On Jan. 6, Justin Trudeau announced his decision to resign as prime minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Party of Canada after nearly a decade in power. Trudeau will continue to serve as leader of the party and as prime minis-
ter until a nation-wide leadership race concludes on March 9.
Speaking outside his official residence at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau delivered a speech in both English and French, reflecting on his tenure and future.
“Every morning I’ve woken up as prime minister, I’ve been inspired by the resilience, the generosity and the determination of Canadians,” said Trudeau. “It is the driving force of every single day I have the privilege of serving in this office.”
He said that since 2015, he has focused on key initiatives such as supporting the middle class, advancing reconciliation, standing in solidarity with Ukraine and tackling climate change.
Trudeau also acknowledged recent challenges, cit-
ing a prolonged session of a minority government and “internal battles” as factors influencing his decision. He shared that his family played a significant role in his reflections over the holidays.
CBC looking to hear issues of student importance
Milan Lukes, staff
CBC Manitoba will be at the U of M each weekday from Monday, Jan. 20 to Friday, Jan. 31 to hear issues that matter to students. This initiative is part of Communities in Focus, a community news bureau project that intends to hear stories from Manitobans and share them with others in the province.
“Here at CBC Manitoba, we recognize that we need to do a better job at reflecting underrepresented groups,” said Nadia Kidwai, senior producer of CBC Manitoba’s Community Connection. Through Communities in Focus, a team
from the CBC Manitoba’s newsroom goes to a community to spend time and meet with members to hear the stories that they want to tell.
“We have no agenda, we’re not going in response to something,” said Kidwai.
Kidwai explained that Communities in Focus has concentrated on geographical locations, but is now focused on
important to you, what matters to you.”
“We want to do a better job at reflecting and understanding what stresses you out, what’s important to you, what matters to you”
—
CBC Manitoba will be setting up a remote studio in the UMSU University Centre fireside lounge where they will be filming and broadcasting live.
Nadia Kidwai, senior producer of CBC Manitoba’s Community Connection
“It’s really to build trust, and really for us to do a better job in getting to know the communities that we are meant to reflect and meant to represent.”
OHRCM annual report
Three-fold increase in formal complaints
year, same me
are resolutions so hard to keep?
an age demographic that is underrepresented — Gen Z.
“We want to do a better job at reflecting and understanding what stresses you out, what’s
“There’s going to be tons of other people from the newsroom coming on different days,” stated Kidwai, who will be there for the whole two weeks in addition to CBC Manitoba journalist Gavin Axelrod and
videographer Travis Golby.
On Jan. 20, a welcome event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., where CBC Manitoba and the U of M community will introduce themselves. Free lunch will be provided for up to 500 students.
Kidwai will be holding community office hours on Jan. 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 31 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. where students can drop by without cameras and microphones to share their story or question with CBC Manitoba. Shared stories during office hours may amount to future stories
photo courtesy of / University of Manitoba
Justin Trudeau visits with students at the U of M’s Fort Garry campus on April 12, 2023.
Cont’d p. 3 / On <
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Milan Lukes editor@themanitoban.com
BUSINESS MANAGER Alice Teufack accounts@themanitoban.com
BUSINESS SUPPORT MANAGER Joshua Herold ads@themanitoban.com
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Devvrat Nathwani social@themanitoban.com
REPORTERS
NEWS Ngozi Okose
NEWS Taycie Adeoti
RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Divyata Gosai
COMMENT Quinn Mayhew
COMMENT Thandeka Katsika
ARTS & CULTURE Boris Tsun Hang Leung
ARTS & CULTURE Carrington Dong
SPORTS Faiyaz Chowdhury
SPORTS Israel Abejoye
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interested in volunteering?
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The Manitoban is the official student newspaper of the University of Manitoba. It is published monthly during the summer and each week of regular classes during the academic year by the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation.
The Manitoban is an independent and democratic student organization, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens.
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The newspaper’s primary mandate is to report fairly and objectively on issues and events of importance and interest to the students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expression and exchange of opinions and ideas and to stimulate meaningful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be of interest to the student body and/ or society in general. The Manitoban serves as a training ground for students interested in any aspect of journalism.
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Any individual who qualifies as a volunteer staff member must be voted in by a majority vote at a Manitoban editorial board meeting. Elected representatives and non-students may be excluded from holding votes as volunteer staff members in accordance with the Manitoban Constitution.
On Dec. 16, Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister and deputy prime minister following weeks at odds with Prime Minister Trudeau, according to a publicly shared letter. Over 20 Liberal MPs had publicly said that Trudeau should resign leading up to the announcement, includ-
‘internal battles’ and personal reflection as rationale
ing Ben Carr on Jan. 3, the only Manitoba Liberal MP to call for Trudeau to step down. Trudeau expressed confidence in the Liberal Party’s future during his resignation speech, adding that “this country deserves a real choice in the next election.” He reassured Canadians that the government would continue
to focus on strengthening the post-pandemic economy and addressing Canada’s interest on a global scale.
“If I have one regret, particularly as we approach this election […] I do wish that we’d been able to change the way we elect our governments in this country so that people could choose a second choice
or a third choice on the same ballot,” he said.
Trudeau also mentioned that Governor General Mary Simon granted his request to prorogue Parliament until March 24.
Trudeau was elected leader of the Liberal Party in April 2013 and first formed government on Oct. 19, 2015, leading
his party to re-election in 2019 and 2021.
Since his resignation, the three major opposition parties have all pledged to bring down the minority government at the earliest opportunity. The next federal election is slated to occur in October 2025 at the latest.
CBC Manitoba will be at the Fort Garry campus from Jan. 20 to Jan. 31
< Cont’d from front page
covered by CBC Manitoba.
Panel discussions moderated by Kidwai consisting of a few students giving their perspectives on topics will occur on Thursday, Jan. 23 and Thursday, Jan. 30 from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on YouTube.
“It’s meant to be much more unfiltered, relaxed, not like a typical CBC interview — just a bit more chill,” said Kidwai.
Winnipeg’s weekday drivehome show, Up to Speed, will be broadcast live on campus on Wednesday, Jan. 22 and
Wednesday, Jan. 29 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. CBC Manitoba encourages students to drop by, watch the show and enjoy a coffee and donut.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, there will be a CBC Asks Townhall that aims to look at the primary issues facing international students today.
In November 2024, CBC Manitoba spent two weeks exploring the issues that matter to Gen Z students at Red River College Polytechnic.
“This is really important now for a public broadcaster to really fulfill [its] man-
date, to reflect and represent all demographics, all political thinking,” said Kidwai. “I would just really encourage everyone at the U of M to make the most of this opportunity and come hang out and chat with us.”
CBC Manitoba wants to hear your ideas for topics to discuss on the panel discussions occurring on Thursday, Jan. 23 and Thursday, Jan. 30. What matters to you? What are you talking about with your friends? Text 204296-0846.
U of M’s new engineering department, first of its kind
Faculty
of engineering to establish standalone engineering education department
Sylvester Delali Agbado, staff
The U of M is set to introduce a new standalone department within the Price faculty of engineering, focusing on engineering education.
In an interview with Marcia Friesen, professor and dean of the Price faculty of engineering, she disclosed that the proposal for the department was approved at the university’s November 2024 senate meeting and subsequently passed by the board of governors at their December meeting.
Friesen mentioned that the Price faculty of engineering has longstanding departments such as biosystems, civil, mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. In addition to these, the faculty has the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education, commonly referred to as “the Centre,” since 2014.
Friesen said that the new department will maintain its position within the faculty and will operate alongside the other departments. It will continue the mandate and cap -
ture the scope of the former Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education without requiring additional resources or making changes to existing structures.
She mentioned that there were no plans to introduce an undergraduate program within the new department. However, the faculty intends to expand its focus on graduate-level education in engineering education with the goal of establishing standalone graduate programs, such as a master’s and a PhD in engineering education.
Friesen also touched on the ability of the new department to provide significant opportunities for faculty members and students. For faculty members, “it provides them with an academic home,” which is essential for career development, tenure and promotion, said Friesen. The department will enable faculty members to work collaboratively with colleagues in their field, build research teams and supervise graduate
students.
She said that the department will give graduate students the opportunities to pursue studies directly aligned with their interests in engineering education. In addition, it will allow students to obtain formal recognition of their work in engineering education, providing clarity and alignment between their studies and their degrees.
For undergraduate students, the department will continue to deliver core engineering courses. These courses will be assigned to faculty members who are trained and experienced in engineering education to ensure a better alignment between teaching expertise and subject matter in the department.
Friesen added that the Price faculty of engineering’s newly established department of engineering education will also continue its collaboration with industry partners as it already has several agreements in place with various industry sectors.
She revealed that currently,
the department hosts an aerospace engineer-in-residence and a manufacturing engineer-in-residence. These professionals bring extensive industry experience, which they integrate into the curriculum through various methods, and their contributions include teaching, mentoring senior capstone design groups and student design teams to participate in national and international competitions.
Friesen mentioned that the standalone department of engineering education is the first of its kind in Canada, pla-
cing the university at the forefront of this emerging discipline.
“We’re the first such department in Canada, certainly not the first in North America. The United States has a number of these standalone departments at some big schools like Virginia Tech and Purdue and a number of others, but we are the first in Canada and we’ve always been pushing at the forefront of this field.
“This is just another evolution of that, that we should be proud of,” she concluded.
photo / Ebunoluwa Akinbo / staff
photo / Nishcal Karki / staff
U of M top leadership claimed nearly $200K in travel and business expenses last fiscal year, records show
VP of research and international accounted for more than 50 per cent of all expenses
Milan Lukes, staff
Expense reports for the university’s president and five vice-presidents for the entire 2023-24 fiscal year are now available on the university’s website. The presidential expenses, which constitute “travel, hospitality and other business expenses incurred in the performance of their responsibilities,” totaled $193,009.49 between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024.
Of the presidential expense reports, vice-president (research and international) Mario Pinto was reimbursed for the largest sum by the university during the recent fiscal year totaling $106,750.48 — the majority of expenses ($82,327.33) being classified as airfare and other transportation.
Pinto’s expenses included community partners and stakeholders’ meetings across
Canada and in Morocco and Denmark (twice each), as well as the Philippines, Kenya and Singapore. The single largest airfare expense was to participate in the East Greenland Ice-Core Project in Denmark in July 2023 which totaled $16,973.15. Pinto also billed the university for $3,254.99 in meals — the most in that category compared to the other vice-presidents and the university’s president.
Pinto’s duties and responsibilities under The Vice President (Research and International) Procedure include “[raising] the profile of research within the immediate and larger communities” and to “solicit new funding opportunities, leverage existing funding and maximize the external resource that can be brought to the university in support of its research programs.”
Presidential expenses for the 2023-24 fiscal year
Michael Benarroch, the university’s president and vice-chancellor, incurred the second highest costs for the fiscal year, amounting to $37,563.13 which was most frequently categorized as community partners and stakeholders’ meetings. Other expenses included a total of $3,300 to the Manitoba Club in membership dues and $269.01
Cont’d on next page <
President and vice-presidents
Note: Presidential expenses for Catherine Cook and Angie Bruce are absent from the figure as their vice-president (Indigenous) appointment at the university did not span the entire 2023-24 fiscal year.
graphic / Milan Lukes / staff
< Cont’d from previous page
for the “purchase of AirPods to participate in private meetings in [a] public setting,” according to the report.
“The university shall pay reasonable fees and expenses for memberships by the president in clubs and associations where membership is related to the performance of the duties of the president, provided such membership fees and expenses have been pre-approved by the president’s oneover-one,” according to the Presidential Expenses Policy.
The president’s one-overone who provides approval for presidential expenses is the chair of the board of governors, unless the expenses create a real or potential conflict of interest.
As president, Benarroch is tasked to “exercise general supervision over and direction of the operation of the university including its academic work, staff, students and business affairs,” per the President Policy.
Expenses of Diane Hiebert-Murphy, provost and vice-president (academic), largely related to professional development, with the largest expense being a fiveday trip to Iceland to present a research paper at the European Conference on Domestic
Violence — totaling $4,900.79.
Hiebert-Murphy’s responsibilities include “providing overall leadership for the strategic development, implementation and oversight of the university’s academic and academic administrative matters/activities” and “fostering teaching and learning excellence with a focus on innovation, support and creativity.”
During the recently concluded fiscal year, vice-president (administration) Naomi Andrew’s most frequent expenditures were classified as professional development and membership costs. Andrew, who holds a law degree from the U of M, incurred $4,955.44 in expenses for professional insurance dues to the Law Society of Manitoba. Since being appointed as the university’s vice-president (administration) in March 2021, she has billed the university for over $9,500 in professional dues and fees to the Law Society of Manitoba.
“The University of Manitoba recognizes the value of supporting professional memberships when they contribute to an employee’s ability to perform their duties effectively,” said the university in a statement. “These memberships help staff maintain industry standards,
stay informed on developments within their fields and enhance the university’s operations. Decisions regarding which memberships are covered are made at the unit level, based on the relevance and benefit to the employee’s role and responsibilities.”
Andrew’s procedural responsibilities include providing “overall leadership for the strategic development, administration, implementation and oversight of the university’s short and long term administrative activities and all financial, business, property, security and investment interests of the university.”
Expenses of vice-president (external) Vanessa Koldingnes were mainly noted as donor relations meetings which included a trip to Palm Springs, Calgary and two trips each to Vancouver and Toronto.
Koldingnes’s responsibilities include “to provide overall leadership for the strategic development, implementation and oversight of the university’s short and long term external relations activities and coordinate efforts that maximize good will and financial benefits to the institution.”
The largest expense billed to the university by vice-president (Indigenous) Angie Bruce
was “registration fees for grad studies (PhD) course from Nipissing in sustainable education” on Feb. 15, 2024 totaling $1,894.89. Bruce, who was appointed as the university’s vice-president (Indigenous) two weeks earlier, is described as a current PhD candidate at Nipissing University on the U of M’s website.
The remaining expenses by Bruce include attending community partners and stakeholders’ meetings and a professional development conference.
Her portfolio responsibilities include to “provide overall leadership for the strategic development, implementation and oversight of the university’s Indigenous achievement and engagement activities.”
According to the university’s Presidential Expenses Policy, the university’s president will be reimbursed by the university for legitimate business expenses. Vice-president expenses are reported in line with that policy, according to a spokesperson for the university.
“The president has a unique role within the university that includes an enhanced responsibility to develop and sustain positive and productive relationships with a variety of leaders, partners, organ-
izations and sectors,” reads the policy. “The president has discretion to fulfil these responsibilities as necessary and appropriate to further the university’s objectives.”
The policy indicates that expenses eligible for reimbursement can include but are not limited to professional development and professional membership fees, certain hospitality expenses, employee functions and travel-related costs such as airfare, accommodations and meals.
“All presidential expenses will be disclosed in a quarterly report available to the public on the university website,” according to the policy, which also states that the university is committed to “responsible oversight and prudent stewardship of public funds.”
“The report shall include the date, nature and purpose of the expenses incurred” and “shall include all presidential expenses, regardless of the method of payment, except those paid from research funds.”
To view the complete presidential expense reports for the 2023-24 fiscal year, visit umanitoba.ca/governance/ accountability-and-transparency.
photo / Nischal Karki / staff
OHRCM recorded 91 complaints during fiscal year
Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management recorded three-fold increase in formal complaints
Taycie Adeoti, staff
The Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management (OHRCM) recently released its annual report, covering the reporting period of the latest fiscal year — spanning from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.
According to the report, the OHRCM is dedicated to building a diverse and equitable working and learning environment by collaborating with faculty, student services and administrative offices, to establish a respectful, discrimination-free environment that is based on the Manitoba Human Rights Code.
The OHRCM’s mandate focuses on addressing and preventing discrimination, harassment and sexual violence by administrating policies such as the university’s Respectful Work and Learning Environment (RWLE) Policy, Sexual Violence Policy and the Disclosures and Complaints Policy.
The OHRCM promises confidentiality to individuals who wish to discuss their con-
cerns, while providing advice and access to resolution processes, including mediation, conflict coaching and formal investigations.
During the 2023-24 reporting period, a total of 91 complaints were recorded, including 55 informal complaints and 36 formal complaints.
Fifty of the recorded complaints were reported allegations of prohibited conduct under the RWLE and Sexual Violence Policy. Most of these complaints included human rights-based harassment and discrimination, personal harassment, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Nineteen of the 50 complaints of prohibited conduct under the RWLE and the Sexual Violence Policy were resolved using an informal resolution process, according to the report.
Informal resolutions include mediation or facilitated conversations, apologies, conflict coaching, impact statements, expectation letters or restorative justice pro-
cesses.
During the previous reporting period, the 2022-23 fiscal year, a total of 102 complaints were recorded, consisting of 90 informal complaints and 12 formal complaints. The recent report denotes a three-fold increase in formal complaints received compared to the previous reporting period.
The 36 formal complaints processed in the 2023-24 fiscal year consisted of 11 human rights-based complaints, 10 complaints involving multiple categories, eight personal harassment complaints, five complaints categorized as “other,” one sexual harassment complaint and one sexual assault complaint.
Of the formal complaints, 20 complaints did not proceed to investigation, while the remaining 16 proceeded to an investigation, including four that were carried out from the previous year. Formal complaints under investigation are typically completed within 90 working days of the case being assigned to
an investigator, according to the report.
Breaches of the RWLE and/ or Sexual Violence Policy were found in four of the sixteen formal complaints that proceeded to an investigation, no breach was found in two complaints, one complaint was withdrawn and one was resolved informally. No decisions were made yet in eight complaints at the time of reporting. For the recording period of 2023-24, students represented most of the for-
mal complainants while staff and faculty represented most of the respondents. Complaints were also received from external staff, the general community, alumni and individuals that assume various roles at the U of M.
For more information on the OHCRM, including access to the 2023-24 annual report and contact details, visit umanitoba.ca/humanrights-and-conflict-management.
Campus initiative: Sexual Violence Resource Centre
Centre provides safe, inclusive support for people affected by sexual violence
Iyanda Ajuwon, staff
For students, faculty and staff on campus who have been affected by sexual violence, the Sexual Violence Resource Centre (SVRC) on the Fort Garry campus remains open to provide assistance.
The SVRC is a resource at the university that was established to provide a safe, confidential and inclusive space for people affected by sexual violence, offering them the support they need to thrive academically and personally.
The centre’s mandate is to assist those affected by sexual violence and to educate the campus community about the topic.
The SVRC assists people affected by sexual violence by using trauma-informed and survivor-centered approaches, according to the university’s website. The centre also assesses what people affected by sexual violence need, clarifies their options, identifies their next steps and coordinates plans to support them. They further assist by helping to find alternate living arrangements, employment,
course accommodation and food security, ensuring that people get the help they need.
In terms of building awareness on campus about sexual violence, the SVRC encourages prevention and education initiatives to the community by hosting open discussions through workshops.
The SVRC hosts a healthy relationship workshop, a responding to sexual violence disclosure workshop and sexual violence awareness online modules.
The healthy relationship workshop is an in-person workshop that is used to build a culture of consent on campus. It provides students with practical knowledge about consent, sexual violence and personal boundaries, emphasizing university-related relationships and campus community responsibilities.
The responding to sexual violence disclosure workshop is a three-hour workshop that covers the key elements of responding to disclosures of an incident and introduces the current U of M Sexual Violence Policy.
It also includes interactive components with scenarios for practice, and it guides staff, faculty and students on providing compassionate, supportive and consistent responses to such disclosures.
The sexual violence awareness online modules were created by the university to help provide the community with fundamental knowledge about sexual violence.
These modules address key topics, such as a community values statement, an overview of sexual violence policies and
procedures and discussions on consent, power dynamics and conflicts of interest.
They also focus on debunking common myths about sexual violence and offer an introduction to the Sexual Violence Support and Education website.
Individuals experiencing issues such as assault, harassment or abuse in their relationships are encouraged to reach out to the SVRC.
The centre is located in room 537 at UMSU University Centre and operates Mon-
day to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Drop-in hours are on Mondays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
For those unable to visit the SVRC in-person, remote options such as phone and email support are also available. To contact the SVRC, email svrc@umanitoba.ca or phone 204-474-6562.
photo courtesy of / University of Manitoba
photo / Nischal Karki / staff
Including or containing people from many different countries.
February 12
4:30-7:30PM
MODELS & PERFORMERS
Interested in being part of the event?
Showcase your cultural attire in our fashion show or bring your solo or group performance to the stage! We’re looking for models and talented performers to celebrate diversity and creativity.
Research & Technology
Indigenous education at U of M: Language and curriculum
The examination of Indigenous curriculum development and language preservation
Divyata Gosai, staff
F rank Deer is a professor of Indigenous education at the U of M’s faculty of education.
“I am a schoolteacher by trade,” he said. “I taught elementary school in the far north of Manitoba as well as the inner city of Winnipeg.”
His research began during his PhD in educational administration at the University of Saskatchewan, where he studied citizenship education for Indigenous students.
“At the time, citizenship education became really important,” he said. “I immediately began wondering about the manner through which citizenship education may be understood as something that might be important to Indigenous peoples.”
Over time, his research broadened from social studies education to investigating how Indigenous knowledge is utilized across various disciplines.
The level of integration of Indigenous perspectives into academic disciplines varies, with subjects like language, literacy, history and social studies more easily incorporating such knowledge. More so, Deer acknowledged the ongoing debate about the applications of Indigenous perspectives in fields such as chemistry, physics and music.
Deer’s research explores how primary and secondary schools, school districts and provincial authorities incorporate Indigenous perspectives, emphasizing meaningful engagement for children and youth with First Nations, Inuit and Métis histories.
In 2024, Deer completed a Canada Research Chair as a faculty member, focusing on Indigenous language education, a developing field that schools are increasingly interested in.
“If one pays attention to the hopes and dreams of Indigenous peoples and communities, certainly across Canada […] there are concerns about where our languages are and are they in danger of disappearing?” he said. “Is there something we can do at the community level and at the school level to be doing that?”
In addition to language preservation, Deer’s recent research has explored the role of spirituality and religious orientations in Indigenous education.
“[When] schools invite Indigenous communities into their classroom communities, the religious and spiritual orientations of Indigenous peoples don’t just inform those exercises, but they actually become quite essential components of it,” he said.
“How often have we borne
want to know what’s worthwhile exploring for educators and students about Indigenous peoples and communities?”
Language preservation, Deer explained, is a growing issue that will hold increasing relevance over time.
He stressed the importance of exploring the rationale behind inviting Indigenous Elders and knowledge keepers into school and university communities.
“The actions that we initiate now ought to be understood as not just having benefit for me or my children, but seven generations in the future”
— Frank Deer, professor in the U of M’s faculty of education
Deer examined the administrative dimensions of supporting Indigenous language education.
witness to ceremony occurring in and around schools?
How often do we hear about the importance of spiritual orientations, when people
Deer emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of Indigenous language education, highlighting collaboration between the faculty of education and the department of Indigenous studies in the faculty of arts. The faculty of arts recently hired a department head with expertise in Indigenous language issues
and is developing programming for Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) and Cree languages.
The faculty of education at U of M offers a post-degree program, where students complete an arts or science degree before pursuing a two-year education degree. This creates an opportunity to strengthen Indigenous language education, as students with language skills can train as teachers and return to their communities, where such programs are in high demand.
However, the shortage of fluent speakers remains a significant challenge.
“We’re still at a point where there are precious few fluent speakers to support some of the things that the faculty of arts is trying to achieve and what we’re trying to achieve.”
Addressing this requires long-term collaboration between the university and the province to increase the number of fluent Indigenous language educators, a process that will take years of commit-
ment.
“We have to have what some people refer to as a seven generations approach,” he said.
“The actions that we initiate now ought to be understood as not just having benefit for me or my children, but seven generations in the future.”
Deer continued, “I would simply encourage the university community to devote some time and some effort and maybe even some emotional energy to the notion of what Indigenous engagement means to us as a university community.”
Deer expressed his appreciation for the U of M higher administration supporting Indigenous engagement by facilitating the hiring of Indigenous faculty and enhancing efforts to recruit Indigenous students.
“We can’t explore Indigenous engagement or university without having people at the table who will help us to have that journey,” he said. “Nothing about us, without us.”
graphic / Teegan Gillich / staff
The lifelong burdens of child maltreatment
U of M professor examines the lasting legacies of child maltreatment
Rhea Bhalla, staff
Child maltreatment is a widespread issue with severe and lasting consequences. According to the World Health Organization, six in 10 children under the age of five regularly suffer physical and psychological violence from parents and caregivers. Twenty per cent of women and 14 per cent of men report childhood sexual abuse.
Tracie Afifi, professor in the U of M’s Max Rady college of medicine, conducts research in the areas of child maltreatment and mental health.
“I always knew that I wanted to work in the area of children and childhood and to do something to improve the lives of children,” Afifi said.
“I started with focusing on — this was about 20 years ago now — really understanding the negative associations with being exposed to trauma and violence in childhood.”
In one 2011 study, Afifi found that child maltreatment is associated with increased rates of mental disorders, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts that continue
into adulthood. Children who experience maltreatment earlier in life are especially at risk of mental health disorders. Notably, certain disorders occur more commonly in men who experience childhood maltreatment (e.g., antisocial behaviour), while others are more prevalent in women (e.g., depression, PTSD, substance use disorders).
Another study led by Afifi examined the impact of spanking, which despite being a relatively common and legal form of discipline in North America, has been banned in 59 countries worldwide as of 2020. Afifi’s study determined that not only was childhood spanking closely linked to physical and emotional abuse, but it was associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts, moderate to heavy drinking and street drug use in adulthood.
a continuum of violence against children rather than as separate constructs,” Afifi and her co-authors stated.
“It is important to help parents avoid physical punishment and instead use safe and effective ways to discipline and guide their children.”
Physical punishment,
about physical health, which pushed her to examine the physical health outcomes of maltreated children.
“If we can protect kids and youth when they’re young, it has a greater impact on their well-being across the lifespan”
— Tracie Afifi, professor in the U of M’s Max Rady college of medicine
including spanking, may also increase a child’s risk of experiencing or perpetrating intimate partner violence later in life. Maltreatment can also be intergenerational, meaning those who are maltreated as children are more likely to maltreat not only their intimate partners, but their children.
“Spanking and child physical abuse […] exist along
Afifi noted while much of the early research in child maltreatment examines mental health, less is known
In a study published by Statistics Canada, Afifi found that adults who suffered child maltreatment were more likely to experience obesity, arthritis, back problems, high blood pressure, migraine headaches, chronic bronchitis (inflammation of the airways that carry air to and from the lungs), cancer, strokes, bowel disease and chronic fatigue syndrome. For many physical health conditions, maltreated women were especially at risk.
Afifi’s recent research has taken a preventative focus.
“I wanted to go beyond understanding what the negative associations were and to try to understand protective factors and resilience,” she said. “Child maltreatment increases your likelihood of all these negative outcomes, but it doesn’t guaran-
tee it, so that means that some kids who are exposed to these things may not experience the negative outcomes.”
“How could we explain why some of these kids were doing better in adolescence or adulthood? Was it something personal within themselves? Was it within their home, their school or their community and society? So, how could we better understand that?”
Afifi found that individuals were more resilient after experiencing child maltreatment when they had otherwise stable family environments and supportive relationships. Further, individual factors such as optimism, internal locus of control (a person’s belief that they are in control of their lives), less self-blame and less self-destructive behaviour is also associated with resilience.
“If we can protect kids and youth when they’re young, it has a greater impact on their well-being across the lifespan,” Afifi said. “I think it’s really important that we’re always investing early on to help protect our children.”
graphic / Teegan Gillich / staff
Why we try (and fail) at New Year’s resolutions
The challenges of staying on track and how to overcome them
Thandi Vera, staff
It’s that time again — the New Year. A fresh calendar, new beginnings and a chance to set lofty goals for the months ahead. It is also the perfect moment for a bit of reflection. Did you crush last year’s goals? Or, like me, did you promise yourself the world and then fall off the wagon before February hit?
This annual tradition of setting resolutions — essentially promises to ourselves — has a long history. But let’s be honest, why are they so hard to keep?
Let’s start with some history because, believe it or not, New Year’s resolutions are not a modern invention.
The concept of New Year’s resolutions is older than you might think. In fact, it dates back nearly 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians, who marked the new year not in January, but in mid-March, tied to their planting season.
Their 12-day religious festival, Akitu, involved crowning new kings, reaffirming loyalty to rulers and promising their gods to repay debts or return borrowed items. Keeping these promises wasn’t just about integrity — it was believed to secure divine favour for the year ahead.
The Romans picked up the tradition under Julius Caesar, who established Jan. 1 as the start of the new year in 46 BCE. They dedicated the month to Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings, endings and transitions — a fitting symbol for reflection and resolutions.
Fast forward to the 18th century, when John Wesley, founder of Methodism, introduced Covenant Renewal Services. These gatherings focused on prayer, reflection and self-improvement, offering a spiritual alternative to boisterous New Year’s revelry. While these roots are steeped in religion, modern resolutions have become more secular and focused on personal growth — often tied to fitness, finances or productivity.
graphic / Teegan Gillich / staff
Why the struggle?
aged by how easily your New Year’s resolutions slip away, you’re not alone — and it’s not entirely your fault. The way we set goals influences the brain’s motivation system, and that can either help us or hinder us in our quest for change.
Maybe the answer isn’t about sticking to some rigid, ancient tradition but finding a way to make resolutions meaningful
Here’s the kicker, despite thousands of years of tradition, we’re still terrible at sticking to our resolutions. According to Baylor College of Medicine, 88 per cent of people abandon their goals before January is over. The second Friday of the month has even been nicknamed “Quitter’s Day” by Fortune, as it’s when most people throw in the towel.
Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, in his book Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days, chalks it up to three main reasons: lack of specificity, negative framing and misaligned goals. Vague resolutions like “exercise more” or “lose weight” are hard to track. Instead, setting clear, measurable goals — like running a specific race or losing 10 pounds by a set date — can make a world of difference. Also, negative framing such as, “stop wasting money” or “quit junk food,” tends to backfire too. Positive reframing — “save $50 weekly” or “snack on healthy foods” — is far more motivating. Lastly, goals that aren’t aligned with personal values or circumstances (hello, trendy diets!) are doomed from the start. Authenticity is always key.
If you’ve ever felt discour-
According to a Forbes article, when we focus on approach-oriented goals, like “eat more fresh fruits and vegetables” or “exercise three times a week,” it engages the brain’s reward system. This is the part of your brain that releases dopamine — the chemical tied to pleasure and motivation.
The beauty of approach-oriented goals is that even small victories feel rewarding, keeping you motivated to push forward. It is like that little rush of joy when you eat a delicious salad or hit your step count goal. Your brain is cheering you on, and you get a boost of motivation to continue.
On the other hand, avoidance-oriented goals — such as “stop procrastinating” or “quit
smoking” — can activate the brain’s stress response. This involves the amygdala, the part of your brain that deals with processing emotions and fear. When you focus on avoiding something, it creates pressure, leading to negative feelings like guilt and frustration. These emotions can actually drain your motivation, making it harder to keep going.
In short, how you frame your goals matters. Approach goals create positive feelings that make it easier to stick with your resolutions. Avoidance goals, on the other hand, can trigger a range of negative emotions, making you feel like you’re always running from something.
So, where does that leave me?
Reflecting on my own history with resolutions, I can confirm I’ve fallen into every one of those traps. I have set vague, overly ambitious goals and quickly abandoned them. I have tried resolutions that sounded good but weren’t rooted in what I truly wanted. And let’s be real, sometimes life just gets in the way.
Maybe the answer isn’t about sticking to some rigid, ancient tradition but finding a way to make resolutions meaningful. What if, instead of chasing an arbitrary goal like losing 10 pounds, we tied our resolutions to something deeper — something that genuinely resonates with our values and aspirations?
This year, I’m taking a different approach. I’m ditching the long list of goals and focusing on one or two meaningful intentions. No grand proclamations, no buzzwords, just small, actionable steps that feel authentic.
For instance, instead of resolving to “stop procrastinating” or “work harder,” I’m focusing on setting aside 30 minutes a day for something creative, like writing or learning a new skill. It’s a goal that’s specific, achievable and tied to something that excites me. And if it doesn’t work? Well, at least I’ll have learned something — and I’ll meet you back here next year with another attempt to figure it all out. After all, isn’t that what resolutions are really about?
OCD isn’t just quirky
Using OCD casually undermines the reality of mental health struggles
Quinn Mayhew, staff
There are a lot of misconceptions about obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is commonly shortened to OCD. Just because you like to clean does not necessarily mean you have OCD.
For as long as I’ve been old enough to know what OCD is, people all around me have been saying, “I’m just so OCD.” Even at the time before I was diagnosed with OCD, I couldn’t understand why people were using it when they did not have OCD.
While OCD is assumed to be an anxiety disorder surrounding cleaning, it can be about having to clean and wash, but it’s so much more than having to keep things clean. It’s about the compulsive thoughts of being contaminated, needing symmetry, arranging, fear of
harm and so much more than just cleaning and keeping a schedule.
I have had multiple friends who like to keep their schedules neat and their things organized who have dropped in a sentence, “this is just so OCD of me,” while giggling.
While they may find this funny to say, it isn’t. It is a massive pet peeve that irks me to no end. While cleaning may be a big part of some people’s OCD, it is often the obsessive thoughts of being contaminated and the urge to clean until your hands are rubbed raw that accompany the urge to clean.
It is getting trapped in a cycle of repetition and compulsions and compulsive thoughts such as, unless you unplug every electrical outlet in your house, your house
is going to burn down, killing everyone inside, thus leading to being convicted for manslaughter.
While this thought process might seem frivolous and stupid to some, this thought feels very real for people and individuals with OCD such as myself and multiple other people who suffer from OCD.
OCD takes a lot of time, and dealing with the daily compulsions is exhausting. So, if you have a loved one with OCD, try to be understanding that they can’t always be on time for you and not overthink things. They can’t help it.
OCD is not a personality quirk, it’s not quirky, it’s debilitating. OCD is incredibly creative in targeting fears or random things that bug you and turning them into very real-life compulsions.
To anyone who thinks they have OCD, I would say don’t be afraid to go get a diagnosis if you do think you have OCD, as it greatly affects your daily life and ability to socialize.
It is scary at first to get a diagnosis and it brings some relief that these compulsions of having to rearrange everything is not just because you’re crazy.
Many people with OCD suffer in silence and have a hard time telling people that what they’re going through is hard, and not just a weird thing that people say.
While writing this article, it dawned on me that, in theory, I should find this article easy to write because I have OCD and it should be easy to talk about, to bring awareness, but it isn’t. The stigma that OCD is quirky always follows people
who have it, that it’s something to joke about and “isn’t that bad.”
I want to urge people who do not have OCD to please stop using it in a joking sense because it’s not a joke, and I find it demeaning and undermining when people use it when they shouldn’t.
OCD is never easy to cope with, especially when it affects almost everything you love to do and makes it impossible to do it, or do anything really, without worrying about everything.
I would like to wrap this article up by saying that if you do like to clean and organize, please stop using OCD as a funny term when you generally just like to organize because it isn’t just organizing, it’s someone else’s mental health struggle.
graphic / Teegan Gillich / staff
The truth behind social media addiction
How social media companies control consumption
Thandeka Katsika, staff
I realized social media was becoming a problem for me when I sat down to watch Instagram Reels for what I thought was a few minutes and then checked the time only to find I had been mindlessly consuming content for hours.
My friends have had similar experiences with TikTok. We decided to open an app for a while to enjoy a bit of media, and before we knew it, we had lost an entire day to scrolling. Short-form content has a way of reeling people in and keeping them browsing senselessly without the ability to stop until they are completely drained. The Urban Dictionary calls this death scrolling.
ant to first understand why we do it.
Initially, I was tempted to think it might be because of a lack of discipline. Maybe I just did not have enough self-control. I allowed a tiny copper box to steal my time and control my day. But now I know discipline has very little to do with it.
ing videos produces feelings of pleasure, and so we watch countless Instagram Reels, YouTube shorts or TikToks in search of that feeling. And once we find a video we like, that dopamine is released, and the cycle starts over. Aza Raskin, the man who designed the infinite scroll, likened it to giving users “behavioural cocaine.”
To really appreciate the effects death scrolling has on the human brain, it is important to first understand why we do it
To really appreciate the effects death scrolling has on the human brain, it is import-
These apps are designed to keep you addicted. Social media engages the reward system of the brain. It causes a dopamine release. Dopamine is a chemical that causes feelings of pleasure. Naturally, our brains crave this feeling and want to repeat the actions that cause it. That is why we keep scrolling. Our brains know that watch-
Alongside this, these apps use an algorithm to generate the content we are shown. The algorithm’s input is the videos we express interest in, what we like, re-watch or comment on. It takes note of these things and then outputs similar content so that we continue to watch it. We are looking for a reward in our scrolling. Maybe it is a laugh from a funny video or news on our favourite influencers. Once we find it, we want more,
and the algorithm makes sure to give us more.
Social media companies take advantage of our brain’s chemical reactions to make a profit. Their goal is to keep people engaging with their apps for as long as possible, regardless of the negative consequences this has on people.
According to Sean Parker, Facebook’s founding president, the company manipulated the human psyche. All the inventors of the company were aware of this but went ahead with it anyway.
I believe spending outrageous hours on social media is not a result of flaws in our character. It is the result of companies using chemical reactions and human psychology to exploit people.
The most notable consequence of excessive social media consumption is the effect it has on mental health.
Extreme usage of social media is known to cause anx-
Burnout stole my love for reading
Academic life takes away the joy of reading for pleasure
India Schlegel, staff
Before I began university, I was an avid reader. I took pride in being able to lose myself in a book and come to find hours had passed. But slowly, through my academic career, reading a book felt like pulling teeth.
And I am not alone. Time and time again, I share my experience from book champ to book slump and find fellow reading veterans who just do not have the drive, the time or the focus to read for fun like they used to. So much of our time is taken up with academic reading, it leaves little time and energy for leisure reading.
I don’t think it is any coincidence that I have lost my drive for reading and personally experienced academic burnout within the past two years.
Academic burnout is characterized by emotional, physical and mental fatigue from long-term academic commitments. A study published in the journal BMC Medical Education found that more than half of their student participants experienced varying degrees of academic burnout. Symptoms of academic
burnout include insomnia, headaches, a lack of creativity or motivation and feeling disinterested and abandoning activities that once brought joy.
Leisure reading, once a source of joy and relaxation, often becomes a casualty of burnout. This loss of joy is stacked on top of other burnout symptoms, such as stress and lack of time. Reading slumps further isolate students from the benefits of leisure reading.
Recreational reading offers a wealth of benefits, from stress reduction to improved focus and working memory. This makes a burnout-induced reading slump a frustrating catch-22. Students trapped in cycles of burnout miss out on these advantages, further diminishing their mental and emotional well-being, and making it more difficult to indulge in a beneficial leisure reading routine.
Neglecting such activities deprives students of oppor-
iety, particularly in teenagers and young adults. It contributes to feelings of loneliness and comparisons. A constant stream of negative news can leave people feeling depressed. Studies have also shown that social media can affect how our memories are stored in our brains. Even though this overconsumption of media is not entirely our fault, it still affects our brains. I have come across some strategies to curb the effects of these apps. The most effective, in my opinion, is a regular three-day social media fast. Get a trusted friend to change all your passwords and tell them they can only give you the new passwords at the end of the fast. This strategy requires no extra effort outside of the initial desire to take a break from social media.
/ Fumnaya Ifeadi / staff
both academic and professional settings.
So much of our time is taken up with academic reading, it leaves little time and energy for leisure reading
tunities to recharge and develop skills beneficial in
Recovering from academic burnout requires intentional changes. And unfortunately, they are as predictable as you’d expect.
Try getting outside, enjoying physical activity and social time with friends. Additionally, scheduling leisure activities, like reading, can help reverse the effects of burnout. Reintegrating reading into daily routines, even for a few minutes, can provide stress relief and rekindle the joy of books. Ultimately, addressing burnout is about reclaiming balance. Even small changes can have profound impacts. Now — to pick a good book.
Diversions
To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column, and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely. In Straights, like Sudoku, no single number 1 to 9 can repeat in any row or column. But rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. Each compartment must form a “straight.” A straight is a set of numbers with no gaps but it can be in any order, eg [7,6,9,8]. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight. Glance at the solution to see how “straights” are formed.
Provided by: Teegan Gillich
Foodfight! and the appeal of abysmal art
A 2012 flop turned cult classic, Foodfight! lives on in infamy
Carrington Dong, staff
When Lawrence Kasanoff made plans in 1999 to direct an animated movie, his goal was to make his company, Threshold Entertainment, “the next Pixar.” The film, Foodfight!, assembled a star-studded cast and was planned for a December 2003 release.
However, production issues — including the theft of computer drives containing the film’s files — delayed its release until 2012. Since its debut, the movie has received an 11 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite a US$32 million budget, it earned just US$120,000 at the box office, marking it a flop. Foodfight! takes place in a supermarket that transforms into a vibrant city at night, populated by brand icons — “Ikes” — representing their respective products. The protagonist, Dex Dogtective (voiced by an unenthusiastic Charlie Sheen), is a cereal mascot and detective. He quits his detective work after the disappearance of his love interest, raisin mascot Sunshine Goodness (voiced by Hilary Duff). Six months later, more
mascots vanish following the arrival of Lady X (voiced by Eva Longoria), a femme fatale and the mascot for Brand X, an evil “no-name” brand. Brand X replaces the products of the missing Ikes, prompting Dex to don his detective hat once again.
The first thing that stands out about Foodfight! is its poor animation. Most of the characters have only one or two facial expressions. Even when Lady X is taking multiple punches to the face, her expression remains unchanged. What the characters lack in facial expressions, however, they make up for in bodily movement. Characters constantly flail their arms or spin unnecessarily, even during simple conversations. The final third of the movie even includes a nearly 10-minute section that almost solely consists of badly animated food and condiments being thrown and exploding.
Even with proper animation, the film’s poorly written script would have doomed it. Much of the dialogue includes puns like, “you cold-farted itch” and “frankly, my dear, I don’t give a spam.” The script
also includes numerous sexual innuendos, like, “are those melons real?” (referring to actual watermelons) and “I wanna scrub your bubbles, Dex,” and far too many fart jokes to count.
The film has also faced criticism for heavy product placement. Real-life brand mascots such as Mr. Clean and Charlie the Tuna make cameos, with several taking centre stage in promotional materials. Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, said, “if you want your kids to nag you and throw tantrums for products, this is the movie for you.”
Despite Foodfight!’s financial failure and poor reception, it has sparked interest over the years. The film’s poor box office performance and perceived lack of quality have made it popular for YouTube reaction videos, with reviews of the movie being posted on the website as recently as 2024.
Thus, there seems to be an audience for films that are perceived to be poor quality. The 2003 drama The Room is considered one of the worst films ever made yet has a cult following to this day. Popu-
lar YouTubers such as Alex Meyers and the Nostalgia Critic have made their entire brands off of reacting to polarizing or critically panned media. So, what makes these “bad” films appealing?
It should be noted that movies that are intentionally “bad” do not seem to have the same appeal. The appeal seems to come from the experience of knowing that the movie was intended to be good. This can lead audiences to wonder how the creators thought their work would be well-received. Watching such films often becomes a bonding experience, especially when shared with others. For instance, I watched Food-
Charles Joseph finds joy in his art and family
Kwakwaka’wakw
Carrington Dong, staff
Charles Joseph, also known as Boone, is an artist and a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation. Based in Williams Lake, B.C., he has spent much of his life on Canada’s West Coast, creating totem poles, masks and canoes. Alongside his artwork, he supports his family through fishing and logging.
In November 2024, Joseph shared his life story and insights into his art during episode 29 of The Exchange w/ Erik Mora podcast. His art, which celebrates his Kwakwaka’wakw heritage, draws deeply from the teachings of his family — particularly his grandparents and great-grandparents — and the influence of other artists.
“My grandparents and great-grandparents were very cultural people,” he said on the podcast.
Joseph is a residential school survivor. During his time there, he said he experienced countless abuses, “too numerous to name.” After leaving residential school, he turned to drugs and alcohol as
artist shares insights on art and life on
coping mechanisms. However, the guidance of his grandparents and great-grandparents gave him a chance to reconnect with his culture.
“I got lost for a while and then was really grateful to have a second chance in life,” he said. “To be able to see my great-grandparents still here in this world, and my grandparents, to continue teaching me […] what it was like to be cultural, how it made them feel […] I’m grateful that I’m able and allowed to be able to carve and speak my language.”
In recent years, Joseph has suffered personal loss, with many people in his life passing away. In January 2023, his wife, Frankie, died from liver failure. Just two weeks later, a fire destroyed his house and carving shed, leaving him and his children homeless. Much of his art was lost, as well as his tools and old artifacts from his family.
“I lost a lot of good art, and I lost all my tools, and a lot of old artifacts that I had from my great-grandparents […] that I never used anymore,
but held onto them just for the memories of how they were teaching me,” Joseph said.
To help Joseph rebuild, a GoFundMe campaign was organized by his friend, Dr. Jordan Peterson. As of January 2025, the fundraiser is still ongoing.
Amidst all the loss, Joseph has allowed himself time to grieve, so that he can continue his work. Each morning, he allows himself time to grieve before waking up his children. He often lights candles and smudges, while thinking about his lost loved ones. He said that by doing this, he can work without carrying any negative emotions and does not feel stuck in his grief.
Above all, it is Joseph’s children and family that keep him going.
“The love and the strength they have and how much they show it to me is what keeps me going every day,” Joseph said of his kids. “Waking up and seeing their big smiles, and saying, ‘love you dad, with all my heart,’ that’s what makes me feel good every day […] the power of seeing true love com-
fight! with my sister. While neither of us enjoyed the film, we enjoyed discussing it and trying to make sense of it together. There can be bonding in experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant. Although I cannot call Foodfight! a “good” movie, I enjoyed piecing together how it came to be. It is fascinating to think that a film intended to rival major animation studios ended up as a cult curiosity. While it did not achieve Kasanoff’s vision, people are still talking about it over a decade later. In that sense, can it truly be called a failure?
The Exchange podcast
“Crooked beak” by Charles Joseph
ing from them […] You show each other that kind of love and it gets shown back to you.” Joseph’s work has gained international recognition, with pieces displayed worldwide. One of his creations — a totem honouring residential school survivors — was originally displayed in Montreal and is now installed at Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park. Even after 30 years of creating, art remains a passion for Joseph rather than a chore. “That’s why it’s still my hobby today, 30 years later,” he said. “You
know, I love what I’m doing. I love it because it reminds me of when I was a young boy watching my dad and my grandfather […] enjoying their lives as an artist […] I found what I love to do and I stuck to it.”
For more about Charles Joseph’s art, visit charlesnativeart.ca. To listen to his podcast episode, visit The Exchange w/ Erik Mora. To support Joseph and his family, visit gofundme.com/f/f9xny8a-new-beginning.
photo
courtesy of / charlesnativeart.ca
photo courtesy of / IMDb Foodfight! (2012)
Students and faculty to perform Every Freeze is Different Experience contemporary
Boris Tsun Hang Leung, staff
N
ext week, U of M stu-
dents and faculty will present Every Freeze is Different, a concert featuring contemporary music, improvisation and live digital visual art.
According to Victoria Sparks, an instructor of percussion at the university and one of the concert’s directors, Every Freeze is Different is part of a concert series called Re-Sound, which was created in partnership with the Winnipeg New Music Festival.
Performers include the U of M Percussion Ensemble, the U of M eXperimental Improv Ensemble and the Winnipeg Chamber Winds Collective. Students and faculty from the school of art will also create digital art in response to the music in real time.
Every Freeze is Different will start with “Threads,” a suite composed by American composer Paul Lansky. Sparks described it as a collaborative effort involving multiple art forms.
“We have an ensemble that’s called the eXperimental Improv Ensemble, and they work in the ways that you create music on the fly […] So what we’re going to do is, the percussion ensemble is going to play a short movement, maybe two or three minutes, and then the eXperimental Improv Ensemble is going to do a live improvised response to that movement. So we’re going to partner these four movements and four responses,” she said.
“And then this is where we’ve worked with the students from the school of art. So there’s two master students in the school of art, one has been assigned to the percussion ensemble and one to the eXperimental Improv Ensemble, and so the artwork will also be responsive back and forth between the two groups.”
Following “Threads,” the Winnipeg Chamber Winds Collective will perform three works by Canadian composers.
Jacquie Dawson, an associate professor in the Desautels faculty of music and the director of the collective, said she founded the ensemble a few years ago.
“I, a couple of years ago, established this professional chamber winds ensemble, which is comprised of professional musicians in the community […] musicians and professors at the faculty of music, and in addition, some recent graduates who are aspiring professional musicians,” Dawson said.
“The establishment of this
music and live digital visual art on the
Fort Garry campus
group immediately became affiliated with this Re-Sound project which Tori [Sparks] has a strong lead in, and so it just kind of organically unfolded to become a partnership, and the Re-Sound project became a logical and meaningful opportunity for this Winnipeg Chamber Winds Collective ensemble to engage in, and it kind of started to build from grassroots up. So that is where that partnership came to be.”
The collective will perform “The Great Flood,” a piece by Manitoban composers Karen Sunabacka and Joyce Clouston, based on a Cree creation story. An Elder will introduce the work to the audience.
The second piece is “Stone’s Throw,” composed by Jocelyn Morlock, a late Manitoban composer.
“‘Stone’s Throw’ is a minimalist work, celebrating the repetitiveness of women’s work, is how she describes it […] The stone’s throw is an allusion to the washboards
and the stones and doing the laundry, so the piece has a lot of cycles and rhythms that go and repeat. It’s really quite fascinating,” Sparks said.
The third piece is “Every Freeze is Different” by Yellowknife composer Carmen Braden, and it is accompanied with live digital artwork created by school of art faculty members Derek Brueckner, Mark Neufeld and Freya Björg Olafson. This piece is also the source for the concert’s title.
“In Manitoba, every winter has its own unique qualities and characteristics, so I think it’s just a great title for a winter program,” Sparks explained.
In addition to directing performances at the university, both Dawson and Sparks are involved in community outreach intiatives. They were able to make the concert free and expand the series beyond the campus thanks to funds provided by the university.
“This is the third year of the Re-Sound series, and this year we were able to grow the
project. We applied for a Strategic Initiative Support Fund from the U of M to expand the project, so instead of doing just the one evening concert, which we’ve done for the past two years, we’re doing the evening concert, but we’re also going to do four more performances, two in our concert hall and two off campus for school groups,” Sparks explained.
“We’re really excited to welcome up to six or seven hundred students onto campus on Jan. 29 for school programs, and then we’re also going to high schools in Selkirk and St. Laurent to give this performance in those communities as well.”
Additionally, Dawson noted the series’ focus on contemporary Canadian music.
“What we’re especially excited about with these programs is that, and in keeping with the U of M Strategic Initiatives Fund and our own mandate both with the Re-Sound series and the Win-
nipeg Chamber Winds, is that we’re really promoting Canadian content both by way of the composers themselves, who are all Canadian, but also the content of the music being performed,” Dawson added. Every Freeze is Different promises to be a multi-sensory experience for concertgoers.
“It is the first time we’ve collaborated with the school of art in the presentation of the works and the new ways of experiencing them. And bringing that experience to the audience through visual and musical art and to be doing that in the new [Desautels] hall is going to be a real celebration I think, and a wonderful experience for everyone,” Dawson said.
The concert will take place at the Desautels Concert Hall on Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m. with a reception at 9 p.m. Tickets are free, but registration at Showpass is recommended.
The team defeats Bobcats in a two-game series to lead Canada West Prairie standing
Abdul-Jalilu Ahmed, staff
The U of M Bisons men’s basketball team dominated their weekend series against the Brandon Bobcats at the Healthy Living Centre.
On Friday, Jan. 10, the Bisons claimed a hard-fought 81-72 victory in an intense showdown. The team followed it up with a commanding performance on Saturday, Jan. 11, securing a stunning 92-45 win to cap off the series in style.
In game one, the Bisons set the stage rolling through Manyang Tong’s three-point jump shot at the 9:36 mark, assisted by Daren Watts. The Bobcats had a 7-4 lead at 6:02 following a three-point jump shot by Dewayne Thompson. The Bisons were undeterred.
Mason Kraus stepped up with a three-point jump shot assisted by Watts to give the Bisons a 12-10 lead at 2:42. Samuel Jensen made a vital effort at 0:24 with a three-point jump shot, through Kraus’s assist, giving the Bisons a narrow edge to
end the first quarter at 17-15.
The Bisons remained intact and stayed on course in the second quarter, extending their lead to 23-15 at the 7:56 mark with a precise threepoint jump shot from Watts. The team’s sharp execution kept them in control, but the Bobcats were not ready to back down. In a remarkable show of determination, the Bobcats staged a comeback, tying the game at 30-30 through Darko Karac’s free throw at 2:03.
The Bisons and the Bobcats intensified their approach to pounce on any chance, but Kraus’s free throws at 0:04 propelled the Bisons to a slim 36-33 lead.
In the third quarter, the Bisons continued to dominate the play, showcasing their power and resilience over the opponent. At the 7:26 mark, Kraus proved his defensive prowess with a timely steal, followed by a swift layup, pushing the score to 43-35 for the Bisons. The Bobcats staged
a comeback and leveled the score at 47-47, through Sultan Haider Bhatti’s three-point jump shot at the 1:38 mark. The Bobcats overpowered the Bisons in the closing stage of the quarter to end with a slim 51-49 lead through John Dayo’s free throws at 0:06.
The fourth quarter was an exciting encounter as the two teams went head-to-head in pursuit of control and victory. At 9:27, the Bisons wasted no time leveling the score 51-51 through Kraus’s layup, assisted by Taven Vigilance. Every possession carried weight, with neither team willing to give an inch. The Bisons and the Bobcats kept their composure in an end-toend play finishing the quarter at 67-67 score.
Overtime brought a dramatic shift in the game’s momentum as the Bisons stepped up their strategy and executed with precision to secure victory. With the score tied at 71-71 at the 2:27 mark,
Kraus delivered a pivotal layup, giving the Bisons a 73-71 edge and setting the tone for the final stretch.
The defining moment came at the 0:17 mark, when Kraus made a free throw to seal the game, capping off an impressive 81-72 win.
In game two, the Bisons did not waste time making their mark on the scoreboard, with Watts opening the scoring for the team in the first quarter. However, the Bobcats quickly responded, taking a 3-2 lead at the 9:05 mark. Despite the early setback, the Bisons regrouped and found their rhythm and asserted control over the game. The Bisons built a commanding lead, with Watts capping off an impressive quarter with a powerful dunk, pushing the Bisons to a 22-9 lead at 0:33.
The Bisons were phenomenal in the second quarter, closing the quarter with a 41-20 lead. Andre Gray II came along with a three-point jump
Bisons rampage through the Spartans’ shields
Bisons women’s volleyball
Faiyaz
Chowdhury, staff
The Bisons women’s volleyball team defeated the Trinity Western Spartans 3-0, with set scores of 25-10, 25-18 and 25-18, on Jan. 10 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. In a masterful demonstration of volleyball talent, the Bisons overwhelmingly defeated the Spartans in a three-set match that left no doubt about their dominance on the court.
From the opening serve, the Bisons showed a level of skill and strategic execution that the Spartans struggled to match.
The first set established a commanding tone for the Bisons, who clinched it with a decisive 25-10 score. The remarkable gap was the result of the Bisons’ aggressive and precise offensive play, where they racked up 11 kills with only a single error, achieving a stellar hitting percentage of .435. This was not just a showcase of their attacking prowess but also an indication of their clinical ability to convert opportunities into points.
As the match progressed, the Bisons did not let up. In the second set, they posted 16 kills and mirrored their earlier precision with just one error, notching a hitting percentage of .429. Their relentless
shot, with an assist from Kraus at the 0:00 mark.
It was a glittering occasion for the Bisons as they demonstrated superiority to end the third quarter with 64-36 lead. Barac Thon had a layup at the 0:01 mark, which was assisted by Tito Obasoto.
In the fourth quarter, the Bobcats were reduced to chasing shadows as they found it difficult to live up to the blistering form of the Bisons, who remained ruthless to win the game with an overwhelming 92-45 score.
With nine wins and one loss, the Bisons men’s basketball team are first on the Canada West Prairie league standings with a winning percentage of 0.900.
The Bisons men’s basketball will play the Calgary Dinos on Friday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. MST and on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. MST.
defeats Spartans
offence and robust defence effectively stifled the Spartans’ attempts to establish any rhythm, leaving them scrambling to respond.
The final set continued to display the Bisons’ strength, with the team managing 17 kills. Although they encountered a slight uptick in errors with three, they still maintained a solid hitting percentage of .389. The consistent display of tactical intelligence, coupled with mental fortitude, kept the Bisons focused and effective under pressure.
3-0 at home game
ess was pivotal in breaking down the Spartans’ defence. Defensively, Andi Almonte was equally significant, with 13 digs and five blocks, setting up counterattacks and sustaining the team’s momentum.
For the Spartans, Maryn Boldon stood out with 15 kills and a .220 hitting percentage, providing a glimmer of offensive success in a tough match. Defensively, Mikayla McBain worked tirelessly, achieving nine digs, showing resilience
scored a team that is not only strong collectively but also formidable through its standout talents. On the other hand, the Spartans, though outplayed, showed flashes of potential that could be harnessed to challenge stronger teams in future encounters.
In a post-match interview, the Bisons’ head coach Ken Bentley discussed their comfortable victory over the Spartans. He emphasized the strength of their performance, noting, “we played well.
“With us hosting nationals this year, obviously, we are going to do our best”
Contrastingly, the Spartans faced significant challenges, especially in the first set where they recorded many errors, resulting in a negative hitting percentage of .030. Despite a reduction in errors in the following sets and improved hitting percentages of .308 and .162, they were unable to narrow the performance gap significantly.
— Ken Bentley, head coach of Bisons women’s volleyball
and determination against a formidable opponent.
Highlighting the individual efforts for the Bisons, Raya Surinx was a force on the offensive end, delivering a remarkable 17 kills and a .469 hitting percentage. Her prow-
This match was not only a testament to the herds flawless execution and preparation but it also highlighted their potential for the rest of the season. It solidified their reputation as a top contender in the league, showcasing a team well-equipped to maintain its winning ways. The individual performances, particularly from players like Surinx and Almonte, under-
I mean, Trinity’s a great team, […] we expect the battle to grow, but I thought our side was really good today. We served and passed really well. I thought that was the most important thing today, it kind of helped us everywhere else.”
Bentley praised his team’s defensive efforts when asked about their stronger suit in the game, stating, “I loved our defence today. The objective is to keep the ball alive longer than the other team, that’s how you win, right? So, it all starts with your defensive attitude. I thought that was really good for us today.”
On the topic of offence, he remarked, “our offence executed at a pretty high level today. Our fast-tempo setting was really good today and our hitting too. So, I would say our hitting was really, really good today.”
Looking ahead in the season, Bentley expressed optimism and ambition. “We’re in to win it,” he said. “We have a really good team obviously. We could have won last year and we had a big injury in the second half, and despite that, we were amazing last year in the second term. We still had a chance to win. So, with us hosting nationals this year, obviously, we are going to do our best to try and win the thing.”
Bentley seemed confident in the team’s ability to perform well in the future, particularly with the nationals on the horizon. This seems fitting as the Bisons went on to defeat the Spartans again the following day, with 3-1 scores.
The Bisons women’s volleyball team will be playing against the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat on Friday, Jan. 17 at 9 p.m. CT at the UBCO Gymnasium in Kelowna.
Bisons redeemed with convincing win over Spartans
The Bisons men’s hockey team’s offence explodes for seven goals in statement victory
Israel Abejoye, staff
The U of M Bisons men’s hockey team kicked off their 2025 Canada West East division campaign with a heart-stopping game against Trinity Western Spartans. Despite a valiant effort, the Bisons ultimately fell short, losing 6-3 on Friday, Jan. 10. However, leveraging their home-ice advantage and with resilience, the Bisons bounced back with a decisive 7-2 victory in the rematch on Saturday, Jan. 11.
The first period was a nailbiter, with both teams trading goals. Riley Stotts drew first blood for the Bisons at 1:07, but the Spartans’ Aidan Steinke quickly equalized at 2:16. Undeterred, the Bisons pushed forward, and Jackson Arpin scored at 5:37 to give his team a 2-1 lead. The period ended with three penalties, two against the Bisons’ Josh Paulhus and Stotts for slashing and roughing, respectively.
The second period was a defensive battle, with only one goal scored by the Spartans’ Christian Lowe at 13:54. This equalizer left the game deadlocked at 2-2 heading into the final period. The lone penalty of the period was against the Spartans’ Connor Ferren for roughing at 18:08.
As the third period got underway, the Bisons came out swinging. Stotts scored his second goal of the game at 1:07, identical to his first-period tally. This goal seemed to give the Bisons the momentum they needed, but the Spartans refused to back down. Jesse Pomeroy equalized at 13:10, and Matteo Lamoureux scored the go-ahead goal at 17:40. The Spartans team then sealed their victory with two late goals from Mykhailo Simchuk and Luke Spadafora at 19:05 and 19:15, respectively.
Despite the loss, the Bisons showed remarkable grit and determination. They were handed four penalties, with Skyler Bruce and Ben Bonni sent off for roughing at 12:05 and 15:34 in the third period, respectively. The Spartans’ Spadafora also received a roughing penalty at 12:05 in the third period.
The final score may not have gone in their favour, but the Bisons have sent a clear message that they are a force to be reckoned with in the Canada West East division. With a few adjustments and a bit of fine-tuning, they could be unstoppable.
As fans looked forward to the next game, they could only hope for a better performance
from the Bisons. One question on some fans’ minds was, will the Bisons be able to turn the tables and secure a crucial division win?
On Saturday, Jan 11, the U of M Bisons men’s hockey team faced off against the Spartans in the highly anticipated rematch at the Wayne Fleming Arena.
The Bisons dominated the first period, scoring three goals and setting the tone for the rest of the game. Codey Behun opened the scoring at 2:43, followed by Dawson Pasternak’s goal at 5:09. Jonny Hooker sealed the deal with a third goal just before the end of the period, making it 3-0 in favour of the Bisons. The Spartans struggled to contain the Bisons’ offence, and their defence was breached time and time again.
The first period was marked by a series of penalties, with five infractions recorded. Bruce was sent off for four minutes for high sticking at 7:44, and shortly after returning to the game, he was sent off again for two minutes for hooking. Farren was also penalized for hooking at 3:57. Landon Fuller
and Kade McMillen rounded out the penalties for boarding and delay of game at 18:07 and 19:20, respectively.
Despite the Spartans’ best efforts, the Bisons dominated the second period. Eric Alarie’s power-play goal at just a minute and a second into the period, extended the lead to 4-0, while Farren’s powerplay goal at 8:51 put the Spartans on the board. The period ended with the Bisons ahead 4-1.
“They were really good on the power play, and that definitely cost us as well,” said Trinity Western head coach, Ben Walter.
The third period saw the Spartans mount a comeback, with Jonathan Krahn scoring a beautiful goal at 6:02 to make the score 4-2. However, the Bisons were not to be denied. Alarie scored his second goal of the game at 10:05 on the power play, followed by Bruce’s fantastic strike at 15:59. Michael King put the icing on the cake with a jaw-dropping goal to make the final score 7-2 in favour of the Bisons.
“We came out hard, we
played good the first, the second and in the third we came out flat a little bit. But we found it at the end of the third, so I’m really happy with our win tonight,” said Bisons forward, Eric Alarie.
The Spartans’ Simchuk was sent off for slashing, while Riley Zimmerman served a penalty for too many men. Despite being outshot 36-27, the Bisons made the most of their opportunities, capitalizing on the Spartans’ mistakes and demonstrating their own offensive prowess.
“We capitalized on our scoring chances, really. We had chances last night, we just didn’t put them in,” said Bisons head coach, Gordon Burnett. “But we did create scoring chances, especially in the [offensive zone], which is typical for us, but not all that typical. Most of them come off the rush, so their goalie did a good job and we were able to put some by him tonight, so that really helped. I think it was just execution, but we created chances last night, we just didn’t finish them.”
As the Bisons look ahead to their next game against the
Saskatchewan Huskies, they can take pride in their performance and build on the momentum they have established. With their offence firing on all cylinders and their defence holding strong, the Bisons are poised to make a deep run in the division.
“[Saskatchewan], they’re a really good team, but it’s not really about them, it’s about how we’re going to play,” said Burnett. “Every time we’ve played them since I’ve been here, I’ve thought there’s opportunities in the game — maybe if we were just a little bit further along in our development — that we could capitalize on.”
The win is a welcome relief and a reminder that the team is capable of greatness. As the division season heats up, the Bisons will need all the support they can get from their fans.
The Bisons men’s hockey team will play against the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday, Jan. 17 and Saturday, Jan. 18 in Saskatoon.
