Marketing course union exec’s Facebook post sparks controversy
Twitter mental health campaign #RamsTalk sets new record
Coverage at ryersonian.ca
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Prof researching treatment for cystic fibrosis in children
Ryersonian
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The
Produced by the Ryerson School of Journalism Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Volume 70, Number 20
@theryersonian / www.ryersonian.ca
‘Black Lives Matter is here to stay’ Protesters mark tenth day camped outside of the Toronto police headquarters
By Hannah Logan Ryersonian Staff
Tuesday marked the tenth day that Black Lives Matter – Toronto (BLMTO) was camped outside the Toronto police headquarters in what they’ve dubbed “#BLMTOTentCity,” demanding charges be laid against the police officer who fatally shot a black man last summer. BLMTO has released a list of demands, including that the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) release the name of the officer who shot Andrew Loku and lay charges against him. They also demand a coroner’s inquest into Loku’s death, an overhaul of the SIU and a “full elimination of carding.” Kristyn Wong-Tam, Toronto city councillor for Ward 27 (the ward that Ryerson is in) released a statement March 24 offering to facilitate a meeting with BLMTO organizers, city councillors, police chief Mark Saunders and members of the Toronto Police Services (TPS) board for “an honest conversation at city hall on how Toronto polices its citizens and how we can do better to save lives.” On March 29, Wong-Tam and fellow councillors Mike Layton and Gord Perks filed a motion to Toronto city council to ask the provincial government to conduct an “anti-racism” review of TPS and the SIU.
Black Lives Matter protesters stand outside the Toronto police headquarters at a rally on March 26.
Courtesy Hongen Nar
These are two successes that have come out of Toronto’s ongoing BLMTO movement, which Ryerson students and student groups have been heavily involved in. The demonstration began March 20, when around 100 protesters gathered at Nathan Phillips Square. They were demonstrating after the SIU
announced earlier that week that it would not press charges against the unnamed officer who shot Loku, 45, in his west Toronto apartment building in July 2015. Loku, a black man, was shot and killed after police say he refused to drop a hammer he was holding. Mark Pugash, TPS’s director of corporate communications,
stressed to The Ryersonian that the Toronto police were not responsible for investigating Loku’s case. “It was investigated by a fully independent, arms-length body (the SIU). They looked into the evidence and they have a responsibility under the law of this province to investigate such incidents,” he said. “Their conclusion
was that officers were justified in what they were doing.” Organizers of the March 20 rally announced their intentions to pitch tents in Nathan Phillips Square and stay there all night. Shortly after, Toronto police allegedly threatened to charge the protesters with trespassing. Please see BLMTO, page 3
12 research professors, each of whom have a team of several graduate students. The project will cost about $12.3 million for both leasing the space and renovations. Imogen Coe, dean of the Faculty of Science, said the money will come out of operating funds. The new, open-concept space will be a far cry from the science faculty’s current research facilities in Kerr Hall, which are becoming crowded as the faculty hires new staff. “One of the issues for labora-
tory science – and science in general at Ryerson – is that that there’s been a real space crunch,” Coe said. Researchers in Kerr Hall have had to turn offices into microscope rooms and meeting rooms into mini labs. “One of the problems with old buildings like Kerr Hall is that it was built about 60 years ago, and science back then was done in very different ways to how it is done now,” Coe said. “Working in teams is much more common now ... so we’re
we’re really moving from a very old style of building to the new way of doing science, which is much more collaborative.” Facilities in the new lab space on College Street include research laboratories, controlled environment rooms, radioisotope and tissue culture facilities and an advanced imaging room. Coe hopes that the new location will foster further collaboration between Ryerson researchers and other research organizations housed in the MaRS.
The move to MaRS is one step in the Faculty of Science’s master plan, said Coe. Other plans are underway to build an entirely new science building, which will house teaching labs, large classrooms, the science outreach office and student services. The timeline for this plan depends on when the faculty can get funding. The 2016 federal budget, released last Wednesday, did not include funding for new university buildings.
Science faculty launches mission to MaRS By Allison Ridgway Ryersonian Staff
Chemistry and biology researchers at Ryerson will soon have a place to work in the MaRS Discovery District after years of dealing with cramped space and outdated facilities in Kerr Hall. With construction currently underway, the 20,000 square feet of new biochemistry, microbiology and cell biology research labs is set to open January 2017. It will have space for 85 people:
2 • The Ryersonian
EDITORIALS
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
The
Ryersonian
Produced by the Ryerson School of Journalism
EDITORIAL
Free expression not a free-for-all
This past year has been a Ryerson. The RSU on the other busy one in the debate over free hand, scored a D for policies speech on campus. and an F for practices, earnBetween the denial of club ing the title of the worst student status for controversial stu- union for free expression in all dent groups such as men’s of Canada. issues and anti-abortion, and While the JCCF’s analysis is the #IStandWithGilary (ISWG) by no means an objective assessposters that were torn down by ment, the RSU should still be current and incoming Ryerson embarrassed by its failing grade. Students’ Union (RSU) execuTo make matters worse, Rabia tives, free speech — or rather, Idrees, the RSU’s vice-president who’s allowed to have it — has equity, stressed in her election been a contentious topic. platform in 2014 that she wanted The Ryersonian has covered to “work on improving the freethese issues extensively, with dom of expression grade given multiple stories regarding each by the RSU.” in print, online and broadcast. It’s not like the RSU execuWe’ve been aggressive in ensur- tives aren’t aware of these glaring that dissenting opinions ing policies. They are. They just are given the opportunity to be aren’t fixing them. Even worse, shared with the student body. they’re continuing to use them to We’ve covered them fairly. silence other students. We’ve reported on them without Regardless of what anyone in bias and we’ve gone to great the RSU personally thinks about lengths to keep our personal an anti-abortion or men’s issues opinions out of the news. We group, these individuals have a realize that the day we let our right to their own opinions, to thoughts free exprestaint the way Free speech on campus is sion and to that you are association able to for- and has continually been under the mulate your under attack by the RSU. C a n a d i a n own is the Charter of same day Rights and that we betray ourselves as a fair Freedoms. and responsible news organizaThe RSU is supposed to be tion. the representative voice of stuFree speech on campus is dents on campus. That includes and has continually been under all voices, not just the voices attack by the RSU. It has used or opinions that align with its its policies and practices to cen- standards. sor students and inhibit the free This is a censure. As student exchange of ideas and opinions. journalists, but more importantly As elected student representa- as the journalism school’s offitives, this is the very thing they cial student newspaper, we have should be fighting to protect. an interest in calling out anyone Every year, the Justice Centre against free speech. for Constitutional Freedoms But more than that, this is a (JCCF) puts together an in-depth plea to incoming RSU execuanalysis on the state of free tives. You pick up the mantle speech at 55 Canadian public next month. You can start to universities. It grades both the repair the damage to free exprespolicies and the practices of the sion on this campus that past universities, as well as their stu- executives have caused. dents’ unions. Remember that you are supThis year, Ryerson landed posed to stand up for students, two As and was named the sec- not stand in their way. ond best university in Canada And remember that we will for free expression. Kudos to be watching.
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Four years and $28,612 later... Kayleigh Robinson / Ryersonian Staff
OPINION
Liberal arts grads are not all doomed education has left them ill-prepared for the professional world. To add to the mix, the youth unemployment rate has reached a whopping 13 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. While the reality may be discouraging, I am going to share with you three important tips that I have picked up that will make your outlook a little less gloomy:
By Rahaf Khalil Special to The Ryersonian
With three weeks left before exams, summer is quickly approaching. For most, this time is a source of happiness as we collectively scramble to meet deadlines for assignments and review (or cram) our course material before finals. For others — myself included — it is also a time of anxiety and a great deal of self-doubt. In case you haven’t guessed already, I’m graduating this year. While most people would view this as a cause for celebration, for many of us graduating with a liberal arts degree it can feel akin to marching towards your own funeral. Although studying humanities is fulfilling in many ways, it can feel somewhat debilitating. It is a sad fact that most liberal arts graduates feel that their
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1) Speak to a career counsellor The Ryerson Career Centre offers an online appointment booking service for a sit-down counselling session on almost all job-related inquiries, including career and job searching. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, this is a great place to start.
3) Network Once you’ve narrowed down potential career paths, this step is crucial. Create a LinkedIn account. Sometimes career opportunities flourish in the most unexpected places. You never know who your second cousin on your mother’s side has in their network, so don’t be shy. Then look for networking events for the career and industry of your choice, both online and through the university. For instance, Ryerson is hosting a Faculty of Arts networking event on Thursday, April 7. These events are the best way to meet industry professionals, find out more about the career you’re interested in and establish a memorable first impression. Add these connections to your LinkedIn network and these contacts may lead to a future employment offer.
2) Do your homework No one else can determine what kind of job will suit you better than yourself. Begin by figuring out what job Keep in mind that Following or career qualities these steps is you care about and career planning a great way to list them in order is a never-ending take a proactive of importance. approach to your process. Next, make future. Liberal arts note of your skills. graduates have Even if you don’t much to offer in have much experience, your almost any workplace, so stay humanities degree has supplied positive — the opportunities are you with an arsenal of transfer- diverse. able skills — excellent oral and Keep in mind that career written communication skills, planning is a never-ending proadvanced research and analytical cess and it changes as you develskills, organization, time-man- op new skills and interests. agement and many more. Own Good luck in your job hunt. them. The best is yet to come.
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Contact Us We would like to hear from you. Please include your name, program and year. Unsigned letters will not be published. We reserve the right to edit letters for length. Ryerson University 80 Gould Street Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Newsroom: 416-979-5323 Email: sonian@ryerson.ca Web: Ryersonian.ca Twitter: @TheRyersonian Facebook: /TheRyersonian Instagram: @theryersonian
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
NEWS
The Ryersonian • 3
Protesters pitch tents for the long haul BLMTO, cont’d...
Protesters relocated early Monday morning, taking their tent city to the front of the Toronto police headquarters on College Street, where they have since remained. Monday evening, the protest turned violent when demonstrators clashed with police. Police and the fire department entered the tent city to remove the tents and extinguish the firepit that protesters had set up. Some protesters said they were pushed and shoved by police. Pugash told The Ryersonian that police used “minimum force to move people” after asking protesters to remove their tents and firepits. But Yasmin Mumed, a University of Guelph student and protester, disagreed. Mumed said that the police “roughed us up a lot and pushed us really hard to the ground. “I literally thought my insides were going to come out. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to eat properly or digest my food properly.” Still, Mumed said that she does
not want to leave the tent city. “In terms of what’s feeding me, what I need is here. Just the love and the spirit, what is in this space right now,” she said on Thursday. “Our community is tighter than it was before and we’re more united than we’ve ever been. We’re mourning black lives. We have nothing to lose at this point.” Mansoor Tanweer, a secondyear Ryerson journalism student who was also present at the tent city on March 21, agreed that the community’s resilience seemed stronger than ever. Tanweer arrived after the TPS and fire department had entered tent city to extinguish the firepit. He said that the situation had calmed. “When I arrived, the atmosphere was really communal,” he said. “Everyone was really calm. They weren’t rioting or anything, it was more like, well, Bob Marley was playing. “It seemed like everyone knew in the back of their minds that it could be shut down at any time, but nobody was letting that affect the mood.” Despite freezing temperatures,
protesters stayed at the tent city throughout the week. A March 24 rally at police headquarters ignited further energy for the cause as hundreds of people showed up. The rally began at 4 p.m. and continued into the night. It closed off part of College Street and turned into a street party with musical performances later that night. Jean Montaque, a black Toronto mother and nurse, and her lawyer, Saron Gebresellassi, held a press conference at the rally about Montaque’s lawsuit against the Toronto police, in which she claims that she was illegally detained and her home illegally searched in 2013. Pugash said that the lawsuit had already been served to Toronto police on Feb. 11. Gebresellassi said that the March 24 press conference was “symbolic.” “This happens in the GTA often, and it’s rare that a family can actually hire a lawyer and sue, but this family was able to do that,” Gebresellassi said at the rally. “This sends a message to
police officers across Toronto that Toronto Police Service (is) acting with such a great level of disrespect and impunity towards the people of Toronto and against black families.” Yusra Khogali, a BLMTO cofounder who also spoke during the rally, reiterated this thought. “The ways in which the police inflicted violence on this family and this woman (are) the same ways they have been inflicting violence on us. This is an everyday lived experience of being black in this city,” Khogali said. “The Toronto Police Services are anti-black. And this is a real situation.” Divest Ryerson, the Ryerson Feminist Collective, the Racialized Students’ Collective and United Black Students at Ryerson all expressed support for BLMTO’s tent city protests. Members from each of the groups were also present at the rally. “This isn’t anything new,” said Pascale Diverlus, a BLMTO cofounder and a Ryerson student. “Our lives being this uncomfortable, this moment being so uncomfortable is not something
that’s new to us,” she said. “It is our realities, it is our realities of being a black person in Toronto.” Diverlus noted that BLMTO has succeeded in sparking conversation about being black in Toronto. “Realistically, it’s a global problem. You need to talk about it, and it’s amazing to see that folks are not only standing in solidarity with us, but raising the issue in their own city as well,” she said. “The support of the community has really been what’s driving us. People have been so giving.” Supporters have brought food, blankets, gift cards, raincoats, portable chargers, waterproof storage and even tea to the camped-out protesters. “It just reaffirms what we know already — that what we are doing is right,” Diverlus said of the donations. As for any kind of timeline, Diverlus insisted that the community will decide just how long the tent city should live on. “Black Lives Matter is here to stay,” Khogali agreed. “We are going nowhere.”
Courtesy Hongen Nar
Protesters express solidarity for the Black Lives Matter - Toronto tent city demonstration outside of the Toronto police headquarters on College Street on March 26.
Courtesy Hongen Nar
A group of Black Lives Matter protesters gathered outside police headquarters.
Courtesy Hongen Nar
BLMTO co-founder Pascale Diverlus and protester Yasmin Mumed in the tent city.
4 • The Ryersonian
NEWS
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Mental health awareness Crowdbabble: fundraiser breaks record DMZ startup spotlight By Vanessa Francone Ryersonian Staff
By Erin Hesselink Ryersonian Staff
The #RamsTalk social media campaign to end the stigma surrounding mental illness broke a new record on March 24: 104,200 tweets in 24 hours. That’s the greatest number of tweets the campaign has seen since it began three years ago. Tweeting using the hashtag #RamsTalk meant five cents was donated to the mental health awareness organization Jack.org. Jack.org is a Canadian initiative made up of young leaders that aim to transform the way society thinks about mental health. Last year, nearly 87,000 tweets went out during the #RamsTalk campaign, leading to a donation of just over $4,000 from the campaign’s partner, Ryerson’s Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This year, Brookfield made a donation of $5,210. Nella Brodett, a 2015 Ryerson alumna who started the annual campaign in 2014, said it was a last minute push that made it come together in the end. “In the morning I was nervous because it was a slow start,” she said. “But it feels good to get better success each year.” Shayan Yazdanpanah, a thirdyear engineering student who took on a leadership role in this year’s campaign, said “it feels in-
Born in Dubai and grown in Toronto, Crowdbabble is another startup success story to join Ryerson’s DMZ. The social media analytics tool is set to disrupt the market, one social media platform at a time. Crowdbabble targets marketers and pulls data from their companies’ social media accounts, automatically putting it into easily consumable reports. Clients can also add their competitors’ accounts to compare results. “A lot of times marketers will do social media analytics, but they’ll have to get the data themselves, analyze it and make graphs and present it, and that can take eight hours – even longer than that,” Bhavin Prajapati, Crowdbabble’s “growth hacker,” said. “With us, this process is shrunken down to maybe an hour, or even less. You get all the reports and it looks fancy automatically.” Abbas Alidina, founder and CEO of Crowdbabble, built the tool for a marketing agency he was working for in Dubai. The agency was bought out, but Alidina kept the tool for himself and later developed it into a company with the help of Crowdbabble’s chief strategy officer, Andrew Grubb. The two applied to the Ryerson Futures Inc. program and managed to land Crowdbabble a highly competitive spot in the DMZ last spring. That gave them mentorship, media exposure and access to DMZ facilities and
Jacqueline Tucci / Ryersonian Staff
#RamsTalk organizers Shayan Yazdanpanah and Nella Brodett.
describably amazing to surpass last year’s record. “I don’t think we ever broke 100,000 tweets, so it’s nice to be in the six digit range,” Yazdanpanah said. Brodett said she has never seen so much support from the university before. It even reached beyond the Ryerson community, with city councillor Norm Kelly jumping on the #RamsTalk bandwagon, bringing with it another 773 retweets. Coralie D’Souza, director of communications, events and community relations at Brookfield, said they were excited to be the sponsor of #RamsTalk because it’s a good cause that they believe in. “It has created solidarity and support for those who suffer from mental illness,” she said.
Alix Kempf, the fundraising lead for Jack.org, said she thinks the #RamsTalk response from students has been “magical.” “It’s one thing to be supported by parents or big funders,” she said. “But to get supported from the people you’re trying to help is incredible.” Kempf said she hopes that this campaign leads to continued conversations about mental illness and helps students learn how to support peers who are suffering. Yazdanpanah already has his sights set on next year. He wants to make #RamsTalk even bigger. “We want to make people realize talking about mental health isn’t just one day a year, but every day,” he said. “People are there for you every day and we need to encourage people to speak up.”
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meeting rooms. One of the things that distinguishes Crowdbabble from other analytics tools is its lowprice plans. The cheapest plan starts at $49 per month, making the tool more accessible to other startups and small businesses than its competitors. “If you want to be disruptive, you’ve got to make certain sacrifices, especially with your prices,” Prajapati said. For Crowdbabble, it’s about offering as much data as possible, and Prajapati said competitors just aren’t doing that. All social media platforms have an application programming interface with 10 points of data that users can keep track of. Most analytics companies do two or four, but Crowdbabble’s platform is capable of tracking all 10. Prajapati’s title is “growth hacker,” but he also handles customer service, spearheads design work, plans with developers and comes up with ideas to improve Crowdbabble based on data from user experiences. Prajapati, who joined the app’s team last August, credits much of the company’s success to the team’s ability to adapt to industry changes. Currently, Crowdbabble is a web app designed primarily for desktop browsers, but the company is developing plans to shift the app to be mobilecentric. “The nature of the way marketing reports are done, it hasn’t shifted to mobile yet,” Prajapati said. “It’s still very much an office environment where you have a report and you present it on a screen. As things change, we’ll adapt.”
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Wednesday, March 30, 2016 NEWS
The Ryersonian • 5
Prof working on treatment for cystic fibrosis New drug could treat children currently living with the incurable disorder
By Shane Perusse Ryersonian Staff
Last summer Russell Viirre, a Ryerson chemistry professor, began testing a new drug that could treat over 4,000 Canadian children living with cystic fibrosis (CF). Viirre, who is working on the drug along with Christine Bear, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is hopeful that their research will increase the life expectancy of patients with CF. CF is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting children and young adults in Canada. It mainly affects the respiratory and digestive systems, preventing the absorption of fats and proteins and often leads to infection in the lungs as well as bowel complications. The daily efforts required to care for a child with CF is a complication that Gillian Maramieri knows well. Her three-year-old son, Matthew, is a “double delta,” which means he shows only the delta-F508 mutation. He has lived with lung and digestive complications his entire life. In 2009, Matthew had stem cells removed from his stomach after a surgery. These stem cells provided Bear with a pure form of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, which she was later able to synthesize for testing with CFTR-targeting drugs. The new combination drug that Bear and Viirre are testing, Orkambi, was developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It contains the
two drugs ivacaftor and lumacaftor, which work to treat the genetic mutation delta-F508. The mutation is the result of three missing molecules in the CFTR protein, which is one of the body’s key proteins. It affects 80 per cent of CF patients. Since 2009, Bear and Viirre have been testing the way that drugs like ivacaftor and lumacaftor interact with the CFTR protein responsible for CF in children and adults. “(The drugs) are binding to the protein and making it work, which is unusual,” Viirre said. “It’s a lot easier to sabotage a protein but in this case the drugs are causing the protein to behave as they would in a healthy person.” Orkambi shows potential for treating CF patients, but neither Bear nor Viirre are sure why. “The question both of our labs are trying to answer is, ‘how are these drugs working?’” Bear said. “We know these drugs are working, but we don’t yet know how or why. With further study we will be able to make new and better drugs.” The CFTR protein was discovered at SickKids 25 years ago and has been associated with over 2,000 known mutations related to CF. Although the processes for testing these drugs and their interactions with the CFTR protein are difficult, SickKids is in a unique position to carry out this research. “There are a lot of CF labs in Canada,” Bear said. “What makes ours unique is that we know how to synthesize a pure CFTR protein for testing.” Viirre’s main contribution to
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Shane Perusse / Ryersonian Staff
Prof. Russell Viirre in his lab in Kerr Hall.
Bear’s research is the creation of fluorescent molecular tracer probes that highlight where the drugs being tested attach to the complex CFTR protein. “We’re in a great position to help (Bear’s) work,” Viirre said. “What we’re doing is making these tracer molecules that she can’t buy anywhere else and because we’re right next door it’s very easy for us to collaborate.” As of today, SickKids is the only lab in Canada researching the CFTR protein with these tracer molecules. According to Cystic Fibrosis Canada, an estimated one in 3,600 children are born with the condition when both parents are carriers of the mutation. The average person with CF is expected
to live to be 40 years old. The medical complications and preventive measures that allow Matthew to enjoy a normal life can be daunting for both he and his parents. “He had a perforated bowel before he was born,“ Maramieri said. “Because of that he had a stoma for six months that required surgery and spent six weeks at SickKids.” Matthew is too young to be given any CF drug treatments yet and must adhere to a daily schedule of preventive measures designed to alleviate the symptoms of his condition. “Right now, Matthew takes three to four enzymes with every meal,” Maramieri said. “He does mask treatment in the morning
and chest physio two to three times a day. On working parents that can be a lot, as well as on a kid that just wants to be a kid.” Maramieri has Matthew enrolled in several extracurricular activities suggested to her by doctors, such as swimming and gymnastics, and although he has to be watched closely, he is still able to have a normal childhood. “If he had to be born with CF, I’m glad it was now and not 20 years ago,” Maramieri said. “On a day-to-day basis we try to let him be a child and hope that cure or control is just around the corner.” For now, Maramieri is hopeful that Bear and Viirre’s research will lead to a drug that increases both the span and quality of life for CF patients like Matthew.
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6 • The Ryersonian
FEATURES
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
FEATURES
The Ryersonian • 7
Breathing life into language for aboriginal peoples, losing a language means losing touch with one’s heritage and culture. yet, it’s an issue that’s rarely crosses lips.
by courtney miceli A sign that sits in the office of Marco Fiola.
I
n Ojibwa, a tree is not called a tree, Kyle Edwards explains, because a tree is something that will eventually fall to the ground. In Ojibwa, words are rarely used to label, but rather to describe an object’s relationship with the world around it. Edwards is Anishinaabe from Lake Manitoba First Nation, a First Nations people who live on Dog Creek 46, a federal reserve in Manitoba. Currently, the 23-year-old Ryerson journalism student is halfway around the world studying on an exchange in London. He’s quick to point out that studying in English – as he does – likely means he has little chance of gaining fluency in his ancestral language, which only has about 9,000 speakers left today. “I know words and little phrases, but I can’t speak it fluently,” Edwards said. “It’s incredibly difficult, especially when you’re in an urban place like Toronto.” According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over 80 indigenous languages and dialects in Canada are on the brink of extinction. Fifteen of these dying languages are in Ontario alone. Last year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) published its final report on the cultural genocide of indigenous people caused by the residential school system. Included in the report are 94 recommendations to Canada and its governing bodies, some of which address the revitalization of endangered
languages. For example, Section 16 reads: “We call upon post- panellists at “The Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action at secondary institutions to create university and college degree and Ryerson” event last Thursday that took place in the Ryerson Student Centre. Chrisjohn opened the discussion in her mother diploma programs in aboriginal languages.” During the era of the residential school system, around tongue of Oneida. The event was organized by students, staff members and 150,000 children were taken from their family homes and placed into English-speaking boarding schools. The government campus groups in an attempt to bring Ryerson one step closer ensured these children had little to no contact with their com- to fulfilling the TRC’s recommendations for post-secondary munities in an attempt to, as the thinking went, “kill the Indian institutions. in the child.” The government’s systematic erasure of indigenous “Universities have the power to not only help with the reccultures took with it entire histories, traditions and languages, a ommendations on education, but they can help implement other loss that many aboriginal commurecom mend a“The language is a part of who we are as a people tions as well,” nities are still reeling from today. “As an indigenous woman from and it links us strongly to cultural practices and the said Kimberly an indigenous community, I’m understanding of how we express things. Once you Murray, the going to speak in my language, former execulose your language, you lose a whole part of your the language that my mother spoke tive director of entity.” to me,” said Andrea Chrisjohn, the TRC and a the board designate of the Toronto fellow panellist. Council Fire Native Cultural –Rebecca Jamieson “Reconciliation needs to hapCentre. “That’s something people pen at every weren’t able to do during the resilevel within institutions.” dential school era.” hrisjohn is a member of the Ohwakli (bear) clan famBesides the “Aboriginal Knowledges and Experiences” certifily of the On^yota’a:ka Nation. She was also one of the icate offered through the Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson currently has no undergraduate programs that focus on aboriginal content and no individual courses at any level that focus on aboriginal languages. This lack of attention to indigenous cultures is especially ironic at Ryerson, a university that is named after the man, Egerton Ryerson, who essentially blueprinted the residential school system. While Ryerson had no role in implementing the schools, his study of native education was used by the then-called Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development to build the nationwide system. The last residential school was shut down in 1996, but the system led to serious problems, many of which are still being felt today in the indigenous communities. “Language was just something that was never really passed down,” Edwards said. ”After all of the terrible things that happened to indigenous children, parents believed that it was more beneficial for their kids to learn English.” rowing up, Edwards would listen to his grandparents speak Ojibwa with the older members of the community. He would pick up words here and there, but could never fully understand or speak the language. The disconnect grew when he attended a diverse, largely non-indigenous high school off of his reserve. He eventually journeyed to Ryerson and, although he was far from home, he felt compelled to reconnect with his roots. He reached out to other indigenous students on campus and eventually helped to form the Indigenous Students’ Association (ISA). “At the ISA, we talk about it all the time- how cool it would be to have an indigenous language course,” Edwards said. “We really try to be that bridge between Ryerson’s faculty and students, but at the end of the day the university is a bureaucracy and it’s very difficult to make our voices heard.” Edwards took Ojibwa at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, but dropped the class after three weeks of struggling
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Alina Bykova / Ryersonian Staff
Kyle Edwards at CESAR’S “Truth, Reconciliation & Politics” September 2015 event.
Courtney Miceli / Ryersonian Staff
to balance the extracurricular on top of his school work. Very few universities have worked indigenous classes into their curriculum, meaning students who wish to learn their ancestral languages must seek outside resources. ix Nations Polytechnic (SNP) is a post-secondary institution in Ohsweken, Ont. It recently introduced an immersive bachelor of arts degree that focuses on two endangered indigenous languages: Mohawk and Cayuga. The school is not merely a place to learn these languages, but also acts as a hub for preserving and revitalizing this aspect of these cultures. “The language is a part of who we are as a people and it links us strongly to cultural practices and the understanding of how we express things,” said Rebecca Jamieson, the CEO and president of SNP. “Once you lose your language, you lose a whole part of your entity.” This is the first time the provincial government has allowed a First Nations post-secondary institution to offer its own degree. Twenty-four students are currently enrolled in the program. “Most of the students coming to us have already studied some aspect of the language already,” Jamieson said. “So it’s not just theoretical. It’s understanding the underpinnings of the language, rather than just speaking it.” For many indigenous cultures, language is much more than words and their meanings. Entire histories have been passed down through oral communication in languages that are deeply entwined with personal identity, traditions and spirituality. “A language is at risk of dying when it stops evolving,” said Marco Fiola, the chair of Ryerson’s languages, literatures and cultures department. The evolution of indigenous languages was halted with the implementation of residential schools, so many remain somewhat frozen in time. While working with indigenous communities in the Yukon in the mid-1990s, Fiola noticed that fluent speakers of various languages were very competent in talking about the home, the family and the culture. However, many speakers had trouble when describing the modern world. From a linguist’s perspective, Fiola said that revitalization includes the adoption and creation of new words. However, in order to do this, he says, more resources are needed in places like post-secondary institutions. “Universities, open your doors,” Murray said, concluding the panel discussion. “Let’s make sure every Ryerson student is graduating with knowledge of indigenous history and knowledge of what land we’re on.” basket of tobacco sits outside of the double-door entrance to Tecumseh Room in the Ryerson Student Centre. Each guest at the panel discussion has been offered a tie of this sacred medicine to infuse with good thoughts. At the end of the event, a helper recollects the ties, plumped with positive energy. Every prayer, message and warm wish felt by indigenous attendees and their allies will be presented to a sacred fire, through which they will float into the universe as an offering to the Creator. “They say language is culture and culture is language,” Edwards said, his deep and well-paced voice humming over the crackle of a phone call. “The spirit of the language is very important to indigenous people. Losing that,” he said, before a long pause, “losing that would be a shame.”
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Ophelie Zalcmanis-Lai / Ryersonian Staff
8 • The Ryersonian
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ARTS & LIFE
The Ryersonian • 9
Grad to be published in national library By Alexia Kapralos Ryersonian Staff
When Ryerson graduate Virus the Poet started doing spoken word, he said it was a way for him to “give a voice to the voiceless.” Now the Torontobased artist is being published in an anthology for the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. “Spoken word poetry, to me, means encouraging and supporting human beings,” said Virus, born Viral Gor. He found his passion for the art during his time at Ryerson. Gor started his post-secondary studies in accounting, but discovered he was much more passionate about connecting with people. So he switched his major to communications and human resources. He had always loved language and writing and enjoyed writing poetry on his commutes to and from school. He said that the thought of delivering his work to an audience never occurred to him at first. “I was writing for such a long time. Then one of my buddies read some of my stuff and told me it’s really good. “He told me that it’s kind of pointless writing this vast catalogue of poetry if it’s not shared,” Gor said. Gor had his first performance at a local venue called the Art Bar. Although he’s a feature poet there now, he got his start during open mic nights.
Gor said that performing his poetry in front of a crowd for the first time was nerve-racking and stage fright is still something he deals with. Having the bright and blinding stage lights shine on him gives Gor something to focus on other than the audience. “I don’t really overcome stage fright. It’s weird because as soon as I get on stage I black out,” Gor said. He said that his friends in the audience need to recount to him what happened during his time on stage. However, he does not let his stage fright slow him down and he took his spoken word show to Florida.
While on vacation in Miami, Gor reached out to a contact he had there who set him up with a spot in Speak Miami, an event that takes place a few times a month and is open to artists such as spoken word poets, musicians and comedians. He wrote a poem about police brutality specifically for this performance, and it was received well by new fans. Gor said the poem that will be published by the national library is one of his favourites. It’s called Home and it’s about the struggles of family life. “A woman came up to me after (I recited the poem). She was almost crying and I was at
a loss for words because I didn’t think that someone had the same situation as I had,” he said. “It gives me a lot of encouragement and support to know other people have gone through similar stations and come out on top.” The biggest struggle he’s faced though is the feeling of rejection. When he was trying to have Home published, he received many letters of rejection from publishers. “You can’t let someone stop you from what you want to do. You’ve got to keep trying and keep grinding, and see it all the way out,” Gor said.
Home “Home life is hard. Especially when you disregard, the topic of discussion which is to be united with the family yet, still be independent and finally be happy for each other. I see how we live and it’s not so great, I hate to think about how we penetrate each other’s fates. From my mom to my dad I thought we we’re happy until I found out we only just touched glad. My sister having issues again and she real close to me so I had to have tissues in my other hand man. It’s sad when family can’t get along; were suppose to band together and stay strong. Cousins come and go immediate family knows, so I stay on lets go and let them others just go. No point in mishandling situations, don’t make it worse than the manipulations, that comes along and tries to bring everyone down to a bomb and never stay strong. Strong? That’s the word that keeps it tight, family and strength is the unified right. Stand up for your beliefs. Stay strong for the family that treats everybody as one. We all powerful when we stick together like the all-powerful sun. We won, never done, always running for the top, keeping it together like a home on the block.”
Villemaire told The Ryersonian in September that he kept himself out of the award process. As a board member, Villemaire is eligible to vote on project funding decisions, but not eligible to vote on his own project. The film was originally called Where is Kyle Walker? but has since been renamed Goliath. Villemaire said it has undergone some major plot changes. “It’s a more intimate family drama now,” he said. “The mystery of Kyle is still present and Robin Walker is still a journalist but the story plays out in a very different way.” Villemaire told The Ryersonian in September that the film would be a mix of Gone Girl and Nightcrawler. He now describes it as similar to the 2013 drama August Osage County. “It’s a slow-burning mystery,” Villemaire said. “An old relative comes to town and a long buried
family secret is brought back to the surface.” This is Villemaire’s first feature film. He plans to shoot in Trenton, Ont. Maddy Pilon, a third-year Ryerson fine arts student, is coproducing the film. She is also a former Trenton resident who was able to work with the city to reduce production costs. It turns out that Trenton and area aren’t new to filmmaking. Pilon says that the area was “popularly known in the ’20s as the original Hollywood North.” Trenton will be the film’s backdrop. “An angle we’ve been going after is engaging the Trenton and (Quinte) West community because they have a history with film … so that’s kind of rooted in their history and they’re interested in bringing that back,” Villemaire said. He said the city is working with him to reduce costs.
“The hope is we won’t have to pay for any locations and they can kind of get us permits for free.” Villemaire also negotiated the price of residence for his crew members at Loyalist College, saving nearly $1,000 in fees. To keep costs even lower, crew members will not be paid for the film, although cast members will be paid a union-standard salary. A recurring theme in both the fundraising and the film is maintaining a Canadian identity. Working with Canadian actor Shannon Kook, most notable for playing Zane Park on Degrassi, Villemaire and his team are actively working to promote and support Canadian film. As a former intern with IMAX’s branding team, Villemaire gained extensive experience in corporate branding. He also gained knowledge on how to run a small, independent startup from his time work-
ing with the branding company Route 11. Currently part of the marketing team at the clothing firm Wear Your Label, Villemaire has partnered with the brand that will be donating a custom gemstone bracelet for the film, which will be available for purchase. Proceeds will go towards helping to fund Goliath. The bracelet will also be worn throughout the film by the lead actress Jessica Sipos. Other partnerships include Waterloo indie rock band The Royal Streets who, according to Villemaire, will likely be featured on the film’s soundtrack. With two weeks left in their Indiegogo campaign and hopes of raising a total of $50,000, Villemaire and his team have more announcements coming. Also taking place in the weeks ahead is a series of local talk show appearances that are scheduled to get the public aware of the film.
Courtesy Surita Gor
Virus the Poet performing.
Ryerson student aims to raise $50K for film
By Saheel Shah Ryersonian Staff
After 17 days and over $20,000, funds continue coming in for the Ryerson-directed feature film Goliath as it enters the third week of its Indiegogo campaign. Goliath is being written, directed and produced by Luke Villemaire, a third-year film student at Ryerson. In September, Villemaire secured $20,000 through the Ryerson Communication and Design Society (RCDS) to contribute towards the film’s $100,000 budget. This was a controversial decision, as Villemaire was the RCDS’s vice-president of finance. While Villemaire said that he excused himself from voting when his project came up for funding consideration, the funding decision raised eyebrows among those who suggested it was a conflict of interest.
Luke Villemaire, creator and producer of Goliath.
Courtesy Lauren Emberson
Cast and crew of Goliath.
Courtesy Lauren Emberson
10 • The Ryersonian
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SPORTS
The Ryersonian • 11
Ice ‘battle’ crowns its first winners By Deven Knill Ryersonian Staff
While Luke Mercer, a firstyear defenceman for the men’s hockey team, had never figure skated before the Battle of the Rams, he may have still had the upper edge on the competition. He worked with a figure skater in the past to help him with his edges, which Mercer says is important for any hockey player. The Battle of the Rams is a figure skating competition that pairs members of Ryerson’s figure skating and hockey teams. The seven pairs competed against one another on March 23 for the chance to claim the Battle of the Rams trophy. Mercer and his partner Briar Koski, a first-year member of the Ryerson figure skating team, were the first Battle of the Rams champions, with a perfect score of 40. “I felt amazing after and finding out that we got perfect and all 10s made it that more special,” Mercer said. “Briar and I worked very hard and I’m glad we could put on a good show.” But the two were not paired together when the figure skating and hockey teams first started practising for the charity event. When the coaches originally paired up the skaters, Koski was with another hockey player. The girl-to-boy ratio wasn’t balanced, so the figure skaters had to be put in rotation at practices. “I got put with Luke after switching out with one of the girls and we ended up just working really well with each other,” Koski said. After the official pairing was announced, Koski asked her coach if she could skate with Mercer instead of her original partner. “I kind of scouted him out a bit,” Koski said. “It all worked out in the end.” According to Mercer, he knew from the beginning that he and Koski had good chemistry. With the help from their coach, Tara Bartolini, they were able to work well together as skating partners. “When I first started I was a little rusty as was every hockey player,” Mercer said. “Once I got switched to Briar as my partner she was with me every step of the way and helped me out a lot.” Both Mercer and Koski had heard from other teams that they
were one of the stronger pairs in the competition. “We looked really good, but with a judged sport, you just never know who’s going to win,” Koski said. The judges who made the ultimate decision were Ivan Joseph, Ryerson’s director of athletics, Lisa Haley, the Rams women’s hockey coach, Heather Lane Vetere, Ryerson’s vice-provost students, and Piper Gilles, a four-time Canadian ice dance medallist and Ryerson creative industries student. Scores were awarded for the overall performance as well as how well the team completed the required elements. All teams needed to have a footwork sequence, a field move, two creative moves and a lift in their two-and-a-half-minute routine. According to Koski, figure skaters really have to trust their partner with everything, especially lifts. “I was a little hesitant at first but we did a lot of off-ice sessions to practise our lifts and to get the timing right, that’s the most important part,” Koski said. “He only dropped me once on one of our very first practices, so I had no reason not to trust him.” “Lifting someone, and jumping for that long is for sure tiring, so both (figure skating and hockey) are equally demanding for good physical strength,” Mercer said. While strength is important in both sports, there are differences between the two as well. “Well I think the biggest difference is hockey you’re going hard for 40-50 seconds per shift, and for figure skating you’re doing a whole routine for twoand-a-half minutes,” Mercer said. A crowd of about 200 people came to cheer on their favourite teams, and hockey teammates heckled their friends from the bench. “The hockey players were completely out of their element but we have been working so hard throughout the season to train and prepare for Battle of the Rams and it really paid off,” said Lauren Hildebrand, captain of Ryerson’s figure skating team and organizer of the event. “The audience was really impressed with all of the performances and so was Ryerson Athletics.” With all of the positive feedback that Hildebrand has received she says that there is a good cha-
nce Battle of the Rams will become an annual event at Ryerson. “Battle of the Rams 2017 is already in talks,” Hildebrand said. “Now that people really understand what Battle of the Rams is all about, I think the audience and amount of interest from Ryerson hockey teams will continue to grow each year.” The proceeds from the event will be split between the figure skating team and the Skate to Great charity, which provides new hockey and figure skates, along with equipment, to children across Canada. The amount of money raised was not available in time for print but will be released in early April.
ed and the World Series was on the line. It was up to me to make the big pitch, and nothing excited me more. As a young, hopeful kid, I dreamed of being a professional athlete. I would drag my father outside after a long day of work to play catch with me or shoot hoops. He always took the time to do it. He could see just how much it meant to me. As the years went on, I started to realize my dream of becoming a professional athlete was dwindling. I stopped growing in the seventh grade, started to gain weight and was no longer considered one of the “athletic kids” at my school. However, the fire inside of me still yearned for athletic competition.
When I first came to the Ryerson campus in 2012, one of the places I visited right away was the Ryerson Recreation and Athletics Centre (RAC). I knew that I could never make a varsity team, but I had heard that the school offered great intramural programs and I was set to find out first hand if the rumours were true. To my satisfaction, they were. Ryerson offered a variety of sports for the average student to partake in, regardless of their skills. There were men’s and women’s sports, along with co-ed. I had the option to play basketball, volleyball, soccer, ball hockey, ice hockey, dodgeball and flag football in a league with other students. Students
Deven Knill / Ryersonian Staff
Briar Koski and Luke Mercer skate their way to becoming the first Battle of the Rams champions in history.
Deven Knill / Ryersonian Staff
Intramural sports are good for the average student
By Nicholas Raponi Ryersonian Staff
I remember playing baseball when I was seven years old in my backyard in Keswick, Ont. I would create scenarios in my head — two outs, the bases load-
Briar Koski and Luke Mercer accept their trophy.
could either assemble a team or deem themselves a free agent, the latter being what I did. I was added to a team and I was still able to play the sports I loved. These intramural sports not only enabled me to fuel my love for athletics, but also allowed me to create friendships and the opportunity to try to stay in shape. Being in an environment with people with similar interests allowed for me to feel a sense of comfort, not having to worry about being the best or worst player on the court, field or ice. There was nothing to lose — I was here for the love of the game and so was everybody else. Now in my fourth year at Ryerson, I continue to go to the RAC for pickup basketball on
occasion. Some of my greatest memories at Ryerson have come from spending time in the gym with other students. Due to a busy schedule, I don’t play as often as I used to, but I make an effort to play as much as possible. It brings me so much joy seeing the court, field and ice packed with students in a similar position as I was. While we are no longer seven-year-old kids playing sports in our backyards, many Ryerson students still yearn for sports and athletic competition. Thankfully Ryerson is able to come through and provide for these students with intramurals and pickup sports, because without it, my years at Ryerson would have been much less enjoyable.
You can call me Paprika Working at a summer camp has made me 12 • The Ryersonian
VOICES
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
realize there is so much more to life than just the daily grind.
Every summer since I was 16 years old I’ve worked at an outdoor education centre and summer camp just outside my hometown, Edmonton. From April to August every year, I go by the name Paprika. Paprika is my camp name – my alter ego. Paprika is a motivator at the zip line, an expert on nature facts and the world’s fastest (and loudest) singer of the song Little Piece of Tin. She’s the finder of lost water bottles, soother of homesick children and the national knee tag champion. Being Paprika is also the best job experience I have on my resumé. That’s not saying I have an empty resumé. I have worked a lot of jobs in my field during my last four years at university. However, my summer job is not one of them, and I’m completely OK with that. At university, there is intense pressure to find a summer internship, even if it pays next to nothing or requires you to do the work nobody else wants to do. Get an internship, rub shoulders, get hired after graduation. Career, career, career. Now, I’m not saying to not do that. Networking is amazing. But coming back in September, I always hear at least a few people say something along the lines of, “It’s not what I want to do,” or “I really didn’t like it there.” And it’s always followed by, “But it looks good on my resumé, I guess.” This astounds me. As students, we have a four-month blank space in our lives that we can spend however we want to and still have the security that life will go back to normal when classes resume in September.
By Rebecca Goss
That kind of thing doesn’t hap- summers doing something I pen out there in the “real world.” absolutely love. We should be making the I’ve been able to learn new most out of our summers by things about myself, make travelling, following a passion or incredible memories and do learning something totally new. something that I likely won’t be Eight months out of the year able to do once I pursue a career are spent inside the classroom, in my field. poring over textbooks and essays When I excitedly tell people with thesis statements that we about working at camp, I often have long forgotten. hear the reply, “Wow, I wish I The remaining four mouths could do something like that.” should be spent in self-discovery This response baffles me, – learning about yourself and because they just have to follow doing what you want to do. that idea and try something new. Because let’s be honest, Whether it’s hopping on an you’re not going to remember the airplane or taking a job they wish summer you spent waitressing at they had, it’s completely attainJack Astor’s. able if they take the chance and Skills and experiences learned do something out of their comoutside fort zone. of your J u s t field of When I excitedly tell people the other study can day, one about working at camp, be just as of my coI often hear the reply, relevant as workers the ones “Wow, I wish I could do messaged learned me asking something like that.” in school me if I was and durret u r n i ng ing internships. to camp this year, which I am. In my case, the closest workShe was a camper in my first ing at a summer camp comes to few years as a staff member, and my journalism degree is writing she has now joined the team. She the short weekly newsletter and offhandedly mentioned a memocoming up with funny hashtags ry she had as a camper five years for the camp’s Facebook page. ago, one that I had completely However, when I have to sit forgotten about. Then she said down with a group of kids who how she looked for me every year just can’t seem to get along, I get as soon as she arrived for her experience in conflict resolution. week at camp. Each time a thunderstorm has This struck me. I was never rolled in and forced all activi- her counsellor. I was just another ties to stop, I’ve learned how to staff member. I interacted with manage a last-minute crisis and her during camp-wide activities smoothly change plans. a couple of times and I rememI’ve learned to work well with ber telling her she would make a others and check problems at great counsellor. Four years later, the door. You have to if you live she became one. in close quarters with 40 other About 1,000 kids come to the people for months at a time. camp I work at every summer. But more than that, I’ve I thought about all of the kids I enjoyed myself. I’ve spent my may have had a positive impact
Rebecca Goss / Ryersonian Staff
Paprika on Camp Safari Day at YWCA YoWoChAs summer camp.
on, whether I knew it or not at the time. I’ve helped kids climb one rock higher on the climbing wall, encouraged them to step up and be a leader and allowed them to be who they are outside of their “normal lives.” These may have been minor things in my life, but these moments can have such a big impact on theirs. Knowing that gives me a feeling no internship or office job ever could. This summer, I will be heading back for my seventh
Courtesy YWCA YoWoChAs
Paprika leading an orienteering lesson at YWCA YoWoChAs summer camp.
summer working at the camp. Unfortunately, it will also be my last, as I’ll be starting a year-long graduate school program in the fall. I am endlessly happy that I decided to spend my university summers at the camp, and I know that it helped prepare me for the scary post-graduation world. I’ll cherish the skills I’ve learned at the camp and bring the lessons I’ve learned to every job I will hold in the future. And I’ll always respond to the name Paprika.
Courtesy YWCA YoWoChAs
The YoWoChAs waterfront on a calm summer day.