It’s not just that Canadian restaurant workers have left — many have yet to arrive

Maggie Perzyna, Senior Research Technician, CERC Migration Program, Ryerson University 

3/19/2022

Recent media reporting about the hospitality industry has been dominated by stories about mass resignations and workers leaving for white-collar jobs.

Many sources cite a combination of low wages, instability and the lack of a decent working environment as factors pushing workers out of restaurants and into better paying, more secure jobs.

While repeated pandemic lockdowns and closures have pushed workers to find jobs in different sectors, this version of the story ignores that one in four restaurant workers are immigrants and that border closures over the past two years have meant that many potential immigrants have not been able to enter Canada.

Contrary to the headlines, our ongoing research project — based on interviews with immigrants working in Toronto’s restaurant industry — shows that the overwhelming majority of workers planned to return to the industry as soon as pandemic restrictions were lifted.

The labour shortage is not new

Although the pandemic was an accelerant, labour shortages have plagued the hospitality industry for some time. According to Restaurants Canada’s senior economist, Chris Elliott, numbers from Statistics Canada were signaling the trend for years.

Young people generally account for about 40 per cent of all food service workers. In the late 70s and early 80s, 15- to 24-year-olds accounted for about 20 per cent of the overall population in Canada. That number has declined to just 12 per cent.

Before the pandemic, immigration was an important source for filling job vacancies. In contrast, 2020 saw a decrease from 2019 of 145,687 international students alone.

As of December 2021, employment in accommodation and food services remained 206,000 workers short (16.9 per cent) of its pre-COVID level, even though there are more people working now than there were in February 2020.

According to the 2021 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2020 saw a record low number of temporary resident visas and electronic travel authorizations delivered as a result of border closures and travel restrictions.

A recent study published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that, rather than leaving the labour market, workers are finding jobs in professional services, leading them to conclude that the Canadian economy is seeing a “major sectoral realignment.”

A highly stratified industry

Accommodation and food services is a broad category, including everything from quick service chains to high-end full-service restaurants. Under this large umbrella, the types of jobs and corresponding pay vary widely. While quick service restaurant jobs tend to be minimum wage, wages in full-service restaurants are supplemented by tips.

Although the lion’s share of tips go to customer-facing servers — as well as managers and chefs sometimes — bussers, food-runners and cooks all make tips on top of hourly wages.

The claim that workers are simply moving to white-collar sectors also obscures structural barriers to being able to freely move between jobs, including racism and discrimination.

Racialized migrants tend to be in back-of-house jobs, such as cooks and light duty cleaners, in comparison to front-of-house jobs like servers and front desk clerks. For example, in Toronto, Filipino workers, Jamaican-born women and Sri Lankan-born men are more than twice as likely to work these jobs as other immigrants.

For many international students and newcomers without recognized foreign credentials, restaurants jobs provide low barriers to entry and flexible hours, where language skills can be honed and the coveted Canadian experience acquired. Many restaurants also sponsor professional cooks, chefs and managers who come to Canada to work in the sector.

A place of opportunity

Low wages, questionable employment practices and precarity are all part of a reckoning that the restaurant industry as a whole must confront if it is to recover from its current image crisis and attract workers in the future.

In the meantime, we need to dig deeper and ask more questions, not just about the leavers, but also about the stayers. We know that COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on immigrants and racialized people in Canada. It is vital that the hospitality industry that employs many of them is a place of opportunity rather than a source of oppression and exploitation.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:

Worker shortage? Or poor work conditions? Here’s what’s really vexing Canadian restaurants

Nobel winner David Card shows immigrants don’t reduce the wages of native-born workers

Maggie Perzyna receives funding from the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Program.

Google is accused in lawsuit of systemic bias against Black employees

By Jonathan Stempel 

© Reuters/Reuters Staff FILE PHOTO: A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California

(Reuters) - A lawsuit filed on Friday accuses Google of systemic racial bias against Black employees, saying the search engine company steers them to lower-level jobs, pays them less and denies them opportunities to advance because of their race.

According to a complaint seeking class-action status, Google maintains a "racially biased corporate culture" that favors white men, where Black people comprise only 4.4% of employees and about 3% of leadership and its technology workforce.

The plaintiff, April Curley, also said the Alphabet Inc unit subjected Blacks to a hostile work environment, including by often requiring they show identification or be questioned by security at its Mountain View, California campus.

Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint was filed in the federal court in San Jose, California.

It came after that state's civil rights regulator, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, began investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers and possible discrimination in their workplace.

Curley said Google hired her in 2014 to design an outreach program to historically Black colleges.

She said her hiring proved to be a "marketing ploy," as supervisors began denigrating her work, stereotyping her as an "angry" Black woman and passing her over for promotions.

Curley said Google fired her in September 2020 after she and her colleagues began working on a list of desired reforms.

"While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying and mistreating their Black employees," Curley's lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement.

Crump is a civil rights lawyer who also represented the family of George Floyd after he was killed in May 2020 by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Curley's lawsuit seeks to recoup compensatory and punitive damages and lost compensation for current and former Black employees at Google, and to restore them to their appropriate positions and seniority.

The case is Curley v Google LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-01735.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Egypt's newly discovered ancient tombs are nearly 5,000 years old

Egypt announced on Thursday the discovery of five ancient tombs in Saqqara, marking the latest in a series of discoveries in the vast necropolis south of Cairo.

The stony tombs date back to the Old Kingdom (c.2700–2200 BC) and First Intermediate (c.2181–2055 BC) eras, Egypt's antiquities ministry said.

They were excavated northeast of the Pyramid of Merenre, a 52.5 meters-tall structure that was built during the Sixth Dynasty. The tombs, which are engraved with colorful shapes, belong to "top officials," the ministry added.

© Egypts Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Egypt's antiquities and tourism minister, Khaled el-Anany (R), and Mostafa El-Waziri, the head of the country's Supreme Antiquities Council, inspect one of the five ancient tombs discovered in Saqqara, Egypt.

Mostafa El-Waziri, the head of Egypt's Supreme Antiquities Council, said the first tomb belongs to an official named IRY.

MORE: Egypt to mark centenary of Tutankhamun tomb discovery by inaugurating new, lavish museum

"The tomb consists of a deep burial shaft leading to a chamber decorated with funerary scenes depicting offering tables, the seven oils and the façade of the palace. A limestone sarcophagus was also uncovered inside the tomb," he said in a statement.

"The second tomb belongs to a woman that could be the wife of a man named Yaret and it has a rectangular burial shaft while the third tomb belongs to Pepi Nefhany, who was the supervisor of the great house, a priest, and the purifier of the house. It has a six meters deep burial shaft."

El-Waziri said the fourth, also a six-meter deep burial shaft, belongs to a woman named Petty. She was the priest of Hathor, the goddess of fertility and love.

© Egypts Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Egypt's antiquities and tourism minister, Khaled el-Anany, and Mostafa El-Waziri, the head of the country's Supreme Antiquities Council, inside one of the deep burial shafts in Saqqara, Egypt.

"The fifth is for a man named Henu, the overseer and the supervisor of the royal house. It consists of a rectangular seven meters deep burial shaft," El-Waziri added.

"More work and studies will be carried out to reveal more secrets of these tombs," he said.

Egypt has carried out extensive digging operations in Saqqara in recent years, which resulted in a string of discoveries, including the unearthing of a 4,400-year-old tomb of royal priest Wahtye in 2018 and the discovery of hundreds of mummified animals and statues a year later.

Last year, Egypt unearthed 52 burial shafts in Saqqara with more than 50 wooden coffins found inside. They date back 3,000 years, the oldest sarcophagi found in the ancient burial ground.

They also discovered the funerary temple of Queen Nearit, the wife of King Teti -- the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt.MORE: Egypt digitally unwraps mummy of King Amenhotep in 'important milestone'

Egypt is hoping the discoveries, along with the expected opening of a new mega museum near the Giza Pyramids later this year, will revive its vital tourism industry.

© Egypts Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Egypt's antiquities and tourism minister Khaled el-Anany inspects one of the five ancient tombs discovered in Saqqara.

Tourism was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last couple of years and could take a fresh battering because of Russia's attempted invasion of Ukraine, with citizens of both countries comprising a big chunk of visitors to Egypt.

Up to 20,000 Ukrainians were stranded in Egypt's Red Sea resorts when Russia started its offensive against Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to the Ukrainian embassy in Egypt.

Activist Leah Thomas on How Intersectional Environmentalism and Travel Can Coexist

Megan Spurrell 

CONDE NAST TRAVELER


“We can't save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard,” says Leah Thomas in her new book, The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet. “We should care about the protection of people as much as we care about the protection of our planet—to me, these fights are the same.”

These two lines at the start of Thomas's first book, released March 8, are easy for any traveler to get behind. The same goes for what follows on the remaining 200 pages. Consider the entire volume an overarching yet detailed introduction to intersectional environmentalism, a term made popular by Thomas in the past couple of years, which considers the intersection between racism, privilege, and environmentalism. Her book outlines theories on the subject, inspecting how Black, Indigenous, and other people of color are impacted by climate injustice. She also share tips for instigating change, frequently nodding back to the generations of Black women in her family that she credits with instilling her sense of sustainability.

For travelers, Thomas's work is essential brain food for how we consider our impact on the places we visit—and the people who call those destinations home. Thomas, after all, agrees that being a good environmentalist doesn't mean you can't travel. (“Imperfect environmentalism” is her other favorite way to describe what she does.)

We chatted with Thomas to hear more about the launch of Intersectional Environmentalist, and how she hopes it can be a guide for all of us. Plus, she shares her approach to mindful travel—and a few places, from Kansas to Portugal, that have inspired her.

 

© Cher Martinez Author Leah Thomas

© Sanetra Nere Longno Thomas's first book, The Intersectional Environmentalist, is easy for any traveler to get behind.

How do environmentalism and travel conflict—and intersect—for you?

I'm an avid traveler, even though I'm an environmentalist, which some people think conflicts but I don't agree.

Environmentalism and sustainability aren't just about restriction and punishing yourself, and shame-based motivation. We're existing in imperfect systems, so we cannot be perfect environmentalists. It's okay if we extend ourselves some grace and, for me, travel is one of the ways that I find my inspiration to care for the earth so deeply—because I get to connect with new people and cultures and histories, and see the impact of the climate crisis up close. It also helps me remember how beautiful this earth is.

How does travel typically factor into your life and work?

Not too long ago I took what I call the book babymoon. I went to Portugal and I stayed in these really tiny homes and quiet communities up in the mountains. I ended up staying in an Airbnb in Faro, Portugal, that happened to be designed by an environmental policy analyst. I got to walk around, meet local people, relax, see the forest—things like that. It was exactly what I needed before such a big moment in my life. It brought me back down to earth in a lot of ways.

[Travel is] a reminder of why I care for both people and the planet so much, because there are so many beautiful cultures, many of which are inherently sustainable—a lot of local communities around the world or Indigenous communities are already farming really sustainably or not producing a lot of waste. And it helps me reimagine how systems can be better in places like the United States.

Has any one trip notably impacted your work?

When I was in college, I got a park ranger internship for three months in the rural town of Nicodemus, Kansas, at a historic site which had a lot of Black history—after slavery, free Black people came to this town and made homes from the mud in the ground, known as dugouts.

But I also got to communicate with farmers in the area. Going into the experience, I was such an environmental tyrant. I was a “I hate pesticides, GMOs are horrible” poster child for environmental extremism. But these farmers I met there were like, Oh, hey, you want to work for the Environmental Protection Agency one day? Okay, hop on the tractor with me. They spilled their hearts about having to change what pesticides they're using and how it made them lose money; how they wish that D.C. wasn't so disconnected from them, how they wish people making laws knew about the economic impact of them.

I realized I'm one of those people. And if I would have gotten into policy without actually interacting with low income farmers or people in this historic area, I wouldn't be able to adequately address their really unique needs. It opened my eyes—policy should be approached with nuance and not absolutism because you can learn so much from people if you just have a conversation with them and see them in their element. How would I know what farmers in the Midwest need without actually talking to them?

You mention a lot of intersectional environmentalists in your book. Who should readers be paying attention to right now?

There are so many, but some people that I think are amazing include Pinar, who is mentioned in the book. They have an organization called Queer Nature. They're an Indigenous activist who is also a hunter, and they advocate for queer identity in nature. I really adore Gloria Walton, who wrote the foreword. She's this incredible woman who oversees the organization The Solutions Project, which was actually co-founded by Mark Ruffalo. (Shout out to the Hulk.) In her time that she's been there, Gloria has been able to use celebrity relationships and networks with these big nonprofits to allocate and redistribute millions of dollars in funding to smaller climate justice organizations. I think that's such an incredible display of the privilege of networking.

How do you hope people will use what they learn in this book to travel better?

I would have had a section about travel if I could go back and write it.

I don't want it to seem like I'm giving people extra work to do, but I would say to look up different social and environmental issues that are happening in the place that you're going to. When you do some of that research, remember that where you place your money is really important. Support local artisans if possible, or Indigenous peoples of the land that you're going to. Please don't litter. Ride public transportation, get a bike if you can. Anything to lessen your environmental impact.

Turquoise Hill investor Pentwater says $2.7 billion Rio bid too low -letter
BUY THE COMPANY TO HIDE THE COST OVERRUNS

By Clara Denina

© Reuters/David Gray FILE PHOTO: A sign adorns the building where mining company Rio Tinto has their office in Perth, Western Australia

LONDON (Reuters) -Activist investor Pentwater Capital Management, the largest minority shareholder of Canada's Turquoise Hill with a 10% stake, has rejected a $2.7 billion bid for the copper producer by Rio Tinto as too low.

Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto, on Monday proposed to buy out the 49% minority shareholders in Turquoise Hill for about $2.7 billion in cash, paving the way for direct ownership of a massive copper-gold mining project in Mongolia.

"It is highly improbable that Rio will be successful at its current bid price and equally improbable that Turquoise Hill shares will ever fall back to the levels they traded at prior to Rio's offer," the investor said in a letter to Turquoise Hill's independent directors seen by Reuters on Friday.

Turquoise Hill is a single-asset company holding 66% of Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world's largest known copper and gold deposits, 550 km (342 miles) south of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The government of Mongolia owns the remaining 34%.

The Toronto-listed miner has a market capitalisation of $5.4 billion, after its share price rose by 32% since Monday, in line with the 32% premium offered by Rio Tinto in its non-binding C$34 per share offer.

Rio paid $63.70 per share for its existing 51% stake in Turquoise Hill, according to Pentwater.

"If Rio believes that its current $26.90 proposal is compelling for Turquoise Hill shareholders, Pentwater would be pleased to purchase part of Rio Tinto's stake in Turquoise Hill for that price," it said.

SailingStone Capital Partners, another minority shareholder at 2.4%, said on Tuesday "an additional premium to compensate minority shareholders for losing access to an asset of this quality seems eminently reasonable."

Turquoise Hill and Rio have had long-running disagreements over funding for the $6.93 billion expansion of the mine as costs and timelines overran, but they reached a deal, which included a rights issue, in April.

Rio Tinto in January settled a long-running dispute with Mongolia over the economic benefits of the project, waiving $2.4 billion in debt owed to it by the Mongolian government.

Pentwater Capital last year filed a class action in New York against Rio Tinto for damages, alleging it concealed the project's problems from investors for months.

(Reporting by Clara Denina; editing by Jason Neely and Chizu Nomiyama)

Takeover of Noront Resources approved

Northern Ontario — An Australian company’s bid to take control of what are believed to be large nickel and chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire mineral belt has been accepted by shareholders.

Toronto-based Noront Resources reported late Tuesday that its shareholders “overwhelmingly” voted this week in favour of a bid of $1.10 per share, that had been put forward by Wyloo Metals.

Just over 66 per cent of shareholders who voted had to be in favour of the proposal before it could become effective.

The deal is set to close by April 7, Noront said. It’s not yet clear what the new company will be named.

Wyloo’s final offer came in December following a prolonged bidding war with a rival Australian company — oil, mining and gas giant BHP.

For several years, Noront has been positioning itself to build the first nickel mine in the Ring of Fire located about 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. The mining of chromite — a main ingredient in stainless steel — was to follow at adjacent deposits.

When Noront found it could no longer finance the projects, it initially recommended its shareholders accept a takeover proposal by BHP.

Wyloo, which already owned a substantial amount of Noront shares, countered with higher offers after it was unable to reach a mutual agreement with BHP.

Mining development in the Ring of Fire isn’t expected to occur until after all-season roads or a rail route have been established for transporting ore.

Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal

 

Noront Resources

Noront Resources (TSXV: NOT; US-OTC: NOSOF) was the target of a heated takeover contest, won by Australian miner Wyloo Metals last year. A shareholder vote on the takeover is slated for mid-March and the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter. Noront’s assets are located in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, near James Bay. It holds 100% interests in the Eagle’s Nest high-grade nickel-copper-platinum group metals deposit, the Blackbird chromite discovery, and the Black Thor chromite deposit. It also holds a 70% interest in the Big Daddy chromite deposit and a 100% interest in the Black Label deposit.

Noront Resources’ Esker camp in Ontario’s Ring of Fire. Credit: Noront Resources

With so many riches in the ground, there remains much to be settled about the Ring of Fire — Indigenous participation, rail or road access, economic production decisions, and financing. A ferrochrome production facility is under consideration, perhaps in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Noront has already produced a preliminary economic assessment for the Eagle One deposit (2008), a PEA at McFaulds Lake (2010), a prefeasibility study for Eagle’s Nest (2011), a feasibility study for Eagle’s Nest (2012) and a 43-101 technical report for the Nikka copper-zinc deposit (2020).

The first development in the Ring of Fire will probably be Noront’s Eagle’s Nest project. The feasibility study gave the project an after-tax net present value with an 8% discount rate of C$543 million and an internal rate of return of 28%. A conventional 3,000 tonne per day, blasthole open stope underground mine with paste backfill is planned. Returning the tailings underground as fill means there would be no management facility at surface.

The Eagle’s Nest project has proven and probable reserves of 11.2 million tonnes grading 1.68% nickel, 0.87% copper, 0.89 gram platinum per tonne, and 3.09 grams palladium per tonne. The inferred resource is 9 million tonnes at 1.1% nickel, 1.14% copper, 1.16 grams platinum per tonne, and 3.49 grams palladium per tonne. Production of concentrates containing 34.2 million lb. nickel, 19.2 million lb. copper, 23,470 oz. platinum and 90,022 oz. of palladium annually is planned.

Capital costs were estimated at C$609.4 million with operating costs of C$1.1 billion over the life of the project. The study used metal prices of $9.43 per lb. nickel, $3.60 per lb. copper, $1,600 platinum per ounce, and $599 palladium per ounce.

The decision to begin development on Eagle’s Nest or any other of Noront’s projects in the Ring of Fire is dependent on the new owner.

Noront Resources has a market cap of C$605 million.

Redwoods Have Specialized Leaves That Allow Adaptation to Both Wet and Drier Climates

Martin M. Barillas, Zenger News 

The tallest trees in the world continue to offer insights to scientists, with a new study revealing that redwoods have functionally distinct leaves that allow them to thrive in both wet and dry areas.

© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images 

Coastal Redwood trees stand at Muir Woods National Monument on August 20, 2013, in Mill Valley, California. 

A recent study found that redwoods have two distinct types of leaves — one for absorbing water and one for photosynthesis. The placement of the leaf types changes across their range depending on how wet or dry their conditions are.

The paper, appearing in the American Journal of Botany, showed that redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) feature two types of leaves with completely different functions. The feathery peripheral leaves engage in vital photosynthesis, converting sunlight and carbon dioxide into the sugar the tree needs. Its tightly wound axial leaves don't photosynthesize; they're instead tasked with absorbing water.

Renowned for facing many natural threats, redwoods are among the world's oldest, tallest and widest trees. They have fire-resistant bark, tannin-rich heartwood and leaves that resist pests.

Not only do redwoods have specialized leaves, they can also shift their leaves around to better adapt to their conditions. On California's rainy north-coast region, the axial leaf type is found on the lower branches, while the feathery photosynthesizing type is found in the upper levels to maximize sun exposure. But when redwoods are in the drier southern range, the water-absorbing type is found up high, where it can make the most of rain and fog.

"The cool thing here is their ability to thrive under all these circumstances and adjust themselves to these different environments," said lead author Alana Chin of the University of California-Davis, who grew up in Mendocino County where the trees abound. "That things like this can be happening right under our nose in one of the best-studied species out there — none of us assumed this would be the story."

Chin and the research team also found that large redwood trees can consume up to 14 gallons of water in just a few hours of getting wet. Because each of the towering giants can have more than 100 million leaves, researchers say it's unlikely that other trees can absorb as much water, but that has yet to be confirmed — this study is the first to estimate water absorption by a tree crown.

The different leaf types allow redwoods to photosynthesize when wet, while the vital process may be inhibited in other trees when water covers the stomata, the tiny mouth-like pores that admit oxygen and carbon dioxide. The waxy coating on redwood peripheral leaves slows water absorption but aids photosynthesis during the rainy season.

Noting that she would not be surprised if other conifers have similar capabilities, Chin said, "Having leaves that aren't for photosynthesis is in itself surprising. If you're a tree, you don't want to have a leaf that's not photosynthesizing unless there's a very good reason for it."

To understand how redwood leaves work, the study's authors exposed clusters of shoots taken from six redwood trees across several locations, ranging from the dry Santa Cruz Mountains to the wetter Del Norte County. The team also estimated the water absorption potential of seven additional trees, collecting samples at various heights.

The researchers compared the two types of leaves to understand their functionality and calculated the photosynthesis level of each. In addition, they developed a physics-based causal model that allowed them to determine which leaf traits regulate absorption rates.

What excites Chin the most is to have devised an effective and easy method to calculate redwood trees' ability to absorb moisture-rich fog. Scientists can now monitor whether redwoods are adapting to a possibly drier world in the future. By photographing the waxy surfaces of both types of leaves, scientists can share their data among themselves and with the public.

This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.

Review: America’s racist past haunts horror film ‘Master’

You want ghosts? Check. How about doors inexplicably opening and closing, creepy moaning in dark corners, and sudden sickening swarms of maggots? Check, check and check.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But “Master,” a new horror film by Mariama Diallo with themes of race and social justice at its core, is most frightening when dealing not with the supernatural, but with the real — the depressingly real, as in the indignities that three Black women face while trying to fit into an overwhelmingly white academic institution.

Diallo, who proves a talent to watch with this compelling if overpacked debut film, has said that “Master,” featuring a trio of terrific performances from Regina Hall, Zoe Renee and Amber Gray, stems partly from her own experiences as a Black student at Yale. The title, for example: It refers to the heads of residential colleges at Yale, called “masters” until the school finally dropped the term in 2016. Diallo realized only a few years after graduating how strange it was that she called a white man “master.”

But in her film, it is a Black woman, faculty member Gail Bishop, who has achieved the honor — the first Black “master” at Ancaster College, an elite school in Salem, Massachusetts, home of course to the historic witch trials. (The imposing 19th-century campus of Vassar College in New York, with its Gothic-style library, serves nicely here.) Portraits of masters past line the walls, but now Gail – impeccably played by Hall in a poignant, sometimes heartbreaking performance — is having her own portrait painted. Even at Ancaster, a school so elite that it rejected FDR when he applied, change is in the air.

Or is it? Gail is one of only a handful of Black professors — and there are only eight Black students, for that matter. One is Jasmine, an incoming freshman (Renee, appealing and thoughtful) who seems confident and enthusiastic and ready to take on life at Ancaster.

Except.

On the very first day, Jasmine finds out from a (white) student welcoming committee that she’s been assigned to “the room.” It’s the room believed to be haunted. Back in the ’60s, the first Black female student at Ancaster came to a tragic end in that room. Also, there's a sinister connection to the Salem witch trials, and legend holds that a woman executed for witchcraft still haunts the place.

But ghosts exist only on one level of “Master," despite its categorization as a horror film. The other level is the daily microaggressions of being a Black student in lily-white environment.

Jasmine is not welcomed by fellow students. Her white roommate, Amelia, wears a “Hamptons” sweatshirt and fills the room with her own friends, who seem to regard Jasmine as a curiosity at best (they call her Beyoncé). These entitled kids talk about the “sick after-prom” they had in tony beach houses or joke about fellow New York City private school kids. Worse, the white girls treat Jasmine with disdain. One of them tosses her a rag to clean up a spill they made. When she buys everyone a pizza and asks to be paid their share of the $20, they ignore her.

At a campus party, the white kids get in while Jasmine is stopped by the collegiate bouncer and told the event is “at capacity.” Once she makes it inside, she starts to dance with the others, enjoying it until she realizes they’re happily singing a hip-hop song filled with racial epithets.

Meanwhile, Gail is fighting her own battle, removing dust and grime from the musty old house she’s so proud to occupy, discovering doors opening and closing by themselves and sickening swarms of maggots popping up in the worst places. On campus she is subjected to subtle disdain from fellow faculty members. One describes her as like Barack Obama.

It comes to head at a tenure meeting, where Gail is called upon to judge the tenure of Liv Beckman (a note-perfect Amber Gray), a friend and fellow Black teacher with a complicated family history and a contentious way of teaching. One white faculty member opines that Liv, because of her race, is the perfect tenure applicant “for right now.” Another argues Liv hasn’t proven her publishing prowess. “Gail, can you be impartial?” this teacher asks.

Complicating matters is that one of Liv’s students has filed an appeal of a failing grade on a paper about “The Scarlet Letter”; Liv insists a critical race analysis be applied. The student says the book isn't about race. And yes — the student is Jasmine.

The horror gets more, well, horrible — a shocking sight appears one day where Jasmine lives, with the message she should leave. Yet Jasmine stays – even opting to remain on an isolated campus during Thanksgiving break. And things get even worse.

It is two-thirds of the way into the movie that Jasmine meets another Black student and is told about a Black affinity group. How it could have taken three months for this to happen is one of the odder wrinkles of a plot that seems to get overcrowded late in the film.

“Master” ultimately suffers the fate of many promising films with many good ideas and not enough time to develop them — some paring down would have improved the latter part of the film. As Gail says to a new character who emerges late in the movie: “This is a lot.”

But the most poignant line comes deep into the film when a character tries to sum up what is happening. It’s not ghosts, this person says. It’s America.

In Diallo’s compelling tale, turns out the scariest ghosts are not the ones that go bump in the night. They’re the ones that haunt a nation’s history.

“Master,” an Amazon Studios release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America “or language and some drug use.” Running time: 98 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

___

MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 not admitted without parent or adult guardian.

Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press

CANADA

Cambridge artist designs period boxes to promote menstrual equity


Alana Decker has always embodied messages of love and strength through her artwork.

The Cambridge artist took her work to another level during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now she’s partnering with Changing The Flow, a Waterloo Region organization focused on menstrual equity. Decker’s artwork is showcased on a line of period boxes, designed to hold menstrual products in public restrooms.

The goal of the period boxes is to break the stigma of shame surrounding menstruation, and the artwork provides a positive narrative about menstruation.

The Cambridge Times spoke with Decker about why it’s important for her to create artwork that empowers young women and why the community needs to embrace period positivity. Below is a Q-and-A with her.

Tell me the story of how you became an artist. How did you become interested in art?

You know, being an artist, it actually came by surprise, mostly because it was during the pandemic. It really opened up the door for creativity.

Why is it important to you to create art that empowers young women?

It’s important to my inner child and to my female children as well. I want my son to know the value of an individual and the value of a woman. I think it's important for people to understand their strength, their value, that they’re loved and supported and that they're never alone.

Traditionally women have been ashamed and embarrassed of their periods. Why is it important to create a positive narrative around menstruation?

It's important because I look back to when I was in high school, and we’d pass pads and tampons under our sleeves and secretly give them to each other. These period products were literally designed to undermine us, even though we’re contributing to the economy by buying them. Why did we feel we needed to hide the fact that we were menstruating? I have access to food products that aren’t hidden. There should be no shame at all because we all have a friend that bleeds.

You have two Black hands on the period box that you designed. Why is it important to have that kind of representation when it comes to period positivity?

I think it's important because representation matters. This is relatable to everyone. I want people in the BIPOC community to feel loved and supported like they’re part of a sisterhood or brotherhood. There needs to be representation when it comes to knowing that you are safe, loved and respected.

To check out Decker's art, go to https://www.adeckercreations.com

Genelle Levy, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cambridge Times

GOOD!
Quebec to introduce bill banning cat declawing, other unneeded pet surgeries

MONTREAL — Quebec's agriculture minister plans to introduce a bill banning cat declawing and other unnecessary pet surgeries

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a recent letter to Quebec's government house leader, André Lamontagne said the upcoming legislation would ban declawing, ear cropping, tail docking and devocalization surgeries for cats and dogs, unless the procedures are deemed medically necessary.

Veterinary associations and the SPCA have long called on the province to ban the surgeries, which they describe as painful, unnecessary and detrimental to animals' ability to express normal behaviour.

Cat declawing is already banned in most Canadian provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta and all four Atlantic provinces.

A petition with 21,652 signatures tabled at the Quebec legislature in February describes declawing in particular as an invasive procedure that involves not only removing claws but also amputating bones and tendons.

Lamontagne's letter indicates the bill will be tabled by this summer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2022.

The Canadian Press