Q&A with the President of The U

Students’ Union president speaks with The Xaverian Weekly

Evan Davison-Kotler and Bowen Assman interviewed Rebecca Mesay on October 11, 2018.

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BA: You came out with your statement yesterday?

RM: Yes

BA: What do you hope to accomplish by putting these new policy measures in place?

RM: Well, the statement that the Students’ Union released… So, policy when we talk about in the context of Students’ Union is like a bylaw or something that speaks to the governing body of the Students Union in of itself. So, the recommendation that we offered yesterday were things that we have been talking about actually for a long time because sexual violence prevention was already on the list of priorities for the Students’ Union. The one’s that we stipulated yesterday were based on the response that the university administration had to this case in particular; we sat down and tried to identify where in the gaps in the process would have existed, and therefore made our recommendation in a way to try and mitigate those gaps moving forward.

BA: Why did you decide to put out your statement yesterday, in comparison to earlier on in the week, as I was hearing from students that they were waiting for a response from Rebecca. I understand it takes time to garner input from people, but why was the decision made to put it out yesterday?

RM: Well, the statement from the Students’ Union isn’t done unilaterally, so Tuesday was the first day that all of us were back in office, so you could say in terms of timeline, Monday was when the decision was made that a statement would need to be released, the statement was then written in the evening, and then we need approval from the executive team. We have to show the student representative council, because obviously they are the ones who are the voice of the students, on the table and elected to do that job. Once the student representative council has received the statement, it is set to the marketing team and released immediately after the fact. Part of it is the process in and of itself, but we needed to be together in order to make a statement like that happen. In order for a statement to be representative of the students, the councillors need some time to oversee and review whatever is being put out on behalf of the Students’ Union as well.

EDK: Do you know if the councillors have done any outreach with students?

RM: I think the councillors, there role in moments like this is to act in the best interests of students. At that point in time, the article was released just a few days prior, so they had an opportunity to sit with it before a statement was released in that time. In moments like this, definitely the time is an important aspect, but we have to be able to ensure that we have checked off all the boxes and that a statement like that also is indicative of a broader sentiment. We don’t want to put out a statement without any action items affiliated and what those items were and how they are going to be processed and how the union is going to make sure those things happen also all have to be considered when we are making a public statement like that, right? Because we want to make sure that we are able to follow up and that there are measures in place before it goes public, if that makes sense?

EDK: Have you been following the X-Resistance page, or the X-Resist movement?

RM: In fact, I was at their meeting last night.

EDK: How did you find that?

RM: The meeting was very interesting. I think that it was indicative of a broader sentiment among the student body, the discussion was really important; I mean I would have attended as a student at large regardless, because in moments like this there needs to be an ability to support. It also provided me with an opportunity to see that perspective. There was a lot of survivors in that audience, there was a lot of experts, in terms of sexualized violence prevention, this type of thing, who all offered their perspectives during the course of that meeting.

was So, I think it was very important for myself, and my Vice President Academic, we were also there - sitting, listening and trying to get a broader understanding of what the students would like to see to come, the steps they would like to see moving forward.

EDK: There's talk of a planned call to action or protest. Will you, the union, be assisting them at all with some of their protest movements?

RM: I think right now, we are waiting to hear back from the group in terms of what they would like to see from the union specifically. We have already published our list of recommendations and there were a lot of students in that room that would like to be a part of that broader involvement. It will really depend on what the group would like to see from the union moving forward.

EDK: So, if they reach out?

RM: We will definitely have a conversation with them, of course. I mean, there is a reason we were in that room, right?

BA: So, you had a lot of recommendations in your statement, one was “Formally request the university and Senate review the community code of conduct.” How much do you feel a review will impact the code of conduct? Do you think the union can do something else, besides a simple, "We want to ask you to review this policy?"

RM: Well, this is the thing. With any public statement, the language of it has to be very concise. The spirit of that recommendation is to ask for a review, a formal review process. The objective of the formal review process would be to ensure consistency among all of the policies and procedures of the university. If you are examining the community code as it stands, it needs to be consistent with the recommendations of the sexualized violence policy. Our policy is a very important tool and we need to be able to use it effectively in instances such as these.

EDK: The second article by Global indicated that the Nova Scotian Education Minister was shocked at the response by the university. Have you read this article?

RM: There was an article wherein minister Kousoulis, who is the Labor and Advanced Education Minister, was contacted by the CBC and he offered his remarks, I did see that article.

EDK: Within that article, he said he was surprised that the individual was allowed to come back to university, and the universities response was essentially that we cannot limit an individual’s access to education. A lawyer’s response to that was that they could suspend the individual until the criminal due process was complete. Are you in favor of a policy that would mirror these sentiments, where if there is a criminal investigation that’s been opened, the individual who’s been accused is suspended from education until the criminal process is complete?

RM: So, the remarks were made by Elaine Craige. She’s a Dalhousie law professor. I think this would have to be a part of the broader revision of the sexualized violence policy. So, it would have to be through that due procedure that a mechanism like that would take place. Obviously, we are in favor of any actions that would maintain the safety and security of students, but more importantly, be survivor centered and maintain the safety of the individual that harmed.

BA: Would you outright recommend that idea?

RM: I do not have a background in Women and Gender Studies, so I would recommend whatever is survivor centric and whatever is upholding the best interests of students. Whatever it is the harmed party wants in that point in time, because at the very forefront, we want our policy to reflect the needs and the input from the survivor, based on their case in particular.

EDK: Tiffany Maclellan, your VP Academic

RM: That’s correct. (laughs)

EDK: She referenced Ryerson’s policies as something that should be held on a pedestal, and they were some of the best in the country. Have you read over Ryerson’s sexual violence policies?

RM: Um, I have not read over Ryerson’s sexual violence policy. I believe what Tiffany was referring to was that Ryerson has a sexual assault support centre, where students have access to resources and are given the support they need once an assault has taken place, from my understanding, and it was just a brief discussion this morning with Johanna. But my understanding is that that group also helps with educative and preventative measures on Ryerson campus. But to speak more to that I would have to do more research.

EDK: Do you think the University has done enough with regards to the individual who was assaulted, who has now had to leave the university. Have they, in your mind, made proper amends with the individual?

RM: I do not know if that is for me to say, that would be from the perspective of the survivor to say whether or not they feel that amends have been made and whether they feel that justice has taken place.

BA: You did post a wonderful piece on the Xaverian last year, about your incident of sexual harassment…

RM: It wasn’t an instance of sexual harassment, it was an instance of attempted physical assault.

BA: Sorry, that’s my bad, but with that coming out, and people publicly knowing your story, do you still believe that it is not worth, you can’t speak for if the accused has, that the University has done enough?

RM: So, you spoke to my own instance, it was an experience that I went through personally, and I can speak to the experience that I had going through that process, but I do feel that it would be remiss of me to speak on behalf of the survivor, as to what her experience with the university administration was. I do not believe that it is my place to say, because I do not know, I do not know who the individual is, and I have never spoken to her. As relating to my experience, I think the sentiments that I expressed were very clear within my article.

BA: And going back to the requesting of the review of the community code of conduct and the appeals process, is any, is the WMGS involved in that process at all?

RM: So, our objective as outlined in our recommendations was that we would create a working group, and we would definitely would want the experts, meaning professors of the WMGS department to be a part of that working group that looks at the internal policy review.

BA: So that working group would be the one reviewing the community code of conduct and the appeals process? Or would that be someone else?

RM: So, we are talking about two recommendations so first we are gong to put forward a formal request, but the objective of the working group is to review the sexualized violence policy and other policies that are brought to their attention. For example, what would be ideal in this situation is to create a working group with the experts on this campus, as you mentioned the women’s and gender studies department, the students union and the university administration to review the community code of conduct, as well as to understand and review the appeals process to ensure that it is consistent with a survivor centric approach. Does that make sense?

Because, the fact of the matter is, these are university policies, so as a Students’ Union, we can advocate on behalf of students to revise the policies…

BA: But you do not have the power to do it as an official decision?

RM: Exactly.

BA: That is important to know I think, OK.

RM: And we can make proposals, and proposals can move through senate, but it would have to be done in cohesion with the university administration, to work on policies. And certainly, these policies, as do all of the university polices have a direct impact of students, which is why we are calling for the creation of a working group. It’s going to be a number of different stakeholders on campus.

EDK: In your opinion, was the university negligent in the way they dealt with this?

RM: Again, I am not certain that it is my place to comment on that, you know, in keeping with cohesion of the statement that we released, we are looking at a survivor centric approach, so the comments I make have to be in considering what the harmed party would want at this point in time. So again, it would be to the harmed party to speak as to whether or not they felt they were dealt with fairly throughout the entirety of the process.

BA: So then, you are referring to the harmed party, so what you are saying is, if an instance occurs again, it would be specific to what the harmed party wants every time?

RM: That is correct, it has to be a survivor centric approach, so a survivor centric approach means that the survivor is pushing, I shouldn’t say pushing, but the survivor has a voice at every single step of the process. It will be up to them whether they decide to report to the university administration. It will be up to them whether they decide to report to the police, and in what capacity they decide to do so. And then after the fact, it is there opportunity to decide whether or not they would like to lay charges and continue in that fashion, and it should work that way for every single case, that it is the voice of the survivor that is at the forefront of the decision making, or, I should rephrase that better. There should be mechanisms in place wherein the survivor has a chance to voice their perspective and their desires at every single point in the process.

EDK: Can you speak to any discreet changes you would like to see within the sexual assault policy as it stands right now, because the university published its sexual assault policy as something that they deem was survivor centric, and a much better policy that they had previously. The response from the students and the Union’s release that was just published makes clear that people would like the university to review the policy. Can you point to anything discreet within the policy that you would like to see changed?

RM: I do not think that I can speak to it yet, our working group is set to be established, well, let me correct myself, we already have an internal working group, myself, the vice president academic whose purview this is, and the vice president external. once we have the scope of professionals, once we have the university administration, once we have students at large of our committee, I think I can speak to that more broadly.

Interview with Andrew Beckett

StFX executive clarifies details surrounding sexual violence case

Bowen Assman and Yanik Gallie interviewed Andrew Beckett on October 16, 2018.

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YG: What has been your role and responsibilities since the incident of sexual violence that occurred last year?

AB: Initially, my involvement would have been as chair on the judicial board that heard the case in the first place. Certainly, this case is one that I’m familiar with. Since our decision with the judicial board, my involvement after that was more responding to stories that came out and looking at what are the next steps in our response to some of the concerns that were brought forward.
BA: Talk us through the process of how an accused student can return to campus?

AB: Was he able to return to campus? Yes. I can’t get into the specifics of a particular case. In general terms, the individual was found responsible of a violent offence by the judicial board. He then appealed that decision to an appeal committee. The appeal committee upheld the decision of the judicial board. The decision of the judicial board was a one-year suspension that was involved plus training around consent. Then, there is a third layer of appeal within the community code that goes to a Senate appeal committee. They can only hear an appeal of the actual outcome, not on the finding of responsibility.

The code as it’s now set up is one that I think will absolutely be subject to possible amendment as we’re going through discussions. While a matter is under appeal, as it’s set up, the penalties don’t come into play. That’s one thing that needs to be considered. At the same time, when we got to the third layer of appeal, he had lawyers involved, our lawyers were involved, there was an agreement reached to suspend further consideration of the court case through our internal processes until the court gives way to the criminal proceedings. That’s where the suspension was put on hold, which then gave him the right to return to school this fall while the matter was still proceeding through the external processes in the criminal court.

BA: Many media outlets, and even professors, report that StFX mishandled this case. Can you address StFX’s management of this case?  

AB: The policy and procedural aspects that are there were followed but may have been flawed. That’s different than mishandling. Anytime you’ve got a policy and procedures in place, until they get tested in practice, you don’t know where some of the gaps may be. Already, in terms of our processes, even since this case went through, we’ve made changes to our processes based on gaps that we saw and that will continue to happen.

 The one mistake absolutely made on this was when the decision was made to suspend our processes. It put on hold any further action by the internal, therefore allowing the individual to come back to school this fall and we didn’t notify the victim/survivor of that. That was a mistake on our part. Part of our regular process is that yes, the victim/survivor should have been notified. Over the course of 8-10 months of dealing with the individual, we had been keeping them up to date with various things and we missed one. Again, I’m not trying to shy away from a significant piece of information that should have been passed along to the victim/survivor and we didn’t do it. We made a mistake.

YG: You talked about gaps in the code, what measures were lacking to ensure safety on campus?
AB: We took a series of amendments to the Senate in February of last year. If you look at those changes that were taken to Senate, they speak to the flaws that were there in the previous code of conduct. It all gets around fair process. Fairness for the respondent and the complainant.

One of the fundamental things that was in there was the respondent’s right to legal counsel throughout. Under the previous versions of the code, that wasn’t there. These are serious offences and matters that are being considered. The new version of the code in place makes it clear that they have the right to legal representation. The right of the respondent to ask questions through the chair of the judicial board of the complainant, to ensure that the judicial board has fair representation from both parties. In terms of fairness of process, there is that opportunity to not just have a statement from the complainant, but the respondent to be able to ask questions to ensure that there’s clarity in the presented facts and that wasn’t in the previous code. There was a number of changes made to tighten up the process. I stand to be corrected, but I’m pretty sure the February changes, it made clear a little bit more about the sharing of information with the victim/survivor. Things like the outcomes of any pursuing and that sort of stuff. The victim/survivor would normally be made aware of those things.

BA: Would the communication between respondent and victim/survivor be through an intermediary source or direct?

AB: It’s not a direct cross-examination because that goes into re-victimization. Whether it’s through criminal proceedings or judicial board, like it or not, there is a component of re-victimizing through that. In terms of ensuring that a respondent’s got the ability to feel that their side of the story has been put forward and that they got a chance to question any facts that have been put forward, it does mean that the victim/survivor has to go through an element of reliving their experience. That’s unfortunate, but I’m not sure there’s any way around that in terms of due process. What we put in place is that instead of a direct cross-examination, the respondent has to prepare a set of questions. Those questions are given to the chair of the judicial board. The chair reviews those questions to ensure that there is nothing that crosses the line in terms of the line of questioning that wouldn’t be acceptable in terms of questioning a person’s previous sexual history and that type of thing. Quite frankly, any question that has no relevance to the particular case is considered unacceptable. Those questions are posed by the chair of the judicial board to the complainant. They don’t have to speak directly to the respondent; they speak to the chair. Because at the end of the day, what you try to get at is the judicial board that’s there has a balanced set of information from both parties so that they can reach a decision.

What we did was there’s a lot of flexibility within that in terms of the two people don’t have to be in the same room together if they’re not comfortable or we can screen a part of the room. At the end of the day, the respondent has to have an opportunity to ensure that any facts they feel may be relevant are brought forward to the board.

BA: Who, or what group, oversees drafting revisions for the university’s sexual violence policy and code of conduct?

AB: In terms of this, you have two main documents. You have the sexual violence policy and the code of conduct. The two separate documents have to work hand in glove. The sexual violence policy is ultimately approved by the president. In terms of overseeing that, because it deals directly with students, it involves head of Student Services as being a sponsor of that policy. It’s my responsibility in terms of the day-to-day administration of that policy working with groups like our Sexual Violence Prevention committee and others on campus who help inform the administration in an ongoing review of that policy. The ultimate signoff is through the president.

The code of conduct is a Senate policy. Changes to the code of conduct have to be approved by Senate.

BA: The Students’ Union advocated for seven changes to policy. Are you going to be making these revisions?

AB: There’s been a number of suggestions put forward that I don’t think were to a specific point in terms of this revision has to be made. There are themes that have been put forward and lenses that we need to look at policy through. There’s absolutely a commitment from our standpoint to engage in that review and look at what changes we can do. They were never meant to be static documents. From that standpoint, we’re absolutely open to input and exchanges that will lead to improving those documents going forward.

YG: What are your thoughts regarding backlash from professor Donna Trembinski about your email?
AB: I respect that everybody’s entitled to have different and varying opinions. From the standpoint of the university, I think my email on the weekend explains our concerns. From an institutional standpoint, that kind of vigilante response is possibly criminal endanger. Therefore, we felt it was very important to issue a statement that condemns that part of it in the interest of getting us back to speaking about ongoing pervasive issues that we know we got to address. We don’t think that’s an appropriate response, and again it is a potentially criminal response.

I have seen a variety of responses from Donna and other faculty members. I respect them, and we are in an environment where these things should be debated and tossed around. I absolutely respect others having concerns and not agreeing with it, that’s part of the environment.

I would never want to shut that down. If you can’t do it here, where can you do it? In a university environment, we should be having those types of exchanges. I would hope that it’s done in a respectful way. I didn’t take offence to Donna challenging the viewpoints, that’s great and I respect that.

It’s been interesting. If you look at it from a personal standpoint, sometimes you have to take it on the chin in the interest of moving forward. I recognize from my standpoint that I’m on the privileged side of things. This is something that in my four plus years of university, I have become increasingly, through various conversations, aware of. I’m a white, middle-aged, male. A lot of privilege goes along with that.

When I listen to victim/survivors and people of different racial backgrounds or different gender backgrounds, me being able to take it on the chin and having to feel uncomfortable about some of this, I think a lot of people would quite frankly say, “It’s about time.” Because they felt uncomfortable for a long time. I don’t see that as a bad thing, it’s part of learning.

BA: Moving forward, how do we reclaim safety on campus in light of the situation?

AB: If I were following along the lines of the victim-centric approach, which I think that’s something people are advocating for, I don’t think that the university can decide what that looks like. I think we need to engage with people on campus who are not feeling safe and allow them to tell us how they may be able to feel safer. I met with a group of students yesterday. Things like the campus environment that may play into this, maybe it’s lighting on campus. There’s some of those environmental considerations. The real deeper conversations that have got to take place, and we are working with the Antigonish Resources for Women Centre, is trying to unpack cultural questions. To me, the tougher questions to get at are what in our culture is contributing to all this? We’ve got a culture, and it’s not just StFX, it’s all universities but we have to start with StFX. What in our culture is promoting sexual violence taking place? We know it’s taking place and it’s unacceptable. What’s contributing to that? Is it things like the studies of the connection between alcohol and sexual violence? Is the party culture that we’ve got contributing to this? Is our residence culture contributing to this? We need to unpack that more and better understand what in our culture may be playing a part of this sexual violence pervasiveness.

We need to include a lot of people in this conversation, not the least of which should be to include males in the conversation. The statistics are pretty clear in terms of males causing 94-95% of sexual violence cases. That doesn’t mean 94-95% of males are perpetrators. When violence happens, a majority of time it involves males.

When you look at things like Take Back the Night walks and things organized by females to speak about sexual violence, the audience is largely female. We’ve got to look for ways to get more males involved in the conversation. We have to figure out what aspects of masculinity are playing into this and understand that better. They are the tougher conversations that we have to get people engaged with that. Hopefully, with all the attention that’s been here in the last ten days, it’ll have more people join in the conversation.

BA: Do you have any other concrete plans besides partnering with the Antigonish Women’s Resources Centre?

AB: We’ve got some recommendations from the Students’ Union and there was the protest at the weekend and a series of calls to action associated to it. A large number of female faculty members put out a letter with calls to actions attached to it. We’re filtering all that through our Sexual Violence Prevention committee that has representation from faculty, staff, students and community. We use that as a place to synthesize all that over the next six to eight weeks. Some of this is gonna take some time to go through. We know it’s important first and foremost to deal with the emotional aspects of this and allow some space for people to be heard. We’re looking at a variety of things that could be done in that regard. The committee had a meeting today where they’re starting to map out a timeline over the next six to eight weeks of different things like a project is doing a series of focus groups in November. The Students’ Union have planned the student inform session this Saturday. We’ve got a talkback session in the next two or three weeks to give people an opportunity to feel that they have been heard. Then, we can start to look at all of the themes that come from all of that and say let’s prioritize in an orderly fashion in the next while to improve.

YG: What’s your opinion of this weekend’s protest during Kent MacDonald’s speech at the Open House?   

AB: My overall reaction is that I go back to the university environment. Protests should never be deterred. This is an opportunity and environment that should promote freedom of expression and speech. This is a hot button issue. When you look at what took place last week, there’s a combination, certainly some are angry with the way the victim was treated in this particular case. More than that, I think it opens a wound for a lot of people who have been impacted by sexual violence. A lot of people feel they haven’t been heard. I think when your frustration level rises there’s an anger that comes with that they feel the need to express. On the campus environment, I accept the people’s right to protest. From what I heard, and from the people I’ve talked to, the protest was respectful. They protested, and they could have been more destructive. To the credit of the protestors, I think they found a good balance in terms of making a statement but not taking it too far like disrupt the Open House. I think it’s important for people to feel that they’ve been heard.

VP External Affairs

Clancy McDaniel discusses upcoming changes to policies 

Salome Barker and Evan Davison-Kotler interviewed Clancy MacDaniel on October 23, 2018. 

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SB: As someone who works with the Students’ Union, how would you like to see the U move forwards with helping students after the recent uproar over sexual violence on campus? 

CM: I think the whole purpose of our organization is to support students and be the best voice for them that we can, because we do have multiple avenues that we can hopefully press our influence. 

I think that was laid out well in the recommendations that we put out because you can kind of see when you read them that they’re targeted at different audiences because we want to reach as many stakeholders with this issue, bringing forwards that student voice. The best way we can support students is to listen to them; we’ve had a lot of really amazing momentum on campus, it’s been absolutely incredible. We’ve seen multiple groups come forwards in solidarity with recommendations that mirror each other in a lot of really wonderful ways, and really complement each other. Bringing that perspective to the conversations that we’re having and continuing to apply pressure - making sure that this momentum is kept up and continuing to offer students spaces to be involved at the same time and help represent themselves is also important. For example, we had our open forum on the weekend - that’s only the beginning. We wanted that to be an initial step to get student feedback, but as we continue, we don’t want it to be like, “We spoke to students once, we’re going to close the door and go on our own.”. 

Especially in recognition of the wonderful efforts put forwards by students and their bravery in coming forwards, we want to make sure that it’s a student led process throughout the whole thing. 

EDK: What do you hope to achieve in your capacity as VP External with your outreach to CASA and Students NS?

CD: One thing that we’re really working on with Students NS, and this was mentioned in our recommendations, is - currently, the province, through the department responsible for post-secondary education - they’re trying to develop guidelines for what should be included in sexual violence policies, which is obviously very topical. They’ve hired a consultant, so my role as both a delegate to Students NS but also as the Chair, is to make sure the guidelines that are developed are survivor-centric, are trauma-informed, and have a student voice at the table. We sit on a sexual violence prevention committee that’s very similar to the one at the school, but it’s at the provincial level. We are one of 33 stakeholders at the table - it’s very large - so it’s very important that the decision-making around what is included in these guidelines and what is not is reflective of the needs that students have brought forwards. 

My role has been trying to do as much literature review as possible; there are a lot of great organizations that have published what survivor-centric asks would look like. So that’s around confidentiality; that’s around making sure the survivor has full-reigns of the reporting process - and that they can choose to bow out at any time or return at any time; making sure that there are clauses that state if a survivor was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that it doesn’t change what the conduct would be. Bringing all of this to the provincial level would not only help the policy at StFX, because it would be a standard that we would be expected to reach, but also be a standard that other universities in the province would be expected to reach as well. The reason we have a sexual violence policy is through an agreement called the Memorandum of Understanding between the province and the universities. In 2015, the current one (which is expiring), stated that all universities had to have sexual violence policies - if they didn’t have a policy, it meant that the province could pull their funding. So, we put out one in that timeframe, but there are other universities that don’t even have one, period. The government has never repealed funding for that, it’s never been that serious, so another thing we’re advocating for is better accountability to make sure “Well, if we have those guidelines in place, if we’re saying we need to do this, lets hold other institutions accountable for doing that.” 

Within the VP External portfolio itself, getting those guidelines set, making sure they’re comprehensive and survivor-centric, and then that there’s accountability and follow-up to make sure that institutions are actually implementing those standards, that would be my number one goal within this role. 

SB: That actually partially answers my next question - what would you like to see changed about the sexual assault policy at StFX?

CD: Absolutely, well, I think the more we get into the review process and go line by line through the policy, the more we’re going to find that can be amended. Obviously, the knowledge that we have from the Students’ Union, we’re 21 and 22 years old, we can do a lot of literature review. I think it’s going to be really important to look towards our community partners who are experts, and I really hope that folks such as the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre are able to play a role. I know that they sit on the school’s sexualized violence prevention committee, I think those are folks who will be really helpful. 

Overall, I’m really looking forwards to a very holistic, comprehensive review, not only at the    policy but also at how it’s applied. For example, you could have a policy that gets graded A+, you tick all the boxes, but if it’s not applied appropriately, and it’s not followed through on, then there’s still room for the survivor to not receive the outcome they’re looking for. So, I think that’s also a piece that’s important to the puzzle as well.

SB: Last year on campus, when the sexual assault case happened in November and it was very public, students felt as though they really got somewhere. There were forums held, it felt like we were moving forwards. Now with this, it feels like students have been betrayed in a sense, they don’t know who they can trust given the amount of back and forth. Do you have any words of comfort to offer students who are feeling, thinking, “Can I trust my university,” given it feels like we’ve taken one step forwards and five steps back?

CD: I can say that The Union is dedicated to continuing to press on this issue throughout the year. It’s not a reactionary topic, it’s something that we want to see as a priority, not even this year, but continually. For example, our first recommendation is that we create a subcommittee, which is something that we did towards the end of August, between Rebecca, Tiffany and I; we’re looking to see that become a permanent part of our organization. The reality is we’re looking to make change, it’s something that is going to take a while. There are some very immediate steps that are very obvious, and I thank students for bringing that to the forefront, because it does take a lot of bravery. 

I want students to know they’re not alone, and we will be continuing to press forwards with this. Regardless of how many forums happen, we want to be on the ground getting at it - working towards some immediate, mid-term and long-term solutions on campus.

Athletes Unaffected by October Legalization

No change in U Sports substance policy after cannabis legalization

October 17 marks a huge change in Canadian legislation regarding the acquisition and use of cannabis. Legalization of cannabis has been the talk of the country for many years, and in recent weeks has become reality for all Canadians. 

Other conversations that have taken place were those regarding how the legalization will affect Canada’s athletes, particularly members of the USports community. It is important to comment that members of this national brand and those competing in university sport are not off the hook in recreational use of cannabis. 

Despite being legalized by the Government of Canada, cannabis remains one of many substances that appear on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List. Cannabis is not the first legal substance to be on this list, as the list includes both illegal and legal substances. 

The Canadian Anti-Doping Program’s (CADP) prohibited list follows that of the WADA, as it is held to international standards.  Because cannabis remains illegal in other countries around the world, WADA and subsequently CADP’s policy remains unaffected by its legalization in Canada. Just like before legalization, a positive test for cannabis can still result in a sanction. 

Cannabis is listed on the prohibited list as a threshold substance. This means that in the event of a test, if it is detected under a certain concentration then it will not be reported. This threshold does not permit regular use and despite the threshold, positive tests are frequent. 

Currently, cannabis is only prohibited in competition. That being said, there is no verified way of knowing how long cannabis takes to clear out of one’s system. 

Cannabinoids like THC are fat soluble and can be stored for long periods of time depending on metabolism. Frequency of use is a huge factor in determining how long the clearance time would be. 

One question worth posing is whether the use of medical marijuana would also be banned? The answer is yes. The use of cannabis for medical purposes is no different than use of other prohibited medication. If an athlete subject to the CADP has a prescribed need for medical marijuana, he/she should must apply for a medical exemption. This process entails an submission of an application in addition to supporting medical information.

Sports’ departments across the country are well aware of USports’ stance on cannabis use. Nonetheless, they remain wary that their athletes could assume the league’s policy will correspond with the country’s change in legislation. It will be up to the student athletes, coaches, and athletic departments to clarify the rules amidst these changes. 

Here at StFX, an annual student orientation takes place near the beginning of the academic year. All 12 varsity teams are present, including their coaches and the rest of StFX athletics staff. At this year’s student orientation, presentations by Director of Athletics Leo MacPherson and his staff including Head Athletic Therapist Tara Sutherland, made it very clear that cannabis will remain banned for all athletes participating under the StFX and USports Banners. 

Another reminder of the status of cannabis regulation in sport is included in a mandatory e-Learning program provided by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). All    USports athletes must complete this program before any competition, and should therefore be aware of the continuing prohibition of cannabis in their sports. 

CCES also has a Cannabis in Sport resource which includes a page for Frequently Asked Questions, Quizzes, an Education Kit, and more resources regarding medical marijuana. Student athletes are encouraged to use this resource to sort out any possible confusion.

Calgary 2026 Winter Olympics?

City hopes to bring back the Olympics almost 40 years later

Who can forget the illustrious 1988 Olympic Winter Games. Hosted in Calgary, Alberta, Team Canada achieved a whopping zero gold medals, two silvers and three golds. Despite Canada’s shortcomings, the game was a turning point in to injecting viability and legitimacy in the winter games.  

Now, 30 years later, Calgary is one of the three remaining bids (along with Stockholm, Sweden and the combined Italian bid of Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo) for the 2026 event. 

A part of their bid centered around the ability to have transferrable facilities that can transform into affordable housing, or other attainable market housing. They also wanted to utilize the remaining  buildings and structures from the 1988 games.  

However, Even if the Olympic facilities are transformed to a usable state at the end of the games, that will cost more money then what the budget anticipated. 

In Canada’s first foray in hosting; Montreal 1976, the burden on the city led to a thirty-year battle to repay the 1.2 billion in debts.  Since 1960, no Olympics has ever been under budget. The preliminary numbers are always lower than the final cost. 

Some may perceive that an Olympics is a boon for the tourism sector. In fact, Olympic tourists take over for the regular tourists who want to stay away from the excessive congestion. The city’s itself that host are already well known, so a large surplus in tourism revenue is hardly reached. 

Calgary’s initial budget is set at $5.2 billion. Sochi’s 2014 games cost $51 billion, the most ever in history. Perhaps a more accurate comparison for Calgary would be South Korea. The most recent winter games, held in Pyeongchang, had an overall cost of $13 billion. Curiously, the county has a population of over 40 000, so the extravagant infrastructure is rendered almost useless once the games ended. The Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, has already been torn down. Its cost? A ho-hum $109 million. 

It is clear the immense burden that cities have during the games, and the amount of money they are in debt for. So, an idea that has been floated around is of having an island that hosts the more expensive summer games every Olympics. With an island, which can operate as an international city-state, each country competing would contribute to the construction of it. The result would lead to an Olympic village that can stand for years on end. Economies being destroyed, and poor individuals being displaced (Rio: 2014) would no longer happen. 

As well, these games could be more flexible with regards to ideas being tested and the ability to pursue environmentally sound options. 

However, for at least the next ten years, the Olympics will be held in cities. The allure of bidding for them have greatly subsided. The International Olympic Committee (IOC)  jointly announced the recipients of the 2024 and 2028 games last year as they were worried no one would be in the bidding process for 2028. 

What’s encouraging is the successful bid in 2026 that wins the right to host the games will be getting 1.2 billion CAD from the IOC. This will help mitigate costs, but is nowhere near enough.  

November 13 is the day all Calgarians vote in a plebiscite whether they want the city to host the Winter and Paralympic Games.

Premier Rachel Notley, along with Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi have been arduously supporting the bid, and their political influence may cause many to vote yes. It is important for all in Calgary to be educated with regards to the bid, as it will be their taxes that would inevitably be funding this event.

A World of Upsets: League of Legends 2018

Millions tune in to watch world championship

Let me ask you something, do you know what Esports are? Essentially, Esports is competitive gaming. Throughout an array of different games, both new and old, professional players around the world compete in leagues and competitions for enormous cash prizes. From CSGO and DOTA 2 to new titles like Rainbow 6 Siege and of course, Fortnite, the pantheon of Esports titles range many genres of games to suit any player’s skills. The most popular genres are Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs), first-person shooters, and sports games, with League of Legends leading the charge. Until the arrival of Fortnite, a third-person battle royale game, League of Legends consistently held the number one spot for viewers on Twitch, the primary streaming site for video games. These Esports almost always model themselves after traditional sports, especially when it comes to playoffs and major tournaments. Naturally, a game with as much popularity as League of Legends holds a landmark tournament each year to celebrate the talent of each region to determine which team is the best. Enter the League of Legends World Championship.

Taking place October 1st to November 3rd, 2018, the top three teams from the five major regions, North America, Europe, China, South Korea, and Taiwan, as well as ten teams from various “wildcard” regions compete to determine the best team in the world and win the Summoner’s Cup (and an incredible monetary award). The first Worlds tournament for League took place in 2011, culminating in a historic final between Fnatic and All authority in which Fnatic took the victory. Since then, when “only a few hundred fans watched live,” the popularity of the game has skyrocketed and millions tune in to watch the World Championship each year. The season 3 World Championship was held in the U.S. and resulted in a sold out Staples Center in LA, California. Increasing in popularity year upon year, last year’s tournament peaked at 80 million concurrent viewers during the semifinals of the tournament, where players competed for a total prize pool of $4,946,970. Now on its eight iteration, the viewership and prestige of the tournament is certainly set to impress in 2018. 

After that historic inaugural tournament, there have been certain trends that have been established in League of Legends history. Asian teams have won six of seven championships, Korean teams are the most dominant region, not missing a single worlds final match since 2012, and North American teams traditionally underperform, with the last NA team to reach the semifinals occurring in 2011 when the tournament was only between North America and Europe. 

Today, October 21, 2018, stands as a historic day in League of Legends history as all of these facts have been broken. The tournament to date has been a year of upsets, where kings fall and underdogs reign supreme. For the first time since their entrance into the tournament, the Korean representatives have all been knocked out of the tournament prior to the semifinals. Also a North American team has reached the semifinals for the first time in seven years, and only one Asian team remains in the tournament. After the series of upsets that occurred this past weekend (Oct 20-21) where tournament favourites RNG and KT Rolster have fallen, the semi-final matches feature two European teams, one North American team and one Chinese team. The matches will take place October 27th, with European representative G2 Esports taking on the Chinese team Invictus Gaming, and on October 28th with the original champions Fnatic taking on North America’s remaining hope, Cloud 9. 

But, aside from the immense feeling of community and entertainment that Esports offer (just like any other traditional sport), why does Esports matter in university? Universities around the world offer scholarships and incentives for varsity athletes to play traditional sports, but some universities are adopting Esports teams as well. 

Some prominent Canadian universities, including the University of Toronto and the University of British Colombia, along with an expansive list of American universities, offer scholarships for Esports. Interestingly, Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, holds a collegiate league for university players to compete for prestige and substantial scholarship dollars where UBC stands at the top of the pack. In 2015, the team beat out Simon Fraser, Texas A&M, and Robert Morris University on their way to winning the $180,000 in scholarships. While this community is certainly niche compared to the massive audiences that traditional sports draw in, both in universities and throughout the rest of the world, it is becoming ever clearer to the general public that Esports are not only real, but are a medium of entertainment that should be remembered as it continues its growth for years to come.   

Speaking Truth to Power

A week of activism and social protest in Antigonish

Antigonish activists have been extremely present in the last few weeks, shining a light on both those fighting for justice, and those standing in the way. The annual Take Back the Night and pro-choice demonstrations, coupled with Visible @ X week, Orange Shirt Day, and a number of other events succeeded in showcasing our community’s readiness and willingness to fight for change. The following article details just a few examples of the wonderful activism that has been present in Antigonish over the last few weeks.

Take Back the Night

Hosted by the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre & Sexual Assault Services Association and emceed by Toronto activist Mandi Gray, Take Back the Night took place on September 27.

The rain that had been looming throughout the day held off as dozens of StFX students, staff, and community members gathered in front of Morrison Hall, sporting buttons and signs urging an end to violence and patriarchal norms. StFX student Sanjidha Ganeshan’s sign alluded to the university’s sub-par reputation in dealing with sexualized violence, reading “unique in our Xperiences, united in our purpose.”

 Ganeshan’s poster fit well with the theme of the night: “speaking truth to power.” Emcee Mandi Gray acts on this theme in her film “Slut or Nut: Diary of a Rape Trial,” which was shown at StFX the night prior to the march and follows her on her personal journey through the legal system after a sexual assault. The theme continued to present itself throughout the night as well, with a number of open-mic participants calling out the university’s response to sexualized violence on campus, and the shortcomings of university policies.

Susannah Wolfe, a second- year student at StFX, was one of them - taking to the mic to perform a spoken word duo with one of the event’s organizers, Emma Kuzmyk. Before their performance, Wolfe shared that she had been assaulted on the StFX campus the year before, and chose not to report due to her knowledge of the university’s process for handling sexual assault. Unfortunately, Wolfe isn’t alone in making this decision - Statistics Canada estimates that less than 5% of sexual assaults in Canada are reported.

This is why events like Take Back the Night are so important. Women have been silenced for far too long, and gatherings like this one are making space for women to be loud. Kuzmyk believes that “by building a platform and an event that is safe and supportive, survivors are being empowered and inspired to take back much more than just the night.”

 In the poem “Call to Arms” that Kuzmyk and Wolfe performed, they invited the audience to join their ranks and “soldier on” in the fight for a more gender equal world, and an end to sexualized violence.

Kuzmyk also stepped forward to share her poem “I Wonder,” which garnered attention last year following two incidents of sexual assault on the StFX campus. The poem centers around a generic “her” - a woman who has experienced sexualized violence - and is an extremely powerful statement about violence on university campuses.

Kuzmyk, however, wanted to make a revision. In a speech apologizing both to herself and to all the women who feel the need to remove themselves from their stories, she stated that she’d like to change the word “her” to the word “my.” Because, “at the end of the day, they aren’t stories that we’re sharing. They aren’t fiction, and there aren’t characters.”

Behind every story, there is a woman. Behind every woman are thousands of others with stories just like hers. The world is finally waking up, and more and more women are being empowered to share their stories. With every “#MeToo” shared on social media, and with every new voice that yells “Time’s Up” or “No More.” On September 27, Antigonish added its voice to the chorus - now, it’s up to the community to keep the noise going.

Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day also took place on September 27, organized by a group of six Bachelor of Education students. The day is inspired by the story of Phyllis Webstad, who attended a residential school as a child. When she was six years old, Phyllis arrived for her first day of school in the brand-new orange shirt her grandmother had given her, only to have it taken from her - never to be seen again. Now, every September 30, Canadians wear orange as a call to action - to continue moving forward with the process of reconciliation, share the stories of survivors, and remember those who didn’t survive. StFX chose to hold the event a few days early, given that the 30 fell on a Sunday, when many students would not be on campus.

Kate MacDonald, one of the students involved in organizing the event, states that it was a huge success. Participation in Orange Shirt Day, she says, “is important for individuals and communities to come together in reconciliation in the spirit of hope for the future,” and events on campus certainly achieved that goal. The group was able to sell shirts to students, faculty, staff, and the greater Antigonish community, and all shirts were sold out before the end of the day on the 27. MacDonald estimates that the total number of shirts sold was about 230.

Life Chain Pro-Life Rally and Counter Rally

Pro-life demonstrators gathered this Sunday, September 30, along the side of the old highway. Their gathering is an annual occasion, and part of country-wide rally known as “Life Chain.” According to the Campaign Life Coalition website, Life Chain demonstrations have been active in Canada since 1990 and involve more than 200 locations across Canada every year.

This year’s demonstration in Antigonish consisted of about 30 pro-life advocates boasting signs asking passing drivers to “defend life” and “pray to end abortion.”

Also present at the rally, however, was a group of prochoice activists, making their presence known with colourful signs and the odd round of cheering, encouraged by honking from passing cars. Though their numbers were smaller, the group (containing a number of StFX students) remained unfazed for the duration of the rally, which lasted about 45 minutes.

Kayleigh Trenholm, one of the organizers of the prochoice rally, said that she was really happy with the turnout considering that the counter rally had been planned on very short notice. She also shared her surprise over the fact that people in the community were still holding on to “such antiquated and hateful ideas” towards abortion.

“It’s not about saving a life for them, it’s about controlling the choices of women, that’s what it has always been about.” Ideally, Trenholm says, she’d like to see the succession of pro-life rallies come to end, but feels that if at least one woman passing by was reminded that her choice was valid, then the rally was ultimately successful. Eva Bertrand-Brunelle, another pro-choice advocate, commented on the religious nature of the rallies. “People have to understand that you can be Christian, believe in God, and still be pro-choice.” She pointed out that another pro-choice advocate was a Sunday school teacher. “Being pro-choice is about embracing women’s rights to their body and understanding that some women might not feel ready [to have a child],” not about religion. “It’s their choice,” she says.

Police were involved momentarily after an unknown individual called in a complaint regarding the pro-choice rally, but the officer simply reminded the group to remain behind the white line and continued on his way. The rest of the rally was largely uneventful, with both sides demonstrating a respectful and peaceful protest.

Peace by Chocolate Blastoff in 3... 2... 1...

Local chocolate reaches outer space

When I spoke to Tareq Hadhad, CEO of Peace by Chocolate, I had one specific area of interest. Just how, after less than three years since opening, did he get his chocolate into space?

Hadhad is an interesting man, with much wisdom to share. When I had my chance to speak to him I quickly learned that, “It’s not about the chocolate, chocolate is behind the scenes.” It’s their message that has taken Peace by Chocolate out of this world.

Before getting to space, I wanted to know what it is that got the Hadhads to where they are today.

Amazingly, Peace by Chocolate started in Antigonish in the not so distant past, at the start of 2016. Hadhad’s family chocolate dynasty, however, has a much longer history dating back as far as 1986. Hadhad told me how the business started with his mother and father selling their homemade chocolates, and how they eventually grew to distribute all across the Middle East, from Yemen to Turkey. In time, they were even selling to European countries like Germany and Sweden. He made a point of noting that they “were even sending chocolate to Belgium, the origin of chocolate.” Needless to say, their chocolate business had been quite successful; that is, until conflict broke out.

The original factory was destroyed in the Syrian civil war, and with it, the stores shut down and the distribution network closed. Tragically, Hadhad and his family had lost everything when they left Syria in 2013. After spending three years in a refugee camp in Lebanon, the Hadhad family finally arrived in Canada in 2016. From the start, they believed in the possibilities provided by the Canadian system. Wasting no time, the Hadhad family began selling chocolates in Antigonish soon after settling in.

The delicious treats quickly earned them a reputation in the area and they began to get coverage in the press. By 2017, they had upgraded to a full-sized chocolate factory and were an established brand. Peace by Chocolate was here to stay.

Despite the incredible story of the company’s inception, it takes more than delicious sweets and a family’s dream to explain the Peace by Chocolate phenomenon.

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared the Hadhad’s heartwarming success story at a meeting of the United Nations in 2016, it began to receive international coverage, leading to features on CTV, CBC, BBC, CNN, and even The Xaverian Weekly!

Most recently, Peace by Chocolate has been making headlines for being recognized as a National Hero Case in the Grow with Google program and for having their message of peace shared with the astronauts onboard the International Space Station.

I asked Hadhad just how their business broke the chains of gravity, and he told me about how he’s been making connections ever since he arrived in Canada, and the various visitors his family has received from Canada, the United States, and the greater international community. He then explained the one connection in particular that led to this triumph.

Hadhad told me about a friendship he made with the Canadian/American dual citizen and commander of the International Space Station, Andrew Feustel. He explained how it started by sheer chance, “I was travelling one day to Toronto, and then I saw them at Toronto Airport… And then they recognized me, because they’ve seen me on the media so much, and they came to me... I asked him if it’s possible that we can share the message from space... And he agreed... We couldn’t really be more grateful for that, because they are making our dream true.”

Unsurprisingly, it’s incredibly difficult to get anything onto the ISS. Hadhad told me that he was so appreciative of the astronauts, for their hard work in getting NASA to agree to send the chocolates. He told me a beautiful story of how the pictures that the ISS crew took have impacted his family, “if they travel to any country in the Middle East they are now very well known, about the family, that we sent Syrian chocolate to space. That was the headline on Middle Eastern news in the last three days. It was phenomenal.”

It’s easy to see why the story has caught fire and spread around the world. It would have been so easy, so forgivable if the Hadhads had given up on their dreams after settling in Antigonish; this, however, is clearly not what occurred. Hadhad knew that he had to share his families message, a message not only of peace, but also of personal strength and determination. Hadhad told me what has driven their success, “With us, we have persistence. Nothing comes easy. I know that life is not fair sometimes. The level of discomfort that we have lived, we’ve definitely taken advantage of, and turned it into an opportunity.”

Hadhad glows with optimism. His message is of peace and determination. These days he shares that message in speeches from coast to coast. Luckily, we did not conclude the interview without him first imparting some wisdom on me, “I truly believe that, you know, there are different people on the Earth, and they can follow the ordinary track in their lives but those who will take the extraordinary track or path in their lives, those people will be memorized. Those people we’ll be talking about and those people will really make the change. I truly believe that if you want to make extraordinary stuff, you should not take the ordinary road, that other people are doing... Inside each one of us is a little entrepreneur, that tries always to make things different. It’s your choice to make that entrepreneur out from you, or to keep it inside you.”

Photo: Twitter @Peacebychoco

Hadhad also shared his advice for newcomers, “At the beginning of the day, we are all newcomers... Whether if you are a newcomer to a University, or you are a newcomer to a relationship, or a newcomer to success, we’re all newcomers at a certain level. But for those people that come to different places, it is their responsibility at the beginning to seek out and share their plans with others. No one will come to them and ask them what they are going to do. It is their responsibility to go out first and write their opportunities. And the second thing is; as human beings we have legs, we don’t have roots, like trees. So, we were meant to move, to find the opportunity. Everyone definitely should look for it... And at the end of the day, I would say, you are in Canada, and Canadians are not human beings only, but they are good at being human.”

The Hadhad family’s hard work is certainly paying off these days. I asked Hadhad what plans he has for the business moving forward, and he was happy to let me in, “we are planning to get to a level where we find a piece of chocolate on every shelf in the country, wherever you go... We are now online, we have our website, peacebychocolate.ca, but we always try to expand our network, not only online, but also in reality. But the major goal for Peace by Chocolate, at the end of the day, is to be one of the top five chocolate companies in Canada in the next short while.”

Peace by Chocolate has shattered all obstacles in its way and by all indications, it is going to continue on that trajectory. It represents many things, but most clearly it is a literal reminder of the sweet taste of peace.

With that in mind, I’ll leave the last words to Hadhad “peace is something very noble, and should not be taken for granted. Because you can lose it in the blink of an eye... Wars can start at any point if we lose our trust in each other, if we don’t understand each other as human beings living on the same piece of land.”

Keeping Culture Alive Through Generations of Stories

The power of speaking

Aho K’we hello, I want to give thanks to all whom is reading this, it is my honor to present just a small portion of what I and our culture has to offer. I will be sharing a few stories; one of them is a real spiritual experience I’ve had throughout my lifetime, a very special moment I hope to be able to remember for the rest of my life.

This story was told to me by an elder, I am not certain if it is told the way it was told to me; I apologize if I am wrong. To me, this is a story of ceremony, dream, & song; t’was this time of urgent need for prayers when there was this little girl who was very ill and who was in a coma.

All the medicine, men and women were singing; praying for the little one, ceremony had ended when they had sung a Lakota word song. The little one had woken and had mentioned she heard them singing in her dreams. Taking this as a message, they then called the Lakota word song the ceremonial sweat lodge drum song. This one memory I wish I had remembered when I first started writing this paper.

During my days as a presenter, digital story teller, and singer, I had met this very wellknown native celebrity once at a conference/educational symposium in Saskatoon; was unbelievable meeting him there, my mother and my cousin our boss at the time and I were saying our hellos to him. When I had the chance to talk with him, all I remember was mentioning about what I had seen that one day when I was young.

Around my area from where we are, we do not have much spiritual people around to go to for advice, or to learn old stories from. The moment I met Gordon Tootoosis, I had seen the cane he had with him. It was carved wood of a bird. I had mentioned while pointing at his cane, I had told him that I had seen that bird in the sky at my home as his cane reminded me and at that moment, it was the best way I could explain myself at the time of what I’ve seen. He asked me, where are you from? I told him Paq’tnkek, Nova Scotia, he replied and asked what are you, what is your tribe? I replied Mi’kmaw... I asked if he knows why I had seen it, he replied, because he wanted you to see him. At that moment I did not know who “he” was until a decade and many years after I had seen it appear.

Photo: Facebook @DerrickPaulette

Now I am still learning of who I am as they are still learning of who we are. I am not traditional, but like to think of myself as spiritual. I am not sure if you are spiritual, but I just feel the need to share these stories, experiences and teachings with you today.

When I was a young boy, I was very saddened that I missed my chance to attend a sun dance ceremony that was going on near my reserve; many were attending, dancing, singing & praying. I had went for a walk around my Rez and as I was on my way walking back up home, I was near the river just right before my grand father’s old small red house, something caught my eye in the sky. I looked up it was just before sundown; I seen a clear purple/bluish sky but was very cloudy and stormy just on one side the right, the moon was in the middle just above; I have seen flashes of lightening; light up the one side, not long after I have seen this cloud shape like bird appear just above the lit grey and white clouds which was from the direction of where the sun dance grounds were and the bird facing outward over the land, going toward the ocean.

I still did not fully understand what and why I had seen what I’ve seen; during my time of searching for answers, I finally had come across this knowledge I needed to know. What I have seen that day was the Thunderbird spirit, and seeing this at that moment destined me to become a War Chief/ Medicine-man.

I, Derrick Paulette, am a descendant from many clans; I come from lobster clan and spider clan. I believe I am here to help sing and honor the old ones who fought and protected these lands for generations as also those who have gone before us. Wela’lin for taking the time to read

Paq'tnkek Raises Funds for Community Radio Station

Mi’kmaw First Nation finds out December 6 if it gets a broadcast license

Sometime next year, youth and elders at Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation could be acting as DJs and news announcers, sharing music and stories over their own FM radio station.

Paqtnkek (pronounced ‘BUCK-in-keg’) has applied to the CRTC for a license to build a low-power 50-watt station that would reach listeners in a small radius around the community, located about 20 kilometres east of Antigonish. If approved, the call letters would be CFPQ operating at 104.5 MHz.

“It’s a fairly rigorous process to meet the programming and technical requirements,” says Richard Perry, a former CBC News journalist and now communications advisor to Paqtnkek.

“We registered the non-profit Paqtnkek Radio Society with the NS Registry of Joint Stocks, we have a board of directors. Now we just need to piece together the studio gear required to get our signal to air.”

One of the first things Perry did was join the national campus and community radio association, which provides guidance for small stations trying to navigate the regulatory maze.

“Other fellow broadcasters have gone out of their way to offer advice and encouragement,” he says. “I especially want to thank George Marshall at new station CIYR-FM at Chapel Island First Nation and Dawn Liens, station manager at C99-FM at Membertou First Nation.”

If approved, the station would broadcast a mix of music and spoken word programming from six a.m. to midnight seven days a week, including shows in the Mi’kmaq language.

Perry says the CRTC application includes support letters from commercial stations CJFX in Antigonish and CIGO in Port Hawkesbury, as well as StFX President Kent MacDonald, the Municipality of the County of Antigonish, and MLA Randy Delorey.

The on-air studio and production suite will likely be housed in a renovated Elders’ centre, just across the street from the Band administration office.

Perry says the application process for an FM station can take anywhere from six to 18 months, but because there are no such regulatory requirements for Internet streaming, the station can start broadcasting online when the equipment is purchased.

Anyone wanting to host a show will receive training in broadcast procedures and regulations.

“I’m really excited about seeing community members explore their own creativity,” says Perry. “It’s an opportunity for self-expression, and a chance to create a community hub for sharing information that’s relevant to people of all ages.”

Donors will receive an official CRA-sanctioned tax receipt.

For details, contact Richard Perry at richard.perry@ paqtnkek.ca.

Cross Country: A Varsity Footrace for the Fearless

Athletes push the limit in hometown Invitational

If you meander around campus in the late afternoon or early evening, you’ve likely seen them. Split shorts, tight spandex, arm warmers, backward caps, brightly coloured running shoes, glistening faces and surprisingly, easy-going smiles. They’re all likely going for a 5-7km warm-up run before practice even begins.

On September 22, both the Men’s and Women’s cross country teams took to their home course for their second race of the year. Both teams came out on top with first place team finishes and strong individual performances on both sides. Running first comfortably that afternoon was Alex Neuffer, a second-year Education student from Stratford, PE. Clocking in at a breezy 26:41.47 over 8km (that’s 8 back-to-back 3:20 kilometres, if you were wondering), Neuffer led his teammates to their season’s second first place team finish. Just behind was Paul MacLellan in second with a time of 27:33 and Aidan Doherty, Luc Gallant, Addison Derhak, Graydon Staples and Edward MacDonald finishing sixth, 10th, 11th, 16th and 20th respectively.

Photo of Alex Neuffer: Phoebe Cseresnyes

On the women’s side, Zoe Johnston, a fourth-year HKin student from Pembroke, ON, had a strong second place finish with 23:06 6km. Her teammates, all in the top 20, fled in as follows: Hana Marmura (4th), Jane Hergett (5th), Rachel MacDougall (6th), Catherine Thompson (9th), Ashley Robson (12th), and Paige Chisolm (13th). The pack-racing mentality has proven effective for the both teams, especially the women.

Two senior runners, Neuffer and Patrick Marlow, provided The Xaverian Weekly with their personal insight. Neuffer and Marlow opened up about the team’s goals for their 2018 season. After a tough loss to Dalhousie last year at the AUS Championships, the men have their eyes on taking back the title in Halifax on October 27. By this time, the men hope to be in top shape, including teammate Angus Rawling (the 2018 3km USports Champion), and geared up to place in the top ten at the USports National Championships in Kingston, ON in November.

As for the women’s team, the squad of ten women look to have a strong showing at the AUS Championships and give the Dalhousie team a run for their money. Historically, the Tigers have had several fast individuals pull their team to success including Michelle Reddy, Savanna Jordan, and recent alumni Colleen Wilson. The X-Women will need to piece together a strong, collective effort to challenge them for the top podium finish. All the while, Zoe Johnston and her teammates aim to remain healthy as the season gains momentum. The women are gunning for an AUS title and are working together to stay healthy and strong during the grueling three month season.

With limited exposure to racing against teams outside of the AUS during the year, it is unclear as to where they size up in relation to teams across the country. However, under the guidance of their new head coach, Eric Gillis (an Antigonish native, St. FX alumni, CIS XC National Champion ’03 and three-time Olympian) and careful craft of retired Coach Bernie Chisholm (a recent inductee of the NS Sport Hall of Fame), both the X-men and Women have the mentorship and experience backing their training.

Photo of Zoe Johnston & Hana Marmura: Phoebe Cseresyes

Both Neuffer and Marlow, along with their teammates, are featured in the recently published novel “Runners of the Nish” written by XC alumni Alex Cyr. If you’re looking to gain a better understanding of the sport, this autobiography dissects the innerworkings of what it means to run at X and compete within the ever-growing Canadian running scene. In his first ever novel, Cyr alludes to the ins and outs of the everyday lifestyles of the X long distance runners. He retells the hardships and strong points of the individuals of the team back in 2016. Today, the team continues to set the standards high for themselves. There are many misconceptions of varsity cross country running, especially at a school with a population just over 5000. I mean, how competitive could they be? If you want me to boil it down to an individual level, the times that a few of the men and women in competition pump out are high -calibre and of national rank. Presently, Rawling is training hard and setting his sights on a medal at USports and not far behind, Neuffer plans to lay everything out for a top 10 finish. With these particular individuals and their teammates setting big goals for the small running program here in Antigonish, the XC team continues to set the tone for X Varsity community.

Currently, all of the runners are in the midst of logging somewhere between 60-140km in a week. These men and women run on the daily – perhaps with a Sunday off here and there. Varsity runners log miles in a combination of ways: tempo runs (not race pace, but not-exactly-a-walk-in-thepark-talk-to-your-buddy-pace), hill workouts, interval sets and long runs – probably on Saturdays (because what else would a runner do in the morning anyway?). On top of this, they are weight-training, swimming, studying, squeezing in extra-curriculars, eating right, working jobs to pay their rent and somehow finding time to stay afloat in the social scene. It’s an outlandish but motivating dynamic. There is a common team goal, but all the while, individuals (on the same team and from different schools) are all fighting to cross the finish line regardless of the colour of singlet ahead of them. A common thread in the running world, highlighted by Johnston, is the tight-knit feel of the XC team despite the vigorous competition between teammates – this is in fact what makes the team better and persuades individual competitors to take it to the next level.

With 2 more invitationals on the road, keeping injury-free and mentally on track is no easy feat as the ebbs and flows of cross country running are unpredictable. You throw your best seven runners in the race and the top five score. Add up their places and hope that no one gets passed in the last 400m, because every place counts. The women race 8km and the men run 10km (and equalizing the distances is in the works, you need not worry). The key word here is race. The quality and quantity of mileage these student-athletes put in is not for nothing.

Come the competition days, these miles speak for themselves. Runners have raced as hard as they could – in the rain, in the cold, in the mud, in monotonous loops, and in a constant up-hill battle against the clock, other schools and even their own teammates. It is the ultimate race, where you’re wreathing in pain at the finish line, shaking but also holding hands with your competitors, supporting the weight of your teammate while gasping for air.

Injuries are prevalent, tweaks can alter training regimens, pace in workouts can falter, and an individual’s season can suddenly come to a halt. On the other hand, you could feel great. Your iron levels are on point, your legs feel fresh, you’ve been staying on top of your rehab and what do you know, you’re not in sight of over-training and you find yourself with some kick left with one and a half kilometres to go at Fort Henry in K-town. You just never know who will show up on raceday.

A Silver Star in the Cote First Nation

Brigette Lacquette is an inspiration for all First Nations’ athletes

As Team Canada collapsed to the ice, heartbroken after losing in a shootout to their vaunted rivals, the feeling of silver was a bitter one to swallow, at least temporarily.

The game was the gold medal match of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. There was one specific individual on the ice who had plenty to be proud of, that being the Cote born Brigette Lacquette.

Asked if in time, the silver medal will be something she will be proud of Laquette responded “Maybe with time.” Lacquette was the first First Nations hockey player named to Canada’s National Women’s team, and she played key minutes in the final match.

She tallied one assist during the Olympic games as well. The accomplishment was a long time coming, as the 26-year-old had a successful three-year career at the University of Minnesota Duluth. There, the defenceman tallied 69 points in 106 games and racked up 166 penalty minutes as her physicality was on full display.

She was born in Mallard, Manitoba, a tiny community of 150 residents. However, her roots are embedded in the Cote First Nations community, located near the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Speaking with CBC, Lacquette said “My mom’s from Cote and that’s where she grew up.”

Unfortunately, she suffered from a bad form of eczema when she was young, and hockey was her refuge.

Her dad, Terance Lacquette, of Métis heritage and the O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nations, saw firsthand how tough it was for her and said to CBC, “When she was sitting in class, it would get itchy and she’d sweat. When she got onto the ice, she was able to hide her arms and scars and everything with her hockey equipment and she felt like just another person out there.”

She was also subjected to racist taunts, at the young age of 12. Her Dad remembers it well.

“Girls that age, you know, sometimes they get nasty and say things that they don’t mean. And on this occasion the one girl - actually a couple of them - starts saying something about Briggie and calling her a ‘dirty Indian’, ‘Go back to the reserve,’ and comments like that.”

“I could see when she came to the bench that something was bothering her, and she would have tears in her eyes, and it wasn’t the same joy that she had”.

Photo: eaglefeathernews.ca

Her perseverance through these hardships is what made her so special. One of her idols, and the reason for her love of hockey, is because of the former NHL player Jordan Tootoo. He is of Inuk heritage and the first player to grow up in Nunavut to play in an NHL game. She spoke to CBC about his impact, “Honestly, when world juniors happened in ’03, and Jordin Tootoo came on the scene, that’s when everything started. I was super amazed. He’s from up north, and he actually played in Brandon at that time too… it was a junior A team in Northern Manitoba, and I loved them.”

She also had the honour of having her Olympic hockey stick included in the Hockey Hall of Fame diversity exhibit earlier this year.

She used to be in awe of the great Canadian Women’s players like Hayley Wickenhesier, but she never had a First Nations player to look up to. Now, she is that player. She is very active in her community and surrounding tribes, knowing that all it takes is an opportunity for the next Brigette Lacquette to be found.

“It’s just very special for me to be that role model for young First Nation girls across Canada, Indigenous kids across Canada. I’m just super excited to be that person for them.”

Her father adds that “She basically kicked that door over and knocked it down and it’s not a barrier anymore in her life, and that’s something that’s important for not only her but anybody who’s faced a barrier in their life.”

The odds of a young First Nations girl from a community of 150 growing up and making   the national hockey team were miniscule. Lacquette shattered those odds and earned a silver medal while inspiring indigenous women.

Hockey Players Called "savages" and Told "go home

Racism not a thing of the past for young First Nations’ athletes

In a time that can be seemingly progressive and unprejudiced, it wasn’t the reality for a group of young boys attending a hockey tournament in Québec City this past May 2018.

The First Nation Elites Bantam AAA team was made up of players 13 and 14 years old coming from different communities across Canada.

While most of this team is made up of boys from many Cree, Atikamekw and Algonquin communities in Québec, others came from surrounding provinces including Ontario and Nova Scotia.

At the Spring hockey tournament, players and parents claimed to have been victim to racist taunts and unfair treatment by the tournament organization, including the referees. This tournament, The Coupe Challenge Quebec AAA is an annual tournament that took place for three days in late May.

Players were called “savages” by other teams’ coaching staff. In addition to such, the team’s opponents would imitate and stereotype the team by doing “war cries” on the ice and making tomahawk motions behind their backs.

Elites manager Tommy H.J. Neeposh said that this taunting was the worst he’d ever seen. To make matters worse, he said that refs, coaches, and parents simply watched it happen, and allowed it.

Neeposh managed to film some of this unacceptable behaviour in the team’s semi final game. The video itself proves that the behaviour taking place was unacceptable and repugnant in the video. The video also shows bias of the referees against the Elites. At one point, the referees had four Elites players in the penalty box at the same time.

The end of the video clearly displays a spectator, assumedly a parent, scream out the offensive words, “gang de sauvages.”

One mother, Christina Gull, told CBC that what she witnessed was hurtful and angering. “I was thinking, ‘Does this still exist. Are we in the 80s or 90s?” said Gull to CBC. She went on to tell of how the DJ of the games was playing powwow music, and other parents continuously told them to go home.

This awful behaviour was brought to the attention of the Organizer of the Coupe Challenge Québec AAA, the Bulldogs de Québec. The vice president and organizer for the Bulldogs is Richard Sevigny, who explained that what happened in the rink was out of his control.

Photo: gofundme.com

Sevigny did explain that the situation was highly unfortunate, but that he did do a lot for the First Nation Elites before the tournament even took place. This included registering the team when the tournament was already full. Sevigny said that with regards to the referees, he would simply not hire back those specific officials.

Sevigny’s short response and quickness to accept the behaviour of the players on a “boys will be boys” mentality is not enough to oblige to these families and hockey players that were subject to atrocious racism by opponents, parents, and referees.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident. This happens everyday in communities across Canada, and it is completely inacceptable.

Neeposh spoke to the boys following the tournament. As reported by CBC in May 2018, he told the boys “You are going to face this for the rest of your lives.” This shouldn’t be something so prevalent in the world we live in today.

This shouldn’t be the reality we are living in. These young boys will face this for the rest of their lives, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Indigenous Women in Community Leadership (IWCL)

Coady’s program empowers indigenous women

Some from almost 5,000 kilometres away and closer, Coady Institutes’ Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program welcomes indigenous women from all over the country for the start of the seventh year of their IWCL program (pronounced E-wickl, as I was told).

Aimed at bringing indigenous women together from all over Canada to share knowledge, experiences, and expertise from their respective communities and lives, The Xaverian Weekly was fortunate enough to speak with two members of the IWCL. Some from remote and rural communities, and others from urban communities. In either case, what binds them together is a shared purpose of serving their community of indigenous people and a desire to see the people in their communities succeed, find their inner strength, find their identities, and to rise to the challenges of the modern world. T

he Xaverian Weekly spoke with two women involved in the IWCL program this year. Both of them are not only new to the program (last week was their first week in the Program), but new to Antigonish as well. Both women already take on the roles of leadership in their communities, and are seeking to build on their knowledge with personal and professional knowledge.

Bobbi Rose is the founder of a program for young people in her community, of Fort MacPherson in the Northwest Territories, that trains and educates for leadership opportunities, she is also an outdoor educator. Shannon Kraichy is Métis and Anishinaabekwe leader focusing on providing support and safe spaces for LGBTQ and Two-Spirited youth in her community of Winnipeg, Manitoba, as part of an organization, called the Butterfly Club.

Being so distant from Antigonish, I asked both of them how they found out about a small program in Eastern Canada. Both replied, easily, “Facebook.” For Bobbi she discovered it through a friend, and Shannon through a group, Opportunities First Nations Manitoba, where it was posted. For an opportunity like this, a program designed for First Nations women, it would have been “ridiculous” to pass up the opportunity, Shannon said.

For Bobbi, much of the same. Being able to travel from Northwest Territories to Antigonish to attend a program designed for women like her was a “great opportunity,” and considering the whole program as well as living costs are funded by a wide array of donors, it makes the program available to women from anywhere in Canada regardless of their economic ability, and allows them to focus on the most important parts of the IWCL program; creating new relationships, being present, and sharing knowledge. Both agreed that they believed the program was unique, in it’s focus on indigenous issues, for indigenous women, with an indigenous perspective.

Their comments about the program and the networking and relationships they’ve made in such a short span of time, were almost effusive, and that through IWCL and Coady they began to discover even more resources and opportunities for them and their community.

While the program has only just begun, and is a relatively short program, starting at a distance, coming to Antigonish for October, and ending in their respective communities in January; the impacts of connecting with fellow indigenous women are felt immediately.

Photo: Facebook @CoadyInternationalInstitute

Both Shannon and Bobbi were quick to praise the format of the IWCL. One their first few days together the women take part in intensive team-building exercises, like building a teepee over and over again, until they could do it easily and quickly.

Once built, the inside of the teepee housed the artwork of previous students. Although Bobbi is from a remote and rural community and Shannon from an urban community, both agreed that every woman in the program bring something important to contribute and share with the others.

Facilitated by the leaders of the program, the women are able to connect with each other, person-to-person and discuss a wide array of successes, ideas, challenges, and hope.

Shannon felt that it “was empowering to come [to Antigonish] and have space to work on change and bring it back” to their home communities where their shared knowledge and skills can be put to use in incredibly powerful and effective ways.

Thinking about what they expect to return home with; both were passionate about their hope that with their new shared knowledges they would be able to help, support, and inspire the youth of their communities to succeed. For Bobbi, it was about helping youth in the far north of Fort MacPherson find and seize opportunities in their remote town. For Shannon, it was about helping urban youth reconnect with their indigenous and cultural identities and heritages.

O Canada...

You stand on guard for who?

First you thought I was a goddess queen, empowered by the earth and standing tall. I was a protector of the land, so exotic in your eyes. You were the stranger to the new world. You searched our shores, explored the forests, examined our ways. You were the ones foreign to our land.

You stayed a while, you learned to love our home. That is when you got too comfortable and made our land your home. Just as quickly as you had arrived, you looked at me in a different way. I was no longer the goddess queen that I am, when I turned away your drunken breath on my neck.

Squaw is what you called me. Lazy, dirty, easy, a drunk. You used my sisters and I to your own expense. Violated our bodies, corrupted our culture.

Squaw.

The term that you coined, that damaged us forever. You used it as a defense, so that you could get away with hurting us. Because after all, if we were a squaw, which made us easy, then were we not asking for it?

Were you aware of the damage and hurt that you were creating by degrading us to nothing but a term? “That was hundreds of years ago, why do you people still linger on that word?”

Why do we still think about the term squaw? Maybe because even though the white man came many moons ago, the pain that he created has left its mark on our culture and has continued to make us ache.

I hear you joking about the ‘squaws’ on the reserves, that we are so lazy, “go get a job you uneducated Indian”, we’re dirty, and easy. That is what we have become, a joke.

We are nothing but jokes, so every time one of our sisters is murdered, or goes missing, is raped and beaten, you stand idle and watch as we disappear.

Why are you doing this to us? Don’t you think you’ve already done enough? First you purged our land, took everything for yourselves. You ripped our culture right from our hands, banished us from practicing. And if all of that wasn’t good enough, you came for our children, you assimilated them into becoming one of your white monsters.

This society that we live in today is mad for the idea of reconciling with the indigenous people of Canada, and yet there is still enough ignorance in this country to fill the bellies of every hypocritical politician in parliament.

My sisters and I are screaming to a nation to open their eyes and help save their women. The women that built this earth.

We are all linked through our souls, we are all people, so why don’t you listen to us when we cry?

My sisters and I are not just missing and murdered indigenous statistics. We are people just like you. Think of the women that are in your life, would you fight for their justice? We need you to help us. Please, I beg of that you hear our cries, do not be silent anymore. Do not be the nation that silences us.

Mawiomi in Bloomfield Centre

A baby step towards truth and reconciliation

On Wednesday, October 3, a Mawiomi livened up Bloomfield Centre starting 1pm. Traditional dances took place throughout the afternoon in the McKay Room and merchandise tables were setup in the adjacent room along with gratis coffee, tea, water and food.

Astonishing dances unique to dancers in beautiful regalia like Brooklyn Bernard’s performance moved to the rhythm of the drummers and singers’ group. Bernard is from Paq’tnkek First Nation, one of many community members at the event.

Other dances were intertribal, meaning people of all cultures were welcomed to join in the dance. I participated in my second Round Dance, a traditional healing ceremony, that was again uplifting for the spirit and a learning experience.

Kerry Prosper is the Knowledge Keeper on campus and attended the event. Prosper is a Band Council member from Paq’tnkek who is co-author of “Returning to Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship and self-governance” and Sustainability Planning and Collaboration in Rural Canada: Taking the Next Steps.

Prosper commented on the significance of having a Mawiomi on campus, “This institution has been here, in Mi’kma’ki, for over a hundred years and it has never really accommodated indigenous cultures. For me it’s a real learning process to have everybody here. The faculty, students and population participating is an important part of Truth and Reconciliation. One of the key things that we have to do is get together, sing, dance, eat and share knowledge. Through that, I think things may change for our kids and future generations. These experiences of living together with a better understanding of each other’s culture on this piece of land that we’re going to be a part of for the rest of our lives are important.

Photo: Phoebe Cseresnyes

With all the current issues we are having in Canada, and many other countries that are battling, between the indigenous people and the people who came and took over the land there certainly has to be some kind of reconciliation.

Little things like holding a Mawiomi on campus can go a long way. A piece of bread and soup can go a long way in bringing us together. I can see a benefit for future students who are coming here. Someday, students in education might be teaching in educational institutions about our culture. It can only be beneficial for everybody and this is just a small part of reconciliation.

I felt really comfortable today with everybody and being a part of this institution for my community and our people being here for supporting students. I know the youth from our community felt good about it.

It’s a two-way thing where we don’t really come here either. There could have been more of our people here today. I think once they see a presence in here from their own community and culture, people will be more inclined to take part of events here. Vice-versa, we’ve had powwows and people from here didn’t think they were invited or welcomed to our powwow. Powwows are open for everybody.

At one time, white people weren’t allowed on reservations at certain times of the year and there was a curfew back in the 40s-50s-60s. They would say you better be out of here by dark because we’re not responsible for what happens to you and that type of thing. People grew up saying don’t go near reserves because you can’t trust Indians. That mentality had been passed down from them to their kids. Sure enough, it made its way through schools, high schools and post-secondary institutions. Now we’re a part of a future education. It’s time for us to shed those ideas and learn because we’re becoming a part of the education system and you got to learn what’s real: We’re gonna face future uncertainties together and we’re gonna have to work together. The time of indifference is going, and it’s gone.

All you have to do is look out at the world and see the trouble we’re having. People come here, to this land, to escape what they were going through, and they are welcomed with open arms. The perpetrators who came here in the past and did things like what happened with residential schools have caused a trans-generational trauma that has been passed on. You hurt your own people because that’s all you know.

You got to understand both sides. Our kids are gonna live without that experience and we’re gonna create a better world for everybody moving forward.”

Mawiomi on Campus a Success

People gather in Bloomfield Centre for a celebration of culture

Indigenous Students at StFX

First Nations students’ share their stories

Devann Sylverster

My name is Devann Marie Sylvester and I am a Mi’kmaq student here at StFX. I come from the Membertou First Nation community in Cape Breton, NS. I am 25 years old and a proud student-parent of my 3 year old son Denver Sylvester. I went to school in both Cape Breton and Truro, NS and graduated high school at Cobequid Educational Centre. In 2017 I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree at StFX, and now I am currently in the Bachelor of Education program and will be graduating this upcoming May 2019 in the elementary stream. After graduation I plan to return to my hometown to teach our younger generations.

Tasha McKenzie

My name is Tasha McKenzie, I am from Indian Brook, Nova Scotia and lived my whole life on the reservation until August of 2013 when I started here at StFX. I am in my last year of my Bachelor of Arts degree with hopes to get into the Bachelor of Education program after I graduate. I aspire to teach the true Canadian history including my Indigenous ancestors. I have spent three of my years here playing on the X-women rugby team, though I had to take a step back to focus on my education they are still my family. In my grade 12 year at Hants East Rural High School, which is about a 15-minute drive away from my home community, I was recruited by the rugby coach here at StFX, along with other universities. I finally decided on staying in province and moved to this small town of Antigonish, instantly falling in love - I felt right at home here. Not a day goes by that I regret choosing StFX! I am proud to be a Mi’kmaq women on campus. staying in province and moved to this small town of Antigonish, instantly falling in love - I felt right at home here. Not a day goes by that I regret choosing StFX! I am proud to be a Mi’kmaq women on campus.

Nothing but Farce

New twitter account preserves campus stereotypes for humour

Last month, a Twitter account which self-describes as a, “Local account for all things satire,” popped up.

So far this account, named Campus Crow, has posted 36 tweets indulging in StFX stereotypes, poking fun at some faculty, and more humorous content. I can’t blame anyone if they haven’t heard of this; Campus Crow has 307 twitter followers, and typically gets 2 retweets per post. They do tend to get an average amount of likes, usually falling between 30 to 60 likes or more.

Among their most liked content includes, “Finance Major Realizes Return on Bag of Refundables From StFX Hoco Not Enough to Cover Damages of Hole Punched Into Wall...” and, “Student Who Can’t Wake Up For 8:15 Class Attends an 8am Power Hour on a Saturday”, with 92 and 106 likes respectively.

A quick glance at Campus Crow might tip off some readers as being directly influenced by The Onion, a famous satirical news website. Certainly the headlines are inspired by The Onion, having the same sarcastic tone. The Onion’s articles usually come in two different styles: things that ‘everyone is thinking’, or professionally written articles that are hilariously untrue.

Campus Crow is emulating the former, but since it is related to StFX, the types of jokes they can post are stricter. Most of Campus Crow’s posts are related to StFX’s party reputation, residence stereotypes, or jabs at everyday life on campus.

As Campus Crow is restricted to Twitter and its small character limit, I’m not sure if it can really be called satire at all. With The Onion, the joke doesn’t stop at the headlines. The real satirical element is found in the content of their articles.

In the article, “Tour Guide One Stop Behind Clearly Giving More Interesting Tour”, the joke isn’t just that it’s a thought many people have had before.

The joke is in the continuation of this premise, by way of fake interviews and situations to prove that one tour guide was, indeed, boring. I

n addition, Campus Crow’s inspiration is criticizing the sensationalism common in news websites. Basically, satire is a perfect word to use to describe The Onion and other sites of its ilk. But when you don’t have the context for these headlines, the joke is left half-finished. Obviously, Campus Crow is meant to be a Twitter account posting quick jokes, using stereotypes and situations any StFX student could understand.

Do I find them funny? Well, I suppose so. I’ve seen all 36 of their tweets and most of them I found a little funny, but nothing made me really laugh. Honestly, the things Campus Crow chooses to make jokes out of might be a little too predictable to be effective.

Photo: Twitter @CampusCrow

So is Campus Crow satire as it claims? I don’t think so. To be satirical is to be critiquing something, and I’m not convinced that’s what Campus Crow is trying to do. That then begs the question, what kind of effect does this Twitter have on the StFX student body? Setting aside the fact that Campus Crow’s reach is relatively small, there is something kind of problematic in making fun of stereotypes without any sort of context. Even as a joke, stating negative stereotypes about certain residences without any kind of critique arguably promotes the stereotype rather than call it out. In between this semester and the last, StFX made some tough decisions about many residences. Lane is no more, and University Ave is now co-ed. There has been an obvious attempt to change residence culture at StFX.

Taking that into account, maybe we should all be more mindful about how we stereotype different residences and try to foster a more positive atmosphere. Although I don’t think that Campus Crow is very relevant when it comes to negative stereotypes (like I said before, the account is harmless and doesn’t have a huge audience), it will be interesting to see if this account continues to gain followers and see what part of StFX student culture it jokes about next.

From Pen to Paper

A look into Inktober and the impact it makes

October rolls around and for most people we think of Halloween, but for the creative minds, this is a time to put your art skills to the test. Inktober as it’s affectionately called, is a month of daily artistic challenges focusing primarily on Instagram.

It began in 2009 when Jake Parker decided to create a series of challenges to improve his skill and drawing habits. The challenge for him was to draw something different every day for the month of October and he invited people to join in on his journey.

The large-scale challenge initially came to be by loose construction, where people created their own prompts and posted their creations online.

In 2016, there came the first official prompt list due to the growing interest and high demand for a guide. The rules are simple, as per inktober.com; make a drawing in ink, post it and hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2018, and repeat for every new prompt.

This is an interesting concept for a myriad of reasons, not only is it an encouraging practice for artists globally, but it reinforces the development of new and strong habits. This movement can also carry the power of messages, user @ tiuladokow on Instagram makes her work known to be indigenous, Palaun specifically, related.

The idea is expression and, in a time where voice is becoming increasingly restricted by governments and media, this presents an opportunity to demonstrate the different ways that voice can be expressed.

The Mi’kmaq people, as an example, are known for their artistry; decorating objects with intricate patterns of different coloured porcupine quills or making beautiful regalia, their authentic expression comes through the art.

Artistry is still prominent in the Mi’kmaq community today. Alan Syliboy and Leonard Paul are two examples of local artists who highlight aspects of indigenous culture.

Paul’s works feature legend drawings, powwow dancers, and nature, and Paul has also published works for other indigenous peoples such as the Cree.

As Inktober gains even more popularity, I think it will present itself as a very powerful means of message. I emphasize indigenous expression and artwork because of its lasting tradition and rich history.

Angela Miracle Gladue from A Tribe Called Red says, very poignantly, “It wasn’t that long ago that dances were outlawed, and our culture was outlawed, being indigenous was illegal and so for me it’s really really important to represent these dances outward and in the world on stages and in spaces where we once weren’t welcome.”

Photo: Instagram @tiuladokow

Gladue brings forth how times have shifted and what the arts can mean to an individual and to a group.

It is important to recognize how individuals have suffered and had some of the most basic aspects of their lives removed from them, and how only recently has that been reinstated, but the journey towards truth and reconciliation is still on-going.

Inktober as an online platform brings the arts to the center stage offering recognition for all artists. It is the opportunity for artists to bring forth their cultures and express the adversity they have faced and what it means to them through unique art from prompts.

Originally, Inktober was meant to strictly be ink based, but as popularity has built, they have opened the platform to different art styles and have even seen the expansion into writing in the forms of poems and short stories based on prompts. Inktober is for the arts, so however you want to express yourself, take part. It’s an awesome way to gain some recognition for yourself or whatever you choose to represent.