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INSIDE WATCH OUT, YOUTH WORKERS • 5 MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRLS • 7
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER vOL. 55 iSSUE 10 • Feb 11 2013 • WWW.THESTRAND.CA
MY BLOODY VALENTINE RETURNS • 14
FIXING THE BROKEN TELEPHONE: Emily Pollock speaks with Bell about speaking up each text or long-distance call made by Bell customers as well as for each tweet containing the hashtag #BellLetsTalk and each share on Facebook of the campaign’s logo. However, the fundraising isn’t the most significant part of the initiative for Bell—their ultimate goal is to raise is awareness. Mary Deacon, Chair of the initiative, talked to The Strand about her company’s involvement in the mental health field. The program started in 2010 when Bell was deciding on a new focus for its community investment initiative, a
charitable forum where Bell invests in community programming and support. Bell chose to focus on mental illness because of its serious and endemic nature, and the pervasive stigma surrounding it. Since their program has started, their fund has given out 2.3 million dollars to 109 grassroots organizations. “Let’s Talk Day” is the spearhead of their anti-stigma campaign, but they also focus their finances on ensuring workplace mental health, research, community care, and access. To Deacon, these goals are the “action pillars” for curing the public at-
titude towards mental illness—without all of them working together, the goal would be impossible. In their campaign to break down the pervasive stereotypes surrounding mental health issues, the campaign has recruited people living with mental health issues. Both famous faces (notably Canadian cycling and speed skating Olympian Clara Hughes) and ordinary young people are present in their advertisements to help people under-
SEE ‘MENTAL HEALTH’ ON PAGE 3
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The advertisements for Bell’s latest campaign bear the images of smiling men and women with the invitation, “Let’s Talk.” From far away, they might look like just another set of slick phone commercials, but these are ads with a difference—they’re part of Bell Canada’s “Let’s Talk” campaign to erase the stigma surrounding mental health problems in Canada. As part of their campaign, Bell is promoting their “Let’s Talk Day” on Feb 12, where the telecom company will donate five cents to mental health initiatives for
WHAT THE TURF, SAYS UOFT CAMPUS AMANDA AZIZ & CLAIRE WILKINS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT & COPY STAFF UofT students will no longer look at the field of natural grass on Hoskin Ave. and St. George St. when walking on campus, but of one that is a synthetic green and made out of AstroTurf. The University of Toronto has decided to go ahead with the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education’s plan to build a field hockey pitch, costing 9.5 million dollars, which will be used in the 2015 Pan Am games hosted
in Toronto. UofT will be one of only two universities in the nation to have a professional field hockey centre. This is great news for many student athletes, who will cancel fewer games due to poor weather conditions, as well as reducing the risk of injuries related to slipping and falling on mud while playing field hockey. However, the decision to move forward with the development of the Pan Am Field Hockey Centre has encountered mixed reviews, as some UofT students express their concerns over its environmental impact. Even though
the field comes with low maintenance costs, and will only require replacement every two decades, critics have pointed out numerous environmental consequences that arise from using AstroTurf. “Basically, it’s a removal of genuine plant life, which— small as it is—lends us environmental benefits including some carbon conversion [to oxygen],” said Jonah Letovsky, a second year student of Victoria College and member of the University of Toronto’s Environmental Action group. Letovsky further explained that “current AstroTurf is
essentially 100% chemicals—many of which have not been fully assessed by Environment Canada as to their health impacts, which further contributes to the erosion of our urban ecology.” Despite his protests, he also admits there are pros to the field pitch, as “it’s much easier to maintain—you don’t have to waste energy on cutting [Astroturf] or on replanting dead grass lawn.” Although in the end, “time [spent] in green spaces [like natural grass] produces positive benefits for mental health. AstroTurf, though coloured green, is no replacement for that.”