THEVOICE | 6 Whit Twitt TI hite women have an im- mediate responsibility to use the online mo- mentum of #MeToo to support the voices of Indigenous women. Last Saturday, a rally was held in Vancouver to = condemn the acquittal of Ray- mond Cormier, the white man on trial for the murder of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine from the Sag- keeng First Nation. Calls of “Justice for Tina,” mingled with calls from local Indigenous activists like Audrey Siegel to, “Get your men in order.” This is a clear directive, to white women: do something about white, male violence against Indigenous people. One way to begin is by di- recting our social media platforms to address aggression aimed at In- digenous Twitter. Disappointingly, by around 3 p-m. on Saturday, the hashtag #Jus- ticeforTinaFontaine had dropped off the trending list in Vancouver, even as the rally continued. Another notable hashtag popped up in the days following the ver- dict. As Indigenous activists took to Twitter to express their outrage at Cormier’s acquittal they faced backlash from some white users. The hashtag #settlercollector was quickly invoked as a call to white allies to “collect their trash,” a phrase used to ask white people to take up the burden of respond- ing to racially motivated attacks by other white people on social media. “In the wake of the #TinaFon- taine verdict, if you're an Indig- enous person getting harassed by racist trolls, please use #SettlerCol- lector and #trollcollector so you don't have to deal with them. Al- lies: time to get to work,” one user tweeted. Another added the hashtag in her response to a tweet blaming Fontaine’s family for her death, “Dear white folks, come get this fool. He belongs to you.” Media analytics company Cision tracked incidents of hate speech online in Canada and reported a 600 per cent increase from 2015 to 2016 in tags like #whitepower. A growth in visibility of open racism is emboldening to others, and it is the duty of white women on Twitter to take action. It is not about shutting down conversations, but rather white people doing the grunt work to deflect ignorant tweeters away from online spaces that Indigenous Twitter uses to or- ganize or vent fury. OPINION WILSON THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018 | JENNIFER EDITOR JENNIFER WILSON “This never would've happened when I was a prince. © Langara College biology students dissect around 550 animal specimens per year in classes. ci0£ LOGAN ILLUSTRATION Teacher! Leave them frogs alone t Langara College, three biology classes include the dissection of dead animals in their lesson plans. Although students have the option to not participate, the school still stands by dissection, instead of opting for an alternative such as vir- tual models. Dissection is a practice that is not only unnecessarily cruel, but one that negatively impacts the environment. Last week, the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cru- elty to Animals criticized Langara for continuing to use dissection. Langara argued that animals used in the process are donated as a food source to organizations like the Orphaned WildLife Rehabili- tation Society which feeds them to rescued owls. Of the 550 specimens dissected OPINION on campus annually, only 36 rats and 32 quail last semester went to the owls. That leaves a lot of ani- mals as refuse. These specimens turn into envi- ronmental haz- ards once stu- dents are through with their dissec- tions. Animal-based waste requires more energy to decompose than plant-based ma- terial and emits more greenhouse gases when doing so. Couple that with the fact that many of the dead animals contain- ing hazardous embalming chemi- cals and the environmental impact CLOE LOGAN worsens. Chemicals typically used in dis- section include formaldehyde which breaks down into harmful carbon monoxide in the air. This chemical can be harmful to students when inhaled. It has also been identified as toxic to marine life if it finds its way into water sys- tems. Why are nonessential, toxic chemicals in the classroom at all? An investment in technology, such as 3D animations, that would allow for students to learn without environmental harm, is a step the college should be willing to take. Langara’s official website says “We know that our choices, both big and small, impact our world and future generations.” Eliminating dissection would be a choice, perhaps a big one, that could have a positive impact. Viewpoints Bitter sweet profits t’s no secret: British Columbi- I ans love their alcohol. While drinking isn’t inher- ently bad, when organizations start marketing brewing as a hobby, the line needs to be drawn between learning opportunities and a path- way to alcohol 7 abuse. A 2016 study, by The Univer- sity of Victo- ria, shows the a average adult as % in British Co- 3 Ee lumbia drinks around 720 OPINION bottles of beer, ————————— or 124 bottles NATHAN of wine, per year, GAN a statistic that’s been on the rise in recent years. ‘The study suggests a link between B.C.’s increased imbibing and re- forms allowing for new liquor mar- keting strategies, like happy hours. One such strategy has been to build on Vancouver's craze for “cre- ate-your-own’ workshops. Wheth- er it’s T-shirts or tinctures, there's always been an appetite in this city for learning how to make person- alized versions of popular products using natural or local ingredients. Recently Tailored Spirits, a South Vancouver distillery hosted The Stanley Park Ecology Society’s “create-your-own” workshop that invited participants to brew bitters from foraged park plants such as Cinchona bark. Bitters are liquors which, in the past, have been mar- keted as medicinal products, as well as cocktail additives. Such workshops are, in fact, an unnecessary excuse for attendants to drink while paying for an activ- ity simple enough to do in your own home. Companies that capi- talize on the thirst of Vancouverites for small-batch, local products, risk turning hobbies into bad habits. However benevolent the inten- “720 bottles of beer, or 124 bottles of wine, per year.” -B.C. ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION STUDY, 2016 tions of the ecology society were, the result was that more alcohol was sold. If gaining knowledge of local foliage was the major inten- tion of these events, an interactive tour of the parks would suffice. The less that communities nor- malize liquor consumption through craft events, the more chances con- sumers have to make legitimately constructive life choices that would be more invigorating than any Cin- chona bark bitters could ever be. The Voice is pub- lished by Langara College’s joumalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. They may be edited for brevity. Your letter must in- clude your name and phone number. HOW TO DROP-IN REACH US Room A226 Langara College PHONE 604-323-5396 SNAIL MAIL The Voice E-MAIL 100 West 49th Ave. thevoice@langara. Vancouver, B.C. be.ca V5Y 226 WEBSITE MANAGING EDITOR langaravoice.ca Becca Clarkson PAGE EDITORS PAGE 7 PAGE 1 Lindsey Lloyd Danica Walker PAGE 8 PAGE 2 Ana Rose Walkey Becca Clarkson PAGE 3 MANAGING Natalia Buendia WEBSITE Calvillo EDITOR PAGE 4&5 Perrin Grauer Lisa Tanh PAGE 6 WEB EDITORS Jennifer Wilson Myra Dionne Nick Valka William Crosby REPORTERS FACULTY Agazy Mengesha MANAGING Amanda Poole EDITOR Cameron Thomson Erica Bulman Cloe Logan ebulman@langara. 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