NEWS EDITOR
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TOM BATEMAN/AQ
He’s no Haitian sensation but David Johnston proves he’s vanilla nice on His Excellency’s adventure to Fredericton and STU
He may not be as attractive as Michaelle Jean – he doesn’t have a sexy Haitian accent and one might say he’s “vanilla” – but David Johnston is already getting to know Canada. Only a month after becoming Governor General of Canada, Johnston stopped in Fredericton while on his tour of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Last week, he hosted the launch of Learning: Everybody’s Project, a public engagement initiative led by
Queen laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on King Street and headed up to Chatham Hall for the launch of a learning initiative by the province. The discussion on learning was less than exciting. Towards the end, Johnston leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. When he had a chance to speak his voice was soft and humble but focused. “All the important things I’ve learned in life I’ve learned from my children and my grandchildren,” he said. If his words hadn’t sold it
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Transgender
His Excellency: The new Governor General was in Fredericton Nov. 10 to lay a wreath at the cenotaph downtown.
a group that is interested in gathering input on what the future of the province should look like. The Ontario academic has seen 69 Canadian winters and his face proves it. His lips are pale, his hair is white and wrinkles pull at his skin in the exact places you would expect. Perhaps the only striking thing about David Johnston’s outward appearance is his eyes. Bright and clear and blue they shine under his bookshelf brow and engage the world around him. On Wednesday, the viceregal representative for the
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Meet the new GG
Lauren Bird The Aquinian
ALYSSA MOSHER
yet, his voice did. Johnston is, at his heart, a paternally driven man. Mrs. Kelly’s Grade 8 class from George Street Middle School met Johnston at the Cenotaph. He asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and told them about his dog, which he said doesn’t know the difference between a blackand-white cat and a skunk. “He’s really nice,” said one enthusiastic eighth grader. “He’s very down to earth,” added Mrs. Kelly. Jokingly, Johnson referred to this as his first real job. Not a bad start.
Rayner wants people around her to use her story as an example for what happens to many people with non-traditional gender identities. “It seems to be I’m the only one that’s actually willing to speak out about this – so far with what I’ve come across,” Rayner said. “And if people don’t understand what goes on a daily basis...how are they going to understand what I’m talking about?” *** Rayner always knew she was different. In her mind, she was always a lesbian – even though she denied it in the beginning, claiming to be homophobic. But Rayner says her gender identity has always been “out of the spectrum” because she has both female and male characteristics. Rayner’s red hair is cut short, her voice a little lower. She wears a chain on her baggy jeans and a plaid shirt hangs loosely over another. Biologically, she’s female though. And the incident at STU was not the first one of it’s kind. She’s been mistaken for a guy in female bathrooms in the theatre, the mall and at the casino in Halifax. She’s even had girls’ boyfriends beat her up because they thought she was a guy. “People are afraid of what they don’t know,” Rayner said. “If I’m visually in between...you kind of get some problems.” *** Rayner has never reported an incident before. According to Jeffrey Carleton, spokesperson for STU, he only found out through the media. He says the university is “taking the matter very seriously.” President Dennis Cochrane says something like this is de-
plorable and not accepted at STU whatsoever. According to Carleton, STU has 15 gender neutral bathrooms on campus, including four new ones that came with the renovations in George Martin Hall. But these single stall bathrooms are not in JDH where Rayner has most of her classes. Rayner says she hasn’t spoken with the university for a reason. She says the administration is too worried about her single case when the issue is much bigger. “They want to deal with this as a justice thing, go after the student that did it,” she said. “I haven’t reported the things that happened in the past because I understand where it’s coming from. “My father’s a minister, I grew up in this community, I know where this homophobia ignorance is coming from. It’s not the people that I’m upset with. It’s the idea, the social ignorance that we grow up in.” Most importantly, Rayner doesn’t want anyone to blame the woman she met in the bathroom two months ago. Rayner says it’s not her fault. Everyone has been guilty of this mind-set at some point in their life - including her. “I was there and I can’t really condemn them for something I did myself,” she said. “And now the coming out [as transgendered], I see the whole other side of this.” “It’s the people. I have no problem with the university. I have no problem with the student. It’s just the ideology of the thing.” Michelle Rayner, along with the Fredericton pride committee and Bullying Canada will be holding a rally in STU’s lower courtyard on Nov. 25 at 12 p.m.
Awareness
One day, no shoes Bridget Yard The Aquinian
Imagine enduring the rainy weather of the past few weeks without rubber boots, sneakers, or even a pair of Birkenstocks. This is something that Amnesty International Youth Fredericton is making reality. The campus organization is working to spread poverty awareness. Yesterday, they encouraged St. Thomas University students to spend their day or even a few hours - barefoot. According to the Facebook page for the event, over 50 per cent of the world’s children will never be able to afford a pair
of shoes. While the group recognizes that footwear is only a fraction of the poverty issue, they’re confident that an event like this will make a difference. Mandy Farrell, the group’s co-chair, says while the club hopes the event will bolster attendance at their meetings, she says the main purpose is to promote poverty awareness and inspire more action. “It’s hard for us to reach outside of the campus community,” she said. But the initiative has students thinking. Evan Trippel, a first-year student at STU, acknowledges that shoes are necessary in
countries that have winter. He’s travelled to Tanzania and Kenya with the organizaton Youth Challenge International. He says he’s not sure the day’s event is enough. However, Amnesty’s One Day With No Shoes leaves him cold. “In order to know the scale of poverty, you need a shocker,” he said. “ People need knowledge of what goes down in these places.” Cedric Noel, a second-year student has also travelled abroad with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. He agrees with Trippel. “To make a change, you have to go there and do it,” he
ALYSSA MOSHER/AQ
Band-aid: First-year Evan Trippel says wearing no shoes for one day isn’t enough to recognize poverty.
said. this branch of Amnesty InterTrippel also said he feels the national should be on social focus of student groups like programs and teaching the
underprivileged to be sustainable. “Everything else is just a bandaid,” he said. Bandaid or not, Amnesty International Youth Fredericton has beared their soles hoping to raise awareness that not everyone has the choice to go without. In Fredericton, some students endured a day with no shoes to inspire change while others held on to their skepticism - and their shoes. The shoes collected will be donated locally as well as abroad to Ecuador and Costa Rica (the home of some Amnesty International Youth Fredericton members).