Canada

Rams Take Down Lions in Cross-City Clash

Published on The CIS Blog on November 4, 2013.

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The #9 York Lions and Ryerson Rams kicked off their cross-town rivalry on Halloween last week, in what looked to be a closely contested matchup with both teams entering the game at just one-loss apiece.

Strangely, the single loss for each team came courtesy the other team in the Toronto equation, the Varsity Blues.

Before the puck even dropped, there was a sense that this would be a heated game, as each team fought to catch #10 Lakehead at the top of the OUA’s West Division.

It didn’t take long for the scoring to get started, either. York’s Mike Lomba Continue reading →

Change is Good

Published in Ottawa Magazine, May 2013 issue.

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How a terrible accident a decade ago turned software engineer and government worker Jith Paul into a key player in Ottawa’s film industry.
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Many filmmakers would say they started on their path the second they picked up a camera as a child.  Others realized if it the first time they watched a film that truly inspired them.  For Jith Paul, however, it was the injury to a vertebra in his back that launched his film career.  In 2002, Paul, who was working as a software engineer at the time, fell while working out at home, injuring his back.  In the aftermath, he worked with an occupational therapist to relearn how to walk.  But as he took care of his physical recovery, Paul’s mental focus was on how to follow his dream of working in the film industry.

Now, just over a decade later, the 41-year-old finds himself overseeing–he jokingly labels himself president, CEO and janitor–Treepot Media, one of Ottawa’s fastest-growing production companies.  But how does someone make such a drastic jump–from a secure job consulting with the government to a player in the notoriously unpredictable film industry?  ”Sometimes you need a catalyst to reorganize your priorities in life,” Paul says.  ”And after the back injury, I decided maybe film was something I wanted to try more than just as a whim.”

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Some Steel City Pictures

With the Master’s program beginning to heat up, it’s been a while since I’ve done any writing. Currently, I’m working on an independent study researching citizen journalism and the role it plays in the traditional media environment, which I hope to be able to post soon.

In the meantime, I’ve gone out and checked out some of the city, with the aid of my trusty camera. Please check out my (always updating) set on Hamilton here.

Clicking the Way to Social Change

A young Ugandan boy sits in the dark, describing the death of his brother, who tried to escape from a rebel group operating in that nation. The boy fears for his life, after watching his brother’s throat slit, and says he would prefer to be killed than be abducted by the rebel regime.

This was social media’s version of the “shot heard ‘round the world.” Invisible Children, a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization, spread their Kony 2012 project and video across Facebook.

It outraged, upset, and shocked viewers, who “Liked” and shared the video at a rate never before seen. Within less than a week, the video had received over 80 million views.

The focus was Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a militant group based in Uganda. It discussed Kony’s numerous human rights violations, especially focusing in on the LRA’s use of child soldiers. It ran with the tagline, “Make Kony famous,” a call to make the arrest and capture of Kony a priority of Western governments.

It showed images of the director’s son learning about Kony, and shows them in comparison with Jacob, the Ugandan boy who was terrorized by the leader. It sparked outrage in the hearts of those who watched it.

The video went viral. But, the reality is the movement ran much deeper than that.

As some users across the globe simply watched and spread the video, millions joined in on the sentiment of making Kony famous. University campuses across Canada and the United States set dates for public screenings of the film, while April 20 was declared a day of action for supporters promote the cause publicly in cities across North America.

It seemed a textbook example of clicktivism: the idea of taking social activism online. Kony revealed the ways individuals and organizations harness the power of social media to get increasingly apathetic young people involved in a social movement.

But, in the days and weeks that followed, criticisms of Kony 2012 became the real story. Suspicions of Invisible Children, the facts presented in the video, and co-founder and director Jason Russell quickly overshadowed the original message of the film.

At the forefront, along with the criticisms, was the debate around the actual, practical advantage in using Facebook and other social media platforms. Many media critics questioned how involved and engaged Facebook users who shared the video were. To some degree, the video became a farce.

For example, the Peak newspaper at Simon Fraser University ran a satirical piece that claimed anyone who shared the video on Facebook would receive an honorary degree from the school’s International Studies faculty.

Meanwhile, users of the popular social news site reddit posted maps of Africa, and asked Kony supporters to point out the location of Uganda.

The anti-Kony campaign ignited a debate about the role clicktivism plays in engaging young people in social change: is it activism, or simply slacktivism?

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Bill C-11 Threatens Canadian Digital Consumer

From The Sputnik – February 15, 2012

Despite the recent defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the United States, its sister bill is creeping its way through the Canadian House of Commons.

Bill C-11, better known as the Copyright Act, is a federal bill that would change the way that consumers can interact with digital media.

One of the main provisions of the bill surrounds digital locks, which could restrict a customers access to DVDs, CDs and e-books.

The bill is being lobbied by companies associated with the entertainment industry, which has drawn numerous critics who argue the federal government is playing to appease corporations rather than citizens.

While those in the music industry claim that digital locks are necessary for the economic stability of the industry, Michael Geist has spoken out against the validity of these claims.

Geist, a law professor and chair of Canada Research in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, has been rallying against the bill through his blog since it came back in front of Parliament.

He argues that Canada is one of the leaders in music sales, ranking sixth in the world in digital music sales.

Essentially, digital locks are a tool which prevent consumers from using purchased media across different forums.

For example, someone buying an e-book for an e-reader would be limited to using solely that e-reader to read it. Digital locks would prevent the consumer from shifting that content onto a computer or different e-reader, and Bill C-11 would actually make doing so a criminal offence.

The same situation applies to transferring downloaded music from a computer to a MP3 player.

Marc Laferriere, the federal NDP candidate for Brant in the 2011 election, spoke out about this exploitation of consumers.

“Anytime we update our platform device, we’re looking at having to buy content again,” Laferriere said. “I don’t think that’s the interconnectivity, or the multi-use way that technology should be going. I think that if I buy something on my iPad, I want it to play on my computer, I want it to play on my TV, and if I update my iPad to an iZad or whatever is the next reiteration, having to buy Ghostbusters 2 seven times is not my ideal way of going through life as a consumer.”

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Legalized Prostitution Would Boost Human Trafficking

From The Sputnik – March 2, 2011

Canada may not be the first country that comes to mind when the issue of human trafficking arises. However, a 2010 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed that human trafficking is a prolific industry in Canada.

Canada Fights Human Trafficking, a Brantford-based advocacy group, reports that anywhere between 600-1200 people are illegally entered into the sex trade and into Canada annually. A number of Canadians additionally worry that a September court decision in Ontario that proposed to decriminalize key elements of Canada’s prostitution laws could make Canada more of a hot spot for pimps and human traffickers.

Photo by Alex Dennonville

That decision, ruled by Ontario Justice Susan Himel who sided with three former sex workers, stated that Canada’s prostitution laws were unconstitutional and should be struck down. Trisha Baptie, a former sex worker who is now an abolitionist and heads Honour Consulting and Exploited Voices Now Educating (EVE) of British Columbia, fears that suggested change to the law would lead Ontario down a dangerous path of human trafficking and coercion.

“I can guarantee you that if these laws were to go through and Ontario had no criminal sanctions, if we envision that, I can tell you every trafficker, every pimp, and every bawdy house owner would pack it in and move to Ontario,” says Baptie.

Phil McColeman, the Member of Parliament for Brant who also sits on the Public Safety commission, also expresses concern that legalizing prostitution offers the potential for human trafficking to grow.

“If you agree to the situation where we have sort of a lawless industry developed, mainly bawdy houses, prostitution and all the things that go along with it, what you do is then you have a potential for the demand to be high and the supply having to meet that demand in which case human trafficking becomes a very, very lucrative business for criminals,” says McColeman.

Continue reading →