KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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JANUARY 5, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 1
Snow High -4 C Low -6 C
SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Mid-mountain: 124 cm Alpine: 141 cm Snow phone: 250-578-7232
NEW YEAR’S BABY — TIMES TWO
CLIMB WITH KTW
WEATHER
Local team on Mt. Kilimanjaro
Ava Marie Ogilvie was one of two babies born at 12:35 a.m.
A6
A12
TRU, KGHM team up on research project WORK WOULD FOCUS ON RECLAIMING LAND DISTURBED BY MINING OPERATIONS DALE BASS
STAFF REPORTER
dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Thompson Rivers University and KGHM have been in talks to create a research project — and the professor who will likely be the key scientist is not concerned about the pairing. Biologist Lauchlan Fraser said any work that comes from the project will “go by the rules of academic freedom. The work is open and transparent and we have autonomy. I can do the research where I want and I can publish where I want.” The goal is to create an industrial research chair (IRC) through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Fraser said working with a company like Ajax mine proponent KGHM makes sense because much of his research involves reclaiming land disturbed by mining operations. David Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), said Fraser’s assertion of independence “is wonderful. It helps us deal with any concerns we might have.” TRU also has a comprehensive conflict of interest policy that applies to all employees, said vice-president advancement Christopher Seguin. “Faculty have the right to pursue research and knowledge unhampered
and uninfluenced by those who may have provided some level of financial support for conducting the research,” Seguin said, noting the process “argues for academic freedom and observation of stringent conflict of interest guidelines, all of which preserves student and faculty right to pursue meaningful research.” CAUT is investigating the University of Calgary, where concerns were expressed by faculty and students about the relationship between the university and the Enbridge-supported Centre for Corporate Sustainability. Robinson said issues being reviewed include the pipeline company exercising “undue influence” at the university, choosing speakers for presentations and students who would receive scholarships. Another independent review of the Centre for Corporate Sustainability found no breaches of policies or procedures in the university’s partnering with Enbridge. CAUT studied 12 university/private industry agreements for its 2013 report Open for Business, which found the majority of the dozen agreements had universities agreeing to various violations of their own academic integrity. “They have allowed private donors and corporate partners to co-opt roles formerly, and properly, played by academic staff,” the report stated.
More on this story on Page A7
Maurya’s
DAVE EAGLES/KTW Father Khaled al-Mohammad, wife Reem, son Mustafa, 7 (left), son Yamen, 18 months, and daughter Ineam, 9, arrive at Kamloops Airport on New Year’s Eve day.
REFUGEES WELCOMED HOME
DALE BASS
STAFF REPORTER
dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
When the al-Mohammed family arrived in Kamloops on Thursday, they left much behind. They left most of their belongings. They left the debacle that is the war in Syria. They left fear. And, they left the word “refugee” behind, said Paul Lagace, executive director of the Kamloops Immigrant Society.
“That label stays in Syria,” Lagace said of the family. “We welcome these newcomers to Kamloops.” The family — dad Khaled, mom Reem and children Ineam, 9, Mustafa, 7, and Yaman, 18 months — were sponsored by Refugees and Friends Together (RAFT), an organization that has brought many refugee families to Kamloops in the past two decades. A translator helped Khaled explain the family’s exhausting trip — one from Lebanon that took 30 hours and included 10
hours in Jordan, where they also had to sleep on a floor. “Emotions,” Khaled said through the translator. “Really, really good. I cannot describe.” Many RAFT members were at Kamloops Airport on Thursday, anxiously watching the arrivals screen that showed the family’s flight had been delayed. Some of them had been at the airport on Wednesday when a miscommunication left the impression the family would arrive that day. See A NEW HOME, A4
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM MAURYA’S JANUARY SPECIAL
Fine Indian Cuisine
10 SAMOSAS - $10.00
165 Victoria Street • 250-377-4969 • mauryasfineindiancuisine.com
*Minimum purchase 10 samosas. Taxes & gratuities extra. Dine in or take out.