Durham Chronicle Volume XLIV, Issue 11

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4 The Chronicle April 10 - 16, 2018 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca PUBLISHER: Greg Murphy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Brian Legree AD MANAGER: Dawn Salter Editorial CONTACT US NEWSROOM: brian.legree@durhamcollege.ca ADVERTISING: dawn.salter@durhamcollege.ca Cartoon by Cassidy McMullen DC's food too familiar, we need a food truck The number of international students at Durham College (DC) continues to grow. In 2016, there were 566 international students. In 2017, there were 821. Today, there are 1,442 international students currently studying at DC but the college isn’t offering any new restaurants or meal options for people who are used to eating food specific to their culture. The international food options on campus are scarce and the cafeteria choices for students who may be looking for more variety in their diet are poor. “I usually do eat the pizza, but I don’t think it’s very healthy,” said Laxmi Deepti, 19, a marketing student at DC. She came to Canada from India in September of last year. Although she says she loves DC, she says there isn’t a lot of variety when considering food choices at school. Food is an important part of someone’s cultural identity. International students coming to DC don’t necessarily have many food choices readily available. Students who decide they want to eat something cultural have little to no options at the college. These students would have to leave campus to buy food that reminds them of home, spending money on expensive imported foods at grocery stores or specialty food stores. Although DC has many students from around the world, feeding them doesn’t seem to be a priority. “I think it’s hard to get used to, because we don’t get to eat what we normally would in India,” Deepti says. An option to solve this problem and improve ethnic food variety on campus would be to integrate local food trucks on campus. Food trucks are a form of “meals on wheels.” Restaurants who own a food truck generally attend events, such as the annual Food Truck Frenzy held across Ontario, and trucks outfitted with food and cooking supplies provide gourmet food to the public… outdoors. Integrating food trucks at Durham College would not only supply more variety to students (with food options commonly including Indian, Greek and Mexican food), but these trucks would also support local food businesses across Durham Region. DC needs to accommodate everyone. Perhaps by integrating food trucks on campus, it would improve the quality of student life and provide more options for those who are looking for variety. According to the Technomic’s Canadian Food Trend report in 2017, 46 per cent of students surveyed felt there weren’t enough appealing or unique food options on college campuses. Additionally, 43 per cent of students say they would like colleges, such as DC, to offer more ethnic food and beverages. Food can be an important part of a person’s identity. When students are far from home, they deserve to eat food that reminds them of their culture, and this ultimately may allow for individuals to become more aware of their cultural identity. Having more cultural options would make international students feel more at home. Although DC has started to accommodate for people with dietary needs, including serving vegetarian, vegan, and halal options in the cafeterias, cultural diversity is still excluded from the dinner table. DC’s cafeteria consists of little more than pizza, soup, noodles and fries. This isn’t enough for international students. By having more options, the school becomes a more comfortable environment for students who are adapting to a new country. By accommodating everyone, we are truly making students feel more at home. DC’s Whitby campus houses Bistro ‘67 and has more options for students who are tired of eating the same thing. The Whitby campus is able to provide more fresh produce because the school is equipped to do so. Whitby’s campus is known as the Centre for Food and that’s what they have - lots of food. In Oshawa, however, more needs to be done to accommodate everyone maybe a food truck or two? Alex Clelland Heather Snowdon EDITORS: Austin Andru, Allison Beach, Cameron Black-Araujo, Michael Bromby, Alex Clelland, John Cook, Tiago De Oliveira, Shana Fillatrau, Kaatje Henrick, Kirsten Jerry, Claudia Latino, William Mc- Ginn, Cassidy McMullen, Conner McTague, Pierre Sanz, Heather Snowdon, Shanelle Somers,Kayano Waite, Tracy Wright The Chronicle is published by the Durham College School of Media, Art and Design, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7L7, 721- 2000 Ext. 3068, as a training vehicle for students enrolled in Journalism and Advertising courses and as a campus news medium. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the college administration or the board of governors. The Chronicle is a member of the Ontario Community Newspapers Association. MEDIA REPS: Madison Anger, Kevin Baybayan, Erin Bourne, Hayden Briltz, Rachel Budd, Brendan Cane, Shannon Gill, Matthew Hiscock, Nathaniel Houseley, Samuel Huard, Emily Johnston, Sawyer Kemp, Reema Khoury, Desirea Lewis, Rob Macdougall, Adam Mayhew, Kathleen Menheere, Tayler Michaelson, Thomas Pecker, Hailey Russo, Lady Supa, Jalisa Sterling-Flemmings, Tamara Talhouk, Alex Thompson, Chris Traianovski PRODUCTION ARTISTS: Swarnika Ahuja, Bailey Ashton, Elliott Bradshaw, James Critch-Heyes, Elisabeth Dugas, Melinda Ernst, Kurtis Grant, Chad Macdonald, Matthew Meraw, Kaitlyn Millard, Sofia Mingram, Mary Richardson, Singh Sandhu, Greg Varty Publisher: Greg Murphy Editor-In-Chief: Brian Legree Features editor: Teresa Goff Ad Manager: Dawn Salter Advertising Production Manager: Kevan F. Drinkwalter Photography Editor: Al Fournier Technical Production: Jim Ferr
chronicle.durhamcollege.ca April 10 - 16, 2018 The Chronicle 5 Opinion Ontario must ban gay conversion therapy Cassidy McMullen The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name and picture accompanies this column. Dr. Melvyn Iscove, a conversion therapist, was found guilty of sexually assaulting male patients in Ontario last month. For at least two decades, he abused patients seeking him out for anxiety, depression and their fear of being gay. Conversion therapy is the dangerous practice of trying to ‘cure’ someone of their LQBTQ+ identity by using relatively legal therapeutic practices. Commonly known as gay conversion camps, they are usually associated with the American bible belt and radical Christianity. Conversion therapy does not work. It is just a harmful, degrading and fraudulent practice that Ontario needs to ban. In 2015, Ontario officially banned conversion therapy for children, which was the first step. Now we need to ban the Tracy Wright practice all together. Yes, adults sign themselves up for conversion therapy and partake willingly. Adults also have the freedom to choose what type of medical and therapy programs they wish to take part in. But conversion therapy isn’t a type of therapy. It’s just a scam. There is no such thing as ‘praying the gay away’. Being gay, or identifying as LGBTQ+ isn’t something you can ‘cure’ with the right type of Christian-orientated therapy. These people don’t need to be cured. They’re people, and like all people, have different gender expressions and sexual orientations. It’s just a part of how normal, natural humans behave. So, by letting these types of scams continue, Canadians are willfully allowing organizations to take money from and hurt our LGBTQ+ citizens. Conversion therapy varies because rather than a specific therapy, it’s an umbrella term for therapeutic practice intending to rid someone of their LGBTQ+ identity. On top of that, practices vary because of the pure lack of monitoring and professional practice these places are run on. This means it isn’t fair to say they all take part in the same practices because of how unregulated these so called ‘therapy’ programs are. What we do know is the basis of these programs weaponize the patients’ own religion and use it against them: convincing LG- BTQ+ members they are ‘flawed’ or ‘broken’. Basically, in order to be accepted into heaven or by their family/friends, patients are led to believe they need to bury who they are. Or these preparators masquerade as real therapists with a legitimate practice, often when patients come to them for anxiety or depression these ‘therapists’ say it’s rooted in the patient’s sexual or gender orientation. While some partake in relatively normal (and legal) therapeutic practices like group, art, behavioural, cognitive, psychoanalytic therapy, others don’t. Others use techniques to make patients’ behaviour more stereotypically feminine or masculine, teach them heterosexual dating skills and using hypnosis. Which obviously don’t work. You can try to make a man more masculine or teach him how to date women but that won’t make the man find women attractive. Then there are the most extreme and dangerous practices. In the past, conversion therapy used institutionalization, castration and electroconvulsive shock therapy. Thankfully, these practices have decreased but aversive conditioning is used and ranges from inducing nausea, vomiting, electric shocks, paralysis while showing patients Let’s stop acting like ‘disability’ is a bad word Aly Beach The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name and picture accompanies this column. Disability: how is it that one word can create so many negative connotations? Why do we act like disability is a bad word, inappropriate, maybe even degrading? It’s a word. It only holds negative power if you let it. Many people argue that people with disabilities are just people, so why do we need to say they have a disability? Because to put it bluntly, they have a disability. While their disability does not define them, it is part of them. It does affect them and has shaped their life. By saying they shouldn’t be called a person with a disability, you are erasing part of their identity. You are denying a part of what makes them who they are. Perhaps the word “disability” brings too much focus to what someone can’t do, as opposed to what they can do. But negative Canadians are willfully allowing organizations to take money and hurt our LGBTQ+ citizens. words only hold power if you let them. Let people with disabilities self-identify themselves however they want. Whether it’s disabled, challenged, handi-capable, or a person with an exceptionality, let them use what is empowering to them. There are accessibility activists and advocates in the United States who have embraced the word “crippled.” They use it as a word of empowerment, as opposed to a bad, inappropriate word. Mark Wafer, former Tim Horton’s franchise owner, recipient of the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship, Canadian Disability hall of fame inductee and keynote speaker, identifies as deaf and disabled. He emphasizes that his disability does not define him as a person, but is part of who he is. He thinks that when you use words like “handi-capable,” you remove the empowerment from words like “disabled” or “disability.” Lisa Kelly is Director of Training at Canadian Business SenseAbility, a company that helps businesses become more accessible. She did not disclose what her disability was, but she identifies as a person with a disability. She says using the term helps clarify what she is talking about. To Kelly, it is the easiest, homoerotic images. Orgasmic reconditioning and satiation therapy are not professional practices; predators use these practices to prey on vulnerable patients. Predators like Dr. Melvyn Iscove, who have been allowed to flourish in unethical and harmful practices like conversion therapy. America, known for their inactive legislation and their attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, is farther ahead in banning conversion therapy than us. They have had major cities and whole states like Oregon outright banning the practice. “The practice of conversion therapy has no place in Ontario, a province where acceptance, respect and diversity are our most cherished strengths,” former health minister Eric Hoskins said in 2015 after conversion therapy was banned for children under the age of 18. Hoskins is right. The practice of conversion therapy has no place in Ontario. It’s a harmful, degrading and fraudulent practice that Ontarians have but up with for too long. Ontario must ban conversion therapy. Contract jobs lead to anxiety about job security The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name and picture accompanies this column. Last fall, 24 colleges across Ontario were on strike for five weeks. During that time, UOIT almost went on strike, along with Carleton, U of T, and Laurentian. The most recent strike is York University. The main concern has been job security. A contract job does not provide job security. Instead, it leads to anxiety.Contract jobs lead to strikes as there is concern for job security. As post-secondary schools continue to place the majority of their staff on contract, there will always be the concern of job security. These institutions are educating their students to have better jobs with permanency, but not all professors have full-time permanent jobs. A contract job hires for a specific time and rate of pay, but it is not a permanent job. According to Statistics Canada, temporary employment has grown by 43.5 per cent from 1997 to 2007. The biggest change was contract jobs went up 59 per cent for all age groups. Almost 10 years later and it is still on the rise. According to Statistics Canada in 2013, there were 2,009 temporary jobs. This number jumped by six per cent in 2017 to 2,137. Not knowing if a contract will be extended puts one in a predicament. Contract income is not stable enough to make big purchases such as a car or a house. Banks will not give loans to contract employees. Contracts are more beneficial to the employer because of saving. Part-time, contract workers do not require employers to pay towards vacation, benefits and sick days. A contract job may be beneficial to a stay-at-home mom looking to make extra cash on the side or a retiree trying to make ends meet with their pension. One benefit for having a contract job: the commitment is limited. If unhappy, the employee is free to leave in the end. But the anxiety of working day-to-day without a secure job can bring on stress, not knowing if the contract will be extended beyond the original date it was signed. According to Statistics Canada in 2016, employers searching to fill entry-level positions were more likely to offer part-time work and temporary employment with a predetermined date. Contracts allow a foot in the door but may not lead to a permanent job. Post-secondary schools should be setting the example of what an employer should be, but are failing the students by placing their staff on short-term contracts. As long as there are contract jobs, there will always be the fight for job security, with the end resulting in a strike. Educational institutions need to lead by example as they are training the next generation of future employees. These future employees want permanent full-time jobs. Not contract positions. most direct way to say you are talking about your abilities. Having a disability does not make anyone any less of a person, but how they self-identify can empower them and make them confident in their disabilities or exceptionalities. Their disability does not define them but it is part of them and has shaped their world view. Their disabilities make them unique, innovative and strong. Let’s stop pretending that disability is a bad word and start recognizing people with disabilities as people of strength, determination and a fierce sense of self.
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Durham Chronicle Volume XLIV, Issue 11

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