OMEGATHE

THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITYS INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

VOLUME 25

WWW.TRUOMEGA.CA @TRU_OMEGA FB.ME/TRUOMEGA A B NEW ISSUE EVERY WEDNESDAY

Poppins is practically perfect in every wayWestern Canada Theatres latest production is getting some great feedback Page 7

Campus action planned for National Day of Remembrance Page 5

Against violence against women

ON DECEMBER 6IN A MOST DELIGHTFUL WAYRIDE ALONG

Art by TRU student Jean Strong inspired by interviews with sexual assault survivors on campus. Page 2

Sexual assault policy work continuesAS UBC FACES COMPLAINTS

TRU gets a new website for sharing transportation to and from school, and elsewhere Page 4

Carpooling out, ridesharing in

WolfPack swimming save their best for Canada West championships

Bested by one of the best in the west womens volleyball takes a hit Page 11

ALL SET

ACTION PACKED

In any time-based sport there is a

difficult balance that has to be struck.

A mixture of training and quick times

in races must be found that allow ath-

letes to qualify for the big events while

still saving some gas in the tank so that

they are hitting peak performance at

just the right time. The TRU swimming

team pulled that off successfully this

past weekend as all three swimmers that

qualified for the Canada West Champi-

onships achieved personal best swims.

CONTINUES page 11Kamloops Arts Councils latest event puts would-be artists in the dark Page 8

Finding your way in the dark with art

ILLUMINATING

Following her Thailand travels, our Arts Editor has some advice for eaters abroad Page 6

FOOD FIGHT

What to eat and what to avoid in Thailand

ISSUE NO. 13

DECEMBER 2, 2015

NEWS DECEMBER 2, 20152

City approves smoking ban in Kamloops parks

The Kamloops City Council passed a resolution banning smoking in public parks and on city property at a meeting on Nov. 24. The vote passed 7-2, with only Mayor Peter Milobar and Coun. Pat Wallace opposed. A temporary smoking ban was instituted this July to reduce the risk of wildfires. The ban also extends to e-cigarettes and vaporizers.

City of Burnaby loses court case against pipeline

The city of Burnaby has lost a Supreme Court of B.C. decision that attempted to halt Kinder Morgans installation of a pipe-line inside city limits. Burnaby attempted to use local traffic and parks bylaws to supersede an earlier national energy board decision, but was unsuccessful. Burnaby Now reported that the decision also left the city responsible for Kinder Morgans legal costs. The Burnaby mayor and city council have promised to pursue the case in a higher court. Burnaby Mayor Derek Cor-rigan went so far as to say that he was prepared to be arrested to stop the pipeline.

Turkish air force shoots down Russian attack aircraft

Two Turkish Air Force Jets pursued and shot down a Russian ground attack aircraft near the Syrian border on Nov. 24. Turkeys UN Security Council representative claims that the Russian aircraft was in Turkish airspace and was warned 10 times in five minutes to change course. Russian President Vladimir Putin claims that the Russian plane was over Syrian airspace at the time it was shot down. Captain Konstantin

Murakhtin, the survivor from the planes two-man crew told RT he did not receive a warning before being shot down. This was a stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists, Putin said. Russia has imposed economic sanctions on Turkey in the days since the plane was downed.

Controversy over yoga at University of Ottawa

Free yoga classes at the University of Ottawa have been cancelled recently over concerns of cultural appropriation. The instructor of the classes told CBC that the yoga classes she had been teaching for the univer-sitys Centre for Students With Disabilities were cancelled by the universitys Student Federa-tion citing cultural concerns. The instructor offered to strip away the perceived spiritual element, by calling the classes mindful stretching, this was re-jected by the student federation because it didnt translate well into French. Student federation president Romo Ahimakin said that the classes were cancelled following a review of all of the federations programs rather than specific complaints.

Refugee plan underwayThe Canadian Governments

plan to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada is underway. According to the Government of Canadas website, refugees are being screened for admis-sion into Canada in Lebanon and Jordan with the help of the United Nations. The website goes on to say that beginning in December, privately chartered aircraft and possibly also mili-tary planes will bring refugees to Canada. Refugees who are not sponsored by private citizens will be provided assistance that the government says will align with the local provincial social assistance rates.

News in briefJim ElliotNEWS EDITOR

A quick recap of last weeks big stories

Sexual assault policy task force work continues amidst UBC controversy

The heavily publicized sexual assault complaints at UBC have pushed the debate about univer-sity response to sexual assault on campus back into the spotlight.

TRU has been developing its sexual assault policy since July, and the task force created to draft it met again on Thursday, Nov. 19. Now, the issue of sexual assault on Canadian campuses has been brought into focus by complaints made against UBC by several students who felt that the response to their allegations of sexual misconduct by a classmate were improperly dealt with by the university.

TRU had its own complaint over the handling of a sexual assault report earlier this year, when

journalism student Jean Strong published her article about TRUs mishandling of her report of sexual assault in 2012.

The newly formed task force met before the story from UBC broke, but Dean of Students Christine Adam said that it confirmed the importance of drafting a sexual assault policy. Adam is content with the progress the task force has made. One of the main accomplishments of the meeting was defining some of the language used in the policy.

The policy group needed some input from the task force in terms of the language we would actually use, I would say that that is consis-tent with questions that are being asked on other campuses as well. I mean the extent to which we use the terms sexual assault or sexual violence or sexual misconduct and also how we use terms like

victim, survivor, complainant, Adam said.

According to Adam, the response and reporting group attended a conference in Ontario to learn how other institutions are handling the issue. She expects draft documents from all four groups within the committee to be up for discussion at the task forces next meeting on Jan. 14.

Adam said the policy the task force is looking to develop will be based on procedural fairness and allow the victim to have some control of the process.

Strong said that she was invited to be involved in the task force in September, after meeting with Adam, but hasnt heard anything from the university since the invitation.

At the end of that meeting I was told that I would be receiving further communications, inviting me to certain events and meetings of the task force throughout the semester. I was thrilled because I really wanted to be able to speak at the task force and be a spokesper-son for a number of other girls like myself, Strong said.

Adam said that it was too early in the process of drafting a policy to bring in specific accounts, such as Strongs.

This initial piece of work has really been about identifying the key decision points that need to be made. The next bit of work is about starting to draft things and to get input from others beyond the task force itself, Adam said.

More people will be involved in the process going forward, Adam said. Strong was hoping to be involved because of how many students had reached out to her with stories similar to her own.

When asked if Strong was con-sidered for the task force, Adam said that representatives were appointed via TRUSU.

Jim ElliotNEWS EDITOR

Artwork by TRU student Jean Strong, inspired by interviews with sexual assault survivors on campus. (Jim Elliot/The Omega)

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