9 February 2022

THE M A N I T O B A N since 1914 photo / Basel Abdelaziz / staff

Partial in-person return to campus after reading week

Like a sore thumb

Staying safe in stressful times February harm reduction workshops planned

Fingerprint research dispels ancient gender roles p. 6

p. 7

Serenade to the silver screen Recommendations for your next viewing party

Vol. 108

Alpha dogs Huskies basketball dominant over herd p. 14-15

p. 19

THE OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA STUDENTS’ NEWSPAPER

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Feb. 9, 2022

UMSU withholds $1m in federation membership dispute NEWS

Colton McKillop, staff UMSU is withholding more than $1 million in outstanding fees to the Canadian Federation of Students—Manitoba over a dispute regarding the union’s membership in the federation.

Although the board voted against maintaining membership in the federation in 2020, the federation requires a referendum of students to leave and requests by UMSU to allow online voting during the pandemic have been denied.

UMSU president Brendan Scott said the federation will not “even allow [us to leave] under these current […] conditions.”

“We’ve twice now come to [the national federation] with a motion to allow for online voting so we would be able to [hold] the referendum and carry out what our board had voted to do, which was not remain a member of [the federation],” he said.

“It was shot down immediately by the national [executive], it was not considered, even […] Obviously students aren’t on campus, [so] for the past two years we haven’t been able to leave.”

He said UMSU informed the federation in August they would not be paying fees until the union is “able to carry out the process of [defederation].”

Manitoba federation branch chairperson Alexandra Koslock said students may leave the federation if they wish, but they must hold a referendum and the decision is not up to “the executive at large.”

“For the last two years prior to the pandemic, UMSU indicated that they might be hosting a referendum, but they never actually consulted the membership on the ground or brought this decision to students at large,” she

said.

“This has been explained in great detail to the UMSU executive team over the years.”

According to Koslock, the federation has voted nationally to “honour our existing referendum processes” and online voting is “not something we’re looking into at this time.”

Scott said the UMSU board will follow its own bylaws, which do not require a referendum to leave external organizations.

“According to our board, we are no longer members of [the federation], so [paying] fees is unnecessary,” he argued.

“We haven’t been able to leave […] due to their bylaws not allowing us to leave, with no online voting [...]

But according to our bylaws, we don’t [need a referendum], so in our eyes, we are removed, we are not members.

We voted and that’s where the [issue] gets hazy, [because] why would their bylaws supersede ours?”

Koslock said “the notion that it’s impossible to leave the federation is not true.”

“It’s not up to Brendan Scott or the executive at large to make these decisions on behalf of thousands of students on the ground, that’s why it’s important to consult the membership to allow them to decide,” she explained.

“This is really the basis of union structure, so I feel that Brendan Scott should be honouring the union’s structure that they also work within.”

Long-standing tensions between UMSU and the federation have spurred several attempts to defederate

“We’ve twice now come to CFS-National with a motion to allow for online voting so we would be able to [hold] the referendum and carry out what our board had voted to do, which was not remain a member of [the federation]” — Brendan Scott, UMSU president

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

Board voted against remaining part of the federation in 2020

since 2013.

The UMSU board has disapproved of the federation’s advocacy on issues the union deems less relevant to students, including pipelines and minimum wage. In 2018 and 2019, UMSU criticized the federation for endorsing boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel, calling the move “divisive” and “ill considered.”

UMSU voted against maintaining membership in the federation in November 2020, marking the beginning of its second attempt to defederate since 2018.

The unsuccessful attempt in 2018 occurred despite then-UMSU president Jakob Sanderson’s promise as president-elect that UMSU would not attempt to leave the federation.

A non-binding plebiscite held that year, the most recent vote of UMSU membership on the issue, showed that 64 per cent of UMSU members opposed defederation.

Scott said these results are “irrelevant” because they are four years old and pointed to cases like the recent University of Manitoba Faculty

Association (UMFA) strike, arguing that despite many students opposing the strike, UMSU’s board of directors passed a motion to support UMFA. “I am bound to carry out the duties the board gives me and so I did just that to the displeasure of many students,” he said.

Koslock said the federation has “continued to advocate for, support and work with” its members at University of Manitoba despite UMSU withholding fees.

UMSU has been sued by the federation for withholding fees before, being forced to pay almost $1 million in 2016.

Additionally, the union settled with the Canadian Alliance of Students (CASA) for an undisclosed sum in 2007 over unpaid fees after UMSU left the alliance in 2005. In recent years, UMSU has made attempts to rejoin CASA.

news@themanitoban.com

“For the last two years prior to the pandemic, UMSU indicated that they might be hosting a referendum, but they never actually consulted the membership on the ground or brought that decision to students at large”

— Alexandra Koslock, Canadian Federation of Students—Manitoba chairperson 3

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U of M moving ahead with partial in-person return NEWS

Dimitar Tomovski, staff In a Feb. 2 email to students and employees at the U of M, university president and vicechancellor Michael Benarroch and provost and vice-president (academic) Diane HiebertMurphy announced that partial in-person teaching and learning will resume for some courses.

Rather than mandating the terms of any return, the U of M administration is leaving specifics in the hands of faculties themselves.

“What we’ve done is ask faculties and schools to determine which of their courses need to come back in-person in order for them to achieve the learning objective of those courses,” said Hiebert-Murphy .

“They’ve been provided with some criteria, which is obviously going to prioritize the return based on pedagogical considerations.”

These considerations include which delivery method meets learning objectives best.

“I think that we will expect to see some of the courses that do have some hands-on or really applied learning components,” said Hiebert-Murphy.

These courses include many lab-based courses as well as those that would regularly have applied components

during non-COVID conditions, such as engineering and music courses.

The University of Winnipeg (U of W), meanwhile, has decided to continue the rest of its winter term online.

University of Winnipeg Students’ Association president Kirt Hayer stated the U of W’s decision falls in line with what a survey showed the majority of staff and students prefer.

“The university did conduct a survey of faculty and students and [approximately] 80 per cent of students who took the survey [...] decided that they wanted remote learning to continue until the end of the term.”

Hayer noted there were classes being held at the U of W during the fall term, saying “there weren’t too many concerns at that time.”

“The situation of course evolved after that. Generally, at that point in time, students were happy to be in-person, but once the Omicron variant started spreading, a lot of people changed their minds and would have preferred the second term to be online rather than in-person.”

UMSU president Brendan Scott said a survey of UMSU members showed similar results to those from the U of

W’s survey.

“Our UMSU survey had similar numbers, I will admit. The majority of [U of M] students do want to remain online [though] not as [many] as U of W. The other end of it was, many students — an overwhelming majority — stating that they felt safe returning to campus with the mandatory vaccination policy and all the procedures the university outlined for returning.”

While the U of M will see many courses transitioning to in-person learning, some faculties — such as the faculty of arts — are still having discussions about which courses can be brought back in-person.

“They’ve indicated that they anticipate that the majority of their courses will remain remote,” said HiebertMurphy. “There may be some courses that do decide to come back in-person for very specific reasons. So, they’re just making those final decisions at this point.”

“I think there may be some miscommunication in saying that the U of W is online and the U of M is in-person,” said Scott, noting the situation is not that simple.

Meanwhile at the U of W, Hayer that there is a four-tier classification system for which classes should get priority to be in-person instead of online.

photo / Mohammad Arsalan Saeed / staff

Faculties maintain control over which courses will remain remote

and classes […] that are in-person,” he said.

Hiebert-Murphy said what makes it difficult to make decisions about which programs should be offered in-person at the U of M is the diversity of programs that are offered.

“For us, a one-size-fits-all across the university campus doesn’t work. We really need to have those decisions made at the level of programs,” she said.

The U of M has extended the drop date for affected courses to Feb. 28, meaning if a student is registered for a class that is shifting to in-person learning after the winter term break, the student may drop the class by that date without financial or academic penalty. news@themanitoban.com

“Even right now there’s some labs

U of M signs anti-racism and Black inclusion charter NEWS

Dimitar Tomovski, staff The University of Manitoba has announced it has signed the Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black inclusion. The U of M’s vice-president (administration) Naomi Andrew called the charter a “historic document” and said over 50 universities took part in the discussions leading to its creation.

“What makes the charter unique is it ensures institutional accountability […] It guides universities and provides themes and action items that universities should focus on and also provides guidance in terms of metrics and outcomes.

“The group will meet regularly, so

there is that commitment and there is that accountability to signing on,” said Andrew, also stating that accountability would require setting concrete goals and maintaining a sense of responsibility to senior executives, the board and the community.

As part of its commitment, the university has also established an anti-racism task force led by Andrew to implement the recommendations of the charter. Its first meeting is Feb. 11.

“We’ll have a formal announcement going out on that, but what I will say is that our task force is […] probably another historic task force. Twenty members [consisting of] deans,

faculty, students, staff [and] alumni, all from racialized backgrounds, have formed this task force.”

In addition to the principles and action items from the Scarborough Charter, Andrew said the task force will also be incorporating recommendations from the senior Indigenous leadership accord.

“The anti-racism task force is envisioned as a bridge between the raw expression of lived experience gathered through community engagement and the development of a comprehensive anti-racism strategy, led by Indigenous, Black and racialized students, staff and faculty,” Andrew said.

Andrew noted the U of M is proud to sign on to the charter.

“It really is a historic document that commits [the U of M] to combat anti-Black racism and foster Black inclusion in higher education and communities” — Naomi Andrew, vice-president (administration) 4

photo / Basel Abdelaziz / staff

Scarborough Charter follows four principles for meaningful change

“It really is a historic document that commits [the U of M] to combat anti-Black racism and foster Black inclusion in higher education and communities. Signing this charter builds on recent progress we have already made and supports our ongoing commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.”

news@themanitoban.com

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Feb. 9, 2022

Convoy-inspired protests reach Winnipeg NEWS

Colton McKillop, staff Ottawa declared a state of emergency Feb. 6 in response to the convoy of truckers with white supremacist ties currently occupying the city in protest of COVID-19-related restrictions and vaccine mandates.

The convoy has spurred imitation protests across country, including in Winnipeg, where organizers say they are preparing for a long occupation of the provincial legislature grounds.

While fundraisers initially presented the protest’s goal as ending the vaccine mandate for truckers introduced last month, the movement’s demands have grown to include calls for the end of all pandemic restrictions, the removal of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the dissolution of Parliament by the Governor General.

However, removing the prime minister or dissolving Parliament would not end provincial restrictions, which have been imposed mostly by conservative governments. Additionally, the U.S. has also imposed similar mandates which Canada has no authority to reverse.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance has condemned the convoy, arguing the vast majority of truckers are vaccinated.

The convoy has caused chaos in Ottawa, Ont., with some participants harassing a homeless shelter with demands for free food and allegedly assaulting one of its clients, desecrating the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, vandalizing a statue of Terry Fox and throwing rocks at ambulances.

Businesses in Ottawa were planning to reopen Jan. 31 but have been forced to stay closed during the convoy’s protest.

Police have announced those attempting to assist the demonstrators with gas would be arrested and since Saturday have given out more than 450 tickets.

A GoFundMe for the convoy has been suspended for violating the website’s terms of service.

“GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created,” read a statement released by GoFundMe. “We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity.”

Parliament has voted to order representatives of GoFundMe to appear before Parliament to answer questions about their screening process for hate

groups.

A number of the convoy’s organizers have a history of expressing white supremacist views.

Pat King is listed as a media contact for Alberta on the website freedomconvoycanada.com, as well as for north Alberta on the website of Canada Unity, the group behind the call to remove Trudeau.

Video has surfaced of King espousing racist conspiracy theories. In one clip, he says “there’s an endgame, it’s called depopulation of the Caucasian race, or the Anglo-Saxon. And that’s what the goal is, is to depopulate the AngloSaxon race because they are the ones with the strongest bloodlines.”

B.J. Dichter — one of two convoy organizers listed on the GoFundMe page along with Tamara Lich — can be seen in a video speaking at a People’s Party of Canada rally in 2019 saying the Liberal party is “infested with Islamists.” He also refused to condemn Confederate flags at the rally and claimed Nazi swastikas were a “false flag operation” by the federal government.

photos / Mohammad Arsalan Saeed / staff

‘Long occupation’ planned in the city

“Both in the U.S. and in Canada [...] this kind of anti-government, anti-liberal idea is the [...] driving factor of these extreme right groups” — Kawser Ahmed, University of Winnipeg adjunct professor

When CBC reporter Dale Manucdoc tried to contact a Toronto, Ont. media contact for the convoy for an interview, the person responded by calling Manucdoc a “slave blooded traitor” and said “traitors will swing in time.”

Multiple Confederate flags and Nazi swastikas have been spotted at the rallies and a local hate crime hotline has received over 200 calls.

Kawser Ahmed — a University of Winnipeg adjunct professor of political science who researches extremist groups — said such groups “quickly saw an opportunity to utilize this movement for their benefit.”

“Due to the vaccine mandate, a lot of freedom of movement has been restricted […] so, naturally, many people are frustrated,” he said. “[T] he fundamental idea of [right-wing] extremist groups is anti-government.”

“Both in the U.S. and in Canada […] this kind of anti-government, anti-liberal idea is the […] driving factor of these extreme right groups.”

Police say the protest is receiving a significant amount of U.S. funding and participation. “[These groups] want to mimic the violence and the hate […] that we often see in the U.S. in Canada as well, and that is why they have picked up this moment of protest,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed said people “oversimplify” when they argue that these extremists are just a few “bad apples.”

“We all understand by now, after nearly [two] years of pandemic restrictions and before that [with] the wave of extreme right and white supremacist movements in North America and Europe, that these bad apples […] tend to find expression in the media and our civil society sectors,” he said.

“It really undermines the actual issue and threat and vulnerability that these groups use and […] exploit from us […]

People might undermine by saying ‘Okay, [it’s only] one Confederate flag or two hate symbols and three […] scuffles,’ but that all matters. We have [rarely] seen these groups coming up publicly and trying to draw legitimacy. This gains momentum and it’s exactly what happened around a hundred years back in Germany.”

Some Conservative members of parliament — such as Pierre Poilievre, recently deposed former federal leader Erin O’Toole and interim leader

Candice Bergen — have expressed support for the protest.

Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson left the Conservative caucus on Friday over its support for the convoy.

Ahmed said “it is not a secret” that groups involved with the protest hold bigoted views.

“You can get into any social media platforms that these groups use and you can find their narratives [and] ideologies there,” he said.

“So, if any political parties and leaders [know] these groups’ agenda [and] still associate with them […] I do think it is possibly their responsibility to explain to their constituencies and their followers why they do so.” news@themanitoban.com

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Health and Wellness plans harm reduction workshops NEWS

Dimitar Tomovski, staff The Health and Wellness Office at the University of Manitoba is offering three free harm reduction workshops this month, available to staff, faculty and students.

from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

These workshops, hosted through Zoom, aim to show that a harm reduction model is needed to reduce potential harm related to substance use and sex, working from the view that accepting and understanding the fact that activities related to substance use and sex will occur in our society helps to reduce the potential harms associated with those activities.

The “Enhancing the Holidays Through Harm Reduction” workshop explores responsible approaches to alcohol consumption. It also provides insights on various way to create boundaries with loved ones during holidays such as Valentine’s Day.

The first workshop, offered Feb. 1, was titled “Overdose Recognition and Response Training.”

“This workshop was prepared to provide students, staff and faculty with an opportunity to learn more about how to recognize an overdose as well as steps that can be taken in the community to prevent or avoid further harm,” a representative from the Health and Wellness Office said in a written statement.

“During this workshop, participants can expect to learn what an overdose is, what a stimulant and opioid/ depressant overdose may look like and how they can respond.”

Workshops on “Enhancing the Holidays Through Harm Reduction” and “Enhancing the Exam Season Through Harm Reduction” are being held on Feb. 8 and Feb. 15 respectively,

Both workshops are offered through the U of M’s Student Counselling Centre alongside the Health and Wellness Office.

The final workshop offered is called “Enhancing the Exam Season Through Harm Reduction” and offers routes to manage generalized anxiety as well as stress-related anxiety. It also identifies coping strategies for stress as well as tips for preparing for exams.

“The purpose of these workshops are to provide students with an opportunity to learn more about the harm reduction principles and how to apply it into their everyday lives,” wrote the Health and Wellness Office.

“We understand the holiday seasons and exam periods can be two stressful timeframes for students. Because of this, we wanted to tailor these presentations to represent these two situations.”

More information about these workshops can be found online through the university’s Health and Wellness Office. news@themanitoban.com

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graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

Workshops throughout February will teach safe approaches to sex and substances

“We understand the holiday seasons and exam periods can be two stressful timeframes for students. Because of this, we wanted to tailor these presentations to represent these two situations” — Health and Wellness Office

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Feb. 9, 2022

Ancient fingerprints dispel gender labour division Researcher finds men and children made ancient pottery, too RESEARCH

Fingerprints identified on ancient pottery have called into question our assumptions about gender roles in ancient cultures. It was previously a widely held belief that in hunter-gatherer societies, men hunted and women gathered. A University of Manitoba researcher has recently added another piece of evidence indicating ancient humans cared less about gender and more about community.

photo / Kent Fowler / provided

Michael Campbell, staff

Kent Fowler, associate professor in the department of anthropology, presented his research in the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy’s social science speakers series on Feb. 3 via Zoom.

Fowler’s primary research looks at remnants of precolonial African kingdoms. This interest led him to discover a group of researchers doing anthropological work with fingerprints.

“Out of these questions that I have about the identity of artisans and how crafts organization plays out in different parts of the world at different times has come this constant nagging question about how […] we know who the people [were] who made this,” Fowler said.

“And so, for about 20 years, I’ve been monitoring this very bizarre fringy sort of research that’s been happening on fingerprints, hoping that someday […] we would be able to really use this to say something interesting.”

“Actually, what we end up finding is [that] men and women and kids are all touching these things” — Kent Fowler, anthropology professor

Fowler and his co-authors have used fingerprint identification to determine the sex and age of individuals involved in making pottery. From this, they have broken down some of the expectations of gender roles in ancient social life.

Over the past two centuries, dactylography — the study of fingerprints — has enhanced researchers’ ability to identify individuals from objects they once interacted with.

Dactylography emerged in the late 19th century and was quickly adopted by law enforcement agencies as a means to identify criminal suspects.

Fingerprint research has been used by archeologists since the 1960s to distinguish individuals and since the 1990s to identify the demographics of individuals leaving prints on pottery, sculptures and other clay objects.

Despite progress in the field coming intermittently, new progress has been made in distinguishing between the sexes and, to a lesser degree, in determining the age of individuals.

Sexual dimorphism in humans — or the fact that males and females have different bodily features — allows anthropologists to gain insight into ancient civilizations. In fingerprints,

males tend to have lower ridge density than females. This means that, in a given area, the average male’s fingerprint would appear to have fewer lines creating the characteristic loops, arches and whorls than a female’s print would.

Ridge breadth grows larger with age until hands stop growing after puberty. However, because ridge breadth varies by finger, age estimates are treated as a mid-point of a fiveyear estimate. This means ages could be off by 2.5 years in either direction.

Fingerprints cure into clay pottery, forming a lasting impression of the ridge density and breadth of the individual working the clay. This provides insight into who was involved in producing pottery and hints at how labour was divided in ancient social groups.

“I’ve studied economics and gender is always part of understanding labour,” Fowler said.

Researchers expected to discover female fingerprints in the majority of cases. This follows from a potentially false understanding that, in hunter-gatherer societies, men were more likely to hunt and women were more likely to gather. Recently, there has been a growing body of evidence challenging a theorized gender divide.

Fowler indicated in these social groups there were likely people who were better at completing important tasks and, irrespective of gender, those who were better at the tasks would be needed to complete them.

Fowler and his co-authors found that, in some cases, the majority of pottery was made by men. This finding destabilizes the theory that making pottery was an inherently gendered activity. By contrast, it is an inherently communal activity.

“Actually, what we end up finding is [that] men and women and kids are all touching these things,” Fowler said.

“You have a window of time of about 30 minutes […] before this thing dries.

That means those people’s hands were on that […] They’re all there. They’re all handling it.”

What is most striking to Fowler is that these objects retain insights into how they were made and handled by people long ago.

“And to my mind, if you think about it, that is something you can use to seriously teleport yourself into the back, deep into the past […] and it just really breathes this kind of real life into this thing,” Fowler said.

research@themanitoban.com

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Climate change goals must reduce greenhouse gas Sustainability and renewability won’t stop climate change

EDITORIAL Around the world, the majority of people now agree humancaused climate change is happening and that actions need to be taken to address the threat it poses. However, it seems there is less agreement about what actions need to be taken and by whom.

One reason for this disagreement, we humbly suggest, is that commercial interests have capitalized on environmental concern to meet their own myopic goals.

A valuable tool for those who seek to blur the lines of necessary action is to obfuscate terms. Today, people confront a variety of terms with distinct meanings under the umbrella of environmental concern daily.

Under this umbrella, policies seeking to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean, fossil fuels used by consumers and the protection of green spaces are all given equal merit. While all of these goals are noble, our current emergency requires us to examine, prioritize and institute specific actions to counter human-caused climate change.

Greenhouse gases and climate change The abundance of energy that humans currently enjoy has led to the most prosperous era in history. More than ever before, humans can capture and control the fundamental forces in our environment and put them to use to eliminate our burdens. However, energy revolution has also led to disastrous outcomes, including the destabilization of our climate.

Climate change refers to long-term changes in weather patterns and temperatures. Human activities have been the primary driver of these shifts since at least the 1800s. While the earth’s climate has experienced dramatic shifts in its long history, these changes predated the earliest human civilization. The modern climate that humans have experienced began with the end of the last ice age, roughly 11,700 years ago.

For perspective, the climate had been relatively stable since before humans practiced agriculture or had developed written languages. That is, until the Industrial Revolution.

Scientific consensus is clear — it is very likely human actions have warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Global warming has been observed since the middle of the 20th century. Global warming refers exclusively to heating caused by human activity, while climate change encompasses both anthropogenic and natural forces that cause temperature changes. The terms have often been used interchangeably, but the distinction is important.

The global warming of the past 200

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years is largely the result of industrialization. The Industrial Revolution changed the majority of human work away from small-scale manual labour to large-scale machine-driven operations.

Many industrialized processes relied on the burning of fuels to generate energy. Gases linked to industrial processes began to be released in the atmosphere in much greater quantities than ever before.

These gases trap heat in the atmosphere, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect are called greenhouse gases and include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour.

Therefore, a reasonable litmus test for climate change policy is to examine the degree to which the policy reduces or eliminates a source of climate-destroying greenhouse gases.

biofuel is wood.

Among countries in the European Union (EU), biomass is the main source of renewable energy and the largest source of biomass fuel used in the EU is forestry.

Burning wood is sustainable and, some argue, carbon-neutral. However, in practice, burning wood can be more carbon-emitting than coal or other conventionally dirty fuel sources. The research is currently contested — the range of emissions sways from 83 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions compared to coal to 73 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than coal.

In short, considering the greenhouse gas impact of burning wood, it is either nearly as bad as coal or far worse than coal. But at least it can tout its sustainability.

Real-world example

Our current crisis begins with coal.

While it has provided many people the energy that our current quality of life is dependent on, it has also caused significant harm to our environment.

Just as the coal-fired steam engine propelled the industrial age, so too do fossil fuels in our modern era. Fossil fuels are carbon-rich deposits found deep in the ground and come from the remains of decomposing organic matter. Burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gasses contribute to roughly 80 per cent of the world’s energy supply.

The argument for the sustainability of wood as a fuel source is clear: for every tree cut down, we promise to plant a new one. This means all the carbon emitted into the atmosphere will theoretically be absorbed back into a newly planted tree.

Fossil fuels have two independent and critical flaws which make them impossible to rely on as an infinite source of energy. Each critical flaw is an important element to overcome, but only one perpetuates climate change. First, fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases which are primarily responsible for climate change. Second, fossil fuels are finite resources, which means, at some point, we will run out.

The renewable heat incentive from Northern Ireland in 2011 serves as an egregious example of divorcing climate policy from greenhouse gas emissions and substituting alternative environmental goals. This policy came from the department of enterprise, trade and investment and provided a cash incentive for business owners who used a renewable energy source to heat their buildings.

Although there has been some debate regarding when exactly it will happen — unless we are able to produce fossil fuels at a reliable pace within our lives — it will undoubtedly occur. In this way, fossil fuels are not sustainable.

It is crucial we switch to a fuel source that emits fewer greenhouse gases.

The plan had one catch: it paid more than it cost business owners in fuel and there was no upper limit to the incentive.

Renewable fuel sources Instead of focusing entirely on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, many countries have focused on transitioning to renewable fuel sources.

One increasingly popular sustainable alternative to fossil fuels is biomass energy. The phrase “biomass energy” simply refers to the use of biological material as a fuel source. While biomass is sustainable, it is not clean.

For example, things like biodiesels or methane derived from decomposition are classified as biomass energy.

However, the single largest source of

Demand for wood pellets as an energy source has soared since nations signed the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Demand is likely to increase as EU countries aim for 32 per cent of energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030.

In 2015, applications for the program rose considerably as some business owners allegedly began installing boilers and heating to previously unheated factories. The abuse of this scheme came to light when a whistleblower claimed a farmer anticipated collecting roughly UK£1.5 million over 20 years to heat an empty shed.

the environment than coal.

The most fundamental problem with the renewable heat incentive was not an oversight or a miscalculation by the government. Rather, the core of the problem was that it co-opted climate change as a means to introduce policy that was irrelevant to our changing climate. By assessing the impact of the program and working backward, it looks like the goal of the program was to provide a stimulus to businesses.

Projects like this slip past our purview because they seem to pay lip service to environmental concern. In reality, they misunderstand the current crisis and fail to provide a solution.

Moving forward We can be certain policies that focus on the wrong goals will lead to the wrong outcomes. We need to focus on reducing the amount of greenhouse gas that enters our atmosphere instead of relying on myths of sustainability to recapture carbon. While there has never been more support for effective climate action than there is today, we need to focus on our commitment to effective policy.

The last decade has been the warmest on record. Global warming will continue to bring unprecedented changes to every corner of the earth.

The changes we have experienced are the result of about 1.1 C of warming above the levels present in the 1800s.

Rising sea levels, caused by glacial melt, threaten not only small island nations but many of the larger, more densely populated coastal cities on the planet. Storms, wildfires, droughts and floods will increase in intensity and frequency. The risks of these climate events depend on the rate, duration and peak warming temperatures we experience.

Carbon emissions need to be prioritized in climate policy to mitigate and reverse the effects of global warming.

Businesses were given an incentive by the government to waste carbon-emitting fuel.

In addition to destabilizing the budget and siphoning taxpayer money to private corporations, the scheme also led to the needless emission of carbon. The biofuel of choice for these boilers were wood pellets, which, as previously stated, may be worse for

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff words/ Michael Campbell and Emma Rempel/ staff

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Most students do not want in-person classes U of M embracing convenient lies that risk students’ health and education COMMENT

Lucas Edmond, staff The University of Manitoba officially announced a large portion of classes will return to in-person teaching beginning Feb. 28. This comes after the university made the decision to halt its plans to return at the beginning of the winter semester due to the cascading number of COVID-19 cases during the holidays. Although numbers are beginning to plateau across Canada, students have expressed concerns about returning to class.

The unfortunate truth is that the most equitable way to deliver education is by universally delivering it online for the remainder of the semester while details are hashed out during the summer for a return in the fall of 2022. By abruptly dropping news on students that they will be forced to return in-person or drop their classes, the U of M is suggesting education will no longer be accessible for people who are immunocompromised.

Regardless of the severity of each case, a minor bout of COVID is still no walk in the park. Over the holidays, I contracted COVID-19 and isolated with my partner. It started with trembling cold shakes and progressed to body aches and back pain in the evening. By the morning I had a moderate fever, a splitting headache, was physically exhausted and could barely breathe without wheezing and coughing. On one day I seriously considered seeing a doctor out of fear that my case was transitioning into pneumonia.

Thankfully, my condition began to improve the following day.

I was lucky enough to have contracted COVID-19 while both of my jobs and school were on break for the holidays.

Nonetheless, I still had dozens of papers to grade which I planned on completing before finals week arrived — I had a few final papers to write myself. Because I caught COVID-19, I was heavily debilitated in my ability

to work for a week. I spent all day and night the next three weeks playing catch-up with my deadlines. Beyond this, I still have a residual cough that keeps me from getting the proper rest I need to accommodate my schedule.

By forcing students back to in-person classes, the U of M is insinuating students need to prioritize their education over their physical health.

However, speaking from personal experience, it simply doesn’t work that way. Imagine that my COVID-19 case was the best-case scenario — how might this decision affect those who have suppressed immune systems? Further, some students cannot afford to delay their graduation due to expensive student loans.

The U of M is forcing both students who are immunocompromised and financially disadvantaged to decide between bad and worse options — to lose out on necessary income or risk their lives.

The U of M’s decision comes after notable opposition at various other

Canadian universities that opted to force students back to in-person learning. A recent survey at Concordia University showed 78 per cent of teaching and research assistants didn’t feel a return to in-person classes was appropriate. A further 88 per cent thought the university should distribute N95 masks on campus to ensure better safety. However, the university doesn’t seem to be taking these concerns seriously and the student union has taken it upon itself to spend thousands of dollars to distribute better-quality face masks.

Further, students across Canada have staged walkouts and signed petitions in opposition to in-person classes.

A petition at Ryerson University to maintain online options for students garnered more than 11,000 signatures — nearly one quarter of Ryerson’s student population.

The U of M has not been without opposition, either. The faculty of law recently opted to remain online after a survey indicated more than 51 per cent of students preferred it, 24 per cent desired a hybrid model and another 25 per cent wanted to return to in-person classes. Although the survey only received 251 responses, it is still clear the majority of students do not want to return to in-person classes.

Yet many faculties will not be afforded the same flexibility as law students.

As an email distributed by the U of M administration says, “Some staff will be required to return to campus to support in-person academic activities.”

The administration seems to be banking on the fact that all students returning must be fully vaccinated.

“We have listened to a range of perspectives on the matter of our operations and believe this approach is the most prudent given UM’s mandatory vaccine policy, stringent COVID protocols and commitment to an outstanding student experience,” president and vice-chancellor Michael Benarroch announced in the email.

However, vaccination should not be a valid reason to return to in-person classes. If vaccinated people can’t see a movie at full capacity, why should a class that consists of hundreds of students be allowed to return? The safety protocols and size of venues are virtually the same.

graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff

The U of M is ignoring a vocal majority.

The options are clear for the administration: either provide students a choice with hybrid classes or prioritize planning a return for the upcoming fall semester instead. If the U of M doesn’t, students must be prepared to oppose the administration’s unsafe return to in-person classes.

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Looking away will do nothing to solve Canada’s racism Embrace of ‘freedom truckers’ proves Canada still embraces systemic racism COMMENT

Canada often brands itself as a perfectly peaceful country when compared with its neighbour to the south. There is a propensity among Canadian liberals to paint Canada as a progressive dreamland of racial equality, but this façade is being exposed for what it is in Ottawa. The recent anti-vaccine protests suggest a different reality.

Canada’s racism has been revealed in several instances throughout history, from racial segregation and slavery — yes, Canada had slavery — to residential schools and genocide.

While Canadians often claim to have transcended these issues, the growing comfort these protests display toward racist symbols and the delayed condemnation from the federal Conservative party shows the prevalence of systemic racism in Canada’s so-called equitable society never really faded from its identity.

Racism still underpins this nation.

Despite coming from a racialized country and being a mixed child myself, I had never experienced racism until I visited the U.K. a couple of years ago. I was sitting in a train station when a white British man disrespectfully approached me and told me to go back to my country. At the moment, I didn’t think anything of it.

But now I am completely aware that my extra melanin bothered this man.

Reflecting on that moment does not cause me any discomfort — rather, it made me realize I wanted to live in a place where I felt accepted. This was why I ended up coming to Canada. I came to the realization that although not every western country with better higher-education programs is perfect, Canada was the best opportunity considering the great diversity and inclusion its population represented, or so I thought.

To make things clear, I would like to say that I’ve never — or at least not up until now — felt like a victim of explicit racism in Canada, but there have been questionable situations that made me feel racially profiled.

Though I am hopeful Canada might one day become a racially equitable country where legislation and public action is not skewed based on people’s skin colour, there is certainly a long way to go to achieve that goal.

According to the Canada Research Chair in racial inequality in democratic societies Debra Thompson, the 21st century understanding of racism is polite, subtle and, to an extent, normalized. This then shrouds systemic racism to perpetrators. While empowering more explicit demonstrations of racism, the so-called freedom convoy is a clear example of this uncritical engagement with xenophobia.

While 90 per cent of truckers are vaccinated, the convoys have featured racist symbology to defend their alleged right to remain unvaccinated.

graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff

Ivan Nuñez Gamez, staff

I came to the realization that although not every western country with better highereducation programs is perfect, Canada was the best opportunity considering the great diversity and inclusion its population represented, or so I thought From covering a Terry Fox statue with anti-vaccine signs to adorning the streets with swastikas and Confederate flags, many truckers and other fringe groups disrespected every single Canadian minority as a means to supposedly plead their case. Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemning the racist actions of these individuals, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has remained peaceful with truckers.

The RCMP’s passive hand has drawn criticism from pundits who point out the noticeably different approach the police took with Wet’suwet’en

protestors who have attempted to protect their unceded hereditary land from expropriation.

Furthermore, influential Conservative members of Parliament like transport critic Melissa Lantsman and finance critic Pierre Poilievre have continued to voice their support for the movement despite its connection to racist extremists.

Is the Conservative party really that big-tent party that unites far-right social conservatives and centrists?

Or is the united conservative vote a

failed experiment that is becoming increasingly unelectable? It seems the convoy is answering some of these questions — the radical front that leads the movement, coupled with Conservative party support, suggests a concerning shift to a far-right and populist-informed politics.

comment@themanitoban.com

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Feb. 9, 2022

’Toban tracks Celebrate Valentine’s Day with this bevy of Canadian talent ARTS & CULTURE Alex Braun, staff

It’s that time of year again — cold, dark winter wherein we celebrate love in the middle of February. Canada and Canadian culture has never been particularly romantic or sensual.

The stereotypically Canadian mild politeness isn’t exactly suited to romantic passion. But still, plenty of Canadians know how to write songs, and what better topic to write a song about than love?

An eclectic mix of love songs is in play here. There’s the sugar rush of new love on the Carly Rae Jepsen classic “Run Away With Me” and Alvvays’s swooning “Archie, Marry Me.” There are languid, bittersweet slow jams, like Timber Timbre’s eerie, Lynchian

luminaries of the early ’00s indie scenes of Montreal, Que. and Toronto, Ont., who were all excellent at big, anthemic slabs of yearning. We’ve got Stars’s open-hearted office-romance ballad “Elevator Love Letter,” Feist’s simple declaration that she would leave “Any Party” for you, Wolf Parade’s massive “I’ll Believe In Anything” and the Broken Social Scene epic “Lover’s Spit.”

And for the more sensitive side, there are soft acoustic cuts from Kurt Vile with the Sadies, Virgo Rising’s “Juice,” Andy Shauf’s lovely “Martha Sways” and Neil Young’s ode to long-term love “Harvest Moon,” which is still available on Spotify despite Young’s protest thanks to the Eat Pray Love soundtrack.

America, a collection of amorphous and beautiful improvisatory softrock songs. Her voice is incredible — flowing and dynamic, and on this country-tinged waltz she sounds so perfectly fragile delivering a heartfelt plea to a wayward loved one.

Run Away With Me — Carly Rae Jepsen, E·mo·tion (Deluxe)

If you have a significant other or romantic interest, feel free to steal songs from this playlist to send to them. Chances are you will impress them and seem really cool and romantic. If you want the music to be a surprise, use it as a soundtrack

Elevator Love Letter — Stars, Heart

Take My Breath — The Weeknd, Dawn FM Archie, Marry Me — Alvvays, Alvvays

Hot Dreams — Timber Timbre, Hot Dreams Tous les garçons et les filles — Living Hour Allergic To Love — Eric’s Trip, Love Tara I’ll Believe in Anything — Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary Dear Darling — Mary Margaret O’Hara, Miss America Harvest Moon — Harvest Moon

Neil

Young,

Baby’s Arms — Kurt Vile and the Sadies Head Over Heels — Blue Rodeo, Five Days in July Cherry Coke — OMBIIGIZI Juice — Virgo Rising, Sixteenth Sapphire Scott Pilgrim — Plumtree, Predicts the Future Any Party — Feist, Pleasure Lover’s Spit — Broken Social Scene, You Forgot It In People Desire — Ought, Room Inside the World Passionfruit — Drake, More Life Martha Sways — Andy Shauf, The Party Love Without Possession — Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron, Lost Wisdom, Pt. 2

“Hot Dreams,” Drake’s long-distance lament “Passionfruit” and Living Hour’s take on the Françoise Hardy cut “Tous les garçons et les filles.”

There

is

also

a

selection

from

A personal favourite here is Mary Margaret O’Hara’s “Dear Darling.”

O’Hara, sister to the legendary comedian Catherine O’Hara, is a hidden treasure of a singer. She only released one album: 1988’s Miss

for your dreamy Valentine’s night.

Or, if you’re alone, you can pretend that your crush made this playlist just for you. Either way, have a lovely Valentine’s Day.

graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff arts@themanitoban.com

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Celebrate the power of film The Manitoban staff lists their favourite films for Global Movie Day With Day

Global right

the

Movie around

corner,

the

Manitoban staff has recommended some of our favourite flicks

graphic / Dallin Chicoine/ staff

ARTS & CULTURE

for your next virtual viewing

party

—

especially if you’re a fan of science fiction, musicals and sciencefiction

musicals.

A

continuous comfort and an escape from these tumultuous two years, celebrate

everything

there is to love about film on Feb. 12 with the hashtag #GlobalMovieDay. Tick, Tick…Boom!

(2021) Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah, arts & culture editor Even though Broadway is still mostly closed due to COVID-19, you can bring the Great White Way right into your living room with Tick, Tick…Boom!, the film adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s rock monologue and the directorial debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The film is a semi-autobiographical musical, following Larson’s life as he tries to break into New York City’s musical theatre scene prior to his untimely passing and the posthumous success of his hit musical Rent.

Andrew Garfield absolutely sparkles as Larson, capturing both the songwriter’s infectious, joyful personality

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and his crippling anxieties about not accomplishing his dream before the age of 30. He has a wonderful energy during the high-tempo numbers but really shines when subdued during ballads “Johnny Can’t Decide” and “Why.” His committed performance is memorable, relatable and heartfelt — truly a career best.

The film’s soundtrack is stellar, with a dynamic range of different music styles and poignant lyrics. Highlights include opener “30/90,” the heartbreaking “Come to Your Senses” and the tragically underused “Green Green Dress.”

In my opinion, Tick, Tick…Boom!

outranks all of the other movie musicals released in 2021. It is such a pleasure to watch for too many reasons to name — you will just have to experience the magic for yourself.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Grace Paizen, arts & culture reporter Not only did Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s film change science fiction movies forever, the film itself is full of ideas and reflections we still grapple with to this day.

The rampant retrofuturism of 1960s

furniture, clothing and hairstyles is charming and fades into the background in light of the overarching themes of technology potentially “outthinking” humans, what extraterrestrial lifeforms will look like, our fascination with exploration and how we evolved from apes on a strange little planet seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

A cherry on top of the film is that Douglas Rain — who voiced the computer HAL 9000 — was not only born and raised in Winnipeg, but is a U of M alumnus.

HAL 9000 is arguably one of the best film villains of all time and the

the

question of whether he knew the satellite would fail or not is a question academics continue to grapple with.

Though the biggest complaint of the film is how slow moving the action is, this only evokes the horror of HAL 9000’s malfunction as we see and experience the computer’s destruction in real time.

2001: A Space Odyssey is an experience in and of itself and will leave you with more personal questions than answers.

Burlesque (2010) Zoë LeBrun, reporter

arts

&

culture

Starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, Burlesque was directed by Steve Antin and follows talented smalltown singer Ali as she pursues her big dreams in entertainment in Los Angeles. She ends up at Burlesque — a down-on-its-luck club run by Tess — where she begins working

MANI

Despite its excellent cast, Burlesque’s story is unextraordinary. However, what it lacks plot-wise it makes up for in sassy moments, gorgeous costuming and good tunes.

Above all, Burlesque was the first movie that showed me that women can dress and act however they want without that reflecting negatively on them as a person — that they can be feminine, smart, respected, silly and glamourous all at once, and can own and be in control of their own bodies and lives without shame or judgment.

By far the best part of Burlesque is its soundtrack. Fun, boisterous and filled with a mixture of classic and original songs, Cher and Aguilera’s beautiful vocals become our narrators, providing extra layers of emotional depth and entertainment.

Feb. 9, 2022

which ends up taking over his life.

It drives him insane, filling his head with nightmares and even modifies his physical form — Cronenberg is a master of practical effects and some of the sequences here are truly gut-wrenching.

of psychologically damaging smut is something you could easily do yourself on the internet if you choose to do so, and it’s undeniable that constant access to media of all kinds has irreparably changed the world and our minds. It’s thought-provoking

Videodrome has a very unique vibe.

Cronenberg’s vision of Toronto is simultaneously futuristic and decrepit. There is this constant neon glow of the television, a variety of harsh, silvery grey, soulless corporate spaces and crumbling basements where Max’s video lackeys scan the airwaves. Debbie Harry, singer of the influential new-wave band Blondie, co-stars as Max’s masochistic love interest who gets embroiled in Videodrome. She comes across oddly more vulnerable than she does onstage and her presence lends some real charm to the movie.

stuff, and you get to see some nasty gore, too. Long live the new flesh!

I adore it for reasons beyond the glitter, singing, glamour and dancing.

Recommended if you like musicals, romantic comedies and Cher.

Videodrome (1983) Alex Braun, arts & culture reporter David Cronenberg’s 1983 body horror classic Videodrome is possibly the greatest thing ever made by a

With Global Movie Day right around the corner, the Manitoban staff has recommended some of our favourite flicks for your next virtual viewing party as a waitress in the hopes of one day making it onto the stage to perform.

TOBAN

Canadian crown corporation. James Woods plays Max Renn, the seedy programmer for a sleazy television channel in Toronto, Ont. offering the finest in softcore pornography and violent schlock. Max, always looking for new and exciting smut, ends up stumbling upon a feed of strange snuff and torture films called Videodrome

The film’s theme of being changed — physically and mentally disturbed by media consumption — is still very relevant today. The film’s descent into a dark conspiracy spurred on by coming across a series

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’Toban cornertable ARTS & CULTURE Grace Paizen, staff

Famed playwright Oscar Wilde once said if you give a man a mask, “he’ll tell you the truth.”

Multidisciplinary artist Vivek Shraya’s latest book People Change emphasizes that the mask itself brings out the inner truth of an individual.

A semi-autobiography, Shraya challenges the modern concept of reinvention, asking why “being broken [is] the mother of reinvention,” when reinvention can “predate [...] trauma,” as “change is inevitable and constant” and should not be done in “fear, resignation, or even victimhood.”

Instead, Shraya believes we should “seek out change, crave it, conjure it, worship it.”

Wielding her academic training, Shraya analyzes how change and transformation has been cast as “duplicity or fraud” in western culture, particularly by those presenting a feminine identity.

Shraya uses the “popular trope in mainstream media [of] the image of a trans woman gazing at herself in a mirror, applying makeup” to lament that “The message this trope conveys to the audience is that the trans woman’s identity is something she puts on, and that she isn’t herself — rather, she’s really a he — before this act of maquillage.”

Instead, her book offers an alternate reading of these oft-perpetuated themes, that transformation is the discovery of our “true selves [...] lying dormant, waiting to be unleashed,”

more frightening than fluidity.”

A story of her own transgender identity and a meditation on the transformation of queer identities, Shraya takes on the concept of reinvention, particularly when viewed in a queer light “as an act of survival.”

Shraya writes, “Queer people learn to hide ourselves at a young age through mastering performance.”

The concept of renaming and dressing is also dissected as “sometimes the only way to change culture is to reinvent yourself.”

image / Penguin Random House Canada / provided

Review: Vivek Shraya — ‘People Change’

“When you’re not a man,” Shraya writes, “your appearance is never neutral. Even a white dress shirt is political.”

Filled with masterful new conceptions of identity, Shraya’s writing revolutionizes how we think about how we construct ourselves.

In one of the more radical arguments in the text, Shraya states that “every time I present a new version of myself, those around me are also called upon to change,” revealing that change and transformation are daily tasks between family and friends as our individual selves are reinvented through our own perceptions and our experiences.

With death as a theme sprinkled throughout the text, Shraya also hypothesizes that “reinvention requires both a kind of death and a desire to keep living” — with each death of a part of our identity, a rebirth

going to get out.”

In fact, Shraya intersects suicidal ideation and death of identity as part

“Marginalized bodies continually shed parts of ourselves in order to weather the disasters of oppression”

narrative of identity has been perpetuated in western culture, offering some solutions and posing difficult questions of how western culture can firmly shift the idea of reinvention into the positive.

An eloquent and short text, People Change is a must-read for those struggling with identity in our current world of identity crisis.

People Change is available at major retailers.

— Vivek Shraya, author

in contrast to the “concealment” portrayed in these narratives.

of a new presentation of ourselves is born.

Moreover, Shraya argues transformation is “the opportunity to express multiplicity” — to undermine hegemonic systems, as “the marginalized individual is systematically concretized into an identity [...] as a restraint, because there’s nothing

Importantly, Shraya points to the fact that death is a part of the queer identity as her own “early experiences of homophobia had already sown the seed of suicide [...] One way or another, it wasn’t safe for me to stick around. One way or another, I was

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of the queer experience, asserting that “Marginalized bodies continually shed parts of ourselves in order to weather the disasters of oppression.”

By emphasizing these intersections between all our versions of identity — gender, sexual orientation, dress and naming — People Change offers a radical undertaking of how the

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Cliff Eyland’s library of work Retrospective highlights the multiplicity of his artistic practice ARTS & CULTURE image / Winnipeg Art Gallery / provided

Zoë LeBrun, staff

For young artists, Cliff Eyland has always held somewhat of a legendary status.

As a nationally recognized painter, school of art professor, writer and curator, Eyland was a prominent member of Winnipeg’s art community throughout his career. He is likely best known to the average Winnipegger for his installation of miniature paintings at the Millennium Library.

Luckily for those who have yet to appreciate the vast scope of Eyland’s career, the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is now exhibiting Cliff Eyland: Library of Babel — A Retrospective.

Curated by one of Eyland’s longtime collaborators, Robert B. Epp, Library of Babel was initially planned in concert with Eyland but transformed into a memorial celebration of Eyland and his life’s work after his passing in May 2020.

The extensive show features work from all periods of Eyland’s career, representing a cross-section of his artistic practice and other work within Winnipeg’s art community.

Containing over 1,000 artworks — mainly the file-card-sized paintings Eyland is likely best known for

— Library of Babel was inspired by a short story of the same name by Jorge Luis Borges and emphasizes Eyland’s preoccupation with libraries as vast conceptual spaces while highlighting his innovative perspectives of art.

Other materials include drawings, photographs, digital prints, exhibition posters, videos and other archival materials. These collectively provide a window into Eyland’s artistic practice and his personal life, highlighting his personality and outlook on life and art through the common themes of his work.

Like many exhibition spaces, entering Library of Babel felt something like stepping out of one’s own mind and into the brain of another. The feeling was especially evident in this exhibition — there was an immediate energy you could sense in the air of the gallery space which seemed to be emanating from Eyland’s imaginative and lively paintings.

When we step into an institution like the WAG, there is often a sense of order when it comes to painting installations — each work hangs on a wall separate from its companions, with enough room to breathe so as to not

impede the viewer’s ability to appreciate the works next to it. However, this sensibility was upended in the most refreshing way in Library of Babel.

Organized chaos reigned throughout the show, with hundreds of small paintings hung in a variety of formations across the gallery walls, creating different rhythms throughout the space.

Crucifix formations — such as the installation “Crucifix (Homage to Gauguin)” — hung over the viewer imposingly on some walls, whereas enormous grids of paintings created a sense of stability as you peered up at this wall of closely packed works in installations such as “Librarians, Books and Clouds.” Grids of paintings were also found mounted on separate walls, which created a larger frame around these works. This formation was present in a personal favourite installation, “63 File Card Paintings on a White Wall,” a series of paintings assembled in 2019.

There are so many paintings encompassed within Library of Babel that it is difficult to pick out just a few individual ones as highlights. Rather, these works grab your attention in a Gestaltian manner, leaving you to

dive deeper into each installation and investigate individual works as you discover them.

Overall, what is so fantastic about Library of Babel is how clearly it demonstrates Eyland’s dedication to art. The works included in this exhibition reflect a lifetime of enthusiasm and experimentation, displaying a wide range of techniques indicative of his ever-evolving practice.

His mixed media pieces were particularly striking, pushing the boundaries of what a painting can be by incorporating writing, drawing and found materials into these works.

Although much of Eyland’s work is small, Library of Babel allows us to see the world as Eyland did — with an imaginative, critical and joyful view of the world around us.

You can visit Cliff Eyland: Library of Babel — A Retrospective at the Winnipeg Art Gallery until May 15.

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Bisons men’s hockey eliminated from playoff contention SPORTS

Isaiah Wagner, staff The University of Manitoba Bisons men’s hockey team has lost its chance at a Canada West playoff spot after two losses to the University of Regina Cougars last weekend, with the team going 0-4 on Friday and 3-6 on Saturday.

After a rough-and-tumble season, the Bisons were unable to muster a late drive to capture one of the six playoff spots.

Saturday remained a special night for the seniors with it being their last game at home. The seniors were celebrated for their accomplishments with the school and their team throughout the years.

Keaton Jameson highlighted the weekend with a three-assist game on Saturday. However, despite the achievement, the team didn’t have the weekend it had hoped for.

“We definitely did not have the weekend series that we wanted to have,” Jameson said.

“We had to win both games and we did not do that. I think our biggest problem was our defensive play.

You’re not going to win too many games when letting in six and four goals.”

When looking back on the season, there were definitely some highs and lows for the squad. The biggest accomplishment of the season was the back-to-back win at home in a battle with the MacEwan Griffins. The team really stepped up in front of the home crowd and played their hearts out.

On-the-ice highlights are always a great accomplishment, but sometimes it is much more than that.

“The highlight of our season is definitely the group of guys that we have in our locker room,” Jameson said.

Be the change today’s patients need.

photo / Isaiah Wagner / staff

Graduating captain Keaton Jameson has great series

“We may have not did what we want to do on the ice, but the bonding between teammates has been great.”

Huskies on Feb. 11 and 12 in a back-toback season-ending clash.

This was the final home series for the Bisons.

The team will travel to Saskatchewan to battle the University of Saskatchewan

sports@themanitoban.com

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Feb. 9, 2022

Huskies prey on Bisons SPORTS

Matthew Merkel, staff The University of Manitoba Bisons men’s and women’s basketball teams hosted the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in a two-game series this past weekend. Unfortunately for the herd, the Huskies were dominant, winning both games and spoiling the Bisons’ final home stand of the Canada West regular season.

On Friday night, the Huskies women’s team came out strong, leading by 10 points within the first five minutes of the game. Bisons Autumn Agar, Deidre Bartlett and Lauren Bartlett responded with four points each in the half. Outpacing the Bisons, the Huskies were led by guard Carly Ahlstrom. The third-year player put up 17 points in the first half, leading the Huskies to a 43-22 lead at halftime.

In the third, the Huskies continued to dominate, putting up 27 points in the quarter. Trailing by 30 points heading into the fourth, the Bisons were still shut down by the Huskies’ defence.

Without enough time to mount a comeback, the Bisons fell 94-50 to the eastern division leaders.

Speaking on her team’s dominant win, Ahlstrom said it was her team’s goal to have a dominant weekend in preparation for the upcoming Canada West playoff tournament.

“I think that our team had some goals going into this weekend,” said Ahlstrom.

“We’ve still got some big competition ahead so we’re just making sure that we’re doing the little things now in preparation and hopefully we can play our best when it matters most.”

Saturday marked the final home game Taylor Randall and Deidre Bartlett would play as Bisons. Prior to tip-off, fifth-year Randall was excited to play her final game in front of the Investors Group Athletic Centre crowd and work on her team’s game in preparation for the Canada West playoff tournament in March.

“It feels really special. I’m super excited to just go out and have some fun and just kind of take it all in,” said Randall.

“I think we’ve worked really hard all season and not every game has gone our way, but we know we have the pieces and we know that when we play good, we can compete against any team.”

The Bisons made a much more concerted effort in game two. After finishing down by 11 at the end of the first quarter, the Bisons began to rally in the second. Randall drained a pair of threes and Lauren Bartlett notched four points, helping close on the Huskies lead. Down by two heading into the fourth, the Bisons continued to hammer away at the Huskies’ defence. With less than a minute left,

Agar laid a bucket in for the herd to make it a one-possession game. After a time-out, the Bisons had the ball on offence with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, the herd was unable to capitalize, missing two chances in a row and subsequently turning the ball over to hand the Huskies the final game of the weekend 58-55. Randall scored a team-high of 16 points, making the most of her final home game as a Bison.

photos / Matthew Merkel / staff

U of M basketball teams lost final home games of Canada West season

On the men’s side, Friday night’s game was a back-and-forth affair. The first quarter saw both teams trading buckets, with the Huskies leading by three after 10 minutes. Appearing a bit out of sync in the first quarter, the Bisons’ offence began to click in the second. Leading the charge for the herd were Risto Zimbakov — who hit three shots from beyond the arc — and James Wagner, who added eight points and two rebounds to help give the Bisons an eight-point lead at the end of the quarter.

Each team kept pace with the other in the third, with the Bisons leading by four heading into the fourth.

Although the herd attempted to increase its lead, the Huskies’ defence did its best to shut the team down.

On the other side of the court, Huskie guard Marquavian Stephens caught fire, knocking down a three and going hard in the paint to lay one in and tie the game. After teammate Emmanuel Akintunde scored on a fast break to give the Huskies the lead, Stephens scored on all nine of his free throws in the quarter, giving Stephens a teamhigh of 25 points on the night and the Huskies a 66-61 win.

Prior to tip-off the following day, graduating Bison players Zimbakov, Cameron O’Hara, Keiran Zziwa and James Wagner were all honoured as they were also playing their final Bison home games.

Once the game started, Zimbakov got the herd off to a good start, draining three threes early to get the offence rolling. However, the Huskies quickly took over the game, stealing momentum and the lead from the Bisons. The Huskies limited the herd to four more points in the quarter and put up 24 of its own. The team continued its torrential pace in the second, scoring at will and gaining a 22-point lead with less than four minutes left, its largest of the game.

In the second half, Bisons Zziwa and Wagner attempted to close the lead, but the Huskies continued to score at will, winning a fast-paced game 83-68.

The Bisons women’s and men’s teams’ next two games are against the Brandon University Bobcats Feb. 11 and 18, the final two matches of the Canada West regular season.

sports@themanitoban.com

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From our archives 100 years ago

Diversions

G. De Sanctis. 183?. Esemplare di alfabeti diversi fregiati di fiori, di animali e di altri ornati. Naples.

Got graphics? Create ccartoons? email graphics@themanitoban.com for info!

I don’t know whether the “Don’t repeat the claim in the headline debunking it” thing works or not, but it

definitely makes reading the news weird.

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No. 561

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