BUSINESS
Meters spark petition
Small business owners report
loss of customers due to paid
parking along Fraser Street. P3
PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA
As news of the COVID-19 virus spreads, so does a higher demand for face masks. Langara's community update suggests more practical measures such as
frequent hand washing, and staying home if you're sick to prevent the spread of infections. JESSICA A. FROUD PHOTO
Students want clearer virus plan
College posts updates online but no contingency protocol
 By MAX LECKIE
C
ases of COVID-19,
formerly referred to as
coronavirus, remains at
four confirmed infections
in B.C., and one Langara student
wishes the college’s plans for poten-
tial outbreak were more informative
should the virus become widespread
in the province.
As of Feb.12, Langara had posted
three community updates on its
website, Instagram and Facebook.
The updates state that since the
academic term has been in prog-
ress longer than the virus incubation
period and there are no reported
cases on campus, classes and normal
campus operations will not be inter-
rupted. It also asks that any students
or employees who have recently
arrived from Hubei Province stay
home for 14 days, and inform their
instructors or supervisors. An email
from the college said its protocol
includes following the recommenda-
tions of the B.C. Centre for Disease
Control and Vancouver Coastal
Health.
Nadia Rahnumah, a first-year
general arts student at Langara, said
that she was not aware of Langara’s
protocols, and she has a lot of unan-
swered questions, should a virus
FEATURES
Delicate discipline
break out within the college.
“I’d like to know what would
happen if someone within the
college caught it, would classes be
shut down? Would there be a certain
section of the building shut down?”
said Rahnumah.
Rahnumah admits she doesn’t
check the college website as often
as she should, but wishes there were
more regular social media updates.
Steven Taylor, a clinical psycholo-
gist and UBC professor, said if the
virus were to spread more in B.C.
and become more serious, initiatives
called “social distancing” would likely
be implemented.
“School closures are effective in
curtailing the spread of infection …
so that’s a possibility if things got
really bad,” Taylor said.
Social distancing protocols have
not been mentioned on the Langara
website or social media platforms.
The COVID-19 virus was first
reported in Wuhan, China, in
December 2019. As of publication
time, the virus has since spread to 24
countries with over 45,000 confirmed
cases and 2068 deaths, according to
the World Health Organization. But
news outlets are saying more than
14,000 new cases were reported by
Hubei Province on Wednesday.
—With files from Kristian Trevena
ONLINE SPECIAL
Erasing sex stigma
Okinawan Kobudo combines How one Vancouver convention
perfomance and martial arts. encourages all things love and
P4-5 romance. www.langaravoice.ca
FEBRUARY 13, 2020 • VOL. 53 NO. 01 • VANCOUVER, B.C.
Climate
fears high,
program
intake low
First-year
enrolment for
enviromental
studies declining
 By JESSICA A. FROUD
D
espite resounding student
involvement in global
protests over the past year,
enrollment in first-year climatol-
ogy courses at Langara has declined,
according to one program instructor.
Andrew Egan, coordinator of
Langara’s environmental stud-
ies program said there are various
reasons for this, but a message from
the federal government is a princi-
pal deterrent. He said its message
has been clear: you can either care
about jobs or you can care about the
environment.
“The government hasn’t incentiv-
ized that we should have an under-
standing of the environment and
students wonder if there is a job in
the end,” said Egan, adding there are
a variety of Langara courses consid-
ered to be climate-based.
“While there is an uptick in enrol-
ment in third year courses, we’re
seeing a decrease in enrollment in
first year classes."
However, some students say that
climate change worries are enough
to motivate them. Environmental
studies student Max Keller said his
fear of climate change pushed him
into the program.
“I can’t lie. It has put in me
an existential terror,” Keller said,
adding he sometimes feels over-
whelmed at the enormity of what
needs to be done.
“We want to think that we can
make change but it’s actually reor-
dering society,”.
Frank Williams, chair of inter-
disciplinary studies and coordinator
for the Canadian studies depart-
ment at Langara, said he has seen
the emotional impact of climate
change on students who have chosen
to enroll.
“People don’t feel powerful
enough to do anything and that’s
a recipe for depression,” Williams
said.
Williams also said concerns that
they can’t make a difference may be
a reason why students aren’t rushing
to take environmental studies.
“You see a disaster but you can’t
do anything about it. That’s where
students are. That’s certainly where
A passenger on the Canada Line wearing a face mask. MAX LECKIE PHOTO a lot of climate scientists are.”
 2 THE VOICE | THURSDAY, FEB. 13, 2020 | EDITOR SOUBHIK CHAKRABARTI
Burnaby
shelters
test free
tampons
City's pilot project
could make more
dispensers available to
low-income residents
 By LIAM HILL-ALLAN
B
urnaby residents in poverty
could see widespread access
to free menstrual products,
pending the success of a recently
approved pilot project for the city.
At a city council meeting on Jan.
27, Burnaby city council approved
the Period Promise Pilot Project, a
plan to “expand access to menstrual
products in city facilities.” The pilot
project will install free menstrual
product dispensers at six city-run
facilities around Burnaby aimed at
fighting “period poverty.”
According to a staff report to
city council, “period poverty, which
affects girls, women, and transgender
individuals, refers to having a lack
of access to sanitary products due to
“[Menstrual
products] are not
always available to
everyone.”
— SAV DHALIWAL, BURNABY CITY COUN.
financial constraints.”
Burnaby city Coun. Sav Dhaliwal
said low-income Burnaby residents
could have access to free menstrual
products at “all facilities all over the
city” if the pilot project is successful.
The staff report identified 168
washrooms at 38 “potentially viable
locations” across Burnaby capable of
housing dispensers.
“[Menstrual products] are not
always available to everyone,” Dhali-
wal said. “Considering we have a
very diverse population.”
According to a 2016 study by the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alterna-
tives, Burnaby has the fourth highest
rate of poverty in Metro Vancouver.
Beresford Warming Centre
located at 5970 Beresford Street in
South Burnaby is one of the six loca-
tions approved to receive a dispenser
for the pilot project. The centre is
one of a number of warming spaces
made available to homeless Burnaby
residents over the winter months.
If the project is successful, dispens-
ers could be made available to low-
income Burnaby residents at other
similar spaces around the city.
According to Dhaliwal, the project
was inspired by United Way’s Period
Promise Campaign.
Natalie Hill, in charge of media
relations at United Way, said that
the campaign is dedicated to provid-
ing “greater free access of menstrual
products.”
Hill added that Burnaby will be
joining other B.C. cities like New
Westminster and Victoria in the
wide adoption of menstrual product
dispensers.
“[There’s a] domino effect of
municipalities,” Hill said. “We are
seeing this plan ripple across the
Lower Mainland.”
This post makes you pay
The notorious post at the Dairy Queen parking lot on 56th Street in Tsawwassen. AUSTIN EVERETT PHOTO
A particularly unlucky post is creating nightmares for drivers
 By AUSTIN EVERETT
S
ara Mellish wanted to treat
her elderly mother to a soft-
serve ice cream cone. But
an encounter recently with
a notorious post in a parking lot
left her with a detached car fender,
a wheel that could barely turn and
an expensive appointment with an
autobody shop just up the road.
The post, in the centre of the park-
ing lot of the Tsawwassen Dairy
Queen on 56th Street, has been
blamed for causing Tsawwassen resi-
dents expensive repairs and frustra-
tion for decades.
The black and red post, which
has been there since 1970, has been
a well-known factor for ICBC
claims, according to residents, and
has brought autobody repair shops a
lot of business.
Richmond city council looks to
solve city's birth tourism issue
City passes vote
to ask feds for
changes in the
Immigration Act
 By STEVEN CHANG
T
he City of Richmond took
its first step against birth
tourism after city council
voted 6-3 to ask the federal govern-
ment to change the Immigration
Act.
Multiple public speakers attended
the council meeting on Monday
night to express their thoughts on
stopping birth tourism in Rich-
mond, which led to Coun. Kelly
Greene raising her concern about the
exclusion of refugees from govern-
ment services if citizenship rules are
changed.
Coun. Harold Steves said Canada
should open its door to refugees, but
Mellish, who lives in Powell River
and often visits Tsawwassen, was the
latest casualty.
“I think somebody should do
something because I know I’m not
alone in this,” Mellish said.
When she took her car into the
Tsawwassen Collision, they knew
exactly what she was referring to
when she told them she had a single-
vehicle accident with a post, she said.
Tsawwassen Collision did not
want to comment for the story.
Mellish said she was turning into
the Dairy Queen parking lot when
a truck came her way. Deciding to
go around it, she turned left. But
the sun was low and the post, being
short in stature, was blocked by the
frame of Mellish’s car window. She
hit the post.
“I had to make a claim, so I did
lose my safe driving discount that
that refugees are entirely different
issue than ending birth tourism.
“The resolution is to keep it
simple. I don’t care if they come back
or not. These are wealthy people
clogging our housing space and
hospital space,”
Steves said.
An SF U grad
student, one of
se veral public
speakers who at
council Monday
night, presented
KELLY GREENE his thesis on birth
CITY COUNCILLOR, tourism and said
RICHMOND
66 per cent of
all non-resident
births in B.C. are born in Richmond.
Richmond is seeking help from
the federal government to prevent
automatic citizenship for babies born
in Canada to non-resident parents.
Birth tourism is an ongoing practice
by foreigners who come to Canada
to give birth so their child can
receive Canadian citizenship with
the option of returning to Canada
I’d had for decades,” Mellish said.
“It was totally not visible to me, zero
visibility.”
The claim amounted to $8,000.
In a Facebook post by Mellish that
received more than 80 comments,
Tsawwassen residents shared their
stories and opinions about the post.
Posting on Facebook, Thea
Wessler shared her story, and said
the post should stay: “I think the post
should not be changed. My sister
and her first high school boyfriend
hit this post, my friend’s mom hit the
post then hit the school president.
I’ve hit the post after a much needed
dipped cone.”
Aaron Asp, the CEO of Parking
BOXX, a company which manu-
factures and designs parking lots
and equipment throughout North
America, said that while bollards, or
posts, are installed to protect items
in the future.
Greene said she is 100 per cent
against birth tourism. But changing
the Immigration Act will also harm
vulnerable people and refugees who
are trying to resettle in Canada, she
said.
“It has been extremely disrup-
tive to our neighbourhood, hospi-
tals and maternity services. I have
been personally impacted by birth
tourism,” Greene said. “This motion
doesn’t ask the federal government to
stop birth tourism. It is ending birth-
right citizenship for everyone who
aren’t Canadian citizens.”
Councillors Greene, Alexa Loo
and Michael Wolfe opposed the
motion.
The challenge of birth tourism is
beyond the city’s jurisdiction, says
the city’s spokesperson, Clay Adams.
Adams said while the city is
concerned about birth tourism, it
can only enforce businesses licences
and bylaws.
“Changing the immigration law
is not meant to punish people from
Atlarge
such as equipment or signage, there
are other ways to provide protection
if the post is hazardous for motorists.
Infrastructure such as “adding a
curb, positioning a bollard closer
to the asset or painting the exist-
ing bollard a bright reflective colour
or a combination of these options
[would work],” said Asp in an email
response to The Voice.
Mellish said she was suggesting
changes to the post in a letter she
was writing a letter to the owner of
the Dairy Queen.
Karen Gill, the manager of the
Tsawwassen Dairy Queen, told The
Voice she has hit the post herself.
She said she is committed to ensur-
ing the store owner Rahul Mehta
takes action.
“I will talk to my owner about it,
but for now I have no clue what we
can do,” Gill said.
gaining a Canadian citizenship. The
issue is people are essentially paying
money to get their child a Canadian
passport,” Adams said.
BIRTH TOURISM
STATISTICS
» 313 newborns
Total births in Canada to mothers
who resided outside Canada in
2016
» Richmond Hospital
The hospital had 469 births to
mothers who reside outside
Canada, the highest in Richmond
in 2017-18.
» 1.5% of total births
The percentage of total births in
Canada to mothers who resided
outside the country between
2010-2017.
SOURCES:
WWW. CIHI.CA
STATCAN.GC.CA
 Businessnews
Sam Shaer, owner of Vic's Styling Centre on Fraser & 45th, cuts hair and talks about the decrease in customers. Pay parking came into effect in the South Fraser area during the Thanksgiving Day
weekend, October 12-13, 2019. Shaer has owned his shop for 16 years. LINA CHUNG PHOTO
Pay parking hurting bottom line
Some small Fraser Street businesses reporting a 30% customer downturn
 By JACOB HOHEISEL
S
mall businesses say pay park-
ing on Fraser Street is taking
its toll.
It’s been four months since
the introduction of new park-
ing meters and pay parking lots
in the Fraser Street area between
43rd and 49th avenues and some
small businesses are reporting
fewer customers and a downturn
in business.
Sam Shaer, owner of Vic’s Styl-
ing Centre, a barber shop, said
he has to speak out against the
meters.
Weaving sparks conversation, learning
Students gain
appreciation of
Indigenous values
 By SAFOURA RIGI-LADIZ
L
angara’s Salish weaving course
gives students an opportunity
to learn a once-lost tradition
of B.C.’s Coast Salish people.  they revived this
The history of the traditional
weaving practice and its cultural
applications are an important part
of what students learn. Students
are taught to prep the wool, which
includes spinning and dyeing the
wool using natural dyes, before using
it for weaving.
Stephanie Aitken, chair of Langa-
ra’s fine arts department, said instruc-
tor Debra Sparrow teaches students
EDITOR LINA CHUNG | THURSDAY, FEB. 13, 2020 | THE VOICE 3
“It affects everyone on Fraser Vancouver city council voted to Rob Nijjar, executive director MONEY FROM FRASER
Street … especially in the back end 60 years of free parking in the of South Hill Business Associa-
STREET PAY PARKING LOTS
[lot s] . Pe ople area at the recommendation of the tion, said that North American
driv ing from city’s engineering services depart- studies about implementing pay
ot her neigh- ment. parking in business areas show » Approximately 260
bourhoods don’t A petition signed by 90 busi- that although there is an impact
stay as long now nesses, representing about 50 per to businesses at first, the benefit parking spots
because they cent of the stores on Fraser Street, is more people come into the area Spread over12 parking lots.
have to watch the opposed the installation of meters. and they’re able to find parking.
time.” The city still went ahead despite Theresa Ng uyen, ow ner of » Approximately
Shaer says his the opposition. Purple Rainbow Florist, said like
business is down
Sam Shaer
OWNER, VIC'S The engineering service’s report the other independently owned $851,760/year
20 to 30 per cent. STYLING CENTRE cited revenue generation, an effort shops in the area, her business is To be collected by the city from
“The big busi- to cut emissions, and a way to down since the meters went in. above parking spots.
ness takes over the little business. rotate more traff ic through the When people do come into her
It’s like a shark eating all the small area as reasons for installing the shop, Nguyen said they don’t stay SOURCE: LINA CHUNG USING CITY
COUNCIL INFORMTIONM
fish.” meters. as long anymore.
Campusnews
everything about the process. student who has taken the course, has
“There’s a huge component with learned other aspects of traditional
Debra’s class about conversation,” Indigenous culture by completing
Aitken said. “It’s a history class the weaving course.
disguised as a weaving lesson in
many aspects.”
“One of the most wonderful things
that I’ve learned about Aboriginal
Aitken took the course last year. people is their generosity,” Duttchen
S p a r r o w, a said. “ The y
Coast Salish artist, “It's a history class don’t measure
specializes in their wealth by
weaving. Together disguised as a what they have,
with her sisters, they measure
weaving lesson..." their wealth
lost art of weav- — STEPHANIE AITKEN, by what they
ing, according to LANGARA, CHAIR FINE ARTS give away, and I
Aitken. Her art think we could
is currently being displayed at the learn a lot from that.”
Vancouver Art Gallery. As a result, Duttchen said she
 “It was really great to hear Debra’s wouldn’t sell her art; she would give
experiences with her life and her life it away.
choices to revive this lost art,” said This is the third time Langara has
Leah Hille, a fine arts student who offered Salish weaving. Classes are Carolee Duttchen shows off Salish weaving she created during Debra Spar-
completed the course last semester. limited to 10 people, with five slots row's course, last semester. She will be gifting it to her daughter-in-law.
Carolee D uttchen, another held for Indigenous students. SAFOURA RIGI-LADIZ PHOTO
 4 THE VOICE | THURSDAY, FEB. 13, 2020 | EDITOR STEVEN CHANG

Okinawan performance sport

South Vancouver-raised instructor says kobudo is rare and expensive

“I
chi! Block with
the rochin,” Sensei
William Chung yelled,
as his students alter-
nated thrusting forward with their
short spears and their tortoise
shaped shields.
“Ni! Step forward and block with
the tinbe!”
Chung teaches Okinawan kobudo,
a rare martial art that uses weapons,
to a group of dedicated students at
Dunbar Community Centre.
When asked about the sport,
Chung agreed that the reason
kobudo is still so rare is because of
its biggest strength, the weapons.
The sport, practised by few,
requires unusually staunch commit-
ment from the toughest of students
— from buying incredibly expensive
equipment, lugging it to practise,
tiring repetitious training exercises
and hearing your sensei critique the
tiniest of muscle movements.
Sensei Krister Naab, from North
Vancouver’s Hinode Karate &
Kobudo, said a lot of the weapons
people aren’t even familiar with
because they’re so old and tradi-
tional.
Chung’s kobudo students use a
long staff called a “bo,” a small dagger
with three-prongs called a “sai,”
a wooden baton called a “tonfa,” a
nunchuck or as it’s correctly spelled
“nunchaku,” a small brass knuckle
looking weapon called a “tekko,” and
the “tinbe-rochin,” a shield shaped
like a tortoise’s shell and a small
spear.
He said having students practise
with these large, expensive weap-
ons means smaller, more expensive
classes and fewer instructors to open
new classes.
Even for Chung, who grew up in
South Vancouver and went to Lang-
ara, began studying kobudo in the
80s. He said it was difficult to find
someone qualified to teach him.
“I was taking karate at the time.
There was an exchange student from
Japan who knew a little about the
weapons,” Chung said. “That was
the first [kobudo teacher he] got
exposure to.”
Most kobudo students have exten-
sive experience in other martial arts
because of the added difficulty in
wielding weapons. Chung is no
exception. He was on the Canadian
National Kung Fu team in 1986 that
competed in Tianjin, China. He
came fifth in the competition.
Chung said he now enjoys teach-
ing kobudo to his group of commit-
ted students every weekend, and has
no plans to stop any time soon.
“Every time they learn something
new, I see it in their face. I see it in
their personality and that’s reward-
ing to me,” Chung said.
Bob Mooney, one of Chung’s
kobudo students said, learning
kobudo is about having a physical
connection with the weapon and
learning how to connect that [weap-
on’s movement] to the floor.
Mooney first started learning
taekwondo and transitioned into
studied wado ryu karate under sensei
Norma Foster in 2000.
Today, Mooney teaches karate at
Simon Fraser University and is also
a head instructor at Guseikai Karate
in Burnaby.
“When you have one [martial art,
you think] ‘how could I augment
this?’”

ABOVE: William Chung's students preparing for their warmup.

TOP RIGHT: A kobudo weapon with purple handles called the sai.
CENTRE-RIGHT: William Chung practising with his students using the tekko.
BOTTOM RIGHT: A close up of kama, it is a tool used by farmers in Okinawa.
Photos by Steven Chang.

Kobudo origins mysterious
The beginning of traditional martial art is unclear
A
lthough kobudo was first practised
around the 13th century, there are no
evidences of its exact origin of place,
according to Sensei William Chung.
Okinawan kobudo, practised with a series
of weapons, is distinct from other “open hand”
martial arts like karate.
The weapons used in kobudo reflect the austere
nature of the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. For
instance, the shield used in kobudo is often shaped
like the shell of a tortoise, the wooden batons look
like simple handles. Students of kobudo tend to
own the weapons they practise with, admiring
each other’s during the short breaks of the class.
Chung, head of Karate Kobuto, believes that
while nothing was documented during the kobu-
do’s invention, kobudo gained popularity in the
early 20th century as a fitness routine to teach
News&Features 5
CENTRE LEFT: A photo of eku
with Japanese writings. It was
used by Okinawan fishermen.
Okinawan children, that could also be practised Photo by Steven Chang.
as a martial art for adults.
Chung said kobudo has not been continuously BOTTOM-LEFT A student prac-
practised throughout its history, and at one time tising kobudo with nunchaku.
it was becoming a dying form of martial arts.
“The Okinawans preferred the more easily BELOW: Bob Mooney practising
exportable karate and they didn’t find kobudo as kobudo with tinbe and rochin. A
interesting. But the foreigners enjoy kobudo more shield with a small spear.
than the locals,” Chung said. Photos by Christopher
As karate gained popularity around MacMillan.
the world, karate students also began
exposed to kobudo and fell in love
with it.
“Unfortunately, the expen-
sive nature of teaching kobudo
means that there’s not a lot of
knowledgeable instructors
out there,” Chung said.
Stories and photos by Christopher MacMillan
 6 THE VOICE | THURSDAY, FEB. 13, 2020 | EDITOR KRISTEN HOLLIDAY
Viewpoints
Pay
parking
pays
off
T
here are valid reasons for pay
parking to be implemented
along Fraser Street, but
concerns raised
by small business
owners should
not be ignored.
In 2019, the
City of Vancou-
ver, with support
of the South Hill
Business Asso-
ciation, dissolved
OPINION
the South Fraser KRISTEN
Street Collective HOLLIDAY
Parking Project.
For 60 years, this
project ensured 260 free parking
spots along Fraser Street, between
43rd and 49th avenues. According
to a City of Vancouver report, free
parking cost neighbourhood busi-
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said the risk of contracting COVID-19 in B.C. is low, but some students are still concerned. ILLUSTRATION BY JACOB HOHEISEL

Led by panic, not passion

nesses over $300,000 in annual fees.
According to the business associa-
tion, it was difficult for patrons to
find places to park.
Implementing pay parking is a
strategy to reduce the number of
vehicles in the area, and to ensure
steady turnover of cars that park

along the street.
In 2013, a report was published
by IBI Group and Nelson Nygaard,
two urban planning companies,
for TransLink’s Regional Trans-
portation Strategy. The report said
free parking increases neighbour-
hood traffic congestion and is tied
to increased vehicle ownership and
increased vehicle use.
Driving impacts the rate of climate
T
he idea of young people
pursuing environmental
studies seems wonder-
ful but this betrays a sad
reality. The danger stemming from
climate change is forcing young
people to make life choices out of
fear, not necessarily out of true
passion or interest.
The action and initiative that
young people are taking against
and Atmospheric Administration and insect outbreaks and diseases, who chose to enrol in environmental
study, 2019 was the second-warmest according to the Canadian Public studies because he feels “existential
year on record, with nine of the 10 Health Association. terror” due to climate change. Most
warmest years At this point, none of this is really young people can relate to this anxi-
having occurred a surprise to anyone. Some young ety, environmental majors and others
since 2005. people, myself included, are pledg- alike. 
If tempera- ing to not have children due to the In a perfect world, environmen-
tures continue severity of the climate emergency. tal studies shouldn’t be a career path
to increase This illustrates the bitter truth of to pursue out of fear and uncer-
on a global climate change action. tainty of the planet’s capacity to
scale there will Langara’s Canadian Studies coor- host humans. Instead, it should be a

change and environmental damage.
In Vancouver, there are alternatives
for transportation. South Fraser is
rated as a highly walkable area, with
high bike and transit scores, accord-
ing to walkscore.com. When alter-
natives are available, it’s a healthy
OPINION
climate change is inspirational and be changes dinator and biologist Frank Williams career to pursue out of genuine inter-
unprecedented. But the reality is f elt loc al l y. is right when he says that the est, like all other majors. Pursuing a
that environmentalism has become This includes increase of environmental depression career out of fear adds another layer
increasingly popular because we SAFOURA coastal erosion, is a sad outcome of the reality of just of unhealthy anxiety.
don’t really have another choice.  RIGI-LADIZ a n i n c re a s e how severe the climate emergency Unfortunately, this feeling is only
According to a National Oceanic in wildfires is. Max Keller is a Langara student becoming more widespread.

Current risk low but virus fear spreading

and forward-thinking decision to
encourage other ways of commuting.
The urban planning report also
emphasized that space and main-
tenance for parking isn’t free. Why

shouldn’t drivers contribute to the
cost of the assets they use most
often?
All this being said, rising prop-
erty taxes and redevelopment have
already negatively affected small
businesses. In light of this, the city
should be open to altering the rate or
type of parking management system
especially if business owners consis-
tently report a loss of customers.
Ultimately, it’s important for all to
be open to change. It’s uncomfort-
able now, but in time, it may just be
the new normal.
C
oronavirus, now named
COVID-19, is dominat-
ing the headlines. People
are nervous and at times fearful of
the potential for disease outbreak
in Canada. However, the anxi-
ety surrounding the issue may be a
bigger problem.
At Langara, the fear is as much
about missing class due to illness,
and the impact this can have on a
semester. Anyone who has caught
the flu during the school year can
attest to the stress this causes. The
feelings surrounding the COVID-
19 virus seem to be similar, if not the website, there have only been seven necessary as some may believe.
same, to that of the worry of catch- cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Langara is following suit with
ing the flu. the country, as of The Voice’s publica- most post-secondary institutions by
Stress causes tion date. Three cases are in Ontario suggesting practical ways of limiting
sleeping issues and four are in B.C. The probabil- the spread of disease.
and trouble focus- ity that the virus could be infecting This includes washing your hands,
ing, and the threat as many people in Canada as it has practising proper sneezing etiquette
of a major illness abroad is still very low. To panic at (sneeze into your elbow, not your
sweeping any this stage would be wildly irrational. hands) and taking a break from
place, be it a coun- Many major health organizations are classes if you’re feeling sick.
try or a college, monitoring the spread of the disease, So please wash your hands and
can be terrifying. OPINION and the status of anyone infected. take a few days off if you’re not feel-
According Still, many students have been ing 100 per cent, but don’t panic.
to the Govern- LUCAS wearing face masks, and while this This probably isn’t the beginning
ment of Canada’s JORNITZ does limit the spread, it is not as of the end.

HOW TO DROP-IN INSTRUCTOR PAGE 6 MANAGING WEB Max Leckie WE WANT TO

REACH US Room A226 Erica Bulman Kristen Holliday EDITOR Ryan Ng HEAR FROM YOU CONTACT
Langara College PAGE 7 Gina Rogers Safoura Rigi-Ladiz Have a different point
PHONE PAGE EDITORS Lauren Gargiulo Rui Yang Xu of view? Write us
US
The Voice is pub- government and 604-323-5396 SNAIL MAIL PAGE 1 PAGE 8 WEB EDITORS Christopher
lished by Langara administration. We E-MAIL The Voice Kristian Trevena Ray Chopping Anita Zhu MacMillan Journalism instructor Online at
College’s journalism welcome letters to thevoice@langara.ca 100 West 49th Ave. PAGE 2 Erica Bulman oversees langaravoice.ca
department. Editorial the editor. They may WEBSITE Vancouver, B.C. Soubhik Chakrabarti MANAGING REPORTERS The Voice.
opinions are those be edited for brevity. langaravoice.ca V5Y 2Z6 PAGE 3 EDITOR Danauca Dory Twitter
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 Arts&life
TOP LEFT: The cast lines up to pee. RIGHT: Gabriel Covarrubias as Caldwell B. Cladwell. BOTTOM LEFT: Ivy Charles as Pennywise. PHOTOS BY EMILY COOPER
Urinetown takes piss out of life
Studio 58's current production is flooded with commentary
 By LUCAS JORNITZ
S
tudio 58’s newest produc-
tion Urinetown, The Musical
tackles heavy themes with
a humorous touch, using
comedy to shed light on climate
change, corporate greed and social
uprising.
Using satire, Urinetown is a
commentary on how the wealthy
abuse their power over the disen-
franchised.
Online dating apps a temporary fix for loneliness
Sites might give you a
boost but can end up
dragging you down
 By RYAN NG
L
angara student Jian Cuizon
doesn’t recommend dating
apps to end loneliness because
he’s tried it — and it ended up just
being a temporary fix.
Cuizon, a first-year criminology
student, abandoned dating apps after
trying Tinder once. Cuizon said he
actually felt worse when he was using
the app.
Director Courtenay Dobbie said
the play’s themes are all explored
through humour.
“Urinetown asks us to laugh in
the face of our human-caused self-
destruction,” Dobbie said. “But also
to question authority and power.”
The play centers around a group
of impoverished people who are
outraged at the greed of the corpora-
tion, Urine Good Company or UGC
for short. The company controls the
toilets used by the people amid a
“When I was swiping left and
right, and not (getting) a single
match, I felt as though I was still
pretty lonely,” Cuizon said. “I guess
it doesn’t really reduce loneliness in
a way. It just increases it.”
He said he became addicted to it
just to get at least one match.
“And when I did get one match, I
found out it was a bot.”
According to Statistics Canada,
there are over 15 million single
Canadians.
The online dating app scene is a
highly saturated one that continues
to grow, with a 0.5 per cent increase
of Canadians participating in online
dating from 2019 to 2020 accord-
ing to satista.com. The Vancouver-
EDITOR LAUREN GARGIULO
water shortage, prompting the group
to rebel.
The play’s messages are obvi-
ous and hit home in a world where
conservation is at the forefront of the
public consciousness.
But it never gets too serious,
according to Studio 58 actor Liam
Stewart-Kanigan who plays Officer
Lockstock.
“It’s such an absurd concept it’s
like how can you be offended?”
Dobbie said the production
based dating site PlentyOfFish alone
has 150 million users worldwide
with 65,000 new users a day.
“If you start off the relationship
in a way that’s largely text-based or
online, I think that doesn’t necessar-
ily translate that you’ll have the same
dynamic in person,” said Tesicca
Truong, co-founder of the youth
engagement organization CityHive.
In 2019, CityHive’s cohort-based
education program City Shapers, ran
a five-session class on social isola-
tion.
The Vancouver Foundation’s
Connect and Engage 2017 report
found that 60 per cent of people
would prefer connecting in-person
while there are 55 per cent of resi-
| THURSDAY, FEB. 13, 2020 | THE VOICE
wasn’t seeking simple answers and
she wants the audience to be both
entertained and informed.
“It doesn’t provide any easy solu-
tions and acknowledges the grey
areas between what’s right and
wrong,” she said. “Once the laughter
subsides the audience has a chance to
reflect on how the themes presented
are relevant to their own lives.”
Audience member Paterson How,
who watched the play, said the satiri-
cal nature worked.
dents that connect through technol-
ogy.
At least 17 per cent of people also
feel that they spend too much time
with technology and that it takes
away from in-person connections.
Suparna Bakaya, a psychol-
ogy instructor at Langara, said she
believes that the long-term effects
of these types of online interactions
do not lessen the feelings of social
isolation.
“Short term, if somebody is really
struggling and they want a quick
uplift in emotion and being able to
free themselves of feeling completely
lonely in that timely fashion, then
okay, yes,” Bakaya said. “But in the
long term, not so much.”
7
“There are important things
to consider and laying them out
through comedy is a really good way
to do it,” How said.
Dobbie said the musical’s themes
are even more relevant now than
they were 20 years ago, given the
current state of the world.
“It’s unfortunate that in some ways
we are only just now waking up to a
lot of what the play warns about.”
Urinetown, The Musical runs until
Feb. 16.
Where heart thou Romeo?
» 15,157,267
The number of single Canadians as
of 2019, according to StatCan.
» 55%
Percentage of Vancouverites who
use technology to connect with
others.
» 31%
Percentage of Vancouverites aged
18-24 who spend more time alone
than they would like.
VANCOUVERFOUNDATION.CA
 8 THE VOICE | THURSDAY, FEB. 13, 2020 | EDITOR KIRSTEN HOLLIDAY & STEVEN CHANG
Sportsnews
Mixed
results for
Falcons
Four more
regular season
games remaining
for both teams
 By RUI YANG XU

T
he Falcons’ men’s basketball
team lost two crucial matches
against the top-ranked Doug-
las College Royalsthis weekend, sink-
ing further to a 4-10 season record.
Meanwhile, Langara’s women lost a
first game to Douglas but overcame
them in a tight nail-biter the follow-
ing day for a timely confidence boost.
The men lost 85–99 and 87–102
to the standing leaders. Despite the
losses, coach Paul Eberhardt said he
felt good about how the team played.
“It showed that we can compete
with the best in Canada,” he said.
Currently, Douglas tops the rank-
ings at 15-1, followed by Vancou-
ver Island University at 12-2, with
Camosun sitting third at 8-6. Lang-
ara is currently ranked fifth of seven
teams.
With a tough four games remain-
Watch footage at
ing, missing the playoffs remains a www.langara-
possibility but the team isn’t overly voice.ca
worried.
“We just got to perform, come out

“It’s a good chance

for us to really show
the improvement that
we made over the
Christmas break.”
— STEPH VON RIEDEMANN,
FALCONS FORWARD

with energy and commitment and

we’ll be fine,” said Falcons guard Luka
Lizdek.
The women opened their week-
end with a 56–79 loss Friday. Unde-
terred, they rallied in a chaotic game
on Saturday with Meagan Briggs TOP and BOTTOM-LEFT: Leslie Law from the Langara Kendo club competes with a kendoka from the Steveston Kendo club. BOTTOM RIGHT: Leslie Law.
making three clutch free-throws to DANAUCA DORY PHOTOS

Langara kendokas in top 3

secure a 58–57 win with less than .2
seconds remaining on the clock to
end the weekend with a 7–7 division
record.
Falcons forward Steph Von
Riedemann, who leads the team in
rebounds, said the back-to-back

Underdog beginner, veteran overcome the odds to place

games were “a good chance for us to
really show the improvement that we
made over the Christmas break.”
Despite the split, Langara women’s
coach Virginia Watson wasn’t too  By DANAUCA DORY to be able to improve from here. both Wu and Lee placed in their
concerned and planned to stay Anthony Lee, a computer science division. KENDO FACTS

focused on preparing for the final
games of the season.
“It’s nice to get the ‘W’,” Watson
said.
The women sit in fourth place with
four games remaining. VIU tops the
leaderboard with 13-1, followed by
Capilano on 11-3 and Douglas on
9-7.
GAMES SCHEDULE
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
VS Vancouver Island University
Home game
Feb. 14, 2020 6 p.m.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
VS Vancouver Island University
Home game
Feb.14, 2020 8 p.m.
L
angara Kendo Club
members placed at the
Steveston Taikai on Feb.
8th.
Steveston’s Taikai is one of the
largest taikai in North America,
bringing together teams from B.C.
to Hawaii. Kendo is a traditional
Japanese martial art that uses protec-
tive armour and bamboo swords.
Due to an injury, Langara club
president David Wu said he was not
expecting to place at the Taikai. The
club has spent most of the semester
training beginners, leaving little time
to practice for themselves.
“We are the underdogs and we will
try and do as best as possible,” Wu
said, before the tournament.
However, Wu came in third for the
1 Kyu division. He said he is incred-
ibly happy with the results and hopes
major at Langara, came in third in
the unranked 0 Kyu division.
“I learned a lot from my oppo-
nent, definitely my faults,” Lee said.
Before the tournament, Lee said
“I learned a lot
from my opponent,
definitely my faults.”
— ANTHONY LEE,
COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJOR
he was looking to place. Although
proud of his win, Lee said he believes
that he can always improve and learn
from his mistakes.
The club has been spending a lot
of time this year helping beginners
learn the art of Kendo, which leaves
them with less time to practice. Still,
Although the kendokas, the word
for people who practice kendo, did
very well in the individual tourna-
ments, Langara College did not
place during the team matches.
The Langara Kendo club was
formed in 2012 in order to create
a space for people to learn about
Kendo for beginners and those with
experience.
This is true for Leslie Law, a
former student at Langara who
remains a member of the Langara
Kendo club. She said that she found
about Kendo through the college’s
website and has been doing it off
and on for the last four and a half
years.
“I’m excited [for the Taikai]
because I want to learn different
techniques from other schools,”
Law said.
>> Kendo evolved from the cen-
turies-old practices of Kenjutsu
dating back to 1336.
>> Kendo competitions have 3
referees who use red or white
flags to indicate a successful
blow.
>> The Steveston Kendo Club is
the oldest of its kind in Canada,
founded in 1914 by Tsuzuki
Kenta.
>> The Steveston Taikai has been
held for over 50 years and is
attended by clubs all over North
America.
SOURCE: MARTIALARTSWORDS.COM