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SFU begins construction for residence building and expanded childcare centre
Though 445 student and 160 childcare spaces will be added, concerns still arise around housing
CORBETT GILDERSLEVE · NEWS WRITER
On May 21, SFU announced the start of construction on a new student residence and expanded childcare centre, expected to be completed in fall 2027 as part of phase three of their residence master plan.
This eight-story residence will add space for 445 third and fourth-year students, allowing the total residence space to accommodate approximately 8% of “all SFU full-time students across all campuses.” The childcare centre will add “36 spaces for infant-toddlers and 124 spaces for kids from three to five years,” increasing the total number of childcare spaces to 570. The construction is estimated to cost $196.6 million, “shared between the province and SFU.” The cost of the project is relatively consistent with other student housing projects in BC, though Capilano University’s Squamish and North Vancouver projects cost $55 million for 333 beds, and $58.2 million for
Tŝilhqot’in Nation calls for action around the toxic drug crisis on the global stage
They want to combat the growing healthcare crisis with Indigenous-led solutions
ZAINAB SALAM · STAFF WRITER
On April 24, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, a delegation from the Tŝilhqot’in Nation presented a plan to combat the toxic drug crisis within their six member communities. This initiative follows the Nation’s declaration of a local state of emergency in April 2024, prompted by a surge in overdose-related deaths.
The First Nations Health Authority reported that in 2024, 427 First Nation members in BC died due to toxic drug overdoses. This figure represents an average death rate 6.7 times higher than that of other provincial residents, marking the largest disparity since the province declared a public health emergency over toxic drugs in 2016. Sierra William, Tŝilhqot’in Nation Youth ambassador, highlighted the crisis as a continuation of historical challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples, including the impacts of residential schools and past epidemics.
In New York, the delegation emphasized the need for support from both the federal and provincial governments to “create Indigenous-led and culturally appropriate responses to the opioid crisis.” Chief Roger William of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation — one of the Tŝilhqot’in communities — advocated for culturally centred programs, including on-the-land treatment processes and supportive recovery through equine therapy. Equine therapy is a “type of animal assisted therapy” using horses, which represent spiritual connection for First Nations.
362 beds respectively. Factors like the cost-per-bed in specific regions, as well as land and servicing costs, may contribute to this.
The Peak asked r/simonfaser about the project, with users raising concerns about the location and height of the residence building. One redditor noted how the new housing will take up part of the northern residence parking lot, possibly making it more difficult for students to find parking in the future. SFU said in a statement to The Peak, “While there are some limited impacts to parking during the construction period of phase three, which is currently underway, there will be no permanent loss of parking.” Another user said the buildings should be as tall as the ones in UniverCity to use the limited space on Burnaby Mountain. There, buildings can range in height, with some buildings like CentreBlock being 16 stories.
The Peak also spoke with Abhishek Nanjundappa, executive director of the Graduate Student Society, and Remi Makinde, director of external relations. Nanjundappa said that an increase of 160 childcare seats is great, but there are still concerns about lengthy wait times for enrolling children. He added that it’s almost been 10 years since Louis Riel House closed, which resulted in the loss of 210 units that supported graduate students and families. Since then, just 88 units have
been built to cover that loss with the construction of the Family Housing building in UniverCity. 65 of these units can support individuals with up to two children.
The final phase of SFU’s residence master plan includes the creation of 296 studio and four bedroom units for “nontraditional age students and graduate students,” slated to start in summer 2028. Phase three of the plan was originally a different project, set to create 350 second and third-year student housing units at the Louis Riel site in summer 2022, as noted in SFU’s 2015 master plan report.
SFU told The Peak that “the master plan is the result of an extensive consultation process with a variety of key university stakeholders including students, faculty, professional, and student staff, university executives, and administrative staff.” They also mentioned the final phase “has not yet reached the design stage,” and the number of units may change.
Concerning the childcare centre, Dr. Jennifer Scott, director of labour relations from the SFU Faculty Association, said feedback from their members has been “overwhelmingly positive” and that “more on-campus childcare is always a good thing for our members, many of whom have children in the current SFU Childcare centres.”
He also addressed the challenges Tŝilhqot’in members face in healthcare settings, citing experiences of racism and discrimination. The First Nations Health Authority defines landbased treatment and healing as a return or reconnection “to the land while utilizing supports to relearn, revitalize, and reclaim our traditional wellness practices,” as “land is foundational to our Indigenous identity.” These practices are unlike traditional psychotherapy as they emphasize the importance of community and promote emotional and spiritual healing. It can involve “listening to Elders’ and Knowledge Carriers’ stories and guidance, sharing food/meals with family and community, and playing music with family and community.”
While the FNHA supports First Nations communities with harm reduction initiatives, such as take-home naloxone kits, safer use supplies, and opioid agonist therapy (medical treatment for opioid use disorder), gaps remain in these supports. Jenny Philbrick, executive director of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, also noted that the Nation needs “‘more immediate resources,’ such as beds for people who are detoxing.”
The Peak reached out to the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation for a statement. We were redirected to the Ministry of Health, which acknowledged that the toxic drug crisis continues to disproportionately impact First Nations communities in BC, “in part due to the impacts of ongoing
and intergenerational trauma from colonialism and racism.” Recognizing that Indigenous communities are best positioned to shape their own solutions, the province stated it supports the Tŝilhqot’in Nation in developing culturally grounded care.
In 2023, the ministry “provided $455,000 to Tŝilhqot’in National Government to support two years of planning, engagement, and service model design for a Healing Centre.” This was followed by signing a letter of understanding — also often called a memorandum of understanding — with the Nation in September 2024 to formalize a partnership in developing the centre. A letter of understanding is “a document that contains a collection of tenets between two or more entities that intend to establish a relationship.” The Peak could not independently verify if the centre is currently being built or when construction will begin. This month, the ministry, Tŝilhqot’in leadership, and other partners met to explore ways to “strengthen the continuum of culturally informed and culture-based treatment, recovery, and aftercare services in the region.”
The Nation is also advancing its local efforts. On May 21 and 22, they hosted “Reclaiming Our Indigenous Spirit,” bringing together members of the Dãkelh Dené, Northern Secwépemc, and Nuxalk Nations to engage in shared dialogue and strengthen culturally grounded responses to the toxic drug crisis. The Peak reached out to the Tŝilhqot’in Nation but did not receive a response by the publication deadline.
IMAGE: COURTESY OF SFU
PHOTO: NILS HUENERFUERST / UNSPLASH
OPIOID CRISIS
New study on cardiovascular disease takes alternative approach
SFU professor helps shift the global perspective on heart health
LUCAIAH SMITH-MIODOWNIK · NEWS WRITER
Scott Lear is a professor of health sciences at SFU and the Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital. He recently published a study with other researchers from around the world, examining determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD (also known as heart disease) is related to atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of plaque in arteries, making it harder for blood to flow. Study findings offered new perspectives on combating CVD, while challenging the status quo on current global health guidelines for maintaining cardiovascular wellness.
Lear’s study was unique in examining CVD in low and middle-income countries (LIC, MIC) rather than generalizing findings from high-income countries (HIC) to create universal guidelines. Prior to this research, much of the understanding regarding the effect of “environmental and social exposures and policies” on CVD came from sampling HICs only.
According to the study, LIC and MIC have “poorly funded health systems, poor access to prevention and treatment strategies,” and “a higher prevalence of chronic disease.” Worldwide, ischemic heart disease, a specific type of CVD, is the leading cause of death due to numerous individual and societal factors. From 2000 to 2021, the number of deaths climbed by 2.7 million to reach 9.1 million, per the World Health Organization. Other types of CVD include strokes, heart attacks, and more. According to an SFU press release on the new study, 80% of CVD deaths come from LIC and MIC.
By using data from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study and related studies, Lear’s study was designed to shape “future policy and research
THE INDIA-ISRAEL ALLIANCE
recommendations” and “accelerate the reduction of the global burden of CVD.” Specifically, his team highlighted findings from previous studies, which showed that individual biological and behavioural risk factors are influenced by social, environmental, and policy determinants, such as the walkability of one’s environment, tobacco price, and food accessibility. PURE conducts research about “CVD, diabetes, kidney and lung diseases, brain health, cancer, and more” internationally.
The PURE study utilized data from 28 countries, with 87% of participants living in LIC or MIC. It includes statistics on various measures of health, including physical activity, diet, healthcare accessibility, social isolation and cohesion, and more.
One takeaway from the PURE data was that “physical inactivity was the second strongest behavioural determinant of CVD after tobacco use.” However, while HIC residents spent more time partaking in recreational activities, those living in LICs reported higher rates of non-recreational activity, such as manual labour involving lifting things, walking to work, and doing household chores. Additionally, “only 4.4% of LIC participants reported sitting more than eight hours a day compared with 22.2% of HIC participants.” Lear’s team showed that measuring physical activity only by recreation omits significant context and details.
In terms of food, “while the absolute cost of fruits and vegetables was lowest in LIC, the cost relative to income was 50 times greater for fruits and 19 times greater for vegetables than in HIC.” Accordingly, HIC reported a greater mean consumption of fruits and vegetables than LIC. When we suggest that individuals “eat better” as a CVD guideline, the study recommends we must also recognize “the context of the local environment,” as well as “facilitators and barriers.”
Unpacking the India-Israel alliance and its global implications
Azad Essa examined how India and Israel are constructing systems of occupation and control
SARAH MOORE · SFU STUDENT
In an address at the Annual Dr. Hari Sharma Memorial lecture on May 17, journalist and author Azad Essa critiqued the deepening alliance between India and Israel. Framing his lecture within the legacy of Hari Sharma, a fierce critic of US imperialism and Hindu nationalism, Essa painted a grim picture of a world increasingly shaped by authoritarianism, neocolonialism, and corporate greed. Sharma was also a professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology at SFU.
Opening with a sweeping overview of global conflicts, from Sudan and Yemen to Congo and Chhattisgarh, Essa argued these crises are connected by a common thread of imperialism, environmental destruction, and the unchecked expansion of capital. In Congo, for instance, imperialism takes the form of multinational mining companies extracting cobalt and copper with little regard for local communities or ecosystems. Linking these to the global rise of the far-right over the last two decades, he warned how Israel’s occupation of Palestine serves as a model for repression everywhere.
The Palestinian genocide “lies at the intersection of the building of a new world order in which the powerful are able to pursue expansion, domination, and the exertion of hard power over peoples, domestic or otherwise — with impunity,” Essa declared. “And the beating heart of this new pursuit is burgeoning India and Israel ties.”
Essa traced this alliance back to as early as the 1960s, when India first bought weapons from Israel during the Sino-Indian War. Since then, this relationship has deepened not just
through continuing arms deals and surveillance tech, but also through a shared playbook of ethnonationalism. Drawing parallels between Zionism (Jewish nationalism) and Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), Essa emphasized their dependence on myths of civilizational superiority and existential threat. This also has severe domestic consequences for India, Essa noted, such as the normalization of Islamophobia and increased state violence against minorities in the country.
Essa also critiqued India using the Pahalgam attack as justification for deploying Israeli drones in Pakistan while adopting Israeli-style settlements in Indian occupied Kashmir. The Pahalgam attack occurred on April 22, with armed terrorists killing 26 tourists as they vacationed in Kashmir, the world’s most militarized zone. Building on a historical and geopolitical analysis from his book Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel, Essa outlined how India (long portraying itself as pro-Palestinian and anti-colonial) has pivoted to embracing Israel not just in arms deals and military trainings but also in policy and tactics of surveillance, demographic reengineering, and suppression of dissent.
Essa explained the India-Israel alliance is emblematic of a broader shift in global politics where authoritarian regimes shield one another from accountability. Despite these “incredibly distressing and heartbreaking” times, Essa emphasized the need to imagine different futures. Reflecting on Sharma’s legacy that framed the lecture, he concluded that the unequivocal present reality is stripping away global illusions: “Whereas it would have been very tough for South
Other recommendations include focusing more on “population-level measures to make healthy choices easier.” Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of “enhancing collaborations between researchers with diverse backgrounds,” and “awareness of barriers to evidence-based health policies, including commercial determinants of health such as obstruction by vested interests.”
The biggest takeaway? “Success can only come through engagement of multiple sectors and countries beyond HIC,” reports the study. “We cannot assume that life is the same everywhere,” Lear said in the SFU press release. “The environments in which people live and the kind of work they do makes a huge difference to their health.”
Asian scholars, activists, like professor Sharma, to speak about India in an academy that has largely valorised India, the road has been cleared now to speak and examine the Indian state,” he said. “The lack of ambiguity saves a lot of explanation.” Sharma’s political work extends more than 50 years, with his work related to India beginning in the ‘70s.
He also paid tribute to Malcolm X on the 100th anniversary of his birth: “As Michael E. Sawyer said last month, South Africa’s effort to take Israel to the International Court of Justice is Malcolm’s dream of a colonial entity being dragged to an international institution manifest.”
Following the lecture, he was joined by Sid Shnaid of Independent Jewish Voices in a dialogue focusing on solidarity, resistance, and the role of diaspora communities in challenging oppression. The conversation touched on the complicity of Western institutions in legitimizing Benjamin Netanyahu’s and Narendra Modi’s regimes while calling for a unified global response.
PHOTO: NGUYEN HIEP / UNSPLASH
PHOTO: SARAH MOORE / THE PEAK
The University Act is being misused to conceal the responsibilities of academic institutions
Separating a university from its political actions is impossible
On September 9, 2024, president Joy Johnson released a statement explaining why SFU abstains from commenting on “partisan political matters and current events.” This statement came after sustained pressure from students and faculty for SFU to take a stance on Israel’s ongoing genocide of the occupied Palestinian territories. According to the statement, “universities need to be a place where people can freely engage in academic inquiry, share ideas, learn from each other, disagree constructively, and peacefully protest.” Apparently, taking a stance would violate section 66 of the University Act, requiring universities to be “non-sectarian [non-religious] and non-political in principle.”
What Johnson failed to acknowledge is that politics is not just opinion, but the application of opinion through a wide variety of means. She’s yet to acknowledge that the university has already taken its stance on Palestine, by investing $7.2 million in companies that supply arms to Israel, including BAE systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CAE Inc. SFU must take accountability for how their actions are political.
Section 66 of the Act has been raised again with a recent petition filed in the BC Supreme Court on April 7, against UBC by four professors and one graduate student. In this case, their targets are the university’s land acknowledgments, EDI statements in the hiring process, and resolutions passed by faculty and administration in support of Gaza. They argue that these items are either political or are still being hotly debated in academia. In their view, these things are violating university members’ academic freedom to freely engage in “controversial” topics.
The administrative work of the university is political. It doesn’t suddenly become political once the communications department posts a public statement.
As the BC Civil Liberties Association called it, this petition is a “perverse interpretation of the University Act.” Section 66 exists to ensure universities do not become “tools of indoctrination for state-sponsored religions or ideologies.” The issue is that the Act doesn’t define “non-political.” Looking at its history, the Act was first passed in 1908 and has had amendments throughout the years. Both the 1908 and 1963 versions only spoke to universities being non-secretarian. This has always been part of the Act and prevents universities from being religious schools. It also regulates university involvement with theological colleges. It wasn’t until 1974 when the Act was revised significantly, that the words “and non-political in principle” were added.
Both universities and churches in Canada are charities, and similarly, the advancement of education and the advancement of religion are classified as charitable purposes. The Canada Revenue Agency restricts charities’ political engagement, banning them from supporting a party or candidate (being partisan). However, engaging in public policy dialogue and development activities (PPDDA) is allowed. PPDDAs generally involve efforts to influence laws, policies, or decisions of a government. Additionally, there’s no limit on the amount
of resources a charity can devote to this work, as long as that activity furthers the charity’s purposes. The university, through its administration, is free to engage in public policy discussions and development. The very work of a university is to advance education and advocate for students, staff, faculty, and administrators. They have a responsibility to provide them support in times of political crisis, such as the ongoing genocide, or for marginalized identities. They also must take accountability for how they respond to their political environment.
Politics is not just an opinion on taxes, laws, or if Indigenous sovereignty exists, it’s the actions and activities to implement those opinions.
The petition and Johnson’s statement want to limit the university administration’s public statements to only being directly related to the university’s business. This business would include research produced, courses being taught, and other activities specific to their mission. The fundamental problem with this is that the administrative work of the university is also political. This includes decisions made by the Senate, the Board of Governors, the deans, directors, and their relevant committees. It doesn’t suddenly become political once the communications department posts a public statement. Politics is not just an opinion on taxes, laws, or whether Indigenous sovereignty exists; it’s the actions and activities to implement those opinions. By making and voting on policies, budgets, and plans, the university decides what research gets funded, who receives bursaries and scholarships, what department gets additional support staff, who goes into a new building, what programs get created or cut, and so on. These actions are not neutral. The university does not just create a place to “freely engage in academic inquiry [ . . . ] where people can have robust conversations” when they literally determine not only if there is a stage, but who gets to stand on it, and who gets to attend.
The petition also cites section 47 of the University Act, which instructs universities to pursue “all branches of knowledge.” This is overly simple. These branches imply a tree with a central, unmoving trunk rooted in the ground, supporting all this work. A more accurate metaphor would be that a university is a forest in all its biodiversity, supporting not only the growth of different trees, bushes, and plants, but also animals, insects, and creatures that live within it. As some areas of knowledge are found to be incorrect (like the flat earth theory), those plants wither away. As such, there is no fixed center to the forest, instead, it shifts as the forest changes and grows. The administration, as the forest’s caretakers, have a responsibility to use this knowledge gained through scholarly work, to move along with it.
All “partisan matters and world events” are the business of the university. President Johnson had that opportunity and instead, she has abdicated her responsibility and chosen silence forevermore.
The Bright-er Side
A love letter to children’s books
I first met The Little Prince as a child, but it feels more accurate to say the book met — and saw — through me. It told me that imagination was not foolish, that love and grief were bound together, and that growing up doesn’t mean surrendering wonder. I wept when the Little Prince left, but I also learned that love lives on in the stars and memory.
That was the beginning of a lifelong love of children’s books. It returned when I needed it most, during my fourth year of undergrad, overwhelmed by deadlines and anxieties about my future. As a volunteer at a children’s literary festival in Hong Kong, I was tasked with accompanying authors to schools and one morning, I met Zeno.
I watched as he read his book, My Strange Shrinking Parents, to a room full of wideeyed fourth graders. His voice was gentle but steady, and somewhere between his beautiful illustrations and the children’s wonder, I forgot I was supposed to be taking pictures and found myself blinking back tears instead.
Often, children’s books hold truths too large for us to grapple with otherwise. They talk about things many adults want to run away from. They make space for loss, joy, play, and transformation all at once. These books, and others like Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, continue to colour my world. They remind me not to trade magic for “matters of consequence,” and to keep looking up at the stars and hear them laugh back at me.
These books taught me how to sit with fear, how to forgive, and how to hope. Long before I knew the language of therapy or philosophy, I had these stories. And sometimes that’s still enough.
PHOTO: ROBYN BUDLENDER / UNSPLASH
ASHIMA SHUKLA STAFF WRITER
PHOTO: PRERITA GARG / THE PEAK
CORBETT GILDERSLEVE · NEWS WRITER
The crisis in education isn’t AI — it’s meaning
In a world obsessed with productivity and optimization, curiosity, patience, and purpose are quietly eroded
Ashima Shukla · Staff Writer
In the age of AI, effort has become optional. As students, we no longer need to flip through textbooks or reread chapters. As one homework app asks, “Why scroll through 100 pages when AI can summarize the most important things in 10?” Across classrooms and countries, education is being reshaped by the insistent buzz of generative AI models. But AI didn’t just appear in the classroom; it was invited in by institutions eager to modernize, optimize, and compete.
For instance, the International Artificial Intelligence in Education Society (IAIED), founded in 1997 and now including members from 40 countries, has long positioned itself “at the frontiers of the fields of computer science, education, and psychology.” Through organizing major research conferences, publishing a leading journal, and showcasing diverse AI applications, IAIED is critical to the discourse and development of AI in education. It also reflects a broader trend: between 2025 and 2030, the AI industry is expected to grow from $6 billion to over $32 billion USD. 83% of higher education professionals from a diverse range of institutions believe “generative AI will profoundly change higher education in the next three to five years.” Silicon Valley giants aren’t just innovating these tools. They are also lobbying for their integration into the school system. This is a transformation
backed by capital, coded by corporations, and endorsed by institutions desperate to keep up.
And it’s working. A McKinsey survey found that 94% of employees and 99% of C-suite leaders are familiar with Gen AI tools, while 47% of employees expect to use AI for nearly one-third of their daily tasks. And universities are listening. Offering courses for students to become prompt engineers and AI ethicists, institutions are preparing them for jobs that didn’t exist five years ago but now reflect the priorities of an efficiency obsessed corporate world. But who does this transformation benefit, and at what cost?
This isn’t just a pedagogical, labour, or environmental issue, as important as those are. It is something more fundamental to human nature: the erosion of curiosity and critical thinking. As dopamine-fuelled thumbs dance to infinite scrolls, we lose the quiet patience needed to parse meaning from a paragraph. The problem isn’t AI’s capabilities but our willingness to let corporations dictate the goals of education — and life. When our only objective is maximum productivity and minimal resistance, we strip learning of friction, and therefore, its meaning. After all, if anyone can “generate” a paper, what is the point of writing one?
For all the content and knowledge at our fingertips, we are lacking the time to sit alone, to ask good questions, to chase rabbits down holes without knowing where they will lead.
In this reality increasingly enmeshed with technologies, we’ve come to expect answers — and dopamine — to be delivered to us immediately. Students begin to internalize that if something isn’t fast, it isn’t worth doing. However, education should be a practice to cultivate, not a credential to purchase.
As a recent study found, the more confident people are in AI’s abilities, the less they rely on their own critical thinking. Similarly, a study on “cognitive offloading” showed that frequent use of AI correlated with weaker problem-solving skills. This suggests that as people grow more accustomed to immediate answers, they lose the memory of mental struggle. Younger students are especially vulnerable, growing up in an environment where boredom is pathologized, curiosity is optional, and learning is gamified. What we are learning is not how to think but how to shortcut.
Even before ChatGPT, researchers warned that students fail to benefit from homework when answers are readily available online. Now, when entire assignments can be completed without thought, Stanford professor Rob Reich asks whether what is at risk is AI displacing the very act of thinking. Writing, after all, is not just a means to communicate but also a way of creating knowledge. The very act of wrestling with an idea, sitting with uncertainty, failing, rephrasing, and trying again, is what shapes the intellect.
And yet, the platforms profiting from this are preaching empowerment. They claim to democratize access, support learning, and save time. But time saved from what exactly? From the very moments that develop intellectual resilience? We have mastered the art of never being bored, and in the process, forgotten how to wonder.
This comes with a heavy psychological toll. As Stanford assistant professor Chris Piech shared, a student broke down in his office, convinced that years of learning to code were now obsolete. The anxiety isn’t about incompetence, it is about irrelevance. When we are told our skills are rendered useless, we don’t just lose confidence, we lose a sense
of purpose. Because, what is learning worth in a world of infinite answers?
We’re told to be productive, efficient, optimized. As if the real value in being human comes from what we can produce and how fast we can do it. But the best ideas often come from wandering, from play, from slowness. Real understanding takes time. Sometimes, it takes failing. Sometimes, it takes boredom.
We are drowning in data but are starved for connection. For all the content and knowledge at our fingertips, we are lacking the time to sit alone, to ask good questions, to chase rabbits down holes without knowing where they will lead. In this environment, perhaps the most radical thinking we can learn to do is to slow down. To reimagine education not as a product to be consumed, but as a process of becoming. Perhaps it is time for fewer lectures and more labs, fewer tests and more conversations. Perhaps it is time to value peer collaboration, iterative writing, reflection, and the kinds of assessments that ask students to apply knowledge in solving tasks.
The antidote to the crisis of AI in education is to remember that education is not a product; it is a process. Models like the Four P’s of Creative Learning (Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play) offer a blueprint. Instead of treating students as users or consumers, we must see them as co-creators of meaning. How might our relationship with learning change if we were encouraged to fail better, not just succeed faster? The goal shifts from producing measurable outcomes to cultivating a deep curiosity and adaptive thinking.
Learning shouldn’t be about acquiring answers. It should be about learning to ask better questions. ChatGPT can help you answer questions, but it cannot teach you how to understand or apply that in the real world. In the face of Big Tech, reclaiming learning as joyful, frustrating, and meaningful is a radical act of resistance. To learn to learn and love it. To recover our passion, we must unlearn the narratives sold to us by billion-dollar companies and build new ones rooted in slowness, struggle, and the sacredness of thought.
Need to Know, Need to Go
Events in June
LUCAIAH SMITH-MIODOWNIK · NEWS WRITER
Indigenous Women’s Full Moon Ceremony
REACH Community Health Centre, Vancouver Thursday, June 12, 5:30–7:30 p.m. Cost: Free
On Wednesday, June 11, the moon will appear full and bright in the night sky. The following evening, REACH Community Health Centre is holding a ceremony “for Indigenous women to connect, honor our ancestors, and celebrate our strength.” Many Coast Salish cultures follow a 13 moon calendar, with each moon helping to mark shifts in nature and signifying corresponding changes in way of living. The event is a space “to share stories, songs, and prayers.”
“Without Limits” Banksy Art Exhibition
1 Alexander St., Gastown, Vancouver Until Sunday, June 22 Cost: Varies
Despite fame and worldwide recognition, Banksy’s identity remains anonymous. The street artist is behind infamous images like Love Is In The Air, Girl with Balloon, and more. Now, those interested can see 200 pieces of Banksy’s work, all in one place. The gallery contains nearly every art medium imaginable, from sculptures, to photos, and video.
Queer performances at Rio Theatre
Rio Theatre, Vancouver Throughout June Cost: $8–$30
In celebration of Pride month, Rio Theatre is hosting a variety of queer “films, parties, and performances that bring people together to celebrate love, identity, and community on the big screen and the stage.” Featured on its list are classic movies such as Brokeback Mountain and Call Me By Your Name, but also performances like the Burlesque & Variety Show — all lined up throughout June! Be sure to check out any one of these screenings and performances (or all).
Port Coquitlam Garage Sale
Throughout Port Coquitlam Saturday, June 14, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. onwards Cost: Free
The city of Port Coquitlam is organizing a city-wide garage sale in a touching moment of community building and cooperation on Saturday, June 14. Not too much to say here — go check out the garage sale and see what hidden treasures you can find!
The Herons are Here: Colony Tour
Nature House at Stanley Park, Vancouver Wednesday, June 11, 5:30–6:45 p.m. Cost: $12–$30
For the great blue herons, Stanley Park is more than a picturesque place to gather with friends — it’s where they lay their eggs and raise their fledglings. Bird enthusiasts, biology students, or those who are simply curious in learning about the process can attend the tour and “learn all about how these beautiful and large birds navigate the canopy,” as well as “discover how Stanley Park Ecology stewards and supports the heron colony.”
Monday Music
Mythologies of the self
This playlist is a sonic mirror for your untidy thoughts and intimate reimaginings. Let these songs accompany you as you drift in the in-between. Write new personal myths and rediscover the beauty of being ever-changing and undefined.
“Sanctuary” Tamino & Mitski
Two genre-defying artists, Tamino and Mitski, weave their singular sounds into this aching duet. “Sanctuary” is a slow-burning invocation of longing. With operatic melancholy and lyrical restraint, the song cradles the listener in a space that feels scared and unsettled.
“Hooked” Zeina
Lebanese Canadian singer Zeina channels sensuality and strength in “Hooked,” a track that pulses with desire and disorientation. A slow sip of chaos, Zeina captures the high of a new crush — a song for the moments when craving overtakes caution.
“Catch and Release” Tia Wood
Tia Wood, a Plains Cree and Coast Salish artist, blends voice and spirit in a song that reminds us that identity is both inherited and reimagined. It’s a quiet reckoning of the interrelated contradiction between letting go and holding on. The song inhibits the liminal space where memory meets transformation, reminding us that becoming oneself requires releasing what doesn’t benefit us and allowing the new to flood in.
“in my bag” thủy
thủy infuses her Vietnamese heritage with an R&B style in “in my bag,” a playful yet grounded affirmation of self-worth. Beneath its confident groove lies a quiet resilience. It’s an ode to staying soft and self-possessed in a world that asks you to choose between strength and vulnerability.
“Just Fine (Ft. Kiana Ledé)” Kitty Ca$h
Kitty Ca$h, a DJ and sonic curator, crafts immersive emotional landscapes. Featuring the tender vocals of Kiana Ledé, “Just Fine” is an anthem for graceful survival. It captures the strange confidence of vulnerability. The track lingers in emotional liminality: that tender space between hurt and healing, where strength doesn’t mean having all the answers.
“te acuerdes de mi?” Ivana
In this dreamy reflection, Mexican artist Ivana asks, “Do you remember me?” The song is wistful and wandering, full of ghosted emotions and delicate yearning — a lullaby for memories that won’t quite leave you.
PHOTO: ANNETTE DAWM / PEXELS
PHOTO: AMIRUL ANIRBAN / THE PEAK
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER RICHMOND / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
PHOTO: DOMINIC ROBINSON / PUBLICDELIVERY
PHOTO: TIM WILSON / UNSPLASH
ZAINAB SALAM · STAFF WRITER
PHOTO: FREDERIC DORR STEELE / LOC’S PUBLIC DOMAIN ARCHIVE
Peliplat and the patchwork future of film discourse
In an era when content and community blur into one, can criticism still mean anything?
ASHIMA SHUKLA · STAFF WRITER
Once, reviews were handed down from the altars of broadsheets and bylines. Today, film opinions are filtered by algorithms, taking the form of Letterboxd one-liners, TikTok edits, Reddit debates, and YouTube video essays. In this fractured landscape, platforms take on an interesting hybridity — not quite media outlets, libraries, or fandom hubs, but something in between.
Case in point? Peliplat, a self-described “exclusive film buff community” which keeps its gates wide open. I joined this platform and spent a week exploring its corners. At first glance, it is a patchwork: reviews of Marvel and Miyazaki, analyses of cultural appropriation and red carpet fashion, and writing competitions with monthly prizes up to $2,400 USD. Part forum, part watchlist tracker, Peliplat boasts a significant Spanish and Portuguese language user base across Latin America. Now, with a new office in Vancouver, it is looking to grow its English-speaking community.
Beneath its cinephile charm, Peliplat reflects a broader shift in media culture, where the line between users and creators is dissolved. Platforms no longer ask us to merely consume content, they ask us to become it. To review, recommend, like, and post in exchange for the possibility of money, visibility, and validation. Everyone is a critic, and an unpaid labourer.
On the one hand, platforms like Peliplat decentralize critique by creating spaces for new voices across languages and lands. On the other, they often replicate the same extractive logic they are trying to subvert. A writing contest becomes a content pipeline. A user review becomes data. Marketed as liberation, it distributes the labour of cultural production across more hands, more screens, more time.
Italian Day returns to The Drive
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the important cultural festival
ABIGAIL STREIFEL · PEAK ASSOCIATE
On June 8, Italian Day returns to Commercial Drive! The annual festival celebrates the culture and heritage of Italian Canadians with live music, food, and fun activities in Vancouver’s Little Italy. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the event that has brought so much excitement to Vancouver. The theme this year is Mille Baci, meaning a thousand kisses, which “[conveys] a magnified expression of love and respect” for the community that has supported the Italian Day festivities since it first started. The festival also takes place during Italian Heritage Month, the perfect time to appreciate the country’s culture.
With attractions at seven intersections, there’s a lot to see on Italian Day. Enjoy diverse types of music, from classic Italian songs to opera to pop, acoustic, and jazz, all performed live on the festival’s stages. Follow along as contestants in the Giovani Talenti talent show compete. You can also enjoy the beautiful vocals of the Children’s Folk Choir, join in a dance party led by one of many DJs, or even catch surprise performances by the Vancouver Street Opera! There’s more entertainment than just music — the festival features fashion shows exhibiting designer Italian style from creators like Atelier GRANDI, JAC, and Kalena Shoes. Stilt walkers, jugglers, and living statues will also be performing throughout the day.
And then there is the platform itself. In trying to do everything from movie and TV show libraries with personalized recommendations to video feeds, does Peliplat risk being nothing in particular? If Letterboxd is a diary and Rotten Tomatoes a consensus, Peliplat aspires to a public square — messy, multilingual, still figuring out the rules. But to do that, it needs more than activity. It needs intentionality, a reason to linger, meaningful dialogue. Otherwise, it risks becoming yet another busy interface. To be more, Peliplat must cultivate depth and curiosity.
Platforms like Peliplat hold potential, but only if its fragmented multilingual publics carve out the space for something deeper — to build a vocabulary of resistance inside systems built for speed and mass consumption.
Because if everyone can have a voice, those voices must not be collapsed into content. When critique becomes a style, clickable and algorithm ready, it becomes a performance, not a reflection. And the language we build around films becomes thinner, less careful. Designed for engagement, not understanding.
What Peliplat really is remains to be seen. A cinephile haven? A decentralized media experiment? Or just another site capitalizing on our hunger for connection in a world starved of physical third-spaces? It gestures towards something promising, a global commons of cultural conversations, but hasn’t figured out how to sustain that promise without feeding the same content engines with Search Engine Optimization friendly articles.
Perhaps more importantly, it offers us a moment to reflect about what we want our cultural spaces to be. When everyone is a critic and every space is a stage, what happens to criticism as a practice of care, curiosity, or dissent? Can criticism still disrupt, or does it now serve to decorate the scroll? Are we still making meaning — or just feeding into the ever-enlarging world of content creation?
Platforms like Peliplat hold potential, but only if its fragmented multilingual publics carve out the space for something deeper — to build a vocabulary of resistance inside systems built for speed and mass consumption.
ILLUSTRATION: CASSANDRA NGYUEN / THE PEAK
The annual festival celebrates the culture and heritage of Italian Canadians with live music, food, and fun activities in Vancouver’s Little Italy.
Of course, such a celebration wouldn’t be complete without food. Connect with fellow community members by appreciating “delicious food and drink from Drive merchants, vendors, and al fresco patios.” Montano’s Food, which provides “chef-prepared, ready to eat” meals, will be at the festival for the first time this year! La Grotta del Formaggio, a deli known for its delicious sandwiches, will also have a
tent set up outside their shop. Café Calabria, another local business, will be joining in the excitement, too. You can also enjoy a “variety of local beers and Italian wines on tap” in one of the event’s multiple beverage gardens. Plus, both adults and youth will compete in pasta eating contests, racing to eat a plate without using their hands.
Carnival games offer the chance to win some prizes or simply to have some fun. Italian Day also promises “fun for the whole famiglia,” with a children’s zone where kids can play games and get their faces painted. There are also some unique games like human foosball, which will surely prove to be exciting. Yet another highlight of the event is the Viva l’Italia Raffle, which includes prizes going as far as a trip to Italy!
There are many ways to celebrate Italian Canadian culture, and Italian Day offers lots of possibilities to do so in a single event. Whether you’re dancing along to a live performance, sampling the food and drink, or competing in a game, you are sure to be immersed in the festivities.
What is more smexy than something that knows how to navigate the way to your happy spot (it’s White Spot, you sick fuck)?
And goddamn hearing a smart strong voice ordering you around. Just driving in a car, listening to Google Maps tell me what to do to get there is enough.
Times New Roman (size 12)
This font has gyatt to be the original “hear me out.” With its classy formatting and fancy lowercase “a,” this is definitely the most bangable of the fonts. You cannot look at it and tell me you haven’t thought, “dayammm, if only Times New Roman was a real person.”
People being falsely accused of using AI is today’s version of the Salem Witch Trials. But unlike those alleged witches, us poor souls have a sexy superhero on our side. ChatGPT’s cousin — GPTZero. The powerful entity that can prove innocence and condemn the villains. All heroes have their kryptonite, and GPTZero might accidentally accuse you of being an AI (that’s OK — love-hate relationship). GPTZero is the brain and the brawn with power radiating off.
The massive SFU Teddy from the pop-up Bookstore and Spirit Store
It’s (almost) cuffing season in Australia, so I definitely need a big boi. Big arms? Check. Warm and cuddly? Check. What is this big ole’ softy missing? Nothing. This fine shyt will surely get the job done and then stay with you all night long. You just have to walk yourself down to the SFU pop-up “Spirit” Store. 5,000% mark-up during convocation!!
My letter to the News Editor: It’s time to put the fake back in news
Let’s make news even more unreliable in this age of misinformation
Dear Hannah (The Peak’s News Editor),
I write to you today as both a concerned member of the SFU student body and a staff writer for The Peak. With every passing day, I become more convinced that we must deviate from our current approach to journalism — fact-based, unbiased, legally sound — and find a more enthralling manner of sharing the news. Simply put, it is time to put the fake back in the news section of The Peak! If we have to trample over Canada’s libel laws to get there, so be it.
I realize this may sound extreme. But ask yourself: When was the last time a meticulously accurate article about the Board of Governors moved you to tears? When did a careful summary of transit policy stir something deep in your soul? Yes, that’s right, NEVER! But imagine this headline: “SFU administration revealed to be a single wizard in a cloak: ‘Budget cuts are an illusion,’ says source.” Now that’s some cool shit.
To me, news should be a gossip session. Spill the tea and meet no ramifications, or maybe do. Honestly, who cares? If the last paragraph doesn’t hit me with “xoxo, gossip peakie,” what are we even writing the article for? I need to end up more confused than I started. Don’t clarify, don’t expand — and if you have a source for your claim, don’t cite it. Make me work for it!
To show that I am not alone in my yearning for fake news, I cornered a recovering News Writer, and present Humour Editor, Mason, while he was rushing to his Theoretical Physical Education course.
Interview Transcript:
Q: Mason, what are your thoughts on fake news?
Mason: Honestly, I wish I had written more of it while working in news. I was bound by the ethical constraints of “journalistic integrity” and “laws,” but if I could go back, I would’ve made up at least 30 things a week in my pieces.
Q: Do you regret not embracing libel?
Mason: Every day. Libel is the only path to freedom. Real journalism has a spirit. Libel is how we thrive.
Q: What advice would you give the News Editor?
Venom I don’t know about y’all but my partners aren’t getting the job done right as of recently. So, this calls for some anti-hero-esque saving. Bring him in to have a first-hand view of some mind blowing action and his long, luscious tongue will be the reward. You get it, girl. ;)
Mason: Free yourself. Ditch the fact-checking. Leave your ethical standards in a recycling bin behind Renaissance. Create chaos. Journalism should be dangerous, not accurate. It should be something you’re legally advised not to print. If your source says “no comment,” just make one up. Let lawyers fear us, loathe us, be annoyed by us! It’s time to take a stand and rebel.
Mason’s wisdom is hard to ignore. He spoke with the conviction of a man who once tried to cite a Reddit comment as a primary source.
I believe with the adoption of more baseless claims, we will be at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Imagine the joy, the confusion, the cease-and-desist letters! Imagine The Peak standing proudly as the province’s, nay, the nation’s most sued student paper.
I thank you for your time, and I hope you’ll consider liberating student media from its fact-based cage. After all, if we don’t lie in the service of the truth, who will?
Sincerely,
Zainab Salam Staff Writer @ The Peak
Sarah Sorochuk Peak Associate
Courtesy of Walmart
Zainab Salam Concerned Staff Writer
Which Metro Vancouver mayor are you?
They are messy, overpaid, and running your city — and one of them is your political alter ego
Acting Chief of Apologies and Lawn Signs
Metro Vancouver mayors are more than just civic leaders; they’re a cast of characters from a random political sitcom none of us asked to be a part of. Whether they’re beefing with the BC government, filing defamation lawsuits, or being paid in gold bars (probably), these leaders are here to provide solace, so you know you aren’t the only one making questionable life choices.
Which Metro Van mayor are you most like? Take this quiz to find out.
A) File a defamation lawsuit, hold a conference, and remember to rep Bitcoin.
B) Dramatically clutch your foot (that you claim has been run over) before shaking it off and heading into Save-On-Foods.
C) Redirect the rage into censuring an innocent city councillor trying to save trees, and then proceed to rant about cell tower coverage.
D) Say nothing. Refuse follow-up questions. Vanish into a TransLink committee.
E) Change your mind, then ask your popular friend to vouch for your integrity.
A) You own shares in Ethereum, have rich friends, and want to replace Park Boards with spreadsheets.
B) You rely on the city to pay legal fees over your personal dramas.
C) You want to slash everyone’s pay but yours.
D) You are paid by every board in existence.
E) You say no to bullying but yaaaaaaas to a total of $393K in compensation and salary.
A) Apologize with charm and nonchalance. After all, it’s the “imperfect systems.”
B) Lawyer up. Bill the $300,000 to the city. Run for another election and act surprised when you lose.
C) Ignore local issues and focus on the province — explain your extreme dissatisfaction about how the ones you call “do nothing” people, have a voice and don’t want pipelines built in their back yard.
D) Refuse to comment on anything or shake anyone’s hand after all is said and done.
E) Pivot to community building and avoid $100K vacations, for now.
4. What issues get you fired up?
A) People who care about parks and hate crypto.
B) Cronyism, public mischief, and foot-related injuries.
C) Harm reduction and hard-working city councillors.
D) People questioning your salary.
E) American tariffs and non-disparagement pacts with Big Oil (that is totally not a gag order).
Mostly A’s — you’re Vancouver’s mayor, Ken Sim!
You can host TED Talks and participate in court hearings in the same week, and believe in bitcoin as your religion. Your mantra? Apologize like CEOs, with zero follow-through!
Mostly B’s — former Surrey mayor, Doug McCallum, is that you?
You know exactly how to make yourself the main character of every story — down to grocery trips with alleged soft-tissue damage. Your personality quirk? You’ve never met a lawsuit you couldn’t expense.
Mostly C’s — Port Coquitlam’s favourite dictator, Brad West!
You think the entirety of Metro Vancouver is too soft and you secretly love Big Oil. Your favourite things to do? Speaking to reporters, going on random podcasts to talk about issues that are literally irrelevant to your job as mayor, and pretending to be an NDP’er when you’re really a closeted conservative.
Peak Speaks:
Answers from r/simonfraser!
The Peak hits Reddit to ask SFU students some thoughtprovoking questions
Mason Mattu Humour Editor
Q: If you had to marry a building on campus, which one would it be and why?
u/Matt_The_Slime: “Marry the library, wait for it to die from asbestos poisoning, take all its money after. EZ.”
u/manOmanytendies42: “The Lorne Davies Complex. I can fix her.”
u/Abscissaur: “I’d marry the AQ. I like my buildings how I like my partners: dark, sharp-edged, labyrinthine, and full of koi fish.”
u/AdWhole9935:
“I’d marry the W.A.C. Bennett Library — because who wouldn’t want a partner that’s cold, confusing, constantly under construction, and full of information that no one wants to hear about?
Nothing says ‘til death do us part’ like fluorescent lighting and the emotional warmth of a concrete bunker.”
Mostly D’s — a very rich hello to Richmond’s incumbent mayor, Malcolm Brodie
You avoid eye-contact and accountability with ninjalike precision. Your super power? Being one of the highest-paid elected officials in BC.
Mostly E’s — our very own, unchallenged, Burnaby mayor Mike Hurley
You love to give “we’re all in this together” speeches and napping (real dad energy right there). Your talent? The ability to lose to the Trans Mountain pipeline project six times before letting them buy your silence.
