The Queen's Journal, Volume 144, Issue 14

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Fall sports report card page 12

the

Queen’s University

journal

Vol. 144, Issue 14

F r i day , N ov e m b e r 1 8 , 2 0 1 6

since

1873

ARTS

Open forum addresses cancellation of Othello Students, faculty discuss issues of inequality within drama department Erika Streisfield Arts Editor

PHOTO BY AUSTON CHHOR

Audrey Park speaking to Queen’s students this Saturday.

North Korean defector tells her story at Queen’s Advocate Audrey Park escaped totalitarian regime as a child

Jasnit Pabla Contributor Audrey Park was 10 years old when she escaped on foot from North Korea. The journey was rigorous and emotional. Her mother was by her side, painfully aware of the fate they had faced the last three times they attempted to escape. Threats of deportation back to North Korea and labour camps lingered in her memory. But the two walked on. On Nov. 12, Park delivered her testimonial in Kingston, speaking to a crowd in Macdonald Hall about the realities of defecting from a totalitarian regime. The event was coordinated by the Queen’s chapter of HanVoice, a nonprofit organization based in Toronto that focuses on advocating for North

Korean refugees. The Queen’s chapter of HanVoice was founded at the beginning of this year by President Danny Yeo, ArtSci ’17. After working at a law firm over the past summer, where he listened to the stories of several North Korean defectors, Yeo reached out to HanVoice. Through his work and South Korean heritage, Yeo developed a personal attachment to the cause. “I wanted to act,” he said. The event kicked off with guest speaker Sarah Pavan, a PhD candidate in the department of political studies, discussing the current state of global refugee affairs. Pavan’s research has focused in on immigrant integration services and organizations.

Professor Margaret Moore, having sponsored a Syrian family and young man, shared her experience next about the Canadian immigration system. Moore was critical of the procedure that resulted in her sponsored family arriving unexpectedly following the holidays, and felt frustrated with the difficulty she faced while accessing community resources for them. Park was the final speaker for the event. She started her story at the beginning, in Heoryong, North Korea, where she was born in 1989. As she grew into childhood, the country began to slip into the famine of the 90s. Beginning in 1998, Park and her mother left her sister and father behind, bribing a soldier to

cross the border into China. Over the next seven years, the pair lived in China and attempted to flee into South Korea, but were caught three times and deported back to North Korea. For their offense, they were placed in labour camp detention. Park recalled witnessing tremendous hunger and exhaustion in the labour camp as well as brutal treatment from the camp guards. Park’s mother, who served her sentence doing construction work, didn’t give up her resolve and currently lives in South Korea. “She was my rock,” Park said. She reiterated her mother’s support as a key factor for her survival. “She kept telling me to live.” Park also delivered an

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

See My on page 3

On Tuesday afternoon, the Dan School of Drama and Music hosted just fewer than 200 students and faculty members in an open forum in Convocation Hall regarding Queen’s Vagabond’s cancellation of their Othello production. Originally set to open this month, Queen’s Vagabond’s production of Othello was cancelled after backlash from the Queen’s community over the theatre group’s decision to cast a white, female student in the role of Othello. Craig Walker, director of the Dan School, and Quincy Armorer, a representative from the Human Rights and Equity Office and the artistic director of Black Theatre Workshop, facilitated discussion on issues the production raised. Walker opened the forum by addressing Vagabond’s controversial artistic choices and clarifying the department’s separate identity from Vagabond. Walker’s opening statement elicited a reaction from students in the audience who pointed out the School’s close ties with extra curricula groups, such as the theatre companies, and their responsibility to help educate and inform their artistic choices. Throughout the forum, the onus for the issues raised by the production was shifted onto many See Othello on page 9

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