UVic professor releases 'most comprehensive view' of glacial erosion
Dr. Sophie Norris' research team has predicted the speed of glacial erosions for
most glaciers on Earth
Dr. Sophie Norris, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at UVic, recently published major new research on glacial erosion in Nature Geoscience
“The focus of our study was to figure out what was controlling the rate and what different processes were affecting how quickly glaciers erode,” said Norris in an interview with the Martlet Norris’ research was undertaken in partnership with, and financially supported by, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). The study included researchers from Canada, the U.S., and parts of Europe.
Led by Norris, the research began at Dalhousie University in 2021, where Norris was a post-doctoral fellow, and moved to UVic when she accepted a faculty position in 2022.
“What our study did was think a little bit more broadly about all the different things that could affect glacial erosion,” said Norris.
According to Norris, people have often assumed that glacial erosion is heavily controlled by how quickly a glacier moves.
This study looks at how other factors — such as precipitation, temperature of glacial ice and the type of bedrock underneath the glacier — can also determine when a glacier erodes.
Taking these other factors into consideration, Norris and her colleagues were able to predict the speed of glacial erosion for 180 000 of Earth’s glaciers.
The research team used a machinelearning approach to statistically analyze and predict glacial erosion rates. Norris told the Martlet that predicting glacial erosion has practical applications, besides gaining a greater understanding of our natural world.
By using the machine-learning approach, the team was able to produce equations estimating 99 per cent of glacial erosion to be between 0.02 and 2.68 millimetres per year.
“When we compound that by many decades, glacial erosion is a really important process affecting lots of things across our landscape,” said Norris.
One of the most surprising things for Norris during her research was identifying the amount of different factors that affect glacial erosion.
“For the first time, we were able to see a quantitative link between things like glacial erosion and geothermal activity … seeing that all of these things affected glacial erosion was really interesting,” said Norris.
BACK TO SCHOOL
The complex factors that cause erosion is important information for landscape management, long-term nuclear waste storage, and monitoring the movement of sediment and nutrients around the world. Though there has been prior research on glacial erosion, this most recent study conducted by Norris’ team is by far the most extensive one.
“We produced a global synthesis,”
“Understanding glacial erosion is incredibly important in Canada for safe burial of nuclear fuel,” said Norris. “This was one of the drivers behind why we looked at this.”
Norris told the Martlet “We did our very best to make sure that contemporary glacial erosion rates from published literature were included where they were available and where we had enough information to include them.”
One of the many challenges that Norris and her team faced while conducting this research was getting glacial erosion rates from previously published literature. “Although we have 180 000 glaciers on Earth, very few of those have actually got direct measurements,” said Norris.
At UVic, Norris runs the Geomorphology and Chronology Research (GCR) lab, where quantifying the rate of change of landscape processes is investigated.
The research conducted in this lab isn’t limited to Victoria, but extends all across Vancouver Island and is even province-wide.
With this study now published, Norris’ day-to-day includes a lot of field work and working with students across the province, as well as working in UVic’s geochemistry lab.
Fear of the unhoused should elicit our disdain, not agreement
Canada is facing a major housing crisis, so why do we look down on those who fall between the cracks?
Sit down on a BC Transit shuttle, take your headphones off, crane your head to the side, and you won’t need to wait long before hearing it: Fear of the homeless.
“Crackhead,” “Tweaker,” “Addict” — these are some of the (revealingly infantile) epithets that have seeped into our everyday discourse as a way of debasing the unhoused. The pervasiveness of this speech is a profoundly unsettling development: It should go without saying that these comments are cruel, but they also betray a lack of education about some of Canada’s most pressing structural problems.
When you insult the unhoused, you’re dismissing one of, if not the most urgent cause for their state of affairs, a lack of available housing. A Library of Parliament study from 2014 emphasized that “Housing First” policy is a remarkably effective salve for the broader mental health crisis behind homelessness, “as individuals with mental health or substance abuse problems in stable living conditions are less likely to make frequent, substantial … use of healthcare, social services, and criminal and judicial resources.”
Beyond revealing a lack of awareness regarding the housing crisis in Canada, being anti-homeless also displays a person’s desire to feel better about their own tenuous circumstances — easing their class and financial anxiety
by diminishing others. Many Canadians, however, are only a missed cheque or two from being without shelter themselves. A 2022 report by Housing Statistics in Canada found that 12 per cent of Canadian households reported experiencing some form of prior homelessness. Moreover, hatred for the unhoused intersects with oppressive structures impacting other marginalized groups in Canada. A 2024 report from the Aboriginal Housing Management Association on homelessness in B.C.
stated that “there is a clear and constant overrepresentation of Indigenous people experiencing homelessness … particularly those with direct or generational experiences of residential schools.”
The Housing Statistics in Canada report also noted that 27.3 per cent — more than one in four — Indigenous households experienced some form of homelessness during their lifetime. With such an abundance of public information on the causes and consequences of homelessness in
Canada, offhand remarks about the supposed “unseemliness” of the unhoused should evoke the same disdain as other social faux pas, like refusing vaccinations, driving a hummer, or investing in weapons manufacturers — it is tactless, antisocial behaviour, which disregards the increasingly violent circumstances homeless Canadians live in. In 2023, the Conversation reported that antihomeless violence was on the rise, noting specific incidents of hate crimes by a group called the “White Gorillas”
in Lethbridge, Alberta, which predominantly targeted unhoused Indigenous people..
When this hateful rhetoric is left to fester (unhoused people are still an unprotected class in Canada as of 2019, according to a study by Terry Skolnik in the Journal of Law and Equality ) it gains steam in public forums. A recent Opinion piece in the Times Colonist features complaints about “downtown’s degraded physical appearance, rent-a-cops, merchandise in security showcases, economic viability” and so on.
Thursday
Maribou State
The author of this piece dodged any and all discussion of the underlying structural issues, and the structural solutions required — decrying such analysis as “an abstracted social blamefest,” and instead asserting that “[the homeless] must all … be placed in involuntary care and protection, appropriate residential facilities that they cannot leave until and unless, after the shortest possible time, they show signs of recovery and success at self-management.”
Unlike this writer, I don’t think my fellow citizens should be forced into carceral circumstances for an issue outside of their control, and you shouldn’t either.
We know what the primary cause of homelessness is in Canada, and suggesting any solution besides the immediate provision of personal housing should make one feel ashamed. If you care about the wellbeing of your community, you care about everyone in that community.
Friday
September
Public
Sunday
September
RAAMIN HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Photo by John Gosse.
UVic's Centre for Indigenous Laws opens
this September
Ten years of planning went into a new 2 440 square-metre wing of the Fraser Building
Community Engagement.
Anew wing has been created in the Fraser Building to house a Centre for Indigenous Laws (CIL). Starting in September, it will be used as a new space for the University of Victoria Joint Degree Program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders (JD/JID), the Juris Doctor (JD) program, and other legal centres such as the Indigenous Law Research Unit, the Environmental Law Centre, and the Access to Justice Centre for Excellence (ACE). Additionally, the new wing will house public legal education programs and the Business Law Clinic.
INDIGENOUS-LED DESIGN
The design of the CIL was actualized through a long engagement process with Elders and members of the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ communities, as well as Elders who work with the university’s Office of Indigenous and Academic
The new wing received the 2023 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, due to its Coast Salish design elements and its focus on bringing the surrounding forest into the building. The architectural design was led by Two Row Architect — an Indigenous-owned firm — in partnership with Teeple Architects Inc. and Low Hammond Rowe Architects.
Identified as a key project goal in the planning of the new wing was a design that blurs the boundaries between the indoors and outdoors, to further foster the value of respect for the environment and to honour and interact with nature.
In an interview with the Martlet, Juliet Van Vliet, a Campus Planner at the UVic Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability, offered insight into the planning and design process, which began in 2015.
“In my line of work I believe in environmental determinism — that what's in your environment shapes how you feel … how you respond, and how you act. I believe that this building will support students in
the study of law to find inspiration in the natural environment and the Coast Salish stories that are woven into the design of the building.”
She told the Martlet that the project schedule had time built into it for the architect to engage with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers on the lands and on the waters, to hear stories which then informed the design of the building. In total, 13 ideas derived from stories shared by Coast Salish community members were translated into architectural design concepts. Every phase of the process was adapted based on “feedback heard from Indigenous community members, from Indigenous architects, to Indigenous faculty and staff,” Van Vliet said, describing her role in the project as one of “learning and support.”
From the amount of sun and shade, the shapes in the walls, where the outdoors were visible, and what the different spaces are used for, everything in the new wing “has a story,” Van Vliet said.
“Every detail in the building was so carefully considered.”
Two design features of the building include a stormwater
The Martlet interviewed Andrew Ambers, a third year student in the JD/JID program, to learn about his time in the program. Ambers is Kwakwaka'wakw from the ‘Namgis and Ma’amtagila First Nations. He previously completed his Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in political science and Indigenous studies at UVic.
Ambers is also an Indigenous internationalism research fellow at UVic.
His undergraduate degree in Indigenous studies and political science introduced him to both “Indigenous Peoples’ own laws and politics” and “state legal processes,”
Ambers told the Martlet He noted that UVic is “uniquely situated with Indigenous faculty that represent diverse Nations” and that this exposure guided his path into the JD/JID program.
The Martlet asked Ambers what the JD/JID program aims to prepare students for.
“The program … reflects and responds to the reality that every part of Canada is subject not only to the laws of the federal government, provinces, and municipalities, but also the laws of Indigenous Nations.”
He said that the JD/JID program is grounded in this reality, and prepares students and future lawyers to work across these legal systems and overcome conflicts where they might arise. To further articulate how the JD/JID program prepares students to engage with various legal systems, he recalled a gathering from last summer.
“Ma’amtagila is a First Nation of the Kwakwaka’wakw, and its territories include Northeastern portions of Vancouver Island, the waters that are generally known as the Johnstone Strait, and extend into the adjacent islands and lands. So with that grounding of … where my Nation comes from, recently the Ma’amtagila hosted a gathering and ceremony at our village of Hiladi, which means ‘the place to make things right.’”
“At this gathering … songs and dances were shared along with our histories. This included a Declaration of Sovereignty to affirm Ma’amtagila law and rights. This Declaration addressed the roots of Ma’amtagila law: land, water, air, youth, Elders, Matriarchs, and Chiefs.”
we’re articulating our ways of life and principles in a way that is concurrently relevant to the law of our people and the law of Canada.”
In his own work, one of Ambers’ focuses is how water governance in Canada interacts with coastal Indigenous legal orders.
Ambers told the Martlet that Indigenous Nations on Vancouver Island and across the west coast of B.C. share a unique history in Canada while maintaining independent cultures, laws, and practices.
“Among coastal First Nations, there are significant relationships with waters," Ambers said, “including through occupying oceans by canoeing, fishing, navigating, and enhancing productivity of aquatic species. I have yet to see the unique maritime cultures of coastal First Nations be adequately reflected in the rights of Indigenous Nations under Canadian law. This is part of the work to come.”
Ambers shared one of his favourite experiences in the JD/JID program so far, which was a trip two years ago that his cohort did to Cowichan Tribes’ territories. He recalled that they hiked Mount Tzouhalem with a Knowledge Holder and Dr. Sarah Morales, the director of the JD/JID program and a member of Cowichan Tribes.
“We hiked up and … would stop and listen to different stories and laws, and draw out principals. This has informed a lot of the work that we have done with other Coast Salish law-related matters in the program,” said Ambers.
“I think that this has been a significant experience for a lot of people in our cohort … and a really informative way of learning Coast Salish laws on Coast Salish lands,” he said.
In terms of the new Fraser Building expansion, and having his classes moved there in the fall, Ambers said that he is most excited for having a space for “communities to come in and use it for different matters — from resolving disputes to … starting to articulate their laws in a different way or continuing to articulate their laws.”
of Law. Williamson has been a Co-Research Director at the ILRU since 2021. Williamson is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and also has close family ties to Beardy’sOkemasis in Saskatchewan as well as an adopted member in the House of Dhadhiyasila of the Haíɫzaqv Nation. She holds degrees in social work, law, and Indigenous governance and she has been a professor and instructor at many universities including UVic.
In a collective statement to the Martlet they said.“The Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) began as a national research project at UVic’s Faculty of Law in 2012. The project was done in partnership with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the Indigenous Bar Association, and was funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario.”
“The project ultimately identified a large demand for Indigenous law research for the purposes of law revitalization and implementation,” they stated, “and ILRU emerged from this project as an organization in response to this demand. Since that time, we have worked with dozens of community partners — at their request — and hundreds of community members.”
Their purpose is to “take up, by invitation, the critical Indigenous legal questions that come from communities and to co-create the practical and accessible resources to address some of the challenges they face today.”
Edmonds, Asch, and Williamson said that the new wing will help them align with their principles of working “collectively, collaboratively, and in community.”
They are particularly excited that their office, and the wing as a whole, has been designed to be welcoming, and includes gathering spaces for community partners, students, staff, and faculty.
expansion, as our offices were tucked away upstairs in the law library, which deterred many visitors.”
They said that the culturally appropriate design of the new wing and abundance of space “will make the law school more welcoming and inviting of the questions that matter to Indigenous nations and communities.”
“Our legal research and public legal education projects are shaped in collaboration with Indigenous community partners and are informed by their territories.
Because of this orientation, it is important to us that the art, laws, and cultures of the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ nations and peoples, on which and near where UVic now sits, were centred in design of the building as part of a collaborative process, and that the natural world around the expansion was cared for and considered in the build.”
Two projects that the ILRU team are excited to publish soon on their website are a project with Cowichan Tribes on Quw'utsun Water Laws — "a 250 page final report...a Casebook of more than 20 Cowichan stories, and appendices of historical and contemporary practices of water law intervention", and a project regarding Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in human rights laws— “centering a Dënezhu legal understanding of human rights.” Current work that they are passionate about is a recent trip to χʷɛmaɬkʷu (Homalco) territory, where they conducted an Indigenous laws workshop and did land-based learning as a team. They also highlighted their partnership with Qwelmínte Secwépemc (QS) to support the implementation of Secwépemc law in the context of their legal and educational work. Further resources and descriptions of many of ILRU’s projects can be found on their website.
excited to move into their new home in the Fraser Building expansion. According to the spokesperson, they look forward to having offices close to one other, as well as having access to meeting rooms where they can “gather in person to collaborate as staff, with students, and with our clients.”
Similarly, a spokesperson from the The Access to Justice Centre for Excellence (ACE) recalled how their staff have “worked off the sides of professors’ desks, bouncing between the virtual sphere and temporary, windowless rooms in the Faculty of Law”.
“Remarkably, ACE has achieved significant growth despite these constraints. In the past five years, it has evolved into a provincial centre, with members from each of BC’s major research universities, working across the disciplines of law, public administration, criminology, public health, and data science,” the spokesperson said. The spokesperson told the Martlet that their new base in the CIL will support ACE’s ability to build “robust, interdisciplinary research on Canada’s access to justice crisis” and will enable ACE members to “host community partners, engage graduate students, and advance major initiatives, including ambitious research now being planned for the study of legal capabilities and the evaluation of dispute resolution design models.”
After ten years in the making, UVic’s Centre for Indigenous Laws will soon be up and running. It will support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Call to Action #50, which aims to to establish “Indigenous law institutes for the development, use and understanding of Indigenous laws and access to justice, in accordance with the unique cultures of Aboriginal peoples in Canada,”
system and an Elders’ garden. The stormwater system was, “designed to tell the story of water on the landscape,” Van Vliet told the Martlet, while the Elders’ garden was “designed both as a learning space outdoors and for harvesting for different ceremony needs.”
The plants in the Elders’ garden are intended for both ceremonial use for Elders, and for learning in a more intimate outdoor setting.
The specific plants were “chosen based on what Elders need for ceremony regularly, so that they are easily accessible to Elders from their dedicated work spaces in the building.”
Large and small gathering spaces are also found within the wing to accommodate a range of legal practices.
An Indigenous community member shared a story with Van Vliet regarding the Fraser Building prior to the new wing. They shared a photo of their family member, who was studying in the JD/JID program, standing in front of the building. According to Van Vliet, the community member pointed out to her that the building looked very “institutional, and not very
comfortable.”
“I’m really hopeful that … this building can feel comfortable and be a source of inspiration and perhaps a source of pride for students that attend there and for their families back home.”
THE JD/JID PROGRAM
The JD/JID program has been offered at UVic since 2018, and was the world first joint degree in Indigenous legal orders and Canadian common law. Students graduate in four years with two professional degrees: Juris Doctor (JD) and Juris Indigenarum Doctor (JID). The program was developed by two of Canada’s leading Indigenous scholars: John Borrows, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law, and Val Napoleon, Law Foundation Chair in Aboriginal Justice and Governance.
Each year in September, The JD/JID program intakes a class of 25 students in September and aims to have a minimum of 50 per cent of each class composed of Indigenous students.
Ambers said that it was not a private gathering, but the Ma’amtagila hosted Indigenous and institutional representatives from across the globe to act as witnesses — from Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Ecojustice Canada, and Indigenous Nations across South and North America.
“By engaging with and witnessing our law and governance,” Ambers told the Martlet “those present at the gathering have responsibilities to bring what they witnessed with them into their diverse worlds to make things right — creating a standard of justice that guides how to live lawfully. This is the nature of Indigenous law for our people: sharing our culture, law, and worldview to honour the truth.”
Ambers said that this Declaration reflects the foundation of the JD/ JID program, which is that there are multiple legal systems that apply at the same time in any given territory. “For the Ma’amtagila, the Declaration recognizes the importance of Canadian law,” he told the Martlet, “while also making things right by placing Indigenous law on the land where it has otherwise been wrongfully displaced.”
“As a coastal First Nation, Ma’amtagila holds important rights to land, submerged land, water, air, and resources. The Declaration is a dual application of Indigenous — in this case Ma’amtagila — law, and Canadian law, in the sense of
Ambers noted that the Centre for Indigenous Laws “will enable Nations to rebuild their legal orders, express their laws, resolve disputes if there are any, build relationships across Nations, and work together to strategize a path forward — something that Indigenous Nations have always done by working together and across difference.”
CUTTING-EDGE WORK AT THE INDIGENOUS LAW RESEARCH UNIT
Also housed in the CIL is the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU), the only dedicated research centre on Indigenous law in Canada. The Martlet spoke with representatives, Brooke Edmonds, Jessica Asch, and Tara Williamson to learn more about their work. Edmonds, of Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Porou, and European descent, has been ILRU’s Coordinator since 2019. She is also the lead for outreach, communications and publications, and she facilitates workshops and presentations as part of ILRU’s projects, and in the broader community. A UVic alumna, she graduated with honours from the faculty of Art History and Visual Studies. Asch is a settler of Jewish and Irish ancestry, and became Research Director at ILRU in 2015, and has been Co-Research Director since 2021. She oversees its collaborative, community-based legal research and public legal education projects. She is currently completing her Master of Laws at the UVic Faculty
“In the last year, ILRU received 66 requests to build partnerships and support Indigenous law work, and it will be fantastic to now have a place to host meetings and build relationships when we get invitations to work alongside potential partners.”
“One of the biggest challenges of being in a university setting is that the institutional environment can be intimidating for people outside the university community,” they stated, and for work like ours, which focuses largely on supporting the work of Indigenous communities outside of UVic, it is important for us to have spaces that are welcoming and inviting for guests and community partners. This was a challenge for us before the
THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTRE AND THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE
The Environmental Law Centre (ELC) is a non-profit society that partners with UVic’s Faculty of Law to deliver a clinical program in public interest environmental law. They provide legal aid, legal research, and legal education services to Indigenous, environmental, and community organizations as well as individuals across B.C. More information can be found on their website.
The ELC has spent the past several years in temporary spaces, and a spokesperson from the ELC confirmed that their staff are very
Additionally it is tied to Calls to Action #27 and #28, which call for lawyers to be trained in “intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism,” and learn the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations, respectively. The construction of the CIL is an important step towards these calls to action. As Ambers said in his interview, “the JD/JID program is about fostering possibilities of a more legal and lawful future in Canada.”
Photo by Desiree Wallace.
HAILEY CHUTTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Illustration by Sage Blackwell, rendering via the University of Victoria.
Five completely serious candidates for UVic's new president
The Board of Governors is currently working to determine who to bring in as Qwul'sih'yah'maht, Dr. Robina Thomas' successor why is nobody talking about
these possible picks?
NICK CZERWONKA
STAFF WRITER
At the beginning of the month, it was announced that Kevin Hall was stepping down from his role as president of UVic. Until the beginning of November, Qwul’sih’yah’maht, Dr. Robina Thomas will serve as our acting president, though what happens after is unknown.
The appointment of a new president is, of course, an important and highly consequential decision for the university. To help aid the Board of Governors during this process, I have curated a short list of potential candidates that may make suitable successors for both Hall and Thomas. If these choices seem unorthodox to some, I’ll remind them that I possess few of the qualifications required to make such a decision. I’m not sure that I even know what the president does. Regardless, I care about this community deeply. Thus, I have done my very best to research five presidential candidates that, if given the opportunity, should be able to help lead this university to greener pastures.
THE ENTIRE POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
Yeah, all of them. Nevermind a new president, I want to see every single poli-sci student, staff, and faculty member duking it out in a legislative body, WWE Smackdown style, livestreamed via Brightspace. Who knows more about the successes and failures of the university than the students and teachers who drag themselves into its gutters every single day? Decentralize power. Let a bunch of angry undergrads go fight their C-grading professors over the hearts and minds of the rest of the university. Will it take weeks, even months, of kicking and screaming to settle on a solution for even the simplest of issues?
Sure.
Will literally anything get done at all?
Doubt it. But at least we’ll have our passion for politics on full display, alongside plenty of entertainment.
But maybe you’re reading this and thinking, "The beautiful democratic process? Not interested, bucko. Give me some of that sweet, sweet absolutism."
Fine. I have another idea.
ONE LUCKY PHILOSOPHY GRAD STUDENT
Hobbes. Voltaire. Kant. You.
I read your dissertation. It was, like, a totally enlightening critique of the modern discourse on socratic epistemology (whatever that means).
The words you use are really big and I feel like I should trust you because of them. Please, tell me what is right and what is wrong. Lead me. Tell me what courses I need to be enrolled in. Manage my finances. Take the keys to my car. Do literally anything that you want to do, and I will go along with it. UVic is adrift, floating aimlessly upon waves of uncertainty! Who better to quell the storm than you, Great Thinker?
Your elbow patches are there for a reason, my friend. Take the reins.
A MYSTERIOUS FUNGUS FROM THE BIOLOGY LABS
I’m tired of the ego and hubris of human leaders. Mammalia has let us all down, and perhaps it is high time that we look elsewhere.
Hey, biology department. I’ve been in the Cunningham building. Don’t lie
to me and say you don’t have all types of weird stuff going on in there. All we need is one brave research assistant to take one for the team and huck a petri dish out of a quad-facing window. All of a sudden, we could have an omnipotent fungal organism running the show. Studies have shown that different types of fungi are capable of memory, learning, decision-making, and problem solving. Can you confidently say that about all of the human beings that you know?
All our brains do is spam us with electrical impulses and hormone signals meant to confuse us. They are sinister and malicious creatures. They ramp up our emotions and make truly objective, efficient decision-making an impossible task. Name one time having a brain was beneficial to a human leader. I’ll stop you now, because you can’t.
But guess what? Mushrooms have no brains at all. No electric meat sponges to sabotage them. Put them in charge.
THE VENGEFUL SPIRIT OF UVIC’S RABBIT POPULATION
UVic’s campus used to be home to quite the sizable rabbit population. Abandoned student pets and their descendants had turned into a community that numbered over 1 000 individual animals on university grounds. That is, until 2011, when UVic went scorched-earth on Thumper and his friends in an initiative to reduce the population by over 80 per cent, to about 200 sterilized rabbits. This was achieved through “community-organized sterilization” and “humane trapping/ euthanasia” (interesting duality there, guys).
Well I, for one, love a comeback story.
Rocky going the full 15 rounds with Apollo Creed. Aragorn returning to Helm’s Deep after everyone believed him to be dead. UVic putting the collective ghost of hundreds of feral rabbits into an executive leadership position.
There would be no greater, more meaningful apology than this. We have a chance to atone for our sins, and we shouldn’t waste it.
THE SHY POOPER KING
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, clearly you’re not as immersed in UVic folklore as I am.
Two years ago, the Martlet published an article on the enigmatic ongoings within a particularly secluded stall in the second-floor men’s bathroom of the McPherson Library.
If you have ever used this bathroom, you likely noticed a darkened stall tucked into a back corner alcove.
Contained within you may find an extensive archive of graffitied communications, many of which revolve around a mysterious entity — the Shy Pooper King.
During my time at UVic, university staff have repainted the stall door many, many times. However, the graffiti has never ceased to reappear. Shakespearean lamentations of reverence for the Shy Pooper King, lyrical renditions of that morning's bowel movement, and plain old middle school gibberish have encoded themselves into the very DNA of all who frequent this bathroom. We have the Shy Pooper King to either thank, or to curse.
Two years ago we asked the question, who is this person? What is their purpose? Do they have any at all? How has their presence, a mere silhouette in the minds of those with the knowledge of their existence, remained such a steady force throughout the years? We still have no answers.
Whether or not you view the Shy Pooper King as a scourge of crass, unsavoury humour spreading their tendrils across campus, or as a benevolent patron of the arts who has built their own secret kingdom of artistic freedom, they have left their mark on this campus.
Is this not the accomplishment of a natural-born leader?
Step out of the shadows, Sir Knight. Claim your throne in the sun, for all to see.
Six fitness classes offered at CARSA this fall
Get active this back to school season with everything from
to Inferno Intervals
KIERA CLARK VOLUNTEER STAFF WRITER
Looking to try something new this fall? The Centre for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities (CARSA) at UVic has a lot more to offer than just an open weight room and your average spin class. Whether you want a yoga reset to start the week, or a high-intensity blast of cardio, CARSA has a fitness class for you.
VIN-YIN YOGA
This hybrid style of yoga blends the dynamic movement of Vinyasa with the slow-placed, grounding practices of Yin for a balanced and restorative class. According to the class description, “Vin-Yin is the perfect fusion of effort and ease — ideal for those seeking both strength and surrender, movement and mindfulness, energy, and restoration. Leave feeling balanced, refreshed, and deeply restored.”
Vin-Yin Yoga, offered on Mondays from 12:00 p.m. – 12:55 p.m. runs from Sept. 3 to Nov. 30, and is the perfect reset to start your week. Notably, this class is BYOM – Bring Your Own Mat.
PARTYFIT
Add something new to your workout routine with Partyfit, a combination of dance and functional fitness.
Workout to a wide variety of music and dance styles, including Latin, hip-hop, and burlesque. The Vikes website describes the class as a “combination of music, movement, and positive energy” that will have participants “feeling revitalized, empowered, and ready to smash your mid-terms and finals!”
Partyfit runs Sept. 15 to Dec. 14 on Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.
K-POP CHOREOGRAPHY
Vikes have added a new dance class to their programming this fall — and it’s all about K-Pop! Students will learn a range of choreography styles from old and new-school Korean pop artists, and explore the different styles of dance in the genres. This all-level class runs Sept. 15 to Dec. 14 from 7:15 p.m. – 8:10 p.m. on Mondays.
SOULBODY BARRE
Soulbody Barre blends Pilates, dance, yoga, and strength training to create a “mindfully intense” workout. You’ll use a mix of Ballet Barre, dumbbells, Pilates balls, and resistance bands for a well-rounded class that strengthens your body. All necessary equipment will be provided. Soulbody Barre is on from Sept. 15 to Dec. 14 on Tuesdays from 4:30 p.m. – 5:25 p.m.
INFERNO INTERVALS
This class offers challenging intervals of cardio and strength-building exercises for a high-intensity workout that will push you to achieve your fitness goals. Though this class is open to all levels, the description says it is “perfect for
Vikes play alongside NBA stars at Pro-Am event in CARSA Vikes players joined by NBA stars at Canada's largest basketball showcase
Victoria’s basketball community was given much to be excited about earlier this month, when the Ball Don’t Stop Pro-Am, hosted on Aug. 7, was brought to the Vikes home court at the Center for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities (CARSA) Performance Gymnasium.
The Ball Don’t Stop Pro-Am is an annual summer basketball event which began in 2016. Bringing together top talent at the highschool, collegiate, and professional levels, the games showcase basketball at the highest levels in communities across the nation.
After being hosted in Vancouver and Toronto in previous years, this marks the first time that the Pro-Am has come to Victoria. Every seat in CARSA was filled to form a whopping crowd of nearly 2 300 people — the largest in Ball Don’t Stop’s history. Additionally, a kids basketball camp was held on the day after the game, where local players were able to learn the game and develop their skills under coaching from active NBA players — a rare opportunity in Canada.
Ball Don’t Stop has repeatedly brought electric NBA talent north of the border, with exciting players such as Shaedon Sharpe, Bones Hyland, Norman Powell, and Scottie Barnes making appearances over the past few summers. This year was no different.
Alongside established Vikes and local Victoria hoopers, Boston Celtic’s point guard and reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year awardwinner, Payton Pritchard, as well as
Memphis Grizzlies guard Jaylen Wells, and Atlanta Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye, suited up for the game. On the local side of the action, Vikes men’s basketball teammates Griffin Arnatt, Ethan Boag, Renoldo Robinson, Shadynn Smid, and Ryan Gallagher took to the court as well. In a box score shattering performance, Pritchard poured in an absurd 68 points during the game.
Known for his world-class handles and elite shot-making ability, Pritchard got it done from all three scoring levels on the court. The show he put on for the fans broke Ball Don’t Stop’s previous scoring record of 61, which Pritchard himself had
set during the 2023 Pro-Am in Vancouver.
For Vikes fans, Renoldo Robinson tallied a substantial 22 points — the highest among Vikes players’ contributions.
Coming off the heels of UVic’s first national championship since 1997, the men’s basketball program has quite the momentum going into next season, and hosting a high-profile event such as this has only increased that excitement.
In a statement to the Martlet
Vikes men’s basketball Head Coach, Murphy Burnatowski shared why Victoria was the perfect spot for this year’s Pro-Am.
“Having events like this in our gym
help showcase the strong basketball community that already exists, and that is constantly growing, here in Victoria. We are lucky to be able to have that type of atmosphere in our home gym, but it’s not something we aren’t used to. This Pro-Am just continued to prove why UVic provides the best in-game experience in [U Sports].”
For members of the Vikes squad who are going into the upcoming season with the hopes of defending their national title, stepping onto the court with such high-level talent reflects their own desires for greatness.
“Obviously sharing the court with NBA players is an exciting
experience, but I just try to stress that there isn’t a huge difference in skill level at the top and they are all capable of competing at any level as long as they stay confident in themselves,” said Burnatowski.
A familiar face in Canada
Basketball’s national program, Burnatowski also commented on how the growth of events like the Pro-Am reflects the growth of basketball across Canada.
“Canada Basketball has become a powerhouse worldwide, so there is no reason we shouldn’t be at the forefront in showcasing our players and teams in exciting events like this at home.”
Terrell Evans, a former player and current assistant coach for the Vikes, as well as the founder of The Grind Basketball, a local youth club, helped organize the event. In an interview with the Martlet Evans emphasized just how proud he was of the turnout, specifically for the youth camp that accompanied the game.
“The camp was incredible. Over 180 kids from all over came to be a part of it…. All three
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NICK CZERWONKA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
Illustration by Sage Blackwell. Photo courtesy of TriVision.