May 2013

VOLUME 22 ISSUE 27 May 2013

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New emergency alert system

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Why do we let pedophiles run free? 5

Best of winter 2013 photo gallery

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Welcome to summer!

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TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper

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May 2013

News

Know what to do in a worst-case scenario

University implements system to notify students and staff of emergency situations

Mike Davies

Ω Editor-in-Chief Students and staff of TRU can now sign up to receive instant notifications regarding safety issues on and around campus.

TRU President Alan Shaver and TRU manager of occupational health and safety Stacey Jyrkkanen have been discussing emergency management for some time. Shaver came from Dalhousie University in Halifax where they have many winter storms and that can close down schools, so, according to Jyrkkanen, when he came here he wanted to know what kind of plan TRU had in place in case of a situation where they needed to notify people of an emergency and started the ball rolling on this initiative.

The system is installed on all desktop computers on campus that are attached to the network, including every classroom that has a “smartboard.”

“Aspect number two is the more mobile part,” said Jyrkkanen. “Texts, voicemail, email, TRU’s Facebook site and Twitter accounts, that’s the other aspect of it.”

Unlike the on-campus network notifications, the mobile aspect of the system requires students and faculty to sign up for the notifications.

If you’re worried about getting spammed with notifications that you don’t care about, Jyrkkanen said there’s no need.

“They’d only come out in an emergency, and I don’t mean ‘IT [Information Technology] is going to be shutting down on such and such a day,’ or ‘we’re going to have a planned campuswide power outage.’”

The system is designed to warn people of safety issues such as dangerous goods spills, bomb threats and gun-wielding maniacs; these are extremely rare occurrences, but as Jyrkkanen points out, “It’s like life insurance. You pay for it, you hope you never have to use it, but at least if something happens, you’ve got a plan.”

The information being sent out through the system would be what the problem is, where the problem is and what you should do (or not do).

“There’s nothing worse than knowing there’s a problem but not knowing what to do,” said Jyrkkanen, which is why the messages will be very specific.

Updates would be provided to the website linked to the notification so people can stay apprised of the situation, and a follow-up notification would go out resolving the issue for people. You wouldn’t receive continuous updates via text, etc.

524 people were signed up at the time of the first test of the system on May 2 (it was an actual test, not an actual emergency).

You can increase that number and place yourself in a position to know about emergencies when you’ll need to by going to www.tru.ca/alerts and signing up to receive the notifications.

TRU manager of occupational health and safety Stacey Jyrkkanen shows off what the screens around campus will look like should they need to engage the emergency notification system.

—PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

Interculturalizing the Curriculum

Workshop series allows faculty opportunity to incorporate cultural ideas into their work

Mike Davies

Ω Editor-in-Chief The world is getting smaller and smaller.

Not literally, of course, and it might seem obvious to say this, but it is becoming more and more common for interact with people from cultures that are different from your own on a regular basis.

It is with this in mind that TRU considers it important that its faculty have the opportunity to examine the issues and opportunities that come with this changing world.

“Mere proximity doesn’t develop intercultural competencies,” said Kyra Garson, co-facilitator of TRU’s Internationalizing the Curriculum workshop series and the school’s intercultural coordinator.

“In fact it has the potential to do the opposite. So how do we work with students? We work with students through the faculty. What we do is provide a supportive environment and theoretical and pedagogical frameworks, intercultural research and so on to allow them to think about how this fits with their teaching style, curriculum, and program outcomes.

“We try to do is provide a space and the time for faculty to

both develop more cultural self- aspects already) and look at ways to people from other perspectives.”

She used the example of the awareness in terms of what they’re incorporate different cultural ideas sciences and how those involved bringing into the classroom and into small sections.

This may seem like a no-brainer not only deal with multiple levels maybe their own perceptions and how they may be perceived by for courses in sociology, history or of collaboration with people from culturally diverse students,” she language studies, but Garson said possibly all over the world, but how there is room in every curriculum it’s also of great importance for added. scientists to think about the impact “It’s a very reflective process for for intercultural aspects.

“What we’re not necessarily of their work in regards to how it the faculty involved.”

She said some instructors have doing is saying ‘how do we affects or is affected by various cultural perspectives come into the program internationally. and redesigned entire “ B e t w e e n classes or courses — international but that’s not usually students, new how it works.

Canadian students The series is not and Aboriginal designed to replace students, we have a curricular content, very high percentage but to enhance it and of students that don’t to help students gain necessarily share perspectives from mainstream different cultural or —Kyra Garson, TRU intdercultural coordinator the worldview of the international — or institution or the local for that matter — perspectives that might make them teach students to work with academy, and so trying to draw more prepared to work in a more multiculturalism?’ We’re saying on the richness of that is a real ‘how do we help students to have opportunity we encourage through globalized environment. perspectives within this program — not by putting “One of the main things we have multiple them do is unpack or re-vision whatever field they’re in?’” she students from other cultures on the spot, but by creating a some part of their curriculum,” said.

“21st century learning outcomes learning environment whereby she added, meaning they break down a different amount of content should include some alternate students are learning from one from each instructor’s class work perspectives for students to another as well.

“The advantage to the (based on how comfortable that consider and also some actual skillinstructor is with intercultural building in terms of working with students is that the instructors

“It’s a very reflective process for the faculty involved.”

are spending considerable time thinking about how their curriculum can be enhanced to develop additional competencies for students and also how to work with very multicultural classrooms.”

Despite having fewer faculty enrol this year than in years previous, the university was committed to continue the program, which is good, because according to Garson, “a few very keen faculty joined at the last minute after scrambling their schedules to commit to the full four days.”

“The Centre for Student Engagement and Learning Innovation is pleased to include a well-established and respected program like Interculturalizing the Curriculum in its offerings,” said Chistine Adam, TRU dean of students.

“This program is one of the many ways in which the Centre supports the implementation of TRU’s Academic Plan by providing support for faculty with quality instructional development.”

For more information on the program, email Garson at kgarson@tru.ca.

ON THE COVER: The TRU campus isn’t nearly as hectic during the summer, but it sure is pretty. Take some time to get outside when the weather is nice .

— PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 26

THE

MEGA

www.theomega.ca

May 2013

Volume 22, Issue 27

Published since November 27, 1991

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Editorial/Opinions Welcome to summer 2013 Bombs went off in Boston at their marathon.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mike Davies

editor@truomega.ca

250-828-5069

@PaperguyDavies NEWS EDITOR

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Editor’s Note Mike Davies Ω Editor-in-Chief

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Literary and visual submissions are welcomed.

All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Omega will attempt to publish each letter received, barring time and space constraints. The editor will take care not to change the intention or tone of submissions, but will not publish material deemed to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. Letters for publication must include the writer’s name (for publication) and contact details (not for publication). The Omega reserves the right not to publish any letter or submitted material. Opinions expressed in the Letters & Opinion section do not represent those of The Omega, the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society, its Board of Directors or its staff.

Opinions belong only to those who have signed them.

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All material in this publication is copyright The Omega and may not be reproduced without the expressed consent of the publisher. All unsolicited submissions become copyright Omega 2012.

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Do it.

Seriously.

Welcome one and all to the first of four summer 2013 editions of The Omega, your independent student newspaper here at TRU. We print monthly over the summer because, well, we don’t have the budget to do more than that and I’m here by myself, but we still want to keep you relatively well informed, entertained, and reading something other than textbooks when you can find the time.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the, editor-in-chief of this particular publication, and I write something in this spot every issue (weekly during the fall and winter semesters) that hopefully will do what I said above — inform, entertain, or maybe even both.

A whole lot has happened in the world since last I wrote one of these, so I’m just going to go ahead and have my say on some of it.

Some people thought basically shutting down a city of that size to engage in a manhunt, and dispatching thousands of officers from different authority-type organizations was going too far.

I say what would the crime rates look like if every time something violent happened everyone in the region stayed inside and police from everywhere converged on the area until the guilty party had been found? What if we put that much effort into catching all the criminals?

Every time a woman is raped, a child abducted, a person murdered for their wallet on a walking path through a park…we would be lucky to have the response that Boston got over those few days. Maybe if we helped each other everywhere when crime happens as much as they helped each other in Boston that week, our world would be a safer place.

Good on them.

A huge building in Bangladesh that housed numerous garment factories collapsed, killing over 1000 people, raising the issue once again of where we get our clothing, outsourcing of jobs in exchange for cheap goods and yet another round of “Buy Canadian!” from people who claim to be against exploitation.

I say that until we get our own financial disparity figured out, we should maybe stay out of other people’s.

It’s hard to be angry with people for running sweatshop-style factories to produce the only quality of clothing that many Canadians can afford.

It’s like when Henry Ford decided to pay his workers well enough so that they could afford the products they were producing. If we forced employers here to pay people enough to live on — and not just barely enough to live on so they have to buy those cheap clothes from Walmart — then maybe we’d see an increase in production here because producers would be able to sell more expensive products to us.

Or, you know, we could change our mindset to realize that no one needs millions of dollars a year to survive and stop catering to shareholders and multinational corporate interests instead of the needs of the population in general.

The people of B.C. re-elected the Liberal Party to continue to lead them into the future.

Don’t get your hopes up for that future to be bright, or dismayed that it won’t because of it.

Your future will be bright because of the effort you put in to make it better, not because of policy decisions made by people in Victoria.

As always, feel free to chime in on what’s going on around you by contacting me at the email address below, I’ll talk to you again in about a month. editor@truomega.ca

Californian online courses not a model for universities to follow

Hannah Madsen

The Gateway (U of A) In March, a bill was introduced in the California Senate which proposes online courses as an alternative to the states current educational system, which has been squeezed by budget cuts.

At present, there are waiting lists for admission to the state’s community colleges that average out to 7,000 waiting students per institution, and California State University has had such a high level of course cuts that only 16 per cent of enrolled students are able to finish their degrees in four years.

Although this is happening in California, this could have implications for all universities.

While the online courses might initially seem like an ideal solution, they are symptomatic of the tendency of government to interfere in the workings of educational institutions.

And although universities receive some government funding, governments should not be making decisions on a university’s behalf, since the goals of both groups are very different.

Going back to online courses, one particular controversial aspect of the legislation is a mandate that forces universities to give credit for faculty-approved online courses taught by outside institutions, including private companies.

In essence, even though the faculty approves them, the group

offering the courses might not be academic at all, effectively outsourcing college instruction.

Additionally, online learning itself is problematic, as it removes the classroom aspect from college instruction and could potentially lead to a lack of standardization.

Courses from a variety of companies or online institutions maybe accepted but instructors themselves do not possess the requisite Master’s or PhD to be considered experts in their fields.

Another problem with online education is the inability of such institutions to validate students as the authors of work submitted — just as there are numerous mailorder universities that give away seemingly-legitimate degrees, students could always pay others to submit work on their behalf and still receive credit for it.

Although this could still happen in a classroom, online courses make it easier.

And that doesn’t even touch accreditation: if students aren’t receiving key courses for their degrees from the educational institutions they attend, the university’s accreditation is no longer a valid standard, since part of the learning won’t even be taking place at the university itself.

The major problem with this bill has two parts: first, that the government of California feels that it has a right to impose its will on the educational institutions of the state, and second, that more privatization of educational institutions is becoming a very

real possibility, thanks to a push towards online education and a view of universities as a business rather than institution’s of learning.

The issue of government involvement is one that won’t be easily solved, but it needs to be: learning should never be regulated or politicized the way it could be after prolonged contact with governmental organizations.

The goal of government would be to serve its own goals and standardize as it sees fit without regards to the diverse environment of post-secondary. Emphasizing the individual rather than group learning that is made a priority in classroom settings, is a threat that is becoming more tangible every year.

One possible solution to this whole problem might be to change the format of online learning and orient it more to group learning, such as using Skype conferences led by professors rather than individuals who aren’t certified. Or maybe the institutions should be expanded — surely, if there are waiting lists of 7,000 students per school, they could afford to increase their enrolment or the size of the colleges, because the tuition will still be coming in.

But whatever the decision, it should be made within the academy, free of government, because just like church and state should be kept separate, so too should government and education. That way students can learn on nonpoliticized environments.

The overwhelming awkwardness of the phone call Amy Van Veen

The Cascade (UFV) Can we all agree that talking on the phone is the worst?

I wonder if Alexander Graham Bell — or whoever actually invented the telephone and didn’t just steal the patent — would have appreciated a phone call if he knew that years later, letter writing could be sped up to the lightning speed of a text message.

A phone call has too much suspense.

Too much uncertainty. Too much je ne sais quoi because I don’t actually know what is on the other end of the line.

The only problem is that the phone call is still the preferred and necessary means of communication for cutting out all the subtext and questions that arise from the confusion over poorly-worded texts and emails.

Ideally, everyone would talk face-toface and all the missed nuances of tone of voice mixed with body language and facial expression could clear up a lot of unwanted miscommunications, but unfortunately we don’t all live in the same cul-de-sac. (Actually, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. It would be a little crowded, constantly seeing your dentist, doctor and telemarketer selling credit cards and getting their mail.)

So the next step away from this almost perfect understanding is the telephone, but for me the telephone is wrought with so many more problems than a simple text message.

First of all, there’s the small talk. That horrid small talk that everyone charades their way through to get to the real point of the phone call. If you just want someone to pick up a coffee for you, you have to first ask them about their day, share lamentations over the changing weather patterns, waste a few more precious daytime minutes with some forced laughter before eventually saying, “Hey, do you think you could pick me up a coffee on your way to the office?”

Secondly, there are the many awkward pauses that come from the novice phone callers calling on the phone.

Awkward pauses are fine face-to-face because much can be said with a raised eyebrow or a huff of breath.

But awkward phone pauses? They eat away at you until you spurt out something just to fill the space. This is especially evident in those phone conversations you have with someone who wasn’t the intended recipient of the phone call, like when you call a landline to talk to your friend and her husband picks up and the two of you have to share pleasantries while waiting for her to come to the line. Personal phone calls would be better with hold music, but I suppose that might be a little rude.

And thirdly, these two problems combine to create the ultimate downside of the telephone call: the distracted “uh-huh.” Let’s face it, when one person gets talking about something or decides to answer truthfully your polite “how’s your day going,” it takes a while for the two of you to come to the intended subject of the phone call.

But while the person on the other end rattles away, punctuated by small talk and awkward pauses, your mind wanders. It either wanders to an outstanding to-do list or the doodle that has formed under the power of an idle pen. It wanders away and you don’t even realize it until the person on the other end asks if you agree. It’s like Ross and Rachel and the 18-page letter all over again.

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May 2013

Feature

Why are we okay with letting those who sexually abuse our children roam free?

“The use of indeterminate sentences has been one approach used by the government to minimize the risk posed by such offenders.”

—Correctional Service Canada

Mike Davies

Ω Editor-in-Chief On the morning of March 20, 2012, Graham James sat waiting to hear his sentence in a courtroom in Winnipeg.

As James watched for the judge to enter the courtroom, I watched James, in my memory, as he watched my friends and I play hockey on an outdoor rink in a small town in Saskatchewan in the late 1980s.

We were nervous.

The man who coached our heroes was here…watching us…shouting encouragement and advice. Beyond reason (because what’s reason for a ten year-old?), we’d thought if we impressed him we might have a chance at our dreams of playing hockey.

Or at least, if he was impressed, we thought, we were at least good enough to hold on to those dreams.

He’d invited us to his house for dinner.

I don’t remember anyone accepting.

I certainly didn’t, but only because I’d have had to ask my parents, and my mother would already have had dinner ready by the time I got home to do so.

In that Manitoba courtroom in 2012, he had pleaded guilty to numerous sexual offences against young boys, and it was not the first time he had been in front of a judge for similar reasons.

The eyes of the nation were upon the courtroom — via live blogs and Twitter feeds, anyway, as Judge Catherine Carlson had banned cameras in the court for this high-profile case to protect the privacy of the accused.

In 1997 James had pleaded guilty to a charge relating to sexually assaulting a child and was sentenced to three and a half years in jail. While serving that term, he was charged and pleaded guilty to another sexual assault against a 14-year-old boy, which occurred in 1971. He served a total of 18 months in prison for these offences.

Two years after his sentence was

technically fulfilled — though he had been out of prison for more than five years due to his early parole — an anonymous victim filed a civil suit against James. That suit was settled out of court.

And so, on the morning of March 20, 2012, James awaited what would effectively be his third and fourth sentencing on pedophilia-related charges, not including the anonymous civil suit.

He was sentenced to two terms of two years — to be served concurrently.

He was to be eligible for parole again before an appeal process could even be used to re-examine the sentence (he was eligible in November 2012 and the date for the appeal hearing was Dec. 3, 2012).

The sentence was, in fact, found to be too lenient by the Manitoba Court of Appeal, who extended the sentence to five years — 30 months for each victim served consecutively instead of 24 months for each victim served concurrently.

University of British Columbia law professor Janine Benedet told National Post reporter Sarah Boesveld shortly after the original sentencing that it’s not uncommon for sexual assault cases to have convictions that seem unreasonably insubstantial.

In the National Post article published in April 2012, she said the sentencings can appear “callously light when one considers the damaging consequences victims endure,” and pointed to the case of ex-Maple Leaf Gardens equipment manager Gordon Stuckless as an example.

Stuckless was convicted in 1997 of 572 sex acts against 24 young boys over a 20-year period. He received a two-year sentence. Martin Kruze, one of the victims of his abuse, took his own life days after the sentence was handed down. Stuckless’ sentence was also increased to five years upon reexamination, and he was paroled after serving two-thirds of it in 2001.

In January 2012, a Saskatchewan man pled guilty to raping his 13-yearold stepdaughter in 1982. He received a sentence of 18 months in prison.

The Edmonton Police Service released a warning about a high-risk pedophile named Kevin John Wadsworth in February 2013 in which they

state that the 34 year-old was recently released from Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert and is living in the Edmonton area after serving the entirety of a three-year sentence for sexual assault.

The parole board documents state that Wadsworth “admit[s] to having frequent, intense sexual urges, a sexual fascination with pre-pubescent females ‘little girls,’ and a preference for nonconsensual sex.”

He has numerous previous convictions — including possession of child pornography — though this was his first sentence for sexual assault.

Oh, and the parole board questioned his ability to learn from his rehabilitation programming due to his admission of being high more than 100 times while incarcerated, including consuming methodone from another inmate’s vomit.

The ped amon Benedet, an expert in Canadian legal issues, admits bank robbers and people who traffic narcotics are generally incarcerated for longer periods than these people. So why is it those who rape children are walking among us after such short stints behind bars, even when the authorities feel the public needs to be warned about their presence?

They could keep them in jail forever, you know.

Graham James, pictured here outside a Winnipeg courthouse prior to sentencing, received effectively a two-year sentence for his third and fourth convictions of sexually abusing young boys. The sentence was later increased to five years.

—THE CANADIAN PRESS/JOHN WOODS

during the hearing of the application that there is a reasonable expectation that a lesser measure under paragraph (4)(b) or (c) will adequately protect the public against the commission by the offender of murder or a serious personal injury offence.”

A 2002 report by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) examining convicted criminals given the DO identification explains the designation.

“Over the years, there has been ongoing public concern about the danger that high-risk violent offenders pose to public safety,” the study observed. “The use of indeterminate sentences has been one approach used by the government to minimize the risk posed by such offenders. One form of indeterminate sentence is the finding by the court that the defendant is a dangerous offender. The DO designation is predominantly

More than 30 sections of the Criminal Code of Canada can fall under the interpretation umbrella for “dangerous offender” (DO) designation, a high percentage of which are sexual in nature. The Crown can apply for DO status to be given to anyone convicted of an offence within one of these sections, provided the sentence handed down is more than two years in duration.

(We sometimes see sentences being handed down with the duration “Two years less a day,” which we can assume is to avoid having the discussion of a possible DO designation.

See Kamloops, B.C. and the case of Brett Nelson, who was sentenced in April 2012 to two years less a day for sexual interference with a minor and breaching probation; a probation that was enacted as part of his sentencing for the sexual exploitation of a 14-year-old girl who had been his student when he taught high school in the early 2000s. It was also his third pedophilia-related offense.)

Section 753 (4.1) of the Criminal Code states that, if a DO designation is assigned, “The court shall impose a sentence of detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period unless it is satisfied by the evidence adduced

used with offenders who have shown a history of violent crimes, including sexual offences.”

The decision on whether to designate a convict as a DO and therefore sentence them to an indeterminate term is based on the court deciding “that the offence for which the offender has been convicted is a serious personal injury offence,” according to the CSC report, “and the offender, by his or her conduct in any sexual manner including that involved in the commission of the offence for which he or she has been convicted, has shown a failure to control his or her sexual impulses and a likelihood of causing injury, pain or other evil to other persons through failure in the future to control his or her sexual impulses.”

A “serious personal injury offence” is defined in the Criminal Code as “an indictable offence, other than high treason, treason, first degree murder or second degree murder,” which involves “the use or attempted use of violence” or — the next two are most germane to the discussion on paedophilia, so pay attention here — “conduct endangering or likely to endanger the life or safety of another person or inflicting or likely to inflict severe psychological damage on another person,” or “an offence or attempt to commit an offence mentioned in section 271 (sexual assault), 272 (sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm) or 273 (aggravated sexual assault).”

It could be argued that everything in the Criminal Code and Corrections Services documents imply that taking sexual advantage of a minor should lead to an indeterminate sentence and a DO designation.

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 27

Feature cont’d ...Do we actually think pedophilia isn’t that bad?

Can it ever really be “reasonably expected” that a “lesser measure will adequately protect the public?”

A study entitled “Recidivism in pedophiles: an investigation using different diagnostic methods” in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, October 2009, in which the relationship between pedophilia and recidivism (re-offending) was examined using a sample of 206 convicted pedophiles came to an unexpected conclusion.

“These results suggest that meaningful differences may not exist between pedophilic and nonpedophilic offenders in terms of their risk to reoffend, and actual reoffence rates.

This finding has implications for practice, given that pedophiles are often considered to be at greater risk

bilitation research of the Integrated Forensic Program at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, and on the editorial boards of numerous publications about sexual behaviour and law.

Dr. Seto published a paper in 2012 entitled “Is Pedophilia a Sexual Orientation?” in which he dissects pedophilia into aspects not dissimilar to other sexual orientations; aspects like age of onset, behaviour involved and long-term stability of that orientation over time.

By this assessment, pedophilia can be seen as a “modular preference” according to Seto. “The strongest test of sexual orientation is whom a person would choose in a hypothetical situation where they could freely have sex, without negative consequences, when presented with the alternate choices: man or woman, adult or child,” he concluded in his piece, even provid-

dophiles ng us for sexual recidivism compared to nonpedophilic offenders,” according to the study, meaning the perception that sexual predators are more likely to re-offend than other criminals is false.

However, the hard numbers are still there — and they are revolting.

“The overall proportion of men recidivating was 22.8% (47/206) for sexual recidivism,” the study found.

“33.9% (70/206) for violent recidivism (including sexual), and 45.6% (94/206) for general recidivism.”

So, despite the recidivism rates in pedophilic men being similar to non-pedophilic men, a 22.8 per cent chance that they will re-offend in a sexual way and a 33.9 per cent chance they will re-offend in a violent way — combined with their diagnosed and admitted preference for children — should concern us all.

Another couple of hard numbers: 86 per cent of males and 84 per cent of females who experience sexual abuse as a child don’t report it to the police, according to a study released in May 2013 by the Department of Justice Canada. The most frequently reported reasons for failing to report the abuse was that they didn’t think they’d be believed, felt ashamed, or just didn’t realize it was wrong and that they could report it.

Later, they would cite their lack of faith in the justice system.

Maybe, despite the uproar, we, as a society, actually don’t think pedophilia is that bad?

One of the foremost Canadian experts on pedophilia and sexual offending against children, Michael C. Seto, is the director of forensic reha-

ing a diagram showing the “modular preferences system,” similar to fig. 1.

Seto makes it clear that he is not advocating for pedophilia or pedophiles or otherwise equating them to heterosexual or homosexual orientations.

He is, however, just as clear that he is advocating for “more compassionate and less discriminatory treatment of pedophiles,” based on his admittedly well-argued assertion that “male sexual orientation can be defined as the direction(s) of a male person’s sexual thoughts, fantasies, urges, arousal and behavior,” and that pedophilia could be seen as fulfilling that definition.

Also, all the cases and criminal sentences I cited earlier are ones in which an adult male has sexually abused a minor according to the word of law, but there are some who feel that pedophilia is often not the proper classification for these actions.

Jesse Bering, an award-winning essayist, author of three books on human sexual behaviour, and director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queens University in Belfast, Ireland, published a piece for Scientific American magazine in 2009 entitled, “Pedophiles, Hebephiles and Ephebophiles, Oh, My: Erotic Age Orientation.”

In it he examines what most consider pedophilia and clarifies that “most ‘pedophiles’ aren’t really pedophiles, technically speaking,” because, as he says, “although child sex offenders are often lumped into the single classification of pedophilia, biologically speaking it’s a rather complicated affair.”

Hebephilia, as Bering points out in his article, is “a newly proposed diag-

nostic classification in which people display a sexual preference for children at the cusp of puberty, between the ages of, roughly, 11 to 14 years of age. Pedophiles, in contrast, show a sexual preference for clearly prepubescent children.” There is also a separate classification for those attracted to those between the ages of 15 and 17 (ephebophelia), which under the law is an age range during which one would still be considered a minor.

As abhorrent (or at least creepy) as it might seem, Bering rightly points out that historically, “hebephiles—or at least ephebephiles—would have had a leg up over their competition,” in an evolutionary way.

“Obviously having sex with a prepubescent child would be fruitless—literally,” writes Bering. “But, whether we like it or not, this isn’t so for a teenage girl who has just come of age, who is reproductively viable and whose brand-new state of fertility can more or less ensure paternity for the male.”

He also rightly points out “evolutionary psychologists have found repeatedly that markers of youth correlate highly with perceptions of beauty and attractiveness.”

So do we still biologically — even if subconsciously — understand on some level this attraction (or “orientation,” if you’d rather)? Is there something genetic or instinctual in us that prevents us from locking these people away forever to keep them from abusing our children?

But we aren’t that different genetically, biologically or even sociologically than the U.S. are we?

“You are sentenced to spend not less than 30 and not more than 60 years in prison; that has the unmistakeable impact of saying the rest of your life,” Judge John Cleland announced to 68-year-old former football coach Jerry Sandusky in a Pennsylvania courtroom on June 22, 2012.

“The crime is not only what you did to their bodies, but the assault to their psyches and souls and the assault to the well-being of the larger community in which we all live.”

Sandusky had been tried and convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys between 1994 and 2009.

Had he imposed the maximum possible punishment for each conviction, Judge Cleland could have sentenced Sandusky to 218 years behind bars, according to those familiar with the American justice system, and even Judge Cleland himself said,

Female Heterosexual Teliophile Infant

Senior

Homosexual Pedophile Male Fig. 1: Sexual orientation chart based on age and sex “I’m not going to sentence you to centuries in prison, although the law would permit that. It’s too abstract, only a big number,” before handing down the 30 to 60 year term.

It has been presupposed that the term was chosen specifically to guarantee he would never be released, but also deemed reasonable enough that an appeal would be denied, which it was.

Therand Guy Thacker of Deville, Louisiana, was sentenced in 2012 to 470 years in prison for molesting two young family members over a period of time. These convictions will be served concurrently, however, meaning he will serve 50 years without the possibility of parole.

Andrew Tracy Oldaker of Parkersberg, West Virginia was sentenced May 6, 2013 to 14 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possessing and distributing 600 images of children engaged in sexual behaviour.

He was not convicted — or even charged with — engaging in any of the acts depicted.

Donald J. Jones III, 48, was sentenced to life plus 10 years in Rhode Island after being convicted in May 2012 of “interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual acts with a minor, attempted aggravated sexual abuse, enticement of a minor and distribution of child pornography.”

Granted, Jones had been convicted three previous times of crimes against children, but Graham James’ 2012 conviction was also his fourth, and he received five years.

“As prosecutors, we have no higher calling than to aid parents in protecting their children,” said U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha to the Trentonian newspaper in Trenton New Jersey following the sentencing. “Accordingly, I am very pleased with the life sentenced handed down today, which ensures that a remorseless, recidivist pedophile has been brought to justice.

Spending the rest of his life in prison ensures that he will never, ever harm another child.”

Perhaps Canadians should think about that statement when they look at the sentences handed to child abusers within our borders.

Or perhaps Daphne Bramham of the Vancouver Sun, in her 2012 column, “No comfortable, easy answers,” said it best when she concluded with the statement, “Beyond shunning and shaming, there are no comfortable answers to the question of what to do with these men.

But until we’re willing to embrace the uncomfortable ones, the rights of women and children will be circumscribed and the onus placed on individuals and parents to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

Disgraced former Penn State University football coach Jerry Sandusky received 30 to 60 years for his abuse of young men.

—PHOTO COURTESY MARSMET551/FLICKR COMMONS

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May 2013

Sports The growth of the CJFL Autumn McDowell

The Carillon (U of Regina) REGINA (CUP) — While Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) is largely considered as the top amateur football program in the country, with more and more players making the transition from junior football to professional ranks, people are beginning to realize the potential long-term benefits of spending time in junior.

When a player graduates high school, he is faced with the tough decision of whether to play junior football or make the jump to university, with arguably bigger, stronger and faster athletes.

One of the biggest elements that attracts young football players to play junior football as opposed to making the jump to CIS, is that they can spend more time working on their football skills, while not having the added stress and pressure of a full university workload. ”The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) gives players flexibility with their careers and education,” said Brin Werrett, president of Regina Thunder. “About 50 per cent of our players are pursuing secondary education. Some are SIAST students, many are U of R students and many are working while going to school as well. Junior football players have the flexibility to choose, unlike CIS players who must be full time students.”

Besides the increased flexibility, another benefit to playing junior football is that it can provide a player with more time to develop their playing ability. Although many players do elect to play CIS football directly out of high school, this often results in sitting on the sidelines as a red shirt for the first

year, time that may be used more valuably with a year of hands-on playing experience in junior.

“I think the benefit for any player that elects to take that [junior] route is to grow as a player in regards to not having to jump right into the CIS ranks right away,” said Mike Thomas, technical director of Football Saskatchewan. “For some players, they would like to make sure that they are prepared physically and mentally for the leap to university.”

However, while it is clear that junior can be used to further develop a player’s talents, according to Jim Donlevy, Convenor for Canada West football, he believes that playing junior football may be detrimental to a player.

“I think that if good-quality players stay too long in the lower level, which is junior, let’s not kid ourselves here, they develop bad habits because they are superior athletes at that level and then they start taking short cuts and aren’t as disciplined as they have to be to play at the next level,” he said. “If they are ready to make the move, they shouldn’t stay as a big fish in a small pond, that’s not good for their development.”

Many players elect to use junior football as a stepping-stone to prepare them to eventually transition into CIS football. Because the two leagues offer a combined seven years of football eligibility, it allows many players take advantage of the increased playing time.

“The CJFL allows players to play up until they are 22 – five years after high school. CIS Football allows players to have five years of eligibility, however, this must be done in 7 years of graduating,” Werrett said. “Combined, you are allowed to play up to a combi-

nation of seven years between both leagues. For example, if a player plays in the CJFL for five full years, they would still be eligible to play another two years in CIS – or any other combination. This career path gives a player more opportunity to play football and transition to a CIS league with more experience. It’s a path that many of our players take.”

If executed correctly, players can gain valuable experience and knowledge from both leagues, which they then hope to carry into a career in professional football.

For Canadian Football League (CFL) prospect Kolton Solomon, he is reaping the benefits of spending time at both the junior and CIS levels.

“Kolton was a classic case of a kid that was very talented but being an 18-year-old kid coming into the CIS he was definitely able to play at that level on the field but it’s the off the field part that is sometimes difficult and I think that is where it caught up with him,” Thomas said.

“Having the fall back option to being able to play junior I think really helped him in terms of maturing both physically and mentally to be able to better prepare himself for when he did return to the University of Regina.”

The University of Regina Rams product spent time with both the Vancouver Island Raiders and Regina Thunder before returning to CIS, and recently signed his second contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. “Kolton is a great example of a player who has played in both leagues and had the opportunity to move into the professional level under both systems,” Werrett said.

“The CJFL gave Kolton an opportunity to gain additional playing

time and develop an initial relationship with the Roughriders organization. He was able to continue to develop and create opportunities by playing with the Rams as well.”

For players like Solomon, who are eventually looking to take their talents to a professional football career, both leagues have the ability to get players there, but the route players take will be slightly different.

“What’s unique about the CJFL is that CFL teams have territorial rights to players within the system,” Werrett explained.

“For example, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have the rights to any player currently playing for either the Saskatoon Hilltops or the Regina Thunder. Once a player plays one game in the CIS system, they now must go through the CFL Draft where any team can draft their rights.”

—IMAGE COURTESY CJFL

In recent years, the Regina Thunder has sent many players directly to professional football without spending any time in the CIS, including Dan Clark, Zack Evans, Stu Foorde, Clay Cooke, and more.

However, they have also sent products to the CIS for further development, like Chris Getzlaf, Jason Clermont, Rory Kohlert, Paul Woldu, and Bryce McCall all of whom spent time in both leagues before making their professional debuts.

As Thomas points out, whatever path a player chooses, it will be their determination and work ethic that is the biggest factor for whether they play at the next level, not the path in which they choose to get there.

“Kids see that there is an opportunity for them and going either route will get you there; it just depends on the time that it is going to take.”

Jessica Vliegenthart spoke about resiliency and community to an audience at the May 9 United Way luncheon held at TRU. Vliegenthart is a recently retired Team Canada wheelchair athlete who is now articling at Kamloops law firm Fulton and Company. She founded the Kamloops Adapted Sport Association in November and plans to have wheelchair sport programs available by the summer.

—PHOTO BY SEAN BR ADY

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 27

Coffee Break

MYLES MELLOR AND SALLY YORK

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Across 1. Occurred 4. Acropolis figure 10. Cancels 14. Cast 15. Longs for 16. Barbershop call 17. Mine find 18. Cautionary item 19. Passionate about 20. Redo happily?

23. Pinnacle opposite 24. With a steady hand 25. Moose or mice, e.g.

28. Unconscious 30. Broadcasted 31. Hindu garment 32. “Not to mention ...”

36. Improve a server?

39. Pendulum paths 40. Alternative to acrylics 41. Chip away at 42. Additions 43. Talking points?

44. Rounded style of writing 48. Fall mo.

49. Disloyal cover-up?

55. Arduous journey 56. Soft palate tissues 57. Dissenting vote 58. Latin 101 verb 59. “What fools these mortals be” writer

60. ___ cry 61. Abbr. after many a general’s name 62. Desk item 63. “Cut Piece” artist Down 1. Pronoun in a Hemingway title 2. Halo, e.g.

3. Hunt for 4. Award 5. Go places 6. Any port in a storm 7. By any chance 8. “Cool!”

9. Weakness 10. Cartoon art 11. Arc lamp gas 12. Glorify 13. Expressionless 21. Exit 22. Actress Plumb 25. Medic or normal?

26. Pinocchio, at times 27. ___ acid 28. Highlanders, e.g.

29. Eyes, poetically 31. Level 32. Religious nectar 33. Golden Triangle country 34. Fries, maybe 35. Horace volume 37. City on the River Garonne

38. Turn up again 42. Amniotic ___ 43. Scratch up 44. Absolute 45. Care for 46. Colgate rival 47. Signed 48. Undersides 50. Maintain 51. Charlie, for one 52. Data 53. Indian bread 54. Apprentice

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Hey, here’s a random joke!

A young lady stops by her grandmother’s house on the way to a dance.

She wants to introduce her boyfriend to her grandmother. As they are chatting, her boyfriend sees some peanuts in a bowl on the coffee table.

He begins munching on them as they converse.

After about an hour, they are getting ready to leave and he thanks the grandmother for her hospitality and especially for the peanuts.

“Oh, you’re welcome young man,” she says. “I appreciate you finishing them up. Ever since I lost my dentures I can only suck the chocolate off of them.”

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Photo Gallery

May 2013

Best of winter 2013

ABOVE: Participants of TRUSU India Club’s Rang De Basanti event April 6 ended up more colourful than usual. A central part of Rang De Basanti is the throwing of coloured powder at friends and family, known as colour play.

—PHOTO BY BRENDAN KERGIN

LEFT: Rcord numbers turned out for the 2013 TRUSU AGM on Jan. 24 and voted in favour of the formation of both an LGBTQ and graduate student collective.

—PHOTO BY KEVIN SKREPNEK

RIGHT: Atlan Anthony dances at the TRU traditional powwow held March 1 in the TRU Gymnasium —PHOTO BY SEAN BR ADY

BELOW LEFT: Ekachai Srikaeo shows his skill in Muay Thai (Thai boxing) at the International Days Showcase Friday, Feb. 8.

—PHOTO BY JESSICA KLYMCHUK

BELOW RIGHT: Despite looking very unfinished, all accounts have Old Main’s renovations completed on deadline to open September of this year.

—PHOTO BY TAYLOR ROCCA