March 13, 2017

Vol. CXXXVII, No. 21 March 13 , 2017 thevarsity.ca —— The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

UTSU elections coverage News: CUPE 1281: The union representing UTSU staff, explained page 4 Joshua Hands’ absentee bid for the presidency page 5 Reboot slate under fire for online conduct page 5

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

Candidates for UTSU elections face off at executive forum

ERC debate style leaves little room for discussion, critics say page 5

Tuition, slates, marginalized groups discussed during contentious debate Danielle Mulima, Josie Kao, Lesley Flores, Kaitlyn Simpson Varsity Contributor, Varsity Staff, & Associate News Editor

On Wednesday, March 8, all but one of the executive candidates for the University of Toronto Students’ Election spoke at the UTSU Executive Debate to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the union.

The event was moderated by Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Bridgette Dalima for the first half and the anti-harassment officer Ellie Ade Kur for the second half. The four slates debating were Demand Better UofT, We The Students, Reboot UofT, and Whomst’d’ve UofT. Anne Boucher, an independent candidate running for the position of Vice-President External, also participated in the event. Independent presidential candidate Joshua Hands did not attend the forum.

Tuition Many of the questions posed to the candidates were in regards to what they would do about rising tuition fees in Ontario.

Carina Zhang, who is running for VicePresident University Affairs with We The Students, affirmed her slate’s commitment to free tuition, saying, “We The Students aim to fight for free tuition for everyone, including domestic students as well as international students [sic].”

The other slates were focused on capping rather than lowering tuition, and many of the candidates emphasized their desire to hear

from students and get them involved in lobbying for lower tuition.

Josie Wu of Demand Better, who is running for Vice-President University Affairs, said, “We want to work on having a cap on international student fee instead of just yelling outside asking for free tuition and wanting to make a visible plan [sic].”

Speaking for Reboot, Nadine Abd El Razek, who is running for Vice-President External, explained how she doesn’t feel that students are hearing enough about the issues.

“Our slate has a pretty good network in the municipal and provincial government… so we hope to use those connections to kind of get a better position. But I feel that it would first come from the students, and in order to make that happen we have to actually let the students know what’s happening,” she said.

Saarthak Saxena, who is running with the Whomst’d’ve slate for Vice-President University Affairs, stated that his slate is “looking to decrease the rate at which Governing Council increases the rate of tuition, and that’ll be from lobbying… I think we could reach out to UofT, hopefully, we’re not very good at that.”

Existence of Slates Demand Better, We The Students, and Whomst’d’ve presidential candidates all agreed that slates are problematic and should not exist, whereas the Reboot candidate said that slates need to become institutionalized parties.

Andre Fast, with We The Students, said that the slate system makes the election

process inaccessible to many students on campus.

Fast said that students should be consulted on the issue, but he supports making “elections accessible to the most people.”

Micah Ryu, with Reboot, said that parties should be institutionalized in order to make the electoral process more accessible.

He stated that currently it is difficult to join slates unless you are an insider, but parties allow independent people to run in a party’s primary race.

Ryu claimed that with individual focused elections, “the individuals who already have the name recognition will continue to establish themselves further within the system.”

Mathias Memmel, with Demand Better, said that slates are “toxic” and should be banned.

Slates, according to him, “support those who have agency already and have power.”

He believes that the slate system is not able to best represent the interests of students. In response to institutionalizing parties, Memmel stated that it was “probably one of the worst ideas I’ve heard in a very long time.”

He said that by institutionalizing parties, the UTSU will continue to be run by groups of insiders and to be inaccessible to individual students.

UTSU and Advocacy The presidential candidates were also asked about their stances on the UTSU performing advocacy work.

Memmel believes “100 per cent... that the UTSU needs to make advocacy one of its core mandate.”

Debate, page 4

Editorial: Student politicians should hold themselves to a higher standard of professionalism and cooperation page 9

Science: A student’s perspective on how the incoming exec should change the Health and Dental Plan page 16

Watch The Varsity’s presidential debate live on our Facebook page Monday at 7:30 pm

From a kid who lost his sense of self to an adult navigating the management of his mental illness; the harrowing state of mental health care in Ontario told by a student with bipolar disorder Feature — Page 10

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U of T to build two laneway houses in the Annex Houses, part of pilot project, expected to be finished by Fall 2018 Daniel Kim Varsity Contributor

U of T is launching a pilot project that will involve two laneway houses being constructed in the HuronSussex neighbourhood as part of the Huron-Sussex Planning Study that was conducted in 2014.

The Huron-Sussex Planning Study was carried out by U of T to investigate how the neighbourhood could be developed in order to meet the housing needs of the university and the community. The study concluded that creating laneway houses was one method to address residential needs.

Laneway houses are often small, detached homes that are built into pre-existing lots and are adjacent to alleyways, such as the ones located between Spadina Avenue and Huron Street. The study suggested that creating laneway houses would help meet housing needs while still maintaining the character of the established Huron-Sussex neighbourhood.

According to Christine Burke, the Director of Campus and Facilities Planning at U of T, the university sought the advice of “urban design planning consultants, economic consultants, the city, and the ward councillor at the time” when designing the project.

The two laneway houses will act as small, affordable options within the range of residences

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

A laneway located beside 21 Sussex Avenue. that are offered by U of T. Burke mentioned that the houses are meant to meet the demands for more student housing, faculty housing, and “certainly more... student-family housing.”

The first house will be about 800 square feet with two storeys. The house will contain a living area, a kitchen, and a dining area. The second level will have one bedroom and a side area that can be converted into a spare room or study area, depending on the needs of the residents.

Burke emphasized that this flexibility is what the university hopes to achieve in order to satisfy the needs of a variety of different types of residents.

The second house will be slightly larger at about 950 square feet and will be two-and-a-half storeys. The house will have two bedrooms and a study area that can also be converted. This home, however, may include a roof terrace.

The university plans for the construction to have minimal impact in disturbing the neighbourhood.

Burke said that the university is looking at options for prefabrication, which would mean that part of the assembly of the homes would be done off-site.

Burke insisted that residents in the area will not have to worry about a long and disruptive construction process.

The pilot project will act as a case

study to determine whether or not the university will construct an additional 40–50 similar houses in the neighbourhood.

“I think what we’re looking for from the case study is really what are the lessons learned from this project so that, hopefully, we can point to what real positives were that we would want to replicate… but also what should be refined or improved,” said Burke.

The university will prioritize three main components of the project: liveability, sustainability, and the impact on the neighbourhood.

With regards to the liveability of the homes, this would include assessing the resident’s satisfaction with, the size of, and the location of the homes.

On sustainability, the university is considering implementing solar panels or PV wall systems into the homes. This area offers quantitative results that the university plans to obtain.

As mentioned previously, the university will examine the impact of the construction on the neighbourhood. U of T hopes that the construction processes will finish quickly to the benefit of the residents in the neighbourhood. On the operating side, the university hopes that the construction processes will be cost-efficient.

The laneway house project is expected to be completed by Fall 2018.

Fresh UTM sweeps UTMSU election Slate wins over 1,000 votes more than UTM First for each executive position

Jenna Moon Associate News Editor

Unofficial results for the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) elections are out, showing a sweep for Fresh UTM, which won all available executive seats.

The elections took place from March 7–9. Salma Fakhry was elected president with 2,102 votes, compared to the 648 votes received by UTM First challenger Alex Gignac.

Vikko Qu ran unopposed for the position of Vice-President Internal and Services. He received 2,291 votes “for” and 423 votes “against.”

Elected as Vice-President External is José Wilson with 1,906 votes. UTM First candidate Ali Taha obtained 798 votes.

Sagal Osman emerged victorious as Vice-President Equity, receiving 2,108 votes compared to the 603 received by Mduduzi Mhlanga of UTM First.

Maya Tomkiewicz was elected as Vice-President University Affairs and Academics with 1,932 votes.

Tomkiewicz was challenged for the position by UTM First’s Christina Khokhar, who earned 780 votes.

The election results will be unofficial until they are ratified by the UTMSU Board of Directors.

Thousands take part in Toronto Women’s March Attendees shed spotlight on issues affecting women Meg Desmond Varsity Contributor

Thousands braved the cold in Toronto on Saturday, March 11 for the annual International Women’s Day March, organized

by Women Working with Immigrant Women and the International Women’s Day Organizing Committee.

The festivities began at 11:00 am with a rally at the University of Toronto Medical Sciences Building and ended at 2:00 pm, when a fair at Ryerson University began.

“The only way we can change the world is changing people’s minds and actions,” said Catherine Brooks, an Indigenous elder who spoke at the ceremony. “[We must] respect each other’s histories and causes. We’re together in this. Together we can change things.”

Brooks’ words echoed the general sentiment of the Women’s Day rally, and she was met with great applause from the crowd.

The theme of this year’s event was

“Stop the hate. Unite the fight. Build the resistance. Unity is power.”

The Medical Sciences Building auditorium was packed with supporters of different ages and cultural backgrounds — all ready to march and cheer together.

Speakers at the event discussed a variety of women’s issues, including Indigenous women and the Idle No More movement, the treatment of immigrant women with a special focus on Muslim women, the Black rights movement, women’s wages and pension rights, and the fight against sexual assault. Participants in the morning rally were greeted with a variety of pamphlets outlining the history of the struggle for the emancipation of women, the fight against misogyny and racism, and women’s work.

Victoria Bell, a student activist, echoed the “Unity is power” theme: “Together we can create a culture of consent,” she said, “Together we will fight and end rape culture.”

International Women’s Day be-

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Immigrant, Black, and Indigenous women were highlighted at the U of T rally prior to the march. gan on March 19, 1911 in Europe.

In 1977, after years of organized women’s movements, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 8 International Women’s Day. It has since become a globally recognized day and is

even an official holiday in many countries.

Toronto’s march was one of many international rallies and celebrations. New York City received considerable media attention after installing a statue of a girl staring

down the Wall Street Bull in honour of International Women’s Day. While the “Fearless Girl” statue will only be around until Wednesday, organizers of the Toronto Women’s Day hope the message will be more permanent.

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UTSU Elections 2017 Debate, from cover He stated that the UTSU needs to work with other groups on campus to lobby the university and the administration. He also said that the UTSU needs to be there to educate people when “there is bigotry and hate speech on campus.”

Reboot said that UTSU advocacy needs to be approved by the majority of students to “[reflect] their needs and their wants.”

Ryu stated that it is not the role of the UTSU to “talk down” to students about political debates. He said that the UTSU should give more funding to clubs and allow clubs to do the advocating because they have members who are passionate about these issues.

Whomst’d’ve said that the UTSU should try to remain neu-

tral to avoid making portions of students feel disenfranchised, but that there are some issues that the UTSU does need to advocate for. The slate’s presidential candidate John Sweeney listed issues including tuition, transit, and the well-being of marginalized groups on campus.

We The Students is in support of advocacy, including lobbying the administration, as well as municipal, provincial, and federal governments on issues pertinent to students.

Fast stated the slate also wants the university to divest from fossil fuels and the private for-profit American prison system.

The candidates for Vice-President Equity were also asked whether they would work with the Black

Liberation Collective (BLC) to address anti-Black racism on campus.

In October, the BLC staged a protest at the UTSU office, accusing the union of being complicit in anti-Black racism. The group is calling for more funding for Black student groups, a town hall on anti-Black racism, and an end to the union’s lawsuit against former Executive Director Sandra Hudson.

Michelle Mabira, speaking for We The Students, said that she agreed with the BLC about there being racism on campus. “Obviously there’s something wrong and we have to work to fix it, and it does involve putting your pride aside.

Because if someone is telling you you’re doing something wrong, you have to put your pride aside for the

sake and the safety of the students,” Mabira said.

The Demand Better candidate Chimwmwe Alao stated, “I believe we should be working with all Black student organizations in order to gain all their inputs and… how we can address this problem together, as Black students, and then make effective change within the UTSU.” Keelie-Shay Eaid of Reboot took a different stance from the other candidates and repudiated the BLC for what she called their “intimidation tactics.”

“This is going back to October of 2016, they had actually… attacked the UTSU building,” Eaid said. “We would love to work with all Black students… but the BLC, not particularly,

because of these intimidation tactics.

They are not something that should be condoned because it is some sort of violence.”

Immediately after the candidates finished answering questions about the BLC, Ellie Ade Kur, the anti-harassment officer, took to the stage and addressed the issue.

“I think it’s very important that you draw a distinction between a protest and an attack, and just being very cognizant about how you’re speaking, particularly against groups of oppressed people that are speaking to their own oppression,” Ade Kur said.

The elections will take place online from March 14–16. The Varsity is hosting a presidential debate on March 13 at 7:30 pm.

The Explainer: the UTSU’s full time staff and CUPE 1281 Contract renegotiations to occur in January 2018 Jack O. Denton Associate News Editor

Two of the four presidential candidates in this year’s University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) elections are calling for the elimination or reduction of staff positions at the union.

Human resources at the UTSU comprise $982,300 of the 2016– 2017 operating budget. This is much greater than any other single expenditure category and almost five times the amount allocated for club and project subsidies, which make up $199,000 of this year’s budget.

There are eight staff members at the UTSU, holding positions ranging from Health and Dental Plan Coordinator to Graphic Designer.

Of those eight, seven of the staff at the union are represented by a union, CUPE 1281, which represents workers at non-profit organizations in Ontario — many of which are student unions at various universities. The Executive Director, Tka Pinnock, is not represented by the union.

Candidates contemplate staff changes Mathias Memmel is the current Vice-President Internal and Services at the UTSU and the presidential candidate with the Demand Better UofT slate. “It’s quite clear that if the UTSU were to continue on its current path, we would face serious cash flow issues, certainly within five years it would become really burdensome,” Memmel told The Varsity.

He explained that one of his priorities in fixing this problem is to reduce the number of staff positions at the union. “If elected,” he said, “I intend to eliminate three of them right off the bat.”

Memmel suggests filling any required staff positions in the office with student jobs.

Micah Ryu is the presidential candidate for Reboot UofT, which is running on a platform of cutting costs and eliminating executive

positions. Ryu told The Varsity that “the thing that’s working the least, frankly, is the staff system.”

Aside from the costs associated with the union staff, Ryu also says that, “from what I can tell as an outsider there’s a hostility between the staff and the execs.”

Ryu said that “the staff’s presence at the UTSU office — I believe firmly that it greatens the divide between the student union and the students.”

Reboot’s platform states that it “will refuse to fill any staff position that are vacant or become vacant during [their] time in office, with the possible exceptions of the Executive Director and Health & Dental Plan Coordinator positions.” They also plan to “restructure the union such that the roles [they] wish to eliminate become obsolete.”

CUPE 1281 President Orion Keresztesi declined to comment on Memmel and Ryu’s promises, telling The Varsity that the union “[does] not think it is appropriate for [them to] comment on the platforms of UTSU candidates.”

He did say, however, that “we are confident that the members of UTSU will elect an executive board that respects workers’ rights and the collective bargaining process.”

“Staff at the UTSU work hard everyday to serve the needs of the students at the University of Toronto, and to support the success of UTSU executive board,” he continued.

We The Students presidential candidate Andre Fast told The Varsity that if elected, he would have discussions with the Vice-President Internal and Services regarding staff and did not commit to a specific course of action. John Sweeney, who is running for President with Whomst’d’ve UofT, admitted to not being familiar with the issue.

The Varsity was unable to reach independent presidential candidate Joshua Hands for comment on this issue.

Presidential candidates Memmel and Ryu vow to cut back UTSU staff. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY Collective agreement negotiations The collective agreement between the UTSU and the staff outlines the broad rights of the workers, distinguishes between permanent fulltime, contract, and replacement positions and stipulates that no work that falls under the purview of staff work shall be outsourced or contracted out. Casual, part-time, and term workers are not represented by the union.

Full-time staff work 8-hour days and 40-hour weeks during the regular year. There is a step down to a four-day work week during the summer period, defined as May 15 to July 31.

Article 14, subsection 3 of the collective agreement appears particularly relevant to Memmel and Ryu’s commitments. Both candidates are committed to leaving vacant jobs empty, but the agreement makes it clear that in the case of a vacancy “the Union and the Employer must mutually agree to amend any job description, or portion thereof.”

Even if the UTSU lays off staff workers, Article 15, subsection 3 of

the collective agreement outlines the costs incurred from layoffs, such as having to pay full coverage of the employee’s group insurance plan.

There is also a full severance pay package in place for employees who get laid off, ranging from two weeks’ pay for employees with under a year of service to 34 weeks for employees with 21 years or more of service. The Member Services Coordinator, Terri Nikolaevsky, has been working at the UTSU since March 1994, making her eligible for the full 34 weeks of severance pay if her position is nixed in January 2018.

Before any radical changes to the makeup of UTSU staff can occur, the contract between the UTSU and CUPE 1281 on behalf of the staff workers has to be renegotiated.

The contract is up for renegotiation in January 2018, and collective bargaining procedures will then take place.

“Collective bargaining is a legally defined negotiation, and any changes to the collective agreement require agreement from both the Employer and the Union,” Keresztesi noted.

Memmel believes that in the UTSU’s history of collective bargaining, “The UTSU has negotiated these contracts with its own interests in mind, and not the interests of students.

“We’re going to take a very clear, hardline approach. I’m not willing to accept an agreement that is not in the best interest of students,” Memmel concluded.

Reboot’s platform says that it “will approach the collective bargaining as principled ideologues, who will not compromise in pursuing our goal of ensuring that the UTSU can no longer serve as a permanent carrier for CUPE 1281, the union that the UTSU staff are members of.”

Collective bargaining is neither a simple process nor receptive to reforms that challenge union jobs. The very nature of the union is to protect the jobs Memmel and Ryu aim to cut.

“When the two parties cannot come to agreement, considerable disruption can occur including expensive third-party arbitration and strikes or lockouts,” Keresztesi says. “We look forward to bargaining in good faith with the incoming UTSU executive.”

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var.st/news UTSU Elections 2017

Joshua Hands: the UTSU’s elusive independent presidential candidate

Reboot presidential candidate facing allegations of homophobia, transphobia Humanities Director candidate Borana Makri leaves slate Jack O. Denton Associate News Editor Content warning: Anti-LGBTQ+ language

Screenshots circulating on social media revealed Facebook comments made by Reboot UofT’s UTSU presidential candidate Micah Ryu that used homophobic and transphobic language.

“Lmao What A Faggot Quit Talking Like This,” reads one comment. In another comment, he wrote, “Just because I think sjws are filthy doesn’t mean this guy ain’t a fucking asswipe.” And, “I was born black so I’m trans Asian you fucking bigot.”

Mira El Hussein, who is one of the University College directors on the UTSU Board of Directors, raised concerns about these comments at the official UTSU elections debate on March 8.

“I’ve seen some comments that you’ve made in Students in Support of Free Speech, many of which were transphobic,” El Hussein said. “So how can I trust you to actually represent students on this campus if you actually have targeted and attacked many of them?”

Ryu initially denied these allegations. El Hussein interjected, “I have screenshots.”

“Well, I don’t know what comments you’re referring to, so it’s hard for me to respond,” Ryu replied. “I’m not a transphobic person. I’m not a racist person. I’m not a sexist person. Of course anyone would say that. At this point, what more can I say?”

Ryu does not deny making the controversial Facebook comments, which have since caused a social media crisis for Reboot, but he claims that his comments and language are not as broadly unacceptable as public backlash is painting them to be.

“The type of language I used is acceptable in some contexts,” he told The Varsity. “I believe that the culture of political correctness has become too extreme on campus.”

“Could I have worded things differently? Yes,” Ryu admitted, “But should people be overly sensitive and respond as if what was clearly a joke is a huge personal attack?

They have the right to say what they want, but many people also realize that this kind of behaviour is ridiculous and not meant to be taken seriously.”

Hands a no-show at debate, with no signs of campaigning

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

Ryu claims that the offensive language he used is appropriate in some contexts.

Ryu also says that he is in a position to sympathize with the LGBTQ+ community more broadly.

“Being bisexual (although I am not out to my family and some of my friends), I can sympathize with some of the experiences that students in the LGBTQ+ community have gone through,” he said.

Borana Makri was running with Reboot for Humanities Director until Saturday, when she made a public Facebook post distancing herself from the slate.

“I would like to inform my UofT network that immediately upon being made aware of this news,

I have removed myself from this slate,” Makri said in her post.

She says she also “informed both the CRO and the execs of the slate that the views of this slate and mine are in direct conflict and I am from this point forward not involved in this slate in any way.”

Makri said, “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a committed ally, I am concerned as well as personally hurt by this turn of events and my unknowing involvement by proxy.”

The Varsity has reached out to Makri for comment.

Whomst’d’ve UofT calls for new election forum, says EPC was not followed CRO and ERC decline to hold second debate Kaitlyn Simpson Associate News Editor

After expressing disappointment with the format of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Executive Debate that took place on March 8, the Whomst’d’ve UofT slate is calling for a new debate to take place.

The debate was moderated by Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Bridgette Dalima for the first half, and the event’s anti-harassment officer Ellie Ade Kur for the second half. The forum lasted approximately three hours and consisted of three parts: slate or independent opening statements, a general question period for non-presidential candidates from the audience, and a presidential debate.

Last year, each executive position had its own portion of the debate where candidates could directly engage with each other’s policies and comments, as well as answer questions from the audience.

Following the Executive Debate, Whomst’d’ve’s Vice-President University Affairs candidate Saarthak Saxena emailed the CRO, Elections

and Referenda Committee (ERC) Chair Ryan Gomes, and The Varsity, expressing concern with the format of the debate.

The Elections Procedure Code (EPC) states that the executive forum must have two components for each candidate: a question and answer period and a debate period wherein the questions are asked by an independent campus publication.

The EPC requires campus publications to submit questions in advance to the CRO for vetting.

Though The Varsity and The Medium were asked to participate in the debate, The Varsity declined to submit questions for approval by the CRO, citing concerns over independence.

Plans for the debate subsequently proceeded without consultation of The Varsity.

In the email, Saxena wrote: “Ignoring the fact that the EPC was clearly written with a two party system in mind, and understanding that there are time constraints to take into account, we are still extremely disappointed to note that the EPC was not followed in constructing the Executive Candidates Forum for non-Presidential candidates, and some positions were slighted because of this inattentiveness.”

Saxena continued the email requesting another forum for nonpresidential candidates while also mentioning that the slate was “disappointed” when a student was “repeatedly told to wait until the end of the Question and Answer period” to ask a question of the presidential candidates — given that the only presidential questions asked were pre-submitted.

The Varsity reached out to both Dalima and Gomes for comment.

Gomes responded saying there will not be another forum and that the debate component in the EPC is “technically unenforceable” given that it was only written “with a reference to two candidates.”

Gomes added that the current format was “a compromise” given that there were a large number of candidates running. “There was supposed to be a more even distribution of questions to candidates, but in the moment that did not occur,” he said.

Gomes also stated that he is “truly sorry [that] this student was unable to ask a question” and that the “presidential candidate debate portion was never supposed to receive outside questions.”

Gomes also mentioned that this incident “will be noted for future debates.”

Dalima did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

However, Dalima did respond to Whomst’d’ve’s email, saying, “I know the Executive Forum organized by the CRO met the requirements laid out in the EPC.” She continued by stating that Whomst’d’ve was “welcome to work with the ERC to plan and execute a debate in their preferred format.”

Saxena, who was not satisfied with this response, asked Dalima to specifically state how the EPC was upheld, given there was no debate portion for non-presidential candidates and questions were not submitted by an independent campus publication.

Whomst’d’ve mentioned not having the “time nor the inclination” to plan a new forum. “Our preferred format is simply the one in the EPC. It’s the CRO’s job to ‘Organize and establish guidelines for the Executive Candidates’ Forum’… not the candidates, and we are disappointed that your suggestion seems more indicative of an attempt to pass on responsibility than of taking command of what was an organizational and EPC-breaking failure.”

The Varsity will be hosting a presidential debate on March 13 at 7:30 pm.

The Varsity was unable to interview Hands, as it has done for the other executive candidates.

Jaren Kerr Managing Editor

With the campaign season for the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) elections in full swing, one presidential candidate has been largely unseen and unknown.

To The Varsity’s knowledge, Joshua Hands, who is running independently for UTSU President, has not put up posters or campaigned on social media. He did not attend the Executive Debate that took place on March 8, and The Varsity’s attempts to reach out to Hands for an interview have also been unsuccessful.

In his candidate statement, Hands says that he would like to “work with local communities to organize inclusive campus wide events,” reallocate “funds to reduce student fees and provide students with a TTC Metropass,” and eliminate “segregation and competition among fellow students and mentors.”

So far, the extent of Hands’ campaigning appears to be a post on U of T’s subreddit from March 8, where user joshuahands introduced himself and his platform.

“We all think that nothing will come from voting,” the post reads.

“Only a marginal amount of students actually vote, but we all hate the student union and the community as it stands right now. So if we want things to change then lets [sic] participate!”

Last election, 9.7 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, a drop from 13 per cent in the election before that.

Hands’ Facebook account states that he is studying linguistics. He transferred to U of T from the University of Ottawa, where he has written and taken photographs at The Fulcrum, the campus’ English language newspaper.

One of Hands’ articles is an op-ed titled “What is university good for?

Actually, a lot of things,” in which he encourages students to take advantage of campus resources to make the most out of their degrees.

Hands has not responded to repeated invitations to The Varsity’s presidential debate, scheduled for March 13 at 7:30.

6 d THE VARSITY d NEWS

University of Glasgow students petition against Jordan Peterson as rector candidate Students calling for removal of Peterson, Milo Yiannopoulos, citing discrimination concerns

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Kaitlyn Simpson Associate News Editor

Students from the University of Glasgow are calling for U of T professor Jordan Peterson to be removed from the ballot to become the university’s rector.

The rector candidate is nominated, campaigned, and voted on solely by students to represent the student body. However, a petition is calling for university administration to step in and remove Professor Peterson and alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos from the candidates list.

As of press time, the petition has over 3,500 signatures.

The petition calling for their removal says that Peterson and Yiannopoulos’ ideologies are “transphobic, misogynistic [and] violent.” It also states that their inclusion puts “vulnerable students at the University at risk of harm.”

At an event in Ottawa last week, Peterson said that he expected backlash but was unhappy with being compared to Yiannopoulos.

Currently, the University of Glasgow’s rector is United States National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

— With files from The National Post

news@thevarsity.ca

“Government has broken its promise on electoral reform” Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong speaks on parliamentary reform, Canadian democracy Ilya Bañares Varsity Contributor

On Thursday night, Wellington— Halton Hills Member of Parliament and Conservative Party leadership candidate Michael Chong took time off of the campaign trail to give a talk on the state of Canadian democracy at UTSG’s George Ignatieff Theatre.

The event was hosted by the U of T Department of Political Science, University of Toronto Model Parliament, and Samara Canada, a non-profit advocacy group; it was sponsored by Canada 150.

In his speech, Chong criticized the ruling Liberal Party for not making good on its promise of electoral and parliamentary reform, citing the February decision of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stop pursuing these changes.

Chong also conceded that it was a difficult decision, as other parties and governments, his own included, had tried and failed at passing significant legislation concerning democratic reform.

Chong spoke of the problem of the concentration of power, especially in the Prime Minister’s Office, and how it was “antithetical” to the system of checks and balances in Canadian politics. He cited a wave of controversial events such as the British vote to leave the European Union and the election of populist leaders in Europe and argued that if people feel that their views are not being taken into consideration, they rebel.

In order to counter this concentration of powers, Chong laid out three proposals for reform.

The first reform would be to make party membership free and more regulated by Elections Canada, the independent agency tasked with

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Chong wants to see less power concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office and expressed concerns with of the rise of populism. organizing federal elections. Chong argued that making party membership gratis would allow more people to join and have a say in the political process.

He also contended that, since taxpayers partially fund political parties, regulation by Elections Canada is essential to ensure more transparency in party expenditures.

His second proposal was to remove the Prime Minister’s power over the Senate. He asserts that the Executive branch of government should be accountable to the Legislative branch, not the other way around.

Chong further proposed to remove the right of the Prime Minister to appoint the speaker of the Senate and instead make the senators choose the speaker via secret ballot. He also advocated eliminating the Prime Minister’s right to appoint the government leader in

the Senate, a powerful position that assigns committee memberships.

Chong’s third recommendation was to make the government more accountable to the House of Commons by removing many of the Prime Minister’s powers over the chamber. He proposed to withdraw the authority of party leaders to decide who asks and answers questions during Question Period, as well as to lift their control of committee chairmanships and memberships. Chong argued that the bulk of parliamentary activity is done through these committees, but because of the threat of removal, few undertakings take place.

To solve this, he proposed that MPs directly elect committee memberships via secret ballot.

Following Chong’s speech, Jane Hilderman, Executive Director of Samara Canada, lectured on the

state of Canadian democracy, asserting that turnout is on the rise in federal elections, especially among youth.

She spoke on her organization’s initiative, MP Exit Interviews, which aims to interview outgoing MPs about electoral reforms and what Canada can do.

After both speeches, the panel was opened to questions, with UTSC political science professor Chris Cochrane asking about threats to Canadian democracy.

Chong contended that the concentration of power within the Prime Minister’s Office and the encroachment of populism in Canada are severe threats. Hilderman, on the other hand, asserted that the lack of citizen participation in the political process is more concerning, especially as it pertains to the priority setting of political parties.

Comment

March 13, 2017 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

UTSU Elections 2017

A need for follow-through The 2017 UTSU Executive Candidates Debate reflected important goals that must be supplemented by more thorough planning

Debate Club

Is résumé padding wrong?

Two contributors debate the moral permissibility of exaggerating professional achievements YURI HIRAMA/THE VARSITY

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

UTSU executive candidates fielded questions at the debate on March 8.

Sam Routley Varsity Staff

The recent UTSU Executive Candidates Debate took place on March 8. Underscoring the many issues discussed was the central theme of change. Whether in relation to student advocacy, tuition rates, mental health, or organizational structure, there was a general consensus among the candidates that the UTSU is a corrupt organization that requires all-encompassing, structural changes.

In retrospect, I can’t recall any instance where something positive about the current administration was said. The candidates of this election cycle have centred their platforms around fixing what appears to them to be fundamentally broken. Though this is a noble goal, candidates should ensure that they are making concrete plans to achieve it and should be held accountable by voters to this effect.

All candidates, no matter the slate, agreed on adopting a firm approach to rising tuition rates, mental health initiatives, and a more inclusive sense of student advocacy. Yet the slates focused their reforms on fixing the self-serving culture of the UTSU, which — according to some candidates — appears to have shifted its operations and authority to the hands of full-time staff that are detached from the campus community.

Other allegations included that members of the union have prioritized their own interests, not those of students, and that previous executives had entered politics for their own résumé-building interests, driven by personal ideologies and appointed through favouritism.

Consequently, a clear sense of animosity pervaded the event’s atmosphere. Perhaps anticipating some sort of hostility, the Chief Returning Officer and anti-harassment officer maintained tight control over procedure, especially when monitoring discussion. Fortunately, this meant that personal attacks toward both the incumbent UTSU executive and current candidates were kept to a minimum.

Despite several important issues having been discussed, it is difficult to understand the specific changes proposed or to foresee which changes will actually be put in place by candidates. Although it is encouraging to

hear desires to structurally change the UTSU and foster an environment for more all-encompassing student advocacy, I can’t help but be skeptical.

Not only were the candidates’ platforms too broad and lacking in specifics, but they didn’t seem to take into mind the institutional barriers that may inhibit their goals.

Within all political environments, incoming administrations must learn that the issues they are tackling are complex, and that making real change will require more effort than it takes to condemn past promises.

For instance, when asked how they would address the plight of trans students on campus in the wake of the controversy surrounding psychology professor Jordan Peterson, the candidates focused on individual and club consultation, education, and a general prioritization of marginalized students. However, there were no concise statements on how the candidates will specifically go about achieving these goals should they be elected.

Furthermore, to combat rising tuition, candidates said they would continue to lobby the provincial government and Governing Council — yet, the UTSU has been doing this for years now, and no suggestions were made as to how to improve this approach.

Perhaps we must acknowledge that candidates are limited even in what they can promise, considering the current state of affairs of the union. If the UTSU is as systematically corrupt and self-serving as it is said to be, the process of reform will be complicated and met with resistance by the current establishment.

With that in mind, the changes proposed by the candidates are positive, and — while often about policy — politics is very much about principle and effort. From my understanding of all candidates’ motivations, this election will likely result in a UTSU executive that is genuinely committed to the cause of improving the organization and advocating for students’ interests. Moving forward, however, the candidates should focus on developing specific plans, heeding potential barriers, and admitting what they can and cannot do during their terms.

Sam Routley is a second-year student at St. Michael’s College studying Political Science and Philosophy.

Adina Heisler and Ross Johnston Varsity Staff and Varsity Contributor

Resolution: “Be it resolved that résumé padding is wrong.”

Debate Club is a column that pits writers head-to-head on questions that matter to students. Though it lacks the shaky knees and microphone feedback screeches that typically accompany any oratory competition, rest assured that Debate Club is not for the faint of heart.

In favour: Adina Heisler, second-year English and Women and Gender Studies student at University College

AH: Any undergrad facing the job market will know it is a terrifying and competitive place.

Even the expectations placed on people searching for internships and entry-level positions are much higher than what they used to be. All in all, it can be difficult to keep up, and the result is that — between two similarly qualified candidates — one might get hired while being dishonest on their résumé.

There are a number of reasons why résumé padding is a bad idea. Not only is it patently unfair to obtain a position based on false qualifications, but lying to a potential employer may mean problems down the line if the job candidate can’t actually perform the duties required. The temptation to lie is understandable, but the end result is undesirable. When faced with a pool of seemingly overqualified candidates, employers’ expectations may become even more unreasonable, prompting more lying and the continuation of the cycle.

market, it is unreasonable to expect most people to reduce their already pitiful chances at employment for the sake of honesty. With so few opportunities to expand one’s own résumé, there is little reason why someone would refrain from milking the opportunities they have held in the past, even if doing so involves a bit of exaggeration.

There’s little harm in changing “My minimum wage customer service job taught me that most people are horrible and often unreasonable” to something more employerfriendly, like, “As a customer experience consultant, I developed skills in conflictresolution and learned to understand diverse customer needs.” If anything, putting a positive spin on an otherwise menial job is a skill in itself that employers may value.

RJ: It seems unfair to say that people need to be completely honest on their résumés when employers are constantly embellishing the employment positions they have available.

Companies do this as a means to attract overqualified applicants, and you only have to look so far as a job’s title to see this firsthand.

For example, one posting on a popular job hunting website is titled “Customer Service Executive.” Though the word “Executive” brings to mind the prospect of leading a team, coordinating co-workers, and potentially being the head of a department, in reality this position appears to be a bottom-of-thebarrel telemarketing and customer relations position for a discount hotel booking site.

Why should we be so worried about being so truthful on our résumés when employers are not asked to do the same?

AH: A dishonest employer is a symptom of a broken job market, where, due to a limited amount of available work, employers hold much more power over their employees then they ought to. But two wrongs don’t make a right, and an employer’s potential dishonesty does not make inflating your own accomplishments any more justifiable. Besides, most people are able to see through such ruses if they bother to read more of the job description beyond the title.

RJ: Though it may be the principled thing to do, considering the current state of the job

Against: Ross Johnston, second-year Political Science and Indigenous Studies student at University College

AH: I’ll concede that such small changes are not much of a problem — but that’s not really outright lying, it’s just reframing the description to seem more employer-friendly. The real issue is when people just make things up. If I have never worked in customer service, but my résumé indicates otherwise, that’s a problem — and I could get into serious trouble if I am hired without having all of the required skills.

This is not to mention that being hired based on false qualifications may take opportunities away from people who appear less qualified on the surface, but in fact are much more suited to the job.

RJ: Employers are easily able to weed out applicants who can’t perform the tasks they need using interviews, skills tests, and probation periods. Any employer that naïvely hires based on a résumé alone deserves every bad hire that comes their way. For many, a résumé is just a way to get a foot in the door, providing an opportunity to prove their worth later on. We should not punish people who are motivated to work and gain experience just because they do not yet have this experience on their records.

Granted, some positions mandate past experience, but others can be fulfilled by any hard worker through the employer’s training, regardless of the so-called ‘mandatory’ qualifications. A candidate that initially embellishes their résumé for the purpose of catching an employer’s eye may turn out to be the best worker in the long run.

8 • THE VARSITY • COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

UTSU Elections 2017

Conservative at best, irrelevant at worst In order to engage in effective advocacy for students, the UTSU needs to revisit its tactics James Chapman Varsity Contributor

Three weeks ago, the UTSU hosted a roundtable discussion with the provincial Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development Deb Matthews. After the meeting, the UTSU declared it a victory, receiving a commitment from the minister to facilitate future face-toface conferences and to consider adding a seat to the Post-Secondary Advisory Council for a professional faculties representative. Matthews returned to Queen’s Park touting her “great relationship” with the students’ union, commenting during the roundtable that the ministry and the UTSU “couldn’t be any closer.”

In January, the province renewed the three per cent cap on tuition fee increase for two more years, following lobbying by multiple student groups, including the UTSU. Since the Liberals formed their government in Ontario in 2003, tuition fees in the province have increased by approximately 65 per cent. While the average cost of tuition in the province was $4,923 in 2003, today the average cost is $8,114.

Under the negotiated three per cent cap, the average domestic student in the province will pay another $250 in fees next year and international students’ fees will remain exempt from any provincial protections.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

The CFS Fight the Fees campaign is one example of collective action that the UTSU ought to be inspired by.

With these facts in mind, it is puzzling how the province’s largest students’ union could celebrate a positive relationship with the provincial government, or how anyone could justify further increases in fees as a victory.

The UTSU’s advocacy methods are not working, and new tactics and partnerships need to be adopted in order to achieve real change in all areas that affect students’ interests.

The consistent rise in tuition fees over the past 10 years is an indication that the UTSU’s conservative approach to fee reduction is fail-

ing. While the UTSU has often been quick to criticize methods like protesting — favouring roundtable discussions and building coalitions with the provincial government instead — the evidence in favour of collective action could not be clearer.

Student movements throughout history demonstrate that collective action is the most efficient channel to instigate change. In 1968, student protests in Paris against practices of capitalism and consumerism in French society brought the country to the brink of civil war and forced the de Gaulle govern-

ment to call an election.

More recently, in 2012 the Québec government proposed a $1,625 increase in tuition fees over six years; about 310,000 students protested for more than 100 days, eventually forcing a change in government.

When the Parti Québécois formed government, the decision to so drastically raise fees was recanted.

Even the UTSU has conducted successful collective action campaigns in the past. Although admittedly milder than campaigns in Québec and France, when the university proposed implementing a flat fee across all faculties in 2013, over 6,000 postcard petitions were collected by the UTSU, forcing the government to enact a policy restricting the practice.

The cost of tuition in Québec only provides further evidence of the success of more radical campaigns.

The consistent commitment of Québec students to protest fee increases has kept their tuition fees among the lowest in the country.

Hovering around $2,851, Québec students pay only 35 per cent of what the average student in Ontario does for tuition.

Yet it is not just the issue of rising tuition fees that the UTSU has failed to take meaningful action on.

Over the past four years, the UTSU has failed to mobilize its membership toward the variety of social justice issues it claims to advocate for.

Lack of meaningful action on fossil fuel divestment, precarious work, and equality rights for racialized students has forced passionate undergraduates to form smaller collectives to protest these issues. Student groups like UofT Divest, the Black Liberation Collective, and The Free Tuition Coalition have filled the gap left by the UTSU on these issues — yet they have been hindered by their inability to organize in large numbers.

A lack of solidarity with other campaigns on the part of the UTSU could arguably impact the support students will receive from other

movements in the future. For example, when Scarborough campus cafeteria workers went on strike last month, the UTSU failed to mobilize its membership in solidarity with them. While representatives of York University’s students’ union were present on the St. George campus for a protest against university administration last month, few U of T students stood with the workers.

The goal of any union is to not only provide services for its members — as the UTSU does through a health and dental plan, social events, and other services — but also to meaningfully advocate on behalf of its membership.

At present, the UTSU appears to be failing at accomplishing the latter. And with potential efforts to separate from the CFS coming this fall, pending the success of the You Decide campaign, this should be concerning to students. The CFS has engaged in a number of meaningful activist initiatives in the past, effectively providing an alternative means of organization outside the UTSU’s methods.

Consequently, the UTSU needs to take concrete steps to prepare for action outside of the national coalition by creating partnerships with other social justice campaigns, organizing its members, lobbying for more drastic ideals, and using more radical tactics to affect change.

The UTSU has the membership volume, and U of T students have the prestige and visibility required to lead the struggle against issues ranging from tuition fees and precarious work to climate change. No matter who is elected to lead the union through the next academic year, it is time for the UTSU to break out of its cycle of conservative methods and embrace collective action to prompt real changes in policy and in practice.

James Chapman is a second-year student at Innis College studying Political Science and Urban Studies.

Editorial

March 13, 2017 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

This isn’t child’s play With UTSU elections underway, it’s high time that student politicians hold themselves to a higher standard of cooperation and conduct

Letters to the Editor Re: Sounding the alarm “It truly is an uphill battle. It is frustrating for many that White Supremacy is dealt with kids gloves or as if it is legitimate. Consider, if someone espoused extremist “islamic” views or black nationalism, they would be monitored by the police or they would be arrested.

People who express white supremacy are welcomed into political parties, allowed to flourish in campus clubs and viewed as a legitimate alternative opinion.”

— Hardy Weinberg (from web) Re: UTM First candidate suggests removing UTM levies for The Varsity, CIUT “Slightly wrong — CIUT isn’t available anymore on UTM Campus. After 2013, UTM got its own radio station; however, this year, 2017, with no management, UTMSU shut it down.”

— Andrew Choo (from web)

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

Incoming representatives should prioritize civility and cohesiveness within UTSU affairs.

The Varsity Editorial Board In this day and age, it’s hardly a compliment to be called a good politician.

Many of us have heard this term used to describe people and behaviours that embrace posturing and partisanship rather than constructive debate and leadership.

Rather than accepting such a sullied reputation, however, student politicians should actively seek to debunk the impression that politics is incompatible with cooperative, multi-partisan solutions to complex problems.

In fact, student politicians have a particular responsibility to this end. Their proximity and close connection to their local jurisdictions means that they possess the ability to set a positive example of proper political conduct for a generation of university students.

Yet it appears many student representatives at U of T are currently falling well short of setting such a positive example.

The Editorial Board is embarrassed by the accumulation of terrible behaviour that has been displayed by student representatives over the course of the academic year, particularly as it pertains to how they have chosen to communicate with the public sphere, both in person and online.

Student politicians should understand themselves as public figures, albeit operating within a local community. Over the course of the past year, it has become clear that many do not. From the SMCSU Snapchat scandal, to the apparent contest for power over the UTSU letterhead that followed some executive members’ statement on the CFS, to the deplorable excuse for debate that occurred at the latest UTSU Board of Directors meeting over a decision to go in camera, the way that student politicians at U of T interact more closely resembles a teenage drama than a model for good governance.

Moreover, every instance of a board meeting going awry through finger-pointing and toxic rhetoric is complemented by an array of crass subtweets and Facebook

wars. Hostility and pettiness both online and offline has underscored an altogether chaotic political environment at U of T. Of course, not all student politicians have taken to such juvenile tactics. However, everyone in a leadership position at this university should be doing more to create forums for constructive debate and to lead by example. Refraining from tweet storming and distinguishing social media posts and political activities that are performed outside of one’s political office would be a good place to start. Then, elected representatives across campus should explicitly agree to conduct business with one another in a civil, professional tone.

It would be easy to relieve student representatives of these expectations, perhaps, by citing the fact that politicians at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels hardly do any better. It is rare to hear a real question during the so-called question period at either Queen’s Park or Parliament Hill, and the idea of amicable working relationships that cross party lines seems a far-gone dream.

But abandoning the responsibility to act with civility would be a mistake for two reasons.

First, believing that politicians cannot cooperate inherently lowers our expectations of them, and we are less likely to demand change if we believe politicians are not up to the task of fulfilling it. When we cannot meaningfully hold elected representatives accountable, everyone loses.

Second, nastiness in the political sphere could have a deleterious impact on the important work that we entrust to our elected officials. After roughly half of the UTSU Executive released a statement supporting CFS decertification, the Editorial Board lauded their strong commitment to financial accountability.

Only later was it revealed that the other half of the UTSU Executive had not been in favour of these actions, after a statement was released from these members denouncing the initial endorsement. The

Editorial Board was consequently left with little faith that the Executive would be able to work together for the rest of the year.

This seemed to prove true when, a couple of weeks later, Vice-President, Internal and Services Mathias Memmel and Vice-President, University Affairs Cassandra Williams sparred over an in camera Board of Directors session, which involved discussion of the union’s lawsuit against its former Executive Director, Sandra Hudson.

Of course, controversies are not limited to internal UTSU matters and can affect students across campus. Many students were angered when Williams participated in disruptive protests at an October free speech rally. These critics cited the opinion that, as a student representative, Williams should have taken more care to listen to the students at the rally, whom she is responsible for representing in her role on the UTSU. While we should expect our representatives to hold principled stances on issues, the way that they act on those principles matters. Moments like these have resulted in a rise of anti-establishment sentiment, which seems to have coalesced into the Reboot UofT election slate. Williams’ actions may be considered evidence that the union is not accessible to all students regardless of their political opinions, as reflected by previously expressed opinions in The Varsity and general controversy within the campus community last semester.

There is no better time to hold politicians accountable than before they take office, and for us constituents, that time is now. As the 2017 UTSU election season unfolds, and with college and divisional society elections underway, students will have the ability to question candidates not only on their platforms, but on the way that they plan on carrying them out. We can only hope that future methods will reflect increased cooperation and maturity.

The Varsity's editorial board is elected by the masthead at the beginning of each semester. For more information about the editorial policy, email editorial@thevarsity.ca.

Re: Business Board approves tuition hikes amidst student leader opposition “‘Net tuition’ is a new talking point from universities that is super garbage and doesn’t take into account the actual impact of tuition fees on students, and ignores how much students get from OSAP or other programs, and ignores the impact on student academics. Of course a University administrator who makes over 290,000 a year says the actual cost on students isn’t important.”

— Mohammad Akbar (from web) Re: No insult, no injury “I actually see the opposite happening in some sense, most people I have met seem to be totally unphased by the label because of it’s recent overusage. My preferred thing to say is “SocJus extremist” because it is more accurate and is thus not likely going to be twisted, or at least can be argued with as it isn’t an outright pejorative term.

This happens with all kinds of labels; once it becomes en vogue to use them in a blanket manner to tarnish your opponents, it loses it’s rhetorical effectiveness. We can see this happening right now with “fascist” on both the left and right; where far left activists are using the term “fascist” to apply to almost anyone who they don’t agree with, and far right activists are using it to refer to far left activists (ironically).

However, the case with “feminist” is interesting, as I dropped the label myself when I was about 21 and working in the music industry. The reason for that is that by using the label, it made discussion hard because feminist activists have succeeded in making a bunch of other beliefs associated to it. For example, someone might assume that I am a staunch social constructivist.

More recently I have gravitated away from most labels for the same reason; they in a sense “poison” discussion, or make it more difficult...”

— Zach Kay (from web) Re: When art doesn’t imitate life “This is a narrow and immature perspective. Works of literature that examine real life issues, of all nature, are important to our collective learning and advancement. No one has to read such works in their own lives, but studying them at a university level is an option and a privilege. If one is unprepared to consider written works that offend their moral code, and appreciate the academic qualities of the work or comprehend their prominence in literature and society, I would suggest that person is not ready for university level studies.

Refusing to study works because they are offensive borders on censorship.”

— Andrea Valenzuela (from web)

Letters to the editor should be directed to editorial@thevarsity.ca. Please keep submissions to 250 words; letters may be edited for length and clarity.

A voice within me that will not be still The crisis of mental health care seen through the experiences of a suicide survivor Sean Smith Sports Editor CONTENT WARNING: Graphic description of self harm

A

n unexceptional 16-year-old kid from south Guelph lost his sense of self, and it would be several years before he found it again. It wasn’t taken from him; he was complicit. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and soon after was unable to distinguish himself from the disease.

His moods, both mercurial and morose, belonged to the disease.

He equated his insecurities with his illness; he felt broken, ostracized from friends, and unequal to others. There was never a question as to whether or not these feelings were justifiable. He was lucky, although it never would have occurred to him.

At some point, perhaps because the misery was too great, perhaps because he had no other solution, or perhaps to prove that he had the balls to do it, he swallowed a bottle of Lithium, chased it with a bottle of Celexa, and went to bed. Without much thought to anything, certainly without a thought of how this event would shape his life — or lack of it — he slept.

He threw up. He lived.

The next day, he was driven from general hospital to psychiatric hospital in police handcuffs. Under the law, the nearest psychiatric hospital was required to hold him for 72 hours without cost. He spent three days without shoelaces, doors to close, or unsupervised showers, before being moved to the closest OHIP-covered mood disorders ward, which was a full hour away from his home by car.

This would not be the last time he would be hospitalized, but it was the first. For roughly a month, the kid was surrounded with beauty and suffering in equal measure. The empathy, understanding, and compassion he received from the other patients, whose own suffering at least matched his own, staggered and moved him.

For the first time in longer than he could remember, he was somewhere where he belonged, somewhere that extreme sadness was not met with disdain. Life was regimented. Everyone was roused at the same time each morning, meals were served at regular intervals and eating was required, nurses checked in on patients every 15 minutes, and psychiatrist visits were daily.

The relationship between absurdity and suffering was always present. The mood disorders ward and the schizophrenic ward went bowling every Wednesday, where they were given half a bowling alley when they only needed two lanes. There was a ward vs. ward volleyball tournament that would have been comical if the reality wasn’t so tragic. One patient lost her legs because she had attempted to commit suicide by placing the wrong half of her body on the train tracks; another patient in the throes of mania managed to escape the locked ward three times in the same week; and the giant-of-a-man who was shy, patient, kind, and soft-spoken screamed himself to sleep every night.

Staying too long in an institutionalized health care environment can have adverse effects. By the time he was discharged, the kid no longer wanted to leave. He was gripped with crippling anxiety about the outside world but was assured that the outside world was the one he actually belonged to.

It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that my sense of self returned to me.

My mood was still unpredictable and episodic. A couple of times I had to go to the emergency room to sew up self-inflicted gashes on my arm, but otherwise, my twenties were fairly typical. I was in and out of psychiatric care — I stopped going when I felt better and picked it back up when I felt I needed it.

Far from where it should be I look back at the years of fighting my disorder and the stigma and intolerance that I directed toward myself, and I remember mostly suffering. Any other feelings I ascribe to this period of time are revisionist history — they didn’t exist then, they couldn’t. I was trapped in societal attitudes towards mental health that I adopted and then crucified myself with.

When I was a teenager, I had immediate access to treatment.

I was exceptionally lucky because there were a number of fac-

tors that enabled me to get access to care quickly: I was a minor; I agreed to take part in a five-year study; my father was already registered with a psychiatrist at the hospital I was admitted to; and I had seriously attempted to kill myself.

But access to care now has been much slower. Over the last year, I have been living through what was at first a comparatively mild depressive episode. It took me seven months of referrals and waitlists to see a psychiatrist, in which time my mild depressive episode gradually grew worse, to the point where the discussion of another hospitalization is now on the table. I can’t help but feel that if I had seen someone months ago, when my symptoms were much less severe, my quality of life would have been significantly better.

Access to mental health care in Ontario is far from where it should be. I was able to talk with Professor Benoit Mulsant about access to such care. Mulsant is the Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Chair of Psychiatry at U of T. He said that at any point, at least 20 per cent of the population needs access to mental health care. In Toronto, that is roughly 1 million people.

Mulsant stated that there are roughly 2,000 psychiatrists in the GTA, each of whom, on average, can accommodate only 2,000 visits a year. That means for the 1 million people who need care — right now — there are only 600,000 psychiatric visits available for the whole year. This exemplifies why the wait times are as long as they are. Mulsant believes that even doubling the number of psychiatrists would not meet the need.

I also spoke at length with Steve Lurie, the Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Toronto Branch, which is the largest community based mental health agency in the country. I asked him whether access to care barriers could come down to governmental funding.

Disease burden is a widely accepted statistical tool that is used to determine the impact of a disease on a community, and according to Lurie, “Every year in Ontario there’s a $1.5 billion shortfall in unmet need for mental health and addiction services based on disease burden.”

Lurie hypothesized, “There’s no health minister in the Western world who would stand up in the legislature, or parliament, and say, ‘You know, it’s okay, we’re meeting the needs of 30 per cent of the people’ — but that’s the statistic [in Ontario] in mental health.”

David Jensen, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, explained that in 2015–2016, “$3.7 billion was invested in mental health and addictions services” in Ontario. To give you an idea of what this breaks down to, the government is setting aside $16.45 per person to use this year on mental health.

Lurie believes that inadequate funding is linked to structural stigma, an institutional practice that perpetuates discrimination or prejudice toward a particular population. “It isn’t mismanagement, it’s the lack of political will,” he said.

The cost of underfunding The prevalence and power of this stigma is appalling; a report released by the CMHA, called More for the Mind, stated, “In no other field except perhaps leprosy has there been as much confusion, misdirection and discrimination against the patient, as in mental illness… Mental illness, even today is all too often considered a crime to be punished, a sin to be expiated, a possessing demon to be exorcised, a disgrace to be hushed up, a personality weakness to be deplored or a welfare problem to be handled as cheaply as possible.”

Unfortunately, this stigma appears to characterize the government’s response to mental health care in Ontario. Despite the facts that: by the age of 40, one in two of the population will have suffered from a diagnosable mental illness; suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 1–24 in Canada; the World Health Organization suggests that 13 per cent of the world’s disease burden is a result of mental illness; and in Canada, mental illness has a disease burden 1.5 times that of cancer and heart disease combined and seven times that of all infectious diseases, Jensen indicated that “approximately 7.3% of Ontario’s health care budget is allocated to mental health care.”

These statistics and the effects of this underfunding are not just numbers that don’t seem to add up. When we discuss the cost of underfunding mental health care, we are talking about human beings who are suffering, who are homeless, who don’t have the ability to realize they need help — and we are failing them.

In light of underfunding and the resultant limitations on access to care, Mulsant talked about the unfortunate but necessary reality of determinations that decide who does and does not merit psychiatric care.

For those that may not get to see a psychiatrist, Mulsant described those who are “distressed, they are affected but not impaired… That doesn’t mean that they don’t need care, but you understand they don’t have the same level of severity or emergency.”

He included in this category people with generalized anxiety disorder, mild eating disorders, and mild substance abuse. He also included people who are cutting themselves.

The relationship between absurdity The mood disorders ward and the schi Wednesday, where they were given h needed two lanes. There was a ward v would have been comical if Yet, when you cut yourself deep enough, blood is not the first thing you notice. Your skin is exceptionally taut, and cutting through live tissue is not the same as cutting into a moist chicken breast. Your skin splits, widely, much wider than the blade of the knife that just slid through your flesh. It is almost as if your skin is spring loaded. It recoils. The gash in your arm looks white and splotchy for a split second before arterial spray begins to cover your kitchen. People often ask about the scars on my arms that are

PHOTO BY NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY, ILLUSTRATION BY ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY

far too straight to be accidental. I’m not sure they want to know.

This is the type of behaviour that may fall through the cracks of our healthcare system.

Even for patients who are unfortunate enough to require hospitalization but lucky enough to receive care, the level of care they can expect in hospital is not equivalent to that of a general hospital. Mulsant said that on any given night, there are up to 100 inpatients at CAMH and each of them will have to share a bathroom with six or seven other patients.

“There is not one general hospital where people get hospitalized for pneumonia where you have 7 or 8 patients sharing a bathroom.” He also noted, “There is no gift shop at CAMH. You know why? Because it would not be viable. People get admitted but the family don’t visit.” This type of dehumanization is not just systemic; it is just as prevalent in individuals. Psychiatric hospitals are not frightening, and yet loved ones are still averse to visiting.

and suffering was always present. izophrenic ward went bowling every half a bowling alley when they only vs. ward volleyball tournament that the reality wasn’t so tragic.

When I went to CAMH to speak with Mulsant, I thought little of it. I hadn’t been to the building in over 20 years. It was called the Clarke Institute then.

However, the lobby was close enough in appearance to send me reeling back to my seven-year-old self. My father also has bipolar disorder, and after a period of sleeping on the floor in our hallway trying to avoid his psychotic nightmares, he was hospitalized at what is now CAMH. I remembered thinking my father was ‘retarded.’

I didn’t have the words to describe what I didn’t understand, nor did I have the prescience to realize that in less than 10 years it would be him visiting me. I was afraid of the man I loved and trusted more than any other, and I was angry that he wasn’t that man anymore. I didn’t want anyone to know my father was ‘retarded’ — even at seven I was capable of incredible acts of selfishness.

I’ll admit, I visited him only once.

Less entitled to good health Nevertheless, the Ontario government appears optimistic. They plan to invest $140 million dollars over three years to fund a structured psychotherapy program, nine integrated youth service hubs, and 1,150 new supportive housing units across the province.

Yet, the $140 million is nowhere near the $1.5 billion in unmet need cited earlier. Lurie said that even if 1,000 new supportive housing units were all put in Toronto, they would alleviate the wait list by only 400 people for a single month.

Jensen also favourably mentioned the Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care, which is a comprehensive healthcare package, not a targeted initiative aimed solely at mental health care. It’s not that the government is doing nothing; mental health care funding has gone up $180 million since 2011, but they still aren’t doing enough.

Lurie emphasized this point: “Two budgets ago, the Ontario government said we’re [going to] give [hospitals] $11 billion over the next 10 years… That was a smart political move, because people like to get a brand new hospital. But the reality is that it actually adds, in operating cost every year, 1.1 billion dollars to hospital spending. When you compare that to basically 60 million dollars a year to community mental health, it doesn’t quite equate.”

It could be argued that the investment in hospitals would benefit mental health care, but many promising innovations in mental healthcare are community-based initiatives designed to keep people out of the hospital system — period.

If health care providers were afforded it, Lurie said, “We actually know what to spend the money on.” This claim is substantiated by evidence-based programs.

Among the programs with proven results is the Assertive Com-

munity Treatment (ACT) model, which employs a multidisciplinary team designed to provide out-of-hospital treatment to patients with severe symptoms who often have concurrent problems like homelessness. ACT programs have, on average, taken patients who spend 50 days in hospital down to spending 23 days after a year, and only 10 days after six years.

Another program with proven benefits is Bounce Back, a series of DVDs and workbooks designed to teach coping skills to patients with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. The cost is $500 per patient and at least half of the patients show remarkable improvement.

“If you have access to case management or supportive housing you have maybe a five per cent chance of being admitted to hospital. That’s pretty good. When, without it, if you have a concurrent disorder, and you’re homeless, you got a 90 per cent chance,” said Lurie. “There is no excuse for not making these adjustments. The only excuse is we’d rather spend [money] on something else, and despite our rhetoric we just don’t think mental health is important.”

When I asked Jensen whether Ontario is doing everything it can to combat mental illness, he neglected to answer my question. I’m inclined to believe that it would have been a very difficult question for him to honestly answer ‘yes.’ Frankly, if that is the case, the government should be ashamed.

I am no less a person because I have bipolar disorder, but from everything I know and everything I have experienced, I am less entitled to good health in this province because I have bipolar disorder. Whether this stigma is structural or personal, don’t fool yourself: stigma is just another word for intolerance, discrimination, fear, and hatred.

The inequity of mental health care in this province due to stigma is unacceptable, and people, myself included, suffer because of it.

By not receiving the proper mental health care, every aspect of my quality of life has suffered — my personal relationships, my studies, my work, and even my ability to write this article.

I don’t want ‘acceptance,’ because I have done nothing wrong to require acceptance. Instead, I offer my acceptance to those who are in the wrong — those who think I am entitled to less because of my illness.

Arts&Culture

March 13, 2017 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Blackwood Gallery exhibit integrates the observer into art itself Julien Prévieux’s Elements of Influence uses eye-tracking software to examine the significance of the gaze Nicole Sciulli Varsity Staff

Our lives rely on movement. Whether it’s a run to class or quickly skimming our notes before a quiz, some part of our body is always in motion. But what happens when you can track those movements, and what does it say about the individual?

UTM’s Blackwood Gallery recently concluded artist Julien Prévieux’s exhibit, The Elements of Influence (and a Ghost). It contained physical installations and used mechanisms of video, dance, and drawings to explore the recording of movements and gestures. By tracking movement and breaking it down into its purest form, the observer was able to visualize data through recordings that were originally used for criminology work, such as a police map of a crime scene.

Some of the highlights of the exhibit included Prévieux’s project “Drawing workshop – B.A.C. of 14th district of Paris,” a series of drawings of crime maps.

This project highlights how movement can bring change as we move through time.

In 2011 and 2015, Prévieux held workshops with Paris police officers on how to draw crime maps by hand, rather than with the use of a computer. In the workshops, the officers lost a prime tool to locate crime but gained

an opportunity to reflect on their jobs and how policing has evolved.

Another installation, called Forget the Money, was a collection of books from Bernie Madoff, the American fraudster whose swindling of $65 billion USD from his customers came to light during the 2008 financial crisis.

Prévieux was able to purchase Madoff’s belongings when the FBI sold them at an auction. The books paint a portrait of Madoff’s life and may give the reader insight to Madoff’s motives, how he built his system, and how he got away with it for so long.

Prévieux also held a workshop on gazetracking for faculty, students, and campus police at UTM. First, the participant would look at Prévieux’s work, while an infrared camera would track their pupil. Then, eyetracking software produced images of the participant’s eye movement, which allowed the observer to see where the participant was looking. The images of the eye’s movement were then physically reproduced with wool on the wall in the gallery. These diagrams are haunting to the observer, imbued with a ghostly quality.

Blackwood Gallery also organized a public talk with three of the participants for this project. The participants were Sarah Sharma, Associate Professor at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and

PHOTO BY TONI HAFKENSCHEID, COURTESY OF JULIEN PREVIEUX AND BLACKWOOD GALLERY

Participants reported feeling suspect of the eye-tracking technology.

Technology; Brian Price, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies; and Bobbi-Jo Duff, a member of the Campus Police.

The speakers commented on their excitement and curiosity about partaking in the workshop. All the speakers noted the strange feelings that stemmed from being observed themselves, rather than being the observers of the art. Sharma noted that she was suspect of the technology, as if Prévieux would be able to learn something about her from the tracking of her gaze.

The participants reflected on their own vulnerability and their internal thought processes as they studied each artwork. By aiming to explore whether or not an observer’s background affects the way they assess a piece, Prévieux was able to integrate the observer into the art itself.

Prévieux noted, “These hypothetical viewers and their gazes, mapped onto the gallery walls, resonate with [Marcel] Duchamp’s famous observation that the ‘viewer makes the painting.’”

Morfius Blue attempts to offer you the blue pill Houtan Ghaffari, U of T student and musician, on inspiration and the aims of art Alex Zutt Varsity Contributor

“I remember it so vividly,” says Houtan Ghaffari, with regard to how he chose ‘Morfius Blue’ as his stage name.

Ghaffari is a third-year student of Literature and Critical Theory at the University of Toronto and a budding musician. So far, he has mainly performed at small venues such as Lee’s Palace, CineCycle, and The Smiling Buddha.

His Bandcamp account contains about 30 original songs, in addition to collaborations with Toronto rapper Kwesi Lion. His music is composed entirely on Logic Pro X and GarageBand, produced in his studio apartment in Kensington market.

With reference to his stage name, Ghaffari argues that The Matrix represents one of the twenty-first century’s archetypal mythologies.

“I was thinking about Morpheus, and the age old question is going to become, ‘red pill or blue pill?’… If everything is an illusion, do I live in the illusion, or do I wake up?” he asks.

In The Matrix, it’s the red pill that wakes you up. In addition to changing the character’s name slightly to distinguish himself, Ghaffari says that the choice of blue in his name represented embracing the ambiguity, the illusory, and the chaotic parts of life, which contain their own truths. “Morpheus is also the Roman god of dreams, and as a god of dreams, he is always changing,” he notes. “The god of dreams naturally subjects you to his dreams, and makes them your dreams… That’s what I’m trying to do with my art.”

Ghaffari’s songs, with track names like “Falling Outta Car” and “LastMinuteSounds,” often feature an alternating falsetto like that of James Blake or Bon Iver, with crisp, simple percussion and a slow, building acoustic guitar. Still, what recurs most frequently throughout his work is a focus on imaginative textures and the creation of an atmosphere of sound that pulls the listener into the song.

The eerie lyrics of “Devil,” with steady piano notes reminiscent of a church organ or nursery rhyme, present images of a dark summons in a cloistered wood. “E L O P E,” a love ballad with echoing vocals and a slurred sound, vividly evokes the slow motion, drunken euphoria of a house party.

Throughout his work, Ghaffari attempts to bring the listener closer to the centre of his own experiences, as though attempting to merge the audience with the artist.

Ghaffari began making music in the eleventh grade at Earl Haig, an arts high school in North York, after his then-girlfriend told him he had a unique talent.

He says that music taught him to regard the painful things in his life with fresh eyes and to temper that pain with the excitement of aesthetic contemplation. “I started writing songs as oral journal entries,” he says.

In that vein, the intimate and personal dimension of art has always been important to him. “[The inspiration] can be anything, as long as it’s genuine,” says Ghaffari.

If music is to be an immersive experience, one must always widen their pool of inspiration and material. Ghaffari has gained much from raw, unpolished originality such as that

STEPHANIE XU/THE VARSITY

The artist asks, “If everything is an illusion, do I live in the illusion or do I wake up?” found in underground band KraK’s rock and blues song “Noodle Shots.”

Ghaffari respects independent projects that have risen to the top due to their own brilliance but continue to pursue innovation. “My place is somewhere apart from the body of the music industry. I don’t think they represent anything that I have to offer,” he says.

When I ask whether he would like to be famous, Ghaffari says that he would like to, but that fame isn’t his purpose. “I’m going to be doing this anyway, it’s who I am,” he notes.

He works part time at Hibiscus Café, and art — whether it’s music or the countless collages and drawings that fill his apartment —

figures into his life less as a career than as a sustained outlook and way of life.

Ghaffari rejects the idea of dropping out and turning his music into a business but hopes that our overstimulated culture, where “everyone is an artist” due to easily accessible outlets like Instagram and SoundCloud, will produce people more intent on finding and consuming authentic art.

For him, the aim of art is not to make money or to craft the perfect album or song, because it isn’t quite feasible with his current means. The emphasis, rather, is on making his audience see and hear as he does — that is, on making them dream his dreams.

MARCH 13, 2017 • 13

var.st/arts

Seven delicious spots for meals under $10 Frugality is the spice of life

S

B-Sides is a weekly feature where we pose a question about the arts to generate discussion about the role of culture in our everyday lives. This week’s question is:

Sila Elgin & Leah Kuperman Varsity Staff and Varsity Contributor

Finding tasty, affordable food options can be a struggle, especially when trying to squeeze healthy meals into a hectic university schedule. Here’s a handy list of places on and around the St. George campus to suit your hungry student needs.

Salad Days 20 Bloor Street East It is especially difficult to find fresh and affordable fruit and vegetable options near campus. Salad Days is a little bit far from campus, but they offer a daily special for $6.45 that includes chicken breast, mashed sweet potato, and a fresh salad, made on the spot. The menu features a variety of salads, most of which come in a small size for under $5, from salad niçoise to cobb and caprese.

Allen’s Table at Hillel 36 Harbord Street For those looking for a healthy and kosher-friendly option, check out Allen’s Table at Hillel U of T’s Wolfond Center. Monday through Thursday from 5:00–7:00 pm, you can enjoy a full family style dinner for $5. Menu options rotate each week and include schnitzels, bourekas, lasagna, and salads.

“What is the first show you remember bingewatching?”

MIRKA LOISELLE/THE VARSITY

Seven Lives 69 Kensington Avenue If you like fish, tacos, and cheap food, you’ll love Seven Lives — a quaint taqueria in Kensington Market. Simple fish tacos go for just $5, but if you want to treat yourself, go for the poke bowl, which is served with hot chips and a heap of guacamole for $10. If you’re looking for a quick snack or a meal, Seven Lives is an excellent choice.

El Furniture Warehouse 410 Bloor Street West This dive bar eatery is a favourite among students for its delicious food, drinks, and extremely low prices. Every food item on the menu is priced at $4.95, with items including burgers, perogies, and salad bowls.

Newman Centre 89 St. George Street Conveniently located just across from Robarts, the Newman Centre offers $3 soup and bagel lunches every Tuesday of the school year. All are welcome, and from 1:00–2:30 pm, the centre is open and ready to serve.

Fresca Pizza & Pasta 302 College Street West Fresca may be a bit of a walk, but their pizza slices are worth the trek.

Two slices of pizza come out to just $3.50, and they have a garlic parsley sauce that can be poured over your slice for maximum flavour.

Hart House’s 5-Buck Lunches 7 Hart House Circle This option is perfect if you’re interested in food that tastes a bit more like home cooking than what your residence cafeteria has been offering. In collaboration with HealthyU, Hart House works with various campus groups to put on $5 lunches for students on the last Tuesday of every month, featuring dishes such as lemon oregano chicken and beef bourguignon. A perk of these lunches is that you can access their recipes online or at the servery, perfect for showing off at the next potluck you’re invited to.

Review

Hart House’s 7 Stories is a study in humorous chaos Surrealist confusion makes for an unpredictable, thoroughly enjoyable production Annika Olsen Varsity Contributor

Imagine standing on the ledge of a building about to take your final step, only to be interrupted by a couple fighting on the floor below you, ready to kill one another. This is the starting point for Morris Panych’s 7 Stories, which opened on March 3 at Hart House Theatre.

Panych’s black comedy can be difficult to execute, but Hart House’s rendition readily takes on the challenge of bridging reality and surrealism.

7 Stories is the story of a nameless man contemplating suicide, while each interaction with his neighbours reveals more of their own bizarre personal realities.

These characters range from a gay former actor named Marshall attempting to con a rich woman into marriage, to Rachel, a rigid Christian trying to show people on the fifth and sixth floors the path to God. Brian Haight shines as the relatable ‘Man,’ letting heartbreaking confusion appear subtly

I D E S

underneath his determined and shy character. Haight provides a fundamental contrast to his over-the-top neighbours, especially in a notable anecdote regarding car parking.

Haight’s greatest moments come in his interactions with Leonard, played by Kevin Kashani.

Kashani’s portrayal of the paranoid psychiatrist is comedic gold — his perfectly timed quips and rants are some of the production’s most memorable moments.

7 Stories’ setting consists of a brick building with seven windows, perhaps to complement the play’s absurd characters. Each window serves as a small stage for each character to have their moment in the spotlight.

However, the set’s mechanics presented some problems, including sticky windows that forced the actors to constantly be climbing in and out, a recurring interruption. Nicole Hrgetic must be commended for her improvised incorporation of the set malfunction into her character’s ramblings about how much she hates her apartment.

It was the summer of 2015 and I was home alone in the suburbs for a week. I finished the two seasons of The 100 that were available on Netflix in less than two days. The plot was nonsensical at best and overtly racist at worst, but the cliffhangers were captivating and kept me clicking ‘next episode.’ Four seasons later, and Clarke is still trying to save “her people.”

— Mubashir Baweja

I don’t bingewatch. When it comes to TV shows, I like to take it slow, so that it develops into more of an intimate relationship. I like the thrill of catching up with a show on a weekly basis. If it’s available 24/7 I approach it with one or two episodes at a time over the span of a few months. And eventually I fall in love. Or I hate it. Better yet, both.

— Shania Perera

I was 14 when I discovered streaming sites, and all my friends were obsessed with Grey’s Anatomy. I thought I would give it a try and was hooked within the first 30 minutes of the first episode. The show was so raw and emotional.

Now, I can’t bingewatch anything. I guess my attention span has decreased, because I just can’t sit for that long staring at a screen.

— Carol Eugene Park

Bingewatching is quintessential to the student experience. The first show I ever truly bingewatched was Community at the age of 16. The hilarious group dynamic of the Greendale Seven was enough to keep me watching, but it was the duo of Troy and Abed that truly had me hooked.

— Sarim Irfan

PHOTO BY SCOTT GORMAN, COURTESY OF HART HOUSE THEATRE

You’ll need to appreciate black comedy to truly enjoy 7 Stories.

Watching the play’s events unfold comes with a sense of unpredictability, constantly asking what surreal elements the characters will introduce next. The audience is constantly kept on its toes, questioning what is real while the play gradually blurs the line be-

tween fact and fiction. This execution of 7 Stories’ absurdist concept was well-acted, well-directed, and above all, hilarious. However, be warned: in order to fully appreciate this production, you’ll need to appreciate black comedy.

My first bingewatching experience happened with Grey’s Anatomy when I was in the seventh grade. The show was suspenseful, and the love stories between the doctors kept me dreaming of my own love story at 13. Together, all the characters created a community that I wanted to be part of.

— Charlène Hanania

14 • THE VARSITY • ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

U of T grad makes the rounds at Toronto’s film festivals Wilson Kwong of throwdown815 reviews one local film festival per month Sara Imran Varsity Contributor

to pinpoint a similar characteristic for film festivals. There’s a film festival for every area of filmmaking, which is pretty neat.

Wilson Kwong is a University of Toronto alumnus who, since October, has attended a local film festival every month and then recorded his experiences on his film blog, throwdown815. Kwong studied Pharmacology at U of T, obtaining both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree. He went on to study Medicine at Queen’s University and is currently back in Toronto for his residency.

The Varsity sat down with Kwong to speak to him about films, festivals, and his experience writing for throwdown815.

The Varsity: You’ve studied Pharmacology and Medicine; how did you get interested in film?

Wilson Kwong: In terms of living in Toronto, I’ve been attending a film festival every year since 2005. When I was at U of T, I took a bunch of film courses at Innis College and minored in Cinema Studies. Ever since then, it’s been something I’ve been interested in on the side, rather than anything formal.

TV: You attend a different film festival every month. What are the characteristics that you found similar and different at all of the festivals you’ve attended so far?

WK: I’ve been attending a festival every month since October, so I’ve been to five different ones so far. They’ve all been very different. Toronto After Dark, for example, is more geared towards sci-fi, genre, and horror film making, and it’s a pretty big film festival. Then there’s much smaller ones like the Videodrunk Film Festival. I think it’s difficult

TV: So what has your favourite film festival been so far?

WK: From the festivals where I’ve interviewed the organizers, my favourite one was probably Reel Asian; I’ve attended this festival on and off over the years. Being able to speak with the organizers about how the festival isn’t just about filmmaking but rather about how it’s about promoting Asian culture, specifically Asian culture in the North American context, was great. I got to ask a lot of personal questions that were important to me, as an Asian who grew up in Toronto.

TV: Related to that, there’s been a lot of discussion lately about representation on screen and in movie awards. Do you think we’re making progress in bringing people from different ethnicities on screen?

WK: We should realize that groups such as Asians and African American are minorities in Hollywood so obviously, we shouldn’t expect them to be as well represented on screen as white people. Despite this, I think there’s definitely been progress over the last five to 10 years. Even if you look at television, you find shows that are predominantly run by Asian people, which wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago. My other argument to that is even though ethnic minorities might not be that well represented in Hollywood, they have their own film industries, such as Bollywood in India. You just have to connect with international cinema.

TV: The Oscars recently happened.

What is your opinion on how the night went down?

WK: I think it was great that Moonlight won Best Picture. For personal reasons, I just like La La Land a lot. The idea of doing what you love that was conveyed in the movie was actually one of the triggers for me to start my blog. I started writing about movies a week after I saw La La Land at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In terms of representation, Moonlight and Viola Davis won awards, which was great, but the problem I have is that is there was so much emphasis on race that it took away from the main thing: the movies. The awards should be about the art and not so much the politics.

TV: Last question: what is your favourite movie of all time and why?

WK: If I had to pick one movie it would be the Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs.

Hollywood made a remake of this movie in 2006 and renamed it The Departed. Watching Infernal Affairs just made me start appreciating movies a bit more and helped me really get into films. I don’t have a compelling reason as to why that movie is my favourite one, but for someone who’s a fan of Hong Kong cinema, Infernal Affairs is the perfect example of what makes Hong Kong movies so exciting and refreshing.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Upcoming Toronto Film Festivals Water Docs March 29 to April 2 Water Docs is a documentary film festival focusing on all things water; it aims to raise awareness of contemporary challenges to water preservation. Included in its lineup are RiverBlue, which examines the impact of chemical processing in the fashion industry on our water systems, and Standing on Water, a film about a small surfing community in Denmark that came to be known as ‘Cold Hawaii.’

Human Rights Watch Film Festival March 29 to April 6 The Human Rights Watch Film Festival tours internationally in over 20 cities each year. Located at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, this film festival aims to showcase stories of “struggle, survival, and hope.”

This year’s lineup includes Tickling Giants, a documentary on Bassem Youssef, dubbed “the Egyptian Jon Stewart,” and No Dress Code Required, which follows two gay stylists from Mexicali, Mexico, and the backlash they receive after deciding to marry.

Toronto Silent Film Festival April 6–11 This roving festival bills itself as a place “where images and music do the talking.”

Its lineup includes several films that have been recently rediscovered, such as a 1916 version of Sherlock Holmes and the 1927 film Chicago, a copy of which was found in a private collection and restored in 2006. Several films will also feature live accompaniment by an accomplished local musician.

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Science

March 13, 2017 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

How to study smarter UTM professor’s research shows short, repeated practice an effective way to study Edie Guo Varsity Contributor

Still cramming for midterms? Although it may be embarrassing to admit the prevalence of procrastination, the Huffington Post reports that 87 per cent of college students procrastinate on school assignments.

Procrastination greatly limits studying time, so it is important to focus on improving efficiency.

Fortunately, a new study from UTM shows that although procrastination is not the best way to study, there are studying techniques that could improve information retention if an individual is already procrastinating.

Dr. Keisuke Fukuda of UTM’s Department of Psychology found that, given a set time frame, retention rate is increased when individuals break down large segments of time and utilize repeated rehearsal cycles.

Here is an example illustrating Fukuda’s findings: if a student has three hours to study two chapters of a textbook, it is much better to read the entire two chapters in the first hour and reread them twice in the following two hours instead of spreading out the two chapters, reading them only once in three hours. However, Fukuda’s study does not recommend attempting to process an overwhelming amount of information in a short time frame.

He studied the retention rate of study participants attempting to remember pictures under two separate conditions. In one con-

dition, a visual stimulus is present once for a couple hundred milliseconds, followed by a three-second study period. In the other condition, a stimulus is presented three times in three seconds, so the research participant has less time to study each stimulus but see the stimulus multiple times. The latter condition showed improved memory and greater efficiency.

Fukuda believes the scientific basis of this phenomenon lies in the idea that individuals are learning through repetition and practicing retrieval by recalling the pictures the second time they see them.

He explains that exams test “your ability to retrieve information,” and by creating “multiple instances of memorizing the chapter,” you are strengthening your memory of the information each time. For that reason, studying through repetition simulates a test environment and strengthens our ability to recall what we’ve learned during a test setting.

Fukuda recommends actively taking notes, studying in the testing environment, and spreading out subjects throughout the week.

Furthermore, students can also start with a blank piece of paper, write out what they know, and compare that to their notes.

This recreates the closed-book testing experience and prepares them for the short answer questions.

When students are taking notes in their own words, they are engaging themselves more, enhancing their learning. Also, if stu-

GLORIA ZHANG/THE VARSITY

dents have access to their exam rooms ahead of time, it is better to study there than in their favourite studying location. This is based on the state-dependent memory effect where “you can use the same cues, and by matching the learning environment with the retrieval environment, [enhance] your study skill.”

Not unlike many University of Toronto students, Fukuda notes that he often found it difficult in school to study a large amount of information given the limited hours of the day. He struggled to memorize long lists of vocabulary words back in high school in Japan, especially because of his “laziness.”

Wanting to compensate, he developed various methods of learning.

He tried to spread out the vocabulary words throughout the week but eventually

came to realize that it was fruitless. Then he tried to focus all the information into one day and repeated it throughout the week in discrete learning cycles. He found that he was studying more efficiently and that by using this studying method over the long term, he was able to become a better student.

While he had little scientific evidence to back up the study strategy when he was a student, Fukuda became interested in psychology — he wanted to understand the ways students learn and experiment with methods that could potentially boost efficiency.

Eventually, when he became a researcher, he was able to confirm his high school learning strategy was effective via his visual memory research methods.

U of T researcher harnesses USB drive-sized sequencer to detect methylation Dr. Jared Simpson has developed a computational pipeline to uncover an epigenetic mark on human DNA

PHOTO COURTESY OF S. SACCO CP IMAGES

Using a small device, Dr. Simpson has been able to detect new methylation patterns in bacteria.

Leslie Oldfield Varsity Contributor

Researchers from U of T, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and Johns Hopkins University have published a study in Nature Methods showcasing their new method for detecting cytosine methylation, an epigenetic mark on DNA. Our genetic makeup, DNA, is comprised of four essential building blocks. These building blocks are known as nucleotides called adenine, thymine, guanine, and

cytosine. The addition of a methyl group to any of these nucleotides is called methylation. This study focused on the methylation of cytosine, which has been shown to turn on and off genes that play a role in disease.

Since cytosine methylation has been linked to diseases such as cancer, researchers are trying to understand and map methylation patterns in humans. Existing methylation mapping techniques require a large input of DNA and harsh chemical treatment, which causes the DNA to break into fragments.

The Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION is a commercially available sequencing technology that measures an electrical current and how that current is disrupted when a DNA fragment moves through a pore.

Dr. Jared Simpson, an Assistant Professor at U of T and first author on the study, said that he “became interested in nanopore sequencing because it overcomes a lot of the issues of conventional short read sequencers — the MinION is portable and it can read incredibly long fragments of DNA.” After developing algorithms to interpret and map DNA, he decided to dive deeper into understanding and unraveling the electrical signals within the nanopore data.

In a Nature Methods paper co-authored by Simpson, the researchers examined the electrical signals from the MinION, a sequencer the size of a USB drive. The researchers used methylated and unmethylated Escherichia coli data to create and train a computational algorithm to distinguish signal patterns from cytosines that were methylated from those that were not.

After creating this model, the authors tested their algorithm on human cell lines and positive and negative controls to confirm that the algorithm was able to differentiate between methylated and unmethylated cytosines. The researchers hope to extend this analysis to human tumours in the future.

To promote research in this field, the analysis pipeline developed for the detection of DNA methylation via the MinION is completely open-source and available freely online.

The study represents one of the first attempts to use the electrical output from the MinION sequencer, without any treatment of the DNA, to detect cytosine methylation.

In the same issue of Nature Methods, a study led by Benedict Paten demonstrated a similar approach of detecting different types of DNA methylation using the MinION, further supporting the novelty and utility of this type of research.

While cytosine methylation is the most common form of methylation in humans and has been well characterized in cancer, there are many other forms of methylation.

Simpson hopes to begin acquiring training data for other methylation marks.

According to Simpson, this combined method of mapping both the basic building blocks of DNA and cytosine methylation is only a stepping stone. In the future, he hopes that nanopore sequencing will be used as a single platform to examine many types of genetic variation.

“The signals measured by nanopore sequencers [are] a very rich source of information,” Simpson said. “We showed that this extra information is accessible if you carefully build models of the signal data.”

16 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE UTSU Elections 2017

Pseudoscience amidst the UTSU Health Plan

science@thevarsity.ca

Hacking the competition Sabrina Smai is a U of T student on weekdays, hackathon competitor on weekends

A student’s perspective on how the incoming UTSU executive should change the full time health insurance plan Daniel Li Varsity Contributor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Health and Dental Plan provides students with coverage that would otherwise be unaffordable for many students. In the upcoming UTSU elections, students will be choosing the leaders who will have the ability to make changes to the Health and Dental Plan.

Currently, full-time undergraduate students at UTSG, UTM and full-time Toronto School of Theology students are automatically enrolled in the UTSU Health and Dental Plan. Students have the option of opting out at the beginning of each semester and are eligible to receive a $307.80 refund.

Members who remain enroled in the plan are entitled to up to $800 for dental services, $75 for visual health services, $5 million for travel insurance, and more than $10,000 for extended health services.

While it all sounds great, part of the extended health services also covers homeopath visits, covering up to $600 per year for the controversial medicine.

The practice is deeply rooted in nineteenth-century European theories. Since then, the principles of homeopathy have remained virtually unchanged. Founded on the idea that ‘like cures like,’ homeopaths believe diluting a substance that would normally cause an illness in a healthy person can cure the disease in an ill person. The more diluted the substance, the more potent the treatment becomes.

In a 2002 review published by the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, homeopathy was shown to have no substantial evidence to support its effectiveness. The medical community generally accepts homeopathy as a pseudoscience that provides no advantage over conventional medicine.

As a result, students and professors have raised some concerns about its coverage in the Health and Dental Plan.

Dr. Marsela Braunstein, a lecturer at the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto, shares her thoughts on homeopathy’s coverage in the plan: “Strictly speaking, from a scientific perspective, it’s difficult to justify it because treatment has to be [supported by] evidence based decisions,” she says.

In recent years, the Government of Ontario has moved towards the regulation of homeopathy. For many scientists like Braunstein this is seen as potentially lending an appearance of legitimacy to pseudoscience.

“If [homeopathy] starts to compete with [conventional medicine], and if it’s presented as an alternative, then I think it’s a scary place,” said Braunstein. Covering homeopathy in the Health Plan is a way of further legitimizing this practice.

Anti-science views are not new to the university. For many years now,

other scientifically-questionable services have also been covered in the Health Plan, including naturopathy and chiropractic medicine.

Every year, students have the opportunity to voice their opinions about the Health Plan during the UTSU elections. Unfortunately, while slates attempt to garner as many votes as possible, few have prioritized the Health and Dental Plan.

The exception is Demand Better UofT. They have outlined their proposed adjustments for the Health and Dental Plan on their website.

Changes include more extensive vision coverage, additional psychotherapy coverage, and an easier opt-out process.

Mathias Memmel, presidential candidate for the Demand Better slate, has also addressed the issue of homeopathy in a recent Ask Me Anything session on the U of T subreddit. “I don’t want the UTSU plan to cover non-scientific treatments. Homeopathy is a definite no,” he wrote.

In contrast, Jannie Chien, a fourth-year Sociology and Human Geography student, believes the current plan is more inclusive for those on campus. “I think [the plan] should cover [homeopathy] just because there will be people who don’t want to be treated by Western medicine, and in order to accommodate everyone, they should include it,” Chien says. “People are always changing and their beliefs are always changing… I think it’s great they cover such a wide variety of health needs.”

Louisa You, a first-year social sciences student, was not aware that homeopathy is covered in the Health Plan. When asked for her opinion, she responded, “Well, it depends on how many people are affected… If it’s a large enough percentage, I think we have a civil right to contribute to whoever needs it.”

She was also surprised by the number of sessions that were covered. “I think any plan that covers 20 visits a year is excessive and unnecessary.”

While some students have a more inclusive viewpoint, others seem to side with the science. Daniel Davoudpour, a first-year Life Sciences student, stands by the evidence. “I don’t think we should spend money on something that doesn’t work... As far as I know, it’s a pseudoscience, and I think money should be spent on something with a better investment,” he said.

“If somebody can show me why it would be beneficial to have, then I’d be open-minded in accepting it,” Davoudpour added.

In today’s political climate, it is crucial to be equally critical and supportive of science. For some students, the current plan proves to be a beacon of inclusiveness and understanding.

For others, the science is not there to support homeopathy. There is no simple solution, so we can only wait and see how the soon-to-be-elected UTSU addresses this issue.

PHOTO BY MATTHEW MONARCA, COURTESY OF MAJOR LEAGUE HACKING

Sabrina Smai (centre) has hacked her way to victory.

Connie Liu Associate Science Editor

Sabrina Smai is a serial hacker, who spends almost every other weekend at hackathons.

Smai is a fourth-year student at UTM studying Digital Enterprise Management, and she has competed in over 20 hackathons.

“The word ‘hacker’ is kind of thought of in a very negative way. But... in the computer science world, hacking is not about... stealing information from a computer,” said Smai. “It’s more about coding and building an innovative project that’s going to impact the world within a certain amount of time.”

Hackathons are intensive coding competitions where teams of programmers gather and build a software project, typically over a 24–48 hour period.

With little sleep and lots of coffee, teams must complete their design

within the given time frame and present their idea to a panel of engineers and developers from large technology companies. Top teams are awarded a variety of monetary and technological prizes.

“One thing that I value most about these hackathons is that I really think that it stimulates innovation… I have a couple of startup ventures that actually stemmed from hackathons,” said Smai.

For example, Smai competed in a Microsoft hackathon in which she and her newly-acquainted teammates came up with the idea to create a platform that can help students like themselves succeed in interviews.

They used artificial intelligence technology to analyze interview performance, a project that Smai continues to work on today.

Her most recent success was at the University of North Carolina, where Smai represented U of T at

the all-women Pearl Hacks competition. Her team built a mobile app called Encore (stylized as encore) that allowed users to discover and tip street performers.

“In an economy that’s going to cashless, the people that are suffering from this transition are street performers,” explained Smai. The new cashless economy makes it difficult for passersby to show their token of appreciation for the acoustic singer on the corner or the statued men coated in gold atop a pedestal.

Their app will allow the audience to tip a street performer by tapping their phone against a near field communication (NFC) chip. NFC technology enables communication between two devices in proximity and can act as a digital wallet replacement. Together with a rating and reviewing platform, encore encourages local artists and allows audiences to discover their talents.

Smai, page 17

RESEARCH ANALYST POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE

Focusing on the theoretical, practical and ethical underpinnings of research, you’ll also develop the statistical and technical skills needed to do applied research in a variety of settings.

liberalarts.humber.ca/programs/research-analyst

MARCH 13, 2017 • 17

var.st/science

Public funding of essential drugs could save billions Canada lacks a national prescription drug coverage program

RACHEL GAO/THE

Science Around Town

VARSITY

Publicly funding a universal drug plan could be far more costeffective for Canadians in the long run.

Matthew Fok Varsity Contributor

A recent study found that the universal public coverage of 117 essential medicines could save at least $4.27 billion per year for patients and private drug sponsors, while costing the government $1.23 billion per year.

The paper, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), compiled a preliminary essential medicines list that accounts for 44 per cent of all prescriptions and 30 per cent of total prescription drug expenditures in Canada in 2015.

“We show that adding universal public coverage of essential medicines to the existing system of drug coverage in Canada is a significant and feasible step in the right direction,” said Dr. Steve Morgan, one of the co-authors of the paper and a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, in a press release.

The list was adapted from the nineteenth World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines specifically for the prescriptions in Canada, and has been rigorously peer-reviewed by researchers and clinicians.

While Canada boasts a universal public healthcare system, it is by no means perfect. According to the Commonwealth Fund, Canada’s healthcare system ranks thirtieth in the world and is the second worst in terms of afterhours access to healthcare.

Moreover, Canada is one of the

only developed countries with a universal public healthcare that does not cover prescription drugs.

The rising costs of pharmaceuticals is a convoluted system and critical challenge that greatly influences the quality of life for Canadians.

“The World Health Organization says these essential medicines should be available to everyone who needs them,” said Dr. Nav Persaud, a co-author of the paper and an Associate Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Institute of Knowledge.

Persaud is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and a staff physician in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, he added, “I think most people in Canada agree that someone shouldn’t go bankrupt because of a health need.”

Although provinces cover drug prescriptions for certain demographics, such as seniors, approximately one in 10 people cannot afford prescribed medication in Canada.

A study by the Anus Reid Institude found that over “one in five Canadians report that in the previous 12 months, they or someone in their household has skipped doses, split pills, or not filled their prescription to save money on medication.”

When patients skip prescriptions, they allow their health to deteriorate further which places a heavier burden on the current healthcare system. Among the essential prescription drugs not covered are those

treating “rheumatoid arthritis, HIV” and “some heart conditions.”

Currently, one in eight Canadians between the ages of 55 and 64 do not take their prescribed medication due to high costs. In other words, the baby boomer generation is becoming one of the most vulnerable demographics in the face of rising drug costs.

Due to the lack of affordable heart medication, a 57-year-old person, for example, could suffer further heart disease complications, placing a strain on our already exhausted health care system should they take time off work or drop out of the workforce entirely.

This begs the question as to why Canada continues to provide universal public healthcare without prescription coverage.

A CBC investigation has revealed that Canadians pay the second highest prices for drugs worldwide. The research also included a pharmaceutical price comparison with other countries. The average price of generic drugs on the essential drugs list was 47 per cent lower for those in the US Veterans Affairs program, 60 per cent lower in Sweden, and 84 per cent lower in New Zealand than in Canada.

The researchers argued that the patchwork coverage of private insurance was ineffective at negotiating and achieving cheaper net rebate prices. This raises the prescription costs of Canadians who are either inadequately insured or not insured at all. Morgan and Persaud’s paper shows how government bulk purchases can decrease the overall

costs of general and name-brand prescriptions for Canadians.

A 2015 poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, a non-partisan, not-for-profit polling organization, found that 91 per cent of 1,556 Canadians supported a national pharmacare program.

Mindset Foundation in partnership with the Angus Reid Institute, reported that 29 per cent of British Columbians are unable to access medicine due to affordability.

Despite growing support for national pharmacare, 51 per cent of those surveyed expressed concerns regarding drug abuse.

While the research demonstrates that single-payer coverage would be an economical and effective government reform, there are a number of institutional barriers and logistical complications facing a change of this magnitude.

In a CMAJ podcast, Morgan acknowledged that one challenge would be “the delineation of a truly national and evidence based formulary that could include potentially thousands of products on it. For every one of those products you would need a pricing and supply contract to be ironed out with the manufacturers.”

Morgan emphasized that the coverage of 117 essentials is not the end goal of universal public pharmacare in Canada. Rather, it is more of a step to understanding whether this is a viable and sustainable option.

He ended the CMAJ podcast by saying, “It’s sufficiently pragmatic… This incremental step may actually be something that could be on the table.”

Smai, from page 16 In 24 hours, Smai and her team had secured third place at Pearl Hacks, along with the title Best Use of New Technology.

“It was super exciting being in a room filled with all these women in STEM,” said Smai, as she recalled how they had plastered their laptops with ‘Hacking the Glass Ceiling’ stickers. “We [were] all empowering each other. We [were] all collaborating.”

Smai has competed in 19 other co-ed hackathons where she had

often been among just a handful of women. She cited her experience at Princeton University’s Annual HackPrinceton event in 2016, where she was singled out as one of the only women working on a hardware hack. With over 700 attendees, Smai estimated there to have been around 20 women. She placed first.

In addition to this social challenge, hackathons come with intrinsic trials. The technologies

necessary for a project are not always familiar tools in a competitor’s toolbox. “I had to learn [skills] in less than a couple of hours so that was very challenging,” said Smai.

“I learned more in hackathons than I do at school,” she emphasized. Working with a group of people a competitor has just met teaches teamwork. Judges of these hackathons, often from technology giants like Google, Facebook, and IBM, provided valuable feedback.

“I started getting better and better, and after my twentieth pitch, I became really confident in pitching an idea, getting feedback, responding, [and] doing demos.”

“It’s actually a great way to collaborate with people that have different skills, that have different experiences, and build something that’s super impactful for the world,” said Smai. “There’s so many opportunities that [stem] from going to hackathons.”

Fourth Annual Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease The Students’ Alzheimer’s Alliance at U of T will be holding a conference focused on discussing new research surrounding dementia and improving treatments for those suffering from such neurodegenerative diseases.

Speakers will include Dr. Walter Swardfager of the Sunnybrook Research Institute and Dr. Donald Weaver of the Krembil Research Institute.

Date: Monday, March 13 Time: 5:30–9:00 pm Location: Room 2170, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King’s College Circle Admission: Free with registration Mental Health Seminar University is arguably the most stressful time of a student’s career. The U of T Health and Wellness Centre in collaboration with the Medical Sciences Student Union will be holding a seminar to discuss balancing school and life, and how to cope with the many struggles of academia.

Date: Tuesday, March 14 Time: 5:00–7:00 pm Location: Room 1016, Wilson Hall, 40 Willcocks Street Admission: Free FemSTEM! Women in Health Innovation The percentage of women in Canada’s healthcare sector is still considerably lower than men, with women accounting for only 22 per cent of STEM occupations in 2014. The Graduate and Life Sciences Education Team will be holding an open discussion regarding the issues that surround women in healthcare. Panelists include Dr. Ruth Ross, Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Huda Idrees, founder of Dot Health.

Date: Wednesday, March 15 Time: 2:00–4:00 pm Location: Room 120, Health Innovation Hub, 263 McCaul Street Admission: Free with registration

Sports

March 13, 2017 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Athlete’s political views met with disdain Bouchard, Fowler, and Irving fight back against ‘stick to sports’ Daniel Samuel Varsity Contributor

There’s a common view that sport is antipolitics, anti-freedom of speech; this appears to have grown alongside the deep political schism that exists in the world today.

‘Stick to sports’ is the practice of fans telling vocal, and often politically active, athletes to stick to their day job and to not publicly express an opinion on larger societal issues.

The suggestion from fans to athletes has always been unreasonable, conflicting, and hegemonic — requiring an athlete to promptly shut up based solely on the fact that a fan appreciates what they do.

Fans expect conformity and want athletes not to speak their mind about anything beyond the subject of their occupation, especially silencing an opinion when it expresses a contrasting perspective.

If you frequent Twitter or the comments sections of any sports media outlet, you likely already know February was a controversial month for Eugenie Bouchard, Dexter Fowler, and Kyrie Irving.

Bouchard made waves by sharing her personal life on social media, including paying up her losing end of a Super Bowl wager by partaking in a date with a lucky fan at a Brooklyn Nets game and posing for the 2017 edition of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.

St. Louis Cardinals centre fielder Dexter Fowler referred to his Iranian-born wife when he called US President Donald Trump’s travel ban “unfortunate.”

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving gave his own version of ‘alternative facts’ by claiming the world is flat, and he discussed alien conspiracy theories in a podcast with his teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye.

In one form or another, each athlete was told to stick to their respective sport.

While Irving may truly believe the truth is out there, and Fowler is well within his own right to speak his mind on the matters that directly impact his family, the backlash suffered

by Bouchard stands out among the three.

Unlike Irving’s cliche conspiracies or the personal reason behind Fowler’s political opposition, Bouchard never expressed a specific opinion. She was criticized for her actions — painted as an implicit distraction from her career.

The immense social media criticism she received was for simply living her life: sitting courtside at an NBA game or exercizing her willingness to focus on her brand and step out beyond her field of play with modelling.

It’s no secret that the objective behind ‘stick to sports’ is to create a culture of silence among athletes, the very people who have shifted to the centre of culture. As multiple platforms have shortened the traditional outreach actors

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

Kaepernick kneeled throughout the NFL season out of solidarity for racial injustice and musicians have, the collective attention devoted to sports remains universal.

At the young age of 23, Bouchard has earned every right not to be criticized for living her life in the manner that she deems fit — a simple enough idea. Whether Bouchard finds her way back to the finals of a major tournament or not, she, like every other athlete, shouldn’t have her successes juxta-

posed with her actions or opinions.

In 2017, a year where intolerance is frowned upon and equality is preached, every athlete should be entitled to have their opinions heard and not be criticized for the actions of their own free will. Athletes are not only contracts, walking advertisements, or a laundry list of every championship they’ve ever won; they are no different than you and I.

NHL trade deadline breakdown No big name trades but teams still reshape for playoff push

ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY

Kieran McMurchy Varsity Contributor

The NHL Trade Deadline came and went on March 1, and to say the day was slow would be a massive understatement. Many of the league’s contending teams made small moves, with a few teams making larger deals in the days leading up to the 3:00 pm dead-

line. Here’s a look at how the Atlantic Division shaped up.

Let’s start with a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs’ own division. The Maple Leafs were relatively quiet, making just the one deal on March 1, acquiring Eric Fehr, Steve Oleksy, and a fourth round draft choice from the Pittsburgh Penguins for depth defenceman Frank Corrado.

On February 27, the Leafs made a somewhat surprising — if not blockbuster — deal sending minor leaguer Byron Froese and a conditional second round pick to Tampa Bay for Brian Boyle. Boyle, aged 32, has loads of playoff experience, going to the Stanley Cup Finals multiple times.

The Leafs are a young team, and the experience will surely help in their playoff push.

The Montreal Canadiens made a fair bit of buzz by adding depth players, and importantly size, when they acquired Dwight King and Steve Ott. Montreal has long lacked the desired size up front, and while neither of those two will address the woeful lack of scoring, they do add bulk; something they will need for the grueling seven game series in the playoffs.

Ottawa made a few interesting moves, trading for Alex Burrows in exchange for either a sure prospect in Johnathon Dahleen or a slow of foot project — depending on who you ask. They also acquired former Maple Leaf Viktor Stalberg from Carolina.

The Boston Bruins made a small trade, acquiring Drew Stafford from the Jets.

Buffalo made a relatively insignificant trade acquiring Mat Bodie from the New York Rangers.

Florida acquired Thomas Vanek from the Red Wings, desperately trying to add scoring in the hopes of making a playoff push themselves.

Tampa Bay was decimated by the Steven Stamkos injury and have not been able to

replace the scoring of a top player in the league. With their upcoming contract negotiations with young players, they decided to shed salary, as cap space has proven to be an asset in this age. They traded the aforementioned Boyle, as well as Valtteri Filppula and goalie Ben Bishop. Interestingly, Filppula refused to waive his no trade contract to go to the Leafs.

The Detroit Red Wings look set to miss the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. As such, they have traded away valuable pieces now in exchange for future draft picks — to rebuild.

The most impactful player they traded was defenceman Brendan Smith, who went to the Rangers. They received four draft picks in all and will look to draft and develop the next wave of players in the coming summer.

The rest of the league made a handful of trades — easily the most significant being Kevin Shattenkirk, who was moved from St. Louis to Washington. Shattenkirk is a solid puck moving defenceman, a premium in today’s NHL. He will undoubtedly anchor the power-play, which already features names like Backstrom, Oshie, and Ovechkin.

The Chicago Blackhawks also reacquired Johnny Oduya from Dallas and will look for him to add depth from the back-end as the Hawks push for another Stanley Cup. The NHL Trade Deadline was not what it had been in years past, but still remains a vital time for clubs to add pieces for a playoff push.

MARCH 13, 2017 • 19

var.st/sports

Women’s volleyball team claims bronze Blues edged by Mustangs in semi-final

Toronto standout Alina Dormann goes in for a kill. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY Brock Edwards Associate Sports Editor

The Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team lost a close semi-final match to the Western University Mustangs on Friday night, dashing their hopes of defending last year’s title in the Ontario University Athletics gold medal game. They went on to claim bronze the following day in their tilt with the Ryerson Rams, while the McMaster Marauders defeated the Mustangs 3–2 to win gold.

The semi-final heartbreaker ended Toronto’s colossal winning streak: heading into this year’s playoffs, the undefeated Blues had tallied an astonishing 45 consecutive wins over two regular seasons and a playoff campaign, and were ranked first nationally.

Their last loss was on March 1, 2015, when they lost the bronze medal game of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship to the Université de Montréal Carabins.

Friday’s semi-final match at Goldring Centre was a back-and-forth affair, going to a tiebreaker fifth set after Western won the first and third sets and Toronto countered by taking the second and fourth sets. The Blues got off to a strong start, but the Mustangs battled back with an impressive seven-point run to take the first set 25–20. The Western front line of Aja Gyimah, Candice Scott, and Kat Tsiofas set up an effective wall against a number of Toronto spikes, and the roving Gyimah performed a series of important digs and kills to limit the Blues’ counter-attack.

The momentum shifted to the home team

in the second set. The offense of Blues striker Alina Dormann and excellent defensive net play from middle Anna Licht allowed Toronto to take the set 25–17, evening the total at one set apiece. The Mustangs responded in the third, storming out to an early 11–5 lead and overpowering the Blues with dominant offensive and defensive play.

Towards the end of the set, Toronto pressured the Mustangs with a series of points, but the visitors took the set 25–22.

Needing to win the fourth set in order to take the game to a tie-breaker, the Blues put in a clutch performance. Their offense steadily improved throughout the match, peaking in the fourth as Dormann’s hitting percentage climbed and Anna Feore dominated on serves and play from the left side.

After a number of long rallies throughout the game that frequently ended in Western’s favour, the Blues finally outlasted the Mustangs in a rally that included an incredible dig by Mustangs setter Tia Miric. Toronto took the set 25–20.

Toronto tallied an early 8–3 lead in the final tiebreaker set, as Dormann began to light it up offensively and Blues libero Asli Ersozuglu made a series of outstanding defensive plays. The Mustangs battled back after the mid-set switch to tie it 10–10 after Mustangs middle Kelsey Veltman made an excellent kill, splitting the Blues defenders.

A streak of points carried the Blues to within striking distance of the game-winning fifteenth point, as they held a 14–13 lead with the Mustangs serving.

A technical violation called against the Blues tied the set 14–14, and with that the wind went out of Toronto’s sails. The Mustangs tallied with two consecutive strikes, capping a thrilling comeback with a 16–14 fifth set and a 3–2 semi-final victory.

After the Marauders swept the Rams 3–0 in the second semi-final matchup that night, the dejected Blues were set to play for bronze the following evening, March 11, against the Rams before the gold medal game. Determined to salvage their perfect season by achieving a third-place podium result, the Blues got off to a strong start in the first set. An incredible one-handed dig

by Madelyn Mandryk led to the Blues’ eighth point to make it 8-4 a mere four minutes into the game. Ryerson fought back through the powerful offence of Theanna Vernon, who had a number of key kills throughout the match, but the Blues finished off the set 25–19.

The Rams countered in the second set, breaking out to an early 6–2 lead. The Blues found their stride and used a four-point streak to climb past the Rams, going up 9–7. Great defensive work from Ersozoglu allowed Toronto to keep rolling, and the Blues eventually clinched the second set by a score of 25–23. Ryerson responded with a dominant third, winning the set 25–19.

Up 2–1, the Blues were a set away from a bronze medal. They stormed out to a 13–6 lead with a dominant offense led by Dormann and Licht. The tenacious Rams would not go quietly, however, battling back to trail by one point after a four-point streak made it 20–19. The Blues saw their lead evaporate as their defense had trouble with a series of serves by Ryerson setter Kate McIlmoyle.

Key kills allowed Toronto to draw within a game point of the win, but the Rams put on the pressure and made it a 24–23 game.

The Blues finally found the coup de grâce and earned the final point on a kill to win the set 25–23 and the game by the score of 3–1, capturing the bronze medal.

Blue Jays spring training spoilers What fans can expect to see come April Dev Ramkallie Varsity Contributor With the heartbreak of last year’s playoffs still fresh in the minds of many, combined with the loss of some key members from last season’s team, the Blue Jays will look to prove that the team can still be competitive in a talent-rich AL East.

In the midst of spring training action, here is a look at positional projections and an intriguing young prospect in the Jays mino league system.

Infield Beyond the core of catcher Russell Martin, third-baseman Josh Donaldson, and short stop Troy Tulowitzki, there are a lot of uncertainties within the Jays infield. With the departure of first baseman and designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto will look to rely on a platoon of Kendrys Morales, Steve Pearce, and Justin Smoak to reproduce the production of the Dominican slugger.

None of these players are near the calibre of Encarnacion, but with Smoak receiving consistent playing time, and the positional flexibility of Pearce, and Morales taking most of his cuts at the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre, it is realistic that the trio could hold its own — which may potentially provide a greater net benefit than Encarnacion alone.

At second base, Devon Travis is the clearcut starter. However, his recent knee injury has been an issue for the young player, and

last year the club relied on Darwin Barney and Ryan Goins to fill the void. Health is the major key for Travis. If the club believes he can’t stay healthy, look for the club to possibly make a move.

Outfield The return of right fielder Jose Bautista and defensively sound centre fielder Kevin Pillar fill two out of the three outfield positions.

Left field is up for grabs, with the versatile Ezequiel Carrera, Melvin Upton Jr., and Pearce all competing to earn the spot out of spring training.

A possible dark horse is Mississauga native Dalton Pompey, who will need to have a strong spring training to make the team.

Look for him to be a possible September callup for injury depth.

Starting rotation With R.A Dickey and Drew Hutchinson moving on to Atlanta and Pittsburgh respectively, the five-man rotation will look a lot like the second half of 2016, excluding Dickey.

Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada, and Francisco Liriano should break camp as the starting five; however, the Jays are thin after that. Through a gruelling 162-game season, a starting pitcher or two is bound to see the disabled list, so look out for some under the radar pickups like Mat Latos, T.J. House, and Gavin Floyd to make steady contributions to the rotation throughout the year.

Bullpen There are few confirmed positions in the bullpen. However, barring injury, Roberto Osuna will remain the closer, with Jason Grilli, Joe Smith, and Joe Biagini sharing set-up duties until a clear-cut option emerges.

With the departure of left-handed pitcher Brett Cecil, the Jays brought in J.P. Howell for left-on-left matchups. Look for Aaron Loup to break camp with the team as a second left-handed option. Rule 5 pick-up Glenn Sparkman was expected by many to break camp with the team, but a thumb injury will probably land him on the disabled list to start the season.

Young prospects Lourdes Gurriel Jr. signed a seven-year $22 million contract with the Jays organization as an international free agent this past winter. The 23-year-old shows as a top prospect in the Jays organization, providing positional versatility and a serviceable bat.

He is a career .277/.362/.426 hitter but elevated his game to the tone of .344/.407/.560 in the 2015–2016 season,

IRIS DENG/THE VARSITY

his last in Cuba. Gurriel should open the season at AAA, unless he has an outstanding spring.

It is uncertain where he fits in the Jays long-term plans, as both Troy Tulowitzki and Devon Travis are under contract until 2020. He could be a super-utility player, provide injury insurance, or become a potential corner outfielder for the club.

MARCH 13, 2017 • 20

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