A CEO gives themselves a bonus of a few million bucks. Meanwhile, at your shitty restaurant job, you get in trouble if you try to take home the food that’s going to be thrown out anyways. That’s what power can do– it can convince you that simple injustices are more complicated than how they readily appear. The powerful dispel a myth that understanding their actions requires a deeper level of thought and examination than the general population is capable of, that they have more information than we do. But what deeper examination of information would make you believe that it’s okay for any wealthy society to throw out perfectly good food while there are people starving in your streets?
So I ask you to consider: What decisions have those in power made that you did not agree to and how can you use your innate power as a human being to let them know your perspective? With that in mind, enjoy the Power Issue of the Capilano Courier.
- Adam Stothard
The first time I heard about the Panopticon as an ‘ideal’ prison, I thought it was gruesome. Simply put, the Panopticon arranges prison cells in a circle around a central observation tower, creating the perception among prisoners—who can’t see if there are guards inside the tower— of constant surveillance, so they behave accordingly. What a nightmare, I thought, automatically relating more to the prisoners. The concept became appealing, however, when flipped around.
Imagine a Panopticon where prisoners are decently-behaved individuals who come and go, and the guards are the administration of an institution where these civil individuals spend most days. In this allegorical panopticon, the central tower is still an exclusive place for the administration to gather, but they use it like a meeting room, a place to make decisions on behalf of the individuals who come and go. What’s the catch, you ask? The central tower is made of glass.
I say imagine, but really you can just look around. Capilano University is basically this reverse Panopticon: the students are everywhere, and the meetings—where decisions are made on the students’ behalf—are open-walled. If there really are eyes everywhere, why does it so often seem that decisions are not being made with students’ interests in mind? Why does the Panopticon effect not work to our advantage when reversed?
Power arises when someone is paying attention—the perception of constant surveillance doesn’t derive merely from having multiple eyes around. If a prisoner in an actual Panopticon misbehaved and perceived no consequences, they would be likely to do it again, and again, and again. The Power Issue is a reminder that we are paying attention: to how money is being spent at the student union, to instructors requiring students to buy expensive textbooks, to yet another presidential search, to the university’s next move in light of a huge budget deficit, to the harm caused by colonial systems.
Paying attention is the first step towards identifying what needs to change and regaining the power needed to change it, so let’s keep an eye on that tower—whether it is glass or ivory.
Ever vigilant, Laura Morales P
WRITING CONTRIBUTORS
Sam Damm, Elijah Alexander Chenoweth, Elishiva Phillips, Jasmin Linton, Ren Zhang & Yasmine Elsayed,.
VISUAL CONTRIBUTORS
Caroline Zhang, Ren Zhang, Jasmin Linton, Grayson Gardner, Cristina Williams, Tin Raganit, Ryan Coomber, Anya Ali Mulzet, Charlie Wongpisethkul, Scarlett Side & Alex Baidanuta.
COVER ART
Andy Poystila & Laura Morales.
AI is polarizing post-secondary education, with instructors divided on how it should be used
Written by Yasmine Elsayed (she/her)
Visuals by Caroline Zhang (They/them/any) & Rachel Lu (she/her) // Crew Illustrator
AI (artificial intelligence) continues to spark intense debate about how, why and to what extent we should embrace it. With AI’s rapid growth and integration into our society, our approach to monitoring its capabilities and developing relevant policies is not as fast as its technological advancements.
From artists utilizing AI in their work to professors at major universities using it in their classrooms, AI has found its way into nearly every discipline. For some, AI represents a new and innovative frontier, whereas others outright refuse it and express deep concerns with its under regulated application.
Luis Eduardo Azmitia Pardo—an economics professor here at Capilano University—believes that, “AI should be approached thoughtfully and with caution, but not with fear.” When asked about how he integrates AI into his courses, he expressed that AI plays more of a supportive role, helpful but with clear guidance. Additionally, he provided examples clarifying his approach, “students may use AI to help brainstorm ideas, organize their writing or clarify concepts. But, I emphasize that their own critical thinking, analysis and reflection must remain central. There are areas where I encourage them not to use AI at all, such as phenomenological or contemplative reflections, which are deeply personal and tied to their own lived experiences.”
Azmitia Pardo notes that AI has helped make learning more accessible to students—especially those who struggle with structure or language—and has
offered a way to demonstrate how technology can be used to assist rather than do the heavy lifting. “The challenge, of course, lies in ensuring that students don’t bypass their own learning process or rely too heavily on AI to do the thinking for them.”
In contrast, Cara DiGirolamo, an English instructor at CapU, holds reservations about using AI in an academic environment. They note that when universities support AI, it suggests that institutions do not prioritize students’ future advancements. DiGirolamo is explicitly referring to LLMs (language learning models), such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok, among others. They believe that LLMs offer an easy way out, saying, “If you are tempted to cheat, AI makes it easy to cheat. If you don’t like to struggle, AI makes it possible to avoid struggling. Choosing not to use AI is possibly the best thing someone can do for their moral fibre.” This further emphasizes that if AI becomes a greater, more integrated part of post-secondary education, universities will have sacrificed scholarship and higher learning in the name of convenience.
While AI should be approached with caution, DiGirolamo believes that if universities choose to embrace AI in a more formal capacity, appropriate measures should be taken to maintain critical thinking. They explain, “Class sizes must be reduced to a maximum of 15 students, and all exams must be converted to oral exams where students have to explain things verbally with no aids. Everyone must also build their own neural net, so they can see exactly how AI works and why it is unreliable for research.”
Whether AI is viewed as an asset or a liability, its place in higher education may reveal more about how we value learning and academic integrity than about the technology itself. As demonstrated by the conflicting views held by Azmitia Pardo and DiGirolamo, instructors are divided on how AI should be approached within the academic environment. On the one hand, AI can be seen as providing a relative advantage in the learning process. On the other, it can also be viewed as an existential threat to the purpose of higher education. But, in the absence of consensus among faculty members, one thing is certain: AI is here, and universities need to adapt fast.
WHAT DO STUDENT UNION FEES ACTUALLY PAY FOR?
Breaking down the costs and benefits of CSU membership
Written by Ben Taylor (he/him) // Crew Writer
Part of the tuition we as students pay at Capilano University are mandatory fees to the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU). For a full time student at CapU, these end up coming to $745.66 for the fall semester. Although this initially seems steep, this fee covers a wide variety of services and resources available to students, ranging from discounted internet to free produce and renters insurance. This fee also includes CapU’s health and dental plan, which students who already have coverage can choose to opt out of.
A majority of the in-person services offered by the CSU can be found in LB195, the library lounge, which is also the location of the CSU Member Services Desk. The other CSU-run space is the Maple building lounge, equipped with a pool table and foosball. The CSU administration office, the executive directors’ office and the CSU Maple Boardroom are also located in this building. These spaces are open to students who have questions, wish to share input with the president and vice presidents or bring ideas to share during committee meetings.
The two biggest fees students pay are U-Pass, and the aforementioned health and dental plan. U-Pass is a mandatory fee, so even students who do not take the bus cannot opt out, since universal participation is what allows for the discounted monthly pass that includes all zone access to public transit. The health and dental plan’s full scope can be found on the CSU website, but some highlights include 100 per cent coverage up to $150 on vaccinations and 100 per cent coverage on cleanings at the on-campus dentist located in BR249.
Another service offered by the CSU is the ‘device doctor,’ a program designed to give students access to free tech repairs and support, as well as a way to donate devices in working or non-working conditions. The CSU also facilitates both intramural sports and the clubs we have here on campus.
Starting a club can be done via their website, or through the club directory, which provides information about currently active clubs. Room bookings can also be handled through the CSU website.
Although paying upwards of $700 per semester makes CapU’s student union fees some of the highest in the province, especially when compared to other post-secondary institutions similar in size, students at Cap actually receive benefits with a value greater than what they are paying if they make the most of what the CSU has to offer. However, the expenses of the CSU are not exclusively membership services, they also have to pay for administration costs, which includes the CSU Board of Directors.
The amount of money paid as salary to the executives of the CSU (the president and four VPs), has been a contentious topic at CapU in recent years. An article published last year by the Courier detailed the lack of accountability taken by executives in terms of doing the 80 hours of work per month that justifies their salary – upwards of $24, 000 a year.
On July 15, 2025, the CSU Board of Directors put together a five-year strategic plan, aiming to guide the CSU’s direction after the current board’s term is up at the end of the year. One of the items in this memorandum sought to “improve the board’s capacity and reputation for peer accountability.” Specifically, in the first year of the five-year plan, which is the current school year, they aim to “evaluate executive pay and timekeeping practices and implement reforms to ensure members’ trust in these payments.” In this case, ‘members’ denotes the entire student body of CapU, as every student is by default a member of the student union.
This seems like a real initiative for change in holding executives accountable for their work, making sure their healthy salary
Visuals by Ren Zhang (they/them)
is earned by being fully committed to bettering student life on campus and fulfilling the mandate outlined for each of the executive roles. But, what exactly will this evaluation look like? And, how will the CSU gain students’ trust that these salaries will be justified?
In a governance committee meeting on October 7, some details of the plan were discussed, and a draft of the minutes were posted. The first item involved the appointment of an ethics, conduct and conflict of interest officer, who cannot have been a “member, director, or employee of the Capilano Students’ Union in the previous twelve (12) months.” This means that the search for this candidate—while needing a three quarters majority vote from the board of directors in order to be elected—will not include current students.
The person who fills this position will be able to “investigate allegations that a director has violated bylaws or policies relating to ethics, conduct, and conflicts of interest, and to recommend sanctions.” It’s worth noting that this position has already existed within the current bylaws of the CSU, and has merely been left vacant. The CSU’s Executive Director Chris Girodat is proposing a search for one now, “in light of accountability concerns across the student society sector.” The salary for said position would come out of the existing legal budget, but it is not clear exactly how much it would be.
This move comes at the same time as the aforementioned timekeeping evaluation, and reinforces the intention of holding board members accountable. How this person will be chosen will most likely not be clear until the annual general meeting scheduled for October 28. However, the executive director notes that “even if the motion is rejected, the policy review will continue, as the officer position already exists.”
Furthermore, during the meeting on October 7, the governance committee went over a memorandum containing preliminary details on the evaluation process concerning timekeeping and accountability. Strategies include a canvassing of other student societies methods of timekeeping and executive pay, as well as a student survey, which will occur on October 20.
In addition to this survey, students will have the opportunity to voice their thoughts and concerns relating to the matter via email, at feedback@csu.bc.ca, as well as through open meetings of the governance committee, “devoted exclusively to members sharing their comments and perspectives on executive pay and timekeeping practices.” This is an important opportunity for the members of the student union to get involved in holding CSU executives accountable, so that the use of the funds taken from their tuition is just, and actually beneficial to the student body as a whole.
Are Students Paying More for Instructors to Teach Less?
As free Open Educational Resources become increasingly available, students question faculty members’ preference for paid textbooks
Written by Laura Morales Padilla (she/her) // Co-EIC
Visuals by Jasmin Linton (she/her)
Through the Student Experience Survey 2025 conducted in May, the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) asked students if they had been “required to purchase access to an online platform, digital tool or e-resource for a course.” From the total 730 respondents, 60 per cent responded yes. The CSU collected this information as requested by student senator Priya McMurtrie, who had previously brought to the board’s attention that the expanded use of digital assessment tools was becoming a “major issue.”
Of the 410 students who responded the survey question regarding how much their instructors relied on the textbooks’ online platforms or digital tools, 85.6 per cent indicated that the platform was used for classwork and assignments, in 74 per cent of cases it was used for exams and quizzes and in 57 per cent for course instruction. In her January 18 report, the student senator stated, “This is a fracture of the standards of academia that we hold as a university and is not fair for students to have to pay extra fees to… not be taught.”
To complement students’ perspectives, The Courier interviewed Capilano University faculty members Laurie Prange and Joe Munsterman, active advocates of Open Educational Resources (OER), and reached out to 27 faculty members who are using paid textbooks with access codes to digital learning platforms
for their Fall 2025 courses. The average cost of the textbooks used by these instructors is $165.31, with prices ranging from $99 to $274.15. From the 27, 10 instructors responded, five agreed to share their perspective anonymously and business instructor Anderson Lu clarified that the paid textbook listed for his course is optional and not used for assessment, but shared insights on his use of these tools at another institution.
Zero Textbook Cost Initiatives
In a retention project presented to the School of Business & Professional Studies on November 14, 2024, faculty member Laurie Prange stated, “When we average out the costs of all the textbooks that business instructors are choosing, it comes out to $125 per textbook. By the end of the BBA, our students will have spent at least $5, 000 on textbooks.” Considering that domestic tuition fees are $28, 568, this approximate cost for textbooks adds an extra 17.5 per cent to the advertised cost of the program. Furthermore, 78 per cent of respondents from the CSU survey indicated that the cost of textbooks created some degree of financial hardship, varying from minor to significant. On the other hand, OER—as defined by the government-funded organization BCcampus—are “teaching, learning, and research resources that, through permissions
granted by their creator, allow others to use, distribute, keep, or make changes to them.” According to Joe Munsterman, a sociology professor and member of the Regional Leaders of Open Education network, “the main barrier that OERs alleviate is access,” not only in terms of cost, he explained, but also in addressing the diversity of backgrounds in each classroom. In a previous interview with BC campus, Munsterman referred to the tailoring of examples and references to students’ backgrounds as “removing the barrier of cultural overtime.”
OERs are a primary driver of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) initiatives, along with library resources, public domain works, and faculty-developed materials. Colleges and universities in B.C. such as Kwantlen Polytechnic, Douglas College and University Canada West have started implementing ZTC programs to help mitigate financial barriers in higher education. Aware of this, professor Prange included a list of OER textbooks that could replace paid textbooks currently used in mandatory 100 and 200-level courses in her retention project. “I chose ones already being used by our competitors,” she indicated. Still, many professors at CapU—especially in business courses—continue to use paid textbooks, showing that this choice has less to do with the availability of free alternatives, and more to do with their personal preference.
Textbooks with Access Codes and Digital Assessment Tools
From the six CapU faculty members who shared their insights about the benefits of using paid textbooks with access codes to publisher’s online learning platforms, the benefit that stood out is regular practice at students’ own pace, with methods varying from question banks to simulations.
When it comes to the right balance between classwork and assignments done via the publisher’s online learning platforms vs outside of these platforms, a full time regular faculty member at CapU’s School of Business (CSB) estimated “about 30–40% of course work, focusing on quizzes, practice exercises, and simulations that reinforce core knowledge.” A financial accounting instructor stressed that all topics are covered in class, and the online platform is for students to “practice the newly learned skills.” Similarly, an instructor from the School of Social Sciences (SSS) uses it “to test [students’] knowledge through a series of scaffolded questions with interactive animations that help with the visualization of processes discussed.” Moreover, faculty member Anderson Lu pointed out that class time is limited and often doesn’t allow him to provide enough examples. Lu says in those cases, “students will be able to experience more varieties of problems on the publisher’s website.”
In terms of assessment, half of the instructors found instant feedback to be one of the main benefits, along with automated grading. “If they need further assistance, they can take a screenshot, and contact me. I love it when students do this so I know exactly where they are getting stuck and I can explain the concept in another way,” shared the financial accounting instructor. “Students’ assignment marks are generally a bit higher than in-class exam results, so students like to have the online assignments pull up their overall grade,” observed Lu, also noting that publishers’ questions come with different numbers for each student to prevent cheating. In contrast, the financial accounting instructor assigns minimal marks to assignments done via digital platforms. “Who’s kidding who?” they pointed out, “It is easy to get the answers for these types of online assessments.”
The instructors who valued the instant feedback provided by online learning platforms also acknowledged that digital assessment tools are an important aid considering the absence of teaching assistants at CapU. “They reduce administrative workload and ensure students receive timely guidance. This allows me to devote more energy to higher-level teaching tasks like case analysis, applied projects, and mentoring, rather than routine assessment,” explained the full-time CSB faculty member. Lu also acknowledged that instructors at CapU are solely responsible for grading as well as other preparatory work. “It would take a lot of time to grade weekly assignments manually and take away the time for instructors to design better lessons,” he stated.
However, for the faculty member who teaches accounting courses, digital assessment tools can actually increase the marking workload as they still need to manually check for errors, and a lot of back and forth with concerned students ends up happening when an error occurs. “If instructors are not reviewing the output, I suspect it would cut down marking time immensely,” they observed. On the other hand, for the SSS instructor, the tools in online platforms are not a major component of the assessment; instead, they view them as a “supplementary activity that aids learning rather than as a digital replacement for TA or instructor tasks.”
When asked if learning outcomes and experience from students are overall positive with paid educational resources, a faculty member who teaches accounting courses answered, “The feedback I experienced when I did not use a common publisher textbook was that they found the open-source text lacking, students wanted better and more practice questions.” Similarly, the accounting instructor stated that in a perfect world, “open source text would include all that we require and instead, materials and questions could be done in-class or submitted via eLearn.”
In line with these observations, a 2017 study on learning outcomes using OERs at the University of British Columbia (UBC) highlighted that the positive results obtained from using these resources came from “not just adopting an open textbook, but also significantly adapting it to fit a particular course.” As Munsterman explained, “The first thing people think about open textbooks is that they’re free, which is true, but there’s more to it than that.” Creative Commons licenses standardized the different ways in which the public can use their work, and in Munsterman’s experience, many open books are editable, so “you can add examples and tailor it however you want.”
According to the Student Experience Survey 2025, only 18 per cent of 412 respondents found that the use of the paid platform was essential for their learning. Maximilliano Alserda, a fourth-year student at CSB, stated, “These digital assessment tools in e-books automate most of the questions and students’ answers are graded immediately after submitting, meaning half of the course was just the professors telling us to selfstudy without dedicating effort into teaching a specific topic.” Alserda’s observation reveals a double bind perception when it comes to textbooks with online learning platforms: either the online learning tools are not adding enough to their educational experience to justify the cost of the textbook, or the tools are satisfying most of their needs as learners, making it hard to justify the cost of the instructor and the university setting.
Furthermore, the personal learning experience from instructors grading and providing feedback themselves is an important selling point for a lot of students. As professor Prange pointed out, CapU announces “industry-leading experts, smaller class sizes” on their homepage, but this promise is not fulfilled when students receive a similar learning and evaluation experience as if they were in a classroom seating 200 or more at a larger university. She questioned, “Are we keeping our promise to CapU students when the course content, assignments, and tests are on third-party sites owned by textbook companies rather than created by the instructors themselves and hosted on CapU platforms? Are we keeping our promise when these same textbook companies are grading students’ tests and assignments instead of CapU instructors?”
Shared Goals and Potential solutions
The use of alternative educational resources can only be suggested but not enforced, because the Academic Freedom policy protects instructors’ right to choose what they consider
to be the best resources for their pedagogical goals. However, the policy stresses that the freedom to teach “must be joined by a constant effort to distinguish between knowledge and belief. Freedom must be exercised in the context of a commitment to accuracy and integrity.” In other words, an instructor’s belief that paid textbooks and online platforms are superior to OERs is not enough; the policy suggests that a preference for paid materials must be based on evidence of superior learning outcomes, not just the convenience of automated grading and feedback.
Data from the CSU survey provides a tangible example for this principle. The 18 per cent of students who found the paid platform essential for their learning represent 73 individuals. Instructor Lu’s approach of making the textbook access code an optional resource caters to this group. “I don’t make it mandatory for students to buy the access code or the textbook, but I recommend they do, as there are additional practice problems,” he explained. When a grade isn’t tied to a digital access code, students can decide if the cost of the textbook is justified by the value of the additional practice problems, or vice-versa.
The SSS and CSB instructors agreed that the added cost is a concern, and both expressed interest in finding more affordable solutions. “The cost of textbooks continues to creep up each semester,” affirmed the SSS instructor, and explained that developing “a set of online interactive activities” is their goal in the future, “but this will take some time and requires coordination with other instructors.” According to Munsterman, there are a lot of resources already available at CapU’s library, and further support on campus is available via the Centre for Teaching Excellence; “The CTE or the library can walk any instructor through adopting or learning about OERs,” he affirmed. Moreover, BC Open Education Librarians, Open Education Global, SPARC and BCcampus are some external options also suggested by Munsterman, with the last one being “one of if not the biggest leaders in open education in North America with hundreds of textbooks ready to go!”
Finally, a key finding from the UBC study on OER points out that “taking advantage of the open license of open textbooks to make significant revisions can be pedagogically useful and appreciated by students, but it may require a good deal of time and resources.” Given some faculty concerns about already high workloads, implementing Zero Textbook Cost initiatives and adapting open textbooks can be a difficult task for a single instructor to tackle. However, the accounting instructor shared that collaborative efforts are underway to remove “textbook marking” and expand the use of OER options. “We are working to update our syllabi in the accounting concentration to exclude publishers’ online learning platforms,” she announced. The team behind this work is being led by the Business Faculty Curriculum Coordinator, with the assistance of Student Learning Experience Conveners and other accounting instructors who wished to participate. “It’s been a fantastic experience, and I think we are improving the accounting courses a lot,” she added. The timeline for implementation is set for Fall 2026 to ensure all accounting instructors have sufficient time to discuss and agree upon the changes.
RED POWER INDIGENOUS CREATIVES WITHIN THEIR INDUSTRIES
The ancestors of Indigenous people are warriors and the ancestor’s spirit is passed down through generations. Indigenous power is a great force, shown through their resilience in the face of pain; from enduring harsh winters to fighting to protect their history, culture, languages, traditions, and land.. For too long, the government tried to erase Indigenous people in many ways, yet they could not destroy them. These attempts only increased their desire to protect who they are as Indigenous people.
So, what is Red Power? It is known as an Indigenous rights movement that started between the ‘60s and ‘70s for the purpose of Indigenous sovereignty and culture revitalization. It is about resilience, pride and power. Indigenous peoples took a stand on their own, fighting for their voices to be heard and against the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples. This was the start of an Indigenous uprising to take action against racism, police brutality and land seizure, among many other harmful treatments. The traditional ways of Indigenous leadership made way across many nations and fought for their rights. This holds massive significance today because Indigenous people are still experiencing violence on a massive scale. It still bleeds through.
“It’s not just one thing. It’s a makeup of many different things,” says Jessie Anthony, “It looks like all of us. Together. And, it means them growing up to be healthy, young and just knowledgeable within themselves, for future generations to be at peace with themselves and working on that. Striving towards rebuilding what we once had as well.” says Elijah Chenoweth. Indigenous people continue to express their Indigeneity today, through various forms of art, including film, music, paintings and many other creative forms. They work in the industries, often as a minority.
Anthony, a director, writer and producer, says that Indigenous power contains multitudes. “I feel like being your authentic self is Indigenous power. We’re already powerful to begin with. So, just showing up and being yourself and being kind to people is Indigenous power. Being vulnerable to share your voice is Indigenous power. Being able to stand up for yourself is Indigenous power,” Anthony stated. The film creative also highlighted the importance of being kind; “you never know who’s gonna be your boss. So, to me, when you have that mentality going into a job, you’re kind to everybody.” Being yourself is power in its own way; it leads to confidence and success. Working
Written by Sam Damm (she/her)
Visuals by Grayson Gardner (they/them)
in the creative industry—especially starting out—you work with everyone, you do many jobs at once and work on small crews. It can get chaotic at times, but that is when it is most important to be kind and gentle to everyone.
Chenoweth is an alum of the Indigenous Digital Filmmaking program and now a fourth-year student in the Motion Picture Arts program, in addition to writing, directing and acting. Elijah believes in the power of being knowledgeable. “making that effort to learn about where you come from, that’s empowered me in my life more than I could have ever expected.” He grew up in the city and felt that he didn’t know as much as he used to growing up, Chenoweth feels the power that is within himself when he takes the time to learn more about his people. Taking the time and having patience to be knowledgeable is also power.
April Johnson, a producer and director, shared that while she has sometimes struggled with the idea of feeling ready to start projects, she never feels that way about her stories. She is confident when she knows where she comes from, and in her knowing, she finds herself with the confidence to continue to tell her stories. She knows she can spark conversation with the stories she wants to tell. Johnson relies on self-care and when she takes care of her mind, body, spirit and home, she is ready for challenges that might come her way. “Going for [a] walk releases endorphins and it kicks off the creative process for me. Then, I want to share more with people, and the more you share with people, the more they’re going to hype you up and then you collaborate and you’re lifting everyone up.” When people lift themselves up, they can lift people up, that is success. When people can work together in kindness, it leads to greater work and greater relationships.
Proud Indigeneity means more confident and present creatives. With Indigenous joy comes Indigenous power and it’s revolutionary. The future is bright, filled with beauty, language, tradition, growth, change, healing and connection for all Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island.
The time-honoured East Van tradition
Written by Theodore Abbott
“A time honoured East Van tradition:” that is how the Parade of Lost Souls is described on the event’s official website. As a product of the Dusty Flower Pot Cabaret (DFC)—a grass roots East Vancouver arts collective—the Parade of Lost Souls isn’t so much hosted by the group, but rather facilitated in a way that is “as hands-off as possible.”
In conversation with Kat Single-Dain, the Artistic Executive Director of the DFC, she describes the parade as a tempest and herself as “the eye of the storm.”
In one form or another, the parade has been running since the 1990s. Past years of the annual event have seen venue changes, as well as major adjustments to production and execution. But, despite its various incarnations, the core of the parade has remained largely unchanged.
Both in spirit and aesthetics, the Parade of Lost Souls is informed by the Day of the Dead, or Dia De Los Muertos in Spanish. This is evidenced by the presence of large paper-maché skulls, stilt walkers and, of course, lots of Calavera makeup. There is also a markedly surrealist quality to the decentralized processions (think Rothschild’s 1972 Surrealist Ball) wherein reverence for tradition melds with elements of Daliesque avant-garde. This is no
cheap, storebought pageantry; the artistic merits of the parade are further elevated by the delicate care that goes into each costume.
This dream-like atmosphere is also complimented by the unique approach taken by the event’s organizers, which Single-Dain describes as having an improvisational “‘yes and’ quality.” Single-Dain also notes that the parade is “by and for the people of Vancouver,” highlighting that the event is meant to act as a kind of blank canvas for the community. In this regard, the event thrives on community initiative, hinging on the artistic drive of local creatives, as she says, “There are often aspects of the parade that I haven’t seen, or that I know very little about before the day of.” Single-Dain explains that when asked about the nature of the parade, her explanation is simple: “As I always say, the parade is you!”
Taking place on the Saturday nearest Halloween, the area in and around Britannia Community Centre—just off of Commercial Drive—is transformed into the festival grounds. The event boasts a full program replete with marching bands, multiple stages, DJs, interactive art installations, flash mobs and food trucks. Processions
Visuals by Rachel Lu (she/her)
Photography: Courtesy of Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret Society
(he/him)
commence on an hourly schedule between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., with the Parade of Little Souls—a more family oriented procession—setting off at 7 p.m. After 10 p.m., the Lost Souls afterparty kicks off, taking place this year at two locations: The Biltmore Cabaret and Strange Fellows Brewing.
Single-Dain also notes how buying a ticket to the afterparty is akin to making a direct donation to a non-profit, and that ticket sales help to keep the Parade of Lost Souls alive. The parade itself is a free event, although donations are encouraged, and every year community support becomes more vital. According to Single-Dain, grant funding for the parade has gone down by 50 per cent over the last few years.
In the weeks leading up to November 1, folks can also attend a series of dance workshops—suggested donation $10—or even the weekly pre-parade-party and costume sale, which takes place at the DFC studio, details found on their website.
For anyone interested in participating in the Parade of Lost Souls, or any of the other programming that the DFC facilitates, you can join their mailing list, or follow them on social media @dustyflowerpotcabaret. As advertised on their website, the parade is merely the tip of the iceberg, with year round events that include speed dating, swing dances, clowning workshops, yoga classes and much more.
COMMUNITY
Connection around campus from the perspective of film students
What is community? Is it your friends? Your family? The bus driver? It means many things to people. Somehow, we all share the experience of what a community is. In a general sense, it is a collective and a part of what it means to be human.
Our own country’s name is supposed to mean “community” in the Wendat language. But, some aunties on Facebook know it more to mean “they squat in our village,” which is closer to the truth of this country.
In this piece, we’re getting the truth of the matter on community building from the experience of our peers within Capilano University’s film programs. The overall sense of community seems to be in constant flux between different individuals. While some may feel that there is a complete lack of community due to declining engagement with campus events, others have found lifelong connections. The mixed bag of attitudes shows how varied our demographic is.
In the Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) program, the effort to make friends seems to be somewhat difficult, due to stress and competition. Cooperation
and organization is what makes the difference: building a strong sense of determination and know-how attitude because we learn to combine skills towards a deliverable.
Some feel that the opportunities to open up creatively have led to significant personal development. A sense of self, strong work ethic and a studious nature are outcomes for many people attending.
One interviewee mentioned feeling disappointment towards the lack of engagement in school spirit, which in their opinion has been harmless but also uneventful. It wasn’t necessarily the culture of CapU that has attracted so many students, since we are a school known for quality education.
Another individual mentioned a lack of events altogether, especially ones that would bring the entire student body together. The strive towards decolonization is felt within
BUILDING
Written by Elijah Alexander Chenoweth (he/him)
Visuals
the Indigenous Digital Filmmaking (IDF) program as well as the effort to take space and rediscover old strength to find one’s voice is the consensus. Learning the art of storytelling can bring forth new perspectives on how we relate to other communities worldwide, and it starts with an open mind. Many of the interviewees I spoke with were open minded individuals, and that reflects a sense of conscientiousness within the BOSA building.
“I think Covid really made us reevaluate how we communicate with other people and made us more open to that connection. For me, community is being able to show up exactly as you are, know you have a place, and not feel the expectation to be a certain person. As much as the school can try to help with community building, it really comes down to the individuals to make the difference.”
–Indigenous Student Liaison, Carson Pechawis
by Cristina Williams (she/her)
We have an international front of the western hemisphere; we have influence that can reach globally.
The community that is present on campus is geared toward focus on school, and the efforts to build that connection between people are less so according to the many perspectives discussed. It makes for a collective of people who support each other, despite competition or animosity. This support is what lifts people up against the division that we may find within these institutions or even ourselves. The goal is to make us more solo-minded, because a group of people with one goal in mind is more dangerous than one plotting individual.
“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”
–Napoleon Bonaparte
The inspiration that has spilled out of interviewees from the IDF shows a clear sign of empowerment that emanates among Indigenous students. We are entering an age of empowerment. Encouragement and contentment with oneself is a key aspect to connecting with those around you, and many circumstantial setbacks can make community seem like a far reach. But, like many ideas in the brain, it is an illusion.
In North Vancouver, our CapU campus offers teachings that are sought after internationally, reflected by the rich diversity of nations on our school grounds. However, that mass appeal makes it much more of a blank slate for others to draw upon and form communities within.
It’s the ideas that we generate together that make the world shift. We cannot change minds forcibly in a positive way. One cannot use their overt strength to nurture a tree when it grows. It takes attention and time to build something strong.
Communities are the ones who shift history, not necessarily the money that may or may not be in your pockets. We are the turtle on which our society rests. These ideas are formless and can vanish just as they appear, but we are the ones still here. So, what is it that we want? Lone royalty at the top of a hill, or a village in the valley? Think about it. It takes a community to raise up one child, and if that warmth isn’t felt, the child may burn the village down just to feel the heat. Could this be why we see a certain apathetic barbarity in our world?
When we begin to understand how to really communicate and understand each other, we stray from the new kind of silent desperation of loneliness in the modern age, which is designed for profiting from division... But, it doesn’t need to be like this. Power to the people. People over profit.
Building Empathy One Book at a Time
The value of exploring diversity in literature amidst the rise of calls to ban books
Written by Elishiva Phillips (she/her) Visuals by Tin Raganit (they/them)
It’s no shock to anyone who reads the news that we’re living in a politically divisive time. The gulf in experience and values between people can feel like an unfathomable canyon to try and cross. After all, every person’s experience of the world is unique to them. One person has perfect pitch, another is tone deaf; one person never experiences wealth, another never experiences poverty. Language, then, can be a crucial step in bridging that gap between different lived realities. Maybe you can’t hear music the way someone with pitch can, but you can imagine it if someone who speaks the same language describes it to you in a meaningful way. Reading is a natural extension of this. It can travel farther and reach broader audiences than one-on-one conversation. For precisely this reason, book bans are popular among authoritarian regimes. According to an article published by CBC, we see calls for book bans rising even here in our own backyard.
According to a BBC article published on June 2, 2019, research suggests a quantifiable correlation between reading and the development of empathy. Participants who read more fiction were better able to understand the people around them, challenging the idea that readers are more introverted and withdrawn. This seems to align with the views
of other educators and researchers that reading narrative fiction is helpful in developing morality and empathy for others, according to a 2022 study titled How Do Children Socially Learn from Narrative Fiction: Getting the Lesson, Simulating Social Worlds, or Dialogic Inquiry? However, it can be easy to find ourselves falling back on novels that reflect what we already know. So, what can you do to break out of that echo chamber? You can start by looking at the following local book related resources.
Upstart & Crow, a self-described “not-for-profit creative studio and literary incubator,” focuses on providing support to transformative programs and artists whose work focuses on social change. Recent examples have included programs geared towards supporting writing on climate solutions, or their translation series where they highlight authors whose works have been translated from another language.
Other bookstores geared towards supporting diverse and marginalized voices include New West’s Wildfires Bookshop, a queer, South Asian owned and operated store that focuses on highlighting books by authors from diverse backgrounds. Their store also functions as a lounge and event space where
they host author book launches, witchy markets and writing workshops. Near Chinatown, in the historic Strathcona neighbourhood, Indigenousowned Massy Books often highlights books by diverse voices and hosts events like book launches and writing workshops. Similarly, located in the Hastings-Sunrise area is Iron Dog Books, another Indigenous-owned and operated book store that began its life as a mobile bookstore before putting down roots in Vancouver. They also host book launches and author readings that focus on uplifting Indigenous voices.
You can also find great reads through the Vancouver
Public Library. If you look through their new titles section, they highlight categories such as Canadian, Indigenous and LGBTQ+, which lead you to even more specific categories of authors. The Canadian tab, for example, highlights books and authors specific to Vancouver, as well as Black authors and Asian-American non-fiction.
Although the world can feel overwhelming in difficult times, reading can help ground you and give you a new perspective. It can make you feel seen. There is strength in knowing you are not alone and in being able to understand perspectives outside your own.
WHACKY POWER STRUCTURES
Ex(in)clusion within the workplace
After completing college, I was given the opportunity to work in journalism in Yellowknife, NT. At the age of 18, I moved out (once again) and was working tirelessly within an environment of toxic power structures. Not only was I the youngest at 19 years old, I was also the only Native in that place. Within Yellowknife, there’s many groups of various Indigenous peoples, so it was disheartening to be the only one in the workplace.
At the first pitch meeting, all my ideas were shot down due to not fitting the profile or it ‘wasn’t my place.’ I was hired on the basis of completing the archival project consisting of all their previous works, so why did they invite me into the pitch meeting if that was where I was supposed to stay? When I brought up this horrid experience with my supervisor, he had to close the door and basically tell me there was no human resources department at the company due to the small size, so all problems would be brought to him. How useful is he when I’m asking for help on the issue of my ideas being rejected due to their obvious ‘understanding’ of my skin? It should not even be a factor, but as I found out (and keep finding out) it is in the eyes of the privileged folks.
So, what did I do? I was away from my immediate family and living on my own and had just gotten my first credit card. I kept showing up to work everyday determined to write the articles I wanted to pitch. Eventually, halfway through
the six-month contract, I was able to start writing based on the pitches I pitched. By no means was it easy, but I’ve never been one to back down when faced with challengers, adversity or racism.
From this experience alone, I go into interviews making sure the company I’m being interviewed for are educated on the matters of Indigenous youth, the overall history of Indigenous peoples and even challenging the interviewer on their own perspective and position of power. It’s a hidden joy to watch them squirm in their seats when I flip the script.
After that workplace, I was hired right out of the gate to a neighboring company passionate about upholding Indigenous voices and encouraging young writers. They definitely helped me find my voice in writing; they gave me opportunities to travel within the Northwest Territories in order to cover stories, and produced my own story series where I highlighted Indigenous creatives in all disciplinary work.
I suppose, upon reflection, that the hardship of navigating these power structures within small corporate entities has improved my abilities of negotiating, pitching and curating my voice when being opposed.
Anonda Canadien (she/her) (Dehcho Dene) // Arts & Culture Editor
Visuals by Rachel Lu(she/her) // Crew Illustrator
To be Heard Through the Chaos SILENCED
CW: mentions police violence and blood
Written by Jasmin Linton (she/her) Visuals by Andrei Gueco (he/him)
It was a miracle Ryan could see past their own nose. Tear gas billowed out from canisters, each settling around groups of protesters with a bang, boom! It filled the air with white smoke and made Ryan’s ears ring. They dodged an incoming canister, jumping around sparks with other protesters, all scattering in different directions. The sea of dark figures with batons rumbled closer, their transparent shields glinting against the street lamps. This was insane.
The protest had been peaceful.
No behaviour from the crowd—that they had seen— warranted such violent retaliation. Ryan grabbed the shoulder of a man that was hunched over, retching against the invasive gas. His hunched frame and white hair made Ryan all the more worried about his wellbeing, watching as his shoulders shook with each violent cough causing his keffiyeh to fall to the ground. It was quickly trampled by fleeing protesters. The roar of the barricades and the rain of pepper ball bullets intensified the chaos in the streets. Ryan leaned down to pick up the keffiyeh, trying to wipe the wrinkles and dirt away with their fingers. This was barbaric. This man was no younger than 60, out in the streets well into the night, being trampled by the people supposed to be keeping him safe. The waves of black riot gear pulsed towards them, the rain of tear gas was still heavy.
Ryan gritted their teeth, frustration and anguish pressing hard against their chest. They helped the man to the side of the street, making sure he was settled on a curb before turning back to the mob of riot shields.
“Why are you doing this?!” Ryan screamed against a wall of plastic, spit sprayed as they tried not to hit against the barrier. That only made it worse and gave the mob a reason to escalate more than they already had. “We weren’t doing anything!” they shouted again, “It was peaceful!”
The mass of police only lurched forward, Ryan’s cries were ignored as more pepper balls were hurled at the protesters. They scrambled back from the pulsing horde and tried to take cover as the shields disbursed and batons were brought out. One protester held up her middle finger as she dodged a canister of gas, her pink hair whipping against her face. Ryan could only watch in horror as she was struck by a baton, being swallowed by the police presence before falling to the ground in a heap of pink hair and red blood.
Ryan’s eyes stung with tears at the violence unfolding before them. They sprang into action trying to get to the fallen protester’s aid.
This wasn’t fair. They had been protesting peacefully. This violence was unprovoked.
The angry snarling mob of police wouldn’t listen. Ryan was torn between joining the protesters in beating against the shields and dreading the escalation it would surely bring. They looked around at the fallen items and the rubble scattered through the streets, something white and blue catching their eye. Ryan ran to pick it up, cradling the beaten megaphone to their chest.
Maybe this would work.
They turned on the megaphone and waited for the crackle of static to clear before bringing it up to their lips.
“Hello?? Can you even hear us in there? Behind all that armor?” Ryan’s voice cracked through the megaphone, slicing through the noise and chaos. “You call this peace?
We shout until our throats are hoarse, and still you pretend not to hear. But, we’ll keep shouting. Because, silence is how you win. And, we—”
They coughed hard, choking on the tear gas, but lifted the megaphone again.
“We refuse to be silenced!”
The breathing creature of the barricade shivered against Ryan’s voice as other protesters cheered and joined in. The mob was unsure about moving forward, but too stubborn to move back. Ryan lowered the megaphone, staring into the void in front of them.
Their eyes caught the glint of a single officer’s visor, no face behind it, just a hollowed void of darkness.
A Sound Investment
The power of the student voice on air
Written by Ben Taylor (he/him) // Crew Writer
Visuals by Ryan Coomber (he/him)
Radio has the power to uplift student voices around the world. In Canada, legendary student radio stations like CiTR at the University of British Columbia (UBC), CFRC at Queen’s or CJLO at Concordia have been producing legendary shows since as early as 1922 in CFRC’s case. Student radio doesn’t operate like typical commercial broadcasting. It focuses on community-based alternative programming, featuring a wide variety of content that can be anything from spoken word rants to local metal musicians.
Student radio in Canada traces back to CFRC, whose aforementioned first broadcast in 1922 makes it one of the oldest continuously running stations in the world. It started by broadcasting school sports games, occasional lectures and studio concerts. Today, CFRC is on air 24/7 365, with a variety of music, sports and spoken word news. CiTR has its origins in 1938, when it officially became a club, and began broadcasting as CiTR on FM 101.9 in 1982. Some notable shows include ‘Nardwuar, The Human Serviette, Presents…’ which has been broadcasting Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. since 1987; ‘Saturday Edge,’ hosted by Steve Edge playing world and roots music since 1985; and ‘Parts Unknown,’ playing indie pop music since 1999. ‘Lethal Refresh’ airs on Monday at noon, and can be found delivering new releases that might have flown under your radar. CiTR has been able to develop these distinct shows by giving Vancouver’s subculture the initiative to play and say what they desire, something commercial radio simply doesn’t do. And, the value that they bring—both on campus and to Vancouver as a whole—is incredibly inspiring.
These radio stations are not limited to only what they put on the airwaves; they have also been active forces of change in their communities, by way of organizing fundraisers, distributing magazines and hosting events. CiTR has promoted various non-profit organizations such as Drug User Liberation Front, which provides harm reduction services, and the anarchist book fair at UBC. The role student radio has in creating awareness about these events and organizations is essential, as most major media outlets do not properly cover local community activism and mutual aid.
Capilano University, while not having a broadcast FM station like Simon Fraser University, the British Columbia Institute of Technology or UBC, has a radio club of our own, Capilano Radio. The Courier spoke with Vice President MJ Dolar on his thoughts about student radio’s importance, the history of radio at CapU and the direction the club is taking. The club started in late 2017, with Dolar joining in the fall of 2018. The original goal of the club was to provide students with
the means to express their voice in producing the type of content they wanted, much like other student radio stations around the country. After only two years as a club, the pandemic wiped out the momentum Capilano Radio had, putting them back at square one as the workflow switched to online methods, and the equipment could no longer be used.
Since then, Capilano Radio’s priority has simply been to let people know that they still exist at various club events around campus, and to try and get their workshops back up and running. Dolar states that his current goal with the club is to get back to the foundation of what Cap radio is all about; “letting people know that this is a resource that they have, and refostering the community they had pre-pandemic.” However, the club continues to face challenges in terms of the resources they possess. From the beginning, they wanted a space to have a studio, which CapU denied. Rather, they store all their equipment in a locker from the Capilano Students’ Union, leaving students to record their material anyplace they can find on campus.
When asked about the potential of having our own broadcasting antennae here at CapU, Dolar points out that getting the technology to actually have a radio station is not an easy process. “Not everything we ask for in our budget will be approved, [...] resources are a little bit limited here.” As the university as a whole faces major funding challenges this year, it affects every club’s ability to operate with proper funds. But, funding challenges won’t take away from the future Dolar envisions for Capilano Radio. As it approaches its 10th anniversary—an impressive milestone for any club at CapU— Dolar speculates on the potential for Capilano Radio. While getting their own radio station would “take years,” having a large community of students expressing their voices with the equipment already possessed by the club “is a much more achievable goal.”
With the growth that CapU has gone through over the last decade, having our own radio station is not out of the question. But, in the immediate future, what students can do to build a radio community here at CapU is to get involved with the radio club. All it takes is an idea that you think is worth sharing, and Dolar and the rest of Cap Radio can help you put it out there. You can find more information at their website capilanoradio. com, or by emailing them at capilanoradio@gmail.com. Student radio is a powerful force at universities across Canada, and through Capilano Radio, students can contribute to that force right here on our campus.
Power Play
Femdom Baroness Bunny offers her testimony on the healing properties of power exchange
Written by Mia Lancaster (she/her) // Letters Editor
Bondage, rope, breath and power: these are all elements of Baroness Bunny’s practice as a professional ‘Femdom.’ Since graduating with a degree in business and UX design, Bunny has been dominating her followers at Vancouver’s Succubus Temple, creating a tailored experience where frustration, restraint, devotion and pleasure can co-exist. With training in ballet and jazz, Bunny has also gained national recognition for her fierce pole dancing, most recently placing first in the Canadian Pole and Aerial Championship. As her chapter in Vancouver comes to a close, and new beginnings take root in Berlin, Bunny joins the Courier for a conversation on Zoom; 12 p.m. Vancouver time, 9 p.m. Berlin time.
Bunny had long been interested in the BDSM (bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; sadism and masochism) world and had previously experimented, but the gleaming opportunity to develop a career as a Femdom came when she enrolled in a mentorship program led by Succubus Temple’s Headmistress, Mistress Damazonia. At this point, Bunny had been traveling all over Canada and stripping, but was feeling burnt out and craving change. The timing and energy seemed to line up for her, as she says, “Right as I was feeling burnt out I saw, [Damazonia] was accepting new mentees. So, I just saw it as a sign.”
She explains that growing up in a conservative and traditional Chinese household significantly impacted her views on boundaries and sexuality, as she says,“I was raised in a way during my childhood where my boundaries were never respected. So, at some point in my adult life, I lost my ability to say no. . . And, at some point, I didn’t even realize. It’s not that I thought ‘no’ in certain situations and couldn’t voice it. My mind wouldn’t even realize I could refuse something.” Bunny calls this auto-compliance trauma. She divulged that this mindset made it difficult to navigate boundaries with clients as a stripper, and even affected her relationships. Bunny recounts her approach to domming before her healing journey took shape, saying, “I controlled men because I was terrified of them. I feared that
Visuals by Anya Ali Mulzet (they/them)
they would waste my time, push my boundaries [or] disrespect me. And, [during] the first year of domming, I still had that fear. That’s what drove my sessions.”
For those who have faced traumatic experiences—such as boundaries being crossed in the past, religious trauma or cultural stigma around sexuality— kink play and BDSM can offer alternative means to healing and understanding these deeply rooted parts of ourselves and our psyche. Without having to address the trauma directly or discuss the difficult and gritty details with someone else, kink can allow people to confront their trauma while still sharing a profound bond with their chosen partner(s) and explore themselves more intimately. Bunny notes, “It’s hard to talk about BDSM without talking about trauma to a certain extent [...] I feel like a lot of our kinks and fetishes are shaped by trauma.”
When people think of female dominance, they often think of the way Femdoms have been portrayed in Hollywood: as women with a chance to inflict extreme pain, perhaps as some kind of excuse to unleash all the internalized anger on men. Of course, there are many valid reasons for women to be angry, especially as many of us continue to struggle with power imbalances in the workplace while societal expectations and standards and products are thrust upon us by patriarchal and capitalist systems. However, in Bunny’s experience, dominance can be very gentle and stems from a place of consideration, care or even love for your follower.
“I think what helped in some ways was actually embodying the dom role in my personal life. Not that I would be a dom to reward specific people in my personal life, but I would try and channel the energy. [...] And, it was different when it was in my personal life because I cared about the people in my personal life.” She emphasizes, “That was like the final switch. Now, I feel like when I dom, I can do it out of compassion and care for the other person instead of fear.”
With the momentum Bunny has gathered in the industry, the move over to Germany was a logical choice to continue the growth and discover opportunities, as Berlin is a city known for its thriving kink and fetish scene. Bunny plans to continue performing, teaching pole dancing and embodying the power of a Femdom.
For updates on her dancing and domming, follow @baronessbunnyofficial on Instagram.
3 BRILLIANT WAYS VANCOUVER UNIVERSITY GETS HUGE THROBBING PROFITS
Byline created by the generous support from the Good People™ at Goodreads. Be sure to rate this edition of the Capilano Courier on your Goodreads account to get tailored recommendations and personalized discounts today!
Presented by Durex ConDoms & LubriCant
Written by Sara Brinkac (they/them) // Book Lover
With Canadian university enrolment decreasing and interest rates steadily rising, business leaders are looking to academic institutions to see how they will brave the storm, and just how the market will react. With many different strategies across the country being presented, Capilano University in North Vancouver has shockingly shifted from facing a $25 million deficit budget to emerging as a profit leader in the current market. Today, with the new support of Durex and Goodreads, the now extremely profitable Capilano Courier is going to break down the three ways CapU has established itself as an expert in profitability. Thank you to Durex and the Good People™ at Goodreads for today’s list.
Leveraging existing platforms and consumer relationships
In what can only be described as a stroke of genius, CapU’s Head of Strategic Planning, Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness Torin Savlord took a hard look at the business’ assets, current services and consumers to realize the hugely untapped potential within the business: its mass communication platform. “With an existing model that already had thousands of consumers, it was an effortless pivot to allow paid sponsors of content,” said Savlord in a recent interview. Offering companies what social media cannot (a strong relationship of trust with information provided), academic institutions are in a unique position to guarantee
Visuals by Charlie Wongpisethkul (they/them)
paid sponsors a large population of brand loyal consumers as well as an education that enforces “economically beneficial opinions” to sponsoring companies. With their new model, CapU’s revenue has nearly doubled in the first quarter alone. Savlord comments, “Current sponsors of information content have been over the moon with the effectiveness of prelecture ad reads, adjusted course content and perhaps our most successful product offered: fully funded research studies which allows sponsors to be in the driver’s seat of what exact information they want shared with consumers.” He then checks his durable Rolex watch, putting on his stylish Jimmy Choo sunglasses and informing us he had to take his next meeting at Cactus Club, which is currently serving a new orange glazed chicken this fall which he did not want to miss.
Selling user information
This strategy is nothing new to business leaders and has been a long established revenue source for companies for over one hundred years. However, academic institutions—in their woke arrogance—have been a holdout during this time instead of leveraging the swaths of beneficial data they hold. It wasn’t until the current CapU senior leadership team took the first sensible and courageous step to actually making a profit and getting real about business that other universities followed suit. While there are still some liberal cesspools of universities that are positioning themselves on this topic as
outspoken opponents, it is clear they are only doing so in a desperate attempt to draw attention to their shitty schools. With an initial recorded revenue of triple their profit in 2024, it is clear that this bold display of action in the information age is what will continue the massively huge success of CapU.
Supporting unstable governments in target region
A classic move by only the greats. Most narrow-minded Canadian businesses will say there aren’t governments to disrupt in their industry. But, it’s the strategic genius of CapU’s leadership team who realized they quite literally have a consumer base with a government system: the Student Union. Who is going to challenge annual budgets, massive cost reductions, cutbacks in course content or any other financial strategies when they’re too busy infighting? Exactly. Don’t try to enforce penalties on government officials, it’s a useless waste of resources. They’re helping you. Let weapons be brought to campus, work to reinstate members who are instigators, allow intimidation and buy yourself a one way ticket to a large population of consumers too checked out to care, led by greed-driven individuals who wreak havoc without you having to lift a finger. And, the best part? Not only are they distracting the population, they’re actively weakening the financial leverage the consumer base possesses to take up your time complaining about stuff while reducing your sweet sweet profits. Another stroke of genius from CapU. God bless ‘em.
Don’t forget that this quality content and more was brought to you by the kind people over at Durex!
Want to experience life fully but something keeps getting in the way?
With the sensually crafted, expertly engineered and newly patented HEATDOME Durex condoms you’ll be able to experience a raw reality in the spicy comfort of the HEATDOME.
Use offer code BURNING UP today at durex.com and receive 100 free condoms at checkout.
FuCk the WorLD.
The Search for CapU’s President
Written by Ren Zhang (they/them)
by Alex Baidanuta (she/her)
Through a series of games and challenges, the fight to find CapU’s new president continues
In a recent update regarding the search for Capilano University’s new president, sources say that the process is ongoing (much to the admin’s chagrin). While most students are unaware of the presidential decision— worrying more about getting to the cafeteria before 1 p.m. when the food runs out—CapU’s presidential search committee continues to wrack their brains about which white person will be able to shoot down student concerns the fastest.
Other reports mention that there have been a series of adults in suits participating in impromptu competitions around campus, but it is unclear what this is for. Games like pin the tail on the donkey, ‘Camouflage’ and speed knitting have been among these events. Neil Down, a seventh-year MOPA student, thinks it is related to the presidential search.
“My whole class has been talking about it, and my professors agree. It’s weird. I saw them playing beer pong yesterday,” Down comments, “I thought drinking on campus wasn’t allowed. And, why are they all old?”
Another student, Anita Sigg, agrees. Sigg says they witnessed a woman in a one-piece purple suit having a meltdown in the courtyard at around 5 p.m., allegedly swearing and yelling, “There’s no way I’m [expletive] losing this position to [expletive] Connect Four!’” while a nearby man with a clipboard shook his head. The woman subsequently lost at rock paper scissors, spouting accusations of cheating while spitting at the other competitors before being led away, but not before wailing that they should hire her because “she hated Palestine more than anyone.” Sigg asserts that they didn’t see the woman on campus again after the spectacle.
Other students and faculty that responded to a Courier email inquiry about the subject provided suggestions about what the competitions should entail, with answers flooding the office. One musical theatre faculty member said that they would like each person in the running to perform a biographical one-man show in the Blueshore Theatre and have students vote on their favourite.
“I don’t want anyone who hasn’t cleaned at least 67 separate toilets to become CapU’s president,” another email reads, “How can you trust someone who hasn’t cleaned up actual shit?” One disgruntled staff member expressed concerns that presidents in the past were chosen because they had a “main character name type beat,” presumably referring to the now-retired President Paul Dangerfield.
One email included a PowerPoint presentation detailing a plan for CapU to film a gameshow similar to the Youtube channel Jubilee’s popular series, “Odd One Out,” where CapU students would be blindfolded along with a potential president and made to figure out who didn’t belong. Their reasoning was that the president should be someone who can relate to the average student, which was described as someone who has eaten the crumbs of ramen at the end of the bag, taken extra ketchup packets to keep at home, wished that a car would hit them so they wouldn’t have to go to class, etc.
As flurries of opinions rage on and sweat stains grow on the polyester suits infesting campus, it’s anybody’s guess who will cross the finish line.
Visuals
3 EXAMPLES OF THE MEANING OF POWER
BY SARA BRINKAC (THEY/THEM)
TO BE POWER HUNGRY
TO BE POWERFULL
TO HAVE A SUPERPOWER
THIS HAS BEEN 3 VERY ACCURATE EXAMPLES OF POWER
SOLVING
THE PROBLEM EVERY STUDENT FACES IN THE 21ST CENTURY, WRITTEN ON AN OLD-TIMEY TYPEWRITER
Written by Ben Taylor (he/him) // Crew Writer
The biggest problem facing college campuses today is AI (artificial intelligence).
As students, our goal in higher education should be to actually learn, not just get some robot to spew answers at us. Those developers over at OpenAI are trying to poison the brains of this generation, to turn us all into robot cogs in their corporate robot machine. But, this goes much deeper than just AI.
To get to the root of this problem, we’ve got to go back, wayyyyy back.
Picture this: you and your 11 siblings live on a farm in Pennsylvania. You wake up to the sounds of roosters crowing every morning and the sun shining through the wall’s wooden planks, as you run downstairs to have a delicious breakfast complete with fresh eggs
Visuals by Scarlett Side (she/her)
and oats. You do your daily chores: milking the cows, tilling the fields, sowing seeds, etc. In the afternoon, your Pa takes you into town in the horse-drawn buggy to trade fresh eggs for fabric patches to fix Ma’s quilt. Doesn’t that sound nice? Then, one day, the devil personified comes into town, waving around his latest invention to trick you into giving up your honest life. His name: Nikola Tesla. He says he has this new great invention; electricity, but does anyone even understand how it works? I mean, you’re tellin’ me a bunch of invisible energy passes through a big cord and then it makes lights go on? I don’t buy it for a second. But, many do.
Suddenly, all the houses on our streets are filled with blinding fluorescent light, and people no longer go to sleep when the sun goes down,
unknowingly cursed with their own artificial sun. One thing leads to another, and pretty soon everyone becomes obsessed with this new ‘technology.’ But, what is electricity really meant to do? Was Tesla just trying to help humanity out of the goodness of his heart? Universities—once places of higher knowledge— are now places full of electricity worshippers. No one even knows how to write with a pencil anymore; everyone is using these magic boxes to do assignments. Not to mention, the place is crawling with these
lights. I mean, they are just everywhere. We’ve gone from doing things the way of the land—by hand—to getting machines to do everything for us, in the classroom and on the farm! I posit that Tesla and his electric cronies created electricity to control our minds.
Electricity is the root of all our problems. If we at Capilano University were to shut down our breakers for good, I guarantee there would be an increase in intelligence, livelihood and dark rooms around 7 p.m. AI would no longer bother us in the classroom. We could live the lives we were supposed to live, free from the shackles of electricity. Let’s go back to our roots.
Let’s go Amish.
Indigenous Voices at the top: Environmental Power Play NOT
A LAND DEFENDER, A XWÉMALHKWU YOUTH
Written by Anonda Canadien (she/her) (Dehcho Dene) // Arts & Culture Editor
What is a Land Defender? In the day and age of western media and colonial worldviews, land defenders are often mistaken for environmentalists, activists or radical persons of being. In reality, land defenders are people who have an inherent right to their territories and ancestral ties to the land. To have ancestral ties is to have responsibilities to the land and to defend the land of their ancestors. For many Indigenous groups across so-called ‘Canada,’ the importance of defending the land is not up to question.
Ace Harry is from Tla’amin Nation (just north of Powell River), and she has been on the front lines fighting in defence of Indigenous land for many years. She has been on the front lines of solidarity actions pertaining to the defence of land. Upon returning from university, Harry has worked to rebuild a connection with her community and has begun the lifelong journey of learning her ancestral language.
“[Media outlets] would always ask me, ‘What’s your name and what’s your title?’ And, I was always so annoyed by that question, because I would have to say something like, ‘land defender’ in the context that I was opposing resource extraction, etc. I’m not a land defender, I’m not an environmentalist, I’m not an activist. I’m a Xwémalhkwu youth.”
To be a Xwémalhkwu youth for Harry means to have ancestral rights, entitlements and responsibilities that are non-negotiable. Western media outlets often reshape and distort these ancestral rights and entitlements as a way of decoupling Indigenous peoples from their land. There is a difference between someone who defends the land because it is within their rights to do so, and someone who defends the land because they have no choice as they can never leave. Effectively, this process of alienation makes it easier for the settler project to generate profit off the land through resource extraction.
It should come as no surprise, then, that another aspect of western media Harry has experienced is the portrayal of land defence as an act of terrorism. When protecting the land opposes the profit imperatives of Canada, the state will ultimately take steps to quash such efforts.
“. . . That means that any Indigenous person who still exists, who still is committed to the identity of being, of their territory, like that makes them a terrorist. . . if you just say that you’re just an Indigenous person who will die before you abandon your territory, that’s basically equivalent to terrorism.”
– Ace Harry
Visuals by Rachel Lu (she/her) // Crew Illustrator & Andy Poystila (he/him) // Art Director
Though this may seem drastic through the typical colonial worldview, this is the kind of treatment faced when protecting one’s territory and homelands. So often are Indigenous peoples seen as the barriers to profit regarding resource extraction, whereas they’re protecting their ancestral grounds, which in turn protects the community. When the talk of land and people come about, it’s important to understand the history of colonial Canada and the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples. In many instances, when these resource extractions are put forth, they bring man camps that are dangerous for the communities of women, children and LGBTQ+ peoples that are deeply impacted by this. The extraction of the land goes hand in hand with the ongoing genocide of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People.
In this line of work, the RCMP tend to get involved and often create a hostile environment. Harry has experienced police violence while protecting land and helping her kin in solidarity. When encountered by the police, she has always wondered what it was to be the ‘perfect victim’ to experience abuse by the system put in place. The RCMP were created in order to perpetuate imperialism and are inherently led by a colonial system.
Indigeneity is not an inherently political identity, but—in the process of asserting their land claims—Indigenous peoples have become deeply politicized. Harry has experienced this firsthand, and over the years, participated in many solidarity actions including but not limited to: occupying the grounds of the parliament building in Victoria, Fairy Creek camp and Wet’su’weten camps among others.
Being on the front lines is vulnerable and rigorous work, and Harry has often had to contend with police surveillance, intimidation and other forms of harassment. It’s also work that is personally and emotionally alienating, and folks like Harry are ostracized from Canadian society when carrying out their work over long periods of time.
It’s not just a place and action they attend, once attending for a period of time they create relationships and through this it restructures how an individual sees the world. For Harry, it reshaped the world in which she couldn’t complete her education within colonial institutions, and within the colonial society of a city.
“[After] any prolonged period of time, it’s very hard to integrate back into cities and towns and municipalities where people just completely ignore the fact that Canada is continuously choosing to point us in the direction of a mass extinction event for the sake of temporary and immediate gratification through shareholder satisfaction and resources.” – Ace Harry
One of the important issues surrounding this type of work is the land you occupy and the ties you have to it. For Harry, this means having a sense of agency to assert herself on her own territories whereas if she was away from home, she wouldn’t feel the same way in terms of having to assert herself and having a position. In a short period of time, she became close with many people. However, there’s hurt when relationships are based on trauma and navigating the relationships everyone has with the public, such as the social media liaison, the police liaison and the media liaison. These liaisons are important when doing this work in order to provide clarity to the public and media, as well as the safety of others. It becomes difficult to distribute the work and care, which in turn makes it challenging to build the work sustainability in order to keep it going. Harry has not been on the frontlines for a while now, yet when she looks back and recalls these moments, she looks to the future with optimism.
Of the various things she does for her community, she has prioritized learning her language.
Through learning the language, it has helped her further understand her identity as a Xwémalhkwu youth and the teachings through her community’s stories. Indigenous knowledge systems contain viable alternatives to colonial hegemony, but one must learn the language of their people in order to fully understand the teachings. Indigenous languages are so vast and diverse; they hold meanings that English and colonial languages cannot comprehend.
Another role Harry finds herself in is the role of the Witness. What is the Witness? For Harry, it’s being held accountable for witnessing events: a type of knowledge keeper. She attends events within her community to bear witness—a vital role when it comes to making decisions and laws for future generations—as it has been done historically within Indigenous communities. Harry does the work especially with the treaty signed, to bear witness to the impact of signing a modern treaty within B.C. and how other nations can learn from this.
As important as this work is, it also has its downsides. Harry has faced hardships especially within her community and in accepting the stories of impossible narrative surrounding community care and sustainability in the face of climate change. She continues to advocate for her community on informed consent regarding the land, their right to be informed about the practices and policies surrounding the environment and land, as well as upholding their inherent
ancestral rights and responsibilities. Being on the frontlines of active work of protecting the land is often glamorized. To be an active protector, you must put aside the likes of an individual and work as a community. For Harry, being able to learn her language has brought a deeper understanding of how her lineage systems worked and how she can continue to integrate this knowledge within her work and community. In her language, when describing where one walks in a household, it revolves around the water.
“You cannot take care of this territory unless you speak the language because if you don’t speak the language, you don’t have an understanding of the way that the territory works. All of this ecological knowledge is inherent in the language. . .”
To protect the land and understand the inherent ways of being, Harry has felt more encouraged than ever to undergo the journey of learning her language. Further connecting to her community, culture, traditions, practices, cosmology and overall sense of being as a Xwémalhkwu youth.
METRO VANCOUVER UNITED FOR PALESTINE - MVUP WEEKLY RALLY
@mvupalestine
Rally Every Saturday: Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia St Side) @ 12-4 - NOV 1st - NOV 8th - NOV 15th: - NOV 22nd
“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY MASS VIOLENCE EVENTS?”
Join CapU instructor Tom Higgins discussing mass violence events in society & how we might address root causes. Capilano University - Main Campus Fir Building, room FR206 @11:30am - 1pm - NOV 12th
@pisstheband, Femme fronted bands tour finale! - $15 @ The Rickshaw Theatre - 7pm - NOV 13th
APE WAR - SHRUGS BUNNY
BLACK IVAR - DREDGE THE RIVER
@takeurtimeback
$20 adv, 25$ at door, PWYC @ 7pm doors - 8pm show
648 Kingsway Ave - NOV 22nd
UPSTART
& CROW: WRITERS EVENTS
@upstartandcrow.com
“Writer’s Block: An Evening of Climate Writing”
Join local environmental group the sword fern collective for an evening of focused writing and community connection. @ 6:30pm – 8pm
1387 Railspur Alley, Granville Island - Thurs NOV 13th
“Razing Palestine: Punishing Solidarity and Dissent in Canada,” edited by Leila Marshy, gathers testimonies from journalists, healthcare workers, academics, artists, and activists who have suffered the cost of solidarity. @ 6pm – 7:30pm
1387 Railspur Alley, Granville Island - Thurs NOV 20th, Free Event
5TH ANNUAL WITCH WALK 2025
@Calltoactiontag
An enchanted pathway to 9 Witchy, alt & low-brow studios in East Van! Raven’s Veil, 831 Commercial Drive - NOV 20th @5pm - NOV 23rd @6pm
NYMPH NOUVEAU RAVE
@mikki.wikki (host) cocteau twink skyrimmmed microtear akasublime adam evidence doll
Platform9, 390 Industrial Ave - NOV 14th @10-4pm
CAPILANO UNIVERSITY is located on the traditional uncededterritories of the LíỈwat, xʷməθkʷəỷəm (Musqueam), shíshálh (Sechelt), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and SəỈílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
We recognize our presence here as guests on this sacred land and deeply appreciate the privilege to work, study, and reside in this remarkable place. The Capilano Courier acknowledges that this gesture is just a starting point on the path to reconciliation, and we are committed to amplifying Indigenous voices and sharing their stories.
THE CAPILANO COURIER is an autonomous, democratically-run student newspaper that encourages literary and visual submissions. However, all submissions undergo editing for brevity, taste, and legality. We are committed to not publishing material that the collective deems as promoting sexism, racism, or homophobia. The views expressed by the contributing writers are not necessarily those of the Capilano Courier publishing society.
Additionally, we prioritize a human-centered approach to content creation and do not support the use of AI in our editorial processes. We believe in the value of human perspectives and storytelling in our publication.
