May, 2012

PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

Family friendly campus? It could be 3

Get this album, and watch for the tour 5

THEΩMEGA

VOLUME 21ISSUE 29

MAY, 2012

TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper

Is our government walking away

from childcare?

2

37th Annual Peace Walk 8

May, 20122

After finding out that May is National Childcare Month, I thought I’d do a nice little piece on the fact that Thompson Riv-ers University (TRU) has its own on-campus childcare facility de-voted to both university students and staff, how student-parents can (and should) take advantage of the day care and how much its very existence benefits the cam-pus community as a whole.

While all of this is undoubt-edly true, I found that the story simply would not be sated with such a cursory examination of the subject — at least as far as how it relates to the topic of Na-tional Childcare Month.

Many people had strong opin-ions on the subject — most of which were extremely negative illustrations about the current state of childcare in this coun-try — so I went deeper to explore what was causing all the emotion behind this heated topic.

I knew going in that I person-ally pay a large percentage of my family’s income to have my child in a day care facility, but he en-joys it, he gains social skills, he learns something new seemingly every day he’s there, and really, I just chalked it up to, “That’s what you have to do. It’s not like we can afford to have one of us stay-ing home with him.”

I didn’t realize that the situa-tion was far more complicated than just the out-of-pocket ex-pense incurred by parents, and I decided that National Childcare Month is the perfect time to ex-amine what the current state of childcare is in Canada, what we can do to improve that situation and who is working on doing just that.

Is there a “crisis” in Cana-dian childcare?

In a 2008 UNICEF report, Canada tied for last place among 25 developed countries on early childcare services. The report — in which Canada failed to meet nine of the ten benchmarks — seems to lend support to the idea that we, as many say, are in a childcare “crisis” in Canada. The only standard that Canada met in the UNICEF study was the benchmark acknowledging that 50 per cent of staff in accredited early education services have ob-tained post-secondary qualifica-tions.

The Canadian Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CCRRU), whose mandate is “to collect, organize and synthesize early childhood education and child care information resources and to make them widely avail-able,” also released a report in 2008, where they found that there were only regulated — meaning licensed — childcare spaces for 18.6 per cent of 0-12 year-olds in Canada, and only 20.3 per cent of 0-5 year olds.

This means that 79.7 per cent of children under the age of six did not have a licensed space available. According to that same study, the growth in the total number of childcare spaces avail-able had gone down from 50,831 per year (average) between 2001-2004 to only 29,791 in 2007-2008.

While these statistics alone

would indicate a major problem, the main reason that many con-sider Canada to be in a childcare “crisis” is the lack of a publicly funded and delivered system for childcare — one of the main benchmarks Canada failed to meet that was highlighted in the UNICEF study.

“Crisis, I think, is the correct way to characterize where Cana-da is at,” admitted Darcie Beggs, senior equality officer with the Canadian Union of Public Em-ployees (CUPE).

According to Beggs, CUPE represents about 9000 childcare workers across the country, and “has long worked hard in coali-tion with other unions, childcare activists, etcetera to ensure that Canada has a national childcare program that is publicly funded and delivered.”

Unfortunately, she said, their pleas to the government have largely fallen on deaf ears over the past few years.

“The federal government has basically abandoned childcare is-sues,” she said. “When this gov-ernment came to power, one of the first things they did was to quash the deal that was made be-tween the provinces and the then federal Liberal government to ac-tually introduce a childcare pro-gram,” which she said is the main cause of the “crisis” in Canadian childcare.

Because of the lack of federal funding and policy, according to Beggs, “[childcare has] now be-come a market-based approach rather than, if you will, a sys-tem-based approach to deliver-ing childcare. Because there isn’t enough quality childcare where there are trained workers who have decent wages and benefits and are actually trained early childhood educators, people have to use their own resources to try to find care for their kids rather than there being a system for ensuring that there is qual-ity care in our commu-nities.”

She added that the result of a lack of public fund-ing and de-livery is that f o r - p r o f i t centres are growing to c o m p e n s a t e for a market that has too few public, non-prof-it facilities.

CUPE’s desire for a publicly funded and delivered system for childcare has caused CUPE to throw their support behind The Community Plan for a Public System of Integrated Early Care & Learning — or as it is com-monly known in the British Co-lumbia childcare community, simply “The Plan.”

“The Plan”

“The Plan” is a proposal that has been put forward by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC (CCCABC) and the Early Child-hood Educators of BC that they claim would ease, if not resolve, the current childcare “crisis.”

“’The Plan’ combines the best of public education with the best of childcare,” according to Sha-ron Gregson, long time childcare advocate and CCCABC spokes-person, as well as easing the fi-nancial burden on families by putting a cap on parent fees at $10 per day and see families earning less than $40,000 per year incur no user fees whatsoever.

“Just as children have a right to go to school, they have the right to access high quality child care. Child care should not just be for parents who are wealthy or lucky,” she said.

Gregson pointed out some sim-ilarities between “The Plan” and Québec’s public childcare sys-tem, which has a $7 user fee.

Despite the price being right for parents however, a lack of ac-c e s s i b i l i t y to the public facilities in that prov-ince — due in large part to the num-ber of people going after those $7 per day price tag services — creates other s i g n i f i c a n t problems.

M c G i l l Un ive r s i t y’s o n - c a m p u s

day care centre, known officially as the Centre de la Petite Enfance de McGill, for example, serves 106 children of McGill students, staff, and faculty, but there are close to 800 children on the wait-ing list — a list that sees parents waiting about three years for an available space.

Because the centre is govern-ment-subsidized, those fortunate enough to have a space pay just $7 a day, which is likely why the wait-list is so long. Private day-cares in Montreal can cost from around $45 per day to upwards of $60.

The other government-subsi-dized facility reserved for the McGill community — the SSMU (McGill’s Student Society) Day-care — has spots for eight infants

(0 to18 months) and 32 children (18 to 60 months). Their waitlist is over 350.

According to Annie Shiel, a reporter for The McGill Daily, many student-parents turn to nannies or non-government-sub-sidized childcare facilities (some of which are unlicensed and op-erate out of private residences) because they just can’t wait for a spot to open somewhere for them.

When you compare those num-bers to the current “spaces avail-able versus waitlist length” situ-ation in B.C., you start to think that it is a bit of give-and-take as far as the non-subsidized system is concerned.

Sure it costs more than $7 per day, but far less than $45 to $60 — even before you take into ac-count the $100 monthly cheque families outside Québec receive from the government (per child) to help with childcare, with low-income families qualifying for more assistance once registered in a facility — and I couldn’t find anyone out west who sat on a childcare waitlist for three years, either.

The TRU childcare waitlist, for example, is currently hovering in the 200 per cent of spaces avail-able range, according to Marian Hardy, executive director of the Cariboo Childcare Society, the non-profit organization that op-erates the TRU childcare facili-ties.

That’s a far cry from the 700-plus per cent range seen many places in Québec. Hardy said TRU student-parents can “real-istically expect to wait 12 to 18 months,” which is less than half of the expected wait-time at Mc-Gill.

The University of British Co-lumbia (UBC), the largest child-care provider of any North Amer-ican post-secondary institution, has recently added even more spaces for children, and delegat-ed more of its budget to child-care, including $100,000 per year for ten years (beginning in 2008) from the Capital Projects Acqui-sition and Construction Fund.

Despite adding spaces and throwing money at the prob-lem, their waitlists haven’t gone down — but they haven’t gone up, either.

One of the main changes pro-posed in “The Plan” is that con-trol of childcare would move from the Ministry of Children and Family Development to the Ministry of Education.

This change is a signif icant one, according to Beggs, “be-cause childcare is also childcare and learning, and we know how important it is for the learning part of childcare to be seen and recognized.”

She thinks that too much pub-lic mindset about childcare fa-cilities is that they are basically babysitters where people drop off their kids for the day, and not enough emphasis is placed on them as being places of teach-ing and early childhood develop-ment.

“We’re not just providing day care,” Hardy said. She has been in the childcare f ield for 26 years, and thinks the change is long overdue.

“In an ideal world, every school would have a wing for early childhood education, and it would be appreciated for its value,” she said.

According to Beggs, it is a natural f it for childcare to come under the umbrella of the Minis-try of Education.

“We’re used to having the government deliver programs in schools, so it’s a good f it and easy shift to expanding the [edu-cation] program to include the early learning and care centres as well.”

She also thinks the shift makes sense both in terms of changing the mindset, as well as logisti-cally.

“The facilities are already there,” she said. “The infrastruc-ture is in place to house a quality centre, and it’s partly the strate-gic shift to think about it not just as day care, it’s not babysitting, but it’s really learning and care and the services can be delivered by qualif ied early childhood ed-ucators.”

Hardy agrees, but admitted that “trying to get everyone to the table is the problem,” in terms of changing the mindset en masse.

With f iles by Annie Shiel and Micki Cowan

Ω Editor-in-ChiefMike Davies

Feature

Ryder Dobson has some fun swinging from a bar during outdoor play time one afternoon at the TRU Childcare facility. —PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

“Childcare should not just be for parents

who are wealthy or lucky.”

—Sharon Gregson

Canadian childcare in crisis: What can be done about it and who is

trying to help?

publishingboardEDITOR-IN-CHIEF * Mike DaviesBUSINESS MGR * Natasha SlackINDUSTRY REP * Mike YoudsFACULTY REP * Charles HaysSTUDENT REP* Sadie Cox

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

copyrightAll material in this publication is copyright The Omega and may not be reproduced without the expressed consent of the publisher. All unsolicited submissions become copyright Omega 2012.

3

THE MEGA

May, 2012 Volume 21, Issue 29

Published since November 27, 1991

Cariboo Student Newspaper Society(Publisher of The Omega)TRU Campus House #4

Box 3010, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3Phone: 250-372-1272

E-mail: [email protected] Enquiries:

[email protected]

(Correspondence not intended for publication should be labelled as such.)

editorialstaffEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mike [email protected]/250-372-1272

BUSINESS MANAGERNatasha Slack

[email protected]

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITORWill resume fall 2012

SPORTS EDITORWill resume fall 2012

Copy EditorWill resume fall 2012

Photo EditorWill resume fall 2012

News EditorWill resume fall 2012

Roving EditorWill resume fall 2012

www.theomega.ca

omegacontributors Samantha Garvey, Adam Williams, Jess Wind

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 29

Editorial

Greetings, fellow TRUers (TRU-ites?) and welcome to the first 2012 summer edition of The Omega!

For those of you who are new to the school (or the newspaper) let me explain a few things about who we are and what we do here at The Omega — and for those of

you familiar with the publication, bear with the newbies for a minute, would you?

The Omega is your independent, student-run newspaper on campus (and online). This means we aren’t controlled by TRU administration, the student union, or any other en-tity. We represent you, the students and staff of TRU, and are respon-sible to you, as well.

What are we “responsible” for, you ask?

Our goal is to help you take a break every now and then, and during that well-earned break, to inform and entertain. We try to balance the serious with the light-hearted, the depressing truth with the celebration of achievement.

During the fall and winter semes-ters — or September to April, if you prefer — we print every week, hit-ting the stands around campus on Wednesday morning.

But that’s when we have a staff — over the summer I get to do this myself, with the occasional volunteer contribu-tions from others (like, for example,

Samantha Garvey and Adam Williams this month).

Which brings me quite naturally to my plea to you, my fellow TRU-ans (TRUbivores?).

If you’ve ever wanted to see your words (or photos) in print, get in touch. We’re always looking for in-teresting stories or photos that rep-resent aspects of university life — or reviews of books, films or music that other students should check out.

University is about the sharing of information after all, and here I am offering you another avenue for that endeavour.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten my selfish begging out of the way, I’d like to give something to you — a piece of sage advice.

I’ve been going to school for a long time. I’ve done it wrong at times and I’ve done it right at others.

Balance is the most important thing you need to figure out, so get on that.

It’s awesome to meet new people, socialize (read as “party”) and join extra-curricular clubs and activities

while you’re in school — especially during the summer months.

If that’s not really you’re thing, be-cause you feel you’re here to get an education so you should just buckle down and do it, that’s fine too.

But you need both to be happy, you really do.

If you party so hard that you’re forced to withdraw or redo classes later because they turn out to be prerequisites or whatever, the fun you’re having now is going to piss you off — trust me.

If you do really well in your classes, but you leave here looking back and wishing you’d met a few people and maybe gained some con-nections for later in life, you’ll be equally disappointed.

Alright — I’ve asked for some-thing and offered something, so I’m done for now.

Get in touch with me for ways to get involved with the paper, and en-joy your summer.

See you again next month.

[email protected]

Mike Davies Ω Editor-in-Chief

Editor’s Note

It is almost universally accepted that the Canadian childcare situation is in a state of crisis (see story opposite page), and that the situation directly affects uni-versity campuses, and post-secondary students — but how, and to what extent?

Well, it’s simple really — student-parents have more going on in their lives, and the childcare situation makes it even more difficult for them to better them-selves by achieving the higher education that we all are attempting to do by enroll-ing at post-secondary institutions.

I’m not saying that you’re not busy if you don’t have a child, so just settle down, but if you aren’t a parent, I’d just ask you to picture how busy you are, and then add the responsibility of raising another hu-man from scratch.

“The administration section of uni-versities need to come to the realization of the benefit of cooperation with and support of childcare facilities,” according to Marian Hardy, executive director of the Cariboo Childcare Society, the non-profit organization that operates the TRU childcare facilities, adding that though their relationship with administration is a good one (better than most institutions, she thinks) it could always be better.

She said that part of that cooperation needs to be making the campus “family friendly,” in order to support student-par-ents as well as encourage more people to enrol, saying that it’s possible that failure to do so is keeping people from choos-ing TRU as an option when considering which institution to attend.

An article published by The Concord-ian (Concordia University) in October 2010 cited research compiled by Tricia Van Rhijn and Donna S. Lero for the University of Guelph has student-parents accounting for “close to 11 per cent of the total student population in Canadian uni-versities,” which would suggest that this demographic is, in fact, a significant one.

Floriann Fehr, a TRU nursing pro-fessor and parent of children who have attended various childcare facilities in Kamloops (including the TRU on-cam-pus facility) also thinks that the overall attitude of universities need to change toward a more “family friendly” one that acknowledges this demographic before the childcare situation will improve on post-secondary campuses — a change in

attitude that would affect students with-out children in some ways as well, though perhaps not as immediately.

Fehr is currently pursuing her PhD in higher education and administration, and her doctoral research has her focus-sing on post-secondary students and their ability to balance work, school, and life. One of the biggest barriers in achieving that balance, she said, is childcare.

“The school (TRU) itself doesn’t even know how many of its students are par-ents,” she said, and added that there are “check-boxes” for various other demo-graphics — “visible minority,” “Status Native Canadian” and others — on the admission forms, but for some reason parents get left out of the research. As such, she claims, little effort is made to cater to their needs.

Which is why, she said, “You need to advocate for yourselves.” Whether it is demanding family-friendly services from your institution, or simply opening lines of communication with your pro-fessors about the extra demands on your time, student-parents need — and should expect — more flexibility from their in-stitutions.

Concordia University in Montreal has developed a certain measure of the “fam-ily friendliness” that Fehr is discussing by opening the Concordia University Student Parent Centre (CUSP), where support can be found for their student parents, an idea initiated by Concordia’s dean of students, Elizabeth Morey.

The centre is designed to share re-sources — information on childcare fa-cilities, health promotion services, and the psychological support needed for overburdened student parents, as well as a place to meet others in similar situations and socialize in a way more conducive to their lifestyle.

“[Student parents] don’t have the same options to meet other students, and to go out,” said Kristy Heeren, who was the director of CUSP in 2010. “Many stu-dent-parents struggle with isolation and loneliness, especially single parents, and international students who are new to the city,” and CUSP is one of the ways that Concordia has acknowledged and ad-dressed the burden on this demographic.

“CUSP is another great help be-cause it is a place where student parents can get together and see how others in similar situations balance parenting and school,” according to Concordia student-

parent Anna Chigo. “As CUSP mem-bers, student parents have the chance to get involved in events such as monthly cook-outs, clothing, toy and babysitting exchanges, while making friends with other student parents in the process.”

Other post-secondary institutions have similar “family-friendly” programs and services.

The McGill University Chaplaincy, for example, houses the McGill Student Parents’ Network, a community of par-ents, children and student volunteers that hosts a number of programs to support families, such as in-house babysitting, and events that allow student parents to network and share stories. One program, “Study Saturdays,” occurs once a month and provides childcare services and a healthy lunch for a few hours while par-ents can study.

As far as how TRU (or any other in-stitution that people feel need attitude-adjusting) can begin to become more “family friendly,” Fehr recommends that student-parents initiate the change by contacting their professors before each term and let them know that they have added demands on their time — not that they want special treatment, but just to inform them so they aren’t caught unaware when classes are inevi-tably missed, etc. — and help raise the awareness of the campus community in general in that way.

“When [professors] start seeing these letters all the time, they might start to understand that they are dealing with a significant demographic and that things are more difficult for them,” she said, and that change in awareness is needed if institutions are truly going to consider themselves “family-friendly,” and con-tinue to develop in a way that recognizes a key demographic necessary to encour-age returning and mature students as well as another generation of potential ones.

After all, those kids that are 5 years-old right now will be looking for a university to attend in less than 15 years, so develop-ing an infrastructure for student parents now could have a large effect on enticing another generation of students not so far down the road, according to Fehr.

So even if you’re not a parent in search of childcare or in school to be an early childhood educator, you might want to consider what is best for both student-parents and for your institution. Post-secondary institutions have at their fingertips a demographic that they could impress now leading to higher enrolment down the road.

They certainly don’t want current students to be telling their children in 15 years that they should consider attending, “Anywhere but where I went.”

With files by Anna Chigo and Annie Shiel

How to create a “family friendly” campus

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Do it.

Seriously.

Welcome to summer 2012 at TRU


Student-parents need to “advocate for themselves” to cause administrative change

Some staff and children take a moment outside the TRU Childcare facility to advocate for a “family friendly campus.” —PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

May, 20124

Organizers have been working hard (and in dangerous conditions, apparently) to ensure the success of the 2012 Bike To Work Week event. Running from May 28 to June 3, the week is an opportunity to promote “a healthy, enjoyable and sustainable form of transportation.” Check out biketowork.ca/Kamloops or “Kamloops Bike To Work Week 2012” on Facebook for details and ways to get involved.

—PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

Kamloops is once again one of the more than 20 communities provincially that will participate in Bike To Work Week (BTWW), which runs from May 28 to Jun. 3 this year.

According to James Gordon, one of the organizers of the Kam-

loops event, “Bicycling is such a great form of transportation and so BTWW is trying to encourage people to use it to get around.”

According to Gordon, BTWW is a vehicle (no pun intended) to high-light issues like traffic congestion, fossil fuel dependency and healthy lifestyle choices, all while coming together as a community and hav-ing some fun.

The week-long event will feature morning “Celebration Stations” in front of the Kamloops Law Courts (Columbia Street) where volun-teers will be giving out coffee, fruit and breakfast snacks, news-papers, prizes and entries into the draw for a Kona Bicycle courtesy of The Bicycle Café in Valleyview, long-time sponsor of the event.

Celebration Stations happen

Monday May 28 to Friday Jun. 1 from 6:30 to 9 a.m.

The Bicycle Café is also offering free courses in bike maintenance at their Valleyview location on May 16 and 23.

Get in touch with Marcia Dick at [email protected] or 778-470-5695 if you are inter-ested in volunteering to help out, and check out biketowork.ca/ka-mloops or find them on Facebook for more information on how to get involved.

Coincidentally, the Heart and Stoke Foundation Big Bike event comes through Kamloops at the end of May, as well.

The Heart and Stroke Founda-tion is celebrating 50 years of pro-moting awareness, advocacy and providing research funding for cardiovascular issues, and their Big Bike event raised over $7 mil-lion in over 200 communities na-tionwide last year.

The four-day Kamloops event fea-tured 36 teams last year, and raised over $100,000 for the foundation.

This year’s ride will begin at the Curling Club downtown on Victo-ria Street and wind through down-town, as groups of up to 29 riders will power a single bicycle (hence the “Big Bike” title of the event) and you can show your support by registering a team, finding a team to donate to, or just get downtown and cheer them on.

The Big Bike event will run Tuesday May 24 to Friday Jun 1.

Check out heartandstroke.ca for information on the foundation it-self or bigbike.ca for information about the event.

A couple of bicycling events to keep in mind


Bike To Work Week and Heart and Stroke Foundation Big Bike event coexist soon in Kamloops

Life & Community

St. Andrew’s on the Square, the oldest public building in Kamloops, celebrated its 125th anniversary on Sunday, May 6 with a tea put on by the Kamloops Heritage Society. —PHOTO BY SAMANTHA GARVEY

It was 1995 when Melody For-manski was out for a walk in down-town Kamloops with a friend, Kate Lawrie, and as they passed the old, nearly decrepit St. Andrew’s church she thought, as many people would have, “Somebody should do some-thing about that.”

Luckily for the cit-izens of Kamloops, Formanski did.

Giggling as she told the story about the process to save St. Andrew’s, she said that although the building was in dis-repair, with four feet of water in the base-ment and in need of a new roof, she began working with City Council to restore Kamloops’ oldest public building back to a beautiful and useful space.

At the time, council had been con-sidering a parkade for that area, but after presentations, fundraising and donations, the renovations began in 1997 and were completed in 1998.

“We were tearing down our his-tory,” she explained, “and that both-ered me.”

It was two years of Formanski’s and many others’ hard work to see to the completion of what is now called St. Andrew’s on the Square.

To celebrate, the Kamloops Heri-tage Society held a fundraiser tea under the 24 metre-high steeple on Sunday, May 6, with over 30 people in attendance, for the building’s 125th birthday.

Ruth Fane has been a board mem-ber of the society for the last four years. It was formed specifically for the St. Andrew’s project but is now moving on to other historical tasks as well.

“It’s important to preserve what we have,” said Fane. She said our history makes our city more vibrant and interesting.

Janet Doubt moved to Kamloops when her daughter Jane-Ellen was five. They used the afternoon to en-joy a trip into early memories of the church.

“I love history, to see how people lived,” says Jane-Ellen. She remem-bers the bus that travelled around the neighbourhood streets of downtown Kamloops gathering the children for Sunday School.

Formanski remembers attending the Sunday School, which was the largest in Canada at that time, in 1957.

No longer a church, the public space can be used for any sort of gathering and has been for travel shows, art galleries, weddings, fu-nerals, and more.

When the building was first con-structed in 1887, it was done so on donations and volunteer work.

Canadian Pacific Railway donat-ed the land, and the employees donated labour for construc-tion.

Members of the community of Fort Kamloops (popula-tion 500), pitched in time and donations to complete St. An-drews for Christmas Day of that year, cost-ing a total of $5000.

Sheila Park, another Heritage So-ciety member, says the building rep-resents the power of community in Kamloops.

“They built it hoping community would grow around it,” she says.

“And it did.”

The Kamloops Heritage Society is looking for stories and information about Tranquille on the Lake to be archived for the public. If you have any information, big or small, con-tact Melody Formanski at 250-377-4232 or [email protected].

Ω ContributorSamantha Garvey

Kamloops’ oldest public building represents power of community

“They built it hoping community would grow around it. And it did.”

—Sheila Park

theo

meg

a.ca

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 29 5

Arts & Entertainment

I’m always wary when random CD’s show up in my mailbox with letters from agents or producers (usually a generic press release) asking for a review. I’m wary be-cause most of these albums are just horrible.

I can’t overstate how truly disgusted I feel about the world when I put these things in my CD player because these “musicians” are getting signed and being al-lowed — and in fact encouraged — to share their repulsive excre-tions with the masses.

Usually, however, I can give them over to a staff writer to re-view, and laugh when they come back at me with “Why did you make me listen to that?”

Unfortunately, I have no staff over the summer months, so I fired Detail of Distance by Kim Churchill into my computer and waited for it to load, wishing I had a beer in my hand — or a triple scotch.

Wow.This album is pretty much the

polar opposite of everything I just said.

At times Churchill implements a slightly Celtic, Eastern-Cana-da feel but at others he invokes a more purist “folk medley”

style seemingly more suited to a 1960’s sit-in.

At times he slides into a British pop, Coldplay-type vocal inf lec-tion while at other times raspy — almost grunge — sounds come from his throat in offering his poetry.

Churchill’s melodies and style sound like his songs should be over-complicating themselves, but the sounds and genres being utilized are so subtly incorporat-ed into his clearly folk-rock back-ground, and done so in a bril-liantly seamless way, that they just kind of touch the surface of what he’s doing rather than being blatant or obtrusive mimicry.

Coded in Concrete opens the album, and rightly so.

Light fingerpicking with har-monica to accent the melody calls one back to their days listening to old Simon and Garfunkel (as-suming one had those days) for about two-and-a-half minutes, then seamlessly develops a rock-feel reminiscent of mid 1990’s The Watchmen mixed with old-school John Mellencamp/Tom Cochrane (I told you it was com-plicated) before dropping back into its folky tones, and is a per-fect introduction to the complex multi-faceted three-quarters of an hour to follow.

Bathed In Black will likely

make it into my regular in-car rotation, with its driving rhythm and Dave Matthews-esque gui-tar/vocal combination — it’s a highway-driving tune in the same league as Golden Earring’s 1973 classic Radar Love.

According to the obligatory accompanying press-release, the album is “clearly highlighted by the album’s standout track Sea-son’s Grind.”

I disagree.Though Season’s Grind is like-

ly the most marketable track on the album for mass-audience con-sumption, it’s hardly a “standout track,” though that might just be because the whole album is so good.

I haven’t listened to an entire album and not wanted to skip any tracks on the second listen for a long time. Thanks for that, Churchill.

It’s rock and it’s folk, but it’s not folk-rock the way you hear that genre in your head.

It’s classic rock and modern at the same time.

There are touches of country in some places as well.

I genuinely have a hard time placing this effort in a genre. If I was managing a music store (do those still exist?) I might have to seriously consider putting it in the “other” section.

At times haunting and echoing, at times driving forward with a purposeful, contagious energy, Detail Of Distance will definite-ly not be staying on the rack at

the office with the various atroci-ties we receive in the mail.

It’s coming home with me.Detail of Distance is set to be

released May 15, 2012.

Album Review: Detail of Distance


Kim Churchill somehow successfully blends too many ideas together in one amazing journey

—IMAGE COURTESY INDICA RECORDS

If you are anywhere near primetime on Monday nights, you’ve seen the ads for the latest musical dramedy on televi-sion.

No, not Glee: The College Years, but close.

NBC’s musical within a musical, Smash, has released their soundtrack fea-turing original songs from the show as well as numerous covers.

It could easily be called Katherine McPhee ft. her co-stars as McPhee lends her voice to over half of the 13 tracks.

The first song on the album is McPhee’s long await-ed single “Touch Me,” which doesn’t appear in the show until episode eight.

Its sexy club tone will attract buyers until they realize that it is the only song on the album that feels this way.

A quick glance at iTunes proves this: the album, which launched on May 1, reveals immense popularity for the single and considerably less interest for the rest of the ballads and Broadway tunes.

For those that do venture beyond the first track, songs two through eight are covers of popular singles. Listeners will recognize Christina Aguilera’s “Beauti-ful” (sung by McPhee), Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” (sung by Nick Jonas) and Florence and the Machine’s “Shake it out” (also sung by McPhee), among others. Megan Hilty, McPhee’s nemesis on the show, gets two believe-in-yourself ballads by Jessie J (“Who You Are”) and Carrie Underwood (“Crazy Dreams”), but it is too bad that they are squished between McPhee singing “Stand” (originally Donnie McClurkin) and “Beautiful.”

The first half of the album falls flat for both fans of the show and folks search-ing for exciting covers of already famous songs.

Eventually, at track nine, the original music from the show begins: Broadway-style tunes about Marilyn Monroe.

It is at this point in the album that a sto-ry seems to emerge and it would be fair to consider the last five tracks separately.

Hilty starts with “Let me Be Your Star,” a track that highlights Monroe’s early years in the business. Then McPhee brings us “20th Century Fox Mambo” which moves into the lengths that Mon-roe went to for her fame. The story con-tinues with a warm duet by Hilty and

Will Chase (acting as Monroe and Joe DiMaggio) dreaming of a normal, fame-less life.

Then on to “Let’s Be Bad,” again by Hilty and the album closes with the pair-ing of Hilty and Chase for one more love ballad. By the time the album fin-ishes, you have for-

gotten where it began.Hey, wait a minute, what about the oth-

er 30-plus songs that have been featured on the show?

Unfortunately many of the more “comedy” flavoured tracks didn’t make the cut – a feeble attempt at sticking to a common theme? Viewers are, no doubt, feeling less than fulfilled with the seem-ingly random selection of songs for this first soundtrack from the show’s first sea-son; non-viewers won’t make it past the first couple of songs, if they even care to purchase the entire thing.

NBC’s The Music of Smash comes off feeling confused and divided, a bad com-promise between the show’s pop singles and original music.

A select few of the songs shine on the album, but here’s hoping a second release is not far behind.

The Cascade (UFV)Jess Wind

Album Review: The Music of Smash

May, 20126

Sports

‘Pack-ed full of signings

It’s been just a few weeks since the school year ended and already TRU’s sports teams have been busy. In a sense, summer is the most important time of the year for athletics at the University, as managers and coaching staffs work to lock up new recruits for a new year of WolfPack sports. Here’s an advance look at some of the bright young stars joining up with TRU squads for the coming year.

Women’s Soccer

The WolfPack women’s soccer team has announced the signing of Madison Ellis, of South Kamloops Secondary. Ellis is the fifth prospect to sign with TRU from the Kamloops Secondary soccer program.

“Madison is more of a defensive midfielder,” said head coach Tom Mc-Manus. “She can play in a wide midfield role, usually in the centre. She will be able to hold the ball for you or distribute it well. She is an extremely athletic girl.”

While the WolfPack will only have one spot available at Midfield, Madison is confident in her ability to compete with a number of the team’s veterans. “I think I can measure up to the standards set by them,” she said. “I know it will be different than what I am used to but I am confident I can earn my spot on the team.”

Joining Ellis as recent WolfPack sign-ings are Striker Courtney Daly of South Kamloops Secondary and Courtney Burnett of Langley, BC. Ellis will join a plethora of young talent at the forward position, a group that boasted three first year and two second year players last season.

“We lost only one player through graduation and to win the provincials and finish fourth in the country was an accomplishment,” said McManus, “I

just see more and more strength coming from us. These girls (the recruits) are go-ing to be pushing our vets from last year. Vets have to step up and do the job or they won’t be here.”

The WolfPack will be attempting to repeat as league champions this year and will look to improve on their fourth place finish nationally.

Men’s Basketball

Sometimes, recruiting is nothing more than a game of chance. Just ask WolfPack Basketball prospect Tre Has-lom.

Haslom is the most recent athlete recruited to play for the WolfPack in 2012-2013 and according to head coach Scott Clark, it was little more than a co-incidence that the team stumbled across Him.

“We had been contacted about a point guard at Olympic,” he said. “Chas (Kok, Assistant Coach) went down to see Olympic play. He was really intrigued by Tre more than anybody else. Chas had played against him in some open gyms down at Skagit Valley. He knew

him from that. All those factors com-bined to have us recruit him.”

Haslom is a versatile athlete that can play both forward and guard. Playing for the WolfPack at TRU will be his first opportunity to play Canadian Bas-ketball.

The WolfPack followed up Haslom’s signing with by locking up highly-sough-after point guard Troy-Rose Grant, who played the last two seasons in Toronto, suiting up for the Regional Elite Development Academy. Grant ex-pressed nothing but excitement when speaking of his opportunity to play for TRU, and coach Clark had a similar at-titude about the signing.

“I think when you look right now, he is young. But once he goes through the growing pains of understanding what I want and what it is to be part of a uni-versity team, going to school and being away from home, he really wants to be a basketball player and I think he wants to put the work in. You have to get excited about working with someone like that.”

Men’s Volleyball

TRU is no stranger to PACWEST champions. In fact we have an entire Women’s soccer team of them. This coming season though, the Men’s Vol-leyball team will add a PACWEST champion of their own.

Graham Stoliker is a setter, formerly of the Douglas College Royals. He is expected to be a big part of the team’s future and has prior experience with current WolfPack middle Nic Balazs and outside hitter Brad Gunter.

“Graham is at Douglas College and could have stayed for two more years,” head coach Pat Hennelly explained. “He could have stayed there and transferred after [starting setter Colin] Carson was done. But what I am trying to do is im-prove the meshing of that group with Brad and Nic being two guys I went af-ter hard on Team BC. I want to make sure that there is a good core for both of

them to go through their CIS careers. Graham just gives us that stability. He will get a chance to get his reps in with the younger players and that’ll provide a continuity for the future”

Stolkier will be joined next year by libero Blake Majcher. Majcher comes to TRU after playing last season with the Medicine Hat College Rattlers.

“We really need to make a stand de-fensively and improve in that aspect of the game. We have a fairly big team and do some good things at the net but out back court needed to be shored up” said Hennelly, “Blake has a reputation of be-ing a tenacious defender.”

Hockey

The Wolf Pack have announced three signings in the past month, all of which are expected to bring considerable strength and scoring to the team. Forwards Rigby Burgart (formerly of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen), Chase Edwards and Colten De Frias (both formerly of the Kamloops Storm), will be joining the squad

for the 2012-2013 season and will bring years of experience with them.

“Chase is a gifted goal scor-er and is very instinctive in the offensive end. Puck’s seem to f ind him,” said head coach Don Shultz. “He has an excellent shot and skilled hands. He is a good skater and has some physicality to his game. I’m looking for him to contribute offensively and has the potential to be a top-six for-ward.”

According to Shultz, “Colten is a tireless worker and doesn’t shy away from any physicality. He has excellent speed and can score,” and Burgart will add size and grit to a team that needs it going forward.

All three players are expected to see signif icant time in the coming season, while playing very different roles. Edwards and De Frias will be expected to provide a signif icant amount of the team’s offensive production, while Burgart is more of the ste-reotypical “role player.”

“I’ve watched Rigby play since his f irst season in Quesnel and have admired the way he plays the game, said Wolf Pack gen-eral manager Chris Hans. “He’s an honest, tough player. I expect Rigby to play a signif icant role for the ‘Pack for years to come.”

The Wolf Pack f inished the 2011/2012 regular season with a 12-8-4 record, before recording 1 win and 2 losses in the play-offs. The team will look to im-prove on that f inish in the com-ing year and Edwards, De Frias, and Burgart will be signif icant players in next year’s push.

For more information on Wolf Pack off-season moves and events, go to tru.ca/athletics.

Ω ContributorAdam Williams

TRU squads are busy inking recruits to improve upon last season’s performances

WolfPack recruit Courtney Daly (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

WolfPack recruit Colten De Frias (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

Disappointment again for baseball team

The Wolf Pack didn’t look like a squad that managed to post a 17-11 regular season record as they hosted the CCBC League Championships in early May. The team was eliminated from contention for the league title in the semi-finals May 12, at the hands of the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs — bringing to an end what can only be charac-terized as a disappointing show-ing for the host team.

After winning their f irst game against OCC 3-1 the Wolf Pack failed to record another victory in the four games that followed.

“We just didn’t hit the whole tournament,” said Head Coach Ray Chadwick. “ When you

don’t hit you have to pitch and play defence a lot better. We didn’t do that. We were lucky to get into the semi-finals.”

The Wolf Pack are team that has battled through adversity all year, losing key players to sig-nif icant injuries early on, but managed to f inish the season with a very respectable record and even won 7 of their last 10 games. It was the type of clutch performance that would be cru-cial in the championships. Un-

fortunately, the Wolf Pack wasn’t able to sustain that high level of play.

“We got here and went back-wards,” said Chadwick, in con-cluding his characterization of the team’s season. “It wasn’t the time to do it.”

The Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs went on to win the tour-nament and capture their second consecutive league champion-ship Sunday May 13, defeating the Vancouver Baseball Institute Mariners by a score of 5-1. The Dawgs were the favourites head-

ing into the week’s event and looked it, with 5 wins and 1 loss on the way to receiving the gold medal.

While it was a tough weekend for the WolfPack on the field, there were a few bright moments in the week’s events. Prior to the commencement of this tourna-ment play, the WolfPack made an impressive showing at the CCBC Awards Banquet, as three players took home individual awards.

Alex Condon finished the season with league highs in home runs (9) and RBIs (30), David Hole was named the top hitter in the league with a batting-average of .374 and pitcher Denver Wynn finished tied for the most wins with 5 on the sea-son. TRU was well represented on the league’s all-star teams as well, as Alex Condon, Tyler Lowey, and Denver Wynn were named first team all-stars, and David Hole and Jimmy Semaschuk were selected as second team all-stars.

With the conclusion of the sea-son, the WolfPack’s focus now turns to next year and the roster that will represent TRU on the field. Coach Chadwick is confi-dent that the future is bright for the WolfPack.

“As long as I’m here we will al-ways be competitive. We will al-ways be the top two or three teams in this league,” he said.

Ω ContributorAdam Williams

WolfPack baseball’s Alex Condon (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

The Canadian Football League’s B.C. Lions will once again hold their spring training camp right here at TRU beginning May 30. The rookies arrive for a three-day camp before the veterens arrive. It is a physically and emotionally gruelling time for the players, and you can show them your support by getting out for Fan Day at Hillside Stadium on Sunday, Jun. 10. Bring your black and orange and get some autographs while you’re there. —PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 29 7

Across

1. Donkeywork5. Window type10. “Love Will Find ___”14. Puente ___15. Winter wear16. Radial, e.g.17. Con escapes from the “City

of Festivals”?20. Demagogue, for short21. Plays mind games22. Exigencies23. Aces, sometimes24. ___ lox26. Some are secret29. Diminish30. Carney, to pals33. Medicinal balsam34. Daring Sufi35. Former French coin36. Con escapes from the home

of ESPN?40. Before now41. Defeat42. Italian magistrate43. Nevertheless44. British cape45. Grim Reaper prop47. 2.54 centimeters48. Chutzpah49. Scandinavian currency52. Greek letter53. ___ de deux

56. Con escapes from resort peninsula?60. Drone, e.g.61. Tyrone ___, American boxer62. American record label63. Snoop Dogg song64. Sock fabric65. Kid brother, e.g.

Down

1. Pack (down)2. Medley3. Common contraction4. Down and dirty5. Works6. Libertines7. Chafes8. Squeeze out9. Police, with “the”10. Addled11. Owlish?12. Bone-dry13. Cravings18. Bee, to Opie19. Flip23. ___ probandi24. “___ Lunch”25. Auricular26. Safely distant27. Deep valley28. “The Hippopotamus” poet29. Marriage announcement30. English race place

31. ___ draft32. Student getting one-on-one

help34. Kin37. Dig38. Powerful cartel39. Romantic interlude (var.)45. Shiny fabric46. Attack with nails47. Dickey48. Bananas49. Dole’s running mate, 199650. Shag rugs51. Bribes52. Murti53. Corn ___54. Song and dance, e.g.55. “Laugh-In” segment57. ___ system (re: blood)58. Neither’s partner59. Western Pacific island

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May, 20128

Life & Community

As has happened 37 years in a row, the faces around Stuart Wood Elementary had a little more paint on them one sunny May afternoon and the f ield was lined with many colourful signs. Because, as has happened 36 years in a row previously, the Kamloops Peace Walk was about to commence.

The sun was high and hot as local musicians were crooning and playing guitar to the crowd before the microphone was re-turned to George Feenstra, the event’s MC.

Music and speeches, po-ems and art were presented in preparation for the walk around the downtown core to promote peace, social justice and the en-vironment.

Despite the cheerful, sunny demeanour on May 5, the artists and speakers who took the stage and streets had a serious mes-sage — well, not one message but many. They hoped to shed light on signif icant local, na-tional and international issues. Everyone at this event had been inspired to stand up and speak out, and pass the torch on to oth-ers to do the same.

According to Anita Strong, member of the Council of Ca-nadians, the co-sponsor of the event for the last 13 years, the goal of the day is more than awareness, but to call people to action.

“I think the people go away from an event like this and get inspired to do something, to join a group, to speak out,” said Strong.

“It makes me really happy that there is this kind of support,” she said. This year saw over 250 participants.

“More and more people are getting involved every year,” said John Hall, the president of the Kamloops & District Labour Council, the other co-sponsor that has been involved since the f irst event in 1975.

In his address to the crowd he touched on many injustices that Canadian workers have been subjected to.

“Many of our rights are being threatened. We’re here today be-cause of a government that puts profit before people and profit before the protection of our en-vironment.”

Hall organized peace walks in the lower mainland before he moved to Kamloops and has been involved in this one since he arrived here 15 years ago.

“It’s a matter of priorities and values, and we’d like to see the values that Canadians used to have,” said Strong.

The issues discussed also came from a local level. Much of the art and many of the pre-sentations were regarding the proposed KGHM Ajax mine, an open-pit copper and gold mine located 50 percent within Kam-loops’ south east city limits.

Charmian and Bill Ferguson were also in attendance. They (along with their children) orga-nized the f irst walk 37 years ago, and have been active members of the Kamloops community for decades.

“There’s no quick f ix to any-thing,” said Bill. “It’s a slow pro-cess and it takes a long time.”

One idea that was common to much of the day was that peace is something not to take for granted, but for each Canadian to actively f ight for. “Peace can-not be passivity, it is a constant effort and takes great strength,” Athena Gradwell said to the crowd. She is a local activist who has spoken out against Ajax in the past.

Having described the battle of peace, the swelling crowd took to Battle Street to begin the march around the down-town core. Feenstra kept the participants (including babies, dogs, and costumed and face-painted adults) lively and loud. In return, they were met with honks and cheers from the cars and sidewalks. The cheers were both positive and negative, some calling out from a pro-mining stance, for example.

Upon their return, the crowd was treated with the sounds of local Kamloops band Caliente, who was crooning, “I am every-day people,” which was befitting a gathering promoting peace and equality

Peace is something to fight forΩ ContributorSamantha Garvey

TOP: The longest running Peace Walk in the country begins at Stuart Wood Elemantary School before heading into the downtown streets of Kamloops.

ABOVE: Local business owner and Kamloops city councillor Donovan Cavers.

BELOW LEFT: Local artist Vaughn Warren and daughter Tesserae, 7, ready their signs in anticipation of this year’s peace walk

BELOW RIGHT: Charmian and Bill Ferguson began the First Annual Peace Walk in 1975, and have been involved ever since. —ALL PHOTOS BY SAMANTHA GARVEY

37th Annual Kamloops Peace Walk takes to the streets of downtown Kamloops yet again

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May, 2012