OVER THE EDGE January 26, 2007 No Cutting Class to Defend Education SARAH COLGROVE THe McGiti Dany MONTREAL (CUP) Senators at McGill Univer- sity have voted 45 to 19 against recommending that professors grant students academic am- nesty for attending a national student protest. Finn Upham, a vice-pres- ident of the student society, proposed the motion recom- mending that professors ac- commodate students who participate in the Canadian Federation of Students’ Day of Action, which will see stu- dents across Canada call for increased government funding for post-secondary education. “This motion is a declara- tion of support for student in- volvement and engagement,” Upham said. Along debate followed, dur- ing which the deans of medi- cine, science, and agricultural sciences spoke out against the motion, citing discomfort with asking their faculties to grant amnesty from labs and hospital shifts. But Michael Heochsmann, education senator, argued that the motion referred to a very “mild notion of amnesty.” Student society president Aaron Donny-Clark agreed, pointing out that the motion proposed that senate endorse academic amnesty, not impose it. “We’re asking for people to do what they can, not for people to do what they can’t,” he said. “If there’s one thing we talk about all the time, it’s that we don’t have enough money - - this gives students the oppor- tunity to work . . . to address that,” said Donny-Clark. Heather Munroe-Blum, principal of the university -- who, in compliance with Sen- ate rules, could not vote -- did not speak in favour of the mo- tion. In her opening remarks to senate, however, she voiced her hope that all-members of the McGill community could work co-operatively on what. -they agreed was important - - like increased government funding -- even though they might be divided on issues like tuition fees. Muslim prayer room vandalized at UBC Foul-smelling stain found in middle of room Jesse Ferreras THe Usyssey (UNIVERSITY OF British CoLuMBIA) VANCOUVER (CUP) -- A space designated for prayer by the University of British Col- umbia’s Muslim community was vandalized for the second time since October. A press release from the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) stated that an unidenti- fied, foul-smelling brown stain was found in the middle of the room on Jan. 12 at approxi- mately 4 p.m. by regular users of the Musalla (Muslim prayer room). MSA president Hesham Alsalman said that a regular user of the room saw an indi- vidual leaving hastily with a hood pulled over their head. The witness noticed that the individual had their shoes on, which Alsalman said was un- usual because it is custom to remove one’s shoes while in the Musalla. Another incident occurred on Oct. 2, 2006, when a simi- lar stain was found in the Mu- ‘salla. The RCMP concluded at the time that it was an ac- cident. The MSA agreed be- cause symbolic furniture in the room, such as a large Qur’an, remained untouched. “We didn’t believe our- selves, the MSA executives, that this is a hate crime until it happened again,” said Al- salman. When asked whether or not he felt the incident was -a hate crime, he said, “Most likely, yes. Why did it happen twice?” The university detachment of the RCMP was contacted on Saturday about the incident, Alsalman said, but there was no record of the incident at the office itself. Constable Keith Simpson was the RCMP con- tact, but was off-duty at press time and could not be reached. “If something happened at the Muslim prayer room, there’s been no complaint about it,” said Staff Sergeant Kevin Kenna. Brian Sullivan, a university vice-president, described the incident as a sick expression of displeasure. “There was an incident in October that was [dealt] with to everyone’s satisfaction at the time, though it was, even then, quite troubling,” he said, “but now with a second incident, things continue to change.” Sullivan said that the MSA has been engaged in discus- sions to improve security around the Musalla, particular- ly.over a “more potent locking — mechanism.” The Musalla has been tem- porarily relocated to another room until the carpets can be shampooed. Janet Mee, director of the Access and Diversity office, booked the new prayer room for the MSA and helped in cleanup. She has also been - involved in discussions to im- prove its security. “Part of what we’re doing is trying to ensure that students who are impacted by the van- dalism, that their lives are not disrupted,” she said. “Their first choice is a combination lock, something that still al- lows for users to come and go freely, but provides a level of security that we haven’t had up until now.” Despite the incidents, Al- salman said it is the MSA’s role to educate UBC students about Islam. “We are trying to combat, probably the bad image that you can see all the time... in the media about Islam and Muslims,” he said. “We are trying to educate people that we are people who are hard- working, do our jobs and blend [into] the community like everyone else.” a New rules to take confusion out of organic food labels Derek Lescuasin THe Unirer (UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG) WINNIPEG (CUP) -- A new label -- Canada Organic -- will soon be appearing on organic products in Canada. Many consumers are baf- fled by the current array of labels and advertised claims - - even unclear about the term “organic” itself: But with Fed- eral Minister of Agriculture Chuck Strahl’s announcement on Dec. 22 that brand-new regulations for organic food labelling across Canada have been approved, at least some of that confusion seems set to fade away. “We’ve done consumer surveys .. . and they continue to tell us that the*consumer is confused,” said Paddy Doherty, co-ordinator of the Canadian Organic Initiative Project, an industry group that pushed for regulation. “They often don’t realize that the government isn’t controlling [organics], and they don’t know the difference between ‘organic’ and ‘certi- fied organic’ and ‘natural.’” The new regulations dictate that after a two-year transition period, the Canadian Food In- spection Agency (CFIA) will oversee a mandatory national labelling system. Organic food producers will be forced to comply with a minimum set of criteria for declaring their food “organic.” Prior to this arrangement, certification had been volun- tary, with certifying agencies following different sets of guidelines. British Columbia and Quebec were exceptions, with provincial regulations in place. “There were products on the market that were calling themselves organic, and the consumers didn’t feel that they were true organic products,” said Michel Saumur, national manager of the Canada Organ- ic Office, a department of the CFIA. The CFIA describes organic foods as produced in a system in which “soil fertility is main- tained, animals are raised in a manner appropriate to their behavioural requirements and synthetic fertilizers and pesti- cides are not used.” The mandatory certifica- tion creates two types of or- ganic products. The first type includes products with at least 70 per cent organic ingredients, which must be certified in order to use the term “organic prod- uct.” They must also list which ingredients are actually organ- ic. The second type includes only products with at least 95 per cent organic ingredients, and are permitted to use a new “Canada Organic” logo. “That’s what people call the ‘true’ organic products,” Sau- miur said. Products with lower per- centages are not legally per- mitted to be labelled “organ- ic,” though organic ingredients within them may be listed as such. ' Certification will be carried out by already-existing agen- cies, which will have to com- ply with the regulations and are subject to the supervision - of the CFIA. Inspectors from the agency will also periodic- ally carry out inspections, Sau- mur explained. Perhaps surprisingly, this regulation comes at the behest of the organics industry itself. “The organic industry .. . got organized, and bothered the federal government until they did it,” Doherty said. The regulations were developed after extensive consultations between the federal govern- ment, producers and importer/ exporters. “The producers, the manu- facturers, the exporters and the importers, felt that there was not a clear, level playing field for their products on the market, because there Was mis- - representation and fraudulent products . . . we’ve dealt ‘with those problems,” Saumur said.