Calgary’s vegan recruits, Saskatchewan Chief off to Ottawa for meeting with PM, Edmonton’s sex trade worker documentary, and Winnipeg’s Paddlewheel to close.
Calgary PETA protestors try to recruit vegans
The Calgary winter chill didn’t stop two PETA protesters from dressing down, to dress up the idea of going vegan. The two bikini-clad women painted head-to-toe in green body paint stood outside Stephen Avenue Mall in downtown Calgary in an effort to get people to “Go Green, Go Vegan,” which is what the signs they held read. They also handed out leaflets that read “Live Green. Go Vegan.” and “Meat’s not Green.”
“Between polluting the soil, water, and air and gobbling up our natural resources, the meat industry is as toxic to the earth as it is to human health,” said PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman in a press release. “PETA wants Canadians to know that each of us can personally fight climate change – and save animals – simply by going vegan.”
The pea-colored PETA girls got different reactions from their efforts while one man said “I like my meat,” others stopped to take pictures with the two, and expressed concern about how little they were wearing in such a cold temperature.
“It could be worse, we could be animals in the slaughter house,” said Shelby Kilbride, a PETA member for more than two years.
Saskatchewan Chief to meet with PM on Friday
There has been much ado about the First Nation revolution Idle No More regarding Bill C-45. This Friday, many chiefs from different communities will gather in Ottawa with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Chief Darrel McCallum of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, which consists of eight communities in northern Saskatchewan, will be one of them. Out of all the chiefs present twenty will be selected to express their concerns with Prime Minister Harper.
“Whether I am selected or not, it won’t kill me but as long as over the next two to three days some of my points of view on some of my council’s interpretations, of how they see things happening, are used, I have no problem with who presents it,” said McCallum.
McCallum is primarily concerned with natural resources and how it will affect his communities that are on the brink of mining and hydro sectors, and how it will concern the sharing of benefits.
“If a farmer bought so many acres, and later on found that there was oil in that farm, chances are that farmer will have some sort of benefits package either from industry or from government. And yet when it comes to First Nations people there is no accommodation,” said McCallum.
Source: http://ckom.com/story/saskatchewan-chief-prepares-meeting-pm/90791
Documentary on Edmonton’s sex trade workers
Gemini Award-winning filmmaker Rosie Dransfield steps out of the shadows with this gripping documentary about the streets of Edmonton and the prostitutes that walk them. It is shot in cinema verite-style in and around Dransfield’s neighbourhood and profiles a lot of the violence and addiction these women face just to survive.
The documentary is also told through the eyes of a member of the RCMP’s Project Kare task force as he makes efforts to solve the murders of some of these streetwalkers while also collecting DNA samples. Adding a real piece of humanism to the piece, Dransfield shows the prostitutes at a local pub discussing their lives, hopes, and dreams.
Dransfield’s gritty documentary had its debut at Hot Docs in Toronto and since has been screened in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. It is now available on the National Film Board of Canada’s website. It is priced at $2.95 for Video on Demand, $9.95 for regular download and $14.95 for HD download.
Interview with Dransfield: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pcumhYLUWc
Winnipeg’s Paddlewheel Restaurant to close
It has been a real place of comfort for many Winnipeg baby boomers. Now after what seems like a lifetime of having the Paddlewheel docked on the fifth floor of The Bay, it will be closing its doors on January 24th.
Aside from the selection of good food for a good price, the seating itself always made you feel like you were sitting on the deck of a Paddleboat with the cloud-painted ceiling and the giant paddlewheel, which could be seen from most diners’ points of view.
On the reason for the sudden closure, officials with the Hudson Bay Company and Compass Group food services did not have much to say other than to release in a statement “The Bay’s continued efforts to improve and deliver an exceptional shopping experience to our customers.”
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/01/09/mb-paddlewheel-thebay-closing-winnipeg.html
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Chadd Cawson is an intern at Spectator Tribune. Follow him at: @ChaddCawson
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