January 19, 2005 Well VWWomen’s Clinics - PHOTOGRAPHY BY BECKY BOOTH Students in the Northern Medical Program celebrate the beginning of their studies at UNBC on Wednesday, January 5. A new choice available for students By KaTHLeEN DE VERE News Epiror Women at UNBC have -a new option when it comes to reproductive health issues, thanks to a new pro- gram sponsored by Northern Health. The Well Women’s Clinics offered: through the Women’s Health and Wellness Program offer free pap test- ing, clinical breast exams, STD test- ing, and a varicty of pregnancy relat- ed services such as pregnancy testing, options counscling, referrals and the morning after pill, all administercd by trained public health nurses. According to Sarah Brown, a Public Health Nurse with Northern Health, the program got its start when Lynda Anderson, another pub-. lic health nurse, received funding to provide training to public health nurscs in northern BC to set up the Well Women’s Clinics. The services are already offered in other northern communitics, and now the. clinics are being offcred in Prince George as well. “In Prince George we've just got- ten our clinic s¢t up, so we’ve just started to be able to offer the service here, even though the nurses have been doing it in other locations such as the Health Unit and the Central interior Native Health Centre,” said Brown. While not every female student might fcel the need to attend the Well Women’s Clinics, according to Brown, the university years are the perfect time to start being concerned with one’s reproductive health. “Tt might be a time when women first become scxually active, and pap tests are really important,” said Brown. “In fact all women who are sexually active should be getting pap tests, or should at Icast initiate getting their pap testing done, and depend- ing on how the tests reports are intcr- preted, it will determine how often the woman needs to come back to get her pap tests,” explained Brown. “Tnitially when women first get their pap tests, they usually have to come at least annually for three years, and then if all those reports come back normal and there’s no abnor- mal cells on their pap tests, it’s rec- ommended that women come every two years.” When asked why some women are hesitant to get pap tests donc, Brown explained that, “with a pap test, it’s not actually detecting cancer - most women arc :scared to come and get their pap tests because they’re afraid they might be told they have cancer. In fact it’s a test to prevent canccr, a woman’s test might come back with some abnormal cells on their cervix and all that docs is allows ample time for further follow up so it can prevent that from turning into cervical can- cere The Well Women’s Clinics are offered from the Women’s Health and Wellness Program, located at 1046 4th Avenuc, in the downtown arca. All services are free, and appointments can be scheduled by calling 565-7458 or 565-7350 between the hours of 12:30 and 4:30. News Page 4 Strike Could Affect B.C. Students Support staff protest province government's wage freeze By JONATHAN WOODWARD CUP British COLUMBIA BUREAU CHIEF VANCOUVER (CUP) — As many as 50,000 students at five post-scc- ondary schools across B.C. could be affected by support staff striking against the British Columbia govern- ment’s wage freeze. .The rotating strike by the BC. Government and Services Employees’ Union put Kwantlen College behind picket lines on Jan. 10. The next day, it hit the B.C. Institute of Technology’s Burnaby campus and on Jan. 12, both campuses of Douglas College. Northern Lights College and Northwest Community College are expected to close later in the weck. Faculty associations at each campus stopped classes in support of the strik- ing workers. Student unions at Kwantlen and Douglas colleges ccased work as well, while the student associ- ation at BCIT remained ncutral dur- ing the strike. Over 1,500 workers at the campus- es have been working without a con- tract for over two years, said union spokesperson Chris Bradshaw, “and we're. getting nowhere.” Workers, mostly women, have had no raiscs in five of the last seven years, and a total'pay boost of only 4.4 per cent in the other two. That’s largely because of a B.C. government thrce- year “zero, zero, zero” wage freeze across the public sector, he said. Meanwhile administrators at the colleges have scen wage increases of up to 40 per cent, Bradshaw said. “That points to a double standard in government. They’ve made our members bear the brunt of budget cuts while tlicy get off scot-free,” said Bradshaw. “(The provincial government) has a responsibility to. lift the wage freeze to allow our members to be able to nego- tiate a fair scttlement.” The union is sceking a seven per cent pay boost in a new four-year agrecment, and “the strike will contin- uc until we get a_ scttlement,” Bradshaw added. But the colleges have been squeezed by the “zero, zero, zero” wage freeze also, said Brad Barber, a spokesperson for Douglas College. “Tt’s not an option to increase the costs of the negotiated settlements. The overall cost to the taxpayer must remain the samc in the zero, zero, zcro mandate we’ve been given,” he said. Any wage increases for administra- tors at Douglas corresponded to a pro- motion or a commensurate increase in workload, he said. “Fundamentally, this is a govern- ment issuc,” said Michael Becker, spokesperson for BCIT. In December, former B.C. finance minister Gary Collins suggested the wage freeze would be lifted, but he has since resigned. : Current Minister of Labour Graham Bruce made no commitments about the wage freeze, saying the union was exercising its right to strike within the colleges’ own negotiation procedures. “Tl make no comment about what government can do,” he said. “At this point, what you would call the ‘negoti- ation dance’ is taking place. “The best place to get a resolution is back at the table.” Laura Anderson, chair of the Kwantlen Students’ Association, joined the picket lines on Jan. 10. “Most people I’ve spoken to have been pretty supportive,” she said. “The BCGEU’s demands are very reasonable. Students have seen high tuition increases in the past three years, and administrators have .seen double-digit wage increases.” The Kwantlen president, Skip Triplett, had a wage increase of 30 per cent in 2001, she said. “That’s not right, and we stand by them.” University of Ottawa Bans Political Activity in Meeting Places on Campus Administration says it’s willing to consider students’ feedback Br Mary CUMMINS “THE Furcrual (UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA) OTTAWA (CUP) — _ The University of Ottawa is denying stu- dent groups the ability to use to a prominent space on campus for politi- ical and religious activities. 1 A fall 2004 amendment to- the administration’s policy governing the use of the University Centre, which states, “The use of the Agora space is ‘to be reserved for cultural, social, and recreational activities,” has some stu- dent. leaders and organizations con- cerned. The fact political and religious activitics have been left out of the amendment micans some student groups have had to cancel or move their events. “They are completely ruling out any type of political debate with the way the policy is being interpreted,” said Federico Carvajal, a board mem- ber at the Ontario Public Interest Research Group’s University of Ottawa chapter. OPIRG booked the Agora space for Dec. | and planned to have Ojibwa speaker Alex Mathias address the topic of protecting Ontario’s Temagami region. But OPIRG was denicd access to the Agora space since the material to be prescntcd in Mathias’s specch was decmcd to be of a political nature. “We thought this event was a very important cultural cvent; it had a lot of educational content. At the samc time, it did have a lot of political content, but we don’t sce a reason why (political events) shouldn’t be allowed to be in the Agora spacc,” said Carvajal. “The tour was cancelled because (Mathias) was offended that the uni- versity: wouldn't allow (him) to speak in an open space,” he added. OPIRG was denied access to the Agora space since the “material to be pre- serited in Mathias’s to be of a political nature. Jocelyne Turner, vice-president of student affairs for the student union, is also concerned with the interpretation of the new policy. “The ‘agora’ means a mecting place for discussion and debate, and we arc a university; we are supposed to encourage discussion and dcbatc,” said Turner. “I think there needs to be some sort of policy in place to ensure * good taste and respect towards indi- vidual rights. However, in the same sense, you can’t just outright deny political and religious activitics, because it defeats the purpose of what that spacc is supposed to be used for.” Carvgal maintains political and religious aspects of an cvent are part of culture and should be allowed any- where on campus, provided the event is respectful to others. The university’s administration committee incorporated the Agora- space amendment after Nathalie Jacob, co-ordinator and student liaison at. the university’s protection services, recommended its addition to the University Centre policy. “J proposed that change and it’s not making people happy, so we arc willing to listen,” Jacob said. Turner is a member of the universi- ty policy committee, which approved the Agora space amcndment' and allowed it to move up to the adminis- - tration committec, but she said she was unaware at the time the amend- ment presented by Jacob was somc- thing she could contest. “There was a miscommunication between administration and nyself when it was brought up,” said Turner. The university is holding a town hall meeting on the issuc and is invit- ing students to post their feedback online. “This is the best that we are able to do so far,” said Picrre Brault, director of community life services. “But I thought the town hall meet- ing would be a good way to explore and invite the university campus as to how best to balance these two needs — freedom of cxpression and the desire to be left alone,” he added.