OLYMPIC ACTIVISTS AND INTELLIGENCE Probing the protest

Three luxurious-looking, brightly lit cruise ships in the Vancouver harbour serve as a visual reminder of the 900 million dollar Olympic security budget. Instead of the typical uses for honeymoons and Alaskan getaways, these ships will house police and military personnel involved in securing the 2010 Winter Games. For some Olympic protesters, this security enforcement has gotten very personal.

Part of that budget has gone towards organizing “intelligence probes,” conducted primarily by the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU) which, according to Native activist and Editor of No2010.com Gord Hill, have been efforts “to intimidate and create a climate of fear and paranoia, to scare away less-committed people and isolate those who continue to organize.” Hill has been an outspoken critic of the Olympics, and has also publicly endorsed and participated in militant protest tactics.

To Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, organizing member of the Olympic Resistance Network (ORN), it seems like “anytime they know who you’re dating, and where that person works, that’s fairly disturbing.”

In documents obtained by the Vancouver Sun in October of 2008, outlining the major “threat assessment” of the Games, anti-globalization, anti-corporate and first nations activists were all named as threats, alongside international extremist groups like al Qaida. The document also mentions that “intelligence probes,” will target such groups. Though an extremist organization did violently attack the Olympic games in the 1972 “Munich Massacre,” local protest groups are concerned with simply marching down the street to protest – an entirely legal endeavor, according to our Charter Rights to protest, free assembly and free speech.

Somewhere along the long Olympic road, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has become “[used by] the governments of the day ... as a piece of toilet paper,” according to activist and UBC researcher Chris Shaw. Activists are now left gathering the mangled scraps of their civil liberties along the fringes of that Olympic road, as they watch friends, family members and neighbors all endure police interrogation because of their association.

According to Shaw, the surveillance of activists has occurred in no uncertain terms for about a year, though “probably a little less obviously before that.”

The policing of the Games has fallen on the shoulders of VISU, which is spearheaded by the RCMP, and also comprised of the VPD, Canadian military, and other agencies. The tactics of their so-called “intelligence probes” have not been widely broadcasted by the organization, but it has been reported that they have left little territory uncovered.

A statement released in October of 2009 by Gord Hill says that VISU officials knocked on the door of his residence a number of times, once leaving “unrequested junk mail (their business cards)” and that the next time he declined to answer, they remained “sitting in a gold-coloured SUV across the street.” He adds that during a separate incident, when RCMP officers followed him around his neighborhood, one warned him that, “from this day until the Olympics, every time I looked over my right shoulder he would be there.”

Hill also stated in email correspondence that VISU RCMP officer Jim Stolarchuk followed him to his residence, while “maintaining a rambling diatribe about my anti-Olympic activities.” These actions have involved speaking, writing and protesting about “colonization of Indigenous land and peoples,” as well as militarism, corporate power, and environmental destruction, among other causes, “by any means necessary,” as he told the CBC. He adds that the officer threatened him with ‘extraordinary rendition’ if he ever attempts to enter the United States.

Westergard-Thorpe, whose major issues with the Olympics include the environment, poverty, and housing issues, reports that other tactics have included approaching people at their jobs, staking out coffee shops that people are known to frequent, and questioning people in parking lots. She finds the idea of waiting for someone at work and threatening to talk to their bosses if they refuse to speak particularly distressing, adding, “a sure way to intimidate someone is [threatening their] livelihood.”

Police have also been watching organizations, such as the non-profit, collectively run activist bookstore Spartacus Books. Matty Harris, who works with the collective, says that security officers have been “com[ing] in and taking free anti-Olympic material and asking [questions].” He is disdainful of the “spook tactics [police are using] against grassroots organizations,” and has trained with PIVOT Legal Society as a legal observer for the duration of the games. This position will, as PIVOT describes it, allow him to “act as the eyes and ears on the streets during the Games, monitoring police conduct and ensuring that people’s rights are respected.”

Harris also tells me that most of the activists he knows are “lying low” right now, because “they don’t want to get arrested.”

“If you say too much,” he adds, “they might come knocking on your door, Natalie.”

Chris Shaw has also been a major target for both media and authorities over the past year. Just this past week, officers in a black SUV approached him in his parking garage, “want[ing] to chat about stuff ... so the message is, they’re watching you all the time.”

It’s not just activists that are being watched, either. Shaw mentions that “they’ve been talking to friends in my neighborhood, talking to my neighbors … and I don’t talk politics with my neighbors.”

In a well-publicized incident on September 30 of 2009, intelligence officers also followed a friend of Shaw’s, Langara student Danika Surm, to her classes at school, and questioned her about Shaw’s activities. Surm told the Tyee that she does not belong to any protest groups, and does not even know very much about the Games.

Shaw says wryly, “she just had the misfortune to know me, and I guess the police thought that was enough reason to go talk to her.” During the same week, Shaw adds that his ex-wife was visited as well.

There has also been a mounting concern of surveillance among the group members of the “2010 Zombie Walk” event on Facebook. Organizer Nelson Mercer sent a message to all group members on January 30 stating “apparently ... we are being watched like mice by hawks.” The 2010 Zombie Walk, which is not tied to any specific political agenda, is intended only to “[give] the world a good old-fashioned zombie-welcoming.” In his message to members, Mercer advised all participants against any violent or aggressive actions, noting, “the aforementioned acts would be grossly out of character [for this event] anyway.”

According to David Eby, Executive Director of BC Civil Liberties Association, “the net effect of these visits is to give the public the impression that people who are opposing the Olympic Games are doing something wrong, and also to discourage people who are in precarious employment or housing situations from participating ... for fear that family, friends, employers, landlords will find out that the RCMP are asking questions about them ... it has a chilling effect on free speech.”

The message that you are constantly being watched is incredibly frightening, and the security forces for the Olympics seem determined to drill it into every citizen's head. Since January 18, 900 closed-circuit RCMP surveillance cameras have been installed around downtown Vancouver, and a recent CBC article noted that there is a possibility that the cameras will remain once the Games finish. This only adds to our culture of paranoia, and enforces the idea that we are all potentially “bad people.” This issue is so prominent that there is a class at Capilano devoted to studying “Surveillance society,” which will use the 2010 Games as a case study.

The tone is clear – nothing goes unnoticed. “Just going to a meeting, or buying an anti-Olympic t-shirt, or going to an educational event seems to draw the attention of the police,” says Westergard-Thorpe.

Westergard-Thorpe says that VISU has also been targeting individuals even after the ORN presented a lawyer’s letter in a press conference stating that VISU should not contact them as individuals. The desire for such a letter was ignited after a three day “blitz” over which time there were 15 “visits” to individual organizers.

“One of the interesting things about these visitations,” says Westerdard-Thorpe, “is that they claim they want to talk to the group. But we’re a public group with public meetings that anyone can walk into. We have a public website and a public email address ... that’s why it’s particularly disturbing that they contact individuals ... they never come to a [meeting] ... they never send an email to our [ORN] email address.”

While VISU seems interested in talking to anyone with even a hint of connection, their true intentions are fairly murky. Any description of the general line of questioning used by police is vague – Shaw says that, in general, they wanted to know what is going to happen during the protests. However, as ORN member Harsha Walia notes, information regarding ORN activity is blatantly public. Westergard-Thorpe claims that they are willing to talk to activists about absolutely anything “even the weather – and that’s a quote.”

Shaw adds that “I don’t think they know what they’re looking for, they’re just looking.”

According to the VISU informational website, the organization is not concerned with peaceful protests, but only with those that are violent or unlawful. Westergard-Thorpe notes that there’s “never been any violent acts or violent plans ... [so] when we’re asked about violence, nobody has anything to tell them.”

The VISU site also states that “police have the right to ask questions and gather information ... reaching out not only to protest groups but to any individual who may have information which would impact the safety and security of the Winter Games.” When contacted directly, RCMP Cpl. Joe Taplin stated that he was unable to discuss any tactics used in the organizations “intelligence probes,” saying that it would “jeopardize” any investigations, and that “information is confidential.”

Eby notes that “it would be naïve to say that there’s no security threats around the Olympics, but to think that the major security threat to the Games comes from the people holding open meetings on Commercial Drive, the people who are speaking out in the media – historically that’s not been a threat to the Olympic Games. The real threat has been people who have not been holding open meetings, who have been … building pipe bombs.”

He expresses concern that “the RCMP spends trailing around people that everybody knows about that present a very minimal threat instead of looking into the more serious threats.”

The effect that these visits are having on activists is in some ways the opposite of the “submission-by-way-of-fear” that must be intended. While Westergard-Thorpe frequently referred to VISU’s actions as “disturbing” or “chilling,” she and Walia both insist that if anything, it has made their desire to organize and protest against the Games even stronger. Walia mentions that there has been a lot of support for people who have felt harassed by police, adding, “the biggest weapon we have is solidarity.”

This solidarity is apparent both within activist groups, and between them, as ORN issued an endorsement of their anti-2010 campaign, with support from at least 30 other movements and organizations including the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, the Work Less Party, and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. The groups will come together in Convergence between the 10-15 of February, an action that the Tyee has called “the Olympics wild card.”

Despite the overwhelming feeling that their civil liberties are being stripped from them, Vancouver’s citizens have seen a few of those rights return, after Shaw and Westergard-Thorpe threatened the City of Vancouver with a lawsuit. Notably, one bylaw, which Shaw referred to as “an offensive piece of work,” would have banned protests or anti-Olympic signage within a 40 blocks area of downtown Vancouver. The bylaw, along with several others, has been rescinded.

While Shaw has expressed contentment towards, as he told Kelowna.com, a “good tactical victory,” he remains skeptical, saying that “civil liberties ... are hard to get and easy to lose.”

These activists also agree that although VISU claims to respect the right to protest peacefully, they really don’t want any protests to occur at all. Walia notes, “the IOC charter requires host cities to do their best to ensure that there is no protesting of any kind surrounding the Olympics.” Westergard-Thorpe touches on this as well, bemoaning the fact that VANOC is harshly opposed to any “competing imagery.” The host city contract, in section 47, states definitively, “no propaganda or advertising [which conflicts with any IOC contract or agreement] is placed within the Olympic venues or outside the Olympic venues in such a manner to as to be within the view of television cameras ... or spectators.”

The message that activists are getting from all this is that, as Chris Shaw puts it, “We are not quite as free as we thought we were.”

// Natalie Corbo,

news editor

FROM THE EDITOR: PIPE-BOMBS, PROFITS, POLICE, OH MY

Welcome to the Cap Courier’s 2010 Olympics edition. There is much to be learned in these hallowed pages, even if you have become tired of the talk and believe we are making tankers out of toy boats.

Over the past few weeks, the coverage has reached a keening pitch. Every level of society has rallied around the prevailing issues, screaming about the environment, the homeless, and the corporation... pipe-bombs, profits, police, oh my! Many of us have become numb to these messages, and the last few conversations I have had about it were tainted with tattoos of resignation. “It’s happening, might as well enjoy it.” People are tired of the debate, overwhelmed with the issues.

These issues, however, are of paramount importance for our society, nay, our species, and we must pay attention to the them, for they are deeply symbolic, representing a microcosm of our global conundrum. By ignoring the naysayers, we fail to acknowledge their concerns, thereby ignoring our own formative destinies.

The First Nations opposition is erupting from the still-fresh scars of colonization, and the fact that BC has few treaties in place. In fact, Vancouver is still officially Coast Salish territory, and the underlying message is that our modern brand of corporatist democracy is not the only way.

The problems in the Downtown Eastside are also brought to bear. Around half the population of Canada’s poorest postal code are immigrants from Asia or Latin America, a fact that shines irony on our cultural mosaic. Once more, laws are in place that could relocate these unfortunate individuals in the style of Atlanta or Beijing.

The promised social housing in the Olympic Village has been reduced to 20% from 1/3 of the original allocation, while Security expenditures are approaching $1 billion dollars -- not to mention the $177 million dollar speed-skating rink in Richmond (a pretty dear danish for a snowless city in a rainforest, if you ask me). If these few figures alone don’t show where our cultural priorities lie, take a breath, and think again.

Then there’s the environment. The Suzuki foundation estimates that 328,000 tonnes of carbon are the cost of the carnival, equivalent to about 66,000 exhaust pipes. These figures are sitting especially well with the colossal failure of the recent Copenhagen summit, which Harper reluctantly attended, avoiding his advocacy for a binding climate change strategy.

Finally, there are the Charter right compromises. Free speech zones, 900 security cameras, and activist interrogations that attack Section 7 of the Charter, which guarantees speech, privacy and the “psychological integrity” of citizens. It must be mentioned that these voices are primarily trying to help and protect, however misguided their agendas may be.

On the other hand, there is the legacy of excellence in sports that must be mentioned. It would be foolish and irresponsible to disregard the hopes and dreams of athletes and the spirit of conscious evolution they embody. Even the timeline, stretching 2768 years, shows us a perfect reason to celebrate this phenomenal human race.

We cannot simply look back on the games with perfect pride, however, as their history casts a long, black shadow.

The Olympics began in 776 BCE and were centered around one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Zeus. The formation myth, as recorded on the statues of the eastern end of the complex, points to a much darker legacy than we normally imagine.

Pelops, a prince, sought the hand of Hippodamia, a princess. Her father challenged her suitors to compete for her hand in a chariot race. The loser would be beheaded, and so Pelops secretly replaced his competitors chariot linchpins with wax. Victory was ensured. The Olympics became a celebratory ritual for the marriage.

This history―victory at any cost―resonates with current times. One may recall the 1968 games and the expulsion of the two black runners for their solidarity salute on the winner's podium. The offical party line is that the Olympics are apolitical, but this idea does not hold up in history. Nazi salutes were common in the 1936 games, and in 2008, the following lines were placed on the IOC website: "Over and above winning medals, the black American athletes made names for themselves by an act of racial protest." This appalling statement attempts to legitimize the expulsion, but fails to segregate politics from the podium.

The fact is that the Olympics would like us to believe they are apolitical; they are not. They simply conform to the questionable status quo of the times. The protest, however, attempts to draw our attention to the seedy underbelly of the whole affair, in an attempt to eclipse this culture of excellence by competition with one that resembles excellence by cooperation.

Ergo, your job is to pay attention. Never has there been a greater opportunity to learn and understand the underpinnings of our fair city. Take advantage of it, and if you find yourself overloaded, just take a breath, and open your mind and peer through the Olympic illusions.

Enjoy the games, enjoy the shows, but watch the security, be careful of your community, and consider the environmental impact and the fact that the most obvious beneficiary of the massive economic boom will be Coke and McDonald's. Like Dorothy, we are leaving our home in Vancouver for the emerald city, but it would be best to avoid the advice of the wizard... please do pay attention to the man behind the green curtain.

Kevin Murray

BA-D TO THE BONE? Cap proposes to offer its first general Bachelors degree

The proposal for a Bachelor of Arts Degree program has been under review by the school’s Senate and Board of Governors, and is expected to be completed in time for the September 2011 semester.

The Senate has approved the principle of the Arts and Sciences Bachelor of Arts in General Studies degree, though that is just one step of the ladder to authorization. Once the Senate and Board of Governors (representing the internal panel) approve the full program proposal, the details must be approved externally as well, by other Universities in the Lower Mainland, through an online posting of the proposal that gives other schools the opportunity to comment on its quality.

The proposal then goes to an official degree quality assessment board, and finally to the Minister of Education.

Dr. Robert Campbell, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Capilano University, states “I can’t imagine why our proposal, if it gets through the process, which I have every confidence it will, why it wouldn’t be approved.”

In regards to transferability to other Universities with different accreditation bodies, Dr. Campbell affirms, “I think it will be perceived like other General Studies degrees ... we’ve been sending out our Approval in Principle [the document outlining the terms and contents of a proposed program] to other institutions that have General Studies degrees just for the feedback. I’ve heard back from SFU, and they gave us a fairly, quite positive response. So I think this degree will be well received by other institutions and by the broader community.”

The implementation of the BA program has been a topic of conversation since the school first became a university. The main question is why the administration did not work on developing the program before the change from college to university was complete, so that the degree program would be well under way by now. 

Dr. Campbell answers, “we couldn’t. When we were a college, we were under a different act, we were under the college and institutes act. We could grant four-year degrees, but they had to be applied degrees.”

Applied degrees are typically designed to train students for employment, such as Capilano’s Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)-Autism degree, which was started under the old college legislation, whereas full degrees are not based on one specific discipline, but a broader spectrum of skills, allowing personal flexibility to the student for future employment opportunities.

Elana Zimmerman, student of the Arts & Entertainment Management Diploma program, believes this will be a positive upgrade: “If Capilano is a university, why not go the full nine yards and offer a Bachelor of Arts Degree? All of the other universities have it,” though she speculates the possible negative effects: “Are the professors as well qualified to teach if the capacity of the student body increases? Capilano is known for small class sizes and more in-depth learning, but would a Bachelor of Arts degree change that?”

Dr. Campbell expects the new program to have many positive impacts on the school, such as more options for already-enrolled and future students alike.

“It’s going to provide a high quality opportunity to students that allows them to complete four years of education here…a lot of our students don’t want to leave Cap. They love it here.”

// Meagan Bibby,

writer

MASCOTS RAISE, LIKE, HELL A Courier exclusive

Being a mascot has, over time, come to be viewed as a “lax” or “fun” job. However, the 2010 Olympic mascots are offended at the notion that they have “lesser” or “easier” jobs than any of the athletes or workers at the Winter Games. They recently consented to an exclusive interview to discuss some of the challenges that these mascots face on a day to day basis.

Quatchi is a shy Sasquatch, from the deep mystical forests of British Columbia. He loves hockey and photography.

 

Cap Courier: Quatchi, in native legends from the Pacific Northwest, sasquatch are mysterious and ever elusive; even you describe yourself as shy. How do you plan to deal with the pressure, and international publicity of being an olympic mascot?

Quatchi: (blushes a bit) I am very lucky be surrounded by such great teammates. Miga and Sumi are great; they bring a lot of energy every night. I think they will be getting most of the attention, taking a lot of pressure off of me. I am just excited to have this opportunity on the world stage. I plan to give it 110% and really just put the team first.

CC: You have taken a lot of flack from sasquatch traditionalists, for your use of boots. Can you comment?

Q: The boots just give me the edge my game needs. I know sasquatch have traditionally gone without footwear, but this is just an advancement in equipment. They underestimate the difficulty of navigating the city in bare feet – this sure ain’t the Shire.

Miga is a sea-bear! That is half Orca, half Kermode bear. She lives in the ocean, and loves to snowboard, on underwater mountains.

 

CC: Miga, your role as an Olympic mascot is a large one; with it comes the opportunity to positively influence many of the world’s children. How do you plan to do this?

Miga: Well, like, um, I plan to let children know about, like, world peace. Peace is, like, so vital to life. If everyone were, like, murdering someone, and like, that other person was murdering them back, no one would, like, be alive. That is why the Olympics are so, like, important, because sports, like, promote peace.

CC: Miga, I know that you crave attention. Merchandise featuring Quatchi is greatly outselling yours. How do you feel about that?

M: Um, it’s really, like, ridiculous. I think people should have, like, better taste. Look at him. He is, like, a big clumsy oaf. And look at me, I’m, like, beautiful. Like, wake up people.

Sumi is a wise guardian spirit, with transformative powers. His favourite colour is fern green (if you are are having a tough time picturing that exact shade of green, think Yoda).

 

CC: Sumi, you are a guardian spirit with transformative powers. This idea of transformation is quite a common theme in West Coast Native culture; I believe it is also an inspiring message about the Paralympics. Can you comment?

Sumi: Hrrrmmm, talk about that, surely I can. About strength from within, the paralympics are. Overcoming obstacles in their lives, being empowered, and being transformed through competition on the world stage athletes are.

CC: You have been criticized because the general public cannot relate well to you, because your identity is very vague. How does this affect your interaction with fans?

S: It doesn't. Simply Sumi, I am. If I myself be, relate to me people will, no matter the composition of my identity. Yesssssss... Hmmm.

// Colin May,

writer

$350,000? THAT’S NOTHING IN MONOPOLY! …too bad this is real life

Further developments in the student society world have again raised questions about accountability of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).

Recently, documents from 2003 were leaked on the Internet. The memorandums from Judy Guthrie, the former University of Victoria’s (UVic) Student Society (UVSS) divisional manager, read “Last year the CFS was good enough to support the UVSS with a $350,000 loan during a particularly difficult cashflow period.”

This $350,000 loan is something the UVSS’ Board was unaware of.

However, the documents alone are not enough to support this allegation. Kelsey Hannan, a Director-at-Large for the UVSS, said, “we are still looking into it.”

Marne Jensen, the General Manager for the UVSS, said the $350,000 figure quoted in the memo was from not paying the CFS fees in combination with not paying the premiums.

She also said it “was really unfortunate” of the memo to use that language, referring to the use of the word ‘loan’.

“We were managing a very tight cash flow situation,” she said, “and it looked like we were going to run out of cash.”

The “tight cash flow situation” was caused by a previous business manager stealing from the UVSS and committing fraud. The incident left the UVSS with losses totaling over $600,000, in two years.

The UVSS has a health and dental plan offered by the CFS-Services through Greenshield, a non-profit provider. In order to remedy the cash flow situation, Jensen stopped paying the health and dental premiums, which totaled “a very significant amount of money”. The UVSS was negotiating a loan with the UVic at the time, in order to regain financial stability.

Soon after the UVSS stopped paying the premiums, Jensen received a phone call from Philip Link, the CFS-Services Executive Director, about the issue.

“I had a conversation where I assured the CFS that we would be in a position to pay our Greenshield bills in a reasonable timeline,” said Jensen.

“As far as I have been able to find out,” said Dylan Hardie, another Director-at-Large for the UVSS, “there were no repercussions [of not paying the premiums]. The assumption [is] that [Link] talked to them and bargained or something and they agreed to accept the late payment.”

Hardie suggested that one reason there were no repercussions from the health insurance company was because they did a lot of business with the CFS.

“Is that a healthy relationship to have with a health company?” Hannan asked, suggesting the UVSS take a more “arms’ length approach” with them.

There is still debate over whether or not this transaction can be defined as a loan between the CFS and the UVSS. The CFS has not yet responded to the allegations, said Hannan.

The CFS was unavailable for comment before press time.

“Theoretically, it’s possible that the CFS paid an installment, or paid the interest, it’s possible that they paid the installment and then [Greenshield] reimbursed them. This is all possible, but from our records, it doesn’t show any of that,” said Hardie.

Jensen is surprised that people are questioning the cashflow management strategy from eight years ago.

“I am not aware what transactions happened between the CFS and Greenshield, but I still don’t understand how that would turn it into a loan.”

As a parallel, a few years later the Douglas Students Union (DSU) also found itself short on cash. They too had to stop paying their health and dental premiums, but in this situation the CFS provided a $200,000 loan to the DSU.

Jensen said the difference is that at the UVSS, the debt would be paid back in a few months thanks to the loan from UVic. Conversely, the DSU might not have been able to pay back their debt for a few years.

Jensen justified the UVSS’ situation saying she imagined that every student union in BC “from time to time has been late paying for a CFS-Service.”

Hannan said the arrangement made with the health insurance company may have benefitted the UVSS, “but it does call into question, especially for other members of the CFS, that their brokers could potentially be playing with their finances.”

“If it was swept under the rug, then that would have been the wrong way of dealing with it,” says Hardie, “...but there’s ... nothing to say that it was kept hidden.”

//Samantha Thompson

assistant news editor

TACTICAL TRANSIT Olympic Transportation Plans

 
At the 3010 Winter Olympics, technology may have advanced to the point where spectators can be beamed a la Star Trek to shake noisemakers at alpine astro-skiers or swoon over the oh-so-muscular hyper-thighs of their favourite speed skater. However, teleportation is not a reality in 2010, and human beings must physically transport their bodies á la the bus in order to view world class sporting events first hand. And the transportation of said bodies will be affecting nearly every aspect of the city’s transit routes, and the information below is a guide to all the major changes.

Downtown, sections of roads have been designated as 24 hour Olympic lanes, which will “transport Olympic-accredited vehicles; that is, those who have an operational purpose at Olympic venues,” according to the City of Vancouver website. This includes all Translink buses normally operating on the routes. Olympic lanes will operate in a similar way to HOV lanes, in many cases simply taking over HOV lanes, in the right-hand lane of the chosen streets.

The City of Vancouver has stated that the following areas will be operating as Olympic Lanes 24 hours a day from February 4 – March 1: Burrard St, Burrard Bridge to Pender St; Seymour St, Granville Bridge to Hastings St; Howe St, Hastings St to Granville Bridge; Pender St, Cambie St to Howe St ; Cambie St, Cambie Bridge to 59th Ave; Broadway, Arbutus St to Commercial Dr; Georgia St, Richards St to the Stanley Park Causeway; Hastings St, Seymour St to Boundary Rd.

Along with restricted lane access, streets around Olympic venues will be closed for security during days of events. There will be no parking at the events, and stopping to drop off passengers will not be allowed on certain streets. It was declared on the City of Vancouver “Host City” website that “all cars stopped/parked in Olympic Lanes or parking restricted areas between February 4 to March 1, 2010 will be fined $100 plus an automatic tow.”

There will be no Olympic lanes on the North Shore, but special lead-ins will be in place on the Lions Gate bridge and Ironworkers Memorial bridge specifically for official games-related traffic, for example chartered buses and delivery or supply vehicles. Cypress Mountain, where freestyle skiing, snowboarding and halfpipe snowboarding venues will be held, will be closed to personal vehicles for parking and driving.

Whistler, too, will see major civil planning changes during the games. The Sea to Sky Quick Guide available on the Travel Smart 2010 site states that “public parking will be significantly reduced for the month of February, yet Whistler's population is expected to increase from 10,000 to 55,000.” In order to ensure that this vast increase doesn't completely overload Whistler's roads, vehicle traffic will be reduced by 30% by increasing public transportation service, restricting vehicle access and modifying traffic patterns.

BC Transit buses will operate all day seven days a week, providing a total of 50,000 hours of transit service to the Whistler area. Creekside East, Creekside West, Taluswood, Glacier Lane and Gateway Drive have been designated as Local Vehicle Permit Areas to maintain the residents' ability to travel freely within their neighbourhoods.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will be operating a traffic checkpoint on the Sea to Sky highway at the Alice Lake turnoff from February 11-28. Drivers require a permit allowing them to travel through the checkpoint during the hours of 6 am to 6 pm during the Olympics. Two permits have been issued to every Whistler property owner with parking, and Permit Issuing Offices have been open since December 14 at the following locations: 450 W. Broadway at Cambie, Vancouver; Municipal Hall, 4325 Blackomb Way, Whistler; Squamish Volunteer Centre, #2-40437 Tantalus Road, Squamish; Old Community Centre, 7567 Pemberton Meadows, Pemberton.

With this knowledge, you can now feel better equipped to maneuver through the madness that this next month will bring. Or you can shut yourself in for three weeks until the mayhem is over. Your choice.

More information is available at the following websites: www.travelsmart2010.ca, www.olympichostcity.vancouver.ca, www.whistler2010.com.

// Sky Hester,

writer

LOCAL ARTISTS COMMITTED TO CAUSES Two Capilano students use the arts to benefit Haitians

 

There is an unstated tradition among artists to use their talents to help those less fortunate. In the wake of the recent earthquake tragedy in Haiti, hundreds of musicians and performers have come together to raise money and awareness for the cause worldwide.

Following in those footsteps are two of Capilano’s own activists, Lauren Preston and Reuben Avery, who are hosting events of their own to raise funds for Haiti’s Earthquake victims.

Preston, a student of the Arts and Entertainment Management Diploma program at Cap, was the volunteer coordinator for Heart for Haiti, a multi-band gig featuring local reggae-rockers Ready Steady Go, at the Anza Club this past Sunday, January 31, which raised $700 in the first two hours. She explains her motivation, saying, “I wanted to do more for the community. I don’t have the money to donate $100, but I have the time and the commitment to go out and volunteer ... I donated 1000 points off of my Save-On card just to give them a couple bucks. It was pretty fun, you feel good after you donate.”

Fourth-year Jazz student Avery took matters into his own hands and began planning a fundraiser, featuring his funk-soul band The Phonix, which is made up of current and former Capilano musicians.  He contemplates the pattern among artists to take part in charity benefits, stating “I’ve always enjoyed charitable things like that ... there’s the good Samaritan side of things, and this show will also give us the opportunity to come together with some other groups and kind of let us see what kind of show we can put together. They’ve kindly donated [the hall], and of course none of the bands are concerned about getting money out of this. We’re all donating the time.”

The Phonix usually charge a cover of $10 for their shows, though Humanity for Haiti tickets are $15, which Avery adds, “If people are still feeling really generous they can still give more ... in terms of the worth of the bands, I guess that’s what people are prepared to pay. We aren’t playing GM Place for $180 a ticket. I think they’ll be prepared to shell out that kind of money, especially given the circumstance.”

The earth quake in Haiti caused an estimated 200,000 deaths among men, women and children. Though the magnitude of the disaster is shown to us mostly through TV, Avery affirms “it’s going to take years to rebuild that structure – who knows how many generations it will take to rebuild that society.”

The Phonix play at the Wise Hall on February 17 at 7:30 pm, where all ticket proceeds will go to the Red Cross, as well as all merchandise profits from accompanying band The Boom Booms.

// Maegan Bibby,

writer

BUT MOM, I LIKE WATCHING TV Sarah Ellis promotes children, literacy

Sarah Ellis has some serious street credit in the world of children’s writers. She has the ability to jump  between writing picture books and writing young adult novels. Explaining why she wrote many young novels focusing around pre teen girls, she simply states, “They are my people. 12 year old girls are my people.”

Everything from feet that won’t behave properly to child labour, Sarah Ellis has covered in her fourteen books. The renowned Canadian author came to Capilano on Thursday, January 28, as part of the Kinder Text series. In between reading excerpts from her work, she took the time to talk about censorship in children’s books, as well as the future of print novels, picture books, and writing in general.

Difficult subject matter was something Ellis was quick to give advice about: “Katherine Paterson [told me], ‘you are not your character’s mother’. I try not to censor myself at the beginning of a subject. Every subject is fair game. [I wonder] what’s the way in? What’s the window for a kid? Just be bold, there are lots of gatekeepers along the way.” 

One of the biggest issues discussed by Ellis was the future of children’s literature. A 2004 Statistics Canada survey stated that children between the ages of two and eleven are watching up to 14.1 hours a week of television. In the six years that have lapsed since, and with a greater emphasis of computer use in both the classroom and home, it is safe to assume that children are spending significantly more time in front of the tube and the computer.

Ellis estimated that children on average spend around “seven hours of their day” in front of one screen or another, countering the questions about whether this would negatively affect picture book print with saying,  “They [children] aren’t going to lose their need for narrative.”

“I don’t think the picture book is going to leave anytime soon,” she stated, remaining hopeful that parents teaching their children the importance of reading will likely continue to use these sorts of tools in the process.

“You must have a strong, strong story for a picture book... [they are like] a theatrical performance, more so than any other literature. In a sense you are writing a script for someone to perform.” The concept of a script within a picture book, the ability to act out the story and make it more interactive may be one of the reasons that Ellis has hope for the future of picture books.

With the increasing amount of kids television shows turning books into television shows, such as the popular Franklin the Turtle or Clifford the Big Red Dog, it is also questionable as to whether having a strong story will be enough to keep the stories between brightly coloured pages. 

Treehouse TV, a Canadian television channel geared specifically for children between the ages of two and seven, plays a huge role in children’s lives these days. Shows like “The Big Comfy Couch” feature Lunette the clown who ‘reads’ stories to kids, eliminating the need for a parent to be actively involved in the imagination growing process of developing minds.

Literacy BC, as well as ABC Canada, have posted many different studies finding that the more involved parents are with their children's development of literacy from an early age, the more likely the child is to develop the skills necessary to succeed within their schooling.

If Ellis is correct in her assumption that children are spending up to seven hours a day in front of the computer or television, the future of the picture book isn’t a troubling notion -- it is the future of our children's literacy that we should be concerned about.

For more information on literacy rates and what it means for children and adults, visit www.literacy.ca . For more information on Sarah Ellis or any of her books, visit www.sarahellis.ca.

// Nicole Mucci,

writer

LEADING BY EXAMPLE Cap concert series puts spotlight on faculty

“I hope that students will be inspired by these concerts to feel freer in performance and take any opportunities to perform.” Kate Hammett-Vaughn is a Jazz Studies voice teacher at Capilano, and the music department is making sure her students will get the opportunity to see her perform at one of their many faculty concerts this year.

The Jazz concert on January 21 in Fir 113 was packed with students, and the faculty performing showed great passion and energy in their performance. Hammett-Vaughn is a reputable Jazz singer and sounded lovely.

“It’s important for students to see live music, and important for them to see faculty in performance. Students tend to get wrapped up in their heads, ‘Am I playing this right? Am I doing this right?” It is a great experience seeing faculty in performance, especially because it is inspiring to see the passion they have for their craft.

The next day, another member of Capilano’s music faculty was in concert in the performing arts theatre in Birch. Gene Ramsbottom, a clarinet teacher at Capilano, played pieces by Darius Milhaud, Aram Khachaturian and Bella Bartok with violin and piano.

Gene feels that “faculty performing shows students the level of preparation needed to do a performance. There is purpose to all those scales and technique stuff you’re asked to practice all the time.” He also went on to say, “If a student was particularly keen they would probably want to shadow their teachers, volunteer to be a page turner, get on stage as much as possible.”

Heather Pawsey, a Classical voice teacher at Capilano, says, “One of the best ways to learn performance is to go to performances, and analyze what’s being done, ‘Why was that so effective when he did this?’ or ‘Wow, what do you do during an incredibly long piano intro when you feel trapped on stage?’”

Often, a career in performance is not enough to pay the bills and many performers take on students and teach to make a decent living. It’s great for students pursuing performing to be taught by someone who has a lot of experience in performance. For a teacher, it's very rewarding to see progress in your students, and to use your experience to give a good example.

“It’s a unique moment playing in front of an audience, rather than just a recording studio or an empty hall, because you get feedback from the audience,” says Ramsbottom. And that's what makes it all worth it – performing in front of an audience and receiving praise for all your hard work. Perhaps the most valuable thing a student can learn from watching performance is that no one is perfect and mistakes can happen even with the most seasoned performers/teachers. No performance is ever the same, and that is the beauty of live music.

In case you missed the concerts, you can listen to sound clips on Kate Hammett-Vaughn's website, Katehv.com.

// Jillian Law,

writer

THE FINE LINES OF MENTAL ILLNESS New graphic novel highlights surprisingly common conditions

MONTREAL (CUP) — Mental illness is one of the few social taboos that is still completely ignored, misrepresented, or flat-out denied by much of the Western world. Von Allan experienced the toll mental illness can take firsthand — his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 11.

“It was when she starting having nervous breakdown episodes and being hospitalized that I realized ‘She’s not well at all,’ ” says Allan. “She was having problems, and the problems were such that I couldn’t help. There a really strong sense of powerlessness that goes with that. There’s nothing I could do.”

Reality paints a much different portrait of those suffering from a mental illness than many people see it. In fact, 20 per cent of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime, and schizophrenia affects one per cent of the population.

An illustrator and author, Allan translated his experience into his new graphic novel, the road to god knows…

Set in Ottawa during the fall of 1988, the road to god knows… is centred on Marie, a 13-year-old girl coming to terms with her mother’s schizophrenia. The novel opens with Marie returning to her family’s small, barren apartment following her mother’s release from a clinic after another mental breakdown.

While the graphic novel is fiction, many events and elements are based on Allan’s childhood. It’s deeply personal, and as the plot unfolds there are a series of increasingly stomach-churning breakdowns. With each episode, Marie is forced to confront her mother’s mental illness and with the help of a friend, Kelly, begins to comprehend her mother's struggle.

What is particularly interesting is that Allan has decided to tell his story through a girl in her early teens. It’s quite difficult for an author to develop a central character from across the gender divide, but Allan has succeeded in Marie. It’s also clear that Allan has planted some of his personality in Marie; take, for instance, her love of tag-team wrestling. The result is a well-thought out and completely likeable tomboy that you’ll root for.

Allan’s art is simple, but fitting for the stripped-down storyline. What is most surprising is that Allan only began drawing just over ten years ago at age 25. Easily the most memorable panels come when Marie is visiting her mother in a mental hospital. Allan subtly bends the straight lines of the black-and-white checkered hallways, adding to the already unsettling atmosphere. It’s a nice touch that enhances his style.

When Allan set out to write the road to god knows… he approached the plot and theme with one simple guideline: “Don’t be up on a soap box, don’t be preachy, don’t be didactic, don’t try to be lecturing, or anything like that; certainly don’t say anything like mental illness is bad or the person who has it is bad.”

Allan has succeeded in every measure. The road to god knows… portrays only a tiny slice of life for those with a mental illness. It’s gripping, dramatic and will leave you with a deeper understanding of the relationship between those who are afflicted and the people who love them.

// Brennan Neill,

The Concordian

OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM W2 Gives independent media a voice during the Olympics

If you’re worried about one-sided Olympics coverage controlled by major media outlets, you’re not the only one. Organizers of the W2 Culture and Media House anticipated that small press would be kicked to the curb during the Games, and have unveiled a new community media arts centre to facilitate free expression of the arts, culture, and media in Vancouver.             

As part of the Woodward’s development in the Downtown Eastside, W2 is currently based at the Perel Building at 112 West Hastings until Woodward’s opens in the spring. The four-story building features a 150-capacity performance space, community TV studio, FM radio station, gallery, café, print studio, and more.

Five years in the making, W2 was conceived as a cultural meeting place for artists, residents, community groups, and media representatives in the Downtown Eastside. The space will provide a “home base” for independent journalists, bloggers and small media outlets during the Olympics. It will provide centralized access to resources that would otherwise be denied to independent news organizations.

“W2’s mandate is to break the digital divide, to offer access to technology to people who usually wouldn’t have it, and also to highlight media that usually wouldn’t get attention,” says Hywel Toscano, a Coordinator of W2. “Our focus is on indie media, non-accredited media, artists that are not necessarily featured in something like the cultural Olympiad ...  so we’re going to give a platform to those people.”

If you just want to check out the centre, the public has free access to the art gallery and cafe from 12 pm to 5 pm daily. Registered individuals and media organizations will have full access to the space, including high speed wireless internet, computer work stations, television and radio broadcasting systems, silk-screening and printing services, and daily press briefings.

CJSF Radio, 24 Hours, The Tyee, and Rabble.ca are among the local media outlets already registered to use W2 during the Olympics. International news organizations from Japan, Britain, and the United States have also signed up to use the space.

As the only media centre for journalists who are not accredited by VANOC or the BC Government, W2 will be essential in facilitating the public expression of alternative viewpoints during the Games. Further, its location in the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside will allow reporters a glimpse into a neighbourhood that major news organizations are likely to avoid.

However, Irwin Oostindie, Executive Director of W2, makes it clear the centre does not promote a particular viewpoint on the Olympics. “We are not an activist centre ...  We don’t want to speak to the converted. We want the media to come here and see for themselves,” he explains. “You can love the Games, you can hate the Games, but this is Vancouver, we’re proud of our city ... and we have a huge opportunity to showcase our culture.”

W2 may also be an indicator of how a changing news industry, marked by the growth of blogs and social networking, has shifted some control of the media into the public domain. Oostindie hopes to organize citizen journalists so that they don’t get lost in the digital wasteland. “The centre will provide a hub to nurture and support those disparate voices ...  If the physical facility didn’t exist, people would be left to their own devices on YouTube, on Flickr.”

But the space is not only a centre for media; W2 will also host a variety of events to celebrate Vancouver’s diverse culture. Free cultural exhibitions, workshops and conferences will be held during the day, while performances and events will be staged at night. Bikes Inside, Hot One Inch Action and African Dance Party are just a few of the 40 events happening in February.

The highlight of the month is the Fresh Media Olympic conference on Feb 22, which will bring together traditional and social media, bloggers and academia to discuss the coverage of the Games. The event will feature a speech from Andy Miah, author of “A Digital Olympics: Digital Games, Ethics & Cultures,” and panels with senior journalists and industry watchers from around the globe.

Lianne Payne, the Administrative Director of the centre, described the project as a “month-long frenzy of activity, but we have long-term plans across the street.” Across the street, of course, is the Woodward’s building, where the space will move when the development is completed in the spring. But in the months between, W2’s temporary space at 112 West Hastings will continue to thrive as an art gallery and community meeting space.

The planned 8,000 square foot space in the Woodward’s building is even more ambitious, with a range of facilities for enriching the arts, culture and well-being of the Downtown Eastside. “The space will be different in a whole number of ways,” says Toscano. It will include a performance space, a multimedia production lab, a TV studio, a Kootenay School of Writing reading room, and a ground-floor café.

In the meantime, the organizers of W2 just hope Vancouverites will show up. “This is an experiment ... our opportunity to break the sound barrier around the Olympics is very possible,” said Oostindie.

// Laura Kane,

writer

The centre offers unique opportunities to students who want to gain experience during their Olympic break. Volunteer positions are available in every area of the project, including broadcasting, publicity, operations, technical support, security and management of the café. Although they’ve already recruited over 150 volunteers in just eight days, it’s not too late to get involved. Interested students are urged to check the website for job postings: http://creativetechnology.org.

HOMES FOR THE HOMELESS Red tents provide shelter before the storm

 

Riddled with drug abuse, violence, and prostitution, many of the homeless shelters currently operating in the greater Vancouver area are in a less than ideal state. Coupled with a lack of adequate housing numbers to accommodate the estimated three thousand, “visible homeless,” inhabiting our city, this has brought considerable attention to the issue of homelessness in the anticipatory lead-up to the 2010 Olympic Games.

Clad in a grimy pair of khakis and torn track jacket, a man who solely identified himself as Jay embodies the impoverished and beleaguered citizens who comprise this statistic. Offering his own opinion of government tactics in relation to homelessness, he wryly states, “They just want us out of their way … they want to put you somewhere where no one’s going to talk to you or take pictures of you.” This statement echoes the sentiments of some Vancouver residents who believe that the rolling economic might of the Olympics will sweep aside arguably more pressing social issues.

However, estimates provided by the Citywide Housing Coalition place the number of beds available at three hundred and forty below the requisite amount to house Vancouver’s homeless prior to the expected influx during the Olympics. As such, it has been suggested that providing housing for all is not possible, regardless of the motive.

Pivot Legal Society, in conjunction with the Coalition, has decided to use the increased focus of the global media on Vancouver during the month of February to spur the government into action on the issue of social housing.

Pivot has launched the Red Tent program, wherein participants can sponsor a red tent emblazoned with social rights slogans such as, “Housing is a Right,” to draw attention to the true size of the homeless community during and after the Olympics. As well as distributing these tents to members of the aforementioned community, the staff at Pivot offer a range of items and activities that one can take up to support their cause. These include hanging banners with slogans akin to those on the tents, sleeping in tents as a show of solidarity, petitioning the government for establishment of a comprehensive social housing policy, and creating public art in keeping with the cause.

Presently, their aim is to distribute a first run of 500 tents, and base further initiatives on the successes of the inaugural wave of red they hope to see on the streets of East Vancouver.

This campaign is modeled after a similar initiative taken by a French citizen named Augustin Legrand, who strove to change the lives of the homeless population of his own nation in 2006. He formed a society called Les Enfants De Don Quichotte, a group of committed activists, who established an encampment composed entirely of red tents along the Canal St. Martin in Paris. In time, coupled with the use of viral videos and a blog as promotional tools, this campaign forced the French government to  construct adequate low income housing in their cities. Here in British Columbia, the members of Pivot Legal Society hope to elicit a similar response.

Although Les Enfants faced the contentious issue of the legality of their demonstrations, the machinations of the staffers at Pivot have been lent a helping hand by the case of Victoria City v. Adams, a recent legal battle surrounding the erection of a tent city in a public park. The justices found that it was unconstitutional to prevent homeless citizens from erecting temporary overhead shelters if there were not adequate facilities available elsewhere.

In light of this, so long as there remains a disparity of hundreds of beds between the available accommodation and the number of homeless residents, the erection of the tents can proceed in accordance with the law.

Laura Stannard, a member of the Citywide Housing Coalition, spoke of the origins of Vancouver’s difficulty with homelessness. “Back in the nineties, the Tory government under Brian Mulroney cancelled the social housing program ... and ever since then we’ve been paying lower taxes, which is about all you can ever get people up in arms about.”

This policy shift has created a dearth of funding for social programs, which Stannard identifies as the main contributing factor in the lack of affordable housing. “Starting from the fifties, and moving into the sixties and seventies, we were building [hundreds of] units of family housing a year,” asserted Stannard, but nowadays, “we have no social housing program ... we are the only Western industrialized nation that doesn’t.”

She pins her hopes in large part on Bill C-304, the piece of legislation put forward by East Vancouver MP Libby Davies, which aims to “bring all levels of government together to increase safe, affordable housing across Canada.” This Bill aims to establish the first comprehensive social housing strategy since the 1990s, which Stannard believes will allow, “effective planning of affordable inclusive communities ... which [are composed of] single units, units for couples, and family units.” In Stannard’s experience dealing with the homeless community in Vancouver, “some people have a difficult time sharing space with others, in terms of sharing bathrooms and meals, it’s too much ... we need self contained single unit housing.”

As to the long term plan of the Red Tent program, Stannard speculates that the flimsy habitations will remain in use, “for as long as [they] are needed,” or until policy shifts are brought into effect on the part of the government. However, on the subject of undoing the funding cuts wrought by Mulroney over a decade ago, she admits that, “[she doesn’t] think that you could ever win an election with a party proposing higher taxes,” no matter who the beneficiaries may be.

// Max MacKay,

writer

SENSATIONALIZING SUFFERING The American way

The heavy media coverage of the earthquake-wrought destruction in Haiti in recent weeks has done more than simply show the world the true nature of the calamity as it unfolds. Light has also been shed on the sensationalist practices of such media giants as FOX news and CNN, as they rush to jam microphones under the noses of anyone with a teary eye or maimed limb, ostensibly in the name of fair and balanced journalism.

Both stations have been providing extensive coverage of events in Haiti, right down to the minutiae. Unfortunately, in doing so, they have begun to blur the line between presenting hard facts and needlessly seeking the most tragic angle on the aftermath possible, in order to rake in the ratings.

Videos have surfaced on the FOX website of corpses bloating in the sun, being stacked in front of morgues, and being buried underneath piles of rubble in freshly dug pits in order to deal with the loss of life suffered by the Haitian people. Camera crews are routinely staking out the extractions of trapped civilians from the remains of their former living spaces, pouncing on them with lights and microphones at the moment their shoulders clear the rubble.

Further evincing the fine journalistic practices of FOX, a video available on the network’s Youtube channel depicts an unidentified female reporter standing outside a supposed “mass grave,” which is in actuality an office building reduced to rubble by the quake. She proceeds to spin a questionable tale of, “finding people sitting upright at their desks, arms up in the air,” and glibly examines the bodies of Haitians nearby, providing dispassionate comments such as, “right on other side of this bag you can see an arm or a leg, I’m not sure what it is, with the bone sticking out of it.”

Following the same tack, CNN has released a one minute and thirty second video from inside a home in Port Au Prince, which shows a woman running from the room in terror, followed by over a minute of darkness punctuated by a cacophony of human cries and building materials crumbling. This video contains no narration, nor any valuable information whatsoever concerning the earthquake. Instead, it appears to be a blatant attempt to pull in viewers to the CNN website, without any regard for the dignity of those portrayed in the footage.

The counterargument may be made that it is necessary to provide people the world over with an accurate representation of the present conditions in Haiti, but it is clear that no one stands to benefit from close up shots of lifeless bodies trapped beneath tonnes of concrete. Coverage on other networks such as the BBC, and in various print media outlets, has been decidedly more tasteful.

The British Broadcasting Company has long held higher standards than its American counterparts, and this has been shown amply in their contrasting coverage of the disaster in Haiti. Any footage of the destruction wrought by the quake released by the BBC has been accompanied by intelligent discussion of humanitarian efforts being made, or the causes of the poor infrastructure that exacerbated the quake’s effects, rather than comments on the amount of Vick’s Vapo-rub one must smear beneath their nose to block the stench of death.

Further, print media outlets in multiple nations, such as Macleans magazine, The National Post, and your very own Capilano Courier have managed to cover the fallout of the quake without sensationalizing the facts, nor seeking the most shockingly gruesome images possible to accompany their headlines.

Whereas the above sources find it adequate to mention a death toll, or make reference to the suffering experienced by the victims of this unprecedented natural disaster, these major American networks are posting videos of orphans mourning the death of their parents, entitled, “Orphans wail at their loss.” This is unnecessary and cruel, no matter how many viewers it might pull away from The Jersey Shore and American Dad for a half hour.

Presenting events in this manner leads to a detachment from the horror that should be engendered in someone witnessing such travesties, rather than an emphatic reaction to the suffering of others. The editors at FOX and CNN should be soundly shamed for their blatant exploitation of the people of Haiti by the journalistic community, and I for one feel compelled to implore the members of the aforementioned professional class to let their voices be heard in the weeks and months to come. This burgeoning school of sensationalist journalism must be abolished before morbid voyeurism overtakes our capacity for empathy entirely.

// Max Mackay,

writer

HATING ON HAITI Slavery in the new decade

After the devastating earthquake that hit the city of Bam, an Iranian city whose architecture is as vulnerable as Port-au-Prince, the world unified their efforts to help bring foreign aid to the devastated region. During this time I attended a meeting put together by a charity who visited our university to help collect donations for Bam. After a long plea, the question of how we could be sure that our donations would reach those in need came up. The representative of the charity let us know that he couldn’t completely assure us that the money would be delivered. He then added that if we found that the money was embezzled to at least know that we did everything we could to help the people of Bam and that God will hold him, not us, accountable. At this point, my friend, an atheist, immediately stood up during the meeting and yelled: “I’m not giving this money so that I can sleep better at night! I want to give money so that the people of Bam will get help!” It was later revealed by various media that of some of the charities set up for Bam had embezzled the money.

The situation in Haiti is worse. Not just in terms of victim numbers but in terms of its vulnerability to foreign greed. And this time, the con is bigger, smarter, and carries a lot more political power. Now that the first few weeks of immediate relief aid for survivors is drawing to an end, we need to question what type of foreign aid we are supporting for Haiti’s future – if we truly want to “sleep better at night.”

Plenty of con-websites exist to steal donations -- so many, in fact, that sites like scambusters.org have propped up to expose them. Popular charities should also be held under scrutiny. Take, for example, their administration costs. Charities such as UNICEF take up to 22%. It uses 18% of its donation for administration costs, while other charities in Haiti have managed to lower such costs. When I phoned the Red Cross, their representative confirmed that they've minimized their administrative costs to about 10% and added “every charity has to have some kind of administrative cost.” Although it's important for charities to lower such costs, one has to also consider the amount of work being done under such administrative costs. For example, Doctors  Without Borders has a high administrative cost but they also have a pretty impressive body of work. One solution to this problem is to research other people’s experience with said charity. Even if it’s a trusted charity, I always call and request that the charity reveal what percentage goes towards administration. It’s not their place to be offended by my inquiry.

But that’s only one line of defense against the con-artist. As Canada's Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, warned Canadians last week: “Reconstruction assistance provided to Haiti by institutions and international donors will need to be provided primarily in grant form to avoid mortgaging the country's future.” Flaherty advised against loans, as loans will only further Haiti's debt. In fact, Flaherty advised other countries to forgive Haiti's debt.

What Flaherty didn't refer to was the long history of North America’s extortion, exploitation, and colonization of Haiti. In fact, Chomsky said, “Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere. It's in miserable condition. It also happens to be the leading target of US intervention in the 20th century. Woodrow Wilson occupied it, restored slavery, overthrew the parliamentary system and basically turned it into a US plantation; ever since then the US has supported brutal dictators, a murderous national - all of whom never had an embargo on them no matter how many atrocities they were carrying out.”

Chomsky wasn’t referring to the recent events of Haiti; this was back in 2002. Still, class slavery still exists on the island, and there’s no reason to believe that exploitation will cease. Many countries send aid, but often with ulterior motives, such as The Heritage Foundation.

The Heritage Foundation had this statement posted on their website under a document tiltled Things to Remember While Helping Haiti: “In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the US response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region.” Famed political activist Naomi Klein highlighted the statement for the public and criticized that the Heritage Foundation is “at it again, not even waiting one day to use the devastating earthquake in Haiti to push for their so-called reforms.” In response, the Heritage Foundation retracted the paragraph. Instead, they released the same statement but with more sensitive words like “fragile” and feel-good phrases such as “long held concern.” But the message behind the statement remains the same. They’re saying the US should reshape Haiti's government and economy to “demonstrate that the US’s involvement in the Caribbean remains a powerful force.”

Canada, if you are supporting these corporations or the politicians who support such corporations, then you are unwittingly supporting slavery of Haitians in a new decade. You might not hold a whip, but you are punishing them with your dollars. Am I using hyperbole? Then replace it with your own historical imagery of what happens when one nation takes advantage of another by forcing it to work for its own basic survival. Sure, Haitians will get water, crumbs, and a place to sleep but we’ll own the fruits of their labour for the rest of their lives.

To begin informing yourself on charities, visit charitynavigator.org.

//Alamir Novin

Editor