LETTITOR

      

Cody Klyne

Editor in Chief

ast week while shuffling through

tabs I'd hastily left open I stumbled
thetyee.ca) that got me to thinking. The
article, entitled “BC No Longer Calls Self
“Best Place on Earth’” written by Bob
Mackin, discusses—as you might have
guessed—the provincial government’s

recent decision to, as Mackin says, “de-
brand” BC as the “Best Place on Earth.”

don’t expect an “informed” look into the
various contributing factors; the skinny on
who said what to who; or the ramifications
of the change and what it says about our
current government: I’m not going to sit
here and clumsily regurgitate Mackin’s
opinion (I do however suggest reading

it for yourself). What I will do is take

this opportunity to comment on what the
stripping of BC’s “brand” for the past

six years from provincial government
websites, signage, hokey commercials,

student-citizen of the GVRD. So, with the
disclaimer out of the way, I'll start off by
saying: of course “ours” is always best.

 

onto something on The Tyee (www.

Now I’m no political commentator, so

and license plates says to me as a doe-eyed

Perhaps comparing this kind of
branding to “fanboyism” is a little hasty,
but that’s where I’m taking it. Besides,
if you consider what claiming that BC is
the “Best Place on Earth” says about us,
the implied hubris is borderline insulting.
When did we become one of “those
guys?” The only place on earth that I feel
comfortable associating a superlative of
this is kind with is Disneyland because,
well, I was a kid once and, it’s quite
possibly “the happiest place on earth.” Be
it rose-coloured glasses or nostalgia, that
place has got it going on. With Disneyland
as the high water mark BC, while being far
from being the “best” place, is certainly
not far off from being a pretty “good” or
truly “keen” place. Speaking on a personal
level as someone who is constantly
struggling with when ignorance is
acceptable as a survival tool and when it’s
a damning quality; perception is all about
what we expose ourselves to.

As far as the GVRD is concerned:
yes there’s a homelessness. problem, yes
our government has made its share of
blunders, and yes we’re far from being
green; but we’re working on it. Slowly...
we’re working on it. A far less catchy
but far more appropriate provincial
branding campaign would revolve around
this idea of earnest development with
the underlining understanding that, hell,

A ‘pretty good’ or ‘truly keen’ place on Earth

nobody's perfect. To go along with this
more honest rebranding, bumper stickers
could read something along the lines of
“There’re certainly some crappy things
going on in our province, but we'd like to
think that the good outweighs the bad!”
For tourism purposes, we could even
throw in a “Come to BC!” at the end.
Slap that on a T-shirt or ceramic mug and

 

they'll sell like Japa Dogs in July.
Keep your chin up BC. You’ll find
your identity someday.

Later days,

Cody Klyne
Editor in chief
The Other Press

 

To the editor,

hank you for publishing the article
T= Must Ban the Blood Ban: UK’s

New Blood Donation Policy Isn’t
Progressive Enough.” As the article points
out, the UK’s new policy isn’t progressive
at all! That being said, I’d like to draw your
reads’ attention to the Canadian policy,
which your article briefly mentions.

Quoting from the Canadian Federation
of Students’ (of which Douglas students’ are
members) website: ‘
“The Canadian Blood Services

(CBS), as mandated by its regulator,
Health Canada, has placed a lifetime ban
on blood donations from men who have
had sex with other men (MSM) anytime
since 1977. The MSM deferral is part of the
screening procedures designed to identify
a variety of behaviors and circumstances
known to increase risk to the safety of
the blood supply. The current policy does
not, however, take into account the use of
protection in sexual activity, the various
risk levels of different types of sexual
interaction, or the donor’s relationship
status. The ban on blood donation from
the MSM community is discriminatory,
and based on outdated science and broad
and old-fashioned stereotypes of the queer
population.”

And, as your
article points out,
testing done on the
blood supply is now
extremely accurate
so any restrictions on
the queer community
would seem to be
discriminatory.

The Douglas
Students’ Union as a
member of the Canadian
Federation of Students
participates in the
Federation’s “END the
BAN” Campaign. The
DSU Pride Community
had information tables
out last year each time
the Canadian Blood
Services Mobil unit was
on campus and during
welcome weeks to
draw attention to their
discriminatory practice
and the “End the Ban”
campaign. We plan to continue to draw
attention to this issue on campus.

We encourage everyone to donate blood
and therein help save lives. But with the

Ben has been ina monogamous —
felations ~~ his sorties for over 5

frequent shortages of blood, there is a large
segment of the population who are unable

to help. Let Canada blood services and the
government know that. For more information
you can go to www.endtheban.ca as well

 

petition cards are available at the Students’

Union.

Laura Howat
DSU Pride Liaison