THE M A N I T O B A N photo / Basel Abdelaziz / staff
since 1914
NCTR and SSHRC announce research collaboration Another round
Two worlds
Fourth dose becomes available
Stefanson losing grip on pandemic’s reality p. 3
p. 6
Taking his talents to south Winnipeg
Petty poetry New book influenced by late musician p. 10
Vol. 108
p. 11
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News
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Fourth vaccine dose available to elderly Manitobans NEWS
Colton McKillop, staff Fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines are now available for anyone aged 70 or older and Indigenous people older than 50 in Manitoba. A fourth round of shots will also be available to all personal care home and assisted living facility residents. Second boosters will be accessible in Manitoba as early as mid-April and will be available according to the same timetable as previous vaccination efforts. This change was spurred by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s (NACI) recommendation last Tuesday that provincial governments offer a second booster shot to people 80 and older. NACI also suggested that regions consider distributing fourth doses to any adults older than 70. Ayush Kumar, a professor in the department of microbiology at the University of Manitoba, said the NACI likely made this announcement because data suggests immunity gained from vaccination lowers over time, putting elderly and immunocompromised people at particular risk. Kumar said it is difficult to predict
whether a fourth booster in vulnerable populations would prevent a surge of hospitalizations that could overwhelm the health-care system. “We do know that hospitalization rates are increasing, rates of infections are increasing,” he said. “I think last time I checked, [the] test positivity rate in Manitoba was listed at around 18 per cent, but we also know that that’s just the tip of an iceberg because we’re not doing a very good job keeping data and sharing data.” Kumar called this lack of data the “biggest challenge.” “Without knowing what age groups are being hospitalized, it’s difficult to see whether this would prevent overwhelming our health-care system,” he said. “If [data] was being shared, then we would be more confident in predicting what might happen in the future, but right now nothing is being shared.” According to the most recently released data, 80.13 per cent of Manitobans are double vaccinated and 42.86 percent have received a third dose. The
province
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recommended
photo / Mohammad Arsalan Saeed / staff
Those aged 70+, Indigenous 50+ and care home residents eligible
fourth doses for immunocompromised people last December.
in them, so […] chances of mutations are very, very high.”
Provincial, national vaccinations not enough to prevent new strains
In contrast to Canada’s high vaccination rate of 82 per cent, only 58 per cent of the world’s population is vaccinated.
Kumar said the “strategy needs to be mass vaccination […] across the world” to prevent the rise of a new variant. “The way the virus would mutate is if it has a host where it can multiply and as it multiplies, it mutates,” he explained. “That only happens when people don’t have [an] immune response against a virus and that immune response will happen in people who have been vaccinated. If you have 50 [to] 60 per cent of the population around the world […] not vaccinated, the virus is still dividing in them and still multiplying
“Basically, countries that have access to vaccination […] will keep boosting their own population, but how often can you do that and how much can you do that?” Kumar said. “Unless you actually prevent […] emergence of new strains, we’ll be just doing this all the time, and the only way to prevent this is to have mass vaccination.”
news@themanitoban.com
Winnipeg deliberates regulating short-term rentals Possible rules include requiring owners register with city NEWS
Colton McKillop, staff The City of Winnipeg is considering regulations for short-term rental apartments such as Airbnbs to address issues with fairness in the hospitality sector, noise and criminal activity. City planners will spend the next six months considering regulations such as requiring owners to register with the city, criminal background checks, limiting the number of rentals in a given area or condominium, restricting units to primary residences and imposing a five per cent municipal accommodation tax similar to the kind hotels already pay. Since 2008, Winnipeg hotels have paid a monthly five per cent accommodation tax determined by their total bookings, with revenue being used to support tourism via Economic Development Winnipeg. Jino Distasio, a professor of urban geography at the University of Winnipeg, said regulations such as registration and background
checks are meant to “ensure that any premises that’s going to be occupied by anybody is safe.” “The city also requires rooming houses to be licensed and inspected to ensure that individuals that are staying there are also compliant with building and occupancy standards,” he said. In a three-hour meeting last Tuesday, city council heard from 14 delegations offering feedback on the proposed regulations, which the city is planning in consultation with short-term rental owners, the hotel industry, tourism experts and people living near shortterm rentals. Winnipeg condominium owners have complained short-term rentals in their buildings have resulted in parties, noise, violence and crime in their buildings. The Manitoba Hotel Association is requesting Winnipeg only allow property owners to list their primary residence, as those in cities like
Toronto, Ont. are required to do. Distasio said the effect on affordable housing should also be considered when “an organization or group [secures] multiple addresses as a business” and charges daily rather than monthly rates. “That’s, I think, where […] people are seeing the pressure, when [groups are] taking multiple units off the market as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got a couple of rooms or I’m not going to be here for a couple of weeks, so I’m going to rent my place either by the day, by the week or by the month,’” he said. “I think it’s about scale and I think what the city has said in bylaws is that homeowners can and have always been able to run a number of small businesses out of their homes, but there is often a threshold.” Some Airbnb owners have argued at city council meetings that the primary residence rule would harm the shortterm rental market in Winnipeg. Distasio said Winnipeg is merely following the footsteps of other
photo / Basel Abdelaziz / staff
Canadian and North American cities in imposing such rules. “How do we want to regulate this industry to balance the informal ability of an individual homeowner to make some money on the side by renting out a room [with] the evolution of short-term rentals as a true industry, where a small consortium of individuals own multiple units and apartments that are offering shortterm rentals?” he said. “I guess the sector can’t have it all. You can’t have the total freedom of very few regulations when you start to cross over into really running a larger-scale operation.” news@themanitoban.com
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High-risk, high-reward funding for amniotic fluid study RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Michael Campbell, staff
Chris Pascoe, an assistant professor in the Max Rady college of medicine, has been awarded funding from the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) to support his research into investigating the causal link between smoking mothers and poor infant lung health. The NFRF, which supports highrisk, high-reward interdisciplinary research, announced more than $1.2 million awarded to University of Manitoba researchers across five projects. Pascoe, along with co-investigator Meghan Riddell from the University of Alberta, plan to explore the possibility of amniotic fluid transporting inflammatory proteins from the mother to her fetus, thus carrying the damaging effects of smoking to the baby. “There was a paper that was published that I thought was really cool — it was in mice — where they looked at mice where they had made them to have a higher level of an inflammatory protein in the amniotic fluid,” Pascoe said. “And when they looked at the offspring, their airways were twitchy, or they had more signs of asthma. And so, my thought was, OK, if you can make mice look like this by giving them more of this inflammatory cytokine, what things might be influencing the level of that protein in the amniotic fluid?” Pascoe reached out to laboratories and found no one was keeping amniotic fluid samples along with other tissue samples after birth. Riddell, who works with placental biology, had the necessary access to tissue samples for Pascoe’s emerging project idea. “We decided to apply to this [NFRF] grant with the idea being that this kind of fits that high-risk, high-reward setting, which is [that] nobody has looked at it, nobody knows if we’re going to find anything,” Pascoe said. “We may find absolutely nothing. So in that case, it’s high risk. But it’s also high reward because, if we do find something, then it’s a new paradigm for how the outside environment gets communicated to the fetus.”
the researchers have data on the amniotic fluid, there may be several subsequent research questions that emerge. The interdisciplinary nature of this study also makes it novel. Pascoe’s research interests include studying lungs, smooth muscle mechanics and muscle contractibility, while Riddell focuses on gynecology and obstetrics. If their research finds these proteins are shared with the fetus through amniotic fluid, they will have discovered a new method by which information is transferred from the outside world into the womb. In the first year of the study, Pascoe and Riddell will use a multiplex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to test upwards of 50 different inflammatory molecules in the amniotic fluid of approximately 100 individuals. This test will help the researchers develop an inflammatory profile for cigarette smokers. Then the researchers will test the inflammatory profiles on a model consisting of cells to see how the cells react. “We use a model of epithelial cells,” Pascoe said. “These are the cells that line the airways. You can think of them as your skin, but inside your lungs. And so, in asthma there’s certain changes that occur within these cells, the most apparent one […] is mucus. These cells, in asthma, they make a lot of mucus.” In the second year of the study, researchers will be trying to characterize the reaction between amniotic fluid and epithelial cells. Pascoe and Riddell are currently recruiting a master’s student to assist with the project with the hope that there may be more research opportunities in the future. “Given that this is a two-year grant, really to focus on an area that’s not explored at all — this kind of highrisk, high-reward — the hope would be that we find some signals that are interesting [and] that we can pivot this into a larger, longer-term grant,” Pascoe said.
Scientists know that blood is likely a carrier of these cytokine proteins, but according to Pascoe, lungs do not receive much blood in the womb which leads him to believe there is another tissue that transmits these proteins across the placenta. This project is considered high-risk because Pascoe and Riddell have no pilot data to suggest that launching a full-scale project will likely show the results they expect. Pilot data, which suggests feasibility, is an essential part of most grant applications. Once
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photo / Chris Pascoe / provided
Researchers search for a new paradigm of transmission in the womb
“We may find absolutely nothing. So in that case, it’s high risk. But it’s also high reward because, if we do find something, then it’s a new paradigm for how the outside environment gets communicated to the fetus” — Chris Pascoe, assistant professor of medicine
research@themanitoban.com
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NCTR partners with SSHRC RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Emma Rempel, staff
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) has partnered with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to further Indigenous-led research. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) calls to action, they established a national research program with multiyear funding with the goal to further understanding of reconciliation efforts in Canada. Brenda Gunn, the academic and research director at the NCTR, and Marie-Kim ValléeHoude, communications advisor for the SSHRC, discussed the partnership with the Manitoban. The two organizations have joined forces to spur Indigenous-led research into reconciliation and the history and legacy of the residential school system. By working together, the strengths of both partners can be leveraged to conduct research for and alongside Indigenous communities. “The research priorities of the partnership are to advance a collective understanding of reconciliation and to support community decision-making processes, research and actions regarding residential schools’ sites in Canada,” said Vallée-Houde on behalf of the SSHRC. “One of the positive aspects of this partnership is the fact that you have an organization like SSHRC, which has funded a lot of research on Indigenous peoples over the years, [who] is working with an organization like the NCTR, to try to ensure that the research that is being funded is being done in a good way and supporting Indigenous communities,” said Gunn. The NCTR houses archives of statements, interviews and documents provided by survivors of the residential school system, their families and surrounding communities affected by the system. Its mission is both to preserve the histories of survivors and communities for future generations and to facilitate an open dialogue about reconciliation in Canada today. The NCTR will share its expertise on how to best safeguard these histories, while conducting research that benefits Indigenous communities. This is vital for decolonizing current research models, which many Indigenous people view as reinforcing colonial power imbalances.
research and committing Indigenous leadership in federal research institutions and funding agencies. “SSHRC […] has played a leadership role in recent years, on behalf of Canada’s federal research funding agencies, to co-develop with Indigenous peoples an interdisciplinary research [...] model that contributes to reconciliation,” said Vallée-Houde.
photo / Basel Abdelaziz / staff
Cooperation set to further Indigenous-led research
Some measures include the creation of the Indigenous Advisory Circle, which promotes the development of Indigenous research and talent, and the formation of the Reference Group for the Appropriate Review of Indigenous Research. This group is comprised of Indigenous knowledge keepers who provide ethical guidance on peer review and research practices to federal research granting agencies in Canada. The phrase “nothing about us without us” captures the sentiment behind this partnership. To build relationships between Indigenous communities, researchers and the federal funding agency, respecting Indigenous ways of knowing and support for community-led research are crucial. Equitable access to supports for Indigenous students and researchers and stronger accountability for ethical research protocols and impacts will ensure that First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples can lead research efforts and set their own priorities. “Indigenous research can embrace the intellectual, physical, emotional and/or spiritual dimensions of knowledge in creative and interconnected relationships with people, places and the natural environment,” said Vallée-Houde. Decolonization may also look different between various Indigenous communities, as there is no single definition of the process. Indigenous leadership in research is critical to understand the distinct experiences of each community. “We’re really trying to support community-led research as one of the key aspects to this partnership,” said Gunn.
“That’s part of the expertise that the NCTR is bringing to the partnership and why we will continue to have a role in adjudication [of funds],” said Gunn.
Gunn, a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation and a professor in the faculty of law, became the academic and research director at the NCTR in September 2021. The position of research director had previously been vacant. Her research activities include engaging other researchers and providing small research grants to aid their work.
One way to restore balance is greater involvement of Indigenous people in every stage of the research process from setting initial priorities, ensuring high ethical standards for
One example of research undertaken by the NCTR is the Canadian Reconciliation Barometer project, which is being led by Katherine Starzyk, an associate professor in the
“We’re really trying to support community-led research as one of the key aspects to this partnership” — Brenda Gunn, academic and research director at the NCTR department of psychology. The project is a series of annual surveys of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada tracking the progress and perception of reconciliation in Canada. The first report from the project — released in February 2022 — revealed gaps in understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of the harms of residential schools. The first partnership engagement grant (PEG) funding opportunity launched by the NCTRSSHRC is the PEG Residential Schools Joint Initiative. SSHRC will provide up to $1 million in grants to support projects related to residential schools. These grants will help guide decision-making and actions taken by Indigenous communities regarding residential school sites. While this partnership has been in development since the release of the
TRC’s report in 2015, Gunn says the urgency changed upon the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C. Both partners felt the need to quickly move forward with plans and to make funds available as soon as possible while achieving outlined objectives. “I think the identification of the children really changed the landscape in Canada,” said Gunn. “With […] such a major development, that has an impact and influence on the priorities that I think everyone in Canada sees as areas of research that need focus and support.”
research@themanitoban.com
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Stefanson undermining public health at every turn PCs’ resounding negligence costing the lives of Manitobans EDITORIAL Early in the pandemic, Manitoba’s COVID-19 response was exemplary. It took five months from the initial outbreak for the provincial death toll to even hit double digits and another eight months to hit 100. Those numbers seem almost unbelievable in today’s context, where the premier seems to be actively trying to infect as many people as possible. The proof of vaccination requirement was the first to fall, ending across the province on March 1. Two weeks later, capacity limits and mask mandates were discarded as well. Close contacts of positive cases haven’t had to isolate since Feb. 8 and self-isolation in the event of a positive test is only “recommended” instead of required as of March 15. For a party so insistent on getting back to “normal,” Premier Heather Stefanson and her Progressive Conservatives (PCs) seem determined to keep COVID-19 in the province long-term. As a result of their handiwork, more Manitobans are catching COVID than ever, with many observing on social media that positive tests have hit their circles harder than at any previous point during the pandemic. Anecdotal evidence? Maybe, but it’s all we’ve got. The Stefanson government, in its infinite wisdom, stopped providing daily updates on March 25, and even the weekly updates now being released are based on data from one week before. The latest update, from April 7, listed 1,359 confirmed cases and an 18.6 per cent test positivity rate. But the actual number of cases in the province is likely much higher, considering most Manitobans don’t qualify for a PCR test. Even if someone tests positive on a rapid antigen test, they do not qualify for a PCR test unless they work directly with patients or in residential care facilities, are part of or visiting a First Nations community or have been referred by their doctor. There’s no guidance on how to inform the province if you test positive on a rapid test, so anyone who has administered their own COVID test at home isn’t showing up in provincial data at all. In addition, despite continuing outbreaks in multiple personal care homes — including at least one new location this week — the province simply isn’t releasing any information on how many infections are occurring at care homes, even when media outlets repeatedly ask about it. The province also changed its official definition of a COVID-related death on March 15 to require a laboratory-confirmed positive test within 30 days prior to death. So, if someone tested positive for the first time through a lab 31 days before dying, the province does not consider it a COVID death
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Those numbers seem almost unbelievable in today’s context, where the premier seems to be actively trying to infect as many people as possible regardless of cause. Anyone struggling with long-term COVID symptoms or complications won’t be represented correctly in provincial data should those complications prove fatal. A December 2021 review of 81 different medical studies on long COVID found that 30 per cent or more of all confirmed COVID cases, including asymptomatic ones, show some sign of long-term impairment. It’s a shame research like that can only include officially confirmed cases and not ones from self-administered rapid tests. Imagine how much scarier that number would be if it accurately reflected positivity rates. Don’t worry, the PCs saved you from that burden. And just to really rub it in, the province ended its free KN95 mask distribution program at liquor stores, casinos and some MLA offices. If Manitobans want better protection, they have to pay for
it. So, to summarize: Stefanson dropped every restriction aimed at preventing the virus from spreading unchecked, shut down a program that provided one of the most effective masks against the current variants, made it dramatically more difficult to get tested in a way public health organizations can track, moved the goalposts on what deaths can be officially linked to COVID and is now limiting public access to what little flawed and incomplete data the province does have. Call it what you will — institutionalized malice, navel-gazing, a frankly staggering level of sheer incompetence, perhaps all three. The PCs have chosen to prioritize personal greed and petty political grandstanding over the lives of Manitobans. Their legacy in this province will be one of
relentless infrastructural destruction and moral bankruptcy in a situation where their communities desperately needed support. And all the COVID-19 data, released or otherwise, points to a single conclusion: hundreds of Manitobans will die preventable deaths or face life-altering complications from long COVID, and it will be Heather Stefanson’s fault.
graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff words / Sarah Doran / staff
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No Airbnb is better than an unregulated Airbnb Winnipeg considering home-share regulations is a win for locals COMMENT
Lucas Edmond, staff
Due to this concern, Winnipeg’s municipal government is considering regulating its short-term rental market. At the beginning of 2016, Airbnb listed just 478 Winnipeg properties on its platform, but today, the app has 1,104 active rentals in the Winnipeg area. In the eyes of tenants competing with profit-hungry landlords for the most affordable rent, that’s 1,104 properties that could have brought down their rent. If every dollar counts in today’s economy, every property certainly does, too. Although Winnipeg is far from the tourist attraction other Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal are, the city council is taking note of the increasingly worrying problem that short-term rentals pose to metropolitan areas. Airbnb markets itself as a middleman that brings tourists to neighbourhoods that don’t have the hospitality infrastructure to host them. As a result, the app claims it draws billions of dollars to local businesses that regularly wouldn’t get a piece of the tourist industry’s pie. However, this ignores the prices locals are paying to have an array of hosts in their neighbourhood, and it also makes the blanket assumption that all Airbnb hosts are locals renting out their only property. In reality, the corporate world has tapped into the home-sharing profit stream and many of them aren’t locals. This is creating a manic gentrification gold-rush in large Canadian cities. Corporate bodies and landlords are buying up properties for the sole purpose of marketing them on shortterm rental platforms. For example, approximately 600,000 of the 1.1 million Airbnb listings in the U.S. are owned by hosts that have multiple properties advertised on Airbnb. Further, 600,000 listings are advertised for longer than six months each year, indicating that these properties are commercialized. Due to this heavy commercialization, local revenue is being lost, not gained. Critics have called this commercialization process the “Airbnb effect.” The more houses that are pulled from the long-term rental market, the more
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local tenants are paying for rents. This growth continues until locals a gradually priced out of their neighbourhoods.
Finally, since platforms have the data and capacity to regulate the previous suggestions with a simple algorithm, Winnipeg should make them responsible for limiting accounts and listings. Although Airbnb and other
A study from the
graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff
Airbnb is often hailed as one of the first technology platforms to revolutionize the hospitality sector, by giving homeowners the ability to share their property when they are away. For cities, home-sharing platforms like Airbnb, in their ideal form, are a win-win scenario: families that leave their properties in the winter or for vacations are replaced with tourists to support local businesses and maintain regular density levels. But the popular home-sharing app is producing shortages in the housing market and inflating the long-term rental market for locals.
chance for the rich to get richer, which will subsequently make the poor poorer. To ensure Airbnb is managed by locals for the benefit of locals,
Although Airbnb and other home-sharing platforms have the potential to do a lot of good for the city, unchecked and unregulated Airbnbs are a loophole for landlords who don’t want to deal with the long-term rental market’s red tape U.S. showed “a one per cent increase in Airbnb listings is causally associated with a 0.018 per cent increase in rental rates and a 0.026 per cent increase in house prices.” Although these numbers appear small, the study noted that Airbnb’s average yearly growth rate is roughly 44 per cent. Winnipeg must curb corporate incursions into home-sharing platforms before it becomes a victim of commercialization like other major North American cities. Home-sharing is a great idea, but when unregulated it is a
Winnipeg should implement a “one host, one rental” policy. Landlords shouldn’t be able to buy up properties to market them on short-term home-sharing platforms — this does nothing but encourage gentrification. Further, the number of days hosts are permitted to rent their property out should be limited to incentivize locals to rent out their primary residences — this will have the added benefit of discouraging commercialization, considering it places a cap on profit margins that are likely much slimmer than long-term rental markets.
home-sharing platforms have the potential to do a lot of good for the city, unchecked and unregulated Airbnbs are a loophole for landlords who don’t want to deal with the long-term rental market’s red tape, which cities and provinces have established to protect tenants from fundamentally predatory and unproductive landlords. Winnipeg is better off with no Airbnb if the alternative is an unregulated Airbnb. comment@themanitoban.com
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Answering the call with artwork New student art exhibition opens this month ARTS & CULTURE After closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Student Gallery in Taché Hall at the University of Manitoba has recently reopened — a step that has restored a sense of normalcy and excitement to school of art students, who are looking forward to exhibiting their work alongside their peers.
images / SOFASA / provided
Zoë LeBrun, staff
The Student Gallery exclusively exhibits student-led shows, including solo shows, group exhibitions and curated group exhibitions. One of the Student Gallery’s upcoming exhibitions is Persist, Resist, Decolonize, a group show curated by Kitty Kerr, a fourth-year school of art student pursuing a bachelor of fine arts with honours in art history. The show “is a curation of student works” which revolve around the recently revised calls to action by the School of Fine Art Student Association (SOFASA). The works included in this exhibition address themes that relate back to these calls, including but not limited to “decolonization [or] existing in an institute as a marginalized student.” The exhibition itself features eight different artists: Joel Nichols, Timothy Brown, Laura Oghenerabome OosIboje, Shanelle St. Hilaire, Carlos Cruz, Chris Neufeld, Gina Zeiss and Ashton Geerligs. The artwork on display includes sculpture, painting, print and mixed media works. Kerr, who currently holds the role of senator in SOFASA for the 2021-22 academic year, has collaboratively authored the revisions to their calls to action since October 2021.
by calling upon the faculty and administration to acknowledge and address them. “[The calls to action] were originally created in response to repeated instances of racism and discrimination in the classroom not appropriately addressed by the school,” Kerr said. “They aim to create an anti-racist, decolonized school environment, in order to provide greater opportunities for the creative endeavours of all students.” Some of the items included in SOFASA’s calls to action revolve around the reviewing and restruc-
“I hope to provoke further discussions among the student population regarding the calls to action document of this year and what they want to demand from their school in the future” — Kitty Kerr, curator SOFASA’s calls to action are a living document, which respond to systemic issues within the school of art (SOA)
turing of art history and theory curriculums, providing sensitivity
and anti-racist training to administration, staff and faculty members, to include BIPOC guest speakers in artist talks and school of art courses and to encourage reconciliation by investing in an institutional membership with the Indigenous Curatorial Collective. After working on and publishing the revised calls to action, Kerr wanted to go one step further to help them reach the student body. “The process of writing the calls to action revisions in discussion with SOFASA council members and other members of the SOA community was critically challenging,” said Kerr. “I wanted to extend that experience to the student body and curate articulations of these issues through art, which I feel is the most powerful mode to communicate critical ideas and issues.” Persist, Resist, Decolonize is Kerr’s curatorial debut, which they approached with enthusiasm. “[Curating the show] has been both nerve-wracking and exciting,” Kerr said. “I have had lots of support from my friends and council members and I love all of the dialogue I get to have with the artists I am showing […] Each week we approach the opening, things continue to come together and I get less anxious and more excited to share all of their incredible work.”
of the artists’ work involved with the show,” they said. “I am particularly intrigued by MFA student Timothy Brown’s sculptural contribution Tumors, which depicts patriarchy and colonialism as cancerous masses devouring each other.” Ultimately, Kerr hopes the upcoming show will raise awareness of SOFASA’s calls to action and the power that students have to enact change within their faculty. “SOFASA wants to emphasize the calls as a living document, for each subsequent council to make their own and put pressure on the faculty and administration to create an environment that earnestly promotes the success of all students,” said Kerr. “I hope to provoke further discussions among the student population regarding the calls to action document of this year and what they want to demand from their school in the future.” Persist, Resist, Decolonize will be open for viewing from April 20 to 27 in the Student Gallery in Taché Hall. For more information on SOFASA’s calls to action, you can head to SOFASA’s official website to access the entire document.
Kerr also shared their excitement regarding the artworks that will be part of the show. “I am delighted and engaged by all
arts@themanitoban.com
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Runnin’ down her dream ARTS & CULTURE Grace Paizen, staff
The relationship between music and poetry spans centuries. Posing a “chicken or the egg”-like dilemma for the world of the arts, it is nearly impossible to imagine one without the other, particularly considering how the two forms influence and imitate each other. In her debut collection of poetry, Indigenous-American author and former University of Manitoba student Michelle Lietz creatively intertwines these two artistic worlds. Occasionally Petty — debuting April 21 and published by the independent, Winnipeg-based At Bay Press — is a selection of poems set to the songs of late singer-songwriter Tom Petty. Lietz described the collection as “memory-based storytelling” with poems “inspired by the music of Tom Petty in some way, some manner.” In fact, “every poem starts with a Tom Petty song,” Lietz said. Lietz described the inspiration as coming from having “vibed with Tom and his music since pretty much the day [she] was born,” stating that “it was always there, it was just always there.” “I was 10 years old going into the music store being all like, ‘Hey, can I get the new Tom Petty album?’ and there’s some 20-year-old who’s like, ‘How old are you? How do you know who this person is?’” she said.
Petty’s music “was constant,” she continued. “Even from when I was a kid, he had a solid discography that I was already, early, introduced to that I had to work with, but he kept putting music out as I was growing up and I kept listening to it.” Though it may sound like a potentially upbeat musical romp through Petty’s songs, the themes of the collection revolve around grief and relationships. “It’s a little hard to tell people that my inspiration was grief,” Lietz said. “I was in mourning and the only way that I felt like I could express the depth of that grief was through poetry.” And with Petty’s soundtrack as a companion, his music “became more relevant to me as I grew older, and I heard the same songs in different ways as the years went on.” Since Petty’s songs are often a type of narrative storytelling, Lietz believed that was why her poetry and his songs paired so well together. “With this kind of project, my poetry and Petty’s songs just clicked together because I was able to tell my own story in a way that I know was at least partially encouraged by the kinds of ways that he would tell stories in music,” Lietz said.
This synthesis of storytelling between Lietz and Petty creates “a lot of subtext” and “a lot of intentional building that most people might not see immediately.” In fact, Lietz knows “it would be a very rare person who truly understood all of the book, because there are parts that are just for certain kinds of ears [...] people that know how to hear it.”
photo / At Bay Press / provided
Michelle Lietz talks debut poetry collection
“I flat out say that multiple times in my book in different ways, but you know, it’s poetry, people don’t always think that you mean what you’re saying,” Lietz said. Beneath this subtext lies Lietz’s “emphasis on gratitude, but in the way that finding gratitude can be a journey.” Though the journey of finding gratitude through processing grief and mourning is a heavy theme, there are moments of levity in the collection as well, as there can be moments of humour and laughter in the process of grief. “There’s a lot of nerdy jokes that people might not get, I’m okay with it,” Lietz said. “Some of them are Star Trek jokes and others are William Carlos Williams jokes.” By the end of Lietz’s collection, the poet hopes “that it helps in some way for someone,” particularly those going through mourning.
world,” Lietz said. In our modern world, where so much grief is constant and many of us are in some process of mourning — whether it be the loss of the pre-pandemic world, or the atrocities committed both here in Canada and around the world — Occasionally Petty has the potential to be a therapeutic soundtrack of poetry. Michelle Leitz’s debut poetry collection Occasionally Petty will be available at major retailers on April 21.
arts@themanitoban.com
“I would like it to be helpful in the
’Toban turntable ARTS & CULTURE Alex Braun, staff
4/5 stars Pierre Kwenders, born José Louis Modabi, has spent nearly all of the past decade breaking down borders in music. The result is a heady mix of genres and languages, incorporating rumba, electronic, hip hop and R&B. Born in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kwenders founded the Montreal Afrofuturist artistic collective Moonshine in 2014, promoting “lunar-based events” and releasing a series of mixtapes that brought the sounds of Africa’s booming electronic scene to Canadian clubs. Kwenders’s new project, José Louis and the Paradox of Love, is similarly ambitious and wide-ranging. Recorded with a worldwide array of
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collaborators over the course of four years, the album is dizzyingly eclectic but grounded in very personal issues of love and connection. The album’s title references Kwenders’s birth name, establishing a direct connection to the stories told in these songs. As someone who speaks only one of the five languages sung on the record, these themes are a bit beyond me. Language, though, is no barrier to the music here. The epic opener “L.E.S (Liberté Égalité Sagacité)” is a hardpounding slab of techno-fied rumba. Beginning with an acidic bassline filled out by some hypnotizing hand drums, the track slowly builds into a rousing toast from Kwenders, expounding the titular values — an Africanized take on the French revolutionary motto which replaces “fraternité” with “sagacité,” a term coined by Ivorian singer Douk Saga
— before giving way to a more chilledout back half, which features Arcade Fire singer Win Butler crooning the mantra “this brotherhood is no good,” once again discrediting the revolutionary value of fraternity. Chiming highlife guitars join the party but they’re oddly off-key, adding to the dark vibe of the track. Lead single “Papa Wemba” is a smooth but overwhelming track with layers of horns, synths, guitars and strings swirling around the pounding beat and Kwenders’s low, seductive half-spoken vocal. It’s a sound both romantically sweeping and strangely aggressive, showing that even on one of the album’s most immediately catchy tracks, Kwenders is still interested in packing as much as he can into his music. José Louis and the Paradox of Love is difficult to summarize. With its 13 tracks, it covers a lot of musical ground drawn from various genres
image / Killbeat Music / provided
Pierre Kwenders, ‘José Louis and the Paradox of Love’ — 4/5 stars
and cultures, yet Kwenders delivers a deeply ambitious, inclusive, exciting and dense project worthy of time and attention. Pierre Kwenders’s new album José Louis and the Paradox of Love will be available April 29.
arts@themanitoban.com
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April 13, 2022
’Toban tracks ARTS & CULTURE Alex Braun, staff
This is the last issue of the Manitoban in the 2021-22 school year, which means winter term at the University of Manitoba is mercifully coming to a close. Of course, thanks to the strike delays we still have a few weeks until exams are over, but still, the end is near — the weather is warming, clubs are open, parties are legal again and summer is on the horizon. All signs point to partying, so here are some Canadian bangers to get you in the mood. We took a deep dive into Toronto and Montreal’s hip hop and club scenes for a number of the songs here — like the opening shocker “Woah” from the Montreal-based collective Moonshine, Nate Husser’s smooth
Furtado’s classic “Promiscuous” and Drake’s “Headlines,” and a few indie cuts like Arcade Fire’s anthem of spiritual freedom “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),” Alvvays’s bouncy “Adult Diversion” and the New Pornographers’ tightly wound “The Electric Version.” A sweet spot is the intersection between the indie and pop or electronic worlds, represented here by the iconic Caribou track “Odessa,” Grimes’s “Realiti” and CFCF’s ode to French house “Self Service 1999” off his excellent record from last year, memoryland. The one true pop song here is Carly Rae Jepsen’s transcendent belter “Cut
All signs point to partying, so here are some Canadian bangers to get you in the mood
Mick Jenkins collab “Teriyaki” and DijahSB’s collab with producer Nill on “Control.”
Beyond that, there are a couple of choice throwbacks, like Nelly
to the Feeling,” which channels some “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”-style desperation to make its chorus impossible not to scream along with.
graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff
Round out the term’s end with these high-energy Canadian tracks
Anyway, there’s a little something for everybody. Check it all out and follow your favourites down some Spotify rabbit holes to find more. And party hard this summer — we all deserve it after a frankly brutal school year, so enjoy your time off and bask in the glory of killing another academic year. Woah — Moonshine, Ahadadream, SMS for Location, Vol. 4 Control — Nill, DijahSB, Blu Self Service 1999 — CFCF, memoryland Odessa — Caribou, Swim Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) — Arcade Fire, The Suburbs The Electric Version — The New Pornographers, Electric Version
What Did You Do — Amos the Kid, Mountain View Promiscuous — Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, Loose Ofele — Pierre Kwenders, Uproot Andy, Baluka De los Límites — Mariel Mariel, Lido Pimienta Cut to the Feeling — Carly Rae Jepsen Realiti — Grimes, Art Angels Teriyaki — Nate Husser, Mick Jenkins, Adult Supervision Headlines — Drake Avocado — Haviah Mighty, Stock Exchange Lick in Heaven — Jessy Lanza, All the Time Take It Off — Keys N Krates, Bibi Bourelly, Original Classic Party Again — TOPS Savage Night at the Opera — Destroyer, Kaputt
Adult Diversion — Alvvays, Alvvays
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Bisons basketball signs Simon Hildebrandt SPORTS
Isaiah Wagner, staff The University of Manitoba Bisons suffered an early playoff exit in the 2021-22 season. After the early end to their season, the coaching staff quickly made adjustments for next year. The Bisons announced it has signed Simon Hildebrandt for the 2022-23 season. Hildebrandt is a six-foot-nine forward who was born in Winnipeg. He has decided to bring his talents to the U of M and play in front of friends and family. Hildebrandt is very excited to join the Bisons and said he was impressed by the team’s facilities and their performance last season. “The Bisons were extremely impressive to me,” he said. “I made my visit to the team and was immediately impressed. The facilities are great and the team is in a good
place to win. I’m very excited to join the team.” The Bisons are a team that work hard and never give up when it counts. The team finished the 2021-22 season with an 8-9 record, playing in a lot of tight games. Hildebrandt believes his competitive drive can push the herd over the hump. “I think the biggest thing that [Bison] fans should know about me is that I am an extremely hard worker,” Hildebrandt said. “I will never quit on a play and will do whatever it takes to help my team win the game. I am a true competitor.” Hildebrandt said he intends to make full use of his large physique in his play.
well for a big man. I am quick up and down the court and put pressure on the opposition offensively and defensively.” A forward of his size could be a deadly combination for the squad for years to come. The team had an impressive season but did not fully realize its potential. A championship is always the top priority and Hildebrandt aims to achieve that with the herd. “I am extremely excited to help the Bisons take the next step next year,” Hildebrandt said. “The team did well this year and I am sure that I can use my talents and dedication to help them even more. Even if I don’t play much the first year, my presence in the locker room as a leader can help them out.”
“I think the biggest [part] of my game is my size,” Hildebrandt said.
By doing this, Hildebrandt can hope to bring a championship to the team and Bison fans.
“I am very tall and can shoot the ball
“I have many goals when it comes to
photo / Simon Hilderbrandt / provided
Winnipegger looks to bring home championship
my university career,” Hildebrandt said. “With that being said, I want to help bring a championship to Manitoba. Whether it be one, two or even more. I want to win a championship with my team.”
sports@themanitoban.com
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Memorable moments in Bison Sports A look back at key events from this past year SPORTS
Matthew Merkel, staff After the COVID-19 pandemic spelled the postponement of sports at the University of Manitoba, Bison Sports came back better than ever in 2021. Many notable storylines made for a truly memorable year for the brown and gold. Return to sport On May 5, 2021, Canada West announced conference competition would make a return in the fall. The Bisons women’s soccer was the first team scheduled to play on campus in more than a year. Making the most of its return, the women’s soccer team put on an electrifying performance in front of 230 fans in the home opener. Playing against the University of Regina Cougars, the herd’s offence was on full display in its 3-1 victory. First-year Bison Bianca Cavalcanti scored two goals in her debut, setting her up for a marvellous rookie season in which she finished with nine goals, good for third overall in the conference. At the end of the season, Cavalcanti was named a second team all-star and appointed to the Canada West all-rookie team. In November, she garnered national praise, being named to the U Sports women’s soccer all-rookie team. Hardy Cup playoff run The Bisons football team had a storied 2021 season. While dealing with the devastating loss of assistant coach Scott Naujoks, the brown and gold fought its way to a 4-2 record, securing a seventh overall national ranking. Sitting at second place in Canada West, the Bisons had homefield advantage for the first time in eight years for its playoff matchup against the University of Alberta Golden Bears. On game day, kickoff was delayed for nearly an hour due to blizzard conditions. Under snowfall, the herd put up 43 points to defeat the Golden Bears and move on to the Hardy Cup final. Unfortunately, the Bisons fell short, losing to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 45-17. An unlikely individual performance On Feb. 11, the Bisons men’s hockey team faced off against the Mike Babcock-led University of Saskatchewan Huskies. A perennial powerhouse, the U of S had the Bisons’ number all year, winning the previous three matchups. With the herd officially out of the playoff race, Bison coach Mike Sirant elected to start rookie Brett Murphy in net. Beginning the season as the thirdstring goaltender on the Bisons’ depth chart, Murphy slid into the secondstring role after the departure of Liam Hughes to the ECHL. Although Murphy had not had any game action since late 2020 when he played for the
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Dryden GM Ice Dogs in the Superior International Junior Hockey League, he put on an impressive performance in net, making 27 saves for the 3-2 win. Looking back at his Bison debut, Murphy was ecstatic to get his first win. He reflected on the nerves he experienced prior to facing off against one of the greatest c o a c h e s in hockey history and the calm he felt after making his first couple saves.
mistake, winning in three straight sets to clinch the Bisons’ first Duckworth Challenge title since 2017. Wog’s final year In her final season as a Bison, Kelsey Wog put a bow on her storied U Sports career. At the the Canada West swimming championship,
championship and the women put on a bevy of excellent performances. The herd continued its success at the U Sports national championship in Saint John, N.B., winning seven medals overall. Anna McConnell won the lone gold for the herd in shot put while Max Speiser won silver in the heptathlon. Canada West rookie of the year Daxx Turner continued his excellent season, winning two bronze medals at the event. After two years of uncertainty, McConnell is taken aback by all that she has a c c o m -
“It is a great feeling to walk away with a win against one of the top teams and coaches in the league,” said Murphy. “[I] could feel some nerves walking out the gate, but after a couple saves [I] just got a feeling for the puck and had some fun. Our whole team came at them really hard all game and did not give them much room to answer our quick 3-0 lead, which made my job even easier throughout.” After a breakout performance, Murphy said he is only getting started. He looks forward to returning to the team and helping the Bisons compete next season. “My plan moving forward is just to keep working on my game all off season and come into next year hot and ready to compete,” said Murphy. “We have a great team and I think we can find success if we stick to our game. This summer can’t go by fast enough.” Duckworth Challenge victory The Duckworth Challenge, the fiveevent in-season competition between the U of M and the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, is always a backand-forth affair. This year’s edition was no different. After the women’s soccer team secured a win against the Wesmen in the fall, the U of W women’s basketball team won its game to tie the series. A late run in the fourth quarter allowed the U of M men’s basketball team to win its game, giving the Bisons the chance to win the Duckworth Challenge trophy in men’s volleyball. The herd made no
plished this season. Even after putting in so much time and effort to reach the top of U Sports, she is still trying to process her journey. Wog won four gold and three bronze medals. At the U Sports championship, Wog won four gold medals and broke the record in the 50 and 100-metre in her final event as a Bison. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian will go down as the most decorated swimmer in program history. Championship season In late March, the U of M played host to a couple major events. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 U-Sports men’s volleyball championships hosted by the U of M, the Bisons hosted the tournament earlier this year. Although the herd’s national title hopes were dashed in the quarterfinals, the team performed well in consolation games against some of the top teams in the country. The Bisons track and field team had much more success when it played host. The men won the Canada West
“I honestly can’t really describe it other than how it felt to realize that everything I had done this last year, even two years, paid off and that all the ups and downs were worth it.” “It really just feels amazing and I’m so proud of myself.” For McConnell, the growth she has experienced over the last few years has been indescribable. She credits her coach Mingpu Wu and her tireless consistency in helping her win gold. “As an athlete, I have grown more this last year than I imagined I would in my entire [five] years of eligibility.”
graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff sports@themanitoban.com
