Charlatan Live is the Charlatan’s weekly show about Carleton University’s latest news, stories, arts and sports.
This week, hosts Mark Colley and Isaac Phan Nay talk about how architecture schools are failing people with disabilities, how CUSA’s vote to support reproductive rights came together, and a climate strike in downtown Ottawa.
To read more about these stories, click the links below:
- Universal design takes backseat in architecture education: Experts
- ‘A motion that could stand the test of time’: CUSA looks to expand student reproductive healthcare
- CUSA board revises concurrent offices policy, announces executive orders
We would like to acknowledge that we are living, working, and operating on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin nation.
As settlers on this land, we are committed to prioritizing Indigenous voices and learning how we can support the ongoing movement towards decolonization and anti-racism.
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This episode featured a news transition by Mix Kit, “Catch It” by Coma Media and “Atmospheric” by Penguin Music.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to Charlatan Live, the only news show on the internet that stresses out my roommates. The date is Sept. 30, 2022.
This week, we’ll talk about the Ottawa Climate Strike, the Carleton University Students’ Association’s new stance, and what’s new with CUSA.
We’ll also get to hear our copy editor Makayla Morgan speak about her reporting on accessible buildings.
My name is Isaac Phan Nay, and I’m Mark Colley. Let’s get newsy.
SOUND UP: “YOU DESTROY THE PLANT LIFE, YOU DESTROY THE PLANT LIFE. AND ULTIMATELY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED”
That’s what Parliament Hill sounded like on Friday, when hundreds of people gathered to urge the federal government to address climate change.
In 2019, thousands paraded through the streets of Ottawa to demand action from the federal government.
Every year since then, hundreds of people gathered near parliament on the last Friday of September.
Action groups like Fridays for Future Ottawa and Carleton’s Climate Commons working group organized this year’s protest.
About 500 people gathered in Confederation Park and Maison du Citoyen in Gatineau around noon. They marched to Parliament Hill.
SOUND UP: (WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD) /FADE UNDER
Protestors urged the Canadian government to help keep global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
FADE CLIP BACK UP (WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD)
This summer, the Carleton University Student’s Association voted to support reproductive rights and justice.
CUSA voted to advocate for better reproductive health services for Carleton students and cut funding to anti-abortion clubs.
Vice-president (student issues) Faris Riazudden brought the policy to council.
CLIP: “WE WANTED A MOTION THAT COULD STAND THE TEST OF TIME.”
When he made the policy, Riazzuden said he consulted the university’s equity and inclusive communities department, the Student Experience Office, the university ombudsperson and online Planned Parenthood resources.
Jasie Walker is the executive director for Planned Parenthood Ottawa.
CLIP: “THERE IS NO NEUTRALITY WHEN IT COMES TO HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES, OR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE.”
Walker said the policy is a step towards helping students access reproductive healthcare education and services.
CLIP: “I DO THINK IT’S A EXCELLENT STARTING PLACE, AND ULTIMATELY I THINK THAT WE REALLY BELIEVE THAT THIS MOVEMENT CAN ONLY BE SUCCESSFUL ON THE BASIS PARTNERSHIPS, SO I THINK THAT HAVING A REALLY COMPREHENSIVE OUTREACH AND PARTNERSHIP PLAN IS GONNA BE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE SUCCESS OF THIS.”
At a monthly meeting in July, council passed Riazzuden’s policy. The association now officially supports rights and justice.
Izzy Tate is a fourth year commerce student at Carleton and president of Carleton Life Network.
CLIP: “OUR BIGGEST THING IS THAT WE ARE ANTI-ABORTION. WE BELIEVE IN A CHILD’S RIGHT FROM CONCEPTION TO LIFE.”
She said the group will not apply for CUSA funding.
CLIP: “APPLYING FOR CUSA FUNDS, IT COULD COMPLICATE THINGS A BIT TOO, JUST IN THE SENSE THAT WE’RE BOUND BY CUSA RULES AND IF CUSA CHANGES ITS ABORTION STANCE THAT COULD PUT THE FUTURE OF THE CLUB IN JEOPARDY.”
Riazudden said the policy makes it clear anti-abortion groups will not be funded.
CLIP: “ANY CLUB THAT ISN’T INCLUSIVE OF THE SAFER SPACE POLICIES IS AUTOMATICALLY NOT GIVEN MEMBERSHIP”
But reproductive rights are more than just about abortion.
At Planned Parenthood, Walker said she hoped the student union would also work to support parents in classrooms.
CLIP: “IF ANYTHING IS A LITTLE BIT MISSING, I THINK REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE IS NOT JUST ABOUT ABORTION, I REALLY THINK IT IS ABOUT THE FULL SCOPE OF PEOPLE’S REPRODUCTIVE LIVES, WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR BODIES, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES.”
Back at CUSA, vice-president (community engagement) Hallee Kejick said the association’s community engagement committee will review what reproductive health services are available.
In more recent news, CUSA changed a conflict-of-interest policy, questioned their place in federated student groups and announced plans to review a levy fee.
Last month, the association’s board members were banned from being responsible for the finances of any other Carleton-related organization.
At a monthly meeting on Sept. 11, council voted to allow board members to hold such positions, as long as no conflict-of-interest arises.
The motion allows the association’s board chair Gray Simms to work as the vice-president internal for the Carleton Academic Student Government.
President Anastasia Lettieri also asked the council for a referendum for students to vote on the Millennium Village charity levy, a $6 fee students pay every year to an international non-profit organization.
On Monday, council approved a non-binding referendum to leave the Canadian Federation of Students. Lettieri has proposed CUSA join the Ontario Undergraduate Students’ Association as an observer-member.
Both groups advocate for students and connect student organizations across Canada.
Students will vote whether to leave the federation on October 17.
Students will also vote to elect CUSA councilors on the same ballot.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
MARK COLLEY: We’re joined now by Makayla Morgan, copy editor for the Charlatan. She’s the author of a recent article on accessibility issues in Canada, which you can read now in the features section on charlatan.ca. Makayla, thanks for joining us.
MAKAYLA MORGAN: Yeah, thanks for having me.
COLLEY: You reported that accessibility advocates said construction companies and architects are ignoring the needs of people with disabilities. Why is this such a big issue?
MORGAN: So, like disabled people know what they need, you know. The fact that they don’t have, they don’t have a voice that’s as elevated as it should be, is an issue. They know what they need, they know what they want, and if we’re not listening to them, we can’t properly incorporate, you know, universal and accessible design into, like, our built environment, and that’s a major, major problem. And if we’re not going to take them seriously, and we’re not going to give them a seat at that table, then we’re not doing our part — like architects and construction companies aren’t doing their part to make the built environment accessible, which is a part of our legislature, it’s a part of the law, and it’s not being listened to.
COLLEY: And you mentioned right there, the laws. It’s not because of a lack of regulation. Tell me a little bit about the rights and the laws that exist currently, and why they aren’t applicable or serving the purpose that they were put in place for?
MORGAN: Yeah, so like, one of the major ones, obviously, is AODA, which was implemented in like 2019. And basically, it said that it wanted to make Ontario specifically, fully accessible to everybody, by like, 2025. And, you know, recently, a review of that by the former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, came out, and he basically said that we were nowhere near that goal, you know, Ontario was nowhere near being fully accessible by 2025. And I think a lot of people can see that physically, in the built environment. Even if you just look in Ottawa, they can see that it’s not, we’re not there yet. And so there’s legislature that’s come out since then, that’s calling for another 20 years of being fully accessible by like, 2040. And it’s like, okay, well, you couldn’t do it the first time, so why would we think that you can do it again? And, you know, the rights for disabled people is protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Only, like I mentioned this in the article, only like 24% of countries in the world have the rights for people disabilities protected in, like their constitution. And we… So they have… we are protecting these rights. And we have these laws put in place, but it’s slow moving. You know, in 2019, we called for full accessibility by 2025. And it’s 2022. And we’re nowhere like we’re nowhere near that, you know, like, so what have we been doing? Why aren’t we being quicker and moving these things into the built environment? Why is it taking so long? And why are we calling for more time when we haven’t done anything in the last couple years?
COLLEY: You know, in your article, you focus a lot on issues specifically at architecture schools. What specifically is the issue right now with architecture education?
MORGAN: So what I found when I was speaking with architecture students, such as Norah Allan, who I mentioned in my article, and even just students at Carleton, in general, is that they’re not being taught, like an actual like, there’s no section in their curriculum about universal design. It’s they’re being taught what Norah Allan says as tips and tricks for universal design, so that there needs to be a wheelchair accessible stall and bathrooms or there needs to be ramps, beside stairs, that kind of stuff. And it’s all about physical disabilities. There’s no real consideration for people who have even more like, I want to say invisible disability. So people who are blind people, who are deaf, you know, do we have the proper alarm systems put in place for them? Do we have the proper railings, like they can’t just drop off into nowhere? That sort of stuff. And so they’re not being taught that and another thing that I know, like experts have said, referencing Thea Kurdi, who I interviewed for this article, she mentions that architecture students are being taught that there’s first of all design, and that there’s universal design. And she mentioned — which is really profound — she says, you know, if it’s not universal design, isn’t it discriminatory design? Why are they being taught that these are two separate things when, you know universal design, as she puts it should be the norm.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
COLLEY: This is Thea Kurdi. They’re the senior accessibility specialist and vice president of designable environment.
CLIP: If in your 20s, you’re going through post secondary education, if you’re being taught beautiful architecture, and you’re shown all of these examples that have been, are using discriminatory design and not inclusive, and you’re not being challenged to think, then of course, your default is going to be to produce the same.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
MORGAN: So architecture schools aren’t putting this at the forefront of their curriculum, they’re kind of treating it as an afterthought. And that that can’t be the case.
COLLEY: And universal design is the idea of designing buildings to be serving all people.
MORGAN: Yeah, so universal design, like, in a rough like Wikipedia, Google Search definition is just the, the idea of the built environment being accessible to everybody, despite, you know, ability, age, anything like that. And it’s supposed to be suitable to all peoples. And it’s a new term. And I feel like it’s kind of like a niche term. And in the architecture world, at least from what I’ve gathered, when I’ve done like, was conducting my interviews for this piece, that it’s kind of like a, almost like a sensitive topic, people don’t people kind of stray away from it. Because I guess maybe it’s not the easiest form of building, it’s maybe it’s not the cheapest form of building, but if it’s gonna serve the rights of everybody, you know, because universal design is not just for disabled people, it’s for everyone, you know, because eventually, we’re all going to get to a point where we don’t move as well as we used to, that comes with age. And that comes everyone’s gonna experience that it’s not just people who were born with disabilities, it’s people who, like everybody who will eventually age into that, you know. Universal design is for everyone. I don’t think people understand that.
COLLEY: So what’s the solution to all of this? We’ve outlined the issue and why it matters. How do you solve this moving forward?
MORGAN: That’s like a, it’s a very big question. You know, there’s no like one way to solve a problem as big as this because it’s a, it’s a huge problem. And it, you know, envelops so many people around the world, like, so much of the Canadian population identifies as having a disability. I believe, Mahadeo Sukhai, one of the sources in this piece, said that for I think, for almost every individual who identifies as a black indigenous person of color, or BIPOC, there is someone who identifies as having a disability. So that’s a lot of people when you think about it.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
COLLEY: This is Mahadeo Sukhai. They’re the research head and chief accessibility officer for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
SUKHAI: Accessibility continues to be seen by everybody up and down as something isn’t relevant to me. 22.3% of people in Canada live with a disability. 22.3%. Person to person, that’s roughly the same number of people in this country who identify as not being white, right? So for every person who identifies as black, indigenous, people of color, there’s somebody in the country who identifies as having a disability, right? That’s a lot of people. That 22.3% is two people in every ninth. That’s not a small number. And yet we treat, we treat disability as something that is there for the precious few. The few who can’t do it our way.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
MORGAN: And so the solution, I think, from what experts and advocates have been saying, or at least the ones that I’ve spoken to, have been saying is giving disabled people a spot at the table, you know, letting people at least have a way into architecture programs, making it — removing barriers for disabled people to get into these programs. You know, why aren’t there more disabled architects? What’s going on there? They, like I said before, they know what they need, they know what’s best for them. And if we’re not listening to them, there’s going to be no solution to this problem. We need to remove the barriers that allow them to get into these positions, raise their voices up and hear them and listen to them and not only just listen to them, but actively implement what they’re telling us what they’re telling architects, what they’re telling construction companies, what they’re telling, you know, law and legislature what needs to happen and actually actively moving to do that.
COLLEY: Makayla, thanks for joining us.
MORGAN: Thanks for having me.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
This episode featured original reporting by Mark Ramzy, Nicole Dainty, Makayla Morgan, James Gray, and was edited by Isabel Harder. Production by Mark Colley and Isaac Phan Nay.
To learn more about these stories, visit charlatan.ca.
That’s C-H-A-R-L-A-T-A-N dot C-A.
We acknowledge that we are living, working, and operating on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin nation.
As settlers on this land, we are committed to prioritizing Indigenous voices and learning how we can support the ongoing movement towards decolonization and anti-racism.
Thanks for joining us for the Charlatan Live Radio Show. I’ve been your host Isaac Phan Nay, and I’m Mark Colley.
We’ll see you next week.
Until then, touch grass.
This episode featured a news transition by Mix Kit. You’re listening to “Catch It” by Coma Media.
An earlier version of this transcript stated Lettieri proposed joining OUSA “instead” of CFS. The proposal to join OUSA as an observer-member was not suggested as an alternative, but as a separate issue. The Charlatan regrets the error.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
