news // no. 4 SFSS impeaches president » Inside the tumultuous Annual General Meeting Bex Peterson Editor-in-Chief ast Monday, September 24, the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) impeached president Jaskarn Singh Randhawa at their AGM. This decision came at the recommendation of the SFSS Board of Directors in a document that outlined, among many other concerns, Randhawa’s lack of transparency with his use of SFSS funds; his failure to address sexual harassment allegations; general aggressive behaviour including an incident where he allegedly physically assaulted SFSS Board member Kia Mirsalehi; and leaking confidential information to the SFU newspaper, The Peak, including sensitive information about the aforementioned sexual harassment cases. If the allegations themselves weren't dramatic enough, the AGM was delayed Photo of Jaskarn Randhawa via SFU by a smoke bomb set off in the Leslie & Gordon Diamond Family Auditorium where the AGM was scheduled to be held. Jason Spence, sixth-year biology and computing science student at SFU, attended the AGM and spoke about his experiences in an email interview with the Other Press. “L arrived after everyone had already been evacuated from the smoke bomb ‘SHIFT’ at Douglas » Discussions, documentaries, and installations on the topic of gender violence Tania Arora & Katie Czenczek Staff Reporter, News Editor ouglas College hosted the SHIFT: Let’s talk gender violence event from September 24 to September 28 at the New Westminster Campus. The week started out with a virtual reality experience held in the New West campus's fishbowl, where students were put into the shoes of Indigenous women trying to hitch a ride along BC’s Highway of Tears. There were multiple news reports of missing and murdered women along Highway 16, many of which said that authorities have either been unable to find the women or have failed to actively investigate these disappearances. On each day after that, a documentary was showcased and followed bya discussion at the Aboriginal Gathering Place in the South Building of the campus with refreshments for viewers. The documentaries focused on the multitude of issues encompassed within the broad topic of gender violence. Many attendees to the event enthusiastically participated in the discussion. Douglas College officially partnered with McGill University for the research project on the issue. Jay Solman, Manager at Student Support and Conduct, said at the documentary on Tuesday, “What we typically see is most people tend to think of gender violence as sexual assault which is often not reported, which is unfortunate. Out of thousands of assaults that take place, only a very small percentage is actually reported.” Ascreening of Maple: A Documentary was held on September 25. It is a short film on the life of Maple Batalia, a 19-year-old student at Simon Fraser University who was murdered in September 20u1 by an ex-boyfriend near the university’s campus in Surrey. Post-screening, a discussion took place with Jasleen Kaur, director of the documentary, and moderator Gurmit ¢ Out of thousands of assaults that take place, only a very small percentage is actually reported.” —Jay Solman, Manager at Student Support and Conduct Grewal, Counsellor at Douglas College. When asked by the moderator how many people have actually witnessed gender violence during their lifetime, the majority of people raised their hands in the room. Jasleen Kaur said that what inspired her to shoot this film was that she has “been following Maple Batalia’s story since day one. I was so affected by the incident that I obsessively followed it throughout the entire process. I always wanted to make a movie reflecting on such issues and after this whole incident where it took around five years for the family of Maple to get justice, I wanted to get into the heart of the story. Having talked to the family about this, they instantly agreed.” Kaur started the process in 2016 and it took about a year and a half to make the movie. The next two documentaries focused on masculinity—through the lens of gender violence on Wednesday, and gender violence against people who are non-binary according to Western/ European views of gender on Thursday. Specifically, the Thursday documentary was centred on Two-Spirit peoples, who are disproportionately overrepresented as survivors of gender violence in Canada. Due to the heavy nature of topics SHIFT focuses on, the last day featured a conversation panel where students could ask the organizers and advocates questions about gender violence. The panel was held on Friday evening and had more than half of Laura C. Muir Theatre filled. Adrienne Meador Murray, a veteran law enforcement officer specialized in investigating instances of gender violence, opened up onto [Convocation] Mall,” said Spence. “While we waited for security, firefighters, and apparently the RCMP to clear the smoke, I saw Jas, well-dressed as always, making the rounds with his friends. There seemed to be a core of students against the impeachment. They even had a sign, which made me and some other students nervous as time went on.” However many supporters showed up to champion Randhawa’s cause, the weight of testimony and evidence given by speakers at the AGM seemed to decide the matter. “Samer Rihani, VP Student Services, gave a wonderful introduction,” said Spence. “He is one of the few people I’ve seen able to talk about intensely bureaucratic topics without sounding like he’s selling something.” Of all the evidence given, Spence said he felt that SFSS business representative _—— er the discussion by speaking about the issue of consent. Murray said that people working in Canadian law need to better define when consent can be given. “With regard to alcohol consumption, I think what’s really important is that people confuse these things all the time,” she said. “This is a very controversial area in the country, and apparently even for judges. People don’t seem to understand consent and consent when alcohol is involved. There are three levels to gauge how drunk someone is [...]: impairment, intoxication, and incapacitation. If someone reaches the point that they can no longer operate a motor vehicle legally and are incapacitated, they cannot give consent.” According to Murray, another problem is that Canadian law often puts too much emphasis on physical injuries when judging sexual assault cases, when most cases do not result in severe physical injuries. After Murray gave her keynote speech, she moderated the panelists, Kasari Govender, Harlan Pruden, Lisa Smith, and Chloe Garcia. Questions about violence on college campuses were answered, along with a discussion about how colonialism and patriarchy have made gender violence more acceptable in Canadian society. Anart installation called What Were you Wearing? was featured outside the theatre. This exhibit showcased the different items of clothing university a, re pL theotherpress.ca Jessica Nguyen’s speech was the most compelling. “Bookended by more business-centric arguments for the impeachment from Jackson [Freedman] and Kia, I thought that Jessica Nguyen’s moving speech on the mismanaged sexual harassment case and subsequent leaking by Jas was a turning point in the meeting,” he said. “After this point, there was a feeling of impatience. Jessica’s speech received a standing ovation and was probably the most damning evidence against Jas that was presented at the AGM” The vote to impeach Randhawa came swiftly afterwards by a show of hands, followed by cheers after the motion passed. As for the future of the SFSS, things seem to be looking up in the wake of this decision. “Tam confident that the SFSS will be more effective now than they were with Jas as the president,” said Spence. “As I understand it, Samer will be in charge of presidential roles and their delegation across all remaining board members. I have known Samer since before the election last spring, and J can’t think of a person I would be more comfortable with in his position.” ih Photo of Aahelee Bandyopadhyay by Billy Bui students were wearing when they were sexually assaulted. Items including a child’s sundress, a lifeguard uniform, and pajamas were all hanging around the installation. The clothes were next to anonymous accounts from the survivors. Inspired by the poem “What I Was Wearing” by Mary Simmerling, the intent was to dispel the popular myth that a person’s outfit choice determines when and if someone will experience gender violence. The phenomenon of gender violence can be broadly defined as any act resulting in suffering or harm either physically or psychologically based on gender relations. According to the organization United Nations Women, “It is estimated that 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives.” The recent statistics of World Bank show that “Globally, as many as 38 percent of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner,’ and “200 million women have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting.” The facts and figures are never ending, and although they may seem to be growing in numbers, researchers believe that people are starting to speak out against acts of gender violence more in recent years. Hopefully, events like SHIFT can contribute to the dialogue and shed some much- needed light on these issues.