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Ryerson hosts blind hockey tournament page 9
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ryersonian.ca Volume 71 Number 20
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Pro-Israel group got threats before Ezra Levant event
LAUREN MALYK RYERSONIAN
Yung Samosas Meet the vloggers who are bridging the gap between modesty and fashion as they take on stereotypes surrounding the hijab. pages 6-7 What’s online Text goes here. Xxxxx xxx xx x x. Xxxxx xxxxx Xxxxx Head to ryersonian.ca to find to ace your xxx xxover x x. Xxxxx xxxxx Xxxxx xxxout xx how x x. Xxxxx xxxxx Xxxxxxx xxxxx Xxxxx graduate xxx xx x x. xxxxx Xxxxxxx exams, how a Ryerson is Xxxxx combatting gender xxxxx Xxxxx xxx xx x x. Xxxxx xxxxx Xxxxxxx xxxxx equality through art and so much more. Xxxxx xxx xx x x. Xxxxx xxxxx Xxxxx
COURTESY MAZZ KHAN
Ryerson’s Students Supporting Israel (SSI) group backed out of the Ezra Levant event on campus last week after two members of the group received threats. The members have filed a complaint with Ryerson security. SSI was planning on hosting the event with the Ryerson Campus Conservatives (RCC). Tamar Lyons, vice-president of communications for SSI, wrote in an email that the club’s Facebook page and two executives received messages “stating that they ‘aren’t real Jews’ for hosting Ezra Levant, among many other vile comments.” SSI declined to do an in-person or over-the-phone interview and said they would only accept email interviews at this time. The Ryersonian contacted
campus security multiple times for comment. They didn’t respond. A complaint was not filed with Toronto Police Services. Levant, founder of The Rebel media, visited Ryerson last Wednesday to talk about campus culture and Canada’s relationship with Israel. He was met with protests, both inside and outside the event. The two student groups announced their intention to host Levant at Ryerson on March 20, two days before the event was scheduled to take place. Lyons said that it was not just the threats that caused SSI to back out of the event. She wrote that, leading up to the event, the SSI also received messages from some members of the club saying they were not comfortable hosting Levant as a speaker. Please see LEVANT, page 5
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U.S. travel ban page 4
News Hackathon takes on water crisis
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
BRADLY SHANKAR RYERSONIAN
Imagine winning $1.75 million for a school science project. That was the goal for Ryerson students at last week’s Fresh Water Challenge and Design Thinking Hackathon. The hackathon is inspired by the Water Abundance challenge set by XPRIZE, a California-based non-profit organization that designs public competitions tackling real-world issues through the creation of innovative technology. To win, teams must create a device that can harvest freshwater from the air to tackle the global water crisis. The device must be able to extract 2,000 litres of fresh water per day from the atmosphere, using entirely renewable energy and costing less than two cents per litre. The Ryerson event will determine a winning team that will receive up to $1,000 in funding by the university to register in the XPRIZE competition, where the $1.75-million prize will be awarded. It began last week
BRADLY SHANKAR | RYERSONIAN
Trevor McConnell leads a discussion at the Science Discovery Zone.
and the winner will be chosen on March 31. The hackathon is hosted by the Science Discovery Zone (SDZ), in collaboration with the department of chemistry and biology and Ryerson Urban Water – a collective of 44 professors focusing on research, education and policy related to freshwater. Nearly 30 students across various business and science programs are participating in the hackathon, with registration still
open for new applicants. “That would be a great summer project where you took your idea and got enough funding to support you and the development of your idea,” says Bryan Koivisto, director of the SDZ and associate professor in chemistry and biology. “To me, that’s what SDZ learning is all about (and) we’ll do our best to accommodate it.” Trevor McConnell graduated from business management with
a major in entrepreneurship last year, but remained at Ryerson as project co-ordinator at the SDZ. He’s overseeing the hackathon and says it is a great way for teams to see if their projects are scientifically feasible and commercially viable. So far, McConnell says he’s happy with the results he’s seen. “It was surprising,” he says. “We thought they’d all be very conceptual but there are some methods that are quite easy to replicate.” For example, he mentions how students have been finding ways to find water in desert areas. “If you just dig a hole in the sand and you put a cup and a piece of saran wrap and a stone right in the middle,” McConnell says, “the wet sand, the moisture from the earth, will collect on the saran wrap and funnel to the centre from the stone and it’ll collect in the cup.” The competition aims to help all teams achieve their full potential through the creation of technology. “You ultimately get a winner, but you also get a whole bunch of innovative technology that doesn’t win, but is still good
valuable technology,” says Nick Reid, executive director of Ryerson Urban Water. “Sometimes those are winners as well, just not of that particular prize, so it’s a good way to stimulate innovation.” Ultimately, it’s about creating opportunities for others, Koivisto says. He cites McConnell as a prime example of this – someone who graduated from a business-related program but was able to return and get involved in scientific initiatives, such as the hackathon. In the first two days of the competition last week, the teams came up with their ideas. Presentations to the judges will be given on March 31 and the winning team will be determined by the end of the day. @bradshankar
Student wins competition aimed at promoting sales jobs BROOKLYN PINHEIRO RYERSONIAN
When Carter Grant finished his summer internship selling pest control products door-todoor, he never thought he would pursue a job in sales again. Three years later, he is walking away the winner of $7,500 and the Great Canadian Sales Competition. Grant, a fourth-year business management student at Ryerson
University, won over the judges with his authentic approach to sales. The competition was created to entice students to jobs in sales – a sector that traditionally has a bad reputation. “A lot of people have stigmas or stereotypes about salespeople that they’re trying to screw you over,” said Grant. “Being an authentic and genuine person makes it easier to do business with somebody who wants someone
they can automatically trust off the bat.” Since his internship, his view of sales has changed. He says that’s because the competition showed him all the potential of employment within the sector. “As new grads and especially as business students we’re going into a very competitive market where there’s not a lot of opportunities out there,” said Grant. “But sales is the complete opposite, they’re
hiring junior sales reps all the time.” From Grant’s audition video, he was selected to pitch sales for Freshbook, a company that sells accounting software for small businesses. Then he was selected to do a 10-minute live sales pitch at the Google offices in Toronto. “This year, I’ll be honest, (the response) was overwhelmingly positive,” said Grant. “After I finished my presentation the first
judge says, ‘how can I hire you’ and the second one said, ‘get in line.’” From his participation in the previous competition, Grant landed a job working in sales for Shopify after graduation. “My advice to new students is to just get involved in something because you don’t know where that something is going to bring you to,” said Grant.
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Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Speaking from the heart Ryerson’s Next Top Speaker competition brought both tears and laughter on the topic of “what if?” JENNIFER FERREIRA RYERSONIAN
“‘So, Ms. Plumley… do you think it was sexual assault?’ I pause and a million things come to my head.” “‘I don’t know,’ I respond. I’ve asked myself that same question many times and I just don’t know.” This was part of the prepared speech that contributed to Christa Plumley’s victory at Ryerson’s sixth annual Next Top Speaker competition that took place at the Sears Atrium Friday evening. It’s the university’s largest annual public speaking event. “To me, (sexual assault) is such an important topic. I find that it is something that affects so many, either big or small, whether it’s someone that you know that was sexually assaulted or you personally have been sexually assaulted,” says Plumley on why she chose to write her speech on the topic. “I wanted to address that and share my stories in hopes of
SARAH JACKSON | RYERSONIAN
The other finalists congratulate Christa Plumley on her first place win in the Ryerson’s Next Top Speaker competition.
inspiring others to come forward with their story as well.” Plumley was one of eight students speaking in this year’s competition hosted by the Ryerson Toastmasters, one of over 15,000 Toastmasters clubs around the world focused on helping others develop public speaking and communication skills. Topics ranged from sexual assault to struggles with losing weight. The event began with
SARAH JACKSON | RYERSONIAN
Christa Plumley poses with her first place plaque.
prepared speeches by each of the eight contestants. After, they gave short impromptu speeches. The judges then chose their top three, judging vocal variety, projection and body language. Once the top three were selected, they each gave two to three-minute speeches, after which the judges chose the winner. Despite the range of topics, each year has a single theme. This year, it was parallels — the idea that there are parallel realities running side-by-side at the same time with the notion of “what if?” “What if I could remove all the roadblocks, constraints and impediments in my life? … What if, in my life, I never made excuses? Understanding that these parallel realities or these segments of yourself can actually be manifested into the present — that’s what we mean by parallels,” explained Armaan Verma, fourth-year business management student and president of the Ryerson Toastmasters. Verma was the event’s MC.
This was also his second year as a speaker’s coach for the competition, a role he took on with Allie Zheng, vice-president of education for the Toastmasters. But before both could train any of the competitors, auditions were held. Over 50 students auditioned after the call was put out in November. Verma says this is a 20 per cent increase from last year. Students from across all faculties were able to audition, despite the competition’s strong affiliation with the Ted Rogers School of Management. This inclusion is something fourth-year human resources major and event co-ordinator Vini Lad says only makes sense. “At the end of the day, it’s a competition, so it’s only fair to have representatives from each school.” It was after a round of video auditions and a subsequent round of in-person auditions that the top eight were selected and underwent training in various workshops for two months prior to the
event. Workshops focused on everything from helping students structure essays to the proper use of hand gestures. “Ryerson’s Next Top Speaker isn’t really about a formal communication process, it’s storytelling,” says Verma. “These top eight individuals have their own unique story related back to the theme this year and only these eight people can deliver that one speech that they wrote for that one purpose.” For one speaker, however, the competition meant much more than this. Third-year RTA student Mikael Melo used his speech to address some of the more difficult times in his life, like the house fire he and his family experienced. “Over the course of this last year, so much has happened and (with this speech, I was) trying to find the perfect way to tie all of those experiences together (while) still representing me,” says Melo. “If I didn’t share my story, I might be internalizing a lot of feelings still, and I’m glad that I put it out there and now I can confidently talk about it and be OK with what happened.” His prepared speech and impromptu speeches won him second place in the competition, as well as People’s Choice Award, an especially significant victory for him. “There’s no words to describe how happy and honoured I feel about that,” says Melo about the award. “It was amazing to see so many people … who were really receptive to my jokes or just even in the moment of my speech where I started to cry a little bit. It was outstanding to see so many audience members there with me, feeling that emotion.” @j_ferrei
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Travel ban is ‘intellectual isolation’ U.S. profs fear ‘Trump travel ban’ will isolate the country, after Canadian schools cancel trips. PALAK MANGAT RYERSONIAN
American educators are nervous about the consequences of the United States’ travel ban, after reports of Canadian universities cancelling trips to the country continue to surface. Harley Etienne, an assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan, said he fears that the ban will ultimately result in the U.S. detaching itself from a diversity of both ideas and people. The ban, which will bar citizens from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S., is currently before the courts. The Ryersonian first reported on the announcement from Ryerson’s School of Urban and Regional Planning to cancel trips to the United States in response to the so-called Trump travel ban almost two weeks ago. An internal email sent by the school’s director, Chris De Sousa, in February to planning students stated that the decision was to “ensure that no one in our community would face the barriers to participation that could result from shifting American travel policies.” While the American tourism industry is expected to suffer, educators believe the implications of the travel ban are broader. “I know from economic geography that states that are open to diversity and inclusion also become the greatest hubs in research, IT, and tech,” said Sean Crotty, assistant professor of geography at Texas Christian University’s centre for urban studies. “So having an openly hostile policy at the federal level is really bad for everyone.” Despite these consequences, American professors seem to
COURTESY COURTESY UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OFOF MICHIGAN MICHIGAN
Prof. Harley Etienne says there are consequences to the travel ban.
understand the logic behind such announcements. “I sympathize with the faculty, I completely get it. I get why such a decision had to be made,” said
level. “That’s how you get the best talent in the world – have the best people from all over the world working together,” he added. Ryerson’s president, Mohamed Lachemi, called the ban “personally very troubling” when asked about the urban planning school’s decision to cancel its trips. “(The ban) is counter to Ryerson’s aim to promote equity, diversity and inclusion as an essential feature of all that we do,” he said. Etienne, meanwhile, remains hopeful that the ban will end. “These things can – and should – change. And they will.” While both Canadian and American schools will ultimately
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Etienne. Attracting foreign talent is critical to both of the countries’ economic prosperity, said Crotty, and that begins at the student
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suffer, Etienne is more concerned about the big-picture issue. “In the quest to protect the U.S., we could isolate ourselves,” he said, adding that should things continue the way they are, “intellectual isolation” is a real possibility.
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Ryerson startup helps coffee chain hire refugees OLIVIA CIARALLO RYERSONIAN
Starbucks is hiring, and a startup that was born at Ryerson is helping those jobs go to refugees. The popular coffee chain plans to hire 1,000 refugees in Canada over the next five years, and 10,000 refugees worldwide. After the announcement was made, Starbucks reached out to Hire Immigrants, a research centre through Ryerson’s “thinkand-do” tank The Global Diversity Exchange, that works to help newcomers find work. Hire Immigrants recently joined the Magnet network, a not-for-profit startup from the
Digital Media Zone (DMZ) which works to eliminate barriers in the workforce. Its past projects include the Disability Discovery Project, which worked to remove employment barriers for the disabled. Mark Patterson, executive director of Hire Immigrants, said he is happy to contribute and assist Starbucks in reaching its goal. “This can be a really important opportunity for refugees to get themselves into the labour market in Canada,” said Patterson. “Starbucks is well known for their position on supporting diverse groups of people, so we are happy to be able to do this with them.”
This new hiring plan will build on other programs Starbucks has in place. The company has helped youth find jobs through the Youth Work Placement Program, which aids disadvantaged youth aged 16-24 to find jobs. It also operates the Opportunity Youth program, which offers 10 per cent of its store hires to young people who are in need of jobs but face barriers to employment. “It’s important to know how Starbucks supports those who need help finding jobs. “They also have many benefits for their employees,” said Patterson. These benefits include (medical and dental care, as well as
$5,000 a year for mental health support for those working a minimum of 20 hours a week),” said Patterson.
SARAH JACKSON | RYERSONIAN
Starbucks in the SLC lobby.
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This collaboration with Hire Immigrants opens doors and creates opportunities for refugees all over the world, and Patterson said that each refugee is placed in a job that aligns with their individual expertise and experience. “We have a lot of other highly experienced newcomers that we support and help find other jobs that reflect the skills that they have,” said Patterson. Before announcing the new plan, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz publicly expressed his negative feelings towards U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban and suspension of refugee program. @oliviaciarallo
Members of Students Supporting Israel filed complaint with campus security LEVANT cont’d ... “After much deliberation, the SSI team came to the conclusion that the goals of this event did not line up with the goals of our group. We took into consideration all of the things mentioned, specifically the safety of our members,” wrote Lyons. Despite the group’s decision to pull out of the event, it did not issue a formal statement. According to Lyons, this was because the talk “was only advertised two days in advance” and club members “are students who live busy lives outside of our student group.” It was once people started lashing out at the SSI for hosting the event that the group posted a
LAUREN MALYK | RYERSONIAN
Ezra Levant speaking on campus on March 22.
letter on Facebook the day after to clarify its decision. The group’s post said it respects everyone’s safety and reiterated that it is a non-partisan group that stands up for free speech. Marshall John Darbyshire, vice-president of communications for the campus Conservatives, said the RCC was aware of the threats received by the SSI, but that it had not received any threats leading up to the event. Darbyshire is an executive with both the SSI and RCC, but spoke to the Ryersonian from his perspective and participation with the campus Conservatives. “It was looking like (the SSI) were going to pull out, basically since they posted about (the event on social media),” said Darbyshire.
Despite this, Darbyshire said he sympathizes with the group and its decision to back out. “I hope that they don’t receive any backlash in the future because if we were feeling unsafe, feeling threatened, I could see any group – including the campus Conservatives — pulling out of an event. I totally understand why they did it, I hope that doesn’t happen again in the future,” he said. According to Lyons, the event has not affected SSI’s “good relationship” with Ryerson Campus Conservatives. @lmalyk
R yers When fashion meets r 6
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Features yersonian
The Ryersonian’s Holly Walker reports on how Muslim w Muslim. Assault. Faith. These are just a few of the words the audience offers when confronted with the question, “What first comes to mind when you hear the word hijab?” At the front of a large lecture hall in Ryerson University stand Hüda Doulah and Haleema Mustafa, the two young Muslim fashion vloggers who posed the question. “Do you see her scarf? I love that colour,” whispers a young blond woman in the audience, pointing to the deep emerald green scarf covering Doulah’s hair. “I know, it’s so pretty,” responds her friend. Their exchange is pleasant and it offers a momentary break from a world that at times can seem culturally divisive. Doulah and Mustafa visited Ryerson University on March 14 to speak to Prof. Ben Barry’s fashion studies class on modesty fashion, the stereotypes surrounding the hijab and the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation. It is these contrasting viewpoints and divisions Doulah and Mustafa hope to break down through education and open discussion. “With what’s going on in the world with world politics and Trump, it’s very hard to change peoples’ mindsets but what we can do is raise awareness and talk to people. That’s where we have to start,” said Doulah. Inspired by other Muslim fashion bloggers such as Dina Tokyo, the pair decided to share their unique point of view and began to blog their fashion in June 2016 through Instagram and YouTube under the handle “Yung Samosas.” “We love samosas, and we added ‘Yung’ for street cred,” jokes Mustafa, earning a laugh from the audience. Their platform is a way for the pair to show young women that modesty and fashion can intersect and that they can still be creative and stylish without sacrificing their faith. After only one month as the Yung Samosas, the duo received attention from the CBC, which was interested in shooting a feature video on modesty fashion in Toronto. “We were in our own bubble, just having fun sharing our fashion, we were excited. It seemed harmless,” said Mustafa. However, shortly after the video was shared on CBC’s Facebook page, the comment section quickly burst that bubble. While there were a number of comments from non-Muslims denouncing the wearing of the hijab, what shocked the two women the most was the backlash they received from their own Muslim community for their “portrayal” of the hijab. “That was a big shock to me, I thought we were all in this together kind of thing,” said Doulah. Standing beside her, Mustafa can only shake her head when recalling the memory. While Mustafa’s parents support her in all her endeavours, they were concerned for her well-being after reading the comments and suggested she stop putting herself on social media. Although Mustafa understood her parent’s point, she decided to turn the negativity into determination instead. “I had it set in my mind that I’m not going to let these people stop me,” said Mustafa. “Fear and hate is built off of ignorance and people just need to be educated.” Mustafa grew up in a predominantly white and Asian neighbourhood in Markham, Ont. and was one of only two girls who wore the hijab in her school. Mustafa was often judged on her choice of clothing. She would wear jeans and sweaters, while the other girl would wear more loose fitting clothing. “People would ask me, ‘Why does she dress that way and you dress this way? Is she a better Muslim than you?’ and I would say, ‘No, this is just the way I want to dress,’” says Mustafa.
COURTESY MAZZ KHAN
Haleema Mustafa and Hüda Doulah, hanging out at Ryerson’s Student Learning Centre.
She credits that experience to giving her the confidence to stick up for herself and to speak to the world on her fashion choices. Modesty is not synonymous with being unfashionable. Unlike Mustafa, Doulah’s appearance was never questioned as a child. “Where I grew up it was a very small town and everyone looked the same,” said Doulah. Doulah grew up in a town next to the sea in the city of Mersin, Turkey. Friday nights were spent at prayer and Sundays were spent at classes learning to read the Qur’an to understand her religion. When she was seven years old her family made the move to Canada. “The one thing that really shocked me coming to Canada was seeing people who were of different cultures, and different skin colours,” said Doulah. “I’m still amazed at how diverse Toronto is.” After the move, Doulah remembers being fascinated by the other women in the mosque wearing the hijab, which insirped her to wear it. “My mother does not wear it,” said Doulah, pointing to the green scarf tied around her head. “It wasn’t forced upon me or anything. It
was more like if you feel like it com do so.” By the age of 13, she was commi erything about it,” said Doulah. Both of their gazes drift to the ri
“People would ask m way and you dress t Muslim than you?’ a is just the way
third row has raised her hand to Taha, 18, said the speakers’ stories r Born and raised in Canada, Taha, at Ryerson, made the choice to wea
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Wednesday, March 29, 2017
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women are challenging sterotypes surrounding the hijab
mes from your heart then you can
itted to wearing it daily. “I love ev-
ight where a young woman in the
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trip to Sudan last summer. Taha spent a lot of time during the trip around her cousins who all wear the hijab. “I could see how confident they were in it,” recalled Taha. Since wearing the hijab, Taha said she feels more like herself and is proud to be identified as a Muslim woman first before anything else. “The biggest thing for me is wherever I go, if I walk into a room, people will see my faith and what I believe in before they see anything else,” said Taha. Taha is not immune to the same judgment from within the Muslim community that Doulah and Mustafa have faced. “I receive hate from Muslims. They tell me that I’m wearing it wrong, or that I’m showing my hair,” said Taha. Similar to Mustafa, Taha has let the negativity fuel her strength to persevere in the face of adversity. “ When Trump started the Muslim ban and there was so much hate towards Muslims, I just felt powerful that I have the strength to wear this,” said Taha.
me, ‘Why does she dress that this way? Is she a better and I would say, ‘No, this y I want to dress.’” – Haleema Mustafa
share a story of her own. Sahar resonate on a more personal level. , a fashion communication student ar the hijab only recently during a
Mustafa and Doulah can only smile while Taha shares her story. What all three women said they want society to better understand is the difference between culture and religion. “I want the Muslim community to support each other, and I want the non-Muslim community to realize that I am not oppressed,” said Taha. The choice to showcase modesty fashion through the wearing of loose fitting clothing or the hijab, the niqab or the burka are often seen and understood by Western society as something “archaic” – as nothing more than a way for men to control women. However, for many women wearing the garb, this could not be further from the truth. “People often mistake cultural practices in Islamic countries as something that is religious. It is very important to separate the hijab from the violence...” said Mustafa. As the girls conclude their presentation, the room fills with applause. If Doulah and Mustafa are proof of anything, it’s that perseverance is the best medicine and religion does not limit self-expression.
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Arts & Life
Read more Arts & Life online ryersonian.ca Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Indigenous Ryerson alumnus releases second feature film Filmmaker Adam Garnet Jones talks about his film journey and his new feature, Great Great Great TAYLOR MOYLE RYERSONIAN
Audition after audition, Adam Garnet Jones walked in with sweaty palms and shaky legs. After too many attempts, he eventually realized acting wasn’t for him. Struggling to become a child actor in British Columbia, Jones eventually came to realize that he would never succeed because of his crippling fear. “My fear got in the way of being able to audition properly because I had no confidence. So I was terrible,” he says. At 14, he found out about a camp called the Gulf Island Film and Television School (GIF), located on Galiano Island, B.C. It was there that Jones quickly realized he wanted to make films, not star in them. “I felt really accepted by that group of people and felt like my ideas had value all of a
COURTESY ADAMGARNETJONES.COM
sudden,” says the now 35-yearold filmmaker. Making plenty of short films and eventually attending Ryerson University for film school, Jones made his feature debut in 2015 with Fire Song. He was inspired by his lived experience as a Canadian with indigenous roots, being of Cree and Métis ancestry. Jones always knew a film like Fire Song would be his first, considering the themes and events it addresses, which include indigenous youth suicide and struggles with sexuality — both of which Jones himself experienced growing up. He wanted to tell this story as he knew it wasn’t just about him; it was one that many people could relate to and wasn’t being talked about at the time. Not everyone believed in the film as much as Jones did. Fire Song took him seven years to make, with much of that time dedicated to writing and finding people who believed in the idea as well. Despite having won awards, including the Jim Burt Screenwriting Prize, all those he showed it to recognized it as a great story, but didn’t think it would do well financially. People often told him: “I really want you to make this film, but I don’t know who’s going to go see it.” Jones himself had moments of doubt when he questioned the film’s broader appeal, thinking that people in the indigenous and LGBTQ communities would like it, but not knowing if others would feel the same.
Eventually, Jones gained some funding from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. The director admits there was some luck involved, as his project just happened to be the perfect fit for a new fund, one specifically made for new indigenous feature filmmakers. Along with this, Jones already had experience with short films, making him a worthy recipient of the fund. With money already dedicated to the project, it was much easier for Jones to attract other investors. With feature films made by indigenous filmmakers about indigenous peoples and their culture being a rarity, it seems that what Jones has done is special. He accounts for this in two key areas: money and the cast of the film. “Broadcasters want to see famous names attached to the film and often indigenous filmmakers are asked to rewrite their stories so that they can cast a white actor (as) one of the main characters, in order to bring in some financing,” said Jones. It’s often the case that people in charge of financing movies don’t believe in the stories indigenous writers are telling, according to Jones. He adds that the reason Fire Song was made is because of his experience with short films and the topical nature of the story. When he was writing the story, Jones says people weren’t talking about indigenous youth suicides, but as he continued to work on it,
COURTESY MELISSA JIM
Adam Garnet Jones on the set filming his feature Great Great Great.
it became more of a hot topic. Now, Jones has just finished his latest feature film, Great Great Great. It’s a short film about a struggling relationship. Jones directed and wrote the film along with Ryerson graduate Sarah Kolasky and it premièred last March at the Canadian Film Festival. Unlike Fire Song, it was entirely self-funded and did not draw from or address his indigenous roots. Jones feels a responsibility to tell indigenous stories with his work, especially because being afforded the ability to do so is rare for a filmmaker of his roots. “In a way, I feel weird that Great Great Great isn’t an indigenous story. I didn’t feel weird when I was writing it, but now that it’s out there in the world, there’s something that’s almost uncomfortable about
it and I don’t know why exactly,” he says. Jones admits that despite this, “my culture and my family and where I come from makes it essential that I am always considering why I’m doing things and how I’m doing things.” When Jones was in film school at Ryerson, he was surprised that his classmates never talked about stories and why they’re worth telling. Instead, discussions were had about how to get certain shots and what movies they were watching. Jones doesn’t only want to make good movies. He wants his films to contribute to culture, art and the world as a whole — an aspect indigenous (and all) filmmakers should strive for.
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Sports
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Read more Sports online ryersonian.ca Wednesday, March 29, 2017
The sound of hockey
Mattamy Athletic Centre hosts annual blind hockey tournament WILLIAM BROWN RYERSONIAN
The final seconds tick down during the third period of the hockey tournament’s final game. The score is 6-5 and the trailing team is pushing for an equalizer. The players rush around the offensive zone, swarming the net for a deflection, a rebound. There’s a sense of desperation on the ice, but unlike most games, none of the players know exactly how much time is left. No player can see the clock. It’s the fifth year Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre has hosted the Canadian Blind Hockey Tournament, the biggest national showcase for blind hockey in the country. Players have travelled from across Canada to participate in the six-team competition, where organizers divide players in terms of their physical ability and level of blindness. The rosters range from teenagers to 70-year-olds and from partial to full blindness. “There’s not a ton of sporting opportunities for blind and visually impaired people,” said Douglas Dow, a Vancouver-based athlete who flew into Toronto for the tournament. “So to have something like this that’s growing is very important.” Blind hockey is understandably quite different from NHL hockey. The puck is the most noticeable difference. It’s about 10 centimetres in diameter, hollowed out and filled with hardware. It clanks loudly as it’s passed
around the ice, allowing the players to hear it and follow it by ear. Typically, forwards will have better eyesight than defenders and, by rule, all goalies are fully blind (if not naturally, then playing with a blindfold). “It gives them a lot of pride, that they can get out on the ice and compete with other people with similar vision issues,” said Wayne St. Denis, a player and manager with the Toronto Ice Owls, Toronto’s local blind hockey team. “When you go to this tournament, and there’s like 90 players there, they’re there to play hockey, and that’s one thing in common, but the other thing you have in common is everybody’s visually impaired.” Meanwhile, Dow watches the final game in a front-row seat. His white cane is folded neatly on his
lap and he follows the game on his phone’s camera, zooming in on the action. He can’t fully take in the game like most of the crowd, but that doesn’t impede his enjoyment of the game. “Great finish,” said Dow, as he stands up following the final buzzer. Dow got involved with the sport eight years ago through a friend and has participated in all five blind hockey tournaments. He’s happy to admit he’s not terribly athletic, but said blind hockey is not about trophies and scoring titles, but rather teamwork, support and engagement. “It’s inspiring to see people that were down or having issues with depression to just come out and get a sense of something that’s normal,” said Dow. But it’s still a sport that garners little attention. Awareness
is a concern for St. Denis, who advocates as much as he can to draw young people to the sport. He’s concerned that not enough young people with vision disabilities know of blind hockey and how playing could affect their lives. “I’ve met some young kids and they listen to games on their
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Canadian Blind Hockey Tournament at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
TV and they never knew they could play before,” says St. Denis. “They may have skated on a public rink, but they never thought they could play hockey. It’s a great thing that they could fulfil a dream, they could play a sport that they never thought they could play.” @will_brown017
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EDITORIAL
University needs race-based data
Last week, the CBC reported that Ryerson is among a number of Canadian universities that do not collect race-based statistics and data from its students. The report found that out of 76 schools surveyed, 63 stated they could not provide statistics on the racial demographic of their student populations. This amounts to more than 80 per cent. There’s no doubt that race is an uncomfortable topic today, and the argument that universities are an open place for dialogue – that students should be exposed to contrasting viewpoints in order to situate and challenge their own – is not new. The Ryersonian’s Julia Ho, for instance, writes about the prevalence of political binaries in this week’s Opinion piece. She argues that challenging your stance by opening up to those that are the opposite is critical to developing a better understanding of your own. The CBC report questioned that as university campuses (and to an extent our public institutions) continue to place an increased emphasis on diversity and inclusion, isn’t it time we demand statistics and data collection on the ethnic and racial identification of their students? Here at the Ryersonian newsroom, we remain committed to presenting a diversity of opinions. There is no doubt that our team may have concerns about the way this potential data may be used. But there is one thing that we cannot disagree about: fact-based reporting.
The collection of data is vital in this, as gathering information allows institutions like schools to recognize trends, patterns and ambiguities. It offers an opportunity to learn from these ambiguities about what can be changed or done to – as Ryerson’s president Mohamed Lachemi told the Ryersonian on March 20, “promote equity, diversity and inclusion as an essential feature of all that we do.” It’s why, as you’ll see over the next week or so in our News section, the Ryersonian embarked on a journey to gather data, taking a cross-country look at the far-reaching consequences of the U.S. travel ban. This was sparked in part after our newsroom learned of another organization on campus that responded to the travel ban. That being said, we admit that having a conversation about how precisely this data will be used by the university administration and student population is something that will undoubtedly need to take place. This must be done through dialogues and consultations with students, faculty and other key stakeholders within the university community. But that can’t happen until we – both as a student body and an institution – have concrete data and statistics to reference. Because ultimately, fact-based reporting will trump anecdotal evidence – always.
MONIQUE JAGPAL | RYERSONIAN
Milk sales in Canada (left) vs. milk sales in the U.S. (right).
OPINION
The danger of political binaries JULIA HO RYERSONIAN
Living in downtown Toronto and attending Ryerson University, there’s no shortage of “liberals.” I often find myself identifying as such, but realizing the danger of our increasingly polarized political understanding has made me hesitant. The current political climate has self-manifested into a counter-intuitive narrative that can only be experienced, for the most part, as a binary—left or right. And with a predominantly liberal population, it has
seemingly become a social pressure to identify as such. Young people find themselves compelled to align with a conglomerate of (dare I say) trendy “liberal” values so as to not be ostracized from their equally “progressive” friends. Those adjectives are in quotes not because I do not value their political notions. Contrarily, I’m supportive of much of the positive discourse surrounding those ideologies. The problem is our unquestioning willingness to follow an entire train of indiscriminate and heterogeneous thinking. As idiosyncratic individuals, we cannot subscribe wholly to the propagated conception of what it means to be either liberal or conservative. Instead of confining ourselves to a linear spectrum where our political significance is only deemed valuable if we adhere to the polar norms, there needs to be a paradigm shift in how we perceive socio-political elements. By
accepting values as our own without properly challenging them first (and merely because it falls under the political house we identify with), we deny ourselves the ability to consciously understand and argue the values we want to be so passionate about. As a “liberal,” it’s easy to surround myself with only likeminded people, neglecting opposing rhetoric that is necessary for reinforcement of my supposed beliefs. But it was not until I began opening myself to contrasting political views that I became aware of my alarming inability to vindicate what I was promoting and my inadequacy at identifying their lack of logically valid merit. Ironically, I, as a “leftist,” have to continually learn to eradicate the prejudice on “right-wing” views and the idea that I must lie on a specific end of a one-dimensional scale in order to be a good person. @imjuliaho
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Ice-cream sandwiches and gains ‘Three years ago, the RAC took a chance on a shy kid for the front desk.’ BRIANNE SPIKER RYERSONIAN
I don’t know how many times I have said, “Can you please swipe your OneCard?” — but if I had a dollar for every time I asked, it would be enough for tuition. I have had people swipe their health cards, their TTC Metropasses and even Tim Hortons gift cards in the scanner. We’re not stupid, we see you. Since 2014, I have been working at Ryerson’s Recreation and Athletics Centre (RAC) and Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC). Having worked throughout my years at school and for the last two summers, I’ve seen it all. Working at a university gym has helped me in dealing with all kinds of people — from the gym bros who love their gains to people embarking on a workout for the first time. One of the more interesting things that happened to me was being given the opportunity to play in a summer soccer league game with the women’s varsity team. They were in desperate
need of filling up the roster and were willing to take anyone. I was already having a really awful day with a major setback on an important project. But the worst part was finding out Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban got traded (still not over it). Luckily, I was allowed to leave my shift at the MAC early to be whisked away to some random soccer field in the middle of Guelph and play under the tutelage of Ivan Joseph, Ryerson’s director of athletics. I almost assisted on a goal, but only because I was standing in front of the net and it accidently bounced off my leg to a teammate (who missed the net). We aren’t just your friendly neighbourhood front desk staff. We are also DJs, the lovely people who put on music for you. However, despite having a full library of music at our disposal, especially at the RAC, the most frequent requests we get are Drake and Future, hands down. Not being a rap fan, I have no idea what songs people are referring to most of the time when they make
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Brianne Spiker poses on the running track in the RAC.
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Brianne Spiker in the weight room at the Recreation and Athletics Centre (RAC).
a request. Every time we do put one of their songs on, it makes a noticeable difference in the attitude of some of the gym-goers. They stand up straighter and their chests become more pronounced. No joke. One of the best parts of working in the summer is the leftover snacks from day camps. From popsicles to giant chocolate chip cookies to grilled cheese sandwiches, it was blessed. My favourite was the icecream sandwiches. Being inside the RAC on any day of the week, even during the winter, is hot. In the summertime, it’s extra hot, especially when you’re running around getting stuff done. It’s like the Sahara Desert meets the Amazon rainforest. It wasn’t unusual for me to power back three or five icecream sandwiches during my shift. Do a court clean? Ice-cream sandwich No. 1. Clean up the weight room? Sandwich No. 2. Getting a workout set up for the
“Ultimate Workout” class? Sandwich No. 3. Treating myself after cleaning? Sandwiches four and five. I’ll admit I’m not the strongest person who works at the gym. That’s why it grinds my gears when some jerk leaves a 100pound dumbbell on the ground. Or four 45-pound plates on each side of the barbell on the squat rack. It’s situations like those where I had to learn to assert myself. I have no trouble telling them to put their weights away, or the guys playing basketball that they can’t actually have 10 more minutes of play. As part of working for the RAC, I’ve also done university-wide locker cuts and found some interesting things. Going through all of Kerr Hall, the Podium and the Library Building, the chances of finding something good is high. From a duffle bag full of booze to a brand new Toronto Blue Jays
snapback hat still in the box, you wonder what else Ryerson students are storing. But there’s no doubt that the best part of the job is the people. I have met some of the nicest, funniest and most interesting people working at the RAC and the MAC. I have met people from all walks of life and working at both places has given me a new perspective. It has helped me improve my people skills and my ability to problem-solve. Three years ago, the RAC took a chance on a shy kid for the front desk. Now, I’m a third-year veteran who has seen just about everything the RAC can throw at me. That’s enough nostalgia for today. Someone pass me the icecream sandwiches. @Brianne_Spiker
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