THE M A N I T O B A N photos provided by candidates
since 1914
Meet your 2022 UMSU community representative candidates
Anita Ayame
Sahand Babaie
Ishkode Catcheway
Gulnaaz Dhillon
Caleigh Guillou
Kunal Rajpal
Alex Rana
Christine Yasay
Healthy partisanship
To mock a mockingbird
NDP need Liberals’ help to make progress
RMTC reframes Harper Lee classic
p. 9
p. 14
Never any doubt
Down to a science
Wog wins again p. 16
Vol. 108
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THE OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA STUDENTS’ NEWSPAPER
U of M contributes to largest evolutionary study ever
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NDP will support Liberals until 2025 for dental care Low-income dental program to be implemented gradually from 2022 to 2025 NEWS
Colton McKillop, staff The New Democratic Party (NDP) has struck a deal with the Liberals to support the government in confidence votes to keep them in power until 2025 in exchange for dental care for lower-income families and action on other NDP priorities such as pharmacare, affordable housing, child care and Indigenous and environmental issues. The dental program — which would be restricted to families making less than $90,000 a year, with no co-pays for those earning less than $70,000 annually — would be gradually implemented in progressively older age groups each year from 2022 to 2025. The deal is not a formal coalition, but a supply-and-confidence agreement. The NDP will remain an opposition party, will not join government and will get no seats in cabinet, but has agreed to support the Liberals in confidence votes and budgetary legislation until June 2025. The move marks a new approach from a governing that party that has blocked NDP legislation to expand dental care as recently as June last year. Royce Koop, a professor of political
studies at the University of Manitoba, said the new deal creates “much greater stability” in Parliament as it means the Liberals’ support does not have to be “patched together on an ongoing basis.”
defines “affordable housing” as costing 30 per cent or less of a person’s income.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also derided the agreement, calling it a “false majority.”
The Liberals also committed to retraining energy workers and phasing out federal support for fossil fuels, such as funding for Crown corporations, beginning in 2022.
Koop said the reactions are understandable “from a political perspective,” but warned the Conservatives “need to be careful” if they do not want to face long-term political consequences for opposing the deal so stridently.
“The NDP has […] generally been supportive, but that doesn’t mean they will be in the future and, in the past, we’ve seen situations in which minority governments have had to create support from different parties based on what they’re doing on different bills,” he said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party would not “let the Liberals off the hook” and would withdraw support if the government “fell short” of its commitments.
“It also […] provides some sense of policy coherence moving forward because the government now is going to be clearly on the [socially left] side of the Liberal coalition.”
“Right now, what the agreement itself has done is kind of polarize and crystalize debate in the house,” he said.
The Liberals have also pledged to pass pharmacare legislation by the end of 2023 and extend the rapid housing initiative — a program providing affordable housing for vulnerable populations — for another year. The Liberals will also consider changing the definition of affordable housing. The NDP wants “affordable housing” to be defined as housing that is 80 per cent or less of average market rent in the area. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation currently
Koop said the odds of an election were “high” if the deal fell through.
“If the agreement actually falls apart, it creates a situation in which I would imagine the Tories would move fairly quickly to defeat the government. So, there’s now a pretty big incentive for the Liberals to actually keep the terms of the agreement because it’s always possible for the NDP to withdraw.” Conservative politicians have reacted strongly against the deal, with interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen calling it a “Justin Trudeau power grab” and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney calling it “bad news for Alberta.”
“Dental care and pharmacare, these programs are going to be enormously popular once they come online and I think that Conservatives do not want to get into a situation where they’re speaking out strongly against these things and [when] they go into an election they’re held accountable for what they’ve said,” he said. “That would be a bit of a disaster.” Polls conducted by Ipsos found 86 per cent of Canadians support publicly funded dental care for those without insurance and 82 per cent support universal coverage for prescription drugs. Roughly one-third of Canadians have no dental insurance.
news@themanitoban.com
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Meet the 2022 UMSU community representative candidates NEWS
Colton McKillop, staff
Candidates for International Students’ Representative
Candidates for Women’s Representative
Sahand Babaie
Kunal Rajpal
Christine Yasay
Gulnaaz Dhillon
Sahand Babaie is a second-year international student from Iran in the faculty of science. He is familiar with the workings of student unions and associations from his experience in high school student council.
A third-year computer science student, Kunal Rajpal is the president of the University of Manitoba Crew for Software Engineering Conferences.
A third-year student in the criminology honours program, Christine Yasay has served as co-president of the University of Manitoba women’s centre, working closely with UMSU’s women’s representative to “hold events that address the needs of women in the community.”
Gulnaaz Dhillon is a third-year biochemistry student with a minor in biology.
She has also served as the social programmer for the Arts Student Body Council, planning events and giveaways.
“I have been a strong advocate for women’s rights [for] a very long time,” she said.
He believes attending university during the pandemic and recent strike gives him insight into areas that need more attention and said his interactions with international students on social media have provided him with useful knowledge about their issues and desires. “We’re going to make sure that international students receive all the support they need to succeed in their studies in the best possible way that they can imagine,” he said. Babaie said his “main focus” is making sure the return to in-person classes goes as smoothly as possible. He pointed out international students have faced difficulty travelling between Winnipeg and their home countries and said he wants to make it easier for them to do so without worrying about missing classes. He also wants to increase awareness of services available to students and wants to create an introductory package for new students to provide them with the information they will need to get started.
He is also the president of .devClub and co-founder of the university’s debate club. “When I first landed here, I felt really lost, I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know who to contact and I just don’t want anyone else to feel that way,” Rajpal said. Rajpal said advocacy will be his “main focus” if he is elected. “As we have all seen again and again, international students are not treated fairly,” he said. “We don’t have health care like domestic students, we’re expected to perform as [well] as domestic students but we are not doing it the same way.” He pointed out international students cannot be part-time students if they also work a job, even though Rajpal said it is “practically impossible” to take a full course load while also working. He also wants to make sure there are ample resources for international students to help them get oriented to studying in a new country. “There are a lot of issues that we need to work on and first and foremost we need to advocate for them.” Note: Kunal Rajpal was employed by the Manitoban during the 2020-21 academic year as a reporter.
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“I would like to collaborate with the women-centred groups on campus to get the community more engaged,” Yasay said. Yasay said many women at the university feel disconnected from the campus community and this has even further stigmatized experiences that women already struggle with, such as sexual assault and unhealthy relationships. “If elected as the women’s community rep, I plan to work with UMSU to facilitate working groups that address issues such as sexual violence and mental health,” she said. “I want [to hold] workshops for prevention, as well as making the current resources more accessible and available to students.” Yasay also wants to hold discussion nights for women at the U of M. “There’s a lot of power in talking about the things that once scared you or made you uncomfortable, and for me it has been very healing to discuss my experiences with other women in the community and find people who have gone through similar things.”
She says her experience with public speaking and advocacy for women give her the skills to bring women’s issues to the attention of higher authorities.
“When I came to Canada […] I saw that gender norms here might be different, but they still do exist and that encouraged me to help the women community and support them even more.” Dhillon says one of her “main priorities” is to ensure appointments with a women’s health advisor are more accessible and offer free female hygiene products and pregnancy tests. “I have noticed that […] when you have to book an appointment with the doctor [on campus], if it’s something urgent, you’ll have to wait for days or you’ll have to go to the emergency [room],” she said. Dhillon said she wants to advocate for more women-only spaces on campus and focus on women she says are not getting enough attention, like mothers attending school. “I want to bring their voice out, raise their problems and […] provide an anonymous platform where they can address their […] issues without being afraid.”
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Voting will take place online March 31 to April 1 at umsu.simplyvoting.com Candidate for Indigenous Students’ Representative
Candidate for 2SLGBTQIA+ Students’ Representative
Candidate for Accessibility Students’ Representative
Candidate for Black Students’ Representative
Ishkode Catcheway
Alex Rana
Caleigh Guillou
Anita Ayame
Ishkode Catcheway is in her third year of a bachelor’s degree in health studies with a minor in Indigenous languages, specifically Ojibwe. She currently serves as the communications coordinator for the University of Manitoba Indigenous Students’ Association (UMISA). She says handling its communications regarding advocacy and events gives her valuable experience for the position she is running for.
Alex Rana is a third-year student completing a double honours program in English and linguistics. He currently sits on UMSU’s board of directors.
A first-year science student, Caleigh Guillou is running for re-election to the position of UMSU’s accessibility students’ representative.
Anita Ayame did not respond to requests for interview by press time.
He has also been a member of the UMSU equity, diversity and inclusion working group.
Guillou thinks her work in the Science Students’ Association and with UMSU has provided valuable and “rewarding” experience.
“I’m running for this position because I [am] on [UMISA] and this year there was absolutely no Indigenous [representative] for basically the whole school year, until the last two months,” she said. Catcheway says the lack of representation made it difficult for Indigenous students to do things like secure funding for projects and she wants to “break [the] barrier” between Indigenous students and UMSU. “Prior to this year, we would usually have an Indigenous rep in there hosting town halls for not only UMISA but [the Métis University Students’ Association (MUSA)] to secure funding for events instead of going through [community initiative funding] which is [where] you buy the stuff and then you get a reimbursement,” she explained. She said MUSA has not been able to hold events this year since it does not have the funds to purchase its own supplies and wait for reimbursement and hopes that if she is able to host town halls as the Indigenous representative, groups will find it easier to secure funding for events. Catcheway said she also wants to hold events in the next semester to help ease the transition to in-person learning for First Nations students coming to campus for the first time. She also wants to challenge racism on campus, such as when professors look the other way when Indigenous students report racist comments in their classroom.
“I decided to run for this community [representative] position because obviously I’m a member of the community myself and I have lots of friends who are, and I think we all feel there’s sort of been a lack of connection between people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community over the past two years that we’ve been online,” Rana said. If elected, Rana hopes to establish mental health supports that would allow students to access “queer therapists who are able to understand their needs.” “I think by offering students therapists who are part of the community and understand that stuff already, it will make it easier for students to talk about issues that affect our community,” he said. Rana said he wants to deepen the sense of community 2SLGBTQIA+ students feel by collaborating with outside organizations such as TwoSpirited People of Manitoba and the Rainbow Resource Centre and make students aware that these resources are there. He also wants to start a podcast on the UMFM station to discuss 2SLGBTQIA+ issues and answer questions people may have about the community and their experiences.
Guillou said she is seeking re-election because she wants to “act as a bridge between students and the university’s accessibility services.” “Navigating seeking supports and figuring out what best suits their needs can be a stressful process and it’s important that they know that there’s going to be somebody reliable by their side who understands that,” she said. Guillou wants to continue her work creating an updated social media guide to regulate accessible communications. She also wants to establish methods for students to anonymously report accessibility concerns and reopen the accessibility centre to in-person visits from students. “Beyond the physical space, I would relaunch all of its social media platforms and develop sustainable programming with the help of an executive team that I intend to form to manage the centre, which would create a new and exciting opportunity for members of this community to get involved.”
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Travel back in time with digital campus tour RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Michael Campbell, staff
Over the last two years, students have missed out on many valuable opportunities that shape the experience of attending university. Some may be near to wrapping up a degree in which they never physically attended the University of Manitoba campuses. While the pandemic has made certain activities more accessible, it is also normal to feel a certain nostalgia for what has been lost.
TOBAN Wayne Chan, a research computer analyst with the university’s Centre for Earth Observation Science, knows the feeling well. Chan has digitally recreated places from the past on the University of Manitoba’s campuses. Community members can take a walk through campus, and back in time, on Google Earth. Chan partnered with Shelley Sweeney, archivist emerita and the former head of the U of M’s archives and special collections, to bring the idea to life. The result was Lost Campus: A Virtual Tour of Forgotten Spaces and Places at the University of Manitoba. “When [Chan] mentioned that he was interested in the lost places and spaces at the University of Manitoba […] I thought it was perfect for the pandemic,” Sweeney said. Chan brought together an eclectic collection of interests, including local history, computer programming and a passion for the U of M.
photo / Wayne Chan / provided
“I did my degree here in the ’90s and I’ve been a staff member since then, so I’ve been here for a long time,” Chan said. Searching through the archives for pictures to bring the tour to life, Chan encountered a campus isolated from the city of Winnipeg and host to vibrant student life. Before many students began driving cars to the Fort Garry campus in the 1950s and ’60s, the university largely had to provide for itself. This included everything from a campus fire department to a campus dairy.
“The tour really gives you an idea of what student life was like way back when” — Shelley Sweeney,archivist emerita
The isolation of the Fort Garry campus led city dwellers to escape to Riverside Park, just beside the campus, for picnics and festivities during the summer months. The park has now been replaced by the experimental agricultural plots behind B Lot. During its time, it was accessible primarily by steamboat, which carried passengers from the city’s core down the Red River. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, the Hudson’s Bay Company picnic hosted 650 passengers aboard
the steamer. Dances were hosted in the evenings, accompanied by an orchestra. According to Chan, the park closed by the end of the First World War. Another park by the same name was established, absorbing the misremembered legacy of a university relic. “The tour really gives you an idea of what student life was like way back when,” Sweeney said. The tour includes photos of students participating in activities modern students would never get the opportunity to try. Chan and Sweeney pulled photos from the archives depicting students playing hockey or broomball on the Red River in the winter and swimming in the river in the warmer months. Back in the day, each faculty had a rifle club and would compete on the campus rifle range. Chan and Sweeney also note the smaller student body in the early 20th century and the university’s isolation from the city allowed more opportunities for students to connect. By the ’60s, the university was largely a commuter campus. Students had to find innovative ways to pass the time there. Beyond showing forgotten places on campus, the Lost Campus tour reveals a slice of life from a time long ago and illustrates how campus life has been shaped by history. For example, after the Second World War, veterans were compensated with tuition to the U of M and a meagre stipend. From this sprouted the Veterans’ Village, a collection of affordable bungalows on campus. “Here’s the thing about the tour: it does provide a glimpse into a past life that people — students, faculty and staff — have forgotten,” Sweeney said. “But it’s well beyond that […] It’s a peek into the way society has changed.” Lost Campus can be best accessed at tinyurl.com/LostCampus using Google Chrome.
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Global study finds species can adapt to cities U of M researchers contribute to largest ever evolutionary field study RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY As cities expand and are home to more people, scientists are exploring how these landscapes can influence the wildlife that coexist among us. University of Manitoba researchers Colin Garroway and Aleeza Gerstein have contributed to the largest ever field study of parallel evolution. The expansive new study, recently published in the journal Science, looked at whether cities can shape species evolution.
graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff
Emma Rempel, staff
Garroway, associate professor of biological sciences, and Gerstein, assistant professor of microbiology and statistics, joined the project through a chance online encounter. “By chance Aleeza Gerstein […] and I were both scrolling Twitter at the same time and came across a tweet from Marc Johnson from the [University of Toronto],” said Garroway. Johnson was proposing a project that was simple in concept but grand in scale. He established the Global Urban Evolution (GLUE) Project as a collaborative field study to answer the question: can organisms adapt to cities? With volunteers from every inhabited continent, participants would collect samples of white clover in their city to study its evolution in response to urbanization. The project organizers designed simple protocols that could be easily replicated, with participants completing data collection in about one week. Both Garroway and Gerstein were intrigued, and they volunteered to collect data in Winnipeg as collaborators. “It seemed very fun to be able to play a small role in a project of this scale,” said Garroway. Contributions came from 160 cities around the world. This scale allowed the researchers to answer the question of how predictable urban evolution can be. “This project aimed at understanding the extent to which natural selection in response to urbanization is predictable,” said Garroway.
“Human activities are the most notable and efficient causes of contemporary evolution” — Colin Garroway, associate professor for when clovers encounter many herbivores. HCN also affects a plant’s tolerance of environmental stressors, like frost and drought. This trait, the production of HCN, is only found in plants with dominant forms, or in alleles, of two specific genes, which makes it easy to track in a population. Researchers wanted to see whether clovers in urban habitats evolved in the same way across the world. They would begin by sampling in urban centres and continued sampling outward until they arrived in a rural region.
Natural selection, commonly known as “survival of the fittest,” is the process of an organism’s adaptation to its environment. Those with traits suited to their environment will be more likely to reproduce and pass these traits on to their offspring, who will be more successful than those without the same traits.
The group found that wild plants do adapt to city environments, and that they can adapt quickly. Clovers were found to follow a gradient of HCN production, with clovers closer to urban centres producing less HCN than those in rural habitats. This is because urban clovers have acclimated to city landscapes that are arid, with fewer threats from herbivores.
The project focused on white clovers because of their global distribution. Participants measured the production of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in these clovers. This toxic chemical is an antiherbivore defence and is selected
This response was consistently measured and is evidence of widespread adaptation to urbanization. However, there was variation in HCN production gradients between cities, which could be attributed to
differences in environmental factors. Clovers often, but not always, evolved in the same way. These results have wide-reaching implications that are just beginning to be explored. They suggest adaptation to urban environments is common in plants and wildlife. The ways that organisms adapt to cities could offer insight into their likelihood to survive as a species. The majority of the world’s human population live in villages, towns or cities. Cities have been designed to meet the needs of many people in a relatively small area, so there are many similarities in their design across the globe. These structural resemblances also create similar environmental conditions for the many species that live in and around cities. The environments in cities as distant as Toronto and Tokyo are more similar to each other than either is to its nearest rural habitats. “Human activities are the most notable and efficient causes of contemporary evolution,” said Garroway. Biologists have traditionally considered cities to be devoid of nature,
or “anti-life.” A new hypothesis is gaining ground among evolutionary biologists that views cities as drivers of evolution. Cities impose harsh environmental pressures on the species that inhabit them, both directly and indirectly. This selective pressure can make cities sites for major evolutionary change. This research shows we are not removed from nature, but exert our influence over it every day. The changes we make to our environment can change the evolutionary potential of plants and animals, so it is important to consider our connections to nature when designing our cities. Whether that means increasing or preserving green spaces in downtown areas, we can design cities to benefit our wildlife neighbours. “For better or worse, we are a part of a new type of nature,” Garroway said. “Cities and people are nature, and we are changing the ‘natural’ status quo. I think this is fun and important to think about.”
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Nuchatlaht could change land claims for good Nootka Island, a site of colonial expropriation for centuries, has come full circle COMMENT
Nootka Island rests off the west coast of Vancouver Island and has been a site of colonial contestation for centuries. In the late 1700s, the inlet east of Nootka Island was geographically important for trade due to its calm shelter from ocean currents. As such, the Spaniards, who initially laid colonial claim to North America’s West Coast, took exception to British presence in the inlet due to contradicting definitions of sovereignty. The Spanish claimed they had discovered the area first, while the British noted that to claim land, nations must settle it first — of course, each claim was bogus, considering a handful of Indigenous nations occupied the land before Europeans were ever aware of its existence. War over the land claim was ultimately avoided through the Nootka Sound Convention, which recognized both colonial powers’ rights to fish, trade, navigate and settle the area. Fast forward to 1846 and Spanish presence on Vancouver Island had faded. Instead of the Spanish, the United States and Britain were vying for sovereignty over the West Coast. The issue was one of the most consequential moments of each colonial state’s history. Bargaining for land on the West Coast became so important that it influenced the election of president James K. Polk in 1844, whose slogan was “54-40 or fight!” — referencing the parallels where he wished to draw the Canada-U.S. border. Keen to avoid another war with the U.S., the British agreed to draw the border at the 49th parallel, which officially transitioned Nootka Island, according to British law, into Crown land. The problem with these grand claims to sovereignty is that each state failed to recognize unceded Indigenous territory. Claims to sovereignty were often made via arguments of discovery or terra nullius — a Eurocentric law that only recognized property rights if groups or individuals cultivated land according to western-defined agricultural methods — even though the land was already used to support the lives of various Indigenous groups. As Audra Simpson writes in her seminal book Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States, “the United States and Canada can only come into political being because of Indigenous dispossession […] Those who still live this struggle with different political authorities find themselves in a ‘nested’ form of sovereignty and in politics of refusal.” Now, 176 years later, the Nuchatlaht First Nation is refusing to recognize Canadian sovereignty over their hereditary land, which encompasses about 200 square kilometres of Nootka Island. Centuries of western contestation, deliberation and
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graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff
Lucas Edmond, staff
Centuries of western contestation, deliberation and dispossession have come full circle and the Nuchatlaht are making their case for their land back in the Supreme Court of British Columbia
dispossession have come full circle and the Nuchatlaht are making their case for getting their land back in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
The Nuchatlaht claim centuries of commercial activity on their land have benefited everybody but them, and they are right to argue this. The Nuchatlaht were virtually evicted from their land following the 1846 border agreement. After 1846, Nootka Island was turned into Crown land and expropriated without consultation or treaty. This meant cutting trees or building settlements without a lease was illegal. The Nuchatlaht were subsequently alienated and dispossessed from their land which forced them to settle off the island. B.C.’s provincial government has obscured this fact and claims the Nuchatlaht abandoned the land, giving the province legal tenure to manage resources on the island and dish out contracts and licenses to extractive industries. As a result, the forestry industry has clearcut nearly 80 per cent of the island’s old-growth forest. Further, industrial activity has decimated spawning rivers for salmon
and threatened fishing communities’ livelihoods downstream. Not only has the Canadian government dispossessed the Nuchatlaht of their land, but it is rapidly decimating the region’s surrounding ecology — consequently giving haste to community members who are desperate to save what they can.
Beyond just Nootka, this case may be a turning point for Indigenous land claims in B.C. and potentially Canada. It is the first time that an Indigenous group seeking their land back will use the Tsilhqot’in land ruling as precedent. In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the Tsilhqot’in were entitled to over 1,700 square kilometres of their hereditary lands outside of reserve sites. Because the group was semi-nomadic, the B.C. provincial government argued the Tsilhqot’in should only receive village sites back. However, for the first time, the highest court in Canada recognized sovereignty based on semi-nomadic lifestyles and incorporated the land linking these settlements. In sum, it was a massive overturning of traditional property law and centuries of terra nullius that had hampered so many Indigenous land claims in the past.
Although the Nuchatlaht First Nation is a small community consisting of 151 members, it has the potential to make a massive splash in the Canadian legal community. Indigenous land claims consistently have to prove their lineages’ use of land within a biased settler framework. In a sense, they have to play a game where the rules are defined and redefined by their competitor. The case the Nuchatlaht are currently upholding not only has the potential to reclaim land that has been juggled by the international community for centuries, it could also be the site that redefines the very parameters that have distinguished and marginalized many Indigenous claims to sovereignty from Canada’s systemically biased legal mechanisms. Precedent was set by the Tsilhqot’in, but it will be cemented by Nuchatlaht, should their case stand. Nootka Island finds itself at yet another crucial historical juncture, but this time it’s the island’s Indigenous people leading the way.
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NDP-Liberal agreement victory for co-operative politics Conservatives fear progressive co-operation will alienate them in Parliament COMMENT
Collaboration can be hard to come by in politics, but the agreement reached between the Liberal party and the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus proved to be an exception to the rule. The agreement seeks to extend the Liberals’ tenure until 2025 through NDP confidence votes, in exchange for big progressive policies like expanding universal health care to include dental care and pharmacare. If the NDP is able to deliver these promises with its newly acquired leverage, the party can solidify itself as the progressive option for voters and can potentially improve its position in the coming election.
graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff
Ivan Nuñez Gamez, staff
Considering the Liberal party was making a bid for a majority in the last election, it is no secret party members were not satisfied with its performance — the snap election produced a Parliament that is almost identical to the previous one. The disappointing results left Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the tightrope. Pundits quickly used the disappointing results to speculate Trudeau could possibly step down from his leadership, claims he discredited. After shooting himself in the foot by spending $600 million on an election that was voraciously opposed by most parties and voters, it looked like Trudeau was bound to fail the next confidence vote. However, with the recent agreement, Trudeau has solidified his party’s position for years to come. The agreement has led to considerable pushback from Conservative parliamentarians and NDP voters alike.
Though imperfect, this agreement puts citizens’ interests over partisanship NDP pundits were quick to call out Jagmeet Singh for the disparity between the costs of supporting the Liberal government compared to the benefits of pushing through complex policy in such a short period of time. Further, this does not stop Trudeau from calling a snap election before 2025 if polling assures a majority. This may render Singh’s deal useless
should his policy aspirations not be realized before that time. Singh called on his supporters to reflect upon past and present adversities Canadians face and guaranteed the deal is meant to put citizens ahead of partisan politics. He reassured voters the NDP will continue to hold the Liberal government accountable while working alongside them to ensure dental care for children up to 12 will be realized by the end of this year and a universal pharmacare act drafted by the end of 2023. But professionals question the likelihood of this outcome. Conservatives were quick to condemn the collaborative agreement. Interim party leader Candice Bergen suggested the agreement is a betrayal to the electorate, considering Canadians did not vote for what she described as a “Liberal-NDP government.” However,
Bergen is mistaken in her criticisms. In order for a coalition government to be installed, the NDP must have at least one cabinet minister as part of the government, which is clearly not the case. The NDP and Liberals merely agreed upon collaborating to serve Canadians with progressive policies in order to find common ground and avoid another destabilizing election. Bergen’s comments prove Conservatives are simply unable to face their party’s own pitfalls and prefer to promote disinformation to infuriate their base. The Liberal-NDP agreement is not solely a political victory, but rather a triumph for low-income Canadians who need assistance to cover their pharmaceutical necessities and require adequate and affordable dental-care plans. Though imperfect, this agreement puts citizens’ interests over partisanship. Moreover, it stabilizes
Canada’s electoral system by guaranteeing the NDP’s confidence vote. If effective, this could open the door for a new era in Canadian politics, one defined by collaboration instead of combative quarreling.
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The downtown density dilemma Why we need to look at other cities to redefine our own
EDITORIAL
Downtown Winnipeg has had its ups and downs, but the city’s current lack of initiative and vision in urban planning and development has resulted in its slow and consistent demise. Developments being prioritized by Winnipeg’s planning commission such as 300 Main do not appear to take into account the potential benefits of certain projects for the surrounding community. Instead, many of these larger developments tend to focus on how large the profit margins are. This is not to say that the profits in city planning are something to be overlooked — of course, money plays a significant role in outcomes like construction and operating costs, but there is space to create a balance between rendered profits and social integrity. Downtown Winnipeg has more than enough high-end condos, empty heritage buildings and parking lots, among many other narrowly scoped developments. Why not try to introduce developments that provide space for valuable amenities that would enable urban, non-motor-vehicle-oriented living? It’s a shame to see how unlivable our downtown is, ranging from issues such as the cost of living to lack of essential services like grocery
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stores. It may be shocking to most Winnipeggers that their downtown remains radically underpopulated despite constant efforts to make it more attractive, but considering the lack of necessary amenities coupled with inflated living costs, it should be expected. The long-term goals of community-oriented planning have been timelessly proven to work in other major urban centres around the world. Why does Winnipeg feel the need to over-complicate this approach? Looking beyond Winnipeg, we should learn from other major cities. For example, Paris has successfully integrated the “15-minute city” plan — a design plan that attempts to make all amenities required to live available at any point within a 15-minute walking or biking radius. Additionally, other Canadian cities like Edmonton, Alta. have taken strong initiative to develop a new set of guidelines to synergize winter conditions rather than viewing them entirely as a nuisance to urban planning and infrastructure. Needless to say, there’s certainly no shortage of exemplary urban planning strategies for Winnipeg to emulate. Winnipeg should strive for accessible living of all types. Whether it be single or family living, our downtown
should be able to accommodate residents at the barest of minimums. Further, Winnipeg should seek to build a stronger sense of character and consistency in our urban identity and provide a more meaningful execution of communal programming that works with our seasonal variation. Ultimately, we need to redefine Winnipeg.
Our municipal, provincial and federal governments should offer more beneficial grants and incentives to develop sustainably and effectively. Although the urban environment is used by the general public, it shouldn’t be their entire responsibility to ensure its successful development. There needs to be more thoughtful administration involved.
That being said, the primary issue with improving the density of Winnipeg’s downtown is not a theoretical oversight — instead, it is a political shortcoming.
The downtown dilemma of developing projects with a lasting impact versus a quick start-up that lines developers’ pockets with easy money always tends to veer toward the latter approach. This short-term thinking may appear bold and look good for those involved in the moment, but how will developing gentrified monstrosities that very few people can afford to live in hold up in the long run? We need to start thinking of the “long now” and provide an adaptable approach for future generations to thrive in.
Urban designers, politicians and developers, among many other key figures, are well aware of what needs to be done, but there’s simply no incentive to address these issues. For example, if an owner of a surface parking lot in the downtown area is already making a sizable income from their business venture, what reason would they have to cut off that income and develop the land over multiple years? Sure, in time the development would harness a modest income if it proved to be successful, but if there is no incentive or immediate benefit to pursue such a venture, what reason would they have to take the risk? Intervening at this level is where the city would benefit most.
graphic & words / Dallin Chicoine / staff
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Stone Cold, a Winnipeg icon Delicious big beer becomes an underground symbol of our city ARTS & CULTURE Alex Braun, staff
Among rows and rows of cans and glass bottles, hidden in the dark corners of your local beer vendor, you might spot a peculiar thing — a twolitre plastic jug of a light brew called Stone Cold Draft. Emblazoned in black and blue with a massive, Impact-font logo, Stone Cold is an oddity in packaging, presentation and, most importantly, pricing. For less than $10, you can buy yourself two full litres of strong beer — 6.2% alcohol. And, as if to explain its existence, the jug’s label proudly announces that it is brewed in Manitoba. Since its advent in the summer of 2000, the Stone Cold jug has been a budget-friendly option for local drinkers of all sorts. Brewed by the Fort Garry Brewing imprint Two Rivers, the draft is noted for its questionable flavour. User reviews on the beer-themed social network Untappd note the draft’s “sweet dishwater aroma” and compare it to “a mix of Hamilton tap water, armpit and the little bit of water left in my flip-flop after my hockey shower,” though one
reviewer claimed to have felt obligated to try it as a “[rite] of passage moving to Winnipeg,” as if the jug represents something at the heart of our great city. It seems that some in Winnipeg’s underground scenes have taken a particular liking to the brew. Local noise artist and head of the Makade Star label Bret Parenteau, also known as B.P., runs a popular Instagram page called @jugs_in_places, which chronicles the journeys of the jug around Winnipeg. “Initially what inspired me to make the account was the amount of empty jugs I would see around the city,” he said. “Working downtown they would be everywhere and usually in funny spots.” The page has plenty of examples of this, with jugs spotted in malls, bus shelters, Prairie fields and public washrooms. This ubiquity, for B.P., has made it a sort of Winnipeg icon.
B.P. says its significance to the city comes from common recognition.
a Winnipeg skate video. Everyone seems to love it.”
“It’s a good local topic of discussion because someone is usually familiar with it,” he said. The novelty of the jug itself is part of the draw as well.
As for why this could be, Smeall said, “I think Winnipeggers love the jug because it’s just such a classic thing to see here. It’s a two-litre of some dirty 6.2 [per cent] beer that’ll get you hammered, brewed in Manitoba. Couldn’t be more Winnipeg.”
“There are options for cheap beer here but it’s not in a two-litre bottle, and [won’t] make you feel as bad the next day.” That jug-appeal is maybe why it’s become such an iconic thing to share on Instagram, or to use as a symbol of the city, as local skate shop Sk8 Skates does in its new skate video, titled Stone Cold. Fane Smeall, owner of Sk8 Skates, said that although the title began as a joke, the team eventually grew attached to it. “The name itself is just a cool name for a video and it actually represents Winnipeg perfectly since we have disgustingly cold winters,” he said. “Also, just the jug Stone Cold is a Manitoba classic and this is a video out of Manitoba. You see it all over the streets in downtown Winnipeg and that’s where the video is mostly filmed. The joke just turned into a name that makes perfect sense for
And maybe that’s just it — we live in a sort of disgusting place that is inhospitably cold for a large chunk of the year, but we can still take refuge in our big two-litre jugs of strong beer. Beer is a classic Canadian symbol in general, but Stone Cold is our very own specialty. We aren’t too fancy to drink out of plastic, and we aren’t too proud to admit that we might need the whole two litres. Winnipeg is a city of survivors and hard workers, and we deserve our Stone Cold. So raise a jug high in celebration of our beautiful city, and drink deep. Sk8 Skate’s video Stone Cold premieres April 6 at the Park Theatre. For more information, please visit myparktheatre.com. arts@themanitoban.com
Make way for MOSA ARTS & CULTURE Zoë LeBrun, staff
With the easing of COVID-19 capacity restrictions, local bands are beginning to perform, practice and record music with some degree of normality, and MOSA is one of them. Between rescheduling a postponed show and preparing for an album release, the local four-piece grunge band is firing on all cylinders. The Manitoban sat down with rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist Hannah Palamer to chat about the band and what the future holds for them. MOSA began performing in 2019 and consists of four members: Staci Nault, who covers lead guitar and vocals, Rachel Burns on bass and vocals, Eric Jaworski who plays drums and last but not least Palamer herself. Their namesake is the mosasaur, the largest dinosaur ever found in Manitoba, which is apt considering MOSA’s loud and energetic sound. Influenced by bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana and the Kills, MOSA’s music often speaks directly to the personal experiences of its songwriters. MOSA traces its beginnings to Palamer and Nault, best friends since kindergarten.
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“We started jamming together and writing and we just realized […] we worked really well together, so we’re like, hey, we need to focus on making this a true thing and so […] we started playing together and playing shows and getting serious about it.” After recruiting Burns and Jaworski, songwriting within the band became even more collaborative, which Palamer believes is healthy for their music. “I would have songs and they [would] kind of just be like a skeleton of a song, and then Staci would add lead and we’d kind of work on structure,” Palamer said. “And, for a long time, I would sleep on songs and be like […] I don’t like it anymore, I’d be kind of annoyed with it.” It was during slumps like these when collaboration among the group was key. “I would bring it to the space and Rachel, who is amazing at structure and composing and having different ideas. And she just totally changed some of the songs and made them more dynamic.”
image / MOSA / provided
Local grunge band set to release album this spring
MOSA recorded its first full-length album, Words in Red, at Private Ear Recording last July and is preparing to release it in late April or early May. The album’s 10 songs were inspired by “sex and sadness” and include three previously released singles. Although Palamer had been nervous to record, she was thrilled with the results. “We had a time crunch because we recorded our album in like five days,” Palamer said. “You think that that would create like a lot of tension or there would be people getting frustrated, but it was so easy breezy. It was just like, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s try this.’ And it just happened so nicely and organically and […] it didn’t feel stressful.” Since they had a show postponed due to COVID-19, MOSA is looking forward to playing live again in the near future. In addition to this rescheduling, the
band is planning an album release show at the Park Theatre to accompany the release of Words in Red this spring. “I’m itching to play,” Palamer said. “I can’t believe it’s been this long that we haven’t played, and we were just playing shows so consistently before.” “To be onstage and singing and just performing something creative, that’s my happy place, that’s where I want to be.” You can check out MOSA’s official Bandcamp page and stay tuned to its official Instagram and Facebook pages for updates on shows and the upcoming release of its album Words in Red.
arts@themanitoban.com
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From the planetarium to the moon Manitoba Museum hosts weekly DOME@HOME program ARTS & CULTURE As the pandemic enters the liminal space of being over politically yet scientifically very much ongoing, the Manitoba Museum continues its free and accessible online programming. The Planetarium’s online DOME@ HOME program will be continuing its weekly series into the foreseeable future, even with the possibility of a return to in-person events.
image / Scott D. Young / provided
Grace Paizen, staff
“We sort of talk about what’s up in the sky, and where the planets are and any sort of celestial events that are happening,” Young said of the show. “We also talk about any cool space stuff that’s going on, [like] the Mars landers, or rocket launches or things like that, stuff on the International Space Station. And as the show has sort of evolved, we’ve added topics.” Streamed on the museum’s Facebook and YouTube pages, all shows are interactive. In fact, DOME@HOME has since become “kind of like a late-night talk show where you sort of either have a guest or you have a topic.”
image / The Manitoba Museum / provided
The host of DOME@HOME is the Manitoba Museum’s planetarium astronomer, Scott Young, who implemented the live online show when the planetarium first closed back in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since DOME@HOME is a live show, there are “a lot of people in the chat asking a variety of questions about astronomy and other related kinds of things.” “And so, it’s become this sort of back and forth with the audience which is really kind of fun,” Young said. “It builds this community. We got about a hundred people watching every show live that, you know, I know half of them by name, and they are coming to our regular programs and signing up for our courses and making donations to the charity and things like that.” What is important to Young about the program is how it uses a scientific field as accessible as astronomy to build a pro-science community. “Astronomy is kind of like a gateway science because […] [people] just think of the beauty and the art and the mind-blowing part of it,” Young said. “We suck people in with the cool astronomy and if that makes them feel a little more comfortable with science in general, that’s huge.” As for the aforementioned themed nights, DOME@HOME is set to cover light pollution for Earth Hour in an “awareness piece” for people to notice how their own activities affect the
world around them. “To get people to realize just how much light we waste in terms of just having unnecessary illumination at night — light that shines up into the sky instead of down onto the ground — and of course the associated energy costs,” Young said. “It’s an astronomy issue because of course astronomers have a hard time seeing with all the city lights.” In Canada, billion of dollars are spent on electricity and it’s used to power light “that doesn’t do anything at all.” “It doesn’t hit the ground and light up things, it basically goes straight up into the sky and bounces off the bottoms of birds and the bottoms of airplanes and that’s it,” Young said. “It’s totally wasted energy.” For those who are just finding out about DOME@HOME for the first time, all past shows are available
to watch in full on the museum’s YouTube channel. The shows are packed full of references to news events and popular culture “from Star Trek to Elon Musk’s satellites.” In particular, Young is passionate about the program because of astronomy’s accessibility. “The best thing about astronomy is, it’s an accessible science,” Young said. “You can go out and look at the stars and make discoveries. It doesn’t matter if someone else discovered the same thing like 400 years ago — when you discover it, it still feels like a discovery.” And if you don’t have access to binoculars or telescopes, the program has you covered for upcoming celestial events.
“With DOME@HOME, when there’s something sort of cool coming up, we’ll do live telescope viewings, which we’ve done online so far,” Young said. “The next one is probably going to be in May for the total lunar eclipse.” Excitingly, “if [the pandemic] has calmed down [enough] that we can actually set up telescopes at the park somewhere, we will,” Young said. But for those still apprehensive about going out, the Planetarium will “stream it online anyway,” meaning no one will miss out on what DOME@ HOME has to offer. For more information on DOME@ HOME, go to manitobamuseum. ca.
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A modern look at an old classic ‘Calpurnia’ starts strong but presents more questions than answers ARTS & CULTURE
Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah, staff Just in time for World Theatre Day on March 27, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre has mounted Calpurnia, a provocative work written by the theatre’s own associate artistic director Audrey Dwyer. The play explores the significant issues of privilege, race and intersectionality, but is billed as a comedy — a challenging balance to maintain. Calpurnia centres on a wealthy Jamaican-Canadian family living in Toronto, Ont. It opens with the main character, Julie Gordon, sitting at a kitchen table, watching the film version of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird for the umpteenth time. An aspiring screenwriter, she is attempting to rewrite the events of the classic novel from the point of view of the Finch family’s African-American maid, Calpurnia. The first act focuses on her family’s reactions to her project, particularly
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her brother Mark’s, who reveres both Lee’s original text and the film adaptation and even cites Atticus Finch as his personal hero. While they argue, their Filipina housekeeper Precy prepares for an important dinner party that will grant Mark a position at a big law firm. The parallels between the Finches and the Gordons are clear. Both families have a widowed father in a law-related field — Atticus is a lawyer, while Julie and Mark’s dad Lawrence is a retired judge. Both families have a sensitive and introspective son and a daughter who questions the world they live in and pursues social justice in her own way. And, finally, both families have a person of colour as hired help who also acts as a mother figure. Julie serves as a foil to Scout, a plucky young lady who still has much to learn. The difference is that Scout is a white child living in the segregated South during the 1930s, while Julie is a Black post-graduate student who
studied critical race theory in modern-day Canada. Each actor is effortless in portraying their character. University of Manitoba alumnus Ray Strachan is somehow both bumbling and imposing in his role as an immigrant father who strives to make his children’s lives easier so they do not have to struggle in the same ways he did. Kwaku Adu-Poku and Emerjade Simms are natural and believable as siblings and Rochelle Kives is a quiet but noticeable presence as Precy. She is onstage for most of the performance and remains in-character even when out of focus. Her dedication to the role is admirable. The set — courtesy of Rachel Forbes — is, in a word, magnificent. It is sleek, modern and massive, with three levels and a functional kitchen, and gives the impression of a sweeping Forest Hill house. The preshow music transports audiences to the Caribbean with calypso party songs such as “Dollar Wine,” “Follow the Leader” and “Roll It, Gal.” As fun and infectious as this is, though, there
seems to be a disconnect between the music and the weighty subject matter of the play. Things become more dissonant in the second act, with a surprising comedy turn from Julie at her brother’s dinner party. It felt as though there were two plays in one, a drama for the first half and a comedy for the second. While Calpurnia presents a good effort at bringing comedy to such complex and critical issues, it could have benefited from a more nuanced approach. The ending leaves you wanting more closure but presents a lot to unpack and provides the foundation for further discourse. The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s production of Calpurnia runs until April 16. For more information, please visit royalmtc.ca.
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March 30, 2022
U of M hosts volleyball national championships SPORTS
Matthew Merkel, staff For the first time since 1976, the University of Manitoba played host to the U Sports men’s volleyball national championship. Unfortunately for the Bisons, despite home advantage, the squad was unable to secure the title, falling to the Trinity Western University Spartans in the quarterfinal. The University of Alberta Golden Bears went on to defeat the Spartans 3-1 in the tournament finale, crowning themselves Canadian university champions. Prior to the commencement of the tournament, Gene Muller, Bison Sports director of athletics and recreation, emphasized the impact hosting events like this year’s national championship and the Canada West track and field meet have on the community. He stressed that is not only important for the athletes and coaches, but also for students and younger Bison fans as well. “We will have hosted five championship events in the last six years I think, and in the 10 years before that we only hosted one event,” said Muller. “It gives our community a chance to see how special our student athletes are. It gives the student athletes an experience of what it’s like competing in an important event at home. So, it’s enormously important for us […] About five years ago we set up in our strategic plan to say we want to host more events at home. So, I’m really proud of our team and our athletes that we are able to achieve that.” Coming into the tournament as the eighth seed, the Bisons were in tough against the top-ranked Spartans. Led by U Sports men’s volleyball player of the year Derek Epp, TWU was easily the best team in Canada West, losing only one of its 16 games this season. In the playoffs, TWU only lost three sets over seven matches en route to the program’s seventh conference title. Trailing early in the first set, the Bisons looked a bit rusty after not playing a game in nearly three weeks. Led by Epp, TWU made a mockery of the Bisons’ defence. The Spartans easily hammered through the U of M blocks, spiking countless kills to the floor. On the return, TWU was also capable. Containing the Bisons’ attacks with poise, the Spartans were easily able to prevent the herd from gaining any sustained momentum. In front of a raucous home crowd, TWU walloped the Bisons, taking the first set 25-13. The U of M had a marginally better effort in the second. The Bisons’ fans cheered the home side on, willing the herd to play much more aggressively. Bison left side Spencer Grahame hustled on both ends of the floor, diving for balls in the back court and recording five kills at the net. Even so, TWU continued to pick
apart the Bisons’ defence. Brodie Hofer recorded four kills, while the Elser brothers Jesse and Mathias also contributed steady offence to give the Spartans the second set 25-17. Knowing their team was on the brink of elimination, the U of M faithful rocked the Investors Group Athletic Centre. The Bisons battled harder than they had all match, but once again found themselves playing catch-up early in the set. Down 16-8, a couple errors by the hands of the Spartans gave the U of M a bit more life. Capitalizing on TWU’s mistakes, the Bisons cut the lead in half. Back-and-forth play saw Grahame and teammates Owen Schwartz and Ben Carleton record kills. Unfortunately, TWU outpaced the herd, winning the set 25-19 and heading to the semifinals.
photos / Matthew Merkel / staff
Bisons lose in quarterfinals
After the loss, U of M head coach Arnd Ludwig broke down his team’s game. He applauded his outside hitters’ efforts and praised the Spartans for their performance. “I think […] our outside hitters did a pretty good job today,” said Ludwig. “I think Trinity played unbelievable […] they served really, really hard. We couldn’t […] get a good offence really going because we were struggling with our passes.” With the loss, the Bisons moved on to the consolation semifinal round to fight for fifth place in the tournament. Ludwig spelled out his team’s next actions in preparation for Saturday’s game. “We’re going to watch all this game and we play the loser of that game,” said Ludwig. “Then [we’ve got to] prepare. We have a watch video tomorrow at [12 p.m.] and then at [2:30 p.m.] we’re going to get ready for the game […] We have to get this game out of our head and make sure that we play tomorrow free again.” The next day, the Bisons did just that. Looking much more in sync, the herd put away a scrappy University of Toronto team in straight sets to move on to the consolation final on Sunday. Once again, Grahame led the Bisons’ offence with 12 kills, while Carleton reared the attack with 10. On the last day of the tournament, the Bisons put up a valiant effort but fell to the McMaster Marauders in four sets. Although the herd fell short of securing any hardware, an impressive showing against the top teams in the country bodes well for the future of the men’s volleyball program.
sports@themanitoban.com
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SPORTS
Isaiah Wagner, staff The U Sports national swimming championship took place this past weekend in Quebec City, Que. to the surprise of nobody, fifthyear Bison athlete Kelsey Wog put on a fantastic performance. Wog began her historic weekend on day one of the competition with a great race in the women’s 100-metre breaststroke. Her time of 1:04.88 ended up being a new U Sports record for that event. She went into day two being a record holder and did not stop there. Her time of 2:18.67 placed her first in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke. Wog may have saved her best performance for the final day of the meet, as she posted a time of 30.45 in the women’s 50-metre breaststroke. This was also a U Sports record, her second broken record of the weekend. She also finished first place in the women’s 200-metre medley to cap off the day.
“This means the world to me. I am just so happy that my hard work has paid off,” Wog said. “I have put in so much time and so much effort to get to where I am at today. I am just very happy and proud of myself.” Wog emphasized the importance of hard work in competing at the level at which she now finds herself. “I think that it just takes consistency every day,” she said.
graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff
Wog shines once again on national stage
“It might come down to the meals you eat the day of the swim or even the warm-up that you put yourself through. It also includes the practice that I have put in every day.”
“I started when I was younger and had a passion for it ever since then. When you get good at something, it is nice to practice it and get even better. It always helps when it is something that you love.”
Wog has been swimming all her life, spending many days in the pools and many days training mentally and physically outside the water.
It is a blessing for the university to have Wog as a part of its team. She consistently does well for them and is a great athlete to have in the program.
“I have always loved swimming,” Wog said.
“I love being a Bison for so many reasons,” Wog said.
“The group of swimmers that we have [is] amazing. Everyone is so close as a group. The coaching staff and trainers are great people and are very knowledgeable.” Along with Wog, Dora Modrcin also had herself a successful championship. Modrcin’s time of 27.35 won her a silver medal in the women’s 50-metre backstroke. sports@themanitoban.com
Diversions
Answer to last issue’s Hidoku
Roundly-condemned headline initiative shuttered indefinitely My project to speak only in weird headline words didn’t last long.
More than one unique solution may be possible. Puzzle by M. Doering.
SUDOKU No. 566
Very Hard
Previous solution - Tough
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Bisons impress in swimming championship
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