 8 curriculum, so I guess that proves my point there. These are the key years before high school, of course these things are necessary for them to know. As much as parents hate to hear it, high school is where it all

begins. I absolute love that grade 7s are being taught of sexting, this is about the time children start getting cellphones so it is completely necessary, and grade 8s being taught of all 6 genders? Amazing. Absolutely, amazing.

I am so proud that our government has come all this way. I think parents are completely over-exaggerating these changes that are long over-due. I cannot see any harm in any of these changes, but I sure can see a whole lot of negatives it will be preventing. Thank you Premier Kathleen Wynne for holding your ground on such an important advancement.

How far will race-based test scoring go?

Tristan Wright

Staff The SAT used by universities in America grade their applicants based on race. This is just plain racism, even for those who benefit from it’s bigotry of low expectations. “College admission season ignites deep anxieties for Asian American families, who spend more than any other demographic on education,” reported the Los Angeles Times. I’ll repeat that, who spend more than any other demographic on education. You reap what you sow and if your family and culture values higher education, you will likely attend higher education. It’s not a racial problem, almost nothing is, it’s always a cultural problem. The article says how a Princeton study reported that Asian students who were accepted had 50 more points on their SATs, on average, than the other applicants, in order to stand out and get considered for acceptance. Africans that were accepted had 230 points less than the average of all accepted applicants and Hispanics also had a slight boost of 185. The Acceptance Committees expect 50 more points on SATs from those of Asian descent and a great deal less points from those of Hispanic of African backgrounds. They are in essence being given

more or less points due to their skin colour.

I can just imagine the conversation between university admittance staff members “You know, we could make a merit system with individual testing!” Another then replies “No, let’s use arbitrary adjustments based on skin tone!” Genius.

But the progressives are being more racist than anyone by giving African Americans more “booster points” than Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. They’re literally saying that African Americans are less intelligent than Hispanic Americans, who are less intelligent than Asian Americans. That Asians have more privilege than Hispanics, who have more privilege than Africans. They are in essence creating a racial hierarchy, this is actual racism. An intelligent African, an intelligent Hispanic, and a dumb Asian are being judged, not on their IQ levels, their efforts or the content of their character but on what the colour of their skin dictates they should be. How are the supposedly educated morons of our society this blind?

Let’s hear a brief argument from the people who would applaud such policies for a second. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the co-founder of HS2 Academy (a college prep business assuming racial bias is a fact of college admissions), Ann Lee said, “Student bodies at elite universities probably shouldn’t be 100 per cent of Asian descent.” Wrong, if all of

the best, most applied students are Asian, then it better be 100 per cent Asian. If they were all African, then the student body should be all African. If you’re an elite teaching institution, you’re there to teach the most brilliant minds of the next generation, not to make sure your classrooms have the politically correct ratios of each race. Be objective, you’re a university.

For the longest time, I thought universities are supposed to teach critical thinking, not social engineering.

This racism is also happening in Canada.

Western Journalism reported that a Canadian professor is making white male students speak last in a classroom because apparently there exists some invisible law that makes white males always speak first. This professor is actively discriminating against a group of students, based on race and gender. This is literally the basis of Communism, instead of raising up the poor, let’s beat down the privileged. Question: What happened to doing things based on merit? Apparent Answer: That’s racist and misogynistic.

This is obviously also not racist, because it’s against whites. It also isn’t sexist because it’s against males. It’s clearly impossible to be sexist against males and racist against Europeans or Asians because progressive types have never heard of doublethink. Doublethink is the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in

distinct social contexts. Doublethink is similar to, but differs from hypocrisy. I wonder about the amount of mental gymnastics and doublethink a university professor has to go through in order to think making people speak in order of race and gender to combat racism and sexism is a good idea.

I was what I thought was leftist in my high school days, I felt for the plight of minorities and was rather multicultural in the sense that I appreciated foreign cultures. But now as young adults today, I don’t know how we’re able to keep quiet in the face of blatant racism, sexism and calls to hatred based on the actions of people’s ancestors or to enforce the sacred cow of diversity. It is not fair to penalize any student because of their race or award them because of their race. This isn’t to say affirmative action is stupid, I’m in favour of it for socioeconomic reasons, but not racial. There are poor and oppressed Europeans and Asians as well as rich and privileged Hispanics and Africans. You shouldn’t penalize students for speaking in class or for studying hard for their SAT scores. But that’s exactly what we’re doing.

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”

— St. Anthony the Great