The VIUSU Debt Wedding on February 19 went off without a hitch. The event aimed to inform students about the high interest rates paid on student loans.
On Tuesday, February 17, the BC Liberals released their budget in Victoria. The following day, Christy Clark spoke at a luncheon in Surrey rather than attending the legislature in session at Parliament in Victoria.
Clark joked and laughed at the luncheon, boasting her third consecutive balanced budget as her time as premier. She intends to use the $879 million surplus to pay off the province’s $5 billion debt incurred over four ...
The playoffs have started in the VIJHL, and the Nanaimo Buccaneers are locked in a series against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. The winner of the best-of-seven series moves on to the league’s semi-finals, and the loser sees their season end early.
The Buccaneers got off to a good start in the series, winning game one of the series on the road 5-2 in Comox Valley on Tuesday, February 17. The Buccaneers opened the scoring in game one on a goal by Garrick Heathcote less than four minutes into the game. Then Quinlan Moore scored with just nine seconds left in the first period to give ...
Sheila Malcolmson and Megan Leslie at the February 16 town hall event.
NDP Deputy Leader and Environment Critic Megan Leslie and Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP candidate Sheila Malcolmson spoke about the party’s environmental initiatives at a town hall event on February 16.
“NDP is the only party that has a bill to meet greenhouse gas emission targets and the only party recognized by the House of Commons that is committed to putting a price on carbon,” Leslie said.
In 2011, the NDP became the official opposition party with a proposition that promotes the Environment Assessment ...
The annual seed exchange event, Seedy Sunday, will provide education and activities to the public about organic seeds and sustainable communities on March 1.
“People get to exchange organic seeds instead of going to the store to buy them,” coordinator Glenda Stroomer said. “The seed swap is the core event, but we also have local vendors.”
The 65 vendors will be selling organic seeds, plants, herbs, fertilizers, bee houses, rain barrels, and other tools.
In addition, there will be an activity centre for children put on by the NS3 Science on the Move fair, as well as six ...
By contributor Natalie Gates
The theatre department is taking on a modernized version of an Italian commedia dell’arte play, A Servant of Two Masters, for its spring production.
Commedia dell’arte is a form of Italian comedy that originated in the 16th century and was characterized by masked characters. But the department’s version has been modified by losing the masks, and adding more modern elements.
The play’s director, Ross Desprez, found a formal English translation of the original Italian script and re-wrote it into more modern, conversational language. The play is a ...
Every year, as we approach Victoria Day weekend, the debate about Empire Days rears its ugly head. And it is ugly; even the most closeted racist reveals themselves by refusing to acknowledge that the word “Empire” is loaded with meaning, and damaging to the spirits of those that were here before the British forced colonization upon them. This year’s foofaraw is particularly heated because the Nanaimo Empire Days Celebration Society’s (NEDCS) grant funding from the City was called into question.
Words are important. Words have power. Celebrating Empire Days is tantamount to celebrating ...
Sometimes you just need a reminder to eat your greens, especially when living the student life. It’s easy for junk food to slip from the occasional snack to a diet staple. My personal, latest reminder was just before the New Year, when I was invited to my first vegan potluck.
When my boyfriend and I first arrived at the potluck, we set our dish down and waited for others to arrive with theirs. The host, a raw, nut-free, seed-free vegan suggested we all bring a list of ingredients, because even though all dishes were vegan, attendees might have other dietary requirements. I was ...
This month, Got Pop? Concerts have put together some awesome (and affordable) ways to see some live music in the Harbour City.
On March 11, Big Sugar is taking The Port Theatre stage for an acoustic show. Now, before you ask me if it’s really Big Sugar from the early 2000s, just listen to their hit “Turn the Lights On” and you’ll immediately know who I’m talking about. These guys came onto the Canadian music scene way back in 1991, creating bluesy reggae hits. The eight person ensemble show still has tickets available at The Port Theatre, for their 6:30 pm ...
By contributor Tomasina Lawson
Local band, Mr. Goshness, is holding a garage sale fundraiser to help fund a music video for one of their songs, “five personalities”.
The fundraiser will be held at 2999 Colwood Road on Sunday February 22, from 9 am to 2 pm. Depending on the turnout, the group may decide to extend the hours of the garage sale.
The house where the garage sale is to be held is on the corner and will have a large blue tent. There will be gravel parking close by.
The band will be selling paintings, televisions, furniture, and musical ...
Neck Point photo courtesy of Larissa Burnett
It’s not nice to gloat, especially not when our neighbours to the east are suffering under heaps of fresh Canadian snow. The forecast for reading break is optimistic, with clear skies and high temperatures of 10°. Therefore, this week, The Navigator wants to inspire our readers to get outside before spring actually comes, and with it: the rain.
Swy-A-Lana Lagoon: or more commonly known as the waterfront, or Maffeo Sutton Park is perfect this time of the year. The grass is lush, the paths aren’t packed with ...
On the cusp of reading week for VIU students, the Nanaimo Global Film Festival will be showing over 30 films from around the world February 21 and 22, on Nanaimo’s campus.
Robin Davies, a Media Studies professor at VIU, works with the department to provide technical support to students and the Nanaimo Global Film Fest.
There will be many Media Studies students involved in this year’s festival, “we help with projectors, sound systems, social media, and website management,” Davies said. "One of the most important things we can do in Nanaimo is ...
The VIUSU is holding an event tomorrow, February 19; to demonstrate the marriage many students are signed into when it comes to their debt, at the Malaspina Theatre at 11:30 am.
[slideshow_deploy id='7081']
“Students and their families are feeling the squeeze of high tuition fees and student loan debt,” said Alec Patterson, Director of External Relations of the VIU Students’ Union. “At the same time, institutions are under pressure to provide high quality education with inadequate government funding.”
The event, set in between voting period ...
Photo courtesy of March for Missing & Murdered Aboriginal Women -Feb 14/2015 Facebook event page.
Beginning at 11 am on Valentine’s Day, hundreds of people gathered on VIU’s campus in solidarity to honour the missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada.
They began with a welcoming at Shq’apthut Gathering Place, holding posters that read “Where are our women?” and “We will not stop looking…”
The group was followed by a police cruiser with lights flashing in the crisp and sunny weather, the crowd was polite and diverse throughout the march. By 12:30, the group ...
The other day I tried to make chocolate pasta, now I'm not suggesting that every student should go out and get a pasta maker, but if you know someone with the means, try this if you're looking to impress on V Day.
I found the recipe through the Food Network, Emeril Lagasse offered a simple, easy-to-follow ingredient list and how-to. It's really simple, you only really need flour, egg and oil for a homemade pasta, and to spruce it up, cocoa and vanilla was added this time.
Tip: take off any jewelry before mixing, this stuff hardens.
While his recipe yielded two to four ...
Gleaners, a new exhibition hosted by the downtown branch of Nanaimo Art Gallery, brings together local and international artworks with the unifying theme of “gleaning” ignored ideas, discarded objects, or commonly overlooked parts of histories or cultures. Curator Jesse Birch chose artworks from across the genre spectrum—video, photography, needlework, storytelling, performance, installation, assemblage, and found objects. The exhibition concept was inspired by “Gleaners,” Jean Francois Millet’s painting from 1857, in which peasants pick forgotten crops from a harvested field. A ...
Nanaimo has taken off with a new creative energy in the last few years. The growing popularity of live art events, new artist groups and organizations, and, most importantly, VIU's introduction of a Visual Arts Major with the expanded course selection, are just a few of the signs of the changing landscape. Inspired by these new opportunities for art production, The Navigator has taken a tour of Nanaimo's art venues and assembled an incomplete, two-part list of places where artists of all ages and stages can show off the product of their sweat, tears, and talent. Part one looks at five ...
My head aches. So does my abdomen. It’s 9:30 am and I’m ready for a nap. My neighbour’s coal roller frankentruck has been idling in the driveway for five minutes; I’m about to introduce it to my rolling pin. That SPCA commercial starring Sarah McLachlan just came on—the one that plays Angel—and I’ve started to cry. My boyfriend is baffled. Are these the thoughts and actions of a rational woman? What if that woman was in the grips of premenstrual syndrome (PMS)? “Ah,” he’d say, “that explains it.” Grab the flak jacket; it’s time to initiate The PMS Protocol.
Women are blessed with ...
By Luke Bowles
While the rest of Canada is seeing temperatures near -15˚C and below, here on Vancouver Island we’re enjoying a turbulent winter featuring the Pineapple Express, rain, sunshine, and cozy fireplaces. Ontario gets snowfall warnings while we enjoy the first buds. Ottawa’s Rideau Canal is open for skaters while our first flowers are blooming. The West Coast may be a lot of things—green, wet, warm, windy, foggy—but one thing it is not is freezing cold and waist-deep in snow.
[slideshow_deploy id='6994']
By contributor Jess Reale
Yarn can be spun with a plain, weighted stick, or even a mere ball. Have all the sheep in your vicinity been eaten by zombies or incinerated in nuclear blasts? Don’t fear! Rather fetching yarn can be spun out of upcycled corpse clothing, or even old grocery bags. Unfortunately, there might not be too many carbon fibre Knitter’s Pride needles laying around in the debris. Thankfully, bone and wood needles are easy to make with a sharp makeshift tool and a little elbow grease. In really desperate situations, you can always use your fingers (assuming you still ...
By contributor Chantelle Spicer.
The lifestyle decisions we make impact the environment, whether we think about them or not. The manufacture, use, and disposability of everyday products, along with the production and transportation of food, all have consequences on the natural world that many of us never ponder.
Counter-culture movements like the “back-to-the-land” ethic, influenced by the peak oil crisis and books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, raised these concerns on a large scale in the 1960s. The first Earth Day brought these issues, and solutions such as recycling and ...
This is the third in a contributor series by Stephanie Brown. You can read the first here. Check back next issue for the next chapter of The Long Commute.
So let’s talk money, because I know you are all wondering about it. There are three main things to think about when studying abroad. First, many people don’t realize that when you study abroad at an institution that is affiliated with your home university, you pay your tuition to your home university, which saves a ton of money. For instance, I’m only allowed to take four classes a semester, but have to pay for a full (five) course ...
By contributor Dean Pelkey
Each year, the Fraser Institute holds an essay contest for students designed to encourage and develop student writers. This contest gives you the opportunity to showcase your ideas on public policy and the roles of markets, plus the opportunity to win cash prizes.
With over $9k in cash prizes, students from all levels of study are encouraged to enter, and there is a special category for high school students.
This year’s topic is National Security and the Role of Government: Safety vs. Privacy in a Technological Age. Since the beginning of the 21st ...
Quercus Garryana aka Garry Oak. Photo Maleea Acker
By contributor James Mackinnon
Sitting in the lee of the Vancouver Island mountain range, much of the south-east shores of our island are graced by mild climates and relatively low precipitation—a rain shadow effect. These conditions have given rise to different types of forests than the damp, evergreen systems we associate with the rest of the BC coast. Here, the coniferous trees give way to deciduous, shrubs are replaced by grasses, and we find ourselves in the land once dominated by the Garry Oaks. For thousands of years, ...
