The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

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also in this issue Cinema Politica to host award p. 8 Athlete’s parents throw down p. 12 Record Store Day to hit Montreal p. 11 Crude Canadian practices p. 15 Learning from loss with Disney p. 7 Concordia University’s weekly, independent student newspaper theconcordian.com VOLUME 33, ISSUE 24 | TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016 /theconcordian @theconcordian theconcordian life arts music sports opinions News p. 3 vote the concordian Schrödinger’s ASFA’s referendum is both valid and invalid until Thursday Editorial p. 14

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Transcript of The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

Page 1: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

also in this issue

Cinema Politicato host award p. 8

Athlete’s parentsthrow down p. 12

Record Store Dayto hit Montreal p. 11

Crude Canadianpractices p. 15

Learning from losswith Disney p. 7

Concordia University’s weekly, independent student newspaper theconcordian.comVOLUME 33, ISSUE 24 | TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016 ! /theconcordian " @theconcordian theconcordian

life arts music sports opinions

News p. 3

votetheconcordian Schrödinger’s

ASFA’s referendum is both valid and invalid until Thursday

Editorial p. 14

Page 2: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016
Page 3: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

NEWS EDITORS /// [email protected] TODARO (! @GCTodaro) & LAURA MARCHAND (! @Marchand_L)

news

The City of Montreal accepts that they will not meet the planned target of employing one third of new workers from Montreal’s visible minority or ethnic com-munities. The city had arranged to reach this goal by the end of 2015. While visible minorities account for 31 per cent of the population in Montreal, they only account for 11 per cent of the workforce in the city. “It’s a benefit to Montreal to have our diverse populations represented on our workforce,” Montreal’s executive committee member responsible for cultural communities Dimitrios Jim Beis said., according to CBC News. “We still have a lot of work to do.”

xx

Mayor Denis Coderre has not released a plan of action towards banning the sale of plastic water bottles, but said “the debate is important.” Coderre’s mention of water bottles being next on the city’s environmental agenda caught the attention of the Canadian Beverage Association. A lobbyist for the group, Martin-Pierre Pelletier, said the restriction would take variety away from consumers, reported the Huffington Post. Instead, Pelletier suggests a recycling plan, adding the industry currently recovers 70 per cent of plastic bottles through the recycling system.

P.A.C. Construction Démolition has been found providing demolition services for the Turcot recon-struction project without a valid license. As a result of this, P.A.C. was been barred from working at the Turcot construction site in May of last year. The company was presented with nine charges while working as a subcontractor under the cement supply company Holcim on a contract for Transport Quebec, who is in charge of the demolition project. The Montreal Gazette reported Quebec’s anti-corruption unit said that if the company is convicted, they will be charged anywhere from $300,000 to $1.45 million.

City ban of water bottles gains attention

BY SAVANNA CRAIGASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Turcot company working without license

City misses minority hiring goal

C I T Y I N B R I E F

ASFA VP Finance expects deficit C A M P U S

The anticipated imbalance could be as high as $32,000BY GREGORY TODAROCO-NEWS EDITOR

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations is facing a deficit of up to $32,000 for this aca-demic year.

The organization, which has an annual operating budget of $74,453.15, will not have to dig into the savings required by the bylaws, according to VP Finance Christina Massaro.

“We are in a deficit, but we’ll be fine,” she said. “We’re going to go over budget, but money-wise we had a bigger cushion than expected.”

ASFA bylaws require the orga-nization to maintain at least $150,000 in its account to ensure its continuity. Even if the deficit reaches the maximum $32,000

predicted, ASFA will not need to dip into those savings.

Massaro said ASFA may not even hit a deficit that high, and that this prediction is a worst-case scenario.

“The deficit is only if we spend the total amount in every single budget line,” she said, adding that this deficit prediction is based on using the full amount budgeted for each line—something which does not frequently occur.

“For example,” Massaro added, “I know we can find $5,000 from [the office manager] not being hired, so not paying those wages. There are also other lines that aren’t completed as well.”

ASFA did, however, go over-bud-get in legal fees this year: the fees for working on the settlement with Mei

Ling announced in mid-November and additional consultations for the restructuring of ASFA’s bylaws for the referendum question cost the organization $5,518—well over the original budget of $300.

ASFA also had around $4,700 of various expenses left over from last year, and also went $400 over-budget for their byelections.

Grad Ball

ASFA council approved trans-ferring an additional $8,000 for the organization’s annual Graduation Ball at its special council meeting on Thursday.

Councillors voted to send $5,000 from ASFA’s budget and $3,000 from the group’s Special Project Fund to contribute to the event.

The unofficial total budget for the event is $53,651. An ASFA councillor involved with the project said revenue is expected to reach up to $43,000. However, these figures are not set in stone as the group is still searching for sponsorships and working with caterers to find the best deal.

ASFA Council discussed a motion during the February regular council meeting for $18,000 in additional funding for Grad Ball, but the item was tabled.

“We don’t know where ASFA is [financially] right now,” said ASFA VP Internal Robert Young during the February meeting. But since then, Massaro has met with the group’s accountant to get a better idea of what the group’s financial situation is.

Keyloggers found on campusC A M P U S

Devices were found on stand-up stations at both campus libraries BY GREGORY TODAROCO-NEWS EDITOR

Several keylogger devices have been found on computers at Concordia University.

According to an email sent out to students on Monday the devices, which are designed to record every keystroke entered on a computer, were found on stand-up stations at both the Webster Library down-town and the Vanier Library on the Loyola Campus.

“The library staff came across several of them,” said university spokesperson Chris Mota. “They

Keyloggers are subtle devices which are placed between keyboards and computers to track keystrokes.Graphic courtesy of Concordia University.

immediately notified IITS … [and] we had the keyloggers removed.”

While it is unknown exactly how long the devices were in place, Mota said it’s strongly recommended anyone who has used one of the stand-up stations in the past 12 months to immediately change their password—and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity on their accounts, with the university or otherwise.

“The danger here is that if somebody here was to access personal information, accessing their Concordia personal files or their bank account that the information

could be captured on a keylogger,” said Mota. “What we are very strongly recommending is that if anyone used these stand-up work stations … [they should] proactively check their bank statements, check if there’s been any kind of activity that could raise a red flag.”

Both an internal investigation and a criminal investigation have been launched; Mota said the university has inspected all the computers in both libraries to make sure all of the keyloggers have been found, and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal has opened a file on the case.

While Mota wouldn’t tell The Concordian how many keyloggers were found or when they were located by library staff because of the investigation, she did confirm they were found only on stand-up stations and not any other computers on campus.

“Anyone who feels … their per-sonal information was captured or used in some malicious way, they should immediately contact the police and our security department,” she said.

An external cyber-forensics company has also been brought in to look into the incident.

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3MARCH 22, 2016 theconcordian

BY LAURA MARCHANDCO-NEWS EDITOR

It’s Schrödinger’s ballot box: until Thursday, ASFA—as it is now—is both alive and dead.

Concordia’s Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) held a referendum from March 16 to 18, turning to students to decide its future. The organization was asking whether or not its constitu-ents—some 15,000 Arts and Science students—wanted the association to change its bylaws and restructure itself into a new organization, one primarily focused on supporting member associations (MAs).

The motion failed, with 329 votes against the proposed restructuring. 277 students voted in favour—a difference of only 52 votes. 95 voters abstained.

However, whether or not the vote is valid will be decided at ASFA council. Due to factors in the electoral process, combined with the narrow margin that decided victory, the legitimacy of the result has been called into question.

Question 3, which asked students whether or not they supported the bylaw changes, did not clarify what the bylaw changes were. A printed version of the proposed bylaws were also supposed to be available at the voting booths, however, for at least half a day, they were not.

“We asked the [Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)] to add a preamble to the question so there would be clarity that a change in bylaws meant an entire new structure for ASFA, however, he did not add a preamble,” said ASFA President Jenna Cocullo. “[This] could have resulted in many ‘No’s or abstentions due to inadequate information being presented … So we feel students were very uninformed and confused as to what they were voting on.”

The challenges do not end at the question itself. Jason Poirier Lavoie, President of the Political Science Student Association (PSSA) believes many factors could have affected the outcome. “By removing the preamble, changing the resolution on the referendum question, by removing the ballot package, by not training clerks, by misinforming students and even permitting campaigning material on the table, we believe that that difference in votes is so small that [the CEO’s] actions could have compromised it,” said Poirier Lavoie.

But others don’t believe the electoral regulations had any effect on the outcome. Elizabeth Duong, ASFA councilor for the Concordia Undergraduate Psycholog y Association (CUPA) and restructuring opponent, said the No Committee

did not even campaign during the voting period. “There was an incident where there was a poster that said ‘Vote Yes for Referendum’ right on the polling booth,” Duong recalled.

David Easey, who was tabling one of the voting booths, described situations that made him question the electoral practices of his fellow clerks. (Easey also works as a member of the masthead at The Concordian.)

“A lot of people working at the tables would refer to the bylaw changes as having no Frosh, when in fact, it was much more than that. And I felt that was a biased aspect, because Frosh obviously resonates with a lot of people,” said Easey. “I don’t think people understood it was a complete restructuring, they saw it as a loss of a social event.”

Easey also referred to strange practices, such as photographing the ID cards of students officers deemed “sketchy” without the students’ knowledge, and placing the votes of certain students into envelopes with their ID numbers on them. “From what I understood, that’s not normal at all,” said Easey.If council decides the question should be re-posed to the pop-ulation, a second referendum will take place during General Elections, tentatively scheduled in approximately a month. But Duong believes that reviving the question would be an insult to students.

“It’s like ‘Hey we didn’t like your opinion so we’re going to keep doing it until we get a ‘yes’.’ I don’t think that’s fair to the students who really voiced their opinions to vote

‘No’,” said Duong, who believes the ‘Yes’ side is not accepting the result. “You ran in student politics to be there for the students, so to neglect what the students—the majority of students—wanted because it does not coincide and agree with what you wanted, I think it’s really unfair.”

But Poirier Lavoie believes a second referendum would let students understand what they are really voting on. “This gives us the opportunity to re-run the question, given all of these procedural errors that were done,” he said.

The results of the vote may have been the last straw for some, with seven MAs now claiming that they are going to leave ASFA. These MAs—who, historically, have been in support of the proposed restruc-turing—have formed a coalition to

“By removing the preamble, changing the resolution on the referendum question, by removing the ballot package, by not training clerks, by misinforming students and even permitting campaigning material on the table, we believe that that difference in votes is so small that [the CEO’s] actions could have compromised it.”

- JASON POIRIER LAVOIE, PRESIDENT OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ASSOCIATION (PSSA)

Graphic by Florence Yee

ASFA restructuring vote plagued by electoral mistakes, challenges

C O V E R S T O R Y

Several MAs now say they are leaving the organization, for goodform their own non-profit, separate from ASFA as an organization.

While nothing has been con-firmed in a written contract, “an agreement [has been] made between policy committee and this new coalition, where ASFA would transfer the money proportionate to the [student] population leaving ASFA,” said Poirier Lavoie, whose association—the PSSA—is one of the seven MAs who are planning on leaving the organization.

Other MAs include the Students of Philosophy Association (SoPhiA), the School of Community and Public Affairs Students’ Association (SCPASA) and the Liberal Arts Society (LAS). Poirier Lavoie confirmed there are some MAs that have not decided if they will be joining the coalition. The students belonging to the departing MAs will need to vote to approve their representa-tives leaving ASFA. At the Student Congress hosted by the Concordia Student Union (CSU) on March 21, a motion was passed in support of the MAs going independent.

“The MAs that wanted to pursue [the restructuring] … I’m not sur-prised that they would find another alternative means to step away from ASFA,” said Duong. “It’s up to their choice. If they want to separate from ASFA that’s what they’re going to do. They found a legal way to do it.”

Duong, who is also on ASFA’s policy committee, confirmed that they have discussed with mem-bers of the new coalition and are deliberating more concrete ideas regarding their departure. However the “contract isn’t official and hasn’t been ratified through council yet,” said Duong.

The council meeting, scheduled for Thursday, March 24, will have council voting on whether or not to take the referendum to General Elections. The contract between departing MAs and ASFA will also be discussed.

Two other questions were included on the referendum ballot, both of which passed. The first asked students to approve ASFA increasing its fees per credit in order to remain tied to inflation, which was approved with 333 votes for and 300 votes against, for a difference of 33 votes.

The second question sought to approve a new fee levy to fund The Hive’s Free Lunch Program, which would add an additional fee of 10 cents per credit per student. Due to an error in wording, the ballots from the first day of voting were spoiled. However, ASFA representatives claim the motion passed regardless with over 66 per cent of the vote.

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4 MARCH 22, 2016theconcordian

The greenwashing effect E N V I R O N M E N T

JMSB professors research TransCanada’s tactics to market themselves green

BY SAVANNA CRAIGASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR! @savannacraig

As a result of great concern for the future of our environment, many com-

panies that sell unsustainable products or propose projects that are harmful to the environ-ment have changed the way in which th ey m arket th e i r products.

A tactic companies use is green-washing—a term Ronald Ferguson, a professor of management at John Molson School of Business (JMSB), defines as companies repairing public perception of their brand by marketing their products or proposals as green.

Ferguson, alongside marketing professor Michèle Paulin at JMSB, discussed the greenwashing trend during a joint presentation called “Millennials’ Perception of Greenwashing: Social Media and the Energy East Pipeline” at the MB building on March 18. This was organized by the David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise.

Research by Ferguson and Paulin found that a large proportion of millennials are better at noticing greenwashing used by companies, compared to other generations.

“Millennials are more educated than other generations,” Paulin said. She said that millennials face problems that previous generations did not face, therefore they are more aware of issues of social and environmental concern.

Paulin said previous generations

were more corporate-minded, however she doesn’t want to gen-eralize over entire generations. She said that although many millennials are able to resist greenwashing and are more environmentally conscious than others, there are still cases where members of other generations prove better at this than some millennials themselves.

A prime example of a company creating worry for Canada’s environment is TransCanada, according to Paulin and Ferguson. The company proposed multiple pipeline projects, which would connect oil from Alberta and distribute it to the East Coast and West Coast of Canada, as well as the United States. The Energy East pipeline was planned to run through Montreal—which Mayor Denis Coderre spoke out against in January. The Keystone XL pipeline, planned to run across the border to distribute to the oil to the U.S., was rejected by President Barack Obama.

On their website, TransCanada insists that in the event of a spill, diluted bitumen, a type of oil, would not sink to the bottom of a body of water. However, Ferguson said in the case of the Kalamazoo River oil spill, diluted bitumen did just that and sunk to the bottom of the river. Five years later, the clean-up is still not complete.

TransCanada has released advertisements that present the company as environmentally friendly, which Ferguson and Paulin say is a way to market themselves positively to the public. The company

has done so by adding visuals of natural landscapes and greenery to implement an environmental aspect to their marketing scheme. TransCanada has tried to appease those with environmental con-cerns by stating they care for the environment and are planning to work with First Nations, environ-mentalists and governments on their website. Along with this, the company said they plan to work with these groups to create strategies to use during construction in order to protect the land and animals. However, in recent media reports, TransCanada has run into issues with First Nations communities by wanting to build pipelines through their land. TransCanada has also upset environmentalists due to neglect following oil spills, continuing to contaminate and destroy the land where the pipes have burst, according to Ferguson and Paulin’s research.

TransCanada is somewhat successful in greenwashing the pipelines, according to Paulin and

Ferguson. However, they found that many millennials are aware of greenwashing attempted through advertisements.

TransCanada markets itself as being environmentally responsible, explaining on their website that they plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions, however stating that “most of these emissions result from the combustion of natural gas used as a fuel source by our natural gas pipeline system.”

Paulin said that if a company has a long-term view of things, it cannot be moved by short-term considerations of corporate mea-sures and profitability. Paulin said that if business schools had a more balanced education, as opposed to focusing on corporate benefit, businesses would have a better range of values and would not need to greenwash. “We’ve got to clean our mindset,” Paulin said. “At the moment, we’re all junkies. Technology has revolutionized the way we do things, but we have not changed our mindset.”

JMSB professor Michèle Paulin presents research on greenwashing at JMSB. Photo by Marie-Pierre Savard.

The father of a three-month-old boy ran onto a highway in the outskirts of Toronto on Sunday night to rescue his son who was in the back seat of his stolen car. A witness said he ran after the car through the parking lot and followed the thief onto Highway 27. CBC News reported the police found the man injured after he was struck by the thief who was driving his stolen car. He had left his child in the running car with the keys in the ignition. An Amber Alert was called to search for the child, who was found four hours later seven kilometres south of the initial location. The father thanked the police and said the thief must have “had a conscience.”

On Sunday night, Canadians took part in the annual Earth Hour, turning off their power from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. This year marked the 10th anniversar y of the event which began in Australia in 2007 to bring about envi-ronmental awareness. CTV News reported that along with households, government buildings and monuments over the nation participated in the hour. This included the cross on Montreal’s Mount Royal and Edmonton’s High Level Bridge, Parliament buildings in Ottawa and the Toronto CN Tower. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to Twitter to comment. “We’re all on this planet together,” said Trudeau. “Tweeting about #EarthHour is one thing. Tuesday, we’ll put words into action with a budget that builds a clean economy for Canada.”

This Sunday marked the first official day of spring, but it still feels like winter for many Canadians. CBC News reported a snowstorm including ice pellets and freezing rain moving towards New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In northern Canada, areas of Nunavut continue to have snow cleared after a three-day snowstor m. In comparison, Vancouver cherry blossoms and flowers have started to bloom, while temperatures in Calgary have reached double digits.

Father runs after stolen car with baby inside

Canadians participate in Earth Hour

BY JESSICA ROMERACOPY EDITOR

N AT I O N I N B R I E F

Spring has sprung in Canada

“We’ve got to clean our mindset. At the moment, we’re all junkies. Technology has revolutionized the way we do things, but we have not changed our mindset.”

- MICHÈLE PAULIN

Page 6: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

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what can we say? Gotta graduate some time. And that means...

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Send your application to: [email protected]

with your CV, resumé, and three writing samples (500 words max each) attached.

Or drop by a Friday meeting for more information.

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Page 7: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

lifeLIFE EDITOR /// [email protected] SANZA (! @Cristina_Sanza)

S C I E N C E

Students under 20 showcase innovative projectsThe Hydro-Québec Montreal Regional Science and Technology Fair makes a stop at ConcordiaBY KATERINA GANGSTAFF WRITER

The 34th Hydro-Québec Montreal Regional Science and Technology Fair (MRSTF) came to Concordia last week.

Montreal high school and CEGEP students under 20 showcased their work in the EV building. Nearly 200 students participated, displaying 128 projects to professionals and the general public.

“This is about engaging in science outside the classroom,” said Loredana Carbone, the event’s organizer. The MRSTF gives students and scientists an opportunity to

forge links with experienced professionals, incredible young minds and the public.

“What is impressive about most projects is that they build on existing science and technologies to try to dig deeper and solve real life issues,” said Carbone. From indoor GPSs to treating canker sores, projects were innovative.

One such project was Jason Papagiannis’ “Flashlight for the Blind.” The 10th grader from Kells Academy created a device that uses software and ultrasonic waves to calculate the distance between the user and incoming objects, vibrating when the user gets within a specified range.

“If a blind person were to go out in the street, they’d be able to point it and build an area around them,” said Papagiannis. “They won’t have to use the walking stick to hit everything around them.”

Though Papagiannis’ device builds upon existing technologies, his device is highly customizable, smaller than most on the market and inexpensive. The 16-year-old is working on further downsizing his project, so it resemble a flashlight. His project was given Great Distinction and won McGill University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Award.

Zoe Wong, a 10th-grader from The Study, a private school in Westmount, built upon existing medical research in her project “Biomarkers for Crohn’s Disease.” Her project investigated safer ways to diagnose Crohn’s disease in children.

“The usual diagnostic tool for this disease is an endoscopy,” said Wong. The nonsurgical procedure is used to examine a person’s digestive tract. With children, there are of ten dif f icult ies carrying out this procedure due to their narrow canals, lack of compliance, and need for full-body sedation, she said. Wong’s project explores the potential of DNA methylation, a mechanism used to control gene expression. This diagnostic tool was proposed in 2011.

“My hypothesis was that the methylation in their intestines would differ from those

who don’t have Crohn’s,” said Wong. She also hypothesized if the DNA methylation found in the intestines of Crohn’s patients matched the DNA methylation found in their stools, doctors could potentially use stool samples alone to diagnose the disease. This would be less-invasive than an endoscopy.

Wong’s project was given Highest Distinction, winning Concordia University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Award and the Super expo-sciences Hydro Québec (SESHQ) Experimentation and Design Award.

This was Concordia’s four th t ime hosting the MRSTF. The university plans to host again in 2017.

“We are deeply tied to our community and committed to scientific discovery and curiosity. We see these students as our future leaders and as those who will shape technology in the future,” said Carbone. “We also hope that by bringing them to Concordia they can see what we have to offer as a potential post-second-ary institution.”

Fifteen projects will proceed to the Quebec final. The provincial fair will take place April 22 to 24 at Aurèle-Racine Curling Club in Sorel-Tracy. From there, 40 students will go to the Canadian final happening May 15 to 20 at McGill University.

Graphic by Florence Yee.

The unique experience of interning abroadThis Concordia student spent four months working with children in BrazilBY SABRINA AHNSTAFF WRITER

Being able to go to another country for an internship is something many students dream of. Antony Maiolla, a third-year psychology student at Concordia was able to experience this first hand last year when he went abroad to São Paulo Brazil from June to September. Waking up by the beach, encountering an entire new culture and learning bits of a new language were only some of the things the young student got to experience.It all started at Concordia, where Maiolla signed up with AIESEC, a non-profit organization that helps students find internships abroad. After interviews and information sessions, he got matched with a non-profit organization in Brazil, his country of choice. The process took about two months.

He worked for ProBrasil , an NGO which helps educate children living in favelas, which are slums in the country. With this organization, Maiolla and other interns from around the world got to create a documentary about ProBrasil and a website in three languages. The

projects led Maiolla to teach English to the children living there, played with them and witnessed their daily routines.

All interns had to be able to speak English, but Portuguese was not a prerequisite for the internship. Maiolla said knowing French helped him figure out how to break the language barrier between himself and the locals. “I would ask myself what the word for something was in French, and then tell myself to make it sound more Portuguese. About half of the time I got it right,” he said.

Of course spending an entire summer in Brazil did not just mean labouring con-stantly. Maiolla learned about the culture of Brazil. Something he noticed in Brazil was the overall attitude of people and how it differed from Canada. “I learned that Canadians focus way too much on the economy and the system and don’t realize how much it affects their happi-ness,” he said.

On his birthday Maiolla went hang gliding over Rio de Janeiro. “It was one of the best experiences of my life,” he said. “I knew it was going to be great, but I still did not expect to feel that kind of an adrenaline rush. I felt like I was five

years old again.” When asked if he had hesitated before

going abroad on internship, the 22-year-old said: “It was a dream come true. However, I did have my worries about being robbed and perhaps being targeted for being gay. However, I saw more gay

T R A V E L

PDA in São Paulo than I’ve ever seen here. But it doesn’t mean that you’re safe while doing it.” Upon his return to Canada he said he felt like a whole new person, as though he had to learn to live in our society all over again.

Graphic by Florence Yee.

Page 8: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

7MARCH 22, 2016 theconcordian

BY FIONA MAYNARDSTAFF WRITER

Disney characters rarely have mothers and they’re forced to grow up much faster without them. I lost my mother when I was 13 and now I feel 10 years older than I should be.

I lost my mother when I was 13 and now I feel 10 years older than I should be.

Like most kids, I grew up watching all of the magical Disney movies like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Cinderella, and Bambi. I never realized the trend when I was younger, but the absence of mother figures in these children’s movies jumps out at me now. Why would Walt Disney, the admired innovator of children’s films, create such tragedies and refrain from adding such important roles in the lives of his main characters?

In a revealing interview with Glamour in 2014, long-time Disney producer Don Hahn explained Disney’s reasoning behind his need to eliminate or exclude mothers altogether. Hahn said “it’s much quicker to have characters grow up when you bump off their parents,” which is the more obvious justification for a movie that’s usually 90 minutes long. However he goes on to recall how Walt Disney tragically lost his mother. At 28-years-old, Disney bought a home for his mother and the furnace in the house leaked which ended up causing her death at the age of 70. “He never would talk about it,” Hahn said in the interview. Although Disney felt personally responsible for his mother’s death, he kept his head held high and continued producing movies, touching hearts, and making history.

I sympathize with Disney. When some-

thing devastating happens to you, you have two choices: pick yourself up, dust yourself off and continue with life the same way you would have before, or fall into an endless downward spiral towards darkness and let your heartbreak get the best of you. Sometimes people aren’t strong enough to pick themselves back up, but luckily something in me was.

My mother Kerri had breast cancer for about three months. I firmly believed she would conquer it because it was her second battle with the same cancer. But one day my mom and her boyfriend Carl picked me up from school. I hopped into the backseat of the car and started ranting about pointless things that happened during my day. I noticed the snug Harley Davidson bandana on my mom’s head, an accessory I still have, when she turned around and said “I shaved my head” with a comforting smile on her face. At that moment, the cancer became real.

Over time, cancer sucked the life out of my mother’s body but her smile never left her face.

If there’s one thing that I’ve inherited from my mom it’s her optimism and fierce determination to succeed. People who know my story always look at me with such disbelief at how I’ve managed to steer myself in the right direction while staying so positive over the years.

Times were tough. After my mom died, I immediately took on her role and cared for my sister Lily and my brother Tristan, who at the time were one and two

years old. It was like a Cinderella story. I was left with two new siblings and I was living with my stepfather, who I had trouble getting along with.

Computer time and MSN messaging with my friends turned into long nights preparing baths, changing diapers and reading Dr. Seuss’ One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I wouldn’t change it for the world but I grew up too fast.

While my stepfather worked the night shift at FedEx, I was alone with my thoughts and became accustomed to my new life as, well, a teenage parent. I didn’t have time for a social life—I was just constantly busy and overwhelmed with the endless grind. I slipped on my mother’s shoes and just started running.

Nothing makes you feel more l ike your parent than when you real-ize you’re doing

Learning to live and cope with lossLosing a parent can make us mature faster, like our favourite Disney characters

F A M I L Y

exactly what they used to do. Tristan was one year older than Lily, and during his terrible twos, he took advantage of his power and made her cry a lot. One night I couldn’t handle the tormenting so I grabbed him by the arm and started yelling at him to stop. He raised his hands up towards his ears and my heart dropped. It brought me back to the same scene 10 years prior, when I covered my ears because my mom’s yelling was too loud to handle. In an instant I went from being totally frustrated and fed up to chillingly nostalgic.

It’s moments like this that made me more in-tune with how I should carry myself in the world. I learned by failing and from those around me.

When Bambi’s mother is suddenly shot by a hunter, Bambi doesn’t realize it and he continues running into the woods until he turns around and realizes he’s on his own. He meets new friends who guide him and teach him valuable life lessons. That was me—a lost soul looking for guidance from everyone around me.

I was lucky that I had close friends and a drive to keep moving. Like Walt Disney, I stuck my nose back into whatever I was doing before the heartbreak and in my case it was books. I spent the next four years of high school studying tirelessly, then I went to college and now I’m in university. The dedication I put into school was initially a distraction from my pain, but as I kept pursuing it, I encountered challenges that kept me on my toes and made me a stronger person.

Throughout the years, I have been relentless in the pursuit of a greater existence because I have always feared that the most tragic point in my life would consume me.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Disney and the tendency to eliminate mother roles from his movies, it’s that losing someone can cause a pain so excruciating and unexplainable that the only remedy is to avoid the subject altogether. The most important thing to remember though is to

keep moving forward. Even if you don’t

know where you’re going, you’ll find yourself along the way.

Fiona Maynard at a young age, with her mother. Photo courtesy of Fiona Maynard.

Graphic by Florence Yee.

Page 9: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

artsARTS EDITORS /// [email protected] ANDERSON (! @LydiaAndersonn) & ELIJAH BUKREEV (! @ElijahBukreev)

F I L M

A different kind of monster movieThe mysterious follow-up to 2008’s Cloverfield is edge-of-your-seat materialBY ELIJAH BUKREEVCO-ARTS EDITOR

A good marketing campaign can take a movie a long way. Too often, a blockbuster gets announced years in advance, trailers become unreasonably long and ubiquitous as the campaign goes on, and by the time the movie comes out, you feel like you’ve seen it already. Good marketing doesn’t mean you should know exactly what you’re getting, down to the little details. Quite the contrary—you should be made to feel that some major secret is being withheld from you.

The original Cloverfield is a textbook example of movie marketing done right—mystery is what made it so massively popular when it was released, even though the film itself came as a disappointment to some. Seven years later comes another, equally mysterious project, very loosely connected to the earlier monster movie and a massive improvement on it in every regard.

10 Cloverfield Lane is one of the most tense and exciting films in recent memory. Its immediate success couldn’t have been foreseen, for the simple reason that the film, directed by newcomer Dan Trachtenberg, was never even announced. In January 2016, there was suddenly a trailer for it, and now, two months later, it’s out in theatres.

Its story is still well guarded. The trailer won’t tell you more than you need to know,

and, frankly, neither should this review. The film’s secrecy is part of its magic—looking at a roller-coaster before you take it will not diminish its effect, but 10 Cloverfield Lane, a roller-coaster in movie form, is best experienced if you walk into it in a blindfold. That’s just friendly advice, but if you’re not convinced, read on for its central mystery.

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is knocked out in a car crash, and when she wakes up, she’s handcuffed to the wall in an underground bunker. The large and domineering Howard (John Goodman), who built the place under his home as a shelter from nuclear warfare, tells her it’s for her own good—there’s just been an attack, he says, that killed most living creatures on Earth, so by bringing her to his bunker, he actually saved her life. Emmett ( John Gallagher Jr.), an agreeable young man who helped build the bunker and has taken refuge in it, confirms the story—the outside air has been poisoned, and so they have no choice but to remain locked inside. Is Howard a kidnaper or a saviour? What can be believed?

Like last year ’s Room, to which it deserves comparison, 10 Cloverfield Lane toys with its characters’ perception

of reality, and the outside world, from within an enclosed space. The constant ambiguities and tonal changes that arise from every plot turn make the movie a strangely unpredictable experience, and a stunning mind game—depending on your perception of what’s happening, you may be watching a psychological thriller or a minimalistic disaster film. Or perhaps it is, like its predecessor, a monster movie? Right from the get-go, Goodman is effortlessly terrifying. Before you first see him, you hear the deafening stamp of his heavy footsteps, and when he appears, he is pos-sibly more massive than you’ve ever seen

him before. His behaviour is unreadable, his motives always under question. The clenching and unclenching of his fist is a more arresting image than any fantastic creature a computer could conjure.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Directed by Dan TrachtenbergStarring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. Released on March 11, 2016 Duration 103 min

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

The characters’ dinners are frequently disturbed by unexplained tremors from above.

T H E A T R E

To procreate or to save the planet?Duncan Macmillan’s play Lungs has been translated into French under the title Des arbresBY AMBRE SACHETASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR

A nameless couple fights while waiting in line at IKEA: so far, it’s all fairly routine. The argument started with the man asking the woman if she wanted a baby.

British playwright Duncan Macmillan knows how to handle ordinary moments and turn them into a gut-wrenching journey through a modern romantic relationship. His latest play, a mind-blowing face-to-face titled Lungs, has now been translated into French by Benjamin

Pradet as Des arbres.Is having a baby a responsible thing to do

in a world where the rate of CO2 emissions has never been higher and where the future of coming generations has never been more uncertain?

This question will lead the main characters, a mid-30s couple, to question all they believe in. If they’ve paid their taxes, done the recycling and gotten socially involved, should they now consider themselves justified in perpetuating the human race? But isn’t it selfish to have children if you don’t consider yourself a good person?

Des arbres arises from a pessimistic viewpoint, yet the play gives way to comical and ridiculous verbal exchanges where extreme honesty prevails. Anyone could relate to this young and excessively rational couple trying to get it right in a world where nothing is. “That’s the goal of drama ... to put a mirror in front of people’s faces,” lead actor Maxime Denommée said. “It’s as if we were able to relax people through humour … and touch them on an emotional level.” In proposing his own translation, Pradet stayed true to the tone of the text and to what Denommée refers to as British black comedy.

It’s interesting to note that the literal translation of Lungs’s French title is “Trees.” Probably not chosen at random, since forests are the lungs of the Earth, as the saying goes. Planting trees to do their share is part of the couple’s plan. Denommée described the couple as both strong and fragile. By swaying from one side to another in one of the last scenes, the couple embodies the paradox of nature and the feeling of impermanence conveyed by the play.

The dynamic performances of Sophie Cadieux and Maxime Denommée, previously partners in Radio Canada’s T.V. show Rumeurs, are filled with striking and realistic dialogue. A special mention is in order for Sophie Cadieux,

deeply touching in the role of an anxious doctoral student who is half-insane and half incredibly sensitive to the world’s torments. It’s impossible not to shiver when she sarcastically reacts to one of the worst things that could happen in a woman’s life.

Des arbres’ existentialism is reminiscent of Simon Boudreault’s play D pour Dieu, where a baby playing God joyfully wonders about the meaning of life. Both dramas introduce a purgatory-like place, in which it’s about letting it all out. The set of Des arbres is empty, except for two bottles of water. Director Benoît Vermeulen chose simplicity for a reason—more elaborate set pieces or stage directions would have distracted the spectator away from the intense interpretations of such witty writing. Take two charismatic actors, a text that is as sharp as it is refreshing, and you’ll be left with a delicious taste of what can be done in the name of love… and fear.

# Théâtre de la Manufacture and artistic director Jean-Denis Leduc present Des arbres at La Licorne Theatre from March 7 until April 15, with additional shows between March 20 and May 2. Tickets are sold out for all performances, but keep an eye out for updates through theatrelalicorne.com.

Maxime Denommée and Sophie Cadieux struggle with the choice of procreatingin a future world’s hostile environment. Photo by Suzane O’Neill.

Page 10: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

9MARCH 22, 2016 theconcordian

CINEMA

BY TIFFANY LAFLEURASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR

“I actually do believe documentary can make concrete social change. And the reason I am so committed to working in documentary is because I think that on many levels, documentaries can impact real social change,” said activist and doc-umentary filmmaker Min Sook Lee in a talk with Cinema Politica in October of 2015 in Toronto. “They’re really strong bridges and storytelling vehicles, but I also believe documentaries can provide some opportunities for inspiring other people.”

Lee has tackled an array of social issues through her groundbreaking and critically acclaimed films. In the course of her career, Lee has given voice to immigrant and migrant farm workers in Canada, citizens of both South and North Korea, as well as homosexual police officers in Toronto, among others.

Her films traveled to festivals across North America, Europe and Asia and have been broadcast nationally on stations such as CBC, Global, TVO and History Television.

Lee’s efforts to give voice to the voiceless have been rewarded by Cinema Politica, a nonprofit based at Concordia committed to supporting political films that explore issues and stories of oppression excluded from the mainstream media.

On March 30, at Concordia, Lee wil l be awarded the second Alanis Obomsawin Award for Commitment to Community and Resistance.

According to Ezra Winton, co-founder and director of programming at Cinema Politica, it is Lee’s long-term commitment to the communities featured in her documentaries that made her application stand out from the rest.

Specifically, said Winton, it ’s “the ways in which [Lee’s] films privilege the voices of those

communities instead of privileging the voices of so-called experts, bureaucrats, academics. She really facilitates a platform for the voices and per-spectives of those who are actually disenfranchized and marginalized by way of their status.”

Legendary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will be at the ceremony herself and will present Lee with the award. Obomsawin has directed documen-taries for the National Film Board for nearly four decades. Over the course of her own career, she has made more than 30 documentaries on issues affecting the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Her most successful feature-length film, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), documented the Mohawk uprising in Oka and Kanehsatake and won 18 international awards.

“I think having these two powerhouse Canadian filmmakers and activists in one room is a rare opportunity for Montrealers and Concordia students and I hope they seize [the opportunity],” said Winton.

Several segments of Lee’s documentaries will be screened, such as Tiger Spirit, Hogtown and Badge of Pride. Segments from her newest film, Migrant Dreams, will be screened as well.

Migrant Dreams explores the hardships and opportunities

migrant women from Mexico, Thailand and Jamaica face when they come to Canada in search of work to support their families back home. The docu-mentary looks at these women from all around the world and their common work environments, which demand incredible amounts of effort for very little reward.

# The award presentation and screening will take place in the Hall building, room H-110 at 8 p.m. on March 30. The event is by donation. Amounts of $5 or $10 are suggested.

Here are three of Lee’s films which can be viewed online:

Released in 2008Duration 73 minutes

Synopsis Along the border separating communist North Korea from capitalist South Korea, Lee, who is South Korean herself, tells the story of a nation torn apart by war through the voices of those divided by it. Weaving in longing, hope and heartbreak, Tiger Spirit paints a broader picture of a divided nation. This film can be watched at www.nfb.ca.

Released in 2003Duration 51 minutes

Synopsis For eight months a year in Ontario, 4,000 migrant workers pick tomatoes, toiling for compen-sation that no local would deem acceptable, under conditions which no local would agree to. Through the eyes of a poverty-stricken father from central Mexico, Lee explores how and why they make this annual migration up north. This film can be watched at www.nfb.ca.

Released in 2005Duration 96 minutes

Synopsis It started with the police wanting more money. Then it became the story of sweeping gun crime, a dysfunctional board and media storm as a series of corruption scandals made headlines. This six-month exposé of the politics, dirty tactics and bad behaviour of police in Toronto in February 2004 shows how things quickly spiraled out of control when the police attempt to police themselves. This film can be watched at hotdocslibrary.ca.

POLIT ICA

“They’re really strong bridges and storytelling vehicles, but I also believe documen-taries can provide some opportunities for inspiring other people.”MIN SOOK LEE

TIGER SPIRIT

EL CONTRATO

HOGTOWN

Min Sook Lee to be presentedwith Alanis Obomsawin Award

MAR.

H-1108 p.m.30

The filmmaker’s contributions to society will be recognized by Cinema Politica

Page 11: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

musicMUSIC EDITOR /// [email protected] PROVOST-WALKER

V I N Y L

III is the most subversive EP of the year, thus far—a pastiche of incendiary tunes outlined by punk rock’s synonymous three-chord snarl. It’s an effort that’s deeply anti—anti-capitalist, anti-commer-cialist, and everything else that fulfills an anti-agenda. III also speaks the language of clench-toothed jock-rock, likely to incite communal fist-bumping, and yet, it’s an album of unequivocal arrogance, too preoccupied with politicizing itself to fall victim to conformist standards. “Can’t Stop Fighting” is an athletic sprint of riff-savvy guitars and low-fi aggression that smartly condemns violence against women. Though openly reverent of a ‘70s rock ethos, it’s a charming association that validates Sheer Mag’s riff-intensive sound. It’s not quite seismic enough to fill an arena, but III’s persistence is abiding. Protests against injustice have never rocked this much.

$ Trial track: “Nobody’s Baby”

8/10 — Calvin Cashen

IIISHEER MAG 1

(Static Shock Records, 2016)

You and IJEFF BUCKLEY

2(Legacy, 2016)

As pleasant and genuinely competent as Jeff Buckley’s covers have always been, there’s a decidedly unflattering allure to You and I, the latest posthumous release. Made up of raw demos recorded for Columbia Records prior to his solo album, Grace, Buckley solitarily runs through a wide assortment of covers, his voice as singular as ever. If its release feels a little pointless however, it’s because it is; nearly all of these songs have appeared on better live records in one form or another. As the already modest Buckley vaults are scraped clean, the question of posthumous boundaries is once again put back into question. Few posthumous releases truly feel necessary and You and I is no different, its purpose simply to put Buckley’s name back into people’s heads. Not every single found recording is deserving of an official release.

$ Trial track: “Everyday People”

5/10 — Samuel Provost-Walker

Record Store Day must-havesOn April 16, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for these key releases

BY CALVIN CASHENASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR

Just like its bagel shops, Montreal boasts a wide array of record stores. The city’s citizens are simply infatuated with the medium, nearly foaming at the mouth for the resur-

gence of vinyl. Some people claim that its poppy and scratchy quality is a vintage sound you just can’t replicate digitally.

In fact, there’s been a proverbial vinyl revival that has spiked the medium’s novelty and popularity. Vinyl album sales between January and March of 2015 were 53 per cent higher than the first three months of 2014, according to a recent Nielsen report. CDs are all but extinct, yet vinyl has somehow survived years of cultural shifts. Vinyl isn’t exclusive to those with a record player and an insatiable collector’s itch; it’s just as feasible to buy into the hype. In fact, there’s an annual event specifically marketed towards the uniting nature of vinyl.

With the yearly worldwide celebration of Record Store Day on April 16, there’s never been a better time to dust off your parents’ stored-away 45s and put them under the needle. In anticipation of its ninth installment, Record Store Day releases have been announced, with thrash metal gods Metallica serving as the festive day’s ambassadors. It’s an exciting task trying to scrutinize this list—to determine which exclusives best represent the vinyl community. This year has its share of coloured vinyl and a fair bounty of curiosities that are fascinating for reasons beyond potential purchase. Here are some personal picks that seasoned vinyl veterans and amateurs alike should keep on their Record Store Day itinerary.

T H E G O ! T E A M – T H U N D E R , L I G H T N I N G , S T R I K E (M E M P H I S INDUSTRIES)

Format: 12-inch LPQuantity: 2,000Variety: Red and Yellow swirl vinyl

Out of press since its 2004 release, this buoyant debut flips disco on its head by melding hip-hop beats with schoolyard chants built on samples. All of this is aug-mented by discordant guitars played at breakneck speed. Back with a fully-flagged vinyl cutting, Thunder, Lightning, Strike’s

elastic pop ditties will be reissued on dazzling red and yellow swirl vinyl this Record Store Day.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – WAKE UP YOU V.1: THE RISE AND FALL OF NIGERIAN ROCK MUSIC. 1972-1977 (NOW-AGAIN RECORDS, 2016)

Format: 12-inch LP x2Quantity: 1,600Variety: Black vinyl

This double LP compilation commends the glory days of the galvanizing Nigerian rock scene of the ‘60s. As Nigeria descended into civil war in the ‘60s, the country’s rock scene musically lamented the destruction and struggle to spread the healing powers of funk and psychedelic rock. This furious compilation features a 104-page book of vintage pictures and detailed liner notes by Nigerian musicologist and researcher Uchenna Ikonne.

OL DIRTY BASTARD – “BROOKLYN ZOO”/”SHIMMY SHIMMY YA” (GET ON DOWN)

Format: 12-inch LPQuantity: 2,000 Variety: Picture Disc

Hip hop has never seen an auteur as off-kilter as Ol’ Dirty Bastard, a now deceased member of the paradigm gangsta rap outfit Wu-Tang Clan. With RZA driving production on his wonky debut record, Return to the 36 Chambers, Dirty completely zeroed in on his specific creative vision. This vinyl will feature the record’s first two singles, “Brooklyn Zoo” and “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” and will recreate the iconic food stamp album cover on picture disc vinyl.

SEX PISTOLS – NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS (RHINO)

Format: 12-inch LPQuantity: 5,000Variety: Picture Disc

Endearingly broken in its construction, this seminal punk statement will be re-pressed

on picture disc this Record Store Day and will feature the reverse colour art of the original U.S. version. Re-pressings are jarring reminders of albums that are near 50 in age range, but this one in particular feels as ageless as ever.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHEDELIC SAMBA (WORLD MUSIC NETWORK)

Format: 12-inch LPQuantity: 1,200 Variety: Black vinyl

Brazilian samba had a chameleonic take on the psychedelic. On this compilation of raw ‘60s psychedelic rock, original genre innovators such as Ney Matogrosso and Wal Sant’ana are featured as well as modern contributors like Gui Amabis and Luciano Salvador. The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Samba will be exclusively released for Record Store Day and will include a digital download card so you can listen to these trance-inducing grooves anywhere you go.

JAY REATARD – BLOOD VISIONS 10TH A N N I V E R S A R Y E D I T I O N (F AT POSSUM)

Format: 12-inch LP Quantity: 2,000 Variety: Red Vinyl plus bonus 7-inch of demos

After the untimely death of rock icon Jay Reatard, his prolific DIY style shaped the face of garage music to come. Record Store Day will honor his legacy with a 10th Anniversary edition of Blood Visions, Reatard’s first solo output. This pressing will be cut on red vinyl to capture the record’s ominous cover. The special edition will include a gatefold jacket design and a bonus 7-inch of primitive Blood Visions demos.

QuickspinsCHECK THIS WEEK’S SPOTIFY PLAYLIST ATbit.ly/1pGpQKP

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Page 12: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

11MARCH 22, 2016 theconcordian

Life of PauseWILD NOTHING

3

(Captured Tracks, 2016)

Life of Pause unfolds in three distinct phases: tropical rainforest pop, dream pop in the key of love, and a sound rem-iniscent of The Smiths minus Morrissey. The first category is most prominent on the first song, “Reichpop,” which would pair nicely with a fruity cocktail. The xylophone runs wild like vines in a forest, complemented by what can only be described as breezy bamboo flutes. The album undeniably jumps into The Smiths adulation on “Japanese Alice,” a nicely formulated pop rock tune. Next, the album’s title track evokes an ‘80s synthpop band hit hard by feelings of deep love. This sound pours over into the next song “Alien,” where singer Jack Tatum repeats the lyric “You made me feel like an alien,” aided by hard-hitting synths. Though Life of Pause is primed for play at your nearest Urban Outfitters, don’t let that deter you.

$ Trial track: “Japanese Alice”

9/10 — Mia Pearson

On 99¢, Santigold presents listeners with bouncy beats coupled with lyrics prime for singing along to, but she builds these from an eclectic mix of styles and themes. Her lyrics detail the story of a pop star who is fighting to be original not only with her music but also in how she lives her life and interacts with pop culture. Santigold draws from a variety of genres, including the ska punk sounds of “Chasing Shadows,” the stuttered ‘90s synth vibes of “Rendezvous Girl,” and the dark trap sounds of “Walking in a Circle.” These are built with the help of Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, iLoveMakonnen and more. Santigold’s vocal delivery is like a choreographed stumbling, set against a high-pitched self-sung background of shouts, melodies and harmonies. On 99¢, Santigold lives out the contradiction of a pop star who is bold, original, and creative.

$ Trial track: “Chasing Shadows”

7/10 — Emmett Stowe

99¢SANTIGOLD

4(Atlantic, 2016)

R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

A beginner’s guide to avant-garde metalSometimes weird and heavy collide to form something wholly rewarding

BY SAMUEL PROVOST-WALKERMUSIC EDITOR

Though experimental in nature, avant-garde art tends to push past convention and move right into the absurdist and the bizarre. Many works of its ilk defy fixed categorization due to their bewil-deringly unfamiliar content, often pushing past what is deemed normal in an effort to shake up the playing field. Needless to say, the avant-garde is often seen as a provocation to the status quo.

So what happens when you apply these forward-thinking concepts to heavy metal music? You get something genuinely weird and wholly spectacular. Amalgamating elements from other disparate genres in refreshingly postmodern ways, avant-garde metal is primarily distinguished by its willingness to go all the way. After all, there’s nothing wrong with being weird, especially when it just means being yourself.

Due to heavy metal’s comparatively late arrival in music, avant-garde metal took a considerable amount of time to become established, the moniker often ascribed to artists and releases that defied convention and utilized unconventional song struc-tures. Some of the genre’s forebears, like Celtic Frost and the inimitable Mr. Bungle, only began appearing towards the tail end of the ‘80s. With the turn of the decade however came a wave of creative and equally unpredictable bands and projects, from the harsh dissonance of John Zorn’s Naked City to the sultry saxophone-infused death metal of Sweden’s Pan.Thy.Monium.

Singer Mike Patton cut his teeth in these parts, leading the aforementioned Mr. Bungle to critical success before unexpectedly transitioning into the spotlight as weirdo alt-metal outfit Faith No More’s frontman

and principal songwriting force. With the band’s dissolution in 1997 came a return to far-out experimentation for Patton, most notably in his off-kilter supergroup Fantômas. Composed of Melvins brainchild King Buzzo on guitar, ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn on bass and Patton on vocals, Fantômas’ discography is one defined by its concep-tually charged nature, each album focusing on a specific idea.

The Director’s Cut, the band’s 2001 sophomore album, finds Patton and his co-horts masterfully reinterpreting classic film themes; the band turn Nino Rota’s iconic The Godfather theme into a spastic thrash assault full of bestial screams and yelps. Patton’s vocal range is the star of the show, bouncing manically from inhuman shrieks to lounge-y crooning, effortlessly switching gears to the tune of the band. What’s most apparent is the group’s clear love for the material, granting each theme a tasteful, albeit boldly experimental arrangement filled with surprises.

While metal is still relatively young and growing, its sub-genres previously deemed ‘avant-garde’ often the subject of reevaluation and rigid categorization, some bands simply live outside of these realms. Enter Japan’s Sigh. Increasingly boisterous and uniformly bizarre with each passing album, the band had its start in relatively straightforward symphonic black metal, its philosophical lyrical content notwithstanding.

Though their third album Hail Horror Hail marked the start of their formal experi-mentation, diving deep into elements of progressive metal and ‘80s speed metal, 2001’s Imaginary Sonicscape represents their most eclectic and unique release yet. Throwing singer Mirai Kawashima’s black

metal growls into a bemusing assortment of psychedelic rock riffs, disco-infused synthesizers and progressive metal song structures, Sigh have fun with a literal smorgasbord of genres and sonic ele-ments. What Imaginary Sonicscape lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for in fun, genuine weirdness.

Though often credited as wacky, avant-garde metal isn’t limited to circus-like theatrics and aggressively weird turns. Take Sherbrooke-born death metal band Gorguts for example. Born in the golden age of death metal, Gorguts’s penchant for technically driven riffs and rhythm sections came to define them, their second album The Erosion of Sanity paving the way for many technically inclined bands.

That being said, nothing prepared the world for Gorguts’ third album, 1998’s Obscura. Driven by its frenzied rhythm section, atonal riffs and unconventional pick-scratching techniques, Obscura remains unmatched in its cryptic dissonance. It’s a testament to Gorguts’ strengths that death metal this challenging and mind-boggling can feel so organic, its crunchy production lending each snare hit and crushing riff its necessary weight. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the band never confuses technicality for genuine songwriting, each labyrinthine composition packed with soul and purpose. In a world where an album as intensely forward-thinking and avant-garde as Obscura exists, it’s pretty hard to settle for anything less, even nearly 20 years later.

As challenging as it can be, don’t let its suffix fool you; avant-garde metal isn’t reserved for art-scholars. On the contrary, it’s home to some of the most innovative and otherworldly forms of heavy metal yet. Dig in.

METAL VANGUARDS(above) Fantômas.(below) Gorguts.Photo by Jimmy Hubbard.

Page 13: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

sportsSPORTS EDITOR /// [email protected] COLE (! @a_cole39)

BY ALEXANDER COLESPORTS EDITOR

During a January hockey game at the Pierrefonds Sportplexe between the Pierrefonds “Junior A” Barons and the Huntington “Junior A” Huskies, 19-year-old Pierrefonds forward Nicolas Mazzilli had a shocking experience.

In the middle of the third period, with the Barons up by a score of 2-1, Mazzilli was called for a penalty. As Mazzilli described, he skated to the penalty box, shut the door and sat down on the bench like he normally does when called for an infraction. This time however, as soon as Mazzilli sat down he could feel cold liquid trickling down his neck and shoulders. When he looked up, he saw the parent of a Huntington player dumping the remains of their water bottle on him.

“When I got up to see what was hap-pening, a parent on the opposing team was screaming obscenities at me,” Mazzilli said. “I was shocked and all I could do was scream right back at her. It was the weirdest situation.”

According to Mazzilli, a couple of “boos” here and there are something he is used to, especially when a game is getting particularly hostile, but being assaulted was something he never expected. When

the Barons left the ice to go back to their room, parents from the Huntington side threw water bottles at the players and a few even spat on them from the seats above.

What happened in Pierrefonds is not an isolated incident. According to the CBC, in 2013 a fight broke out during a youth soccer game in Barrie, ON, after a parent directed a racial slur at a parent on the other team. The slur occurred after parents for one of the teams disagreed with a call that a referee had made. The

incident involved 30 parents and the police were called to break up the altercation.

Another altercation between par-ents occurred in Belleville, ON, when parents at a Bantam C hockey game started yelling obscenities at each other. According to the Toronto Sun, the incident escalated to a point where there were fist fights happening in the stands.

With behaviour like that being seen at youth sporting events, it begs the question:

S P O R T S M A N S H I P

Parents get too rowdy at sporting eventsCheering on your child is fine but some people tend to go too far and take the fun out of it

are parents taking their child’s sporting events too far?

For Lorraine Du Cap, a parent of a youth hockey player, parents are definitely going too far, especially when considering the fact that many kids are just playing for fun.

“I have seen so many incidents where parents start yelling at each other and then it just escalates,” Du Cap said. “Some parents take cheering on their child way too far it gets embarrassing.”

As someone who has played organized sports in the past, I have seen many instances where parents took things too far. Seeing parents fighting on the sidelines drains all of the fun out of the game, which is especially saddening when everyone is playing to have fun.

Parents need to realize that cheering on your child is perfectly fine, but do it in a respectful way. No matter what sport, everyone is out there participating

because they love doing what they do. By being belligerent and picking fights, you are ultimately embar-rassing your child and the sport.

At the end of each game, both teams shake hands. It’s a sign of respect for the game; a respect some parents seem to forget about in the moment.

Graphic by Thom Bell.

O P I N I O N

Who should the Habs draft next season?Looking at Marc Bergevin’s draft record and what he can do to improve the teamBY THEO KYRESSTAFF WRITER

The NHL draft is the single most import-ant date on any general manager’s calendar. It’s where teams build their foundation for the future, the moments which begin a player’s journey to the best hockey league in the world and the event where championships are won. It’s also where we learn about the team’s philosophy and if there’s any shifting trends amongst its future plans. This year’s draft takes place in Buffalo, NY, June 24 and 25 and it’s set to be Marc Bergevin’s most important moment as GM of the Canadiens.

Bergevin’s draft philosophy is that size and character dominates actual skill. It’s why Connor Crisp (who will never play a game in the NHL) was chosen before Anthony Duclair; a Montrealer playing extremely well in Arizona. When analyzing Bergevin’s tenure, it’s more than fair to say the Canadiens have largely failed at having top-tier amateur scouting.

Noah Juulsen who was last year’s pick has had a terrible season with a drop from 0.76 to 0.45 points per game. Nikita Scherbak, the team’s 2014 first-round pick has been awful in the AHL with only 15 points in 35 games. Bergevin’s only impact pick was with Alex Galchenyuk

who was drafted third overall in 2012 and with Michael McCarron who was drafted 25th overall in 2013. However, McCarron is projected to only be a third-line forward.

This year the Canadiens will likely draft anywhere from eighth to 11th overall. The Canadiens are a team that desperately need a skill-upgrade at the centre, wing and defense positions. Aside from my delusional dream of a lottery win for Auston Matthews, let’s look at who the Canadiens can and should realistically draft.

In the Quebec player category, Pierre-Luc Dubois is someone that, if available, the team has to draft. He’s intelligent, skilled and has tremendous size, a per-fect complement for Galchenyuk. TSN draft analyst Craig Button and Sportsnet lead CHL analyst Sam Cosentino both believe he has top-5 potential but he’s currently ranked eighth in Bob McKenzie’s mid-season draft rankings. Ranked in the 10th spot is Julien Gauthier, who has put up 56 points this season, but lacked in the assist category which has hurt his reputation with scouts.

Ranked right af ter Dubois is Mike McLeod, who is compared favorably to Ryan Kesler with the speed of Dylan Larkin. One player who might drop is Alex Nylander, brother of Toronto Maple Leafs

future star forward William Nylander. Alex is an offensive beast with some size but is a pure winger who can have some inconsistent streaks.

In the defensemen category, there are a few notable players. Button is impressed by two guys in particular: Olli Juolevi and Jake Bean. Juolevi, ranked seventh, is a smooth-skating, puck-moving defen-seman who made a name for himself at the World Juniors and just might be the best defenseman available. Bean, ranked 11th, is a great offensive defenseman who currently leads his junior team, the Calgary Hitmen, in goals with 24.

One potential late first or early sec-ond-round player Bergevin should look to acquire is Alex DeBrincat of the Erie Otters. He’s a small player but he’s an elite offensive talent who’s scoring at a higher pace than he did while playing alongside Connor McDavid; the first overall pick from 2015.

Personally, if the Habs are looking for a forward, they should draft Dubois, while if they are looking for a defensemen, they should draft Bean. We’ll just have to wait and see what Bergevin decides to do on draft day.

Graphic by Thom Bell.

Page 14: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

13MARCH 22, 2016 theconcordian

M E N ’ S H O C K E Y

The future of Concordia men’s hockeyThe Stingers are going into next season with uncertainty on both the offensive and defensive sidesBY JONATHAN STILLASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The 2015-16 edition of the Concordia Stingers can be appropriately summed up in one word: transition. The team introduced 14 new players, and despite having such a young squad, the Stingers made the playoffs. However, a few players won’t be back next season which has led to some big questions.

WHERE’S THE OFFENSE GOING TO COME FROM?

This past season, one of the bright spots for the team was goal production. The Stingers were 11th in the CIS with 3.64 goals per game and 103 goals for. However, their two biggest point producers are not expected to be back as both captain Olivier Hinse and forward Jessyko Bernard are set to graduate. The leading candidate to supplement the scoring is forward Frederic Roy, who finished the year with 22 points and looks like an ideal candidate for captain. Forwards Scott Oke and Philippe Hudon both finished the season with over 20 points and will be expected to pick up the slack. The Stingers will have to look to one or two more forwards to score more than 20 points to maintain their point production from this past season. They will also need to look at generating more offense from the point, as defenceman Anthony Cortese was the team’s highest

scoring blueliner with eight points.

WHO STEPS UP ON DEFENSE?

The team was last in the ent ire league last season in goals against with 112. This was due to defensive breakdowns by both the forwards and the defensemen in their own zone. However, their lack of point production is another area where the team is going to need to improve. Other than Gabriel Bourret and Alex Macdonald, the other six Stingers defensemen last season were playing in their rookie seasons. Both will surely be relied on to lead the way as seniors and the coaching staff will no doubt be looking for signs of improvement from the sophomores.

WHO GRABS THE NUMBER ONE GOALIE POSITION?

Miguel Sullivan had a terrific end to the season for the Stingers and looks poised to be the Stingers number one goalie next season. However, Robin Billingham was in a similar position last year in training camp. Billingham lost his spot later in the season as coach Marc-André Element decided to

go with the freshman Sullivan in the last two games of the season as well as the playoffs. Both goalies had subpar seasons as they finished with save percentages below 90 per cent. However Sullivan had the better record at 8-7 and should have the inside track on the job as Billingham had a record of 2-10.

No matter who takes the starting role and runs with it, the Stingers will have to improve on their 88 per cent save percentage—the worst in the league—and 3.94 goals against average to have any chance of putting together a winning season next year.

WHO WILL COACH THE TEAM?A glaring question with no real answer.

At this moment no one’s entirely sure who will be behind the bench for the Stingers next year. Will coach Element be back? Will there be changes made to the coaching staff? This is a decision that needs to be made as quickly as possible as it is crucial if the Stingers want to gain a leg up on recruitment and create a clear vision for what is expected of this team next season.

If the team can build on what they did right this past season, there is no denying that the team can make a run for the playoffs.

The Stingers have a lot to improve on if they want to be competitive next season.Photo by Melissa Martella.

A D V I C E

How to prevent serious sports injuriesA few basic tips on how to keep your body intact and in shape as an athleteBY ALEXANDER COLESPORTS EDITOR

If you’re an athlete, you are probably well aware of the different types of injuries you can suffer while playing sports. These injuries can range from muscle tears, broken bones and even concussions. While these injuries are unpredictable, there are various precau-tions an athlete can take in order to reduce the risk of bodily harm while participating in sports.

STRETCH As a goalie in hockey, one of the most

valuable pieces of advice that I learned was to always stretch and warm up before practices and games. Stretching is something every athlete should be doing no matter what sport they are playing. According to SportsMedicine, stretching mixed with warm up activities are one of the most effective ways to reduce injury, specifically muscle tears and cramps. This is because your muscles become looser and your range of motion becomes increased after having warmed up.

TAKE A BREAKFurthermore, according to the American

Academy of Pediatrics (ADA), it is always important to take breaks as it allows your muscles to relax and not get over-

worked. Rest periods should also be coupled with hydration. Athletes who are competing or exercising in hot environments are susceptible to heat illnesses and staying hydrated is the best way to combat that.

According to ABC, National Football League player Korey

Stringer died of heat stroke during a practice. It just goes to show how important keeping cool is.

PROTECT YOUR TEETH Another thing to keep in mind, is

when playing sports such as hockey, football or basketball, it is always safer to wear a mouthguard. While mouthguards don’t completely protect you from concussions, they are able to reduce the risk of getting one. According to ScienceDaily, mouthguards are able to reduce the risk of suffering a concussion because they absorb the shock of an impact and stabilize both the head and the neck. It is also recommended to get custom made mouthguards from your dentist, as these form to your teeth better than a store-bought mouthguard would.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UPOne way to prevent concussions

and other serious injuries is by keeping your head up. According to the National Athletic Trainers Association hit t ing someone, or being hit, with your head down can lead to concussions and in some cases paralysis, as the impact can have severe impact on your spinal cord. This tip is especially useful for those who play hockey and football , two heavy contact sports.

REMEMBER YOUR LESSONS When playing any sport, it is essential

to perform movements the way they are supposed to be done. While many different sports have different actions, according to the ADA, failure to use the proper techniques when playing a sport can result in serious injury.

For example, football players and hockey players should hit the way they are taught to by their coaches. The same would apply to a sport like soccer where slide-tackling is a major component to the game. It is always important to slide-tackle the proper way, or you could risk injuring yourself or another player.

While these t ips can’t completely eliminate the risk of injury, they can sig-nificantly lower that risk. Just keep these tips in mind the next time you go out and play a sport and remember to have fun.

Graphic by Florence Yee.

Page 15: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

opinionsOPINIONS EDITOR /// [email protected] EASEY

F R E E D O M O F S P E E C H

CBC decides to cut anonymous commentsWeighing in on the contentious decision that will change the opinion landscape

BY BARBARA MADIMENOS CONTRIBUTOR

The internet is a free-for-all, where anyone and everyone has unlimited time and space to share their lives through social media. Minimal rules apply for who can post what, which allows for everyone to engage with the world online. The freedom to post things anonymously also allows people to act and post without judgements or reper-cussions from their social or professional circles.

While some may abuse this power and post hateful or threatening things online, the ability to allow people to start a discussion or

anonymously post things should not be limited by the few who try to spoil it for the many.

Unfortunately, on March 17 the CBC announced it’ll be banning the use of pseud-onyms on their website if individuals choose to comment anonymously. Now anyone who wants to comment will be required to use their real names. The CBC made this decision because of complaints of anonymous users posting hate speech and other things that violated the CBC’s online guidelines. When and how this change will be implemented is still undecided.

This brings into question if our right to free speech and privacy in public forums is being taken away by the CBC, or if the

CBC is acting within its right to protect its employees, which is well within its duty as an employer. As a federally funded national public broadcaster and a trustworthy news source are they not responsible to the public they serve, and should allow that public to comment online in any way they choose?

According to Canada’s Criminal Code, the only time our right to freedom of speech can be hindered is when one projects words of hate in targeting race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, mental or physical disability.

When individuals are asking for anonymity it is likely because they want to share their thoughts and opinions but fear any backlash which could put them in danger or be embar-rassing socially. Take for example someone who wants to speak up as a rape survivor, but doesn’t want to share their identity while bringing forward their valuable contribution to the online conversation. Shouldn’t they be allowed to post anonymously if they choose to? If people are forced to identify themselves every time they will stay mum, and this is when our right to freely express ourselves, as well as the dire need to speak about important topics, dies.

Our perspectives on certain topics rep-resent a large part of who we are, as well as how we go about our lives, and yet they are also thoughts we consider acceptable, rather than unacceptable.

We may not be able to digest other per-spectives we read about online easily. Having the freedom to engage in conversations about

different ideas is what opens the doors to understanding one another. Nevertheless, the fear of sharing our personal opinions for any number of reasons is why we use anonymous names online.

Some are afraid for their jobs and others are ashamed of what they post. Some fear judgement while some just don’t like revealing their personal identity online. Nevertheless the greatest fear people have towards pro-viding personal information is a potential risk to their safety. And while the CBC is trying to protect its employees and their safety too, the public’s right to anonymity is more important. By prohibiting the public to speak openly on certain topics without reassurance that they are protected conversations will die down, and the conversatwions which lead to creative solutions, or simple online exchanging of opinions may as well.

Engaging in conversation is like free education. We learn from each other and develop a better understanding of the world we live in, and even develop a sense of awareness to the things we may not have even experienced.

Sadly, this is obviously not the perspective the CBC has taken, claiming it is for the safety of the people. The CBC needs to work on enforcing posters compliance with their online commenting rules before broadly blocking all anonymous posts. Understandably, safety comes first, but when it possibly hinders public connectivity one must wonder if it’s the right decision.

Graphic by Gary Stevens, Flickr.

E D I T O R I A L

ASFA has been a sinking ship for quite some time now. The only difference is that just last week it tried to call on students for help, but someone fumbled with the flare gun and now the ship is on fire.

Needless to say, it’s not really a surprise seven Member Associations are abandoning ship and piling into the lifeboats. It’s every student for themselves and the Executives are being left to go down with the ship.

This comes on the heels of the referen-dum vote, which took place last week—and turned out to be a complete farce, not to mention a waste of time and money. ASFA had the opportunity to restructure itself and grow as a Federation, but instead it seems to be business as usual with new shady practices and questionable actions coming to light.

Wasn’t this the reason we took to the polls to vote on the proposed restructuring of ASFA in the first place?

However democracy had its way and Concordia students voted 329 to 277 (with 95 abstentions) to keep ASFA just how they’ve always known it. Or did they?

Over the weekend, mixed reports started filtering in with various complaints, including

reports from our staff, citing their frustration and confusion at the polls.

It’s not like we didn’t know what we were going in to vote for. Talking about the possible restructuring of ASFA has been a hot topic around the office, with masthead members being firmly entrenched in both the “yes” and the “no” camps. There have been debates, arguments, and even occasional quarrels about what to vote for and why. But on the voting days themselves, there was only confusion and head scratching.

If you know what you want to vote for, there should be no confusion when you read the ballots and choose to vote for, against, or to abstain.

And yet, at the polls there was a missing ballot question, people had to come back the next day or in an hour or not at all (it wasn’t clear), and no one seemed to be able to answer what question was going towards the restructuring of the federation.

The second question, which asked if The Hive should have a fee-levy increase and was not in fact about restructuring ASFA, was spoiled after the first day of voting when the wording was found to be incorrect, and had to be re-issued and

re-voted on during the second and third days of voting.

The polling clerks pushed a booklet of edited bylaws towards us and repeated “I can’t tell you that” so many times they sounded like a broken record. The booklet of restructured bylaws was in around point eight font with no spacing and with many paragraphs highlighted or crossed out with comments on the side saying “phrase highlighted for emphasis.” At the station on the ground level of the Hall building, no clear summary of the changes was presented and the polling clerks at the station refused to answer if the proposed bylaw changes were the ones that would restructure ASFA.

Returning the next day to fill out the missing ballot at the SP building at Loyola created better results, with someone actually able to say the proposed bylaw change would, in fact, restructure ASFA. Too little too late, as you can only vote once.

And this is before we take into account the partisan signs that marred this supposedly democratic event. One example is a “vote yes,” sign that was placed beside the ballot box while the referendum was occurring,

according to David Easey, The Concordian’s Opinions editor who worked as a polling clerk for the referendum.

Out of the students who came out to vote, 47 per cent voted against the pro-posed changes and 39 per cent voted for it, with a difference of just 52 votes. That’s not even considering the 95 students who voted to abstain.

In a free and fair contested vote, the need for a clear majority can be required to pass anything. And in the case of the ASFA referendum—considering how the freedom and fairness of the election is clearly questionable at best—there just doesn’t seem to be a clear outcome for the vote. And oddly enough, ASFA seems to agree with us for once. An ASFA special council meeting will be held this Thursday to decide if the referendum will be considered invalid or not. If it’s found invalid students may get a second chance to vote during ASFA’s general elections in one month. This Thursday’s meeting will also discuss whether MAs should be allowed to abandon ship.

Maybe some of us will manage to escape this sinking ship, but for all we know the SS ASFA is taking us all down.

ASFA’s sinking ship is on fire

Page 16: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

15MARCH 22, 2016 theconcordian

E N V I R O N M E N T

The industrious demise of our landscapeThe tar sands are a toxic wasteland that shall poison our nation

BY DAVID EASEYOPINIONS EDITOR

“In short, it is an enterprise of epic pro-portions, akin to the building of the pyramids or China’s Great Wall. Only bigger,” said former prime minister Stephen Harper back in 2006, as he vividly discussed the development of the tar sands.

It’s now almost a decade later, and the surrounding forest is disappearing, as the process of industrialization has spread like a deadly virus. The animals are diseased and the river has been exposed to toxic pollutants. The air now carries a pungent odor, as noxious fumes fill the atmosphere and plumes of vapor block out the sun.

The thirst for oil has undoubtedly trans-formed the landscape of northern Alberta. As a Canadian, I strongly oppose the devel-opment of the tar sands and I’m quite frankly ashamed we have allowed these nefarious operations to continue onwards.

You may be wondering ‘What the hell are these so called tar sands?,’ sometimes referred to as ‘oil sands.’ According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Alberta has some of the largest deposits of bitumen, a type of crude oil that is trapped within the sandy soil. Bitumen is a gooey substance that shares a similar texture to molasses, and requires various chemical processes to separate the oil from the sand—hence the name tar sands.

According to an article published by The Globe and Mail in 2014, the size of the tar sands is 140,000 square kilometers, and only 4,750 square kilometers are mineable. The development can now be seen from space, as parts of the boreal forest have been decimated due to operations in the region,

as mentioned in the same article. Most of the extracted oil is consumed domestically, with 1.5 million barrels consumed per day, while the rest of the oil heads mainly to the U.S., according to the same article.

This data highlights our grotesque addiction to oil.

The development has heavily impacted the indigenous communities living around the Athabasca River. An article published by the Vancouver Observer revealed that Health Canada warned several communities living downstream of the tar sands that there were toxins present in the animals. Testing revealed that fish contained abnormally high levels of mercury, meanwhile wild game contained high levels of arsenic. This inevitably led several communities to stop eating wild game, forcibly altering their traditional way of life. The same article also mentioned how many community members have developed rare forms of cancer, leading many in the community to speculate there exists a link bet ween t he t ar s and s and t hes e diseases.

Immediately after the article was released, the then Health Minister Rona Ambrose refused to comment on the matter. In my opinion, this demonstrates the level of devotion the Conservatives had towards the development of the tar sands. Throughout Harper’s dark reign over our country, he notoriously endorsed the Keystone pipeline proposal that would see millions of litres of crude oil transerred across the border.

We have yet to see the true consequences of the tar sands here in Canada, although for reference we can look towards the incident regarding the Kalamazoo River. In 2010, a Canadian pipeline carrying diluted bitumen spilled into the tributaries of the

Kalamazoo River in Michigan. Over the course of 17 hours, roughly 3.3 million litres of crude spilled from the pipeline, before the company Enbridge shut off the flow, according to the CBC.

The diluted bitumen behaves very differently from refined oil, and sinks in water, making cleanup efforts extremely difficult, according to the same report. The entire spill costs almost US$1.27 billion according to EcoWatch, meaning that it was the most expensive inland oil spill in U.S. history.

With the new Liberal government coming into power, it is unclear which path they

shall take in addressing this very contentious issue. Catherine McKenna, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, was in Paris for the climate talks, but hasn’t publicly addressed the govern ment’s policy towards the tar sands.

Can we not learn from these horrible mistakes? Can we not see the tar sands spell disaster in capital letters written bold? The region has become a toxic blemish on our beautiful landscape, altering the ecosystem and indigenous communities’ way of life. Our nation may be filled with desirable resources ready to be exploited, but at what cost?

Evidence of the transformation of the lanscape. Photo by Kris Krug from Flickr.

Mining activities of the tar sands. Photo by Julia Kilpatrick from Flickr.

Page 17: The Concordian - March 22nd, 2016

etc theconcordian

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Concordia University’s weekly, independent student newspaper

VOL. 33, ISSUE 24MARCH 22, 2016

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