the journal
Queen’s University
Vol. 144, Issue 11
F r i day , O c t o b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6
Queen’s students protest pipeline expansion at Parliament Hill
since
1873
Of the group of 99 young people detained, three were current or former Queen’s students Maureen O’Reilly Assistant News Editor
PHOTO BY ROBERT VAN WAARDEN (SURVIVAL MEDIA)
A Queen’s student is arrested at a demonstration against pipeline expansion in Ottawa.
Accused of slapping a police horse at Homecoming to face new charges
Mischief and obstruction of police to replace Quanto’s Law charges
Morgan Dodson Assistant News Editor Caught on a video that would later go viral across social media, the young woman who slapped a police horse on Queen’s Homecoming, as well as the two young men arrested for the same offense that day, will now have their charges altered to mischief and obstruction of police. “What will happen with all three accused, in this case the two men and the 18-year-old female, is that charge will be withdrawn and we will be going with the charges
of mischief and obstruction of police by interfering with a lawful execution of their duty,” Kingston Police Const. Koopman explained to The Journal. The video went viral after Queen’s Homecoming this year on Oct. 15, where three instances of the same incident occurred within an hour. Media outlets like Vice and CBC reported on the incident, referencing a recent amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code that could have seen the accused spend up to five years in jail. ‘Quanto’s Law’ was created after the fatal stabbing of an Edmonton
police dog in 2013, and enacted in July 2015. The law states that anyone convicted of killing a police animal could face up to five years in prison and anyone convicted of injuring a police animal can be sentenced to up to 18 months in jail and/or up to $10,000 in fines. However, the initial charges of harm to a police animal have since been altered for the male Algonquin student, Coburg resident and female Queen’s student. The change was made once it became clear that the horse — a new member of the KP team,
named Murney — was not injured through the three incidents. The rider atop Murney that day was experienced, Koopman explained, noting that “we always put the more experienced rider with the less experienced horse”. He confirmed that officers had seen the video that circulated online, “and we can confirm that we obviously do believe that is the 18-year-old female accused in relation to our investigation.” “She came up and appears to have slapped the hindquarters of [Murney],” he said.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
See We’re on page 4
On Monday, 99 young people were briefly detained during a protest against pipeline expansion, taking place on Parliament Hill. Among them were two Queen’s students and one Queen’s alumni. The three detained individuals had traveled to Ottawa with 18 individuals from Queen’s and the surrounding Kingston community, including 13 active students from the university. The group arrived in Ottawa on Oct. 24 to protest the proposed Kinder Morgan expansion to the Trans Mountain pipeline, which spans from Alberta to the British Columbia coast. Students involved described the event as a very polite affair as a whole. No one was criminally charged for their actions. The arrests occurred when several of the protesters climbed over fences set up by police prior to the protest. The police warned them ahead of time they would be charged with criminal mischief. The participants explained they understood and wouldn’t resist arrest, then climbed over. The rally was coordinated by 350.org, an environmental activist group that coordinates protests and other activist efforts globally. Several of the Queen’s students present at the protest met with The Journal on Thursday to discuss the protest, their arrest and the realities of similar student activism. According to Nick Lorraway, ArtSci ’20, they adamantly oppose the expansion due to the damage it has already done — and will continue to do — to the land in Alberta through oil spills. He explained that the pipeline expansion would also disrupt Indigenous land. According to Bea White, a third year exchange student from the University of Edinburgh, while the government is required by treaties to ask these Indigenous See Students on page 4
Features
How Fine Art program stayed alive through threat of closure page 8
Arts
Sports
Postscript
page 11
page 14
page 19
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Editorials
Halloween costume ban effective but lacks dialogue page 9