PETA protestor pie-faced
A PETA protestor dressed in a seal costume took a pie to the face last Friday in St. John’s, Nfld. A man dressed as the local mascot, a dog in a rain slicker, removed the protestor’s mask and thrust a pie into her face before fleeing the scene.
This act seems to be a response to PETA’s use of pies in a protest last week against fisheries minister Gail Shea, who stands in support of seal hunting.
Emily Lavender, 21, is the PETA protestor on the receiving end of the retaliation pie. She says she doesn’t mind taking a pie for her cause.
PETA said they did not find Gail Shea’s pie in the face was out of line. But Wallace Ryan of St. John’s, who is in favour of seal hunting, commented that the spring hunt is important to sealers economically. Ryan wore a shirt that said: “If seals were ugly, nobody would give a damn.—Zoë Sedlak
Source: Toronto Star
Hundreds ticketed in traffic safety campaign
As a part of their campaign to promote pedestrian and traffic safety, Toronto police are reporting that they have issued 295 tickets to drivers and pedestrians, with an additional 345 warnings handed out in four days.
Pedestrians were cited for jaywalking and disregarding traffic signals. Among the tickets issued to motorists were $40 charges for being stuck between intersections on red lights and $180 charges for failing to yield to unloading streetcars. Additionally, eight motorists were charged for driving with suspended licences.
The reports come after the GTA’s pedestrian fatality toll rose to 14 since Jan. 1, nearly half of last year’s count.—Abdi Aidid
Source: CBC
Fees waived for Haitian students at U Ottawa
The University of Ottawa plans to cover the tuition and residence fees this semester for its 23 Haitian students enrolled in the university with student visas.
Announced on Tuesday, the decision will save each student $6,000 to $8,000 and cost the university $150,000.
Allan Rock, the university’s president, said that some of the students had lost relatives and others were still waiting to hear from their families. “Some of them had depended on families in Haiti to support them financially, and those families were no longer able to do that.”
After meeting with the students and hearing that they would not be able to pay for the semester, the university decided to waive fees. U of O has yet to consider whether or not it will cover costs next fall.
“Charity begins at home, and the people who were sitting right in from of me were those I could help the most at the very moment,” explained Rock when asked about the decision to cover student fees instead of sending $150,000 to Haitian relief. Rock pointed out that successful fundraising for the Haitian catastrophe is also taking place on campus.—Carolyn Arnett
Source: Ottawa Citizen
College union rejects offer
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents college instructors in Ontario, has rejected what advocacy organization Colleges Ontario, representing 24 colleges of applied arts and technology, has called their “final offer.” Now, Colleges Ontario wants OPSEU to take the offer to its members for a vote.
OPSEU spokesman Greg Hamara said that the union would only ask its members to vote on an offer that is supported by union officials. According to him, OPSEU has told Colleges Ontario to hold its own vote.
“We cannot recommend this final offer because it avoids the real issues,” he stated.
Though Colleges Ontario reduced the contract term to three years from four and boosted salary increases to 5.75 per cent over three years, OPSEU is looking for gains in work and academic freedom.
Earlier this month, 57 teachers gave OPSEU a strike mandate, giving officials permission to call for a strike if negotiations broke down. Such a strike would affect 500,000 full- and part-time students.—Ryan Tuzyk
Source: Globe and Mail
Mac arsonist sentenced
An expelled McMaster student has been sentenced to just under two years in prison and three years of probation after pleading guilty in November to a charge of arson endangering human life.
The sentencing comes over a year after Emerson Pardoe of Scarborough, then 19, caused a large fire in a residence building. The blaze cost $3 million in structural damage and over $2 million in costs, and left over 500 students homeless.
Pardoe was originally charged with both arson endangering human life and arson endangering property. The latter charge was dropped as a result of the guilty plea in November.
On top of the maximum sentence, Ontario Court Justice Timothy Culver ordered Pardoe to submit his DNA to be entered into Canada’s DNA crime database. Additionally Pardoe is banned from possessing weapons, ammunition, and explosives for five years. He admitted to being under the influence of both drugs and alcohol at the time of the crime.—Kari Vierimaa
Source: Hamilton Spectator
