July 31_Final

MARTLET THE

NEWS

UVicthefirstuniversityinB.C.tointroduce 'GoodSamaritan'drugpolicy PG. 4

FEATURE

Howguerillagardenersinspiredthe nextgenerationofenvironmental activists PG. 6-7

OPINION

ThesummerheatcrisisinPetch needsanurgentsolution PG. 9

UVic alumna running to lead BC Greens

Emily Lowan, climate activist and former UVSS Director, calls for 'new ideas and new energy' in BC politics

Emily Lowan is a UVic graduate, with a degree in Political Science and Environmental Studies. She is a former UVSS Director of Campaigns and Community Relations, and a climate activist. Her background includes the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Divest UVic, and Climate Action Network.

Now, she’s running to be the next leader of the BC Green Party, on a platform of affordability, climate action, and respect for Indigenous rights.

The BC Greens’ leadership race runs from Sept. 13 to 23, 2025. Because this is a party leadership election, only members of the BC Green party are eligible to vote. The deadline for party membership is Aug. 10, 2025.

Lowan’s campaign, “Fight the Oligarchs, Fund our Future,” emphasizes confrontation with large corporate interests — stopping the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, banning fossil fuel

expansion, and implementing vacancy control (a type of rent control, limiting how much rent can be raised for new tenants), as well as price caps on staple groceries.

She also wants to “tax B.C.’s richest corporations and the one per cent to fund 26 000 affordable housing units per year”, to make public transit free, and to provide mental health counselling as well as “good green jobs.”

The Martlet spoke with Lowan in an interview about her campaign and her vision for the future of B.C. politics.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

What do you want voters to know about you?

I'm not a traditional political candidate. I'm a 24 year-old renter and organizer for climate and Indigenous solidarity. I've been doing movement-building and organizing work for about a decade. I've led successful campaigns, including fossil fuel divestment at UVic, done investigative research, and built broad coalitions across climate

labour and Indigenous nations. My experiences are largely outside party politics and government. But what I think the BC Greens right now need is actually a movement builder that can organize a resurgence —bringing young and disillusioned people into the party.

"Fight the Oligarchs, Fund our Future"

Your background is not traditional for a politician. How has it prepared you for party leadership?

I think the response that we've seen to my campaign has been pretty overwhelming. Our launch video got over 130 000 views across platforms.

I think people are really desperate for a different kind of candidate that

speaks directly to their interests, to working class interests, and the issues that they're facing day in and day out.

I also think that our campaign slogan, “Fight the Oligarchs, Fund our Future” is really striking a chord. Fundamentally, I'm not trying to carve up the existing pie of voters. I'm trying to bring in thousands of young people, and disillusioned individuals across B.C., who haven't previously been involved in a political party before.

How did you land on that slogan, and what does it mean to you?

What I'm saying is that we'll never be able to fix what's broken so long as a small handful of men take more and more of the pie every year. That's why we're building a people-powered movement to force our government to directly confront corporate interests, so we're able to invest in a future that works for everyone.

I think this is really resonating. To back up a little bit further, the current government came to power

eight years ago, when I was actually too young to vote, and since then, I've watched every major problem in B.C. get worse. Life expectancy is falling, while the cost of living spirals out of control. A third of British Columbians struggle to pay for groceries, and everyone I talk to is worried about the future and rising climate catastrophes.

Now, the government is broke, and they say that the only way they can afford schools and hospitals is if we subsidize a bunch of foreign billionaires to dig up and burn more fossil fuels. That is not true. I believe the province is going down the wrong path, and I can't sit on the sidelines anymore.

I'm really feeling this momentum; like there’s a surge of people that feel the deep brokenness of our systems here in B.C., and they see how wealth is being hoarded at the top. So, I think there's a large appetite for new ideas and new energy in B.C. politics.

Continue reading on page 5.

Photo courtesy of Emily Lowan.

At the headwaters of change

A

deep dive into the state of UVic's water ecosystems, and the potential for restoration

Students may (or may not) know that prior to UVic’s presence on the lands that make up its campus, there was a military camp. Some students may know of the land’s history before that as a fying club, WW2-era hospital, and emergency veteran housing project. Perhaps a few will know of its time before that as a sheep farm, strawberry felds (and jam factory), and orchards. Or that the Hudson’s Bay Company owned and logged 54 per cent of the old growth on campus’s current grounds. In other words: the land that UVic stands on has been altered drastically from the 1850s to the present day. The relationship that the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ have with the area, however, began thousands of years before these short-lived operations. The assortment of ecosystems that originally made up the land included č̓sey̓ or č̓seyʔíɬč (Douglas fr) and sqʷəmáy̕əqs (grand fr) forests, creek ravines, ĆEṈÁȽĆ or Kwetlal (Garry oak) meadows, and wetland habitats. Some of the creeks, such as Bowker, were once rich with cutthroat trout, coho and chum salmon.

Over time, the logging, construction of buildings and roads, farming, and introduction of new species have changed the land and water systems. UVic’s campus is part of four watersheds: Finnerty Creek, Cadboro drainage system, Hobbs Creek, and Bowker Creek. To understand how these water ecosystems have changed over the years, the Martlet spoke with Ken Josephson — a highly experienced cartographer whose expertise lies in community engagement through mapping — who has worked at UVic since 1981. In an interview with the Martlet Josephson shared a few of the many stories he has heard about the water ecosystems around UVic’s campus over more than four decades doing community mapping in the area.

“There was a guy by the name of Keith, he was in his nineties.… He and his wife used to skate on the frozen foodplain of Bowker Creek every winter, right where Shelbourne avenue is,” Josephson said.

"There was another woman who used to walk her dog in the wetland up here where the [UVic] stadium is… hearing the frogs.” Josephson highlighted how quickly these stories can get lost in our collective memory, but he is optimistic that the past can be used to inform positive change.

“You hear those stories about this couple, that it was a frozen food plain, and how the Songhees women managed

camas meadows… I feel like I see a ghost of that when I come and go. And I thought it was beyond hope, and not worth doing anything about. But my perception has changed.”

Josephson believes that Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping has great potential to be used as a tool for decisions about restoration on campus.

GIS is a technology used to map out and analyze diferent types of spatial data.

“I do think it’s a fantastic project opportunity…. I keep feeding it to our GIS department’s Geomatics lab here — that would be a great thing for students — to go through these historical maps, geocorrect them, and then add to [existing maps].”

“You can take one of these maps from 1859 that show original water courses, and you can fade it in and out so you can see what present day looks like.”

Josephson has volunteered for the UVic Global Community for a number of years, running interpretive walks. During these walks he aims to “[peel] back the history of [UVic]. That it hasn’t always looked like this,” he said. “There's just a hunger to hear about [it], and even to walk around and see what's edible.”

Josephson explained that restoration of UVic’s water ecosystems could help the land cool and mitigate heat domes, support healthier trees, improve wildlife corridors, and increase biodiversity overall.

“There needs to be a lot more restoration

— there really does…the prospect of bringing that back, it makes so much sense,” he told the Martlet

Although a lot of research and engagement must be conducted to elicit water ecosystem restoration on campus, some of the legwork was done decades ago. Since the early 2000s, in-depth professional studies and student project reports have been completed on this topic, such as "The Changing Nature Project," written by students Alex Campbell and Matt Kemp in 2016 and supervised by Dr. Eric Higgs, an expert in ecological restoration and professor of environmental studies at UVic.

“My impression is that no substantive changes have been made since The Changing Nature Project" report, said Higgs in a statement to the Martlet. “The three streams were (fortunately) clearly identifed as having signifcance in the 2016 UVic Campus Plan, which aimed to enhance connectivity around the campus.”

Higgs added that no formal restoration initiatives that he is aware of have taken place to address the recovery of stream channel and surface water flow.

Additionally, he said, “effective communications [are needed] about the signifcance of UVic as the headwaters of multiple streams.”

Higgs acknowledged that it is possible UVic has done more than he is aware of regarding stream restoration.

The University lies within the jurisdiction of the District of Saanich, the

District of Oak Bay, and within the Capital Regional District (CRD). This holds UVic to specifc bylaws and industry-specifc regulations regarding stormwater. In a statement to the Martlet, a spokesperson from the Ofce of Campus Planning and Sustainability at UVic confirmed the university’s implementation of stormwater facilities in adherence to these rules.

“The University of Victoria has implemented numerous engineered stormwater facilities across campus — such as rain gardens — to manage runof from new developments. These systems help control water flow and reduce sediment entering the watershed. You may not notice them at frst glance, but they’re integrated throughout campus.

From the West Campus Greenway to Student Housing and Dining, the bus loop, CARSA, the District Energy Plant, and newer projects like the Michael Williams Building and Engineering precinct — they all contribute to managing stormwater in a way that supports a healthy watershed.”

The spokesperson also mentioned that “the university partners with the Greater Victoria Green Team”. They are one chapter of Green Teams Canada, an environmental charity that sets out to improve environmental well-being by coordinating hands-on activities. This contract year, 553 volunteers from the Green Team were involved in land restoration, which resulted in 98m3 volume of invasives removed from

campus. A portion of this work took place in the Bowker Creek Headwaters area. In 2004, the CRD established the Bowker Creek Blueprint, which lays out a 100-year action plan to restore the Bowker Creek Watershed. It brings together the local governments of Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, and the CRD with six community groups/associations, and the institutional partners UVic and School District 61. It is unclear what engagement it has with local First Nations.

UVic holds a special position in this initiative, as it is located at the headwaters of Bowker Creek. Everything the university does, regarding the watershed, impacts the waters and ecosystems downstream. It remains unclear if any action has been taken through the CRD’s initiative in the UVic section of Bowker Creek; although the CRD will soon be releasing an updated plan to the public soon.

Other important work in this area is being done by Indigenous Land Steward Loreisa Lepine in partnership with EcoCultural Steward Drew Elves. Emerging from the ‘Campus as Living Lands’ project — a project to support Indigenous resurgence through initiatives such as restoration, highlighting Indigenous place names and living histories, Lepine and Elves are leading place-based ecological restoration on campus. Alongside both students and Indigenous faculty, their work has expanded to four restoration sites, including the marsh in front of the First Peoples House. Much has changed to local campus water ecosystems over the short span of 175 years. It is up to UVic’s Board of Governors, Senate, and administration, as well as the relevant Districts, the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ communities, local environmental groups, and the public to shape its future. From GIS mapping tools, studies and student project reports, to the CRD Bowker Creek Blueprint, and Indigenous-led land stewardship — it is clear that there is a desire for change. What remains unclear is the capacity and funding for these eforts.

As Campbell’s and Kemp’s report puts it, “by allocating more resources and support to these areas, students and faculty can mobilize to eradicate invasive species, while implementing effective strategies to mitigate ecological and hydrological concerns.”

This article was inspired by the ‘The Lost Streams of Victoria’ map by Jennifer Sutherst.

UVIC

UVic-based Climate Disaster Project awarded $2.5M to expand global storytelling initiative

New federal funding enabling 1 000 new climate testimonies, fostering new partnerships and possibilities for trauma-informed storytelling

SARAH ROBERTS VOLUNTEER STAFF WRITER

The Climate Disaster Project, co-founded and directed by UVic journalism professor Sean Holman, has received a $2.5 million grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Fund. The funding, provided for six years, will support the documentation of climate change through human-rights focused journalism in a major expansion of the initiative, known as ‘The Climate Disaster Project: From Catastrophe to Community.’

This expansion of the Climate Disaster Project (CDP) involves institutional partners across Canada and the world, including Simon Fraser University, the University of Denver, Colorado and the University of Stirling, UK.

The CDP — founded in 2021 — is an international teaching newsroom based at UVic, and ofers a fresh approach to climate journalism. It moves away from impersonal statistics and expert commentary, focusing instead on lived experiences of everyday individuals afected by climate change.

The project has already trained hundreds of young journalists using trauma-informed techniques. These journalists co-create climate testimonies using survivors’ own words. To date, over 320 testimonies have been created with people who’ve lived through extreme climate-related events.

With the new funding, Holman and the project co-directors plan to train 500 additional journalists to document more than 1 000 new survivor testimonies from around the world. The project now includes 27 institutional partnerships, whose collective donations will help bring the project to regions such as Brazil, the UK, and Malawi. Despite their diferences, the locations are selected because of what each partner shares — a commitment to reaching their communities’ needs.

“All of the partners in ‘From Catastrophe to Community’ came together because of the ethos of the project, because it was about sharing stories in a good way — because it was about refocusing climate change from being just an environmental issue, to also a humanitarian issue," said Holman in an interview with the Martlet Holman’s shift in perspective was sparked in 2017, when they were living in Calgary and teaching at Mount Royal University. During a record-breaking forest fre season, thick smoke fooded the city, and public health warnings were issued for over 100 days. At the time, Holman wondered why local media was failing to report the wildfres’ connection to global warming. This moment led Holman to refect on the responsibility news media has toward

climate-impacted communities.

"Climate change is going to be the defning experience of this century. Our lives will be defined by the perennial disasters that each season brings,” Holman said. “If the news media isn't efectively responding to those disasters and the needs of disaster communities, [then] the world is going to become even more brutal and inequitable than it already is.”

Climate disasters are often imagined as distant events. Holman challenges this view. Though they recognize that marginalized communities typically sufer “frst and worst,” the efects will be felt by everyone in society, regardless of identity or status.

"It's a global experience we're all living

through unequally, and we want to capture that inequality, but we also want to capture the commonality in that experience too," Holman said.

Though the subject matter is difcult, the project draws a clear line between trauma-informed journalism and ‘disaster porn’ — gratuitous news imagery of devastation without proper context.

Testimonies are created carefully, with full consent of the survivors. The result is storytelling that deepens our understanding of experiences, recording potential solutions, ofering resilience and hope.

The project has already received awards and international recognition. CDP stories have appeared in the Guardian during the 2024 UN COP29 summit, and the

work has led to collaborations with Vancouver’s Neworld Theatre, the Royal BC Museum, UCLA Sci Arts Gallery, and the Kamloops Art Gallery. This new funding will allow the team to further expand these storytelling methods — publishing an anthology volume and co-creating four documentary flms with APTN News. They will also launch a traveling exhibition in partnership with the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, the Museum of Vancouver, and the Reach Gallery Museum. Despite diversifying their methods, Holman told the Martlet that they think "the story remains the same. We're …

Victoria has a wide variety of markets year-round that sell everything from crafts and jewelry to fresh produce and baked goods. With so many options, it can be overwhelming — but the Martlet has you covered with this helpful guide. Shop local this summer, and check out these six weekly markets!

GORGE FARMERS MARKET

Overlooking the Gorge Waterway, the Gorge Farmers’ Market takes place on Mondays in Esquimalt Gorge Park. There’s live music and rotating food trucks, plus tents with vendors selling fowers, fruits and vegetables, candles, jewelry, and lots more. The market runs from 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. until Sept. 1, then 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. from Sept. 8 to 22.

OAKLANDS SUNSET MARKET

The Oaklands Sunset Market runs until Aug. 27, and is held every Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Oaklands Community Centre. Every week there are over 30 local vendors selling food, crafts, and more, along with four food trucks and live music. They have a few themed markets in August, including ‘Dog Days of Summer’ with the SPCA and Victoria Cat Rescue on

Aug. 6, and a ‘Farm & Flowers’ market with a beginner gardening workshop on Aug. 20. The market’s featured sponsor is Hoyne Brewing, so once you’re done shopping you can visit the Hoyne Beer Garden for a cold one.

SIDNEY STREET MARKET Every Thursday evening, the town of Sidney hosts a night market on Beacon Avenue. They announce the vendor list for each market on the Sidney Street Market Instagram and Facebook a few days in advance, but there are always food and beverage options, along

of this project, but instead a continuation, where we continue doing work globally, to help right the wrongs of climate change, through the power of story."

Photo courtesy of Thiago Freitas.

Photo via BC Archives & Records Service.

UVic the frst university in B.C. to introduce a 'Good Samaritan' drug policy

UVic recently revised their non-academic misconduct policy, removing reference to possession and use of illegal drugs and included a 'Good Samaritan' approach to substance use in emergencies

Recent changes to UVic’s non-academic misconduct policy have resulted in the removal of the use or possession of illicit drugs from the defnition of nonacademic misconduct. The policy has also incorporated “good samaritan” principles, modelled after the federal Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act.

Non-academic misconduct refers to a wide range of conduct that violates university policies, including theft, damage and destruction of property, unlawful entry, fraud or impersonation, and many others — including those which may result in criminal charges, conviction, or a court judgment.

Investigation and resolution of nonacademic misconduct allegations falls under the jurisdiction of UVic’s Ofce of Student Life (OSL).

Until recently, UVic’s policy included use and possession of illegal drugs as an example of non-academic misconduct.

“It’s a policy that’s common across all B.C. universities that substance use is prohibited on campus,” said Devin Galway, President of UBC Decrim (Law Students for Decriminalization and Harm Reduction).

“We really saw this structure as out of line with the federal legislation.”

This policy change came into efect on July 1 of this year, and a comprehensive review of the policy will continue into the fall semester. UVic aims to submit the fnal policy revisions for approval in spring 2026.

Prior to UVic’s revision of the policy, both UVic Law Students for Harm Reduction and Decriminalization (UVic H.A.R.D. Law) and UBC Decrim recommended the adoption of a “Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Policy” based on the federal legislation. The federal Good Samaritan Drug

Overdose Act protects individuals who seek help on the scene of an overdose — whether they stay on or leave the site — as well as those who are on the scene when help arrives from legal consequences, however they could still be subject to penalties under the university’s own policies. According to Galway, UVic is the frst university in B.C. to implement a policy like this.

“The fact that UVic is taking this on and is going to be implementing this policy change … is really timely and commendable,” said Galway. The policy recommendation comes after the May conclusion of a Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Sidney McIntyre-Starko, a UVic student who died from overdose in January 2024.

The incorporation of Good Samaritan principles in UVic’s misconduct policy was not one of the jury recommendations that came out of the Coroner’s Inquest, though the jury did recommend UVic introduce

safe drug testing locations, with the stipulation that there be no consequences for requesting testing.

A well-advertised amnesty policy for those in need of help, and those who assist or call for help, was recommended by former Abbotsford police chief and lawyer

Bob Rich in his independent report on Ms. McIntyre-Starko’s death, which was released in April.

Prior to the implementation of the Act, the use or possession of illicit drugs was considered a violation of UVic’s nonacademic misconduct policy.

But punishing students for use or possession of illicit drugs was not a common practice at UVic, according to both UVic’s submission for the policy change and Galway. However, many students were not aware of that said Elyse Robinson, co-coordinator of UVic H.A.R.D. Law.

In the policy revision submitted to UVic’s Board of Governors for June 24, 2025, UVic said “it has not been the practice of

the university to investigate the “use or possession of illicit drugs” on campus under this policy,” but instead to look at other conduct resulting from drug use, such as “fghting, vandalism, and other concerning behaviour.”

Advocates like Robinson and Galway say what policies are in place matter, whether they are enforced or not. “It’s not about what you do, it’s about what’s on the books,” said Galway. “It’s about what policies are in place and how people understand those policies.”

With the updated policy, students are protected in the event of a substance use emergency and should not hesitate to call for help. UVic’s new policy still specifes that “manufacturing, sale, or distribution for monetary gain of illegal drugs or prescription drugs without a valid prescription will still be considered misconduct.”

The addition of “monetary gain” is not one that is included in the federal legislation, but was necessary to add for

UVic to get on board, said Galway.

While this specific change has been implemented, a comprehensive review of the non-academic misconduct policy is ongoing.

“We would really like to see the university be proactive in communicating this policy change,” said Galway. “If it’s not communicated, then the policy might as well not exist.” In Galway’s view, UVic is responsible for making the policy update clear and transparent for students to understand.

Similarly, Robinson said that it’s important for students to not only know the policy, but understand what it means, and to know that they are not going to get in trouble for asking for help in relation to drug use or possession, or in cases of overdose.

In an emailed statement to the Martlet a UVic spokesperson said that the policy change will be communicated to students during orientation at the beginning of the fall semester this year.

The spokesperson also said that Community Leaders (CLs) will likely be informed of the updated policy during their training in August, and that the university will also have direct email outreach, social media, and public education across campus about the change.

“We just want to prioritize saving lives,” said Galway.

Beyond the revisions to the nonacademic misconduct policy, Dr. Jennifer White, UVic’s Special Advisor on Overdose Response and Prevention, is preparing an overdose prevention and response plan for UVic that can be used in the long-term.

The response plan is expected to be ready by the end of August, ahead of the fall semester, and will include the recommendations from the Coroner’s Inquest into Ms. McIntyre-Starko’s death, Rich’s report, and other sources.

UVic to launch Canada's frst Doctor of Engineering program

The university

is

preparing to introduce new doctorate programs aimed at working professionals in diferent industries

fresh out of a [master’s degree],” he added.

“We’re actually requiring students to have seniority in the industry, which in this case is at least seven years.”

Administration (MBA), Education (MEd), Engineering (MEng), and Public Administration (MPA).

UVic is launching a new doctoral program aimed at working professionals in the engineering industry — the first of its kind in Canada.

The Doctor of Engineering (DEng), proposed by Dr. Mina Hoorfar, Dean of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), was approved by the UVic Senate in November 2024, before being approved by the BC Ministry of Education. ECS aims to launch the DEng in September 2026.

“We were initially thinking we could do it earlier, but we also want to do it really right,” said Dr. Jens Weber, Associate Dean Professional Programs & Development, in an interview with the Martlet.

Programs like the DEng are geared towards professionals who have experience in their given feld. While UVic does ofer other PhD programs in engineering, there are some key diferences, primarily in the program’s audience.

“The Doctor of Engineering program is a program that explicitly acknowledges that we’re training for a continued career in industry and professional practice,” said Weber. “We are setting these students up with the kind of courses that really are geared towards impactful innovation in the industrial world.”

“We’re not accepting students that are

Weber anticipates the program will have a smaller cohort of around 10 -15 students, and take approximately three years to complete. Students will undertake a kind of dissertation, known as a praxis, which is more fexible, and could include a patent, or computer software.

Although it was eventually approved, some senators expressed concerns about the DEng at the November 2024 Senate meeting. According to the meeting notes, one senator raised an issue that the “creation of a professional doctorate seemed to reduce the academic standards of the university.” Another senator raised the concern that an external industry partner could exercise undue infuence on the direction of the student’s research. However, several others supported the initiative, saying that it “would promote growth in the health and engineering sector as well as address the need for more hands-on, real-world experience.”

Although the DEng is the frst of its kind in the country, professional doctorate programs are not new in Canada. Common degrees of this kind include the Doctor of Medicine (MD), Juris Doctor (JD), and Doctor of Education (EdD). Further, UVic currently has several professional programs at the masters level, including Business

In an interview with the Martlet Dr. Robin Hicks, Dean of Graduate Studies, emphasized the benefits of these professional programs.

“A professional doctorate is probably best thought of as equivalent to a PhD, but distinct,” he said. “One is not superior to the other — they ofer diferent things and target different audiences in terms of students coming into the program. There are generally diferent job prospects as outcomes for students who graduate from a PhD versus a [professional] doctorate.”

During the same meeting where the DEng was approved by the Senate, the Dean of Business at the time, Dr. Anita Bhappu, said that the Gustavson School of Business is considering a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), another professional doctoral program.

“The proposed Doctor of Business Administration program would complement our existing PhD in Management and Organization,” a spokesperson from Gustavson said in a written statement to the Martlet. “Each contributes something different to the university community, businesses and society at large, and they each meet a diferent student need.”

According to the statement, DBA candidates in other programs are often

UVic alumna running to lead BC Greens

Your background is not traditional for a politician. How has it prepared you for party leadership?

Where have the existing parties here in B.C. have gone wrong on Indigenous rights, and what would you do diferently?

Emily Lowan is a UVic graduate, with a degree in Political Science and Environmental Studies. She is a former UVSS Director of Campaigns and Community Relations, and a climate activist. Her background includes the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Divest UVic, and the Climate Action Network.

Now, she’s running to be the next leader of the BC Green Party, on a platform of afordability, climate action, and respect for Indigenous rights.

The BC Greens’ leadership race runs from Sept. 13-23, 2025. Because this is a party leadership election, only members of the BC Green party are eligible to vote.

The deadline for party membership is Aug. 10, 2025.

Lowan’s campaign, “Fight the Oligarchs, Fund our Future,” emphasizes confrontation with large corporate interests — stopping the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, banning fossil fuel expansion, and implementing vacancy control (a type of rent control, limiting how much rent can be raised for new tenants), and price caps on staple groceries.

She also wants to “tax B.C.’s richest corporations and the one per cent to fund 26 000 afordable housing units per year,” to make public transit free, and to provide mental health counselling as well as “good green jobs.”

The Martlet spoke with Lowan in an interview about her campaign and her vision for the future of B.C. politics.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

What do you want voters to know about you?

I'm not a traditional political candidate.

I'm a 24 year-old renter and organizer for climate and Indigenous solidarity.

I've been doing movement-building and organizing work for about a decade.

I've led successful campaigns, including fossil fuel divestment at UVic, done investigative research, and built broad coalitions across climate labour and Indigenous nations.

I think the response that we've seen to my campaign has been pretty overwhelming. Our launch video got over 130 000 views across platforms. I think people are really desperate for a diferent kind of candidate that speaks directly to their interests, to working class interests, and the issues that they're facing day in and day out.

I also think that our campaign slogan, “Fight the Oligarchs, Fund our Future” is really striking a chord. Fundamentally, I'm not trying to carve up the existing pie of voters. I'm trying to bring in thousands of young people, and disillusioned individuals across B.C., who haven't previously been involved in a political party before.

How did you land on that slogan, and what does it mean to you?

What I'm saying is that we'll never be able to fx what's broken so long as a small handful of men take more and more of the pie every year. That's why we're building a people-powered movement to force our government to directly confront corporate interests, so we're able to invest in a future that works for everyone.

I think this is really resonating. To back up a little bit further, the current government came to power eight years ago, when I was actually too young to vote, and since then, I've watched every major problem in B.C. get worse. Life expectancy is falling, while the cost of living spirals out of control. A third of British Columbians struggle to pay for groceries, and everyone I talk to is worried about the future and rising climate catastrophes.

Now, the government is broke, and they say that the only way they can afford schools and hospitals is if we subsidize a bunch of foreign billionaires to dig up and burn more fossil fuels. That is not true. I believe the province is going down the wrong path, and I can't sit on the sidelines anymore.

How do I count the ways? Looking at it in chronological order, the BC NDP steamrolled Indigenous rights with bills 14 and 15. There was a massive backlash to the fast-tracking law that basically centralizes power and control in the Premier's office. It's a move that undermines Treaty Rights and Indigenous Rights. There was obviously a major response from Indigenous leaders and communities against that move, and if the Greens had held the balance of power, we would have been able to press pause on that legislation passing. We could have demanded that they follow the advice of these Indigenous leaders and wait until the fall at the very least, to have an actual consultation period with Indigenous nations and leaders. It was an incredibly rushed piece of legislation, and if the Greens were holding the NDP accountable, we could have paused that process.

And then shortly after, the BC NDP approved the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, which is backed by a number of equity frms that have close ties to Trump's inner circle and is fercely opposed by a number of nations along its route. This is another egregious example of the NDP government steamrolling Indigenous rights. And in this case, the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs were calling for their law to be respected, and for the Premier to issue a new a modern environmental assessment for the project, because, efectively, they found a loophole, and they allowed the project to maintain a ten year old certifcate despite all the changes in science, UNDRIP, and Indigenous Rights over the last decade.

I could go on and on, but I think those are the two most egregious examples; bills 14 and 15, and the approval of the PRGT project. Obviously the Bill 14 and 15 pieces have failed to a degree, but we can still work with First Nation leaders to prevent violations of Rights, and, for instance, demand that the B.C. energy regulator uphold and fully implement DRIPPA.

Earlier, you mentioned reaching new voters who feel disenchanted with the current political status quo. How will you reach these voters, and what is your message to them?

I think the message of my campaign is deeply resonating, and in our campaign, we're trying to efectively double the base of the party — to reshape this party so it works for young and working people. I think this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for young people to come in at the ground foor and ensure that their voices are truly heard, and to have a party that actually moves in lockstep with social and climate movements.

This is what the NDP used to be. They used to be truly responsive to climate and social movements, and labour movements. Now, we see that power is centralized in the Premier's ofce. It feels like they're deeply out of touch. They're tepid, and afraid to actually have a deep connection with what could be their base. I'm opening the door to young people, so we can change the conversation, to center us — to center working people and not corporate lobbyists.

I mentioned this goal of 5 000 new members to the Green Party. I think step one is to tell people the truth. It turns out people are ready to hear it. As I said, more than 150 000 people have watched my frst couple of videos, and I'm focused on growing the number of people who vote, not fighting over a shrinking pie. My campaign is about bringing in people who've never seen their priorities refected in B.C. politics. That's how we win, and that's how we actually strengthen our democracy. Step two is to then show people that democracy can actually be empowering and fun. We're doing that with in-person rallies, and a whole lot of conversations with our friends, neighbors, and fellow organizers.

Do you have anything you'd like to add before we end?

full-time professionals, and their dissertations aim to “bridge the gap between theory and practice by conducting applied research, which directly impacts a business problem or policy… [which] is ideal for professionals who are looking to advance their leadership in business, rather than developing a career in academia.”

The Gustavson spokesperson told the Martlet that they are still in the exploratory stages of the program, so there is no confrmed timeline for the DBA.

Unlike the DEng program, there are a few other DBA programs in Canada, including at the University of Calgary, Athabasca University, and Royal Roads University.

Dr. Hassan Wafai, program head of the Doctor of Business Administration at Royal Roads, said in a written statement that these professional doctorate programs are often created in response to changing trends in education, stating that only 15 to 20 per cent of PhD graduates in Canada secure university faculty positions after their degree.

“[The Royal Roads] DBA program has a unique hybrid design, meaning that the program combines the research focus and rigour of a traditional PhD with the practical nature of a professional doctorate,” he noted. “[It] is designed for working professionals who want to make a diference in their feld of practice or industry.”

When asked if UVic was considering other professional doctorates, Hicks explained that it is up to the discretion of the faculty to implement these new programs. “This is not a mandate, this is an opportunity,” he said. Hicks believes that programs like the DEng are “a good example of [UVic] broadening our horizons and frankly catching up to the rest of the world in terms of the diversity of degrees we ofer.” Weber, meanwhile, hopes that other Canadian universities will implement similar programs to foster collaboration

My experiences are largely outside party politics and government. But what I think the BC Greens need right now is actually a movement builder that can organize a resurgence — bringing young and disillusioned people into the party.

I'm really feeling this momentum; like there’s a surge of people that feel the deep brokenness of our systems here in B.C., and they see how wealth is being hoarded at the top. So, I think there's a large appetite for new ideas and new energy in B.C. politics.

The third phase is to actually sign up to be a member of the BC Greens. It's completely free for anyone under the age of 30. This is an opportunity to vote for the person you want, and to hold the government's feet to the fre. I'm really hopeful that young people see this as an opportunity — as big of an opportunity as I see it. Basically, this entire government functions with a one-vote majority. That means if the NDP loses one MLA, or the Greens win one more, every law and every budget will need Green support to pass. That gives grassroots people more leverage than we think.

There are some more platform points that I'm excited about. Efectively, the focus of this campaign is about taxing B.C.’s richest corporations and one per cent, and using that revenue to fund our afordability agenda, which includes 26 000 new units of actually afordable green housing every year. It includes free transit, rebuilding the public health care system, and tens of thousands of good green jobs. I'm hopeful that this will resonate with young people like it does with me. There's a number of other measures and policy points that are outlined on the ‘issues’ section of our website. It includes implementing price caps on staple groceries to bring down our monthly costs and re-implementing vacancy controls across the province, to prevent landlords from signifcantly increasing rents after tenants move out, as well as stopping the MAGA-backed PRGT pipeline, which is an incredibly salient issue for climate and Indigenous Rights organizers. I'll just add that the PRGT project will cost the public billions, create minimal permanent jobs, and send the

RAAMIN HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Photo by Ethan Barkley.

Photo courtesy of Emily Lowan.

Photo by Ethan Barkley.

'Food Not Lawns:' How guerrilla gardeners inspired the next generation of environmental activists

Since it made national headlines in 2010, this gardening practice has remained part of Victoria's environmental activism scene

It should come as no surprise that the University of Victoria has a long history of environmentally-focused student activism. UVic was recently ranked second by Times Higher Education among universities globally — and first in Canada — when it comes to promoting sustainable cities and communities. However, the institution and its students have not always seen eye-to-eye on sustainability practices on campus. Beneath the surface, there is a significant history of activism and protest — both on campus and in greater Victoria —challenging the underuse of land in the community.

A recurring practice in local environmental activism is

guerrilla gardening. Over the past fifteen years — from small class projects, to large-scale demonstrations including a student arrest — guerrilla gardeners have made their presence known in the community.

WHAT IS GUERRILLA GARDENING?

Guerrilla gardening is a form of urban environmental activism, where people cultivate gardens on unused green spaces — specifcally, spaces that do not belong to them. For city-dwellers, the ever-expanding concrete jungles often leave much to be desired when it comes to accessible green spaces where useful produce can be grown. Despite the lack of space, many aren’t willing to give up their gardening dreams. Guerrilla gardening ofers an alternative: making use of these spaces, even if it means digging in a legal gray area.

The term was coined in the 1970s by gardening activist Liz Christy and her group — the Green Guerillas. Based in New York, the Green Guerrillas were inspired to help bring food security to inner-city communities, who were suffering the effects of an economic recession. They used seed bombs — packages of seeds, compost, and soil — to encourage natural growth in neglected land within the city. One of their guerrilla gardening projects, known now as the Liz Christy Garden, still stands today. It is New York City’s oldest community garden, and is protected by the New York City Parks Department. For some, guerrilla gardening may be done simply to make their neighbourhood a more pleasant and beautiful place to live by encouraging biodiversity, and giving positive purpose to unused land. For others, however, it is

Food Not Lawns spokesperson

Matt Christie told Saanich News in 2010 that it was time UVic students took ownership of land that they paid fees to access. The group argued that tuition-paying students should have a larger role in determining what university grounds were used for.

The protests made both local and national headlines, and were reported on in publications such as the Times Colonist , CBC, and the Globe and Mail

Jenna Rudolph, a former UVic student who had already graduated at the time, was heavily involved in the protests. They played an active role in planting the garden beds, spent a night camping out on the site, and ended up being escorted off campus by police.

Reflecting on what had inspired them and their peers to take action in 2010, Rudolph noted that the protests took place shortly after the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, and that there was a large overlap between the people who protested the Olympics and those present at the UVic quad.

“I think a lot of people were really hyped because the Vancouver Olympics were happening.… Most people who were involved in the garden were involved in protesting the Olympics,” said Rudolph. “I think we just had a lot of energy for anti-colonial work, and saw the connection [between both protests] in terms of it being an anti-colonial struggle.”

They said that the message that Food Not Lawns shared back in 2010 — food security among students and others in the UVic community — is still relevant today. In the 2023-2024 academic year, the Campus Community Garden (CCG) donated over 900 lbs. of locally-grown produce to the UVSS Food Bank. Despite

these efforts, CCG noted that food security and sovereignty continue to be issues for UVic students. According to statistics kept by the UVSS, over 400 students use their Food Bank each week.

“There are still definitely land struggles happening…. If UVic was doing things differently with the land that they owned, that would be great,” said Rudolph. Rudolph admitted, however, that they have some regrets about how the group communicated their anticolonial message.

“I, at this point in my life, would approach it really differently. I think we did a few things wrong,” they said. “I think we were all young, naive, 20-something kids …with a lot of energy and [if] we saw anything as part of the system we were trying to take down, we would just do it with that kind of energy. I think that upset a lot of people.”

Rudolph said that there was a distinct lack of Indigenous voices within what was intended to be an anti-colonial movement.

Today, they look back at the movement as a “white attempt” at solving the problem, and said if they were able to do it over, they would have tried harder to bring Indigenous friends and members of the community into the conversation.

BUILDING

GOOD SOIL

It has been 15 years since the Food Not Lawns protests. In the time since, guerrilla gardeners have remained a consistent part of the environmental activist ecosystem both at the university and in the broader Victoria community.

Haultain Common, a community garden on the corner of Haultain Street and Asquith Street, was created by Margot Johnston and Rainey Hopewell in an effort to better their community by increasing access to food. While it is officially sanctioned by the city now, it began as a guerrilla operation.

According to a Victoria News article written in 2012, the two had already been operating the garden for four years while navigating outdated Victoria bylaws. They had been waiting several years for the City of Victoria to create a boulevard garden bylaw, which would officially sanction their community garden. In the meantime, they continued to tend the garden — without an express legal right to do so.

Today, the City of Victoria does not require residents to obtain permission for boulevard gardens, and has provided a set of

guidelines for prospective urban gardeners to follow while creating their own community gardens. These guidelines were formally adopted in 2016, though had been allowed in the interim since 2014.

Residents that are interested in building a community garden are encouraged to contact BC One Call at 1-800-474-6886 for help locating potentially dangerous gas and power lines.

Discussions around land use continue to be relevant not just in greater Victoria, but in the UVic community as well. Members of the CCG at UVic brought similar questions surrounding UVic’s land-use forward when speaking to the Martlet in 2014. They shared that, since the university reserved the right to disband the garden at any time without the guarantee of immediate relocation, planning for the future of the CCG was very difficult. They had already been relocated in 2011 to make room for a new university development.

Matt Morrison, who was a CCG co-cordinator in 2014, said, “It takes five years to build up good soil, and if you have to move every five years that means you never have good soil. That’s the overarching most challenging thing.” The constant fear of relocation worried members of the CCG that meaningful, long term food production would not take place, hampering the garden’s ability to support UVic students with accessible growing spaces and food security.

Today, the garden remains on the same land — at 2100 McKenzie Avenue, across from CARSA and Centennial Stadium — and has been governed by a series of recurring five-year leases from UVic Campus Planning and Sustainability to the CCG. The current lease is set to expire in 2027.

In 2021, students in a 400-level environmental studies course advocated for the restoration of green spaces on the roof of the David Turpin building, suggesting that they be converted into growing spaces for students.

‘Green roofs’ were included in the original design for the David Turpin building, though they had fallen into disuse, and weeds had overtaken the space. At the time, the Martlet reported on a survey — conducted by several of the students in the class — indicating a great deal of student interest in the roof being turned into a dedicated space for growing food, which could be shared with the UVSS Food Bank and served on campus.

In 2023, another student group by the name of ‘Overgrow UVic’ brought conversations about native plant biodiversity forward by engaging in another act of

guerrilla gardening — planting a small plot of wild strawberries, a Garry Oak tree, and various other native species in front of the McPherson Library. The plants were chosen in an attempt to emulate the type of biodiversity that would have been seen in a pre-colonial environment. Overgrow UVic directly referenced the 2010 protests as inspiration for their actions in 2023.

This time, UVic allowed the garden to remain in the quad for two days, before it was dug up and replaced with Kentucky Bluegrass — the non-native monoculture which makes up the remainder of the quad.

The legacy of the Food Not Lawns protest shows there is continuity to these kinds of conversations, demonstrating that people in Victoria care about building healthy and sustainable communities. Further, it shows that some people are just not interested in waiting around for societal institutions to do it for

them — they would rather pick up their gardening tools and do it themselves.

Usable outdoor spaces have become a hot commodity in the modern era, where the prospect of owning land has become less and less likely for the younger generations of Canadians. The median price for a single-family home in Victoria sits just shy of $1.2 million. As the fifth most expensive rental market in the country — sitting behind Vancouver, Toronto, Mississauga, and Burlington — putting down roots here is a difficult task.

Reflecting on how guerrilla gardening has become popular within Victoria, Rudolph said that they believe that the quality of UVic’s environmental studies program, coupled with the visibility of native plant

environments, has made Victoria a magnet for young activists focused on food security and native plant health.

Though they are no longer an active guerrilla gardener today, environmental activism remains an important part of their life.

“I’m lucky where I live that I have access to land where I can grow a lot of food ... my activism has changed a little bit…. [my community hosts] a lot of Indigenous Land Defenders here…. I’ve worked with kids for a long time doing nature education and that feels like a broader stretch of activism — enabling kids to have a connection to the natural world.”

Rudolph also works with queer youth in theatre productions, which they view as another form of activism shared through performance.

Even if subsequent protests and instances of guerrilla gardening haven’t made the same amount of noise, it’s clear that the Food Not Lawns protests in 2010 have had an enduring impact — the tradition for environmental action they helped foster remains. Collective memories of these events continue to influence local activism today. That’s not likely to end anytime soon.

“It is an accessible sort of activism, because you can do it anywhere. You don’t need your own plot of land, you can just find spaces in Victoria, and there are a lot of great spaces in Victoria to do that,” Rudolph said. “Go plant some seeds, or throw up some native shrubs or bushes, and just kind of see what happens.”

an anti-colonial act meant to address food security concerns in local communities, and challenge the institutions and systems that decide who is allowed to make use of land, and why.

‘FOOD NOT LAWNS’

In late March 2010, Victoria’s most significant instance of guerrilla gardening took place on UVic’s quad, in front of the McPherson Library. What began as a protest over a lack of accessible gardening spaces ended in roughly $10 000 in damages, the lockdown of the Administrative Services Building (ASB), and the arrest of at least one student.

Throughout the protest, a group that identified themselves as the Food Not Lawns Collective repeatedly dug up the lawn in front of the McPherson Library

and installed a series of gardens — planted with edible produce and native plants. Each time, the garden was subsequently bulldozed by UVic, and the space was reverted back to its original form.

During the height of these tensions, an estimated crowd of 125 students and supporters had gathered at the garden, where one student was arrested after refusing to move for maintenance teams sent by UVic to remove the garden beds. Later, another crowd gathered outside the ASB, resulting in Campus Security (CSEC) locking down the building. A statement released by UVic in 2010 said that staff within the building were concerned for their own safety, after members of Food Not Lawns made attempts to force their way into the building.

At their core, these actions were about land use and food security.

Your face belongs to you, and Canadian law should say so

Denmark's bold move to fght deepfakes by giving people copyright over their own likeness highlights gaps in our own laws

ABIGAIL

In Canada, it’s illegal to steal someone’s car — but not their face. As absurd as that sounds, it’s our current reality.

Deepfakes — digitally altered videos or photos that clone someone’s face, voice, or body to realistically depict them saying or doing anything at all

— pose a rapidly increasing threat.

Right now, Canada’s legal system is dangerously out of touch with this technology. Denmark just proved that it doesn’t have to be.

This summer, Denmark announced a proposed amendment to its copyright laws that will make a radical but necessary change: give people ownership over their own image, voice, and likeness. This amendment, with support from 90 per cent of Danish MPs, will make it illegal to share deepfakes or other digital imitations of someone without their consent.

Victims will have the right to demand the removal of fake content and receive compensation, while tech platforms that fail to comply could face severe fnes or intervention from the European Commission.

This is the frst law of its kind in Europe, and should be the frst of many.

The proposed amendment is smart, simple, and realistic. It doesn’t ban parody or satire, drawing a clear line between humor and harm.

Deepfakes are a mainstream threat being used to produce fake celebrity porn, sexually harass women, humiliate

people, sabotage political campaigns, and run sophisticated scams. As Denmark’s Culture Minister, Jakob Engel-Schmidt told the Guardian

“Human beings can be run through the digital copy machine and be misused for all sorts of purposes, and I’m not willing to accept that.” Neither should we.

identity theft charges may apply. Canada’s libel and slander laws ofer some protection when fake content damages a reputation, but these are civil laws. What Canada lacks are clear penalties for the unauthorized creation and distribution of deepfakes.

We can’t keep relying on a patchwork of pre-deepfake legislation to keep ourselves safe in a post-deepfake world. Recognizing that old rules don’t always work for new problems, Danish lawmakers took action to safeguard their citizen’s rights. They acted fast, making a clear statement — not only that your face and voice belong to you, but that they have their citizens’ backs. This is exactly the leadership that Canada needs. By giving people clear copyright rights over their own likeness, we can make it easier to demand takedowns, hold platforms accountable, and stop the spread of damaging deepfakes before they cause irreparable harm.

Canada has long positioned itself as a leader in digital rights and online safety, yet we’re falling behind. Denmark gave us the blueprint, our lawmakers just have to pick it up. You should own your face, and Canadian law should say so.

The summer heat crisis in Petch needs an urgent solution

Heat waves are causing accessibility and workplace safety concerns in the biochemistry and microbiology departments

SOPHIE CULOS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Summers are getting hotter. The Petch building isn’t air conditioned, and my cells are dying.

I’m a third-year PhD student in the Department of biochemistry and microbiology, and I use specialized insect cell cultures to express the proteins that I study. These cell cultures grow at 27°C; if temperatures rise above this threshold, my cells get sick and die, throwing me into stasis for several weeks while I order a new cell stock, wait for it to arrive, and coax it back into health.

The room where I grow my cells has no air conditioning, so during heat waves — which are happening more and more frequently in Victoria, and across the country — I resort to increasingly desperate measures to try to keep these cells, and by extension, my doctoral research alive.

temperatures in the building have been causing problems for years, and the issue remains unresolved, despite the fact that conditions in Petch regularly exceed those stipulated in the University of Victoria’s Integrated Energy Master Plan, which states that “laboratory spaces shall be maintained at room temperature (23°C - 25°C).”

When the Integrated Energy Master Plan was developed in 2011, passive cooling could maintain Petch within this temperature range. However, we have entered an era in which this is no longer possible without air conditioning. As temperatures continue to rise each year, this issue has escalated from failed experiments and wasted funds to a direct threat to workplace safety and accessibility.

Rachel Witt, a master’s student in the Microbiology program at UVic, described to me how the summer heat makes working in their lab almost unbearable.

ambient temperature when wearing labappropriate PPE. This means that, when they observed temperatures in their lab of 32°C, Witt was functionally working indoors at 35°C. The tools implemented to keep workers safe are now increasing their risk of heat stress exposure and heatrelated illness.

In the case of microbiology master’s student Veerle, these concerns extend beyond physical discomfort. “I have [an] autonomic nervous system disorder that causes me to have heat intolerance, so I get very close to passing out a lot when I am exposed to extreme heat,” Veerle said me. Like Rachel, Veerle works in a containment level two lab, meaning that it’s prohibited to open windows and doors to cool her workspace down.

To protect workers from heat stress,

heat getting worse every year, particularly since 2018.

Valerie and other lab instructors keep dozens of ice packs for students to stuf into the pockets of their lab coats, but this isn’t always sufcient to prevent students from overheating.

“I have had a couple of students who have felt faint, and I usually let them leave for whatever time frame they need to cool down. And so far, that has been working,”

Valerie said. “I do sometimes worry that we’re going to get a student who just can’t complete the lab.”

A statement issued by a UVic spokesperson recognizes that older buildings on campus are challenging to manage in extreme summer heat.

Due to a confuence of factors, including the wall of south-facing windows, equipment that throws of a substantial amount of heat, and hot water baths that continuously generate humidity, they’ve measured ambient temperatures in their lab over 32°C.

In Canada, we have a patchwork of half-measures in place to protect against deepfakes. The Criminal Code makes it illegal to share real intimate images without consent, but deepfakes, by defnition, don’t show real events. Criminal harassment or extortion charges may apply if intimidation is involved, but there is no law specifcally targeting the creation or distribution of malicious deepfakes.

B.C.’s Intimate Images Protection Act covers altered sexual content, which is an important step, but still too narrow in scope. If a deepfake impersonates you to commit fraud,

Every year, the grad students and technicians in my lab sufer through a period of at least four weeks where the ambient indoor temperature makes it almost impossible for us to conduct research. My supervisor, Dr. John Burke — professor of biochemistry and microbiology at UVic — has been a principal investigator in the department for almost 12 years, and emphasized that “comparative universities throughout Canada are almost all climate-controlled.”

“To run a professional research environment requires a degree of climate control to actually carry out repeatable scientifc experiments,” he said. The installation of air conditioning throughout the Petch building would signifcantly improve our department’s capacity for scientifc output. Summertime

According to Witt, “that is a recipe for disaster in the summer. Especially [because] we are a containment level two lab, which means we have to be wearing a lot of personal protective equipment to do our work, including full length pants, [a] lab coat, and gloves, and all of that together makes for a really hot and kind of exhausting situation.”

Witt’s testimony underscores the extent of the problem — the heat in Petch is so extreme that the use of legally-mandated PPE is impeding our ability to maintain safe working conditions. Canadian Occupational Health and Safety resources that calculate heat exposure risks for workers add the equivalent of 3°C to the

Here's what 'Love

WorkSafeBC recommends rescheduling working hours to avoid the hottest part of the day, but even this strategy has reached the point of failure in Petch. Veerle told me that, earlier in the week, she had been working alone in the lab in the evening to try to dodge the heat, but she found that even at 10:00 p.m., it was so hot that she needed to lie down on the ground for a moment to prevent a fainting spell. These workplace safety concerns are echoed by Burke. “I think it's just important to emphasize the health and safety implications of having people working in over 30°C weather, and in protective equipment that’s required for biomedical research,” he said. “It would be almost impossible for anyone to do this type of research in the conditions that we’re doing [it in] without addressing this issue.”

Unbearable summer heat is not restricted to Petch’s second-foor research labs — the heat is also wreaking havoc in the undergraduate teaching labs on the main foor. Valerie Kerr, who has been a lab instructor with the department for 29 years, told me that she has observed the

"Buildings constructed prior to 2010 were not designed with cooling systems; adapting these buildings to be more climate resilient will require a signifcant capital investment." While a handful of rooms in Petch have air conditioning to maintain temperature conditions for specifc instrumentation, the statement acknowledges that the spaces without cooling systems can be uncomfortable during hot summer days. Additionally, the statement includes recommendations to manage the heat that simply aren’t feasible in a research lab; we can’t “wear lightweight and breathable clothing” when lab coats are required by law.

According to UVic, a campus-wide cooling and heating strategy for all buildings is in the works, which will prioritize investments in infrastructure retrofts with sustainable technology such as heat pumps, but no concrete plans or specific timelines for Petch were communicated in the statement.

The summer heat in Petch has reached a tipping point. High temperatures within our laboratories skew the results of scientifc tests and analyses, afecting the replicability of experiments. The lack of

environmental controls restricts our ability to properly maintain equipment and delicate instruments, which often have hard upper-limits operating temperatures. Unbearable working conditions limit who can participate in research, making it less accessible for those at a higher risk of heat-related health complications. It adds an unnecessary burden to work that is already arduous — there are few experiments that don’t involve hours of preparation, implementation, tailoring, and clean-up. As a cherry on top, every failed experiment, prematurely-replaced piece of equipment, and heat-exhausted lab technician represents unnecessary spending of publicly funded grants. Maintaining our integrity as an institution requires us to be realistic about the environmental factors impacting our work. Additionally, the university has a responsibility to prioritize the well-being of staff and students. The climate is changing, and UVic needs to adapt in order to maintain its reputation as a world-class leader in scientific research. Air conditioning in Petch isn’t just overdue. It’s essential.

Let’s be honest. The dating scene at UVic is nonexistent. The frst time I went on a date at UVic, it was with a guy I met through Tinder. I know — gross. I don’t know why or how that happened, but it did. Let me save you some imagining and let you know that we are indeed not together.

The last two years I have been at UVic, however, I have learned a lot about UVic’s dating scene — both from my own experiences and from my friends. It’s safe to say that not a lot is happening during the year.

With its recouplings, emotional conversations, and the constant test of loyalty and trust, the hit reality show Love Island USA can teach us how to make our love life at UVic more exciting — just don’t try to imitate everything you see on screen.

Whether it's learning how to communicate better, spot red fags, or survive the cringeness of texting the guy in the other dorm building, Love Island USA refects (and sometimes exaggerates) similar romantic challenges to those students face in real life. By learning from these (highly televised) cases, students can learn to better navigate the obstacle course of dating in university.

So, without further ado, here are a few lessons that Love Island USA season seven can teach us UVic students who are desperately searching for the one.

Be intentional with what you want.

When joining the dating scene, it is super important to know what you want — and then say it! Whether that is a ‘situationship’, casually dating around, or a serious relationship, it’s always important to communicate your intentions and desires with the other person. The Islanders who don’t say what they actually want always end up creating chaos, and the same can happen on campus. Especially if you live in dorms, and you have to see the person it didn’t work out with — because you failed to communicate — everyday. Mixed signals can get messy, so it’s important to be clear and transparent.

Be bold.

Do not — I repeat, do not — beat around the bush. Don’t be the Islander who takes forever to couple up with the person they actually want. I know what you’re thinking: “What if I get rejected?”

While it’s not super common for someone to say “no” on Love Island, it’s a toss-up in the real world. You just have to embrace that and not take it personally.

A good chat is everything.

A good conversation isn’t just what they do on Love Island to fll time on the show — it’s a crucial part of real interpersonal relationships, too. Rather than avoiding

having a serious conversation with your date, it’s better to hash it out and be honest. If you can’t have intentional and meaningful conversations with the person you’re dating, it’s probably not going to work out.

You do not have to stay with one person for the rest of your life.

When you are in the villa, it can seem like the villa is your entire life, and you have to choose one person for the entirety of it. That happened in this season’s Love Island and the chaos that erupted should remind us that getting to know other people is not only healthy, but allows you to learn what you like and what you don’t.

Explore your options (respectfully) before committing to an individual too early — you might end up with a healthier relationship in the long run.

Do not 'love bomb' your date!

I think it’s safe to say that saying “I really like you” and “there’s no one else I’d rather be with” to someone on your frst date is a bad idea. Well, maybe some people like that. But it is not healthy! Take things slow and see where they go. Allow some space and time, and don’t feel like you need to text them

Photo by Ethan Barkley.

Illustration by Sage Blackwell.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

UVic alumna Esi Edugyan's novel comes to life in new Disney+ adaptation

Adapting her novel was "bizarre and quite wonderful," says Edugyan

Esi Edugyan is a UVic Writing alum (1999), a two-time Giller Prize winner, and a Booker Prize fnalist. Her third novel, Washington Black set in the 1830s, follows a young man named George Washington “Wash” Black. Wash is born into slavery on Barbados, and the novel follows his life post-slavery on a journey to fnd himself and true freedom.

An adaptation of Washington Black premiered on Disney+ on July 23. The eight-episode mini-series was adapted by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, starring Ernest Kingsley Jr. as Wash and Emmywinning actor Sterling K. Brown as narrator Medwin Harris. Starting in Nova Scotia, the last stop on the Underground Railroad, the series recounts the intersecting journeys of Wash and his comrades.

The Martlet spoke with Edugyan about the novel, and her experience with the process of adaptation.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

There is considerably more attention given to the backstories of characters like Tanna and Medwin in the adaptation. How much were you able to be involved on set and in decisions such as this?

Initially, the book was optioned back

SPORTS

A guide to great hikes between Victoria and Nanaimo UVic alumnus and former UVic professor Theo Dombrowski has written a guide to family walks and hikes on Southern Vancouver Island

HAILEY CHUTTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

in 2019, and I was able to speak to Selwyn Hinds, the showrunner, and also Sterling K. Brown, and hear a bit about their vision for things. I sat in on a writers’ room meeting, which was really illuminating. I was sent maybe fve very, very early scripts and I gave a bit of feedback, but, as a novelist, you never know if that’s really welcome. I think they were very gracious and took it in a lovely way.

From that point on, it’s been very hands-of. I, for instance, would have been as surprised as you to see so many of the changes being made, because I wasn’t privy to the writing.

It’s kind of lovely to see where they’ve taken characters like Medwin or characters like Tanna; to see how they’ve feshed out their backstories and their life events. As the fction writer, you’re quite surprised, but you’re tickled and sometimes you think, “Oh, that’s very interesting,” and you feel like “that’s really apt, even though I didn’t think of it myself.”

What was it like for you to see these characters, and this world that you created, come to life?

It was really surreal. I visited the set back in 2022, in a desert-like area outside Mexico City.… To step out of the car and round the corner, and see that they’ve constructed this massive ship that’s basically a replica of the Bluenose … was just breathtaking.… And then, I turn[ed] the corner and there was the Cloud-cutter (an airship appearing in the novel). It was just so weird to see all of these things that I had conjured and imagined being physically built in the real world. It was bizarre and quite wonderful. It’s a wonderful experience to have seen everything made fesh, to see the actors take on the personas of people who’ve been alive in my mind for so many years.

Writing is typically a solitary activity, especially compared to flm. How was the process of collaboration and sharing this story with so many others?

The act of writing is very solitary. It’s something that you’re very much engaged in on your own: you in a room with your own thoughts, getting them down. On some level it’s also a collaboration because you have readers. Once it leaves your personal private realm then you’re getting feedback, you’re getting people’s reactions, you’re getting new contexts for the work.

In terms of the filmmaking aspect, because I was so removed from the whole process … it felt more like they were

doing a translation of something that was already closed and fnished for me, [something] already set down. I could sort of feel free to let them do what they needed to do with the work.

Executive producer Sterling K. Brown said he wanted to emphasize the whimsy in the story, especially as stories with Black protagonists are not often centered around such “whimsical elements.” Was this something you considered when creating this world and these characters?

For me, not so much. I always begin each draft not knowing where the story is going to take me. I thought I was going to write a completely diferent novel about a completely diferent sort of character, a diferent version of Wash. I started to feel like all of the restless moving around the globe was this outward manifestation of Washington’s search for his sense of home, and his sense of place in the world, and also a sense of selfhood. His constant shifting and moving and grasping for a physical place where he is going to feel safe and good and most like himself [became] a psychological journey made fesh. I didn’t set out to have whimsy in the story. I think for me as a literary writer … the idea of slavery and whimsy is a difcult thing to negotiate. If I had set out with that goal in mind, I think I would have failed. But, I suppose that’s where we’ve ended up, and for me it works.

All eight episodes of Washington Black are now available for streaming on Disney+.

dazed and strangely seen. From MDMA to ego death, from pregnancy scares to riveting ovulations, there is no shortage of ear-perking lyrics and biting imagery scattered throughout Virgin Even the album cover, a photograph – taken by Heji Shin – of a pelvic X-ray displaying an IUD, is a blistering reminder of the artist’s defant self-expression. Lorde’s fourth studio album leans into discomfort as both a creative tool and a personal reckoning as it engages with conflict headfirst, allowing for the emergence of themes such as a fear of intimacy, making remorseful choices, and gaining a fuid understanding of gender. All of this comes together to result in a chaotic — yet liberating — portrait of transformation. Presenting itself as an ode to bodily fuids, discomfort, and the nitty-gritty dirty revelations of being in your mid-20s, Lorde’s Virgin is both a departure from her recent work (lyrically and sonically) and a return to form in her astute ability to resonate with her audience. Upon frst listen, Virgin plays out like a hazy late-night talk with an old acquaintance or a new friend – one who tends to overshare, descends into grotesque territory, and dumps personal epiphanies that are both haunting, yet somehow also thought-provoking. You’re slightly startled by the stark lyrics and raw, mechanical sounds of the album, but once you adjust to the bluntness and candour of your quirky over-sharing acquaintance, the real beauty is unveiled: chaotic revelations, emotional twists, and soul-striking discoveries about acceptance.

Moments like these unfold on tracks like “Current Afairs,” which feature lines like, “You tasted my underwear … He spit in my mouth like / He’s sayin’ a prayer” or “If I’d had virginity, I would have given that too" on the album’s fnal track, "David." As the title of the album cleverly implies, Lorde is reborn here, and claims all aspects of herself – her body, her image, and a romantic carnage that captures both the destructive and uplifting emotions of maturing.

Departing from her Melodrama and Solar Power collaborator Jack Antonof (known for his collaborations with Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and Sabrina Carpenter), Lorde opted to

co-produce with electronic DJ Jim-E Stack, who has previously produced records with Charli xcx, Dominic Fike, and Bon Iver, to generate a grimier, throbbing, and surrealist soundscape. On Virgin she strays from the poetic, universally human lyrics and hardhitting ballads we’ve come to expect from her. Instead, she resorts to a blunt delivery and straightforward approach to obscure topics, causing her sentiments to take the spotlight. Lorde tackles her departure from femininity and begets more questions of womanhood, exemplifed on the opening track, “Hammer,” where she boldly states that “Some days I’m a woman / Some days I’m a man.” On “Man of the Year,” she meticulously unpackages her inner turmoil when she reveals that (her) “babe can’t believe I’ve become someone else / Someone more like myself / Who’s gon’ love me like this?” and ruminates on her romantic future, asking, “Am ever gonna love again?” on the fnal track, “David.”

Following her critically weak psychedelic sabbatical that was Solar Power, Lorde returns to her wretched, self-conscious, and emotional sound. Virgin’s rawness may prove some skeptics wrong, but if one dares to compare it to the tour-de-force and culturally impactful bodies of work that Lorde provided with Melodrama and Pure Heroine, they may fnd that Virgin rides on the cusp of not reaching its fullest potential. It’s as though each song’s climax is cut short, or that there’s an unidentifable quality missing in each track, leaving listeners craving the full, revelatory explosion they’ve grown to expect from her. At its core, Virgin is Lorde in full transparency, and she doesn’t care if that’s a negative or positive thing. It’s an album about transformation, the journey to feeling comfortable in your skin, the pressure that comes from being famous for so long, and the timeless question one poses in the mirror –– am I worthy of love?

By the album’s conclusion, when your new friend Virgin is done speaking, you’re enamoured. You then discover, through the bizarre turns and poignant refections, that you may have never perceived things the way she did (nor have been able to phrase them quite the same way) — and perhaps that is the beauty and lingering impact of that hazy latenight talk.

In the end, Lorde may not have all the answers or have solved any problems for her audience, but she arrives at a destination somewhere between hope for the future and embracing what life has thrown at you.

For those with ‘getting outdoors’ on their summer bucket list, a hiking guide book can make a huge difference: look no further than the revised edition of Family Walks and Hikes of Vancouver Island, Volume 1: Victoria to Nanaimo recently released by UVic alumnus and former UVic professor Theo Dombrowski.

Dombrowski has inspired many people to get outdoors through both his paintings and books. The guidebook includes walks and hikes for all ages and levels of ability, including those who depend on wheels for mobility.

The Martlet spoke with Dombrowski over email about the revised edition of his book, his favourite hikes, and advice for young hikers.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

Is there a hike that is your personal favourite from this volume, and if so, what characteristics makes it your favourite?

Picking a favourite hike is, of course, like picking a favourite offspring! After a little hesitation, I would probably select Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew. With its ancient, gnarled cedars and hemlocks it is certainly the most distinctive and, of course, contains the most irreplaceable trees. Though without the feature most prized by children — namely water in the form of a stream or lake — its suspended wooden staircases and viewing platforms give it a secondary “jungle gym” appeal!

What is your biggest piece of advice to university-aged hikers who may be new to Vancouver Island?

Don’t be fazed by weather! Especially since university students are on the Island during the coolest and wettest months. With proper preparation and clothing, virtually any weather (except storms that can make forests dangerous) can provide uplifting and refreshing boosts.

It’s a thoroughly well-established fact that full-on nature immersion can boost not just emotional health, but also the ability to concentrate on studies.

Does this guide incorporate any trail etiquette information such as ‘leaveno-trace’ tips or wildlife safety recommendations?

It’s hard to imagine how any UVic student who has ever been in a park should need to be told not to dump litter or pick flowers! However, the introduction has a section called “Animals, Big and

Small,” giving advice not just on the larger critters with pointy teeth, but also smaller ones — including, of course, bees and wasps.

Is there any information about the territories that the various hikes take place on? Or cultural protocols about visiting those areas? Additionally, does the book note native or invasive plants to keep in mind on the trails?

Of course, it is imperative that all UVic students be informed that a

Walks

between northern Nanaimo and Strathcona Park. It is published by Rocky Mountain Books

Photo courtesy of Theo Dombrowski.

Photos by Regina Akhankina.

Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company.

Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company.

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