Waitlisted: The unacceptable standard of mental health care in Canada

While aimlessly scrolling through my Twitter newsfeed at 3:15 in the morning, I saw a story which triggered my "ranting phase", so this will be an "opinion" piece, which I seem to do many of actually.  

The article, entitled "Teen waiting over 18 months for psychiatry appointment", published by CBC Saskatchewan, this in-depth article immediately struck a chord with me. Mainly because I have found myself to be in a similar position two years ago. As I continued to scroll through the article, I found myself becoming more enraged, simply at the fact that the health care system was clearly neglecting the needs of a 15-year old girl, who is in need of mental health counselling. Just like the same was done to me at the time.

An infographic outlining the inefficiency of the Canadian [mental]health care system. To me, these statistics appear to be grossly inflated.

This is an unacceptable standard of mental health care. I can feel this young girl's pain, as I was her. When I was 17, I was admitted to CHEO for suicidal ideations and extreme depression. While I was there they diagnosed me with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Social/Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder and OCD (which I had suffered from since I was about 11 years old). 

I spent approximately 2 months and once I was finally released they put me on a waiting list for a team of mental heath professionals at the Royal Ottawa (because I was almost 18, which seemed to be quite a big issue with them in terms of treatment options).

I started school again and continued to wait, and wait. 

Graduation came along, and so did more waiting. 

September, university, a huge transition in one's young life then crept up on me, and yet I still eagerly waited for that phone call. 

Then around November/December, my depression got worse and I slowly felt myself falling back down the rabbit hole again. The isolation, the overwhelming sadness, the thoughts of dying. Everything was crumbing around me and I had no one to help me (except for my parents who were over 4 hours away). During that time I went through a lot, my anxiety spiked due to the new changes and people, a relationship (which didn't go over so well; lying, abuse, staking, ect...), grades dropping like bombs in the sky. I informed the doctor I was seeing at the time about my depression and suicidal/self harm ideations, and they referred me to their psychiatrist. This didn't prove to be any better. All they did was put me on new medications, which made me feel even worse (without even consulting with my family physician about my medical history) and later told me that they had a five visit policy, meaning that you could only receive five hours of counselling throughout the school year. I ended up seeking the help of the crisis counsellor at the university, however all they did was tell me to call the crisis hotline. Now, for someone with severe anxiety issues, talking on the phone is a huge trigger (at least for myself, I cannot speak for others.) It makes the feelings even worse, so at that point it's better off suffering in silence.

In March I had to move back home (and drop out of university) due to health issues and because my family and friends became extremely worried about me due to the fact that I cut off communication and had not been heard from in months (to the point where they were making public pleas for me to come home). At that moment, we all realized that something needed to be done (for good). 

During that time, I was seeing a psychologist with the clinic I went to. However, they abruptly informed me seconds after walking out of a session that I was no longer eligible to receive treatment, due to the fact that my family doctor transferred clinics. At that point my doctor took the initiative to make the call to inform them that I was in crisis again. 

16 months it took to finally receive that phone call. Too long in my opinion. No one should have to wait that long for mental health care. Megan and myself are only a fraction of people suffering through the same ordeal. The rise in suicide rates across Canada just confirms this. 

Mental health is an extremely important issue, just as important as one's own physical health. More important than the millions of dollars the government spends on tearing up and rebuilding (nearly) perfectly functional streets, cutting thousands of public sector jobs and building environmentally harmful pipelines (big priorities indeed.)

Now I don't consider myself a political person, in fact I don't even follow politics, but when it comes to issues like these, it even ruffles my feathers. Even an average citizen like myself can see how wrong this is. 18 months, how long this young girl has suffered with mental health issues. You wouldn't make a patient suffering from a stroke wait that long, or a heart transplant patient wait for a functioning organ essential to sustain their's and human life (oh wait, yes we would...) There's the Canadian health care system for you ladies and gentlemen! It's free, but only if you live long enough to see a doctor...

One of my inspirations for wanting to become a psychologist is because of this very issue. I have lived it and have been a member of this corrupted system. I want to do something to fix this unacceptable standard of health care, especially relating to mental health. By adding one more registered psychologist to a team, it can help dozens of patients in need. Think about that for a minute. Now, if only the federal (and provincial) governments would have this same realization and think about making changes to the system. 

Now, this article focuses specifically on Saskatchewan's issue with wait listing, however I see the same problem in Ontario. In fact, this problem is most likely occurring across the nation. In fact, I know it is. 

People become so desperate or so ill that they get to the point where they lose control. They represent it in many ways, but the most common seems to be suicide (a solemn and pointless act, when putting it into perspective, considering our claim of having "one of the best health care systems in the world") 

Others take it out externally, on the public. Now I make it extremely clear, I am not one of those people who believe that mentally ill individuals are responsible for crimes. The Greyhound bus decapitation and most recently, the Moncton shootings were cases in which the accused called upon "the defence of mental disorder", therefore deeming them "not criminally responsible (NCR)" for their crimes. Now, these are clearly a fraction of these criminal cases, and are not reflective of the link between mental illness and crime as a whole. However upon reflection, perhaps if these individuals were given proper treatment, those crimes could have been avoided. 


When one steps back and looks at the whole picture, it makes you think about the relative simplicity of the potential solution of this issue. What is it? Well, it's a collection of simplistic ideas combined into a prospectively successful aggregation/collective:

- Address the issue, don't deny it
- Increase the number and encourage the enrolment of mental health workers in Canada
- Decrease wait times (resulting from the above point)
- Provide immediate crisis counselling for patients waiting for a permanent psychologist/psychiatrist
- Remove the "10-session policy", because this results in a never-ending circle of crisis
- Enforce stricter procedures regarding crisis intervention and patient care (referring to the recent suicide at the Civic hospital in Ottawa)


These are just some of the ideas I came up with within the span of 30 seconds, so I'm sure the individuals in charge of these issues can come up with even more, and enforce them (if the motivation and attention is brought to the issue) 

News media is just the start, but in a world of technological innovation and impassioned individuals, I am hopeful that we, as a collective society, can do something to solve this issue and draw the government's attention to these matters. Matters which are important to the smooth functioning of a cogent nation as well as to the well-being of its citizens.



You can find the original story here.

Kidnapped in Afghanistan: A Personal Viewpoint

During my time as an amateur journalist, I have come across many news stories and written about many social issues. However, I cannot help but to become involved in this story which has been at the centre of media attention and debate.

The focus of news media lately has been regarding the story of a Canadian and American couple who were kidnapped in the Warsaw province of Afghanistan approximately 20 months ago.

That couple happens to be my cousin Josh, and his wife Caitlan along with their baby.

The quiet couple are now the center of media attention after videos were released of them pleading for help from their governments. However, it seems like it might not be all that big of a priority for government heads rescuing their own Canadian and American citizens from the hands of terrorist groups such as the Taliban. 

This was the case involving Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an army sergeant who was recently released from captivity of the Taliban in exchange for five high level Taliban members. However, as I later learned, Josh and Caitlan were supposed to be a part of that deal in the first place. So, what happened? Although both families kept the videos private, they decided to make them public, in hopes that the publicity surrounding the Bergdahl case would draw attention to Josh and Caitlan's situation.  I (along with my family) were disappointed that Josh and Caitlan were not freed.

Regarding the US' regulations on hostage negotiations, Rep. Duncan Hunter of the House Armed Services Committee questioned the reasoning of it all by asking "Instead of five for one, why not five for five?" My point exactly!

The constant bickering between the committees and individuals responsible for the well-being of Canadian and American hostages in foreign countries, makes me question the competency and effectiveness of the Canadian and American governments (as well as all parties involved in the process).

My uncle recently said in an interview with Global News: "It would be no more appropriate to have our government turn their backs on their citizens than to turn their backs on those who serve," and for once I agree with him. All lives should be treated as equally valuable and we should do everything in our power to preserve them. No matter what the background of the person has to reveal about their lives. In all honestly, their story has been clouded by the misconceptions of society. Their passion for travel and multiculturalism has been overlooked by the fact that they were exploring in hostile territory (which caused uproar among the public.) And Josh's previous ties to the Khadr family has sparked controversy regarding the decision to rescue both of them from the hands of the Taliban, bringing me to my other point. 

For all of those individuals posting vulgar comments regarding Josh and Caitlain like "I pray for their deaths" and describing them as "Taliban loving tourists", well, unless you know them personally and I know for a fact that both of them are kind, generous people who simply wanted to help others in need. I do get offended when people speak ill my family and I'm sure that anyone else would feel the same if the same thing was done to them. It is easy to hide behind a computer screen and spread hateful comments, without fearing that anyone could see your face. However for families (including myself), hearing those words hurts more than you can imagine. You should never judge a person unless you have walked a million miles in there shoes and understand the challenges they face on a daily basis.

In all honesty, all I want is to see my cousin again. I miss him, and watching those videos haunt me, as now, I don't even recognize the once giant teddy bear who used to comfort me and protect me as his younger cousin.  I have missed so many memories with him, memories which leave a feeling of emptiness inside me: my graduation, my (and his) grandmother's funeral and numerous holidays. Occasions which revolve around the comfort of family. Every time we get together as a family, there is always an empty void from where Josh would be sitting beside us. That void will be forever with us, until Josh and Caitlan come home with their baby, ready to start their lives anew. 



I miss you Josh and pray for your safe return home. 

The videos released of my cousin and his wife pleading for help from their governments

Videos of my aunt and uncle along with the Coleman family speaking out about the issue

Updates regarding Josh and Caitlan's situation

Cracking Down on Music Crime: SOCAN Pays a Visit to Ptbo

SHANNON LEBLANC | MARCH 10, 2014

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) have sent in External License agent, Philippe Girouard, to Peterborough to crack down on music crime and to catch music lawbreakers in the act.

Local businesses are being put under the pressure of ensuring that they abide by standard music laws and to ensure that their SOCAN licenses have been renewed.

The Canadian Copyright Act recognizes three main rights: 1. The right to produce or copy the musical work, 2. The right to reproduce the musical work, including mechanical rights and synchronization rights, and 3. Performing rights, which are the rights to perform a work in public and the right to communicate to the public by telecommunication.

Artists and songwriters join SOCAN to help preserve their musical integrity and to prevent copyright infringements.

SOCAN charges a rate of $0.1146 per square foot, with the minimum fee being $94.51. Each license is valid for one year. By then, each business is expected to renew their music license and produce payment before the Jan. 31 deadline.

The fee for Tariff 15A, which covers “the playing of background music in retail stores, restaurants and other similar establishments,” is based on the square footage that’s accessible to the public, not on the overall square footage of the establishment itself.

The fee for Tariff 20, which covers “karaoke bars and similar establishments,” is based on the number of days on which an establishment operates.

Tariff 3A, which covers live music, states that “the fee payable by the establishment is three percent of the compensation for the entertainment paid in the year covered by the license subject to a minimum annual fee of $83.65.”

According to Script 264 of the Canadian Bar Association’s Music Law Copyright and Trademarks, it states:

“To publicly play or perform music that’s been created or recorded by another songwriter or musician, you, your label or the venue are legally obligated to pay a fee or royalty … You also have to pay royalties if you record cover songs, whether you manufacture CDs or simply sell the song over the Internet.”

But how would you know if an artist is registered in the database? Well, SOCAN utilizes a public repertoire search function on their website “containing information about musical works in SOCAN’s repertoire which includes foreign works that SOCAN is authorized to license.”

However, you would need to know the title of the song or work in order to determine whether or not it is registered with SOCAN, which is an inconvenience in itself, especially if a business has a playlist containing several hundred songs.

If a business were to schedule a live performance, the artist would need to send them a line-up of every song.

In relation to the confusion surrounding fees and tariffs, a SOCAN spokesperson clarified that if a business plays music in the form of radio, it is exempt from fees.

However, if a business plays music via Internet radio, such as Pandora, SiriusXM Internet Radio, or Live365, a fee would apply, amounting in the minimum amount of $94.51 as stated above.

If a business plays the music of a local musician whose music hasn’t been registered with SOCAN, they are exempt from fees. However, if the store plays a song that is registered in SOCAN’s database, then a license is required for that business.

Even recreational facilities operated by the municipality of Peterborough, including Trent, are subjected to paying fees, as stated in Tariff 21. So, if Trent were to put on an event where music, prerecorded or live, were to be used, such as #introfest or the 2014 Fashion Show, they would need to register for a SOCAN license.

It isn’t clear if Trent has registered for a license as the TCSA could not be reached for comment.

A license is not required for stores or workplaces playing music through a satellite provider.

SOCAN is vague about how money is used, stating that the distribution of license fees consists of 86 percent royalties and 14 percent going towards operating costs.

As of now, there are no reports of any businesses being found guilty of music misconduct and playing without a license, but as Judy Byrne from George Street’s Hi Ho Silver stated, “I was waiting for it,” along with other Peterborough businesses, who, when questioned, were not aware of the licensing agent’s visit.

In a short interview, Communications and Marketing Specialist for SOCAN, Leigh Kenderdine, outlined the aspects of SOCAN’s mission statement and the impacts their regulations have on local businesses.

When looking into the distribution of licensing fees, I noticed that 14 percent goes towards operating costs. Would it be possible to get a general breakdown of the operating costs?

SOCAN performs an extremely complicated task for member songwriters, composers, and music publishers. This work requires extensive information technology and specific expertise, and the benefit to members is that SOCAN identifies tracks, collects, and administers royalties far more thoroughly and conclusively.

The preliminary results for the 2013 annual report showed that:

• A record year for total revenue, $276-million brought in for members, an increase of approximately nine percent over 2012.

• International revenue of $51-million, the first time that SOCAN members have surpassed the $50-million mark for royalties originating from outside of Canada – an increase of eight percent over 2012.

• A record $240-million was distributed in 2013 to members, a year-over-year increase of nine percent (excluding years with extraordinary arrears payments to members).

• Internet streaming revenues of $3.2-million were distributed to members – another first.

As SOCAN’s media liaison, I would like your take on how you believe SOCAN music regulations are affecting small local businesses who may not necessarily be able to afford the licensing fees, in addition to how you believe that SOCAN is protecting the music industry as a whole.

When a business uses music, it is adding value to its business through the use of work of music creators and publishers. The person(s) who composed, wrote, and published the song are entitled to be compensated for the time, effort, and money they put into the creation of that work.

According to the Copyright Act, any public performance of copyright-protected musical works requires a licence. When a song is played in public, music creators (not just the performers) are entitled to be compensated – it supports their livelihood. Without SOCAN, businesses that use music in public would have to get permission from every composer, songwriter, lyricist, and publisher for every musical works they intend to use, and they would have to pay each of them directly. This permission is not granted when you buy a recording, whether it is through a CD, MP3 file, etc., which only allows you to privately use the purchased music. SOCAN simplifies this complex process for businesses through licences.

How significant is that cost for a small business? 

The cost to obtain a SOCAN license is relatively inexpensive. For example, the average small business is 800 to 1600 square feet.  A SOCAN licence for background music in businesses of those two sizes would be $94.51 per year (minimum fee) and $183.36 peryear, or $0.31 per day and $0.59 per day assuming the business is open 6 days per week, respectively. To put things in perspective, if the small business is a coffee shop, that cost is approximately the same cost of a single wholesale carton of 12oz paper coffee cups and tops, which is approximately $100. If the small business is a retailer and they use 13” by 10” white or brown paper bags with their logo, the cost of their SOCAN license at $0.59 per day is approximately equivalent to the cost of one paper bag per day at $0.56 each.  If that paper bag is coloured, that cost increases to $0.98 for a single bag in bulk, which is 75 percent more expensive than the daily cost of a SOCAN license.

Based on a Leger study that was performed by SOCAN in 2013, 72 percent of business owners feel that playing music is important to their customers’ overall experience. If you couple that with the fact that 55 percent of business owners think that customers would complain if music wasn’t used, and 44 percent also believe that not playing music would drive their customers to the competition – music is an important part of creating an atmosphere to attract customers.

Ultimately, SOCAN’s strict regulations and hefty sanctions play a big role in developing an equitable, stable, and compensating system of music in Canada.

However, the impact it has among the Peterborough business community, especially considering the city’s already unstable economy, is unknown at this moment.

Slaughter in Sochi: A Massacre of Animal Rights in the Olympics

SHANNON LEBLANC | FEBRUARY 25, 2014

“Line up at the start”… “Ready?”… “Bang!”

Hearing this, you would expect that to be the gunshot signifying the start of a race, or that of a heat. Wrong! In fact, that is the sound of what is occurring behind the scenes of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

This year’s Olympics have thus far yielded a plethora of criticisms for various issues. However, one issue in particular is at the heart of recent controversy. Reports of stray dog slaughtering in Sochi is among one of the newest issues surrounding these Olympic games, sparking controversy and anger amongst animal rights groups across the globe.

The act of killing stray dogs is not a new issue in itself; in fact, it has been occurring for years. However, citizens have recently seen a dramatic increase in deaths and severity, watching dogs collapse and convulse violently on the streets. According to animal rights advocate Tatyana Leshchenko, back in November, approximately 300 dogs were being shot and killed with poisoned darts per month. It is estimated that another 1,700 have been killed since then, bringing the death toll up to almost 2,000 dogs.

The dogs posed a public safety and health risk and were “biological trash,” according to Alexei Sorokin, director of Baysa Services (the company who is responsible for the capture and killing of Sochi’s stray dogs).

“A dog ran into the [Fisht] Stadium, we took it away. God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country,” Sorokin said after attending a rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony.

According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), “only sick and dying” dogs have been killed. Eyewitness accounts from Sochi residents suggest this might not be true.

Russia has spent more than $50 billion in preparation for this year’s Olympics, the highest recorded amount in history. Recently discovered documents reveal that the government agreed to pay Baysa Services approximately $2,800 for the “trapping and gathering of neglected animals” as of May 2013, with the cost of killing each dog approximating $30-35. The budget then increased to $54,000 due to the deadline of the opening Olympic ceremony on Feb. 7.

The director of companion animals and engagement for Humane Society International, Kelly O’Meara, mentioned that she and other colleagues offered to help Olympic organizers set up a vaccination and spay/neuter program last summer. However, upon hearing the news that Sochi officials gave the order to kill, she was “very surprised.”

In addition to this, the recreational use of orca whales and dolphins have been reported. A Russian company called White Sphere, or The Russian Orca Team, has allegedly captured two killer whales just off of the north coast of Japan to be displayed in Sochi’s Aquatoria.

In response to this, a petition was created that quickly gained the support of over 100,000 people. Although White Sphere conducted the act, various animal rights activists are holding the IOC directly accountable.

While Sochi is currently drowning in a pool of controversy, animal rights have always seemed to be a neglected issue at the Olympics, especially when it comes to exploitation and cruelty. Looking back on the past ten years alone, there has been a corpulent violation of animal rights occurring all over the world.

Athens had the same issue with stray dogs back in 2004, with the summer Games. But instead of taking the ethical approach, like they initially proposed (implementing a $5 million annual sterilization plan for stray dogs), they allegedly slaughtered over 15,000 dogs in hopes that it would clean up the city’s image.

“They mixed poison in with meatballs that they toss on the streets at night when nobody can see what they are doing,” reported leader of Welfare for Animals in Greece, Costis Zois, in an interview in 2004.

At the Summer Olympics in 2008, in Beijing, over 200,000 stray cats were killed as a result of overpopulation, once again in an attempt to maintain the city’s ‘utopian’ image. At the time, China believed the cats posed a serious health risk and went as far as to say that they may have contributed to the 2003 SARS outbreak.

Drawing attention more locally, there was the issue of the sled dog massacre at Howling Dog Tours Whistler shortly following the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Robert Fawcett, an employee of Howling Dog Tours Whistler, conducted the killing as a result of a downturn in the company’s bookings following the Games. He claimed that he took part in “execution-style killings” in which he wrestled dogs to the ground, stood on them, and shot them or slit their throats. It was described as “one of the world’s biggest ever animal cruelty cases,” and ultimately threw the effectiveness of Canada’s animal cruelty laws into question.

Two years ago, in preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, London was faced with a dilemma in relation to their use of various domesticated and farm animals for entertainment. A coalition of six animal rights groups wrote to Olympic organizers in an attempt to persuade the director of the opening ceremony, Danny Boyle, to reverse his decision to use live animals in the show, entitled Isles of Wonder, which would have featured 12 horses, three cows, two goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, nine geese, 70 sheep, and three sheep dogs.

The coalition warned the committee they might be liable for prosecution under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, which “forbids intentionally causing undue fear and distress to animals.”

At the time, a spokesman for the London 2012 Olympic committee said, “The welfare of the animals in the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony is of the utmost importance. We are working with the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) which is providing animal welfare advice.”

So, what might this mean for animals involved in future Olympic venues, such as Rio 2016, Pyeong Chang 2018, and Tokyo 2020?

The future of animal rights looks quite bleak, unless the host country’s Olympic Committee realizes the consequences of their actions and how they reflect poorly on the country. Until action is taken against the Olympic Committee to prevent future violations of animal rights, mass killings will only continue to occur.

Zoe Keating Rocks the Drake Underground

SHANNON LEBLANC | JANUARY 27, 2014

The Drake Underground was shaken with the majestical tunes of cello when Zoë Keating visited Toronto on Dec. 14, 2013.

For those of you who don’t know, Keating is a Canadian cellist and composer, and a former member of the indie rock cello band Rasputina. She is based out of “The Woods” in Northern San Francisco, California.

Initially an unknown prodigy to the world, she began playing the cello at the age of eight. After high school, she attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she earned a degree in liberal arts.

Before the launch of her solo music career, she spent her 20’s working at a software startup while moonlighting as a cellist in rock bands.

However, during this time, she encountered some difficulties related to stage fright, which ended up paralyzing her with fear and almost rendered her unable to play the cello.

Later on she discovered the cause of her fear and decided to begin improvising with her music.

Onstage, you would never be able to tell if she made a mistake with a song, and offstage, you would be amazed to know she can create an improvised composition with no second thoughts.

“It was like perfection was the thing that was destroying me — being totally focused on making it perfect … And I found that when I would improvise, I didn’t care about the technique. I would just put my mind outside of where I was, and just be in the music,” Keating said in an interview with Martina Castro of NPR Music.

She eventually found her musical voice by morphing the classic grace of the cello with the high tech digital muse of the computer, developing her signature style of live-layered music.

With the incorporation of a foot-controlled sound pad, she is able to record sections of cello to create a multitude of euphonic layers.

In addition, she uses her cello as a guitar of sorts, elegantly strumming and tapping her bow vertically along the bridge of the strings.

It is truly an amazing experience for any music connoisseur. Her sound can be described as avant-garde and classical with a punk influence, very resemblant of her personality.

The presence of classical and punk, along with her musical genius and composure, result in musical masterpieces that are truly intricate, haunting, and compelling.

Keating has composed various independent albums, such as One Cello x16: Natoma, Optimist and Into the Trees. So far, she has individually sold over 60 thousand copies of her albums.

Her self-governing approach to the music industry has brought her a lot of public attention and press. She speaks regularly about artist empowerment.

Keating is also the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the San Francisco Artsfest Emerging Artist award in 2005, the Contemporary Classical Album award in 2011 from The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards, and the 2011 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader award.

Keating has also played with a wide range of artists, including Amanda Palmer, Tears for Fears, and Thomas Dolby. She’s collaborated with WNYC’s Radiolab as well.

In addition, she frequently lends her music to various hit television shows, dance productions. and films including Warrior (2011), The Devil’s Chair (2007), Elementary, and Breaking Bad.

SF Weekly describes her music as “[s]woon-inducing. Like taking a triple-shot of Absinthe before stepping outside of the bar just in time to see the sun exploding.”

With that, I cannot agree more, although I would further describe it as a symphonic euphoria with intense waves of rich emotion.

To find out more about Keating, and to sample some of her music, visit:http://www.zoekeating.com

TEDx Trent Inspires Creativity, Collaboration and Engagement Beyond the Classroom

SHANNON LEBLANC | JANUARY 27, 2014

Have you taken a trip down to Oshawa recently? Have you been gazing at the walls around campus? If so, then you’re probably aware of the recent event that transpired at the Trent Oshawa campus called TEDx Trent.

For those of you who have never heard of TEDTalks, it is an event where people from around the world gather to deliver thought-provoking speeches and listen to debate-inducing discussions.

Keeping with this spirit, TEDx Trent featured a line-up of inspirational speakers, all of whom shared their personal experiences and their opinions on how we can all be “Creative, Collaborative and Engaging.”

The event kicked off with event organizer and Trent B.Sc. Psychology student Chris Fernlund delivering the opening remarks. With support from Trent and the help of his colleagues, TEDxTrent was born. Engaging the audience with his humorous and charismatic personality, Fernlund managed to keep the show well paced and entertaining, even after numerous technical difficulties.

President Steven Franklin made the welcome official with his traditional Trent introductions.

Marc Garneau was the first speaker to present (a perfect start to the day, to say the least). Who wouldn’t want to hear an astronaut talk all about his adventures in space?

While he may not have been the most intriguing speaker of the day, Garneau managed to get his central message across: “We need to address the global challenges on Earth, using space as a means of looking back and adding to our perspective of [our planet].” He drew attention to issues such as the global water shortage and global deforestation to open our eyes up to the damage we as humans are doing to this planet.

“Planet Earth is finite. In order to maintain our growing needs, we need to understand exactly what is happening and develop the technology we need in order to survive.”

While his presentation was a bit lacklustre, the points he managed to convey struck the audience and shed light on the environmental impact we’ve caused and are causing.

“Research shows that video games changes cognition … In other words, they are changing your mind.”

A rather peculiar proposition to state, but not when it comes from a professor who specializes in the field of video game research, Dr. Sara Humphreys.

Humphreys graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Ph.D. in Language and Literature, which she then put to use in her research involving video games and rhetoric.

Humphreys developed a formula outlining her research, which goes as follows: Game mechanics / process + stories = change in reality. While this may sound like jargon, she simplified it by saying, “Video games persuade and even teach us to think, fantasize, and behave,” and continued, “While we should be excited about the potential of powerful game mechanics, we also need to be critically aware of how we use this new form of cultural literacy.”

She also drew attention to a design lab called Game Changer in Chicago, an initiative which helps youth collaborate with faculty and university students in order to create digital games which explore health and social issues.

“It is absolutely crucial to become aware of the power of game story and use it to inspire real social change.”

Perhaps one of the most influential and inspiring talks of the day was not a live talk, but rather a video talk, which featured Josh Stanley back in 2013 at TEDx Boulder in Colorado. The topic? The Effectiveness of Medical Marijuana in Treating Pediatric Epilepsy.

Stanley focuses on the propaganda, fear, and greed surrounding medical marijuana. In January 2012, he and five of his brothers along with Dr. Sanjay Gupta developed a strain of cannabis that was free of all psychotropic effects of regular cannabis. They genetically modified cannabis, removing the psychoactive compound, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and instead enhanced the chemical cannabidiol (CBD).

Stanley later discovered the benefits of this plant, which he named “Charlotte’s Web” after discovering the Figgy family in February 2012 and prescribing it to Charlotte Figgy. He revolved the talk around Figgy, a five-year-old girl who suffered from a rare form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome, which caused her to suffer from over four hundred seizures per day.

Stanley exposed the fact that the U.S. seemed to have known this was the case back in 1949, implying that there was a known link between cannabis and epilepsy. This sparked the main point of his talk, stating that we need to address the hurdles surrounding medicinal usage of cannabis in order to affect social change.

Overall, his presentation was heart wrenching and captured the true essence of TED.

Next up was senior art director of BBDO Toronto, Derek Blais. With nine years of experience in the advertisement business under his belt, Blais focused on social branded advertising, with clients such as McDonald’s, PepsiCo, and Virgin.

When it comes to ads, he revealed he is more focused on the “message rather than the medium” they present. This has gained him numerous awards and recognition among the advertising world.

In his humorous and relaxed talk, Blais focused on the concept of Internal and External Creativity, and on where ideas come from. He believes that creativity can solve business problems, and that ideas stem from our own “waiting place.” Instead of using complex terminology and perplexing diagrams, Blais reverted back to the days of Sesame Street, stating that, like in the case of the Two-Headed Monster, two heads are better than one. Both parties involved in business must have a close, open-ended relationship when collaborating, and they must essentially put their heads together if they want to succeed.

Blais ended by saying that the creative process should not be hindered by an initial voice of criticism.

Concluding the first half of TEDx was the young and talented musician, Taylor O’Meara. O’Meara began his musical journey at the age of 13 as the lead singer of Canada’s youngest rock band, Hidden Echo. In 2007, he released his first solo EP at the age of 15. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in 2013, he came out with his new self-titled EP, which he wrote, recorded, and produced completely on his own.

O’Meara’s style can be described as “acoustic with a rock influence.” The performance itself was extremely balanced, acoustically and lyrically, which is very difficult to do when performing, especially to a roomful of prestigious speakers and embers of the community.

He also delighted the audience with a sampling of a few unreleased singles, which he “just wrote last week.” Although I had my doubts, O’Meara’s music delighted my eardrums and ended the first half of TEDx on a high note.

After the break, Prof. Lon Appleby from Durham College presented the audience with an informative and intriguing presentation surrounding the concept of “The Global Classroom,” an experimental classroom design he developed at Durham College, that integrates the concept of interactive learning on a global scale.

The idea is to highlight the interaction between students from different cultures and to engage them to solve global issues together. He stressed the fact that he wanted to develop a classroom model which “better reflects the process of student learning,” with “exchange and create” being the philosophy behind the class.

“Students are global thinkers. We must develop a system to better provide them access to education which will provide them with skills to develop solutions to solve social, political, and global challenges.”

The program itself consists of a number of classes, all of which deal with addressing and solving worldwide problems such as The Great Dependency issue (which implies that everything global has local ramifications and vice versa) and Homo Colossus (implying that our excessive human consumption has caused a major impact on nature).

With the collaboration of three institutions across the world, Appleby has produced students who develop important work, such as that of Bailey Corneal, who produced Rice and Water, a short documentary that won the Trent University Film Festival for outlining the poverty crisis occurring in third-world countries.

Solar cars and black bears was the theme of the next talk. Marcelo da Luz delighted everyone with a humourous account of the process of developing the first solar car.

Enduring treacherous ice roads, interactions with black bears, and breaking world records are only some of the things da Luz accomplished. However, his most notable achievement was for the development of his solar-powered car.

He pulled his solar car over 660km across Ontario, before being pulled over, mistaken as a UFO. Da Luz holds the world distance record for a car powered solely by the sun, and it is the first solar car to operate below freezing temperature.

With themes of innovation, creativity and collaboration coming to the forefront, this talk effectively kept with the theme.

The last TEDtalk video was presented by Sunitha Krishnan, and was a truly shocking and inspiring story of the sex slavery industry in India.

Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery. In this heart-wrenching talk, she told the stories of three young children, Pranitha, Shaheen, and Anjali, who were all subjected to the horrors of sex trafficking. Krishnan also recounted the time when she was gang-raped by eight men at the age of 15, angered at the mere fact that she was ostracized for being a victim. She stated, “We, as a society, have PhDs in victimizing a victim,” and that we need to take a more humane approach to helping these young victims rebuild their lives.

“The sense that thousands and millions of children and young people are being sexually violated, and that there’s this huge silence about it around me, angers me.”

Krishnan was the match that sparked the battle against sexual slavery. By working with the government and various corporations, she has made it her mission to develop an anti-trafficking policy.

Perhaps the most touching talk of the day, Krishnan delivered a powerful message: we must open our eyes to acknowledge the horrors that transpire daily, and work cohesively to inspire change.

Former Arthur editor and Trent alumni jes sachse took the stage next with another powerful talk.

Using her affluent rhetoric and mischievous charm, sachse addressed some of the key issues of accessibility in today’s society, and how we must decolonize disability. She delivered a puissant, playful talk about queer disabled decolonizing communities in the 21st century with humour and art.

Throughout her talk, she kept the audience engaged with compelling emblematical accounts of personal stories and challenges she had faced in the past. In addition, she touched on subjects such as the “Crip Curation of the Internet,” her own parody of American Apparel’s ad campaign “American Able,” and the role of disability in networking platforms.

“We must strive for Universal Access. Not just physical, but also in our all our mentalities, to be a societal norm.”

“Philosopher of technology” Marcel O’Gorman presented the last talk, which was about Critical Digital Engagement.

From “Geomosiac Data” to “Teat Tweets,” O’Gorman covered a wide variety of topics including the tenets of critical media, the psychology of optimal experience, and the mystery of artist Tom Thomson’s death. Although this may sound overly complex, he managed to break it down to a level of understanding using satirical and contemporary social media references.

“We need to prioritize ‘thinking’ over ‘selling’ when coming up with ideas,” O’Gorman stated, emphasizing that, in order to be critical with our thinking, we need to pushed, like buttons. As a result, he pushed his own buttons by conducting a series of experiments including the creation of a ratio for the matching of skill level with challenge, otherwise known as “Flow,” and building a computer-enhanced replica of Canadian artist Tom Thomson’s canoe, in hopes of debunking the mystery behind his death back in 1917.

“You never know where collaboration will lead. Sometimes you just need to go with the flow.”

To conclude the event, Peterborough’s Unity took to the stage with their traditional Aboriginal acapella style music. Their euphonic tunes and perfectly synchronized voices filled the room with silent fascination.

ReFrame ReVisits Peterborough for the 10th Annual PIFF

January 13, 2014

In these technologically-oriented times, the arts, specifically filmmaking, rarely gets the attention it deserves. With that being said, ReFrame focuses on bringing the spotlight back on film by returning to the Electric City for the 10th annual Peterborough International Film Festival, taking place from January 24-26.

Founded in 2005 in Courtenay, B.C, ReFrame is a non-profit organization which focuses on celebrating the latest works created by local filmmakers. The festival showcases a diverse array of films, many of which are so independent, they would likely never find any form of mass distribution. Soon after ReFrame’s founding, the inspiration spread to Peterborough in 2006, when they invited local filmmakers to join the festival. From there, Peterborough’s artistic culture grew as the attendance grew to its peak in 2011. ReFrame’s mission is to celebrate film and art by raising awareness about local and international issues, as well as to engage and collaborate with the community.

The focus of the festival itself is to build engaged audiences that explore and document issues of human rights and social justice, from the local to the global; to use film and art to provide educational opportunities and encourage activism and thoughtful debate. The theme of this year’s festival appears to be the violation of human rights, with films dealing with issues of greed, corruption, feminism, and sexual orientation.

“Peterborough possesses a strong community for film that needs a vehicle. These are hugely interesting stories that otherwise do not get told,” said Festival Director Krista English in an interview with KawarthaNOW.

In 2011, 35 students, seven schools, eight staff advisors, and two filmmakers took part in the RPIFF, and as a result, produced seven short films. This year, the festival is set to take place at a number of theaters including the Market Hall, Showplace Performance Centre, and The Venue. It will feature 59 film screenings from various directors including Andrew Bartlett, Jeffery Schwarz, and Karima Zoubir.

In addition, ReFrame is launching an art exhibition entitled Still ReFrame 2014 from January 6-31, which takes its cue from the theme, “Looking Forward, Looking Back.” It focuses on the way in which humans relate to, change with, and have an impact on their surroundings. Many of us are guilty of turning the other way when it comes to international issues. The focus of the exhibition is to highlight art’s ability to raise awareness about local and international issues, and to be mindful of society’s collective responsibilities, and potential for change.

A feature of ReFrame is REELkids, a four-day celebration of film and media designed for elementary school children in grades 1-8. The festival features important award-winning films from around the world on topics including the environment, indigenous peoples, human rights, and world issues. These films are specifically chosen to screen for schools and families, and are used to create a social dialogue for younger audiences.

Other smaller events taking place throughout the month of January include REWINDING: From the Bradburn to Peterborough Square to the Galaxy, Rewind: The Electric City Goes to the Movies, and Offshore: A Digital Interactive Website Sneak Preview.

When not in the spotlight, ReFrame works with local organizations such as the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Peterborough, the Peterborough AIDS Resource Network (PARN), and, more recently, the Jamaican Self-Help Group.

More information about these events can be found on ReFrame’s website, reframefilmfestival.ca

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10 a film, and festival passes are available for $35 for adults and $20 for students and un(der)employed individuals. Passes can be bought at any of the following locations:

GreenUp Store

378 Aylmer Street North

Green Eyewear Optical

374 George Street North

Trent Central Student Association

Trent University, Champlain College

Suite S110

KWIC

The Environmental Sciences Building

Trent University, Rm B101

More information will be released following the festival’s conclusion.

TED(x) Comes to Trent Oshawa

January 13, 2014

If you’re looking to do something this weekend that is both entertaining and educational, head down to the Trent Oshawa campus (located at 55 Thornton Road South) to spend a day with TED extraordinaires.

In celebration of its 30th birthday, TED has organized a variety of TEDx events, including TEDxTrent taking place at the Oshawa campus on Saturday, January 18. The TEDx series is a program of self-organized TED events, where the x represents the aspect of independence.

TEDxTrent will feature TEDTalks videos and live speakers who will be used to spark deep discussion from Trent students, faculty, and community members. This year, the theme of the talk is “Creativity, Collaboration, and Engagement.”

The event was organized by the following members of the Trent community: B.Sc. Psych student Chris Fernlund; Administrative Coordinator at Trent University Oshawa, Amber Ashton; Head of Trent University Oshawa, Joe Muldoon; Government and Community Relations Officer at Trent University Oshawa, Kate Ingram; Trent librarian, Ken Field; Vice President of Campus Life for the Trent Oshawa Student Association (TOSA), Brittney Forester; Manager of Student Affairs at Trent University Oshawa, Justin Fisher; Business Administration student, Taylor Thompson; Student Life and Co-curricular Programs Coordinator, Chris Nelan; and finally, Manager of Convocation & University Functions at Trent University, Joanne Sokolowski.

This event will feature talks from some of the top inspirational speakers in Canada including Marc Garneau (former Canadian MP and astronaut), Marcelo da Luz (founder of The Power of One Solar Car Project), Derek Blais (employee at worldwide advertising agency network BBDO), Dr. Sara Humphreys (Assistant Professor at Trent University), Marcel O’Gorman (Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Waterloo), and Lon Appleby (journalist, television producer, and general education professor at Durham College), with performances by Taylor O’Meara and Unity. With this group of accomplished minds, TEDxTrent is sure to please anyone who has a passion for knowledge.

Ultimately, it will be a worthwhile trip to experience this amazing and informative event.

However, in order to attend, you need to register on their website.

More information about the event and how to register can be found on the official TEDxTrent website: http://www.tedxtrentu.com or on their twitter @TEDxTrent.

A follow-up article will be posted two weeks from now, so stay tuned for a more detailed account of the event.

The Strategic Mandate Agreement: A Misrepresentation of Trent’s True Identity?

January 7, 2014

This year’s Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA) left a lot to be desired when it was initially released on November 15 in the form of a Green Paper on the MyTrent portal. With a limited timeline of a few weeks, Trent was put under an enormous amount of pressure when ordered to develop a clear and professional SMA that detailed its objectives and reasoning so as to convince the government to keep funding its various programs and initiatives.

However, things didn’t really go as planned and now Trent is under pressure from numerous students, faculty, alumni, and community members after the release of the revised SMA, which failed to mention many of the defining features and key aspects of Trent’s unique identity, the very things which distinguishes it from other universities in Canada.

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For those who are just as ‘politically challenged’ as I am, the SMA is the university’s response to a policy from the province designed to address three desired outcomes for Ontario universities:

1) To increase the differentiation between post-secondary institutions by highlighting strengths and identifying objectives,

2) To discuss how Ontario’s education system can continue to deliver a quality education to more students within various financial constraints, and

3) To produce the best reflections from institutions about innovations that would produce a higher quality of learning and transform Ontario’s public post-secondary system. 

With these goals, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) launched a process to establish strategic mandate agreements with each of Ontario’s 44 colleges and universities “that will strongly inform future decisions, including allocation decisions and program approvals.”

I know this sounds like a lot to process, but, to sum it up, the SMA basically determines whether or not Trent continues to receive funding. Ultimately, it could result in the cessation of several aspects of Trent including programs, future initiatives, and research funding.

This single document could determine the future of Trent and impact the education of current and future students to come.

The extensive 21-page document outlines Trent’s main objectives as Canada’s “most-research driven, primarily undergraduate university.” In the SMA, Trent states that over the next five years, its goal is “to prepare students to make significant contributions to society by providing them with a distinct liberal arts, science or professional education.”

The document also highlights Trent’s founding commitments, and promotes Trent’s various priorities: interdisciplinary academics; research-driven teaching, small class sizes, community engagement; and finally, providing academic excellence in sustainable programs. These priorities correspond to various aspects of Trent as a whole.

A release from Provost and Vice-President Academic of Trent Gary Boire on December 11, requested feedback on ways that the SMA could be improved by emphasizing Trent’s strengths that might have been overlooked.

However, he stated certain points which undermined the whole notion of Trent’s identity and failed to note two of Trent’s key identifying features: the college system, which distinguishes Trent from other Canadian universities and are the focus of Trent’s foundation; and the school-centered model which Trent is looking to move toward.

Boire feels that the topic of Trent’s schools is “not especially germane to this specific exercise” and that the matter of the colleges is “inappropriate for our SMA submitted to MTCU.”

Putting all of the “pedagogical” jargon aside, there lie significant errors in the SMA’s formatting, politics, and judgment. In my honest opinion, it does not reflect Trent’s true identity.

It is comprised of political conformity and financial coercion. Yes, this is the case with most things in life, but the question I beg myself to ask throughout reading this document is regarding this sort of “metric system,” and why, if Trent is considered a smaller university, is this system being used?

The metrics clearly favour larger institutions that focus on offering more PhD programs, rather than smaller arts-based universities that offer more specialized programs.

First off, the “metrics” used to classify and judge universities are accused of “favouring larger, more comprehensive, medical/doctoral institutions.” Universities that are centered around one or more of the following: engineering, medicine, nursing, education, and/or law, will score higher than institutions that are smaller and more arts-based, like Trent.

Unless Trent declares itself as being more predominantly science-based, the prospect of receiving additional funding seems unlikely. Despite the “Sunshine List” wages of 229 Trent faculty members, including that $305,000.04 of our own President Steven Franklin, Trent still remains one of the most underfunded universities in Ontario, falling just behind Algoma, Nipissing, and OCAD.

Since Trent falls in between the categories of a small and large university, it is hard to gauge the sufficient amount of funding needed for Trent to continue supporting community projects. With over double the number of full-time students, Trent receives nearly the same amount of funding as other small Ontario universities, despite awarding more PhDs and contributing more to research initiatives.

Nevertheless, Trent is still being compared to much larger universities such as the University of Toronto. Trent also receives less funding than universities of similar size, such as Laurentian and Lakehead.

Comparing universities of drastically different characters, based on factors such as size, enrolment rate, and number of graduate programs, is highly biased against smaller universities like Trent. This publication is highly subjective towards PhD-distributing institutions such as U of T, Queen’s, and Waterloo, all of which make up a large portion of the funding distribution.

In response to the MTCU’s supposed bias towards larger universities in relation to “research productivity” and funding for graduate programs, Trent states, “It is with all due respect that we challenge this inexplicable decision,” echoing, perhaps, one aspect of its true identity: rebellion from the norm.

The SMA also describes partnerships with other institutions and how they have provided Ontario students with mobility and a “seamless transfer” between the two. Some of the programs listed include the Trent-Fleming School of Nursing, Trent-Fleming Transfer program, Trent-Loyalist Journalism, Trent-Queen’s Education (which is being cut in 2015), Trent-Carleton Canadian Studies PhD (which has also been cut), and Trent-Humber Public Texts/Creative Book Publishing.

If these partnerships are supposedly so seamless, why is it that I can’t even find a direct bus route from Trent to Loyalist College, located just an hour and a half away in Belleville?

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Second, please excuse my “grammar nazi”-like disposition, but formatting inconsistencies do not reflect well on Trent as a whole, especially when it is being evaluated in terms of how academically established it is. In all honesty, the SMA appeared to be rushed and unprofessional, almost as if it was written by someone who didn’t even know Trent.

The comparison, when reading through Carleton University’s SMA, left me mystified to say the least. The incorporation of diagrams, tables, and tasteful graphics grabbed my attention and helped their objectives come across clearly.

Lastly, the SMA draws attention to the strengths and weaknesses of Trent as a whole. As stated in the SMA via the AAPP, strengths include: interdisciplinary environmental science, interdisciplinary humanities, community health, culture and society, nursing, social justice and global development, education, indigenous knowledge, sustainability studies and Canadian studies.

The areas for “future development” are specifically targeted towards the formation of new [under]graduate programs including: synergies (planned with UOIT in 2020), social work, water science, health studies, arts administration, conservation biology, instrumental analysis, and archaeology. Future development also includes the discontinuation of low enrolment courses such as Canadian studies and Concurrent Education.

The key issue surrounding this, which was discussed in the SMA, was program prioritization. In other words, determining which programs will be cut from Trent’s academic programming based on enrolment rates. In this case appears to primarily be affecting the Humanities department.

Trent’s Canadian studies and concurrent education programs will reportedly be phased out from provincial funding. Who knows how many other programs will be cut?

However, if they are basing enrolment rates on the 2012-2013 Full Credit Enrolment (FCE) Count table included in the SMA, things don’t look good for many of the Language and Cultural studies programs either, including indigenous studies (which Trent specifically draws attention to as one of its defining features in relation to the student population), cultural studies, Greek, and history.

The main concern here lies with a “decline in humanities programmes.”

As a student of both an interchangeably arts- or science-oriented program (Psychology) as well as a newly introduced, lower enrolment program (Journalism), my opinion is not swayed by preference towards the arts, science, or humanities based programs. Valuing every type of degree program is something Trent fails to do without bias or external influences.

Trent seems to be biased against the Humanities and fails to attempt to revitalize the decline in enrolment, which has been seen across the board with other universities as well (mainly due to the scientific bias of today’s society).

In the SMA, it states that, while “strong academic programs will receive increased resources to foster growth, weaker programs will, in the first instance, be offered incentives to consolidate their programs. By 2016 remaining weak programs as per the criteria established in the AAPP will be eliminated.”

In other words, there will be no real attempt to consolidate the low enrolment programs such as cultural and language studies.

Despite the MTCU’s conceptions of smaller class sizes and program enrolment, programs with lower enrolment are just as qualified as higher enrolment programs. In fact, it often means that these are specialized programs that no other university offers, which may make them even more valued in the workplace due to their specialized nature.

One thing is for certain: the student voice has definitely been silenced by the ‘Big Guys of Trent.’

The TCSA has failed to do its job in ensuring that students have their say in issues regarding Trent’s future, or in those that affect Trent’s current or future students.

However, one Trent Student has made it her mission to ensure that the student voice is heard. When questioned about the SMA, TCSA’s Anti-Racism Commissioner Zara Syed stated:

“There is no student voice here. These decisions are being made at a middle management level, but we as clients of the business we pay for are virtually unheard. We do have college heads as reps on the Senate but other than that I can’t see how our voices are factored in the decision making.”

As a result, Syed, along with a few other students, mobilized a student group called SMA Discussion, which is designed to critique and alter Trent’s SMA as well as to strengthen the student voice within Trent. She also developed a petition called “We Deserve a Conversation” to request that the administration allow a discussion regarding Trent’s proposed direction.

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The overall implications this could have on Trent’s future are immense.

Trent’s current operating budget is approximately $104,181,000, the fourth lowest operating budget overall among Ontario Universities.

With an economic impact of $390,000,000 on Peterborough to date, Trent makes up a great portion of economic revenue in the Peterborough area as well.

Without sufficient funding, Trent will no longer be able to provide services for the community, hosting local events to help stimulate local culture. Also, the lack of input from students, faculty, alumni, and community members has caused Trent to gain significant negative feedback in relation to free discussion.

The decisions regarding the SMA have ultimately ignored the opinions of the Trent community, and were instead formulated by corrupt, white-collar fat cats of Trent, without any regard given to our university’s true identity.

Vegan Eats: Village of Thai Review

November 18, 2013

On a wet and miserable Thursday night, after my enervating three-hour Psychology lecture, I was accompanied by my vegan friend to a late-night movie. I stated that I was hungry, like I always am, and that I’d like to stop somewhere to get a bite to eat.

Being a small-town girl and knowing very little about Peterborough’s vegan food scene, I asked my friend about some vegan-friendly restaurants aside from the Food Forest. He suggested that we eat at Village of Thai, a small Thai restaurant at the corner of George and Sherbrooke St. As I glanced over their menu, I was intrigued by the variety of curries and noodle dishes. Being one with a fairly diversified vegan palate, I decided to give this place a try.

When we arrived, the restaurant was dimly lit and the tablecloths had stains on them. However, I had always never to judge a book based on its cover (pardon the cliché), so I remained hopeful of a good experience. The server came over to our table after about ten minutes, seemingly a bit cold and unfriendly.

She asked what we would like to drink, and I decided to go with one of my favourite drinks, mango juice. My guest ordered their “Indian beer,” but there was nothing “Indian” about it. It was bottled in New Jersey, and costing $1.26 more than the traditional domestic beer, you expected more than just a fancy label.

After deliberating for a while on our appetizers, we ordered the samosa rolls, followed by the mixed vegetable curry for myself, and vegetable pad thai for my friend. While initially they had a slight problem understanding what the term vegan meant, it was not such a huge issue when we just stated “no meat.”

When the samosas arrived at the table, I was surprised by presentation. Village of Thai put an Asian twist on this traditional Indian dish by presenting them in the form of spring rolls. Just as I was about to take the first bite, I fearfully imagined the taste of traditional MSG-filled Chinese-style spring rolls, but, to my pleasure, they tasted pretty much just like samosas, savoury with a nice balance of traditional Indian spices. The warmth of the curry, with the nuttiness of cumin and tang of coriander, provided the perfect amount of complexity and balance. However, they were slightly oily, which made for a slightly messy dining experience. When our main course arrived, the presentation was simple yet refined.

The curry was adequate. The consistency was a little bit on the watery side, and it was milder than I had expected. Being a girl who can handle the scorching heat of ghost peppers, I expected to feel something more than a slight tingle on my tongue.

One thing I found odd was the fact that it wasn’t served alongside a bed of rice like curry traditionally is. But it wasn’t a big deal, nor was I going to flip the table over in anger because of it. The varying textures of the marinated mixed vegetables accompanying the light peppery kick of red curry made this a fairly decent curry, but not the best I had ever tasted.

Afterwards, I snuck a bite of my friend’s pad thai, and it was surprisingly delicious. I have had my fair share of pad thai, and this was one of the best I had tried to date. Its mellow flavour provided a good counteraction to the samosas we had eaten earlier. The crunchiness of the peanuts and sprouts balanced the rich, buttery consistency of the rice noodles, and was accented with a pungent kick of garlic and piquant hints of tamarind that danced along the roof of my mouth.

We skipped dessert due to the fact that there were no vegan options available, a big turn-off for a vegan who likes their sweet fix. It is beyond my comprehension why more restaurants don’t offer vegan dessert options because, despite popular misconceptions, vegan baking is relatively easy when you have the right ingredients and the ability to improvise a recipe.

Even though I didn’t get to indulge in sweet vegan confection, I would have to say that the main deterrent of the whole evening was the fact that, despite advertising otherwise on their website and business cards, Village of Thai had discontinued their student discount. Being a starving student, every dollar counts.

One of the main reasons we had decided to eat there anyway was because we were under the impression that we would be getting 10 percent off our bills. While the prices were fairly reasonable, when you add on additional costs like drinks and gratuities, the bill adds up quite quickly. The total was just over $50, accounting for about 10 percent of a student’s average monthly rent costs.

Putting it into that perspective, if we were told beforehand that the discount had been discontinued, we might have ordered differently.

One thing I do give Village of Thai credit for, though, is keeping with a traditional South Asian menu unlike the various restaurants who try to adopt numerous identities by fusing Asian and North American cuisines together. (No, I do not like going to a Japanese restaurant and seeing french fries on the menu.)

Despite some of the incidents, overall it was a pleasurable dining experience and I would consider going back someday, but only if they were to reintroduce their student discount.