Capilano Courier | Vol 59, Issue 3 by Capilano Courier

NEWS

CAPU WAS NOT NAMED AFTER CHIEF JOE CAPILANO

VOL 59

COMMUNITY FOREIGNER IN YOUR OWN HOME

ISSUE 03

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

THE PROFILE

HOLLY FLAUTO: THE PLACES THAT MAKE US

FEATURES

HONOURING THE LIVES LOST TO QUEER AND TRANS HATE

CONTRIBUTOR CREDIT & TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITOR’S NOTE B

ecoming familiar with something, somewhere or someone is a slow but rewarding process. It moves at the speed of trust. You coexist, observe, ask, and learn until it stops being foreign to you, and you stop being foreign to it. But what happens when being foreign is not a state but a label? And what if a system is enabled by making that distinction— by normalizing exploitative practices, as long as they are directed at the people given the foreign label? Not that long ago, the growing portion of post-secondary funding that came from international tuition was taken for granted and easily justified: of course international students’ tuition is five times higher than domestic tuition—anything less would be taking advantage of Canadian taxpayers. Then, about three years ago, a certain cap on study permits was put in place. Countless campus closures, program suspensions and layoffs later, I have not seen a single administrator or government representative take a minute

to appreciate that all these programs, spaces and jobs were, for years, sustained by the night shifts, loans and aspirations of young people from the Global South— the ones whose tuition the institutions want to further increase.

I never felt more foreign than when I was so clearly reduced to a number during my last year at CapU. All the conversations were about how many of us are here, how many are from which countries, how much do we currently pay, and how much more could be extracted from us. So many metrics of how we are impacting Canada, but almost none about how Canada has impacted us. As a former international student who had to graduate from a shorter program, I have one last message for the post-secondary system: Count me out.

-Laura Morales P.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

WRITING CONTRIBUTORS

MAXIMILLIANO CHI LEUNG ALSERDA, YUJI H., YASMINE ELSAYED, FARNAZ ABDOLMALEKI, HUGH MANN, SNIZHANA MELNYK, REN ZHANG & ALEXIS MOORE.

WANT TO ? E T U IB R T N CO

VISUAL CONTRIBUTORS KAYLA KIM, RYAN COOMBER, SOPHIA FILSOOFI, LIVVY H, SANTIAGO OSPINA, TRICIA TANG, LEONARDO VELAZQUEZ, REN ZHANG, LILY JONES, CAROLINE ZHANG, POLINA MAKSIMENKO & KC STRINGER.

WRITERS

Email Laura Morales... EDITOR@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

Email Andy Poystila... PRODUCTION@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM * ILLUSTRATORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT EXAMPLES OF THEIR WORK

COVER ART

ANYA ALI MULZET

TABLE

NEWS 04 WHO BROKE THE FALL WHEN INTERNATIONAL ENROLMENT COLLAPSED?

12 CAPU LIBRARY

REDUCES OPERATING HOURS AS UNIVERSITY CONFRONTS DEFICIT

14 CAPILANO

UNIVERSITY WAS NOT NAMED AFTER CHIEF JOE CAPILANO

16 CHALLENGING

COLONIAL AND PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES IN ACADEMIA

ARTS & CULTURE 18 HOW DID LOVE GET LOST IN SO MUCH IDEALIZATION?

22 HOMESICKNESS ON THE GO

24 AN UNJUST LAW OR A LEAP OF FAITH?

CONTENTS

HUMOUR 38 AUDITION NOTICE:

NEW IDOL GROUP HIRING VANCOUVEREXCLUSIVE ARTISTS

COMMUNITY 26 THE CANADA-US

40 ZPLORF: THE NEW

TRADE WAR

POPULAR CAFE DRINK TREND

27 LOCAL UPCOMING

42 COMIC: CANADA IS

EVENTS

28 CENTERFOLD

POSTER: 1096 DAYS TOO MANY

32 FOREIGNER IN

YOUR OWN HOME

34 THE NEW KID:

LIFE OF AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

36 #GRAMMY-SOWHITE

JUST A LITTLE... DIFFERENT

44 NO NUTS IN NOVEMBER

FEATURES 46 READ THIS AND REMEMBER

48 PEOPLE OF CAPU IN DIALOGUE

FINDING COMMUNITY: Q&A WITH SAMARA DOLINSKY

50 THE PROFILE HOLLY FLAUTO: THE PLACES THAT MAKE US

MEET THE CREW 53 OUR WRITERS, ARTISTS, & DESIGNERS

54 THE C.C ZINE TEASER

20 CULTURAL CORNERS

Who Broke

NEWS FEATURE

n e h the Fall W

WRITTEN BY Laura Morales Padilla (she/they) // EIC VISUALS BY Kayla Kim (she/her) // Contributor

aculty f r la u g e r n o n f o ity arance The quiet disappece and the diffusion of responsibil across the provin ts and institutions among governmen

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l a n o i t a n r e t In Enrolment

Collapsed?

he difference between a regular and a non-regular instructor is invisible to students. Still, non-regular status—also referred to as sessional, term or contract faculty—is an important distinction for administrations and faculty unions across post-secondary institutions as it determines working conditions. While performing the same job and teaching the same courses, job security, benefits and compensation look very different for non-regular faculty, especially when institutions face financial struggles. As reported by the Courier, decades of underfunding led public institutions to rely on international tuition, which is why the 2024 cap on study permits and other immigration policy changes triggered a sector-wide crisis. Capilano University was no exception. President Jason Dewling’s presentation during the October senate meeting showed that new visa approvals plummeted from 2575 in 2023 to 180 in 2025. To address the lower enrolment, courses at CapU are currently being cut if they fail to meet an 80 per cent threshold. This would be 28 students in a standard 35-student class, unless they meet the criteria for an exception. Between 2020 and 2025, CapU conducted the Capilano Graduating Students Surveys of students who graduated in each academic year. The Courier obtained a summary of the results through a freedom of information (FOI) request sent in June 2026. The surveys asked recent graduates to evaluate instructors, program organization and course scheduling on a scale from poor (zero per cent) to good (100 per cent). The only evaluation question that has consistently been below 50 per cent in the last three years is “scheduling of courses,” with the lowest score being 40 per cent in 2025. The impact of the 80 per cent threshold

on this metric is yet to be assessed, as well as the potential loss of revenue due to students taking courses at other institutions when they are unavailable at CapU. Additionally, according to the university’s FOI response, no 2026 survey is planned due to staffing shortages.

...the disproportionate impact that the sudden shift in enrolment had on non-regular faculty was not unforeseeable or inevitable. The long-term consequences of the university’s response to declining enrolment remain uncertain. Yet the disproportionate impact that the sudden shift in enrolment had on non-regular faculty was not unforeseeable or inevitable. The Courier gathered perspectives from non-regular and regular faculty, the administration, a senior steward from the Capilano Faculty Association (CFA) and the chair for the Non-Regular Faculty Members Committee to understand the challenges non-regular faculty face and how their precarious work conditions affect the long-term health of the institution. 5

What does it mean to be non-regular faculty (NREG)?

on-regular faculty (NREGs) have “no assurance for ongoing work here,” explained Dr. Douglas Alards-Tomalin, CFA senior steward. “Work is assigned to them by their functional area based on availability,” he added, recognizing that the university can lose talented faculty if they get a permanent full-time position elsewhere, since many NREGs do work at multiple institutions to make ends meet. Depending on the faculty’s credentials and experience, they are placed on a salary scale in which step 10 is the lowest and step one is the highest. As explained by Dr. Lesley Schimanski from the Non-Regular Faculty Members Committee, most NREGs would be placed at or near the top step based on their qualifications, but they start at Step 10, which is currently 65 per cent of the top step. Unless there are exceptional circumstances where a program requires unusual skills, credentials or experience, NREGs are placed on scale once they’ve taught eight sections—the equivalent of a fulltime year’s workload—which can take years since NREGs only get the workload that is available after REGs’ workloads are set. Moreover, no matter how qualified they are, NREGs are capped at step four once they are placed on the salary scale—which is about 84 per cent of the top step—and they advance up one step for every eight sections worked. Meanwhile, REGs can be placed immediately as high as step one.

The CFA negotiated a higher cap in 2020 and 2024. Until 2020, placement was capped at Step eight, which is 71 per cent of the top step. For an instructor who went through the regularization process at CapU about two years ago (REG1), the difference in pay was shocking. When describing the experience of receiving their first pay as a REG, they wrote “it really brought home for me how significant the disparity is in pay. Given that the work involved in teaching the same courses can be so similar, I find the difference difficult to justify and, frankly, unfair.” The Courier asked the university administration if they have a target or ceiling for the proportion of teaching delivered by non-regular faculty. The answer was no, with the clarification that “Teaching assignments are governed by the collective agreement.” Dr. Schimanski pointed out that during peak enrolment times, around 45 to 50 per cent of course sections were being taught by NREGs. She explained that the lower pay for NREGs creates a potential incentive for the university to avoid regularization and hire more NREGs instead. According to the collective agreement, “The University recognizes the importance to employees, their families and to the community of a stable employment,” which is why

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

when regular faculty’s workload is reduced, they have rights such as severance pay and retraining. When the university finds it necessary to reduce the workload or number of employees, due to low enrolments, programming changes or shortage of funds, they have to provide the information on which they base their decision to the union. When it comes to NREGs, the process looks very different. “They don’t communicate anything with me,” said an NREG who is still working at CapU in an interview with the Courier. They were confused when they realized their name was missing from the schedule after two terms of consistent work. “Am I working in the Spring?” the NREG remembered asking. “They were like, ‘No, you’re not on the schedule.’” According to Alards-Tomalin, the union is unclear on why there would ever be opposition from the university to regularize someone. The need to hire constantly “drains the time and resources away from the dean and the coordinator,” he explained, which leaves less time for program development, student recruitment or chairing committees. NREGs would clearly benefit from job security and from being paid according to “where they would rightfully fall on the salary scale,” stated Alards-Tomalin, and “it benefits the University greatly too in that they [non-regulars] don’t leave for other institutions, and are more committed to working here.”

“it really brought home for me how significant the disparity is in pay. Given that the work involved in teaching the same courses can be so similar, I find the difference difficult to justify and, frankly, unfair.” He questioned the logic of avoiding regularization to prevent future reductions. With reductions, he refers to when the university lowers a REG’s committed workload below what was guaranteed in their appointment letter, which carries costs, since reduced faculty have rights to severance pay and retraining. The existence of a reduction process for REGs and the agreement’s language around it, reflect a shared recognition of the importance of such protections. Upholding those rights for regular faculty while avoiding regularization, the process that extends those rights to NREGs, creates an inconsistency that affects how accountable a university is for the number of employees it hires. “Opposing regularization now because there’s a worry that

in the future they may need to be reduced is not a valid argument in our mind,” Alards-Tomalin said. The Courier asked the university administration about the workload involved in the hiring process for NREGs, and what overseeing the probationary period looks like. On October 7, they responded that “Hiring and evaluation are ancillary duties expected of all faculty members under Article 6 of the agreement. The search, hiring and evaluation processes are the same for regular and non-regular faculty.” As Alards-Tomalin pointed out, the additional work involved in the continuous hiring process for non-regulars “often goes unrecognized” and depending on how many people are hired per year, it may take time from other department priorities. When asked what risks does the university consider when deciding between having someone on reduction versus not regularizing someone, the university administration wrote that “the words ‘risks’ and ‘deciding’ may not accurately characterize the regularization and reduction processes.” The administration described both as “distinct processes governed by the collective agreement, and the university administers them in collaboration with academic departments according to the agreement’s requirements and established procedures. They are not alternative options from which the university selects based on a risk analysis.” As stated by the administration, the collective agreement does describe the requirements and procedures that trigger a REG position, with an important condition: “so long as work at the commitment level is assured for the next academic year.” This is where the university’s assessment determines the outcome, meaning that even if an NREG has worked the required number of years and taught the required number of sections—the conditions that are in their control—the university can argue that there is no assurance of enough work to support the commitment level calculated for them as a REG, and therefore regularization does not occur. Moreover, the university’s role is not limited to “administering” the collective agreement’s procedures, as those procedures are the product of years of negotiation between the administration, the union and the Post-Secondary Employers’ Association during collective bargaining. The union has pushed to bring NREG working conditions closer to REG conditions, such as by paying NREGs according to where they would fall on the salary scale. According to Alards-Tomalin, the employer has resisted. As he noted, “steps towards recognizing the equivalence of the work done by faculty in both roles has only ever been a Union priority and not an administrative one.” On the other hand, as pointed out by REG1, NREGs are also expected to contribute to committees, curriculum development and other work for their department. This becomes challenging to do while working for multiple in 7

NEWS FEATURE

stitutions and worrying about finding work the next term. “That ongoing uncertainty was exhausting and made it difficult to feel fully settled,” they wrote, reflecting on the lack of reciprocity when it comes to commitment. “It’s hard to ask people to invest deeply in a place of work when that place isn’t providing them with security or demonstrating a comparable investment in them,” they added. “I don’t feel as connected to Cap as I was in the past,” said the NREG. Earlier this year, they still saw a future for them at the institution. Now, they are exploring other opportunities. “Precarious employment will do that to you,” they added.

Diffusion of responsibility and the quiet disappearance of non-regular faculty across the province

ince the beginning of 2024, public colleges and universities have laid off 1,300 faculty, as reported by The Tyee in June 2026. However, the number of NREGs lost is not reflected in this number because work is assigned to them based only on availability. Frank Cosco, president of the Vancouver Community College Faculty Association, said at a webinar organized by BC Policy Solutions in June that their college lost close to a quarter of their regular faculty and “all of our term instructors, of whom we had a couple of hundred.” Pauline Greaves, president of the Langara Faculty Association, said during that webinar that all of their temporary faculty had also been lost. They were simply told, “we don’t have any work for you,” she said. As temporary faculty, they were not entitled to severance. Because non-regular faculty are not formally laid off, and are simply not given more work, it is difficult to calculate how many lost their jobs or saw their workload shrink significantly. However, CapU’s Faculty Association (CFA) president Michael Begg did manage to calculate the amount of work lost by the end of last year. “In Fall 2025 non-regs had 75% less work than in Spring 2024 (two terms the CFA has figures for),” he wrote. Diffusion of responsibility occurs when no single actor perceives themselves as responsible or accountable for a collective outcome. The loss of work without severance for hundreds of non-regular faculty in the context of the post-secondary education crisis illustrates that: colleges and universities blame the federal government for capping international enrolment without consulting with the sector and the province for inadequate funding. The province pointed at the federal government for the cap on study permits being decided unilaterally, and at institutions for an administration culture of “don’t manage, rather complain about inadequate funding,” as stated in Don Wright’s funding formula review.

“I don’t feel as connected to Cap as I was in the past,” said the NREG. Earlier this year, they still saw a future for them at the institution. Now, they are exploring other opportunities. “Precarious employment will do that to you,” The federal government expected universities to play a filtering role in selecting “high-quality” immigrants for Canada, so it placed the blame on “bad actors,” referring to private institutions that scammed international students. More indirectly, it pointed at public institutions for recruiting and expanding far beyond what Canada’s own population needed, realizing that a profit-driven education system could not serve as a reliable filter. The number of actors involved makes it hard to hold any one of them accountable for the consequences of unsustainable recruitment. However, as Dr. Dale McCartney explained in his dissertation about the history of international student policy in Canada, this difficulty is not accidental. It is an example of policy heterarchy, in which responsibilities overlap and are not clearly defined. For contrast, in a hierarchy, the government would instruct institutions on how to recruit students. In a heterarchy, those decisions are left to the institutions themselves but within a limited range of choices, because the government still defines the expected outcomes. In this context, the B.C. Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) stated that “the government encouraged and, at some level, sponsored the aggressive recruitment of international students as a solution to the funding gap at BC’s colleges and universities.” To their point, the federal government created the three-step (study-work-stay) immigration pathway. It helped market certain programs as a route to permanent residency for students from lower-middle income countries, who had no other immigration pathways available. Moreover, the province failed to hold institutions accountable for the actions that led to, and the consequences of, unsustainable growth. International students made up 51.3 per cent of CapU’s full-time-equivalent enrolment in 2023–24, when the target in their 2021 internationalization plan stated “no more than 40%.” During this

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

time, many international students took online courses at Thompson Rivers University and transferred the credits afterwards, as there were not enough courses at CapU for them to get the minimum of nine credits needed to maintain Post-Graduation Work Permit eligibility. In June 2024, the B.C. government’s International Student Enrolment Guidelines became effective, stating that “international enrolment should not exceed 30%” and that “institutions should provide international students with transparent tuition fee costs [...] over the standard duration of the student’s study program.” CapU reported 48.7 per cent for 2024-25 in its Accountability Report and continues to not disclose full-program costs, as international tuition fee increases have been a year-by-year decision. In December 2025, the Courier asked CapU’s administration if the university had faced any kind of sanction for not following these guidelines. The administration’s response was one word: “No.”

Because non-regular faculty are not formally laid off, and are simply not given more work,it is difficult to calculate how many lost their jobs or saw their workload shrink significantly.

Regularization

“

I didn’t have a clear understanding of where I stood in the process of whether regularization was a guaranteed outcome if I did everything I was supposed to do,” explained REG1. They acknowledged that they could’ve sought out information at the time, but also recognized that the onboarding process can be overwhelming on its own. “There is a lot of information to absorb outside of thinking about regularization, and NREGs are often working across multiple post-secondary institutions,” they wrote, adding that “it’s hard to find the time or capacity to read through and understand all the intricacies of the regularization process.” They triggered the REG position before the decline in international enrolment but didn’t get it automatically. The interview process took place during the semester, “meaning additional administrative work on top of a full course load, and with very little notice for the interview,” they added. A faculty member who was a coordinator at the time (REG2) told the Courier that not all faculty were on board with the rate by which the university was growing. “We argued that it wasn’t sustainable to hire as many people as we were being asked to hire and we were told to do it anyway,” they said. By hiring multiple people without the certainty that there will continue to be enough work for everyone, explained REG2, the university risked creating precarious conditions even for REGs.

NEWS FEATURE

Uneven increases in salary expenses and erosion of trust

ven though CapU’s reliance on international enrolment is now widely accepted, that was not the case three years ago. The growing number of international students in 2023 overwhelmed students, who struggled to find a spot in the courses they needed. Departments scrambled to add courses with very short notice to meet demand, faculty received hundreds of emails from concerned students trying to secure a seat in their courses and even transit had bus lines so long they prompted the Capilano Students’ Union to push TransLink to increase service levels. According to REG2, the administration wouldn’t acknowledge that the number of international students they had enrolled had surpassed sustainable levels. “What we saw in our classrooms did not align with what the administration was reporting in regards to international student numbers,” they said. Back then, when the Courier inquired if CapU was concerned about relying on international enrolment to cover rising operating costs, Paul Dangerfield, the former president, responded: “At CapU, we are not reliant on international student tuition to deliver quality education.”

Another factor undermining trust in CapU’s administration, as explained by MoveUP Vice-President Christy Slusarenko in March, is that the impacts have been distributed unevenly. “Our union has been sounding the alarm for years that they are far too top-heavy,” she said, referring to administrative, exempt and excluded positions. To verify this claim, the Courier put together the following graph breaking down CapU’s expenses over the last six fiscal years, showing how faculty, exempt staff, and administrative salaries changed alongside the rise and fall of international tuition revenue. The figures and percentage calculations have been reviewed by CapU’s Vice-president Finance & Administration, who confirmed their accuracy on October 14, 2026. The area shaded in yellow represents international tuition revenue, and the three lines represent expenses from the different employee groups. The faculty (teaching) line increased alongside tuition revenue but at a slower rate and then stabilized when tuition dropped. Meanwhile, the administration line continued to increase almost at the same rate even after international enrolment dropped.

CapU’s tuition revenue and salary expenses 100%

ADMINISTRATIVE salaries increased by 96%.

Percentage changes Compared with 2020-21

80%

EXEMPT STAFF salaries increased by 58%.

Administrative Exempt staff Faculty (Teaching)

EXPENSES: (salaries) 60% REVENUE: (tuition)

INTERNATIONAL FACULTY (TEACHING) salaries increased by 55%.

40% DOMESTIC 20%

-20%

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

2024-25

2025-26

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The gap between faculty (teaching) and administrative salary changes is partly explained by their different compensation structures. Non-regular faculty salaries are initially capped, while administrative positions—including the president, vice-presidents, managers and other non-union employees—are eligible for “performance-based” increases after completing one year of work. According to CapU’s policy B.516, these increases are calculated through a merit matrix based on available funding and four core principles: transparency, performance, differentiation and accountability. But how these are measured remains unclear, as executive compensation is approved through the Board of Governors’ in-camera process. In some cases, the publicly measurable outcomes do not appear to match the principles on which merit increases are based. For instance, Toran Savjord, former Vice-President of Strategic Planning, Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness, saw his total compensation rise from $195,363 in 2021–22 to $247,857 in 2024–25, with disclosed performance-based increases of roughly seven per cent per year. Over that same period, CapU’s international enrolment exceeded the 40 per cent target in its 2021 Internationalization Plan—with the consequences documented above—while domestic FTE targets went unmet, outcomes that could be considered relevant within the portfolio the merit matrix is meant to assess.

A new leadership and the pathway forward

he Courier requested a comment from president Jason Dewling regarding the uneven percentage changes in the chart. “University executive recognized the need to review the university’s administrative and exempt employee complement and engaged MNP to undertake a comprehensive review and provide recommendations,” wrote Dewling. In other words, the review conducted by the business consulting firm MNP will inform decisions focused on “flattening the organizational structure,” according to the President’s Report to the Board of Governors on October 13, 2026. “With the significant decline in international enrolment, we have already begun realigning programs and operations, and this review will help inform decisions about organizational structure, staffing levels and operational effectiveness. This work is part of our broader efforts to address projected operating deficits and ensure the university is organized to meet current and future needs.”

Meanwhile, collective bargaining between the Capilano Faculty Association (CFA) and the university is ongoing, meaning the union is currently negotiating faculty’s terms and conditions of employment. As CapU’s website notes, “universities must balance competitive compensation to attract and retain talent with limited funding and operational sustainability.” The issue of non-regular faculty’s placement on the pay scale is among the matters being negotiated, as indicated in the email exchange with the administration. The CFA’s ongoing efforts to improve NREGs’ working conditions are evident both in their bargaining proposals and in the way union representatives speak about NREGs. “We value them greatly,” Dr. Schimanski said, stressing that they do the same work as regular faculty. Colleges and universities have pointed to the government’s cap on study permits to explain NREGs’ loss of work. But these institutions were not passive observers of a surge of international students. No student can obtain a study permit without first receiving a letter of acceptance from an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution. Encouraged by the funding and policy environment, these institutions were actively investing in international recruitment. They shaped the growth that led to the current crisis, leaving the faculty whose work delivered that growth to bear the risks of a change in demand, without the protections that regular status provides. As these institutions adapt to a sudden drop in demand, it is important to question how growth should be structured in the future and whether it is acceptable for a university to be risk-averse when it comes to faculty regularization, while being risk-tolerant when it comes to growing at an unsustainable rate.

They shaped the growth that led to the current crisis, leaving the faculty whose work delivered that growth to bear the risks of a change in demand, without the protections that regular status provides.

—Jason Dewling, President and Vice-Chancellor. 11

NEWS

CapU Library Reduces Operating Hours as University Confronts Deficit An interview with Interim University Librarian Sabrina Wong

“I

do hear complaints from students,” said Parnit Kaur, the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) Vice President External, at the CSU’s Board of Directors meeting on October 16. She was referring to the library closing at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. as it did last term. Three years ago, the CSU successfully advocated for 24-hour library access during the final exam period. According to a CSU staff member involved with this advocacy goal at the time, the university even considered keeping the library open 24/7 beyond exam periods once the new oncampus residence was open, since some potential shared costs like security made it more feasible. With the university’s current financial situation, however, current advocacy efforts are less ambitious. Kaur explained that because some classes end after 8 p.m., students sometimes need the resources available at the library, such as computers, calculators, books or chargers. Kaur also said she raised the issue of the reduced library hours during last month’s meeting with the university executive. Dr. Vicki St. Pierre, the new provost and vice-president academic, explained to Kaur that the measure was a response to the university’s

WRITTEN BY Xiadany Jeanette Lopez Hernandez (she/her) NEWS WRITER

VISUALS BY Sophia Filsooﬁ (she/any) CONTRIBUTOR

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

current financial situation. According to Kaur, after she raised additional concerns about students in 8 p.m. classes, St. Pierre said she was “working on that.”

mentioned “[they’ve] been working with the provost’s office and we’re hoping to move forward with a plan to meet these needs.”

Interim University Librarian Sabrina Wong, expressed in an interview with the Courier that the library staff’s main goal is to support students in their academic journey. The library encourages students to share any concerns or opinions through their online form or the suggestion box in the front desk. She also wants students to know the library has more resources than just the ones offered in-person on campus. One of the resources available is an online help chat where librarians can answer questions from students. She emphasizes that this chat is 100 per cent answered by humans as they know it is important for students to have that “authentic connection.”

She explained it was too early to share any details but confirmed that as soon as they had any news, students would be the first ones to know. Wong encouraged students to be in the mailing list from the library to make sure they don’t miss any updates.

Wong also explained how “the institution is in the process of reviewing programs and services as part of this deficit mitigation and this really longterm sustainability planning.” In other words, the change in the library schedule is something that university administration decided based on the fiscal realities facing the school. The reduced visitation rate of students to the library is noted in the President’s Report to the Board, which is in line with the decrease in enrolment the university is facing.

So far there is no confirmation the new schedule will continue during the spring term since decisions are in part informed by the feedback they receive. “Whenever we make decisions about this in our library operations, we are always looking at student feedback and we are also always looking at library use data, which we collect, like wondering, you

“the institution is in the process

of reviewing programs and services as part of this deficit mitigation and this really longterm sustainability planning.”

The library is still a space students frequent, especially during September when new students need help adapting to their classes. Wong confirmed that “since the changing hours, we’ve probably seen the traffic that we would expect at the beginning of the fall term with lots of students using our library.” When asked if this change of schedule has affected the workload of the staff, Wong reassured that even though it is busy, the library staff is working on giving each student the best experience possible and the support they need. She also

know, when are people in the library, what kind of services people are using.” Wong ong emphasized how important it is for the library to support students, and how the library staff is more than willing to hear what students need. She said “we’re always open to talking with students and learning more from students about their experience and how we can support the learning.” and they are working to find ways to fulfill those expectations.

NEWS

CwasAPILANO U NIVERSITY NOT named after CHIEF JOE CAPILANO WRITTEN BY Sara Derksen (they/them) NEWS EDITOR

apilano University is making a correction to its land acknowledgment. On Sept. 22, CapU President and Vice-Chancellor Jason Dewling announced that the university land acknowledgment has been updated to no longer refer to Chief Joe Capilano and to remove reference to the now closed shíshálh (Sechelt) campus.

VISUALS BY Ryan Coomber (he/him) CONTRIBUTOR

this has been a concern that’s been raised for many, many years by our nations, by our elders, by our students, by our faculty, by our staff.

Until this update, CapU expressed across university communications that it was “named after Chief Joe Capilano (1854 - 1910), an important leader of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation of the Coast Salish Peoples.” Since the announcement, this has been removed from online versions of the land acknowledgment. It is unclear when replacement of physical materials displaying the acknowledgment will be complete. The university first opened in 1968 as Capilano College. A timeline previously available on the university website shows that the name Capilano was selected from “approximately 45 submissions made by North Shore residents,” without further explanations. Many of these submissions have been archived. The name Capilano was included in listed suggestions among other terms that are commonly used to name places on the North Shore, such as Northwest or Seymour. None make mention of Chief Joe Capilano. The announcement released by the Presidents’ office states that this change comes after the historical accuracy of the previous land acknowledgment was challenged for

THE UNIVERSITY HAS CORRECTED ITS LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT AMID CLAIMS OF HISTORICAL INACCURACY

several months prior to the update. However, this issue had been brought to the university’s attention long before this year. Interim Director of Indigenous Education and Affairs (IEA) Stephanie Merinuk clarified in an interview with the Courier that “this has been a concern that’s been raised for many, many years by our Nations, by our Elders, by our students, by our faculty, by our staff.”

Merinuk herself flagged the issue two years ago. At the time, her concerns grew after receiving feedback from Elders from the Elders-in-Residence program, students, and the university’s Indigenous Education Steering Committee. She raised the issue with then-Director of IEA Miranda Huron. Huron had let her know that the university reached out to Chief Joe Capilano’s family seeking permission to use his name. It is unclear when CapU contacted the family, but Merinuk shared that “from what [Merinuk understands] we never got permission.” This did not prompt the university to reassess their land acknowledgment at that point. The review that was triggered this year involved the IEA department consulting with Elders. It was found that the statement referring to Chief Joe Capilano should not be included in the acknowledgment. The update also omits mention of shíshálh (Sechelt) Nation.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

Previously, shíshálh Nation was acknowledged alongside səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəỷəm (Musqueam) Nations. Now, the new land acknowledgment specifically acknowledges the nations on whose unceded territories the university maintains campuses. In a Dec. 12, 2025 news release, CapU announced that its ḵálax̱-ay | Sunshine Coast campus in Sechelt would be closing its doors when the semester ended on April 24, 2026. The Coast Reporter confirmed in its reporting that the campus ceased all operations on May 12, 2026. The campus closure was part of CapU’s ongoing deficit mitigation efforts as the university faces a challenging fiscal situation. The Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) was made aware that the university was reviewing the land acknowledgment but were not invited to participate. CSU President Benisse Zinga explained in an email to the Courier that while she doesn’t have the lived experience to say what this update means for Indigenous students at CapU, she had some comments to share from the CSU Indigenous Students Liaison Elias Myran. “He personally doesn’t believe these

changes will significantly affect the day-to-day experience of the Indigenous student body.” She wrote that Myran also expressed concerns that “this may discourage future shíshálh students from enrolling.” In the meantime, Merinuk conveyed that this update was a step to start on a new pathway of better relationships with the university. She wanted students to know that she feels there is “a nice refreshing change in the leadership that’s come into the institution. More support, more desire to do better when it comes to Indigenous relations.” President Dewling echoed this sentiment in his announcement, affirming that this change to the land acknowledgment is part of the university’s ongoing efforts to “strengthen relationships, learn from our history and ensure our actions reflect the commitments we make as a university.”

NEWS

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. VICKI ST. PIERRE, C APU’S NEW PROVOST & VICE PRESIDENT ACADEMIC

r. Vicki St. Pierre, (she/they), did not exactly follow a linear path to becoming Capilano University’s new Provost & Vice-President Academic.

Before stepping into one of the university’s highest academic leadership positions, St. Pierre spent years as a freelance classical singer, opened three voice-teaching studios, conducted various community choirs and eventually earned a doctorate in music. “I feel like my style grew with my understanding of who I was and how I wanted to present,” explains St. Pierre, who stresses how crucial it is for them to “present as queer.” Her move into university leadership came unexpectedly during the pandemic. When remote learning was put in place during lockdown, she had to choose between learning how to teach online or apply for the administrative job available. She applied for an acting dean position at Mount Allison University. Now, as CapU’s new Provost & Vice-President, Academic—a position they assumed on August 4, 2026—St. Pierre brings all those experiences with her along with her main focus: “student experience.” But first, what exactly does a provost do?

THE FOREIGN ISSUE “The provost was […] the academic disciplinarian of a university,” St. Pierre tells the Courier, but now, “It’s just a title that means Vice-President Academic.” As provost, St. Pierre oversees the university’s academic and academic-adjacent side. It includes the deans, academic programming, Indigenous education and affairs, as well as students’ success areas. In other words, her role sits somewhere between a dean and a president. It is much broader than a dean, but focused specifically on the university’s academic mission unlike the president’s university wide mission. For St. Pierre, that academic mission ultimately comes back to one thing: students. “I am very focused on the student experience,” she says. “I want academics to serve the students.” That means looking at the entire student journey, from the moment a student considers applying to CapU to the day they graduate. St. Pierre says she wants to hear from them about what is working, what’s not and what they need from the university. Whether that means better academic support, changes to programs or to simply make the university feel like a “one-stop shop.” Her first year at CapU comes with plenty of issues to tackle. The university is currently facing a difficult financial situation, and St. Pierre says that one of her priorities is helping solidify its finances while maintaining “excellent academics and programming for students.” She wants to review programs and renew curriculums to make sure they reflect both what students want and what the job market needs. If a student has an issue with a course or an instructor, Vicki encourages them to start by addressing it with the person closest to the issue. She suggests starting with the instructor, then moving to a department chair or coordinator, dean or another appropriate level if necessary. She describes the university’s hierarchy less as a barrier and more as a way of making sure questions reach the people with the relevant knowledge and expertise. She encourages students to speak up and share their thoughts. Communication, transparency and listening are central to how she wants to improve the student experience. When making certain hard decisions, she emphasizes that “we are going to try to make them together.” And even when the answer isn’t what the students want to hear, St. Pierre says she wants students to receive as transparent an answer as possible. That desire to listen was part of what attracted her to CapU in the first place.

higher level. “Every person that I ran into was lovely,” she says. More than that, she sensed a “collective desire within the university to move forward.” “I felt this strong desire to move the campus forward into whatever Cap’s going to be in the future.” That feeling ultimately helped convince them to take the job. Her wife and two cats remain temporarily back home in New Brunswick while her wife finishes her teaching contract at Mount Allison. What began as an unexpected pandemic-era decision became a career shift. St. Pierre says how leadership gave her an opportunity to make changes and centre voices that are not always centred in academia. She describes academia as a space shaped by colonial and patriarchal structures and says she wanted to help challenge some of those patterns. St. Pierre’s background in music has shaped the way they lead. “Teaching voice is not a one-size-fits-all process” because the voice is an invisible instrument, St. Pierre talks about how she learnt to constantly adapt and teach students accordingly. If a visual image does not work for a student, she might try a physical sensation or another way of communicating the idea. That experience helps them pay attention to how different people learn and what they need in a particular situation. St. Pierre explained how her musical background inspires her teaching style and her leadership. “For different areas of my leadership, I draw on different things—sometimes I’m the conductor and sometimes an ensemble member,” she noted. “When people think of musical training, I think they think, oh, that seems easy. God, it’s so challenging and wonderful, and I don’t regret it for a moment that I have a doctorate in music. I think it makes me a better leader than a lot of people.” Their path to CapU may not have been linear, but perhaps that is exactly the point. The new provost wants students to know that neither their university experience nor their lives have to follow a predetermined route. Sometimes, the unexpected path can lead to somewhere that’s worth going.

St. Pierre did not move from New Brunswick to Metro Vancouver simply because she wanted a change of scenery. She was also ready for the next step in her career and wanted a position where she could make change at a

ARTS & CULTURE

e v o L d i d w o Hget lost in so much ? n o i t a z i l a e d I WRITTEN BY ) // Crew Writer María Camila Dávila (she/her

VISUALS BY Crew Illustrator Alex Baidanuta (she/her) //

Hinge is not to blame. We are, with all the impossible ideals we hold on to.

ho doesn’t want to be in love? Maybe we are not going to say it out loud, but we have all dreamed of being Allie or Noah from The Notebook. Precisely, we wanted to be in that scene in the movie when they kiss under the pouring rain. Oh boy, how much we wanted to have an extremely romantic love story!

provider, who is strong, unbreakable and emotionally unavailable. Women, on the other hand, are expected to adhere to traditional notions of femininity as the stay-at-home and obedient wife and the nurturing mother. When we realize that the story we believed in was nothing more than a fantasy and that the roles we imagined ourselves fulfilling were impossible to live up to, we become conflicted.

We grow up in a culture of monogamy, where all the weight of our emotional needs lies on one single person

However, instead of a fairy tale, as soon as we grow up we face a rude awakening. The reality may be that we realize our parents aren’t as in love as we thought they were. Or rather than a perfect meet-cute, we are scrolling through Hinge and Tinder at 11 p.m. Love, then, ends up being a strange and distant feeling; something we want so much but we don’t know how to get.

We were raised with the idea of a one true love that lasts for eternity: “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” We grow up in a culture of monogamy, where all the weight of our emotional needs lies on one single person, and where we all have assigned roles to fulfill, according to labels and gendered responsibilities. Usually men are expected to fulfill certain stereotypes as the 18

The problem here is not love per se. Actually, love is one of the few things in this life that feels undeniably real. The problem lies in the idealization we hold about love and relationships.

The Belgian psychotherapist, Esthel Perel, has dedicated her career to human relationships. In 2006, she released one of her most popular works: Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence. “To write about relationships,” explains Perel in the book, “one must acknowledge that there are multiple perspectives, cultural contexts, and moments—big and small— that harken back to wounds and messages from other eras.” A couple of years ago, I went to my therapy session with my heart broken. “Things didn’t work out. She cheated on me with

THE FOREIGN ISSUE a friend,” I told her. It was our fault. We didn’t respect each other as partners because we weren’t the right match and it wasn’t the right moment. “You are sharing some very disturbing news with me, but I think you feel relieved,” said my therapist. We spent the next 35 minutes talking about all the external circumstances that made the relationship seemingly unviable, including immigration, complicated relationships with our parents, social insecurities and internalized homophobia. In the end, it didn’t matter how romantic our first encounter was or how compatible we were because romance is not enough to cover up the scars inside us. There isn’t enough space on Hinge to write about all the things we carry with us.

Love is not static, and neither are relationships, and that’s more than okay.

We grow up with the idea that we have an “other half.” This is imposed by the media, passed down with tales from our friends, family and our communities. This is an extremely dangerous narrative because it implies that we are incomplete and cannot feel fulfilled without our “better half.” This idea particularly affects women because it reinforces the belief that a woman’s purpose is to get married and have children, and that her value depends on her ability to achieve these goals.

It feeds off the idea that women need to bend and transform to fit what’s expected of them and are not enough on their own. If she doesn’t follow through, she may be portrayed as a failure, and as though she is not good enough. Ultimately, even if we are not aware of it, this narrative plays a role in shaping young women’s desire to date. The idea of a “better half” is harmful not only because it suggests that we are missing something, but also because it places an enormous amount of responsibility on our future partners to make us feel complete. “Today, we turn to one person to provide what an entire village once did: a sense of grounding, meaning, and continuity [. . .] Is it any wonder that so many relationships crumble under the weight of it all?” writes Perel. This invites reflection on the weight we are putting on our romantic relationships, and the lack of importance we give to every other kind of relationship that we might have. Perhaps, if we stop idealizing the way that a partner should be, if we forget about the roles and the expectations, our emotional needs would be covered in a more reliable and realistic way. I truly believe that, eventually, we will all find love. However, we need to be willing to let go of our idealized expectations of relationships. We need to be open to rethinking how relationships work and what works best for us as individuals. The relationship models we’ve grown up with are also something we need to question and deconstruct. We need to know that a relationship is not inherently more valuable simply because it follows traditional standards. The value lies in recognizing that love is not static, and neither are relationships. And that’s more than okay. If we insist on replicating standards, such as monogamy, that have never been attainable in the first place, we won’t allow things to grow, let alone move forward. As Esther Perel says, “Any person or system exposed to ceaseless novelty and change risks falling into chaos; but one that is too rigid or static ceases to grow and eventually dies.”

l a r u t l Cu s r e n r Co

ARTS & CULTURE

The Art of Finding Com fort in Unexpected Places

Culture is a curious thing.

t is weaved into the most unexpected places, in every small detail, in every heartbeat. It doesn’t have a formula that can be replicated. It is alive, ever-changing. When you are at the heart of your culture, you don’t realize what components go into it. You don’t think about the smells, the sounds, the colours that create the environment around you. You just exist in it, thrive in it. It is just there, present, vibrating around the city, the media, the conversations.

It exists in you and outside of you, and you don’t think about it because it is yours. Moving away from home makes you realize just how much those details matter. How much the smell of the chilaquiles your grandmother is making in the kitchen changes the way you perceive your house. How the sounds of traffic and street musicians make your commute to work so much more vibrant. How the colourful houses downtown add charm to running errands. Suddenly, the new city feels empty, gray and muffled. Even though you are submerging yourself in someone else’s culture, it doesn’t feel as warm and welcoming as your own. You look for places that have the label of your culture. Maybe it is a Mexican restaurant, an Independence Day event in a community centre, or a neighborhood. But it doesn’t feel quite right. The food tastes different. The community centre event feels off. The neighborhood is lacking that charm you crave but you haven’t figured out yet where it comes from. You adapt. You keep moving through the motions, surviving, evolving. You put in the effort to get to know more of the new culture you are in, to get to know the city, the people, to make new traditions, new friends, new habits. You try to fill the space with the new, the different, the local things that feel so unfamiliar and unexpected. But the longing for your own doesn’t go away. You keep 20

WRITTEN BY Alexie Lunaime (she/her) // Arts and Culture Editor VISUALS BY Anya Ali Mulzet (they/them) // Crew Illustrator

missing that connection, that spice that you overlooked once. You don’t miss the big things, the flashy things. You miss the tiny things, things you never thought about when you had them. You miss the sound of a rooster in the distance, early in the morning. You miss the smell of the lemons and spices of the snacks you would get once you got out of school. Until one day, you walk into Costco, and one of the aisles smells just right, like cochinita pibil is supposed to smell. You freeze but move towards it. The aisle is just a hallway, but it looks like the one you used to go to. You get a glimpse of warmth and home. And then, you might find a Spanish conversational club at a public library with a couple people from your hometown and a bunch of people from your Mexico. They understand your references and laugh at the jokes you make in your mother tongue, and it feels so right that you come back next week, and then the week after that. You might find a coffee shop hidden in your neighborhood that is not from your culture, but the barista is from Venezuela, and it feels like talking to a cousin, so you keep coming back every Saturday.

Culture is what we make of it, even when there are thousands of kilometres in between home and us. Culture is a curious thing. It is a patchwork quilt, made of memories, habits and collective understanding. It is the jokes, and the awful TV shows we watched as kids. It’s the way you wear or don’t wear shoes inside the house, the way that you organize your grocery shopping, the gestures you make when you are talking to somebody. It’s the shared experience of reading certain school textbooks, or the songs our mothers sing to us in the car ride. It’s going to show up in the most unthinkable of places. Culture is what we make of it, even when there are thousands of kilometres in between home and us.

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ARTS & CULTURE

r ws Write er) // Ne BY WRITTEN Jeannette (She/H Xiadany tor Contribu BY VISUALS mber (he/him) // Ryan Coo

Step-by-step guide on how to deal with homesickness while you are abroad How to deal with homesickness on a daily basis: 1. Bring items, traditions and gastronomy from your home country to your new life. The first thing you looked into when you moved to Vancouver was where you could find good food from home. Specifically, you looked for stores that sell the rarest ingredients. To your surprise, there’s a store 10 minutes away from the place you rented. It had all sorts of snacks, even cleaning supplies from different countries in South America. Naturally, you spent more money on your usual products than what you’re used to. You went back to your new place, with your two unpacked, overflowing suitcases and your phone full of “How was your day, is it cold there?” Do not tell them the food doesn’t taste as good as the food back home.

2. Keep in touch with your loved ones. The good thing about technology is that it helps us stay connected. The bad thing is that it’s never enough. Receiving a happy birthday message from someone you love can never fill the space that belonged to that hug you used to receive every year. You kept sending to friends: “Let me know when 22

you’re home, be safe!” even if you would not be able to help if they were in danger. But you tell yourself you would never stop texting and calling. It’s not enough to stop missing them, but you will take this over nothing.

3. Do things that make you happy and excite you. After the first summer you went back home, you got into bed and started crying because you realized you’re never going back to the life you used to have. You weren’t sure if everyone had changed, or if you were the one who changed. When you returned to Canada, you learned how to use Google Calendar and wrote down in purple all the concerts, events, workshops and birthday parties you could find. You broke the unspoken rule of calling your friends every night. At first they didn’t like it, but they have a life after the call ends and you don’t. You met new people; some nice, some not so much. You tried to fit in. Until the ringing of the phone and the guilt got too loud to ignore, a loved one explained that your grandma was sick, friends had to move and your best friend got their heart broken. You couldn’t do anything about it. Even worse, you didn’t know until after it happened. You stop talking to some friends after they laughed at you for crying on the phone. That is one of the many times you felt foreign. You were not entirely adapted to Vancouver. It didn’t matter how much you tried, you still questioned if you ever would be.

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4. Take vitamin D for the lack of sun and warmth. Winter was rough. It lacked sun, lacked friends, lacked a warm home. Mom told you to “take vitamin D. You are built for warmer weather.” So, every morning,you took one and sent her a message saying, “Good morning, Love you!” During winter break, you asked, “Are you going to visit me soon?” Too many times. On December 24, you were invited to dinner with a family that is not yours, tried their turkey and smiled to hide that you’re comparing it to grandma’s. You don’t remember much of January. You went to class, did homework, went to work and went home. You watched Instagram stories of your friends going to concerts, graduating, one got back together with that ex you promised to keep away from and your friend kept sending you videos of “long distance best friends.” Even if you haven’t talked in two weeks. You felt detached from both lives, frustrated no one

at home understands how complicated scheduling a doctor’s appointment can be in Vancouver. And you became tired of having to explain again in a 100-level class, why politics at home are complicated and different from Canada.

5. Accept your double life. Eventually you met new people again. This time you made deeper connections and they tried their best to understand the references you made in a different language. You found something that you feel passionate enough about to do well in classes, and you fell in love. You travel home and for the first time you miss Vancouver and the life you have there. Part of your home will permanently be far away from you, it doesn’t matter where you are. The good thing is you can call two places home, and that you had the privilege of loving both.

T he good thing is you can call two places home, and that you had the privilege of loving both.

ARTS & CULTURE

r o w a L t s u j n An U ? h t i a F f o p a e aL CapU alumni partner pushes boundaries in VIFF cryonics documentary, Relax Open Your Eyes WRITTEN BY

Maximilliano Chi Leung Alserda (he/him)

CONTRIBUTOR

he 45th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) wouldn’t be possible without the 800 staff and volunteers working behind the scenes across 11 days in October. Some of whom are Capilano University film students and alumni screening their work. A huge spotlight this year is on feature debuts, especially championing B.C. filmmakers. Last year we saw the likes of Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) alumnus Sophy Romvari, with scenes of Blue Heron being shot in the Bosa Centre. Now she’s a curator for the current “Leading Lights” segment, showcasing her influences in“subtle women cinema,” as she calls it. This wave of local talent continues the trend with Relax, Open Your Eyes.

The 2026 lineup showed a bigger shift towards documentaries compared to previous years, as noted by the producer Michael Tanko Grand, when I interviewed him and David Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich is the director of Relax, Open Your Eyes, marking his first foray into documentary. Grand commented on why he and Telefilm Canada had faith in this project and how VIFF platforms local filmmakers: “There’s Joella Cabalu’s first feature, First Comes Love: Nakabingwit [. . .] as well as people coming back like Justin Ducharme with Seventeen.” In Relax, Open Your Eyes, cryonics has been a hard issue to tackle since it invites skepticism from the scientific community and is banned in B.C. as a service due to restrictions under Section 14 of the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act. It’s forbidden to cryopreserve a body after legal death. Ehrenreich chose an “anti-nihilist and pro-environmental approach” instead of a scientific exposé that tackles the whole of 24

VISUALS BY

Santiago Ospina (he/him)

CONTRIBUTOR

cryonics. He asks us to believe in human ingenuity while he remains completely transparent with the audience. His aim is not to concoct a sci-fi journey, but one of radical openness to counter death through the lens of love and their fight for the future.

Cryonics has been a hard issue to tackle since it invites skepticism from the scientific community and is banned in B.C. Carrie Radomski and her family are at the heart of the documentary. For over a decade, she has been a member at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a non-profit based in Arizona focused on researching cryonics. Its members can choose between neuropreservation, which puts the brain in stasis under liquid nitrogen, or undergoing the full body to stop from entirely decaying. By replacing body fluids to preserve their cells, they hope for a future where technology is advanced enough to bring them back. During their annual meetup, Carrie says there’s over a 50 per cent chance of being revived someday if she’s preserved with no delay. Then, we see another member assert that they would rather have a whole new body, rather than preserving their own. Later in Salem, we encounter Alicia Keberle, a female specialist and key research collaborator working with Oregon Cryonics. She chooses not to

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

sign up for her body being preserved, as she considers that life is beautiful. But what makes it more beautiful is dealing with the hard parts, having no desire to continue past what she’s supposed to. The cryonics community is in “no way monolithic in their ideas,” as Ehrenreich points out. Even cryonicists are “skeptics of their own pursuit.” He commends their bravery and leap of faith as it’s still an evolving and complex field.

Grief never takes shape; we make space for others, loving even as we wait in their absence Grief never takes shape; we make space for others, loving even as we wait in their absence, just as Sasha does in Blue Heron. Both films sit with the uncertainty of death. Yet in Relax, Open Your Eyes, Carrie follows in the footsteps of three generations of female dissidents by rebelling against B.C. law. She relocates to Alberta to save her family, skirting legal obstacles to realize her dream to build the first Canadian cryonics centre, a resistance both personal and political. All her energy is dedicated to cryonics, ensuring bodies are delivered to a facility on time so loved ones might recover their memories if they are revived. She even carves her own container to stop time for her husband, Witek, who’s facing grave threats to his health, and is suffering from 10-20 seizures a day at a medical monitoring unit. This led him to believe that consciousness is rare and fragile in this universe. Whether you want to hope that cryogenics are happening or not, Ehrenreich thinks “it’s all a matter of personal decision.” The film doesn’t give us a roadmap to loss or prolonging life as we tag along on Carrie’s journey across the States, Spain and Switzerland, training with international cryonicists who are passionate about helping humanity. Even in the process of making it, many of the people he’s become close with have since been cryopreserved. Yet, he’s just as lost, saying that it gave him a real sense of relief knowing that was what they wanted. Ultimately, this documentary is a minefield of questions for opening a two-way conversation with the audience. It’s an effort to listen and challenge our preconceived notions of cryonics in pop culture. 25

COMMUNITIES

S U a d a n a C The

Tra Tr rad ade de Wa War ar HOW DOES IT AFFECT CANADIANS?

n Nov. 2024, just three weeks after his inauguration, Donald Trump announced he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canada and Mexico, citing border security and U.S. safety. This created an undertone of trade tensions. Shortly after, in Feb. 2025, Donald Trump acted on his announcement by initiating the trade war. He asserted that the United States has not been gaining as many economic and political advantages as it is losing. Trump claims that the U.S. has been “ripped off for 50 years by Canada,” and chose to go against the 2018 Free Trade Agreement that was initially proposed and supported by the Trump administration. This caused the Canadian economy to take a significant hit.

WRITTEN BY Yasmine Elsayed (she/her) // Contributor VISUALS BY Ren Zhang (they/them) // Contributor

Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs to pressure the Trump administration to lift its tariffs. From a geopolitical standpoint, it is important that North America maintain amicable and stable relations. The trade war could have serious consequences. While costly, the Canadian government had an obligation to defend itself. If the government had not retaliated, it would have sent Canadians a clear message: it does not stand up for its people. There was no better way to respond to this trade war while defending Canada’s sovereignty.

Donald Trump announced he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canada and Mexico, citing border security and U.S. safety.

USAfacts states that the U.S. and Canada have a trade deficit, which is when a country imports more than it exports. From the U.S. perspective, Canada profits more from its exports to the U.S. than the U.S. does, highlighting the importance of trade dynamics. “In 2025, 85.8% of U.S. imports from Canada were goods. The largest category was industrial supplies and materials, which include oil, chemicals, plastics and other items used in the production processes. These imports totalled $195.9 billion.” The U.S., conversely, exports about 78.4 per cent to Canada.

TD Economics says some record-setting is still needed. While the two countries have a trade deficit, it is not as large as the U.S. makes it out to be. On the contrary, “[Canada] makes up one of the smallest trade deficits.” This further explains that the U.S. benefits greatly from trade with Canada because of the high quality of its goods and services. For example, the U.S. manufacturing, automotive, and infrastructure sectors need aluminum and steel. According to the Aluminium Association of Canada, the U.S. relies on Canada for 75 per cent of its aluminum.

Since the trade war began, Canadians have been caught in the crossfire. Due to the intense inflation, groceries and many other necessities have become too expensive for most Canadians to afford. Harris and Partners conducted a nationwide survey of 2,664 Canadians in order to determine how their finances have changed since the trade war. The survey emphasized that Canadians now feel more financially vulnerable than they did before the trade war.

Key points include: 95.2 per cent of Canadians say rising costs—including food, housing and utilities— have impacted their finances recently. 94.2 per cent report that broader economic changes like inflation and interest rates are affecting their financial plans. 93.6 per cent feel that rising everyday costs are putting direct pressure on their finances.

THE SOMETHING ISSUE

UP-COMING NOVEMBER EVENTS PROTESTS & ACTIVISM NOV. 6

HOW WE COULD END HOMELESSNESS IN THE DTES WALKING TOUR

Balmoral Program Space | 159 E. Hastings FREE Attendance 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

NOV. 7, 14, 21 & 28

METRO VANCOUVER UNITED FOR PALESTINE (MVUP) WEEKLY RALLY

Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia St. Side) 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.

HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL NOV. 4

WRITERS READING FROM MEGAPHONE’S VOICES OF THE STREET

First United Dining Hall | 320 E. Hastings FREE Attendance 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

NOV. 4

WHO WANTS TO BE DECOLONIZED?

Carnegie Theatre | 401 Main FREE Attendance 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

NOV. 6

LIFE AT OPS FILM SCREENING

SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema | 149 W Hastings St Tickets: $0 - $30 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

VANCOUVER MUSIC & CULLTURE NOV. 5 QUEST MASTER W/ CLĪWEN

The Cobalt | 917 Main Street Tickets: $30 8:00 p.m. 11:59 p.m.

NOV. 8, 15, & 29

CATWALK STAR | OPENCALL ALL LEVELS DRAG PERFORMANCE

1181 Lounge | 1181 Davie St Tickets: PAY AT DOOR vancouverpunkcalendar.com

NOV. 21

DEMOLITION DAYS: VIC BONDI AND HIS ISSUES / SLIP~ONS / UPTIGHTS / EARMARKED

Red Gate | 1965 Main St Tickets: PAY AT DOOR vancouverpunkcalendar.com

SEASONAL EVENTS NOV. 27 - DEC. 24

SHIPYARDS CHRISTMAS MARKET

Lonsdale Quay & Shipyards Sun to Thurs: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Fri & Sat: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

HAPPENING AT CAP-U NOV. 12 - 21 THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

CapU Centre for Performing Arts Tickets: $13 - $27 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

COMMUNITIES

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

91.6 per cent have changed how they

manage money in the past six months due to these shifting economic conditions. This suggests that the cost of living and the income Canadians receive are inversely related. Purchasing power is decreasing while the cost of living is rising. Generally speaking, Canada was already facing affordability challenges before the trade war, and now it has hit a new high of unaffordability. The Daily Hive reported in 2023 that the average minimum-wage worker in British Columbia needed at least $32 per hour in order to afford a one-bedroom apartment. In 2025, “you’ll need to earn almost $40 an hour just to afford a onebedroom apartment,” the Daily Hive writes in a 2025 article. Food affordability has also gone up. “Affordability is outweighing nutrition and taste when Canadians are buying food, and some are even dipping into their savings or borrowing money to make those purchases,” The Global News reports.

Canadians stepped up when the country needed them. The “buy Canadian” movement showed that boycotts can cause damage. Now the Canadian government must help Canadians make life affordable, since this movement realistically cannot last much longer. While the importer pays the required tax on imported goods, the consumer still pays for the price increases. American economist Kimberly Clausing, in an interview with Time Magazine, said, “We’re actually kind of taxing ourselves when we put on the tariffs, and the Canadians are taxing themselves in response. So it’s the actions of the Trump Administration that are raising costs for U.S. consumers. The actions of the Carney administration are not; they’re hurting Canadian consumers.”

Canadians stepped up when the country needed them. The “buy Canadian” movement showed that boycotts can cause damage.

The lack of competition in grocery stores is constantly weakening the Canadians’ resolve to maintain the boycott. For years, Canadians have spoken up about the lack of competition. In 2023, ex-NDP leader Jagmeet Singh introduced Bill C-352, a bill aimed at lowering prices for Canadians. The NDP tried to confront this issue head-on, criticizing the oligopoly and the monopolization of Canadian livelihoods. Although it had some early success, the bill did not pass. As a result, Canadians’ need to cope with the affordability crisis may outweigh their desire to boycott.

COMMUNITIES

FOREIGNER IN YOUR OWN HOME

Growing up half Canadian and half Japanese means learning that identity is rarely split 50/50

WRITTEN BY Yuji H. (He/Him) // Contributor

VISUALS BY Andy Poystila (he/him) // Production Manager

“F

or although there are two official languages, there is no official culture, nor does any ethnic group take precedence over any other. No citizen or group of citizens is other than Canadian, and all should be treated fairly.” —Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1971 The former Prime Minister’s message meant that Canada would no longer demand one cultural recipe. People would not have to bleach away their identities to “appear” Canadian. Their languages, traditions and cultural histories would instead be tossed into the great national salad called multiculturalism. Decades later, I was born into that salad as a little mixture of Japanese sesame and Canadian maple. Unfortunately, like an unfamiliar appetizer at a crowded table, it is often overlooked for something more familiar, or treated as a novelty to be examined and exoticized. In Japan, hāfu means half Japanese, but the word can sometimes emphasize the difference between someone like me and someone considered fully Japanese. It can make “half” feel less like a description and more like a dividing line. I am Canadian, not the cartoonish kind you see on TV, like a lumberjack drinking Molson in a hockey rink. But the boring kind you see everyday. The one you see waiting for the bus. I was born here. I grew up here. I went to school here.

“Why do you eat raw fish?” This is not open hostility. Most people ask out of ignorant curiosity, but treat me like any other dumb kid growing up. What bothers me is being put on the spot and quizzed about Japan through Western stereotypes. I am not an anime encyclopedia. I am bad at math. I do not know which half I feel closer to because I have never thought of myself as two clean halves. I am Japanese, but I am also Canadian and a pile of other things that do not fit into somebody else’s ideal of a hāfu.

It can make “half” feel less like a description and more like a dividing line

But when I was a little maple leaf, some people would start asking me questions:

“Where are you really from?” “Do you speak Japanese?” 32

Canada is my home. I am not sure what imaginary checklist people are using to decide whether someone is Canadian or not. I don’t care about hockey, I say “Vancouver” instead of “Vangcouver” and I have never once felt the urge to wrestle a moose. I do not need to check all the boxes to prove that I belong here.

This answer isn’t enough for some people. Some people would ignore me and search for someone who could help them feel closer to the Japan they imagined. Their Japan was assembled from anime, samurai movies, cute mascots and whatever other marketing slop that has been curated, packaged and fed to the West to make a sale. I used to feel like a gacha game dispensing little cultural trinkets. If people did not like what came out, they moved toward something shinier for their next matcha dopamine hit. The criticism also came from within my own community and family, where I was scrutinized for not being Japanese enough.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE Some older Japanese people who knew I was hāfu expected me to immediately grasp the language, etiquette and social rules of being Japanese, as if that knowledge had been installed at birth. At the dojo, failing to understand Japanese could earn me a shinai—a four-piece bamboo practice sword—to the throat. In other settings, I was expected to know every rule of respect and honour when addressing or serving the sensei and senpai. My mother taught me a few things, but being labelled half Japanese and then berated for not possessing all that knowledge at age ten? Bone-chilling.

I do not need to apologize for any part of me. Finding balance between both does not mean dividing myself perfectly into two pieces. It means understanding that being Canadian and Japanese are only parts of who I am. I am a writer, a student and someone shaped by experiences and dreams. I do not need to apologize for any part of me. I have a strange recipe: Canadian maple mixed with Japanese sesame. I belong to both.

I was scrutinized for not being Japanese enough. Fortunately, those experiences belong to the past, and they do not speak for every Japanese person. Growing older taught me that the people demanding proof of my Japanese or Canadian identity, were running an exam I never agreed to take. So I don’t. I do not owe either country proof of who I am.

COMMUNITIES

: d i K w e N e

ThLife of tainonal a n r e I nt

Student

landed in Vancouver on a rain-soaked August afternoon, and because an August sky in Tehran would never dare to weep like that, I stood outside the airport convinced that the weather would be the strangest thing I would have to learn in this country. I was wrong. The strangest thing, the thing that took me years to understand, was that a person can do everything right, can claw her way through every closed door, and still find herself utterly alone on the other side of it. I am writing this for the ones who are where I was, the ones who arrived last month or last week and are lying awake tonight, certain that they are the only person on earth carrying a war in their chest that no one around them can see. I want you to know that I have stood exactly where you are standing, and that I understand. What no one warns you about is how immigration hardens people. Somewhere between the country they lost and the country that does not quite want them, people from my community grow a shell, a stoic and self-protective coldness, until they can walk past their own kind without a flicker of recognition.

immigration hardens people.

I learned this on my second day, walking down Lonsdale, the heart of the Persian community, with my hair covered in a bandana. I felt the disdain in strangers’ eyes long before I could name it, and I spent the whole walk wondering what I had done wrong. It was my mother, four years later, who finally explained that after a lifetime under a regime that polices women’s hair, some of them flinch at anything that resembles a hijab. My own people had looked at a frightened girl, newly arrived and trying her best, and saw only the thing they had fled. It did not stop there. When I searched for work, the Canadian employers saw a foreigner not worth the risk, while the Persian ones saw someone too new to know her rights and offered me wages they knew were beneath the law. When my first apartment was sold out from under me in the middle of the lease, no one told 34

Finding your way in a new country and becoming the person you once needed

WRITTEN BY Farnaz Abdolmaleki (She/Her) // Contributor VISUALS BY Leonardo Velazquez (he/him) //

Contributor

me I had any right to object, and so I folded my entire life back into a single suitcase within a week of having unpacked it. I was the first person in my family to leave, which means there was no one ahead of me on the road, no voice to call and ask, and so I became my own map. I taught myself how transit worked, how visas are renewed, how you transfer between universities, how you fight a landlord and how you find, in a foreign grocery store, some pale imitation of the food you were raised on. There was one person who reached out to me in those early days, a professor, Persian like me, who told me quietly that he knew I was a good student and he knew I was struggling. He placed his own phone into my hands so that I could reach my parents through the silence that fell over Iran. That autumn, when the government cut its people off from the world, because he understood that I could no longer afford to hear their voices any other way. Since then, I have measured every act of kindness with him, and that is how rare it was. So let me say what I needed to hear back then: Yes, it is hard. And yes, you are carrying more than the people around you will ever understand, because whatever they think they know about being new, arriving from across the world with that war still in your chest is not the same as arriving from next door. But it will not always look like this. It may take you months, or it may take you years, and there is no shame in either, but one day you will stop being lost.

loneliness is a season and not a sentence.

One day you will be the one who knows where the food is, the one a frightened newcomer calls, the one who reaches back. I gathered the students who came after me and we built something that resembled a community, a place where we taught one another how to stand. Many of them are my closest friends today. I tell you this not to boast but to promise you that loneliness is a season and not a sentence.

And when that day comes, when you finally set down the suitcase for good, this place, which asked so much of you and gave so little in return, might at last begin to feel a little like home.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

COMMUNITIES

#SoWhite

Grammys

THE LEGACY OF SEGREGATING BIPOC CREATORS FROM THE GENERAL CATEGORIES WRITTEN BY Andrea Chiang (they/them) // Contributor VISUALS BY Lily Jones (she/her) || Contributor

n June 2026, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), commonly known as the Recording Academy, announced several new categories for their 69th annual Grammy awards ceremony honouring excellence in the music industry. To receive the prestigious golden gramophone is one of the highest honours a music creator and professional can achieve in the United States.

BTS’s boycott is a response to the 2027 Grammy Awards’ new category: Best Asian Pop Music Performance, and has reignited a debate about representation in the half-century-old awards show.

sponse to e r a s i t t o c y o BTS’s b ards’ w A y m m a r G the 2027 sian Pop A t s e B : y r o g e new cat ance, Music Perform

The Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says the intent behind creating Best Asian Pop Music Performance category is to provide “‘more opportunities to celebrate different and new genres of music.’” This is contradicted by the fact that the new category uses a regional label, “Asian,” rather than a genre label like K-Pop. It lumps all K-Pop, J-Pop, Mandopop, Cantopop and any other pop music from Asia into one broad Asian category which opens up a Pandora’s box of questions:

It’s why it came as a shock to many when a month later the globally-renowned South Korean K-Pop boy group, BTS, released on their individual Instagram accounts an identical statement that translates to: “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year.”

Best Asian Pop Music Performance

Can any of the 48 countries classified as Asia under the United Nations submit their pop music into that category, including Russia and Saudi Arabia? Will we see other genre categories in the future expand to include regional categories? Why haven’t we seen award categories

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

such as North American Pop or European Classical? Contrary to the CEO’s intent to “‘represent more music creators, artists, writers, and producers’” the rule to include “meaningful use of one or more Asian languages” makes it difficult for many Asian artists to participate. This requirement disqualifies any major English-language releases from Asian artists, like BTS and Blackpink, who have plenty of songs recorded entirely in English for the Western market. Any Asian artists from the West won’t be eligible in the category unless their song is in an Asian language. Miist, a Chinese American recording artist, is optimistic and hopes that this award “becomes a doorway rather than a destination.” But the precedent the Grammys have set with the Latinx and Black community proves otherwise.

Best Grammy Snubs The Grammy Big Four—Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist— are the oldest, most coveted award categories and open to all music genres. Despite Hispanic-Americans making up the second-largest racial group in the U.S., Latin artists have rarely won, much less been nominated, for non-Latin categories. Only three Latin artists have ever won Album of the Year and no Latin artist has ever won Song of the Year since the Grammy’s inception in 1959. Unfortunately, winning one of the Big Four Grammys isn’t measured purely by skill and talent. Beyoncé, a Black female artist, has a total of 99 Grammy nominations and 35 Grammy wins. She has the most total Grammy wins of any artist in the history of the Grammys, and yet has only ever received two Big Four Grammys. Meanwhile Adele, a white female artist with 25 Grammy nominations and 16 Grammy wins has received almost all of the Big Four Grammys twice. More than half of Adele’s Grammy wins were from the Big Four Grammy categories.

Best Representation Although the Recording Academy’s CEO argues that these categories don’t prevent BIPOC artists from qualifying for other categories, it sends the message that they do not belong in the mainstream. Bad Bunny’s Grammy win in 2026 was notable because DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS was the “first predominantly Spanish-language release to win album of the year” in the entire 69-year-run of the Grammys, according to a LA Times article. Considering that the U.S. has the most Spanish-speakers in any non-Hispanic country in the entire world, the rarity of such an achievement is jaw-dropping. It’s almost as if Latin artists are expected to stay in the Latin Grammy Awards.

Beyoncé receiving the Best Country Album award in 2025 was just as notable because she was the first Black female artist to win. Beyoncé’s win was applauded by many Black country artists, but was not well-received by the Country Music Association (CMA). Shortly after, the Grammys announced that the Best Country Album award will be split into two new categories: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Contemporary Country Album. The music genre has always been seen as white, despite Black people’s significant contributions to country music’s roots. The new category seems to be a way to appease the white country artists who were unhappy with the result. Many of these artists are treated like outsiders, but they have always been a part of the mainstream culture in the West. BTS has been performing sold-out concerts. In their most recent world tour, they broke records for the most shows performed and the most attendees at the SoFi stadium in California, a total of eight shows and approximately 496,000 visitors. Members of the idol group are ambassadors for high couture brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton, and continue to collaborate with globallyrecognizable American brands like Coca-Cola, Calvin Klein and Champion.

BTS’s boycott is more than a refusal to be boxed in, but a demand to be respected the same as any other white artist BTS’s boycott is more than a refusal to be boxed in, but a demand to be respected the same as any other white artist competing for the general categories. Representation isn’t a simple, single solution to years of systemic racism that continues to exclude marginalized groups. You need more voices from different communities and to hear their feedback. Straykids, a K-Pop boy group that’s been extremely popular in the U.S., has recently joined BTS in boycotting the Grammys after the Recording Academy chose to follow through with adding the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. Tyler the Creator called out the Grammys’s racist “urban” categories consistently being awarded to Black artists. Daddy Yankee, Maluma and J Balvin have criticized the Latin Grammys for continuing to ignore urbano, reggaeton and Latin trap. These are genres that have historically been subjected to racist and classist associations of criminal activity. Hopefully with time we’ll see change, like BTS, “I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.” 37

HUMOUR

N O I T I D U A

NOTICE: A CANADIAN MUSIC COMPANY COPIES AND MULA. RECREATES THE PERFECT IDOL MAKING FOR (she/her) // Contributor WRITTEN BY Snizhana Melnyk (she/her) // Contributor VISUALS BY Polina Maksimenko

NEW IDOL GROUP HIRING VANCOUVEREXCLUSIVE ARTISTS

ATTENTION TO ALL ASPIRING VANCOUVER-BASED MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS! Are you interested in becoming the next global superstar? Do you believe your passion for music can steal the hearts of millions of international fans? Do you think you have what it takes to fight off fans who will follow you wherever you go? Do you want to sacrifice your privacy for a chance to become like your idols? The Society for Canadian Appropriated Music (SCAM) is glad to announce that auditions for our first Vancouverbased global K-pop boy group are now open! Prepare for years of training under the guidance of industry professionals who failed in their careers and had to sign contracts with us because nobody else wanted to hire them. Live rent-free in our dorms with at least 20 other trainees who will try to sabotage each other to get a single spot on the group’s final lineup. Enjoy balanced meals and make sure to report your every food intake, as it will be closely monitored by our dietary professionals to ensure you’re skinny enough to fit into clothes from the H&M children’s section. Finally, build trusting connections and debut in a group consisting of other international trainees who have nothing in common but the shared trauma of surviving trainee years! *

In case of a successful debut, all members will be responsible for covering all expenses made by SCAM Entertainment during the training period. Only after reaching that financial goal will the members begin to receive their wages.

We accept applications from anyone, regardless of age,* education** or nationality.***Please note that knowledge of Korean is not required because no one at the company actually speaks Korean.

Only applicants born after 2010 will be considered for the group’s final lineup. We will not give reparations for missed education on the auditionee’s time. Only for those who hold permanent residency or are Canadian citizens.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

WE ARE LOOKING FOR CANDIDATES IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: Singing/rapping Dancing Visual

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING CONTENT IN YOUR APPLICATION: two-minute and 30-second self-introduction video that demonstrates your talent (if you have one). three-minute audition video that shows either your singing or dancing skills (for applicants under the category “Visual,” a portrait photo is enough). Contact information other than email (phone number, social media accounts and passwords for them). Proof of travel eligibility (Passport, credit card numbers, SIN card). Consent form for any cosmetic procedure requested by our agency. Successful candidates will be invited to an in-person audition at our head office in Calgary, Alberta! *

We do not cover any travel fees and/or accommodation. All at the expense of the applicant. We at SCAM cannot wait to receive your application and exploit your talents to create the next international sensation! *

SCAM does not guarantee the success of the group or any individual members. Please note that in case of any arising conﬂict of interest, the member’s exclusive contract will be immediately terminated, followed by the use of legal action. Individuals will be responsible for covering all expenses made by the company during their training period. 39

HUMOUR

TH R A E L N U CA EW POP D FE D N E R T RINK WRITTEN BY Hugh Mann (we/us) CONTRIBUTOR

VISUALS BY Alex Baidanuta (she/her) CREW ILLUSTRATOR

atcha. Ube. Yuzu. These are all trending food items we like to put in drinks. All of them are from various parts of what we call “Asia.” Aside from tasting extremely delicious, what exactly makes them special? Why do we see them trending so much on the Canadian-American TikTok and on Instagram reels?

Something truly mind-dazzling and out of this world. It is called:

It is the aesthetic of them. The pretty colors of green, purple and yellow. You get the satisfaction of the gradient in the bright red, milk-white and dark green in an iced strawberry matcha latte or the distinctive royal purple for an ube matcha latte. Modern cafes must follow the “camera eats first” rule or their businesses don’t succeed. Make no mistake, this is not a critique! We admire the tenacity of corporations and their eagerness to survive in this cruel money-eating world. Which is why we would like to introduce something revolutionary.

Now, we know it’s a little ambitious to introduce a completely new thing to a list of already popular foreign items, but please hear us out! Zplorf does not just come in one colour, but in many others! In fact, it can encompass the whole of the human colour spectrum. It is the most ultimately customizable ingredient introduced to this planet. You do not even have to ask for a colour! Our special ingredient and our speciallytrained baristas will know exactly what colour you want. How

Zplorf. So we do not get mishaps like the “oob” situation, it is phonetically correct no matter how you say it.

We admire the tenacity of corporations and their eagerness to survive in this cruel money-eating world.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

cool is that? It is the perfect drink for you and your camera! Not only is it pleasing to the eye, it can also be a remedy attuned to your lifestyle! It is the closest to a cure-all you can find anywhere on Earth. Up late working on a project and need to get up early in the morning? Zplorf will get you to sleep quickly and wake you up early and well-rested. Had a fun and slightly regretful night before your big day? Try Zplorf! Are your kids annoying the living hell out of you? Zplorf your kids!

Unlike most, we do not take advantage of the people who make Zplorf. But where does Zplorf hail from? We are proud and delighted to say it comes from our home. It is produced from carefully curated organic farms our family has run for thousands of years. It is

ethically sourced. Unlike most, we do not take advantage of the people who make Zplorf. We don’t use pesticides or chemical additives to increase either its shelf life or its taste. Zplorf does not need it. It is a completely safe and natural ingredient. Zplorf is, unfortunately, only available at specific cafes in the Vancouver area, for now. However, we’ve made loads of progress taking over most of the United States! It is also a very popular drink in the southern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, as well as some of Toronto. We have found parts of urban Canada are a little resistant to trying new and unfamiliar things so for this special occasion, for the next few weeks, Zplorf will do a BOGO deal! Buy one get one free! Do not hesitate to try something new. Invite your friends and your family to the local Zplorf cafe! Maybe finally ask that special someone on a first date? Try a sip, at least. We offer free samples. Come and rest. For a moment, forget your days living paycheque to paycheque, living in the shadows of that broken dream. Take a small but comfortable break before you chase that company ladder. We promise you it is worth it. We promise you it will change your life. Join the collective.

Join Us.

THE HUMOR COMIC

tor (she/her) // Crew Illustra COMIC BY Alex Baidanuta

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

HUMOUR

NO NUTS IN NOVEMBER

As the leaves turn to yellow and orange, there’s only one thing on my mind: Nuts

utting. Everything to do with nuts. Peeling the fresh fruit from a walnut and exposing its not-so-tender inside, like a metaphor for my heart. Having a staring contest with a buckeye. Squealing over the cuteness of an acorn. Lovingly staring at a pair of chestnuts illuminated by light utting. Everything to do with If nuts. the enough fresh fruit proliferating through the leaves. you Peeling cannut get of from nuts a like I do,and youexposing might know where to findinside, some like of a walnut its not-so-tender these nuts in your if you’re nuts metaphor for my heart.neighbourhood. Having a staringBut contest withalso a buckeye. like me,over you’llthe know that these nuts are notstaring enough Squealing cuteness of anlocal acorn. Lovingly at a for you. You’ll want to indulge in nuts such as the coco, pair of chestnuts illuminated by light proliferating through the macadamia and pea varieties. leaves. If you cannut get enough of nuts like I do, you might know where findon some of these nuts in your neighbourhood. With U.S. to tariffs the horizon—namely, items 0809.10.99, others—nut enthusiasts But80085.69.67, if you’re also0809.29.29, nuts like me,among you’ll know that these local nuts Canada, aka want Nutville, are panicking. Who arein notso-called enough for you. You’ll to indulge in nuts such as the knew that “No and Nut pea November” coco, macadamia varieties.would actually become a thing? ith U.S. tariffs on the horizon—namely, item 0809.10.99, 80085.69.67, 0809.29.29, among others—nut In these terrible times, I believe we need to bring enthusiasts an air of in so-called Canada, aka much Nutville, Who knew that grace and gratitude, likeare thepanicking. humble nut that takes “No Nut November” would actually become a thing? So this patient soaking and roasting to reach perfection. am bringing my top and nutting nmonth these I terrible times,toI you believe weseven need nuts to bring an air of locations. Please accept (Number willpagrace and gratitude, much my like nutelage the humble nut thattwo takes shock you!). tient soaking and roasting to reach perfection. So this month I am bringing to you my top seven nuts and nutting locations. Please accept my nutelage (Number two will shock you!). . Truck Nuts A rarerare findfithat only becomes more common as as you move nd that only becomes more common you move downdown furtherfurther south,south, truck truck nuts (or Truck Nutz)Nutz) are found in nuts (or Truck are found pairs. Due to Idaho’s recent House Bill 270, public truck nut in pairs. Due to Idaho’s recent House Bill 270, public truck nut growing became a misdemeanor, making these an even growing misdemeanor, making an even rarer rarer fibecame nd in thata region. The taste leavesthese something to be finddesired, in that but region. The taste leaveslaugh something to see be desired, we all have a good when we them butand we all havethat a good laugh when we see them and I think that I think counts for something. counts for something. . Almonds lmonds, which come from a tree in the same subgenus as the peachcome tree, deliver andsame slightly Almonds, which from aa lovely, tree subtle in the sweet nut fl avor. It makes a fi ne milk, extract, croissant and gives subgenus as the peach tree, deliver a lovely, subtle and marzipan flavour. Originally Mediterranean, slightlyitssweet nut flavor. Itthriving makesinathe fine milk, extract, 80 and givesalmond marzipan its flavour. OriginallyDepercroissant cent of the world’s production is in California. thriving in theregard Mediterranean, 80 pernot cent ofnut the spite its colloquial as a nut, it is actually a true due world’s production is in California. Despite to its outeralmond fruit having a hull instead of a traditional fruit.itsIt is referred to as a drupe. Take that to your next trivia night!

VISUALS BY ll) // Contributor Caroline Zhang (any/a

colloquial regard as a nut, it is actually not a true nut due to its outer fruit having a hull instead of a traditional fruit. It is referred to as a drupe. Take that to your next trivia night!

5.. Brazil Brazil Nuts Nuts

33.NHazelnuts 4H

7. Truck Nuts

66.AAlmonds

WRITTEN BY m) // Contributor Ren Zhang (they/the

traight scenes of the 2014 movie, Straight fromfrom the the scenes of the 2014 movie, “Rio“Rio 2,” 2,” thisthis nut has captured my imagination. Did you know nutalways has always captured my imagination. Did youthe know a lifespan of of 1000 years? Nuts, right? These thetree treecan canhave have a lifespan 1000 years? Nuts, right? These nuts are huge, too. Some of the biggest nuts I’ve seen, nuts are huge, too. Some of the biggest nuts I’ve seen, growing growing up to 2 kg in size. You wouldn’t want to keep this upnut to 2onkga in size. Youlest wouldn’t want to keep nut on a high high shelf, you accidently blowthis it off. shelf, lest you accidently blow it off. . Hazelnuts o one can forget the first taste of Nutella. That sh*t is like ambrosia, for real. I just can’t get the taste of those No one can forget the first taste of Nutella. That sh*t is like nuts out of my mouth. Delicious. ambrosia, for real. I just can’t get the taste of those nuts . Coconuts out of my mouth. Delicious. ave you seen the uses of this plant? It’s the cocofruit of the coco tree, of the cocopalm family. The trunk? Build a bigger house for the family. Leaves? Roof. Firewood. You can even get the fruits free! Have you seen the uses of this plant? It’s the cocofruit of . Breadnuts the coco tree, of the cocopalm family. The trunk? Build a I like Breadnuts too! Breadnuts drive biggeruts? house for nuts! the family. Leaves? Roof. Firewood. You me NUTS. Nuts? Breadnuts aren’t even nuts! And neither can even get the fruits free! are coconuts! Who comes up with these names? It’s driving me– ditor’s note: ello, I apologize, this is Ren, one of the editors of this piece. I am disappointed to say this, but the original Nuts? I like nuts! Breadnuts too! Breadnuts drive me writer wasn’t able to finish due to even the effects of Noneither Nut NovemNUTS. Nuts? Breadnuts aren’t nuts! And are ber. Unfortunately, due to up them being a nut, they It’s seem to have coconuts! Who comes with these names? driving evaporated as per the name. They simply couldn’t swallow the me– truth. Stay safe out there.

4. Coconuts

E1.HBreadnuts Editor’s note:

the editors this is Ren, one of Hello, I apologize, disappointed to say this, but of this piece. I am r wasn’t able to finish due to the original write Nut November. Unfortunately, the effects of No g a nut, they se em to have due to them beinthe name. They simply couldn’t evaporated as perh. swallow the trut Stay safe out ther

THE FOREIGN ISSUE

FEATURES

READ THIS and TRANS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE:

Honouring the lives lost to queer and trans hate

ovember 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to honour the lives of trans people who’ve been killed by violence and hate. It was started in 1999 as a vigil by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to remember the life of Rita Hester, a trans woman from Chicago, Massachusetts. Smith remembered the very similar death of Chanelle Pickett three years earlier. As Huffpost notes, “both were transgender women of color who lived in Massachusetts, were last seen alive at a neighborhood club and died in mid-November.” Yet, as Smith told NBC news, the murder of Pickett “had already […] been forgotten, and here we were with another.” In response, to prevent trans lives from being forgotten one death at a time, Smith created the Remembering Our Dead Project, which kept a list of all trans people who had been killed. In the spring of 1999, Smith led a candlelight vigil with a group of 100 activists. Smith gave a speech in memory of those who had died during the filming of a documentary about the murder of Brandon Teena, a trans man. In November 1999, she organized the first TDOR.

WRITTEN BY Rishi Mittal (any/all) // Crew Writer VISUALS BY KC Stringer (he/him) // Contributor

REMEMBER

B.C., especially in bigger cities, has enjoyed a not entirely unearned historic reputation for being a haven for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. But B.C. is not a political island. Rising queer hate outside its borders, in neighbouring Alberta for example, has created space in the public discourse for a new political and media class that is spurring hate within. By the time you turn these pages, the people of British Columbia may have elected a party that openly platforms on education about sexual orientation and gender identity to be “entirely removed from schools.” Or the people may have re-elected the party that bends to changing political winds and quietly cuts funding for that education, letting it wither and die in silence. In Vancouver, queer businesses like bars, pubs and nightclubs are shutting down. These are often small, independentlyrun businesses that are operating on paper-thin margins, and are usually the only places for queer joy. In North Vancouver, queer people are being targeted and attacked. A Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in B.C. has compared homosexuality to pedophilia and called for reversing the ban on conversion therapy. This hate takes its most virulent form when it targets the most marginalized. Following the Tumbler Ridge Shooting in February 2026, a confluence of Canadian far-right news outlets and white nationalist organizations, including online influencers, began a campaign “to instill and foment hatred against” transgender people. None of the claims were new: trans people are “inherently violent” or trans identity is a “mental illness.” But the sheer amount was and remains staggering.

TDOR memorials are held every year on November 20 in cities around the world to remember the people lost to anti-trans violence. Since then, TDOR memorials are held every year on November 20 in cities around the world to remember the people lost to anti-trans violence. The gatherings and vigils are mostly, though not always, organized by local queer communities. Last year, Vancouver saw events organized by QMUNITY at the Birdhouse Arts Space. Vancouver Trans March, and the Society for Advocacy for Gender-affirming Healthcare (Sagah), organized at MacLean Park, among others. 46

In this climate of anti-queer and anti-trans hate and violence, we turn to history to be our guide. The way we combat hate today is the way we have combatted hate throughout history; by fighting back and standing together. Community and solidarity, expressed through commemorations like TDOR, remain the way we persevere and thrive. We do not let hate separate us and we do not forget. Education about TDOR remains little. I spoke to Violet Osborne, the President of the Queer Student Society (QSS) at CapU and the Queer Student Liaison for the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU). According to Osborne, despite the presence of queer and trans history, theory and contemporary issues in their courses, they have “not

THE FOREIGN ISSUE been directly taught” about TDOR. Thus, the QSS plans to organize a TDOR Candlelight Vigil from Nov. 16 to 20 in the CSU Library Lounge. There will also be an open event in the Lounge on Wednesday, Nov. 18 where they invite people to “make a memorial collage to honour members of the trans community that have passed in recent years.” Osborne hopes it’ll be a “small but meaningful way” to invite the trans community and its allies to come together here at CapU. Remembering those we have lost during TDOR is more than just about the individual lives lost. It is also a promise made to

each other that we will prevent any such deaths in the future. Community, to that end, is key. Osborne hopes the TDOR Vigil is the first of many ways to connect the queer community at CapU. They have found that the queer community at CapU is generally “pretty low-profile.” As they describe it, “[students] have no idea how to meet others in their community. They don’t know we have a Queer Student Society.” As TDOR demonstrates, community is vital to survival. So, this year, Osborne hopes to connect the queer community to each other and raise its profile among the broader CapU student body in a positive way. Beyond the TDOR Vigil, the QSS wants to have regular meetings and community events where queer students can “meet each other, mingle, connect and share their experiences.”

Osborne also highlights the Queer Resource Centre, located at Birch 313 as “the first thing” every queer student should know about. Osborne also highlights the Queer Resource Centre, located at Birch 313 as “the first thing” every queer student should know about. “Maybe you’re tired and need a nap between your classes, or you want to read a book, do some art or have a snack. This space is for that. It’s just for us to exist and feel safe as ourselves. Because where else on campus can we guarantee that we don’t have to explain or debate our existence?” As students, how do we remember and honour those lost to hate? How do we prepare for what may come? A strong queer community here at CapU can stand tall, united and firm in the face of the incoming winds. We can bend when needed but never break, lean on each other for support, protect each other’s tenderness, nurture each other’s growth. Students that can commemorate taken lives can carry their memories into the future. Osborne ends with a powerful message to remember during these times and during TDOR. They say, “With what’s going on in Alberta, and what’s going on below us in the United States, it’s more important than ever for people to understand our community. The queer community, the trans community, our history as well as our present. Our perspectives and our challenges, but also our triumphs and our celebrations and how beautiful it is to be in this community. And that we’re not going anywhere.”

FEATURES

People of CapU

in Dialogue Finding Community: Q&A with Samara Dolinsky

n a world so centred around the nine to five grind, artistic work is often overlooked and the arts are seen as one of the more unserious industries. I had the opportunity to interview Samara Dolinsky (she/her), a third year Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) student at Capilano University, on the topic of feeling out of place. I asked Samara about her experiences of foreignness, not only as an artist, but as a student, and how she finds community and connection with her classmates.

What makes you feel out of place? - Alexis

People of that cel CapU in Dialogue ebrates is a seg the casu ment members al in our u niversity depth of you know communit someone y. If you ﬁnd special int th managing.e at would like to eresting or int ditor@capi lanocouri erview email er.com

WRITTEN BY Alexis Moore (she/her) // Contributor VISUALS BY Kc Stringer (he/him) // Contributor

The first thing I think of with “foreign” is living in Vancouver. Because I come from the [Vancouver] Island and also being a film student, it feels like we always have to sort of, not justify the degree, but it feels a little bit different, sometimes. It feels like you don’t have the same lifestyle as the other people living around you. - Samara

d that. understan t have I so t n e d MOPA stu eople migh I am also aer feel like other pr degree doesn’t Does it ev ns of you that you expectatio to fill? allow you stion. I feel That’s a really interesting que lly knows - Alexis rea like with this degree, no one of film school, what to expect with this idea [But] in high ry. ust ind the in unless you’re w what you’re school, it’s kind of hard to kno is definitely re the e lik l getting into. So I fee ed to achieve this idea of what you’re suppos play out ngs thi in Vancouver, and the way you would in life look different than how if someone’s expect them to. I would assume ng a doctor omi going to medical school or bec a of what ide ood lyw Hol a of there is kind e the actual sur I’m and e lik look ld wou that I feel that So, . ent fer dif thing is completely a lot.

- Samara It seems like you’re saying that you feel out of place as someone in the arts when a lot of careers don’t focus around the arts? - Alexis

d stuff, it e idea of AI ansly everyone is th h it w e k li u , vio Yeah actually le bit like, ob does feel a littt the artists, but when youing. That ’s worried abou , it is kind of a lonely feel are the artistequate it. how I would - Samara 48

It almost feels like there are societal expectation people outside of the industry try to put on artiss that ts. Sounds like you’re saying that there is a different perspective that you have on a lot of things when you are a student in the arts? - Alexis Yeah. I would say it’s a more dynamic experience . But I guess you could say that about anything. In Vancouver, there is definitely a feeling of being a little bit removed. When you are an artist you kind of remove yourself from the world ’s experience s and you’re like, “Wow, there’s so much going on. I’m just sitting here watching it.” But that’s not necessarily true, because you are a person and you are doing things. - Samara

Pictu re t in Motion t of en d u st a g ou n es to bei you feel When it comere ever times where classmates? n th ow e you r A rts, ar presence of place in the - Alexis

There’s definitely an I would say, yes and no. you can sort of stick and e, idea, and a stereotyp cific way, [but] I’m out if you aren’t that spe for a lot of industries. sure that’s the same way . a lot of people will have There’s just a look that ly ite fin r program, I de But in MOPA or within ou at much. It just feels th out ck sti feel like I don’t that might feel that like there’s a lot of people feel different, but t gh way. You know, yeah I mi ls different. fee o als e I’m sure everyone els - Samara

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Yeah, I would say for sure. It’s definitely something that But has helped. I guess community is just always the answer. Bosa the ], ersity [Univ no Capila there’s a lot of angles. Even in from ed remov bit little a is tion] Anima Centre [for Film and of the rest of the campus, so even in that, there is a feeling your to on hang and foreignness, so you kind of have to make friends in that little circle. - Samara

Yeah, it’s like a different world over there. Do you have any advice for people who don’t have their community yet at school, and how to find a good group of people to fall back on? - Alexis

be friendly. I I would say, just be nice to people and But definitely was just kind of lucky. I made friends. people and find to ng reaching out and actively tryi people with d foun I how is le actively talking to peop l about voca ly real g bein just It’s s. common interest want to you t wha what you like and who you like and . you to e com and you do, and then people will hear - Samara

Do you have anything you would like to say before we close it up?

Free Palestine. - Samara

- Alexis Yes! Free Palestine. Thank you

so much.

- Alexis

Is there a lot of talk about that in the program? Is there a lot of connection over that, or do you think it’s more of an isolating experience to each individual student? - Alexis

Oh, that’s kind of a hard question. I can see how it would be very isolating. But I think I’ve been really lucky to have people and friends, where I don’t feel that way. The actual way that events play out in classrooms, I could very much see that being very isolating for people. - Samara

Would you say having a close group of friends has helped you throughout the degree? - Alexis 49

FEATURES | THE PROFILE

Holl y Flau to THE PLACES THAT MAKE US WRITTEN BY María Camila Dávila (she/her) // Crew Writer VISUALS BY Lily Jones (she/her) || Contributor

nxiety, loss and belonging. These are the three words that come to Holly Flauto’s mind when she thinks of immigration. The constant moving during her youth and her immigration to Canada have shaped her identity and teaching. She has a Bachelor’s in Public Relations, Minor in Law and Society from Purdue University, along with a Master’s in English from the University of North Texas. Since 2023, Holly has brought to her CapU classrooms all the lessons she has learned through a life of constant movement, guiding her students to find their own voice amid all the noise. Moving to Germany when she was three and a half years old was Holly’s earliest memory of feeling out of place. “We’re in another place now. Things are going to be a bit different,” was her mom’s answer when Holly noticed the differences in the neighbourhood. Her father was drafted during the Vietnam War and he later enlisted in the U.S. military. As a result, her mom, her brother and her moved frequently from place to place until he retired in 1993. Her dad was mostly stationed in South America. They lived in Colombia, Venezuela and in Panama, always going back and forth between those places and the United States. During that time, Holly went to English-speaking schools, where most of their classmates were children of other military, diplomatic and other relocated families. They were used to living within that 50

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FEATURES | THE PROFILE familiar bubble, which made it difficult to feel connected in these new places. However, she loved moving. She was able to see the silver lining: instead of thinking that she didn’t belong anywhere, Holly thought she belonged everywhere. “I have all these favorite things from my childhood, and one of them was making arepas with my family. I love them! You move to Ohio, and you have friends over to spend the night, and for breakfast you make arepas, and they’re like ‘What have you made? What are these?’ And so they become part of my identity, but they’re not my culture. They’re not my family history. But they are.” When Holly and her brother were about to start high school, their parents decided to stay in Ohio to provide them with stability. After graduation, she wanted to study photojournalism, but her plans changed when the guidance counselor suggested engineering due to her ability with math. Once again Holly packed her bags and enrolled in Purdue University to study, partly because of its prestige, but also because of her mom’s belief that moving away for university was essential to shaping her own identity. However, her desire to become an engineer lasted only one semester, “I hated it! I wanted to take an English class, and those were not part of the engineering curriculum.” She changed her major to public relations, drawn to the way it brings together people, communication and society. After graduation, Holly moved back to her parents’ house in Texas. While trying to figure out next steps after graduating, she started working at a temp agency, and later, just to get discounts on interview suits, she took a job at a mall that she unexpectedly ended up loving. After some time working in retail, Holly decided to return to school, this time at the University of North Texas, where she completed her Master’s in English.“Part of it [the master] was that we had to teach English 100 classes, which I find ridiculous now because we knew nothing!” she recalled. Holly and her partner at the time applied together to PhD programs at 10 schools, and ended up being accepted at different universities on opposite sides of the country. Holly decided to go with her partner to Yale, and while he was studying, she spent her time looking through the archives at Yale’s library, writing and auditing classes. “And then, maybe a month before we graduated and moved, I found out I was pregnant. That changed everything.”

Joe, Holly’s first child, was born in 2003. She fondly remembers raising him during his early years in New Haven. “I found his toddlerhood really beautiful. We lived in a neighborhood where I met a lot of friends and I would go to a cafe and there would be all these other babies. I started a website called newhavenbaby.com and I would review restaurants to see if they were baby-friendly. I occupied myself very easily.” When Joe started preschool, Holly got a job teaching English at the University of New Haven, Connecticut. Her department head saw her potential as a writing tutor and encouraged her to join the writing centre. Eventually, she became its director. Nevertheless, their plans changed again in 2008, when her partner got an offer to be a postdoctoral researcher at UBC. Holly had never been to Vancouver before, but she didn’t hesitate. They packed their bags and moved to Canada, but only one of them stayed. It has been 18 years since Holly made the decision to call Vancouver her home. This is the longest she has stayed in one place. Although she has considered moving away at times, something always brings her back. “I never felt like I belonged in the U.S. I had different priorities from the people that lived there. And I can’t even tell you what they were. But, I just felt the way people looked at the world was not the way I looked at the world [. . .] Vancouver has so many people from different places and it has that personal interest. When I moved here I was like ‘Oh, this feels like Caracas or Bogotá from my childhood’ in a way that nowhere else I lived in the U.S. had.” As a mother, Holly’s sense of belonging had become deeply intertwined with her son, Joe, who was one of the main reasons she decided to stay. Finding a school for her son in the United States was challenging, as none of the options seemed to be a good fit for him. However, after moving to Vancouver, Holly realized that the education system was completely different. “I found that it [school] has a social and emotional component. There was something about community building, whereas in the U.S. school felt like it was everyone trying to be better than the people next to them.” As soon as she began the process of obtaining permanent residency for herself and Joe, she was confronted with an extensive questionnaire about her life. As Holly answered each question, she also wrote a poem in response to it. Writing became her way of coping with the overwhelming process. “I always write about what I’m feeling anxious about or what I’m obsessed over,” she shared.

THE FOREIGN ISSUE Holly came to understand that settling in Canada also meant taking responsibility for learning about its violent history of colonization. This inevitably led her to question what was morally right, and her poems became a space to explore these feelings.

I would like to acknowledge that I am asking to be Canadian to settle here and I would like to acknowledge that I am asking the wrong people I am asking permission to settle from other settlers asking to join something I know is wrong complicit for not calling them out. 2010 marked an important turning point in Holly’s life. She started working as a coordinator at the Douglas College Learning Centre, and she met Kevin, the “love of her life” and the father of her second child, Franny. In July of 2016, Holly got her permanent residency, and in 2022 she finally achieved what she had worked so hard for and wanted so deeply: she became a Canadian citizen. Due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, the ceremony was held on Zoom. At one point during the ceremony, Holly and her son were asked to cut up their PR cards in front of the camera. “That is scary because you’re like ‘This is my whole identity. This document anchors me here.’” Vancouver was not only the city where she immediately felt at home, but also the place that opened the door for her to become a published writer. In 2024, those poems that Holly was writing as answers to the immigration questionnaire, became her first book. Permission to Settle is a memoir-based on the challenges of migration, geographic privilege and the violence of colonization. She writes about the tangled emotions of the prospects of a better life and the grief of what you leave behind. It means acknowledging the violence and accepting that what you have done so far is not enough to honor and respect the Indigenous peoples

whose land you now call home. Holly is clear that her book reflects her own experience with migration, a process that involves thousands of individual experiences tied to a governmental and bureaucratic system. However, even though her experience was unique, many of us facing this huge and stressful change in our lives can find our own desires, fears and longings reflected in her words. When you become a Canadian citizen, you are asked how you will contribute to making your community a better place. I strongly believe that Holly Flauto is giving to her community of CapU students everyday in her classroom. Not only because she is an incredible academic who shares everything she knows professionally with her students, but also because she understands that there are moments in life when we feel out of place and need someone to remind us that, in the middle of all the noise, we are not lost. Near the end of the interview, Holly shared with me that one of her favourite classes to teach is English 100. As she explained, this class creates a lot of anxiety for students, especially those who do not speak English as their first language.

When you become a Canadian citizen, you are asked how you will contribute to making your community a better place. I strongly believe that Holly Flauto is giving to her community of CapU students everyday in her classroom. “But then there’s all this pedagogy in terms of what voice sounds like. Grammar isn’t as important as it was when I started teaching. Now it is about, what’s your voice? How can you tell your story? How can you put yourself into your essay? I think that’s part of why I like teaching English 100. It’s about how people get to use their voice in a way that they’ve been told they can’t use before.” 53

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The Capilano Courier acknowledges that its work takes place on the stolen, traditional and ancestral territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), the səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations at Capilano University’s North Vancouver campus. We are committed to supporting Indigenous sovereignty, advancing meaningful reconciliation, and amplifying the voices and stories that redress historical and ongoing injustices through our journalistic work.

We are a democratically-run, independent student newspaper with a human-centered approach to content creation. We are committed to not publishing material that the collective deems as promoting sexism, racism, or homophobia. The views expressed by the contributing writers are not necessarily those of the Capilano Courier Publishing Society.