eported by the London Free Press last July were convicted of going absent without eave in 2005 as in 2000. Some of the students at the demonstration were more ambivalent about recruitment. amille Bussiéres-Hamel, also from Trois- Riviéres, said she opposes the war in Afghanistan and wants the troops home, but recruitment on campus doesn’t really bother her because recruiters can’t force her o listen. ‘Joining the army is a personal decision, nnd people who want to join should have e choice to do so,” she said.

Myriam Faraj, a political science under- praduate at Université du Québec a

ontréal, said she would confront ecruiters on her campus to open their minds.

“As people, we should try to communi-

ate with each other, and question and Hebate. I would want to make [a recruiter]. Huestion what he’s part of,” she said. “And I

be quite an annoying person sometimes,

could] talk with him for hours,” she dded.

hanging the mission

e Bloc Québécois has taken a less critical tone in its stance towards recruiting, which does not outright oppose, Bloc pokesperson Frédéric Lepage said by phone last Friday.

e Canadian Forces’ role in Afghanistan means we need to replace more troops than hsual,” said Lepage. “The problem is that this government has no clear foreign policy, which needs to be defined before defence

pending can be done responsibly.”

That sentiment is echoed by groups like the Council of Canadians, which has no bpinion on recruitment per se, but is calling

for Canada’s role in Afghanistan to change from a combat mission to a focus on humani- tarian work, reconstruction, development and peacekeeping, the Council’s media officer, Meera Karunanthan, said.

As peacekeeping funds-go towards Afghanistan, Canada has reduced its number of peacekeepers to 56, no more than Mali, the Council says.

“The personnel shortage in the Canadian Forces is approximately the same as the num- ber of Canadian troops in Afghanistan,” Operation Objection’s downloadable anti-war campaign kit reads. “Ironically, there would be no ‘troop shortage’ if we brought them home.” "

Mote importantly, Karunanthan said, the increased military recruitment helps the Conservative government's deep integration policy with the US., which cedes Canadian sovereignty and sends troops to fight a Taliban movement that is no threat to Canadians.

But others weren’t so sute. “To say [the wat] is hopeless is a legitimate argument, but [Canada] is a target,” said one of the counter- protesters named Jay, a McGill student who joined the army voluntarily and wished not to reveal his family name. .

He pointed out the day’s National Post headline, “Al Qaida warns Canada,” and the 18 terror suspects arrested in Toronto this sum- mer. “I believe there’s a real need to fight this war. I hope I’m nuts. And maybe [these demonstrators] are right. But I don’t see it that way.”

He added that one of his hobbies is study- ing the history of the First and Second World. “T see the courage that our soldiers displayed. If we had the same mentality then [that] we have now, we wouldn’t have won those wars,” he said.

Meet Matt Bristo, Campaigning

to Impeach the DSU

Travis Paterson, Features Editor

There’s a lot of talk around campus of a movement to impeach membets of the Douglas College Student Union, including Joey Hansen, the representative who’s been on paid leave since March, 2006.

Meet Matt Bristo, a first year political science student who has petitioned the students at both the Coquitlam and New Westminster campus'’s.

I met with Matt on a drab Thursday afternoon to discuss his motivation on the mat- ters. “This all happens, it all accumulates and these signatures finally come into a decision to have the entire board, or the entire representative committee remioved and they have the right just like anybody else to re-run, if they truly believe in their position and if they’re telling us the truth,” Said Bristo.

“We've got close to 1256 signatures, and ultimately the Douglas College Board.over- . sees the whole petition process, and we turned it into them,” said Bristo. Anyone can

_ challenge the DSU if they get a thousand signatures in order to call a special resolution

meeting with the DSU to talk about the current situation. “Then we'll get 75 or more students to back us up, regardless of whether they signed [the petition] or not, we need as much support as we can get for that particular meeting.”

Bristo also spoke about the DSU’s failure to complete an external audit since 2001, “Something as small as an absolute budget of two million dollars in a real political arena, its like pocket change.” Bristo finished with a declaration of what he believes the DSU represents, “I want to work with people who are going to be honest, and I want to have absolute clarity for every dollar that students put into the student union, its that simple.”

According to Bristo, the petition was submitted to the Douglas College Board in early November, and the signatures are under review for DC student authenticity.

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