Profile piece: Henry Hudson Luyombya

Refugee is not the title you put to the face of Henry Hudson Luyombya. His physique resembles that of a highland East African runner, and his height and slight frame emphasize the natural confidence he exudes as steps out of the spring weather into the university building, smiling like we are old friends.

Although Luyombya, now 31, fled his country to come to Canada nearly six years ago, there is another term that better suits him. It is the term that put him in enough danger that he had to leave Uganda: activist.

He grew up in Gayaza village, a few kilometers from Kampala, and had twelve. Now he lives in Toronto, attending the University of Toronto at Scarborough, where he studies International Development Studies.

Luyombya’s interest in political and human rights activism was sparked when his father succumbed to HIV-related illnesses. The stigma associated with HIV-AIDS is still being battled against across the world, and at the time, Luyombya’s mother prepared him for it. True to her word, his friends began asserting that his mother would be next to die. She tested negative.

“I stood firm,” Luyombya, who was just 10 at the time, tells me. “And I said ‘I think I need to confront this. I won’t only be personally involved, but it’s a human rights issue,’ and that motivated me.” He raises his eyebrows and nods slightly, his sign that he is determinedly stating something.

Luyombya joined the AIDS Challenge Youth Club, which talked to young people about sexual health, teaching some how to prevent HIV and others how to live with it.

But it was in 2001 that he got aggressively involved. Coming from a village, he says, he saw the devastation HIV-AIDS caused – not just to the infected person, but to those around them.

“I thought, ‘You know what? I need to do something for my people,’” he said. This time a hand gesture accompanies the eyebrows and chin.

“[HIV-AIDS] is also political,” he said. “There is money disappearing [from] global funds, and people don’t have equal access to treatment. If you’re not connected to people in government then you may not access antiretroviral drugs.”

In 2004, the Ugandan government began to hoard condoms that they were receiving from the United States as part of an HIV prevention program. They stored and burned them upon expiration.

“I felt it was just wrong!” Luyombya says. “People are having sex and the HIV prevalence rate was stabilizing, it wasn’t going down, so that was one of the issues we raised – me and my fellow activists.”

The government did not like this comment. “Random” strangers began approaching Luyombya and his friends, telling them that they would not be allowed to say things like that.

In 2003, Luyombya had met Nelson Mandela as part of a film that MTV was producing. He asked Mandela about how activism had helped him transform the nation.

“What I gained…was that you cannot work alone,” Luyombya says. “He told me, ‘Henry, I did not do this alone. We organized the ANC, we did all this movement on the grassroots but I…worked with courageous young men and women, so in your HIV-AIDS activism, you do not give up, don’t work alone.’”

Luyombya now had an even more vested interest in his activism. He too was diagnosed with HIV.

And so, despite the threats, Luyombya refused to stop. He began talking about the need for the government to provide more drugs for people living with HIV.

It was in an interview about his activism that he passed a comment that cemented the resistance against him from the government.

“Gay people should be given equal rights,” Luyombya had said in the interview. “They are people like us, and they should be given good access to treatment when they are living with HIV, or [given] counseling.”

Homosexuality in Uganda is vehemently condemned. It is considered a byproduct of Western culture and is illegal. Homosexuals are denied access to antiretrovirals and support services.

In 2009, a member of Parliament tabled a bill that would introduce life imprisonment for homosexuals, and imprisonment for those who knew homosexuals and did not report them within 24 hours. “Aggravated homosexuality” – a sexual act in which one partner has the HIV virus – would warrant the death penalty. Earlier this year, David Kato, a Ugandan gay rights activist, was found beaten to death after being exposed on the front page of the Ugandan Rolling Stone newspaper.

Luyombya began receiving warnings that he would be arrested. He was accused of spreading lies. And while the condom problem faded from the media in 2005, people connected to the government continued to harass Luyombya.

One evening, a man approached him.

“Henry, you will be in trouble,” the man said. “Things you say, you are trying to influence the young people into doing things that are not right. If people don’t have condoms, let them do whatever they want.”

Luyombya began to realize that he was a target. He fled Uganda as soon as the opportunity arose.

“I would have probably been arrested, tortured and…locked up somewhere,” he tells me. “I have some friends who have told me stories of their loved ones who disappeared, who were doing almost the same thing, and they are never seen at all.

“Some of these were university students who were trying to say ‘You know what, the political system is wrong here, human rights are being violated.’ The moment they get you they put you in “safe houses” – these are torture chambers, so I would have been one of them.”

He is glad he left, but stresses that the problem still exists.

Although Luyombya had visited the U.K. and US, he chose to come to Canada since, he said, they have a greater understanding for human rights. It was a gamble, but when he arrived, he knew he had made the right decision.

“I felt, ‘Yes. I think this is the place to be,’” he says, and was pleasantly surprised by the multiculturalism in the country.

His activism and involvement have not stopped. He is president of the university’s African Student Association, works in the Student and Equity Department in the student’s union, was part of the IDS students’ association and sits on the board for Africans in Partnership Against AIDS.

When Aliza Fatima, a student at UTSC and part of its Black Students’ Alliance, met Luyombya at an ASA executive election, she was struck immediately by his passion for Uganda and its people. He was running for president at the time.

“He seemed dedicated to work with the community and with UTSC students to bring awareness to international issues…in Africa,” Fatima said. “I think in the grand scheme of things, Henry works not only with facilities to improve the quality of student life…but he also brings to light…the ways in which students can be socially active in their community.”

Kwashi Welbeck first met Luyombya at an ASA forum, where he was an emcee. He heard his ideas later that year during the election, and also noted his passion. Welbeck is a student also involved with the ASA.

“I got the impression that he was a really smart person and also really mature,” Welbeck said. “Working with him this year was a good experience. He is really dedicated to the work and the organization and does a good job in getting everyone involved.

“Apart from that he is a good friend and is someone that I have relied on for help with other issues. I think the best thing about his personality is that he is calm and relaxed.”

Activism and public policy involvement, Luyombya says, will be a key part of his future. He will definitely return to Africa, but perhaps not to Uganda.

“You see very good voices and ideas, but in the end, we only make news [and] front pages, and then there is nothing,” he says. “Politics is everywhere….I feel that, in order to make a difference in any social issue you have to part of the political process…so that activism doesn’t die on the streets; it makes it to the boardrooms.”

I ask him if he ever tires of hearing about the consistent problems in several African countries. He is quick to tell me that he will never get tired as long as he keeps telling the truth of what is happening. Frustrated perhaps, but not tired.

“If we don’t take up arms [in whatever way], and especially the people from there who have lived experience, we cannot wait for a Canadian born…upper or middle class man to go and start offering relief!” he says.

“Our countries need us,” he says, staring straight in my eyes. “We just need to work as a team.”

I sense the spirit of Mandela in him.

Movement against 'slut shaming' born in Toronto

A Toronto group is protesting to raise awareness about rape victimization after a police officer stated that women looking to avoid rape should stop dressing like “sluts.”

SlutWalk Toronto participants will be marching from Queen's Park to Toronto Police Service's building on April 3. The group has over 1,500 supporters.

Sonya Barnett, co-founder of the group, was already angry after a recent case in Manitoba where a convicted rapist was kept out of jail because the victim was accused of dressing and acting flirtatiously.

“When [this] comment came out, I just…lost it!” she said.

Const. Michael Sanguinetti spoke at a campus security forum Jan. 24 at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School when he made the statement.

Karlene Moore, a counselor and advocate at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre (TRCC), says that what a woman wears, says or does has no impact on whether she is a target.

“That’s a myth…it’s [all largely] about opportunity,” she added.

She describes Const. Sanguinetti as “offensive, wrongly educated, and frankly, typical” of what the police force’s opinion is on rape.

Alyssa England, a volunteer with SlutWalk, says she knows people who have gone to the police to report that they have been sexually assaulted.

“They have been asked not if they’re okay…but what they were wearing, if they were a virgin before they were assaulted, how much they had to drink…it happens all the time, and it’s not okay.”

But the group is not just raising awareness about rape. They also want to “take back” the term Slut, saying that “slut shaming” is becoming prevalent because of what they call the word’s archaic definition.

“I thought,” Barnett said, “if someone can claim the word Queer or Fag…then maybe we can do the same for Slut.

“Throwing the word Slut out so slanderously was what was so anger-filling, because the word so often gets thrown around as an insult, and because I myself identify as my own contemporary definition of slut: someone who is sexually confident and not ashamed to enjoy consensual sex.”

“It doesn’t matter…if you have sex with everyone…[rape] still isn’t consensual,” England said.

“We need to speak up against it, especially because it’s so engrained in the culture that we live in and the police force that enforces this culture so violently at times. It’s ridiculous.”

For Anthony Easton, another volunteer with SlutWalk, the changes he wants go beyond reinterpreting one word.

“[It] becomes not sexual positivity, but sort of maintaining my sexual self in a culture that ignores and avoids sexuality at all costs,” he said, adding that he is queer and had to fight for his ability to choose a his sexual partners.

“I think we also have to sort of apologize and…work in solidarity. But solidarity means allowing those who have had their voices taken away from them to have priority.”

The Toronto Police Service’s treatment of rape and victims is a high priority for the group.

Changing how the police work

“We should be opening a conversation with them, discussing how they train their officers,” Barnett said. “The victim is still blamed for [rape], slanderous comments are spoken and no one is reprimanded.”

After the backlash, Const. Sanguinetti issued an apology. But Barnett does not think it was genuine.

“I think he was forced to apologize,” she said. “It’s not enough … it’s just a sign that further education has to happen.”

If she could talk to him, Barnett says she would still try to have a civil conversation.

“He needs to be open to the idea that there is a part of society that feels this isn’t a slander; this is something that should be embraced.”

Erica Scholz, SlutWalk’s Volunteer Coordinator and volunteers with the TRCC, would prefer to be a little more aggressive.

“I’d almost want to bring a woman who had been sexually assaulted,” she said, “and have them tell [Sanguinetti] how his comment affected them.

“It makes them feel responsible…that they deserved it. Nobody asks to be raped…no matter what.”

So far, moves by the group to open dialogue with the Toronto Police Service, first by getting Police Chief William Blair to speak at their event, have “hit a brick wall.”

“No matter who we talk to, we’re shifted department to department. Nobody wants to reply to us,” Barnett said.

“I doubt it will be a shock that we show up on their doorstep, but it will be a real shame [if] they don’t even want to start [talking] with us.”

Pet industry sent to the dog house

Forget everything you have ever learnt about dogs, because you are probably wrong. Follow Whitby dog rescuer Susan Steiner and you could just throw away the high veterinary bills and never look back on the entire pet care industry.

According to Steiner, a raw food diet will stop a dog’s allergies, put an end to its need for most medication and make it healthier. Raw food diets for dogs have been around for ages, but the mainstream pet industry will not advocate for them.

The diet would cut not just vet fees but wheat from a dog’s diet – an ingredient in all commercial food that Steiner maintains a dog is not built to live on.

“It’s a $4-billion dollar industry, and everybody jealously guards their little niche,” Steiner said in an interview Wednesday at Centennial College in Toronto. “They take advantage of you…and I don’t like it.

“If I can keep you out of the pet stores, you could save a fortune!”

Steiner is the owner of Camp LotsaDogs, a boarding and adoption facility near Oshawa.

The camp provides 25 acres of land, including forest, stream and pond. She wants dogs to be what they are, so lets them run around and play all day. An exhausted dog is a happy dog, she says. The camp also runs dog behaviour modification classes and provides homeopathy, reiki and massages.

Love My Dog is the name of Steiner’s raw food brand, which took her about two years to perfect.

People usually think that commercial dog food is better because it is fast, convenient and persistently marketed, but Steiner likens it to McDonald’s.

“It’s processed food,” she says. “There is no way that can be healthy.”

She blames the manufacturers because they know what goes into the food. In one case, she said, the equivalent of motor oil and an old work boot passed as dog food because it met the minimal nutritional requirements.

Asked why people are still afraid of switching their dogs to a raw food diet, Steiner faulted the pet industry and vets. People think that their dogs will get salmonella and botulism, and that they will contract it if the dog licks them.

“Hello!? A dog has antiseptic in its mouth,” she said. “But they don’t tell you that. They still lick their bums and eat poop, so they can kill bacteria.”

Steiner did not start out in dog care. A graduate of Seneca College’s Law Enforcement program, she first became a private investigator. She moved on to rent collecting, working at several businesses before ending at Wigwamen, a Native housing provider.

When her father died, she decided to use the money he left her to spend her time with dogs – although she knew he probably would not approve.

Steiner had once taken her own dog to a daycare. She recalled how he came home limping after getting into a fight, and she realized that this daycare, like many, could not control their dogs. She decided she could do better and came up with a plan to start her own daycare, which evolved into the camp.

“I started the whole thing with owning two dogs,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Oh I know everything about dogs.’ Boy was I ever wrong.”

What she thought would be semi-retirement turned out to be a lot more work.

The camp gets a lot of volunteers who want to spend time with the dogs, but are not always prepared to do the dirty work.

“My back hurts, too, and I have to do it,” she said. “People think that dogs are easy and it’s not. This is serious work, it really is.”

But for Steiner, it is all worth it.

“Seeing…the dogs being happy, watching them change; from the minute they walk in the door, they change within 24 hours into a pack,” she said. “Really it’s…educating [people]. That’s been the most rewarding.

“I started the boarding as a place for dogs not to get hit by a car and just have fun and it really turned into a whole bunch of [things]…It’s endlessly fascinating.”

Steiner hopes to keep the camp running for years to come, but with seven of her own dogs, will not be expanding her own personal pack.

“You can’t save ‘em all,” she says, laughing.

Artist's first exhibition receives warm reception | The Toronto Observer

For Christine Hirtescu, finding happiness through art was more important than finding money | The Toronto Observer

Piano duet makes magic | The Toronto Observer

Twenty fingers race across the piano keys, coming so close together, they threaten to entangle. This is the beauty and risk of the duet One Piano Four Hands | The Toronto Observer

Second Base shelter’s breakfast program gets second chance | The Toronto Observer

Second Base Youth Shelter’s prayers have been answered in the form of new funding that will help it keep its breakfast program running | The Toronto Observer

TTC route cuts hot topic at Scarborough budget consultation | The Toronto Observer

Residents concerned about potential cuts to 48 TTC bus routes voiced their fears at a recent public budget consultation at the Scarborough Civic Centre | The Toronto Observer

Final photography assignment

For my final photography assignment, I chose to focus on the homeless people in Toronto and contrast them with shots of more privileged people in their everyday lives.

Enjoy!

Music: Glasgow love theme from Love Actually

TTC bus driver opens up about assaults

Paul Campbell did not think that explaining to a passenger that his bus transfer was invalid would mean a threat to his life. He had no intention of asking the passenger to the leave the bus. And in his thirteen-and-a-half years as a bus operator for the Toronto Transit Commission, it is this one passenger that stands out the most in his mind.

“‘I’m going to kill you.’ That’s what the guy shouted,” Campbell said. “I remember it so clearly.”

Campbell remained composed when dealing with his aggressive passenger. He attributes this to his experience. Maintaining eye contact with the man, he kept his voice level.

“You always have fears,” he said. “But I wasn’t petrified. It was broad daylight. I was more nervous than anything.” Despite a string of verbal profanity, Campbell called transit control.

“I [didn’t] care. I picked up the phone and offloaded the bus.” The police car arrived 10 minutes after Campbell made the call.

As the unruly passenger sat down in the bus, watched by one policeman, Campbell explained the situation to the other officer. The passenger was questioned, and his ID was run through the police car scanners.

“Next thing I know, they had him in handcuffs. Turns out he had priors. I guess he was a fugitive,” said Campbell, shrugging his shoulders.

The TTC estimates that at least one driver is assaulted every day. Campbell places partial blame on the transit system.

In 1994, the TTC set up a task force on operator assaults after an increasing trend in assault cases. In the last two years, they completed the installation of measures designed to prevent assaults.

Buses have a poster displayed near the driver that identifies assaults on the TTC as a problem, and warns riders of the consequences of any degree of assault.

“All of our buses and streetcars now have barriers that [drivers] can close,” said Brad Ross, director of corporate communications for the TTC. “They are split in two: there’s a lower barrier that always remains closed and there’s an optional upper barrier.”

The barrier is like a large door that partially walls off the driver in his seat. The two-part door has a bottom half made of metal and a top half made of Plexiglas.

“We also have CCTV cameras on every surface vehicle,” Ross added. “Those cameras record all movement to protect not just operators but passengers. They have proven very useful to police in identifying suspects and making arrests and ultimately convictions.”

According to annual TTC special constable reports, the number of reported assaults in 2009 dropped to 143 compared to 156 the year before.

But Ross admits that the measures in place may not ultimately prevent assaults.

According to Campbell, posters in the buses are not enough. He thinks that more needs to be done.

“If [the TTC] went on TV it would help. One assault a day is a lot. The TTC needs to say something so the public will understand!” he said, his voice rising.

“Our transit is half of what it should be,” said Campbell, referring to the number of riders versus the lesser number of transit vehicles. “It’s falling back on the drivers.”

A year ago, Malcolm Chalmers was put on trial for shooting and virtually blinding TTC bus driver Jaime Pereira. In 2005, Pereira was driving along bus route 116 Morningside when a fight broke out among some passengers who had just boarded his bus. He was shot after calling TTC dispatch to alert them.

Pereira lost his left eye, and the damage to his right eye left him legally blind. The jury acquitted Chalmers of an attempted murder charge but found him guilty of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Leaning against the door of an eastbound train heading to Warden Station after a shift on route 25 Don Mills, Campbell crossed his arms together as he described the reaction from other drivers after Pereira was shot.

“A lot of [drivers] were scared,” Campbell said. Several female drivers had people they knew on the buses with them for a few weeks after the shooting.

“We were all worried about him. Now we think, what happens in the long term?” Campbell wonders just how much and for how long TTC support will help Pereira.

Years after the shooting, Pereira refuses to discuss his condition and what happened that night.

“I’m not interested!” he said repeatedly when this reporter called asking for an interview.

The TTC runs an operator assault prevention and training program which provides strategies for dealing with aggressive or threatening behaviour from customers, and responding appropriately to by-law infractions.

Campbell, however, says that operators are not sufficiently trained and many new drivers do not really know what to do.

“They run a recertification program every three or five years. We get retrained, talk about issues, and that’s where dealing with assaults comes up.”

Robert Gavel, 56, has been using the TTC for over 40 years. As one of over a million people who ride the TTC every day, Gavel usually takes the 76 Royal York bus before getting onto the subway to head to work downtown. Although Gavel has not witnessed physical assault, he says he has seen a lot of drivers get shouted at. He notices that a lot of drivers do not use the barriers at all.

Gavel pointed out that in several cases he has seen passengers intervene to help the driver. He thinks that most drivers, though, seem to have things under control.

“Once, a young guy was having a conversation with the driver that got pretty confrontational. A passenger close to the front of the bus got up and went over to the driver and asked the young passenger to calm down. The young passenger told him to mind his own business.” Although the discussion got pretty heated, the driver managed to calm the angry passenger down and did not need to put the bus out of service.

Campbell thinks back to a passenger who shouted at him over a fare dispute and would not let up. He ended up putting the bus out of service. A passenger at the back of the bus walked up and asked him why the bus was out of service, saying he needed to get to work.

“The guy was tapping his watch and all I kept thinking was ‘Why didn’t you come help me out back then, man?’ Now the bus is out of service. Riders don’t get it until they’re in the driver’s seat.”

Operators who have been assaulted go through the TTC victim assistance program. They receive emotional support, help with applying for benefits, and support with returning to their jobs.

“We have a court advocate program,” Ross said. “Employees go to court with the operator and work with the Crown attorney’s office to ensure that the toughest punishment can be meted out by the court […] should there be a conviction. Victim impact statements are created.”

Campbell rolls his eyes when talking about TTC assistance after assault. He adds that when he was assaulted, he agreed to press charges, but never heard about the case again.

“It’s all a step in the right direction,” he said regarding the TTC’s safety measures. “[But] they should be more firm [to start with], like in the United States, where assaulting an operator is like assaulting a police officer. We need stricter rules.”

Despite the persistence of assaults, the TTC remains silent about most stories of assaults on their employees.

“A lot of stuff happens that doesn’t get into the media,” Campbell said.

Most drivers refuse to comment on assaults, says Campbell. Ross maintains that drivers who wish to speak to the media about assaults are free to do so. However, many drivers say that they are discouraged by the TTC and the union from commenting to the media.

The union, Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 113, did not respond to requests for comment.

“Many cases are before the courts,” said Ross in regards to the TTC’s silence. “There are many operators who have been assaulted who fear reprisal from the assailant.

“I think those are good enough reasons for us,” he added bluntly.

“Honestly, drivers won’t talk,” said Campbell, shaking his head. “They are very cautious. They’re afraid. You know the media; they will hang you and convict you! I always [want to] say to the media, ‘Come drive my bus for one month before you write an article.’”

According to a TTC release, the most common means of assault are spitting, punching, and kicking. The use of guns and knives accounts for about one per cent of cases. The motives for these assaults are usually linked to fare and rule enforcement by operators; intent to injure accounts for about three per cent of cases.

Campbell believes that 90 per cent of assaults are influenced by something that happens prior to the passenger boarding the bus.

“Sometimes it’s a bus that was delayed a few minutes, sometimes they are having a bad day and take it out on the driver,” he said, smiling and rolling his eyes. “If I get delayed giving directions [or] if someone had a fight with their husband that morning, there’s not much I can do.”

Election coverage: Justin Di Ciano

Justin Di Ciano, who was considered the main contender to beat long time Ward 5 councillor Peter Milczyn, had to wait over four hours on election night only to find out that he had lost by a margin of just 0.46 per cent.

Named the 2010 Etobicoke hero of the year for community service, Di Ciano decided to run because he thought “the community [needed] to become more socially and culturally integrated and self-sustaining.”

And indeed, for four hours after the polls closed, it looked like Di Ciano was ahead of Milczyn by 66 votes.

Early Monday night, Di Ciano’s campaign office at the corner of Bloor Street and Islington Avenue was a site of jubilation. By as early as 8:15 p.m., CP24 had declared Milzcyn defeated.

At the sight of the red checkmark beside Di Ciano’s name on TV, his family and supporters who were huddled around a single computer erupted into screams and shouts, jumping and hugging each other.

Di Ciano remained cautious.

“Relax,” he said. “It’s far from over.”

By 9 p.m., with 96 per cent of the votes in and what appeared to be a long wait ahead, he was worried.

“It’s down to the wire,” he said, his forehead wrinkled in a frown. “I don’t know if we’re going to win this thing.”

John Chiappetta, and Rob Therrien, and former MPP and councillor of Etobicoke, Morley Kells were also in the running.

The delay on election Monday was caused by a malfunctioning voting machine at the Stonegate Road polling station, leaving 86 ballots uncounted.

Officials decided that the ballots would be taken to Scarborough for a recount. In the presence of Milczyn supporters and Julien Di Ciano, Justin’s brother, the ballots were reprocessed. Twelve ballots had to be re-marked on separate ballots and fed through the machine again since the machine would not process them.

With the long wait ahead, everyone moved to Di Ciano’s after-party in a private room at the Crooked Cue pub to await the results. Standing in front of the crowd, Di Ciano declared that, win or lose, he intended to enjoy his party. Receiving constant updates from his brother regarding the last count, Di Ciano mingled with his supporters. Many assumed he had already won.

By midnight, the much smaller crowd’s mounting frustration was obvious, many calling the delay ridiculous. Even Di Ciano’s mother decided to head home.

At 1:25 a.m., when everyone had moved into a corner by the main bar, Justin received a message from his brother. His voice cut through the conversations.

“Guys, we lost.”

The delayed ballots gave Milczyn the extra 107 votes he needed to retain his seat.

Dead silence followed the unexpected announcement, broken by Justin who, still seated, began thanking everyone for their help in the campaign. Shocked and tearful, his remaining supporters hugged each other.

Walking up to the bar, Justin grabbed a shot glass that the bartender, unasked, had put down.

“It is what it is,” he said, retaining his composure.

With such a tight vote, Justin said he may ask for a recount. But he was relaxed.

“I just want to go home and sleep. It’s been a hard, long-fought campaign … I’m going on vacation for a week.”

He thanked his supporters throughout Ward 5.

“[I’m] humbled. It was a wonderful experience to go to all those doors and listen to all those wonderful comments … [it] made it worthwhile.”

Di Ciano’s campaign covered a range of issues across Ward 5. If elected, he intended to set up a business improvement area on The Queensway and get rid of body-rub and holistic massage parlours.

He also planned to cut down on high-rise development on The Kingsway, encourage small-business development through the ward, spearhead community safety initiatives, and revisit the development of the Etobicoke Civic Centre and Six Points interchange.

The campaign had been rife with accusations of smear tactics. Di Ciano claimed that Milczyn had tried to persuade voters that there was a relationship amounting to a conflict-of-interest between Dunpar Developments – a construction company Di Ciano’s brother works for – and Justin.

Di Ciano will now focus on a lawsuit he has launched against all parties involved in a call made to voters the weekend before the election. The call suggested that Di Ciano had been accepting vacations and contributions from Dunpar Developments.

Amidst shouts against the information in the phone call, Di Ciano raised his voice. “I’ll tell ya, there’s a good lawsuit coming in … that lawsuits gonna feel real good.”

An interview with an inspiration

Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo has, so far, been the most interesting person I have interviewed. In an article I did for The Varsity about his recent peace prize win, Jahanbegloo discussed his life, ideas, and inspiration.

‘Non-violence is the future of humanity’

U of T prof wins peace prize for promoting human rights

As a philosophy student in France, Ramin Jahanbegloo admired Nelson Mandela and took part in “Free Mandela” campaigns. On Nov. 5, he was awarded the 2009 Peace Prize by the Association for the United Nations in Spain, an honour that has gone to Mandela himself, as well as Mikhail Gorbachev and South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba. The prize is awarded to individuals with exceptional records of promoting human rights and the objectives of the UN.

Born in Iran, Jahanbegloo initially pursued a pre-med degree. But he grew disgusted by how science was taught, with auditoriums full of students who worried about good grades rather than engaging in discussions. He switched to philosophy in France, influenced by post-1968 radicalism. In 1997, he came to Canada, teaching at U of T until 2001.

Jahanbegloo made headlines in 2006, when he landed in Iran’s Evin prison for four months in 2006, accused of preparing a military revolution. He returned to U of T in 2008, teaching political science. Jahanbegloo’s philosophy revolves around the concept of dialogue and building bridges between cultures. “People think I am idealistic, and that politics is about pragmatism,” he said in a recent interview. “I think non-violence is one of the most pragmatic philosophies today because it is about the future of humanity.”

The Varsity: Why do you think you won the prize?

Ramin Jahanbegloo: I think there is an intellectual conviction in what I have been teaching and the non-violent action that took me to prison. I have also related very closely non-violence to inter-cultural dialogue.

TV: You have had several interviews on your 2006 imprisonment. Do you feel that it defines you too much in the public eye?

RJ: I hope not, because it is a bitter part of my life. It is no honour to go to prison. That aspect of my life is of course important for me, because it has left me with a lot of consequences, but I try to go beyond it. Non-violence has helped me a lot to go beyond it. I do not have any bitterness; I try to get to pragmatic results from my imprisonment. I think one has to go beyond his or her own tragedies to think of the political construction of a country in democratic matters.

TV: Currently, there is another Iranian-Canadian, Hossein Derakhshan, who is being held without trial in Evin prison. What do you think will happen with his case?

RJ: Yes, I know him and have met him. I hope nothing bad happens. He is a very controversial figure in the Iranian public sphere because he supported the Iranian regime and attacked many dissidents. I support him because we cannot engage in dialogue with someone in prison; there is no use of condemning someone who is already suffering. What we need to do if we find individuals who are what I call philo-tyrannical—in favor of tyrannies—is support and defend anybody fighting them. It is not because we don’t agree with someone that we should not fight for their rights.

TV: If you could speak to Derakhshan now, what advice would you offer?

RJ: I would say that he needs to fight mentally and to build up his future in a more ethical way. I would suggest he do some readings and writings in prison if he can, and to somewhat revise his own ideology.

TV: You talk a lot about bridging cultures. What does this mean for you?

RJ: I wrote a book called Clash of Intolerance where I explain that there is no such thing as clashes because of culture. The clashes come from intolerance inside those cultures, from people who do not respect each other, from lack of understanding.

We need to replace hostility with hospitality. When you are a host for another culture you try to understand that culture and try to enrich your culture from that culture. This is what we try to do in Canada.

Canadian multiculturalism, if done in the best way, should be an inter-cultural dialogue and not separate communities, but support learning and listening between communities. Creating bridges is replacing the culture of monologue and intolerance with a culture of dialogue and respect.

TV: Is Canada a multicultural model for you?

RJ: In comparison to what is going on in Europe, certainly, but not in comparison to what is going on in India. India has been living with its diversity, which is much more profound than in Canada. India has never had a problem including a new religion into its culture.

I do hope that Canada also becomes like this, where cultures truly intersect and enter a dialogue together, and do not necessarily have a superficial meeting at the economic level.

TV: A lot of your work deals with India. Where does your passion for India come from?

RJ: My passion started about 30 years ago. I used to find books on India in the libraries of my parents, and at around age 12 I used to try to read them. I have been travelling to India practically every year for the past 20 years and I lived there for two years. It is a country I take very seriously. I say either I was born Indian in my previous life, or will be born Indian in my next life.

TV: Who or what was your inspiration for your philosophy of non-violence?

RJ: My most important role models are the three non-violent thinkers: Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Dalai Lama. I was very lucky to meet very interesting people who were my professors or whom I worked with, and among these I can name Cornelius Castoreadis, Paul Ricoeur, and Isaiah Berlin, with whom I [wrote] a book.

TV: Considering your philosophy, how do you feel about Obama increasing troops in Afghanistan, and his proposed closure of Guantanamo Bay?

RJ: I am very much against sending troops to Afghanistan and very much in favour of closing Guantanamo. I think these kinds of prisons are not useful at the level of making things more human. They create more cruelty and violence. There is no way you can handle Middle Eastern conflict with violence. In the long run, all the actors in this game have to find a way to sit down and dialogue together on non-violent ways of constructing democracy.

TV: In interviews you talk about Gandhi’s “democratization of democracy.” Is this the democracy you want to see?

RJ: Yes. I think the most important aspect of Gandhi’s view is that he tries to take democracy further and make it more participative and deliberative. Gandhi says that we need to bring more ethics into politics, and this aspect is related with the fact that you need to make citizens responsible for their own destiny. It is not that democracy is given from above—[rather], it is a work that comes from the bottom. He tries to talk about shared sovereignty, a shared fate: citizens have to educate themselves on how to handle democracy and its future.

TV: You talk about how you want dialogue as democracy in Iran. How do you think dialogue can be created between Iran and the West? Why has it not happened?

RJ: It has happened at the level of civil society, but not at the level of governments. Governments have political ambitions, and most of the time they put political ambitions before the common good. We have to pay attention to the fact that we need to deconstruct politics as not just politics among leaders, but among everyday citizens.

TV: You gave a speech on Thursday at a U of T graduation. What was your key advice for the graduates?

RJ: The idea that graduation is a beginning in life. I was telling the students that they need to think of their future work in a responsible way and that university has always been a shared horizon of dialogue in a very cosmopolitan civic space. Life is like reading from one chapter to another while not knowing what will happen in the next chapter. I told students to start writing their new chapters, because if you stop writing you will never make history.

TV: Where do you think the roots for dialogue come from? How early should we begin teaching this concept?

RJ: I believe we can begin teaching non-violence as early as primary school. We should, especially [in] Canada, teach the spirit of tolerance to children of eight to10. They are very perceptive and can understand stories about tolerant figures. Later on, you can talk about peace and why it is so important. Canada is a salad bowl of cultures, and each of these students would understand who they are standing next to. They should not take it for granted.

Centennial coverage: chemical gas leak

Scarborough residents near Lawrence and Morningside Avenue are being told to stay indoors and keep all windows closed after a sulfuric acid leak from Chemtura Chemical plant in Scarborough.

"The incident seems to be just about finished," the manager of CJ Trucking Service told Centennial reporter Janice Yeung. He added that all employees are staying indoors, and cannot see anything visible outside the windows.

“The cloud is thinning out but they’re not taking any chances,” Toronto fire captain Mike Strapko told CTV. He said the situation is under control.

The mist had travelled for approximately 100 metres. Sulphuric acid-type mist is corrosive and can cause burns on the skin.

The Chemtura Chemical plant has given no comment on the issue, stating that they are too busy.

Nineteen support vehicles have been dispatched to the incident, which has been declared a Hazmat level 3.

TTC buses along the 86D Scarborough and 54A Lawrence routes are being diverted to the Lawrence Avenue and Beechgrove area. Strapko told the Toronto Star that three TTC buses have been told to drive passengers from affected areas to Coronation Street.

“We are working closely with the fire department people. All the protocols were already followed.” Ron Moeser, Ward 44 Scarborough East councillor told Centennial reporter Ellie Kim.

Moeser also said he is working with Toronto East Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) group, which takes care of alerting the community when emergencies happen.

Toronto Police Constable Wendy Drummond told the Toronto Star that a man near the affected area is not feeling well.

Coordinator of Public Information and Media told Centennial Reporter Mersiha Gadzo that the Toronto EMS have not received any calls to transport residents in the area.

Nearby institutions include Crimson Tigers Karate, Scarborough Gym Elites Club, Janelan Park, Omni the Display Source, SG Enterprises, AEP Canada, All Canadian Self-Storage, York Bookbinders, CJ Trucking Service, and Henry Company Canada.

The Toronto District School Board website said students in Joseph Brant, Huron Park, Peter Secor, and William G. Miller schools will stay indoors.

The Chemtura Corporation is a petroleum manufacturing plant which employs 4,000 employees worldwide.