The Queen's Journal, Volume 144, Issue 26

the

Queen’s University

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Vol. 144, Issue 26

F r i day , M a r c h 2 4 , 2 0 1 7

Queen’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Task Force reveals final report One year after national commission’s calls to action, Queen’s committee answers Morgan Dodson Assistant News Editor On Tuesday night the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Task Force revealed their final report titled “Extending the Rafters” at a special reception held by the University.

The crowd at the reception, hosted at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, included Principal Daniel Woolf, students, staff, faculty, alumni and members of the local Indigenous community.

The TRC Task Force co-chairs, Mark Green and Jill Scott, hosted the event which showcased a traditional Mohawk opening ceremony presented by lecturer Nathan Brinklow, and other presentations by: Elder Marlene Brant Castellano and student Lauren Winkler, an Anishinaabe Honour Song performed by the Four Directions Women Singers and a Haudenosaunee Round Dance, led by performers from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

In an email from Green, he explained “the report has 25 key recommendations ranging from governance and visibility of Indigenous Peoples on campus to incorporating significant Indigenous content in curriculum for all programs at Queen’s.”

The TRC Task Force was originally created to form a response to the national

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commission’s calls to action for post-secondary institutions. The report is intended to serve as a guideline for the University to implement change.

According to Principal Woolf’s message in the report, “Queen’s University participated in a number of traditions that caused harm to Indigenous communities, but perhaps most importantly, our university failed to educate our students on the long history of deep rooted conflicts between Canada and Indigenous Peoples.”

The University’s goal is to reduce the barriers to education and create a more welcoming and diverse campus for students, staff and faculty who identify as Indigenous.

To demonstrate their commitment to this goal, Principal Woolf announced that the University will be creating an Office of Indigenous Initiatives in the coming months.

The TRC Task Force’s report explores issues such as relationship-building, changing perspectives and policy, and promoting an awareness of the rights, histories, and contemporary issues of Indigenous peoples.

The final report included outlined recommendations and timelines for the above themes. As well, it contained reproductions of artwork featured in the Indigenous art collection at the Agnes.

The report was also titled in three languages: “ Ya k w a n a s t a h e n t é h a ” (Mohawk), “Aankenjigemi” (Ojibwe), and “Extending the Rafters” (English).

Green said that the first recommendation “emphasizes the importance of relationships and partnerships with Indigenous communities.”

From inside the process: reporting sexual assault

See Woolf’s on page 5

Online:

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Kellie Leitch event draws protest Story on page 2

PHOTO BY BLAKE CANNING

Commando training for business students raises alarms from outsiders, defended from inside Sleep deprivation and impossible-to-succeed challenges faced by MBA students in remote eastern Ontario location Victoria Gibson News Editor The CBC called them “soldiers of fortune.” The Smith School of Business called it a “resiliency challenge.”

Observers from the Queen’s student and faculty community have called it hazing.

So what happened at a remote airfield in eastern Ontario, where 40 MBA students were dropped off in a snowstorm at 12:15 a.m. and left awake for nearly 36 hours straight? That was left up to former members of Joint Task Force 2, the Canadian counter -terrorism special operations team.

Over the weekend of March 10, the 36-hour

excursion — run by Reticle Ventures, a newly -established security consulting and training company — featured students being denied more than a few hours’ sleep, asked to rappel from a multistory building in complete darkness, and to find objects that didn’t actually exist.

The challenge is designed to teach the resiliency that corporate jobs are increasingly demanding, but business schools aren’t quite sure how to teach.

Similar military-style programs aren’t unusual for business schools in the United States, but they’re sparse in Canada.

And it wasn’t easy on anyone.

A Whig-Standard article wrote that “Some students didn’t make it through to the end — with others dropping out for a brief time before returning — and another was dismissed for becoming hostile, agitated and disruptive to the group.”

MBA Vice-President and participant, Mike Deeks, in response, noted that the individuals who dropped out were plants from Reticle — designed to become agitated and lash out, in order to push the team further “in terms of conflict management and See Agitated on page 4

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Opinions

Arts

page 8

page 9

Context matters: response Convocation Hall becomes to Chicago Principles 48-hour listening space

page 6

since

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instagram.com/queensjournal

Sports

Lifestyle

Pataki earns spot at National Conference

Exploring the Crossfit craze

page 11

page 15

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News

2 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 24, 2017

CANADIAN POLITICS

At Conservative candidate events, Kellie Leitch met with protests while Lisa Raitt sees small turnout

Organizers and protestors debate freedom of speech while speakers discuss immigration and refugees Victoria Gibson & Shivani Gonzalez Journal Staff

With the Conservative Party leadership race ongoing, Queen’s University Conservative Association (QUCA) hosted two more candidates this week — following Kevin O’Leary and Michael Chong in past weeks — that sparked more protests on campus.

On Monday, a handful of student protestors gathered outside the room where Kellie Leitch was addressing a crowd got into a heated interaction with a few of the event’s hosts, ultimately resolving with the removal of one of the protestors upon request of campus security.

Student protesters disrupt Kellie Leitch event

on campus, the only person whose free speech was hindered yesterday wasn’t Kellie Leitch’s.”

The Chicago Principles are a set of guidelines which arose from a string of events that measured universities’ commitment to open discourse, according to the University of Chicago’s Committee on Freedom of Expression.

A petition pushing for Queen’s to adopt the Chicago Principles has been making rounds on change.org since January. Draeger is a listed supporter on the letter.

Shepherd condemned the choices of another protester, who can be heard in the background of the video calling a Black organizer of the event “Uncle Tom.” “That’s hate speech, that’s a slur and it has no place,” he said. “It’s good to see people recognizing racial epithets.”

The group of protestors, with bandanas covering their faces and hoods over Leitch discusses proposed their heads, marched into Kingston immigrant “values test” Hall — where the event was taking place in one of the classrooms — with black flags Inside the room with around 70-80 and signs calling Leitch a white nationalist. attendees, CPC candidate Leitch — a Queen’s “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome alumnus — faced pointed questioning by here,” the group chanted. student-politicians in particular.

Event organizer Craig Draeger, in his Leitch began with a speech on Canadian attempts to keep protesters outside of the values, including her contended values room where Leitch was giving her speech, test for immigrants. Throughout the took a video focused on one of the protesters approximately 10 minute presentation, she — later confirmed to be Jonathan Shepherd, expressed her support for a two per cent ArtSci ’17 — and later posted it online.

NATO military spending target, though she In the video, which was spliced to only acknowledged she doesn’t know specifically a few minutes of the whole 13-minute how it will be achieved as the political encounter that was captured on video, atmosphere may change by 2019.

Draeger tells Shepherd — who was escorted The values test was critiqued by several out of the O’Leary event after protesting and student speakers, who questioned its given a 24-hour ban from entering Grant legality and expressed personal experiences Hall — that the rest of the protesters could as immigrants to Canada. Leitch noted in stay, but he needed to leave. Draeger argued her speech that she was against Motion 103, that his previous actions were “threatening.” dubbed the anti-Islamaphobia bill.

Draeger cited Shepherd’s mention of Former AMS Commissioner of Internal “class war” at the O’Leary event as a threat. Affairs Jon Wiseman asked how Leitch’s Speaking to The Journal on Wednesday, campaign can aim to “drain the canal” of Shepherd — a member of Queen’s Socialists “Ottawa elites.”

— explained his reference of “class war” was “I find this as a rather large oxymoron,” to the concept expounded in works of Karl Wiseman said. “You’ve held $500 a ticket Marx and other theorists. fundraisers with corporate lawyers. You’ve The group understands, he said, that been a university professor. You have an MD protest takes different forms depending on and a PhD. By most common sense accounts, the person. For some students, he believes that seems to be the definition of elite.” that going and asking tough questions was a AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) form of protest in itself.

Carolyn Thompson tweeted out several “We understand that there are a lot of comments against Leitch during the event, different perspectives on how activism noting that she chose to attend because “I should be done on this campus,” he said. think politicians, esp. those running for “We aren’t here to tell anyone how to be leadership, should be held acctbl for their an activist or police their behaviours, so if words & policies.” people wanted to go listen to that talk and Incoming ASUS President Jasmine just ask questions, that’s fine.”

Lagundzija added “@KellieLeitch - have the However, to the group of protesters respect to let students ask their questions outside, he said their choice was made after w/o interruption. Good leaders listen, you watching the American election play out. did not.”

“The scary thing about Kellie Leitch’s brand of white nationalism, xenophobic fear Organizers stand behind Leitch mongering, [is that] it’s similar of course, to event’s benefit to students Donald Trump’s fear mongering,” he said.

Being respectful, he said, doesn’t get you Draeger — who currently serves as any further than being disruptive. “Martin President of the Kingston and the Islands Luther King was shot in a suit,” he added. Conservative Association — said he “Being respectful doesn’t matter at the end maintained no issue with the protesters of the day. You just say the things that you outside of the Leitch event, though they think are right, and you keep saying it.” dispersed after Shepherd was asked to leave.

“We’re talking about regulating free His issue lay with Shepherd, particularly for speech, implementing principles like the his actions at previous events, again citing Chicago Principles, telling people what his use of the term “class war.” they can’t say in response to hate speech. If “Of course, protest and expressions of we’re going to be talking about free speech disapproval are welcome,” he said. “We

ILLUSTRATIONS BY KIA KORTELAINEN

want people to, say, come into these herself focused mostly on her upbringing in events wearing another candidates’ button, Sydney, Nova Scotia. wearing another party’s button or t-shirt or “I lived the Canadian dream,” she said. slogan or hat or sign or whatever they wish.” “To be raised by the elderly and then Draeger stated that the protesters’ facial end up in government doesn’t happen coverings violated the University’s Student anywhere else — my first job was at the Code of Conduct, however, no such provision Dairy Queen when I was 11 that my aunt is included. Draeger was unable to provide owned, because my grandfather died and a specific section, making estimations we needed money.” about how sections on “furnishing false Following a question from the audience information” could be interpreted to regard on immigrants and refugees, Raitt made a facial coverings. tongue-in-cheek comment that “it entails Draeger said he thought Leitch more than taking the President’s daughter to a “would be the first to tell you that she’s a nice play on Broadway” to handle such topics. controversial candidate.”

The comment was in reference to Justin “It’s important to recognize that in Trudeau extending an invite to Ivanka organizing these events, the EDA, which is Trump to join him and other members of the electoral district association of which I government to Come From Away, a musical am the president, is an impartial body not about Canadians opening their homes by necessity, but by choice.” during 9/11.

A blanket invitation was sent out by the Taking on a more serious tone, she EDA to each candidate, allowing them to commented that Canada needs refugees promote their speaking appearances to in the country for the sake of the economy anyone they’d like. “It’s not necessarily, in but also that Trudeau has been too open in any way, an endorsement of the views they letting in refugees. express,” he said.

“A part has to do with family reunification, The Leitch event drew less attention make sure that they are happy because than the O’Leary event, the latter having a happy workers are productive and that crowd of approximately 1,000. According makes for a good economy. It all comes back to Draeger, the larger turnout for O’Leary to the economy.” Raitt also made a point to and perception of more promotion was call people entering the country “economic “especially but not exclusively” due to interest migrants” and not refugees. from Commerce students.

She critiqued Trudeau’s tweet welcoming “The goal of this [series] is to demonstrate those turned away elsewhere to Canada. that the diversity of opinions that [the 14 ‘Transportation is cheap and social media candidates] bring to the table is a good thing. is powerful, so now they are all coming,” she It’s good for the Conservative party, and I said. “We had the biggest crossing at the think the country.” border in Manitoba over night last night, so He said he was happy to see people come they can’t say no to anybody even when it is out and express strong opinions, specifically in the best interest of the country.” noting those inside the event who asked Other questions included questions “hard questions” to Leitch directly. While about the Liberal’s budget plan to potentially he was hesitant to formally endorse the sell airports currently owned by the Crown, Chicago Principles that Shepherd referenced, Raitt’s four-pillared health care plan, nuclear he said any system that allowed for difficult threats from North Korea and recent conversations and freedom of speech controversy over the 1,351 names removed was positive. from the Conservative Party of Canada’s “Speakers have had their talks cancelled membership list after it was made known due to safety issues at protests, professors that the members were allegedly signed up have lost or had their jobs threatened for anonymously and fraudulently. unpopular remarks and students report a Raitt commended her competitor, O’Leary, reluctance to express their opinions for fear for bringing the latter issue up and chastised of being socially and publicly ostracized. As those who she says would prefer to be “silent.” a result, the role of universities as a forum “Yeah, I am a little fired up,” she added. “Let’s for open debate and dialogue is in question.” see if I am going to get in trouble.”

The presentation ended with Raitt Lisa Raitt critiques Liberal asking the audience which American refugee policy right-wing media members she should follow on Twitter, following a question on On Tuesday, another candidate faced down how to deal with the leftist bias of the media. a room of approximately 35 people in the “Who else should I follow — conservatives basement of McDonald Hall, with less contention. in the States? What are you following? What “I’m going to insult the Liberals here,” do you think is interesting? I admit that I candidate Lisa Raitt told the room. “They now follow Alex Jones on Twitter but my don’t care about their grassroots. They’re head is hurting because he is so angry, I feel going to lie to get what they want. I have to, I follow a lot to try to figure it out.”

They lied about the pipeline to the left.

In the coming weeks, Queen’s will see They’ve lied to the right. We listen to the speaking events from Chris Alexander, grassroots and we abide the rules.”

Maxime Bernier, Rick Peterson, and About half the audience was made up tentatively Andrew Scheer through the of students, with the other half populated QUCA. The Rick Peterson event was intended by local Kingstonians. Raitt’s presentation to be on March 23, but was postponed due began with a 15-minute introduction of to “unforeseen personal reasons.”

News

Friday, March 24, 2017

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INVENTIONS

Revised agreement to internalize University’s technology transfer services PARTEQ will no longer manage agreements to Queen’s intellectual property Maureen O’Reilly Assistant News Editor A motion passed at the March 3 Board of Trustees meeting will allow for the internalization of the University’s technology transfer services, meaning Queen’s will now have the right to negotiate license agreements with third parties related to new university technologies and inventions.

The motion requires alterations to the University’s current management and license agreement with PARTEQ Innovations. According to their website, PARTEQ is an organization that was founded by Queen’s in 1987 to “commercialize intellectual property (e.g. inventions) arising from university-generated research.”

A Board of Trustees report noted that technology transfer activities have returned more than $35 million to Queen’s and inventors since PARTEQ’s inception.

A new office under the Vice Principal (Research) — the Office of Partnerships and Innovation — will manage the revised agreement.

Dr. Jim Banting, who currently serves as President and CEO of PARTEQ, will lead the office as Assistant Vice-Principal (Partnerships and Innovation), and will also

continue in his position at PARTEQ during the transition period.

“Currently, in a given commercialization project, intellectual property (IP) rights flow from the inventors to Queen’s, to PARTEQ,” Banting wrote in an email to The Journal on Monday.

“This flow of IP provides PARTEQ with the right to negotiate license agreements with third-parties related to Queen’s technologies.” However, under the revised agreement, IP rights will now flow straight from the inventors to Queen’s.

Once internalization of the technology transfer services is complete, the University will have the right to negotiate license agreements with third parties related to new Queen’s technologies.

According to the Board report, professional service company KPMG was consulted during the decision making process and provided advice to protect Queen’s charitable status as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Despite these changes coming into effect, the University will see no real difference in technology transfer services, Banting says. “The scope of technology transfer services will remain the same, hence there is no anticipated impact to the Queen’s community.”

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Friday, March 24, 2017

News in Brief PSC re-opens after three-day closure After a three-day hiatus, the AMS Peer Support Centre (PSC) re-opened its doors on Monday at a reasonable temperature for operations.

Last Thursday, a press release was issued by the AMS, noting the temporarily closure of the PSC, the Academic Grievance Centre and the Housing Resource Centre due to unbearable cold.

All listed services are located in the JDUC, adjacent to the ongoing construction of the new Innovation and Wellness Centre. When the west wall of the former PEC was demolished, insulation to the JDUC services was compromised.

On Jan. 11, the AMS notified the University of the heating issues while issuing space heaters and heating blankets to volunteer workers in the affected offices. As of March 16, they were awaiting

response, but when temperatures dropped to 12.3 degrees in the offices, the offices closed down.

A temperature of 12.3 degrees was 18 degrees below the minimum temperature required for office workspaces, according to the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act. However, the AMS was clear in their Thursday statement that an alternative space would be sought for the PSC first, saying its services were “far too valuable to be shut down, especially as we approach exam season”.

According to AMS Vice President (Operations) Dave Walker, the AMS team worked with University representatives and members of the project management team over the weekend to find a solution that wouldn’t halt demolition, nor leave the offices unusable. “[Physical Plant Services] and construction crews

applied a thermal blanket and non-flammable propane heaters to supplement the lack of insulation and heat retention on the PEC’s interior wall,” Walker wrote via email.

“Over a four day span, room temperatures rose by 7 degrees Celsius in the PSC.” — Victoria Gibson

Debunked bomb threats made downtown on St. Patrick’s Day

Amid the yearly spike in calls and complaints to Kingston Police on St. Patrick’s Day this year, two unsubstantiated bomb threats were made involving establishments in the downtown core of Kingston.

The threats were made and responded to between midnight and 2:00 a.m. in the early hours of March 18, as revellers were

heading home after a long day of celebrations, with many still spilling onto the streets.

Both threats were found to be hoaxes, and Kingston Police are still investigating the source of both complaints. A police press release stated that, should the individuals responsible be identified, criminal charges would be laid for the false alarms.

Const. Cameron Mack wrote in his release that “the public should be aware that this type of hoax/ prank is a serious matter. When emergency resources are utilized for a complaint that turns out to be a hoax/prank, the concern is the availability and response time for a real emergency.”

When The Journal contacted Const. Mack for further comment, he relayed that “being this is an active investigation we can’t comment on any suspect information at this time.”

According to information from The Whig-Standard, the

entire day went fairly well from a first response and policing standpoint. Co-operative students were spared Liquor Licence infraction tickets and asked to pour out open beverages on the street. Less co-operative students were given fines to the amount of $125 each.

Jeff Burgess, who was the Frontenac Paramedic Services superintendent on duty, told The Whig that the crowd around the University District was well behaved during the day and that everyone appeared to be having a good time. That said, eight individuals were transferred to hospital, most for over-intoxication.

The annual sea of green-clad students that forms on Aberdeen St. for the festivities was dispatched by 4 p.m without any more issue than a few tossed snowballs.

— Blake Canning

Agitated individuals dismissed from challenge were ‘plants’ from Reticle team, participant says He pointed to the 40-plus staff brought on site, re-iterating his first point again. “This was an optional activity with medical directors and team coaches on site monitoring the students through each challenge.”

Queen’s brought along a “high performance coaching team” for on-site coaching to students, and expressed enthusiasm for the challenge as part of a new series of initiatives out of the business school to enhance “team-based learning and coaching”.

Continued from front

interpersonal communication.”

“A few classmates had to take brief moments to deal with some minor bumps/bruises/cold toes.

Mostly just check-ins with doctors to make sure they were still ok to continue participating. All students crossed the finish line of the final spiral at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning,” he wrote.

Hazing activities “include, but are not

limited to, pranks, jokes, public ridicule, and any activity that does not respect an individual’s rights, integrity, dignity, safety or well-being.

”

“

MBA students engaged in the MBA Reticle “resiliency challenge.“

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY SMITH SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS

— Student Code of Conduct

In the wake of a CBC article on the activity, Queen’s students and faculty took to Twitter to express disappointment and concerns, with issues being raised around hazing and mental health.

Politics professor Jonathan Rose and economics professor Allan Gregory were among those voicing concerns, with the former noting he was “embarrassed” for Queen’s.

The business programs at Queen’s have been under a close watch in recent years over their undergraduate Orientation Week, which was formally put on probation in 2014 for hazing.

The probation required an Participant Mike Deeks said the activity taught the teams how to complete tasks with no detail and no instruction. elimination of any spoken material that could “intimidate students but are not limited to, pranks, Code, to a University policy, rule or the acquiescence of, the affected psychologically or physically” and jokes, public ridicule, and any or procedure, or to Municipal, person(s) shall not be an excuse or any “relentless pressure to run”, activity that does not respect an Provincial or Federal law; that defense for such behaviour.” leading to “physical exhaustion or individual’s rights, integrity, dignity, is used as a means of coercing, Matt Reesor, director of the psychological stress.” safety or well-being,” it reads. compelling, forcing, or otherwise Queen’s MBA program, responded The University’s recently-revised “Hazing includes conduct that socially pressuring, a person to to the concerns via email.

Student Code of Conduct specifies is, or ought to be reasonably gain or maintain: membership in; The challenge was “an optional intolerance against hazing, as known to be: abusive (physically the acceptance of; or, association activity,” he wrote, intended to work it’s defined in Section V, Part G, or psychologically); demeaning; with; any group or organization.” on team building and resiliency Subsection H of the Code: dangerous; humiliating; The Code also outlines that skills. “Student evaluations have “Hazing activities include, ridiculing; or, contrary to this “express or implied consent from, been overwhelmingly positive.”

We did not know what to expect in terms of physical activities, mental activities, sleep, food portions, meal times, teammates, challenges. Hour to hour, we did not know what was coming next.

”

— Mike Deeks, MBA candidate and participant

Deeks — the student spokesperson provided to The Journal by the Smith School’s communications team after inquiring with Reesor — said that the claims regarding mental health and hazing was an “interesting question,” adding that “our class has heard nothing of this.”

“We did not know what to expect in terms of physical activities, mental activities, sleep, food portions, meal times, teammates, challenges. Hour to hour, we did not know what was coming next… only that it would be even more challenging,” he wrote.

“In your career, you may be given a task with no detail and no instruction on how to create the finished product ... this weekend provided me insight into the traits that arise within me when faced with absolute ambiguity.”

Friday, March 24, 2017

News

Woolf’s acknowledgement of Queen’s role in colonial system underscores newly-released report

queensjournal.ca

Continued from front

“This is underscored by the Principal’s recent acknowledgement of Queen’s role in the colonial system that led to the Residential School System, and the Friendship wampum belt presented at the recent Special Senate meeting to commemorate the 175 anniversary of the first classes at Queen’s.”

The implementation of “these recommendations will transform the relationship between Queen’s and the Indigenous communities, and enrich the educational experience at Queen’s for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike.

”

— Mark Green, TRC Task Force co-chair

Among the report’s recommendations are a focus on Indigenous research at Queen’s.

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In addition to the creation of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, the TRC’s recommendations in the report call for continued efforts to develop and strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities in the Kingston region.

As well, it recommends that Queen’s improve awareness towards Indigenous-focused research occurring on campus and ensuring the necessary supports are in place to allow research in these fields to flourish.

Every program offered at Queen’s is to include significant and meaningful Indigenous content, “so that graduating students gain a basic understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems relevant to their discipline.”

“The implementation of these recommendations will transform the relationship between Queen’s and Indigenous communities, and enrich the educational experience at Queen’s for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike,” Green said.

VIA TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT

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6 • queensjournal.ca

Features

Friday, March 24, 2017

IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Fighting for control

From report, to conviction to advocacy: the story of a sexual assault survivor at Queen’s Jane Willsie Editor in Chief This is a summarized version of the full story which appeared online at queensjournal.ca on Friday, March 24, 2017.

I

n March of 2015, one Queen’s student found out that the student she was preparing to go to trial against for sexually assaulting her had been elected to the University Senate, one of Queen’s highest governing bodies.

The student, who can’t be identified due to a court publication ban, emailed her advisor in the Human Rights Office.

“This is a powerful position, and as far as I know it means that he gets to vote on sensitive policy which may include the new sexual assault policy...” she wrote to the advisor on March 18, 2015.

“This has made me extremely uncomfortable and I’m wondering what you would suggest in terms of moving forward with this. I don’t think that he or anyone who has been charged with assault pending a trial should be allowed to represent large bodies of students at that level in the university.”

The response she received from the Human Rights Office 10 days later said that Senate was likely to turn back the election results anyways, due to the number of senators not meeting the criteria.

One part of the advisor’s answer however referred to Senate’s provisions for such a situation at the time, or lack thereof.

“I have been told that we currently do not have any provisions to exclude the participation in Senate by any student who has been either accused or found to be responsible for either a criminal offence or an offence under the Student Code of Conduct,” the advisor’s email read.

A request to interview the advisor, who also can’t be identified due to the publication ban was declined by Queen’s Communications, citing confidentiality concerns of advisors discussing situations involving former or current students.

In the Ontario Court of Justice

In the summer of 2016, Ali Erfany was convicted by an Ontario Court of Justice of unlawfully entering a dwelling and sexual assault. He was given an eight month conditional sentence to serve in the community under restrictions, probation for two years and was ordered registered into the Ontario Sex Offender Informational Registry, The Kingston Whig-Standard reported on October 6, 2016.

Erfany was still enrolled at Queen’s at the time of his conviction. He’d also by that point sat on Senate while his trial was ongoing.

The conviction is currently under appeal.

Citing advice from his legal counsel, Erfany declined to comment for this story due to the ongoing nature of his appeal.

By the time a conviction was reached, his accuser had graduated from Queen’s and was preparing to begin law school in the fall.

She’d spent her last semester in and out of court as the trial extended from that January through to the summer.

She’d also spent the last almost two years, since the night of Dec. 11, 2014, retelling her story over and over.

Back to the beginning

In the fall of 2014, she and Erfany were living in the same residence building and

both working for Residence Life.

“We were colleagues, and so we saw each other quite often for that reason,” she said in an interview with The Journal.

In December of that year, she finished her exams early but had to stay in residence with her students. During the exam period, residence dons pull 24-hour on-call shifts.

Her shift was due to start the next morning at 8 a.m.

The previous night’s on-call don had arranged to drop off the on-call phone when he was done his nightly rounds, around 1 or 2 a.m. When she opened the door to a knock sometime in between those hours, she recalled, it wasn’t the don, but Erfany.

“Basically what ensued over the next 10 minutes or so was a sexual assault,” she said.

After he left, she said, she got up and locked the door.

“And then I cried and cried and cried.

Eventually, I went to the bathroom and I took a shower because I felt so dirty and I felt unclean, I just needed to take a shower.”

She later found out that the person who was supposed to bring the phone had fallen asleep and never come by her room.

Telling the story over and over and over

The first person she told was a close friend.

She and her friend then reported it to Residence Life, the protocol they would’ve followed if it had been a student reporting to a don that they’d been sexually assaulted.

“It was different for me than anyone else because I knew what steps I had to take and I knew what the process would likely look like,” she said. “I’m probably in the 1 per cent for that reason.”

After reporting to Residence Life, she saw a residence outreach counselor and then the Human Rights advisor.

By the time she retold her story to the Human Rights advisor, it was the fourth time she had recounted the assault to an official in the two days since it had happened.

“That in itself was exhausting. And it was one after the other after the other.”

The immediate result

After she reported the incident, Erfany was moved to West campus, pending an investigation by Residence Life into his status as an employee.

Although the police investigation would trail on for months, she was told that the University would have a far easier time coming to a decision.

“If we truly believe on a balance of probability that this has happened, which we do, we have all the power to remove people.’ That was said to me, and yet nothing happened,” she recalled.

In early January, the charges were laid

by Kingston Police. On Jan. 7, 2015 Erfany’s residence agreement was terminated.

In February, Campus Security issued Erfany a Notice of Prohibition with conditions of no contact with his accuser.

“It’s really tough, this whole thing,” she said. “I tend to be a pretty tough person… there’ve been a lot of things that I’ve overcome. But nothing has ever affected me the way that this did.”

I tend to by a pretty tough “person ... but nothing has ever affected me the way that this did.

”

‘An entirely different monster’ “Sexual assault … happening is one thing. What happens afterwards is an entirely different monster,” the survivor said.

The spring of 2015 began what she describes as a long period of waiting for information, occasionally punctured by the experience of running into Erfany on campus and in Kingston.

“My time at Queen’s, it sucked, to be honest,” she said of that final year.

“I hated that I had to tell my profs what had happened,” she said. “They were all understanding, but it was embarrassing. But I didn’t know what else to do.”

The trial itself, she said, was just as traumatizing as all the stories she’d heard.

Even now as a student at a different school, the memory of being in court comes back to her.

“You never get it until you’re sitting in that chair and the defense is asking you ‘why couldn’t you remember whether or not you were wearing a bra, and if you couldn’t remember whether or not you were wearing a bra, then you probably can’t remember that he groped you?” she said.

She’d also begun seeing a counselor at Queen’s who specialized in sexual violence.

However, she said, most appointments would be cancelled or pushed.

“It’s not I think because of her … but nine times out of 10, I think its the fact that she was a sexual assault counselor that did sexual assault counseling, outreach, prevention, everything on campus. She had every role in the book that had to do with sexual assault and no one else. So I didn’t blame her.”

Although her counselor was supposed to attend court dates with her, she ended up attending each date alone. Finally, she said, in February and mid-trial, the counselor resigned and her position was left vacant for a long period of time.

In response to a request from The Journal to confirm the counselor’s resignation, Queen’s Communication was unable “to confirm any details regarding an employee’s time at Queen’s.”

“To me, out of all of the things the university did, that was the worst,” the survivor said. “Because you can’t leave that gap.”

Sitting on Senate provisions

During the trial, the question of Erfany’s role on Senate was once again raised.

Almost a year earlier, she’d emailed her Human Rights advisor and received the aforementioned reply regarding Senate’s lack of provisions for a member who’d been charged with a criminal offence.

On Feb. 12, 2016, she received a forwarded email from the advisor, signed

by Rebecca Coupland, associate secretary of the University.

The email confirmed that Erfany would be allowed to assume his seat on Feb. 23, 2016.

According to the Senate Rules of Procedure, section 37, item b.III.i, — which were amended in May 2015 — the chair of the Senate may order an obligatory leave of absence for a senator or member if that member has “been charged with an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that

ILLUSTRATION BY

VINCENT LIN

can be prosecuted by way of indictment.”

However, in her email Coupland cited another clause under section 37, which states that the obligatory leave will remain in force unless “in respect of a charge under the Criminal Code of Canada or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Crown elects to proceed summarily.”

Due to the University’s information that the Crown had decided to proceed with Erfany’s case summarily, as opposed to an indictment, he wouldn’t be prohibited from representing students at Senate.

She had been unaware up until this point of the Crown’s decision to proceed with her case summarily, telling the Human Rights advisor in a return email: “I’ve really been kept out of the loop with much of this.”

Senate minutes show that Erfany was present at the meeting on Feb. 23.

‘Nothing has ever affected me the way that this did’

“With a sexual assault … the biggest thing in that is a loss of autonomy and a loss of feeling like you’re in control especially,” she said.

“So I think a big piece of what universities are missing altogether on every front is that actually reaching out to somebody who’s been involved in it directly.”

Despite her efforts to advocate on her own behalf, she said she’s found herself feeling like she’s constantly prodding an administration that won’t stand up for her.

“

I can’t beat around the bush anymore. I have to be my own advocate, no one else is doing it for me.

”

“I can’t beat around the bush anymore. I have to be my own advocate, no one else is doing it for me. Literally no one.”

For her, the assault has changed the trajectory of her life. Now a student in law school and writing exams on criminal law, she’s often taken back to that night in December and everything that followed.

“I thought I had been resilient and I have been in some ways, but I have PTSD and it affects my sleep. Every night, every single night since that’s happened I’ve had a nightmare.”

In her final year at Queen’s, she decided to apply to work in residence again.

On the first day of her second year working in residence and almost a year after herself being sexually assaulted, she recalls a first-year female student coming to her with a startlingly similar story of being sexually assaulted by another student.

“That to me just solidified what I’d done for the past year,” she said.

Coming face to face with the reminder that sexual assault continues to happen for so many university students, made what she had been through to report her own experience make sense to her.

“It’s been a weird two years, and yeah, some good things have come out of it. I’ll have a little extra empathy and understanding of the law,” she concluded.

“But I would do anything to take it back. I would do anything to have that not happen.”

Friday, March 24, 2017

queensjournal.ca

EDITORIALS

•7

The Journal’s Perspective

Standardize the standardized test ILLUSTRATION BY VINCENT LIN

C

utting the LSAT requirement for law school admission breaks down barriers, but the next step is making sure requirements are even across the board.

Harvard Law School recently announced that it’ll allow applicants to choose between submitting their Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score or their Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score starting this fall. The move is part of a larger strategy to increase accessibility of law

school admissions.

There’s a heavily monetized culture around standardized testing. LSAT prep courses are offered that charge hundreds of dollars, which doesn’t include expenses for study books, and the approximately $200 registration fee for the test itself.

These added study products are marketed as being necessary to do well on the test. And while there’s

Tilt and Facebook can be great ways to advertise and collect funds for events, but students should be careful as the use of these platforms for organizing and charging for parties becomes increasingly popular.

Let’s be honest: students party and this isn’t going to change anytime soon. But what most don’t realize is that there can be repercussions for using social media as a means to relay party details.

Last week, a St. Patrick’s Day keg party to be held on Earl Street was shut down a day early by Kingston Police. The event was advertised through Facebook and Tilt was used to collect funds, leading to Kingston

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL Volume 144 Issue 26

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Blake Canning Morgan Dodson

the problem isn’t just the barriers, but also that the definition of what makes a successful applicant has changed. These skills can’t be properly assessed through a test score and removing a standard test may open admissions to subjectivity and personal bias.

With many law schools still rooted in the LSAT tradition and an increasing number of schools shifting their requirements in different ways, law student hopefuls may find an extra pressure for multiple different criteria for each school they’re applying to.

The move away from the LSAT is a move forward. The next step needs to be in standardizing the system of standardized tests.

— Journal Editorial Board

Morgan Dodson

Advertising drinking online is a slippery slope “ But what most don’t realist is that there can be “ Although both Facebook

repercussions for using social media as a means to relay party details.

”

Police being able to find out what the party was, who was hosting it and other details.

Seventeen kegs and taps were seized from the residence, six people are being investigated and Liquor License Act charges are pending. Kingston Police explained that this was a pre-emptive measure to combat illegal behaviour and drinking.

I see students use Tilt all the time for collecting funds for events such as this one, without thinking of who has access to this Maureen O’Reilly

information. But very little that’s posted online is private.

Although both Facebook and Tilt are great tools for events, they’re public and therefore accessible to anyone, something that can create problems when students are using them irresponsibly.

Although Tilt can be used for many purposes, students often rely on it to collect money for parties.

Generally, students use Facebook to relay party information, then provide a Tilt link for partygoers to pay online in advance.

They then have a list of people who have paid and can check names at the door.

We’re drawn to anything that digitizes otherwise tedious tasks, but many don’t understand how one click can affect their whole life.

Kingston Police does their due diligence Brigid Goulem

Shivani Gonzalez

Features Editor

Irene Liu

Mikayla Wronko Editorials Editor

Ramna Safeer

Opinions Editor

Arththy Valluvan Erika Streisfield

Arts Editor Assistant Arts Editor Assistant Sports Editor

Josh Granovsky

Alex Palermo Sarah O’Flaherty Jenna Zucker

Assistant Lifestyle Editor Photo Editors

Contributing Staff Staff Writers and Photographers Kyle Curlew

Joseph Cattana

Sports Editor Lifestyle Editor

Editorial Board

such a heavy pressure placed on scoring high, especially by the admission councils of elite universities, the LSAT requirement becomes highly inaccessible to less privileged applicants.

The LSAT is also different from other standardized tests in that its subject matter is largely disconnected from legal knowledge or the skills required to be a successful lawyer. It’s predominantly a logic test — more than half is composed of logical reasoning questions.

If someone’s learning style or background doesn’t favour this kind of thinking, they may feel like their low score on the test

is indicative of their inability to pursue law school or be a good lawyer. But with so little connection between the test and legal knowledge, they may not have much correlation at all.

Shifting the LSAT requirement to allow other test scores, or simply dropping the requirement altogether — like McGill’s Faculty of Law — is a step in the right direction. Not only is it an example of an institution abandoning tradition in favour of the student experience, but it cuts down the financial and learning barriers surrounding the test.

The idea behind the LSAT isn’t invalid — it makes sense to want to empirically evaluate the applicant pool base for who schools think will be the most successful. But

Kiera Liblik Ramolen Luaran

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Sebastian Jaramillo

and Tilt are great tools for events, they’re public and therefore accessible to anyone, something that can create problems when students are using them irresponsibly.

”

when it comes to educating students on drinking and partying. Now students must take the reins and be accountable for their actions.

Morgan is one of The Journal’s Assistant News Editors. She’s a second -year Applied Economics student.

Shane Rebello

Office Administrator

Anisha Jain

Want to contribute?

For information visit: www.queensjournal.ca/contribute or email the Editors in Chief at journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions.

The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston.

Editorial opinions expressed in The Journal are the sole responsibility of The Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers.

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8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 24, 2017

OPINIONS

Your Perspective

Context, freedom and diversity in a stratified community Endorsement of Chicago Principles on Queen’s campus neglects the aspects of campus culture that vary school to school Kyle Curlew, MA '18, Korey Pasch, PhD '18 Free speech isn’t a neutral or isolated topic.

As such, a discussion about freedom of speech must be contextualized with a community’s histories and culture.

In an op-ed published in The Journal a couple weeks ago, entitled “Queen’s needs freedom of speech”, the author made the assertion that to address the lack of freedom of speech on campus, Queen’s should adopt the Chicago Principles; a set of guidelines on free expression developed by the University of Chicago.

Policies concerning these topics don’t emerge from a social and political void but rather from the stratified society in which we live.

Such stratification is manifested in our socio-economic status, as well as our cultural and political identities. Some groups inherently have more access to social, cultural and economic capital than others.

“

and politically stratified community demonstrates a lack of awareness of the issues surrounding that community.

Though we’re all bound by a law that draws the limits of free speech and expression at hate crimes and genocide, such a model is unable to account for other forms of oppression via microaggressions, subtle exclusion practices, and targeted harassment.

This omission of the role of social stratification is compounded through the use of freedom of speech arguments to shield and defend bigotry.

The SSFS have also been advocating for a change.org petition seeking to persuade the University to adopt the Chicago Principles, in which they write that they are “concerned about the potential suppression of viewpoint diversity at Queen’s.”

We heartily agree, given Queen’s ongoing culture of whiteness that I the University itself has studied L L US T R AT I

Policies concerning these topics don’t emerge from a social and political void but rather from the stratified society in which we live.

As George Orwell famously wrote in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

We aren’t attempting a philosophical argument on the concept of free speech but challenging the Students in Support of Free Speech (SSFS) assertion to bring the Chicago Principles to the Queen’s community.

Returning to George Orwell’s quote, he captures the current social and political climate well — especially at Queen’s.

It’s easy for those privileged to exist largely in the mainstream culture to forget that we live in a time of polarization, where rising white supremacy, Islamophobia, the politics of fear, curdling transphobic legal discussions, and sexual and gender inequalities abound.

Canada and Queen’s is home to pernicious discourses that flaunt equality, while simultaneously harbouring the marginalization of difference.

This is a troubling argument, particularly given Queen’s history and current culture.

The imposition of a universalist model of free speech over a socially, economically,

”

in-depth as exemplified by the recent uproar over the ‘racism party,’ viewpoint suppression is clearly a real problem on campus.

Focusing the discussion on universalist policies that ensure free speech is a red herring and demonstrates a lack of awareness of the campus and institutional culture that are the real problem.

As Samuel Farber wrote in an analysis of free speech on North American campuses, “democratic education encourages respectful but sharp debate instead of obscuring the sordid nature of racism and exploitation with fashionable buzzwords.” Universities aren’t safe spaces as the very notion of exposure to knowledge is meant to be uncomfortable.

However, a learning environment must be an accountable space.

Nonetheless, we hold that organized protest against a speaker on campus should not be conflated with an assault on freedom of speech.

The controversial protests against the UC Berkeley Milo Yiannopoulos talk must be

ON B

Y A SH

LEY R

HAM

EY

contextualized within an atmosphere of free speech: save for a few destructive activists, protestors were exercising their right to oppose an overtly hateful speaker. As Faber asserts in the wake of Yiannopoulos’ cancelled talk, free speech policy “requires that the protesting students exercise their free speech rights with massive picketing and heckling while respecting the principles of free speech, stopping short of a forceful suppression of the event.”

This diversity must also extend down into the student body itself, promoting a vibrant and dynamic community of people from all socio-economic backgrounds and cultures. It may also mean that free speech must be balanced against these needs when set within the historical and cultural context of Queen’s experience and current state of affairs.

Instead of taking on the Chicago Principles, Queen’s should seek to forge its own principles of free speech and expression that are balanced against the problems of the culture that is specific to our campus.

This is a topic that should be considered

Focusing the discussion on universalist policies that “ ensure free speech is a red herring and demonstrates a lack of awareness of the campus and institutional culture that are the real problem.

To return to the SSFS’ concerns, we argue that the best way to remedy viewpoint suppression at Queen’s is to focus on ensuring a diversity of viewpoints and individuals on campus.

Yes, free speech is a value that is vitally important to the health of the University, but so is the fostering and implementation of policies and practices that promote diversity of viewpoints across the institution.

”

along with the Principal’s implementation committee exploring racism, diversity, and inclusion in the Queen’s community.

Kyle Curlew is a second-year MA students in Sociology. Korey Pasch is a sixth-year PhD student in Political Studies.

Talking heads ... around campus

PHOTOS BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Which animated television series or movie would you like to make live-action?

“The Powerpuff Girls.”

Sonja Pejcic & Michael Albinson, Sci ’18

“Disney’s Recess.”

Samantha Giles, ArtSci ’17

“The Weekenders.”

“The Proud Family.”

Maureen Barnes, ConEd ’19

Tara Coombs, ConEd '19

Friday, March 24, 2017

queensjournal.ca

•9

Arts A 48-hour space for conversation Student initiative allows students and faculty alike to express themselves and be heard Erika Streisfield Arts Editor For 48 hours, Convocation Hall will host a series of artistic installations, for Queen’s students and faculty members alike to answer one not-so-simple question: “How are you?”

The answer to the prompt will be presented through a variety of artistic mediums, ranging from photography, to play writing, creation of an artistic piece and dance — the list goes on and on.

Entitled, A Space: 48 Hours at Queen’s University, the two-day

ARTIST PROFILE

initiative aims to simply offer a space, where students, faculty and community members can be heard.

After multiple incidents preoccupied with racial and gender identity unfolding this year at Queen’s, Wallis Caldoza, ArtSci ’17, took it upon herself to create a safe space for students to express themselves.

“There are so many voices we are missing, simply because there’s just not space for them to be heard,” Caldoza said in an interview with The Journal.

Following the open forums that took place after controversy within

Raine Storey, a force to be reckoned with Alex Palermo Assistant Arts Editor Raine Storey, full-time Fine Arts Honours student, owner of her own business and freelance artist, is ready to take the world by storm.

Storey is a graduating BFA Honours student, currently working on her thesis in textiles and their relationships. She’s the only Fine Art student ever to have received the Loran scholarship, a prestigious $100,000 scholarship granted to 30 students in Canada every year.

“I was definitely born with the ability to draw. My grandfather is a really talented artist, and I’m very closely tied with him,” Storey said of her artistic upbringing. “I’m constantly sending him pictures to critique, he’s been my inspiration.”

When she was 15, Storey founded a custom illustration and design business, which keeps her busy to this day with commissions, most recently a logo for a branch of the Ontario provincial police.

“I’m kind of the black sheep, I just execute things differently than the majority of my fellow scholars. I guess, I’m also the experiment.” Storey had her pick of 25 universities after receiving the Loran scholarship, but Queen’s stood out for its community feel

the Drama department over the casting of a white woman in the role of Othello for a student production, Caldoza sought to carve out space that’s not limited to a couple hours, but is an ongoing project to create open dialogue among Queen’s and Kingston natives.

“The whole idea is that there should always be space. The whole notion that there shouldn’t have to be an event to create space, there should always be space created,” Caldoza said.

Moreover, the project spurs questions, such as how well do we carve out space for others to be heard? How well do you listen?

And, what does it mean to be apart of the Queen’s community? Not to mention, how do you really feel?

“I don’t want anyone to hurt,” said Caldoza. “It sounds silly and

trivial, but if we’re really going to hurt then, man, let’s talk about it.”

The space will be in use for 48 whole hours for people to enter and exit freely. The length of the event aims to acknowledge the mere challenge of existing and preserving.

Upon every hour mark, a member of the space will ask the room, “So, how are you?” followed by 10 minutes for visitors in the

University of New South Wales, which gave me that art school experience I didn’t get at Queen’s.

The weather was really nice … but it did make me appreciate my home school.”

When asked about her long-term aspirations, Storey paused for a moment, “I want to be working with a company that I’m inspired by. I would love to be an art director. I’m interested in a diverse range of subjects and I think that’ll show in my career later on.”

Alongside job interviews in advertising, marketing and design positions, Storey is weighing the option of grad school with continuation of her freelance work.

When asked where we’ll find her this summer: “Probably Toronto... or maybe home [Fenelon Falls, ON] Storey’s Mellifluous Wine, 30x40” to see my parents for once.” oil on canvas.

and inspiring studio spaces.

“Queen’s has helped me develop intellectually. Through my electives I’ve been able to take business courses, computer science courses, history courses … That research aspect has strengthened my art,” Storey said. “Also it’s a very tight knit class, and you’re close with your professors. You’ve been to their house for tea.”

Storey is currently working on a thesis project that explores a variety of textiles and their relationships to each other. She quickly showed me a photo of one of her paintings, and I had to do a double take: the neutral, dark tones blend together so well, I would’ve mistaken it for a photo had I not known better.

“I wanted to highlight the relationship between silk and wine. The tones are very earthy, “ Storey described her oil on canvas painting. “Queen’s has really gotten me into oil painting.”

Storey also works with silk and embroidery among the diverse range of textiles covered by her thesis.

Storey’s last three years at Queen’s have been punctuated by summers abroad working with everything from jewellery, mural design, art therapy and public policy implementation.

“I also did a semester at the Storey soaking up some inspiration.

VIA UNSPLASH

space to respond.

“I hope that people who need that space take advantage of it, and I hope that this is not the be all and end all,” said Caldoza.

“There’s nothing more spectacular and daunting, horrifying and beautiful than just being human.”

The event will take place for 48 hours, from 6 p.m on April 7 to 6 p.m on April 9.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY RAINE STOREY

Arts

10 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 24, 2017

GRAD CLUB

Artfest shines a light on Queen’s talent Spencer Leefe Contributor On Tuesday night, artists from all corners of campus came together at The Grad Club in honour of The Undergraduate Review’s newest instalment, Volume 29.

“Artfest: A Bohemian Night” featured the work of over 30 different artists, groups and publications. The Grad Club was decorated for the art buff, each room catering to a different taste in genre.

In one room, stands featured the art communities and publications on campus, such as Ultraviolet Magazine, Queen’s Comic Book Legion, The Undergraduate Review, and the highly anticipated ASUS Journal of Indigenous Studies.

Queen’s Comic Book Legion was selling their latest installment of the trilogy Gael Force, a hero comic book set in Kingston and based around Queen’s students.

The Ultraviolet (UV) Magazine offered copies of this year’s issue. The magazine was my personal favourite publication in the

entire event, a thin book consisting of art, poetry, and prose by Queen’s students.

Karen Law, BFA’17, had her own stand selling beautiful, handmade greeting cards.

The cards were another highlight of the night with intricate handwork and details for any occasion, from a birthday to anniversary and thank yous.

While the vendors were showcasing their art, more entertainment was to be seen on stage.

The night started with an open mic period, where contributors to The Undergraduate Review recited their poems, short stories and played music. As open mic nights go, some were pleasant to the ears where other were a little too close to the microphone.

A performer of note, Lorraine Lau, ArtSci ’17, kept the audience captivated throughout her recitation of four original poems, which varied in theme from remembering loved ones to womanhood.

But the highlight of the open mic for me was the last performer, Natalie Leung, Sci ’18, whose dreamy and tranquil voice and

Industrial Relations Programs EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH POSTER SESSION

Improving Workplace Productivity and Quality of Life Please join Master of Industrial Relations (MIR) graduate students in learning more about their research on: . . .

Implementing flexible work hours at Tesla Leadership at Uber Improving mental health outcomes within the Canadian Armed Forces

… and a variety of other contemporary workplace challenges and problems.

March 29, 2017 10am - 12noon Wallace Hall John Deutsche University Centre

mir.queensu.ca

Artfest hosted a copious amount of talent Tuesday night.

rendition of ‘All I Want’ by Kodaline, could’ve swept me off to sleep.

The second portion of the night consisted of live musical performances. Opening this section of the night was Masha Nazina, ArtSci ’18, who performed a set of original songs. Her eclectic voice had every patron’s attention in the room.

Following the musicians onstage, were Queen’s upbeat a capella groups. A favourite of the night was the all-girls a capella group, The Caledonias, wearing tricolour flower crowns in their hair.

The group captivated me right from the

PHOTOS BY SEBASTIEN MOLGAT

start when they sang Adele’s ‘Toxic in The Deep’ — a chilling and challenging song.

The Caledonias sang five pieces in total, concluding their set with ‘Wannabe’ by the Spice Girls. I was amazed by how many sounds could be captured using just the voice and mouth.

The sheer amount of talent that filled The Grad Club Tuesday night was breathtaking, and at times, slightly intimidating. I left the event with a newfound appreciation for Queen’s and the variety of talent this campus hosts.

AGNES

Agnes obtains early views of the Kingston Kingston drawings by Charles Frederick Gibson added to the collection Ramolen Luaran Contributor In February, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre announced the acquisition of six drawings by Charles Frederick Gibson to join their eclectic campus gallery.

The recent acquisitions of the Agnes include six important early drawings of Kingston by Gibson — a military man with a passion for art. Gibson was an ensign the British Army. He arrived in Canada in 1827 and was stationed in Upper and Lower Canada — contemporary Ontario and Quebec.

During his military career, Gibson actively drew and painted, using modest tools such as pencil, ink and watercolours. His works are observant of the country’s natural landscape: a wide land with swiftly flowing water and weather that seems to be in constant confusion.

Yet, Gibson’s subtle depiction of settler and military presence reveal changing townships in 19th century Canada.

Gibson’s art of Kingston was made between 1831 and 1833 when he was stationed here, though he also produced drawings of nearby cities such as Ottawa

and Niagara Falls. His drawings of Kingston include notable places such as Fort Henry, the Royal Artillery encampment and the waterfront.

His The Royal Artillery Encampment, for example, depicts military tents on the east side of Point Henry overlooking Deadman Bay. Gibson’s use of sepia and gray watercolour washes create a delicate and innocent atmosphere, in which the tents mark the only signals of living presence in an otherwise apparently empty land. The use of a delicate medium and subtle colours capture the quiet Canadian landscape that could’ve seduced viewers across the pond.

The presence of Gibson’s tranquil colonial gaze in his drawings only remind contemporary viewers how Canada was viewed by British colonizers and of course, the country’s picturesque panoramas only added to the allure.

Gibson’s drawings are technically excellent depictions of Canada, however, his background has greatly affected the subjectivity of his art. In viewing his works, we can have a greater understanding of life in 19th century Canada.

Friday, March 24, 2017

queensjournal.ca

• 11

Sports

Competing to the final whistle for women’s hockey

4-1 loss against St. Mary’s sees Gaels finish sixth at U Sports Championship

Matt Scace Staff Writer Very few university hockey teams in Canada can say that they played hockey on the last day of the season. On Sunday, the women’s hockey team was given that honour.

After dropping their first game in the U Sports Championship to UBC on Friday, the Gaels bounced back by defeating St. Francis Xavier, allowing them to play for fifth place in Canada against the Saint Mary’s Huskies. In what would likely be the last game for nine current Queen’s players, the Gaels fell to the Huskies by a score of 4-1.

In a game marred by penalties for both teams, Queen’s had a difficult time finding their rhythm despite outshooting the Huskies 34-23. In the fight for a final win to finish the season, both teams gave it their all in a highly physical game.

After falling behind 1-0 midway through the first period, the Gaels picked up the pace, but were unable to show for it on the score board. The second saw a similar

trend, and by the conclusion of the period they found themselves in a 2-0 deficit after a late-period goal by SMU. By the third, Queen’s was in a hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of, falling behind 4-0 before scoring a late goal that appeared to be inspired by the inevitable end of the season.

“It just sort of fell in line with the other two [games]. From the drop of the puck against UBC to the last second here against St. Mary’s, our team battled well all weekend,” said head coach Matt Holmberg after the game.

“We gave ourselves a chance to compete in every game and proved to ourselves that we belong in this tournament.”

When the final horn sounded, it was easy to see that the moment was bittersweet for each of the player. As the teams lined up for the player of the game awards, one of which was awarded to forward Addi Halladay, the Gaels were unable to hide their emotion.

Their happiness clearly preceded their sadness as none were left dry eyed, yet every player had a Christmas-morning smile on their face.

Queen’s battles for the puck against St. Mary’s.

“There are no dry eyes in the room right now because the season is over, but I know the team is very happy with how they competed,” said Holmberg, who admitted that the underlying goal of the game was to have fun. “We were focused on succeeding but didn’t want to get too concerned with some of the minor things. We just wanted to have a fun, energetic, positive last game.”

Following the ceremony, the Gaels raised their sticks to thank the crowd before locking arms and performing a rousing rendition of

FOOTBALL

the infamous “Oil Thigh,” which was met with obvious pleasure from the attending alumni crowd.

The home crowd gave the Gaels one last sign of appreciation as the players made their way to the dressing room.

As Queen’s begins to move into the off-season, there will be a period of reflection for the players, young and old. After the game, despite having little time to prepare his thoughts on the season, Holmberg was clearly proud of his team.

“It was a great year because we

PHOTOS BY AMANDA NORRIS

had known we would be hosting [U Sports] throughout. It’s been a fun year because of that and the attention that has. The players embraced it, tried to win an OUA championship and they didn’t take it the easy way, they took the stairs and worked hard and their hard work allowed them to compete here. I’m really proud of them,” said Holmberg before rejoining his team to celebrate the season.

Another chance in front of scouts Running back Jonah Pataki moves on to National CFL Combine Sebastian Bron Staff Writer

Jonah Pataki has played with Queen’s for four years.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Standout Gaels running back Jonah Pataki, who ranked fourth in the OUA this season with 814 rushing yards, is one of 45 prospects to receive an invitation to the National CFL Combine, which takes place in Regina March 23-25.

The fourth-year rusher was elated to receive the call from the league office.

“It’s just exciting,” he said. “It was obviously nice to perform well and get the invite … It’s just an awesome opportunity to represent Queen’s and represent myself, and to improve my stock ahead of the draft.”

At the CFL Ontario Regional Combine, which four other Gaels attended, Pataki thrived. He ranked second in the shuttle drills (4.23 seconds) and vertical jump (36

inches), and fifth in the 40-yard dash (4.84 seconds) — slotting top-five in four of the six major testing categories.

“We all prepared really hard since the start of the semester,” said Pataki of his teammates who also attended the regional trials. “It was great to see everybody do well.” He will be the only player from Queen’s at this year’s national combine.

Testing days, Pataki added, are always a bit peculiar. Agility and speed are critical facets to a player’s game, and teams do right by testing for them, but they don’t necessarily translate to on-field play. In other words, one’s feel for the game and level of football IQ are intangible qualities — and a 40-yard dash won’t help in determining that.

But nonetheless, Pataki said there is always room to improve and impress scouts from an athletic standpoint.

“I think if you were to ask any athlete or football player about [combines], they’d probably tell you that they’re never happy with how they did,” he noted.

“I mean, I was obviously ecstatic about getting the invite and I thought I was doing well the whole time, but I

always think I could do better.”

At the national combine, Pataki hopes to improve his 40-yard dash time, his 3-cone shuttle time and his vertical jump.

With the draft over a month away, the soon-to-be Queen’s grad ushers in the last stage of his draft-prep this weekend in Regina. After that, it’s a waiting game — but he’s been putting himself in good situations, he said.

Currently, Pataki has any interest from CFL teams filtered through his agent, Jayevan Foster — a former Queen’s grad and ex-Gaels football player — and founder of EMPIRE MGMT. But right now, Pataki is focused on honing in on what he can control — blocking the noise and letting everything else play itself out. Step by step, he said.

“Mostly I’m just worried with doing well at the [national] combine … and afterwards, in the time between when I’m done and when the draft is in May, that’s when discussions happen.”

Sports

12 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 24, 2017

MEN’S HOCKEY

National run ends short

5-1 loss to UNB ends U Sports run after one game Sarah O’Flaherty Assistant Sports Editor While the Gaels went into the U Sports Championship in Fredericton with a confidence attained from their successful regular season, their national playoffs stint was cut short. The Gaels lost 5-1 in the first game to the tournament host, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. The game brought the Gaels’ 2016-17 run to an end, and the team finished fifth in the country.

Nobody was available for an interview regarding the U Sports tournament at the time of print.

Regardless of this post-season loss, the Gaels were able to celebrate great successes during their regular season and the OUA playoffs. They finished second in the OUA after attending the Queen’s Cup for the first time in 36 years.

The team finished the regular season with a record of 18-10, 79 goals and 134 assists.

The team also became well known for its star players — most notably goaltender Kevin Bailie, who was considered to be the best goaltender in the OUA playoffs with a

league best goals against average (1.10) and save percentage (.969).

Among the season’s highlights was an international tournament which featured head coach Brett Gibson and four of his best players — Slater Doggett, Eric Ming, Bailie and Spencer Abraham — representing Canada in Kazakhstan. While there, the four players ensured that Queen’s was well represented as they competed as part of an all-star U Sports team. While the Gaels back home struggled at first without these key players at the helm, their absence ultimately led to a growth in the team’s depth.

During the majority of their regular season, the Gaels had a mixed bag of talent.

They had a combination of a deadly first line and a group of younger inexperienced players on the bench. While the team suffered from the loss of their top four players while away on national duty — which resulted in a loss against RMC in the annual Carr-Harris cup — the team was able to achieve a depth to their roster by the end of their season.

The team’s forwards were led by Doggett and Ming, who dominated the Gaels’ attack

Darcy Greenaway celebrates Gaels’ win in OUA playoffs.

both separately and together, accounting for a third of the team’s overall scoring.

Forward Darcy Greenaway led the Gaels in the absence of Doggett and Ming during the Carr-Harris Cup and finished the season with five goals and eight assists. Third year forward Ryan Bloom also took on a fair bit of the teams offense, finishing the regular season with 10 goals and 14 assists.

Another standout performer was fifth-year veteran Dylan Anderson, who made some major plays in the OUA playoffs, scoring three goals against the McGill Redmen in the semi-finals, finishing the regular season with five goals and seven assists. Together, the five players made up the majority of the Queen’s attacking line and contributed to the Gaels’ 13th ranked offense in the league with 79 goals over the

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

regular season.

Defensively, the Gaels were led by the powerful combination of Spencer Abraham — who spent time before the regular season at the Florida Panthers training camp — and Patrick Downe.

Downe and Abraham’s presence from the backline was a powerful force during the regular season, producing a combined total of 22 assists.

Although the Gaels ended the season with only an OUA silver medal to show for it, they improved on last year’s first round OUA playoff exit and has been one of the most competitive teams Queen’s has fielded in decades.

SIDELINE COMMENTARY

What I learned covering sports this year Queen’s celebrates their lone goal in 4-1 loss.

PHOTO BY AMANDA NORRIS

Assistant Sports Editor reflects on past season Sarah O’Flaherty Assistant Sport Editor When I first got the news that I had gotten the job as Assistant Sports Editor back in April 2016, I was overjoyed. I couldn’t wait to write about different sports that I loved, get my stories published and pick up new skills along the way.

Little did I know that the most significant part of my job would have absolutely nothing to do with writing, but instead with the simple interactions I had with the players.

Writing for Sports gave me the opportunity to be at the epicenter of passion at Queen’s. I had the privilege of watching teams come together and develop over their seasons. Watching a team go from those first few games to competing in the national championships gives a wonderful feeling of completeness to a story.

I was able to watch as teammates worked together and made magic happen on the ice, court or pitch. Seeing those two or three players on each team figure out what it took to click with each other and make plays happen was incredible.

I cheered equally as hard when the teams’ stars lead their teammates to victory as I did when the younger players were able to have their moment and step into the limelight, scoring their first goal or making their first big hit.

I learned more about the individual

players off the court with each interview.

They were thoughtful, kind and engaged.

They cared about their teammates, their community and their sport.

They spent a large portion of their lives training for the games that 650 words could only scratch the surface with. I met Olympic hopefuls, national champions and nervous rookies. They all had unique stories to tell that made their drive in the game even more awe evoking.

They cared about mental health awareness and fundraising for the Run for the Cure and above all, they all shared one essential characteristic: passion.

Watching the heartbreak of tough losses or the all-encompassing joy of big wins has been a complete privilege this year. Watching players develop over seasons has helped me grow along with them.

They have been welcoming to me and generous with their time. They helped me to become a better writer and to learn more about my school.

I will forever cherish what I’ve learned from each player and program and will always be grateful for their acceptance of me, though at times it’s been difficult as a female sports writer in a male-dominated field.

It was a fantastic year for sports at Queen’s, and I look forward to watching what these players do in the future.

Friday, March 24, 2017

queensjournal.ca

• 13

Lifestyle MOVIE REVIEW

A tale as old as time, not quite retold Beauty and the Beast is pretty, but misses the mark with character

Ashley Rhamey Assistant Lifestyle Editor There’s no disputing that Disney’s 2017 live action Beauty and the Beast is beautifully crafted.

The costumes, sets, music and cinematography are so detailed, it’s sometimes difficult to know where to look.

But as the film’s moral itself will tell you, appearances aren’t everything.

Plot-wise, the remake is about as close to the source material of the 1991 animated film as it can be. Some scenes, and most musical numbers, are almost shot-for-shot, word-for-word, lifted from the original. This effort to remain faithful to the beloved Disney staple works to keep nostalgic viewers from Disney’s golden age satisfied and everyone entertained.

Occasionally, and to its betterment, the 2017 remake goes off-script. Additions to the otherwise identical story elaborate on Belle and the Beast’s

BUSINESS BASICS

Student startups: Naughty Otter Beer Alumni take their talents from students to business owners

Jenna Zucker Lifestyle Editor Next up in our student start-up series, we’re taking a look at a group of alumni who’ve left their mark in a very spirited way.

Introducing Naughty Otter Beer.

Using Queen’s as their business breeding grounds, COMM’13 graduates Cord McGee, Ryan Peterson, Donald Gawel, and ArtSci ’13 graduate Robbie Mitchnick started the Naughty Otter Beer brand.

“We’ve always seen [Queen’s] as our backyard, our home

territory and a place that we really wanted to keep the brand anchored in,” Mitchnick, Naughty Otter chairman, said.

The beer itself represents the fun-loving and cheeky aspects of drinking culture its makers experienced at Queen’s.

Mitchnick described them as light, not flavourful or hoppy and with a low alcohol concentration.

They keep the ingredients local and natural to maintain and strengthen their connection to both Kingston and Queen’s.

“You have this balance of a beer that’s very sensible, very enjoyable,

family backgrounds and open up new song opportunities.

These deviations are where the adaptation finds its strength as a standalone feature, instead of being constantly compared to its animated counterpart.

The additional solo song ‘Evermore’ for instance, demonstrates Dan Steven’s vocal talents and commands a deeper emotional connection to his character of the Beast that was missing from the original movie.

In comparison, Emma Watson’s Belle feels less like Watson playing a character and more like Watson playing herself. The core of the original Belle’s character, and the reason she was able to connect with so many viewers despite being two-dimensional, was her voice. It communicated an optimism and sincerity that Watson, no matter how well suited she is to the character visually, can’t match. Her voice is nice, but just that.

The reason animated films are able to make their characters feel but still flavourful with decent body to it,” he said. “That’s sort of the paradigm that we’ve tried to create, and we think of Naught Otter as this fun, playful, irreverent, rebellious concept that fits in sort of perfectly.”

The brewing business is fiercely competitive, with over 200 breweries in Ontario. It’s a tough business to break into.

Because of this, the Naughty Otter team knew that to succeed, they needed to build a brand that would resonate with people.

“The beer has to be good, but also you have to have a great brand and a great story,” Mitchnick continued.

“We always knew that part of that for us needed to be our unique connection to Queen’s. Where we all were from and where we had large networks of people who knew us and wanted to support us. Where they were personally invested because we were their friends, local guys, Queen’s guys, young guys and they wanted to see us succeed.”

To stay true to their vision, Naughty Otter attends student events, as well as hosting their own.

The Queen’s School of Business did a case study on the company two years ago, used by Master’s and undergraduate students in Commerce strategy courses.

To give back to the school and city that got them started, Naughty

like people is their equal attention to facial expression and voice expression. 2017’s Beauty and the Beast seems to forget that so much of the soul of their characters exist in their voices. It isn’t enough to sing the same songs, or even sing them well.

Watson’s failing in the film is that her parts are sung with the intention to sound as pleasant as possible for a non-professional singer, without worrying too much about the emotion that has to be present in Belle’s songs for her character, who has limited spoken dialogue, to feel like a character.

Watson’s rendition forgets that in any musical, the character is in the voice. Her casting feels sub-par because her physical likeness to the animated character was made the central focus rather than her musical abilities.

In a surprising reversal, this is exactly why Steven’s Beast worked so well. Stevens wasn’t actually pictured on screen for the majority of the film, but rather a beautifullyrendered computer-generated

Otter has recently also set up a scholarship fund through the Smith School of Business.

“Basically we didn’t want it to be thoroughly academic.

We wanted someone that was well-rounded, who’s solid academically, but also is maybe involved with the community,

VIA YOUTUBE

Beast. The quality of voice-acting was emphasized for his character and worked to the advantage of creating a depth for Steven’s Beast that unfortunately wasn’t matched

by Watson’s Belle.

No other actress could’ve looked more the part, but there were plenty who could’ve pulled off Belle’s songs twice as compellingly.

Disney attempts to play up Belle’s strengths and passions in this adaptation in preparation for a different cultural climate, but the strong, independent Belle I was hoping for came off as more of a limp echo of what she could’ve been.

The remake is extremely entertaining, visually stunning, creative and, as faithfulness to the original goes, pretty much perfect. The only off-key note in the production was its inability to capture Belle, despite Watson’s extensive screen-time.

But hey, she sure looked pretty in the yellow dress.

SUPPLIED BY ROBBIE MITCHNIK

involved in sports or the arts.

We wanted the focus to be broad rather than purely on marks,” Mitchnick said.

The scholarship will support an Ontario student in need who’s able to display broad based achievement and an interest in entrepreneurship.

LIFESTYLE

14 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 24, 2017 you have yet to watch Freaks and Geeks, also known as the high school show that defined high school shows, get on that. The show doesn’t pack on too much drama, but the characters will feel like your best friends and thus force you to get invested.

If, for some crazy reason, you have yet to devour Orange is the New Black, now’s the time. The show’s harmonious amount of comedy and drama will keep you happily engrossed throughout your watch. But beware — this show is insanely bingeable, and you’ll likely watch more episodes than planned. Luckily, with your miniscule amount of work, you should be able to afford it. Another show that pulls off this comedydrama balancing act is Weeds.

For the person with a moderate or fluctuating amount of work:

CULTURE COMMENTARY

The best Netflix shows to binge-watch based on your workload I’ve scoured Netflix to suit your busy or non-busy schedule

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Josh Granovsky Staff Writer

Binge-watching is one of the greatest joys that life has to offer, however, if you feel you’re floundering to fit in some much-needed TV-time on top of all your homework, or if you have more time than you know what to do with, don’t fear.

For the person with all the time in the world:

Congratulations! You’re living your best life and are the envy of every student on the planet. The perfect way to spend your endless amounts of free time is to catch up on an all-time TV great you may’ve missed over the years: Rectify. The brooding drama following a man who just got off death row, is one of the most deeply underrated gems of all time. If you want to take the more classic route, Breaking Bad is one of the greatest shows ever and your free schedule will afford you the luxury of intense focus throughout all 62 episodes, including the 50 it will take for the plotline to really pick up. A similar show that fit this bill is Hannibal.

For the person with 1-2 hours of work a night:

Your life is also pretty great and gives you the ability to follow plot, but you still have enough work that you need some relief. If

Friends, let me introduce you to Jane The Virgin. This meta telenovela follows Jane and her journey after being accidentally artificially inseminated. Oh, and she’s engaged and a devout Christian and her baby’s father is kind of sketchy. This show will charm your pants off and blow your mind in equal amounts. The show’s fast pace makes it easy to take a break from and if you need to take time off to work, a fun Spanish-accented narrator will catch you up at each episode’s start. If you are looking for something shorter, go with the fast-paced and ludicrous Arrested Development.

For the person with 1-2 hours of free time a night:

Your life is a little rough. Your workload is fairly heavy, but you can still afford to spend some time relaxing with your good old pal, TV. The Office is an ideal show to watch as a break between study sessions, and its hilarity will distract you from the mountains of work surrounding you. If you prefer to take one long break, watch some Black Mirror — it’s best watched once a night anyways.

For the person with all the work in the world:

My condolences, buddy. With this much work, you need a quick and reliable good time to keep you alive through all those essays — and tears. Though Friends may seem a little dated, it’s a classic and won’t disappoint. Try to squeeze in an episode before you go to bed. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Scrubs should also do the trick.

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LIFESTYLE

Friday, March 24, 2017

queensjournal.ca

• 15

POSTSCRIPT

Swimming in sweat

Pushing myself to the limits at Queen Street Crossfit Aleksandra jumping rope in the Crossfit studio.

Aleksandra Popovik Contributor Squats, weights, conditioning, diligence, and dedication, repeat. This is my story of how I went from rolling my eyes at the word crossfit to lighting up when someone says AMRAP burpees and DL. I grew up playing every sport under the sun. It wasn’t uncommon to see me running from piano practice to the pool for swimming and then straight to soccer. I grew up dancing competitively at Turning Point Academy of Dance and I can still remember the look on my mother’s face when I told her I wanted to try out for my high school’s rugby team.

Her fear of me getting injured made the decision for me. I trained with tennis coaches in Toronto and Macedonia and I played on the school team since middle school.

Our family spent every winter skiing in Quebec or in the United States. When I turned 16, I was more excited about getting my tennis instructor certification than my driver’s license. After I got my ski instructor CSIA Level one I went on to get my Level 2. I spent every weekend of the ski season in my last two years in high school at Mt. St. Louis teaching skiing. When I started my first internship the summer after first year I took up Bikram yoga with my coworkers.

a strong believer in being “ aI’mwell-rounded athlete and am always trying new things in to challenge myself.

”

Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of trouble diversifying my exercise portfolio.

I’m a strong believer in being a well-rounded athlete and am always trying new things in order to challenge myself. I believe that our bodies need different exercises at different points in our lives in order for us to continually build endurance and avoid plateauing.

Crossfit allows me to combine the different types of exercises to keep the

challenge alive. It’s a combination of strength and conditioning, Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics. It’s a functional movement program meant to challenge and prepare you for anything life throws your way. The WODs (Workout of the Day) vary depending on what the goal is.

So how did I arrive at Crossfit?

I actually stumbled upon Crossfit unintentionally. My housemates and I decided to try one of Lululemon’s free yogaexercise classes on a Sunday morning.

We thought we were signing up for kickboxing, but the address they gave us

thought we were signing “ We up for kickboxing, but the address they gave us took us to the Crossfit Queen Street gym.

”

took us to the Crossfit Queen Street gym.

I will confess that, much like most people, I didn’t initially understand the draw to Crossfit. At first glance, it looks like a bunch of extremely athletic people swinging from bars and lifting a ridiculous amount of weight above their heads.

I’d even teased a friend of mine who did it. I didn’t see how lifting made sense for people that are trying to build lean muscle mass. And of course there’s the whole “people who do Crossfit never shut up about Crossfit.”

I also had a misunderstanding of the kinds of people that do crossfit. I didn’t want to bulk up or injure myself. When I did my first trial class I talked to one of the coaches about the portrayal of crossfit in the media.

We talked about how there is the typical body type that you see doing crossfit. As someone who builds muscle in certain areas really fast, I was apprehensive about joining this new workout sensation.

The coach explained to me that although it’s what we see in the media, it’s essentially up to the individual to personalize the workout. Whatever your goals are, whether

it’s general fitness or weight loss, you can strategize your approach to Crossfit workouts to make it work best for you. If that means starting at the lowest weights then so be it.

However, once you see how much stronger you are than you realized, the addictive element of progression kicks in.

I got my first taste of it when I was able to do more than three double-unders in a row.

The kind of support and encouragement I received from the coaches inspired me.

The mental aspect of Crossfit is also worth talking about. Every new personal record you break just proves how much strength you have on the inside and out.

Realizing this strength was so important to me around this time of my life.

Juggling school, work and finding a job for next year created a stressful mind-set.

I needed an outlet where I could escape and release negativity. By embracing the challenges I faced in the gym, I learned to let go of the stress associated with the challenges outside of the gym.

Why do I love it?

First of all, the energy. Everyone is so friendly and cheers each other on. Being in

Crossfit Queen Street studio.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY ALEKSANDRA POPOVIK

a class environment motivates me because I like the element of competition. In the end you’re only competing with yourself, but it still pushes you.

There are people of all ages and all walks of life. I once saw a very pregnant woman in one of my classes and she was still giving it her all. Even when you’re the last one finishing your reps, everyone will come and cheer you on. You fist bump your fellow comrades after the workout.

The beautiful thing is that the actual work you put in is no more than 20-25 minutes tops. I’m the kind of person that can’t spend hours in the gym. I want to be in and out.

I can’t run on the treadmill for hours and that’s why the high intensity interval training method works for me.

Trying it out has debunked a lot of myths about lifting for me. I learned new skills and it’s been a humbling experience. I didn’t realize how much I lacked in upper body strength and I’m a better athlete because of Crossfit.

Even if it’s not up your alley, I still strongly suggest trying it out at least once. You have nothing to lose and everything to #gain(z).

16 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 24, 2017