24 November 2021

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The students, organized by Students Supporting UMFA (SSUMFA), demanded the administration offer faculty a fair deal.

The protesters held signs with slogans like, “Listen up Benarroch” — directed at university president Michael Benarroch — and “Get back to bargaining” as they prevented staff from entering the building until : a.m.

Jaron Rykiss, a political studies and philosophy student who was at the protest, described blocking the doors as a “quid pro quo.”

“The sense among the group was, basically, if students are going to

. be blocked from going to class and if the administration wants to continue to hold off from offering a fair deal to UMFA […] that the administration won’t be going to work,” he explained.

“We definitely knew that going into it, that this was going to be something that [makes] a splash.”

The University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA) has been on strike since the beginning of November after months of failed negotiations. UMFA is demanding a better salary offer from the university.

Cont’d p. / Group demands

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Money for nothing

Most definitely foe

Basic income can limit health-care system strain

Military causing climate crisis, not solving it

The irony of ‘Charity’

End of the road

New doc examines fight against giant cow statue

Bisons championship hopes dashed by Huskies

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News

pages 3 to 4

Research & Technology

pages 5 to 6

Editorial

page 8

Comment

pages 10 to 11

Arts & Culture

pages 12 to 14

Sports

page 16

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The U of M offers some of the lowest salaries of the research universities in Canada, which faculty say has negatively affected recruitment and retention of staff.

UMFA has accused the provincial government of interfering in its negotiations by imposing a salary mandate on the university, which UMFA says is prolonging the strike and preventing the parties involved from reaching a fair deal.

Despite the province’s claim that salary mandates are standard practice, a recent appeals court ruling found the government “substantially interfered” when it handed a mandate to the university in directing the administration to refrain from raising faculty wages, threatening “financial consequences” if they did not comply.

The university and UMFA held talks to discuss their latest offers over the weekend and came to the bargaining table Monday to continue negotiating.

Tensions flared around : a.m. last Monday when security staff attempted

to enter the building, triggering an altercation between security and a protester.

“We […] are committed to employing stronger vetting procedures in the future.”

“There was a bit of a push and then there a push back and then there was this whole [altercation] that unfolded from there,” Rykiss said.

Members of SSUMFA also met with a representative from the administration’s bargaining team to state their concerns, including what they say is “misinformation and intimidation” pushed on students by the administration.

A picture of the conflict shows the protester holding the security guard’s hands against the wall above their head.

Rykiss said the person who started the conflict was not an official member of SSUMFA and acted of “their own volition.” After the altercation, Rykiss said the individual is no longer welcome to participate in the group.

SSUMFA issued a statement on Instagram the day after the incident denouncing the altercation.

“This individual went against the ground rules that the entire group agreed upon before beginning our demonstration. We do not condone any form of violence and agitation, and we would like to make it clear that anyone who has these intentions should refrain from engaging with our

NEWS A P

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M E J C F . The rallies were in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders and in opposition to the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline.

Demonstrators blocked the intersection near the RCMP D Division Headquarters and Portage and Main before marching down Portage toward the Manitoba legislative building.

The demonstrations were protesting in response to the arrests of land defenders at the Gidimt’en checkpoint on Nov. and amidst British Columbia’s state of emergency.

As part of their efforts to oppose the CGL pipeline, Wet’suwet’en land defenders and solidarity protesters have established blockades to prevent drilling under the Morice River in Gidimt’en clan territory in northwest B.C. Nearby streams and waterways have already been contaminated by CGLrelated projects.

Clayton Thomas-Müller, a Cree filmmaker and activist, said Friday’s rallies were answering a “call to action” in response to the arrests.

“We’re here today in Treaty territory in front of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters blocking traffic, stopping business

group in the future,” the statement read.

as usual to send a message that […] citizens are concerned about the safety of Wet’suwet’en people,” he said.

“The fact that they brought canine units and semi-automatic rifles and helicopters into encampments where there are unarmed women and children and elders [is] just ridiculously excessive. There’s absolutely no need for that kind of show of force. The Wet’suwet’en have been completely peaceful [...] This kind of disproportionate show of force would not be tolerated here in southern Canada but because it’s such an isolated region […] they thought they could just go in there and do what they do, but Canada is watching.”

Last week, in the RCMP’s third raid on the encampment, people — including two journalists — were arrested over two days as police in B.C. cleared a service road blockaded by land defenders opposed to CGL’s construction.

RCMP conducted the raid in military gear, assisted by canine units and assault weapons.

Fellow demonstrator Allegra Friesen Epp thinks since the Wet’suwet’en have not granted access to their unceded land, the RCMP’s very presence there constitutes excessive force.

“I don’t care if the arrests themselves

In an email to the Manitoban, SSUMFA said the university has been unclear about whether students working for faculty had the right to refuse to cross the picket line. They described the university’s decision to shut down UM Learn, the university’s online learning portal, on the first day of the strike as “an attempt to divide students and faculty.”

“The administrator refused to discuss the reasons why UM Learn was disabled, other than to say ‘there are two sides to the story,’” the email read.

“Similarly, when asked about the conflicting information regarding the bargaining position of the university’s administration and UMFA, the administrator […] continually refused

are peaceful, it’s the violation of Wet’suwet’en law and Indigenous rights that is inherently violent,” Friesen Epp said.

to answer questions, was broadly dismissive of the concerns of students and condescending toward [students’] knowledge and understanding of the issues surrounding this strike.”

Students also requested a meeting with university president Michael Benarroch. When their demands were not granted, SSUMFA members staged a sit-in at the office.

“They were forced to take private meetings outside of the room and repeatedly tried to negotiate with us, but we didn’t budge,” the Instagram post about the sit-in read.

After an hour, SSUMFA left the office.

SSUMFA stated over email that it has still been unable to schedule a meeting with the president.

Rykiss said he and other students hope the administration will “pick up the phone” and offer a better deal.

“I think we all just want to get back into class and I think that the administration has the power to do that by offering a fair deal and we’d love to see them do that.”

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NEWS

B.C. mudslides provide “good cover” for arrests The arrests come as B.C. declared a state of emergency in response to flooding and mudslides caused by record-breaking rainfalls that have left hundreds stranded without essential services.

Thomas-Müller argued the federal and B.C. provincial governments are taking advantage of the climate-induced state of emergency and using them as cover for the arrests.

“This is straight out of the settler-colonial dirty tactics playbook,” he said.

According to RCMP, protesters blocked traffic near the RCMP station for approximately an hour.

“I think that people who are upset about minor delays in their traffic today should be thinking about the delays in traffic that British Columbian citizens are facing because all the highways and trains have been washed out by a mega climate storm,” said Thomas-Müller.

The blockade of the Portage and Main intersection and the subsequent march was led by Anishinaabe activist Sadie-Phoenix Lavoie and Miyawata Stout, who is Cree.

“There will be no fourth raid on Wet’suwet’en land,” Stout told the crowd.

“This is the end.”

Stout agreed with Thomas-Müller that the climate crisis provides “good cover” for the arrests.

“It’s […] just incredibly disturbing that during a climate emergency, Indigenous land defenders who are mitigating the climate crisis are being criminalized,” Stout said.

After speeches by Lavoie and Stout, the crowd marched down Portage Avenue toward the legislature.

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NEWS seen her many times and tried to talk to her about this. She ignores us, so we’re trying to get her to stop ignoring us.”

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UMFA members and supporters gathered at the Assiniboine Park gates on the corner of Corydon Avenue and Park Boulevard to protest the ongoing silence from Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson.

Strikers and their families brought kitchenware, horns and other noisemakers to make their presence known as the march wound through the quiet suburb. After an hour, the march circled back to the park gates.

English, theater, film and media professor Mark Libin was among the chief organizers of the march. Libin emphasized the lack of communication the union has had with premier.

“We’ve tried everything, we’ve sent her emails, we’ve reached out to her in all kinds of different ways,” he said.

“Our pickets on the legislature have

Brianna Kaldor-Mair, an undergraduate biology student at the U of M, joined the march to support UMFA’s efforts.

“I was here for the strike, too.

I’m a relatively senior student and I wanted to show support for my professors,” she said.

“I do not agree with the provincial government interfering with negotiations with unions and I think that my professors deserve a better deal than they’re currently getting.”

Despite her frustration with the frequency of strikes at the U of M, Kaldor-Mair hopes labour relations will improve as a result.

“I think the fact that there’s been two strikes in my undergrad degree is a really good indication of the state of conflict between the admin and the professors and, let me make it very

clear, I do think the admin is in the wrong in this conflict,” she said.

“But I’d like to see things improve and I hope that things do improve from this. I hope that this is a wake-up call.”

However, the march was not without controversy.

The promotional material for the march was widely criticized for parallels between it and imagery associated with the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and twospirit people. The event was initially called a “Heather Stefanson search

“I think the fact that there’s been two strikes in my undergrad degree is a really good indication of the state of conflict between the admin and the professors”

party” and the poster featured a red background with black block text, a picture of a bass drum and a small picture of Stefanson with the word “missing” overtop.

UMFA changed the poster in response to the criticism. The revised poster changed the background colour, inverted Stefanson’s picture and replaced the word “missing” with “hello???” The wording on the poster, including calling the event a search party, remained unchanged.

On the day of the march, UMFA issued a further-revised poster which instead featured an image evocative of Carmen Sandiego and the phrase “Where in the world is Premier Heather Stefanson.”

Union president Orvie Dingwall issued an apology to CBC that evening regarding the promotion of the event.

The apology acknowledged the community response and promised changes to its internal processes.

— Brianna Kaldor-Mair U of M student

NEWS Unvaccinated students to be excluded from in-person classes Students that remain unvaccinated will be unable to register for in-person classes for winter semester.

At the Nov. UMSU board of directors meeting, UMSU vice-chair of the judicial committee Jaron Rykiss raised the question, prompting UMSU president Brendan Scott to state that “as of right now, [winter semester is one] hundred per cent planned to be in person,” but clarified that he expects all classes that are currently online will remain so and speculated that there will be more online offerings than in recent years.

ACC students welcomed to provincial advocacy group At the meeting, UMSU president Brendan Scott announced the Manitoba Alliance of Post-Secondary Students (MAPSS) has accepted Assiniboine Community College Students’ Association as a member.

MAPSS came into being in as a coalition between UMSU, the University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association and the Red River College Students’ Association.

On its website, it claims to represent over , students in Manitoba.

In April, the organization lobbied Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration Wayne Ewasko to amend the controversial Bill to

exclude the fees set by student unions and associations from regulation by the minister.

The bill received royal assent on May .

Changes to board structure delayed Changes to be made to the structure of the UMSU board of directors, which have been in the works since at least March , have been delayed by approximately two weeks.

One of the major changes, which abolished the slate system for UMSU elections, was finalized earlier this year.

What remains to happen is the planned reform to the structure of the board of directors itself, which would see

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

the removal of voting rights from all current board members — including community representatives and executives — replacing it with a smaller board to be elected independently.

Currently the board of directors consists of voting members, although there are vacant positions. According to UMSU president Brendan Scott, the new board will feature members.

Motions regarding the change are expected to be introduced on Dec. and voted on in January.

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY E

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Forget has been studying basic income as a health economist in the Rady faculty of health sciences for more than two decades.

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Radical Trust launched at McNally Robinson on Nov. . The authors argue existing social programs fall short in providing an adequate baseline for all people.

Forget points to the Canada child benefit, aimed at children, and the guaranteed income supplement and old age security, aimed toward older adults.

“The great gap in system is for to -year-olds, working-age adults,” Forget said.

Radical Trust addresses the preconceived notion that if you are a working-age adult and living in poverty, it must be your own fault.

Forget drew from her previous research in basic income and Owczar’s experience in journalism to produce a compelling case for basic income as a tool to address poverty in Canada.

In the course of writing the book, the authors found the contributing factors of poverty are deeply interconnected.

“In our minds, we had this book set out into tidy little chapters,” Forget said. “‘We’re going to write this chapter about kids who are aging out of the foster care system.’ Well, you start writing about that and the next thing you’re into substance use and you’re into homelessness […] you’re into violent relationships.

“You’re into all kinds of things because none of them are separate.”

Forget has been researching basic income since the Mincome project in the s, when she was an undergraduate student. The Mincome experiments took place in Winnipeg and Dauphin. As Forget explains, in Winnipeg the project was run as a randomized control trial with separate control and treatment groups. The minimum income was also offset by traditionally earned income. While no official report was published on the study, economists at the U of M published their own analyses.

The experiment sought to determine if a guaranteed income would result in more or less paid work.

“There were two groups who did work less,” Forget said. “New mothers and […] young, unattached males.”

An article Forget published in suggests that new mothers used the guaranteed income to “buy” themselves a longer maternity leave.

Interviews with young, unattached

“What they needed was money to be able to spend in their own way to address their own needs — and that’s something that social assistance programs have largely failed to do” — Hannah Owczar writer and communications specialist in the department of community health sciences

males suggest that they pursued education, rather than employment, when offered a guaranteed income.

Forget also found that high school graduation rates surpassed per cent, as previous dropouts returned to complete their diploma.

for a basic income book project she was working on at the time.

“We put people with lived experience of poverty at the forefront of each chapter,” Owczar said.

One of the starkest findings was that hospitalizations fell . per cent in the Dauphin treatment group.

“We felt that they were the experts in the realm and they could really tell us how the system was or was not working for them.”

“You don’t have to spend a lot of time walking around that hospital to realize that a lot of our health care is going to support the consequences of poverty,” Forget said.

Some people interviewed for the book had successfully transitioned out of poverty and wanted to provide their insight into how social systems have worked for them.

“When you’re a health economist, you’re always focused on costs […] and you realize you’re spending so much money to deal with people when they’re in the state of crisis. It’s hard not to think about whether you could be investing a little bit of money upstream and preventing some of these issues from occurring in the first place.”

“What they needed was money to be able to spend in their own way to address their own needs — and that’s something that our social assistance programs have largely failed to do,” Owczar said.

Forget and Owczar became connected through Basic Income Manitoba.

Owczar worked at Basic Income Manitoba as a communications specialist and Forget was on the board of directors. Forget hired Owczar to conduct interviews and help tell the stories of people affected by poverty

The title of the book refers to the radical trust one must place in people to allow them to decide for themselves how to best live their lives.

“I hope that in reading these stories, people can have a better sense of empathy for folks,” Owczar said.

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RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

I H (CIHR) COVID. Alan Katz, director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and professor of community health sciences and family medicine, is one of the principal investigators for the project.

Katz and his co-investigators will use a health system database to gain a better understanding of long COVID, with the aim of improving the definition of the condition, determining its predictors and how many are affected by it.

Long COVID, also known as post COVID- condition, occurs in some patients following infection with COVID- . It is currently unclear why it occurs in some patients but not others. The condition is distinct from the viral infection and symptoms can occur months after the initial onset of illness, including after recovering.

These symptoms last for at least two months and may differ from those experienced during the initial infection.

There have been over reported symptoms, the most common of which include fatigue, memory problems and shortness of breath.

One of the goals of the study is to examine symptoms at the population level, determining the frequency of symptoms that have previously been identified and defining new ones.

To achieve their goals, the researchers will use population-level data derived from the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository. This database contains administrative information and medical history data for every person that has come in contact with the Manitoba health-care system. The data is anonymous, with all personal information removed to protect patient privacy.

Examples of the types of data found in the database include notes from primary care physicians (with the names of the provider and patient removed), hospital admissions and pre-existing conditions. The database presents a unique opportunity for Manitoban researchers to investigate

the condition at the population level.

Researchers will analyze the medical data of individuals who received positive COVID- diagnoses, looking at three broad groups of patients: those with minor symptoms, those who were hospitalized and those who required intensive care. Researchers will take note of whether they visited their physicians more frequently after infection, reported surprising symptoms or were admitted to hospital.

Along with following patients after their infection, Katz and his collaborators will have access to patient medical history prior to the onset of symptoms. This will allow them to

identify likely risk factors and potentially associate long COVID symptoms with pre-existing conditions such as cardiovascular disease and asthma.

“These are subtleties about understanding people’s health prior to COVID, the actual true COVID infection experience and how those two interact to influence their long COVID experience,” said Katz.

The results of this study will help clinicians to diagnose and treat long COVID and will guide the allocation of health-care resources. One of the concerns of the research team is to ensure equal access to rehabilitation that can help patients manage their symptoms. The lack of available

“[It’s] fascinating to be able to answer those questions and be able to give some guidance” — Alan Katz professor and director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy

rehabilitation services, which is usually only covered with private insurance, can create a gap for those who already suffered the most from COVID- , namely First Nations communities and those who work frontline jobs, such as retail workers.

The research project has already garnered public interest. Katz stated that the volume of calls and emails he has received indicates the high level of curiosity in this topic, as well as the uncertainty.

“This is very much something that the public is concerned about and is interested in learning about,” said Katz.

Understanding of this condition is rapidly evolving. There is currently no single way to diagnose or treat long COVID. Katz hopes this research will shed some light on the condition. “[It’s] fascinating to be able to answer those questions and be able to give some guidance, both to patients and to health-care providers,” said Katz.

EDITORIAL P , . After two world wars, thrift and reuse in the North American economy had become a regular practice. The wars encouraged recycling efforts as a means to save in-demand materials for the military. For example, the bottling industry was remarkably efficient at recycling containers at low cost. The bottles were hand stamped by the company producing them to mark ownership and the business would use a deposit-refund system to ensure consumers returned the bottles after consumption. They

of total demand in plastic production, dwarfing the construction and automotive sectors.

With the rise of single-use plastics, the problem about where to put them post-consumption followed.

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cancer rates in Indigenous communities. According to Canadian regulations, arsenic levels in the Athabasca River are reportedly normal, but the line between normal and dangerous is difficult to tell. Health Canada notes that . milligrams of arsenic per litre of drinking water is safe — however, a level of . milligrams is apparently dangerous.

Worse yet, a lot of Canada’s waste is

waste and hazardous electronic waste and were forced to rot on the ports for years after the company that shipped the contents falsely labelled them as recyclables.

Whether we degrade Indigenous lands on our own continent or ship waste out of the sight of settlers’ view, both methods are colonialism in action. The ever-expanding production of plastics means that more and more land will need to be exploited for the products of our very con-

sumption, simply as a means to discard them. In many ways, colonialism is like a snake eating its own tail.

were consistently cleaned, refilled, capped and returned to the market after use.

Although the industry was efficient and sustainable, it was also difficult to grow — for many politicians and economists at the time, that was a problem. As a result, plastic production was a useful solution for the packaging industry’s stagnation.

Editor of U.S. magazine Modern Packaging Lloyd Stouffer famously said in while addressing the Society of the Plastics Industry conference in New York, “The future of plastics is in the trash can […] It [is] time for the plastics industry to stop thinking about ‘reuse’ packages and concentrate on single use. For the package that is used once and thrown away, like a tin can or a paper carton, represents not a one-shot market for a few thousand units, but an everyday recurring market measured by the billions of units.”

Stouffer saw plastic use as a never-ending source for profit in the packaging industry and his speech in New York has been etched in gold since single-use plastics ascended to the dirty throne. Now, Canada’s packaging sector accounts for per cent

about per cent of Canada’s annual plastic waste is diverted from landfills and even less is recycled. So, where does the other per cent go? A good portion of it is dumped into the environment where it concentrates into microplastics that adversely affect the health of the land.

In Canada, environmental laws are regulated by a permission-to-pollute system that sets abstract thresholds for the land’s assimilative capacity — a term used to indicate how much industries can pollute before it causes damage to the land, water or air.

These views of the land reduce it to a resource meant to be exploited by the ambitions of industry, not the continuity of ecological health.

These same thresholds are the ones destroying the health of communities lining the Athabasca River downstream from the oilsands in Alberta. Tailings ponds holding toxic carcinogenic minerals like arsenic are leaking into the river, elevating

As geographer Max Liboiron claims in their new book Pollution is Colonialism, “Whether motivated by profit and growth or environmental conservation, both approaches to waste and wasting are premised on an assumed entitlement to Indigenous Land.”

shipped away to economically subjugated nations with less environmental regulations. Canada and corporations operating within its borders often pay these nations or other waste disposal companies to manage the issue for them. This waste is often burnt or dumped with little regard for local populations.

In , the world watched after the Philippines threatened to send containers of household waste back to Canada. Officials claimed that over containers were sent to the Philippines between and .

Many containers were disposed, but the containers shipped back were filled with dirty diapers, household

Canada’s waste policies are textbook examples of colonialism. The reason our cities aren’t overflowing with plastics and waste is primarily because they are shipped away from our sight. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t exist — it just means land elsewhere is being expropriated to make room for settlers’ ambitions.

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. A Canadian delegation led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emphasized issues like climate change, pandemic recovery and the supply chain, but the elephant in the room was U.S. President Joe Biden’s protectionist policies which may have great impacts on the Canadian auto-manufacturing industry. Such aspects of Biden’s Build Back Better Framework are putting the historic friendship fostered by each leader in doubt.

Trudeau, alongside four of his federal cabinet ministers, headed to Washington, D.C. for meetings with fellow North American leaders. All three heads of government — Trudeau, Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — share similar centrist political ideologies and were able to find common ground in certain areas. The so-called three amigos announced agreements that will ease the current supply chain crunch, enhance regional vaccine distribution and reduce methane emissions, but tensions due to Biden’s plan to rebuild American manufacturing remain vehement.

The Biden administration’s Build Back Better bill aims to create jobs and counter the climate crisis by using money raised through taxes imposed on large national corporations, the wealthy, stocks and international companies. The bill — which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and awaits approval from the U.S. Senate — makes up to US , in tax credits available for consumers buying electric vehicles (EVs) that include American-made batteries manufactured in unionized factories which will adversely affect the Canadian and Mexican auto industries.

Due to Canada’s historic dependency on exports from the U.S. market, protectionist policies tend to have a great economic impact on Canadians.

Currently, per cent of vehicles are exported from the U.S. and although companies such as Ford are assembling cars in Ontario, the Canadian government fears the tax credits undermine their efforts to produce EVs. Canadian Minister Mary Ng — one of the four ministers included in the Canadian delegation attending the summit — expressed her concerns about the tax credits in a letter to U.S. legislators stating they “would have a major adverse impact on the future of EV and automotive production in Canada.” According to Ng, imposing such a tax credit would lead to the

loss of tens of thousands of jobs in a significant Canadian manufacturing sector. Ng also suggested that, due to the highly integrated automotive industry in both nations, the U.S. would also be susceptible to economic repercussions. But the possibility of an economic fallout is not the only lobbying strategy the Canadian delegation used to plead its case.

According to the Canadian government, the tax credit would violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the government has indicated it will respond accordingly if it is imposed. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland warned the tax credits could become a dominant issue in bilateral relations with the U.S. Meanwhile, Trudeau noted the

U.S. government was aware of the Canadian concerns and repercussions while also indicating they are going to push through various ways to find a solution for this problem. For its part, the White House remained firm in its stance that the tax credit does not violate USMCA provisions. When asked about the matter at a press conference, Biden stated he would wait until the legislation is approved by the U.S. Senate to consider changes for Canada.

Though the Canadian delegation allegedly applied a “Team Canada” approach that stressed Canadian interests, it fell short of successfully lobbying an amendment to the Build Back Better bill. Although Canadian government officials expected the election of a new president to ease

the Trump-era tensions, Biden’s protectionist policies will take a toll on Canadians if a solution is not reached.

Canada is often described as the U.S.’s closest friend and ally, but Canada is suffering the repercussions of economic dependence on the U.S. In a continuously growing and interconnected world where geographic location is no longer a major factor in ensuring reciprocal trade, Canada should expand its horizons if its alleged ally is unable to offer a more beneficial partnership.

COMMENT , B

. The wildfire season in B.C. is considered the third worst on record, with , fires burning , square kilometres of land. The only wildfire seasons worse came just years earlier in and . B.C. residents could turn the corner of a valley on any given day to see the side of a mountain cascading with fire. Many highways were closed to non-essential travel due to proximity danger.

Now, many of those same highways are gone due to the latest shift in extremes. On Nov. and , B.C. was hit with a massive deluge, drowning large portions of southern regions in the province. Communities were submerged by a dangerous mix of water and soil overnight. Lands were reclaimed by natural surroundings.

Towns quickly started breaking rainfall records. Hope, B.C. reportedly quintupled its last record.

This rapid flux between drought and hellish fire to rapid flooding is what . degrees of global warming looks like.

Imagine what global thresholds will look like — if they are reached, that is.

The floods in B.C. are positioned to be the most expensive climate disaster in Canadian history. The cost of rebuilding highways, railways, towns and supply chains is estimated to reach several billions. B.C. Premier John Horgan declared a state of emergency and military assistance has been sent to help residents and start the clean-up process.

In a similar fashion to the wildfires this summer, the military will be tasked with cleaning up the worst effects of the climate disaster. But this spectacle doesn’t sit right. Time and time again Canadians are made to rely on the military like it is Mr. Clean. But the fact is, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sends in the military to assist in climate crises, he is also hypocritically employing the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Canada. It looks like Mr. Clean has mud on his boots.

By using the military for Canada’s climate crises, Trudeau is implying Canadians are on their own until after the damage is done. The prime minister clearly prefers to adapt to global warming rather than mitigate it. The military is part of the problem, not the solution.

According to a report completed by the Canadian government, the Department of National Defence (DND) contributes to over half of the government’s total emissions. It’s not only the gas-guzzling war machines that emit toxins into our air, either — the cyclical production of new military gear also consumes massive

amounts of energy. The production cycle in the military is in constant flux with new models of weapons being bought and manufactured on a regular basis. The DND has an annual budget of . billion and they make sure to spend it.

Beyond just emitting greenhouse gases, the Canadian military has been linked to leaking toxins and leaving bullet pollution from shooting ranges, letting dangerous levels of lead leach into the surrounding environment and water systems. The government has also historically disposed of dangerous biohazardous material in environmental sites.

In a signatory letter addressed to Trudeau earlier this year, the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute requested Canada stop purchasing staff

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expensive, useless and environmentally damaging fighter jets. In the letter, the Institute noted the cost of buying a new F- stealth fighter jet — produced by the notorious weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin — would set taxpayers back billion.

However, the life cycle of a jet could cost closer to billion — money that should be used to reduce emissions and transition to a clean economy.

Despite the Canadian military’s horrific record during the largest climate crisis in human history, Canadians have been wholly uncritical of its influence. Discourse regularly surrounds multinational corporations, and rightfully so. However, the military machine that consistently pumps damaging chemicals and fumes into our air and water — while simultaneously eating into the tax revenue the government could use to mitigate climate change — cannot be overlooked.

Perhaps it is because the military has consistently played the supposed heroic role in climate crises that it is uncritically left out of the general discussion about who is responsible for the destruction of the planet. News coverage on natural disasters consistently exploits images of military personnel holding victims in blankets or scaling a helicopter to reach people stranded on their rooftops. The truth is that these people are being saved by the very institution creating the conditions for their rescue. If the Canadian government stopped buying new military toys and focused on decarbonization, B.C. likely wouldn’t be in this environmentally volatile situation. Canada needs to do more than adapt to undesirable circumstances. To decarbonize, Canada must first demilitarize.

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. Originally drawing comparison to noisy art rock legends like Pavement and Sonic Youth, their new album Knows No Kindness brings influence from ’ s folk rock and alt-country, with widescreen expansiveness and a renewed focus on songwriting and storytelling.

The opener, “Tommy,” begins with a full minute of piano and vocals alone, a shockingly direct statement from a band that once stood behind walls of distortion and noise. This isn’t to say they’ve abandoned their post-punk and indie rock roots — “Tommy” eventually builds to a cathartic climax complete with duelling guitars and a belted chorus — but they’ve certainly expanded their range, and you can feel their confidence in these songs.

Band members Melanie St-Pierre and Neil Bednis were essentially co-frontpeople on Mercy Works, but here St-Pierre takes the lead. Her soaring vocals serve as a valuable counterpoint to the grungy instrumentals, as on “Witness,” a sludgy, queasy pounder of a song, lifted out of the murk by her clear, ethereal tone.

The band’s lyrics are occasionally ear-catching and quite interesting on the surface level, but don’t translate well to close readings. “Thesis,” for example, seems heavy in some way, but it’s unable to make sense of its empty folk signifiers of open roads and Jesus on the cross. Not to say there isn’t genuine emotion here, but an album that takes itself so seriously, presented with a sepia photo of an environmental protest for a cover, feels like it should have more universal resonance.

There’s also the issue of momentum, which dissipates quite quickly as the middle stretch droops into low tempos, glum melodies and thick atmospherics. They’ve absorbed the

emotional heaviness of ’ s folk rock and the hazy sonics of ’ s indie, but none of the respective genres’ humour or adventurous spirit.

Still, Casper Skulls are skilled melodicists and players. Even as the album descends into gloom, the toplines sparkle and each song has its own instrumental quirks, like the doomy synth bass on “Monument” or the spacious, deceptively bare closer, “Stay the Same,” which is elevated by

sparkly, gliding guitar lines. Knows No Kindness finds Casper Skulls stuck between the gauzy indie rock of their past work and the straightforward singer-songwriter style they’re reaching toward, but it’s still a rewarding listen, full of promise.

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On a July morning that fateful year, the residents of Cathedraltown — a residential neighbourhood of Markham — awoke to find a giant chrome cow on -foot tall stilts in the parkette that acts as a front lawn to some houses on Charity Crescent.

The public art piece, titled Charity, Perpetuation of Perfection, was donated by Helen Roman-Barber as a tribute to a decorated Holstein cow named Charity who was part-owned by her father — previous owner of the land Cathedraltown was developed on.

The stilts were integrated into the statue so that Charity could face the cathedral built by Roman-Barber’s father, Stephen Roman of Romandale Farms.

Most importantly, the neighbourhood had never been contacted about the placement or creation of the art piece.

Cue the irony of Charity as an act of charity.

The interactive digital documentary Charity, created by Canadian artists Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko and funded by the National Film Board of Canada, analyzes the true story of the statue erected in the Markham residential neighbourhood.

Running approximately minutes in length depending on how much time is spent on the interactive features, the documentary walks viewers through the development of the statue, its placement and the neighbourhood’s fight against city council to remove it.

Charity is a unique experience that pushes the boundaries of how documentaries can be made and how artefacts can be presented to the audience.

This is particularly noticeable through the combination of audio of the neighbourhood council hearing to remove the statue with video of a real estate agent struggling to find clients to purchase a house on Charity Crescent.

The awkward moments of this experimental documentary are in its technological format — the documentary is much more interactive when played on a smartphone, but the

horizontal orientation of a computer consistently shows the artifacts in their entirety.

that turned a steel maple leaf from the wreath around the statue’s neck into the equivalent of a ninja star.

And though understandably important in order to show how many residents would regularly see the absurd statue, the amount of windows in the homes facing the statue is a repetitive theme throughout the documentary.

Where Charity most succeeds is in asking questions: who gets to make public art, who gets to donate public art and who gets a say in the development and implementation of public art?

Regardless of the limited interactive aspects when viewed on a computer, Charity is definitively an accomplished digital documentary experiment.

The ludicrous situation of awaking to the sight of a giant cow statue is continuously and humorously expressed throughout the documentary, complete with archival footage from CTV highlighting a windstorm

As humorous as it is educational, Charity is a worthwhile gander into the sometimes-absurd world of donated public art.

Charity is currently live at n .ca/ interactive.

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. Among the three EPs released in the past year, its most cohesive is wild flower.

Meadows’ online presence is meagre and mysterious and its visual aesthetic loose and dreamy, with each release represented by rough handdrawn sketches or blurry old photos carrying a running colour scheme of sky blues and blank white. The music feels wistfully nostalgic and ethereally pretty but rough around the edges. The recordings are purposefully amateurish: microphone buzzes, out-of-tune vocals, digital distortion and all — but these imperfections put forward a striking vulnerability and sincerity.

Take the opener, “crows,” a song that

plunges listeners right into wide-open bliss, with gentle acoustic guitars and synthesized strings swimming in an ocean of white noise and reverb.

Schellenberg’s vocals, like those of the best lo-fi vocalists, have a perfect mix of catatonic chillness and open emotion, muttering simple truths and reflective images in an elongated drawl. The mix is hazy and dreamy, but careful to never bury Schellenberg’s voice or the group’s instrumental melodies.

The next song, “turn,” is a quick, seriously catchy pop song, more immediate but still oddly cryptic and unsettling, its unsteady beat and cyclical chorus hobbling along like a malfunctioning merry-go-round. This uneasiness settles on “evelyn,” a truly gorgeous song surrounded by swirling synths and plaintive piano.

The momentum slows on “glow,” an incandescent ballad centred on a humming chord organ and a painfully exposed, aching vocal. The track falls into a mess of sampled conversation and noise, like being overwhelmed by churning sounds while having a

public breakdown. This leads into the haunting instrumental “flowers in the kitchen sink,” with its enveloping mix of watery synths and unconventional field recordings. “Rosethorn” and “honey tea,” a pair of comforting indie pop tracks, are stark and bare arrangements, finishing the album on a grounded note.

Wild flower is nakedly emotional, ethereal and frequently achingly

beautiful music.

The album’s homespun aesthetic might take some getting used to, but for any fan of lo-fi music, this is release is not to be missed.

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T B M D . Featured artists include Alexis L.-Grisé, Katrina Marie Mendoza, Hanna Reimer, Tobin Rowland and Chukwudubem Ukaigwe.

Arranged in a fairly straightforward

manner around the perimeter of the gallery, the works in Traces begin to the left of the entrance, leading viewers clockwise around the space.

There is a natural order and flow to the works and their relatively small scale invites patrons to come closer and inspect them, rather than forcing themselves into view.

The exhibition speaks to what is left behind — memories, objects and other remnants of life — through “the translation, appropriation and rebirth of images through re-photography, collage and sculpture” in the unique perspective of each artist.

Overall, Traces deftly navigates this complex and subjective concept, resulting in a thought-provoking exhibition that mediates the past, present and future into one distilled moment. Every piece contributes to the exhibition’s existence as a contemporary instance of visual poetry, each quiet and reflective in its own

way, yet speaking in their own time, tones and rhythms.

Ukaigwe’s mixed media creations are the first pieces encountered, one of which sits on the floor, resting against the wall next to a small pile of bricks.

In these works, Ukaigwe creates apocalyptic scenes with paint and photo transfers framed by industrial materials such as pipes, rails and

wood. One can barely pick out where Ukaigwe’s photos end and the paintings begin, and his use of industrial materials firmly grounds his images in our world, allowing us to see a reality that is potentially both future and present.

A highlight of Ukaigwe’s four works is Labyrinth , in which flames burn across a city landscape surrounded by pipes, rail, wire and other materials, which cast shadows that turn the wall behind into part of the work itself, rather than simply the plane it hangs on.

Reimer’s works stand apart from the rest of the exhibition through her unique choice of one sole medium — fabric.

Covered in colourful, abstract striations that defy easy comprehension, Reimer’s polysilk works hang from the walls, folding in on themselves and creating depth and shadow that

emphasizes their transformative existence as both two- and three-dimensional objects.

surfaces and overt mark-making which indicate the presence of the artist’s hand in their creation.

Like Ukaigwe’s works, one of these pieces, entitled Screenshot - at . . PM is partially laid on the ground, turning it into something more fluid than concrete. This ambiguous physicality is paralleled in its abstracted imagery and, between undulating lines of colour, one can almost — but not quite — make out lines and shapes of an image obstructed from view.

With their brightly contrasting tones, Rowland’s works pull viewers in from a distance but hold them with their details. In particular, there is a sense of tactility in Tulips that is difficult to resist, built up in the layers that make up its image — a grassy field with brightly coloured flowers surrounding a saturated orange photo transfer of Dolly Parton wielding a shotgun.

Mendoza’s work was installed in a small room at the back of the gallery, isolating it from the rest of the exhibition. Upon entering this dimly lit space, four installations come into view.

In contrast to Rowland’s textured works, Grisé’s cyanotypes offer a bold yet soft place for the eye to rest. These works have an air of sentimentality to them, particularly Film still, but even stronger is the contradictory sense of fleeting permanence.

Playing upon a wide variety of line and movement, Mendoza’s installations feel like abstract drawings come to life, springing off a two-dimensional plane and into a three-dimensional existence — thin pieces of wood tower overhead while delicate compositions of cloth, candles and wire sit on the ground.

In shelf life, Mendoza uses unconventional materials to create three-dimensional marks in the world, emphasizing that gravity and space are the surfaces on which she draws.

Rowland’s works were some of the most intimate pieces in Traces — likely due to the heavily textured

A play on the duality of absence and presence emanates from Grisé’s pieces, which feel as though they mirror the process of vision itself — light creates an imprint of Grisé’s objects on paper similar to how it impacts the retina, projecting and transforming the traces of photons through the circuitry of our nervous system.

Traces will run at PLATFORM Centre from Nov. to Dec. .

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off the field which really helped us produce. Obviously, we did not get the final result that we wanted, but I am extremely proud of this team.”

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The herd lost - to the Huskies in a hard-fought game, making for a disappointing ending to a otherwise successful season for the Bisons.

The team earned the right to play in the final after taking down the University of Alberta Golden Bears by a whopping - the week before.

Despite the massive effort exerted by the team on the field, the final score was not the one that second-year player Collin Kornelson and the rest of his team wanted.

“Overall, I think we really progressed as a team this year,” Kornelson said.

“We had great chemistry on and

Although Kornelson and the Bisons failed to bring the Hardy Cup back to Winnipeg, they do have many reasons to be proud.

They finished off the season with a - home record. Not only is this a great record, it left the home crowd extremely happy throughout the year.

The squad also kept improving throughout the year. Their secondplace finish this year is better than their finish, where the team lost in the semi-finals to the University of Calgary Dinos.

With the season cancelled due to COVID- , it was important for the team to have a good year, and it all started with personal growth for the

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“Everyone can compete and it’s really just for fun.”

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While the event is being held by U of M students, anyone can attend motionball events if they’d like to show support. Naylor maintains that the event is for everyone, explaining that students, faculty and anyone else hoping to take part in the event may participate.

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Founded in , motionball is a non-profit organization that holds events across Canada to raise money and awareness for Special Olympics. After holding events in major cities across the country, the organization began holding events on university campuses. The U of M joined Motionball in and raised , in its second year. In , UManitoba motionball raised over , , holding events virtually throughout the year.

Now that UManitoba motionball is back to holding in-person events, it hopes to improve on last year’s total.

Marissa Naylor, co-event director, said everyone is welcome to attend motionball events. Motionball is an inclusive event, making for what Naylor describes as an incredibly fun time.

“We really base our events off of Mini U programs,” said Naylor.

“Not like your typical basketball games and volleyball, but it’s a mix activities for everyone at all age levels, as well as activities for anyone and everyone, doesn’t matter your age, skill, anything.”

“We encourage everyone from the University of Manitoba campus to get involved, as well as those outside the U of M,” said Naylor.

“Teams can be built with your fellow students on the U of M or they can be from any other university, we encourage anyone and everyone.”

Prior to the main event on Jan. , UManitoba motionball will be holding a couple of fundraising events, including its latest on Nov. at Roxy Lanes.

Guests can head to Henderson Highway for bowling and raffles in support of motionball.

Naylor says the money raised will be sent directly to Special Olympics Canada’s home office in Ontario, where it will then be distributed accordingly.

UManitoba motionball has also received support from the Winnipeg Ice and is looking to partner with various student groups at the university.

players.

“In my second year, I didn’t really want to work on anything in particular,” Kornelson said.

“My personal goal this year was to become an overall better player. With football being cancelled last year, it was important to come into this year strong and ready to go.”

It was a tragic year for the Bisons off the field, after the passing of coach Scott Naujoks in September. Kornelson said that the spirit of Naujoks was with the herd when they took to the field Saturday.

“It was definitely a year of ups and downs for the team,” Kornelson said.

“The passing of coach was one that was tough to swallow for the team. He was with us in our final game and we know he would have been proud.”

photo / Matthew Merkel / staff

The team will be back in the gym and back on the field as soon as they get a chance. A winner’s work ethic creates a winner in the end. Kornelson says he and the rest of his teammates are already preparing for next season.

“The goal is to just get back to the field and the gym and get ready for next season,” Kornelson said.

“We have the pieces to the puzzle, but we have to put it together at the right moment. I am very excited to be a Bison.”

Although the year is over for the Bisons, the work does not stop.

“We are really just reaching out to encourage all those clubs to support and come join,” Naylor said.

“We have approached the [Commerce Students’ Association] but we would love to connect with science, engineering, education, phys-ed, ET, [faculty of kinesiology and recreation management] […] but we welcome any faculty or any student groups.

So, anyone that would love to come out, we would encourage and love to connect recreation with a bunch of other faculties that may not look at recreation that often.”

Naylor just wrapped up her fourth year competing for the Bisons golf team.

As a member of the U of M community as an athlete and a student, Naylor sees motionball as not only a great cause, but an opportunity to cultivate community and build new relationships on campus. She said that it is important students come out to show support so an inclusive environment is fostered for all members of the U of M community.

“I think the biggest importance [of motionball] is getting into a new community and really showing awareness for a very big initiative that is, in my opinion, really important,” said Naylor.

“Special Olympics and those with disabilities still don’t have enough attention about how important it is to be inclusive and so that is exactly what motionball is and that’s exactly why people should get involved.”

“Start paying attention and just really include. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from or what your disability is if you have a disability, just come and support because it goes a long way.”

Check out motionball.com to sign up for fundraisers, register for motionball, donate or for more information.