The Hamilton-based project Filipinas of HamONT is using interviews and surveys to find and connect the community
There are not enough spaces in Hamilton where BIPOC feel that they belong. BIPOC in the Steel City often feel disconnected from their heritage, their history and their community.
This is a problem that Anabelle Ragsag and Jessica Vinluan are hoping that folks in Hamilton with Filipino heritage will one day no longer have to face. They are helping to tackle the problem with their community-engaged project, Filipinas of HamONT.
Ragsag is an author and educator with a background in politics who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 2009. Vinluan is a teacher, the founder of BIPOC youth organization Redefine Twenty and a second-generation Filipina-Canadian who was born and raised in Hamilton.
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With their different backgrounds, they have made their project Filipinas of HamONT for all Filipinas in the city of Hamilton, whether they were born and raised in the city, a naturalized citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer or just passing by as is the case for many students.
They have made their project Filipinas of HamONT for all Filipinas in the city of Hamilton, whether they were born and raised in the city, a naturalized citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer or just passing by as is the case for many students.
The pair met in early 2020 at a Reaching for Power workshop, an initiative that teaches BIPOC women and non-binary individuals how to make a positive change in their communities. After the workshop series ended, Ragsag and Vinluan began in June 2020 to think about creating a project for the Filipina community. In fall 2020, they received a microgrant for the project and began sharing it with the larger community in November.
The project initially consisted of a survey designed to map where Filipinas in Hamilton are located. The survey asks for participants’ demographic information including: their highest completed education level; the province in the Philippines that any member of their family is from; if they are working, the industry in which they are employed; and the effect that COVID-19 has had on their livelihood.
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The survey results will be shared to show where Filipinas in Hamilton are. As Filipinas began immigrating to Hamilton in the 1960s to build the health sector, Ragsag and Vinluan anticipated that many of the Filipinas that participate in their survey will work in this area. However, they began to find Filipinas outside of this sector when they decided to complement their survey with interviews with Hamilton-based Filipinas.
“[E]specially being born and raised in Hamilton, I didn't really think that I could see Filipinas in different spaces and I think to be able to see that . . . like, “oh, you're not just in the health sector, there's other avenues that maybe I can take if I see myself in them” . . . [The project is] validating that it's not just in the health sector, but like other aspects as well and other spaces that Filipinos are taking up,” said Vinluan.
"[The project is] validating that it's not just in the health sector, but like other aspects as well and other spaces that Filipinos are taking up," said Vinluan.
Ragsag and Vinluan have completed eight of the 10 interviews that they aimed to do. They shared the first interview on Nov. 13, 2020 and will continue to share them until March 2021. The interview series neatly exemplifies the intention behind the project: they want to share stories of leadership, empowerment and living between two cultures.
“I grew up and it was very white-dominated spaces. I think that, as a Filipina, I felt like I didn't belong in a lot of the spaces . . . I felt like I couldn't have these kinds of conversations around dual identity and things that I feel like I had difficulties navigating. So, when Anabelle brought up the idea of starting Filipinas of HamONT through the YWCA project, I was so excited because I know there's a lot of these kinds of community collectives in Toronto . . . but I also feel like I don't belong because it's Toronto and I'm from Hamilton,” explained Vinluan.
Based on the feedback from some of their interviewees, Ragsag and Vinluan are working towards running online events that will enable them to continue the important conversations they began in the interviews. They are considering running a book club where they would read works by Filipino authors and hosting workshops on the history of the Philippines.
“I saw that a lot of second and multiple generations of those with Filipino roots have this thirst to know more about what it is like. What does it mean if I don't speak Filipino, if I don't speak Tagalog, am I still Filipino? Because of my teaching background . . . I thought that's something that I can do. That is something that I can contribute to the community,” said Ragsag.
“I saw that a lot of second and multiple generations of those with Filipino roots have this thirst to know more about what it is like. What does it mean if I don't speak Filipino, if I don't speak Tagalog, am I still Filipino?" said Ragsag.
However, in starting this project, Ragsag and Vinluan do not intend to take away from the work done by established Filipino organizations in Hamilton. They recognize the importance of churches, cultural gatherings, all-Filipino sports tournaments and student organizations such as the Filipino McMaster Student Association. They aim to work alongside these organizations to connect the Filipina community.
Despite the name, Ragsag and Vinluan are not completely closing the project to woman-identifying individuals. The project is intended to evolve with community needs.
“We see that our being here in Canada is rooted to that history of a feminized migration . . . So I think it started from there but at the same time, the project is an evolving one – it's not set in stone — and we are aware that identities are fluid, as well . . . the role of those who don't identify as male or female have been there in history but they [were] erased by colonization. That is one of the topics that we want to discuss: what is it in our history that was erased? Can we uncover them?” said Ragsag.
Ragsag and Vinluan hope that this project will enable them and other Hamilton-based Filipinas to continue learning more about their history and heritage. By having these conversations with their community and connecting with established organizations, the project will help ensure that every Filipina in Hamilton feels they belong.
Handknit Yarn Studio continues to provide a space for learning and connection during COVID-19
As we move into the winter months, many are looking for activities and hobbies to occupy their time with, especially given the stricter pandemic protocols and travel restrictions.
A fitting hobby for the holiday season is knitting and other yarn crafts, as they are an excellent technology-free pastime and can also make great holiday gifts. Since opening in 2013, Hamilton’s Handknit Yarn Studio has provided not just the space to learn a new hobby but also a space to connect with the community.
Tracy Young opened Handknit Yarn Studio at the encouragement of her friend Kate Hand, who is also now her business partner. Located at 144 James St. North, they carry a collection of quality, independent and eco-friendly yarn as well as a variety of other needlecraft products.
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More than just being a local yarn shop, it’s also important to the staff at Handknit Yarn Studio to provide a space for the community to connect and gather. Prior to the pandemic, they offered a number of classes and workshops, “knit nights”, seasonal knitalongs and other community events.
“[Many] customers have become regulars and because they come to the Knitalong meetings, they've really gotten to know each other. So, they've made friends at the shop and we've really created a sense of community with the Knitalongs,” explained Young.
“[Many] customers have become regulars and because they come to the Knitalong meetings, they've really gotten to know each other. So, they've made friends at the shop and we've really created a sense of community with the Knitalongs,” explained Young.
The pandemic hasn’t affected their business too terribly. While they have seen some reductions in sales, they have also seen many people taking up knitting and yarn crafts again, particularly as a de-stressor during these trying times.
“[The pandemic] just shuffled things around a little bit . . . We were shut down for a while and now we have a lot of restrictions in place. We don't really have the traffic that we are accustomed to, especially this time of the year, so we've had to be really creative in the way that we do business now. We had to educate and steer people towards online shopping more, or at the very least sort of pre-shopping online before they come in to visit us so that they can minimize their exposure when they come into the shop,” said Young.
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The pandemic has profoundly affected the ways in which Handknit Yarn Studio can facilitate community connections. They have been using Instagram Live to host regular Knit in the Cloud meetings and have adapted their seasonal knitalongs to an online format.
Additionally, they have a well-stocked online store with wonderfully detailed descriptions and instructions for each product, and a variety of online learning resources. They are also offering shopping appointments, if people would like to physically come into the store.
So far, their pandemic adaptations have been well received by customers, with many in particular enjoying the Instagram Live sessions.
“They really enjoyed just kind of watching one or two members like goofing off on Instagram . . . I think that it really has almost filled that gap that we had from not being able to meet at the store. They really do feel like they were able to keep a connection with us just by watching us on Instagram,” said Young.
"I think that it really has almost filled that gap that we had from not being able to meet at the store. They really do feel like they were able to keep a connection with us just by watching us on Instagram,” said Young.
Young hopes that the Knit in the Cloud meetings can especially help those who are alone during the pandemic.
“I just hope that after watching us on an Instagram Live that [people] don't feel as disconnected and isolated. Not everybody sees a lot of people these days, so we just hope that if they see us chatting to each other and they even make comments back and forth amongst each other while they're watching, it's just a way to stay connected with people,” explained Young.
By: Esther Liu, Contributor
The Silhouette: What is a moment that made you a stronger person?
Sowmithree Ragothaman: After I finished my first year [of health sciences at McMaster University], I was looking to apply to jobs so that I could get my first work experience and make some money during the summer so I wouldn't have to be so reliant on my parents. But, I feel like I was really unaccustomed [to] what would be expected of me. I had no clue how to write a resume or a cover letter
I would scroll through millions of jobs on Indeed and all those platforms to try and find something in line with what I was hoping to do in the future, but also something that I would be actually qualified for. Honestly, it was really frustrating and kind of disappointing because I didn't get any responses for months and months on end. I think I just kept trying because I was too proud to admit to myself that maybe I should give up and try to do something else.
I felt like it was the first time where I felt I had been challenged like that . . . I was really upset and I feel like my emotions were all over the place during that summer where I just didn't know what to do with myself. So the next year, I worked on becoming much more involved in the community and I tried my best to go for positions to build up my level of expertise on all the different skills that I wanted to work on instead of being passive about [them] all.
It worked out: I got a job the next summer! I felt a lot more prepared and it was a job that I genuinely enjoyed doing. But I think having that failure in the first summer was what inspired me to start building on my foundations and find other ways to succeed than just the ways I expected.
What is something you’re really passionate about and want to act on?
I'm really interested in making improvements to the education system and to make it more accommodating for students with different learning styles. For a long time, I volunteered with students who were in an alternative learning program. The students I worked with were essentially ones that had difficulty coping with the normal school environment so they were using this alternative pathway to achieve a high school degree.
I really enjoyed interacting with them and I think that the program was beneficial for them overall, but I often felt frustrated by the kind of resources we were given. A lot of it was shifting towards being more tech-based [learning], but there were a lot of [technical] issues . . . So I felt it was really difficult to teach and include technology when the technology didn't even work . . . So looking forward, I really do want to become involved in education at whatever level I can and hopefully advocate for resources that are more accommodating and more suited to every learner.
When you were younger, what did you think you would grow up to be? Has this changed? If so, why?
When I was younger, our school used to have these assemblies. Sometimes students would get a chance to introduce themselves and talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up. I was really influenced by that – anytime anyone said anything, I would go "oh, I want to be that!" So, I feel like my choices would change weekly, cycling from teacher to doctor to lawyer to astronaut.
Then, as I grew a little bit older, I think my main aspiration was always to be an architect. I grew up in Dubai. There are so many different types of buildings and I used to marvel at those. It was really difficult for me to even wrap my head around the fact that it started from a design on a piece of paper and then you see it realized in real life. I also loved drawing, painting and creating with my hands, so I thought that architecture might be a good way to develop and invest in those talents in an actual career.
I also think that at a young age I was really interested in environmental sustainability. So I wanted to become an architect but also encourage sustainable design and architecture through my own design. I stuck to that all throughout high school as well.
The first time that my options changed and that I felt a little less sure about architecture was when I was applying to university programs. Architecture was a no-brainer option — I applied to architecture schools and urban planning schools but I had some doubts at the back of my mind. I think the reason for that was that I always really enjoyed science, the human sciences especially, but I had never really thought about going into anything that was even relevant to healthcare or human services.
But when I was in Grade 12, I had a really really wonderful biology teacher. She saw my interest and she made sure to really nurture it. I realized that architecture wasn't the only option I had and that, on the other hand, going into something healthcare-related worked better in my interests in terms of serving the community and biological sciences. I've also come to realize through that process is that a career option doesn't necessarily have to be something you stick to throughout your whole life and that there's always room for you to change and develop. So I got to be a little less afraid of not getting it right on the first try.
Through both its decor and food, Electric Diner is a throwback to the '80s
Located at 96 George Street, Electric Diner brings patrons back into a 1980s nostalgia wonderland. Cooking to the tune of the jukebox, owners Erika Puckering and Jamie Ewing invite you to take a seat at a booth, put down your cell phones and enjoy some comfort food.
Puckering grew up in Ottawa, where she attended school for fine arts and developed her love of visual design. After many years at her small marketing company, she relinquished the hustle and bustle to start a family business in Hamilton. With her husband Ewing, Puckering settled down to open Electric Diner.
The diner is the perfect intersection of Ewing’s culinary innovation and Puckering’s visual design. Puckering’s visual prowess manifests itself in the bright colour scheme, with tastefully over-the-top hot pink barstools, neon signs and sparkled paint. The ‘80s aesthetic comes out in details such as the jukebox and antique accents. They drew from their shared childhood experiences to create an epicentre of nostalgia.
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“[The ‘80s were] a very different time than what we’re living in right now. There were no cell phones. When you [were] trying to find your friend, you would just . . . find their bikes on the front lawn and that’s how you’d know where they were,” said Puckering.
“[The ‘80s were] a very different time than what we’re living in right now. There were no cell phones. When you [were] trying to find your friend, you would just . . . find their bikes on the front lawn and that’s how you’d know where they were.”
For the full sensory experience, a projector plays movies all day long, mimicking the experience of early morning retro cartoons.
“[Now] we have Netflix you can watch whatever you want, but back then if it was on it's on and if you missed it, you missed it . . . so we play cartoons from the '80s like He-Man and Transformers on Saturday and Sunday mornings so everyone can experience all five senses,” said Puckering.
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The flavours of the menu are equally suited to the diner’s eclectic and vibrant atmosphere, as Ewing elevates traditional diner food.
“[We} have a grilled cheese eggs benny, so instead of an English muffin it’s two miniature grilled cheese . . . it’s like an elevated eggs benedict, so it feels higher end but it’s also comforting,” said Puckering.
A fan favourite is the classic Electric Burger, where their commitment to sourcing local produce shines through. The burger is made using local artisanal bread, ground beef from a local butcher and a touch of hickory sticks for Jamie’s own spin on your classic burger.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the diner was open exclusively for takeout and pick-up in late March. Outdoor seating re-opened in mid-June. Currently, Electric Diner has an outdoor heated tent on the patio for diners looking to enjoy their food in an open, well-ventilated space. They have further adopted rigorous sanitation measures to ensure the safety of all diners.
While the diner initially struggled with reducing employee hours as business slowed, Puckering and Ewing try to maintain a positive outlook on the situation and used the pandemic as an opportunity to expand their social media presence.
“Our amount of followers and online presence really excelled during that time, so there’s sort of a silver lining. When we reopened, it was busier than it had ever been . . . it’s not about survival, it’s about adapting and changing,” said Puckering.
“Our amount of followers and online presence really excelled during that time, so there’s sort of a silver lining. When we reopened, it was busier than it had ever been . . . it’s not about survival, it’s about adapting and changing,” said Puckering.
As Electric Diner adapts their '80s setting to the climate of 2020, the diner serves as a reminder to all to live in the moment. Ewing and Puckering continue to find ways to be creative with the tools at their disposal and make the best of each day.
WHAT IS IT
Gold Bars Dessert is a travelling dessert shop that opened in March 2020. From butter tart bars to brownies, the shop specializes in dessert bars. Gold Bars Dessert offers holiday-themed bars and uses seasonal ingredients.
They offered Easter egg brownies around Easter, peach cobbler bars during Ontario’s peach season in August, pumpkin spice bars in October and are currently selling holiday cranberry bars and candy crunch brownies for the holiday season.
Gold Bars Dessert has also partnered with the Hamilton-based specialty coffee company Detour Coffee to offer their whole beans. Gold Bars sells espresso and medium roast, which were handpicked to pair with their dessert bars.
The dessert business combines owner Germaine Collins’ love of adventure with her love of sweets. The adventure lover has created a business that allows her to travel and connect to people through food.
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HOW TO GET IT
While the shop doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar location, they frequent farmers’ markets and host pop-up shops. In the summer and early fall of 2020, Gold Bars Desserts was a weekly vendor at Connon Nurseries’ Fall Farmers’ Market in Waterdown. They also did a Christmas pop-up at Connon Nurseries on Nov. 28. Check their website and social media to find out where they’ll be next.
When they are not at a market, Gold Bars dessert does local doorstep drop-offs. If you’re located in the Greater Hamilton area, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga or Toronto, you can order online for next-weekend delivery. The delivery days are announced on their website and on their social media.
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THE COST
At markets, you can buy individual bars for $3. For doorstep drop-offs, Gold Bars Desserts sells the boxes of bars on their website. A box of nine bars is $20 to $25 depending on the type. Each bar is about the size of a coaster. The delivery is an additional $5.
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WHAT TO GET
You really can’t go wrong with any of these dessert bars. They’re all decadent, filling and beautifully decorated. I would definitely recommend the OG brownie if you’re a chocolate fan because even after a couple of days, the brownie is still moist and rich inside. If you’re not a chocolate fan, I’d recommend the blondies or lemon bars.
If there is a seasonal dessert bar when you’re looking to purchase, definitely try that. I tried the cranberry holiday bars and it gave Starbucks’ cranberry bliss bars a run for its money.
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WHY IT'S GREAT
Gold Bars Desserts is perfect for the sweet tooth who adores a large, classic brownie or dessert bar. The variety of flavours and the seasonal creations make it an exciting business to visit month after month.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the perfect way to support a small business and satisfy your sweet tooth without having to leave your house. Having Collins visit my house on a Sunday afternoon to deliver me handmade sweets was the highlight of my weekend. With the pretty packaging and Collins’ handwritten notes, Gold Bars Dessert bars make the perfect gift for your loved ones.
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The mental illness label can have tremendous impacts and we should approach it with more care
By: Frank Chen, Contributor
CW: mentions of mental illness
Veterans of university know: this late-November to mid-December stretch is not a good time of the year. As midterms wrap up and exam season ramps into full gear, this is the point where students become overwhelmed, burnt out and exhausted. Yet, we have some of the most important examinations ahead. Especially in this “unprecedented” year, the burden on students is massive, and the McMaster University community has been vocal about it.
At the forefront of this is a discussion regarding student mental health. Over the past year, the ideas of mental health and mental illness have been thrown around a lot by students. Students are increasingly expressing loneliness, reporting frustration with coursework and burning out. As a result of those feelings, I’ve seen more and more people labelling themselves as depressed or anxious. But “mental illness” is a term with a lot more weight than many people realize.
When the “mental illness” tag is put on you, it’s often seen as a fixed state — a never-ending onslaught of “bad” mental health. It becomes easy to stop appreciating the good parts of your life when you fixate on the idea that you are “mentally unfit.” Regardless of illness or not, there can be real harm done just by the label itself.
As an example, in my first year of university (which was in person), I bought into the idea that my stresses and insecurities were a form of generalized anxiety disorder. Due to this, I put boundaries on how I could or could not act based on what I thought of my own mental state. This took away so many possibilities.
Instead, I now realize how my stresses in my first year could be reframed as a normal response to a change of environment and an adaptation to university life. But regardless, my belief of having anxiety limited me and it can be incredibly easy to misjudge these negative emotions to mental illness.
Both my personal experience and some of the nuances in how students talk about mental illness illustrate an important idea: that our view of mental illness can be incredibly individualized. In stressful situations that evoke emotional responses and actions, we often miscategorize our failings to ourselves rather than a product of our environment.
For example, students often blame themselves for their grades, for not being prepared enough or for not being that star student who can simultaneously juggle many commitments. However, what we fail to consider are the social contexts that we are in that often make it difficult to achieve these standards, such as home conditions, family duties or socioeconomic status.
In stressful situations that evoke emotional responses and actions, we often miscategorize our failings to ourselves rather than a product of our environment.
Similarly, students also often talk about mental health as a dichotomous issue, as either having good or bad mental health, which inherently puts pressure on themselves to “fix” their mental states. But realistically, everyone has good and bad days, largely influenced by the events and activities taking place that day. Mental health is less a fixed state based on your own failures, but rather something that is constantly fluctuating largely influenced by your surroundings.
Our individualized view of mental illness poses danger for those caught up in it. Mental health when approached from the view that it’s the fault of the individual can often lead to a vicious cycle where mental illness can lead to self-doubt and self-hate, furthering negative self-perceptions. The label of illness can be hard to escape from, but social context is key when approaching the way you feel. Understanding that the vast majority of signs and symptoms of what you may think is illness can actually come as normal responses to stressful contexts.
It can be hard to step back and convince yourself that social contexts can play the role it does. Historically, mental health as a discipline has been rooted in individualism, harkening back to the days when disabled people, 2SLGBTQIA+ folks and others who were deemed socially undesirable were blamed for their “mental illness.”
Mental illness was used as a tool to control those who didn’t conform to social standards set at the time, their purpose was originally to condemn the individual. In part, it’s this long-standing history of individualized mental illness that contributes to why so many people still think of it this way today.
With the impending exam season, we need to be more aware of the implications of a term like “mental illness.” As we move into a stressful time for students and educators alike, I hope that we can all consider whether those negative thoughts and emotions are truly arising from mental illness or something else — because it can be very easy to misattribute feelings as disease, when there can be bigger and broader social contexts in play.
Fifth-year men’s basketball player Kwasi Adu-Poku shares how he created his own business to motivate others
As the fall 2020 semester comes to an end, students continue to struggle with finding the balance between work, school and extracurriculars, all the while keeping themselves safe from COVID-19. Fifth-year McMaster University student and men’s basketball player, Kwasi Adu-Poku has been through his fair share of ups and downs this year. From all the experiences he has gathered, he felt that it was a time to give back to the student community.
Adu-Poku created The Reach Series after coming across an idea from Vince Luciani of Legacy Coaching. From the guidance and mentorship that Luciani gave Adu-Poku, he felt that it was his time to share a message and help uplift individuals.
“It gave me the confidence to make a business with the goal of empowering people,” said Adu-Poku.
The Reach Series is where Adu-Poku turned his real-life experiences into relatable lessons. From these lessons, he develops motivational workshops. His first goal was to run the workshops for four weeks in two formats: group settings and one-on-ones.
A benefit of the group workshops that Adu-Poku realized was that attendees could relate to each other and thus the workshop itself became more interactive. In terms of the one-on-ones, he believed that it would provide individuals with more time and space for reflection, with some personalized guidance.
“The big thing was that it was a constructive and organized way to uplift people through online workshops,” said Adu-Poku.
“The big thing was that it was a constructive and organized way to uplift people through online workshops,” said Adu-Poku.
Each workshop would be a safe space that was based on an experience of his own life. Although they are somewhat structured, Adu-Poku encourages all discussion within the space. For example, during the third week, his workshop dove into the issue of mental health, where he touched upon some of his own personal struggles during his past couple years of undergrad.
“It is ok to have these problems and I hope to provide them with various outlets and resources,’’ Adu-Poku emphasized.
As Adu-Poku explained, the premise of The Reach Series is to relate to what is going on in the world and help uplift people to the best of his ability. One such example is a charity drive Adu-Poku co-created, in which they were able to raise $360.
“Why not support these causes but help the world on a larger scale?” said Adu-Poku.
Despite working for his older brother’s business in the past, The Reach Series is the first entrepreneurial endeavour Adu-Poku has embarked on. As a student, he understands the need to manage his time while also staying on top of school responsibilities.
“When I started to make [The Reach Series], it was a four-week blitz before school got heavy. It takes up my time with extracurricular activities and graduate school applications . . . Time and stress management [have] been key,” said Adu-Poku.
“When I started to make [The Reach Series], it was a four-week blitz before school got heavy. It takes up my time with extracurricular activities and graduate school applications . . . Time and stress management [have] been key,” said Adu-Poku.
From a business perspective, he has not suffered like many other small businesses have due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Adu-Poku is a student with career aspirations in the field of economic policy, his business likely will not be his main career when he graduates from McMaster. Yet, he continues The Reach Series in order to continue spreading messages of positivity.
“Even with the prices I was recommended to charge, I lowered it and made it more affordable for people to [attend] these workshops. From a financial point of view, I charge a bit to value my time but ensure it’s worth it and accessible for [the attendees],” said Adu-Poku.
“Even with the prices I was recommended to charge, I lowered it and made it more affordable for people to [attend] these workshops. From a financial point of view, I charge a bit to value my time but ensure it’s worth it and accessible for [the attendees],” said Adu-Poku.
He is currently looking at making his business a non-profit organization.
Despite running the workshops by himself, he has hosted guest speakers in the past. His first guest speaker, Mussa Gikineh, was the 2020 valedictorian for the DeGroote School of Business. They both participated in a panel after which they discussed a possible collaboration that surmounted in the charity drive, which was actually created by both Adu-Poku and Gikineh.
Just recently, Adu-Poku hosted the Hoopers Talk, an event where they looked at athletes from outside the court. The event acted as a space to support Ontario University Athletics basketball players after the cancellation of their season due to the pandemic.
As of now, the workshops only run virtually. Despite it being convenient due to no transportation, Adu-Poku says he would like to bring people close in person, but only when it is safe to do so. With that being said, the feedback he received has been exceptional, with attendees feeling a new sense of community.
As Adu-Poku plans to graduate in April 2021, The Reach Series is something he hopes to continue on the side.
“I feel like using this platform to genuinely uplift others and interact with them can not only get me some income but also provide me some sort of fulfillment,” says Adu-Poku.
“I feel like using this platform to genuinely uplift others and interact with them can not only get me some income but also provide me some sort of fulfillment,” says Adu-Poku.
The plight of the Uyghurs must be recognized as genocide by the international community and students have a responsibility to advocate for their human rights
cw: genocide
What is happening to the Uyghurs? Depending on who you ask, you will receive helpfully pedantic descriptions such as: “education,” “vocational training,” “repression,” “violent suppression,” “cultural genocide,” “postmodern genocide” and “demographic genocide.” The first two, offered as explanations by the Chinese state are fictitious to the point of absurdity. Similarly, the finger-wagging condemnations of “repression” and even “violent suppression,” while ostensibly denouncing the treatment of Uyghurs evade more significant criticisms.
Rather incomprehensibly, most accusations of genocide invariably insert a qualifier — “demographic,” “cultural” and “postmodern” — perhaps to make the charges more palatable, less alarming and less meaningful. The fundamental question remains: is this a genocide, in the true sense of the word?
Unfortunately, previous experiences with the matter furnish us with the answer. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was signed by China in 1948, lists the actions that qualify as genocidal when they are inflicted with the intent to destroy, entirely or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. One such condition is the infliction of severe physical or mental harm on members of the group.
Since 2014, the Chinese government has routinely and arbitrarily imprisoned Uyghurs in “re-education camps” — essentially concentration camps where detainees are tortured, starved and beaten, subjected to waterboarding and electric shocks and psychologically tortured. Testimony from escaped detainees and their families can hardly fail to convince even the most dispassionate judge that such actions constitute serious physical and mental harm. This is genocide.
Under said UN convention, that should be enough to constitute genocide. However, we are fortunate enough to be supplied with enough evidence so as to be excessive in our exposition. Another condition for genocide is the undertaking of activities to prevent births within the group.
An investigation by the Associated Press revealed that Uyghur women were: forcibly implanted with an intrauterine device; underwent unwanted sterilization, abortions and pregnancy checks; were force-fed birth control pills and injected with unknown fluids; had their children removed and placed in orphanages; and were sent to camps for giving birth to multiple children.
Between 2015 and 2018, the birth rate in some ethnically Uyghur areas had plummeted more than 60 per cent. To all appearances, these actions can only be aimed at dramatically decreasing the Uyghur birth rate and ultimately reducing the size of the group until it is easily assimilable. This is genocide.
This is not to say that the charges of, say, cultural genocide are any less morally repugnant; they are simply not enough. An article first published in the Financial Times argues that our society has “fetishized” genocide as the ultimate, virtually uncommittable horror — historical memory has set the bar too high. Such a view of genocide makes possible only retrospective acknowledgment, thereby obstructing efforts at prevention.
Shall we then settle for milder, qualified accusations and hope for an equally mild response? Certainly not. What is needed now is the civic and political courage to stand behind that coda to one of humanity’s greatest failings, “Never Again,” and ensure that the genocide of the Uyghurs is recognized, terminated and prosecuted.
University students have a long and venerable tradition as progressive champions of human rights. From the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley campus to climate change advocacy, university students have a unique cohesion and shared experience that makes organization and protest against injustices a successful weapon of change.
As the Canadian government moves towards recognizing the Chinese government’s policy as genocide, the McMaster University student body, along with other groups in Canada, have the responsibility to advocate for oppressed peoples around the globe. Letter writing campaigns, opinion pieces, protests, raising social awareness — these are all actions we can and must undertake to stop the Uyghur genocide and ensure that the “Never Again” does not happen again.
Even on the other side of the globe, students can still play a part in spreading awareness
In 2019, controversy surrounding a now-former McMaster Students Union club known as the Chinese Students and Scholars Association arose.
The controversy began when activists came to the McMaster University campus to give a speech regarding the Uyghur Muslim camps in Xinjiang, China. McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice and McMaster Muslim Students’ Association invited Rukiye Turdush, an Uyghur activist, to McMaster in February 2019.
Xinjiang, officially the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is a region in western China populated by a great number of Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities. Since 2017, reports of disappearances of Uyghur Muslims began and there were suspicions about those people being taken away to internment camps.
China initially denied the existence of these camps, but later referred to them as re-education camps aimed at alleviating poverty and extremism.
China initially denied the existence of these camps, but later referred to them as re-education camps aimed at alleviating poverty and extremism.
Turdush's speech sparked fury amongst some Chinese students, particularly because Turdush is considered a separatist. Several Chinese students filmed the presentation. The Washington Post directly translated group chat messages, letters, and conducted interviews with three event attendees. The Washington Post's translation confirms that some Chinese students contacted the Chinese Embassy. However, these students were acting independently and not acting on behalf of the CSSA.
Other screenshots, also translated by the Washington Post, showed that the Chinese Consulate of Toronto instructed those students to see whether university officials attended Turdush’s talk and whether Chinese nationals had organized the talk.
A statement signed by various McMaster Chinese clubs and organizations, including the CSSA, further evidenced that the students had contacted the Chinese Consulate of Toronto.
Here is the statement that the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at McMaster University issued after a Uighur young woman gave a talk there about the cultural genocide against Uighurs in China. H/t @ShengXue_ca for posting the original statement. My translation follows: pic.twitter.com/XSj5RT9jeL
— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) February 14, 2019
In September 2019, a report was submitted to the Student Representative Assembly in favour of revoking the CSSA of their club status due to a violation of Clubs Operating Policy, committing a Class C Offence under 5.1.3.
“Class C Offences are actions which endanger the safety or security of any person or property,” stated the MSU Operating Policy on Clubs Status. Further, 5.1.4 stated that “Class C Offences will always result in a punitive sanction.”
“Class C Offences are actions which endanger the safety or security of any person or property,” stated the MSU Operating Policy on Clubs Status.
The club was de-ratified by the MSU, stripping the club of its official club status.
In a second attempt to host a panel discussion at the university, Turdush and other experts were invited to campus once again on Sept. 27, 2019. Sara Emira is one of the students who attended the second panel.
Emira shared that during the panel, one of the presenters, Olsi Jazexhi, recounted his experience of being invited by China to visit the camps. Jazexhi had originally believed that Western media coverage of the camps and the cruelty happening inside were untrue. However, Jazexhi was shocked by what he found during his trip to China.
“Reports that China was building internment camps and persecuting the Uyghurs seemed unbelievable . . . I was very eager to go to Xinjiang because I wanted to explore for myself what is going on there. But after visiting, I found that much of what we hear in the West about China is not actually “fake news”,” Jazexhi said in an interview.
"I was very eager to go to Xinjiang because I wanted to explore for myself what is going on there. But after visiting, I found that much of what we hear in the West about China is not actually “fake news”,” Jazexhi said in an interview.
In September 2020, reports showed that China built nearly 400 internment camps. China continues to insist that the camps are meant to educate Uyghur people and that it is not a prison. While on a tour of a camp, BBC reporter, John Sudworth, spoke to a staff member.
“Doesn’t a place where people have to come, obey the rules and stay until you allow them to leave, sound more like a prison? Even if it’s a prison in which you can do art?” asked Sudworth.
“Doesn’t a place where people have to come, obey the rules and stay until you allow them to leave, sound more like a prison? Even if it’s a prison in which you can do art?” said Sudworth.
In response, the staff member said that he doesn’t know of any prison that would allow people to paint and that the camps are in fact a training centre.
In the same video, Uyghur Muslims can be seen learning Mandarin, studying China’s restrictions on religion and practicing loyalty to the Chinese government, rewriting lines such as “I love the Communist Party of China.”
In October, a House of Commons subcommittee in Canada denounced the mistreatment of Uyghurs living in Xinjiang as an act of genocide.
In the same video, Uyghur Muslims can be seen learning Mandarin, studying China’s restrictions on religion and practicing loyalty to the Chinese government, rewriting lines such as “I love the Communist Party of China.” In October, a House of Commons subcommittee in Canada denounced the mistreatment of Uyghurs living in Xinjiang as an act of genocide.
The subcommittee on international human rights said that they have heard from witnesses who survived the camps in China describe their experience as psychologically, physically and sexually abusive. Witnesses said they were subjected to forced assimilation and indoctrination into the Chinese culture.
In thinking about ways students at McMaster and in Canada, in general, can play a role in the discussion of this situation, Emira noted that it is important to begin with raising awareness and educating people.
“[A]lso a lot of the torture that [the Muslims] are put through are things like drinking alcohol or eating pork and so your average person when you hear that, it's like, “oh, that doesn't sound like torture” and it's kind of like, “okay, well now we have to kind of educate people on why this is bad and what these people's values are”,” said Emira.
“[A]lso a lot of the torture that [the Muslims] are put through are things like drinking alcohol or eating pork and so your average person when you hear that, it's like, “oh, that doesn't sound like torture” and it's kind of like, “okay, well now we have to kind of educate people on why this is bad and what these people's values are”,” said Emira.
Aside from spreading awareness, Emira suggested that in general, people can help shed light on the Uyghur culture and keep their identity alive.
For example, Emira shared that there are activists such as Subhi Bora who run campaigns to educate others on the Uyghur culture and help preserve Uyghur traditions.
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“[A]s you can imagine, this is a group that wasn't really known before. News of the camps started to kind of gain traction, so I think it's definitely important to do that and to also acknowledge that there are definitely refugees here as well from these Uyghur camps and a lot of them are running small businesses and things as well. So it would be nice to see people support them financially and have these conversations with them. Get to know them. What have they been through. It really helps to add that personal element to the issue and helps us feel less disconnected from it,” said Emira.
"Get to know them. What have they been through. It really helps to add that personal element to the issue and helps us feel less disconnected from it,” said Emira.
Correction: Dec. 7, 2020
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the McMaster CSSA was de-ratified "due to failure to report ties to external organizations". The CSSA was de-ratified due to Clubs Status Operating Policy 5.1.3 for committing a Class C Offence, action(s) which endanger the safety or security of any person or property.
