News Tyson Kelsall Culture Editor S* hundred people, mostly youth, converged in the largest climate conference in British Columbian history from 4-7 October in the province's capital. Over the four-day period, there were a variety of events ranging from a big stage speech from National Chairperson for the Council of Canadians and author Maude Barlow, to workshops held by grassroots activists such as Harsha Walia of No One Is Illegal and Satsi Naziel of Unist'ot'en Camp. Expert panels on a variety of topics including colonialism, climate justice, capitalism, a history of environmentalism, and the future of fossil fuels were also present. On the opening night, Dr. David Suzuki told a large crowd at Crystal Garden that today's generation is the generation “with everything at stake,” stating that people his age had the opportunity to party ina time of unprecedented economic growth but now it was time for them to sober up and clean up. Despite being the biggest name on opening night, he did not steal the show, which set a precedent for an event that was meant to be a fusion between grassroots and big named activism. Powershift was meant to have a healthy balance of inclusion of people looking to get engaged for the first time in activism, and heavier topics for people looking to mature their activism toolkit. Suzuki thought, and many agreed, that it was about time activists (especially environmentalists) started incorporating First Nation approaches to their own methods, as Powershift did. Suzuki credited Haida political figure, Guujaaw, for much of his own understanding of true environmentalism. The next day, there was a broad selection of panels and workshops depending on what the attendee wanted to learn more about. The workshops were intimate, practical sessions where a diverse set of people would look at a subject and work through them with the help of a facilitator. In any given room there would be people from as far as Minnesota to Fort Chipewyan to Prince George, as well as many locals from Vancouver Island. Some Saturday workshops included: Decolonization 101, Youth Activism and Creative Powershift BC Crowd-Funding. The panels were lecture-style, and followed by question and answer periods. The panels featured people experienced in the topic at hand. Some Saturday speakers included Chief Rueben George of Isleil-Waututh First Nation, Ben West of Forest Ethics and Zoe Blunt of Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network. In the evening, there was a group of keynote speakers including Maude Barlow and Caleb Behn. Sunday had a similar set up to Saturday, in terms of the day being divided up by workshops and panels. Prominent journalist of The Tyee, Andrew Nikiforuk, spoke about what he called the “economic lunacy” of Liquefied Natural Gas, and called out Christy Clark on false promises made by her government during the last election. Ben Parfitt of Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, spoke about shale gas exploration through the lens of water, explaining how much water is needed for hydraulic fracturing (popularly known as fracking). As an example, according to Parfitt, 4 LNG production plants would consume about 700 billion liters of water just to get started up. Caleb Behn rounded out the panel by speaking on the social oppression of First Nations communities on the front lines of fracking, pointing out that the toxic practices being done (and contested) in Fort Nelson would never happen in an upper class Vancouver or Victoria community. The last day, Monday, coincided with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Royal Proclamation, a historical document that has been ignored by many Canadian governments. Amongst many things, it outlines and recognizes First Nations’ land rights. Idle No More and Powershift came together to say no to pipelines, and actively train for blockades on the legislature lawn. In the end, many people walked away with new skills and knowledge needed to take action. There was a large understanding of the interconnectedness between social and climate injustices. Perhaps most importantly, people found a community of similar-minded people and created new networks to work with. S —~ is) = S — Ss, N S ne > %G xX = = The Truth and Nothing but the Truth? Nicole Halseth News Editor Saisie Canada recently released information on income data that reveals we are now more equal as a society than a few years ago. Of course, this is wonderful news. As the income gap between the richest and the poorest in our country grows smaller, as it is clearly doing in Statistics Canada data, life in our country can only get better. We will be more equal as a whole, with overall quality of life improving and social coherence ever increasing. This will benefit our country, and our society, as a whole. A more equal society is what any country should strive for, is it not? The image of an ‘equal society’ is, undoubtedly, appealing: millions of happy, healthy people living fulfilling lives with equal opportunities, certain of the permanence of the roof over their heads and the food filling their shelves. At least, that is what it would look like, were it to be the actual truth. This Statistics Canada data reveals an incomplete picture resulting from insutficient data collection methods, directly consequential of Prime Minister Harper's 2011 decision to replace the mandatory national census with a voluntary National Household Survey. When this change took place, controversy arose due to concerns that this new survey could never hope to provide same quality of data collection on life in Canada that the mandatory one could. The institution of this survey was so controversial that it prompted the resignation of the then-head of Statistics Canada, Munir Sheikh. According to an article on the Globe and Mail website, Mr. Sheikh resigned because he had “always honoured” his “oath and responsibilities as a public servant as well as those specific to the Statistics Act,” and could not continue these duties under this flawed methodology. It seems criticism over the validity of the National Household Survey has come very close to the mark. Fewer lower-income households filled out the voluntary long survey, which was dominated largely by highly educated, higher income demographics. The richest and poorest in our country were by-and-large not represented in these results. It makes sense, then, why the income gap between the rich and poor appears to be shrinking. The holes in the data collected through this voluntary census pose a very real danger of misrepresentation. As it has been collected through Statistics Canada-an official government institution-the results can now be considered ‘official.: They can be used to make decisions about policies and practices across the country that will affect every community, province, and individual. The results can also be used as proof in the international community of the ‘equality’ within Canada. The new Statistics Canada data obfuscates the truth as effectively as a smokescreen. The most unfortunate outcome of this is that we may never again receive accurate data about the status of social equality in Canada, unless the mandatory census is restored. Though the image of Canadian society the mandatory census provided could never be lorded as the ‘truth, it was at least closer than these flimsy results. This kind of dangerous data collection is supposedly never acceptable in any other realm of public or private research, so why should it be acceptable on a national level?