THEVOICE |

6

Not okay
to forget
Womens
Day

here’s a relative lack of events

for International Women’s Day

in Vancouver this year, but this
does not mean that the women’s move-
ment is losing steam.

With women’s marches taking place
around the world in January, and
the Vancouver one attracting around
15,000, it seems
safe to say that in-
terest in feminism
is alive and well.
‘The events were
spurred by dissent
against the inau-
guration of ULS.
President Donald
Trump, who has
been described as
a misogynist and
enemy of women’s
rights.

International Women’s Day, original-
ly International Working Women’s Day,
began as a left-wing political solidarity
observance. In many countries, the day
has lost its political character, and is
celebrated as a holiday akin to Mother’s
Day. This means that in places like Can-
ada, where the celebration is still very
political, it can potentially alienate peo-
ple of a different ideological persuasion.

Feminism is a big tent and is still a
strong movement unified by the belief
in gender equality. However, like any so-
cial movement that has been around for
over a century, feminism boasts many
schools of thought that are as diverse as
the people involved. This diversity can
naturally lead to friction, as demon-
strated with the dismissiveness toward
pro-life feminists planning to join the
Women’s March on Washington.

Divisions in the women’s movement
may be indicative of the limits of iden-
tity politics in general. Every individual
contains a myriad of identities, and in
emphasizing one, you may run the risk
of diminishing others.

Still, the fact remains that the insti-
tutional misogyny of the Trump admin-
istration was protested throughout the
world. This is why it is a shame to see a
comparative lack of interest in Interna-
tional Women’s Day, which is an annual
reminder of how far we have to go to
achieve gender parity.

OPINION

SAM
MOWERS

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 |

best thing

since sliced bread.
In the past de-
cade, one of the
greatest taboos
in our society has
become driving
under the influ-
ence of alcohol
for the entirely
understandable
reason that you are

OPINION

KURTIS
GREGORY

piloting a one-ton

EDITOR CLARE HENNIG

hunk of metal while partially delirious.
For those of us who don’t like walk-
ing home or paying for a cab after a
night out — and [—
are aware that in
B.C. drunk driv-
ing kills 66 people
on average per
year, according to
ICBC — biking
seems like a per-
fect solution. Even
more so, biking is significantly easier
when drunk and actually pretty fun.
Various bike shops around the Lower
Mainland seem to be picking up on

“Biking is
significantly easier
when drunk and
actually pretty fun.”

the benefits and increasing popular-
ity of drinking and riding, offering
beer can holders for your bike. If that
—] image wasn’t the
most Vancouver
hipster chic thing
you've pictured in
a while, then per-
haps the growing
trend of micro-
brewery bike
crawls will be.

As someone who has taken part in
biking whilst blasted many times, I
should warn any excited readers that,

while it seems like a fun Friday night,

Viewpoints

No safe ride, no problem:
Bike home from the bar

f you ignore the inherent idiocy
of the activity, biking under the
influence of alcohol might be the

it can have unexpectedly sudden conse-
quences.

The fact is, trash cans, cars and curbs
are much harder to see when you're bik-
ing home drunk at two in the morning.
And while the alcohol will conveniently
numb the pain until you wake up the
next morning with road rash down the
side of your face (personal experience),
there is always a chance that you won't
wake up from the crash.

You might be surprised to hear that
riding drunk isn’t actually illegal, so
long as you wear a helmet and dontt ride
on the sidewalk. Much like sliced bread,

it’s a vicious cycle of convenience.

Join the
conversation
@LangaraVoice

LAUREN BOOTHBY COMIC

Sanctuary city cant be just empty words

romises
are made
to be kept

and, in the ongo-
ing debates about
whether Vancou-

ver should adopt | = i
the name sanctu-

ary city, it’s crucial OPINION
to remember that ——————————
a name change

alone doesn’t help
if the follow-up

CLARE
HENNIG

responsibilities cannot be met.

City councillors and residents are di-
vided about whether Vancouver should
follow in the footsteps of Toronto and
Montreal to become a sanctuary city;
that is, a city that welcomes refugees by
asking no questions about immigration
status. This means that those without
legal documents have access to the same
municipal services as everyone else and
can live without fear of deportation.

Canada is a nation of immigrants
and working towards an openly equal

society, regardless of one’s origins, is a
worthy goal. Why shouldn’t someone

who has escaped

a crime to the police or borrow books
from the library? Why should a lack

of papers mean a

horrendous con- “Why should a lack lack of dignity and
ditions in their equality?
home country of papers meana Last April, Van-

and sought refuge
in Canada, who
is now waiting in
the endless line
of immigration ‘—
bureaucracy, have the freedom to access
medical services, go to school, report

lack of dignity and
equality?”

couver adopted an

“access without
fear” policy to help
support undocu-

— mented migrants
access services. Much of the arguments
for becoming a sanctuary city have been

examined and addressed with this pre-
vious policy. The issue that needs to be
tackled now is not whether such a pol-
icy should exist but rather how to best
implement it. And that means everyone,
from police to medical officers, need to
be on board.

The problem is the term sanctuary
city has no legal definition or weight.
A city, despite what councillorsn decide,
cannot overstep federal immigration
law. If protection is going to be offered,
that promise needs to be a guarantee.

The Voice is pub-
lished by Langara
College’s joumalism

government and
administration. We
welcome letters to

department. Editorial — the editor. They may
opinions are those be edited for brevity.
of the staff and Your letter must in-
are independent of clude your name and
views of the student 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 Alyse Kotyk

PAGE EDITORS PAGE 6

PAGE 1 Clare Hennig
Melanie Green PAGE 7
PAGE2 Sean Hitrec
Alyse Kotyk PAGE 8
PAGE3 Tanner Bokor
Bonnie Lee La

Madeleine MANAGING
PAGE 4 WEBEDITOR
Chelsea Powrie Caitlin O'Flanagan
PAGE 5

Stuart Neatby WEB EDITORS

Kristyn Anthony Evan Hagedorn

Lauren Boothby Violetta Kryak

Michele Paulse Sasha Lakic

Emelie Peacock Cass Lucke

Cheryl Whiting Sydney Morton

Bala Yogesh Sam Mowers
Cassandra Osbome

REPORTERS Rica Talay

Duncan Anderson Christopher Thoroski

Laura Brougham Shoji Whittier

Jason Gilder Sasha Zeidler

Kurtis Gregory

CONTACT
US
Online at
langaravoice.ca
Twitter
@LangaraVoice
Erica Bulman - The Voice instructor
ebulman@langara.be.ca