vs ees eee September 29, 2004 Releases Guide to Offshore Oil and Gas Issues UNEC recently released “Under Currents 1: A Citizens Guide” a citizen’s guide to the BC offshore Oil and Gas _ industry. Written in plain language, Under Currents is a release done by the Royal Society of Canada’s Report of the expert Panel on Science Issues Relating to Oil and Gas Activities. The panel was formed at the request of Natural Resources Canada _ to investigate scientific issues related to the resumption of offshore oil and gas acti- vates in the Queen Charlotte Basin, off the coast of B.C. The release of Under Currents marks the start of a series of UNBC- Community studies on B.C. Offshore oil and gas, which is a project of the UNBC Northern Land Use Institute’s Northern Coastal Information and Research Program. Copies of Under Currents 1 can be down- loaded from. www.unbe.ca/nlui/neirp. Psychology Prof receives Funding Sherry Beaumont, an professor of © associate c Psychology here at UNBC has been chosen to be one of 16 researchers to work with the Child and Youth Developmental Trajectories Research Unit, which has been funded for $1 million over four years from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. The project will create and maintain a population based longitudinal Chil and youth Developmental _ Trajectories Databasé that — will support.and promote opportunities for research into the factors that sup- port or undermine a child’s language, cogni- ‘tive, socio-emotional and physical development from the prenatal period through to early child- hood. News 4 CanWest Global: Bad News But they do not yet own Over the Edge by Charles Thrift >> Staff Writer Reuters has publicly com- plained to CanWest Global about the way it has been editing its news. CanWest has a chain-wide policy to label certain groups - mostly Arabic- as_ terrorists. Reuters says that this is not mere- ly stylistic editing, and that it their editing creates a “slant” in the news. According to Reuters, this puts their journalists at risk, since the articles are still printed under the Reuters byline and include the name of the Reuters journalist who wrote the original article. Reuters’ recent complaint is not the first time CanWest has been criticized. In 2001, CanWest began writing weekly editorials from the main office in Winnipeg. The editorials reflect the personal opinions of the Asper family (who own CanWest), and all CanWest news- papers were obliged to print them. Anyone who protested or ‘printed any articles, columns or editorials that disagreed with the position taken by the head office, “CanWest is Canada’s largest media company. CanWest publishing includes the National Post, 11 daily news- papers -one in almost every major Canadian city, and 22 smaller newspapers across Canada.” found him/herself punished. Several high-profile resignations and dismissals led to major protests from journalist associa- tions. A particularly famous case is of Ottawa Citizen Publisher Russell Mills, who was fired for publishing an editorial suggesting Jean Chretien should step down (as well as other articles critical of the federal Liberal party). The Aspers had a close friendship with Jean Chretien. The Canadian Association of Journalists and the Quebec Federation of Professional Journalists responded, stating that the behaviour of CanWest with respect to the nationally run edi- torials and the actions CanWest took to discipline its journalists represented “a disturbing pattern of censorship and repression of dissenting views.” International Federation of Journalists criti- cized CanWest’s “corporate cen- sorship, and the victimisation of journalists who are trying to defend professional standards.” CanWest is Canada’s largest media company. CanWest pub- lishing includes the National Post, 11 daily newspapers -one in almost every major Canadian city (including the Vancouver Sun, the Vancouver Province, and the Victoria Times-Colonist), and 22 smaller newspapers across Canada. CanWest television net- work contains stations across the country, and reaches 94% of Canadians. CanWest has radio stations in two Canadian cities. CanWest also owns TV stations in New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, and Australia, as well as the largest radio group in New Zealand (42% of commercial radio listenership). CanWest’s policy of labeling groups as terrorists is chain-wide, and applies to CanWest’s newspapers as well as its television stations. CanWest does not yet own Over _ the Edge Check out: International Federation of Journalists: http:/ /www.ifj.org/default.as p?index=538&Language=ENa Religious Debate in the Modern World | Reecorse: Bank of Mc Existence of Goo Hunan Suffering >> photo by Dana Schwehr Have you seen this man? Ejaz Chaudhry will be hosting the world religions con- ference on Sept. 27 by Corey Scofield >> Staff Writer Watch the news on any given night and it’s easy to see why so many people consider religion a really scary concept these days. With middle-eastern religious wing-nuts shaking. their fists at North American religious wing- nuts (and visa versa) on headline news every night, it’s hard to remember that these people are not the true representatives of the faiths they profess. If you’re hun- gry for something that will truly expand your consciousness, and really want to understand what religion is all about, then I recom- mend attending UNBC’s first World Religions Conference taking place this Monday in the Canfor lecture theatre, from 6pm-10pm. The conference is being hosted by UNBC’s Ahmadiyya Muslim Students Association, and will see the bringing together of a number of local religious leaders to discuss their. particular faiths reconcilia- tion of the existence of God and human suffering. Six religions are being represent- ed at the conference. Buddhism, to be represented by. Mr. John R, DeGrace, a practicing Theravada Buddhist for 14 years, and Director of the Buddhist Meditation Society of Northern BC here in Prince George. Christianity, represented by Rey. Peter Zimmer, an Anglican priest at St. Michaels’ and All Angels’ Church, here in Prince George. Sikhism is to be represent- ed by*Mr. Avtar Singh Grewal, a renowned religious speaker within the local Sikh community, and abo- riginal spirituality, to be represent- ed by Mr. Alden Elder Pompana, an elder and spiritual advisor within the local aboriginal com- munity. Lastly, Dr. Alex Michalos will be representing somewhat of a different sort of faith, namely athe- ism, where he is to represent the atheistic reconciliation of there being no god, as well as and atheisms reconciliation of human suffering, sure to be a highlight of the conference. The Islamic faith is to be represented by Mr. Naseem Mahdi, President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Canada, who is currently Chair of the Ahmadiyya Gazette, and CEO of Muslim Television (MTA),Canada, a speaker not to miss given his reputation as an impressive orator. The conference will be an excel- lent venue to explore the different religious faiths represented within the Prince George area, and will be an excellent source to observe the work of religious organizations within your community. The con- ference will also be an excellent way to realize the true openness and tolerance of various religious -faiths, and their universal values of peace, love, and unity, so often disregarded by more fundamental- ist religious representatives who seem to be hogging all the air time these days. The objective of the conference, according to Ejaz Chaudhry, presi- dent of UNBC Ahmadiyya Muslim Student Association and confer- ence otganizer is to “bring the peo- ple to religion,” and to promote new religious and spiritual aware- ness. As Mr. Chaudhry explains “you have to eat, you have to sleep, and you have to pray.” Conference organizers hope to attract as many and 400 people to the conference and have distrib- uted over 5000 pamphlets throughout the city of Prince George. Mr. Naseem Mahdi, repre- senting Islam, will be speaking to callers on UNBC’s own radio sta- tion CFUR from 9 - 10 am on the day of the conference, and stu- dents are encouraged to call in and ask questions. Time will be given at the end of the conference for audience members to present their questions to the guest speakers and audience member are wel- come to stay after the conference if they wish to speak to any other guests lecturers over coffee and tea. Literature from all of the dif- ferent faith is to be made available and reservations for seating can be made through Ahmadiyya Student Association by phone at (250) 613- 3132 or by e-mail at amsa@unbc.ca.