EBOLA FORUM HELDOpen forum sought to address concerns over the recent string of cases of the virus, p. 5

Q&A: Autumn HillArts editor Kim Anderson does a Q&A session with the country duo, p. 6

CONCUSSIONSTRU researcher looks at the prevalence and damage concussions can cause, p. 11

Volume 24 – Issue 10 www.truomega.ca Ω @TRU_Omega November 5, 2014

KIRA ISABELLA Autumn Hill and more at Cactus Jacks

THE TIME OF YEAR TO REMEMBER TRU REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY – NOV. 10, 10 A.M. OLD MAINTRU CLOSED – NOV. 11

2 November 5, 2014

Mitchell Peardon once donated blood, but now he can’t.

The second-year St. Thomas University student started donat-ing blood in high school. He do-nated three times, but had to stop once he became sexually active.

Canadian Blood Services had a policy that men who have had sex with men are not allowed to donate since it was discovered in the ‘80s that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was being transmit-ted through transfusions. It was not until 2013 that they lifted this ban in favour of a five-year defer-ral period.

Peardon considered lying.“But then a friend made me

realize, you shouldn’t have to lie about who you are,” he said.

He was even considering ab-stinence, but said it is not worth it. He can’t put his happiness on hold.

Even though Peardon can’t do-nate himself, he encourages others to do so.

Last week, Canadian Blood Services held a blood donor clinic on St. Thomas University’s cam-pus in the J.B. O’Keefe Fitness Centre. Peardon, a member of the STU rugby team, said he encour-

aged the rest of the team to do-nate.

Donated blood is tested for HIV and other diseases before it is given to a patient.

“This is to ensure the safety of the blood and safety for the pa-tient,” said Jacqueline Alain, man-ager at Canadian Blood Services.

Alain would not directly re-spond to questions of why Cana-dian Blood Services did not take blood from gay men. She said they need the safest blood possible.

Recently, there has been talk about decreasing the deferral pe-riod to one-year because of low donation rates.

“They are changing their views, which is good, but not enough,” said Peardon.

Peardon said basing the policy on health concerns is not valid.

“Just like straight people, we use protection too.”

Lately, Canadian Blood Ser-vices can’t really afford to turn anyone down, said Alain.

“We are facing the lowest in-ventory in eight years, so it ’s going to take more than one or two clin-ics to make up for the shortage.”

The clinic held on STU campus on Wednesday had a turnout of 67 units collected. Canadian Blood Services holds a clinic at STU twice a year.

Alain said because of health reasons, they sometimes do have

to turn away people if they don’t meet the criteria.

To donate blood, you have to be in good health and between the ages of 17 and 71. A person cannot donate if they have had a tattoo or piercing in the last six months or if they have been to a malaria-risk area in the last year.

In 2012, the student association of Carleton University in Ottawa banned their blood clinic on cam-pus because of its policy on dona-tions from gay men.

While the issue was raised by a student two years ago, STU spokesman Jeffrey Carleton said the school will not ban blood clin-ics on campus.

“We recognize the concern of people who would disagree with the blood donor guidelines used by the blood service, but at the same time blood donor clinics are central to public health in our province. Clinics at St. Thomas have been very successful at help-ing them help patients.”

Carleton also pointed out that Canadian Blood Services have made changes and is heading in the right direction.

Peardon said he thinks a lot more blood would be donated if this policy was changed.

“I think in the next 10 to 15 years it will no longer be a prob-lem because they will see that they will need everyone to donate.”

For the past decade, November has served as a month of aware-ness regarding prostate exams. “Movember,” as the month is nicknamed, sees men each year grow moustaches to raise mon-ey and help seek better cures for prostate cancer.

This year’s Movember health movement is pushed by recent claims that the prostate-specif-ic antigen (PSA) test, the most common form of checking for prostate cancer, may actually be frequently inaccurate. The Cana-dian Task Force on Preventative Health Care (CTFPHC), a vol-unteer medical panel, published on October 27 an article and condensed statement stating that those over the age of 55 should not receive PSAs when testing for prostate cancer.

The condensed version specifies that those who have been tested between the ages of 55 and 69

have experienced “moderate qual-ity evidence” in testing for cancer. CTFPHC defends that there has been conflicting evidence in the past that PSAs provide accurate information regarding the state of men’s prostates, and have been incorrect often enough that the tests now present the group with cause for concern.

James Dickinson, a University of Calgary professor of Family Medicine and Community Health Sciences, told CBC, “Despite 20 years, the amount of evidence [regarding accuracy] that ’s been brought forward is disappoint-ingly small.” Dickinson, who is also a member of CTFPHC, add-ed, “The enthusiasts are enthusi-astic despite minimal evidence.”

The statement reported that the group’s main cause for con-cern is over-positivity; testing that frequently ends in a wrongly positive result. As such, more men are being treated for prostate can-cer they may not even have.

However, Prostate Cancer Can-ada defends the usefulness and

otherwise accuracy of PSAs when testing patients for the disease. Prostate Cancer Canada’s Stuart Edmonds told CBC, “PSA isn’t the bad actor in this, it ’s actually decision-making along the pro-cess that ’s part of the problem, how the PSA is being interpreted or how men are being pushed or choosing to have treatment when actually treatment may not be necessary.”

Besides PSAs, digital rectal ex-ams are the next leading tool in testing for prostate cancer. There is also currently research looking into whether or not magnetic res-onance imaging (MRIs) can be used to test patients for prostate cancer. MRIs are currently best-used in detecting more aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

After skin cancers, prostate cancer is the most common can-cer to occur in men, and the third highest cause of cancer-related death for men in Canada. To get involved in fighting against pros-tate cancer, visit Canada’s Mo-vember site ca.movember.com.

The Law Society of British Columbia has passed a resolu-tion to not approve Trinity West-ern University’s (TWU) school of law. The decision made by the society’s governing body, the Benchers, comes one day after a referendum was held in which members of the society voted 74 per cent in favour of not approv-ing the school.

This means that TWU gradu-ates will not be admitted to the Law Society of British Columbia and therefore will not be licensed to practice law in the province.

Trinity Western University’s law school, set to open in 2016, was mired in controversy after some took issue with its Com-munity Covenant, a pledge that students must make to attend the school. The Community Cove-nant requires students to pledge that they will abstain from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacred-ness of marriage between a man and a woman.”

The Oct. 30 referendum was

called after a non-binding vote took place in June, where the vote was 3,210 to 968 to reverse the decision to accredit the school.

B.C.’s law society is one of many across Canada rethinking the school’s accreditation. The Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) voted 28 to 21 against accrediting the school in April. In Nova Scotia, their law society decided that it would only accred-it the school if the covenant was rescinded. In New Brunswick, a special general meeting took the pulse of N.B. lawyers to discov-er that they, too, were against the school’s accreditation, but be-cause the governing board of the law society had already approved it, they are in the same situation that B.C. found itself in earlier this summer.

In the referendum question put to its members, the Law Society of B.C. said that the resolution will be binding and implemented if one-third of all members of the society voted and two-thirds vot-ed in favour.

Both of these conditions were met according to the Law Society of B.C.’s results.

NEWS

Blood is in you to give... unless you’ve had gay sex

PSAs may pose dangers regarding prostate exams

Law Society of B.C. will not recognize TWU law school grads

Mary FaheyMacKenzie RileyTHE AQUINIAN (CUP)

The outright ban against gay blood donors is gone, but is a five-year deferral any better?

Those made aware of men’s health by Movember should keep something else in mind, too

Emily Beulieu prepares to give blood at the donation centre set up in the J.B. O‘Keefe Fitness Centre on Wednesday (Andrea Bárcenas/The Aquinian)

Angela EspinozaTHE OTHER PRESS (CUP)

Sean BradyEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω

3The Omega Ω Volume 24 • Issue 10

The Omega

www.truomega.ca

/TRUOmega

@TRU_Omega

Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Published since November 27, 1991

EDITORIAL STAFF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

NEWS EDITOR

ISSUES EDITOR

SCI-TECH EDITOR

ARTS EDITOR

SPORTS EDITOR

COPY EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS

Sean Brady@iamseanbradyeditor@truomega.ca

Alexis Stockford@AlexisStockfordnews@truomega.ca

Ashley Wadhwani@ashwadhwaniissues@truomega.ca

Ryan Turcot@RyanTurcotsci-tech@truomega.ca

Kim Anderson@K_AndersonSaysarts@truomega.ca

Tayla Scott@taylascott3sports@truomega.ca

Rachel Wood@rachelwooodcopy@truomega.ca

Hannah AllenMarlys Klossner Steve Leahy

PUBLISHING BOARDEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

INDUSTRY REP

FACULTY REP

STUDENT REP

STUDENT REP

STUDENT REP

Sean Brady

Christopher Foulds

Charles Hays

Travis Persaud

Adam Williams

Hugo Yuen

LETTERS POLICYLiterary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Omega will attempt to publish each letter received, barring time and space constraints. The editor will take care not to change the intention or tone of submissions, but will not publish material deemed to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. Letters for publication must include the writer’s name (for publication) and contact details (not for publication). The Omega reserves the right not to publish any letter or submitted material. Opinions expressed in any section with an “Opinion” label do not represent those of The Omega, the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society, its Board of Directors or its staff. Opinions belong only to those who have signed them.

COPYRIGHTAll material in this publication is copyright The Omega and may not be reproduced without the expressed consent of the publisher. All unsolicited submissions become copyright The Omega 2014.

Cariboo Student Newspaper Society(Publisher of The Omega)

TRU Campus House #4900 McGill Rd, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 0C8

Phone: 250-828-5069Advertising inquiries:

accounts@truomega.ca

PUBLISHING

/tru_omega

Midterms are in the rear view mirror and assignments are piling up as we enter the last month of classes in the fall semester. It ’s a time when we look ahead to see what we’ve got left to do before breathing a sigh of relief during the Christmas break.

It ’s not uncommon at this time of year to feel anxious, depressed or otherwise stressed out. In fact, according to last year’s National College Health Assessment, more than one third of all students said that stress was impacting their studies.

While stress was the biggest disrupting factor, noted by 37 per cent of the 945 respondents to the survey, it wasn’t the only one affecting a large number of students. Anxiety and sleep diffi-culties both affected at least one quarter of respondents and de-pression affected 15 per cent.

Other major factors affecting studies were concern over a fami-ly member or friend (15 per cent), work (19 per cent), Internet use/computer games (16 per cent), cold/flu sore throat (20 per cent), finances (10 per cent), and rela-tionship difficulties (11 per cent).

My point is, at least some stu-dents around you are probably go-ing through the same thing, and those who can help you are aware of what you’re going through. Not just aware, but actually prepared to help you deal with these things. As much as we like to think our problems are only our own, they’re often not – it ’s just that we don’t talk about them enough.

It can be difficult to confront issues of mental health. It might feel impossible. But knowing that others around you are going through the same thing might help. Mental health and physical health really aren’t all that differ-ent, especially to the professionals who work with patients every day. Depression, anxiety, stress – there

are people whose lives revolve around alleviating these things.

The resources out there to help you are numerous. TRU offers counselling services to address career, educational, personal and crisis issues, and visits are free and confidential. The Wellness Cen-tre offers one-on-one health and wellness planning and education sessions, which can address stress, substance abuse, nutrition, sexual health, relationships, work-life balance and more. There are also small group sessions available. There’s also TRU Health Services where you can book an appoint-ment with a doctor. The campus even has a sleep clinic that offers assessments.

These resources are worth tak-ing advantage of if you think that your stress is affecting you ad-versely. Remember that you’re not alone and that there are people around who are eager to help you.

Information about all of these services can be found at:

www.tru.ca/wellness

OPINION

Wellness resources are there to helpStress, anxiety, depression and more – get help if you need itSean BradyEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω

TUNE IN/TUNE OUT

I have a semi-serious question for all you students out there: any-one taking this TRU branding campaign seriously? Anyone?

I’m sure not. “Let’s brand TRU as an elite university so we stop losing enrolment numbers.” Yeah, cool, except for the fact that TRU’s image is already well established; we’re a local university that offers courses that can be transferred to the actual elite universities. Re-branding the school seems to me like putting the cart before the horse, you know? We don’t need a new image, we need some reason for people to stay and finish their degrees here.

In order to do that, we need some stability. Right now it feels like the entire focus of the university is on the business and law programs. Fair enough, those are important pro-grams, but there’s only two of them. How many other departments and programs have been gutted in or-der to ensure that the business and law programs can run comfortably? I don’t have the numbers, but my educated guess is all of them.

Let’s take the philosophy depart-ment for starters. Actually, it’s the philosophy, history, and politics de-partment since none of those three departments are funded separately. You know what, let’s look at the entire arts program. Many of us are arts students since that’s the one department that everyone who doesn’t have a clear idea of what they want to be enroll in. The vibe I get from TRU is that the arts de-partment is essentially just further-ing your high school education, and once you’ve decided to take “real” university classes you’ll be so im-pressed with the business program.

So what’s the point of rebrand-ing the university? It’s not going to change anything, except the pub-lic image of the university. What’s that going to accomplish? Fooling people into thinking TRU is bet-ter than it is? What happens when they enroll? Will they even notice a disconnect between the education they were promised and the educa-tion they receive? Not if they go into law or business, but if they go into the arts they might be put off by the cancellation of core classes. And even more put off when those courses aren’t available again for a year, maybe even two.

If the school really wants to re-brand itself, it should first focus on whether or not their product is worth the effort of rebranding. And honestly, it’s not an education, it is a product. At least it is to the peo-ple in charge of making decisions that affect the entire student body. You don’t need to rebrand an edu-cation, it’s obvious why education is desirable: it sells itself. Rebrand-ing is something an advertising company does to make it look like their offering a new, exciting prod-uct, when it’s the exact same as it always was: all it’s good for is sep-arating the consumers from their money. And until we’re looked at as students, we will be consumers. Some friendly advice: make sure you keep your receipts.

leahys112@mytru.caStephen Leahy is a third year philos-

ophy student who has been attending TRU since 2011. He has been living in Kamloops for 21 of his 23 years.

Steve LeahyCONTRIBUTOR Ω

The time of year to remember

We’ve got a lot to remember this year.

Remember constables Doug-las Larche, Dave Ross and Fabrice Gevaudan in Moncton, Patrice Vin-cent in Quebec and Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa.

These are just some of the names of people who put their lives on the line for our safety and security in the past year and died doing so. There

are many more not listed here, and more still who live on and still pro-vide us with safety and security.

There’s a reason campus will closed this Remembrance Day. There’s a reason why things will be quieter than usual around town. The day should serve as a time for remembrance and reflection on the good fortune many of us have to live in this country.

I’m a big advocate for remember-ing however you want. If it’s a war movie that puts you in that place, that’s fine. (Band of Brothers is a

favourite). If it’s poetry or a novel, there are plenty of options. If it’s re-membering loved ones who fought and died, or went on to live with their experiences, fill your thoughts with them.

If you have no way at all to relate, try to find a way to do so, and maybe think about how fortunate you are, as I am, to be so far removed from the horrors of war that came before our time.

We’ve got a lot to remember this year, but we’ve got a lot to remember every year.

Sean BradyEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω

Sean Brady/The Omega

Nov. 10TRU Remembrance Day Ceremony

10 a.m. to 11 a.m.Old Main Student Street

Guest speaker: Private Frank McCusker

Nov. 13Advanced voting for TRU students/staff

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Campus Activity Centre

Nov. 11Remembrance DayTRU Campus closed

Cover photo (poppy) OliBac/Flickr Commons

October 29, 20144

5The Omega Ω Volume 24 • Issue 10 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

“Can I tell you an Ebola joke?” TRU professor Michael Mehta began. “You probably won’t get it.”

All joking aside, that was the consensus last Thursday when a panel of speakers offered their ex-pertise at TRU’s public open fo-rum on Ebola. The panel included TRU World’s managing director and five TRU faculty, including instructors from the nursing, jour-nalism and history programs.

Mehta began the forum by ar-guing that, “while the Ebola epi-demic spreads and 5,000 people die in central and western Afri-ca, fear-based decision-making is running amuck in countries like Canada and the U.S.”

To help alleviate some of this

fear, TRU World managing direc-tor Mike Henniger spoke as the first of six panelists, addressing the public concern that an inter-national student from an affected country could carry Ebola to Ka-mloops.

“Right now, TRU doesn’t have students coming from the affected regions, which makes things a lot easier from the get-go,” Henniger said.

He also mentioned that inter-national students are required to pass a medical exam to obtain a Canadian study permit, and that they cannot legally study in Cana-da without one.

TRU also monitors staff, faculty and TRU-sanctioned student trav-el to identify and prevent people from going to Ebola-affected re-gions, though Henniger acknowl-edged “somebody could still go

on [a personal] vacation and we wouldn’t know that.”

In September, an international student did plan to travel to an affected region to visit family, but voluntarily cancelled the trip when TRU identified a risk in a submit-ted travel report.

Henniger explained that inter-national students are required to pay into a provincial Medical Ser-vices Plan (MSP) after their third month of studies, but can opt out of the expense to save money while they travel home. In the process of doing so, TRU requires the stu-dents to submit travel plans.

TRU also has pandemic plans drafted for diseases like the H1N1 flu virus, and would prepare a similar one for Ebola should the disease become a bigger threat in Canada. As a last resort, TRU has the power to implement manda-

tory deferrals to prevent students from affected areas to coming to campus.

“That’s something we really don’t want to do, and it would be a last case scenario,” Henniger said.

Nursing instructors Florriann Fehr and Wendy McKenzie spoke to concerns that nursing students and practicing nurses may have about being in a profession that could expose them to health risks like Ebola.

“Unfortunately, 10 to 15 per cent of nurses that come into con-tact with clients also catch Ebola, and that’s sad for our profession,” Fehr said.

“I’ve had some students and colleagues come up to me and ask some pretty tough questions. ‘If I’m a nurse, do I have to take care of a patient who has Ebola? If I refuse, will I get fired? What if I get quarantined?’” she said.

Fehr does insist that abandon-ing a patient goes against a nurse’s duty to practice, but also explained “there are some fabulous policies to protect you if you ask these questions.”

Students and practicing nurs-es with concerns can contact the College of Registered Nurses of BC, and Fehr believes they should.

“If you are not prepared, if you are not properly trained, or if there isn’t a system in place to keep you and your clients safe, then you are not fit to practice [on an Ebola patient]. You have to be mentally ready. You have to be in the right mind and heart to do this.”

The B.C. government has also set up an Ebola preparedness task force to ensure that health care professionals receive the proper training and mental preparation.

When journalism instructor Charles Hays spoke, he argued that “the voices with the expertise to assess the [Ebola] problem in

an informed way are getting lost in the noise that the media is cre-ating.”

Hays explained that journalists generally report on issues that are unique and current, and in doing so issues like Ebola can appear more threatening than they really are.

“You are more likely to get lung cancer than Ebola, even if you don’t smoke,” Hays said.

Michelle Funk, who also teaches in TRU’s School of Nursing, ex-plained that there are cultural sen-sitivities that can affect how Ebola is fought overseas. In August, for example, the Liberian government began enforcing the cremation of deceased Ebola victims to kill the virus residing in the corpses. Cremation offends the cultural beliefs of many Liberians and, in response, some have shunned Eb-ola treatment centers.

John Hart, a TRU historian, concluded the forum by shar-ing his personal experiences with past disease outbreaks in Canada, including polio, tuberculosis and smallpox.

“I lived through the polio epi-demic, and I remember it vividly. I can’t even explain how awful it was for everyone.”

Ebola, in comparison, is not as big of a threat, Hart said. Like Ebola, however, he explained that the worst part about the polio out-break “was the fear that you were going to catch it.” He admits that the hype around polio also made it seem like a bigger risk than it was.

“TRU needs to develop a di-alogue on a regular basis. The Ebola forum was a trial run of a platform for looking at these kinds of things. I would like to create a regular risk forum that deals with risk issues in a timely way as they emerge,” Mehta said in reflection of the forum.

Faculty and staff weigh in on Ebola outbreakAn open forum on Ebola addresses some concerns over the recent string of casesRyan TurcotSCIENCE & TECH EDITOR Ω

Last year, TRU only received six final applications for their $100,000 Sustain-ability Grant Fund. This year, students have until Nov. 16 to apply for the grant.

The grant gives students the opportu-nity to design and implement a project to advance the environmental, economic and social sustainability at TRU.

“You can ask for up to $100,000, but your project can be as big or small as you want,” said environmental programs and research co-ordinator James Gordon.

Students interested in pursuing a sus-tainability-related research project can also apply for up to $10,000 of the fund. An equivalent $10,000 is open for faculty research.

In the fall of 2013, $27,500 was awarded to fund four scanners and soft-ware licencing that enabled TRU to con-vert its paper-based student records into

an electronic format. In the winter of 2014, the TRUSU Eco Club received a grant that allowed them to replace paper towel dispensers around campus with electric hand dryers.

TRU’s Office of Environment and Sustainability invested the remaining money from last year’s fund into a com-poster in the Culinary Arts building.

To apply for a grant, students need to submit a 500-word outline of their proj-ect or research idea to the TRU Office of Environment and Sustainability. If the idea is approved, applicants will have until Feb. 10 to write a full proposal. Stu-dents who need help getting started on a proposal can attend a grant-writing workshop on Nov. 27, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the TRUSU Lecture Hall.

Successful applicants have one year to spend their grant, and must submit mid-term and project-end reports to update TRU on their progress.

For more info on the grant, contact James Gordon at jgordon@tru.ca.

Call for applications for Sustainability Grant FundGot a bright idea for to make the university more sustainable? $100,000 availableRyan TurcotSCIENCE & TECH EDITOR Ω

The Ebola open forum panel addresses audience questions. From left to right: John Hart, Wendy McKenzie, Michelle Funk, Mike Henniger, Charles Hays, and Florriann Fehr. (Ryan Turcot/The Omega)

A still from from a video presenting the “Green Hands” project, a successful application from last year (Courtesy TRU)

6 November 5, 2014ARTS

Country diva Kira Isabella per-formed Saturday, Nov. 1 at Cactus Jacks Nightclub. Vancouver band Me and Mae opened the show, followed by duo Autumn Hill and then Isabella.

The female-dominated audience was slow to build, with just 20 girls crowding the stage for Me and Mae, but with every act the group doubled. Although not as big a crowd as CJs is used to, the audi-ence was still formidable and their response filled the room.

Me and Mae performed with charisma and had the audience singing along as they ended their set with Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

Mike Robins and Tareya Green of Autumn Hill channeled their in-ner Sandy Olsson and Danny Zuko in black leather outfits. Robins and Green played enthusiastically,

feeding off the audience. Green’s tambourine even lost a few zils (the metal cymbal parts).

Autumn Hill performed some new songs that will be on their up-coming second album, including “It’s a Good Night for Going No-where” ¬– an instant dance anthem.

They closed with a rendition of “Royals” by Lorde, first in a rock interpretation and then country. Autumn Hill also had a World Vi-sion charity information booth set up between acts.

Her performance at CJs is part of Isabella’s first headlining tour to promote her latest album Caffeine and Big Dreams, released Oct. 14. Her set drew the biggest crowd, with at least 80 people dancing, and more seated at the back.

After a few songs, Isabella changed from a glamorous red corset and black heels to a simple black tank top and cowboy boots.

One ambitious man held a ring out to the pint-size powerhouse, but his proposal was not accepted.

Halfway through her set, Isabel-la said that she wanted the band to come out onto the floor for a song or two, and then decided instead to perform on top of the bar. This spontaneity and fun characterizes Isabella’s showmanship.

Along with her original music, Isabella sang a medley of songs across different genres, from “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore to “Rude” by MAGIC! and “Fishin’ in the Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Before ending her set, Isabella got teary-eyed, thanking the audi-ence for their support.

“I’m sorry I’m such a wimp, you guys are just so awesome,” Isabella said, dabbing her eyes.

She returned for three encore songs, the first of which was a re-freshing solo acoustic version of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer.”

Kamloops was the fourth stop on their “Shake It” tour. In the coming weeks they will work their way east, ending in London, Ont.

Kira Isabella had the Cactus Jacks bar at her feet, literallyMarlys KlossnerCONTRIBUTOR Ω

Canadian country duo Tareya Green and Mike Robins burst into the music scene with their hit single “Anything At All” in 2013. Autumn Hill is making a name for itself as a dynamic and incredi-bly talented duo. Tareya took a few min-utes with The Omega to talk about the band’s newfound success, performing on stage, and, perhaps most importantly, her night guard.

Kim Anderson: How have things changed for you since “Anything At All” dropped?

Tareya Green: Oh my goodness. My life is completely different. We didn’t re-alize when we released it how profound the response was, everyone was so amaz-ing in sharing the song and liking it. It was incredible to experience that kind of acceptance into the music industry with a debut release. I couldn’t be more grate-ful. I’m living my dreams now because of how people have received it.

K: Have you had good feedback from other artists as well as fans?

T: It’s been incredible. We’ve had the opportunity to work with Jann Arden re-cently on her new single “Karolina.” She’s so generous with everything, she literally

gave me about 50 per cent of the lines in her song to sing. That just blew me away. I’ve been doing a little work with Tom Cochrane, who is an idol of mine. He’s an incredible musician and person. It’s really amazing to see your idols in real life and have them be just as incredible people as they are musicians.

K: I read that you were discovered on YouTube. That’s interesting to me, be-cause another really famous Canadian that that happened to was Justin Bieber. Not to compare you to him, but I didn’t think that happened very often. Before that happened, did you consider that performing and music could be a career for you?

T: I have always loved singing. I’ve al-ways sung in some capacity. I have always been a very shy person, so YouTube was a way for me to sit alone in my room and record a song and still have people see it, but with a degree of separation. I got the email to move to Toronto and explore music as a career. It was very out of char-acter for me to take that leap of faith, get on a plane and move across the country and pursue a pipe dream. It was really out of character for me.

K: Did you do any open mics?T: Not really, I didn’t do open mics. It’s

actually funny, the first show I did was in P.E.I. and I think the capacity was like

30,000-60,000 people. It was a massive stage with a runway. They put a mic in my hand and said go for it, do your thing. It was terrifying.

K: How long did it take to feel com-fortable on stage?

T: I don’t know if I’ll ever feel com-fortable on stage. I feel comfortable sing-ing, so once I get into the song and get lost in it a little, the comfort is there, it’s in the song. There’s always nerves but once you start singing it feels like home.

K: What inspires your music today?T: Being a duo, you have another per-

son bringing perspectives and experienc-es to the table. It’s a combination of ev-erything you go through in life, capturing the fun nights in the summer, a weekend at a cabin with your friends, break-ups, just everything you experience as a per-son.

K: Since you and Mike started per-forming, what’s been your greatest chal-lenge as a band as far as writing goes?

T: There’s always a challenge when people are expressing something as per-sonal as a melody or chord progression. Merging our visions for each song is probably the most challenging. We like to say the song picks the best version. We definitely have it out over the song, but it makes for a better song in the end.

K: What’s the most rewarding part?T: Having someone to share not

only your challenges, but your success-es. There’s someone who knows exactly what you’re feeling, and there’s someone to celebrate with all the time.

K: Have you prepared yourself for your tour? What’s something you can’t leave home without?

T: The answer is so embarrassing. Oh my gosh, it’s my night guard, for my teeth. Literally, it’s in my purse right now. I don’t leave my house without it. I wish I could’ve said a good pair of jeans, or some cool answer, but no…

K: What has been your most memo-rable moment while playing live?

T: So many moments, it’s so hard to choose. There was one really cool mo-ment, a couple was telling us about how “Anything At All” brought them back together as a couple. Then her boyfriend pulled his shirt down off of his shoulder he had a tattoo of an anchor and it said “tied to me like an anchor to my soul.” Someone tattooed the lyrics to our first song onto their body. It was surreal to see, but it was so flattering.

K: How do you and Mike compli-ment each other as artists?

T: Mike has a lot of live experience, he knows his way around, he knows the ropes when it comes to touring and play-ing shows. He brings a lot of energy to our shows and gives me energy to play off of.

K: As country artists, what do you bring to fans that is a bit different?

T: There are a few amazing duos right now. I just know it’s a little bit of a smaller group, us duos. Being able to sing a song and look at a certain situation from two completely different perspectives, I think it’s interesting contextually to sing about something from a guy’s perspective and a girl’s.

K: Anything you wanted to say to your fans?

T: Thanks for making the last year the best year of our lives! We can’t wait to rock out with you!

Q&A WITH AUTUMN HILLKim AndersonARTS EDITOR Ω

Marlys Klossner/The Omega

Marlys Klossner/The Omega

Marlys Klossner/The Omega

7The Omega Ω Volume 24 • Issue 10 ARTS

The Kamloops Art Gallery has put together Luminocity, an innovative art exhibit arranged in public spaces, with work from over 20 artists. Luminocity runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8 and is displayed in several different locations downtown. Artists have created works with a variety of new media, photography and video technology. Charo Neville, of the Kamloops Art Gallery has curated this exhibit. Former TRU students Clarence Jules and Vincent Viezzer, current students Paulino Caputo, Devon Lindsay, and Siqi Xu, and instructors Terryl Atkins, Wayne Egers, and Doug Buis, have all contributed work for this week-long public art project.

Photos by Kim Anderson

“It’s great and beautiful, just incredible. As soon as summer ends, things quiet down. It’s nice to see some art and beauty,”–Jewell Shaw

LUMINOCITYLIGHTING UP KAMLOOPS

OCT. 31to

NOV. 8DOWNTOWN KAMLOOPS

8 November 5, 2014NEWS

Canadians have been told to ex-pect more anti-terrorism measures from the federal government fol-lowing Bill C-44, or the Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act, ta-bled early last week.

The bill was to be presented to Parliament just before Ottawa was rocked by the Oct. 22 shootings that killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and ended in the halls of Parlia-ment. Two days prior, a car hit two members of the Canadian Forces in Quebec, killing Warrant Offi-cer Patrice Vincent. The driver was identified as Martin Couture-Rou-leau, who was being monitored by the RCMP as a possible extremist.

The government did not have time to take either attack into ac-count before presenting Bill C-44 to Parliament on Oct. 27.

Robert Diab, a TRU law profes-sor specializing in constitutional law, human rights and national se-curity, said it is too early to say how lawmakers in Ottawa will react to the attacks.

“It’s not clear that there’s much more we can do,” Diab said.

“Conversely, it’s not clear that what happened last week in Otta-wa was a consequence of a lack of police powers…There seems to be a wide consensus that what happened is very difficult to prevent, given that it’s a lone individual, proba-bly suffering mental health issues. There’s even debate on whether it was an act of terror, or was it just a crime.”

Diab added that the govern-ment might present a new bill in response to the attacks.

In his opinion, that bill could amend the Criminal Code to in-crease the time someone suspect-ed of terrorist involvement can be held without charges being laid to one or two weeks, something Diab said may or may not be constitu-tional.

He also suggested new measures might include making it easier to place court-enforced conditions, called a recognisance, on those suspected of terrorist involvement or increasing the criminal conse-quence of encouraging radicaliza-tion.

Some activists and political ex-perts are expressing concern that “further anti-terrorism measures” could translate into unconstitu-tional legislation.

Brigitte DePape, who made headlines three years ago after walking into the centre of the Senate chamber and holding up a “Stop Harper” sign to protest the Conservative majority, accused the Harper government of “using this crisis to push for laws that are threatening our own civil liber-ties.”

“I think this is precisely the time that we need to be having compas-sion and need to be challenging racism and need to be investing in social services,” DePape said. “We know a root cause of crime is inequality and unequal access to good social services, like around mental health, and that to me is really the response we need.”

DePape was on campus on Oct. 28 to speak on civil liberties and the “Stop Harper” campaign.

DePape wasn’t the only one call-ing for caution. On Oct. 29, the Privacy and Information Commis-sioners of Canada released a state-ment urging an “evidence-based approach” to new powers for in-telligence and law-enforcement agencies, open and transparent dialogue on new anti-terrorism

measures and “effective oversight [to] be included in any legislation establishing additional powers for intelligence and law enforcement agencies.”

“Canadians both expect and are entitled to equal protection for their privacy and access rights and for their security,” the state-ment said. “We must uphold these fundamental rights that lie at the heart of Canada’s democracy.”

Diab said that he would like to see better information networks at the community level, which he thinks would allow law enforce-ment to intervene earlier in the radicalization process.

“Concerns about what happened last week I think are better ad-dressed, would be better addressed, if we put more energy and resourc-es into understanding the process of radicalization,” Diab said.

Government promises further anti-terrorism measuresTRU law professor says a new bill might follow the introduction of Bill C-44Alexis StockfordNEWS EDITOR Ω

This year, international students can get a job off-campus without a work per-mit, but only until they graduate.

Regulations as of June 2014 are meant to make life easier for current students while minimizing abuse of the system, according to settlement and integration counsellor Liza Ferris Ortiz with Ka-

mloops Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.

“Misuse was happening,” she said. “Students were, maybe, being approved for a four-year term and they were just either quitting studies, and I can under-stand because of the high fees, or reduc-ing their study terms, changing programs and then overstaying and doing work when the main purpose of a study per-mit is studies.”

Under the new system, international students can work part-time over the school year and full-time during holidays with only a study permit and social in-surance number. Students must also be enrolled full-time in a designated learn-ing institution like TRU.

International student Nich Komissi-renko has been at TRU since 2012, but said this is the first year he has felt work-ing off-campus was worth the hassle.

“I can find a job and I can work here,” he said. “Usually on campus there isn’t a lot of work and there are a lot of stu-dents wanting to work, so it’s very hard to find a job in the university.”

He added that his new job at Aber-deen Mall has made the year easier for him financially.

“It’s easier for me and much easier for my parents,” he said.

While new regulations have stream-lined student employment, the window after graduation has narrowed. Under the old system, an international student had until their study permit’s renewal date to remain in Canada, a date that could be up to year after graduation. With the new system, study permits expire 90 days after written confirma-tion of the program’s end is received (i.e. a transcript or physical degree).

There is concern that, while the new system may help current students, it puts the pressure on recent graduates to get a job quickly after graduation.

Immigration experts, however, also point out that post-graduation work permits allow new graduates to live and work in Canada for the same amount of time as their program, for a maxi-mum of three years.

Graduates of a program two years or

longer are eligible for a three-year per-mit. Applications must be made with-in 90 days of written confirmation of graduation.

International student Harlen Chung said he is not concerned about the new expiry regulations, since he can get a work permit after he graduates next year.

“As long as it’s not like Vancouver, Toronto, any of those big cities, I’m not worried about [finding work],” he said.

According to Ortiz, application for a post-graduate work permit can take a month or longer, depending on back-log. She advised students to apply for the permit as soon as they know they have passed their program.

“There is only one chance,” she said. “You only have 90 days and that’s that.”

Work done with a post-graduate work permit can go towards permanent residency as long as the job is Class 0 (management), Class A (university ed-ucation required), or Class B (college or skilled apprenticeship needed) under the National Occupation Classifica-tion.

TRUSU did its part to help interna-tional students along by holding a stu-dent visa and immigration workshop on Oct. 28.

New rules have international students on the job huntStudy permit holders can join the work force, but only until they graduateAlexis StockfordNEWS EDITOR Ω

International students pack into the TRUSU Lecture Hall for the immigration workshop on Oct. 28. (Alexis Stockford/The Omega)

Flowers and memorials were left for Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was shot and killed while he stood guard at a war memorial outside Parliament on Oct. 22. (Jamie McCaffrey/Flickr Commons)

9The Omega Ω Volume 24 • Issue 10 NEWS

TRU got a look at what people really think of the university last week. The results of a branding questionnaire released to students, faculty, staff, alumni and commu-nity members over the last few weeks were presented at a town hall meeting on Oct. 30 in the Campus Activity Centre.

The anonymous survey prompt-ed individuals to give their honest opinions about TRU and will be used to create a new brand to rep-resent the university.

“We’re trying to figure out why

people love this place so much and…what we have that makes us different, and what it is that we can do better than other [univer-sities],” said Lucille Gnanasiha-many, associate vice president of marketing and communications.

According to 739 responses, TRU sets itself apart from oth-er universities through class size, scope of programs and location. When it came to the things that TRU does well, university atmo-sphere made up the top answer, followed by international culture and activities. Finally, respondents regarded people at TRU as sincere (friendly, down-to-earth) and rug-ged (outdoorsy).

The town hall also gave individ-uals the chance for a more hands-on approach. Event goers were able to write their thoughts on a series of themes and attach them to a theme wall. Topics included opportunity, diversity and commu-nity connection.

Those who agreed with anoth-er’s point of view were able to place a coloured dot on the com-ment, indicating their agreement.

“I like the idea of the board that lets you be a little more free with your thoughts and lets you write down exactly what you think, knowing it will all be looked at by the committee and all be taken into account,” TRU student Kath-

arine Ranta said.Ranta is also involved in the

branding development. “I like looking at the dots so you

can see what other people think as well, and you can go, ‘Oh, I agree with that’ or ‘No, I don’t,’” TRU director of finance Kathy Hum-phrey said.

In the university’s 2006 re-branding effort, it ended up pay-ing $100,000 to Trapeze Com-munications for the slogan “Now, that’s university,” according to a report by Kamloops This Week. This rebranding effort has taken a more collaborative approach.

The new brand for TRU will aim to capture the attention of

those who know little about the university and convince more stu-dents to explore the institution.

“We really do believe that it ’s important for those people who can really benefit from TRU to know about us, because otherwise they’ll go on with their lives and they might have been able to have a really good experience at TRU, but they never knew,” Gnanasiha-many said.

The information presented at the town hall will be available on-line for another five weeks to give open learning students and stu-dents who were not able to attend the meeting the chance to express their opinions.

Rebranding: Finding a new face for TRUHannah AllenCONTRIBUTOR Ω

“ The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

› Thomas Edison: Relentless Inventiveness

Failure is no biggie. Just ask Edison. If he stopped at failure, he would never have moved on to invent a little thing called the light bulb. So if you’ve failed a class somewhere else, or have a scheduling conflict, come on over. You can catch up with our world-recognized online courses, then move on to bigger successes. Talk about a light bulb moment.

By Levin C. Handy (per http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cw

pbh.04326) [Public domain], via W

ikimedia Com

mons

open. online. everywhere.

Learn more @ athabascau.ca/edison

10 November 5, 2014COMICS & PUZZLES

SUDOKU1 7 3 4 8

3 4 9 7

7 1 3

1 5

3 8 5 9 2 1 6

4 8

6 5 3

3 2 7 1

7 8 1 5 4

Puzzle of the Week #9 – Leaves

There are millions of leaves on your (or your parents’) lawn! OK, notreally. Given:

1. The number of leaves is a four-digit number (abcd).

2. a times b equals d.

3. The digits are all different.

4. a plus b equals c.

5. Two of the digits are even, one digit is odd.

6. a equals 2.

How many leaves?

This contest is sponsored by the Mathematics and Statistics department. The

full-time student with the best score at the end of the year will win a prize.

Please submit your solution (not just the answer but also why) by noon next

Wednesday to Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net>. Submissions by others are

also welcome. The solution will be posted the Wednesday after that in my

blog (http://genew.ca/) and in the Math Centre (HL304). Come visit: we are

friendly.

Because you’re probably not doing enough math

11The Omega Ω Volume 24 • Issue 10 SPORTS

There is no “magic solution” to concussions, according to Dr. Jeff Dunn, who presented his research to the TRU community on Oct. 30.

“It seems like the number of concussions are on the rise, possi-bly with the increased interest in adolescent sport and high-perfor-mance sports,” Dunn said. “The long-term symptoms of concus-sions are worse if you’re younger... adolescents have a longer recovery time for concussions than adults.”

According to Dunn, most peo-ple will recover 100 per cent after a mild concussion, but symptoms like dizziness, headaches, poor co-ordination and light sensitivity can last from weeks to years.

Dunn, who is a Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Imaging and a professor in clinical neuroscience, described a concussion as a brain injury that occurs when the brain is shaken. He explained that hel-mets don’t protect against concus-sion, they only protect the skull.

Dunn said the best thing to do after suffering a concussion is to rest immediately. If there is a no-ticeable increase in pain, dizziness or experiences vomiting in the hours after a concussion, he or she should be taken to the hospital. Otherwise, the best thing is cogni-tive and physical rest. This means avoiding physical activity and avoiding light from cell phones and television.

Concussions at TRU, SFU and UBC:

Among TRU’s 190 athletes, there has already been six concus-sions since September, according

to TRU’s athletic therapist Kevin Brechin. This already surpasses the four concussions in total from last year. The concussions from both years occurred in soccer, basketball and volleyball.

Simon Fraser University (SFU), which has about 350 athletes, has had 19 concussed athletes since August. The concussions have been across a wide range of sports including swimming, wrestling, football, volleyball and softball.

Laurie Freebairn, SFU’s head physiotherapist, explained that athletes at SFU undergo baseline concussion testing before they are allowed to begin practising their sport. This involves cognitive, co-ordination and balance tests.

“Otherwise when somebody has a concussion you don’t know what is normal for them,” Freebairn said.

“When an athlete sustains a concussion, we monitor him or her daily doing SCAT (Sport Concus-sion Assessment Tool) symptom checks. The athletes are also mon-itored by our team physician, who ultimately gives the clearance to the athlete for full participation in their sport,” she said.

UBC has approximately 650 athletes, with five concussed ath-letes since September, according to head therapist Scott Fraser. Although he wouldn’t release the exact statistics, he estimated that UBC has between six and 12 ath-letic concussions each year.

Five concussions later: Brennan Wright, 23, has been

playing hockey practically his en-tire life. At 15 he suffered his first concussion.

“I was cutting around the back of the net going for the puck and the opposing forward came in,

jumped and elbowed me in the head,” Wright said. “It gave me a black out for about a minute. I didn’t know where I was. I had no idea what prov-ince I was in. I was com-pletely oblivious to what happened.”

Over the next seven years, Wright experi-enced four more con-cussions while playing hockey. Each concussion was either from being elbowed or shouldered in the head in blindside hits, even though hits to the head are not allowed in the leagues Wright played in.

“My subsequent concussions

were all like, the ringing in the ears, star struck, can’t see anything. I’d have a real hard time, dizziness

and a lot of vertigo when I initially got these concussions,” he said.

In 2012, Wright’s first year at TRU, he received his fifth concus-sion while playing an exhibition game with the WolfPack hockey team. Afterwards, he visited a head trauma specialist.

The specialist told him that he was probably going to get another concussion, and that when he does, he’ll likely end up getting some mental disabilities or brain dam-age.

Wright took the advice of the specialist and decided to quit play-ing hockey.

“Immediately after the [fifth] concussion, I was told to sit in a dark room for about a month. I wasn’t allowed to look at my phone, TV, anything like that because the light would be too sensitive for my eyes,” he said. “I had post-concus-sion syndrome for about a year. Basically, it ’s the lasting effects of what a concussion is. I had trouble focusing and I had migraines.”

After each concussion, Wright would experience these symptoms for six months to a year. He also felt depressed and would some-times experience mood swings.

“The mood swings are definitely a symptom of a concussion and I know that. I can sense when there’s a mood swing due to a concussion, because it’s really irrational,” he said.

According to Dunn, the tenden-cy to get depression after a concus-sion is really high since the person concussed has to avoid friends and exercise in order to recover. He

explained that it is common for a concussed person to be uncharac-teristically angry and irritable.

“Concussions can change your behaviour. Every person can have a different series of symp-toms. I think the changes in behaviour and depres-sion, they’re the ones that change people’s family lives a lot,” he said.

According to Dunn, an MRI will show no dif-ference in the brain after a concussion and getting one would be a “waste of time.” But that might

change with new MRI technology.“The new part for concussion

and brain injury is called diffu-sion tensor imaging,” Dunn said. “There’s active research into dif-fusion tensor imaging, which will actually show brain injury due to concussion.”

Unfortunately, there are only a few machines in Canada capable of diffusion tensor imaging, but Dunn believes it will become more popular in concussion research and treatment in the years to come.

Until then, reducing concus-sions is up to the athletes and the leagues they play in.

“Right now we’re looking at managing concussions and manag-ing rules,” Dunn said. “There is a reduced incidence of concussion in younger hockey players when they don’t have checking in the league. So there could be rule changes to help with certain sports.”

According to former WolfPack hockey coach Don Schulz, the cur-rent rules in place, like no checking from behind, no hits to the head and no jumping to hit another player, have already increased play-er safety.

“Body checking is a part of hock-ey. It would be like taking tackling out of football,” Schulz said.

Dunn believes that continuing research on concussions is import-ant to understand why certain peo-ple recover faster than others, and the best way to keep athletes safer from concussions is to keep people educated about the causes of con-cussions and the recovery needed afterwards.

Concussions: Hurting your brain for the gameTayla ScottSPORTS EDITOR Ω

TRU researcher Jeff Dunn uses a glass skull to explain brain injury caused by a concussion. (Tayla Scott/The Omega)

TRU researcher explains his findings; a former player shares his experiences

“I didn’t know where I was. I had no idea what province I was in. I was completely oblivious to what happened.”

Brennan Wright, five-time concussion sufferer

November 5, 201412