Jamie Mudrick
The Silhouette

“There are always challenges with raising bees in an urban setting,” says Brandi Lee Macdonald one of the co-founders of the Hamilton Urban Beekeepers.

Raising bees takes years of dedication, yet this group is somehow able to do this in a parking lot beside a helicopter pad here at McMaster.

Along with Macdonald, Amina Suhrwardy is the second co-founder of the Hamilton Urban Beekeepers, an initiative that began in late 2012. The hope is that people will understand the basics of honeybee biology, have discussions, and raise sustainable living awareness.

“[It] is a great network for people to become connected with each other,” said MacDonald.

This past summer was the first season for the bees. The beekeepers invited people from campus and throughout the Hamilton community to visit the hives. They put on demonstrations, such as hive building, teaching people the components of a beehive, and harvesting honey. Since there was only one hive during this inaugural summer, there was not an viagra no prescription abundance of honey, but they were still able to sell out during October’s Sustainability Day on campus.

MacDonald and Suhrwardy met through the Ontario Public Interest Research Group at McMaster. OPIRG has funded this working group, and awarded them the annual Public Interest Grant, which helped to propel this initiative to fruition.

In addition to providing funding, OPIRG helps with the Hamilton Urban Beekeepers outreach program, as well as assisting them when hosting events and finding guest speakers.

The Academic Science Fund through the McMaster Science Society also funds the project. Some of the great contributors to this working group are students from McMasters new Sustainable Future program.

Mark Lee, Mark Westerink, Nashwa Khan and Anna Iwanicki are part of the Sustainable Future program and they aid with the outreach of the group, through Twitter, a blog, knowledge of urban beekeeping through information boards.

The beekeeping program is also going to be helping McMaster departments with the assistance of Biology professor, Dr. Marvin Gunderman, and Psychology professor, Dr. Reuven Dukas. These professors use the beehive to educate their students about bees and pollinators.

Guelph University has a formal Apiculture, or beekeeping, program with a research center. The Hamilton Urban Beekeepers is more informal than Guelph’s program, since the spatial limitation of its current location will prevent it from exceeding a maximum of five beehives. The purpose of the program is not to maximize honey production, nor is it meant to teach people about how to become beekeepers, as this takes years to accomplish. Instead, it is about keeping healthy bees and teaching people about the necessity of bees in our ecosystem.

Communicating the importance of sustainable living is another function of the beekeeping program. A challenge that the program faces is connecting the way in which people spend their money and how that affects beekeeping. When you buy food from certain places, you either support good farming or bad farming. Becoming aware of what you can do to support your local community and not support the use of detrimental items, like pesticides, is very important. As Brandi said, “it’s about how you spend your money,” something that people rarely consider when purchasing an item as simple as honey.

The Hamilton Urban Beekeepers will be hosting a luncheon event on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 12:30 p.m. in room 230 in the McMaster University Student Center. Free Fair Trade coffee and tea will be provided by OPIRG. These events will be happening weekly throughout November and December. You can find out more about these events at www.opirg.ca.

 

Watch the live-feed from the SRA meeting on Sept. 29. The bulk of bylaw 5 discussion begins at 40:35. For the full video feed, click here.

After a tumultuous week in the world of student politics, the question of ancillary student fees has been put on hold.

The proposed amendments to a McMaster Students Union bylaw which would see five student groups go to triennial review by referendum did not pass at the meeting of the Student Representative Assembly on Sept. 29.

The amendments, proposed by the Finance Committee under the leadership of Commissioner Daniel D’Angela and with the support of VP Finance Jeff Doucet, sought to bring greater financial transparency and accountability to the set of non-MSU, non-university administered groups.

Each of the affected groups was given an opportunity to voice their concerns at the meeting.

“We think there are better, more effective ways to bring conversations with students, and to create more meaningful conversations,” said Kathryn Chan, co-president of Engineers Without Borders, to those present. She explained that her organization was interested in transparency, though not through what they considered time-consuming referendums.

“We think that [the referendums] come at a cost of decreased quality in the work that we do,” Chan said.

Miranda Clayton, president of the McMaster Marching Band, echoed Chan’s sentiment.

“While the changes have good intentions, they ultimately harm the groups involved,” she said.

The McMaster Marching Band was granted a student levy to the amount of $0.90 per student for the 2013-2014 academic year after winning a referendum in January 2013.

Although each of the five groups opposed proposed bylaw framework, the discussion highlighted that issues with the amendments were rooted in the drafting process.

While the groups felt a referendum was taxing, Doucet and the Finance Committee believed such a model was best for maintaining group autonomy.

“All these groups are very different, so…it’s hard to come up with a solution,” he explained. “But one thing they all had in common was going to referendum to get student money.”

Lexi Sproule, co-president of EWB, felt that the perceived lack of consultation was a miscommunication between groups.

“It’s a pretty classic misunderstanding between people making strategy decisions and people on the ground.”

After nearly two hours of discussion, the decision was made to send the proposal back to the finance committee for a more thorough consultation process.

D’Angela explained that the Finance Committee has now asked for policy suggestions from each group on “how to improve students democratic input into the fee” and a period of consultation is expected to follow.

 

After paying tuition, many students may not know what happens to their money. But organizers within the McMaster Students Union are working to see that changed, and show students what happens to their fees.

The finance committee of the MSU has proposed changes to a bylaw that would see student groups have their levies put up to referendum on a regular basis. The bylaw in question deals specifically with the five non-MSU, non-university organizations that currently receive a portion of student funding.

“What this bylaw essentially does is give [students] more information on where their money is going,” said Daniel D’Angela, MSU Finance Commissioner and Social Science SRA representative.

The groups that fall under this category are Ontario Public Interest Research Group, McMaster, Engineers Without Borders, Incite Magazine, the McMaster Solar Car, and the McMaster Marching Band. The money these five groups collect from the student body amounts to $10.86 for each full-time student.

And despite the enthusiasm of key players within the MSU, the groups affected have come out in vocal opposition of the motion.

“It’s an inefficient way to consult students,” said Lexi Sproule, co-president of the McMaster chapter of Engineers Without Borders of the proposed system.

Under the changes, EWB and the other four organizations would have their levy put on the presidential ballot as a referendum for students to vote on every three years.

“It’s not very in-depth feedback,” said Sproule. “Even if you get approved, you don’t know if students have any issues with how you run things. It’s so much energy for feedback that’s kind of superficial.”

Proponents of the referendums disagree.

“I don’t think that once every three years having to spend two weeks going out and telling students about what you do, I don’t think it’s that taxing,” said Jeff Doucet,

EWB currently collects 37 cents from every full-time undergraduate student. While not making up their entire budget, the approximately $7700 it receives goes directly to funding students participating in the Junior Fellowship Program, a four-month volunteer placement overseas.

While the dollar amount per student is small, the effect the potential loss is on some of the organizations is significant.

“[Without the levy] I don’t think we’d be able to operate—that’s what keeps us going,” said Yuvreet Kaur, one of eight student board members of OPIRG McMaster.

OPIRG McMaster is one of a network of organizations across the province, which promotes social justice issues through grassroots organizing and through the funding of student and community-led working groups.

Of the five affected groups, OPIRG currently collects the largest fee, at $7.57 per student. However, the fee is refundable within three weeks of the drop and adds date in September.

“We give students the opportunity to take that money if they need it or if they don’t support the work we do,” explained Kojo Damptey, also on the OPIRG Board.

”We’re the only organization on campus that does that.”

The threat of OPIRG McMaster losing its funding is not unheard of; other OPIRG chapters across Ontario, including those at the University of Toronto and at Queen’s University, have come under scrutiny through NOPIRG campaigns, which aim to abolish the system of contributing student fees to the organization.

In the case of Queen’s, NOPIRG organizer Stuart Clark told the Queen’s Journal he was opposed to the levy because of “the use of publically available funds for certain activities that don’t reflect the values of the entire community.”

Mac’s chapter, however, feels that its values align very well with the university.

“Our current president [Patrick Deane] talked about forward with integrity—we’ve been doing that for two decades here,” said Damptey. He emphasized that the working groups funded by the group, which address a range of social justice issues, are the product of student ideas.

“There are certain working groups that a lot of the McMaster population is familiar with,” echoed Board Member Sabeen Kazmi. “Other groups…like the McMaster Farmstand and MACycle started under OPIRG.”

OPIRG and the other four organizations involved are seeking not only to make students and SRA members aware of their role on campus, but also to voice their opposition to the process of the bylaw changes being made.

Sam Godfrey, co-editor-in-chief of Incite Magazine, expressed her concern with the idea of a referendum to determine fees.

“It’s hard to measure worth…by whether the majority of students read [Incite]. If you only funded things that the majority wanted, you wouldn’t have the same kind of community at Mac.”

However, D’Angela said that his impression was that the groups were in support of amendments.

“I met with them midway through the summer, the fee holders, and overwhelmingly, I’d say they agreed with increasing with transparency,” he said.

Sproule explained that while EWB is completely supportive of financial transparency, no mention of the proposed changes was made.

“All we heard was ‘great job’…what are we supposed to do with that? If we’d heard they had concerns, we’d be happy to change things,” she explained.

The bylaw changes were made within the Finance Committee but did not involve any further consultation with the groups.The process of amendment also didn’t involve notifying the groups when the motion was set to go to the SRA for voting; a system that was met with concern by OPIRG, Incite, and EWB, but to others was not problematic.

“If the finance committee decides to make a change because they feel we need more democratic input, should they notify the groups in advance that they make their change, before it goes public? I’m not sure if that will change the conversation that much,” said Doucet.

The discussion on the proposed changes will continue at the upcoming SRA meeting, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 29.

Despite the opposition raised by the five groups, who are expected to present at the meeting, D’Angela and Doucet stand by the Finance Committee’s suggestion.

“If students want to have democratic input, referendum is the most efficient way to do so,” said Doucet.

“We think that the students are smart, they are intelligent people and they’re able to weigh the pros and cons of any single vote,” explained D’Angela upon being asked about the effectiveness of a referendum.

“We think that students are able to make decisions if you give them the right information and give them the important information.”

If you looked at early photos of the McMaster campus, you might notice that it looks drastically different than it does today. In the 82 years Mac has spent in this city, the school has grown, more buildings were put up to accommodate the growing population, and the campus expanded to take up more of the surrounding area.

But in early November, the administration took a major step towards bringing Mac back to its roots.  The President’s Advisory Committee on Cootes Paradise (PACCP) announced on Nov. 9 that a 30-metre buffer zone would be created between parking lot M, on west campus, and the nearby Ancaster Creek.

The implementation of the buffer will mean the lot will lose 318 parking spots, according to the Hamilton Conservation Authority.

The lot currently has 1,400 transponders for staff and students, and approximately 1,300 spots. According to Gord Arbeau, McMaster’s Director of Public and Community Relations, the use of the lot is spread out over the week, so the loss of the additional space is not expected to have an effect on the availability of parking.

The area that is now occupied by parking lots M, N, O and P was the floodplain area for Ancaster Creek. It wasn’t until McMaster took possession of this portion of the Royal Botanical Gardens land in the 1960s that the floodplain was paved.

Randy Kay, a local environmental activist, said this change has been a long time coming.

“This is a very integral part of the puzzle,” he explained. “It is a huge, important piece of the larger Cootes Paradise recovery.”

Kay is the organizer of Restore Cootes, an environmental group dedicated to the revitalization of the area surrounding McMaster.  The group has been leading “Ponds to Parking” hikes since December 2011 to spread awareness of the issue.

Kay also submitted a letter to the University Planning Committee in March 2011 encouraging the administration to take on the wetland restoration project, but did not have any success at the time.

“I was a little upset, actually… when you send a letter to the University Planning Committee, they don’t actually even acknowledge they’ve received it.”

In the spring of 2012, after a meeting with McMaster officials, two city councilors, and the chair of the PACCP, the University agreed to take on the project, creating a specific lot M subcommittee, and their support “changed the dynamic quite a bit,” said Kay.

Although the agreement to the 30 m buffer marks an achievement for Restore Cootes, Kay explained that the process of working through the channels of University administration was not always easy.

“You’re kind of left in this one-way vacuum where you don’t get anything back. It goes into this black hole of administration,” he said of his early attempts to get the attention of the University Planning Committee. “I could see that being a barrier, for citizens and other interested people around the campus to get involved.”

As well as working with the PACCP, Restore Cootes collaborated with MacGreen, OPIRG McMaster and a group of “McMaster Marsh” professors. The professors have also been advocating that a currently closed portion of the lot be repurposed to become an outdoor research facility, to serve both students and faculty.

“What they’re doing now is the minimum requirement for today’s standards of a healthy, coldwater creek,” Kay explained. “Doing the minimum is what needs to be done… doing more would be great.”

Stewart pursues sustainability initiative based on student feedback

For most students, November brings the thought of the semester finishing, exams starting, and the winter break setting in.

But MSU President Siobhan Stewart has her sights set on the spring.

Stewart’s green roof initiative, a project designed to convert the third-floor balcony of the McMaster University Student Centre into an eco-friendly sitting area and garden, is on track to be completed for next summer. The project was a key platform point of her 2012 presidential campaign.

Green roofs have been growing in popularity at universities and other institutions across Canada. Stewart explained that the inspiration for the green roof  at Mac came from two students who were involved with OPIRG, who proposed the project three years ago.

The idea of converting an already existing space into a more workable and sustainable place was an appealing choice for McMaster for a number of reasons, among them the concern of an overpopulated campus with too little public space.

“Students are always talking about the need for space on campus,” said Stewart. “And as many can imagine, new buildings don’t sprout up every day.”

She noted that part of McMaster’s unique situation is that campus is “landlocked,” bordered by residential neighbourhoods on three sides and Cootes Paradise on the other.

Mac student Melanie Fox-Chen is also passionate about the green roof project. The fourth-year biology student was an intern at McMaster’s Office of Sustainability this summer, and spent her term investigating the best practices of green roofs. The advantages of such a project are numerous, she found.

“It maximizes the usable amount of space on campus, which is really good,” Fox-Chen explained. “It just provides a green space where students can seek to relax and unwind from a stressful day.”

Her research, which looked into a range of issues, including food production, plant life, rainwater collection, and community involvement, was used to create a survey that was given to students this summer.

The feedback from the survey, which drew 600 responses, was used in drawing up further plans for the project. The responses showed that the majority of people would appreciate a “calm, soothing environment,” while they also indicated support for edible plants to be grown, as well as species native to Southern Ontario.

Stewart stressed this element of student feedback as a means of making decisions.

“I’ve been trying to consult a lot with students. From an efficiency standpoint [it’s not ideal]… I could have just put everything together, but that’s not my style.”

Only so much progress can be made on the roof at this point, however. The organizers may have a sense of what people want, but before any construction happens, the MSU must wait while the project is out to tender.

“It’s not like the MSU can just get a shovel and go to town. It doesn’t work like that,” Stewart said in explaining the process of getting university approval.

The next phase is choosing a plan for the space. The MSU, in partnership with Facility Services, invited eight architects to submit proposals for their services in October. The team chose a firm to contract out for the work, and will now see three more specific sets of plans drawn up. Before a final design is chosen, Stewart will seek further student feedback.

It is not clear whether or not the roof will be completed by the end of the academic year, Stewart said.

“My goal is at least for it have been started before the end of my term, or for all of the logistics to be done…so all it would take would be a green light.”

Compiled by Aissa Boodhoo-Leegsma and Julia Redmond

McMaster holds annual Remembrance Day ceremony on campus

By: Arnav Agarwal

As incoming first-year students begin their university careers, their first footsteps are drowned out by cheering Welcome Week representatives with dyed hair and painted suits. Some scamper away with the newcomer’s baggage, while others surround and welcome them enthusiastically with cries such as “we love you, John; oh yes, we do,” cheers that ring across the university campus for eight straight days of revelry. This first week is filled with energy, as building and faculty representatives lead armies of freshmen to a plethora events in wild pursuit of the coveted Welcome Week Cup. Welcome Week is always an exciting, if not overwhelming, experience.

In the week following, there is yet another set of unique opportunities for students to engage and immerse themselves. Alternative Welcome Week, run by the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) - a non-profit organization focused on social justice and sustainability - provides the perfect opportunity for students to have a space to explore themselves, build new relationships, pursue their interests and broaden their horizons by trying something new.

From a bike-in movie, dub poetry/ open mic night and the Community Volunteer Action volunteer fair, AWW has something for everyone. “Alternative Welcome Week focuses on providing more venues for students to be entertained, inspired, motivated and essentially, to be engaged,” explains Nathaniel Loranger, member of OPIRG McMaster.

Themed around the concept of student engagement, Alternative Welcome Week has highlighted how the McMaster community is a safe space for students with various interests, backgrounds, beliefs and personalities. “A lot of these events are things that people aren’t informed or aware of, and things that people haven’t done before. But if they try it, it is something that might just click for them,” said Loranger.

AWW includes a variety of events including Bike to the Day for all of Mac’s two wheel commuters interested in exploring the city, a comedy workshop and performance, and a Positive Space Workshop, which focuses on how to create an ally space and promote advocacy for minorities such as the LGBTQ community. OPIRG also works to showcase the contributions and opportunity offered of numerous working groups at “PIRGtopia” and provides crash courses on how to develop a healthy-living survival guide, cook fresh on a student budget and have fun DIY-ing dream catchers.

“What makes Alternative Welcome Week special is how it combines the fun stuff with the learning experience that enables students to be engaged and to learn in the process. It is about opening up people’s perspectives to what’s out there and giving them a taste of something new that they might not have experienced before - about getting them to encounter new opinions, viewpoints and perspectives, and helping them develop their own.”

OPIRG McMaster is instrumental in the organization of Alternative Welcome Week. Promoting the philosophies of non-oppressive practices, non-discrimination, human rights and various other facets of social justice, OPIRG coordinates the sponsorship of grassroots campaigns and other social change initiatives, and is actively engaged in numerous student working groups. Largely student-driven, the organization extends to numerous institutions and encompasses a wide range of focuses through these student-based groups. “I started in Body Equity, which creates workshops on tolerance of diversity and differences and focuses on self-esteem. I am now a part of a group creating focus group modules to engage high-school students in their communities and in municipal affairs - all in advocacy to promote change in their communities,” explains Nathaniel.

AWW is set apart by the diversity it offers and embraces. “It is a dichotomy: a place to learn and have a wonderful time, all at once,” said Loranger. “Go try it out and see what happens. You might be surprised as to what you discover about yourself.”

As students get settled in Hamilton for the fall semester, the harvest season is ramping up at local farmers’ markets across the city. Farmers’ markets have sprouted up in communities in the area. The Downtown Hamilton, Locke Street and Dundas Farmers’ Markets are closest to campus, and the MSU Farmstand is on campus.

The influence of popular works such as The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating and The Omnivore’s Dilemmahave renewed interest in eating locally. Farmers’ markets have a rich history of promoting local food movements. The Downtown Hamilton Farmers’ Market was originally opened in 1837 and continues to enrich the community. Manager Donna Lee McDonald noted that students in particular have been a major force in ensuring the availability of local food.

The influence of popular works such as The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating and The Omnivore’s Dilemmahave renewed interest in eating locally. Farmers’ markets have a rich history of promoting local food movements. The Downtown Hamilton Farmers’ Market was originally opened in 1837 and continues to enrich the community. Manager Donna Lee McDonald noted that students in particular have been a major force in ensuring the availability of local food.

"Youth who are seeking regional local produce and who want to support small shop culture and independent business people are bringing a resurgence to markets.  This is clearly demonstrated by the number of pop up seasonal markets that are in this area and in any urban area in the country,” she said.

The MSU Farmstand was formed in Summer 2008, during Mary Koziol’s term as MSU President, as a result of an OPIRG working group. The Farmstand, in partnership with Hospitality Services and the Office of Sustainability, aims to provide local produce to students and staff during the summer and into the fall.

Alvand Mohtashami, Director of the Farmstand, noted that farmers’ markets strive to create an inclusive and open atmosphere for their customers.

He said, “The right atmosphere is fun for a customer to explore and learn about farming and local food. The [students] come back with something they feel they can connect to rather than the grocery store experience which is a bit more mechanical.”

McMaster has been part of a provincial campus trend, which has seen students ask for more local food options. Farmers’ markets or market stands now operate at Queens, Waterloo, UofT Scarborough, Guelph, Ryerson, Brock and McMaster. Mohtashami suggested that educating students about the positive environmental, economic and health implications of buying local produce is paramount to farmers’ markets broadening their scope and targeting young people.

Lisa Anderson, manager of the Dundas Farmers’ Market, reiterated how students and youth have embraced the movement.

Specific initiatives such as the Hamilton Food Charter and programs run by Environment Hamilton seek to leverage community input into food security and food systems issues.

At the Farmstand, students can be educated about local food systems, meet with farmers and learn more about the benefits of local produce. In upcoming weeks, the Farmstand will be bringing new products from the Earth to Table Bread Bar and launching local food workshops and a farmers’ market tour, in addition to running their regular market operations. The Farmstand will wrap up its operations on October 31 with a Harvest Festival that will feature art, music and games.

Dina Fanara

Assistant News Editor

Each year, McMaster’s Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) joins forces with local stores and vendors of fair trade products to put on the annual Fair Trade Fair in the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) atrium.

The fair, which has been taking place for over ten years, shrunk slightly in size this year, but is still going strong.

Products for sale included the usual Fair Trade Certified chocolates, coffee, and tea, jewellery from all over the world, Christmas ornaments, clay and wooden figurines, clothing, journals, soaps, moisturizers and several other odds and ends.

Also present at the Fair was McMaster’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB), promoting Fair Trade Certification awareness, focusing on educating students on the process for products to become certified, and why it is important to purchase Fair Trade products when possible.

According to one EWB volunteer, Meaghan Langille, fair trade “promotes social responsibility by ensuring that that the people who made the product that you’re purchasing were paid a fair wage and ethical working conditions.”

“It’s a great way to promote a global economy,” she said about the event. “It’s something that we can do to help people in developing countries through what we are purchasing and consuming,” said Langille.

It was widely expressed by several vendors that a second-term event, which used to occur but was stopped several years ago, would be greatly beneficial to the cause.

Another suggestion was to add another day to the first-term fair, as many students asked vendors if they would be returning the following day.